| blessed or cursed | Diamond/Ariel

Autumn hung like a heavy coat over the broad shoulders of Panem as the few bracken and wilting trees of District Three shimmered and changed into various hues. Chilled yet still kissed by the weakening lips of heat, a breeze scuttled like a snake through the district. Leaves danced and played upon their short lived stage of wind before they nestled down into the beaten pathways of gray. High above the scrawny reaches of the changing trees the sun was playing hide and seek behind a soft blanket of grey lining. Not a single wet drop whizzed from the sky's clutches but the moisture in the air gave Diamond and the rest of District Three just that slight taste of a storm to come. When it would come was a question no one seemed to be able to answer. It would come and go just like the passing of the Hunger Games. Like the Reapings that sent frightened teenagers crying into the crevices of their parent's arms. 

Winter would soon follow Spring and with it the flurries of ice would run through the busy streets as they frosted the ground in a layer of snow. However even within the deep vicinity of blinding white that was so clear in the snow all that Diamond could see was the color of burning scarlet. All she could hear over the songs of the children and the screams of excitement were the wails of misery and the roars of forsaken and forgotten battles. In a matter of months Diamond would once again have to trudge her way through winter with the aching memory of a faded shadow pulling at her mind. In a matter of months all she would see in everything was his blue eyes against the harsh icy skin staring back at her. To them he was dead, to her he was trapped.

Bells chimed through the humidified air as the sound of Diamond's lone footsteps bounced playfully off the stone walls around her. The familiar clang of the metal on her long leather purse jingled a delightful melody as her short burgundy dress fluttered softly with each step. Slowly over time the reason to care about school had diminished more and more. No longer did Diamond toggle in the lies being hissed like venom from the teachers' mouths. In every last word they dared to spit she could hear the gnarled sound of President Snow's voice behind them. Each of them were his sadistic little puppets. Each of the tributes were his puppets. Hell even Prism was partially his puppet. Yet she would never allow herself to let his strings be tied around her limbs. She was a free girl, and that she was determined to stay.

Smoke wafted leisurely through the air as it brought an all too recognizable scent with it. Visions of Prism and great pillars of smoke surrounding him flashed like tidal waves within Diamond's mind as she turned another corner of the school's small campus. Slowly the visions of the blonde haired boy were replaced the physical body of Ariel Porter, who was perhaps the one person Diamond had grown accustom to again. Yet as expected the smoke that slithered through the air originated from the bud of her lit cigarette and all Diamond could do was smirk as she approached. 

Treacherous toxicity tickled at Diamond's nose as she grinned even more snagging the cigarette from the other girl's grip. "Well it seems I have had quite a bad influence on you." A laugh bubbled up through Diamond's throat as she touched the lit death giver to her mouth and let is lethal love swim through her lungs and back out into the breeze. Letting out another weak giggle Diamond returned the cigarette to her rather and usually stressed looking owner. However today Diamond was determined to pull Ariel away from the constricting shell of her sister and allow her to bloom in the luminescent land that was District Three. 

Gently Diamond took hold of Ariel's hand as she started leading her down a walkway leading far far away from the chains of the school. "Today Ariel I am going to show you what it's like to really live a life of your own." As Diamond side eyed her companion she felt her smile widening as she winked towards Ariel as well, "I just hope you can handle it."