Too Late for Regret (Artemis Johnstone D12)

[Deleted]

Artemis L. Johnstone

Artemis looked forlornly out the window, watching the scenery pass by at an almost impossible rate. Before she knew it they were at the Capitol. The rainbow of colors gave it away, that and the fact that the Escort was even more annoying as she started chattering so fast that it was impossible to understand her with her funny accent. Artemis stood as the train came to a stop and walked to the door. She stood at the threshold, looking at the Capitol. "Well here goes nothing," she said quietly to herself as she took her first steps in the Capitol. The first thing she noticed was the surprising lack of people. She was expecting crowds of people to get a look at the tributes as they came off the trains. Instead, the platform was deserted. Taking a deep breath, she followed her Escort to the remake center to meet the people that would soon change her into something the people of the Capitol would understand.

Walking into the remake center room assigned to her, Artemis was instantly greeted by three bubbly people. One looked fairly normal except for the fact that she had red skin and bright blue hair. The other two were more eccentric in that they looked more like animals than humans. One was obviously canine in appearance though Artemis couldn't place what kind and the other one baffled Artemis' mind as to what it was. Something vaguely feline but with more than a few other animals mixed in. Artemis was so startled by their appearance that she completely missed them telling her their names. Not that it really mattered. She highly doubted that she would ever see these people again. As they babbled, they pushed her to the tub at the far end of the room. The water was hot enough to steam as she got in the tub with more than a little blush. She wasn't sure of the genders of the animal people, but the one with red skin was obviously male. However she wasn't really given any time to get really embarrassed before they were all around her, scrubbing her skin and hair clean, making little noises of disgust as the water quickly turned an ugly brown color. Next thing she knew she was dry and sitting in a chair in the middle of the room where they sat her down and started chattering excitedly about what they were going to do, not giving Artemis the option of adding her opinion. She didn't have much time to fret about this as they started applying warm pieces of cloth to her legs then ripping the sticky things off along with all the hair in that area. The pain made her eyes water, and caused her to call out in pain. They were soon done with that area before moving on to her arms, which was a little less painful then her armpits which caused Artemis to cry earnestly in pain. They did her eyebrows next which Artemis was not prepared for and caused yet another round of tears. Thankfully though, they soon started applying a cooling balm to her skin, making it soft and silky to the touch though doing almost nothing for the pain. "Now for the clothes!" the vaguely feline person said, her voice sounding feminine as she scampered off to get the outfit Artemis was going to wear in front of thousands of people. She didn't get far before a woman in tall heels and a short dress came in and told her to stop. "I've changed her outfit," was all she said before wheeling a clothing rack in and showing the others what Artemis was going to wear. The remake team squealed over the outfit, commenting about the colors and the texture and this and that, but all Artemis could think was that it was horrible. It was a dress for starters and a short one at that. Two, there were heels that she was obviously expected to wear. She could barely see that there were earrings. "Um... my ears aren't pierced you guys!" she half shouted, fearful that they were going to pierce them for her. "Don't worry dear, we'll fix that right now!" the canine girl said as she took a piercing gun and loaded the earrings in, lining the sharp point against Artemis' ear and punching it through, doing the other ear just as quickly before Artemis could flinch. "Ouch! That hurt!" Artemis shouted at the canine woman who just shrugged and put the gun away. Artemis only sighed and drudged through the process of getting into the skin tight dress and the high heels. The jewelry wasn't that bad though it was almost all red, contrasting nicely with her coal black dress and heels. She wasn't sure what the point was, it's not like she was going to win the crowd over at all. Speaking of winning the crowd over, she was up and out of the chair, her hair being left down to cascade over her shoulders, adding more red to contrast against the black. She was ushered out the door and put to stand on a chariot that was drawn by two pretty dun horses.

She could hear the roar of the crowd as her chariot jerked forward when it started moving, the packed stadium-like building only causing the shouts to echo around. Artemis had to resist the urge to duck down in the chariot to avoid the stares of the Capitolites that seemed to be leering at her like she was a piece of meat for sale and by some of the looks, spoiled meat at that. She was so terrified that she simply made a small wave at the massive crowd before the chariot reached the other side of the building and she could breath a sigh of relief. Though the relief didn't last for long because she was just arriving at the training center. She could see each station and most of them frightened her. She had no idea how to use any of the weapons they had there except if they had a kitchen knife and the enemies were fresh vegetables. Artemis could only sigh in despair as she watched the others train, knowing she was sure to die and also knowing that there was no one to mourn for her at home.


Outfit!