[CLOSED]

[cleptes]

WHO: Bela Talbot
WHERE: At the Fountain
WHEN: 17th December
OPEN TO: Locked to Kira Akiyama
WARNINGS: None expected but will update if necessary

---

This was a terrible idea.

Kira had suggested them taking a shift at the fountain last month (when they were drinking mind you) and Bela had been all for it at the time, figuring that it was an easy way for her to help out. Which it would be if it wasn't so bloody cold.

Between the two of them they had managed to build a fire - a tiny one at that - and Bela found that she was fairly adept at gathering wood to keep it going. Kira was the one who had actually built the fire and got it lit because he had more experience than she did. Bela thought that she should probably ask him to show her how in case she found herself in a situation where she needed to build one.

Right now they're huddled in front of the fire and Bela is wearing several layers of clothing, rubbing her hands together to generate some additional heat. She was trying her best not to shiver but to no avail. There was a definite chill in the air tonight and all Bela felt like doing was complain about it; she doesn’t though, choosing to pick humour over whining instead.

"This is not how I envisioned spending my Sunday night, you know."

ψ this is why we can't have nice things | CLOSED

[fishermansweater]

WHO: Finnick Odair
WHERE: Outside House 20
WHEN: Backdated to 10 December, daytime
OPEN TO: Locked to Beverly Crusher
WARNINGS: Probable mentions of anxiety and mental health problems, coercion, repressive dictatorial nonsense

---

It had been a hard afternoon and night for Finnick and Annie. Eventually, she'd come back to herself enough to do some jobs around the house, but Finnick had been reluctant to leave her until much later in the day, when there'd been just enough time to collect his fish catch and drop it off before it got dark. Not enough time to linger at the Inn, nor to do what he'd promised and go see Beverly Crusher.

This morning, though, after a restless night, she'd gone outside to feed the birds, and she'd stayed there, curled up on the porch they'd covered-in for the birds to take shelter. When he comes out after her, she's sitting on the steps with a couple of the geese pecking around at the foot of the stairs, another settled into a fluffed-up bundle of feathers on the porch. Annie's staring at them, watching them in their simple bird-actions. As he watches, one of the peaheans -- Wind, he thinks -- flaps up onto Annie's shoulder, where she's greeted with a fond encouragement and Annie's fingers stroking along her back. He trusts the birds with her, trusts that they'll help ground her in that way that they have that he's never quite sure how to replicate. He's glad for it, the new way of helping her, when he's not her only support.

She'll be okay, and that's why the first thing he does isn't to go out to the river, it's to head towards the village, and the house that Beverly Crusher shares with a few other people. He's hoping as he approaches that she'll be working in her garden, that he can find her easily.

"Hey," he calls out, as he approaches the house and sees Beverly outside. He veers off the path towards her, hands stuck in the pockets of his black, beaten-up coat.