Livia gritted her teeth as Venia, a woman with aqua hair and gold tattoos above her eyebrows, yanked a strip of fabric from her leg tearing out the hair beneath it.
"Sorry!", she piped in her silly Capitol accent, "You're just so hairy!"
Why did they speak in such a high pitch?
Why do their jaws barely open when they talk?
Why do the ends of their sentences go up as if they're asking a question?
Odd vowels, clipped words, and always a hiss on the letter s.
no wonder it was impossible not to mimic them.
Venia made what was supposed to be a sympathetic face, "Good news, though. This is the last one. Ready?"
Livia got a grip on the edges of the table she was seated on and nodded.
The final swathe of her leg hair was uprooted in a painful jerk.
She'd been in the Remake Center for more than three hours and she still hadn't met her stylist.
Apparently he had no interest in seeing her until Venia and the other members of her prep team had addressed some obvious problems.
This had included scrubbing down her body with a gritty loam that had removed not only dirt but at least three layers of skin, turning her nails into uniform shapes, and primarily, ridding her body of hair.
Her legs, arms, torso, underarms, and parts of her eyebrows had been stripped of the muff, leaving her like a plucked bird, ready for roasting.
She didn't like it.
Her skin felt sore and tingly and intensely vulnerable.
But she listened to Brutus- no objection had crossed her lips.
"You're doing very well", said some guy named Flavius. He gave his orange corkscrew locks a shake and applied a fresh coat of purple lipstick to his mouth, "If there's one thing we can't stand, it's a whiner. Grease her down!"
Venia and Octavia, a plump woman whose entire body had been dyed a pale shade of pea green, rubbed Livia down with a lotion that first stung but then soothed her raw skin.
Then they pulled her from the table and removed the thin robe she had been allowed to wear off and on.
Livia stood there, completely naked, as the three circled her, wielding tweezers to remove any last bits of hair.
Livia knew she should be embarrassed, but they were so unlike people that she was no more self-conscious than if a trio of oddly colored birds were pecking around her feet.
The three stepped back and admired their work.
"Excellent! You almost look like a human being now!" Flavius said, and they all laughed.
Livia forced her lips up into a smile to show how grateful she was.
"Thank you", Livia said sweetly, "I don't have much cause to look nice where I come from."
That won them over completely.
"Of course, you don't, you poor darling!" Octavia said clasping her hands together in distress for Livia.
"But don't worry", Venia gleamed, "By the time Faunus is through with you, you're going to be absolutely gorgeous!"
"We promise! You know, now that we've gotten rid of all the hair and filth, you're not horrible at all!", Flavius said encouragingly, "Let's call Faunus!"
They darted out of the room.
It was hard to hate her prep team.
They were such total idiots and yet, in an odd way, Livia knew they were sincerely trying to help her.
She looked at the cold white walls and floor and resisted the impulse to retrieve her robe.
But this Faunus, her stylist, would surely make her remove it at once.
The door opens and a young man who must be Faunus entered.
The man had long curly hair. Pieces from the front were pinned in the back. His hair was a dirty blonde but bombarded with highlights of bright magenta and pink for days.
He had broad shoulders and wore a magenta suit- everything was the bright color except for the white patterned dress shirt.
He gleamed at her, "Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes. I've got so many ideas already!"
"I'm Faunus, I'm your stylist." He greeted.
"Livia." She replied, not sure if he'd already been aware of her name.
"Just give me a moment, all right?" he asked. He walked around her naked body, not touching her, but taking in every inch of it with his eyes. She resisted the impulse to cross her arms over her chest, "Why don't you put on your robe and we'll have a chat."
Pulling on her robe, she followed him through a door into a sitting room.
Two red couches faced off over a low table. Three walls were blank and the fourth was entirely glass, providing a window to the city.
Livia could see by the light that it must be around noon, although the sunny sky had turned overcast.
Faunus invited her to sit on one of the couches and took his place across from her.
He pressed a button on the side of the table.
The top split and from below rose a second tabletop that held their lunch.
Chicken and chunks of oranges cooked in a creamy sauce laid on a bed of pearly white grain, tiny green peas and onions, rolls shaped like flowers, and for dessert, a pudding the color of honey.
She tried to imagine assembling the meal herself back home.
Chickens were too expensive, but she could make do with a wild turkey.
She would need to shoot a second turkey to trade for an orange.
Goat's milk would have to substitute for cream.
They could grow peas in the garden.
She would have to get wild onions from the woods.
Fancy rolls would mean another trade with a baker, perhaps for two or three squirrels.
As for the pudding, Livia couldn't even guess what was in it.
Days of hunting and gathering for that one meal and even then it would be a poor substitution for the Capitol version.
What must it be like, Livia wondered, to live in a world where food appears at the press of a button?
How would she spend the hours she now committed to combing the woods for sustenance if it were so easy to come by?
What do they do all day, these people in the Capitol, besides decorating their bodies and waiting around for a new shipment of tributes to roll in and die for their entertainment?
Livia looked up and found Faunas eyes trained on her.
"How despicable we must seem to you." He said.
Had he seen that in her face or somehow read her thoughts?
He was right, though.
The whole rotten lot of them were despicable.
He shrugged, "No matter."
"So, about your costume for the opening ceremonies. My partner, Vita, is the stylist for your fellow tribute, Cato and our current thought is to dress you in complementary costumes", Faunus started, "And as you may know, it's customary to reflect the
flavor of the district you come from."
For the opening ceremonies, you were supposed to wear something that suggested your district's principal industry.
District 11, agriculture. District 4, fishing. District 3, factories.
That meant that coming from District 2, Cato and Livia would be in some kind of steel getup.
Since the baggy miner's jumpsuits were not particularly becoming, their tributes usually end up in skimpy outfits or ones that weighed more than the two tributes combined.
"So I'll be in a steel miner outfit?" Livia questioned.
"Not exactly. You see, Vita and I
think that steel thing is very over done. No one will remember you
in that and we both see it as our
job to make the District Two Tributes unforgettable. So rather
than focus on the steel mining
itself, we're going to focus on the
steel", Faunus explained, "Do you know what happens when you strike steal?"
A few hours later, they were whisked down to the bottom level of the Remake Center, which was essentially a gigantic stable
Livia stood by the chariot beside Cato.
She'd been dressed in a long toga, like a greek goddess- much like her name- it was an ombré of sleek gold.
The end of the dress had designs of red, yellow, and blue like sparks- quite like you would see when striking steel.
The cape-like back attached to her wrists, like wings.
Around her waist was a belt of leather and a chain of steel that matched the chain choker on her neck.
Her hair was tied up into a pristine bun and pulled back by a gold headband spilt in two.
If she could describe her makeup it would remind her of cleopatra, beautiful and cunning.
Cato was dressed in a short toga, the part draped behind him matched with the spark design.
It barely covered his chest and showed off the definedness of it.
His belt matched her own except his matched his steel chain anklet.
His unruly blonde hair had actually been tamed and sat atop his head was a triangle head piece that pointing down on his forehead.
Livia didn't think she'd ever owned anything even half as extravagant as it.
The opening ceremonies were about to start.
Pairs of tributes were being loaded into chariots pulled by teams of four horses.
The carriage was a pristine gold and vines wrapped around it. Each horse had its own golden rein.
The animals were so well trained, no one even needed to guide their reins.
Faunus and the prep team guided them into the chariot and carefully arranged their body positions- the drape of their capes- before moving off to consult with each other.
The opening music began.
It was easy to hear, blasted around the Capitol.
Massive doors slid open revealing the crowd-lined streets.
The ride lasted about twenty minutes and ended up at the City Circle, where they would welcome them, play the anthem, and escort them into the Training Center, which would be their home/prison until the Games began.
"And now, for our 74th annual Hunger Games opening ceremonies, we give you... the tributes!"
Livia could hear the cheers from the audience as the door pried open.
"District one!"
The tributes from District 1 rode out in a chariot pulled by snow-white horses.
They looked so beautiful, spray-painted silver, in tasteful tunics glittering with jewels.
District 1 made luxury items for the Capitol.
You could hear the roar of the crowd.
They were always favorites.
Livia watched as the chariot in front of them rode out, making the rest of the chariots move up in line.
"District two!"
Cato grabbed her hand as they rode out into the sea of colors and she decided- this time at least- not to fight him.
She kept her head up and her face indifferent.
Their outfits blew out behind them, and the crowd marveled at the detail.
"District three!"
The ride down the lines of crowds was longer than she'd thought.
"District four!"
The lights beat down on them and Livia could barely think straight.
"District five!"
More cheers, screams, hollers.
"District six!"
Livia thought of her brothers, watching her from the screens at home.
"District seven!"
Augustus would love the extravagance, the cheers for him, while Ambrose would hate it- the jewelry and glitter.
"District eight!"
They had traveled halfway now, the entire area feeling like miles long.
"District nine!"
They just about reached the end where they began to line up, facing president Snow.
"District ten!"
Livia tried to be indifferent but glancing at the other competitors made her stomach sink.
"District eleven!"
Livia just couldn't wait for it to be over.
"And last, but not least, district twelve!"
Livia watched the screen at the final competitors.
Fire trails behind their clothes as the girl blew kisses to the crowd.
The crowd went wild at the pair- throwing roses and screaming.
As their chariot finally joined the rest, Livia could finally breathe- it was over.
The twelve chariots filled the loop of the City Circle.
On the buildings that surrounded the Circle, every window was packed with the most prestigious citizens of the Capitol.
Their horses pulled their chariots right up to President Snow's mansion, and they came to a halt.
The music ended with a flourish.
The president, a small, thin man with paper-white hair, gave the official welcome from a balcony above them.
When the national anthem played, they made an effort to do a quick cut around to each pair of tributes, but the camera held on the District 12 chariot as it paraded around the circle one final time and disappeared into the Training Center.
The doors have only just shut behind them when they were engulfed by the prep teams, who were nearly unintelligible as they babbled out praise.