Homeless oh so homeless

[brokennotmad]

I won't go without him.

[She smiles, shaking her head and then laughs.]

You're not the Capitol, you can't make me.

Comments

[airborn]

[Approaching Annie cautiously because she looks familiar.]

Without who?

omg Rue ;-;

[brokennotmad]

Finnick.

[Her face lights up as she says his name and for a few moments she doesn't look like the mad girl from District 4.]

She says she's seen him in different places, but I don't trust her.

;o;

[airborn]

You mean in the other "games"? [She wrinkles her nose at the term.]

I'm in one, and Finnick just got here.

[And now she'll study Annie with all the concentration.] You look familiar. Are you one of the Victors?

[brokennotmad]

He's there?

[Her lips press together, and her hands clench tightly in her lap. She's trying to stay grounded, stay focused on the possibility of seeing her Finnick.]

Victor? [A laugh escapes her lips.] Survivor. I don't talk about that.

[airborn]

He's there. We played in the water together.

[Rue inches closer.] At least you survived.

[brokennotmad]

[The thought of Finnick in the water helping this young girl makes her smile softly.]

He is all right then? Not a place where bad things happen?

[Because let's be honest, places where bad horrible things happen regularly is not a place Annie needs to be.

The girls words make her eyebrows knit together though. She did survive, it's what she did.] Not the same. Broken. [She knows what they say about her. She knows. Finnick though, he makes her feel better, less broken.]

[airborn]

He's okay. [By now Rue's standing in front of her.] Sometimes bad things happen, but it's not as bad as the Games. I thought the gods were like the Gamemakers in the beginning. Some of them are okay.

[She hums and tugs Annie's hand out, inspecting her carefully.] You don't look broken.

[brokennotmad]

[Annie's not sure what to think about all of that. Gods? And people called her crazy, how much crazier would she be if she believed that?

She looks down at Rue though, and she smiles again. Maybe today is one of her good ones. She leans in a little, dropping her voice to a whisper.] Can't see where I'm broken. Thoughts sometimes scatter and break like a wave against the shore.

Annie ;;;

[airborn]

[Rue leans in, too, looking very solemn.]

You can still fix it. We don't have the ocean where we are, but water from the lake can be caught and held, too.

<3

[brokennotmad]

[Annie's eyes widen again and there's a bit of panic in them. As much as she likes being near water, she doesn't much enjoy being in it anymore.]

Stay on the shore... Where it's safe. [She reaches up, touching her temple and laughs... But it's obvious she's drifting away.] They couldn't swim. Had no chance.

oops

[airborn]

[Rue frowns and tugs on Annie's hand again. Annie was being nice. She doesn't like the change the Victor's just gone through.]

Who wouldn't swim?

aww it's okay :3

[brokennotmad]

[She jerks a little and would like to cover herself up and just forget everything, but Rue's somehow tugging back into reality.]

The other Tributes. That was a long time ago... I think. Shouldn't matter but it does.

[empowers]

[ she remembers this girl from the videos they showed them before the quarter quell. ] Annie? [ She speaks gently, because she knows anything else could startle a girl so fragile. ]

[brokennotmad]

[Annie's head whips up and she stares and sometimes it's hard to know if she's really seeing anything, but after a few moments a slow smile begins to form.]

Katniss.

[empowers]

Finnick is here. With me, and Peeta, and Rue. We're safe here, more or less. Sometimes it can be dangerous, but it's nothing like home. There are no Hunger Games.

[brokennotmad]

[Confusion flickers in her gaze for a moment and then it's pretty much blank again.]

No Capital? [Her gaze lowers to her hands.] No more Reapings. Good.

[She looks up again, her eyes wide.]

Is he waiting for me?

[empowers]

No more Reapings. No more Capitol, no more Games.

[ Katniss tries to be as reassuring as she can. She actually hasn't spoken that much to Finnick. ]

He misses you. [ She's sure he does even without them talking. She remembers when he told her about Annie. ]

[brokennotmad]

Maybe. [She nods her head, that's about as close as she'll get to agreeing to even consider this place Katniss and Finnick are in.

A smile forms on her lips though and it's obvious she's pleased.] Good. Miss him too.

[empowers]

You would be safe, Annie. [ And Finnick wouldn't be a grouch! ]

I wish I could tell him. But things that happen in this place can't go back with us.

[brokennotmad]

[Annie seems to be thinking over that. Safe is a word that doesn't really mean much from where they're from... But she doesn't believe Katniss would lie to her about such a thing.]

She's... working on my application. [She smiles almost ruefully.] Working on my personality... And she's worried Finnick might not be happy about it... Me.

[She looks a little worried about that last part.]

[unfalteringly]

You're Annie, aren't you? [ He remembers her from the tapes. Her win was impressive, despite what it meant. He also remembers seeing her in the Capitol after the Quarter Quell, of course... ]

Finnick's here, Annie, with Katniss, Rue and me. I've spoken to him a few times and he really misses you.

And we're all somewhere the Capitol can't get to us.

[brokennotmad]

[Annie looks up at him, her expression pretty blank. Though the more he talks, the more it appears as though she's fighting to be herself.

After a moment, she nods slowly - not quite smiling, but there's a ghost of one there.]

Yes. Katniss and Rue've told me. No Games, no Capitol. That's good.

[unfalteringly]

It's a place where people can actually be happy, where we're safer than we ever were in Panem.

It's a place where you and Finnick can be together.

[brokennotmad]

[She thinks for a moment.] And you're happy there?

[unfalteringly]

[ He doesn't even have to think about that ] I am happy there. There are a lot of good people there and best of all, no Capitol. There's no one trying to make us kill each other. [ Yet. He hasn't completely ruled out the possibility of it happening, though ]

[brokennotmad]

[She nods slowly, her mind working to take that all in. No killing though. That's just... It's hard to actually believe.]

Good. She's working on my application, trying to get my personality down. [She smiles, even she knows that's no easy task.]

[tradingsecrets]

[He's anxious, hopeful even.]

Is your mun going to let us be together?

[brokennotmad]

Finnick!

[She beams at him.]

Yes! She says she's a big... um shipper. [She looks a little doubtful regarding that word, but her mun is strange so it's not surprising.]