ψ and we run | OTA + Closed

[fishermansweater]

WHO: Finnick Odair
WHERE: The woods, the dojo, the lake
WHEN: Mid-to-late March
OPEN TO: All + one for Annie
WARNINGS: Possible references to Hunger Games-typical violence and PTSD

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take ii | woods

ota

Finnick's been unsettled. Since he saw Moana, since the kidnapping, since the video hinting what was to come showed up on his watch. All of it reminds him of Panem. Of the Games, of the way he'd been so convinced this place was some sort of punishment for his revolutionary plans. He's taken to going back to the hatch he, Hawke, and Jessica had found while he's on his rounds of his fish traps. He hasn't seen Moana again, or any of the others who had been staying there, but that doesn't stop him looking.

He's perched in a tree near the hatch when it happens; a cloud of floating blue lights drifts out of the woods towards him. He stares for a moment, then drops out of the tree and starts to run. But the cloud is bigger than he'd thought, or maybe there's more than one, because he sees more lights ahead of him, and as they grow closer, he can see that the lights look like floating jellyfish, from barely more than a speck to the size of an actual small jellyfish, and immediately, he knows he doesn't want to be near them, doesn't want to let them touch him.

He darts to one side, but the cloud changes direction too, and drifts into him.

"Ow!"

The sting could be worse, but as he runs, trying to get away from the things, he can see that his skin has started to glow. They're going after him, like mutts, some sort of new trick of the Gamemakers, and Finnick runs for the river and despite the cold, plunges in up to his knees and starts running upstream so he doesn't leave a trail. He can't run fast, because the riverbed has rocks and other obstacles, but he keeps at it for maybe five minutes before he returns to dry land.

The creatures are left behind now, but he can hear something else ahead of him, and he stops, raising his spear in a defensive posture, and stares into the trees.


[ Finnick is in a fighting mood, warning to expect delusional belligerence. ]

several days later | dojo

ota

Finnick has gone through periods of visiting the dojo to train and preferring to practice at home. He and Annie had woven the practice mats, but he's been downplaying his training and abilities and has avoided trying to show other people his abilities. After the kidnapping and the fit of delusion that had led him to think he was back in the arena, though, Finnick's decided to return to the dojo. He warms up by running through the obstacle course, and to anyone watching, it's clear that Finnick has had practice using equipment like this. He has excellent balance, amazing upper body strength, and strong jumping and climbing skills. He runs through it several times, getting faster and faster as he goes, and leaving himself out of breath and sweating, even in the cold outside air.

After that, he moves inside and works at the training dummies or punching bags. He fights with his hands and his feet, in a style that looks something like kickboxing and something like an out and out dirty brawl. He'd been trained to attack, to fight and injure or kill in a place without any rules except stay alive. Afterwards, he stretches out on one of the sparring mats, and heads out to the shelves to over to look at the training weapons on offer. This afternoon, he hefts a sword, checking the balance, and looks over his shoulder at the sound of footsteps.

"Hey."

lake

locked to annie

It's been slow work repairing their boat. The spot on the lakeshore where Finnick and Annie had found the ruined fishing flotilla is nearly a day's walk away; they'd been unable to do any work on their boat over the deepest cold of winter. They needed to wait for the weather to warm enough for them to take their tent and sleeping bags out to the lake. They've had to repair some more damage that had been done by the weather over the winter, but they're finally ready to check the watertightness. If it's watertight, they'll be able to tow it around the lake to somewhere they can get to it more easily while they finish it.

They'll have a boat again. They'll be able to go out on the lake, and Finnick's already planning a freedive when it's warm enough.

"What do you think?" he asks Annie. "Ready to try it?"

Comments

[fishermansweater]

It had been a long time since Finnick had worked on repairing a boat, back in District Four when he'd been a victor with nothing better to do and had occasionally helped out with one of the fishing crews. He'd learned some things growing up, before he'd gone to the Careers and his life had changed forever, but those things had been consolidated as an adult in the aftermath of storms, when everybody had helped out with repairs because that was what it took to get the fishing fleet back in shape before the Capitol's anger at diminished catches became too much. But he'd never repaired anything that had been as broken down and dilapidated as some of the old abandoned boats they'd found in this long-ago fishing spot.

They'd taken care to select the least broken down boat, but it's still taken a lot of work, and some improvisation because they lack the specific tools and supplies they'd had in District Four. But now it finally seems ready. Finally.

He recognizes the enthusiasm in her voice. It echoes the flutter in his own chest as he grins at her. It's been so long. Too long.

"Okay, let's do this." Finnick bends down and undoes the laces of his boots to slip them off so he can pull the boat out into the water.

"You push, I'll take the line."

[treadswater]

Sometimes, the physical difference between them is an actual asset as opposed to just being a fact. this is one of them. As the boat slides into the water, Annie watches the bottom of it intently. Once the pair of them have it floating completely on the water, she waits until Finnick as it steady and then lightly gets in. She's small enough that she makes a good first attempt: for all she's heavier then she looks, she's half Finnick's size.

"Floats decent," Annie says, glancing up briefly. Trying to be cool, calm, collected. Patient.

This isn't the sea, but it's close enough. It's water, it's a proper boat, and-

"Some water at the bottom. From when I got in, or-?"

It's not as if getting in a row boat on a river is easy, or a particularly dry endeavor.

[fishermansweater]

They've gotten good over the years at doing this, using her lightness and agility and his strength to work together. They'd done that back in Panem, before they'd come here, but they've faced more of the sort of challenges that needed that collaboration here, where they face the daily struggle of survival against nature and the Gamemakers alike.

"It's a good start," he says, eyeing where the waterline is, and how she sits, then he takes a few steps closer and grabs onto the prow.

"I don't think you brought much in with you, that was pretty smooth."

It's hard to see if more water is coming in or not.

"You think it's rising?"

[treadswater]

Still, even now, his that was pretty smooth makes her smile. Just a little, but it's always nice to hear she did a good job. That he thinks she did. That he said so, even over something like this. She doesn't let it distract her, as once she might have, but it's nice.

"I can't... tell," is Annie's reply. "We should test it further."

Which is.... Well, yes, it's something that they need to do it. Even now, here, they shouldn't waste resources. If they don't need to fix the boat further, then they shouldn't.

But mostly?

She just wants to go out on the water, properly. And if she has to bail out of the boat and dry off, then that's just the price. And she's willing to pay it. And from the glint in her eyes, and the dimples starting to appear in her cheeks, it's very easy to read her mood.