"I think the saddest people always try to make people happy because they know what it's like to feel absolutely worthless and they don't want anyone else to feel like that" - Gang, Meet Freak (AnotherComicNerd)
***
The Victory Tour was absolutely exhausting. And it wasn't just for the youngest Victor. The president also had a hard time, together with all of the people who were close to the young girl, especially Josh, Layon and Fae.
Going on to District Twelve to start off the tour, the girl was given a strict speech, elaborated by the monarch himself, not trusting the twelve year old to improvise and her escort to create something he deemed 'good enough'.
It only took her one glance at the speech for the Victor to dismiss it though. It was way too 'Capitol-y' for her liking, as she had politely put to Fae when denying to say it. According to the young girl, that paper was full of bullshit and lies about how the Capitol is great and the Games are honorable and necessary. So, it didn't come as a shock to anyone when she refused to say the pre-made speech out loud and instead, decided it was a great idea to simply improvise and tell the Districts a piece of her mind.
That was how each of the twelve Districts of Panem ended up receiving a different speech from the Victor that year, and one that nothing resembled the previous years, for that matter.
Needless to say that the president was absolutely furious and threatened to kill the girl himself. He however, knew as well as the youngest Victor, that he couldn't afford to kill the girl. She was way too liked within the Districts, it would cause complete mayhem, and maybe even a rebellion. That way, Aria Mayfield had practically a free reign on the Districts, openly avoiding the Capitol, for they didn't like her very much around there.
The tour was also when Josh introduced his newest friend - who was almost like a sister to him by the time, having built a close relationship during the weeks in between her last interview and the start of the tour - to his best friends ever, Finnick Odair and Johanna Mason, the Victors of the 66th and 71st Hunger Games respectively.
The three of them really hit it off, finding out that they were a lot more similar than one would've thought just by looking at the Victors. Johanna was eighteen years old, having won the Games the previous year, sympathizing with the young girl and coaching her through the rest of the tour, after their stop in District Seven, where the two had met, deciding to hop on and do the rest of the journey with the youngest Victor.
Finnick, however cautious of the girl, was nothing short of polite towards her, happy that Josh now had someone else to count on when he was home, just like he himself had Annie Cresta and Mags Flanagan - two fellow Victors, of the 70th and 11th Games respectively - for the young man deserved to be happy after everything he went through during his own Games.
To be honest, they had all suffered, and any fellow Victor could attest to that, none being completely free from the trauma, that haunted their daily lives, whether it was in secret, like Finnick and Josh's or out in the open, like Annie's. PTSD was just as normal to them as waking up.
The one thing all Victors - no matter how old, drunk or mentally disabled they were - had in common, was their hatred for the Capitol and everything that it had done to them. Aria was a living proof that the Capitol could be defied, and unknowingly and unintentionally, she had given them all hope. Hope in a better future, hope in a rebellion, in a possible end to these awful Games they had all been through and didn't wish upon anybody.
To try and contain the situation, the president had payed the youngest Victor a little visit and tried to threaten her, to which the girl simply laughed and sassed him endlessly. So, he had taken to prohibit her to mentor on the next Games.
She just shrugged it off however, not really wanting to mentor just yet anyway, her mental health still being way too fragile. The girl had decided that she would attend the upcoming Games, but only as a plus one, to morally support Josh, not as an official mentor. That way, Snow could do nothing about it and she'd be able to sit through seeing him frustrated, which was a bonus.
But that wasn't for another nine or ten months, the reaping taking place in the beginning of June, it still being in August back then, nearing the end of her Victory Tour.
The girl would use those months for her benefit and enjoy her stay at Victor Village, meeting with Finnick and Johanna as often as possible, trying to build on their friendship and support Josh through his multiple visits to the Capitol as best as she could, aiming to get a bit closer to Dania and meet her other neighbors as well, staying far away from Villòn, who still hated her for some unknown reason. But hey, he was Villòn after all, he didn't need a reason to hate anyone. It was just his nature.
***
As the tour finally came to an end, Aria and Josh threw themselves on the younger girl's couch, exhausted from all of that 'Capitol-ness' and jet lagged from spending so much time on that train.
The last stop had been, as always, the Victor's home District, but that didn't mean that they could just hang out in their houses. Nope, they had to stay in the Building of Justice with Peacekeepers around every corner, which got old really soon.
At least the girl was reunited with Layon and Fae once again.
Her dresses and outfits were incredible, as always, they were a creation of Layon, after all, and it was like the stylist knew exactly what the young girl wanted, as he made the outfits perfectly on-pair with her ideas without her even having to say anything.
Fae was also great company. The girl would admit that when she'd first met the escort, she didn't quite like her, but that had changed once they got to actually know each other and the Capitol raised woman had learned that the Games weren't as amazing and perfect as they seemed to be.
District Five's team that year was arguably the tightest one out there, regarding the members' actual like to each other, all of them supporting one another and even letting the young Victor's friends in on their little group.
The dinners were the best part, and it was during those times when Aria was secretly thankful for her name being reaped a couple of months back. Granted that she had gained constant nightmares and the president's attention - on the worse connotation ever - but she'd also come out of it with a family. It was an odd one, with Fae, Layon, Josh, and now Finnick and Johanna, but the young girl wouldn't change it for the world.
Who knew that the tyrant monarch would be receiving such a handful when the scrawny looking twelve year old had walked out of her section back at reaping day. If someone had warned him beforehand that this would happen, he would've gladly admitted to fraud and redone District Five's reaping, even though that would be a complete and utter lie, as Aria's name was reaped out of the girls' bowl fair and square. It really had only been there twice, as it should.
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Heyooo you guys, how're you holding up? Today's chapter is on the shorter side, but that's simply because I'm not quite sure about what to write until Katniss and Peeta's Games, even though I do have all of my chapters outlined (I will confess though, that I've already changed a few things and relocated a few chapters ever since the start of me publishing this but, oh well..).
Today's song recommendation is 'Higher', by The Score, to represent Snow and Aria's relationship (him trying to get her down and her only getting higher). So, today was a bit more interesting, especially my history class. My history teacher is really awesome, she does impersonations and tells us the truth without sugarcoating it. It was really fun hearing her speak about one of the most important historical political figures of my country as if she were just a normal person, explaining why she (the political figure) isn't so great after all. Can you guess who that figure was?? Anyways... see you tomorrow. I love you all ;)
And may the odds be ever in your favor. Bye!