[Open!]

[the_effect_she_has]

Who: You and yours and Miss Mockingjay.
What: Katniss is mapping the hostile territory ... which means everything and everywhere.
When: Early morning, mid-day, early afternoon, before the Hunting.
Where: EVERYwhere.
Rating: PG-13 - because Katniss is, well, Katniss. Thread jack at will!



You may have seen her before - the tall, pale girl with the dark hair and intense grey eyes - but you may not have seen her like this. Light burn scars touch her neck, her braided hair shorter than before, and she carries a soldier's weary alertness. She's doing her reconnaissance today, so you might have seen her walking the castle, looking in every nook and available cranny, as well as fully walking the grounds.

You might see her out in the forest, her footsteps so soft you will not sense her coming until she's right behind you. You might see her at the springs, the shooting range, the town .... suffice to say that today is a good day to finally bump into Katniss Everdeen.

Comments

[squirrelhunter]

And Katniss may see an arm and a boot dangling from the branches of a tree... And if you listen closely the sound of soft snoring, masked almost entirely by the breeze and rustle of the leaves.

But, yes, someone is asleep in that tree.

[the_effect_she_has]

She does indeed see them, and draw her bow suddenly, looking around for a moment for a trap ... when she realizes what she hears is someone snoring.

She snorts, softly, then steps closer to the tree to see who is up there, and whether or not he's been smart enough to tie himself to said tree.

[squirrelhunter]

And the man in the tree is the same guy from the kitchen. Looks like the castle decided to eventually let him go.

And, yes, he's tied to the tree. Quite expertly, a crossbow lying in his lap, the hand not dangling is fixed on the handle rather tightly.

[the_effect_she_has]

She's not sure she should be waking up a man with a crossbow, especially since she knew this particular gent. Curiosity always got the cat, and the same was for the Katniss. So she let out a sharp whistle, already moving to hit the deck.

After all, wouldn't do to get herself shot through with a crossbow on her first extensive trip out.

[squirrelhunter]

And, at that whistle, Daryl does jerk awake. A second later, the crossbow is raised to eye-level, but he doesn't waste a bolt by just firing...

Which means he's used to conserving ammo...

...And then he spots someone, training his sights...

"Th'fuck d'you want?"

The Hunting! :D

[fanstheflame]

At their appointed hour, Gale makes his way out of the castle and down toward the forest, backpack slung over his shoulder. It's a lot lighter than it has been the last few weeks, at least - but even after the lengthy trek of the expedition, he's still glad to be out in the open air. Granted, he wasn't about to knock the plus sides of castle life - like a roof over his head in bad weather, or a comfortable bed - but the stone walls were still somewhat constrictive. He scans the sky, taking a guess at the rest of the afternoon's weather, then turns his gaze back to the forest and the surrounding grounds, looking for his friend.

Re: The Hunting! :D

[the_effect_she_has]

Katniss is sitting at the edge of the forest on a large stone, her eyes closed. Her bow rests across her lap, her quiver sits on her shoulder, along with a backpack she scrounged. She opens her eyes when she hears his step behind her, one corner of her mouth lifting up.

"You used to be a lot quieter. Do I need to worry about you stamping through the brush?"

[fanstheflame]

He laughs, quietly. In that one brief moment, it's like coming home - no, even better than that. It's what he imagined it might be like, once, if they ever ran away: just the two of them, and the woods, and their wits. Despite what the castle's done to them by trapping them here, he can't recall the last time he was this content with his life in the Seam.

"No. I'll shut up once we're in the woods. I brought you something, though..."

He slings the backpack down and unzips it, as quietly as he can.

[the_effect_she_has]

She turns towards him, her eyebrows raising together. The last time Gale brought her something ... god, ages ago. They got too wrapped up in the Games, then the War, then grief. Always the worst time, for both of them, even when they had met.

She remembers the taste of bread, ages ago, and her smile turns a little wistful, before going back to quiet good cheer, "There's no way you've caught a buck in there already, is there?"

[fanstheflame]

He smiles, remembering the last time the two of them were near a deer - What're you gonna do with that?, he'd asked. It may have been the last time they laughed, back home. He pushes it back, trying not to remember how much had passed between then and now. Today's not about that - their hunting here was never supposed to be about that.

"No, but it might help." He comes up with a small cloth bag, not much bigger than his hand, and holds it out to her. It clinks softly. Inside, she'll find a bunch of thick, rugged seashells, curved and colored on the inside like pearls. He waits until she's taken them out before explaining: "I thought they might make decent arrowheads."

[imalwaysright]

He runs into a girl who's... what the hell is anybody doing looking that worried this early in the morning? The only person Stiles knows that looks like that is Derek, and he's the weirdest werewolf Stiles has ever met. (Next to his Uncle, but he really doesn't like thinking about Peter Hale.)

Stiles has to stare at her for a moment, god, she looks like she's about to be attacked at any moment. It's starting to stress him out just looking at her.

"So. What's with the lurking?" That's probably not the exact word for it, but it definitely works.

[the_effect_she_has]

Katniss emerged from where she was testing the wall behind a tapestry, to find a young man around her age ... well, staring at her like she was scaring the pants off of him.

And maybe she was.

Her lips quirked into a faint smirk. "Looking for secret passages and defensible weaknesses."

[imalwaysright]

She's not terrifying him, but she is successfully weirding him out. To be fair, Stiles has gone through many trauma inducing moments in his life- like being shoved up against walls and threatened by people in their early forties. Just staring doesn't quite make him quiver in his boots.

"Oh. Okay, that's completely normal." Spoilers: It's really not.

"Did you find anything?" But of course he's naturally curious. Especially since he's stuck living in the castle until makes enough cash to grab an apartment.

[the_effect_she_has]

Now she's the one who who is giving him a wry look - she's not an idiot - she knows it's not normal. But Katniss and Normal have always had a shaky sort of relationship.

Still, he gets a flicker of respect in her eyes from going behind the questionable question of Katniss's sanity to finding something. "Not yet, and I'm sure people have gone over this with a fine toothed comb. Never hurts to check."

She ran her hand along one wall, "Besides, if this place traps us, I want to know what's the best way to try to make my escape. Have to know your routes."

[imalwaysright]

Stiles hasn't been on the Normal Train for a while. It happens, when your life involves werewolves and vengeance lizards. And it's always good to gather information from more than one source. Hey, if this girl wants to figure out what's going on, all the power to her- he should probably keep in contact.

"A second opinion does tend to be useful." He watches her hang move along the wall.

"I'd hope with all the people here, somebody wold have discovered a way to go home- if it exists. But like I said, second opinion."

[persequor]

On the lawn, a little girl lies half-draped over a wolf bigger than her. Nymeria notices Katniss first, ears swiveling in her direction. Arya looks up to see what had captured Nymeria's attention. When she sees Katniss, she waves.

"Katniss!"

[the_effect_she_has]

Katniss turns, momentarily startled, before she mentally flips through the journal. Little girl, big wolf. Arya. Her smile flashes on, quiet, as she moves across the lawn.

"Good day, Miss Arya. Good day, Miss Nymeria."

[persequor]

She hasn't heard "miss" directed at her yet, but she makes a face regardless and shakes her head. "Just Arya is fine. Same with Nymeria. Right, girl?"

Nymeria sets her head back on her paws and sighs.

[the_effect_she_has]

"Well, hello to the two of you." She smiled, as she dropped down on the grass next to her and the direwolf. Grey eyes flickered thoughtfully at the both of them.

"Are you up to anything?"

[persequor]

"No." Arya rubs Nymeria's belly. "Just letting her rest off her meal."

[valuedstrength]

Katniss will find Steve sketching on the lawn outside the castle. It's nothing special; just some trees and rough sketches of people who have passed him by today. Katniss will no doubt make a cameo in it if he spots her... well after he gets past the initial surprise of seeing her in person again.

It is almost comical the way his head turns in her direction and barely resists the urge to jump to his feet. He can hardly believe what or rather who he is seeing again. "Katniss? Is that you?"

[the_effect_she_has]

She starts, for a moment, but then she recognizes the man from Peeta's portrait. She pauses, tilting her head curiously, and walks a little ways towards him. Her lips press together, before giving him a brief, tentative smile.

"Yes - it's me. You ... you know me, and Peeta?"

[valuedstrength]

Steve nods eagerly. A smile is growing on his face as he carefully sets down his sketchbook and stands up. "Peeta is a good friend of mine. I met you and your sister before when the castle was acting funny. It's great to see you again." He pauses a moment, taking Katniss in before adding in tentatively, "You look a little different."

[the_effect_she_has]

Well ... damn. The man was tall. Very, very tall. But he had already won some trust, because she knew he knew Peeta. That he knew her before - and her sister - just made her chest ache. Prim, I miss you. She nodded her head, her hand going to the light scars on the side of her face.

"I was ... badly injured, in the last battle against the Capital."

[valuedstrength]

His smile falters. He knows to associate the Capital and bad things thanks to Peeta's loss. While he's more than happy to hear there was a final battle at all with such a terrible power, he's not happy Katniss was involved in it. Perhaps it's hypocritical given the state of his time and the powers his people were fighting, but Steve wants better for her, Peeta, and the other kids.

"Did you beat them?"