Sixth Iteration

Finnick's been out to the lake a few times now to see if he can make any more sense of the fish, and it's mostly been without luck. Yesterday, though, he'd managed something. He'd come out with a trident and a net that Annie had just finished repairing and reinforcing, and a backpack full of dry, warm clothes, and he'd done everything he could to try to catch one of the must be thousands of fish that are proving so difficult to actually lay hands on. He'd lit a fire, potentially dangerous but less so than freezing because of the cold lake water, taken off his boots and rolled up his pants, then waded out a little way from shore.

He'd waded back out to warm up by the fire, then waded in again, but he'd still seen the fish apparently dart out of the way of everything he did to try to catch them. Eventually, he'd succeeded in catching one of the fish that crowded the shallows. It had taken braving the water enough to swim out and snare one in a net, but he'd done it. He'd then had to dry off by the fire before he went anywhere and change into warmer clothes, but he'd prepared for that possibility.

It had, possibly, been worth it. Annie had taken to dissecting their fish, and when she'd done that, the fish had turned out to have some sort of gold coin in it, marked with unfamiliar shapes 恵比須. He's carrying it with him, because he doesn't know what meaning the markings will have, and how Annie found the coin has just added to their conviction that the fish are some sort of manipulation from the Gamemakers. That sort of game, here, has proved unpredictable. Maybe having the coin will help him catch some more of the fish and calm his wife down about them.

Finnick heads back to where he'd lit the fire yesterday, the ashes smudged over with dirt from when he'd kicked it out. He's planning to try for more fish again, which is why he has a trident in one hand and a net slung over his shoulder. When he gets there, he sets down his trident and net and turns back towards the woods to hunt for kindling, but he hasn't headed back into the trees yet when he notices he's not alone.

"Hey. Major, right?"

It is; keeping track of who's who in this place even for people he hasn't formally met is hardly difficult for someone used to the social entanglements of the Capitol.