Lost at Sea || Finnick Odair x OC (DISCONTINUED)

Thirty-Seven: pookie likes leaves

DAPHNE

°•. ✿ .•°

I have decided to like Katniss Everdeen. I had a feeling I would when she allied with Rue. I had a feeling what would happen as soon as they split up. But I knew I liked Katniss after she gave Rue all of the flowers, and when she held her and sang her to death.

Finnick told me not to, but I did it anyway. I had to. I had to let her know that I saw what she did. That I saw her. I told Haymitch what I wanted and he did it immediately. She first got bread from District 11. She then received bay laurel leaves, and she knows those are edible. Katniss is smart, and I can tell she's been eating plants of all sorts for years.

And, Katniss is smart, and she knows exactly what those mean. Laurels. My namesake was turned into the first laurel tree. I didn't even know Katniss beforehand, but I feel like she must have been watching me, because as soon as she got the leaves, her face changed into something of understanding. I wonder how well Katniss Everdeen really knows me, or if she knows just enough to understand that these were my gifts.

"Do you still think I shouldn't have done it?" I say to Johanna as she braids my hair.

"I'm not sure." She admits. "I think it was risky. It was risky for her to do what she did, it was risky for 11 to send the bread, and it was risky for you to send the leaves. But..." Her voice lowers. "I think something is wrong with these Games. Something they can't control."

I nod. "I do, too. And I think it's because of her." I nod to the screen. "I just... I don't know. She and Rue reminded me so much of... of..."

"You don't have to say it." Johanna sighs. She yanks my hair and I yelp. "Oh, shut up! But, I get it. I think it's nice what you did. It... well, it sends a message."

"What message?" She yanks my hair again, and I bite my lip to keep from screaming.

"That sometimes, a decent person can win the Games."

I have to think about this for a minute. No decent person ever wins the Games. It's a fact everyone has always known. The only way to win the Games is by doing vile, indecent acts against humanity. I've killed people. Brutally. How can I still be considered a decent person after that fact?

Evidently, Johanna still considers me to be decent. But how? I drowned a boy. I remember how it felt when he thrashed in my arms. I beat a boy to death with a rock and stabbed his corpse afterwards. I pretended to be the sister of another tribute in order to lure her into my trap. How can I be considered decent after that?

In my mind, I can see Kore. I can see her sitting beside me in the stream, Sun reflecting off her skin. Her golden hair shimmers and her blue eyes twinkle as she laughs at something I've said. Water runs over our bodies, cooling us off from the blistering heat. As soon as I blink, she's in my arms again, her golden hair shining during Sun's death and her own blood tainting her skin and mine, her blue eyes beginning to fade to black.

Is that why I am considered decent? Because I cared? It's certainly why I consider Katniss decent. She cares. And she's killed people, too. She's dropped a nest of tracker jackers onto people, she blew up the supply, essentially getting the boy from District 3 killed, she shot Marvel with an arrow. But she coaxed an innocent little girl through her own death, and gave her a proper burial, something nobody in the arena is given.