❛ let’s not go back. not ever. ❜ @pyrrhk​

What a pair they must have looked. Between the terrible weather of 13 and coming off of Katniss’ supply, miserable barely covered how she felt nowadays. She turned and pressed her face into the mud feeling it squish against her cheek. There was no way they were going to finish training at this rate. Katniss was still wheezing like a horse kicked her ribs in and Johanna was still shaking from the rain even as the downpour was traded for a light sprinkle. Pathetic. 

        “katniss,”  she says as she walks towards her, tone   both exhausted yet genuinely delighted to see her old friend.  if she was being completely honest, delly didn’t think she would ever see her again.  it was one thing to win the games, but to have to go back and win it again, in the midst of other victors who may have won their own games more brutally than she did?  delly thought she  ( and peeta )  was done for.  but in the same way a cat was said to have nine lives, it seemed katniss everdeen had quite an extensive life expectancy, too.  “long time no see, huh?”  for reasons she didn’t have to lay out.  “it’s good to see you, katniss.”  in spite of everything.

FINNICK  DOES  NOT  NOTICE  THE  DOOR  TO  HIS  ROOM  OPENING,  nor  does  it  register  it  is  long  past  curfew. he  is  instead absorbed  in  repeating the  same  intricate knot  over  and  over  between swift,  raw  fingers, making  a  joyless game  of  how  fast  he  can  tie  it.  sleep  has  no  relief  for  him  and  at  least  in  wake,  he  can  somewhat  stifle the  nightmares  with  mindless  activity. he  has  been  hard  pressed to  find  a  modicum  of  control  his  entire  life  and  if  there  a  place  he  can  touch  it,  he  digs  his  nails  into  it.

he  doesn’t  jump  when  he  feels  a  hand  on  his  shoulder, but  his  fingers pause.  he  lifts  his  head,  shadowed  eyes  greeting  those  that  are  just  as  tired  as  his  own.

“  oh.  hello, katniss.  could  you  not  sleep? ”

" i'm certain hamish already gave you the rundown of everyone, so you're likely aware there's no danger from me unless you want a kiss. " well, not that rhea was that harmless without her poison, considering a whip and some creativity had gotten her her victory. but what a shame her old technique was now unusable, for there were some amongst the other victors that would deserve it. it would be an interesting kind of games this time around to say the least, with everyone even more desperate to live than in their respective first games. and desperation was lethal in these life-or-death situations.

❛  fuck off, to all you people.  ❜ / @pyrrhk​

       ❛ Hey, take a second. Breathe. ❜ Finnick is far too practiced to let his voice slip that much. There’s still this air of easiness in it, a kind of charm that can no longer be unmoored from his voice no matter what he says or when he says it. But the rest of his tone is firm; he’s got one eye on Katniss and the other on the world around them. Whatever the greater and grander plans are, this is still a death trap. Too many have already been consumed by each other and the dangers lurking behind each tree to let himself relax for a moment. 

       But this -- this is important enough to warrant a break. 

       ❛ I get it. Believe me. ❜ They all know what it feels like, to look around and see only enemies. And Katniss has made it clear that her priority isn’t herself -- a far more dangerous position to be in, when the one person you want to keep alive isn’t yourself. Finnick holds up both of his hands, trident strapped to his back with a makeshift sling. A universal symbol of peace. Maybe putting himself at her mercy will give her the sense of power they all need to feel anything but threatened. ❛ But we’re not going to get anywhere at each other’s throats, right? I’m in this. Allies. I’m willing to make that commitment for as long as it takes. ❜ 

       To get to the final handful, in any other Games. To get to the end of this wild goose chase, in this one. Hell, maybe it was all a ruse and Heavensbee is just trying to make this interesting. Maybe he’s fated to die after all and all of that borrowed time ( the endless nights, the way you can’t sleep without hearing the screams and feeling the blood ) is about to run out. 

       Still, he’s going to try. ❛ Just work with me, okay? ❜ 

“   are you just a girl,   miss everdeen,   or are you the face of a revolution ?    ”

        “surprised?”  she smirks at her, motioning for the   boy seated across to move to another table in the dining hall.  unlike katniss who surely didn’t expect to ever see her again after the games, clove knew that she would.  none of the higher ups in thirteen really told her much about what they were doing underground but she was smart enough to piece things together.  the long awaited rebellion against the capitol with the girl on fire at the heart of it all; how far katniss has come since she selflessly volunteered in place of her sister at the reaping.  clove thought she was both bold and stupid.  “consider me your secondary, one-person welcoming committee to this place, everdeen.”

❛  i don’t wanna know what i am.  ❜ / @pyrrhk​ 

❛ Well... ❜ Finnick plays with the word the way his fingers tangle in the cord, languid and only glancing against reality for moments at a time before he washes back out again with the tide. It’s not a regular thing -- there’s no pattern to the days when he’s able to tear through the hazy veil of dissociation, and days when the fog cover is too heavy. There was one point where he’d decided to track the medication they’d given him, but there have been too many days out to sea to keep a real grip on that so he’d decided to spend his energy gathering any intel he could on Thirteen. 

Now he’s not too far from shore. Close enough that it only takes him a moment to understand what Katniss means, and he can feel the warmth of empathy fill his chest. He loops the ends of the cord together -- a kind of pretty knot that does nothing but lose its shape when you pull on it again. He’d been chastised about it before, to not fray the ropes with pretty knots, but if he thinks about it he’ll have to remember who told him that and she’s not coming back. 

❛ Then we’ll make something up. ❜ He smiles, first at his hands as he looks down, then up at Katniss when he remembers to meet her gaze. ❛ Pick something fun. Personally, I’ll choose... some sort of flower seller. Somewhere sunny. ❜ Gently, well versed in not startling Victors, he bumps his knee against hers. 

Then his voice drops a little, head lolling back in the direction of the compartment door with every feigned casualness that no one in Thirteen -- no one who’s never had to perform to save their own life -- would really notice. ❛ Go ahead and daydream. I’m great at keeping watch. ❜