56th HG Victor Presentation Ceremony

The Victor of the Fifty-Sixth Hunger Games had awoken that morning in a hospital bed. She'd been in it for a few days, she assumed, considering she'd come to consciousness in the same place quite a few times. It didn't look as if there were doors anywhere, nor were there windows; just a simple bed that she was lying in. There was no one else in sight.

As soon as she was awake enough to think coherently, she realized how much the isolation scared her. Alone...she was alone...how long had it been since she was truly alone? She was never alone at home; even her time spent in the privacy of her own bedroom was very brief, and besides, she always knew where everyone else was. And then in the Capitol it was impossible to feel alone, because there were always so many people around. During the night you could clearly hear the various city sounds, because the Capitol never truly slept; automobile horns blared, music played, pedestrians yelled for no apparent reason. And of course, she'd been lumped in with the other tributes so often that she'd grown sick of them, but she hadn't hesitated to ally with three others, fearing exile in the arena, even though she'd have to kill them all, anyway. It didn't matter that she'd run away from two of them eventually, because one had remained...and now that Nash was gone she was alone, in the truest sense of the word.

Absentmindedly Topaz let her hands run over the sleek fabric of the white sheet that covered her naked body. There was something off about the way it felt...or at least, something unusual. For a bit she couldn't manage to pinpoint exactly what it was, but at last she figured it out. Her fingers were expecting to brush the more familiar synthetic material of the sleeping bag. As soon as she registered its absence she sat bolt upright, her eyes darting around the room searching for something that was clearly not there. Where was it? Where was her last remaining, precious tie to the relationship that she'd so treasured during her time in the arena? She could only vaguely remember what had happened on the hovercraft taking her away from the flaming landscape however many days ago...had someone taken it from her? Yes...yes, she was fairly certain someone had. Why hadn't they given it back, though? What significance would it possibly have to them?

Suddenly there was movement out of the corner of her eye, and the District One teenager snapped her head around to watch as her stylist, Kaiser, entered through a sliding side wall. No sooner had he stepped into the small room than Topaz was up out of bed and on her feet. She had meant to approach him, to demand to know what the hell was going on and where her sleeping bag was and what she was supposed to do now, but a sudden wave of dizziness hit her and she was on the ground. Huddling into a rather pathetic looking ball, she allowed the nausea to pass, but neglected to stand back up again. It was all too much to deal with while on her feet - the floor was a much more appealing place right now.

Hearing a chuckle, Tope allowed one eye to peer up at the dark haired man, who was staring her with an expression of combined pity and amusement. "Here." Something fluffy and white was thrown at her, landing on her head; a robe, because of course, she was still naked. Not that she cared much about her appearance at that moment, though, but she supposed it'd be easier to confront the rest of the world for the first time in what seemed like a lifetime without her body exposed for all to see. Pulling it on, she stood up again, testing out her legs slowly to see if they would once again be able to hold her weight. Good; her head spun a bit more, but she was fairly stable. Physically, at least. "Told you I'd see you soon,"

[/color] she said aloud, attempting to channel the overconfident, strong tribute she had been when they'd last seen each other, but clutched at her throat as soon as she spoke. Why was her voice so hoarse? What was wrong? She never lost her voice; this was unusual. "What's wrong with me?"[/color] she rasped, turning to glare at her stylist as if it were his fault her words didn't sound right.

"Oh, come on. You're smart enough to figure it out." When she continued to stare at him with an utterly blank expression, he rolled his eyes and answered her question. "You breathed in quite a lot of smoke, Topaz. Obviously your voice is going to be affected." He said this as if it didn't matter much, but Tope was screaming inside. Permanently? She'd be croaking like a toad for the rest of her life? Her fear must have shown in her eyes, though, because Kaiser shook his head quickly. "Oh, don't worry, it'll be back to normal in a few hours. Just in time for the Victor Presentation."

The Victor Presentation. How could she forget about that? She'd be adorned in a stunning ensemble that would truly epitomize her new status, lifted up onto a stage in the City Circle surrounded by cameras that would record the moment for the entirety of Panem, and forced to watch a recap of the entire Hunger Games, starting right from preparation in the Capitol. Featuring her, their prized jewel, their latest champion. Lovely.

"Let me look at you." This demand was not surprising, coming from Kaiser; he had always been far concerned with Topaz's appearance rather than his young tribute charge herself, something that had irritated her before the Games but that she couldn't be bothered about now. Why should she care, anyway? The Capitolites were vapid, shallow people; she'd known that from the start. Kaiser was glad she had won, of course, but for his own benefit, not for hers. Because the publicity that come as a result of this triumph? It would be astounding. Especially since the previous two victors had been from District Twelve, the poorest district that was not supposed to even come close to winning, let alone succeed in two consecutive years. In a way, her win would restore order to the skeptical, conspiring nation. And anyone who had even the slightest involvement in it would be practically revered.

"Well, hair's still gorgeous as ever." Tope couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the stylist's comment, but sure enough, looking down at her locks of deep orange she noticed that they were indeed restored to their pre-Games state; glossy, well cared for, waving naturally down her upper back. From what she remembered, it hadn't fared well in the arena; she'd done her best to tame it, but seeing as there were no hairbrushes available in the giant wildlife death trap it had been next to impossible to maintain. She assumed that following the climactic fight with Takeba it had resembled a lion's mane more than an actual head of hair.

It was then that Topaz realized she hadn't seen herself in quite a long time. No mirrors had been at her disposal, and she'd only caught a glimpse of her reflection while at the lake all those days ago. Doing the same at the creek when she had been there was a laughable notion; after all, that was where she'd...where Nash had...well, it just wasn't surprising that her eyes had been preoccupied with staring at someone else. "Can I see myself, Kaiser?"[/color] the redhead requested; Kaiser was pulling a small hand mirror out of his bag in seconds. Taking it and gazing into the glass, at first she thought it was a different person entirely. This was not a person who had lived through the Capitol's idea of entertainment for close to two weeks. This was not a person who had received numerous gashes to the face merely a few days before. This was a person whose skin shined as if it had been pristinely polished, whose hair was so healthy it seemed to glow under the white light of the lamp on the ceiling, whose lips were full and a soft, natural pink. The only hint to what she had been through was the haunted look in her golden eyes. They couldn't fix that.

"Not bad, eh?" Kaiser obviously took her fixation with her reflection as appreciation for work that the doctors and remakers had done, when really she was just astonished. "Just need to fatten you up a bit, get those curves back. Shouldn't be too hard." Right when he spoke the wall slid open again and an avox entered, carrying a plate with a steaming bowl of something and placing it on the small table beside her bed before hurrying out once more. Kaiser nodded approvingly. "Yes, that'll be good. Try to eat something, I'll be back in an hour to start getting you ready for the--"

"She's gone, Kaiser."[/color] The words slipped off of her tongue involuntarily, laced with distress and hopelessness. She didn't know what she was expecting - maybe her relationship with Nash had actually managed to touch the heart of the man who had never really seemed to particularly care for her as a person at all? But his expression remained unchanged; maybe there was the slightest trace of sympathy, but it was clearly not heartfelt. "I know," he said, turning to leave the room. "But that's life, kid." It was the least consoling thing he could have possibly said. That's life? What was life? Losing the one thing you finally discovered you cared about? If that was life, than she wasn't sure how badly she wanted to live. As a former tribute, she was supposed to regard life highly, to treasure it, to value it. But instead, the Games had only made her come to think of it as even more disposable.

Topaz did intend to eat the food she had been brought, she really did. She was hungry, there was no denying that; nine days with hardly anything to eat would do that to a person. But her appetite was ruined immediately when she looked into the bowl and realized what it contained. The creamy orange substance gave off a smell that she recognized, one that she would be hard-pressed to mistake for something else. Pumpkin soup. They had given her pumpkin soup. Were they mental? Did they want to torture their victor further? The memories came flooding back, memories of a peaceful afternoon spent with Nash smasking pumpkins and revealing the various rather pointless treasures they contained. A red hat - what had happened to that? The fleshy, edible fruit of one, as taste she could still remember and that would no doubt come flooding back upon inhaling a spoonful of this pumpkin-flavored broth. And then they had kissed...reflexively she pressed two fingers to her lips, as if she expected to feel tangible traces of Nash's own. A low wail built up in her throat and before she knew it she was launching the bowl containing the soup at the wall on the far side of the room. It hit with a satisfying smash, shattering into many pieces and spilling its contents everywhere. A second later the avox - who apparently hadn't gone very far - was back. Her eyes widened at the sight of the mess and she quickly ran to clean it up, but it didn't matter. The damage was done.

Seeing as there was no clock in the room, it was impossible to say how long it was before Kaiser reappeared. But suddenly he was there, demanding she get up out of bed where she had been lying, curled up in a ball with her head in her knees since the avox had left. "I let you rest for long enough, time to get going! I've got an ensemble prepared that I think you'll like a rather lot." I don't give a damn what I wear; send me out in the nude for all I care. But Topaz got up anyway and followed him out through the sliding wall...at the last second remembering something very important.

"Kaiser, my sleeping bag...where is it?"[/color] She spoke slowly, as if listening over her own words. The man looked confused for a moment, but then seemed to realize what she was talking about. "Oh, that. Yes, they sent that back to your quarters at the Training Center. It'll be fine there, and it won't be in the way." Topaz's golden eyes widened and her voice rose in a high pitched cry as she spoke again. "No...no! If I'm going to go out there I need it! I need it here...not there...get it!"[/color] Breathing hard she made to run down the bare hallway with no real purpose in mind except to find someone and demand they go to the Training Center and bring her back the bedroll that was vital to her sanity.

Eventually one of the members of her prep team agreed to go fetch it, if only to stop Tope, who was wearing only a bathrobe at that point, from stomping around the hospital and causing a scene. Once it was in her arms again she felt safer, more content; she knew she'd have to leave it behind when she went up on the stage in just a few hours, but for now it would stay by her side.

Topaz allowed Kaiser to dress her, not paying much attention to what he was doing as she had the various times he had done so before the Games. It was a full sized gown, she gathered that much, but refused to look down at exactly what it was until her makeup and hair had been completed and the stylist insisted that she look in a mirror or so help him he would send her out in front of the entire country completely naked. So finally she opened her eyes...and was completely astounded by what she saw. The gown was simple yet elaborate at the same time; strapless with beaded accents. But what was most prominent that it was entirely made of material of deepest black. It was a mourning dress. For a moment she couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe...Kaiser understood.

"Alright, we're late, time to get going." There was no hidden tone in his voice, but he took the sleeping bag and gently put it on a chair in the corner, so that she'd be able to remember where it was and come back for it as soon as the ceremony was over. Tope looked hard at him and allowed her eyes to say what her mouth couldn't seem to formulate. Thank you. She would allow herself to be fooled into thinking someone else cared, because the empathy was what she really needed right then, as she was about to be forced to re-watch things she never wanted to remember and accept congratulations as if nothing could ever top standing up there on that stage as Victor.

The lights were blinding. That was the first thing she registered as the platform rose up to face the deafening roar of the Capitolites filling the stands throughout the City Circle. Topaz couldn't bring herself to relish the attention as she had during preparation week before being shipped off to the arena. Why did they cheer? All she'd really accomplished was the murder of people...innocent people...even though she may not have liked all of them, they still had a right to live, didn't they? Nash, the girl she had loved...Takeba, her ally...and all those others who had died, if not by her hand alone. As she stoically faced the crowd and felt the golden crown placed upon her head she came to the conclusion that at least for tonight, her black gown would not only mourn the death of Nash, but the death of all those others, too. Because she got to live, and they didn't. It was only fair. And so as she sat upon her throne as the victor she was, Topaz Ross prepared to smile for the cameras for what she knew would not be the last time.
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