the lucky one | finnick odair

growing up is chaotic

-now playing "chaotic" by Tate McRae-

Life had been as easy as it could be for Cove Alora. Every day she grew more closer to Finnick Odair, and he became her closest friend, her only friend if she really thought about it.

Though she was finally healing from the pain of losing her other half, she still sometimes felt hollow, like something was missing from her. Her sisters didn't like to talk about Coral, or the 64th games at all. They cut it off like an amputated limb and pretended like it didn't exist, the only one that would even speak of Coral, besides Cove, was Crest.

Whenever Marina came back from the Capital after visiting her lover for a weekend, she would talk about how there was rumors of the shame that was brought upon their family after a sister had lost the last year. No longer were the Alora's a favored and sought after family, they were a family that couldn't even uphold their most sacred tradition. A family of cowards all because one of their sisters was too scared to win. This only increased Pearl's rage and need for honor to be restored to the Alora name. If they didn't have honor, then what was all of the years of volunteering even for? What was Coral's death even for?

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Cove had spent most of her afternoons with Finnick at the Marina Markets trying to help him sell his fish that he caught and the hooks that he had made. It wasn't hard considering Finnick was a natural at finding fish and had a secret talent of making hooks. Finnick also revealed to Cove that he was really good at making different knots and braids with rope that he had found, he said that it eased his anxiety and helped manage stress.

"Finnick can you braid my hair again, please? It's too long for me to wear it down when it's this hot outside," Cove begged as she sat on Finnick's table at the Markets, feeling her hair sticking to her skin. Finnick looked up at her and laughed at her uncomfortable face.

"Yeah, just give me a sec. I have to finish organizing the hooks on the table. And hey! get off the table while you're at it, I need the space," Finnick said as he hit her thigh. Cove groaned as she hopped off his table and just stood behind him in the shade that the open warehouse of the Market provided. It had almost been a year since Coral's fatal Games, meaning it was almost time for the reaping, and that Cove had a lot on her mind. "Hey, are you okay? I wasn't trying to hurt your feelings when I told you to jump down, Covey," Finnick said to her as he noticed Cove spacing off.

"Yeah, Finny, sorry. Just thinking about the upcoming reaping," Cove said quietly as she tried getting her mind off of the dreadful date. Finnick sighed and immediately walked over to her and grabbed her face so she would look at him again.

"Did Pearl say something again?" Finnick asked a little bitterly, hating that his best friend was feeling upset.

"Mhm," Cove hummed as she began twirling a fish hook around her finger, "just the usual stuff about getting me to volunteer this year to restore the Alora name," she said quietly as she looked away from Finnick.

"Hey, stop with that, you'll cut yourself," Finnick scolded as he grabbed the hook from her hands and went back to holding her face, "look Covey, I don't think you should volunteer just because Pearl is hellbent on maintaining that stupid tradition. She should've learned from her wrongs with what happened last year instead of forcing another one of her sisters in the arena again as a do-over. That's not fair to you, or to Coral. I'd rather have you safe with me than in there where I can't protect you," Finnick said as he stared into her eyes, hoping to get the point across to her.

"I know, it's just a lot of memories coming back this time of year," Cove said as she sat down on a chair behind Finnick's shop table. Then she remembered what she had in her bag. "Oh, wait here, come sit down, I have a surprise for you," Cove said as she grabbed her backpack that she took everywhere with her, mostly on times when she was Finnick, knowing she would most likely spend the night as his home rather than hers.