FAILURE TO COMPLY ┃ f. odair

3.9 beast or brave protector

It was so irritating to Johanna that the second Finnick showed up, she all but lost her best friend to him. She was happy for them both, but Calypso refused to leave the man's side now, and so whenever she passed by where they sat together in the sand, she'd bring her finger to her mouth and make vomiting gestures. They smiled amusedly, but chose to ignore her.

As they sat side by side, Finnick could not stop admiring her scratched face. He preferred this version to the dolled-up one he so often saw in the Capitol. The real Calypso. His Calypso. A little battered and bruised, perhaps, but he'd seen her heal time and again. Without even thinking about it, he brought his fingers up to gently caress her jawline. She flinched away.

"Finnick," she quietly scolded, and it elicited a small laugh from him. "What?"

"Stop hiding," he chuckled. "Twenty minutes ago you wouldn't let go of me, and now you're back to pretending. Aren't you tired of it?"

Calypso didn't reply. She turned her head back to the water and watched the waves come ashore. Still, she could feel his smile grow bigger and bigger while his fingers danced over her cheek teasingly.

"I know I am," he continued. "Let's give them a show. We're good at that. Let the world know I love you, Calypso Silva."

She did not fight him as he turned her head once more and brought their lips together, warm and passionate but gentle. She did not want to in that very moment, but she imagined how jealous the citizens of the Capitol must have felt seeing such a display. Good, she thought. He was right. Let the world know that they love each other. Let the world know that he was hers and she was his.

Thunder reigned the skies as they parted. It took her a moment to recollect herself, but then her gaze turned once more at the booming sound. Her eyes widened and her heart bloomed with hope and excitement. Across the arena, lightning harshly struck the tallest tree, brilliantly bright. Suddenly, she could feel the same electricity in the air as Beetee.

She silently thanked Plutarch Heavensbee for his mad designs. It was all shaping up to be a beautiful disaster.

-

Tick tock. It was a clock. Those mad designs were even madder than Calypso gave the head gamemaker credit for. He'd divided the arena into sections, each with their own threats that were only active at the assigned hour of the day. That was Katniss and Wiress' theory, and every bit of evidence pointed towards it being true.

"This entire arena seems to be laid out like a clock with a new threat every hour, but they stay only within their wedge," the archer explained as she led the group to the cornucopia. "It all starts with the lightning. Then the blood rain, fog, monkeys. That's the first four hours. At ten that big wave hits from over there."

She pointed towards the corresponding section, but Calypso did not bother to look. She headed straight for the supply stacks, gaining curious looks from both Finnick and Peeta. Johanna watched too as the woman replaced a single knife in her set with a new one, knowing exactly why she was doing it. It was clean. Free of blood and free of guilt.

"Look, the tail points to twelve," Peeta pointed out, his sword pointing a line from the metal structure to the sky.

"That's where the lightning strikes at noon and midnight," Katniss clarified. Twice a day. Perfect. Calypso and Beetee exchanged a look and a subtle nod. This was good. Very good.

"So twelve to one, lightning," Peeta reiterated, using his sword again to draw a circle in the black sand, sectioning it off like the arena. "Then one to two is blood. Then fog. And then monkeys."