sixthiterationlogs | ψ come away little lass come away to the water

ψ come away little lass come away to the water | SWIMMING MINGLE OTA

WHO: E V E R Y O N E
WHERE: The waterfall
WHEN: During the hot weather in late May
OPEN TO: Anyone
WARNINGS: PROBABLY NAKED. cw your warnings in individual threads.
STATUS: Open. THIS IS A MINGLE, have at it, tag around, you know what to do. If you want Finnick, let me know in the comment subject!

He wouldn't actually say it was really hot yet, but it's definitely getting to the sort of temperatures that make Finnick miss swimming. There's no substitute for the sand of a beach underfoot, the reassuring roar of the surf, the taste of salt in the air, but there is at least water here, tumbling down from the waterfall and flowing through the canyon until it disappears into the rocks to the south. And he knows from constantly checking his fish traps that the water is deliciously cool.

He's tested out a few spots along the river for swimming, and it's good to be in the water again, after being kept out of it for so long by the harshness of the winter. Not swimming doesn't feel right to him, and it never has. He's never spent this long somewhere with a winter this cold, and he can't remember ever going this long without swimming. So Finnick's been testing the water out since before it was probably what most people would consider to be warm enough to swim. It had helped that he and Annie had some gifts to hunt for in the river, but those have long been found, and now it's just for relaxation.

The calmest, most relaxing place he's found so far for swimming in the river is the pool at the foot of the waterfall, where the water plunges into the canyon crisp and cool from the heights of the cliffs. It's deep around the falls, and it's big enough to swim, and Finnick spends most of the hottest parts of the day there.

So whenever he hears someone talking about the heat while he's dropping food off in the village, he suggests they try the waterfall pool. Word's likely to get around, so he won't be entirely surprised to find other people stopping by the falls.

When they do, they're likely to find him swimming around the deep part near the falls, stripped down to his underwear and, from the grin on his face, having the time of his life. It's clear just from looking at him that he's good at this, moving through the water with a confidence and grace more like to a sea-creature than a man. He's in such a good mood that he even calls out to greet many of the people who approach.

Of course, he's not the guardian of the waterfall: everyone's welcome to stop by whether he's there or not. Once or twice, there's even a moose to be seen standing at the edge of the pool taking a long, relaxing drink.

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Finnick's suggestion of coming and grabbing a dip isn't something that Peeta objects to, not really - he's very aware of how refreshing water can be, and with the heat building the way it is being able to cool off a little would be nice. He's used to heat, working around a bakery with hot ovens and a certain level of humidity, and he's noticed that this heat isn't as wet as it could get at home, so he's not worried about getting overheated and passing out. Not yet, at least; that could always come up later, if the temperature keeps climbing the way it has been.

But his leg's still broken - healing nicely, according to the medical staff, but still broken - and he can't swim anyway. It's not like there's really a place to learn inside District 12, not like Finnick and Annie and even Johanna have. Katniss had managed to get him paddling a little in the Quell arena but the leg renders even that moot. But that doesn't mean he can't go and sit in the spray and enjoy everybody else having fun, so and that's what he does. Peeta's made his slow way to the waterfalls on his crutches, a little pot with him that he's covered with a hand towel, and he takes a seat on one of the rocks near the falls and just lets himself relax. The roar of the falls is nice, the occasional spray he gets is refreshing, and any time someone comes up to talk to him he offers them a cookie that he'd spent the morning working on. A bit of a change to one of the recipes he knows from the bakery, thanks to the lack of butter, but overall he's considering them a success and keeping them on the list to make again. (Part of this trip is "market research" to see how other people like them.)

Moana had slipped out of her dress and was running around in the provided white cotton underwear. She hated the metal wire in bras but it was useful and she wanted to keep her dress dry.

She wasn't experiencing the heat as keenly as some of the others. This was more like her island and for the first time since arriving in the village, she's felt at home.

Her shout filled the air, followed by a massive wave of water that crashed over Peeta and his rock. She giggled when she finally broke the surface of the water, looking more like she was twelve than eighteen. Her dark almond eyes spotted the very wet Peeta on the rock and she cringed. "Hey!" She called over with a wave of her hand. "Did I splash you?"

She swam over and then scrambled up the rock to sit next to him, her long dark hair spilling thick droplets of water around her.

For his part, Peeta isn't happy with the giant wave, though not for the reasons Moana probably thinks. Fortunately, he'd had enough time before getting soaked to yelp and turn to shield the cookie pot with his torso so it didn't get splashed and the cookies inside destroyed, clutching the pot to his hip to guard it. When Moana scrambled up he wasn't really paying attention to her since he was frantically pulling aside the cloth covering the pot to check the contents. The cloth itself was a little wet, but the inside was still nice and dry and filled with cookies, and he gave a sigh of relief at that.

"Least they're not destroyed."

Moana peered over at what he'd been protecting, her dark eyes widening at the sight. "Oh no! I'm so sorry." She hadn't realized that he had something that couldn't get wet next to the water. It didn't seem like good planning to her but then Peeta wasn't exactly moving anywhere quickly.

"They're okay?" He had said as much but she wanted to confirm.

She shifted her weight and settled more comfortably against the rock. The sun was already drying her skin so she pulled some of her hair over her shoulders, keeping the steady stream of water coursing down her front and back. It was a plus to having long hair.

"What are they?"

He'd thought he was clear of the splash zone, since it couldn't reach him just from people playing around in the little pool below the waterfall. Apparently not, but then again he hadn't realized that people could jump like that into the water, and of course that'd make a much bigger splash.

Ahh well, too late now. At least no harm was done.

Peeta clearly didn't care that he was pretty wet now; it felt good, really, and he's been in a lot worse situations. Such as covered in mud with a festering leg wound. And she sounded interested in what he'd brought, which was always gratifying, so he held out the pot with one hand to show her the rather small, pale cookies covered in cinnamon and sugar. "Cookies. I was trying something different since we don't have some of the ingredients I usually use here, and I think they turned out all right."

She hadn't thought that the splash would bother anyone. They were all here to cool off and the water helped with that. The more she thought about it, the more Moana realized that she probably got a few peoples clothing wet too.

Whoops.

Moana's eyes fixed on the cookies in a way that suggested that Peeta had offered her something that was magical or unreal. "Can I try one?" She'd at least give him an honest opinion of the cookies though she didn't have a very large base sample to compare to. There weren't any cookies on her island.

Their first meeting hadn't gone well and since then Wanda had actively avoided Peeta. She didn't need his fear or his hate, she was tired of it. It felt almost impossible to avoid seeing him now. Almost everyone was at the water fall and Wanda didn't want to sacrifice the relief of the water due to her own worrying tendencies.

She had been drifting for some time, letting the water curl up against her. She dipped her head beneath the water, pushing her hair back so that it was slick against her neck. It was then that she saw Peeta, more accurately, she saw his cast.

Her lips formed a thin line. She hadn't realized that he'd been hurt.

Wanda was very slow to make her way over to him, pausing a yard or so away, just in case. "You okay?" She asked in a light voice, her accent allowing for her concern to seep into those two simple words. She had brought food and water knowing that some might need it. Given the heat and the fact that peeta had to sit outside the water he should probably drink water and keep himself hydrated.

The way he'd reacted when he first arrived at the village - others from Panem understood the worry and fear, knew why he'd done what he'd done, but the other residents hadn't completely gotten it. Still didn't, in fact. But it had been proved to Peeta that he'd assumed a lot and reacted without provocation to people just trying to help, and he felt bad about that. It wasn't like he wanted to hurt anyone, or make them fear him, especially when he had nothing to gain from it. He could do it - and had - but it was working at cross-purposes at best here. Whatever the Observers had in mind, the people actually living here weren't their puppets and weren't behaving like they were. Fixing up the bakery and working in the inn at least helped alleviate that guilt a little.

Most of them, he'd managed to apologize to, but there were a couple he'd missed. Or were avoiding him. Wanda was one of those, and when she'd actively started avoiding him, he hadn't pressed it, since he'd been the one acting so poorly and not her. He didn't know anything about what it was like where she came from, but what he'd done had hurt her. He wouldn't push himself on her unless she asked.

Which she was now, in a way. Peeta gave her a quick smile, a normal one, friendly and even a little "bright," shrugging a little. "I can't swim." It wasn't exactly the question she'd asked, but he thought she was asking why he wasn't down in the water. The leg was an obvious thing, after all.

Wanda's eyebrows rose in an curious ark. That wasn't the reaction that she'd been expecting and it caught her by surprise. Whatever she had been prepared to say next died in her throat.

He had a pleasant smile, the sort of boyish grin that made you want to smile back at him. It helped her relax and almost smile back at him. She hadn't forgotten how he had reacted but Wanda was a believer of leaving the past where it was. It was one of the few ways that she was able to move forward.

"Because of this?" She asked, her accent rolling pleasantly through her tone. Wanda pointed to the cast thinking that it was the weight that kept him from getting into the water.

His arrival had... circumstances attributed to it, ones that he'd started getting into with a few people, cautiously, the habit ingrained to not speak against the Capitol no matter how much he disagreed with them very deeply. Stella knew some, he'd dropped a few comments that he wasn't sure Jacob had heard, but overall he - and most of the Panem citizens - were still keeping it quiet. This was an arena, after all, even if it was different from the ones they'd been in before. Things were still happening to incapacitate and even kill them. The place was obviously controlled by something for all the sudden changes and unusual weather phenomena there were.

And that meant they needed allies. Peeta wasn't about to turn down the opportunity to patch things up with a girl he'd frightened before, not when she might be able to help. He'd do it anyway, since he didn't like fighting people or scaring them, but there was no possible way he'd let a chance like this slip past.

"Not just this." The brace he has on is made of wood, chunky and annoying, but it was working. It immobilized the lower leg, where the break was, leaving him some measure of movement in the knee, although that was restricted as well. Crutches that were obviously made from spare wooden parts and rags made out of towels were laid behind him. "I never learned. We don't have anywhere to swim at home." The words were matter-of-fact; in District 12, knowing how to swim was very unusual. Katniss and Gale were the only two he was sure knew how.

Wanda watched him curiously. He wasn't at all like the boy she'd met in the woods. It made her a little nervous but a little grateful as well. She tugged her dark hair over her shoulder, twisting the silk strands to release the water at her side. She'd learned to swim though she can't do it particularly well. Just well enough to not drown.

"Do you want to learn?" There were plenty of people who would be willing to teach him. Wanda would offer but she'd just tell him to get into the water and try not to drown. That probably wasn't a helpful way to learn. Then again, she could probably give him some instruction if he wanted to learn how to swim.

She turned to look at the water, watching as it turned and swirled against the shore. "You should learn." She spoke a little softer. "It's nice."

Peeta gave a small laugh at the suggestion, looking up to the waterfall with a smile. It did look nice... refreshing, really. It's getting hotter, and although he's got a pretty good tolerance for the heat, being able to cool off would be a nice change. Still, there's the bathtub in the house for when he needs to do that.

"It's useful, definitely." Or at least it had been in the arena, or would have been if he could do it. That had presented some problems, and Mags had had to rescue him. "Katniss started trying to teach me once, before we got here. I only got one lesson though, and that wasn't a long one." And then, in what seemed to be an abrupt change in topic- "Do you want a cookie?"

Wanda watched him with a curious stare. She didn't know what to make of Peeta but she let her opinion remain variable for the time being. There would be time and her accounts of him were so different that she wasn't sure what to think.

She was a good listener and she noticed the change in topic. "Sure." Cookies sounded good though she had to wonder where he got them. She wasn't going to ask about Katniss but she wasn't going to completely let the topic of conversation go either.

"I can teach you to swim." Sort of. It'd be interesting.

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ψ come away little lass come away to the water | SWIMMING MINGLE OTA

OTA, on the shore, with cookies!

COOKIES

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