after the goldrush // Tom

There had been hardly much to say to the district Seven crowd. After a few excruciating minutes of awkward speech she had eventually given up, letting Caramel take her place, congratulating them and telling them how honoured I was to visit their district. Yaa Valarro had been a powerful, cunning adversary. She had been strong, smart and clever and Opal felt like there was little to say about her. She had hardly known the girl, and the few times they had met had ended with Opal spitting vehement words at her. Yeah, it was hardly a nice way of letting the world remember Yaa the way Opal had seen her, so in the end she had spoken a few words, leaving her assumptions of the strong girl behind. Deimos had been a completely different matter she had not known a single thing about him, so she had just guessed what he had been like. Opal had said little about him, just saying he had fought well.

What more could she have said? She didn’t want to lie to the family he had, she didn’t want to twist a tale of a charming hero when really she hadn’t known him and all honesty she doubted that was what he had been. So instead she had focused on Yaa, and even then she had lacked anything much to say. What she had said had been true, though. She had told the crowd before her that Yaa had been as tough as nails, that she was brave, tough and a skilled fighter. The girl had been incredible, she had been all that and a lot more, Opal’s distaste for her was enough to make her bite her tongue, however, and the things she did say were limited. Otherwise it would have ended with her saying harsher, ruder things then what was acceptable.

Today she had opted to wear a pair of long, tight black jeans. Her stylist, Kaiser, had protested at her wardrobe option, instead pointing out a softly coloured, short dress, but she had refused quickly. She was not ready to show of her beautifully decorated fake leg. And her option of long dresses and long dresses alone had become a boring affair, so she had basically begged him to let her wear something nice and fashionable, but something that also covered her leg from prying eyes. In the end he had consented, pulling from her wardrobe the dark jeans and a lovely shirt that hugged her curves, but covered her skin. He did, however, make her promise that she would let him get some better, more formal pants if she intended to wear them more often. It had taken an extensive amount of time to get Caramel to agree to the outfit, but in the end she had huffed and stormed out, that was all Opal had needed.

District seven was everything she thought it would be and a lot more. The tall trees that seemed to cover every inch if it had her eyes sparkling from a first glance. The wide range of plant life had her itching to ditch everyone and limp away from the group. When she mentioned the idea of ditching the crowd and frolicking in the forest to Caramel the woman had almost fainted with distress. That had sent Opal into a spill of contagious laughter, her eyes tearing up at the fuming escort. She was more than positive that the district one escort would end up quitting by the end of this victory tour. Sighing to herself she resigned to the fact that all she would be able to do at the moment was admire the sights in front of her. The tall, elegant trees were just stunning, and she was tempted to ask if she could take on home with her, it would look sunning in her garden. But she resisted that urge, the perplexing idea of how they’d get it there stopping her. So instead she settled herself with heading down into the crowd of people, hoping that maybe one of them could give her seeds, or a nut or something, anything that would allow her to grown one of her very own trees at home.

Looking left then right she spotted a boy, he looked around her age, so that was good enough for her to go up to him. Walking over she gently tapped his shoulder, her clean hands an odd contrast to his rather dirty appearance. Smiling to herself she offered him her hand, knowing fully well that his appearance was a lot like her own before she had one the games. ”Hi there, I’m Opal Shore. I was wondering if you knew where I could get some seeds, or nuts or pine cones for that matter, to grow some trees back in my district?” She asked, tone polite, but her excitement was evident. Anything to do with nature and plants was enough to make her turn into a rambling ball of tanned skin.

I stood for nothing, so I fell for everything
You held me down, but I got up
Already brushing off the dust
You hear my voice, you hear that sound
Like thunder gonna shake the ground