☆°.˙ ▍𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐘𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐃𝐀𝐘

⎰𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧⎱

          𝐅𝐋𝐄𝐔𝐑 𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐀 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐏 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇 𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐋𝐎𝐏𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐄 𝐎'𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐊 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐎 𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐄, seeing as Beetee wanted to inspect it before he rigged it. The sun shone down on the tributes, making Fleur sweat.

          "Is it just me, or are the Gamemakers making the temperature hotter every day?" Fleur questioned as she wiped the sweat away from her forehead.

          "I thought so too." Katniss replied.

          As they neared the tree, Finnick suggested Katniss take the lead. "Katniss can hear the force field." Finnick explained to Johanna and Beetee.

          "Hear it?" Beetee questioned as he looked under his glasses.

          "Only with the ear the Capitol reconstructed." Katniss replied.

          "Then by all means, let Katniss go first." Beetee stated as he wiped the steam from his glasses. "Force fields are nothing to play around with."

          The lightning tree was unmistakable as it towered high above the others. Katniss glanced back at everyone else as she threw a couple of nuts where she thought the force field was and a sizzling sound was heard.

          "Just stay below the lightning tree." Katniss stated.

          They decided to divide up the duties. Finnick guarded Beetee while he examined the tree, Johanna tapped for water, Peeta and Fleur gathered nuts, and Katniss hunted nearby.

.: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

          Once Katniss came back from hunting, she cleaned the tree rats she had killed before drawing a line a few feet away from the force field as a warning to stay behind it. Fleur threw a couple of the nuts past the line and it rebounded back towards her slightly roasted.

          Fleur threw another nut, which soared back and hit Finnick in his forehead as he sat down next to Fleur. Finnick glanced at Fleur after he picked up the nut and scrutinized it. Fleur just shrugged in response as she threw another nut towards the force field.

          Beetee was still messing around the tree, doing things the others wouldn't even think about doing, such as taking measurements and whatnot. At one point he snapped off a small piece of the bark, joined the rest of the group, before he threw the piece of bark against the force field.

          It bounced back and landed on the ground and glowed brightly. In a few moments, it returned to its original color.

          "Well, that explains a lot." Beetee said to himself.

          Fleur and Finnick exchanged glances of amusement before Finnick picked up the nut that had hit him and threw it softly at Fleur who frowned.

          "What was that for?" Fleur questioned as she rubbed the spot the nut had hit.

          Finnick shrugged in response before wrapping his arm around Fleur and pulling her away from the line and the pile of roasted nuts.

          A clicking sound was heard that was coming from the sector adjacent to them, revealing that it was eleven o'clock. It was much louder in the jungle than it was on the beach, causing all the tributes to listen intently.

          "It's not mechanical." Beetee stated decidedly.

          "I'd guess insects." Katniss replied.

          "Perhaps beetles." Fleur suggested.

          "Something with pincers." Finnick added.

          The sound swelled as if alerted by the quiet words to the proximity of live flesh.

          "We should get out of here, anyway." Johanna stated. "There's less than an hour before the lightning starts."

          They didn't go that far, only to the identical tree in the blood rain section. They squatted on the ground and began eating the food they gathered from the jungle as they waited for the lightning bolt that signaled noon.

          After the lightning struck the tree, they went back to the ten o'clock beach. The sand was smooth and damp, swept clean by the recent wave. Beetee practically gave them the afternoon off while he worked with the wire.

          They decided that they were going to take turns at having naps in the shadowy edge of the jungle. Finnick and Fleur were the first ones to stand guard.

          "Do you think it'll work?" Fleur questioned vaguely, seeming to the Capitol that she was talking about the plan to kill Brutus and Enobaria.

          "If it doesn't, we won't have a second chance." Finnick replied.

          They switched guarding and sleeping after a while, but by late afternoon everyone was awake and restless.

          They decided, that since this might be their last chance for seafood, to make feast of it. Under Finnick's guidance, they speared fish, gathered shellfish, and even dove for oysters.

          Johanna kept watch while Finnick, Fleur, Peeta, and Katniss cleaned and laid out the seafood.

          Peeta pried open an oyster and let out a small laugh. "Hey, look at this!" Peeta exclaimed as he held up a pearl about the size of a pea. "You know, if you put enough pressure on coal it turns to pearls." He said earnestly to Finnick.

          Fleur frowned at the statement, not sure about what he was saying.

          "No, it doesn't." Finnick replied dismissively.

          But, Katniss seemed to understand what he was saying because she started to crack up.

          Peeta rinsed the pearl off in the water and handed it to Katniss. "For you." He stated.

          "Thanks." Katniss replied as she closed her fist around the pearl.

          "The locket didn't work, did it?" Peeta asked. "Katniss?"

          "It worked." Katniss replied.

          "But not the way I wanted it to." Peeta replied before averting his gaze.

.: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

          Just as they were about to eat, a parachute appeared carrying two additional items to their meal. A small pot of a spicy red sauce and another round of rolls from District 3. Finnick and Fleur immediately counted them borderline obsessively.

          "Twenty four again." Finnick informed the rest of the alliance.

          This meant that there were thirty rolls. Each of them took five, leaving none left over.

          The salty fish flesh, the succulent shellfish. Even the oysters seemed tasty to them, being vastly improved by the sauce.

          They gorged on the food until no one could hold another bite, and even then, there were leftovers. However, they wouldn't keep, so they tossed all of the remaining food back into the water so the Careers wouldn't be able to get it once they leave. No one bothered about the shells. The wave would clear those away.

          There was nothing else to do but wait. Finnick interlocked his fingers with Fleur's firmly. Neither one of them pulled away and they both looked out into the distance.

Finnick to the Capitol: 🖕

Finnick to Fleur: 😍 ❤️

Fleur to the Capitol: 🤬

Fleur to Finnick: ❤️ 😊

^ This is a mood