Hi everyone reading! Stay tuned, we're checking back in with none other than Finnick Odair, himself. He's just seen the Individual Assessment Scores. What do you think he's feeling? What do you think he's thinking? 

What about his tributes? Scarlet wasn't so nice to them, and we know that Crimson's been working some angle involving them and the Careers.

I'm so excited to share this chapter with you! Even though it's shorter than my usual, I hope you won't be disappointed. 

Comment, Question, Share, Predict! Let me see your thoughts!! I can't wait to read them!

And kindly vote if you have enjoyed this story! 

As always, Stay safe and take care! ~CANGEL

***

Finnick Odair

     "What!" Roe shouted, lunging to her feet, and glaring at the screen. "A ten?! How is that even possible?"

     The sudden explosion of her voice echoed through the room, causing Mags to jump slightly, bumping into Finnick. He had expected a reaction like this the moment he had seen the score appear. He knew that Roe wouldn't take it well having taken an extreme dislike to the District 14 female tribute.

     "Well," Finnick said, staring at the screen, his disbelief mingling with a grudging admiration for the determined girl. His belief in the girl was steadily rising, though he would never say so aloud. "If you ever had something to bond with the tributes of 1 and 2 over, it's this. Everyone will be after her now."

     Finnick didn't miss the stiffening in Loach's posture down on the other end of the couch, but he kept his attention on Roe. He'd get back to Loach in a moment.

     "All she did was throw three daggers!" Roe raged, her voice cracking with frustration. "How did she score a ten?"

     Finnick turned off the television, the abrupt silence making the tension in the room even more palpable.

     "That's just what she did in front of us." Loach said quietly.

     Roe whipped around, her long, braided hair smacking the front of her face before falling back to her shoulders. "What are you talking about, Loach? You think she deserved that number?!" She shouted, as she pointed back at the black television screen. "That a sixty point, little twelve-year-old girl outscored almost everyone and scored the same as Urban and Ambrosia? You think that that's legit?!"

     "No," Loach responded to Roe. "But she's not without any skills, Roe. You keep acting like she had no skills."

     Finnick watched Loach carefully, noticing the defeat in his slouched shoulders. Had he given up? Was it because his own score hadn't been as high as the Careers?

      "An eight is good," Finnick said, trying to sound reassuring despite his growing irritation. He needed them to focus on their own game, and not Scarlet's. "I can work with an eight. Especially if you team up with the Careers—"

     "—That's not going to happen."

     "—We can't team up with the Careers."

     Roe and Loach responded at the same time, their voices overlapping with one another, but their words hung crystal clear in the air between them.

     Finnick stilled in his spot on the couch. The words themselves weren't new, but the tone—the absolute finality in Roe's voice—made his jaw clench.

     Some of the anger seemed to drain from Roe in the wake of Finnick's rising ire. She took a small step back, her bravado faltering.

     "One of you two better start talking, now."

     "We told you that the Careers didn't want us to be in the alliance with them." Roe stated, crossing her arms while looking away.

     "I talked to their mentors. They agreed to take you in."

     "Like some charity case! If they don't want us, then that's their loss. We're District 4!" Roe's voice boomed out.

     "Then fucking act like it!" he shouted back, straightening in his seat, his hand clenching tightly around the glass full of brown liquor. In an attempt to lower his pulse, Finnick drew in a deep breath before expelling it slowly. "You," he gestured to Roe. "Be quiet. You," he pointed over to Loach. "Why can't you team up with the Careers."

     "We told the Careers we weren't all—"

     "Damn it!" Finnick shouted as he hurled the glass across the room, watching it shatter against the wall. The spray of liquid left a glistening trail on the wallpaper and hardwood floor. "Fucking damn it!"

     Everyone fell silent as the glass shattered, the silence only amplifying the sound of Finnick's rapid breathing. He stood from the couch and stepped into Roe's personal space. Being the nice guy wasn't working. He grabbed the front of her shirt and yanked her close enough that he could see his own reflection in her eyes, mixing with her fear.

      "I worked my ass off to get you to be a part of the Career pack. You almost ruined it with your poor performance and whiny attitudes, but I still manage to get you a spot, and now you're telling me that you already refused!"

     Loach got up from the couch, grabbing Finnick's arm. "Hey, that's enou—" Finnick clocked him upside the head, sending him reeling back into the couch. His hand throbbed from the impact, but as far as he was concerned, it was well-deserved.

     Mags signed frantically at Finnick from her seat, her weathered hands moving with urgency. Calm down, Finnick. This won't help.

     Finnick glanced at her but ignored the plea in her eyes. His rage had its own momentum now.

     "We're allying with Crimson." Roe stated in a low, nonnegotiable tone. "What does it matter if we told the Careers or not?"

     Finnick's body practically shook with barely contained rage coursing through him. He took a few steps back, so he didn't accidentally strangle one of his tributes. "You two might be from District 4, but I won't be crying for you when you die."

     "We're not going to die," Roe spat, glaring across the floor at Finnick. "And maybe, if you weren't so busy teasing and charming that little twelve-year-old witch, you might have focused on helping us enough that we hadn't needed to abandon the Career pack."

     Finnick huffed out a laugh as disbelief replaced the anger he had been feeling. He could not believe the words coming out of her mouth. As if he hadn't spun every scenario around in his mind, trying to figure out every angle, every choice, every decision that could possibly give them a better chance at survival. As if he hadn't nearly driven himself mad trying to figure out just one way to get one of them back home.

     As if they hadn't just spat all his efforts back in his face.

     But what he was doing, wasn't good enough? What Mags was doing for them, wasn't good enough?

     "If you think for one damned minute, that my entire focus hasn't been on how to get one of you out of that Arena, then you really are fools with no hope. Why do you trust Crimson Wolfe so much more than me, your mentor? Can you tell me that?"

     "He knows what we can do." Roe said. "He sees our pot—"

     Finnick dropped onto the couch, resting his head in his hands. Humorous laughter escaped him, bitter and hollow. Mags watched him from where she sat on the couch. She didn't try to touch him, but he felt her concern radiating off her in gentle waves.

     "He sees your potential?" Finnick echoed, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "What potential? The potential to be used as fodder? The potential to make rash, irresponsible and completely illogical choices every chance you get?"

     Roe opened her mouth to retort, but Finnick cut her off with a sharp gesture.

     "You don't get it, do you?" Finnick's voice dropped to a dangerous whisper. "Crimson Wolfe isn't your friend, or your ally. He's a twelve-year-old boy thrown into the same hell as you, and he's using every advantage he can find to survive. He's manipulating you. Playing you. And you're too blind to see it."

      Loach shifted uncomfortably, his eyes darting between Roe and Finnick. "But he—"

     "No," Finnick snapped, completely at his wits end. "He's a competitor that is playing to win. And you just handed him all the power on a silver platter."

     Roe's defiance wavered, but she crossed her arms over her chest, still trying to hold her ground. "We can handle ourselves. We don't need the Careers."

     He stood up once more, pacing the room, running his hands through his hair in frustration. "The Careers were your best chance. Whether or not you believe me, they were. With them, you had a shield. With them, you had the cornucopia. With them, you got to eliminate most of the other tributes. Now, you have nothing to offer anyone. And if you think that Crimson won't use that against you, then you're even more naïve than I thought."

     "Crimson wants to get rid of the Careers." Roe said. "We'll be the new Career pack." But even Finnick could hear the cracks of doubt in her statements as his logic pierced through her delusional thoughts.

     "Has Crimson told the Careers that he isn't joining their alliance?" Finnick asked. Of course, he could already guess that answer. Even without a mentor, Crimson and Scarlet were strategic and smart as all fucking hell.

     "No." Loach murmured quietly, his eyes downcast. "He's playing both sides. He told us as much. He said it's to keep them from guessing our plan of attack once we get into the Arena."

     "But he's going to prove he's on our side during the interviews." Roe interjected. "He's going to announce Scarlet's weakness to Panem." As if that made everything alright.

     "And did it ever occur to you that he might be lying to you so that he could join the Careers and leave you too out in the cold without anticipating anything?"

     The room fell silent, the weight of Finnick's words finally sinking in. Roe's bravado crumbled and her stubbornness folded, replaced by uncertainty and fear. Loach looked regretful and lost, unsure of what to do or think.

     Mags stood up from the couch and placed a hand on Finnick's arm, her touch gentle but firm. He looked down at her tiny figure, trying to find the same calm that radiated off his former mentor. Breathe, Finnick. We can't teach them to swim here, Finnick. We can only show them by example. Whether they sink or swim is on them. Just as it was on you.

     Finnick turned away from her. Normally, her presence was a soothing balm, but right now, he couldn't find the calm that he knew he needed. The shouting, yelling, and name calling wouldn't help his tributes or Finnick.

     You can't save everyone; you can only try.

     Mags advice from the day before last year's reaping filtered through his mind. Finnick had nodded his head and said he understood, but he'd been so full of...confidence? He'd been so sure of himself. He had won. At fourteen. Of course he could get other tributes home.

     Then last year's tributes had died. And he had been able to do nothing to help them. And now this year's tributes were going to die.

     Fuck, he needed a drink. He needed a lot of drinks.

     "You told me that Crimson wanted an alliance of seven. And when that fell through, he started playing the middle, shunning you two and cozying up to the Careers, right?"

     "Right." Loach murmured.

     "Even if Crimson wanted to ally with you over the Careers, do you really think he would? Crimson is going against every single odd there is. He's twelve years old. He's from District 14. He's small, weak, malnourished. He is untrained. He is fighting for his life, just the same as you. Do you really think that he would pick the two of you, over the four of them?"

     "But there's no guarantee that the Careers would take him. They weren't so impressed with him either. Why would they take him?" Roe asked, her voice was less hostile than it had been, which he appreciated. Still his anger hummed just under the surface of his skin. Why now, was her brain finally starting to work? Why not five days ago? Why not two days ago?

     "How did he seal the deal with you? What did he promise you?"

     "His sister," Loach said, his face pale and his eyes wide as he met Roe's. "You aren't the only one that hates her. He could've told them the same thing that he told us; that he'd help them hunt Scarlet down."

     "No. We can trust Crimson." Roe said. Finnick couldn't tell if she actually believed her words, or if she only said it because she had to believe them.

     The thought of Scarlet being hunted down by her own brother honestly made Finnick sick. And it was the last straw for Finnick. Because his tributes still trusted another tribute that was willing to turn his back on his family. On his twin sister. And Roe thought that Crimson wouldn't turn his back on them? That he wouldn't betray them if he thought there was a better option?

     Crimson wasn't going to sacrifice his chance to win the Hunger Games for them.

     Finnick turned away from them and pulled away from Mags. "Mags, you can take over. I can't—" He cut himself off as he walked away, heading for the elevator doors.

     "Wait—where are you going?" Roe called out, alarmed by his departure. "Finnick?!"

     "To get a fucking drink!" He snarled over his shoulder.

     "What about our interview strategies?"

     He laughed bitterly. Strategy? "Figure it out yourselves, I'm done wasting my time with the both of you."

------------------

So, Finnick is super pissed... Which I completely understand. What do you think? Did Finnick overreact or was he right? Should he have done this earlier? 

Could it have saved his tributes life (Probably not because then Scarlet would have to die, right? *shrugs* oh well, sucks to be them) Sorry, that was kind of super mean.

On the other hand, I feel like Roe does kind of get to be mad. I feel like it cheats the rest of the tributes when another tribute gets a higher score as a punishment. It affects their sponsors and their odds in getting help later on in the games... 

If Scarlet hadn't pissed off the Gamemaker's, and did the hand-to-hand combat and daggers, what score do you think she would have gotten?

Alright, take care and stay safe! ~ CANGEL