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Post by Deleted on Jan 17, 2017 21:16:58 GMT -7
Birch despised listening to the teacher at school. It was just so boring. He could think of a million better things to do, but the one thing that made school good was him being able to see his friends. He was considered "popular", but he never thought of it being cliquey. He just liked hanging out with people, joking around, and working in the office of his dentist. It was a simple path he was taking, but he loved it. He was seventeen years old and surrounded by people all the time--whether it was his schoolmates or people who needed their teeth worked on.
Because his father was a dentist, he always had shiny teeth. It was a rarity in District 11, where most of the citizens worked in the fields. The first thing he always noticed in the Capitol was their teeth, and he wondered if they had good dentists too. He considered his father to be one of the best dentists in all of Panem, though he didn't have many to compare it to.
The boy just got out of his class. It was history, and they were learning about the Dark Days. It was mostly bullcrap about how the Capitol was so great. That was his least favorite thing to study, especially since most of it was propaganda. His parents raised him to dislike the Capitol, but obey when they told him to do something. He knew it was for the best, as he wanted to protect his three sisters more than anything.
There were a lot of kids who went to his school, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw a girl. She looked a little younger than him, but she seemed to keep to herself. He was someone who was outgoing, and he thought that she might need some cheering up. He walked over to the girl. She was an attractive young lady, if he could say so.
"Why the glum look? I hate school too, you know, but being a sad squash isn't going to help anythin'," he said with a smile. He really didn't want to appear as creepy, though it was possible that he already did. "The name's Birch. Birch Dekom. What might you be called, miss?" He could be polite when he wanted to, though this was the one occasion when he tried his best to be kind. It was especially true for strangers.
WORD COUNT: 409
TAG: @furrow
NOTES: Sorry if this is terrible lol
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2017 8:03:28 GMT -7
Furrow was entirely lost in her own mind. She'd just gotten loaded with homework, but that wasn't it. No, what was on her mind was the bruises that her friend Rebekah had on her arm when she came to school today. Rebekah had refused to talk about it all the way up until lunch, when they had finally managed to get a moment away from the mob of other kids that were everywhere. When she'd finally spilled, Furrow's heart had sunk. Rebekah had come upon a boy last night on her way home from school, younger than them, who was getting beaten on by a Peacekeeper. She didn't know why, but the boy had already had a split lip and couldn't even get all the way to a standing position by the time she had gotten there. Rebekah had intervened against her better judgement, saying the boy had probably learned whatever lesson he needed to learn, and that she could help take the boy home. The Peacekeeper ignored her for the most part, and when Rebekah took a step closer, the Peacekeeper had shoved her away into the brick wall, hard.
Field had told her that they had to keep quiet, to accept what happened around them in order to survive, but Furrow felt anger and confusion roiling in the pit of her stomach. Rebekah was one of the sweetest girls she knew, her best friend since kindergarten, and there was no way she deserved to be shoved as roughly as she had. She wasn't naive enough to think that everything in life was fair, but she was starting to wonder if justice actually existed. How did her brother stand it every day, just keeping his head down and accepting it?
Suddenly, a voice started up right next to her, making Furrow jump. When she looked over, she saw none other than Birch Dekom, talking to her as if she was a friend he was checking up on. Birch was Field's age, but it was impossible not to know who he was. He was the kind of guy that everyone liked, that usually just seemed so genuinely happy. Once upon a time, Furrow herself would have fallen into the same category, but that changed with her cousin's death and her own whipping. Now, she was far more like her brother - quieter, reserved, careful. Still, it was shocking that Birch would walk straight up and talk to her, completely out of the blue.
Furrow hadn't wrapped her head around the unexpected intrusion quick enough to even entirely comprehend what Birch had originally said. He was tall and handsome, and while she'd seen him look at other people before, she hadn't realized how powerful his presence was until it was directed at her. When it was her turn to answer his questions, she was still a little flustered. "I know. I mean, Furrow. I'm Furrow Faucil." She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and looked forward, hoping he didn't notice her face getting red. She let out a breath, clutching her school books against her chest. Then her brow furrowed a little and she looked back at him. "Wait, did you just call me a sad squash?"
WC: 538
Tag: @birch
Notes: Birch is great! Sorry if this post isn't too much to go on, I have to get a handle on Furrow again.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2017 22:07:18 GMT -7
Birch really liked to talk to people. It was one of the only things that he really liked doing. He found it so much fun when he got to meet new people, as each person was different and that's what he loved. Some were outgoing, others were quiet, some were in between. But no matter what, he wasn't afraid of confronting strangers. Whether they were mad at him or he already knew them, he was always down for some conversation. The brown-haired man smiled at the girl. He was usually seen with a smile on his face, as he was happy to be alive. He knew that he could be ridiculous and his papa would tell him to wipe his smile off of his face, but he couldn't help it. It just came natural to him to smile at people. One of his friends told him he looked creepy with it sometimes, but he really didn't care. He was known as polite, carefree, and adventurous.
He heard the girl's name. Furrow. It was an interesting name. "Furrow Faucil. Faucil...Faucil," the last name he said to himself. He's heard it before. He then perked up as he remembered the name. "Oh, you're Field's sister, aren't you? Yeah, he's a cool guy. Talked to him once or twice. Quiet, but really cool. I guess that's what you guys have in common." He knew that he didn't know her very well, but he assumed she was quiet. She looked like the reserved type, but hell, maybe he was completely wrong and she was just as outgoing as he was.
She then asked Birch if he just called her a sad squash. He laughed. "Yes ma'am. It's a figure of speech, but it's true. Got somethin' on your mind?" He asked her with an eyebrow raised. "I know I may not look like it, but I'm a good listener! I promise," Birch said with a casual wink. He actually didn't know if anything was really bothering her. He honestly just wanted an excuse to keep talking to her. Heck, Field might kill him, but that was a risk he was willing to take. As long as he didn't knock out his teeth, Birch was a-okay with getting punched in the stomach or arm to talk to a pretty lady like Furrow.
WORD COUNT: 394
TAG: @furrow
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 12:24:10 GMT -7
Furrow watched Birch as he repeated her name, obviously finding it familiar. It wasn't really surprising when he landed on Field's name, since they were in the same grade. She might have wondered if they were even friends, but the rest of Birch's statement confirmed that they weren't, really. That wasn't surprising either. Birch and Field seemed like complete opposites in Furrow's mind, at least as far as initial appearances. Field was serious and dedicated, whereas Birch was playful and fun. She wouldn't have counted herself in the same category as Field though until he said it - quiet, but cool.
A couple of years ago, no one would have said Furrow was quiet. Bubbly, charming, friendly, chatty - those would have been closer to the mark of a younger Furrow. But that really had changed. She'd gone from outgoing to introspective, so it was no wonder that that was all Birch saw. "Yeah, I guess so," she agreed softly, clutching the books in her arms just a little tighter to her chest. That wasn't who she wanted to be, but she couldn't be the girl she used to be either. That girl had died on the whipping post, and it didn't seem possible to bring her back. She knew too much now, and thought too much. Rue had been killed in the Games, Rebekah had been beaten, and she had started to notice more of the cruelty in the fields. She wasn't really the brunt of it, but the Peacekeepers and managers who watched over the workers weren't always so kind.
Birch's laugh brought a small smile to her lips. It was just so genuine that she couldn't help it. Despite her overfull mind, just being near him was lightening her spirits a little. She would never have gone up to him all on her own, but it was nice having him nearby right now. "I believe you," Furrow agreed gently, actually surprised that she did. Birch was the kind of person that could be friends with everyone, and a person didn't get like that unless they knew how to be a friend themselves.
For a moment, Furrow just studied Birch as they walked, thinking about how much she should say. She wanted to talk to him, not just because he was handsome and nice, but because she really did want to get some of this pain off of her chest. She'd talked to Field about it, and Rebekah a little, but they were in the same place as she was. Birch was on a whole different plane. Finally, she spoke. "Birch, have you ever seen or heard of something really awful happening to another person?" she asked carefully. "And then, did you ever feel like you were trapped because you couldn't do anything about it?" She swallowed. Field would kill her if he heard her talking about something like this, but she had to know. She had to know if it was more than just her brother and her best friend that could feel like this.
WC: 506
Tag: @birch
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2017 10:59:32 GMT -7
The boy had never really had a hard life. His father was a dentist, so they lived in the middle class. Birch didn't have to work in the fields unlike most of his friends and the people at school. He was honestly very grateful for his life. He had heard stories of people being whipped and beaten, and though he hadn't experienced those himself, he knew that it was completely wrong for that to happen to other people. He had heard rumors that District 11 was one of the strictest districts in Panem, and he wondered why. Was it fair for the people in the district to get whipped because they dropped an ear of corn? No. He wished that they could be more relaxed, but he knew that it wasn't his place to complain. He had a good life, and for him to complain on behalf of others felt wrong to him.
So far, he really enjoyed having a conversation with Furrow. She was a sweet girl, someone who he could get used to talking with if she let him. He was always welcome to new people to talk to and new friends to have. Birch had always been a flirter, and yet, he had never been in a relationship. He never really thought of actually wanting to be committed to one person. This wasn't because he was a player, but rather someone who enjoyed hanging out with several people. The other day, his friend asked why he couldn't get a girlfriend. Birch had just laughed at him and brushed it off. He still didn't pay any attention to it. He was only seventeen after all, and though one day he wanted children of his own, he didn't want anything for a long time.
He then started listening to Furrow. She was talking about things that were pretty deep. He was glad that she could talk to him about a subject that was so touchy, even though she barely knew him. Since she asked a question, he knew he needed to respond. "Yeah, I have. A couple times actually. I've never seen anything, but I have heard things. It's awful what they do to the citizens here. Have you?" He spoke freely, and though he was always taught not to speak like that, he knew he was in a safe place to speak about it. It was a school setting after all, and he felt like he could trust Furrow enough not to tell the Peacekeepers.
WORD COUNT: 419
TAG: @furrow
NOTES: Sorry my posts are so short  Still trying to get a feel for Birch as a character |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2017 14:24:22 GMT -7
Furrow looked up at Birch in surprise at his answer. "Yeah," she replied a bit breathlessly. She wasn't sure if he would say that he had, but it was really unexpected that he would say anything awful about how people were treated. She couldn't have imagined him saying anything awful about anyone. Of course, she barely knew him, but it still seemed like he probably led the kind of life that wasn't troubled by these things. How else could he be so happy all the time at 17? She didn't know what his family did, but she doubted it was any kind of field work. He almost definitely would have seen a thing or two then. His family probably did something cleaner, nicer, where Birch was even treated nicely.
Looking away from Birch, Furrow took a breath. She was making assumptions, and she needed to cut it out. Just having seen a person around school didn't mean she knew anything at all about them. She didn't know a thing about Birch Dekom, and he didn't know a thing about her. That meant this conversation they were having now was extremely dangerous territory. If anyone overheard, they could get in trouble. If Birch told anyone else about it, it could mean very bad things for her. She already knew she wouldn't tell anyone, especially when it was her that brought it up. Sure, Birch had asked what was on her mind, but she could have brushed it off. She didn't have to actually tell him, but she wanted to. She hadn't even realized how much she wanted to talk to someone else about this until the chance had come.
Furrow steered them a bit off the main path, not really having a clear direction in mind for where they were going. If they could keep walking together, they could keep talking, and that was the main idea. "I don't want to feel like that," she began, looking down. "Trapped, I mean, but I do. All the time, or most of it anyway. I can't just be..." She trailed off, unable to find the right word. Complacent? Happy? Herself? She couldn't go back to the girl she once was, and that was maybe the worst part of it sometimes. She sometimes thought it would be nice to go back to being blissfully ignorant of the awful things around them. She was definitely happier back then, back before Forage got sick and she had done something stupid to try and save him.
Furrow looked at Birch again. "What do you do when you feel like that?" she asked in a soft voice, moving a little closer to him. Her voice had come off more intense than she had meant it to, because it was a question that really pulled at her heart, but then a thought struck her. This stranger could only have been being nice to her, and here she was taking advantage of him. So, before he could answer, she added in a rush, "I'm sorry. It's okay if you really don't want to talk about this. I promise not to tell anyone, and I hope you won't either. It's just been kind of a rough day, and you... well, I didn't expect you today." Her face had gone a bit red but she smiled up at him despite it. She was most definitely making a fool of herself now, but it was probably too late to do much about it.
WC: 580
Tag: @birch
Notes: No worries at all, Syd! I'm not exactly writing novels with Furrow. He's awesome.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2017 17:04:39 GMT -7
Birch always wanted to give people the benefit of the doubt. His father even told him that he trusted people too easily, to which he responded with a shrug. He wanted people to trust him, so he really wanted to trust other people. For the most part, he did. He knew who to talk to about what and who to avoid, but anyone around his age he knew he could trust. It would be the Peacekeepers and the adults that he couldn't trust as much--especially the Peacekeepers. He avoided them when he could, which was most of the time. His father even worked on a lot of their teeth, glad that they could have a dental worker in the district. Maybe it was his father's profession that he got along with everyone nicely, or maybe it was his own personality that led him to good and trustworthy relationships.
If Birch had worked in the fields as a kid, would he have been a different man? Maybe he would have been more like Furrow or Field--reserved and more on the serious end of things. Maybe he would have been more of a hard-worker and had a knack for school. But he was who he was, and he wasn't going to change for anybody. Birch had always stuck by that motto. He was his own man. Only he could change his own opinions, which he often did not. He wouldn't try to be different to impress anybody, he though he impressed a lot of people without changing himself. It was a cocky way to look at it, but he thought it true.
When he listened to Furrow, his face was serious. There was really something wrong with her. He felt bad, but he knew he should listen. "I'm sorry you feel trapped, Furrow. You don't deserve to feel like that," he said, looking at her with his brown eyes. He was glad she could trust him with this information. Even he knew that it had to be hard for her to feel something so intense like that. His father described this feeling to him once, when Birch's grandmother was whipped before he was even born.
She then asked him what he would do if he felt like that. "No, it's okay. You can talk to me about it. I really don't mind, I'm glad you are. Of course I won't tell anyone. If you can't already tell, I'm not really in with any of the adults around here," he said with a wink and a smirk towards her. He then wanted to answer her question. "What would I do? Well, I would try to move forward, you know? When I was ready. It can either drag you to your grave and make you miserable, or it can give you confidence and seeing the fact that you can overcome something as intense as that is." He was an honest man, and so that was what he would do. He didn't say it in a mean way, like get over it, but more in a way of trying to connect with Furrow and with what she was feeling.
WORD COUNT: 528
TAG: @furrow
NOTES: Thanks! Furrow is great too. You can tell she's been through a lot of bad stuff. Poor Furrow |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2017 14:01:35 GMT -7
Furrow gave Birch a small smile when he said she didn't deserve to feel trapped. Even though he was mostly a stranger, it was sweet. No one really deserved that feeling though, and she hoped she wasn't feeling selfish by voicing this about herself. That was the last thing she wanted to be, especially around someone who seemed to her to be rather selfless.
As Birch answered her question, she watched him intently. She was glad that he was willing to answer, and maybe he'd be able to tell her something that her brother wouldn't. Maybe not everyone in this district thought that the best policy was to keep your head down and ignore it. There had to be something to make this better, something she could do or feel. It had been a few years now since she'd been tied to that post and whipped, but it didn't feel like her confusion and pain were getting any better. If anything, they were getting worse. It was like her eyes had been closed for most of her life, and she had finally opened them.
What Birch actually said though wasn't what she'd hoped, and she visibly deflated a bit. What had she really been hoping for? For him to tell her that she should fight back against those that made her feel trapped? That would be ridiculous of course. It would be reckless and foolish, and end up getting someone hurt, or worse, so she couldn't expect this smart, kind boy to say something like that. He was probably right anyway, after all. It was similar to what Field had said, to what Rebekah was trying to do, and what she was still trying so hard to do.
"That's what my brother said," she replied, letting out a breath. Furrow looked ahead again, adjusting the grip on the books she carried. "You're both right, of course. It's only made me miserable, so what's the point of carrying it around? I should just let it go." She was saying it as much to convince herself as to attempt to agree with him. Field was probably so solemn because what he had seen and gone through weighed on him so much, and while she loved her brother, she didn't want to be sad all the time. Maybe she just needed something new to focus on - a project maybe, or a person. Maybe she just needed to be more like Birch and less like Field.
The pair of them were nearly off school grounds, and Furrow now dreaded the idea that she would be spending most of the afternoon in the orchard. She couldn't simply keep talking to him, and she was about to run out of an excuse to when they aimed different directions. She didn't want this to be the last time she talked to Birch Dekom though. It had been nice, and after all, if she was going to try to be more like him, she would need to spend time with him. Furrow made herself smile and look over at Birch. "I have to head...off," she began a bit awkwardly. Even though he probably knew where she meant - it was easy enough to tell the laborers from the others at school - she didn't want him to think less of her or her family. She couldn't lie, but maybe he could think she was just going home or to music lessons or something. "Thanks for talking to me, Birch. Maybe we... maybe we could do it again sometime? Happier topics next time, I promise."
WC: 595
Tag: @birch
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2017 23:18:27 GMT -7
Birch could see Furrow's face deflate. Was it something he said? Oh no, it had to be. Birch normally said the right things in conversations, but this time, maybe he said something that made her sad. Birch was always the one to cheer people up, not bring them down. Especially Furrow, who was gorgeous. Maybe he was nervous around her, but he usually wasn't nervous around anybody. Nonetheless, what he said was done and he couldn't go back to take back what he said. He didn't know what he was suppose to say. What would he really do if he was trapped? He'd turn it into a positive, of course. He was a happy guy, but what did she want him to say?
When she spoke to him again, she told him that she should let it go. "No, that's not what I--" he said, but he couldn't finish his sentence. The sudden change of tone made him feel like an awful person. It went from trustworthy to closed off. He had to do something to cheer her up. Maybe he could put it into better words. There was a rebellion meeting tonight that he and his father were going to, and maybe he could invite her? It was just people talking about what happened to them and how they could fight against the Capitol, and Birch did enjoy it. His father did a lot of talking there. He was a strong leader and knew exactly what to say. Birch wished he could be just as comfortable and free-flowing as him.
Furrow then said she had to leave. She was mad at him, there was no doubt. Even he could see through that smile. But she did end on a good note, saying that they should talk again. Maybe she wasn't as mad at him as he thought she was. "Okay, well how about tonight?" He asked her, nodding. "There's a...meeting. In an abandoned farm house around 10. You can come, if you want. My Pa and I are going to be there and heading there around 9:30. If you want to meet up at the dentist office around then and head down with us, you can if you want to. As long as you promise not to tell nobody." He gave her a wink. There was a big risk doing this, and if she was in with the Peacekeepers, him and his friends could be killed. But he could tell something was different with Furrow. There was a spark he could see in her eyes, and maybe she would be the one to change things in District 11.
WORD COUNT: 445
TAG: @furrow |
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2017 9:14:24 GMT -7
There was a flutter of hope when Birch started to deny the conclusion she had come to, but it died just as quickly when he didn't finish the sentence. Perhaps he only felt bad about how she had reacted, but the conclusion was the same. Holding onto despair and pain never did anything good for anyone. Fighting never did anything good for anyone - and hadn't she seen that? Hadn't Rebekah's story this morning and the things she had seen in the fields proved that, time and again? Overcome, move forward, get over it, forget it - they all meant the same things.
If Furrow had to list the responses she had thought Birch would make to her awkward words about having to leave, "Okay, well how about tonight?" wouldn't have even made it onto the list. Neither would the words that followed it. She had mostly thought that she was making a fool of herself and this conversation, asking a near-stranger what he thought about less-than-acceptable things. She'd expected a dismissal as simple as her own had been to him, and maybe she could try this all again when she had her head together better - when Rebekah and the entirety of life in District 11 wasn't weighing on her mind.
Instead, Birch's words made her heart speed up in her chest, both in anticipation and curiosity and some mild confusion. A meeting? What kind of meeting? Why in an abandoned farmhouse, late at night? Answers came to her questions before she could even ask them, and they only made her eager to ask still more questions. She was suddenly bursting with curiosity, before he'd even finished, and she clutched her books still tighter to her chest. What did it mean that Birch Dekom was suddenly asking her to meet him tonight for a secret meeting? Perhaps a level-headed Furrow would have found this more suspicious than anything else, but she could not be defined as level-headed now. She couldn't help but smile when he ended the words with a wink.
Furrow felt like she needed to push out all the words in her mind in response. She felt like she needed to thank him - for understanding, for offering, for being beyond kind. Instead, all she said in response was, "I promise." She meant it. She wouldn't tell a soul about where she was going tonight, if she was going. But who was she kidding? Of course she was going. There was no way she couldn't go, but she knew better than to show her eagerness so fully to him. She bit her lip and swallowed, then smiled again. "Goodbye, Birch," she said, adding in her mind, "See you tonight." She felt lighter now as she turned and walked away from him, wondering how she'd ever be able to keep herself under control in the many hours between now and 9:30 tonight.
WC: 480
Tag: @birch
Notes: End of thread? I'll start a new one for that night.
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Still trying to get a feel for Birch as a character