Not bothering to join the rest of the group for dinner that evening, you decided to talk to a Capitol attendant and get dinner for yourself. Soon, a plateful of your favourite meal from home, plus a bit more, came directly to your room, freshly cooked and steaming on a giant white dinner plate. You ate your fill immediately, got changed out of your reaping clothes into some night clothes, took off your mother's pendant, and immediately crashed on the bed, landing on the very bouncy and comfortable mattress, your head hitting the pillows almost instantly.

Had it seriously been a day ago when you, Peeta, and Delly were all walking outside together, enjoying your final day of comfort with your best friends? It honestly felt like a long time ago now, in a time that only belonged nowhere but the past. You hated the fact that your life had to take a sudden turn, but if you hadn't volunteered for Prim...you suddenly pictured her in your very place right now, probably suffering more than you probably are, and you felt yourself harden.

Soon, you felt your eyelids grow heavy, and you fell into a dreamless sleep, the sound of the train rolling along the tracks lulling you to sleep. Next thing you knew, there was some very rapid rapping on the door, followed by a cheery voice calling you up.

"Up up up! It's another big big day!"

You groaned as you rolled over, opening your eyes. For a moment, fear settled in your heart when you finally focused on the unfamiliar surroundings in your room, before you had to remind yourself that you were no longer in District 12, but rather on a train leading to the Capitol. To your...how did Haymitch refer to your end? "Imminent death". That's it.

Disgusted at the sudden echo in your brain, you got up and got dressed into something more casual--a white blouse with black track pants--and headed now to the main compartment in the train. Haymitch and Peeta were already there, eating their share of breakfasts. Effie, who apparently was the one who called you up earlier, was sitting on the plush velvet seat, perfecting her unearthly make-up on her face.

"No, but then I'd start a fire," Peeta was saying as he bit into some toast.

Haymitch shook his head. "Yeah, but that's a good way to get killed."

"What's a good way to get killed?" you piped up.

It didn't take long for Peeta and Haymitch to acknowledge your presence, and Peeta smiled at you warmly, though you couldn't say that Haymitch did the same.

"Oh. Joy," he said sarcastically upon your arrival. "Come on in, join us. I was only giving life-saving advice."

"Ah." You obliged as you sat beside Peeta, avoiding the seat between Peeta and Haymitch since you didn't want to get too close to the latter's horribly strong alcoholic breath. "Like what?"

"I was asking Haymitch about shelter," Peeta shrugged, smiling as he ate his toast again. "By the way, you should try this," he adds, holding out a mug full of brown liquid. "The Capitol calls this hot chocolate."

You obliged as you took the mug from Peeta, raising the cup to your lips and experiencing a very warm chocolatey taste coat over your tongue and disappear down your throat. It was very fiery and sweet, and it made you smile as you continued to take small sips of the hot chocolate.

"So, Haymitch," you said finally, putting your mug down as you helped yourself to a tart. "How do you find shelter?"

Haymitch seemed to ignore your question with a toss of his head. "Pass the marmalade," he simply told you.

"Seriously, Haymitch. How do you find shelter?" you repeated, a deadly edge evident in your voice as you demanded him for an answer.

Haymitch shrugged. "Give me a chance to wake up, sweetheart," he told you. "This whole mentoring thing is really taxing."

You turned to Peeta now, a worried glint in your eye. "Is he always like this?"

Peeta shrugged. "I have no idea. Honestly, if we were to do this on our own, we can manage quite well."

This brought Haymitch round, but he didn't say anything.

"I'd say," you smiled. "I mean, I trust you, Peeta. I really do." You reached out your hand again to him, and he took it, intertwining his fingers with yours in comfort.

"Oh, you want something from me, as your mentor?" Haymitch finally asked. "Here's some advice. Stay alive." Then he chuckled at his own joke.

"Oh yeah. That's funny," you scoffed. "Only not to us."

Haymitch recovered from his laughter briefly to pour another shot in his glass. "Now pass the jam--"

He didn't even get to complete his request. As his hand advanced forward to the jar of jam, you let go of Peeta's hand and grabbed the knife on your placemat, effectively stabbing the table, stopping Haymitch's hand from moving forward.

This made Effie gasp and Peeta stare at you in awe.

"That is mahogany!" she cried in protest.

"Wow," Peeta murmured. "I never knew you were good with knives, (Y/N)."

You only grinned at Peeta. "For someone raised in town, I can handle a few knives and blades in my day."

"Oh really? So much for you...killing a placemat," Haymitch growled in disapproval, yanking the knife out of the table. "So you really want to know how to survive? You get people to like you," he said in a tone so serious it wiped the grin off of your face. It seemed to give Haymitch some kind of satisfaction, because then he continued on. "When you're in the arena, and you're starving or freezing--a basket of food and a match could mean the difference between life and death. I can only say for you, (Y/N), that you're not really off to a good start with that."

"Sponsors, huh?" you only laughed. "Oh, I can make myself likable, alright. You just haven't seen that side of me just yet."

Just then, Peeta stood up. "The Capitol. There it is." He headed over to the window, and you stood by him as he looked out. "It's amazing. It's huge!"

You looked out too, amazed at the beauty of the Capitol. From afar, you could see several waterfalls and a bridge and several skyscrapers gracing the city skyline. If this is where the rich people lived...well, things would definitely seem different for you from now on before your end.

Soon, the train disappeared into a tunnel, causing you and Peeta to just give each other a glance. A glance of awe and excitement.

"You two. Over here," Haymitch called, which you and Peeta obeyed as you turned to him.

"Alright. Once we get into the Capitol...you'll be handed off to your prep team. They'll do some alterations on you, so let me tell you this--don't interject, and don't complain with whatever they do. After that, you'll be handed to your stylists, who will give you ideas for tonight's tribute parade."

Typically, your district doesn't pull off the best costumes. Being from the district of coal, you never ended up with anything decent. Sometimes your district ended up wearing coal-miner's clothes, and there was one year where your tributes ended up being naked and covered in coal-dust.

Yeah. Not the best way for you to pull off sponsors.

You found yourself nodding, and Peeta did the same.

Suddenly, you heard chatter coming from the side of the train. You turned your head around to see the citizens of the Capitol waving and chattering and cheering.

The sight of people looking like Effie clones made you feel dizzy. Colours flashed in front of you in very vibrant hues--bright fiery oranges, neon greens, sea-blues, and even hot pinks dazzled in front of you, but you managed to hold your ground as you turned back to the window with Peeta and wave at the crowd together, not once breaking your handhold with him. You were quite fortunate to be with Peeta, experiencing everything with him, and for once you were happy that it wasn't some random stranger with you. It made you greatly regret your wish from yesterday, that it would have rather been Gale than Peeta--doing anything with the former would probably result in great discomfort on your behalf. And you'd rather smile and wave with the boy right beside you, with your best friend and secret crush, while you still can.

*****************

RIP! R-r-rip!!!

You gritted your teeth as another bout of hair was yanked out of your leg now, but you didn't dare whimper or let any sounds escape your lips. It's only been an hour since you were handed to your stylists, and it was a very uncomfortable process by now. They had to get rid of all of your body hair and wax you down and stuff before they hand you to your stylist. With every passing hour, you were dreading the eventual meeting with your stylist, whoever that would be.

"Sorry!" a woman with green hair chirped. "It's just that you're so hairy!"

Seriously, what is up with the Capitol people and their remarkably different accent? You craned your neck as you caught sight of a man with orange hair and dark purple lipstick say something to another woman with pea-green skin as he was wiping your recently plucked hair on a towel.

"What was that?" you asked for clarification. "What's that?"

The man only turned to you with a bored air. "Oh, we were just thinking about hosing you down one more time before we send you to Cinna."

Eventually, after 15 more minutes, the entire process was done. The prep team now all got a chance to admire their handiwork as they circled your naked body now.

"Wow! You look amazing!" the woman with green hair--Venia, you realized--complimented you sweetly.

You blushed and gushed immediately, just to give them a vulnerable side to you. "Thank you," you simply said. "We don't have much cause to look nice in District 12."

"Well, now you know how it feels," the man with orange hair, who introduced himself as Flavius, beamed. "Now let's call for Cinna!"

With that, everyone left the room, and you were left alone. Your fingers reached up for the ponytail that you were so used to styling, and you thought back to the dress you managed to bring into the Capitol, wondering where it could have been since it was one of your only pieces from home. You made a mental note to wear that dress when you returned home.

If you returned home.

The door opened again, and you turned around, startled, to see a young man with bronze skin, closely cropped black hair, golden eyeliner on his eyes and a single earring on his ear lobe approach you.

"That was the bravest thing I have ever seen, with that girl back in your district," the man, whom you assumed to be Cinna, complimented you. "I'm Cinna."

"I'm (Y/N)," you introduced yourself.

"Let me analyze you, alright?" he asked, and you nodded as he started to circle around your body in a similar fashion as the prep team did earlier. Of course, you were feeling very self-conscious to a man checking out your body, but you only assured yourself it wouldn't be for sexual purposes. It can't be. That wouldn't be allowed, right?

"I haven't seen you before," you remarked. "Not to be rude or anything. Are you new here?"

Cinna nodded. "Yeah. This is my first Games."

"And so they naturally gave you 12."

"I asked for 12," Cinna corrected you, which made you nod as he continued to look at you.

After a bit, Cinna nodded. "Alright. Seems like your prep team did a good job. Why don't you grab your robe, and we'll chat about tonight."

You obliged as you grabbed the white robe hanging on the door, and you sat on the couch with Cinna. Soon, you were able to talk with him as easily as you would with Peeta and Delly. You found yourself talking to him about your past in District 12, which he seemed very highly amused about, and you eventually eased up as you and he kept talking like old friends.

"Alright then, (Y/N), to business," Cinna finally said, smiling. "So tonight's the tribute parade. Typically your districts have to wear costumes reflecting your main industry, so you're coal."

"I'm only hoping we won't be doing coal-miners," you said, a smile tugging on your lips.

"Oh no. I wasn't thinking about coal-miners at all," Cinna told you, tucking a loose strand of hair behind your ear. "I don't think that a brave girl like you, volunteering for a person you barely knew, would be wearing something drab and typical, right?"

You grinned. "So what do you have in mind?"

"You guys are from the coal district, right? What do we do with coal?" Cinna asked you, his eyes lighting up in question as he awaited your response.

"We sell it to the Capitol. Or..." You finally nodded and bit your lip as you caught on with what Cinna was suggesting. "We burn it in a fireplace."

"You're not afraid of fire now, aren't you?" Cinna whispered slyly, grinning.

You shook your head. "Amaze me, Cinna."

Half an hour later, you found yourself in what you think was the most majestic and deadly costume ever. Your body was fitted in a black unitard, with knee-height boots and a black skirt and a beautiful flame headpiece donned over the base of your costume. Cinna even added on a cape, which he said he wouldn't light until you were on the chariots.

"You like it?" he asked you.

You grinned and nodded as you twirled around in front of him. "This beats anything I've ever worn in my life. Like, ever!"

This made Cinna laugh. "Alright then. Let's go down to the chariots now."

So you both headed out of the Remake Centre and made your way down to the bottom floor, where the chariots were set. As you got there, you saw a few of the tributes there already, talking among themselves or hanging by their horses like scared lost children. You decided to do the same for a bit, since Peeta and his stylist haven't shown up. You headed over to your horses and gently stroked the muzzle of one of them, trying to calm down, when a few moments later you felt someone tap on your shoulder.

"Hello, (Y/N)."