ψ they are the hunters, we are the foxes | OTA MEETING

[fishermansweater]

WHO: Finnick Odair
WHERE: The Inn
WHEN: Evening of January 20th
OPEN TO: EVERYBODY! Kate and Finnick will be doing their best to make sure everyone is summoned knows
WARNINGS: Who knows with Finnick? Nothing expected.
STATUS: Open!

---

It's late in the day by the time Finnick and Annie return to the village. They've pushed the timing as late as they can: while the auroras are still lighting up the night well enough to see by, they do nothing for the cold that creeps deeper under Finnick's skin with the sinking of the sun. And they definitely do nothing for the snow that had begun to fall again while Finnick and Annie were in the cave, their light dimmed somewhat by the heavy clouds.

The Careers need to get back to the village, and night falls early, now it seems to be something like midwinter.

They'd discussed whether or not to tell the villagers what they'd found. Finnick had thought they'd be giving up a vital potential advantage, but ...

Annie had been right that hiding what they'd found would damage their standing, and while he doesn't care about their reputation here much, he does care that Annie thinks they should be trying to get themselves closer to the villagers, not further away from the community. It has seemed to be the point of their gifts.

So when they make it back to the village at around dusk, they don't skirt around the houses like they usually do, sneak their way through the edges of the woods and find a roundabout way to get back to their house. Today, they go straight for the crossroads at the centre of the village, and straight into the Inn.

Finnick needs to find Kate Kelly, because she knows how to make things happen around here, and if they're going to tell everyone what they found, they need the villagers to gather.

"Kelly," he tells her when she finds her, "We need to call a town meeting. There's something people should know."

So it is that as night falls over the rooftops, gleaming green in the aurora-light as it bounces off snow, people who arrive response to a summons to the large main room of the Inn will find Finnick standing at the front of the room, holding a sketchbook. His ever-present spear is resting against the wall next to him, just next to their meticulously sketched map of the canyon on the stolen curtain.

There's a new mark on one side of the canyon walls.


[ This is your standard mingle-type meeting post! Finnick will have an OTA comment but feel free to mingle, start your own things, threadjack, whatever. ]

Comments

both!

[00nothing]

Left to his own devices, Alex probably would have made a point of positioning himself wherever in the room that the man Graves was least likely to spot him, suitably unnerved by their first meeting and the all too familiar air about the man. Just because he's decided to stop pretending that whatever is going on with this place isn't actually his problem, doesn't mean he's in any hurry to replicate the situation he found himself in back in England with Alan Blunt and MI6, after all.

There were limits to foolhardiness, and even Alex has a stronger learning curve than that.

But. Credence is with him. Each new thing Alex manages to learn about Credence has Alex firmly convinced that he's someone that needs to be protected, someone that hasn't had enough protection in the past, or at the very least, not the right sort, and Alex can't help but sympathize with that. Can't seem to just let Credence be. The idea of leaving Credence alone with a man that manages to set all of Alex's nerves on edge without saying a word is unconscionable.

Alex, on the other hand, can handle another Alan Blunt.

Probably.

"That level of carelessness should be more apparent in other places, considering the scope of this place." He says with a frown, arms crossed over his chest and not looking all that pleased to be here, because Alex has honestly never gotten in the habit of hiding just how displeased he was with Blunt at any given time, and he hardly sees the point in learning now. "The amount of planning that had to have gone into everything here... it's hard to imagine them missing something so obvious." He adds with a shrug. "Trap feels like a bit of a strong word, though."

casually waits for new ac period for those sweet sweet bonus points

[repressings]

"Alex," Credence murmurs, and it's low and barely audible. He's unsure who Graves does and doesn't know, and is quietly telling him who he is from his spot behind him. He supposes it looks strange, like a personal assistant reminding their boss of facts that may slip their mind.

Everything about this is strange and unusual and odd. Including the events, of course. Credence twists his hands, fidgeting slightly, and as soon as he catches himself doing it he places one of his hands in his overalls pockets. Long fingers curl over the necklace he'll probably never wear again, but he finds comforting nonetheless.

"You think it was an accident, then?"

[mund]

It's hardly strange at all -- Graves had an assistant who did the same back at MACUSA during the times when he deigned to show up at high level international networking sessions (commonly at Picquery's behest), and Credence's impromptu position brings back a twinge of familiarity to him. He recognizes the boy, but raises his brows at the comment.

If there's one thing Graves knows to his bones, is to never discount the worst of people, to always expect snares and traps along the path that they tread. After all, Graves has dealt with so many of these people in the course of his career that he holds little faith (if any) in them.

"It's foolishness to believe anything milder of the captors that are running this particular experiment." His words are neutral; Graves, after all, doesn't harbor expectations of people, he would rather they surprise him. He remembers Stella's words when they'd first met, the things she hadn't said but had made clear -- and he knows that they're not safe here. They're not safe anywhere. He doesn't focus on Alex as much as he does the case before him, intent and focused, running through all plausible scenarios in his mind. The question is, why?

[00nothing]

Alex shakes his head minutely at Credence, says, "Accident is probably not strong enough of a word," and then frustrates himself when he can't come up with a fair word between the two to describe his feelings on the matter.

"It's almost certainly an experiment, the pod is far too large for someone to simply forget or miss it one day out of the blue, and it's discovery now almost seems... pointed?" Again, not quite the right word, but Alex settles for it in the end anyway. One way or another though, he's relatively certain of at least this much: "They wanted us to find it."