A/N: This is my first venture back into fan fic after a fairy extended hiatus. I sort of wish that my first fic in a while was something light and fluffy, but where would the fun be in that? This is a story I really wanted to write after re-reading The Hunger Games trilogy and my muse became extremely attached to Annie and Finnick. This is also something of an experiment with style, since I wanted to try a non-linear approach to storytelling. If you like something that is structured like a series of interlinking vignettes, you've come the right place!

A warning: this story deals with difficult themes. It discusses rape and sexual assault and depicts characters dealing with the emotional fallout. However, it does not go into graphic depictions of those acts.

And so, without further rambling from me, let's get started.

perseus / andromeda

"… maybe he's changed."
"So have you. So have I. And Finnick and Haymitch and Beetee. Don't get me started on Annie Cresta. The arena messed us all up pretty good, don't you think?"
Katniss and Johanna, Mockingjay.

"If a victor is considered desirable, the president gives them as a reward or allows people to buy them for an exorbitant amount of money. If you refuse, he kills someone you love. So you do it. I wasn't the only one, but I was the most popular. And perhaps the most defenseless, because the people I loved were defenseless. To make themselves feel better, my patrons would make presents of money or jewelry, but I found a much more valuable. Secrets."
Finnick, Mockingjay.

"Did you love Annie right away, Finnick?"
"No. She crept up on me."
Katniss and Finnick, Mockingjay.

[district 4]

[annie]

This is District 4 in the eyes of Panem:

Brave, beautiful, occasionally reckless. Strong, arrogant, charming.

Salt water. Ocean.

Pride.

Career Tributes.

This is District 4 in the eyes of District 4:

Wind and salt. Tempests and storms. Sand and seaweed. Driftwood and footprints. Tides and tide pools. Boats and ships. Nets and fish.

Injuries Dehydration. Sunburn. Sunstroke.

Pride. Honour.

Career Tributes.

Victors.

The Hunger Games are more than a national celebration. It's part of our way of life. We don't train for the Games, not like the tributes from Districts 1 and 2 are rumoured to do. Our strength comes from our homeland. From the sand and the sea. From the afternoons spent gathering fish and knotting nets. From the community that bands together to make sure that no one goes hungry, that no one is without shelter. Panem's cameras don't show the sunburned skin, the peeling noses, the calluses and the dehydration, but these are parts of the whole that make us who we are.

We know how to brave the elements. We know how to navigate. We can net and capture. We can gut and kill another living thing.

I was four when I realized what death meant. My first fish swallowed the hook.

Its head came off when my mother helped me pull it out of the water.

I didn't eat fish for a month after that.

In District 4, it is a great honour to serve in the Hunger Games. They bring fame and wealth to the victor, and food and supplies to the victor's district. And if you die, you die knowing you tried to bring better days to your home. We dream of fighting and winning the Hunger Games.

It is the right thing to do, because you are District 4.