A/N

Since I'm mildly autistic myself, I was interested in tuimitchams' prompt. Their Athena Karkanis fancast influenced my description of Annie's appearance. I already had incorporated Mainstay Productions' Finnick And Annie Web Series into my headcanon. I add to what I've already written, but I don't contradict it.

This chapter covers the timeframe of Episodes 1 and 2 of the web series.

Chapter

I was only twelve years old, but since I was even younger, I had known that I was special in ways both good and bad, or in ways people thought were bad.

The summer after one's 12th birthday tended to be particularly memorable. The weather was always so nice that time of year, and this particular year was the last before a person's first Hunger Games reaping. Celebrating that last summer was an attempt to distract oneself from the upcoming dread. Fortunately for me, that was mostly working. Somebody usually volunteered for whoever was chosen. However, that didn't always happen, so I was still a bit scared. A lot of people were, but it had more of an impact on me because I really didn't like unexpected things.

Twenty-four people went and only one came back, so twenty-three died. Usually the dead people included both of the kids that came from my home of District Four. I remember when Daddy's mommy and daddy got sick, and my parents said it was kind of like that, but these people were so much younger. It was all so mean, something more than that really, but we didn't dare say anything about it except to ourselves.

However, there was always one person who won. The year after I turned four, another girl named Annie from another district won. The year after that, the boy from our district won. Daddy said he was just barely old enough to remember the second victor in the history of District Four, a girl named Margaret who was now a nice old lady called Mags. The first District Four victor since Mommy was born was a girl named Olive, who loved the previous boy victor Popeye like Mommy loved Daddy.

I was incredibly good at focusing on some things, although I sometimes wasn't good at changing my focus to something else when I had to. District Four was all about fishing, and my family made nets. I was really good at tying knots, and I loved the grid pattern of strings that made up the nets. One day we made a lot of nets, even more than usual. Mommy knew I loved to ride in a boat on the ocean, so she took me there as it was getting dark for the day.

I just was no good at focusing on some other things. Sometimes I wasn't interested and couldn't or wouldn't pretend I cared. For instance, I hadn't learned how to balance in the boat or listen when Mommy told me to sit down. I hadn't fallen out of the boat, so I had stopped worrying - it seems mommies always worried about everything. However, this time I did end up in the water. I was not good at swimming, and Mommy wasn't either, so she started screaming. I started flailing with my arms in the water. A boy not much older than me was standing in the water. He was near some of the groups of tall reeds at the water's edge. He could swim, very well actually, and came rushing towards me. Once he reached me, he put his arms under my shoulders and dragged me onto the beach. Thanks to him, I was coughing but I was okay. I told him my name was Annie. It was really Anemone, Anemone Cresta, but everyone called me Annie. His name really was Finnick Odair, he said.

I was really good at school, if it was a subject I cared about, but I didn't have many friends there or anyone else in the district. Finnick was about the only person I spent time with who wasn't family and wasn't in the net business.

We ended up spending a lot of time together. Finnick carried me to his house. "Look what I caught! An Annie Cresta!" he cheerfully told his mommy and daddy. Even I saw how happy Finnick's mom still was with Finnick's dad. I wanted that kind of thing myself some day, but I probably wouldn't get it. Would a boy like Finnick really like me? He was awfully cute, especially when his shirt was off, which it often was. I think he'd grow up to be awfully handsome, and then lots of girls would be interested in him, and then what chance would I have?

August 1st was my first Reaping and Finnick's second. The Capitol man didn't call either of our names to be dragged away. I don't remember what names he did pick – that seemed irrelevant because two people volunteered for them anyway. They were both killed by Gloss, the boy from District One. He ended up winning, right after his big sister Cashmere had won last year.

I wondered what it was like to have sisters and brothers. Finnick thought about that too, since he didn't have any siblings either. A lot of people who loved each other wanted babies but I guess it would be too hard to watch them in the Reaping. Some people compromised and had only one. I think that's what my parents had done, and Finnick's too. Maybe Finnick saw me like the sister he never had. I wanted him to be my boyfriend, but he would be a pretty cool brother too. I knew he couldn't be both, since if people were both, their babies might not be healthy.

Mommy tried to make me feel better. "Our little girl is smart and pretty," she said. As she said pretty, I looked towards the water and saw my reflection. My hair was dark brown – I was reminded of Finnick's, which was somewhat lighter. It was short like for most boys; mine was long and curly and I played with a handful of it while I looked at the water. I still liked Mommy brushing it sometimes. My skin looked like I had a tan, but I was born with it. Again, I couldn't help but think of Finnick; he was a similar shade. "The right boy will see what's so great about you and he'll be worth the wait. It took me awhile to find Daddy, after all," Mommy explained. Have you heard people say that there are many fish in the sea?" she asked.

"Yes," I answered. But I didn't know how to fish. Finnick's family did that, and even he was still learning.

She had different thoughts about the phrase, and said of Daddy that "there's only one fish in my sea".

Finnick seemed slow in learning how to fish, and I sometimes teased him about that. He thought it was easy to tie knots to make nets – maybe for me, I thought as I tried to correct him. I wanted him to put up or shut up with this talk about nets before I let him teach me how to swim. He seemed quite surprised that someone who lived in District Four couldn't swim. What we were doing seemed like an argument, but I found it oddly relaxing. Sometimes I wasn't sure how to simply talk to people, but I understood a battle of wits. It was actually quite playful; we sometimes splashed sand or water at each other. I sat on a towel that I had laid down over the beach sand, and he sometimes grabbed at it.

Some people had tried to give me swimming lessons before, without luck. Maybe I didn't like them or the way it felt when they touched me. Perhaps the lessons were something I wouldn't or couldn't focus on because I hadn't been interested. Yet Finnick was different – he wasn't special in the same way I was, but there was still something unique about him.