Willow quickly realized Birch was right. District 7 was always associated with their unmatched axe wielding skills. Despite its usefulness in the arena, it also put the district at a sort of disadvantage; who didn't expect the District 7 kids to come running at them with an axe? The more urban districts in particular didn't have that problem. They seemed to have the element of surprise on their side, considering they could pick up skills in almost anything once in training as none of them had any real previous experience with weaponry. "He has a point..." Willow uttered as she continued pondering Birch's advice. There was much to choose from, but naturally she would be inclined to go for whatever was most like an axe. Still, that too could potentially be revealing. Not to mention that strong tributes were almost always targeted first. 

 While Willow tried to implement a strategy for herself Sequoia seemed concerned about something. She already had suspicions to what it was too. Despite their reunion, he knew what being reaped meant. 24 tributes and only one victor. At least one of them was not making it out of that arena. Sure, they had managed to last this long without each other, but it was difficult to imagine having to do it again, and permanently. At least Sequoia didn't have family who would mourn him, but Willow did. Every day she feared any of them taking out tessarae and being reaped into the Capitol's sadistic game. As long as she was around it had been something she prevented, but what if she didn't return from here? What if the family started going hungry? Realizing the severity of the situation and that there was no way out of it Willow leaned back and let out a sigh. 

Sequoia's next words managed to restore some sense of motivation to Willow, however. An alliance? It seemed so early to make such proposals, but it was common for district partners to ally anyway. If anything though, a District 7 alliance could potentially keep one of them alive. It was really the thought of having to kill Sequoia that settled in the back of Willow's mind. Way too often that sort of thing tended to happen in alliances in the latter stages of the games. At this point though it was a valuable strategic move and Willow knew that Birch too would probably agree. "Us in an alliance? You know it." She managed to let out a small chuckle as she stared directly into Sequoia's eyes. 

 Naturally, Sequoia had managed to bring up another equally as excellent point. Survival. It too was crucial to the games and Willow quickly realized that, despite her experience with an axe, she knew little when it came to survival. She couldn't decide if it had just never occurred to her or if she just never bothered to learn much about it. It seemed to her that the former was much more likely. As long as she did her part, Willow knew that her family managed to make it by. In fact, it had been that which had essentially forced her to drop her former craft. It had been a money-maker for sure, but upon Aston's death she just couldn't do it anymore as the lumber still managed to bring in even more. It had saddened her to give up something she cared so deeply for, but family came first. It was that sort of bond that perhaps would have prompted her to even volunteer for any of her siblings had they been reaped. Of course that was never to be as by the time they came of age she'd either be dead or already living the high life off in Victor's Village. 

"I think you're right, but certainly somebody may be looking for an ally. If not, then...well...I guess we just have each other." Willow responded as she pondered the whole survival situation herself. If they were to be a team then certainly they could compliment each other nicely with different skillsets. Again, Birch was the "go to" man. "What do you suggest? Maybe each of us should learn something different?" She turned towards the burly man and began questioning him. Surprisingly, he was now making himself out to be less intimidating, but perhaps that was simply because he now had a sort of ideal just who he was dealing with. Two capable tributes. Surely District 7 would be strong this year, but of course there was no way of truly knowing until they were thrust into the arena in about a week's time.