« : memory from the past with your character
Johannas so sick of training for the games. She could easily show off her axe skills, but in order not to reveal her stronger self, she had opted out of doing so. Of course she had thrown it around a couple of times, but Johanna had a plan. A plan was all she could get through the games with. If she went in there throwing her axe at everyone, she’d put an immediate target on her back, and the petite girl definitely didn’t want that. She was too young to die; so her only option was living.
That’s why she refused to openly brag and put on display her talent with her weapon of choice. That’s why she was so closed off to the other tributes. Why form bonds with people she was going to have to slaughter in the end in order to be the one true victor? She didn’t necessarily want to kill all of them, but again, she wasn’t ready to be killed herself. Between the options of killing or being killed, she’d pick the first, hands down. Did that make her selfish? Maybe. But at least she was honest.Â
In the meantime, she was going to let the careers parade around and show off their strengths. But with every strength they showed off, she manged to pinpoint their weakness—their weakness, of course, could be found in whatever it was that they weren’t willing to show off, and though they didn’t realize it, or simply thought they were too good for people to bring them down using their small and almost insignificant weaknesses, Johanna took note of them. She was positive that they would come in handy later on.
Although helpful, the cockiness found in them still made her sick sometimes; And most times, that cockiness was mirrored by their mentors. It was times like these in which Johanna was thankful Seven wasn’t a Capitol-loving district that kissed the ground injustice itself walked on. But did that stop the disgusting behavior exhibited by the well-off tributes or their team members? It certainly didn’t.
Each Capitol-hugging goody two shoes was worse than the next. Perhaps one of the worst cases, in her opion, was Finnick Odair, the mentor from district 4—the Capitol’s favorite boy toy and youngest victor in history. People practically worshiped the ground he walked on.
So when she’s met face-to-face with him upon exiting the training center on the way back to her room, she passes by him silently, making sure she knocks into him with her shoulder just to make an impression. Actions spoke louder than words, she had always been a firm believer in that.
She’s not expecting him to say anything in return, and certainly doesn’t expect him to call her name; But he does.
Turning, she raises her brows in acknowledgement but remains tight lipped for a moment as she tries to determine which smart remark she wants to use.
"I’m surprised you know my name. Most mentors from the districts that kiss the Capitol’s ass on a daily basis don’t even bother learning the names of tributes from us "lowly" districts. To what do I owe this extreme honor?” She asks darkly, her voice thick with the use of sarcasm.
"Well, I’m not most mentors." He says simply in return, making Johanna stop for a minute just to think about this. Was he bluffing? Was there even an actual point to this conversation?…Wait…was he actually smiling at her?
"Sure you’re not." She says, rolling her shoulders back as she tries not to be unnerved by his smile. She’d give him one thing; the man knew how to make a person feel uncomfortable with that blinding smile of his. In fact, some might even call it creepy. The "some," consisting mostly of herself.
"I’m not. Of course, I don’t owe you an explanation or any proof, but I have plenty of it. Unfortunately, I don’t share that information with strangers." He comments in reply, and seems pretty smug about it, too.
"Yeah, well, tell you what. If I make it out of the death trap alive, maybe I’ll consider becoming acquaintances with you,” she’s careful to choose that word over “friends”—Johanna Mason didn’t do friends. “I don’t like getting to know people or what they’re all about right before I’m thrown into a battle for my life where the possibility of my death is pretty high.” She explains, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly.
Finnick seems to mull this over for a moment before he gives a nod. “Fair enough. In which case, I look forward to becoming friends with you in the future, Johanna Mason.”Â
The “F” word makes her blood run cold for a moment, but she lets it slide because she’s distracted by how confident he is in saying that. She hadn’t been showing off her skills unless everyone, or most people, observing weren’t paying attention. In most peoples’ eyes, she had no chance at all. Many had even assumed that she would be the first one to get killed off. Had he actually been watching her when she had thought no one was?Â
"I like to scope out the talents, figure out who the best bet would be if I actually were to bet. I don’t, obviously, but I still think it’s a fun little game to play with myself."
"Congratulations on being creepy." She remarks dryly, her voice thick with boredom. "Excuse me while I leave." She finished, beginning to walk away again. For her, at least, there was no reason to stick around any longer. Sticking around wasn’t doing anything for her, and why waste what could be precious final moments of her life (which they very well could be if her plan didn’t work), doing things that she didn’t want to or speaking to people she didn’t particularly feel like speaking to?
She only makes it a few steps down the hallway before he catches up with her.
"I think you have a good chance, axe girl." He whispers in her ear, and by the time she turns around to face him and shoot him an unimpressed look, he’s walking with his back towards her, and has traveled half the journey down the hall; Just enough out of ear shot that he could pretend not to hear her if she spoke. She wasn’t about to yell to him and make herself look like an idiot; Perhaps that’s what he had wanted in the first place. What other mentor from a different district would compliment a person or so willingly feed them hope?
If there was one thing Johanna had lost faith in since the reaping, it was the ability of humans to be nice to one another without an ulterior motive.
Therefore, she firmly believed there was something fishy about that guy. And it wasn’t just the fact that he came from the fishing district.
However, if there was one thing Johanna Mason was comforted by after being confronted by the odd man, Â it was that Finnick Odair and herself would never be friends. Ever. In which case, Johanna would never have to worry about the fishy man ever again.
Later on down the line, Johanna would come to realize just how wrong she had been. About everything.
