Chapter Text
“You look wonderful, dear,” the photographer told Dakotah. She smiled at her.
“Alright, that’s all of them,” Anica said. “Take Lady Dakotah to Station 2, Lady Virginia to Station 10, Lady Lula to Station 5, and Lady Lindsay to Station 7. Off you go!” She waved her hands at the attendants, and one of the women took Dakotah’s arm and guided her away. Dakotah glanced back at Virginia and found the other girl staring after her. She nodded reassuringly to her. Dakotah turned back to face front again and carefully adjusted her stride to exude confidence. The woman sat her down in a chair in front of a mirror, and several girls gathered around. For a moment, the girls just paced around, studying her. Finally, the leading girl spoke up.
“What kind of image do you want? What angle do you want to play?” She lifted one of Dakotah’s hands, studying the closely cut nails. “The shape of your eyes gives you a very intimating look, and I think we could play that well. What do you think?” She placed Dakotah’s hand back on the armrest. Dakotah pursed her lips, thinking. The girl, sensing her indecision, kept talking.
“You have an icy kind elegance, but if you want to go for a softer angle, a light and airy blue theme could work. Yellow flowers could work nicely with your skin tone as well.” Winter . It would be a nice theme and an homage to her nickname back home.
“Cold,” she decided. The girl nodded and gathered her helpers around. She gave them quick instructions, and they set to work.
They scrubbed her skin down and then applied lotions and oils that smelled like pine, which, according to the girls, was the prince’s favorite smell. How, she had no idea. There weren’t even any pines in this area of Angeles. Dakotah wrinkled her nose at the pungent smell.
“Could you dilute that, a little bit?” she asked.
“Of course, miss!” One of the girls quickly switched tasks.
Once that was done, they switched to her hands. The dry skin was smoothed over, the nails turned to uniform shapes- Dakotah made sure they were aware she didn’t like long nails- and the cuticles cleaned. One of the girls bustled off and returned with a tray of nail polish.
“Any preferences on color, my lady?” The head maid asked.
“No,” Dakotah responded. Two of the younger girls began picking through the tray, picking up colors, getting the others’ opinions, and then putting it down. They eventually settled on two colors, one a frosty blue-gray, and the other a sparkly silver gray.
“This one matches her eyes,” one girl said, holding up the blue. “But this one goes well with her skin tone and it matches the cold theme as well.” She held them out to Dakotah.
“The blue,” she decided. One girl shot a slightly smug look at another. The leader quickly ushered them off and she and the girl that held the bottle set to work painting her nails.
Once they finished, they moved off to work on another girl, leaving Dakotah alone. She leaned back in her chair. Her shoulders ached from how tense she’d been sitting.
“Glad to see I’m not the only one tired.” Dakotah snapped her head up, turning to her left to look at the girl who had spoken. The girl seemed startled by her reaction. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just trying to make conversation.” Dakotah shook her head lightly to get her hair out of her face- her nails were still drying, so she couldn’t use her hands- and faced the girl.
“It’s fine,” she said. Secretly, she was annoyed that the girl had spoken to her. There goes her chance to relax her facade for a moment. “You’re Wilda, right?” The girl nodded.
“And you’re Dakotah.”
“Yes.” Dakotah made sure to say it with a slight edge of curtness. She didn’t want to talk now. Wilda didn’t take the hint.
“This place is so pretty. You’re from Carolina, right? What’s it like there?”
“You’re from Sota, right? Our summers are a bit cooler than yours. We also have a lot of trees, as compared to y’all’s area- Sota’s in the Great Plains, correct?” Wilda nodded.
“I’ve always wanted to photograph in a forest. Do you think the prince will let us go into the forest on the palace grounds?”
“I don’t know,” Dakotah responded.
“Smile, ladies!” A camerawoman trilled. Dakotah quickly arranged her face into a serene smile. Wilda’s smile was bright. The woman grinned as she snapped their picture. “Always good to see the Selected getting along. Lady Dakotah, can I get a picture of your nails?”
“Of course,” Dakotah told her, stretching her hand out delicately.
“Thank you, ladies,” the camera crew bustled away. Wilda turned back to Dakotah, opening her mouth to say something, but thankfully a new group of maids swarmed Dakotah to do her hair.
“Lean back, my lady,” one of the women instructed.
They washed, conditioned, and dried her hair, then one of the women asked if she could trim it. Dakotah obliged. After she finished, one of the girls took the top layer of her hair and braided it over the curtain of the lower layer. Dakotah smiled genuinely. The style made her feel pretty.
A pretty girl did her makeup, edging her eyes with dark eyeliner and using a light silvery-blue shadow. She used a nude color on her lips and contour on her jawline. The girl sat back to study her work, and a small, proud smile graced her features. She offered Dakotah a mirror. She studied her face. The contour made her jawline cleaner, giving her appearance a slight edge. The scar at her hairline had been flawlessly covered up, and liner gave her eyes a sharp, cat-like look.
“I love it,” Dakotah declared. The girl’s proud smile grew. She tugged Dakotah out of the chair and led her away from the chair. Dakotah quickly hid her discomfort at walking barefoot. It wouldn’t do her any good to show weakness. She’d been switched into a robe when she arrived, and now the girl led her over to a rack of dresses with her name on a sign above them. All dresses. Dakotah frowned. She preferred pants, but she could live with dresses for a little while.
Hopefully, they had pockets.
The dress she chose was a soft cream color, with a brown belt cinched at the waist and little puff sleeves on her shoulders. The dress fell to her knees. And it did, in fact, have pockets. The girl gave her a pair of brown flats that matched the belt to wear, and pinned a silver name tag on her chest. Then she sent her back to the corner for her “after” shot. Dakotah was a bit sad to leave her. The girl was good company.
From there, Dakotah was sent to one of the little stations that held a chair, a backdrop, and a camera. She spotted Virginia by the dress racks and smiled when she managed to catch her eye. Dakotah sat down as a woman holding a clipboard approached her.
“Give me a moment, I need to find your papers,” she said. Conscious of the cameras nearby, Dakotah forewent a verbal response and simply nodded. The woman found her papers and moved them to the top. “Alright, dear, I just need to ask you a few questions for the makeover special. Don’t be shy; we want the audience to know you, so they can really root for you.”
She reached over and switched the camera at the station on. Dakotah composed her face.
“Dakotah Heathers, right?” The woman asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” Dakotah responded.
“You look stunning, Lady Dakotah. Can you tell us what happened in your makeover today?” Dakotah tipped her head to the side.
“They washed and braided my hair, and painted my nails.” Dakotah lifted her hand slightly to show the camera. “I smell like pine now, which, props to the prince, it’s a good smell, but yeesh , it’s strong. And I quite like my makeup.”
“It looks wonderful on you. And your dress adds to the image quite well,” the woman continued.
“I like it. Although, I much prefer my flannels from back home.” Dakotah let the corner of her mouth raise in a half smile. “At least they didn’t put me in heels like some of the other girls. I can barely walk as it is.” The woman laughed lightly.
“Well, you’ll have to warn your maids. You’re a Three, right?”
“Yes.”
“How would you describe your experience so far?” The woman asked. Dakotah took a moment to think, although she already knew her answer. She tilted her head to the side.
“New. Angeles is very different from Allens.”
“How do you feel about your competition?” Again, Dakotah paused to think, this time to arrange her words in a way that wouldn’t make her seem too strong or too weak.
“I’ve seen some girls that will be very strong competition, and, honestly, props to them. The others will take themselves out of the competition.” She shrugged, pursing her lips slightly. The woman raised an eyebrow.
“Well. Worried about anyone else look?”
“Not particularly. Looks don’t matter as much as your personality and capabilities do. You could have a stunning look and be dumb as a rock, or a plain and natural look and be smarter than the entire country.” She shrugged again.
“All right, that’ll be enough. Thank you.” She turned the camera off. “Head over to that couch over there, please.”
Only one other girl was there, so Dakotah sat down on the couch, slipping her flats off and tucking her feet up beside her.