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[71st_victor]

Trust this place to fuck with her head, even though it's far and removed from the Capitol. For those first few panicked minutes, Johanna had figured this is some kind of Capitol arena trick, as if they'd figured out muttations to the point that they could actually target her and make a change in seconds without her even noticing until the center of balance in her body throws her off. She doesn't really figure out what's happened until she pieces it together.

She'd walked through a goddamn door.

The high-pitched little scornful laugh she might have given comes out deeper and throatier, now. It's all one hell of a rush and Johanna wishes that her first thought hadn't been of the raw power that's probably in her body, now. She'd always had good momentum and power before, but she thinks swinging an axe now would bring a satisfying end.

That can wait for later, though. Right now, she needs to take stock and make sure they're still safe and this isn't some Capitol trick. And really, how completely pathetic is it, that they have to distinguish between captors, now.

"Finnick." She pounds on his door with her fist, wincing at the curls of dark hair on his fingertips. She slams a palm instead, aware that she might wake Annie, but she doesn't exactly give a damn right now. "Open up."

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[65th_victor]

The sound of someone pounding on their door would have set Finnick's nerves on edge anyway. But he was on guard instantly when he heard the unfamiliar male voice that came with it, telling him to open up. The voice was far too low to be Peeta.

Finnick was up in an instant, striding toward the door. He opened it, but stepped outside before the stranger could have a chance to get inside. He placed a hand on the man's shoulder, more of a warning than in friendliness, trying to make him step back and increase the space between them. Finnick knew it was a somewhat danger move. It left him open for if there was a first blow thrown, forcing him to react quickly in tight quarters.

He had always been comfortable in his own fighting abilities -- after all, he had been training since a child, and, no matter what he pretended, it was easy for him to fall back on what he had learned. But he was also uncomfortably aware that there were people here who were outside his scope of understanding.

"What do you want?" Finnick asked.

[71st_victor]

"Get your hands off me," Johanna spits at him, using one hand to push the hand on her shoulder away. There was a dangerous warning in her eyes, that if Finnick didn't want to listen, then she was planning to make him listen. True, they'd probably both come of the fight in bad shape, but it would be worth it to get Finnick to pay attention. "It's me, you asshole."

[65th_victor]

Finnick paused at the second half of the sentence, letting his own arm fall back to this side. He blinked, because he still didn't know the voice, but, well, there were astonishingly few people in the world who spoke to him like that and called him an asshole. And now that he was looking for her -- he supposed he could see the resemblance. What he might have imagined a brother of Johanna's look like.

"Jo?" he asked, still a touch hesitant, his voice betraying his surprise. Even without the confirmation, some of the tension in his shoulders disappeared.

[71st_victor]

"Yes, it's me," she huffs, shoving Finnick away with both hands. She's kind of surprised and pleased at the power in her hands and she knows that she wants to explore this, but right now, she needs to figure out if this is some kind of plan she's fallen into. "You're normal," she says. "I don't know if I should be relieved or worried for myself."

[65th_victor]

Finnick took a step back, unable to help himself. His back hit the door they were crowded again, and he couldn't help but continue stare at her -- him.

"What happened to you?" Finnick asked. He had never heard of anything remotely like this. For all the Capitol's tricks, he had never seen anyone's sex changed before -- well, not like this. Not suddenly. Not without their awareness. And he was pretty sure that this was just her transformed -- not in somebody else's body.

[71st_victor]

"Like I know?" Johanna huffs in reply, running her palms over her body and getting a feel for the muscles, arching a brow when she finds a physique that she wouldn't entirely mind. "I was heading out for the day. Suddenly, I look like this. Pity we're not in the arena. Switch-up like this could've earned me one hell of an element of surprise."

[65th_victor]

"You went through a door?" Finnick surmised. It was only a possible guess, what with how strange the hotel was. Admittedly, he'd only heard of the doors taking people different places -- not actually changing them. But who knew? They were shifting and difficult to understand. Who was to say that they weren't evolving.

"Pity we're not in the arena," Finnick echoed dryly. "Now you've got me worried."

He rested a hand against Jo's arm, intending to lead her forward down the hall once again.

"Why don't we find your door and send you back through it?" Finnick suggested.

[71st_victor]

"I go through a lot of doors, it's part of life," Johanna scoffs, because it'd be stupid if she just stopped going through them when there wasn't another world waiting for her. She huffs and shakes her head, gesturing onwards. "Come on," she says. "It was down this way, I think. Maybe we can find my tits."

[65th_victor]

"Be a shame for the world to be deprive of those," Finnick answered, his sarcasm perhaps a bit more biting than usual -- but it wasn't as if he'd ever had to hold back when he was talking to Johanna. He fell in step behind her, letting her lead the way. Of course, doors were incredibly common, but he also figured there were only so many doors she could have gone through this morning -- and it was probably quite noticeable when she suddenly became male.

[71st_victor]

"Although, I suppose making Katniss unnerved is a whole new barrel of monkeys now," Johanna says with an amused smirk as she frames her new dick with both hands on her pelvis as she thrusts it forward, giving Finnick a devilish grin given that there are some advantages to this. Only temporarily, of course, because she likes being a girl.

She gestures forward. "That's the one," she says. "I went through that."

[65th_victor]

"You're worse as a man than you were as a woman," Finnick answered, shaking his head as he watched her actions. Truly, she was terrifying. Man or woman, she had her inherent strengths and now that Finnick knew the he didn't have any doubt that would have won her Hunger Games no matter what.

"Back through then?" Finnick asked, opening the door for her.

[71st_victor]

"Please, I'm not worse," she scoffs, eyeing the door and shrugging, figuring it can't hurt to walk through. She does a quick spot-check to make sure the arena hasn't popped up suddenly in the last few seconds and when it's still safe, she walks through and...

Nothing.

Johanna inhales sharply and stares down at her still male body, with the few perks it has, giving Finnick a displeased glare. "Maybe it's shy," she deadpans. "Performance anxiety with you around. It wouldn't be the first time someone failed to live up to expectations with you watching."

[65th_victor]

"Everyone fails to live up to expectations with me watching," Finnick drawled from where he still stood outside the door. She was practically the only person he could make those sort of jokes with, after all.

However, that was hardly the most important issue at hand for the time being. He frowned as he watched her walk through, no change apparent.

"Did you do anything once you were inside the door?" Finnick asked, beginning to suspect that his theory could have been wrong. Assuming that the door was safe, Finnick walked through after her -- and instantly he regretted it. He messed a step as he suddenly found himself on shorter, thinner legs. He suddenly swam in his clothes -- he'd lost nearly half a foot of weight and what seemed to be an incalculable amount of weight and muscle. His pants wouldn't stay up around his hips anymore, and he hastily grabbed for them. He couldn't help but panic. Of course, he'd seen what Johanna had gone through -- but this body was at a great disadvantage compared to his own. It was smaller with less force, less power, and he didn't know how to use it: which, whether in sex or in fighting, his body had always been his number one weapon.

He looked up at Johanna, and he wished he could have made some kind of joke, but he knew he was just staring up at her with clear fear in his eyes.

[71st_victor]

"I've never even bothered to try," Johanna replies smoothly, leaning her weight against the nearest wall as she watches Finnick go through the same motions that she'd gone through only minutes before, raising a hand to snort and hide her laughter. Eventually, she doesn't know why the hell she's hiding it and lets those laughs come out in full force. "That was amazing," she says, eyes wide with delight, half-manic. "Look at you! This is beyond unreal."

[65th_victor]

"Jo," Finnick answered immediately, and was even more surprised to hear how high-pitched, nearly sharp, his voice came off sounding.

"I can't go back like this," Finnick pressed on, his voice more insistent. Of course, his pregnant wife was waiting for him, and he hardly knew what Annie's reaction would be if he came back as a girl who was smaller than she was. And besides the sheer surprise of it, Finnick couldn't protect her like this. Not that they were under constant attack here -- but it made him acutely vulnerable to know that he couldn't rely on himself if something did happen.

[71st_victor]

"No, you definitely can't," Johanna agrees. "What would Annie say when she realizes you're prettier than her?" is added with all the innocence she can muster, but she gets the feeling that innocence doesn't exactly play well on a face like this. Shame. She'll have to figure out some other leg up, if she ends up stuck like this after all. "Try again," she coaxes. "Maybe it's like all your one-night stands. Thirty seconds and the show's over."

[65th_victor]

"Ha fucking ha," Finnick answered, although the response lacked most of the bitterness. He knew that this was probably the best thing that had happened to Johanna in quite some time -- and there were very few things that could happen to either of them that would put a halt to their usual banter.

"I don't know, Jo," Finnick said thoughtfully, looking up at Johanna from underneath his new eyelashes (longer, but not much longer). He straightened up a little, tilting one hip out. It was strange, because everything felt different, but the hips were always a surefire way to exhibit sexual intentions, male or female. "You spend so much time thinking about how I fuck. Maybe you're actually interested now?" He gave her a wry grin that was still more teasing than seductive -- or so he thought. To be fair, he hadn't even seen this new face yet.

He winked at her, because what the hell, and then turned and tried going back through the door.

[71st_victor]

"Don't flatter yourself, I need something to keep occupied with and what better than gossip about you," she retorts, giving him a 'please, Finnick' look that hopefully translates even on male features. "Any curiosity I might have had about you and I having sex died the day I found out about your girl," she says, because she's not a second fiddle, not in the arena, not in the Capitol, and certainly not in bed. "There's plenty of other unattached victors. I make do."

Or, she did, before this. "Any luck?" she asks, craning her head to the side to see whether the shape of Finnick's ass has changed any in the last few seconds.

[65th_victor]

"Oh, there was interest before then?" Finnick asked, amused. It was still strange how high-pitched his voice was -- and how low-pitched hers was -- and yet, he could hear the familiar inflections they both spoke with.

And to be honest, their regular banter was helping to ground him. He wanted to panic when he realized that he was still in this female body, but his mouth helpfully supplied the quip instead.

"No," Finnick answered, frustration evident. He had both his hands on his hips now. "Maybe you have to go through a different door to reverse it?" Finnick guessed, knowing that he was grasping at straws. Neither of them had anyway of knowing how to fix this, and that was the truth of it.

[71st_victor]

"You won the games and you looked good doing it. I was a kid, deluded into thinking there could be some glory and you and your trident..." She shuts up, knowing this isn't the time to get all sharing about things. Never is the right time for that. "If this starts to put a cramp in my living style, I'm going to have to complain to management," she jokes dryly.

"Come on, let's get a drink. Maybe one of the doors on the way to the bar will do it."

[65th_victor]

Suddenly, coaxing a confession that Johanna had found him attractive at any age seemed quite hollow. Deluded into thinking there could be some glory. That, that above everything else, had always been the hardest part of his victory. The thing that he had been warned about the least and that, ten years later, still caught him so off guard that it was a sucker punch. He had become used to the fact that the Capitol had lied about everything -- his family wasn't safe, he couldn't be with Annie, he was sold to whoever he wanted, because how else are you going to make a victor profitable? But the fact that he helped delude young kids into thinking that being a victor was something glamorous still was bitter in the back of his mouth. (And what victor had made it seem more glamorous than him? A Career who was still too young to compete, pretty and charming, and so young.)

He was always reminded of Annie's Victory Tour, before they had left, when she had been angry with him, unable to understand how, as a victor, he couldn't do what he wanted. Even to people who the truth should have been obvious to, it never was.

"Me and my trident," Finnick prompted with his usual grin anyway, refocusing on the dark, underlying humor of the situation.

"Jo, can I get some pants that fit first?" Finnick said, figuring that he was close enough to her former size that he should be able to fit into some of her clothes.

[71st_victor]

"I suppose we can take a detour," she says. She hadn't exactly minded wearing too-tight clothes in her new frame, but she can see how Finnick isn't going to like trying to keep everything from falling down. "C'mon," she encourages, rubbing a hand over her Adam's apple and wondering what it would feel like to escape the Capitol's scrutiny with a strange trick like this. It definitely would never be expected. "You're not borrowing any underwear. I have to draw the line somewhere."

[65th_victor]

"Except for the part where you just admitted you've wished I'd been in your underwear," Finnick answered readily. He was certain he was never going to let that go. Johanna was also so ruthless in her jokes about him -- but then, he figured they all needed at least one good friend who comfortable joking about the fact that they had been forced to kill other children and into sexual slavery.

"You think this will just wear off at some point?" Finnick asked even though he knew she didn't know any better than he did about what was happening. He couldn't help but stare down at how small his hands were now.

[71st_victor]

She rolls her eyes, thinking that Finnick's charm is definitely not one of his strong suits. "Fine, you can have it, but you can keep it. Keep wearing it when you're normal, if you ever feel lonely," she deadpans. "And I don't know," she says, watching where Finnick's gaze has dropped. "Maybe this is some kind of lesson. Or maybe the Capitol found us after all and finally pulled their trigger."