sixthiterationlogs | ψ you and I got lost in it

Entry tags:

ψ you and I got lost in it | CLOSED

WHO: Finnick Odair
WHERE: South of the village
WHEN: June 20
OPEN TO: Annie Cresta
WARNINGS: Uhh repressive authoritarian government is a go

Getting lost by the lake opened something up to Finnick and Annie that was new to them, as citizens of Panem: the idea of being able to explore. In Panem, nobody was ever free to go where they wanted and do what they wanted. There were a few hidden, secret places that they knew, where they could be away from the gaze of the Peacekeepers for a while, but being gone for too long and going too far would bring consequences, whispers spoken among the fisherfolk of what happened to boats that set out from port and kept sailing, trying to see what was beyond the borders of the district, what the Peacekeepers did to their crews. Finnick and Annie had been lost for days, and they've heard since then of other people who'd been lost at the same time, and of people who've set out to go exploring, and come back.

Katniss had asked him where the district fences were here, and now that they're out of the canyon, the answer seems to be that there are no district fences, and that's a tantalizing possibility. Finnick and Annie saw nothing to restrict their movement when they were making their way back, and they traveled for days. What might there be, out beyond the forest?

They've been talking about going for days before they're finally ready. They've made arrangements for their geese, stocked up on food and survival equipment, packed one of the tents and sleeping bags they'd been given the day of the gifts, and -- most importantly -- the two yellow inflatable boats they haven't had a chance to use yet.

"Ready to go?" Finnick calls to Annie as he finishes strapping the tent to the top of his backpack with some of his homemade rope.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

As much as possible, they've distributed their stores evenly - she carries the sleeping back, he carries the tent - just in case. Just in case a pack is lost. Just in case one of them is lost, although they don't talk about that and in all honesty, Annie thinks Finnick would do something very, very, very stupid if she's gone, and so she's resolutely Not Thinking About It. It's just in case they lose one of the packs, that's all.

"Ready," Annie answers, and gives him a smile both excited and nervous. There's a combination of newness at this along with the experienced. They've gone on trips before - fishing, always on a timelimit - and there are, of course, the arenas. The awful, awful arenas, where they'd learnt how to pack a backpack for for hiking instead of sailing. This is different from both. They don't have a strict time in which they expect to be back, although like all good fisherfolk they've been to the people at the Inn and Mrs Kate in particular to let them know a rough idea of when they plan to be back. In case they run into trouble, in case anyone is going to come after them.

Which is an interesting thought all of its own, but she's coming around to the idea of people maybe doing that here, for them.

"So, let's... Let's go."

Finnick has no plans to do anything without Annie by his side -- she's right about that much, and he knows that preparing to be able to manage without one or the other of the packs has echoes in it of getting by without each other, but he's not going to let that happen. There had been so many things, so many times, that he couldn't do with her, when she'd had to be his secret in District Four instead of his wife, and if nothing else, this place has let him catch up on time he missed with her.

Unsecured backpacks, on the other hand, can easily fall out of larger boats, let alone the collapsible canoes they're going to be using. It's sense and knowing how to prepare for a sailing trip, even aside from the arenas.

They have a plan, and it starts at the building by the river in the village that clearly used to be a boathouse of some sort, though it's not, as far as they can tell, regularly used as one anymore. But there's usually a reason for something like that to be where it is, that being the easiest spot to launch seems more likely than not. So when Annie indicates she's ready, Finnick slings his pack onto his back and grins at her.

"To the boathouse, then."

And to the boathouse the pair go - once Annie says one last goodbye to the birds, anyway. The way isn't as easy as it should have been, not with the wild growth of plants so fast she swears she can see it. Quietly, she hopes the house will still be in one piece when they get back. But the village seems to be looking out for things like that and exploration is important.

At the bank, Finnick and Annie clear space on the shore and start to build their boat. Boat, singular. Though they are bringing both the boats, the second is a back-up to the first. The current of the river is strong enough that two people paddling is preferable to one, and they want to stay together as much as they can.

As they lock the frame in place, Annie tilts her head at the boat and flicks her finger against the side.

"If we come across any rapids, let's get out and hike, yeah?"

The design and construction of their boats is simple enough, though the idea of a collapsible boat made of plastic like this isn't one he'd seen before they were given these. It's simple enough to understand why that would be; the Capitol wants to know (and control) who has boats and what they use them for. The victors got a little leeway because they weren't required to work, but anyone else had to lodge plans and be back by set times, because everyone knew that in District Four, it was maybe possible to escape if you could make it past the Peacekeepers, and preventing that was a large part of the soldiers' role in Four.

Here, there's nobody watching them, at least nobody obvious. There's no guard tower watching over them like there was at the main docks in Four, no guilty feeling of being a little less watched than the others when they took their boats out to sail for fun. Here it's just them and the river and the challenge they've set themselves.

Finnick leans into the boat and feels along the seams, checking its integrity. It seems sturdier than it looks, and he's well aware that boats can be made of material that's both light and strong.

"Probably a good idea," Finnick agrees, and picks up the canoe to set it into the water. "Okay. You get in, then hold her steady with the oars."

She nods and swiftly clambers into the boat, making sure she's balanced on the bench before sliding her oar into the water and riverbed to keep the boat still as Finnick moves in. She doesn't watch him, though. He knows what he's doing, and she's scanning the river. There'd been no serious predators in the water before, but in these days of a new arena and the lack of the surrounding cliffs, who knew? Creatures can move, move upstream in search of food. Of prey.

Once the swaying boat stablizes, Annie glances over her shoulder.

"You ready?"

They haven't canoed much together, Finnick and Annie. They both know how, of course, because they've grown up in and around boats, but when they've gone out together, it's usually been on one or the other of their sailing boats back in the Victors' Village. It's cramped in the small canoe, and Finnick pauses after he settles in to assess its stability. Satisfied, he nods when Annie looks back at him.

"Think so. You?"

He grins as he picks up his own oar. It's good to be on the water again, even if it is in a boat that's probably not designed for how they're using it now. It's working, though.

"Everything look good up there?"

If it does, he's ready to go when she is.

A boat is a boat, and water is water, and there's something joyous as they push off. Quietly joyous, contained in just a grin. Off they are going.

It looks different on the water, the village and the surrounding woods. It always does, be it river or sea. The different angle means you notice different things, and that others come into focus. It's the second reason why they are traveling by water, the first being speed. The third is, of course, that they are from District Four. Water is in their blood.

Sooner than she'd like, Annie can feel the burn of their movements with their oars. It's not that she's softened here, but she's been using different muscles to what she'd use at home. Still, she continues. She knows the difference between bad and good burns in her limbs.

"It might worth fixin' up more boats for the whole village," she says after maybe half an hour. "Big enough to carry a few people down, with some of us to row. Or bigger for the fishin', if there's enough down there."

They're helped by the river's current once they get a little further along and the river grows stronger, pulling them along downstream as they propel and guide the boat with their oars. Finnick's in the position that provides more of the power, so he's busy focusing on that, getting back into the rhythm, for the first little while; it's been a long time since he rowed a boat, and he'd always sailed more than rowed. Eventually, though, he's able to fall back into an old, remembered pattern, the difference being that this river is an unfamiliar waterway to him. He knows its banks, its fishing spots, but not what it's like to boat on it. That, too, takes some getting used to, though Annie is more than capable of picking their course.

"Be useful for the lake, at least," Finnick agrees. There's good fishing on the shores of the lake, and the existence of the ruined fishing spot makes it seem like there at least was good fishing in the interior as well.

"Some of them looked shallow-drafted enough to be able to come out on the rivers, too. Makes you wonder what's downstream."

He grins, with the exhilaration of exertion and the breeze on their faces. What's downstream is exactly what they want to find out on this trip.

"Downstream? In this place?" Annie doesn't trust the river enough yet to look behind her at him, doesn't trust the speed of the water when she doesn't know if there are sunken trees ahead, rocks or sandbars. Still, her head twitches as if she went to twist it, then thought better of it, and she laughs.

"Could be anythin'. A waterfall to drop us off the side of a plateau, a beach full of wild beasties. Another village."

None of which are particularly appealing, but her tone is light and she's amused.

"Just as long as any mutts or whatever aren't as big as those giant pigs we saw when we were lost."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

ψ you and I got lost in it | CLOSED

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject