Chapter 12

They had finally arrived at the capitol. They got off the train and were led through several grand rooms to a pale narrow room with tons of different stations, 24 were counted. She was stripped of her dress and shoes, leaving her undergarments remaining. The three beauticians got to work. They washed her body and plucked off the hairs she had forgotten to get rid of before. They washed Blake's hair and tied a hospital gown on her body.

"You are all set, your stylist is ready for you!" They led Blake to a private room that was outside of the pale room. They instructed her to lay on the table, and to wait there till further instructions. Blake did as she was told, she waited for what felt like 30 minutes. She was worried her stylist wouldn't show, but finally she did. A purple flat haired woman walked in.

"No! I can't eat meat remember!" She put out a singular finger, to show she was on the phone.

"Well fine! Sushi it is, see you then" she sighed abruptly and shut off her phone. She then looked up to see Blake.

"Well, didn't I get a real beauty. I'm being sarcastic, we need to make you gorge, we need to get rid of the fish and sushi. I need to express this district's maturity! Oh, and prosperity!" She grabbed her measuring tape, and she started measuring Blake in certain places.

"Hmm, sit up! I hate it when people aren't comfortable" she snapped at Blake. She sat up quickly, waiting for her bizarre stylist to speak.

"I think the dress should fit; If it doesn't, I guess one can go as a fish." She ran to the back closet. She grabbed a fluffy, out of the ordinary, ocean colored dress. It had flares all around it, making it look like coral growing off of it.

"This will look gorgeous on you, don't ruin the dress! If you do, I'll kill you before the games even start!" She pushed Blake into the changing room to try on the dress, it was too wacky to tell where the arm holes were. She wondered if Koland had to wear something similar. She walked out of the changing room, the stylist had her mouth hanging open.

"Manific, now it's time for makeup!" She escorted Blake to a dressing room to prepare her for the parade. The beauticians that had cleaned her before were there as well. They put rhinestones and gems all over her eyes and arms,they all matched the dress. They gave her shimmering lipstick that matched the dress as well.

"Vuala! Beautiful like the sea! Let's get you to the chariot before it's too late." They escorted her through the halls and to the chariot room, everyone stared at Blake in awe. She then spotted Koland in a similar get up.

"Look at you, all sparkled up" Blake teased. Koland was still amazed by her dress, Blake was perplexed by his face.

"What? Is it that hideous? I hate it too, it was difficult to find the arm hole and-" Koland cut Blake off.

"No! It just looks great on you. Let's get on the chariot before it leaves."Koland helped Blake onto the chariot pulled by horses. She glanced at the teens in front of her, they had purple keyboard-like suits. Blake thought it would be really annoying to walk in that. She looked behind her, Wintell and Hendall were wearing a green suit and dress with power lines as a pattern. She suddenly felt a yank on the chariot, the horses charged forward. She could hear Cesar Flickerman being as chatty as ever.

"Whoa! Look at those outfits district one has on, are those real diamonds? Let's hope so! Next we have two swordsmen! I like the creativity, the stylist did a nice job. Are those keyboards? Interesting concept, never thought of that. Oh my! Look at district four! They have gems all over their bodies! They are shining!"

Blake felt like she was floating, like the whole world was beneath her feet. Everyone was cheering and throwing flowers at them. Blake examined the crowd, and she winked at a elderly man. The crowd went wild, She saw her face on banners and other objects around her.

"District four really outdid themselves this year! The next district arriving-" Blake tuned out Cesar's voice. She glanced at Koland, he had a straight face and didn't smile at all. He wasn't thrilled about being shown off. Eventually, all the chariots had arrived in front of President Snow.

"Congratulations tributes and welcome to the 68th Hunger Games. I usually say an encouraging quote but I don't have one except, 'may the odds be ever in your favor'. Good luck to you all!" He was escorted off stage.

"Well that was very 'encouraging'" Blake muttered to Koland, he still didn't smile. Blake sighed as they were transported to the same chariot area as before. She stepped off the chariot, and was met by Finnick.

"Good job you two! You really killed it, let's get you guys out of those interesting outfits" Finnick walked in front of us as we made our way inside. Suddenly, Blake's hand was grabbed by a stranger. She whipped herself around, It was Eloi.

"Well, well, well. You made quite an appearance out there; I thought I would give you a compliment on your dress, but you probably have received so many." Blake scoffed, Eloi was nothing but trouble.

"Well Eloi, It's nice to finally meet you. You're just as much of a prick as you were in the video!" This comment caused Koland and Finnick to turn around to listen.

"I'll take that as a compliment, what do you say you and I team up? You seem good enough" Eloi smirked. Blake raised an eyebrow at this comment.

" I'm good enough? I'm better enough, don't ever say that to a woman. If you do, It's a good way to get on her bad side." Blake pulled her hand out of Eloi's grasp and strutted off with the others.