The Flying Fish (Exocoetidae)|| Finnick Odair X Fem!OC

Delivery

"Ferric, how's your shoulder feeling?" Cress kneels down beside him. It's been a few days and Ferric seems to have gotten worse.

"Definitely infected," Ferric mumbles. She puts the bottle of water to his lips, letting him drink.

"Fer, we need something to actually help you. My makeshift wrap thing isn't gonna cut it," she sighs, leaning back.

"You called me Fer." Ferric smiles when he hears that. "That's the first time you've ever called me Fer." This makes her crack a smile. Ferric was pleased by even the smallest of things. It was endearing, in her opinion.

"Alright, don't let it get to your head." she rolls her eyes. "You sir need to sleep. Now."

"Yes ma'am." Ferric falls asleep soon after, leaving Cress to her own devices. Not much had happened in the past few days. It had mostly been her taking care of Ferric, hunting, taking care of Ferric, exploring, waiting in the cave when the trees started moving, and taking care of Ferric. And a few run ins with the Career pack. But she'd escaped most times pretty easily. For as much as the Careers could wield swords, they couldn't climb trees for shit.

She left them in the dust every time, much to their annoyance. Today was a nice day for the arena. She had a guess that the sun was shining, but she couldn't tell.

"Should I?" she whispers to herself, looking up the branches of the tree. She shouldn't. But she's going to anyway, cause she hasn't seen the sky in days and it's driving her nuts. She grips the branch, climbing. Once she gets about twenty feet up, she starts jumping from branch to branch, a wide smile on her face.

She settles on a singular tree, climbing up to the very top. Once the sunlight hits her face, she lets out a relieved sigh. "Holy shit that feels good." She looks out over the arena, seeing the maze in all its glory.

It was huge. The trees must have spanned over 6 kilometers in every direction, her eyes widening as she takes it all in. She can see the lake from here, the glittering water about a kilometer away. If she glances to the left, she can see the large space where the cornucopia was. It was about 3 kilometers away, if her judgement was right.

She soaks in the sun for another moment before climbing back down to the ground, jumping the last few feet. She runs back to the cave and makes it in just as the ground starts rumbling. The trees shift everyday, in the same hour, at some point in the afternoon. She has no real way to tell the time, so she just assumes.

"Ferric, I'm back," she whispers incase he was still sleeping.

"Hey Cress, how you doing?" he asks, sitting up and giving her a weak smile.

"I climbed all the way up the trees and saw the sun. Once you're feeling better, I'll for sure bring you with me." she smiles.

"Really?" Ferric smiles.

"Really." she nods. "It's a promise."

"Cress, can I ask you for something?" Ferric asks.

"Go ahead." she leans forward, scooting closer beside him.

"I want a hug." his voice is quiet, barely audible.

"Then you get a hug." Cress quickly settles beside him, hugging him tightly while being careful of his wounded shoulder.

"Thank you," he whispers, his voice shaky. His body shakes slightly and she feels tears trickling onto her shoulder.

"Anytime." she hugs him until he falls asleep, which prompts her to get up and stretch. He was doing a lot of sleeping nowadays. She hears beeping from outside. Crawling out of the cave entrance hurriedly, she finds one of the small drones used by sponsors to gift tributes. She opens it carefully and there's a note at the top.