Finnick POV
I'm just sitting there minding my own business when Henna decides to go on a rampage on all of the disgusting insects that are climbing and crawling all around you, disrupting my peace.
I decide to go take a walk around the forest, mostly to clear my head but also to look for food. I take my rope with me, in hopes that it will be deemed useful. I also grab one of Henna's baskets that I plan to fill with berries and nuts.
I have a lacking knowledge of plants so I only pick ones that look edible, ones with thorns I steer away from.
After about half an hour I look down in the basket and am disappointed to see only 1/3 of the basket is filled. I groan and run my hand through my hair.
Ah, I really stink. How long has it been since I've had a shower? I hope I can find a water source soon; my repulsive smell must be scaring off the animals. Maybe even killing some of the plants.
I look around in hops to find more food. A little ways away I spot a bush with dark berries clinging to it.
I walk towards the foreign bush; from a closer view I can see the berries are a dark purple/blue color. I reach out to grab one but freeze when I hear piercing scream.
"Stop!" I whip my head in the direction of the sound and spot a small boy with auburn hair and a girl standing beside him with her arm over his shoulder.
"Don't touch the berries, they're poisonous. You'll die within a minute of consuming them" I slowly retract my hand and turn and face the kids. Off in the distance I hear someone yelling.
"What are your names?" I ask as I walk towards them slowly. The girl fidgets with her shirt and bites her lip and opens her mouth to say something when the boy interrupts.
"Well, my name is M-" The girl's eyes widen and she clamps her hands down on the boy's mouth.
"Malcolm, you must not say your n-oops" Her face turns a shade of red and I smirk at the sight. Children are so silly some times.
"So your name is Malcolm? And what's yours?" I question, as I get closer to them.
"No, no. Please leave us alone" She says as she takes a few steps back.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. My name is Finnick," I say as I stretch out my hand for them to shake. The little boy makes a motion to move forward, but the girl puts herself between the boy and me.
"Please leave us alone, we want nothing to do with you," The girl's voice quivers as she tries to sound brave. I almost chuckle at the sight but am interrupted by a girl calling the names "Malcolm and Reese"
The person seems to be closer now and when I turn to look back at the two, I notice the girl looks ready to run, as well as the boy. I lunge forward and grab onto the back of both of their shirts.
"Aaagh! Let us go!" The girl screams as tries to weasel her way out of my grip. I hear some rustling coming from the bushes ahead of us and I tilt my head to look up at the bushes.
A girl, who looks a few years younger than myself with striking features of a fox, pops out of the bushes. She looks at the children then at me. Then she charges at me while screaming, "Let go of my brother and sister!"
Then she kicks me in my… precious place, and I immediately retract my hands from the children's clothes. I grab my… jewels, and fall onto my knees.
"Gaah! Why did you do that?" I wheeze.
"Well, next time don't latch yourself onto my siblings" She huffs "Reese, Malcolm are you two all right?"
"Yes, Lexi. We're fine" The girl replies who I assume is named Reese. Eventually, the pain dies down and I'm able to stand once again. I stand there awkwardly as the older girl, Lexi, inspects the children. Standing behind her are two other children, a boy and a girl. They look older than the other two.
The older boy has dark black hair that hangs over his forehead messily and from where I can see he has green eyes. He's pretty tall, maybe 5 6", but very lean. He looks around 13 or so. A loose grey shirt and rolled up brown pants cover his boy, as well a pair of black shoes.
The girl has strawberry blonde hair, and hangs in locks over her shoulders. It's pulled back and pinned up by some sort of string. She wears a faded blue dress that goes down just below her knees. It's dirtied and looks two sizes too small. A pair of brown boots covers her feet.
The other two children are dressed similar, but their hair is auburn colored.
"So uhh, what are you guys doing out here?" I ask awkwardly as I rub the back of my neck
"What does it matter to you?" The older girl snaps
"Whoa, there's no reason to get snippy here. We're all friends. My family and I are running. Isn't that what you are doing as well?" I ask
"Sorry, I just don't really like people being all up in my business" She mumbles while looking down at the ground. She encloses her hands in one another and looks back up at me
"Could we start fresh?" She asks, a small smile following shortly afterwards.
"Sure. My name is Finnick Odair and I'm 18. I used to live in District 4 with my family." I say with a cheeky smile as I stretch out my hand for her to shake. She accepts the handshake and introduces herself.
"My name is Lexi Chancelor, I'm 15 years old and I'm from District 5. My parents and grandmother died and these are my brothers and sisters" She motions towards the kids.
The smallest one, a boy with auburn hair says, "You already know my name, but in case you forgot, it's Malcolm! I am 7 years old"
"It's nice to meet you Malcolm"
"I'm Reese!" I look over and the little stubborn girl who 'refused' to give me any information is beaming with pride, "I'm 8!"
"That's nice Reese" I chuckle at her sudden friendliness
"And this…" Lexi motions to the girl who appears to be hiding behind her sister "Is Emma. She's rather shy"
"That's fine. How old are you Emma?" I ask. In reply she gives me a cold hard glare and a smirk grows on my face, "Aright then"
"Sorry, Emma's a complete and utter introvert" The oldest boy says "I'm Philip, but you can call me Phil" The boy says as he shakes my hand "I'm almost 13"
"Well, would you care to meet my family?" I ask. All of the kids, excluding Phil since I don't consider him a child, begin to beam and look excitedly at Lexi and Phil.
"I don't see why not," Lexi says. After the kids were done exclaiming their excitement, we made our way to camp. I introduced them to my family and they seemed to love them.
Mother adored the little kids, while Henna and Lexi hit it off. Phil enjoyed conversing with Father and I tried talking with Emma. That went… 'really' well.
That night everyone went to bed with full stomachs, for Father managed to kill some sort of fatty bird. We ate it with the berries and nuts I collected, and dressed it with these cloves Lexi and Phil found.
It was by far the most delicious meal we had eaten in days.
Hey all! So… What'd you think? It wasn't that exciting, but it's more of a filler chapter. I want to thank everyone for voting on my Poll, it really helps with making decisions. But I want to point out that even though certain couples may get majority, I may not choose them. I hope you understand, I would really hate to disappoint all of you wonderful readers.
If you have ANY ideas, feel free to express them, I really appreciate it!