Capitol Pawns

Tomorrow I get launched into the arena.

Tomorrow the fight for my life really begins.

Tomorrow I will likely die.

I try and push those thoughts to the back of my mind, but they still manage to creep forward almost every waking moment.

Cherish your last day, Scout. It’s all gonna end tomorrow. I think. No, what am I saying? Don’t think like that! Fight, Scout, fight!

It takes everything in me to force down a plate of food at lunch. I don’t even want to think about tomorrow. I don’t want to know what fate lies ahead for me. What the arena has in store. What kind of mutts will be sent to mutilate me and my fellow tributes. No, I have to make it through today first.

The minute lunch is over, Mercury sweeps me and Colby into the elevator to meet up with Remus and Prima. Remus meets me with open arms, waiting for a hug because he knows I probably need one.

It’s amazing the calmness that comes with my trips to see Remus. Throughout the entire ordeal, he’s been a constant source of level-headedness and understanding. Although I’ve grown close with almost everyone on my team, including Blight, who isn’t even on my team, Johanna, who I want to kill half the time, Colby, who will have to die in order for me to return home, and Mercury, no matter how odd or unaware he is, it comforts me to know that Remus will come along with me for the duration of my time. Whether that be until tomorrow when I get launched into the arena or after the Games on the Victory Tour.

Regardless, his presence remains the only thing that can calm my nerves.

I greet Remus and the team before stripping off my clothes.

My prep team surrounds my body to look for any imperfections that may have crept up since their last visit. I guess they determine my deep scrub in the shower a few days ago isn’t sufficient because Albia orders a full body scrub and Felix goes off with his work.

He doesn’t say much today, only muttering directions every so often to shift my body so he can scrub somewhere else. His eyes flitter away from mine any time we make eye contact and I can only guess he’s distancing himself from me.

I don’t blame him.

If I was in any of the prep team’s positions, I wouldn’t speak to the tribute I was assigned. I’d do my work and get on my way in a timely fashion. I wouldn’t want to get emotionally invested in someone who wasn’t worth my energy and involvement.

Maximus, on the other hand, is his usual chatterbox self. He talks so fast I can’t follow and changes topics so often it’s like he’s speaking a foreign language. It’s only when Albia proclaims their completion that I’m left in silence with Remus.

I’m glad the silence that surrounds us isn’t awkward. I feel so completely comfortable in Remus’s presence that nothing could make me feel awkward. Even standing butt naked in front of him.

“What do I do tonight?” I ask, stepping into a green gown adorned with pale green flowers.

“Wow,” I say, looking at myself in the mirror.

“You like it?” He asks, genuinely worried.

I nod like a crazy woman with the biggest smile on my face. It’s even better than his chariot outfit.

“You made this?” I’m in awe. It’s beautiful.

“With these,” He raises his hands up slightly, wiggling his fingers around, and laughs.

Remus is a genius. Whether or not he will ever admit to it is beyond me, but he’s a genius. The way his mind works and the way his hands can craft masterpiece after masterpiece is beyond any normal person’s capability.

“So what do you think?” He asks. “You never did answer.”

I turn to face him and roll my eyes. “What do you think? I love it.”

A wave of relief rushes through his body and he lessens the tension in his forehead muscles. “Oh, good! I thought we were going to have to try on more!”

“There are more?”

How on god’s green earth does he have time to make more than one?

“Of course, Scout,” He replies, throwing open a door to reveal quite the collection of extravagant dresses. “I didn’t know if you’d like it, so, I, uh, pulled a few all-nighters to make sure there was at least one.”

He helps me out of the dress and hands me underclothes. I gladly pull on a pair of underwear and a tank top before he places me in a chair in front of the vanity.

His long fingers intertwine themselves in my frizzy hair and he chuckles under his breath.

“What?” I half ask, half whine, curious of what he’s making fun of me for.

Remus shakes his head. “You have quite the rat’s nest in this hair of yours.”

“So I haven’t showered in two days, big deal,” I say, crossing my arms stubbornly over my chest.

“You’d think your prep team would have caught on to that,” He says, going back to work, brushing out the tangles.

Not with their attentiveness today. Albia seemed more than ready to call it quits with the whole operation the moment she walked in, Maximus couldn’t shut up long enough to lay a single eye on me or his work, and Felix looked like he would rather die than be in here.

“Not likely,” I say.

Remus smiles.

“I guess we just have more time together than originally anticipated.”

The way he can turn any negative into a positive is beyond me, but his glass half full persona has helped me tremendously. If it weren’t for him, I would probably be wallowing in my last few moments of life and regretting everything that has happened over the past week. But no, even throughout this entire experience, through all the negativity, there’s always the fact that Remus was brought into my life. That’s positive enough to get me through the hardships, because I know no matter what, there’s no going back.

The Games are happening, and they’re happening now.

Remus’s part in my life has not only been to make me look good, but he’s made me feel good, too.

“Remus,” I say, and then stop. I don’t know what I was going to say, but I can’t find the words to finish.

“Hm?” He hums, running the warm water and helping me lean my head back into it.

I close my eyes and the water runs over my hair, soaking it into a mop of wet knots. “Never mind.”

Remus washes and conditions my hair before turning off the faucet and wrapping a towel around my head.

“Scout,” He says, and he stops.

“Hm?” I mimic him.

He looks at me for a minute and shakes his head.

“I know this all sucks for you right now, but I’m really glad I got to meet you,” He whispers.

If it’s not cheesy, I leap into his arms, but if it is, I merely go in for a nice hug. His muscular arms wrap around me and encompass me in warmth and comfort.

“You’re my best friend,” My words are muffled in the crook of his neck, but he gets the point because he squeezes me even tighter.

Queue the waterworks.

They free fall like there’s no tomorrow and there’s no stopping them now. Unlike Johanna, who begged me not to let those eerie little water droplets ooze from my eyes, Remus laughs to cover his own.

“You’re my best friend, too, Scout,” He replies, wiping a tear from his eye. “You’re twelve and you’re in this situation that would make others crack, but you go about it with this, this courage and I admire it so much. I wish I could be as brave as you.”

It goes from there. We just complement each other every time the other does, until we’ve literally tuckered ourselves out from our bonding session.

Finally, he pulls me from his grasp and sits me back down in the chair. My hair has had time to dry on its own and has decided it would like to settle all over the place. It’s not a surprise because that’s normally its decision, but Remus’s magic hands work it until its settled flat on my head.

“What are you going to do with it tonight?” I ask, mesmerized by the bottles upon bottles of product sprawled in front of me.

“Let it go all natural.” He responds, picking a bottle of anti-frizz cream off the counter and applying a generous dollop in his palm.

“You’re crazy,” I say, knowing it will end up in some frizzy mess with stray pieces sticking out every which way. “There’s no way it’s going to stay.”

“How dare you question my work!” He plays, rubbing his hands together before running them through my hair, coating my waves in straitjacket cream. “No, but seriously, I may be slightly crazy to try this out, but you have a good head of hair. Let’s show it off!”

Over the next twenty minutes, he applies a number of products to my hair, all in the hopes it can hold it where he wants it. He places stray pieces in their place and takes a step back to look.

“Good?” I ask.

“Nope,” He answers, placing a hand over my eyes to cover from the hordes of hairspray he uses. “We still have some decorations.”

He takes out a baggie full of pink flowers I recognize from back home.

“Dogwood,” I announce. “We have those in 7.”

“I know,” He places the flowers in my hair, his fingers meticulously plotting the placement of each. “That’s why I picked them. When I studied 7 I saw them in pictures and couldn’t help but think how pretty they were.”

After he places about ten flowers in my hair, he allows me to examine his work.

“I love it.”

“Good.” His face lights up at my approval.

Apparently we’re way ahead of schedule, because Remus holds off on putting me in my dress for a while longer. We sit playing games like patty cake and concentration until he deems it necessary for me to look classy.

I pull off my tank top, careful not to disrupt the work of genius on my head and step clumsily into the dress. Remus steadies me as he ties up the back and turns me around to marvel in his work.

“Looking good, feeling better!” I cheer.

This makes him laugh. “I’m glad you’re living the good life right now.”

“Me, too!” I wiggle my toes and turn to face him. I point down to my feet and cock my head to the side. “What about this whole thing?”

“Ah!” He says, turning and digging through a drawer. He turns and holds up a pair of dance paws proudly.

“What?”

Remus helps me sit and explains he’s going for the wilderness girl appearance because that’s who he thinks I feel most comfortable as. Frankly, he’s right because I am a wilderness girl. He places them on my feet and I stand.

“Twirl,” he instructs, holding out his finger for me to hold on to.

I do as I’m told and watch as the dress whirls around me. I feel pretty. Well, I don’t feel pretty. I feel like the work Remus has done is pretty, not so much me. The dance paws give me a barefoot appearance which I guess ties in to the whole “wilderness girl” theme he’s going for.

“Gorgeous,” he nods in approval.

A few minutes later, Mercury comes to collect us. The nerves settle in the pit of my stomach and it feels like butterflies are having a hardcore dance party inside me.

Colby stares wide-eyed at me when we meet up and I can’t help but feel self-conscious.

“What?” I ask, staring back at him.

He looks nice, dressed in a simple white button up with a pair of black dress pants. It’s subtle, but captures Colby’s personality: subdued.

“You look great,” He says. “You look like a pixie or something.”

“Well, thanks,” I answer, questioning if a pixie was something I should be offended to be compared to, but he said I looked great. “You look really nice, too.”

“Thanks.”

When we find the other tributes, everyone’s eyes immediately land on me. I know Remus’s work is amazing and I guess it’s sort of great that I’m drawing in attention, but it’s scary that the other tributes are noticing me. I’d hoped I would be able to fly under the radar with little to no recognition from the others, but that looks like it’s not going to work anymore.

“Wow, 7,” The boy from 6 says when we line up to begin interviews. “You look stunning.”

It’s the same boy I’ve had run-ins with over the past few days at training. He’s never come right out and told me he was an ally, but he’s been nothing but nice. But he doesn’t look like one to just throw around niceness for the sake of being nice, so I’ve sort of put up a guard against him. Still, his muscular and athletic build make him an ideal candidate for allies.

“Thanks,” I blush. “You look good, too.”

He does. Oh, my goodness. Like Colby, he’s dressed simply. He’s wearing a grey suit that fits well to his body. It accentuates his blue eyes and makes them pop.

“Well thanks! Good luck tonight.”

“You, too.”

I’m glad I’m standing in front of Colby because it separates me from the girl from 8 whose eyes never leave my body. It feels like someone is shooting me with lasers and it isn’t until I turn around that she shifts her gaze to meet mine.

“Making quite the impression, huh?” She sneers.

I turn around and try to ignore her. The pounding of my heart almost covers the sound of her voice, but I can still make out her words.

“Making quite the impression in my mind, 7.”

Slowly the line inches forward as each tribute’s three minutes run out and the sound of the gong signals the end of their time. Before I know if, the boy from 6 is glancing at me once more over his shoulder and the butterflies pick up their fluttering in my stomach.

Caesar Flickerman’s voice booms through the speakers. I try my best to keep a steady breath, but it’s hard. I feel like I’m going to puke, but I know I can’t.

What do I do? I ask myself. What front do I play? Innocent? Confident? What would Johanna want me to do? Why didn’t we talk about this before hand?

There’s a million questions I’d like to ask her right now, but it’s too late because I’m being summoned onstage.

“And let’s give a warm welcome to the female tribute from District 7, Scout Devereux!” Caesar exclaims.

The crowd roars in welcome as I pad my way slowly to center stage. My hands grasp at each other in front of my stomach as I find myself standing next to Caesar Flickerman himself. He smiles and puts a reassuring hand on my back, turning to face the crowd who still goes wild.

“Look at how stunning she looks,” He says. “Isn’t she gorgeous?”

I hear them, but I only look for one face in the crowd. I scan row upon row until I find his friendly face in the first row of the balcony. He smiles and gives me a thumbs up which immediately calms me down a bit.

He takes a seat and motions for me to do the same. I sit on the edge of the seat and lean forward slightly.

“So, Scout, tell us a little about yourself,” He says.

I crack my thumbs and look to Remus for inspiration. I know he has full confidence in me, so I take one deep breath and shrug off my nervousness.

“I’m from District 7, the lumber district, and I have an older brother, Callum, and two younger sisters, Cadence and Bug.”

“That’s quite the name.” He laughs.

I nod and giggle a little, too. “Yeah, when she was little, her eyes used to bug out of her head so Callum and I just started calling her Bug and it stuck.”

“Are you and your siblings close?” He asks, leaning back and crossing his legs.

I smile. “Yeah.”

“That’s good. And how has your time in the Capitol been?”

I shrug my shoulders and smile. “Everyone has been more than accommodating and helpful. It’s been wonderful seeing it and experiencing the different lifestyle.”

“What a curious little girl! And strong, too. A 10, Scout? That’s quite impressive!” He says, looking to the crowd for support. They cheer loudly and I think I’m going to go deaf. It’s so loud.

I just nod. I’m sure I look like either, A, the sweetest, most innocent little girl you’ll ever meet, or B, the craziest, dumbest girl in the world.

“And one last question,” He says, sitting forward in his chair. “Who is your stylist? Can I steal them?”

“No!” I say, both joking and dead serious. “His name is Remus and he’s a complete genius. I don’t know how he comes up with these designs, but he is amazing.”

“I think we’d all agree, wouldn’t we?”

I flinch at the deafening roar the crowd emits one last time. The buzzer sounds and Caesar thanks me for my time. I look up to the balcony as I exit the stage, but he’s gone.

As I make my way down the steps, I’m greeted by Colby who’s on his way up.

“Good luck,” I say, giving him a quick hug before noticing Remus behind him.

I leap off the stairs and land safely in his arms. There’s a lot of hugging between us tonight…

“You did so well!” He sets me on my feet and I look up at him, trying to read his face for any hint of a lie, but there isn’t one.

“Really?”

“Are you kidding? The crowd loved you! You had them eating out of the palm of your hand.” He assures me.

“I think they loved you, too.”

He shakes his head.

“My work is nothing without a great model.”

“Aw, shucks, Remus. I’m blushing.”

He holds my hand as we walk past the rest of the line. Freya smiles and gives me a thumbs up.

“You did great!”

“Thanks. Good luck, Freya.”

She turns back to her district partner and they continue conversing, but I catch the boy from 12 looking at me. I smile and nod but he just looks confused as I walk away.

I’m living the good life, right now. I think I may have just gained some sponsors, but that entails getting past the bloodbath tomorrow to reap the rewards.