𝚑𝚞𝚛𝚝𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚕 (Finnick Odair)

iii.

𝚑𝚞𝚛𝚝𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚕

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛: 𝚒𝚒𝚒.

𝙿𝚛𝚎𝚙. Prep, prep, prep. Always there, somehow. Saffreen and Finnick watched as Katniss was readied for a 'propo', a propaganda shot. She was the Mockingjay, smoking lightly, always the girl on the fire, her face smudged and her brows drawn thick and dark.

Finally, Plutarch said, "I think that does it."

Katniss moved to look at the monitor, Saffreen close behind. Finnick joined them and noted, "They'll either want to kill you, kiss you, or be you."

Saffreen chuckled softly at Katniss's wide-eyed look. "He has a point," she said.

They continued past dinner, wanting to plan a slogan for Katniss. One came up the most often. Saffreen rolled her eyes every time she heard it. "People of Panem, we fight, we dare, we end our hunger for justice!"

But Plutarch's assistant, some Capitol refugee, Fulvia, was extremely invested, babbling on about Katniss on a battlefield, her comrades dead around her, professing the line to the world.

And so they tried that. Katniss was shoved into place, a smoke machine was turned on, and everyone fell silent. 

She raised her bow in the air and stated, "People of Panem, we fight, we dare, we end our hunger for justice!"

Silence.

Agonizingly long silence.

And then Haymitch Abernathy was laughing. "And that, my friends, is how a revolution dies," he stated.

That moment had been particularly shocking. Haymitch, for the entire time they'd been there, had been locked away, forced into getting sober.

He clearly doubted Katniss's abilities. He organized a meeting at the Command Center the next morning. Saffreen followed close behind as Finnick wheeled Beetee along in his chair. They gathered around a massive table. Saffreen took Finnick's wrist as they settled into their chairs. 

Haymitch was the one who welcomed everyone. His skin was a shade of sickly yellow. He looked thinner than the last time Saffreen had seen him.

He showed the footage they had shot of Katniss. She seemed jerky and stiff on the screen. Like a puppet.

"All right," Haymitch said when the footage was over. "Would anyone like to argue that this is of use to us in winning the war?" Silence. "That saves time. So, let's all be quiet for a minute. I want everyone to think of one incident where Katniss Everdeen genuinely moved you. Not where you were jealous of her hairstyle, or her dress went up in flames or she made a halfway decent shot with an arrow. Not where Peeta was making you like her. I want to hear one moment where she made you feel something real."