Reputation (Finnick Odair)

Chapter 9

     The rest of that morning's training passes by fairly quickly. Of course, Finnick follows Atlas around like a lost puppy to every station she goes to. But eventually, Atlas manages to shake him off and she ends up at the knife-throwing station. As she walks up to it, she notices a head of blonde hair already standing there with a knife grasped in the person's hand.

     "Peeta," Atlas calls out to the boy smoothly, sidling up next to him and grabbing a small silver knife with a leather-wrapped handle, testing the weight.

     "Atlas," Peeta responds, glancing at the taller girl with a smile on his face. He moves to throw the knife and Atlas grimaces as it hits outside of the target.

     "Keep your wrist tense," Atlas offers, holding her arm out to show him, "you are snapping your wrist back and putting too much spin on the knife."

     Atlas turns towards her own station and throws the knife quickly, watching as it hits the bullseye. Peeta raises an eyebrow as she turns to him, a small smirk on her lips.

     "Go ahead."

     Peeta sighs unsurely and turns back to the target. He grips the knife tightly, taking a deep breath before throwing it. Atlas watches his wrist to make sure he keeps it straight and sees his reaction before she sees the target. His mouth drops open slightly and Atlas turns to find the knife just outside of the bullseye.

     "Nice," Atlas replies smoothly, raising her hand for a high-five.

     Peeta meets her hand with his, the grin never leaving his face. The pair spend about another hour there, a few victors joining them. Conversation flows smoothly between the two blondes, topics ranging from family to their districts, to tactics for the games. By the time lunch rolls around, about nine other victors have surrounded the pair, all discussing their lives and the lunch plan amongst eachother. Not a single word is uttered about the upcoming games. Besides talk of other victors of course.

     "It is a wonder either of them even won their games," Johanna's taunting voice rings out above the others. Her volume manages to catch Peetas attention.

     "Who?" Peeta asks, the knife leaving his hand and meeting the target with a nice thunk.

     "Wiress and Beetee. Nuts and volts," Atlas replies, leaning against the station, her eyes stuck on the knife she is polishing.

     Johanna laughs, looking at Atlas before trailing her eyes over to said victors and finally landing back on Atlas, "I am flattered Atlas. I know you usually hate my nicknames," there is so much sarcasm laced in Johanna's voice, Atlas could almost taste it.

     Atlas just hums, setting the knife behind her.

     Johanna takes this as her permission to proceed and turns back to Peeta, "They are both a bit on the crazy side if you ask me."

     Peeta nods, glancing across the centre at Katniss who is standing beside the pair, talking and trying to start a fire.

     As the group is called for lunch, Mars comes up to Atlas with a surprising amount of cheer, "Hey Atlas."

     Atlas glances up at Mars, who looks much better than he did that morning, "How are you feeling?"

     "Well, I puked all the alcohol out of my system, so, great!" Mars laughs deeply, walking confidently toward the cafeteria. He follows Chaff over to the food, laughing and joking with his old friend.

     Atlas snorts a laugh, her eyes scanning the lunch room. They catch on Finnick trying to help some other victors push the tables together. Atlas quickly walks over to help him push the tables together, catching onto the idea quickly. It is not surprising everyone would want to eat together. The only people that this might be a problem for are the two newest victors. But Peeta seemed to be getting on well with the other victors and Atlas had a feeling Katniss would be just fine. Even if she would have to be grumpy about interacting with the other victors. She would warm to them eventually. Or they would all die before she would have to. Win-win for her.

     Lunch starts soon after the table are organized and Atlas finds herself sitting between Finnick and Johanna, Mars sat across from her. Her own plate is mostly barren, with a few pieces of bread and gravy that she is dipping the bread into. Mars raises an eyebrow as he sees her plate and she just shakes her head. She will just eat more at dinner. Johanna's shoulder knocks against her own and Johanna laughs loudly, talking across the table at someone.

     Atlas is pulled into many different conversations throughout the lunch. People from all different sides of the table start talking to her just as the previous person stops. Atlas can barely keep up. One of the cons of being charismatic, Atlas assumes. She doesn't mean to but Atlas can't help but space out as Gloss starts to talk loudly at Atlas about some party they had apparently both gone to in the capitol the previous year. Atlas finds herself just nodding along to whatever is being said, with no idea what she is agreeing with. Eventually, Finnick reaches around her shoulders and massages a few circles into them, effectively relaxing the tenseness from them. It's slightly easier for Atlas to focus on the conversations afterwards. Atlas shoots Finnick a thankful glance and he just smiles calmy in response, scooping a spoonful of stew into his mouth.

     Katniss seems to be more social at lunch than she had been the rest of the time. She even strikes up a conversation with Atlas about archery, a form of weaponry that Atlas was at least somewhat familiar with. Atlas eats the food on her plate quickly, her stomach had been growling all morning. It must have been since she was getting a proper workout for once. Atlas had definitely stayed fit after her games but running around District 5 was much different than having to wield a sword again.

     After lunch, Atlas drifts around from station to station. She talks to the people she knows well and tries to avoid anyone she does not. Although, there are not really any people in the room that had not become some form of family for Atlas. She wrestles with Johanna for a while, Johanna pinning the girl over and over despite Atlas managing to slip away each time. She stops by the fish hook station and chats with mags for a while, Finnick standing nearby and deciding to smile stupidly instead of engaging in a conversation.

     The only interesting thing that happens that afternoon is when everyone moves to gather on the other side of the training centre. Atlas stands up quickly, Finnick having grabbed her hand to pull her up. She ignores the warmth that spread through her from where he grabs her and instead walks quickly to where the rest of the victors had surrounded the archery station. She pushes through to find a gap in the crowd, Finnick close behind her. She is met with the sight of Katniss shooting her bow at five birds at once. Silence overtakes the victors as they watch the young girl shoot the bow with the technique and talent of an expert. A sense of awe spread throughout the group and after a few minutes, Katniss turns around to see the crowd that had gathered. A small blush settles over her face and she smiles, setting the bow down and walking away. Most of the victors just turn to watch her before heading back to their own stations themselves.

     Atlas realizes, at that moment, that maybe Katniss Everdeen would not be such a bad ally to have after all.

A/N

I'm back! A bit of a long break between chapters here since I've been travelling none stop since summer started. I still won't have a lot of time off between footy and travelling and workouts but I will try to update on a more consistent basis. I try to update about every ten days but I try to get it out sooner if I can. This most recent break was a bit longer so I'm sorry lol. Love you all! <3

xoxo

Sunny ☀️