lover/fighter - Finnick Odair

Chapter 1 - Him

He is exhausted, as he is every day he spends in this place. Has to spend. Not that he really has a choice. If he could choose freely, he would prefer pretty much any other place to this hell.

It may sound extreme at first to compare the Capitol to this man-made idea for a place of eternal torment, but when you think about it more carefully the parallels are clear. Or at least to him they are. The Capitol, the place where everyone who has passed through the purgatory of the arena finally arrives. But instead of salvation, eternal damnation awaits as punishment for the sins committed to get there in the first place, to stay alive until the end and to finally stand at the top as the victor.

He knows very well that he too is guilty, and he does not tell himself otherwise. But despite everything, every day he wakes up and hears the shrill cacophony of the Capitol instead of the constant roar of the ocean of his homeland, he asks himself again if he deserves all this. Whether this should be his punishment. After all there's blood on his hands too.

He could continue discussing with himself about guilt for hours, but he is suddenly torn from his thoughts. He was so out of it that he has great difficulty trying to classify the unpleasant squeaking sound that disturbed him. The exhaustion makes itself felt again, stronger than before. As the present catches up with him bit by bit, he realizes that he was almost asleep with his eyes open. A few seconds pass and suddenly everything is back.

"Finny-baby, are you listening to me?" it shrills from his right side. Finnick realizes that the squeaking sound is coming from the woman hanging on his arm as if she were glued to it. A cold shiver runs down his spine at the mere thought of never getting rid of the neon-colored appendage on his arm. His inner monologue from just now catches up with him and the thought of eternal punishment haunts his mind again.

'Concentrate!' he admonishes himself. He needs to think clearly, but he also urgently needs to sleep. Unfortunately, however, it won't come to that in the next few hours.

"FINNY!" The squeaking is getting on his nerves. "Yeah, sorry about that. I was completely overwhelmed by you. Did I tell you you look stunning?" the words come out of his mouth as if rehearsed, in a way they are. He can't tell exactly how long she's been talking without him hearing a word but it doesn't matter.

Buffy Yates has the intelligence of a goldfish. Or possibly that would be an insult to any goldfish, who knows? In any case, she is without a doubt an imposition on all the senses. Finnick is reminded of this again and again. By the way the sight of her neon pink dress, combined with gleaming bright yellow boots, as well as various accessories in the same color strains his already overtired eyes. By the much too sweet and intrusive smell of her perfume, which seems to take over the whole room and makes it almost seem as if everything in it must be made of sugar. It makes you wonder if the wig she wears on her head, light pink and piled high with bows, is not made of cotton candy.

But the worst is definitely her voice, way too high, too loud and throughout artificial. Finnick has a hard time keeping his face from contorting when she starts shrieking in response to his excuse.

He is exhausted, but even though he's completely at the end of his rope, Finnick Odair remains a picture of perfection. He puts on the mask he has been wearing for 5 years whenever he comes into contact with the Capitol. The smile that makes all women gush in this sad excuse of a capital remains intact and Buffy swallows the white lie. " Aww Finny, you are so cute! I'm so glad you're my date today, no one here could compete," Buffy replies in a tone that could almost make glass crack.

The response is not unexpected. It's the same game Finnik plays every night when courting one of his clients. Not that he has to make much of an effort. Ever since he first left the train that brought him to the Capitol from District 4 seven years ago, at the tender age of 14, he has been one of the Capitol's favorites.