#apogprep

The two on the right instantly gravitated towards me. One woman was extremely gorgeous with short goldish blonde hair, pale-ish skin and white eye liner - she she seemed exceptionally young. The women next to her had this intense aura about her. Blonde hair like mine, except it sat in an elaborately huge braid along the top of her head. She simply stared at me with this semi-smirk, semi-bitch face. But it worked for her. 

"Come, Lily, we have much to do, Lily." said the one with the gold hair. She had a light voice, her accent not entirely sounding of the Capitol. It had a foreign twist to it, yet I've never heard anything foreign except the Capitol.. The intense looking one continued to stare. I stared back. We stared at each other. She smirked a little more. I accepted that I had earned her respect. 

Caradoc's prep artists had gravitated around him too. They seemed to be annoyed by his dreads. I waved him goodbye and followed the two ladies to a metallic table. "Hatter will be joining us shortly, Lily." the gold haired one said. "He's busy preparing to dress you. Lily, he said it's our job to clean you up." I noticed instantly she had a habit a saying my name at least once every sentence. "What's your name?" I asked her. 

"Pippa, Lily." She answered with a smile. "My name is Pippa." In a room closed off by room dividers, Pippa had me undress and lay flat on a table. On the ceiling hung a body sized mirror. I could see myself and everything thing they were doing to me. "Lily, that women who has yet to speak to you is Enid. She works wonders with hair and make up. So, Lily, while I clean up your body, she will take care of your hair." 

I nodded, feeling a little sad that I'd have a silent one in my face for who knows how many hours. Pippa mentioned something along the lines of avoiding 'beauty base one'. She grabbed a few bottles and some tools I've never seen before, smiled, and started washing my legs. I felt slightly uncomfortable, but I was certain she wasn't going to hurt me. Until she started waxing forty five minutes later. 

"Holy crap, do you have to pull that hard?" I asked. Enid, who was washing my hair, simply chuckled under her breath, the first sound I'd ever heard from her. Pippa smiled, shrugged her shoulders and pulled another waxy cloth from my skin. 'Sorry, Lily. It'll be worth it in the end, Lily."

In the two hours that past Pippa managed to turn my rough and slightly calloused skin into a soft and silky surface. Every particle of dirt was removed from virtually every crevice she could find. I felt clean. It was nice. Enid, likewise, had added a touch of color to my hair and curled it into waves. Instead of the drained out blonde I had before, it was brighter, a little bit more yellow. Almost like the golden blonde of Pippa's hair but lighter. 

Enid spruced up my smile with a metallic yet crystal clear like lipstick, bluish in color. I don't even know - Capitol make up is hard to describe, but it was pretty so I guess that's all that mattered. Black eyeliner and a bit of mascara brought out my eyes. The best however was the piercings she gave me. Three deep blue diamonds below each eye, Two rods in the dimples of my back, and a belly piercing. By the look of them I could tell it was worth a lot. Enid opened her mouth for the first time and warned me, "You're a feisty one. Don't get in a fight with these." 

"Lily, you are ready to go see Hatter now." Pippa helped me off the table and gave me a robe. Enid went back to corner, crossing her arms and smirking that signature smirk. I wondered what was going on in her head. "Just go through that room, Lily, and wait. He'll be there soon."

I did what I was told. The room was plushy, way more comfortable than the metal prison room I had just left. There was a little circular stage in the center, about a foot off the ground. I had been wandering around, peering through a ridiculously high window when a man came in. I jerked slightly, startled from his quiet arrival. My robe almost slipped but I quickly secured it around my waist. The man just simply waited until I lowered myself from the window. 

He was tall, a good seven inches above Caradoc perhaps, wearing black pants and a striking blue button-down shirt detailed with feathers or fuzz. I couldn't tell. His black coat was dazzled with small blue diamonds. The bangs of his hair was colored yellow, blue and some streaks of pink. I could tell the rest of it was blonde because his feathery top hat sat ajar on his head. He looked at me up and down and I smiled. 

"Lily." He said. I was taken aback by the sound of his voice. It was deep and resonating. Nothing like the high, squeaky voice I was imagining. "Have you fallen down the rabbit hole?" 

I thought I was a loony bin. "What?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"The rabbit hole, Lily. You've fallen through." He walked, swinging his diamond cane with a flick of his wrist. He picked up a book and tossed it to me. I caught it and looked over its tattering cover. 'It's obvious. I saw you out there on top of your train. You fell down the rabbit hole and you are completely floored." 

Speaking in code was one of the coolest things the Coalition taught its children. I highly doubted this guy had been... speaking in code. But whatever he was referencing was probably in the book he tossed me. But I didn't feel like reading. "Sure," I answered, shrugging my shoulders. "I did fall down the rabbit hole." 

The man raised his eyebrows and sized me up. I stood there, holding my ground. "I knew it." He said, setting down his crystalline cane. He clapped his hands together and grinned. "We have much to do Lily. I suggest you read that book while I prepare you. It'll take a while to get you dressed."

I was half amused and half annoyed. What was he going to put me in? Not something stupid like a miner's outfit, right? Not something like the getup he was wearing.. don't get me wrong, the flashy Victorian era clothing suited him, but it wouldn't suit me.  And what was with the crap of reading the book? At least I'd have something to do for the next million hours. 

He had me remove my robe and I did, though reluctantly. The rest of my stylists came in with boxes and instantly begin dressing me. I opened up the book and began reading. 

The story of Alice goes like this: On a warm summer day, Alice is interrupted from her sleepy reading session by a white rabbit. A talking white rabbit. She follows to rabbit down a rabbit hole. And everything goes insane. Through her adventures in wonderland she meets a series of human and sometimes not human characters. They were all.. weird, but lovable. The Mad Hatter was my favorite. Suddenly, everything the man said made sense. I fell down the rabbithole into Wonderland. I was Alice. At least, in his eyes I was. I wondered if my story would end like hers. 

I was nearly finished with the book when Pippa finally announced I was ready to go. She brought me to a mirror and asked me what I thought. I looked pretty freaking badass. Soon after, everyone besides Hatter left to prepare the chariot. 

"So Alice. Does everything make sense now?" He asked. I looked at myself in the mirror and shrugged. "Can I keep the book?" I said suddenly. He nodded his head and gestured for the door. 

Lorenzo rolled his eyes, giving a huff. "We are not your assistants. We are a team of equals. We do our part and you do yours!" 

Agamemnon opened his mouth to retort, but Iredessa spoke up first. "Let us not quibble over petty titles. I'd like to get to work." She stepped forward taking my face between her hands and turning it both ways. "Yes, you'll do very nicely for what we have planned." 

That seemed to snap me back to myself and I lurched away from the other woman, holding my hands up defensively. "Whoa, wait a minute. What exactly are you planning?" I asked nervously, my eyes darting between the three people.

Lorenzo rolled his eyes again. "For the parade? We have to get you looking your  best. You need to make a good impression, and we've been working on these plans for weeks now. It's a good thing we got you, and not some-" he paused a moment, considering his words, "less appealing girl."

Before I could get a word in edgewise, I was laid down on the table and being scrubbed down. They hardly spoke to one another as they worked and I tried to keep up with what they were doing, but from my position, all I could see were the bright lights embedded in the ceiling. 

"So dear, do you have a handsome honey waiting for you back home?" Asked Iredessa as she filed down my nails. 

I blinked, "Uh, n- no. Just my family. I- I have three brothers." 

"Three brothers? Well, if they're related to you, I'm sure they're just absolutely scrumptious!" Agamemnon called out happily from by my feet. 

I coughed awkwardly. "Well- I mean, they're my brothers so I don't really.."

"That's hardly an excuse. Even if they are, you have two eyes so I would think you would know what constitutes an attractive male." I could practically hear Lorenzo roll his eyes from his place at my head. 

I clenched my teeth, agitated by his obnoxious comments. "Well excuse me for not having a good handle on that sort of thing. Even if they weren't my brothers, I'm hardly inspecting every boy I see. Boy's aren't exactly what I'm looking for for that sort of thing since I like girls." I ground out. The flurry of activity around me stopped and I blanched, realizing what I had admitted. "Th- that's not-"

Agamemnon came back into my view, a wide smile on his face. "That's marvelous, darling! I'm ever so sorry for just jumping to conclusions like that! Let me rephrase. Do you have a lovely lady waiting for you at home?"

Pushing myself into a sitting position, I gave a growl of frustration. Where these people that dense? "No, I don't and I never will since I've gone and gotten myself a death sentence, okay?" I ran a hand through my hair and my eyes widened as I looked down at my hand, "What are you doing to my hair?!" I practically shrieked. 

Iredessa tilted her head, a slight look of annoyance on her face. "Oh come now. Calm down and lay back down. We have a lot to do and very little time in which to do it."

I stared at the three surrounding me, before doing what she said, my head spinning. Had they missed what I said completely? Or did they really not care about what I had admitted. I had said it out loud and the world didn't fall apart, nor did they stare at me in disgust. In fact, it seemed that they were in the same position as I was. Maybe that's just what the Capitol was like?  Or maybe my mom was just wrong about the whole thing?

As agitated as I was, I had lived years of my life being a compliant, obedient being, and I could hardly break the habit now. Staring back up at the ceiling, I said nothing as Agamemnon babbled on and on and the other two poked and prodded and pulled. Clearly these people were dense as the holiday fruitcake that gets passed around the factory during the holidays, and no matter what I said, they would just do or think whatever they wanted anyway. 

After what felt like an eternity, I was prepped, dressed, and ready for the parade. Staring into the mirror they had brought, I considered my appearance. It wasn't the craziest thing I'd seen the Capitol come up with, and for that I was thankful. 

"They're just going to adore you! It's going to be quite the experience! Smile, wave, be happy. Everyone out there is here to see you! Enjoy it!" 

The big man was the first to speak "My name is Jonas, this is Lee" he said pointing to the Asian man "and this is Alexandra." They all shook hands and I looked at them with my eyebrow raised "So what exactly are you guys going to do to me?" 

They all looked at each other and Alexandra was the first to speak up "Well honey, we are going to make you look presentable! Get you all dolled up for the parade and so sponsors will love to look at you!" She was so bubbly in her answers I couldn't stand it. 

"I don't need much done, I actually get to shower and everything from where I'm from." I said speaking up. I didn't want any of these people touching me at all. "No offense or anything really." 

They started to move towards me and Jonas was the one to speak up "No offense or anything but you don't have a choice, now lay down and let's get started." 

After a little while, Sutter woke up, and joined me.  He poured himself a drink and said good morning.  I just nodded in return.

“Ready for today?”  He asked with a small smile.  I shook my head.  Today was the parade.  That meant I had to be poked and prodded at by a elite team of designers whose mission was to make me beautiful.  I doubted that was even possible.  Flint came out of his room and poured himself a cup of coffee, giving us a quick nod as he saw us.  

“Parade day.”  He said with a fake smile.  Sutter and I nodded in unison.  “It’s pretty important.  It’s the Capitol’s first impression of you as a pair, as tributes, and not two faces at the Reaping.  You want them to remember you.”  He instructed.  It was too early for this.  I just wanted the day to be over.  Finally, Vienna came fluttering out of her room, her hair in luscious girls, and her face caked in makeup.  She smiled.

“Alright children, time to go!  Your prep team’s are waiting!”  She said with a grin.  She moved her hand in a come hither motion and opened the door.  I slid of my seat and followed her, with Sutter following behind me.  We took the elevator down to the lobby and Vienna quickly led us down a long hallway.  On both sides of us, tributes who had already arrived were being waxed, washed, and painted.  I clenched my teeth.  

We reached the seventh row, and Vienna grinned.

“This is where I bid you ado!  I’ll see you right before the parade, okay?”  We both nodded.  “Have fun!  Sutter you’re over there,” she said, gesturing to a door on the left.  “And Tessa, you’re right here.  See you later alligators!”  She laughed and trotted away.  

“Well, see you on the other side.”  Sutter said with a small smile and I nodded back.  I went over by the pair of girls standing by a door with a black seven engraved on it.  They grinned eagerly.

“Hi hi hi!”  One of them said, waving her hands excitedly in the air.  “I’m Annabelle, and this is Merryweather.”  She said, gesturing to the girl beside her, who had long blue and purple hair.  “Sit sit sit!”  She grinned, and gently pushed me onto the metal table.  I swung my legs around and laid back.  “Oh wait, you need to change.”  She said.  “Here, go put this on.”  She handed me what looked like a hospital gown.  I just stared at it, and then looked back up at her.  

“What?”  I asked.  Was she making fun of me?  She continued to smile.

“Well we don’t want to get your clothes dirty.  And I can’t wax your legs when you’re wearing jeans.”  She shook her hand and the down made that horrible ruffling noise I was all too familiar with.  I glared at her.  

“There’s no way I’m putting that on.  I’d rather be naked.”  I told her.  She smiled nervously.  “Seriously?”  I rolled my eyes and pulled off my shirt, quickly stripping down to just my bra and underwear.  

I sat back down on the table and they got to work.  Merryweather took out a hose and started to wash my hair, while Annabelle began to wet my legs.  

“Oh goodness my dear, you certainly are hairy.”  She said. 

“Yeah, they don’t give is razors in the insane asylum.”  I snapped back.  

“Oh...”  Was all she replied.  She began to wax my legs, and I winced with every pull.  Merryweather was a tad gentler, and I, dare I say, enjoyed when she scrubbed my scalp.  I’m sure it was disgusting and covered in scabs.  My hair hadn’t been washed in at least a week if not more.  She had to be dedicated if she was willing to go anywhere near it.  

After I was washed, dried, brushed, waxed, primped, and ready to go, it was time to meet my designer.  

Calder was what they called him.  I sat silently in the room in my under garments.  Finally, “Calder” came in.  He was tall, very tall.  His hair was dark and short, thickest on the very top of his head.  His suit was shiny, like it was silk.  Everything about him seemed to be exceptionally normal, except for his eyes.  His eyes were green.  Tremendously green, so bright and hauntingly green they couldn’t have been natural.

“Hello,” He said, sitting down across from me.  “My name is Calder Penn.  I’ll be your designer throughout the games.”  

“Hi.”  I said in return.  “I’m Tessa.”  He smiled.

“I know.”  He leaned forward on his seat.  “You know Tessa, I was extremely excited I was assigned to you.  This is my third year doing District Seven.  We’ve done seasons, forests, every year all they do is green.  Not this year.”  He grinned.  “Tessa, when I saw you in the Reaping, I knew I had to do something different.  You’re different, aren’t you.  I read your file.  You’re quite an interesting girl.”  

“It’s what they say.”  He chuckled a bit.  

“By the end of the parade, I want everyone to be talking about you.  Tessa Hale, the girl who fights to be free.”  

“Free.”  I said.

“Yes, free.”  He smiled, leaning in even closer.  “Free as a bird.”

---

I stood in front of the mirror.  The costume fit like a glove.  I couldn’t remember the last time I wore something that wasn’t my hospital gown, Reaping clothes, unless you count the tshirt and jeans I pulled on this morning and wore for ten minutes.  Tatum stood next to the mirror, smiling. 

“You look beautiful.”  She said with a grin.

“I look like you.”  I said, staring at the blush on my cheeks, my hairless legs, my perfectly curled hair.  

“You’re going to blow them away.”  Calder said, coming up behind me and putting his hands on my shoulders.  I kept looking at my reflection in the mirror.

For the first time in forever, I smiled.  I smiled at myself.  

The woman that walked in oozed more than just confidence, she was fierce. I hadn't met this woman before but I knew who she was, my mentor, Dahlia Black. 

I quickly lowered my hand and went back to eating my breakfast. Dahlia lowered herself on to the seat across from me and stared at me. Man, was she intimidating, but I decided I could be too. If I wanted to win, maybe I should emulate some of this confidence. My eyes found hers and we were locked in a stare down. We sat in relative silence for a couple of minutes just looking at each other. I noticed that she was flawless. Her eyebrows were perfectly shaped and her skin was empty of any sort of flaw. I could see how she could draw people in before destroying them.

She narrowed her eyes slightly before turning her attention away from me. "You're the first one of my tributes to ever battle me in that way. Usually they just look away. Mind you, I haven't gotten to mentor a lot lately," she added casually. 

I stared at her for a second before nodding slightly and smiling. I've gotten into her good books. Excellent. 

"So you're Clifton, huh? Alright, you'll be meeting your stylist and prep team shortly. Tonight's the Parade and you need to look sharp out there. But before you head down, let me take a look at you."

She gestured me to stand up and I immediately did, my napkin fluttering to the ground as I rushed to meet her request. Dahlia pulled me backwards by the collar into the middle of the room. 

Her bare feet padded on the wood floors as she circled around me looking me over. "Your muscle mass is relatively good. Not overly abundant, so you're gonna have a hard time with the larger tributes."

She hiked up the pant leg of my pajamas and surveyed my legs. "You'll be fast though, do you run?" 

I nodded, unable to speak. I hadn't been scrutinized like this before. Yeah, I was told to practice more, but this was more of an all or nothing sort of deal. 

"You have a nice face to look at," she said, squishing my cheeks with her perfectly manicured fingers. "Overall, not bad. I'm gonna guess that you're a swordsman or maybe a spear sorta guy." I was about to speak when she cut me off with a look. "Doesn't matter what you are, just don't show them it, okay? Go to all of the things you aren't good at. I don't want some idiot flaunting their special talent and then losing  because someone figured out their weakness." 

"Sure thing Dahlia. I won't let you down." I tried to make myself as confident as possible. I didn't want to disappoint her. This woman was amazing. She was the first Career to ever win and had broken the most kills record. 

"Good, you won't like it when I'm disappointed. Now head down to the Prep area and get ready to be pampered and stuffed into a costume." She turned away in search of someone else to scrutinize. I was obviously dismissed so I headed downstairs. 

After getting lost a couple of times, I ended up in a corridor which had many doors punctuating the grey, stone wall. In front of the closest one, a pair of women stood looking straight at me. They broke into huge smiles and ran towards me. "My darling!" one of them cooed, while the other linked her arm in mine. They lead me to a room with a steel table in the middle. The walls were lined with counters that had many of the same instruments that were stuffed away in my mom's drawers at home. 

"Alright, duck, we are your prep team! I'm Liara and that is Shelley. We're going to be fixing you up before our lovely stylist Irwin is going to put you in your costumes."

The name Irwin sounded familiar. My mother might have mentioned that name at some point. The details were fuzzy, but I felt like I should know that name. 

"Okay, I'm Cliff. It's nice to meet the women that are going to help me win the Games." 

They squealed before stripping me down and leading me to the table and telling me to hop on up. The metal was cold on my bare skin and I shivered a bit before the women started making me over. 

They chatted about their lives as they rid me of much of my body hair, washed my hair and scrubbed me down probably six layers of skin. I smiled and made jokes during the process. I also let slip a few choice swear words during the hair removal part. 

When they were done with my body, they flew out of the room and left me alone. I hopped off the table and looked at some of the instruments that they had left out. Scissors, razors, dyes, a whole multitude of other pieces of equipment that I wouldn't be able to name were strewn about.

I wandered around the room in circles, pacing. Ten minutes must of passed and I was bored out of my skull. There wasn't anything for me to do. My gaze fell upon a nail file that had been left haphazardly on a stool by the counter. I picked it up and weighed it in my hands. Now's not a bad time to practice. 

There were a few posters around the room of ladies in weird hairdo's and fancy get-ups. I chose a poster of this tall women in a red onesie and aimed for the middle of her right breast. 

The nail file flew from my hand and embedded itself in the woman's left breast. "Shit," I whispered. Knives were not my most consistent weapon, so I went around looking for some more things to throw at the red woman. 

For five minutes I picked up random instruments and chucked them at the poster. Only one landed on the desired target and I was getting a little bit frustrated. A knife left my hand just as the door behind me opened up. 

I turned around to see a guy, maybe only a couple years older than me standing in the door. I stared at him in confusion for a second, before a clatter shocked me into motion. "Fuck." 

"I'm sure your mother wouldn't approve of that language," the guy said as he beckoned me towards the metal table. 

"What would you know about my mother?" I asked, a condescending tone dominating my voice. 

"I know your mother pretty well actually. My name is Irwin and I'm your stylist." 

That's when it hit me. Whenever my mother came home she would rave about her protégé. And now I was getting to meet him for the first time.

"Well then, you probably know my mother better than me, Irwin." I hopped up on the table and sat up straight, keeping my gaze forward.

"You don't have to be jealous of me Cliff. I just want to make you look flawless for the Parade tonight. I want my genius to be showcased by the best possible agent."

"I'm not jealous." I said, a hint of anger getting in to my voice. "Did my mother set you up on this?"

"No, no. I took this on my own accord. I want to show the world what I can do outside of the watchful eye of your mother," Irwin replied. He reached into a wardrobe that stood beside the counter and pulled out an intricate looking costume.