It's the 72nd anual Hunger Games and Aria Mayfield thinks she's got nothing else to lose... until she is reaped to go into the Arena to represent the female tribute of District 5.
The problem is that besides having no one that really cares for her...
Aria walked up to the two awaiting Victors and bid them both a good morning, smiling politely as they slowly started to make their way to the market, to buy the necessary things for the dinner party that the youngest girl would host that same night, and just some other random things, mostly food supplies for their fridges.
It had actually been Josh's idea to invite all of the District's Victors to a small get together to try and get to know each other better and befriend their neighbors. The girl agreed and they sent out the invitations, receiving positive responses back, even from Villòn, who would normally simply scoff and shoot a curse or something at the young girl. She guessed that he missed human presence more than he led on, starting to think that, in his own weird and twisted way, the old grumpy man did care for them, he just didn't want to show weakness in front of Snow.
The youngest Victor got him, although she still didn't like the man for the way he had treated her during the entirety of her training and pre-Games preparation, from the very moment she was reaped. The girl would at least try to be somewhat civil towards him, acting more on Josh and Dania's requests than anything else.
***
Nighttime was quickly approaching and Aria was standing in front of her practically bare closet, picking out a comfortable outfit for dinner as Dania and Josh were downstairs making sure everything was ready for their fellow Victors to arrive.
Funnily enough, the young girl wasn't nervous for the meeting and dinner at all, they'd all been through much worse anyway. This was almost like child's play to the experienced killers.
The first one to arrive was Turner, with Ulisses right behind and Pietro following suit, they were all next-door neighbors, after all. Also, as expected, Villòn made it to the get together almost a whole hour late, already looking slightly tipsy, and just in time for dessert.
Surprisingly for the young girl, the whole thing was actually pretty enjoyable, as the gathered Victors recalled funny and interesting stories, telling them in a way that no one was bored – not Villòn though, but that was because by then he was already drunk - making sure that all of them had a nice time. Acquaintances were made all around and the whole atmosphere of the Village cleared out a lot, laughter now being a possible, and likely, thing to happen, sneakily bringing back the smiles to some of the faces that had lost them for over ten years.
Yes, the Games would most definitely break you apart and bring horrible consequences, but with friends and a family to bring your pieces back together, you'd be just fine - to a certain extent, obviously -, and possibly, your life could even get close to what it used to be before all of that, and you'd find yourself smiling more often over the smallest of things, that spark being re-lit in your eyes. All you needed was a couple of good friends, with good intentions.
Because friends aren't there to stop you from falling, they're there to pick you up when you're ready and convince you to try again until you eventually succeed. That is true friendship, and Aria was starting to understand that.
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Hey babes, how're you??? I know this chapter is on the shorter side, but I was able to upload it before midnight, so I'll count this one as a win. I also realized that there were way too many deaths and sad things happening all the time, which made me write this violence-free chapter for you to enjoy the new friendships being made. I do recommend you to enjoy it while you can (cause soon enough we'll be going into the 74th and 75th Games). Did anyone get the 'Friends' reference? The gif below is just perfect. I found it incredibly suiting for a friendship chapter, it representing the bond between Aria, Josh, Finnick and Johanna (just imagine their faces in there).
Today's song recommendation is 'High Hopes', by Panic! At The Disco, just because it's a really good song (especially to do a dance party with only yourself, I particularly love doing those). So, today, as I mentioned yesterday, I took three different tests, philosophy, language (including interpretation - kind of a reading section -, literature and grammar - kind of like writing, but not really, I don't know if you get it) and chemistry. It honestly wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but c'mon, having to open your camera at 8:20 am for everyone to see your tired face isn't exactly fun either. Anyways... see you tomorrow. I love you all ;)
And may the odds be ever in your favor. Bye!
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