That's also Finnick's favourite thing about Caldera: Decidedly Not Panem! So when he sees spectres of Panem in the water and hears people talking about the Hunger Games offhandedly the way a Panem resident would, uh... It feels a bit too much like the worlds are bleeding together and before he knows it he'll be right back in the Arena.

Seventy-fifth? The Quarter Quell? There's no way. He would know her, and besides, that quell was chosen from existing Victors, so her first Games would've had to be before that. Eighty-fifth, that makes more sense to him- she's from a future timeline of Panem, maybe. He uses that as a hold to grab onto for now, so he won't get swept away by panic.

And her words offer another strong hold. She got out, he got out, they're in Caldera, not going back. Just because a new Victor is here doesn't mean the Games are coming here. He takes a breath, as instructed, shakes his head.

"Yeah- no, you're right, sorry," he says quickly, as though simultaneously assuring himself and sheepishly apologizing for his apparent panic.

"I got confused. So, you're a Victor." He clasps her elbow, and his face turns from afraid and confused to something more like relief and admiration. No other Victors have shown up yet, unless you count Nina (which he does). There is a kinship there, for him, a knowledge that she will understand the basics of his experience in a way no one else can.

Of course, she could also be a tribute who died and thus not a Victor, but she'd still understand a lot of things.