Tribute Parade - Official submission

[Vester Lombard]

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You stand next to your district partner in a horse drawn chariot and are wearing district themed costumes of your own design. As you enter the training center, rows of screaming spectators on either side of the runway applaud and chant your names. What do you do?

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Work together with the tribute from your district to decide on your costume and grand entrance. Discuss your plans in your designated hotel room. Each tribute is allowed one post in this forum. Make sure you check to see if your district partner has already posted in this foru. You might be able to play off of his/her actions. Remember, the more creative the presentation, the more sponsor points are awarded!

For costume ideas, use this link to see district themes:
thehungergames.wikia.com/wiki/Panem

NOTE: Please be realistic and stay within character. You cannot summon a dragon and defeat it with wizard powers for the delight of the crowd. Ridiculous posts will be deleted.

Example submission:

Jonas waits nervously until he hears the announcer call out "District 3!" and the horses pull his chariot onto the runway. The crowd erupts with applause. He feels absolutely ridiculous in his gold plated robot costume, but seeing the confidence of Sarah and the energy of the crowd he can't help but let out a little smile.

UPDATED DEADLINE: Please submit your post by 5:00 PM Sunday, July 28

[Natalya Aeglaeca]

Natalya walks into the chariot room. Her long blond hair is slicked back in a bun and her eyes are covered in a smokey shadow highlighting the green. She is wearing a black sleeveless lace and silk dress. The silk fabric covers her chest, torso, thighs and has a slit that allows the dress to flow behind her. The lace fabric covers part of her hips and back and becomes interwoven with the silk train. She steps up onto the chariot, takes a deep breath and looks forward and does not move her gaze until the chariot procession is over.

[Quinn Watson]

When Talia arrives, she finds the tiny 15-year-old Quinn underneath the chariot messing with some things. He is dressed in what looks like a silver body suit. After calling his name a couple times she hears a grunt and a loud bang followed by a cuss word. Quinn emerges rubbing his head. His face was covered in silver pigment, but there's a large spot missing on his forehead now. The silver hue highlights his yellow hair and gold eyes.

"Oh...hey. Put this on." He throws a mess of silver fabric at her and then rolls himself back under the float.

After finishing the float, Quinn walks over to the dressing room and pleads his make up artist to fix him. After a couple of sassy comments and some more make up, Quinn is all ready to go.

"District 3!" The announcer calls out.

Quinn quickly gathers himself before they enter the hall. The chariot lights up the hall with brilliant colors and the silver body suits begins to light up in glowing circuit patterns.

Upon first entering the hall, Quinn maintains a blank stare. But, after seeing how well his suit and lights have worked out, a wide grin crosses his face he can't help but literally bounce with joy.

[William Mandela]

Harmony and William gathered at the entrance for the opening ceremony. Harmony paced back and forth in the corner of waiting room for the chariot to arrive while William focused on the other tributes as they got ready for their grand entrances. Both gathered as the chariot finally arrived. The look on both of their faced quickly changed from anxiety to excitement. The chariot was perfect!
"District 4!"
A stone vessel emerged from the gate of the waiting area. Atop was a young girl dressed in a dark blue gown wrapped close enough to her torso to emphasize her emerging women features. As a finishing piece, Harmony wore a cap with a fine fishing net laced around her beautiful dark blond hair draped just slightly in front of her face. Standing directly on her left was handsome young boy. Being very well fit as a swimmer, his dark blue suit was very fitting to his style. His undershirt was a lighter sea green resembling the coral life. Instead of a silk scarf in his suit pocket there was a fish net similar to Harmony's head piece. Together, the both of them looked majestic on the vessel.

Outside in the main entry theater, the murmers axiously as team after team of tributes is present. Growing louder and quieter with their individual districts. The comentator comes over the p.a.

"Well its been truly, truly exciting watching the tribute parade this year. Absolutely fascinating watching the variations in theme and pagentry, wouldnt you say so?"
"Absolutely fascinating!"
"And district three leaves the arena, let's see what district four has for us."

The lights dim and a spotlight appears at the chariot entryway. The crowd reduces to a hushed murmer as confusion begins to set in within the crowd "Uh... I'm sorry folks there seems to be some sort of delay in the..."
A visceral roar of crashing surf breaks over the loudspeakers, building in bravado. Upon the deepest and most explosive crash the District 4 chariot bursts through the archway.
As soon as the chariot's back end left the waiting room the real show began. From the bottom of the vessel emerged several small capsules evenly spaced. Without a blink, jets of water shot out of the capsules in a outstanding fashion creating a show within itself.
Saluting, tridents and nets in hand, the duo ride towards center stage upon and elegent and flowing chariot of opal, pearl, and shell.
"Oh my what an entrance!", raves the comentator. "The District 4 teams rides in on a very classicly themed chariot for the maritime district.. eh.. what is that leading the chariot? Are... are those..."
"Yes, yes they are! The District 4 chairiot is being propelled by a pair of 15 foot long, luminous jellyfish!"
"One must believe these magnanimous beasts are merely a projection, like the flaming costumes of previous tributes, lest the laws of physics no longer mean anything. Just look at the scale involved! Absolutely whimsical. Serendipitous!"

The fluorescent pink and purple and cyan of the jellies pulse rhythmically with the crashing waves. Their elegent flowing tentacles mingling the ever flowing tendrils of water cascading from the chariot itself. They flow through the final turnabout and ajoin the previous tributes at the finish line.

[Baldwin Gamut]

Baldwin's dark hair matches the all black dress suit that Natalya has picked out for him. He was hoping for a more creative demonstration, but Natalya insisted that "This is how the judges realize strength!"

As the chariot lurches forward, he finds it hard to put on the all serious demeanor that Natalya wears all too naturally. Baldwin lets a smile crack, and the judges notice. He can't help but think " this is a game after all. Games are meant to be fun!" Baldwin is convinced that he can help Natalya loosen up a bit.

[Alona Fisher]

Alona took a deep breath as her district was called. Her hair fell in a choppy pattern around her face, streaks of gold flowing down her back. Her dress was nothing to look at at first. When she stood still, it was nothing more than strips of fabric hanging from her shoulders, brushing against her hips. Underneath she wore a nude one piece to cover herself and when the fabric parted in certain ways, it gave the allusion of skin. Personally, Alona thought it looked like some poor imitation of a flapper dress and nothing more.

It was when the chariot started to move that the dress really came to life.

Strings of what looked like beaded grain flowed all around her, swishing through the air and snapping up against each other in a violent display. But as she moved, her dress swirling around her waist, the beads hit each other, ringing out across the stadium. The soft and delicate memory of bells sounded through the room as she moved and as Alona heard the soft and sweet rhythm, she smiled at the crowd.

[Dolan Tawt]

Dolan stepped onto the chariot next to his fellow tribute in a custom tailored pitch black suit made of some fabric and material he had never seen; it shifted and moved even as he wore it, and his fellow tribute wore a similar fabric in a gown.

The chariot was made in the form of a mining cart albeit a very clean and glamorous one, Dolan felt silly standing in it as the horses were led to the chariot and hitched up. Something about the horses caught his eye though, were they wearing blankets of the same shifting material as he and and the girl tribute?

Dolan was about to point this out to the girl he had barely spoken to when the chariot took off down the lane and into the public eye. Dolan and his partner were told by their mentor to keep a cool demeanor when riding in, something about what the designer of their outfits had done to help them cut an imposing figure.

Imposing was right. As the chariot picked up speed the shifting material of he and his district partner began to gain traction with the air causing it to create a black phantasmal cloud behind them almost as if a huge cloud of sparkling black coal dust was rushing through the center of the arena they rode through. The blankets on the horses exploded into a fantastic deadly beautiful cloud of glittering darkness which miraculously did not cover Dolan or the girl.

The make up that was applied to their faces cast their features into dramatic angles, Dolan caught a glimpse of their magnificence and nearly gaped at the dark powerful gods of death that had replaced him and his partner. Dolan lifted his chin to play along and ignored every call of his name, just as his mentor suggested, to make them crave his attention. The District 12 tributes grandeur would not go unnoticed.

[Michelangelo Costa]

Michelangelo could barely comprehend what was happening all around him. He felt like a completely different person with the roar of the crowd directed towards him and his parter as his district was called. This brought a completely new level of excitement he never experienced throughout his typical farmland lifestyle. The adrenaline rushed through his veins as the chariot meandered across the bumpy ground. He raised his fist into the air to respond to the crowd.

"We're ACTUALLY here!" Michelangelo shouted to his partner in awe as the chariot came to a halt. Unfortunately, this was probably the only easy part, for he had no idea what struggles he would face later. Because of this, he absorbed as much of the excitement as possible and took a deep breath in anticipation. "Let's do this," he said to his partner.

[Talia Zinten]

"Spectacular effort, Quinn!" Talia bubbled, her excitement clearly showing in her eyes.

The silver makeup and circuit-patterned body suit spins flowing lights around her as she steps onto the chariot.

"My adoration for your adjustments to the chariot is monumental! Let us make an expedient trial run before our display impresses the masses!"

Talia activates the hastily-produced modifications to the machine, setting a single point of light aglow in the nose of their chariot. The glow seems to move down the body of the vehicle, with intricate spirals of light illuminating the way to the tributes.

As the graceful display reaches Quinn and Talia, the flood of light seems to leap onto the tributes' body suits in a dazzling array, speeding up from their arms to their necks before showering the two youths' faces in light.

"Quinn, you are a..." her voice hesitates, a look of fierce concentration racking her features.

"You're a *@#&-ing genius!"

[Decimus Augusta]

It was their turn to enter the arena. Decimus flexes his muscles checking how the diamond wiring accents his muscles. "You ready?" says Decimus with excitement, "I've been waiting all my life for this." The chariot bursts forth into the field and the crowd erupts. "On my mark," Decimus says as he waves to the crowd, "Now!" Decimus helps his partner on to her horse before mounting his. They cut the stirrups attaching the horses to the chariot. Decimus guides the flustered horse to the side of the arena. With little effort he stands on his mount and reaches up to touch hands with the crowd. "I am a Greek God," he thinks, "This is perfection." After appeasing the crowd with waves and cheers, he back flips into a riding position and continues with Millie to the front stage.

[Titus Volta]

Titus methodically walked up to the chariot.
Stone-faced, without a drop of emotion, he couldn't help but think how fickle it all was.
"I better put on a show, cuz it's a show they want" he thought.
He had to admit, the girl didn't look half bad.
As the doors opened and the chariot lurched forward,
he grabbed the girl's hand throwing it up victoriously, the crowd ate it up.

[Derrin Verittia]

Derrin walked up to his chariot with a serious look on his face. All of them were here and this was the time that he needed to demon straight to everyone that he would not be ignored. When he saw Kimber, whom of course had beaten him here for some reason he patted her on the back and said, “Good luck Kimber, showing emotion is important from our District due to all the usual they get out of us, so fake being excited if at all possible. Our mentor said to tickle you beforehand if I had to but I would really prefer not to consider how you’ll beat me if I even considered putting my hands on you.”

He chuckled and started to get dressed. He wore a bunch of mirrors on his body in different places both showing skin and not to be semi-erotic but also at the same time modest. However the real charm was when the chariot got moving.

He got in and when Kimber and him were set he waited till their district was called and then got to work on what he needed to to. Holding his right arm up in a Voltron sort of way he stood strong. Once they made it out a certain way his costume would started to reflect neon lights to shoot out and about. neon lights were everywhere in his district. They directed everything. Why not direct the crowd to them.

He warned Kimber before hand to not look at him as he moved his arms and legs, hopefully he did not blind her or dazzle her away. The spotlights coming from his suit would hopefully distract the audience and draw their attention towards their chariot at all times until they made it to the end.

Peoples are drawn to lights. All eyes would be on them tonight or else his name was not Derrin.

[Anna Lansbury]

Anna has worn a mask all her life, so playing up to a crowd should pose no problem. The dress she was given to wear for the parade was granite colored at first glance to match her district. Since her district is known for its stone quarries it seemed a decent way to go. Anna never really understood why the parade outfits always needed to match what the tribute's district was known for, so she insisted that she be allowed to add a little something... extra.

If you look at her dress long enough you begin to see that bright red threads were woven into the granite color of the rest of the dress. The lights of the stadium gleamed off of them and made the dress seem to dance even though Anna stayed perfectly still.

She was nervous of course, much like she is every day of her life. Nervous that someone might realize that she is not as calm and stable in her head as she appears to be on the outside. However, she managed to keep her mask on like she always does. Being from district 2, there is an expectation of poise that comes with being allowed to volunteer as tribute, and so far she has managed to maintain that demeanor.

She purposely left her hair down so that it would flow in the wind as the chariot rolled onward. her bright red hair matching the dancing threads of her dress. She only hoped that the possible sponsors in the crowd liked the play of light as much as she did.

Once the chariot came to a halt, all of the colors disappeared. Her hair fell back into place and the threads stopped dancing as the light became constant. The rest was out of her hands. Worrying about what the sponsors though now was a waste of time. Already she was setting her mind to the challenges of the next week leading up to the actual games.

[Sophie Parker]

Sophie waits patiently for her district to be called. Her tight outfit make her feel a bit uncomfortable. Sweat dripped down her face. Titus looks at her and wipes her face. 

"Lookin good," he says. 

"You too," she responds. 

Her suit now glows brighter than the lights shining on her. 

Titus stands next to her, strong and powerful. His suit just as bright and brilliant as Sophie's. 
They waved to the crowd. Sparks flew from their hands as they did. The crowd went wild. This excited them more. Smile widened on their faces. They wave. Cheer. Shout. 

They stand strong and powerful. This is District 5. 

[Kimber Beck]

Kimber gave Derrin a small smile at his comment. Her outfit was made of LED lights, not as flashy as Derrin's, but was chosen because they could make different patterns dance across her dress. As they made their way through the parade, Kimber tried her best not to look directly at Derrin's neon lights and maintain a smile and waved to the audience.

[Katie James]

Katie looked a little uncomfortable in her dress as she had never worn anything quite this fancy before in her life. She was wearing a long green dress with slits down the side to show her legs a little and a flower brooch that would change to match the types of plants that were growing all over the chariot. The plants on the chariot would also change and move through all the seasons. The plants looked beautiful as they imitated plants from around the world and even included some imaginary ones as well. She had gotten her hair done for the first time ever with her short brown hair put up with flower by her ear. She was also carrying a basket of flower petals that she was throwing out at the children along the parade. This was far from the streets of district 11 where she grew up.

She looked to the side as her fellow tribute from 11 was looking sharp in a brown earth tone suit. Well time to suck it up for both our sakes.

[Adriana "Age" Leaf]

As the crowd cheered in anticipation for the District 10 tributes to emerge, a deep resounding stroke of a bass drum silenced them. The drum struck again and the sound of a deep horn bellowed through the Training Center. The drum beat began to speed up and as the horses pulled the District 10 chariot onto the runway the audience began clapping chanting along with they rhythmic beat. The chariot was filled with animal skin drums that the tributes beat using large bones. Age blew into a large animal horn and the audience chanted louder! Age felt an odd sense of confidence wearing her pelts of animal skin and tribal war paint and seeing the reaction from the crowd. At the end of the runway Age removed a horned helmet from her head and took a small bow.

[David Spanial]

David stands there. Watching the commotion. His brown suit, that seemed like a good idea at the time, now looks like shit. It looks like tree bark and he has birds landing on him. They're annoying. All of this is stupid. Damn it!

David is clearly aggravated and not thinking about the parade. He takes a the last drops of something left in a small bottle. He tries to dig out as much as he can. He's not happy.

Katie says something.
"wha!? Heah. Lets try to get through this." David says forcing a smile. He's paying attention now.
David reaches into his pocket and finds a dry ball of leaves. He turns to Katie with a large grin.
"I have a surprise. Just don't be scared."

As the parade starts David watches the the other tributes. He's amazed at their spectacular presentations. Then it's their turn. He's nervous and sweating. His bottles empty. He turns to Katie and presents a not very convincing smile. Too much tooth to gum ratio.

"Time for action."

[Fenlen Hux]

As the district 10 chariot entered the parade area, Fenlen was numb. He stood stock still, trying not to tremble from the adrenaline running through his body. The crowd, noises, and lights were a blur. He and Age were dressed in bleached animal bones and dark coal marking their faces. When they were strapped into the tribal-like costumes, the scraps of leather, fur, animal hide, and hundreds of animal bones were uncomfortable. Now, standing on the chariot, he felt nothing. Age blew her horn next to him, the noise shaking him loose from the shock temporarily. When her horn blast ended and the crowd responded in cheers, a surge of excitement flowed through him. He pounded his fist on his chest several times before raising it in the air and setting his jaw in what he hoped was a look of determination.