Gaia leads me into a third room where Titan, Venus and Blaze sit waiting for me, I can't see what's inside the crate next to them but my mind is swimming with possibilities. She directs me to a chair in the centre of the room and Blaze moves straight on to doing my hair. I couldn't see what he's doing but by the harsh tugging of my hair, I could only assume it included some intricate braids. Venus moves on to attending to my nails. She cuts and files them until they've achieved a perfect shape then goes on to paint them a glossy white coloured that is pigmented to be a sort of pearl colour in certain lights. She then moves on painting my toenails the same colour, trimming them back as well. Titan begins to work on my makeup, applying a shimmery white/silver colour to my eyelids and winged white eyeliner. Just underneath my eyes, he sticks two real pearls to either one of my cheeks.
"The pearls feel weird," I point out as he moved to paint my lips.
"Just you wait, darling, you're going to have to get used to it," He winks.
Blaze finishes braiding up two sides of my hair pulling them tightly around the messy bun he created on the bottom of my head. After loosening teasing the hair out to make it look more natural, he pulls out some of the front sections and curls them around my face. He attaches hairpins with pearls on the end to certain sections of the braid and I find myself in disbelief at how many of the precious stones were going into this outfit.
If I had only known.
At this point Gaia scans over their progress, nodding in satisfaction at how I look, "It's time," She nods at the rest of my prep team, they all grin at each other before moving to the crate beside us. Opening the box, I outwardly gasp as I find it full to the brim with- you guessed it- pearls. I don't know if I should feel offended or honoured that this is where all my father's hard word is going, but I don't have time to object as the team begins to glue them to my body. Soon enough, my collarbone area and my arms have pearls attached to them in a scattered pattern.
Gaia fastens Finnick's pearl necklace around my neck and nods in approval at how I look so far. On my fingers, several rings are placed and I have pearl studs in my ears. I didn't have my ears pierced until about twenty minutes ago, the sting still thumping in my earlobes. I push it down as Titan applies another coat of nude lipstick to my lips.
Blaze helps me step into my heels after my nails are dry white is white in colour with a strap around the toe and a strap around the ankle, each lined with pearls. "Should we put on the dress?" Venus asks, an excited smile creeping on her face.
"We're running out of time to wait any longer!" Gaia responds gleefully.
"You're going to have to close your eyes," Titan reminded her, "We would blindfold you, but I don't have the time to redo your makeup,"
I clench my eyes closed as Blaze and Venus assist me in moving over to the closet, I hear the entire team gasp as Gaia reveals the dress to them, "Arms up," She stylist directs me, "But not too far up, I don't want any pearls to fall off,"
I do as she says and I feel a smooth fabric cloak over my body, someone ties a bow in the back of the dress and Gaia takes me by the arms and moves me over to the mirror. "Nervous?" Blaze asks me as I clench my fists together.
"She shouldn't be," Gaia sasses, "Have some faith in us, kid,"
"I have faith in you, I just don't have faith in my face," I say bluntly.
"I would smack the tentacles out of you for that comment but I don't want to ruin your outfit," She shoots back playfully, "Open your eyes in 3...2...1,"
My eyes flutter open and I stare at myself in shock, in some ways I see the similarities but I'm different. I'm so different from the village girl in the green dress from this morning, I'm so different from the girl that was reaped. I look like something that stepped out of the pages of a fairy-tale, I believe Finnick now when he told me I look ethereal.
I look so perfect, too perfect to be human, with the pearls on my skin I feel like a mythical creature. My hair and makeup done to perfection, the shine on my nails makes me feel magical. The extra height that the shoes give me fills me with a surge of confidence and the dress...
It's pure white silk, with thin straps attached to the points of the triangular shape of the bodice, my back is nearly completely exposed (Titan and Venus are currently attaching pearls to it), just under the bust sits another thin row of pearls. The dress flows to my feet and has a train that extends ten metres behind me. I feel so light and elegant, all at the same time I feel, powerful, sexy and still innocent.
"Gaia, it's beautiful," I gush as I admire every part of my body.
"Of course it's beautiful, I designed it," She sassed, I let out a little giggle and she smiles beside me before turning to me with a look of seriousness, "But the dress is only one thing, it may have been pretty on its own but the person inside the dress," She pauses, taking my hand and looking at me proudly, "Is a goddess," She compliments me, even under the makeup I can see my face flush red, "Seriously if that boy doesn't fall to the ground when he sees you I'm finding you a new boyfriend,"
"We're not dating," I remind her in a sing-song voice.
"You're not dating, I was born an alpaca, all believable lies, now let's get your beautiful behind to this tribute parade, Blaze you might need to hold the back of her dress, I don't want some nasty horse standing all over it." Gaia orders.
"Seriously all of you, thank you so much," I say sincerely, looking at the prep team, "I wouldn't look half this good without you,"
"You can thank us later when you're the talk of the Capitol, but we're already late to this parade!" Venus calls, taking me by the hand and escorting her out the door.
Titan pats her on the back, "Fashionably late, dear sister, fashionably late,"
***
Venus is practically dragging me to the start of the parade while shrieking about how late we are, the rest of the team seems nonchalant about our schedule but continue to move at a fast past beside us. Gaia is throwing reminders at me left and right in order for me to look presentable to the eyes of the Capitol, "Don't forget to smile, interact with the audience, they'll love you," She advises me as we reach the unground compartment of the training centre.
I feel people watching me as I make my way over to the rest of the district four groups, Sylvia gasps when she sees me, placing a kiss on my right cheek and left, "You look flawless Aurora!" She exclaims, scanning over every crevice of my costume. Mags supplies me with another compliment, kissing me on the forehead.
Thorn and his team are already waiting by the carriage which is being drawn by white horses, he wears a pair of Navy-blue pants and a Navy-Blue blazer jacket-wearing nothing underneath to hide his bare chest. The collar of his jacket is line with pearls like mine and he wears a shark tooth necklace around his neck "You look like an alien," He remarks to me. I make a face at him before turning back to the rest of the group.
There stands Finnick who without even trying to look good manages to have all eyes on him. Often, I envy his ability to look effortlessly attractive, I've told him this before but he dramatically describes the pains of all the attention he gets. Secretly I know he basks in it, but he'll never admit that to my face.
When he reaches, his eyes widen, gaping like a fish, I flush bright red under his gaze and I hear Gaia, Mags and Thorn snickering behind our backs. "Rory, you look-" He pauses as if he's trying to find the right words to say.
Gaia smacks him on the shoulder as he remains silent, "Get on with it, Fish-face!" She exclaimed, the group chuckles as Finnick comes back to reality.
"Beautiful, you look absolutely breathtaking Aurora," He breathes, I curse myself at my ability to go red in the face so quickly.
I hear a thump from the side of the carriage, my gaze picks up to where I find both the district one tributes. The pair of them wear bedazzled capes made with sapphires and diamonds, the rest of their look is plain in comparison to what Gaia pulled together for me. "Looking good, Four," The District One male compliments me, his eyes raking over my body. He's not unattractive, striking green eyes and soft brown hair, he stands four or five inches above me and appears well built. But there's something in him that just seems intimidating, untrustworthy, someone you'd rather run away from rather than be friends with, "I'd definitely ask you out if it weren't for the fact that's I'm going to kill you," He finishes, the girl beside him cackles like a hyena. She's not ugly either, quite the opposite actually, I can understand why they're already fan favourites, but the way she holds herself, so calm and collected seems to have a menacing undertone- like a lion ready to pounce.
I raised my eyebrows, not think before speaking my mind, "I'm a Career, One, doesn't that make me part of your posse?"
"I'd be lucky to have you, I'm Clovis," He holds out a hand "I'm sure we're going to be very good friends," His eyes rake over my body shamelessly.
I refuse to shake his hand, instead, taking a step back, "You're vile, I'm Aurora, I'll make your death as painless as possible,"
"I'm counting on it," he grins as if this is some kind of game to him, it's not some game, in four days we'll be fighting for our lives, "My offer still stands, Four, see you in training," He and the District One girl stalk of in the other direction and over to where the District Two tributes are preparing their chariots.
"Why did he want you and not me?" Thorn asked as Finnick helps me up into the chariot.
"Because I'm irresistible," I sass jokingly, winking at him.
Finnick gives me a bright smile as I sit inside the chariot, "Make sure to look friendly, you'll do great," He encourages, giving me a soft kiss on the cheek. Trumpets begin to sound as the chariots move into a single file, District Three in front of us, District Five behind us, I chew on my lip as they call out the first chariot, then the next.
There's one chariot in between us and the eyes of the Capitol, one chariot to work out how I'm going to present myself for the rest of my life. Then that chariot moves into the light of the Capitol, I can hear the crowds shouting. Claudius Templesmith calls out District Four over the loudspeaker and soon I'm being moved into the crowd.
The lights are almost blinding when I first enter the stadium of cheering Capitol citizens, when I regroup, I find myself surrounded by more people than I ever have been before. And they're all looking at me, some of them point to the pearls on my skin, I wave and smile to keep up appearances. It's a lot easier than I thought it would be, then, without any warning or any reason the crowd begins cheering my name.
I smile wider, waving at the passing crowd, blowing kisses, catching them, one of the people closest to the front throws a spotless white rose that I catch. "This is amazing!" Thorn exclaims, "They can't hear anything I'm saying," He waves at a woman in the front with a bright orange wig, "Your hair is hideous!" He exclaims, knowing she won't recollect anything he shouts at her. The woman cheers in excitement, tapping her friends on the shoulder.
I burst into laughter, continuing to smile and wave at the people, we move to the end of the long stretch of road, pulling in front of the podium in two straight lines. I look around at the competitors, many of them are smiling and waving, blowing kisses- they're sucking up to the Capitol. But the only distinguishable names I hear in the crowd are Clovis, Opal (The district one girl), Tiberius (District seven, I think) and Aurora, my name- I hear my name amongst all the screaming and cheering of the crowd.
President Snow moves up to the podium where he waves at the Capitol people, gesturing for them to settle down, "Welcome to the Sixty-Eighth annual Hunger Games!" He exclaims to the crowd. I look around at the competitors, the boy from District Twelve catches my gaze with her own. He pulls a face at me that says, 'Can you believe this guy' I try to suppress my chuckle. "And may the odds be ever in your favour!" he finishes.
Short and sweet, and a complete lie, the odds were never in our favour, any tribute past or present knows that. These games are shoved down our throats with no objection allowed from any of us, even the tribute who become victors will always be enslaved to the Capitol, those of us who win are sent back every year to watch others die.
Our horses lead us into another underground area where the District Four team stands waiting for us, Gaia applauds loudly as she notices the two of us enter the hall. "That was beautiful!" Sylvia exclaims as Finnick and Mags help us off the chariots, Finnick puts his hands around my waist and lifts me in the air, placing me on the ground in front of him.
"Was I ok?" I ask him, noticing the broad smile on his face I sigh in relief.
"They loved you," Finnick smiled in confirmation.
"What about you Finnick, did you love her?" Gaia wiggled her eyebrows, both Finnick and I flush and look to the ground as the rest of the team laughs, we continue to talk and laugh about the parade, I'm so focused on the conversation that I barely notice Finnick get pulled away from us by peacekeepers and led in the direction of President Snow.
"Mags, what does Snow want with him?" I ask as we watch my best friend move out of sight.
Mags shakes her head in concern, putting a hand on my shoulder, "I don't know Aurora, but it can't be good,"
I don't know what to say down here but I'm on season 15 of Criminal Minds and I'm strongly anti-Jeid, Jeid is weird and it's not what I need in my life.