the little princesses | district 6 train [98th]

The goodbye was as fresh in D'Arcy's mind as the tears staining her cheeks. She still heard the teary pleas echoing through space and time, she still felt the ghost of the little fingers squeezing and grasping and clawing at her in their search for something to hold on to, some way to keep her from being taken away from them. D'Arcy hugged her arms tight around her, fighting against the fading warmth of a final hug with mom and dad.

This had been, without a doubt, the worst day of her life.

Now she was being whisked away on a train at a speed she didn't even know was possible. On a different day she might have been overjoyed at the plate full of sweets and delicacies begging her to taste them all. She could've spent a solid hour tracing the wood grain of the polished armchair, exploring each enchanting swirl. She would've loved to have been here with Cecily and Evvie, pretending to be three little princesses locked forlornly in their castle with nothing but baked goods there to pass the time before their prince would arrive.

Instead, all D'Arcy could do was stare around at the grandiosity and splendour and opulence and think about how it was all so… different. She was a butterfly that had the misfortune to fly through the wrong door, only to be whisked away to a new and foreign world with new predators and different flowers. D'Arcy hoped she'd be able to find her forget-me-nots in the Capitol. That's when she remembered -

"You're really little, aren't you?"

D'Arcy hadn't noticed the other girl turn towards her. With a little startle she turns and takes in the older girl beside her. Well, not much older, she supposed. She was still closer to being a child like D'Arcy than an adult like many of the older kids could often be mistaken for. She still had the air of knowing what it had been like to be twelve not long ago. D'Arcy only stared as the girl continued. "I've always been the baby around here, but I don't mind having a little sister."

The words are warm, kind. Not at all what D'Arcy had been expecting. She used to imagine that the pair of tributes would make the journey awkwardly, distant from one another. She thought that maybe the older kids wouldn't want anything to do with her here, where strength and skill and years to gain wisdom kept you alive, and playing pretend with your younger sisters did not. I don't mind having a little sister. D'Arcy understood what she meant now more than ever, when all she wanted was to be back with the little sisters of her own. Maybe she could come to see this girl from home as a sister of sorts. Maybe.

Like a wounded animal being coaxed out of hiding with a handful of fruit, D'Arcy cautioned a tiny little smile. "I've got two little sisters, but I've never had a big sister before." She wipes her damp face with her arm. Suddenly she was aware of just how childish she must have seemed. Crying her eyes out in her beautiful blue dress, sniffling and sobbing the entire trip so far. She hadn't thought much of it before, burying herself in the weight of her emotions. Now, she found she wanted this girl to like her, think her to be tougher than she was.

The next question out of the girl's mouth takes her by surprise. "Have any of your family been arrested recently? Always good to know." The unexpectedness of the question has D'Arcy giggling at it. Certainly that was one of the strangest questions anyone had ever asked her, up there with Evvie once asking do you think the sun would like chocolate if it tried it? "No, never," She replies through her giggles, "but when we were little my sisters and I would play Peacekeepers and our dad would pretend to be our prisoner." For a moment the fond memory played back in her memory. It had been a few years since she last played it, when she decided that ten was the year when she needed to start thinking about being a big kid more and playing Peacekeepers less. She wished with a pang in her chest that she had kept playing it. Before the tears can rouse themselves from her eyes, another worrisome thought pops into mind. "Why, has anyone in your family been arrested?"

It crossed her mind that maybe she should be more wary of the friendly girl beside her, being sent off to the same fate with the same set of rules to send her back home once more. D'Arcy thought maybe she was meant to be more wary and cautious and distant with the girl. Her hand grazes upon something buried in the pocket of her dress, and she realizes the forget-me-nots were still there, from only hours ago. She pulls one out, sees that it's only wilted slightly from the journey her dress has embarked on since the meadow this morning. She hands it out to the girl, an offering for her to take. "Do you like forget-me-nots?"

She should be more cautious, she supposed. But D'Arcy was never one to turn down a new friend.

With every word the girl who is older (but not very much older) spoke, the idea D'Arcy had of her became cripser, more well defined, more certain. D'Arcy's District partner was, without a doubt, cool. The way she sat so comfortably in the chair, as if the pair of them could've been sitting in the girl's home. The way she had gestured over to the strangers so nonchalantly, as if pointing out a friend. She seemed to be able to claim this space as her own in a way D'Arcy could only ever dream of.

Even her answers seemed cool. "I don't need to play Peacekeepers. My dad has his own personal ones… they're probably following this train right now." As the girl takes a peek out the window D'Arcy follows suit, her mind filled with wonder at what incredible reason the girl's dad needed his own Peacekeepers for. Their family must have been important in some capacity. She fought the urge to imagine the girl was a princess, evading capture from the forces of evil with the Peacekeepers standing guard. D'Arcy was sure that that was silly and childish and not cool at all. She hoped this girl thought she was cool, too.

She had thought the forget-me-not would help. After all, D'Arcy's parents had always taught them that it was cool to be kind. What could be kinder than a gift? But out of the pocket and shining under the luminescent lights of the room filled with the impeccable, the bloom seemed sadder. D'Arcy could see the stem snapped in a couple places, the petals sagging as the life leaves it behind. Its no surprise that the girl says "No but Tortoise likes them" and dashes off to the table.

D'Arcy's face turns pink from the embarrassment. She had one chance to make this girl like her, think she was cool, and she might have just blown it. And to boot, she had lost one of the precious blooms from home. She's grateful now that she cried so much before, or she certainly might have started crying again. But then the girl returns from the table, still carefully holding D'Arcy's wilting gift in one hand and a slightly squished gift of her own in the other. "Tortoise loves strawberries too. You should eat something before all the Victors get serious."

D'Arcy brightens up as she takes the strawberry in hand, admiring the sweet berry's scent before popping it into her mouth and letting the sweetness wash around her mouth and mix with the taste of her relief. So the girl hadn't decided she was uncool. Yet, at least. "Thank you!" she replies happily. "Strawberries were always my sister Cecily's favourite."

Uh oh, and now her mind was back to thinking about Cecily. How she had wrapped her arms so tightly around D'Arcy mere hours ago. How she could still see the pain in her little sister's blue eyes. How -

The girl cuts in, at just the right time, and D'Arcy quickly blinks away the memory of her sister for another time. She listens as the girl points out the three Victors all by name (or nickname, unless Teddy really is her uncle) as if she's been here many times before. Just another layer to add to her coolness.

The girl then taps on the empty seat right beside her. "I am Georgie by the way. You should sit next to me!" D'Arcy leaps out of her chair like her heart soars in her chest. Cool Georgie wants her sitting next to her. It doesn't matter that D'Arcy's younger (but only a bit younger), or doesn't have family with their own peacekeepers or know any Victors. She climbs into the chair she was summoned to. "I'm D'Arcy, with an apostrophe." Normally she didn't add that part, but she thought maybe it helped make her sound cooler. "How do you know so much about the Victors? I only remember Sera from last year."