And I Was In Love. (Finnick Odair X Y/N)

To The Capitol

I sit in the carriage that carries my fellow tribute and I through our home and towards the train. My leg bounces up and down as I zone out what our esscourt is saying. I look out the window at my home town, I remember running down these streets and selling food to people walking past. A single tear rolls down my cheek as I realise this is going to be the last time I will see my home.

Before I know it, I'm standing on the train next to Ezranald. My eyes wander over to the mountains of food on the grand table in front of me. I'd never seen so much food I'm my life and more than half of the delecies I'd never seen before. Although I want to dive in and eat the food, I stand still and wait to be told what to do.
"My name is Teila," our esscourt announces to us as she walks closer to us, "and these are your mentors, Annie Cresta and Finnick Odair. They are here to answer any questions you may need answered." The woman presents the previous victors and steps to the side.

There stands Annie, and she still looks scared, as if she might jump out the window at any given moment. She stands there, biting her fingernails while looking towards the ground, her red hair hiding much of her face. I remember her reaping. It was the 70th games, and she watched the boy from our district get decapitated. And then there's was the flood. Her games were brutal to her, and I understand why she looks so timid.

And then there's Finnick. He stands tall, proud with his perfect, almost golden curls. I feel almost jealous of how calm he seems, although he is not smiling, he isn't stressing or worrying. I look at his muscular body, which makes the butterflies in my stomach fly around faster, making me feel more nervous. He's what I want but can't have. 'God no, look at me, practically simping for my mentor a few days before my inevitable death,' I think to myself and feel almost ashamed of my feelings.

"Ezranald, it's nice to see you again. Do you remember me from the academy?" Finnick holds put his hand towards the career, waiting for him to shake it.
"Yeah, I remember you," the boy shakes Finnicks hand, "just call me Ezra."
Finnick nods his head and smiles slightly before turning face me and hold out his hand, "I don't believe we've met," he remarks, "it's nice to meet you, I'm Finnick."
"Y/N," I say, shaking his hand. The worry that was stirring inside of me seems to calm a bit, "Nice to meet you too." I feel my face smile slightly.
"Shall we have something to eat, and you guys can ask us any questions?" Finnick suggests, taking a seat at the table. We all sit around the table, taking from the mountain of food.

After a while, once everyone has stopped eating, we sit in an awkward silence for at least 20 minutes.
"Any tips about how to actually survive?" I ask, breaking the silence.
Finnick leans forward in his chair, "What kinds of tips? Arena survival or fighting? Sponsors? Allies? You'll need to be more specific," he quitely chuckles to himself.
"I don't need any tips on fighting or survival. We covered that in the academy," Ezra cockly answers Finnicks question.
"I need help with all of it," I sigh.
"Pathetic," I hear Ezra say under his breath. Finnick talks about survival skills, fighting, sponsors, and allies, as well as some other tips that he recommends. Annie left about 30 minutes into the conversation and did not return until dinner, where she sat there quietly. After dinner, Teila sends us off to bed because the world might end if we have eye bags tomorrow when we arrive in the capitol.

Once in my room, I look around at the space. There is a massive bed in the middle of the room. It has a dark blue, velvet quilt cover and lighter blue silk sheets. There are also two doors that after opening I discover lead to a bathroom and walk in robe. I decided to have a shower before bed. I could have stayed in there for hours because of all the buttons and switches that activated different things. After drying myself and managing to find some pyjamas in the maze of clothes in the walk-in robe, I lift the sheets and climb into bed. The mattress sinks down a bit as I lay on it. After placing my head on the soft pillow, I realise how tired I am from the day I just had. I close my eyes and think about Cory and how I will be dead within the next few weeks, I feel tears leak from my eyes and onto the silk pillowcase. I curl up into a ball and quietly cry before falling asleep.

Finnicks POV
After meeting the tributes for this year, I lay on the velvet covers of my bed on the train. I begin to think about if the tributes for this year actually stand a chance in the games. 'I know the career, Ezra has a chance of winning. I remember him from the academy. He was strong but very cocky. Despite first impressions, he's not a very nice person. But he could win this year's Hunger games, depending on the other tributes and the arena of course,' I think to myself as I look at the white ceiling.

'Now, the other tribute, a beautiful girl called Y/N, will have a good chance with sponsors, but I don't know how good her fighting is. I do worry for her, though, because she is very pretty her stylist will probably try to dress her in something skimpy with a lot of skin showing which could make her feel uncomfortable.'

I reach my hands to my face and, rub my eyes tiredly. I yawn quietly and decide to get to bed. Putting on an act all the time is actually very hard and very tiring. I did mention to the tributes that all the people want is a show. They want interesting people to follow and that they should construct a character to play so people will want to keep them alive. It's not very nice to hear really but it's true, that's what I did for my games and it worked.

I climb under the covers of my oversized, Capitol bed and close my eyes. I quickly drift off to sleep.

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Y/Ns POV
"Up, up, up! We are almost in the Capitol!" I hear someone prancing around my room. I slowly open my eyes to see Teila walking around the room with some clothes.
"What?" I groan, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.
"You need to get changed quickly so I can do your hair and makeup before we arrive in the Capitol!" Teila says, still pacing around the room, "Get changed into these then come outside for breakfast so I can get you ready," she lays some clothes on my bed and walks out of the room. I get up and get changed into the clothes she chose. There are a pair of black dress pants and a mid blue singlet with a net style dark blue jumper over the top.
'I guess blue is a reoccurring colour for district 4 this year,' I think as I walk out of my room and into the carriage with the food.

"Good morning Ezra," I say as I take a seat next to him. He looks over at me before turning back to his food and continuing to eat. "Good morning to you too, Y/N. How did you sleep? Oh, I slept great, how about you? Yeah, I slept, we'll too, thanks," I imitate how our conversation should have gone, Ezra does not look one bit impressed. I hear a chuckle behind me and look back to see Finnick walking into the room and taking a seat opposite me.
"Goodmoring you two," He says as he takes a plate and begins to put food on it, "how did you sleep?"
"Morning, I slept fine, how about you?" I ask him politely.
"I slept great, thanks for asking," he replies, beginning to eat some food.
"I'm not too sure about this outfit anymore Y/N," Teila says looking me up and down, "but it's fine for now I guess, your stylists will fix you up later."
I catch Finnick rolling his eyes, "I think she looks great." I can feel my cheeks turning red with blush and my mouth smiling at his comment.

While Teila attacks my hair with a brush and styles it to her liking, I look into Finnicks sea green eyes and begin to daydream of the ocean calmly, moving back and forth along the shore line. Teila then does my makeup, which causes me to snap out of my daydream because I need to move my head. Thankfully, the makeup is a more natural look than I had expected.

As we approach the Capitol, I look out the window at the massive buildings that seem to touch the sky. I see people crowding around the train, waiting to get a glimpse of the tributes for the 73rd Hunger Games. I think about what Finnick said yesterday, 'all they want is a show, interesting characters to follow. So, make yourself interesting to watch so they keep you alive.' I think about what I could do to be somewhat interesting, so I call Ezra over, and we wave at the people as we pass them.
'I need to construct a character before too long,' I think to myself while waving at the people. After they pass, I begin to brainstorm ideas for characters that seem interesting. I wonder if I should ask Finnicks advice for these characters?

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Soon after, I walk out of the train and into the Capitol. I try to take it all in, but there are too many people and too many noises. I know now that it has truly begun.