anais aricia ⭒ d1

When she was four, she first learnt she ruled the world.

Her knowledge came in the form of an illness, bittersweet and cold, that swept the smiles off her household in an instant. Her grandmother had a cough. It rattled her bones and echoed around their brittle walls, a sickly melody that grew more intense each time the sky kissed the blues of the skies good morning. And when it eventually subsided, and the woman was taken to a tomb of petunias and weeds, the money she'd managed to save up from their hundred year old clockwork franchise, from the wood carved by callous hands and put together with keen precision, was all given not to her daught, but to her daughters daughter.

A toddler with a pretty pout and a vicious laugh, the only granddaughter of a woman who's distaste of her own kin led to what could have been one ot the worst mistakes of her life.

She was a simple toddler, so she didn't exactly comprehend what had occured. Her young years were spent surrounded by scowls, jealousy, lying and spitefulness. Anger constantly feastered and would break into an unnecessary fight between the two adults who raised her, dark eyes alight with fury. And when she, the princess of the household, would make her presence known, he was buttered up with sweets and given whatever she desired so she would leave the two adults to their words.

Many nights were spent in her grandmothers old workshop, surrouned by the soft smell of petunia and the sweetness of the rich oaks she had utelised in her crafting. Family would come and go, lingering like ghosts in the room, fiddling with tools and putting things together before dissapearing once more. She saught attention, more than anything, and when she struggled to recieve it she took instead to the streets, batting eyelashes and going door to door to appease to the hearts of other adults, poofing up her dress and telling tall tales of mistreatment to get pitiful gasps and treats to get her to keep talking.

Gossip and scandals, of the small childs making, only severed relationships further in the loud house of three. Neighbours would stare as her mother went to purchase goods, people would talk and try help the young princess take time away from her home. She was forced into play-dates a plenty by her mother so she didn't wander off alone and so other parents could have some peace of mind about the girl's upbringing.

She found other children were more succeptable then their parents to doing what she says. While older people would give her treats, some seemed to ignore her or attempted to scold her when she asked for more or wanted them to take her somewhere. Their children, however, adored challenges. To scale a tree and jump off, to fetch her rare cake from their mothers kitchen, to steal her a cute skirt without being seen from the boutique for a hug.

When people did what she said, it was as if the child had some sort of power over other people. It was like she was one of the pretty dressed girls from tales that lined the walls of school.

Maybe she was.

The Aricia royals never saw it coming until the fruit of ther neglegence was right infront of them. A child growing up, demanding things of them constantly and not wishing to help out at the workshop. Children would come and go from her house constantly, playing games, eating food her parents had brought home, all excited to play with Anais, who had decreed herself the princess of the whoooole district infront of a class of twelve- and being children, who could have known better?

It was an assumed phase, but any attempts to rouse her of her fantasy, to tell her off, were answered with giggles and eyerolls.

And, when they explained to her the small fortune she'd inherited and why it was important that she grew out of this 'princess' thing... it didn't quite go well. The money was used as the driving point for every argument, a bargaining chip. She could spend it all at any moment or give away her grandmothers business, and her parents would be left with nothing. Being a child, she hadn't understood the affect it could have on her- but it sure left her parents furious each time.

As she got older she may have realised she perhaps wasn't exactly a princess, but, she had her parents under her thumb, and her friends under lock and key. She was living the perfect life. And, as her friends grew up, gaining an interest in the hunger games and all it stood for Anais followed suit. The games looked like a perfect way to declare herself to the world, to live with more wealth then she could have dreamed of- to own gorgeous gowns, to dance amidst those who could truly be royalty.

So. She began training. Lithe, but petite, the princess of clockwork, adept in manipulation with little empathy to expend for others, was keen to use what she'd grown up with to her advantage. Though lacking physical strength, friends close to her would always be there to teach her what they knew and help her.

Perhaps princesses weren't real. But Anais would do anything to be adored by as many people as possible, to live a lavish life, where people would pay attention to her, and only her. To have a harem of divine followers who'd laugh with her, who'd hold her close and wish her the best, to be full of cake.

And she'd be truly loved. And fed a lot of cake- that's like, super important.

It's the life she deserved, The life of the future princess of district one-

No.

The world sounded much cooler.