-Ridley Ostreuck, 18, District 4-

Ridley thought that dinner was good, but it was nothing compared to the main event. The more people, the better! And as soon as One Man Circus took the stage, the night got so much better. This was the real party that Ridley had been waiting for. He'd done his job getting the moneybags, at that little banquet, right? So now he could really let down his hair and live a little bit.

"Oh, now this is a party," he said to Keelan, who was sipping at a pina colada.

"How could anyone drink this!?" he asked finally, shaking his head as he put it down. "Especially the night before the Hunger Games."

Ridley laughed at him and took the drink, taking a big sip and sighing. "Oh, this shit is good!" he said. "I dunno what you're on about."

Keelan sighed. "Did you get Michael's permission to drink?"

"Nope, but I'm sure he's cool with it," Ridley said with a grin as he started to move a little bit to the music. "It's just one drink."

"That's always how it starts," Keelan said, but he laughed as he punched Ridley's arm. "I'm not holding up your hungover ass tomorrow morning."

"I'm not gonna get hungover," Ridley said, shaking his head. He was a fool, but he wasn't that foolish. "Come on, Keelan, this could be your only chance to find your drink. And I sure as hell found mine!" Ridley held it up in the air. "Woo! What do you want to do first?"

Keelan looked around at the people that were crowding the area – particularly the dance floor. "I'm not sure. There looks like a lot to do."

"I'm gonna hang out because I think I heard someone say something about karaoke." He looked at the girl that stood out in a pair of bright yellow short overalls and smiled a little bit. "Let's divide and conquer. Besides, we have a job to do later and I need to make sure I'm there for it."

Keelan smiled and winked at him. "You're right. Should we dance with our allies?" he asked, looking over at where Ryder and Kodiak were dancing together with Wendy as all three of them were holding glasses of wine.

"You can," Ridley said with a snort. "But right now I don't think I want to be caught dead with them. Not until I whoop their asses at karaoke!"

"Alright," Keelan said, laughing and shaking his head. "I'll see you 'round then." He waved and walked over to their allies while Ridley watched Amiah dance. He wished he could be so carefree. He danced his way over to her – hard to miss her with how she was dressed. Amiah grinned and waved at him.

"Where are your allies?" he asked her, looking around for Rory, Mary, or Odessa.

Amiah looked for a second before giggling and shrugging as she continued to dance. She gestured out her arms and Ridley smiled and danced along with her. Was it a bad decision? Maybe. But this was their last chance to have fun together, and he was going to take it. Amiah grinned at him and took his hands to dance with him. He grinned and danced with her. Maybe it was weird to be dancing with someone that was going to be in a fight to the death, but Ridley was glad that Amiah didn't care. She was just fun, and there was no better way to be. Ridley didn't think – he just danced with his kindred spirit from District Five.

But Ridley's dancing with Amiah quickly ceased when Freddy announced that the karaoke portion was going to begin. "Sorry – I gotta go. Important business with my escort."

Amiah pouted at him for a moment, but couldn't hold it on her face, grinning and slapping his shoulder a little bit before waving to him. Ridley waved back before he went to the right stage perimeter, just barely beating Keelan there.

"Where are the twins?" Keelan asked. The Nazario twins were supposed to be with them on their post.

Ridley's brows creased as he scanned the crowd for either of the Nazario twins. "Oh, there's Rowe!" he said, putting out his finger and pointing at where the boy was talking to a Capitolite girl that looked about his age or a little older. She was pretty, with light blue hair and bright eyes, and the way she was blushing meant he was obviously making progress. Ridley laughed at how he was standing up taller and puffing out his chest a little bit to try and impress her. "Typical."

"That's Rowe for you," Keelan said. "You'd think that Thor would know his brother well enough to know that it was a bad idea to trust him with this."

"He probably thought Remi would keep him in check," Ridley commented, scanning the crowd for Rowe's twin. "She's nowhere to be found."

"Balls. She's with DJ!" Keelan said, pointing through the crowd to them. "This is quickly becoming a disaster."

"Should we go get them?" Ridley asked. But they were having so much fun, he didn't want to.

"I don't know," Keelan said. His eyes widened with panic when they heard the band announce Thor up on the stage and the crowd cheered for him. "Shit!"

"Dude, it'll be fine, that's why we're here!" Ridley said, putting an arm around Keelan.

"Thank you for a warm welcome back on the stage!" Thor said, allowing the crowd to cheer again. "Now, I have a special treat for you," Thor said. "You've all heard me dedicate songs to my partner, and today is going to be no exception. This song is dedicated to Ambrose Fucking Dionte," he said, grinning as Ridley was absolutely filled to the brim with queer excitement as the band started the song.

"Shitfuck!" shouted Rowe as he ran over to them, winded from the run. "I'm here!" He stood on his tiptoes as Remi hurried over with a grin on her face as she heard her brother sing the first chorus of Counting Stars.

"About time you guys showed up!" Keelan said, sighing at the two of them and ruffling Remi's hair. "The hell were you two doing while Freddy was announcing the karaoke?"

"It's his fault, he left first!" Remi said, pointing at her brother. "Dummy."

"You were just waiting to go to DJ," Rowe said. "I could see it."

"Oh, let the young peeps have their young love and let's dance!" Ridley said, grinning and taking Keelan's hands to dance with him as Freddy sang a chorus with him and even from there, Ridley could hear Vasilisa screaming for him. The song was definitely different with One Man Circus in the background.

"At least Malina was at her spot," commented Keelan, pointing to where their escort was dancing with the second-oldest Nazario.

But before Thor could go into the bridge of Counting Stars, the band stopped playing.

"WAIT!" Freddy said dramatically, to cheers from the crowd. "Guys, that's totally the wrong song, what the hell are we doing!?"

"What do you mean wrong song?" Lizzie asked, but it was very obvious that this was a planned skit.

"Did you mess up the set list? You nitwit!" Bonnie said, standing up to point a drumstick at him.

"What song were we supposed to sing?" Mari asked, cocking her head to the side.

"Don't worry guys," Thor said. "That's a great song, but I think that Ambrose is going to like this song even more." He took a deep breath and Ridley grabbed Rowe's arm in excitement. "Let's do this!" Thor said, as the band started the next song.

"It's a beautiful night, we're looking for something dumb to do… Hey baby! I think I wanna marry you!"

The spotlight found Ambrose in the crowd, whose eyes widened as Thor continued to sing the song. Malina took their hand and took them over to Wolf and Kat, who were also singing along in the crowd and pointing at them. Wolf and Kat flanked them on either side and took them to Pluto and Anakyn, who were both singing and dancing much better than Wolf and Kat. Scorpio and Thack were the the next people to sing and point at Ambrose, who took them over to Ambrose's two tributes and the twins.

Ridley resisted an excited squeal at that confused but increasingly excited expression on their face as he and Keelan did the swim together and pointed at Ambrose. "Don't say no no no no no… Just say yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah!" Ridley reached over to squeeze their hand and Keelan rubbed their shoulder as they stepped back and let the twins flank both of Ambrose sides. "Just say I do!" they sang, as they both linked an arm with Ambrose and ran with them up to the stage to be with Thor, only stopping to hug both of Thor's parents, who were waiting at the bottom of the stairs for them. Rowe and Remi dropped Ambrose off on the stage in front of Thor, going over to stand with their parents and Malina as Thor took their hand.

"Tell me right now Baby," he sang, and when the instrumentation calmed down a little bit, Thor took their hand and dropped to his knee as the crowd screamed and cheered – and Wolf howled in glee. "It's a beautiful night, we're looking for something dumb to do… Hey Baby… I know I wanna marry you."

The crowd was quiet as song ended, and the band kept vamping the final instrumental part.

"Ambrose, it was at this very place three years ago that I realized I had some serious feelings for you, so I always knew this was how I wanted to ask you to marry me. No other reason I'd want to be on this stage again without my band fam, and my real fam. Ambrose Dionte…" He opened the ringbox. "Will you marry me?"

"YES!" Ambrose squealed out as soon as he was done talking, getting on their knees right away to kiss him and hug him tightly. The crowd – including Ridley and Keelan – went wild at that. One Man Circus cheered and clapped along with them all.

"Congratulations to the newly engaged couple!" Freddy cheered with a little squeal of excitement. "I can't even!"

Thor grinned and took Ambrose off the stage to hug each of the members of his family – their family now. Ridley cheered. Ambrose was a great escort and they deserved to have that moment. And when the music started back up, the crowd was even more energetic.

"You gonna sing something?" Keelan asked with a grin on his face.

"Yup! I never signed my name on a list so quickly. I gotta show Kodiak who's boss here!"

Keelan just laughed a bit and shook his head at him. "Okay, I'm staying far away from that."

"Aw, come on," Ridley said, squeezing Keelan's shoulder. "Have some fun, live a little."

"I'll pass, thanks," Keelan said with a laugh. "I'm going to get a drink – punch, not alcohol." Ridley deflated a little bit into a pout as he walked away to the refreshments table. He was about to go back over and try to find Amiah when he saw a different blonde barreling towards him.

"Hide me!" he shouted, ducking behind Ridley and into a dance pile.

"What?!" Ridley asked, stumbling backwards at the Victor that was walking in their direction, looking less than pleased.

"You!" Parker said, pointing at Ridley. "Where's my son? We're leaving."

Ridley creased his eyebrows. "I don't think I've seen him," he said quickly.

"Are you sure?" Parker asked, narrowing their eyes at him and leaning closer. "About as tall as you. Blonde. Weird ugly little excuse for a beard."

That's kind of rude, Ridley thought to himself. It wasn't ugly, he was just a little scruffy. "Oh! Yeah, I have seen him," Ridley said. "And he was running that way." He pointed to the opposite direction. "Think he talked about playing mini golf so you better go get him!"

Parker glared in the direction of the course. "That little piece of shit." They walked with purpose towards the course, balling their fist and rolling up their sleeve.

The boy – Luke – put both of his hands on Ridley's shoulders. "Hey dude, thanks for that," he said, pushing a hand through his hair as Ridley turned around to face him. "You're a hella kinda fella."

"No problem," Ridley said. "That was kinda… Not very nice."

"That's just my parent," Luke said with a sigh. "Sometimes I worry they're gonna hold me down and shave me, to be honest."

Ridley frowned deeply at that. "That's… Fucked up, man."

"Well, thanks. Ridley, right? I'm Luke." He held out his hand for Ridley to shake.

"Nice to meet you," Ridley said, shaking his hand. "I'm… Gonna guess that you're not here for my ally Kodiak." He winced a little bit thinking about what he said during his interview.

"I mean, I did come for him," Luke said, scratching the back of his neck. "But it was to apologize. I had no idea that my parent was encouraging me to get close to him because of that. I just thought he was hot, that was all, I didn't mean to lead anyone on."

"He is hot," Ridley commented under his breath. "Don't tell Keelan I said that."

Luke zipped his lips. "But now that I'm here I don't wanna leave! It's been a hot minute since I've been out past my curfew and this party is hella!"

"You have a curfew?" Ridley asked. "Dude, that's bullshit, how old are you?"

"Seventeen," Luke said with a shrug. "Yea, I know it's fuming horse shit, but what can I do?"

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but you can't hide from them forever," Ridley said.

When the next song started, Luke perked up right away. "Oh, I need to dance to this with someone hot af!" He started moving his hips and Ridley tried not to watch – oh but he was watching and Luke knew it and grinned at him and made the come here motion at him. "You'll do! C'mon, Sexy, lez go."

Ridley looked at him biting his lip a little bit and opening his hands to take Ridley's hips. This was… Probably a bad decision. When did that ever stop Ridley before? He got on him right away, pressing his ass back on him and grinning when Luke took his hips and grinded with him.

"I'm serious dude, you can't hide forever," Ridley said, shaking his head at him.

"I'm very good at hiding," Luke said with a shrug. "C'mon Baby, I don't want to talk about real shit when I have a nice ass on me."

"Fair," Ridley said with a laugh as he wiggled his ass a little bit.

Freddy stopped singing mid-verse to cheer and hold up the pink bra that landed at his feet victoriously. Mari was right there to pick up the words and shake her hips while she was holding the bass as the crowd screamed for her.

"Luke!?"

Ridley bit his lip and grinned as Kodiak approached him, shaking his ass back against Luke teasingly. "Hi Kodi!"

"Dude. Your parent is pissed. What the fuck are you doing?!" Kodiak asked, putting his hands on his hips.

"What does it look like, man? I'm trying to park this big mack truck in a little garage." Luke gestured to his hips as he dropped it down low and Ridley just grinned and followed him down.

"I'm the little garage," Ridley said as he grinned proudly at Kodiak. Luke was an attractive dude and Ridley knew that he was down to have some fun without any strings attached. With where he was going, that was what Ridley wanted.

"I can't believe you!" Kodi scolded him. "Either of you!"

"Oh come on Kodiak, have some fun!" Luke said, leaning forward to kiss and nibble on Ridley's neck, which sent a tingle through him – and it wasn't just the tickle of his beard. Although that was also brilliant.

"Yeah, come on Kodiak!" Ridley said, laughing at how Luke was pushing his hips back against him. "Live a little."

"I'm staying far away from this," Kodi said, pointing at both of them, shaking his head as he walked away from them, to Ryder who called out and pointed at him as he approached.

"His loss," Luke commented.

"Alright, we're gonna start up the tribute karaoke battles of the century!" Freddy said. "And first up we have Ridley versus Kodiak! Ridley, come on up!"

Ridley grinned at Luke. "That's me, sorry. You have to find another hottie to hide behind while I'm gone."

"I guess so," Luke said. "Bummer."

"Just a few minutes, then I'll be back," Ridley said, winking at him as he got on the stage and grinned at how the crowd was applauding for him. He felt the light of the stage on his skin and closed his eyes with a smile. "Thank you for the warm welcome!" Ridley said into the microphone, jumping a little bit at how his voice boomed and adjusting the microphone a little bit. "This is a song I love because it was first sung by Thor, who's from my District and now engaged to my escort!" he said with a grin at the applause. "Sing along if you know the words." He gave Bonnie the thumbs up to start the iconic drumbeat to We Will Rock You and grinned when the crowd applauded for him.

At the beat of the drums that he felt in his bones, Ridley felt free. Free from his upbringing, free from the oyster farm, from the future that he once felt damned to. Ridley made his own future and he wanted to inspire others to do the same. He found Luke front and center in the crowd and grinned at him with a wink.

"This song is dedicated to all the little queers out there that need to say a big fuck you to the situation they were born into and break free."

~.~.

-Rory Kwan, 18, District 8-

"ALRIGHT!" the crowd erupted into applause when the dart hit the center of the board. Rory gaped as Mary did a little twirl to collect her dart from the board, her ruffled skirt flying out as she did so.

"There's plenty more where that came from, boys," she said, picking up her dart and giving them a wink. "You'd be surprised at how similar dart-throwing is to knife-throwing, after all!" She turned to Rory and held out a dart to her. "Alright Kwan, let's see what you got."

Rory could feel heat rising up to her face. There was no way in hell that she was going to be able to show off like Mary just did. "Alright, but I've never played darts before, so have mercy on my soul."

"Oh, you got this!" Mary said, dancing a little bit to the music. "Do it!"

Rory sighed a little bit and closed one eye like she thought she'd seen Mary do and aimed the dart. With a deep breath, Rory let the dart go, watching as it flipped over and hit off of the board, not even sticking. The crowd laughed, but Rory didn't let it phase her. She couldn't afford to let that happen – and risk anyone underestimating her. She just gave the crowd a smile. "What did I say, right?"

Mary giggled a little bit, not even hesitating to dance over and pick up Rory's dart from the ground. Rory didn't mind failing – but she was absolutely going to show this crowd that she could learn absolutely anything if she put her mind to it. She stepped aside to let the next person go when Mary came to deliver the dart to her.

"Thanks for getting that for me."

"Oh, I don't mind!" Mary said with a smile.

"Teach me how to throw a dart?" Rory asked while the others were taking turns and sipping from their drinks.

"Oh, sure thing!" Mary said. "Gimme two fingers." She held up two fingers and scissored them a little bit.

Rory put a hand over her mouth to keep from snorting at that. She would understand when she was older.

But… If Mary was getting older… That meant Rory would be dead, and Elaina would be alone. Rory could not get attached, she could not let it happen. She volunteered for this for a reason, and that reason was for her daughter. She couldn't lose sight of that by getting too attached to these people that ultimately had to die for her to reach her goal.

But at the same time, it was comforting to have a group of people that shared her fears and anxieties about the Arena. She had a good security blanket in her allies, but… She just couldn't get close, she had to protect herself.

"Alright," Mary said, after closing Rory's fingers around the dart and turning Rory's wrist so that it was up. "You're ready, let's do an open stance for you and I'll show you how to aim."

It wasn't Rory's turn yet – but the crowd cleared out for him. Mary walked her through the stance, keeping Rory nice and relaxed and guiding her through the throw – take back, release, follow through. Mary stepped back and let Rory take a couple of practice strokes before she took her throw. The dart flew forward and hit the single score area.

"Not too bad!" Mary said with a grin. "Your first go and you already throw better than Emerick." She laughed loudly at her own joke and slapped her leg. "Oh man. Too bad he ain't here to hear that and get all pouty, that's my life fuel."

"Thanks," Rory said with a laugh. Part of her wanted to ask her who Emerick was, but Rory knew better than to learn too much about her.

Mary quickly looked up when she heard a familiar voice on the karaoke. "Oh, I think I wanna dance!" she said quickly. "Do you wanna dance with me?"

Rory could feel heat rising to her face. "Oh, uh…" She messed with her fingers nervously. She absolutely could not dance and was not intending on getting in on any of that. She had a goal and a purpose. "You go ahead."

Mary whined at that, already dancing a little bit. But she was obviously anxious to get there and watch Dante singing, so she didn't push it, hurrying off to the dance floor and waving to Amiah on the way.

Rory stood back and watched Dante up on stage, dancing like he was having the absolutely time of his life. She was glad that he could at least experience this before going into the Games. She watched Mary and Amiah go to the front of the stage to cheer and clap for Dante, sighing a little bit as he watched the people that would be her competition. Rory wished that she could just turn off the thoughts of what was going to happen tomorrow and have fun like them all. But… She also wanted them to keep being oblivious. It would only help her. And only one could come out of this on the other side.

Dante was hyping up the crowd and the band was just feeding into his energy and loving it – including Rory's youngest ally. Rory wasn't a fool. She watched Amiah dance with Ridley for at least four songs earlier, not even caring. She witnessed Odessa and Vasilisa talking at the chariot ride – and of course, Mary now, screaming and dancing with Amiah in the front. She just… Had to make sure that she had more friends than enemies.

But how could she make friends with people that she would have to kill?

"Hey," Odessa said, coming up behind her and putting a hand on Rory's shoulder as Mari jumped up on the stage for her turn at karaoke without even taking the steps. "Champagne? Low alcohol content, but it'll loosen you up a little."

Rory looked at the glass in her ally's hand. "Alright, I'll take one," she said as she took it. "Do you think I need to ask Ant about this?"

"For one glass of champagne? You're fine," Odessa said, shaking her head. "I'm gonna get some pictures of Mary singing, but not before I know you're okay." It was obvious that Mary was going to spend as long as possible on the stage from how she was singing with Mari and everyone was loving it.

Rory smiled a little bit. Of her allies, Odessa was the one she trusted the most to not bail. "Thanks," she said as she took the glass. "And cheers."

"Cheers!" Odessa said, clanking their glasses together and they both sipped the champagne. It wasn't the greatest thing Rory ever tasted, but she would tolerate that fizzy feeling in her throat to fit in with her allies. She couldn't be the black sheep. But also… Manipulating and setting her allies against each other wouldn't do any good for her. They had to stay strong if they wanted to help each other through any part of this. But she would always sleep with one eye open. For Elaina.

"I'm okay, really," Rory said to her. "Dancing just… Isn't really my thing."

"So what I'm hearing is… Come talk to me after I finish my drink," Odessa said, grinning and taking another sip of hers. "Gotcha."

Rory rolled her eyes at her ally as Odessa went to be in the front of the crowd with her camera up on her face to take pictures of Mary on stage. Rory sighed a little bit, watching Mary on the stage. She had a great rapport with the band and made the crowd laugh with how she teamed up with Freddy to tease the others. She wished that she could be that seamless with hem. But she was absolutely not getting too loose. One glass of champagne was enough.

Rory watched as Mary blew kisses into the crowd and soon switched places with Kodiak from District Ten. Rory applauded politely as he took the stage and the band started a song that Rory recognized all the way back from when she still listened to Upward Voyager.

"Tonight, I'm gonna have myself a good time…" he started crooning, and the crowd was quiet as they watched him sing along with Lizzie on the piano. And the applause got even louder when the tempo picked up and the drum came in. Ridley was good and Dante and Mary were cute, but Kodiak was straight talented. Rory watched him dancing and engaging with each of the members of the band and realized she was bobbing her head to the music a little bit.

By this point, Amiah was standing with Ridley and some blonde otter-looking guy who were both cheering for Kodiak, and Odessa was even more engaged in taking pictures of Kodiak on stage, who was barely standing still for a single moment. Rory couldn't help but feel jealous at how loudly the crowd was cheering for him when he started moving his hips on the stage with the band harmonizing with him. Rory was no sex machine like Kodiak – nor could she sing like that. But that didn't matter in a fight to the death. Kodi's arrogance was going to come back to bite him in the ass in the Arena.

Rory went to put away her empty glass when Freddy was playing the guitar solo and when she came back, Mary was dancing towards her.

"Have you been standing here this whole time!?" she asked. "That won't do. Come on, let's dance!"

Rory sighed and shook her head. "It's not really my thing," she said with a laugh.

"Come on, you gotta give me one song!" Mary said. In an instant, her smile faded into a pout as he gaze set on the dance floor and she grabbed Rory's hand and dragged her over to the floor. Rory squinted a little bit at that, trying to dance but she really felt like a mom at a wedding. At least her moves weren't as bad as Ryder – whose cheeks were rosy as they were obviously a little bit tipsy while they danced with Wendy, who was laughing at them. But Mary was staring intensely not at Kodiak's ally, but at Dante. And it was soon easy to see why.

With Dante was a boy that looked his age, with shaggy navy hair and bright green eyes. And they were both laughing up a storm. Rory raised an eyebrow at Mary who had a little bit of stink on her face as she tried to make Rory have fun with her. But Rory's awkward mom moves were not conducive to this at all.

"A little jealous?" Rory asked her.

Mary crossed her arms. "What?! Jealous?! Me? Noooo," she said with a small chuckle. "Never."

Rory clapped a few times to the beat and knew she didn't look cool at all. "I'm confused. Why didn't you ally with Dante? You obviously like him in some sense of the word."

"What?!" Mary asked, but the flush on her cheeks and the shove she gave Rory made her laugh. "No."

"I'm just asking." Rory shrugged and sighed in relief when the song was over and the crowd was cheering, while Kodi was giving Lizzie a hug on the stage.

Mary clapped with the crowd, but stopped. "Let's take a load off and grab some punch."

"Sure," Rory said, shrugging and following her, noticing her change in mood. She got two cups of punch and handed one to Mary.

"Thanks," Mary said, with a small smile. She set her sights on a quiet area – surrounded with trees that towered over them – and took Rory there without another word. Rory followed, breathing with relief at the quietness, the concert a distant sound in the background. Mary climbed a little bit up a tree and sat on a branch."Now, to answer your question…" she sighed a little as she looked out to where Dante was still dancing. "Why do you think I didn't ally with him, Rory? I know where we are," she said quietly. "I want to get out of here and back home, not have fun and be friendly." She sipped her punch. "Allying with Dante would have been fun, until he…." Her voice caught. "Y'know."

Rory frowned a little bit and sighed, her finger immediately touching her forehead gently, feeling the kiss that was placed there days ago. "I understand," she said finally. "Yeah. I understand exactly what you mean."

Mary reached up to pat at her eye gently with the back of her hand. "I'm sorry, we can't get too close. I have to go."

Rory nodded a little bit, waving a little bit to her and watching her walk away. But her thoughts – and her punch – was interrupted when she heard them all saying her name.

"Wachiwi! Chiwi!" Rory could hear the voices and the snaps of cameras. What was the press doing here? Rory thought that she and Mary had found one of the quietest spots within their given bounds… Rory turned around to see a cloud of people with clicking cameras. "Look here!"

Rory's jaw dropped a little bit when she heard Chiwi cry out loudly. "STOP!"

Rory gaped a little bit at the hurt in her voice, and quickly passed through the group of photographers, and understood when she saw Chiwi what they wanted – a picture of the volunteer pumping breastmilk.

Rory moved in front of her right away, providing her extra protection from them. Cameras were clicking and Rory held up her middle fingers at them – they wouldn't post a picture like that in a magazine. "Get out!" Rory called at them, kicking out her foot to stop someone from moving any closer. It took a few seconds for them to start leaving, but the crowd soon departed from her, leaving them in silence again.

"Are you okay?" Rory asked quietly.

"Oh yes," Chiwi said, sniffling a little and wiping her tears. "I'm lucky you were there," she said quietly.

"Me too," Rory said quietly. "I can't believe they would try to get pictures of that, it's disgusting."

Chiwi sniffled a little bit. "I'm used to it," she said quietly, reaching up to dry her eyes. "I just… Hate pumping already, and… I tried to start in the bathroom, but the door was locked so I thought this would be an alternative. You know, the schedule is important."

"I know," Rory said. "That's weird that the door was locked."

"I don't know," Chiwi said, sniffling a little bit as she disconnected from the pump. "But I'm glad you were there. Thank you…"

"I know where we are, but I couldn't allow that to happen to you," Rory said, quietly, still staying turned away from her to not look at her until she was dressed again. "That's… Disgusting."

Chiwi sighed a little bit as she pulled her shirt back over herself and put a hand on Rory's shoulder to indicate that she could turn around. Rory turned around, frowning at how her make-up smeared from her crying. Rory gently the wetness away from her face, smiling a little bit at her. "I'm a survivor," she said quietly and shrugged a little bit. "It's what I do."

"I know you are," Rory said, pushing her silky black hair behind her ear. "I don't care what Basil said to you," she said quietly. "He's stupid if he doesn't see everything that you're doing for him, even when you're here. You did what's best for your baby. Every situation is different. I need to get my daughter away from some terrible people, that's what's best for her. You're making sure your son is happy and cared for, just like me."

Chiwi sniffled a little bit and swallowed down her tears. "Thanks Rory," she said quietly.

Rory passed over her cup of punch. "Have a drink."

"Thank you," Chiwi said, taking a sip out of Rory's cup. "I know in my heart that it's the best thing to do for my kid. But… It's just hard to believe it with everything else that's going on right now."

"I don't doubt it," Rory said quietly, squeezing her hand. How she wished that more than one would come out of this alive.

"Rory… Please don't take this the wrong way. Please don't yell. Please."

Rory frowned at the pain that was in her voice. "I won't," she said. "You can trust me." As much as she knew she shouldn't say that in a fight to the death and mean it.

"If, God forbid, anything bad happens to you in there… I'm going to do everything I can to do the best thing for Elaina, too. I will try to repay your kindness."

Rory's eyes filled up with tears, but she held them back. She was going to be the strong one right now. But hearing Chiwi say that was melting her heart. "Thank you," Rory said. "Can I hug you?"

Chiwi's mouth dropped a little bit, obviously surprised that she would ask. "Oh, okay," she said, opening her arms and giving Rory a nice soft hug. Rory let go a little bit, holding her arms gently to lean forward and kiss her forehead.

"I want to tell you I have your back, but… I can't make any promises," Rory said, sighing as she let go a little bit and Chiwi put her hand on her forehead where Rory kissed.

"I understand you can't," Chiwi said quietly. "But I can." She squeezed Rory's hands and walked away from her. "Enjoy the party."

Rory watched her walk away, sighing quietly as she closed her eyes. She touched her own forehead and waited until she walked away to whisper.

"Thank you Chiwi."

~.~.

-Odessa Anthony, 18, District 9-

She really wanted to see her Dad. But it had been a while and he hadn't tried to find her. June had warned her that he might not be allowed there because of his relation to her, but… It was tough, not being able to say goodbye to him.

Odessa absolutely could not allow that to get in her way. She was given a real shit hand, and she had to make the best of it. She was going to be the one to get out of here alive, then she could have as much time as she wanted with her father. After all, she was playing all her cards right. But that didn't matter when they got into the Arena. She couldn't let herself slip.

She watched Rory and Mary go off together and smiled a little bit. As long as she stayed in charge of this little foursome and kept from getting too close to them, she would be in a good place. Ultimately, this was all fun, but she had to stay focused. She smiled a little bit when Amiah danced over to her, obviously enjoying the end of One Man Circus's set. Odessa made sure that the crowd was watching as she took her ally's hands and went out to dance with her. Rory was so stiff and Mary was the queen of jumping and pumping her fist, but Amiah could actually dance. Odessa was glad to dance with someone that actually knew what they were doing on the floor.

"Have you been dancing this whole time?" Odessa asked her over the music.

Amiah giggled and shrugged her shoulders at that before she nodded.

"How do you even have the energy to do that?" Odessa asked, shaking her head at her. Amiah just shrugged again and started bouncing a little more and shaking her hips in response. Odessa snorted a little bit, laughing at her ally's energy. She appreciated that Amiah could find it in her to dance like this the night before they were going to fight to the death. She hoped that all of her allies were able to enjoy themselves. Only one of them was going to come out of this on the other side.

The song ended and Amiah pouted when they didn't start something right away.

"Thank you everyone for a great night!" Freddy said. "And while we're switching bands…" He squealed a little bit.

"On this day, nineteen years ago, a legend began," Mari said dramatically.

"Oh, it's Bonnie's birthday!" Lizzie squealed a little bit – obviously not going along with whatever bit they had planned. "And we all gotta sing happy birthday to our favorite blue drummer!"

"YES!" Freddy said, strumming a chord on his guitar. "Get him over here, Teddy!"

Bonnie was already trying to walk off of the stage and was dragged back out by Theodore, struggling against him. "Put me down you nitwit!" Hosanna followed behind them, grinning at him and shaking her butt at him a little bit.

Rose ran out from the other side of the stage to Hosanna's side. "Did I miss the celebration!?"

"You're just in time!" Mari said cheerfully. "Alright, everyone ready?!"

Odessa cheered along with the crowd as Amiah put up her hands, giggling and clapping her hands at that.

"Alright, one… Two… Three!" Hosanna counted out to the crowd.

Odessa sang along with everyone, and couldn't help but smile at the sheer magnitude of the crowd singing together as Bonnie stopped struggling against Theodore with his face going purple in a blush and his mouth hanging open a little bit at all the attention. When the song was over, the crowd started to cheer, including Vasilisa, whose titties were flying free after she threw her bra at Freddy mid-set.

"We love you Bonnie!" Lizzie said, coming over to ruffle his hair. Freddy snuck up behind them to give Bonnie's ass a smack, which cause Vasilisa to yell along with some other members of the crowd as Amiah giggled next to her. Hosanna made a face at Freddy before leaning over to kiss Bonnie's cheek as the crowd cheered.

"Alright, I hear that a space bun line is forming near the courthouse and if you want pride flags or whiskers, there are a few stations. Get some punch, glow up a little bit, and if you wanna watch Bonnie do a line of shots for his birthday, he'll be at the open bar!"

"I-what?!" Bonnie asked, as Theodore dragged him over towards the bar.

"WOO!" cheered that one really weird intern guy as he hurried after Theodore and Bonnie, as Bonnie's band members quickly racked their instruments and followed to the bar.

Odessa snorted and shook her head. "Smart of them to wait til after their set, he's gonna be out of his mind," she commented.

Amiah giggled a little bit and did a small twirl – not even needing music to dance – but eventually surrendering to the prospect of punch. Odessa was going to follow her when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Well well well, who do we have here?"

Odessa recognized that purple skin, yellow hair combo anywhere. "Virgil!" she said with a grin, leaning in to hug her ex-partner and friend. "Oh, it's so good to see you!" she said as she hugged them tightly.

"Oh, you too," Virgil said, smiling as they pat her shoulder a few times. "How've you been?"

"I've been making the most out of being here," she told them honestly. "But I'm staying far away from the alcohol." She gave them a knowing grin.

"Probably wise, you little lightweight," Virgil said, squeezing her cheek as Odessa tried to slap their hands away.

"Stooooop!" she complained, grinning at them. "People are always watching me now, I can't let you do anything embarrassing."

"Hey, all press is good press, right?" Virgil teased her with a grin, ruffling her hair. "As long as they're all saying your name. Like that Silo kid."

"Imagine being that infamous," Odessa said with a small snort. "I guess I should know, since he was from my District."

"Oh, come on, what's really your home?" they asked, crossing their arms and smirking at her.

Odessa whined. "You're right," she conceded, over the sound of the crowd at the bar cheering for Bonnie slapping down a glass. "But you can't tell my allies that, because, y'know."

Virgil nodded, putting up a hand to stop her from saying anything else and risking being overheard. "Gotcha."

Odessa smiled and took their hand. The long-distance thing was just too much for them, with her being back and forth so often, and their high-stress job. But… She was just so happy to see them here. Odessa smiled when she saw Rory walking back towards the dance floor.

"Rory!" she said, waving her ally over.

"What's going on over there?" Rory asked, looking over towards the bar.

"The drummer is getting drunk because it's his birthday," Odessa said mildly. This wasn't her first party. "Where were you?"

"I just needed a moment away from it all," Rory said, smiling a little bit. "But I'm good now."

"Oh, Rory, I wanted you to meet my friend Virgil, they/them," Odessa said, gesturing to them. "This is my ally Rory, she/hers."

Rory smiled and reached over to shake their hand. "Nice to meet you," she said politely.

"You too," Virgil said. "You gonna take care of Odessa?"

"As much as I can, with where we are," Rory said with a small smile. Odessa smiled sadly back at her. She didn't blame Rory for that at all. Especially not with everything on the line for her.

"Well then, I'll take care of y'all," Virgil said with a nod. "I might just have to pretend that I've never met this one before," they teased, twisting Odessa's hair around their finger.

"Where's Mary?" Odessa asked Rory.

"I…" Rory looked around. "Yup, she's watching Bonnie get drunk." Odessa squinted over to where she was standing behind Dante and a Capitolite boy and shook her head.

"I don't get what the big deal is about it," Odessa commented, before she grinned. "Well, I guess I can't talk due to the number of times I watched this one do shots and held their hair away from their face."

Virgil laughed at that and bumped her shoulder. "Those were the good days," they said dreamily. "You party a lot in District Eight?"

"Not really," Rory said. "I mean obviously a little since… Y'know, daughter."

Virgil smiled a little bit at that. "Right, right, gotcha," they said, a little bit awkward at that.

"Oh, I think Out of Spite is getting ready to take the stage, I want to go get a front row spot and take some pictures!" Odessa said quickly, tugging on Virgil's arm. "You coming?"

"I'm there!" Virgil said. "Rory?"

"No, thanks," Rory said, putting up her hand. "I'll catch you guys 'round."

"Alright, see ya!" Odessa said, hurrying over towards the front of the stage and putting up her camera. "This is how I'm going to get my name out there. Nobody gets these pictures without crediting me for taking them."

"Always the little strategist," Virgil commented with a smile on their face. "I'm absolutely betting on you."

"If you didn't, I would kick your ass!" she said with a laugh, taking a candid picture of Rose and Oliver holding hands as they went out on stage.

The crowd was absolutely charged for the beginning of their set, and Odessa swore that between Freddy and Vasilisa beside her and yelling at the top of their lungs, her eardrums were going to explode. Odessa got a bunch of good pictures of the band – taking one or two of Freddy and Vasilisa being straight inappropriate next to her. As much as she didn't want to witness Freddy's tipsy ass trying to grind with her, she knew that was what the press wanted to see. And Odessa was strictly a professional.

The next perfect photo opportunity came when Theodore and Rose came down to dedicate a song to Piccolo Wallace. The interviewer was given the center of the dance floor as the escort from District Twelve stood with her sister, elbowing her as Funky Town started. Piccolo took the floor and everyone started laughing at how terrible her moves were – laughing more when Wolf insisted on joining her. Rose and Theodore were singing through their laughter, but soon they couldn't anymore and were holding their sides as they laughed at Piccolos' dancing. The band kept laughing as they kept playing the music, letting Piccolo dance.

Piccolo was completely oblivious to the laughter of the audience, focusing on showing off her moves as Angelina cheered for her and elbowed her sister, who was just shaking her head. Odessa took some extremely cute – but also really embarrassing – photos of Piccolo miming all the lyrics in the song with her hands and shaking her hips in a way that was just… Unfortunate.

The crowd was cheering and laughing for Rose and Teddy on the stage, who were leaning heavily against each other to keep from laughing too much as the instrumentalists finished out the song.

Odessa snorted as she showed Virgil her favorite picture – Piccolo grinning widely as her hands were in the talking handshape.

"You're evil," Virgil teased.

"Oh, I'm just getting started," Odessa said with a grin.

"Alright, we're not done yet!" Rose said. "Where's Bonnie?! We gotta give him a birthday gift!"

Freddy howled at that and made a lasso motion while shaking his hips.

Eventually, Bonnie was dragged up on stage by Lester, that weird Gamemaking intern with the spider web tattoo.

"I have him!"

"Hey guys," Bonnie said with a slightly dopey grin, which only grew at the crowd cheering for him. Bonnie waved to them all as Rose and Teddy sat him down and each put a hand on his shoulder.

"Here's our birthday gift," Theodore said, as Hosanna was giggling and played a chord on the piano that caused the crowd to burst into cheers. "From us…"

Rose grinned. "…To you."

Bonnie had an out-there look on his face as he was grinning and Rose started the song.

"B is for Birthday, which we celebrate today!" Rose sang dramatically.

"O is for oh damn, he's dating our keyboardist now!" Theodore sang out.

"N is for nineteen, which is officially your age!" Rose said, pointing at him and hitting a high note as the crowd cheered.

"N is for nerdy, he loves his pocket protectors and spreadsheets and is no fun!" Theodore said, pointing to him and shaking his head as Bonnie's face fell a little in offense.

"I is intoxicated, which you now are and will hopefully make you more fun!" Rose sang, causing Lester to laugh on stage and the crowd to cheer as Bonnie nodded.

"E is for extremely crotchety and needs to loosen up!" Theodore finished it out, bumping Bonnie with his hip and laughing when he almost fell over, caught by Rose, who finished out the song with the classic line.

"And that's what Bonnie means to us!"

The crowd cheered for their song and Rose and Teddy both took a dramatic bow before Rose held his face and showered him in kisses, causing him to swat at her a little bit and cry out in protest as Odessa had to keep from laughing as she snapped a picture of the moment and Virgil grinned as Hosanna came over to hug him and thank him for being a good sport with a kiss. Bonnie pushed on her a little bit, wiping Rose's lipstick marks off of his face with a pout.

"Alright, now let's really get this party started!" Theodore cheered, as Lester took Bonnie off the stage, helping him down the steps and took him over so that he could watch his girlfriend perform. The party resumed, and Odessa knew that she needed to go through her pictures and see what material she had. There was lots, but not every picture was a winner.

"I'm gonna go get some punch and look through my film," she said, waving the camera.

Virgil grinned at her. "I'll save your spot."

"Thanks!" she called as she went to get a cup of punch. She spent a few songs going through pictures, smiling at the really good shots she got. She was debating whether to use or delete a picture of DJ using a drumstick to scratch his nose when something else caught her eye. While the band was singing, Bonnie was running off with that Lester fellow. Odessa squinted at those two as the others were dancing.

She casually put down her cup and started after them, admittedly curious about what trouble his drunk ass was going to get into. Odessa kept a slight distance from them, trying to keep her head down and act natural, shrugging off people that wanted to talk to her as she watched them disappear behind a building. Odessa ducked behind a bush, pulling out her camera and zooming in. As soon as she saw what was happening, she clicked the shutter, looking around to see if anyone else had followed.

No press was in sight.

Odessa grinned as she looked at the picture of those two kissing. Shit just got a lot more interesting over here. She moved to get a little closer to them, studying a leaf and pretending she was going to get a picture of it until the group of Capitolites walked past her. Then, she took another good shot – as much as she didn't want to see whatever was going on, right now, this was about Odessa rallying up the crowd on her side.

She was going to leave to let them have their moment and get this out right away, but… She stopped herself. Perhaps the true advantage wasn't the pictures themselves… But what she could get out of these two for them. After all… They were some pretty highly influential people.

Odessa slowly picked up her camera again, looking both ways before she snuck around to where they were still going at it. She held her camera up to her face. "Say cheese!" she called to them, snapping another picture of them before either realized what was happening. As soon as Bonnie saw her, he pulled away from Lester, his eyes wide like a deer in headlights.

"Ho-ooold on there, Missy," he said, putting up his hands.

"Odessa Anthony," Lester commented with a small grin. "How nice to see you. Sorry, you can't get in on this, I'm strictly gay."

Odessa scoffed at him. "I'm not here to get in on this. I'm here to sell these adorable pictures of your sweet lil asses to the Times."

Bonnie pushed Lester away from him. "Woah, you can't do that!" he said, slapping his cheeks a couple times to try and sober up. "That would be a PR nightmare!"

Odessa grinned innocently at him. "Yeah, it sure would be, wouldn't it?" she asked, waving her camera around at him. "You would definitely lose Hosanna, I doubt that Theodore would be happy to see you cheating on her on the front page."

"Post the pictures!" Lester said with a grin, trying to grab his hand. "That sure is good press."

Bonnie looked distressed as he pushed Lester away from him again and kept him from taking his hand, reaching up to rub his temples instead. "God, that would completely ruin the image of me and the band, and… I can't lose Hosanna, not yet. Nor can I afford to lose the trust of my band members." He squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his eyes a little bit. "What do you want in return for those pictures?" he asked her finally. "You're obviously here to bargain."

Odessa grinned. "Even tipsy you're still a smart cookie," she commented. "Looks like I'm not going to get anything out of your little boyfriend here," she said, making a face at Lester, "but I'll take what you can give me."

"Oh, can I watch!?" Lester asked.

"Can you not right now!?" Bonnie asked him, pulling on his hair a little bit in frustration. Wow, he was really worked up about this… That was a good sign. "This is all your fault!"

"You were the one that told me to kiss you," Lester commented with a grin.

"Both of you shush," Odessa said, shaking her head and laughing at how obediently Bonnie shut up. "Alright, cheater cheater pumpkin eater," she said, pointing at him. "Guess what? You've just gotten yourself a brand new bestie and her name is Odessa Anthony!" she grinned at him for a moment, and he gave her a hesitant smile back, before her face grew serious again. "You're going to show me around, do things with me, and when the press talks to you, you're going to find a way to make it about advertising me." She pointed to herself. "Additionally, after all this is said and done, you're going to march your pretty blue ass over to Junius himself and make a great case for why I represent unity and why he would be absolutely ridiculous not to let me leave that Arena alive over anyone else."

Bonnie swallowed a lump in his throat. "And if I do, you'll keep this our dirty little secret?" he asked finally.

"I will," she conceded. "But I'm giving my memory card to my friend Virgil, and if they get any wind that you didn't uphold your part of the bargain, they're going to sell those pics to the highest bidder."

"Oh, I'd bid on them, I bet they're hot," Lester said.

"Just shut up already, you're not helping me at all," Bonnie said. "If you loved me like you said, you would be busting your ass to help me out with this, not trying to ruin my life!"

"If you really loved me you would stop using Hosanna as a beard, or whatever you're doing with her," Lester said quietly, his happy demeanor fading quickly.

"Not here," Bonnie said, shaking his head and holding his temples, obviously still a little tipsy and trying to get his thoughts together. "We had our time, I can date whoever I want now."

"Because you abandoned me," Lester said. "What was I thinking trying to argue, you totally have the moral upper hand here."

"Yeah, and then you abandoned me, so I was right all along, darling, wasn't I?"

"I got you this position, all those people singing happy birthday, that was all because of me!"

"It's because I have talent!" Bonnie said. "Don't try to take credit for my success, I earned this!"

"Fine, keep lying to yourself with her, see if I care. I'm off to go counsel with the Head Gamemaker, you keep chasing this celebrity figurehead image, it looks great on you Babe. Just remember who it was you came running back to after a couple of shots." Lester stormed off and Odessa frowned a little bit at how quickly that escalated.

"Well, that was good while it lasted," Bonnie said with a scoff. "He always does this shit, I hate him."

Odessa felt a little bad for him, but also he was totally a cheater and that was never cool. But regardless of what she thought of him, she had to sell herself somehow and she was just glad that she had a way to do it. "I'm sorry Bonnie," she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, let's forget about him and get another drink or two in you." She held her arm out to him. "Remember our deal, bestie."

Bonnie sighed a little bit, but he linked arms with her, shaking his head a little bit to try and collect his thoughts.

"Alright, fine, bestie. I'll do my part as long as you do yours. I'm not done with her yet."

~.~.

A/N: I'm a bad bitch, nobody can scare me off of Fanfiction.

Anyways, halfway through the party! Three more chaps now til the Bloodbath, woo! I'm gonna try to pump them out before school starts, and so far it's been going pretty well!

Nothing new to announce here except for how glad I am that I weeded out the drama-causers lol.

CQ: What song would Out of Spite sing knowing that it would get you out on the dance floor?

See ya for the next chap soon! Hopefully it won't be this long lol.