Finnick Odair's best friend

Chapter 14: Tribute Parade Part 2

 I looked at Aven and he looked just as confused as I felt. Mags then tugged Finnick's arm and gestured around the tunnel.

"Ah yes, thank you Mags. Before the parade starts, talk to some of the other tributes. See if you can gain some allies. Shouldn't be too hard, you two look like you could take on the world." Finnick told us, looking at me when he said the last part. I twiddled my thumbs as I answered.

"Ok." Aven and I said in unison. We then walked off leaving the adults to talk.

"Who do you want to talk to?" Ave asked me.

"I think I should go the careers. If they're nice enough and I play innocent but useful then maybe they'll agree to an alliance, even if it doesn't last long. I'll tell them about you and your skills too."

"Sounds like a plan, I'll talk to 7 and 11. They look like they would be good."

"See you back at the chariot?"

"Yeah." With that we both separated and I went to talk to the careers. First up was district 2.

"Hey." I said. I won't lie, I was pretty intimidated by the girl from 2. She looked around 17 and was very muscular.

"Hey. What's your name?" She asked.

"Aria, what about your's?" I returned the question.

"I'm Kaia, district two."

"Nice, I love your outfit." I told her. It was gold red and grey. Her district was masonry and gold mining. That meant her district made the weapons for the games. She wore a grey crown that had a gold veil coming down. She wore a gold skin tight tank top as well as maroon red trousers. She looked very powerful.

"Thanks, I'm so glad I'm not in a dress, they feel so restricting to me. You are rocking that dress though." She grins and me. I grin back and reply,

"Thanks, my stylist says he has a surprise but I have no idea what it is."

"I guess we'll find out soon enough. Hey, this is my district partner, Damien."

"Hey." Damien said. He was dressed similarly to Kaia but the crown and veil colours were swapped.

"Hi nice to meet you." I said.

"Likewise."

"So have you guys got any allies yet?" I asked them.

"Not yet, we haven't met 1 yet but they certainly look idiotic in my opinion." Kaia answered. I looked behind her and saw the most over the top outfits ever. The girl was wearing a massive ballroom gown that was white, green and blue. It had puffy sleeves and she had heavy makeup on. As well as this her skin was painted gold. The boy was wearing a matching white blue and green suit as well as the golden skin. He wore pointed black shoes and had purple silk gloves on.

"I can second that. Well if you want any allies, Aven and I are open for discussion. We can discuss skills later. Are you guys looking forward to the games?" I asked, trying to make conversation.

"Thanks we'll definitely think about it. Also yeah, I've been training at the academy since I was 7." Damien answered.

"Me too, the idea of competing excites me but what you have to do in order to win doesn't." Kaia replied.

"I guess. Well, nice meeting you guys, I'm going to talk to district 1 before the chariots start."

"See you later Aria." Kaia called as I walked away.

"Nice meeting you too." Daimen called after. I made my way to the district 1 tributes who looked like they couldn't move from their spot

"Hey, I love your outfits. What are your names?" I asked them as I approached. They both turned towards me and smirked at each other.

"My name is Tora and this is Orion. What are you doing here?" Tora asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I just came to introduce myself and ask if you have any alliances yet?" I replied.

"Well, we were thinking of allying with two like we usually do. Anyway, what is your name?"

"My name is Aria. District 4. Nice to meet you."

"Wish we could say the same." Orion butted in. "Just because you're small and young doesn't mean we'll take pity on you 4. If anything you'll probably be the first to go when we enter."

"I would listen to him, we normally get all the sponsors so if you make it past the first day, you won't make it long afterwards." Tora snarled. They went from reasonably nice to horrible real quick.

"That's fine. Believe what you want but you're just like me. Scared that you aren't going home, back to your home and family. Scared of what the games are going to be like. You are no different to the rest of us no matter what you say. Unlike me you haven't learnt the art of holding up a mask." I sassed back but then stopped after realising what I had said about holding up a mask. If these people were going to be rude to me for no reason then I wasn't going to be nice to them. I didn't expect pity but I also didn't expect to be spoken to that way.

"What do you mean? You look as if you couldn't hurt a fly." Orion said, gritting his teeth. I smiled and simply said,

"Exactly, no matter where you look, I am the same. Now if you'll excuse me, even if i don't really care what you say, I'm going to leave to talk to people who don't talk to me like a piece of garbage." I then turned and walked away. I walked back leaving the district ones in slight shock at my attitude. I walked to the district 4 chariot, waving at Kaia and Damien as I passed. When I got back Mags and I smiled at each other then I started stroking the horses. They were a beautiful teal colour and their manes were as smooth as silk.

"That was quite a show if I say so myself." A voice said behind me. I saw Finnick smirking as he tossed a sugarcube, that was meant for the horses, into his mouth.

"You saw that?" I asked awkwardly.

A/N

Second update who? Published this chapter to try and make up for not posting in months so I hope you enjoy it! Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed and thanky uo so much to anyone that's reading this and has voted or commented on any of the chapters is means a lot to me <3 See you soon......maybe :)

Bai for now,

Hellomygoodfriend xxx