- CONFESSIONS OF A PESSIMIST -
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LEARNING THE FORCE field was actually quite deadly and nearly losing one of their own, the group made their way through the jungle more cautious than before.
They had been walking for a bit, Katniss taking the lead making sure their path was safe with small stones she tossed at the force field every few feet to ensure they didn't have another accident. Peeta walked close behind her as Nadia and Finnick helped Mags along the uneven terrain.
"Hang on." Katniss stopped at a tree and slung her bow across her back before quickly making her way up the branches until she was high and out of sight.
Nadia and Finnick helped Mags take a seat on the ground, Nadia then laughing under her breath as she looked to the young boy, almost sympathetically. "I'm surprised she didn't drag you up the tree with her."
"Right..." Peeta let out a small, quiet chuckle as he and Finnick sat down, Nadia still on her feet as she fanned herself from the heat.
"Do you think they tried to make the heat unbearable, or is it just me?" Nadia asked Finnick with genuine curiosity, her hands waving frantically to try and find a bit of relief against the humid air.
"I do, actually." Finnick nodded assuredly, not even trying to hold back a smirk as he sat back against his palms. He didn't mind the heat, the weather in his district was like this more often than not. "They probably have a list of everything that would make Nadia Holloway miserable."
"And a list of everything to ensure Finnick Odair thrives." She quipped with a sarcastic smile, letting her head fall back dramatically.
"I take it you're a glass-half-empty kind of person?" Peeta inquired as he locked his hands around his knees, watching their exchange with a humored grin.
His words caused her to chuckle, the woman shrugging. "I do come off that way, don't I?" She then asked, looking between Finnick and Peeta inquisitively.
"Just a little." Finnick whispered back with his fingers pinched together.
"Optimism is a delicacy not even I can afford." She spoke simply to the boy, her riches never able to buy her things that could actually gain her back something as rare as sanity.
"Why not?" Peeta shrugged in question, Nadia almost jealous of how eased he seemed to be, even when they were stuck in a deadly arena to fight to the death. "I know the situation is less than ideal, but you can hope, right?"
She looked to have considered it, the woman heard this pitch many a time and people who've tried to talk some sense never get through to her.
"Anything that distracts you from keeping your guard up could cost you your life. Whether it's fear, anger, hope." She started, feeling as though she'd stated her argument time and time again. "Once your guard is down in this game, you might be too late to build it back up."
Peeta supposed she had a point and though he knew very little about the woman, he felt every victor had a struggle with optimism once they escaped the arena.
"Oh!" Peeta looked back to the woman as she quickly walked over, lifting the medallion from her neck and holding it out for him. "I figure you can have this back."
He took it with his brows slanted in wonder. "How did you get this?"
"Long story." She said, the boy only further confused.
Katniss jumped down from the tree a moment later, her hand running through her sweaty hair as irritation ate up her expression. "The force field. It's a dome. We're at the edge of the arena."
"I couldn't find any signs of fresh water." She huffed, Nadia holding back a whine as the dehydration was going to get to her sooner rather than later.
"It's gonna get dark soon, we'll be safe with our backs protected." Finnick spoke as he looked amongst the group. "We should set up camp, take turns sleeping. I can take first watch."
While everyone nodded in agreement, Katniss scoffed, gaining everyone's attention as she shook her head. "Not a chance."
Finnick blinked in annoyance. Where he would usually quip back with some lighthearted sentence meant for teasing, he instead gripped his trident and got back to his feet with his jaw clenched tightly.
"Honey. That thing I did back there for Peeta? That was called saving his life." He stated, holding his stare with the girl as she looked back and forth between his eyes and his trident. "If I wanted to kill either of you, I would've done it by now."
The glare they exchanged was nothing short of threatening, Nadia looking between the two before she caught Peeta's gaze. He looked like he was their father, completely exhausted of their relentless antics with his hands placed on his hips in defeat.
Peeta made a face resembling her own tight-lipped expression of discomfort before Nadia was off to help Finnick and Mags in their search for an adequate place to get some shuteye.
The woman wanted so badly to explain to Katniss why her and Finnick weren't going to slit her throat in the middle of the night, but she couldn't. They were being watched from every direction. There were more cameras in the arena than there was lights in District Five, and that was saying something.
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As the night grew cold and the sun's rays had since faded below the horizon, Nadia was stuck lying on the hard ground as she stared up at the night sky. It was fake, the dark blue hues cast through the darkness of the dome surrounding them. But it was still quite realistic and pretty.
On one hand, she was upset with Finnick for insisting she try and sleep even though he knew it'd be impossible for her when it was dark like this. On the other hand, she was quite tired and eager to clear her head of everything lashing around in her brain at the moment.
She remained wide awake as she had no choice but to listen to Finnick and Katniss' meaningless quips and jabs towards each other. They were acting like children.
As if to show her mercy, the Fallen Anthem played throughout the arena and immediately Nadia sat up to watch the hologram as it appeared in the sky.
Her breath was held in her throat, but once the male from Six showed up being the first face, she knew Apollo was okay. She hoped he found Johanna and Blight or Wiress and Beetee.
Both Cecelia and Woof from Eight were next which allowed her relief in knowing Johanna wasn't dead either. Although, once she saw Woof's face, she couldn't help but gulp down an uneasy lump in her throat as she remembered so clearly putting her knife in the man's chest. She could try, but that image wouldn't soon flee.
After them, the male and female from Nine, the female from Ten, and Seeder from Eleven finished off the anthem for the first night.
She was a little surprised to only see seven faces on that screen from a bloodbath in a Hunger Games that only held experienced killers. She also supposed it made some sense, considering they were all experienced in survival too and knew how to fight, run, and hide.
"Seven." Katniss said, her voice sounding like a whisper to Nadia from where she sat.
Only a moment passed before a familiar chiming coursed through the air and Nadia quickly readied a knife as a parachute came floating down and landed in between the many feet separating herself and Katniss.
Katniss rushed over to it as Nadia looked around cautiously for signs of other tributes. Having tricked three tributes with a parachute full of poisonous berries in her first games gave her a natural suspicion of it possibly happening to her.
Her curiosity took place of her suspicion as she leaned over and tried to figure out what exactly Katniss had received.
"Drink up?" Katniss spoke questionably as she read the small note aloud.
"What is it?" Finnick inquired as he tilted his head, thinking maybe looking at it at a different angle would strike his recognition of the small, metal tool.
"It's from Haymitch." Katniss said handing Nadia the note, the woman bringing it very close to her face so she could see it in the darkness. "I think it's a spile."
"A what?" Finnick looked at the girl as if she was speaking gibberish, Katniss ignoring him as she quickly rushed over to a nearby tree.
"Just watch." Nadia spoke in anticipation as she followed after Katniss and settled beside Peeta as the girl started jamming the spile into the tree.
Katniss dropped the rock acting as a hammer to the ground before her eyes locked dead set on the spile, all five of them watching and waiting as seconds felt like hours.
"Come on." Nadia crossed her fingers and bit down on her lip, not a single one of them wasn't deprived of the liquid that seemed rare at this point.
Finally water came spilling slowly out of the spigot, their faces brightened and helpless chuckles were shared between them.
"You're kidding me." Finnick smiled widely as Nadia and Peeta exchanged a spur of the moment high-five, waiting as Katniss gulped down some of the heavenly looking water.
Peeta had gotten a mouthful of the refreshment, Finnick then looking to Nadia as he gestured to the spile. "Go ahead."
"You go." She shook her head with a laugh and pushed him towards the tree, willing to wait five seconds as the joy that little spile brought her was enough to tide her over.
Finnick quickly took a few seconds to gulp down some of the water before turning to the woman and lightly shoving her towards the tree like she did him.
She let the water run down her dry throat and splashed some of it in her face before stepping back to allow Finnick to fill a leaf the best he could with the water for Mags.
They spent every second they could taking turns and quenching their thirst until the dehydration started to lessen.
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Nearing an hour had passed, the sky seeming to get even darker as Katniss and Finnick returned to watch. Nadia still couldn't find any trace of sleep, and though her eyes were shut, she was restless.
There wasn't much of any noise, the group figuring that meant something was sure to happen quickly. Taking the momentary lack of havoc into account, the blaring sound that echoed through the entirety of the arena was one leading everyone to jump upright in fright and intrigue.
It was only a chime, like a gong. Loud and obnoxious, one after the other. None of them had a clue what it was, Nadia counting each of them until they silenced.
"I counted twelve." Katniss said, looking up at Finnick who was sat atop the rock she was leaning against.
"Midnight?" Finnick inquired, his voice a slow, tired drawl. He was hardly able to keep his eyes open.
"Or the number of districts." Katniss countered, her words leading them into a short silence that was quickly interrupted by strikes of lighting hitting a tree in the distance.
Nadia watched through squinted eyes as lighting hit the tree twelve times as well. She was of course curious, but overall thankful it wasn't anywhere close to her. She wasn't sure how fast she could run with how tired she was.
"Well... if you're not gonna sleep, I will." Finnick stood from the rock, shaking his head to try and wake himself up a little bit before he was sluggishly making his way towards Nadia.
She was squirming around in discomfort as she tried desperately to fall asleep, but her head was uncomfortable and it was far too dark.
She stopped once sighting Finnick walking towards her, the man laying down beside her and without a word or warning, wrapped her up in his arms allowing her head to rest against him.
"I hope you don't mind." He said, smiling down at her and unable to help himself from glancing down at her lips.
"Not at all." She replied, draping her arm lazily across his torso and snuggling in close to his shoulder.
Her stomach was clenched tightly as a swarm of butterflies was let loose inside her. This was all still incredibly new to her. She's never actually shared affection quite like this with someone and to finally be able to express this long awaited love made these small moments worth so much more.
Finnick pressed a kiss to her temple his hold on her only tightening before he whispered into her hair. "Have you slept at all?"
"Can't. It's too dark." She muttered, traipsing her finger across his chest, making shapes as her eyes grew heavy.
"And... you're thinking too much." Finnick stated, not even bothering to ask knowing the answer in the way she spoke and looked around with paranoia oozing from her eyes.
"That's nothing new." She said and he chuckled, softly running his hand along her arm in an attempt to lull her.
"Try and sleep now." He laid one more kiss to her forehead before he was seamlessly out cold.
She closed her eyes too, but sleep didn't take over for a while. She'd argue there's nothing better than lying peacefully in this man's arms, but she also had a relentless fear of Snow.
She knew the man was probably seething to be watching his two most desirable victors
-who were supposed to remain single and available for use if someone wanted them- practically lying on top of one another.
However, for just a moment she wanted nothing more than to bask in his company and rub it in Snow's face that she wasn't as ruined to love someone as he might've hoped.
So she set aside her worry the best she possibly could and took a deep breath, Finnick's hold on her helping her forget her fear.
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