"Do I actually have a pair of fighters this year?" Not knowing if this a rhetorical question, I keep quiet and so does Katniss. Haymitch gestures for us to sit down.
"Listen, if you don't interfere with my drinking, I promise I'll stay sober enough to get you out of there alive, alright?" Katniss and I both nod our heads in shock, Haymitch sober? This can't be possible, never in my life have I seen him sober. Well, this deal is better than him being dead drunk half the time.
"Also," He continues "Your not going to like what the stylists will do with you, but you must follow their instructions. I don't want to hear a single complaint, alright?" Great, they obviously have something either painful or extremely embarrassing for us to wear. I can't wait to see what it is!
Our tributes are always in the most horrendous outfits, either naked covered in coal dust or in skimpy outfits with headlamps, let's just say, District 12 rarely get many sponsors, if any at all. They all fall head over heels for the careers, in luscious outfits made by the best stylists the Capitol has to offer, whilst we get the amateurs or the plain pathetic ones.
Me and Katniss both nod, not knowing what they'll do to us. I'm just hoping we're not naked.
We finish our hot chocolates, and we are free to do whatever we like, I decide to go to the T.V room, I never watch T.V at home, mostly because it is rubbish. I obviously have to watch the Hunger Games, but other than that, our chunk of metal just stays in the corner of the living room.
It just sits there collecting dust for the rest of the year.
The Capitol actually has a decent amount of channels, dead stupid, but nevertheless something to do. They have 'quiz' T.V shows where citizens answer questions and do stupid things to compete for a money prize. Whilst District 12 die of starvation and poverty. You'd think they would be able to spare a couple cents for us, since these people win millions at a time.
Fed up with how stupid they all are I go to another channel, a cooking show!
Really? We're here with grain supplies and stale bread, whilst they learn how to cook a 'Thanksgiving dinner' what even is that? Thanks that they're the only place who can afford to have children without having the possibility of them fighting to their death?
I decide to go ask Effie what it is, then I realise she wasn't at breakfast, I decide I'll ask her that as well. I knock on the door, and it opens revealing a bubbly as ever Effie Trinket, "Peeta!" she squeals.
"What are you doing here?"
"I was just watching some T.V and found a cooking show, what's thanksgiving?" She looks at me as if that is the stupidest question she's ever heard, but she still answers.
"Well Peeta, thanksgiving is an old holiday they had before Panem, where they would pay their thanks for er... something, and they would have Turkey, potatoes and gravy usually, us Capitol citizens love any excuse for a festive dinner, so we thought we'd carry the tradition on!" She smiles in delight.
"While we starve, you learn how to cook fancy dinners, which we can't even afford to dream about, right?" I ask, this makes Effie confused, and I can see she is finding this little talk awkward so she tries to hurry the conversation up,
"Did you want to ask about anything else?" she says with hope in her face.
"Actually, one more thing," Her face drops "Why weren't you at breakfast?" Her face lights up again, probably glad I didn't ask anything crazy.
"I heard you two talking with Haymitch and didn't want to bother you, so I ordered my breakfast to my room." She points to her tray, happy with her answer, I nod and start to turn away when I hear the lunch bell, well finally I'm starving!
Effie quietly follows behind me, we sit down and are served an array of dishes, something they call Spaghetti Bolognese, Meatloaf, a Caesar salad, Prawn cocktail and a sampler of at least 10 different desserts. The only good thing about the Capitol, the food.
How something can taste so good, I don't know. Haymitch and Effie finally seem to be getting along, since he is slightly more sober, he's harsh but a lot nicer sober. They try to involve me and Katniss in conversations, I don't mind and so I happily carry on, but Katniss just answers quickly and keeps on eating.
The train suddenly rids of any natural lighting coming in, with the artificial light being the only source left, we must be entering the tunnels under the mountains to the Capitol. Probably only an hour or so left till we arrive.
I see Katniss tensing up, most likely reminded of the mines her father died in. Can't exactly blame her, she's probably claustrophobic, I wouldn't be surprised. Her father was blown to pieces. I feel so sorry for her, seeing her like this breaks my heart.
Haymitch and Effie say something about getting ready, and when the train suddenly starts to get a shining light through the window. Both me and Katniss run up to the window to find the Capitol literally shimmering.
People on the streets recognise the train and start waving, Katniss looks disgusted at me so I explain my actions.
"Who knows one of them could be rich and sponsor us." She still looks disgusted at me. You can't say I didn't try.
My prep team- Iris, Veronica and Xaiver - are rubbing me down with some sort of painful acidic substance, when I ask them what's it for, they tell me that it stops any hair growing. Thinking back to previous games, the male tributes have never grown a beard. It all starting to makes sense.
They shave any already existing hair, then throw me in a shower. It's only a few minutes until I meet my stylist. When I get out they blow dry my hair and comb it, getting all the knots out, I rarely comb my hair, so it hurts quite a bit and I wince a few times, but they're just babbling to each other, so they don't notice it.
"Wow, you look very handsome Mr. Mellark, all the Capitol girls will want a piece of you!" Veronica says whilst squeezing my shoulder, I sure hope not!
"Yes, Portia will be happy with you, very strong, good build. Well done team!" Xavier the 'team leader' shrieks an hugs his team, I wince purely by how high his voice is.
They take my robe off - stark naked, great - and leave me waiting for five minutes until my stylist comes in. Wow, she's actually quite pretty, no alterations, no crazy outfits, just a rose tattoo on her wrist. God, I wish I had my robe on right now. At least it doesn't seem to faze her.
"Hi, I'm Portia I'll be your stylist." Portia, Portia, I wrack my brain, and try to place her, until I realise that the reason I haven't seen her before is because she must be new.
"Is this your first year as a stylist for the games, I haven't seen you before. Sorry you got placed in district 12." I say,
"Me and my partner Cinna, your friend's stylist, asked for district 12. We have an idea, that no one has used before. You can put your robe on and we will have lunch." She has a slight smirk whilst saying that. Once my robe is on she leads me to another room.
"Wow, it's stunning" The view in here is much better than the train's, a whole wall is dedicated to be a window, where I can see the sparkle and shine of the capitol.
"I know, the people may not be the nicest but the view sure is inspiring" I can tell that I'll like Portia, she nice and unlike the typical Capitol stereotype, and her smile is the most comforting thing I've seen since my name was called.
She gestures me to sit down on the couch opposite her, she presses a button that reveals our meal, I can hardly make head or tail of it, but the taste is amazing. The dessert is better than everything we had on the train, it tastes like honey and spices.
Once we've finished Portia speaks,"Right, so about your costume, we are not interested in the whole coal miner get up, or the coal itself, we are interested in what happens to the coal." She eyes the burns on my arms and continues, "You should be used to fire by now right?" Great.
