Love at Sea (Finnick Odair)

Chapter 8

"Don't go near me at training," Taiya muttered as she and Finnick took the elevator down to the training floor.

"Sorry?"

"The game makers. Most of them I know. If they still think of me as Seneca's partner I might be able to garner some sympathy from them. If they see us together at training they'll come to their own conclusions. That would work against us in the arena."

"Plutarch wouldn't let them target us," Finnick tried to reassure.

"No, Plutarch won't let them target 12. Like I said Finn, we're cannon fodder to him. A means to an end."

"Little miss positivity aren't we this morning?" he smiled lightly as he tucked her hair behind her ear. "We're going to be ok Tay. Plutarch promised. Besides, if 12 see us together they might be more open to an alliance."

Taiya frowned. "You should know better than to trust the promises of Capitolites," she sighed, stepping out of the elevator as the doors opened. "If 12 see us together they'll just know how to target us more." Taiya looked around the training room, it looked like only half the tributes had bothered to show up. "I'll admit, it's a better turnout than I thought it'd be."

"They've already given up," Finnick sighed sadly.

"I know," Taiya nodded sadly as she looked back at him. "Come on," she gestured him forward to join the semi-circle around Atala, the woman who ran the training sessions, in time for her to start her introductory spiel. "Hey," Taiya greeted Johanna as she came to stand next to her friend.

"This is such bullshit," Johanna spat out.

"Oh my god there's two of them," Finnick rolled his eyes at the pair's negativity.

"Where do we want to train first?" Johanna asked.

"I'm going to hang with Cashmere and Gloss," Taiya answered before tilting her head as she noted Johanna and Finnick exchanging nervous looks. "What?"

"Is that a good idea?" Johanna asked.

"I'm not sure hanging out with them will help you, Tay," Finnick added. "I mean they're going to..."

"All the more reason to hang out with them now," Taiya snarled. "Don't tell me what to do please," she muttered before turning and speed-walking over to the knives station where Cashmere and Gloss were setting up. "Yo yo!"

"Hey," Cashmere smiled widely. "I'm kind of surprised you're here, not going to lie. I thought that fish boy would keep you away."

"He doesn't make my decisions for me."

"Still got your talent?" Gloss asked.

"Oh you know I do," Taiya laughed.

"Show us what you've got them," he taunted.

She immediately rolled her eyes and walked towards the start. "We don't need help," she cut off the knive's trainer before he could introduce himself. "You ready to see pure talent Gloss?"

"I'll believe it when I see it."

"Why don't we make it more interesting?" Taiya challenged.

"I like where your head's at," he nodded with a smirk.

"Competition. 10 throws each, the highest score wins."

"Oh, you're on!" Gloss grinned wickedly.

"Ummm," Taiya mumbled as she looked over the computer screen before sheepishly turning to the trainer. "Ok, we're old. We haven't trained with the simulators before, how does it work?"