Kim Seokjin

"This is fine, this is fine." The man paces around, throwing clothes at Seokjin. He mutters angrily to himself, but Seokjin can still tell that he's angry, or at least inconvenienced. ", boy, what's your name?"

"Seokjin," says Seokjin, still holding a pile of clothes. He follows his stylist into the small room to the side. "What's your name?"

The man stops in his tracks and stares at Seokjin. He's tall, dark eyeliner making his gaze intense, and Seokjin shrinks into himself. "Song Kyungil," he snaps, snatching the clothes out of Seokjin's arms. "Are you coming or not?"

Seokjin remembers watching the Panem Games once, in history class. For them, styling was a fashion show, and each contestant had their own styling team. In Greater Asia, though, styling is just another part of the general hype, and the government doesn't seem to put too much thought into it. Not much budget either, it seems, from the way Kyungil mutters curses under his breath.

"District 11 is known for, what, agriculture?" Kyungil growls. " it, we're going green this year."

"We go green every year," Seokjin reminds, but his stylist only grunts and waves the comment away.

"Not this kind of green." He shoves Seokjin onto a small wooden crate and produces - from seemingly nowhere - a measuring tape. "This year, you're going to stand the out."

Wong Kahei

Her stylist is a beautiful, cheery woman with long wavy hair and bright red lipstick. She's absolutely gorgeous, and Kahei is honestly a bit starstruck. The woman is a fast walker - she has to jog to keep up - and Kahei wonders how she can talk so much without being out of breath.

"So anyway, call me Nana." Before she can process what's going on, there's a perfectly-manicured hand in front of her face, and after a moment's pause, Kahei takes it.

"I'm Kahei." She hesitates for a brief moment. "You can call me Rosy if you want."

Nana smiles and ushers her into an empty room. "Oh? I styled a boy once, and he told me he had a little sister called Rosy."

Chiuwai. Kahei swallows the bolt of pain that shoots through her. "Yes," she whispers, looking down at the floor. Nana bustles around, seemingly unaware of her sudden change in emotion. "He was my brother."

The rustling stills. "Oh, honey." A pair of arms encircles her, and Kahei closes her eyes, basking in the warmth of rose-scented perfume. "I'm sorry. We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

A long time passes. Kahei eventually nods, and Nana releases her to look into her eyes. "It's okay," she repeats, serious. "I'll be here for you, okay?" Then, as if she doesn't want to dwell on the topic any longer, she turns to the pile of fabric behind her. "Now, it's time to fit you up. I can't wait to show you your outfit! It's going to be so cute on you."

District 6 is mostly transportation. Nothing about that is cute, and Kahei can't help but ask, "Are you sure?"

"Sure I'm sure." Nana shushes her quickly and pulls out a few pins. "Come on, let's get started."

Zhang Chunhua

"You're a real beauty, aren't you?"

To be honest, Chunhua's slightly uncomfortable under the woman's strong gaze. She tries to shrink into herself, but the stylist clicks her tongue and nods, a satisfied expression on her face.

"Now, if only you stood up a little straighter, we'd be all set." Finished with her inspection, she takes off her glasses and holds out a hand. "Son Gain. I'll be your stylist for the Games."

"Zhang. Chunhua." She doesn't know why she stuttered and wishes she hadn't. She can't afford to seem soft, not when she'll have to kill eleven other people to get home. Gain doesn't comment on the voice trip and nods, beckoning for her to approach the desk in the corner of the concrete room.

Everything about this place is run-down, and Chunhua can hear laughter from behind one of the walls. Gain makes an annoyed sound.

"They don't care for fashion here," she tells Chunhua, pulling a roll of colorful fabric off one of the nearby shelves. "So we're stuck in this dusty old warehouse with everyone else instead of having our own workplaces. Like in Panem." She holds the fabric out to Chunhua, who takes it with a start. The calico fabric is familiar to her; she works in one of the factories that produces this particular pattern.

Like an old friend, she supposes. Funny that she'd have a piece of home here. 

"All right, come look at this." Gain takes the fabric away again, moving away from her place in front of the desk. "This is the preliminary design for your costume on Parade Night. Which is, by the way, in... a week? Anyway, what do you think? Like it, hate it? Tell me so I can either get started or scrap it."

Like it? Chunhua loves it. She can't help the smile spreading across her face as she runs over fingers over the colors on the paper. "Miss Gain," she says with a laugh, "you're making me the best dressed tribute in the entire arena."

Yang Feitong

"So this is our dressing room." Feitong's pretty sure his stylist is gay. Queer, at the very least, from the feminine way he acts and talks. "Unfortunately, we never get a good budget - District 5, you know - but I fought tooth and nail this year! Hopefully we'll get at least some good material."

His name is Yoseob, or at least that's what he told Feitong. He wasn't supposed to be his stylist, but the actual stylist quit for some unknown reason. Feitong wonders what that reason was.

"Feitong, dear, I said come here." Yoseob whips out a long measuring tape. "I need to measure you before I can design anything."

He's... a bit uncomfortable. Yoseob seems like a genuinely nice person, but the way he acts puts Feitong on edge. Not a bad edge, not really -- not as bad as the nightmares -- just slightly uncomfy. It also doesn't help that the man is short and always seems to be looking at his chest.

"Raise your arms a little..." He darts around Feitong, taking what seem to be random measurements of various body parts. "Nice figure, dear, I can feel the inspiration coming already! Stand up straight for me?"

Ah. Yes. Speaking of inspiration, Feitong can't help wondering what sort of outfit he'll be forced into. District 5 isn't known for much, just electricity, but he's sure that District 3 will do something similar, technology and all.

He clears his throat. "Yoseob," he ventures. The short man hums, continuing to measure away. "Just wondering, what kind of outfits am I going to wear?"

Yoseob giggles. "Well, we'll have to see. Even I don't know yet!"

Lin Shuangyue

She hates her. Jia is the least compromising person ever, and Shuangyue wants to slam her head into the concrete wall.

"I cannot stress how much I do not want to be 'dolled up' for this stupid Parade," she says through gritted teeth. The other woman flips her short blue hair and lets out a dramatic - but clearly annoyed - sigh. 

"Honey," she drawls with a glance at her long nails. "Let's be honest here. I don't care either. I'd much rather be home, you know, designing fabulous clothes for the fabulous people who pay me fabulously." She spares a look at Shuangyue. "But the government paid me a lot, and I'm not here to it up, alright?"

Shuangyue rolls her eyes and grabs a fistful of the velvet hanging off of the mannequin behind her. "Look at this!" she hisses, shaking the fabric in Jia's face. "Look at this piss-poor quality! I have casual clothes that are better than this ." She lets go and stands up. "I'm sure I can design my own clothes or wear something from home.

"You will not." Jia slams her hand down on the table and stands up as well. "You will wear what I give you, and you will wear it even if it doesn't fit because you won't cooperate, because those are the rules, and I do not make the rules. You and I both know that--"

"Whatever." Shuangyue doesn't have the time or patience to deal with a shallow stylist today. She walks out of the room with a wave of her hand. "Suit yourself, make me something 'fabulous'."

Outside, CL waits for her beside a sleek black car. "That was fast," she remarks. "Must have gotten along, huh?"

Shangyue tsks. "I hope I never have to come back here," she mutters, watching the old warehouse disappear behind them as the car speeds away. CL chuckles.

"No, you won't. Today is just for measurements and stuff, and you'll train this entire week. On Friday, they'll come to you for fittings and make any last minute changes before the Parade."

That's a relief. "What about the interview outfits?" She pops a cracker into with a disapproving look from her mentor. "Do they just stay with us then?"

"Yes." CL checks something on her watch. "The Parade is Friday night, and the interviews are Sunday night. Ideally, they should have both outfits completed by Friday, but some slackers need the extra two days."

Shuangyue snorts. She has no doubt that Jia is one of those slackers.

Hwang Hyunjin

The room is small enough as it is, but the mess of cloth and paper makes it seem even smaller. His stylist utters a curse and digs around in the piles, finally coming up with two footstools.

"Sorry about the mess," he says with a sheepish grin. "Forgot you were coming today."

"No problem." Hyunjin steps onto the stool. "I'm getting measured, right?"

"Yep. I'm Taecyeon, by the way. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Hyunjin."

"..."

"..."

The silence is awkward. Hyunjin wishes Sunggyu had come in too, but apparently, the mentors and stylists aren't even supposed to know each other, much less meet, or it could be considered cheating on the District's part. It's not like he dislikes Taecyeon - the man seems friendly enough - but there's nothing to say. He hasn't had to actively make new friends in a very long time.

But he has to try, doesn't he? Especially since he'll have to pull allies in the Arena. Hyunjin clears his throat. "So, uh," he asks. "Where do you normally work?"

Taecyeon is obviously startled. "Me?" He laughs, as much as he can with pins between his teeth, anyway. "Nah, I'm not a professional designer. I'm actually a model, but sometimes I like to sew in my free time. I needed the money and hey, perfect opportunity."

That's a surprise. Hyunjin didn't even know that unprofessional clothing designers were allowed to be stylists. But maybe that's the point, the diversity and variety in people, that makes Greater Asia different from Panem.

"That's cool," he offers, and Taecyeon makes a noise of affirmation. "This is your first year, right?"

"Uh huh." Taecyeon finishes with the pins and straightens up. "Ah, that color looks amazing on you!"

Hyunjin turns around, looking at himself in the mirror. The fabric is loosely wrapped around his chest, with pins stuck everywhere, but he can't help but agree. The color does look good on him, and he appreciates Taecyeon's attention to detail.

"Wow," he says, turning to face the stylist. "That really is amazing."

b r u h i finally updated??? look at that lmao ofc it's during finals season when i have everything else to be doing....... did yall notice the cover?? i spent like an hour making a cover and other cover images uwu i told yall i'd finish this story if it killed me. and now i'm even more invested >:))))

also note that d5's stylist was supposed to be yong junhyung, but in light of the scandal, i decided to change him. i have literally nothing against yoseob (he's actually my bias); just thought it'd be a fun dynamic to write lmao.