I Am The Mockingjay.

Chapter Four

Gale

I sit staring at the boring grey walls in the room I'm in. Thinking about all the torture I've endured in the past couple of hours.
"Whatever they do to you, don't you dare resist it."
Haymitch told me hours ago as we left the train. Putting Dawn and I into the hands of our Prep teams.
After an exchange of curses and a knife stabbed between his fingers, Haymitch became quite a different person at breakfast this morning. Agreeing to actually try and be a good mentor. Though I still don't and probably will never trust him, I need all the advice I can get.
My prep team shaved, waxed, and lotioned every part of my body. It was the most painful experience of my life. And only now do I feel bad for the turkeys I occasionally catch and pluck to eat back home.
Suddenly the door to the room opens and a young woman with dark skin and a bald head walks in. She doesn't say anything but simply flicks her finger upwards, motioning me to stand.
Her eyes are a golden hazel color, surrounded by thick black eyelashes. A touch of gold eyeliner under eyes makes her irises seem as if they are indeed made out of gold. Rings of the same gold are pierced through her nose and ears, but their subtle. They don't overpower your eyes like most Capitol citizen fashion statements do. It seems almost natural for her.
She walks around my half naked body, eyeing me up and down with a mysterious look in her golden eyes. Oddly shaped rings on several of her fingers tap together as her hands move from her chin and hips. Her black heels click against the tile floor until finally she stops in front of me, crossing her arms over her figured black dress.
Her eyes take one last measurement of me before they meet my gaze.
"My name is Portia, I'm your stylist."
I nod in acknowledgement before my gaze shifts. Her eyes pierce so deeply into mine it feels as if she can read my thoughts, I try to avoid her gaze. She makes an effort to regain it.
"I'm sorry this is happening to you Gale."
   My eyes meet hers and they tell me she is sincere. Which confuses me.
"Why do you care?" I ask. A small sad smile tugs at the corners of her lips.
"Gale, not all of us in the Capitol agree with how we do things."
   Her golden irises continue to bore into mine, but this time I can see into her mind. Something tragic has happened to her. I see it as clear as day, because I saw it in my eyes when my father died in a mine explosion when I was thirteen. And whatever has happened to her has kept her from saying anything. About the Capitol, about how she disagrees. And that's why she's still here.
   And what I see makes my heart fill with rage. How dare they. How dare the Capitol, President Snow, prey on the innocent to remain in power. How dare they create such terror to keep the Districts in line, the people I love in line. And they all get to sit here and live in luxury? Completely ignorant of how they got their riches.
   Portia seems to notice the rage in me because she puts her hands on my shoulders.
"But that's a conversation for another time."
  I give her a curt nod, which she returns. Her hands release their hold and she crosses them back over her chest.
"So, tonight is the tribute parade. Where you will be shown off to all of Panem, I hope you have been told about how to get sponsors?" She asks.
I smirk.
"Yeah I guess that's why you're here right? To make me look presentable. Let me guess, we're going to be stark naked and covered in coal dust?" I ask her somewhat sarcastically and somewhat out of fear. The method had been used before, and it only made the games that year even worse than they usually were.
   Portia smirks back at me.
"The thought had occurred to me but I'm sorry to disappoint you. My partner Cinna and I wanted to take a different aspect in things." As she tells me this her eyes light up with excitement.
"Like what?" I inquire her, genuinely curious. She walks to a different wall tan which she came in and another door slides open.
"Follow me." She instructs matter of factly. I jog to catch up as she leads me through a series of hallways and doors until we find ourselves in a large room. In the middle there's a table and round couches surrounding it. At one end there's a big closet and at the other end a few panels of mirrors. Portia sits down on a couch and motions for me to sit on the one across from her. I sit down awkwardly, for a moment remembering I'm still just in a towel. She presses a button on the table and I watch in amazement as the wood opens and an array of food appears from inside.
"Eat. Then we'll talk." She doesn't have to ask me twice. I gorge myself in the rich delicious food for several minutes before Portia starts to chuckle.
"Of you tell me to use my manners, we can't be friends." I grumble, still eating a large roll.
"Gale the food isn't going anywhere." She states still chuckling. I chew my food a little slower and blush from embarrassment.
   Once I'm done Portia has me stand in front of the mirror while she grabs my costume from the closet. I'm quickly put into tight black leather pants, which aren't very comfortable, a long tight leather shirt and tall lace up black boots. She then fits a crown on my head and a cape around my shoulders.
"No offense, but how is this supposed to steal the crowd?" I glance skeptically at my reflection, before following Portia out the door. She chuckles,"You'll see."