"Junie, hurry up. We've got to get going," Cress knocks on her sister's door urgently. "Junie. Junie. Junie. Juniper."
"I'm up! I'm up!" Junie exclaims. "Just stop knocking, goddamn!"
"Language!" Cress snaps, turning to go back into her room. Dusting off her dark green dress for what felt like the twenty second time, she adjusted her hair in the mirror. When she sees that one strand of her hair is askew, she mutters some rather colourful words as she unties her hair and reties it. Her brown hair has been brushed so many times that its shiny and smooth and hangs in a loose half up half down hairstyle.
"Now who's taking forever?" Junie says from the door, crossing her arms. Her sunny yellow dress contrasts with the green of her sister's.
"I'm older, I can take longer," she teases. "Come here, your pigtails are uneven." Junie lets Cress fix her pigtails, fidgeting slightly the whole time.
"Are you done yet?" she complains.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm done." Cress looks her over. "Good. Good. Okay, we can go now."
"Where's Mom?" Junie asks, looking around and peering into the kitchen.
"Work," Cress says simply. "Come on, we've gotta go." As she speaks, the alarm goes off, a loud, earsplitting sound. The sisters join the throng of people heading towards the square.
"Hey guys." Annie worms her way between them, glancing between them.
"Hi Annie," both sisters answer in sync.
"Are you guys ready for the reaping? I know I am. Do you think you'll get picked this year?" Annie continues to talk miles per minute, a sign she was nervous. They all join our respective lines, Annie and Junie heading to their line while Cress finds Jaycee.
"Hey. You ready?" she asks softly, tapping Jaycee on her shoulder.
"Yeah, I'm ready." Jaycee nods, her hands messing with the folds of her skirt. "Are you?"
"Kind of." Cress sighs. She holds out her hand, wincing when they draw her blood. She moved to the side, waiting for Jaycee. "How's Caspian?"
"Not good." Jaycee rubs her eyes, the dark circles giving away how tired she was. "He's stable, but he isn't getting better. Mom needs me home all the time now."
"Hey, you've got this. Cas will pull through, he always does." Cress grasps her hand, leading her to the side where Annie and Junie were waiting.
"Jaycee." Annie smiles, hugging the older girl's arm tightly.
"Hey Ann." Jaycee smiles, patting Annie's head.
"Ahem, ahem!" the lady from the capitol clears her throat. "Before we begin, I have a very important video to show you, brought all the way from the Capitol!"
Cress spots Jaycee rolling her eyes, as well as Junie. If she was honest, her eyes rolled a bit as well. Jaycee looks over at her, mouthing the words. "War. Terrible war." Cress has to cover her mouth to keep from snorting, struggling to keep a straight face at Jaycee's expression. Once the video ends, she breathes a sigh of relief.
"Wasn't that just thrilling?" the lady from the Capitol smiles, her eyes just a bit too wide to look normal. "I just love that. Today we are gathered here to pick the tributes for this year's Hunger Games! The 67th to be exact. Now, as always, ladies first." She practically waddles over to the large glass bowl full of names, reaching her hand in and swishing it around before grabbing one.
"Who do you think it is?" Annie whispers, eyes never leaving the small card in the lady's hand.
"Shh," Junie hisses. The lady cleared her throat and carefully opened the envelope with the name.
"Cress Bronzetide," she reads off the small card. Her heart felt like it stopped beating. Was that her name? She was Cress. But, she couldn't have been picked, right? It's not possible. The next minute is a blur as she's led to the stage, standing beside the Capitol lady. She snaps back to reality when the lady starts speaking again. "Now for the boys." Cress stares at the bowl, then out to the crowd. Jaycee looks horrified, while both Annie and Junie look nauseated.
"Ferric Amberfall." Cress glances through the crowd, recognising the name. Ferric was a year older than her, being 17, and was honestly a beast. He was tall and very muscular from working down at the docks all day, and was quite attractive. Ferric stands beside her, leaving her looking slightly out of place on the stage.
"There you have it, your District 4 tributes this year, Cress Bronzetide and Ferric Amberfall!" She's met with silence from the crowd as they stare up at both of them. Cress meets their stare, eyes trailing over the contours of their bodies. The Peacekeepers escort them to the rooms where they'll say goodbye, and the first one in is Junie. She tackle hugs her sister, practically knocking her over.
"Hey, whoa," Cress mumbles, gripping the table to keep herself from falling over. "Hey, it's okay.."
"Cress, oh my god.." Jaycee mutters, walking in with Annie in tow. As soon as Annie sees her, she bursts into loud sobs and grabs hold of her arm.
"Cress, no, don't die!" she blubbers, her tears and snot got onto Cress' dress. Cress, almost out of instinct, gently strokes her hair.
"It's gonna be okay. Everything's gonna be okay." Soon enough, the girls are forced to leave. The Peacekeepers had to pry Junie and Annie off of her so that they could escort her to the train.
"Wow." Ferric stands beside her, looking at the train with slight awe. "It's..."
"Fancy." Cress blinks, looking the train up and down.
"I was going to say sleek, but that works too." Ferric shrugs, stepping through the doors. She'd never really spoken to Ferric before, she'd never had a reason to, but options are limited now.
"Welcome." A smooth voice that Cress knew all too well spoke from behind them. "So, you guys are the crop this year huh? Ferric, how are you? And who's this little lady?" She turns around, meeting the piercing blue eyes of Finnick Odair. His eyes widen with shock for a moment before he regains his composure, charming smile back in place.
"Cress. You're.. a tribute?" he looks her up and down, causing her to awkwardly fix her hair.
"Yeah. I am. That's why I'm on the train." She mentally curses her awkwardness, her hand sliding down to pick at her hands.
"Of course." he clears his throat before turning to Ferric. "So, your luck finally ran out huh?"
"I guess it did," Ferric mutters, crossing his burly arms. "I was so close."
"Very." Finnick nods before turning back towards Cress. "Well, I'll show you guys to your rooms. Follow me, will you?"
YOU ARE READING
The Flying Fish (Exocoetidae)|| Finnick Odair X Fem!OC
Fanfiction"Hello Birdie." "Not in the mood Finn." The 67th Hunger Games, with Iuvartus Templesmith as Head Gamemaker, was nothing special. The victor that year was Cress Bronzetide, a 16 year old girl from District 4. She was an unexpected victor, as her dist...
