sixthiterationlogs | ψ take me to church

WHO: Finnick Odair and Annie Cresta
WHERE: 6I: Church (House 24) & Odair Residence (House 57)
WHEN: 7 October
OPEN TO: Francis Mulcahy, Johanna Mason, Bodhi Rook
WARNINGS: Excessive amounts of sap. Possibility of references to traumatic backstory/sexual abuse.

If he'd been asked, perhaps Finnick would have imagined something different. In District Four, a wedding would have been a cause for celebration, with the formal part of the ceremony performed by a respected member of the community, and they would have been surrounded by people they knew. Not his family, no matter how much he would have wished them there, because they're long dead, destroyed in proof of the President's hold over him. But Annie's family, maybe, and the other District Four victors, and people they knew from the city. There'd have been a song about marriage being the voyage of love, and music and dancing. But that wedding was impossible in Panem, so impossible that Finnick had never allowed the image he thinks of now to tempt him.

It's only here, because they're away from Snow, that they can dare to do this. And if it's going to be simple, and different, what matters is that it's happening at all, and that Johanna will be there. He'll be with the two people left who mean the most to him, and at the end of the day, Annie will be his wife.

Finnick and Annie have spent days in preparation, working on the traditional net that should form a canopy over the couple. At Annie's suggestion, because the church-house is small and their supplies are limited, they'd draped it over the roof instead of setting up a canopy. Finnick's collected salt water from the sea -- if that's what it is -- to the east, to be used in the ceremony. They had wedding clothes already, gifts from Credence and Johanna on the day last winter when gifts had appeared. Annie even has a pretty necklace to wear, and Finnick's done her hair with the ribbons she'd gotten in one of her gift boxes from whoever's looking after them here.

They've been cleaning their house so they can have their small group of attendees and participants for a celebration lunch, and as much as possible is prepared ahead of time. That leaves just the ceremony itself, and at the designated time, the two of them make their way to the church.

[ starters in the comments, one for a short thread of the ceremony, and another for mixing at lunch ]

Threaded | Flat

They walk together. In Panem, they might have arrived separately, but in Panem, they might not have been so openly living together before they'd gotten married. In Panem, they'd always had to hide, to keep their relationship to the shadows, because it could never be publicly known that Finnick Odair loved Annie Cresta. Here, they've learned not to care who knows, and today, they're going to make that official. Not legally binding, but that doesn't matter. It's enough for them, and it'd be enough for most of District Four, too.

(He doesn't care what the Capitol would think, for once.)

Finnick has to fend off their friendly birds as they leave the house, because curious geese and a beautiful white dress are not exactly the best match, but he reaches for Annie's hand when they're further down the path.

"You ready?"

They've been cleaning the house for days. Not that they are messy people by nature, but the see-saw of their respective mental states meant that things have needed to be straightened, dusted, aired and cleaned. This is just a good reason. So the house, once the party of five gets there past the curious geese and peafowl, is open and fresh, with some flowers in mismatched vases and mugs in the windows and on the dining room table. It's this room that Annie leads her guests to, all nervous happiness, and then she darts off to the kitchen to finish making lunch.

(Hopefully people will sit, she thinks. She did say for them to do so, right? Or. Well. Finnick's there, he can be all smooth at them.)

Lunch is easy for a woman from District Four. Slipping a makeshift apron over her pretty dress, Annie works quickly to grill some fish (flavoured by fresh herbs, like peppercress) and toss some pre-prepared shoots and stems to steam them. The longest thing might have been the rice from the buckets she and Finnick received along with their nice clothes, but she'd started that before she left for the ceremony.

Within five minutes, the dishes are placed on the table in the dining room, along with the sliced strawberries (the Legacy bucket) and peaches (from the mirror village) for dessert.

"Well, um, dig in!"

Even though Johanna's been one of the big proponents behind this whole thing, she's not really a party person. She's not even a happiness person, if she's honest. What she does best is linger and scowl and even though she's put on a decent shirt to go with her red scrub bottoms, she's still got a pressed-lipped look. She's happy that Finnick and Annie have done this, she'd encouraged it, but that still doesn't mean that Johanna understands love like this.

Or maybe that's a lie and she understands it plenty well, but she's just quietly bitter that she's never going to have it because there's damaged goods and then there's her, broken shards that can slice you open. Still, she's here, she's supportive, and she didn't even bring an axe.

She's working on some barely fermented wine (more poisonous than tasty) and she's eyeing the happy couple with the look of someone who both wants to support them and wants to shove them out the door before they make her sick with all that sickening love crap. At least now she knows that they'll take care of each other. Maybe she's not ever going to have that, but at least some Victors don't have to live like her, alone and aware that that's all she's ever going to get.

CHURCH

Reception

OTA