The Flying Fish (Exocoetidae)|| Finnick Odair X Fem!OC

Arrows

Cress watches along with the rest of the tributes as Katniss shoots down birds in the simulation, her aim perfect every time she knocked an arrow. She glances around at the surrounding victors, seeing the difference in their expressions.

Enobaria and Cashmere looked wary, while Brutus looked pissed. Cress can feel her fist clench at her side, wanting to throat punch Brutus as hard as she possibly could. She could see both Wiress and Beetee watching Katniss with an approving expression, though it was never easy to tell what Wiress was really thinking.

"I want her as an ally," Finnick repeats to Cress quietly, to which she rolls her eyes.

"Of course you do."

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"You're that good?" Haymitch asks Katniss, leaning forward with his eyebrow raised. "So good that Brutus wants you?"

"Well, I don't want Brutus. I want Cress, from District 4."

"Well she's a solid choice-" Haymitch starts, but Katniss interrupts him before he can finish.

"But I don't want Finnick."

"Well now, that's a problem," Haymitch mutters, sighing and putting his hand over his face. "You can't have one without the other, Katniss, Finnick would sooner let himself get mauled by a bear."

"Well I want Cress." Katniss crosses her arms, clearly not budging on this topic.

"Any other options? Any at all? You have your pick of the litter, sweetheart."

"Both tributes from District 3." Peeta's groan matched Haymitch's as they both gave her 'are you serious right now' stares.

"Of course you do," Haymitch sighs, knocking back a drink. "I'll tell everyone that you're still making up your mind."

"My mind is made up, Haymitch, I want them."

"You're very stubborn, you know that?" a smirk plays on Peeta's lips.

"I had no idea," Katniss mutters.

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Cress watches as Finnick trades Katniss, an hour of trident lessons for an hour of archery lessons. She tags along, just for kicks, and to watch how Katniss uses a bow up close. Definitely not because she wanted to watch Finnick wield a trident while shirtless, she would never.

Cress definitely wasn't ogling him the whole time, especially when he moved his arm back to launch the trident and his bicep flexed.

"Cressie, come here," Finnick calls her over, waving to get her attention. That snapped her out of her daze real quick.

"What's up?" she asks, glancing between Katniss and Finnick.

"Katniss here wants to know how you managed to hold on to that bar for so long with your legs." Finnick raises his eyebrows at the question, and Katniss flushes.

"No, I wanted to know how you managed to secure it so well," she corrects, frowning at Finnick before glancing at Cress.

"You want to know the knots I used?" she tilted her head.

"Yes."

"No problem. Once you and Finnick are done, come find me. I'll teach you." Cress offers her a smile.

"...Thank you," Katniss says quietly.

"No problem." Finnick smiles at Cress, putting his arm around her shoulders.

"Cress here is the best at tying knots."

"Way to feed my ego," she laughs, shoving his arm off of her shoulders.

"It's my job, sweetheart." Finnick flashes her a grin, causing her to roll her eyes.

"Alright sweet talker, get back to what you were doing."

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It's time for private sessions, and no one is eager to go in. Cress overhears people joking about what they're going to do, hearing Johanna say that she'll just strip.

That idea was starting to sound better and better to Cress. She didn't have any exceptional skills, other than her trapeze skills, but she'd already shown them those.

Fuck.

"You look worried, Birdie, what's up?" Finnick is tearing into a chicken leg, but that didn't stop him from talking to her.

"The private sessions, I don't know what I'll do. I'm considering stripping at this point," she mutters, a frown marring her face.

"Let's not do that." Finnick leans forward, thinking. Or rather, Cress is going to believe that he's thinking. "I might just toss a trident around. That usually works."

"You're going to get a high score no matter what, Finn, the Capitol loves you."

"Hey now, don't sell yourself short. They love you too," Finnick points out. That was true, but she didn't exactly have the skills that Finnick did. She wasn't superbly attractive, she didn't have washboard abs, she wasn't built like a god. She was just Cress.

Soon, they start calling in the tributes one by one, starting with District 1. Cress watches as Gloss goes in first, then Cashmere. Brutus, then Enobaria are called. Beetee went in rather reluctantly, not wanting to leave Wiress behind. Then it was Wiress' turn. Then Finnick was called.

"Finnick Odair, District 4."

"See you on the other side, Cressie," he whispers and stands up, entering the room. The metal door slams shut behind him.

It feels like ages pass as she waits for them to call her name. Ten minutes. Fifteen. Then the door groans as it opens, the lady looking around the room with that bland expression of hers.

"Cress Bronzetide, District 4."

She stood up and walked through the door, hearing it slam shut behind her. She glanced around, seeing a bunch of dummies that have been impaled by something with three prongs. A trident.

In that moment, Cress decides what she would do. Grabbing one dummy at a time, she moves them to the center of the room and sets them up. She then finds the catch bar and sets it up, beginning her show. She dove off of the platform, gripping the catch bar tightly. In her mind, she heard the music that played during her act in the circus, heard the rise and fall of the music as she moved with the music.

She did her usual flips and free falls, catching herself expertly each time. Then, she hung by her legs. Reaching down to her thigh, she pulled a knife out of its sheath. She'd hidden it there when the Gamemakers weren't looking.

Her arm reaches out and slashes, slicing one of the dummies open. In methodical movements, she sliced open each and every one of the dummies. To finish off her performance, she dropped down onto one of the dummies and impaled his skull, looking directly at Heavensbee while she did it. She climbed off of the dummy and bowed deeply, maintaining eye contact the whole time.

"Thank you for having me," she says softly, her voice echoing throughout the room. Cress turned around and left, dropping the knife on the floor with a loud clang that resonated through the room.