District 4
Heterosexual
18 Years Old
Relationship:
Complicated
Occupation:
???
HG Status:
Victor
Life of the Party
Last Online:
Nov 6, 2018 1:05:01 GMT -7
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Post by Pyra Elswood on Sept 25, 2017 22:30:00 GMT -7
Pyra was absolutely exhausted. After no environmental stimulation for months, everything hit all at once when the two were back in the Capitol. Loud sounds, dark blood, shining Capitol buildings. It was all too much, though Pyra couldn't sleep once they started sailing. There were so many thoughts going through her head to the point where it made her exhausted. She didn't know where they were sailing, but as long as it was away from all the bloodshed and loud noises. She was tired in every way. The last thing she needed was for people to come up to Pyra and Finnick, both one of the only remaining victors in Panem.
When sunset hit the coast, she knew they needed to stop. They had kept floating around wooded areas, seemingly not touched by anyone--at least not in a long time. "We should probably stop. Get some food," she said to Finnick as she stood up and started getting ready to sail towards the shore. Her voice was weak and so were her movements. They would have to swim to get to solid ground since the trees were too close to the water. She wondered if she could even swim well anymore. Pyra would try her best to get as close to the ground as she could before having to swim.
The girl lowered the anchor and let it sink, making sure that it wasn't super shallow. She tied the anchor, hoping that the boat wouldn't go anywhere. Pyra made her way to the edge of the ship. She let out a heavy sigh. She looked back at Finnick, shrugged, and dove into the water. The chilling water woke her up as she came up for air. She hadn't felt water on her since before she was put in a cell. It was nice to finally be released of some of the grime that was on her body. She swam towards the shore, not wanting to get out of the water but knowing that they needed food.
She knew that, as time went on, they would slowly gain their strength back. They might even rebuild themselves mentally, but she wondered if anything would ever be okay again. Maybe with time, but the two had their own battles to deal with. If anything, Pyra was happy to be recovering with Finnick. If she was alone, who knows what she would've done. But she wasn't, and she couldn't be more happy in the situation that they were in.
She pulled herself to land, breathing heavily. Even the slightest physical activity seemed to literally take her breath away. It was strange to have all this freedom after being isolated in a cell, not to leave unless dragged away by Peacekeepers. Pyra didn't know how she would handle the dark. She hadn't experienced true darkness in a long time, as the lights were always on in the cell. The only time it was dark was in the Dark Room, where she was dragged and drugged while men poked at her brain. That was her true fear, and she never wanted to experience anything like it again.
"Solid ground," she said, mostly to herself. It was grass and dirt, something she never thought she would need to appreciate but she did now. She sat down, letting herself dry out from the water. She didn't want to search for food yet. She was exhausted and just wanted a moment to rest on the ground. She laid down, putting her arms behind her head. "Where do you think we'll end up, Finnick?" She asked, looking at the sky and the trees above. District 4 didn't have much nature, and when she was in the games, she was more in a swamp than a forest. The air was clean here, or cleaner than the filtered air in the prison. She just took her time, breathing in everything around her.
WORD COUNT: 654
TAG: Finnick Odair
NOTES: Sorta cheesy, but I hope this works!
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District 4
Hunger Games Victor
Heterosexual
23 Years Old
Relationship:
??
Occupation:
HG Status:
Social Butterfly
Last Online:
Jan 17, 2024 11:55:03 GMT -7
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Post by Finnick Odair on Sept 30, 2017 8:30:58 GMT -7
For the first time in what felt like years, Finnick slept. He'd never slept well in that cell, which never really got dark. He still had yet to see true darkness, but on that boat, in the rocking waves, he couldn't help but give into the exhaustion he felt. Pyra was still awake when he closed his eyes and seemed fine to keep sailing the boat, but even if she had been dead asleep, he wouldn't have been able to stop himself. Their boat would either end up somewhere safe, or it wouldn't. Right now, he could let that be something he didn't control. Finnick's sleep was blissfully empty and welcome. It might be the last time his sleep was like that for a long time, but he'd take what he could get. When he awoke, the sun was starting to dip toward the horizon, casting the sky in brilliant oranges and pinks. As he watched it pass above their boat, he thought that it might be the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. Between the chaos of the Capitol they'd left and the blankness of his cell, seeing the sky was a welcome change. He'd seen a sky like this thousands of time, and it was a reassurance that some things would always continue. Near him, Pyra mentioned landing for food. "Right," he agreed, although the thought hadn't crossed his mind at all. It might not have crossed his mind for another day or two. "No more delicious plates of mush just handed to us." Finnick stood and helped Pyra ready the boat for landing. He was sure neither of them had any idea where they were, but that didn't matter much. The land they were heading to looked uninhabited at least from the coast, a wooded area. That looked just fine to him. After today, he wouldn't mind never running into another human again. They set anchor, and he gave Pyra a half smile at the glance she gave him. "After you," he said with a sweep of his hand before she dove into the water. It felt like years since he'd done any sort of swimming, but he followed after her, feeling the rush of cool water explode around his body. It woke him up entirely, and the shore came too fast. Still, he pulled himself out and onto the shore. He took a few steps inland and made a quick glance around, doing a cursory search for any human evidence. He found none, and while maybe should do a more thorough investigation, contented himself with that for now. While Pyra sat, he remained standing and started to peel off his wet shirt. Maybe he'd been just waiting for a reason to get out of the prison clothes, and having them wet seem reason enough. He laid the shirt out on a branch to dry, then removed his shoes, socks, and pants. The underwear he left on out of consideration for his travel companion, but were he alone, those would have come off too. Of course, were he alone, he might have remained drifting along on that boat until he wasted away. Or maybe he would have made landfall, found people, and alternated between the sane and crazy versions of himself until someone finally took him out in exasperation. Both of those things were still possible, of course, but less likely in the immediate future with Pyra. Finnick knew he probably wouldn't be able to recognize his own body after all that time in the cell, so he made a point of not looking at it. Perhaps he should have also spared Pyra the sight, but she wasn't exactly the same girl who'd gone in either. Either way, she seemed not to notice yet as she reclined on the ground. "I don't know," he said, running a hand through his hair. Then he sat within the slightly exposed roots of a tree, not minding the rough feel of bark against his back. "Maybe we won't end up anywhere. Maybe we'll just keep going until there's no where else to go. Maybe we'll kill each other before we even get there." The last statement was said lightly, though it wasn't wholly out of the question. He accepted her as they were now, and she him it seemed, but the only thing that was really over was that they weren't locked up anymore. Everything else still existed, from the confusion to the doubt. "Where would you want to end up?"
WC: 751 Tag: Pyra ElswoodNotes: I'm all about the cheese. |
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District 4
Heterosexual
18 Years Old
Relationship:
Complicated
Occupation:
???
HG Status:
Victor
Life of the Party
Last Online:
Nov 6, 2018 1:05:01 GMT -7
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Post by Pyra Elswood on Oct 23, 2017 11:19:03 GMT -7
Pyra sat up, feeling the breeze against her soaking clothes and knowing she had to move around to get warm. She looked over at Finnick, already seeing that he took off most of his clothes to let them dry. Even now, in the middle of nowhere where there was only one other person, she couldn't bring herself to remove her clothes, even if they were soaked. For the past couple of months, she was exposed to the guards and anyone who was watching them on camera. It could've been one person watching them, or it could've been thousands of people. She would never know, but she became so paranoid to the point where she would only change her clothes under her covers in the cell. Now, with Finnick here to see her, she didn't dare remove the only clothes she had.
She listened to Finnick talk as she moved into a patch of sunlight. By his voice, he was just as unsure as she was about the whole situation. For months in isolation, they didn't have to work like they used to. They were given barely enough food, barely enough water, and basically left to rot in a cell with nothing to do. The concept of working to get food, water, and shelter was something they would need to get used to again if they even wanted to try and keep on living. Maybe we'll kill each other before we even get there. Pyra didn't want that. She wanted to try. For some reason, they were both still alive after everything they had gone through. Maybe it was accidental luck, or maybe it was the willpower that they had to not give up.
The blonde turned her head to Finnick. She tried not to look at his chest but she couldn't help it. She could see how the treatments impacted not only his mental state but his physical state as well. Pyra hadn't looked at herself in a mirror in a very long time, but she didn't want to know what she looked like after she saw Finnick. It was devastating how they took everything from them. Their mind, their bodies, the people around them. Whether that was the rebels or the Capitol that were at fault, she didn't know. The Capitol did the actual locking up, but the rebels seemed to get the idea in their head that being rebellious was a good thing. She didn't know if she could even forgive either of them. Maybe it was best that herself and Finnick were alone. He was unpredictable, she was impulsive. Those two traits together could be damaging to anyone else that was around them.
"I know that I don't want to die. Not after everything we've been through." Her eyes moved up to Finnick's. Maybe it was best that they should die because of everything they've been through. Despite Pyra wanting that urge to waste away, she knew she couldn't. Maybe if she was alone, but with Finnick here, she felt she couldn't. She felt like she had something to look forward to even though there was nothing left of Panem to look forward to except for the man sitting across from her. The only other person she assumed was alive from her life before. And she needed to be there for him, because she knew he was broken.
Pyra tucked the wet hair behind her ear. She had no idea where she wanted to go. "Other than that, I don't know. Away from everybody. It doesn't matter. I just don't want to be locked up again." She had to get used to the freedom that was once again given to her. Her mind was still foggy of her life before the prison, so the time in the prison felt like a lifetime to her. She couldn't go back to that. She didn't think she could even if it happened to Finnick again.
"I don't think I'd want to go back to District 4. Not even to see if my family is still alive or the people I knew. I don't think I could handle it." She was being honest, though she didn't know if Finnick would agree. Maybe he would want to go back there, but by the way he was speaking about the red-haired girl he once loved, she didn't know if he would want to go back there. "We should probably figure something out."
WORD COUNT: 745
TAG: Finnick Odair
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District 4
Hunger Games Victor
Heterosexual
23 Years Old
Relationship:
??
Occupation:
HG Status:
Social Butterfly
Last Online:
Jan 17, 2024 11:55:03 GMT -7
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Post by Finnick Odair on Oct 25, 2017 7:11:59 GMT -7
Finnick was looking up at the canopy of leaves above them when Pyra's first response came. He gave a half smile. "Me either," he agreed, his eyes lowering to meet hers. No, even after everything, he still wanted to live. There had been that moment outside the prison, that moment where he felt like he would have accepted death if it had been for something as useful as saving people, but that moment was over. Now, when he probably should have wanted to die more than he had in prison, when he realized the chaos of the world outside his cell, he wanted to live. He wanted to keep breathing if just to get to the next day, and the next one. He wouldn't be able to say why, and had a feeling that maybe Pyra wouldn't be able to either. Away from everybody. Yes, that sounded nice. It sounded best. He might have killed a building full of people back in the Capitol, many of them innocent, so Finnick Odair was no longer meant to be the man in the center of a crowd. He was no longer polite company. He was no longer really himself, and that was really at the heart of it. Anyone with him was in danger, including Pyra, but without her he didn't know what or where he'd be. She needed him too, he could tell. Everyone else, though, could be spared until he knew his own mind again - if that ever happened. It surprised him a little that she wouldn't want to go back to a potential family that could very well be alive, but he knew what he wanted. "There's nothing for me in District 4 either," he said with a bit of a shrug. As much as Finnick still loved the rest of District 4 - the beach, the boardwalk, going out onto the water - it wasn't enough to go back. Everyone there had betrayed him, or was dead, or both. Right? Or had their betrayals been as false as what he sometimes thought Pyra's was? Better not to find out for sure just yet. "Why?" he asked honestly, spreading is arms wide. "We don't know where we are, and the only thing we really need to figure out is how to keep breathing." He rested his forearms back on top of his knees. "Maybe we live here now, or maybe we get back on that boat and keep sailing. It doesn't matter. I don't know what's going to pass through my head in the next five minutes, so I don't think I'd be much good at making a plan." There was no where he could see to go or plan for even if he were sane. No place seemed friendly, no place good enough that no one would bother him. Maybe this place would do though, or just the open water. But why decide now? Why decide anything when the only thing he really knew was that he was no longer limited by a cage. Abruptly, Finnick stood and stretched, getting another lungful of the clear air here. He wasn't sure he'd ever get enough of that. It would be dark soon, and they'd both be useless to find anything then. His survival instincts were rusty, and a large part of him wanted to just remain sitting underneath that tree until food dropped in his lap, but that was probably how he stopped living. "We're here for food, right? Water? Looks like we left the cornucopia with nothing this time, so we have to be creative." There might be things on the boat they could use, but he wasn't entirely sure he had the strength to make a return journey. Drowning would not be a part of today. "I'll look for food or get lost trying. You coming?"
WC: 637 Tag: Pyra Elswood |
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District 4
Heterosexual
18 Years Old
Relationship:
Complicated
Occupation:
???
HG Status:
Victor
Life of the Party
Last Online:
Nov 6, 2018 1:05:01 GMT -7
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Post by Pyra Elswood on Oct 25, 2017 8:37:43 GMT -7
Pyra was always one to look towards the future. She liked to plan things in advance. She planned to win the games, and she was going to stop at nothing but it ended up costing seven other kid's lives. She planned to join the rebellion, though her actions got her in trouble. She planned to break Finnick out of the prison, hoping that they would see the world. Maybe planning things wasn't so good after all, as in the past, it hasn't worked out so well. Maybe it was better if she, for once, didn't plan anything. The needed food, water, and shelter now. What happened in the weeks to come was something she shouldn't be worrying about. Why did they need a plan? There was nothing planned for them now. They weren't being pawns in the games, they weren't being used in the rebellion, and they weren't being held captive by the Capitol. The freedom was almost overwhelming. For the past year, she had everything planned out for her by other people. Now, it was her and Finnick on their own without anyone to tell them what to do. The thing was, Pyra didn't know what to do.
"You're right," she said, agreeing with Finnick. With both of their mental and physical state, planning anything now would more than likely be disastrous. She tucked her hair behind her ear. There was water next to them and the woods in front of them. There was everything they needed. Her survival instincts weren't very good after being locked in a single environment for the past months. Her stomach was growling. She wondered how many food would go down after the almost mush they had in the prison. She hadn't tasted anything but the same three meals every day, and she usually skipped one or two of them to protest. It was the only thing she could protest in the cell.
She was so exhausted, but if they didn't get the basic necessities they needed by nightfall, they might be in trouble. Finnick said that they didn't have a cornucopia, and she let out a small laugh. It was interesting how similar the two situations were. Any minute, Peacekeepers or angry rebels could come and kill them. She was just glad that she could work with Finnick and not have to kill him. She told herself that, if Finnick got out of hand, she wouldn't kill him. She couldn't do that. She would pick death before she had to kill Finnick.
Pyra raised an eyebrow. "I don't think I have much of a choice if I don't want to starve." It was hard for Pyra to grasp that, only a few hours ago, they were still in a cell. The red-haired girl, the pretend Peacekeepers. They didn't look back. For all she knew, they might be surviving out in the wild just like them. But Pyra doubted it, and her mind moved onto putting her strength into walking.
She walked into the woods. She didn't think that she would be able to kill any animals, especially without weapons, nets, or traps. She knew they would probably have to stick to eating plants before they were able to have the strength to make weapons. At least her clothes were getting dryer by walking. She wanted to come across a creek of some sort, and maybe then they'll be able to catch some small fish swimming by. She wondered how lucky she would be, especially since they had enough luck for one day.
"Let's see," she started off. "It looks like we have a pretty decent choice. We can eat berries, insects, or worms." She looked around. It was almost in a sarcastic way, as she put a light smile on her face. She knew that it wasn't really a joking thing, but she tried to make light of the situation. Maybe their luck would open up. They were pretty deep in the woods already. They had to hit water eventually.
WORD COUNT: 652
TAG: Finnick Odair |
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District 4
Hunger Games Victor
Heterosexual
23 Years Old
Relationship:
??
Occupation:
HG Status:
Social Butterfly
Last Online:
Jan 17, 2024 11:55:03 GMT -7
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Post by Finnick Odair on Oct 31, 2017 9:41:18 GMT -7
Finnick reluctantly re-donned his wet socks and shoes before they made their forray into the woods. Maybe he didn't need them, but it would probably slow the both of them down if he kept stepping on sharp branches and bleeding all over the forest. He didn't know how well his area awareness had kept up, what with his life being a tiny box for the past however long. He should probably just assume that basically everything he was good at pre-cell were no longer applicable. He could no longer be quick and deadly, or charming and attractive. He in fact realized now that he wasn't comfortable with a girl seeing quite so much of him as Pyra now could, when that had almost never been something he had to worry about. But he also decided that he was going to keep on anyway. She didn't have to like what he saw, and Finnick would have to get used to this new version of himself one way or another. "You make it all sound so appealing," he said as he walked alongside her. There was nothing familiar about these woods except for the fact that they were, in fact, woods. He knew enough about them generally, although District 4 didn't have any that he'd seen. His arena had, though, as had several of his tributes'. Water was the most important, as always, and so he kept walking despite the tempting food array Pyra had mentioned. "It would be ironic if we were to eat the wrong thing and die out here, wouldn't it?" he said by way of conversation as they walked. "Escape everything just to be poisoned by some bug or rogue berry." Happy conversation? No, but it was something to keep his mind on for a moment. There was a silence between them when he finally heard it: water. The soft burbling sound of it reached him between the trees, and it seemed almost too easy. They had gotten too lucky, walking for barely twenty minutes before happening across the one thing that meant life. Perhaps this was another mad illusion, but all the same, Finnick sped up toward the sound. Then the sight of it followed. It was a small little creek, moving merrily along the forest floor. The water was clear, flowing down to his left and disappearing amidst the winding trees. It didn't seem big enough to have much in the way of fish, but then if they'd gotten this lucky, why not? "Looks like dehydration isn't in our immediate future," Finnick said before kneeling at the stream. He brought a handful of the cool water to his lips and felt it slide down his throat. He hadn't realized how thirsty he was. He drunk again, and again. His head felt a little clearer, but as it cleared away from the simple thoughts of keeping alive, the sound of the moving water seemed to intensify in his ears. It grew and grew until he was suddenly stock still, his eyes clenched shut. He saw behind his closed eyes a mountain of water rushing down, carrying with it three people in three different places. One of them was smashed against a rock, smearing it with bright red blood before being carried away to drown. Another couldn't keep her head above water, floundering until she just never came up again. The third, her hair red fire, swam strongly, confidently. She rode the current like she was one with it, flinching as first one canon boomed, then another, but continuing to swim. She had still tasted of that seawater when he'd kissed her and held her in his arms. It was the last time she'd smell like that. And then she was looking over her shoulder at him, half undressed with this sort of odd, flirtatious smile as she sat in Caspian's lap, their bodies close. Finnick, who had been frozen with his fingers dug into the earth, suddenly burst into motion. As it always did, this betrayal of Annie's was followed by his others. The memories were sharp, too sharp in his mind and they were suddenly all he could see. He reeled back from the water onto his feet. He saw Pyra, her face leering over him in the train tunnel - then Annie's, then Elodie's, then a Peacekeeper he didn't know with hair that same fiery red. He wasn't sure in the moment which Pyra this was, if she was event real or not. He ran at her, lifting her and slamming her against a tree. "Will it stop if I kill you?" he asked, then just as suddenly he let her go, seeing Elodie down in the cells. Watching the building come down on top of her and everyone else. Breathing heavily already, Finnick turned from Pyra and ran. He ran over the stream, the water briefly touching him before he was past it, moving through the trees. There was less in his mind as he ran, the exertion clearing away the images. Then there was finally only forest in front of him, and then the trees broke abruptly and seemed to disappear. He didn't slow or change his pace, but his body moved faster than his feet could down the hill. He lost his footing and tumbled, feeling branches and rocks pelt him as he rolled. His head slammed against something as he fell, and then the forest was replaced by darkness.
WC: 907 Tag: Pyra ElswoodNotes: I don't even know why. Luck runs both ways? |
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District 4
Heterosexual
18 Years Old
Relationship:
Complicated
Occupation:
???
HG Status:
Victor
Life of the Party
Last Online:
Nov 6, 2018 1:05:01 GMT -7
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Post by Pyra Elswood on Oct 31, 2017 14:27:09 GMT -7
Pyra felt so small in the vast woods. There were trees and land as far as she could see. She felt like the wooded area didn't end as Finnick spoke to her about possibly dying of poisonous food. She felt like things had been on her side so far, but with the way things had been going before, she wondered when her luck was going to run out. She knew something bad always happened when things were too good, but she hoped that things would be alright for a couple days while Finnick and herself got back on their feet.
She heard water running and she looked at Finnick. Was this all a sick joke? Could she really hear it? But she could see that Finnick heard it too. She rushed to the creek and bent down, feeling the rushing water over her fingertips. She cupped her hands, making sure that they were getting full of water as she drank it. It was refreshing, and it wasn't like the filtered water she got in the prison. This was fresh water, and the coldness of it ran down her throat. She felt like it was opening up her airways, making her breath easier and finally getting some hydration.
Pyra knew that this was the perfect spot to camp out at, at least for the night. They would have water at the ready, and maybe if they were lucky, possibly have some small fish pass by. Maybe they were finally lucky, and maybe this creek lead to a pond. Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt a force against her body, putting her body in between Finnick's strength and the hard back of the tree. She screamed out in agony, hearing her right shoulder pop against the tree. Her body fell down after Finnick said something, and she felt like her body was crumpling. She looked at Finnick, and just as she did, he started to run away from her in the opposite direction. "Finnick!" she yelled, knowing she couldn't move but tried to stop him anyways. There was no stopping him. She couldn't see him at all. She was alone.
Alone. Her breathing was fast. Alone. The men in the dark room gathered over her. Alone. Pyra Elswood deserves to be alone.
Pyra's eyes were darting everywhere. She couldn't be here like this. She couldn't die like this. She was heaving. This was her worst nightmare. She was alone in an unfamiliar place with nothing but the clothes on her back. She looked over at her shoulder, the one that was hurt against the tree, and saw that it was dislocated. It hurt like hell, as did her upper chest and back. She felt like she couldn't stand up. For what seemed like seconds, she laid there, trying to gather her thoughts. The next thing she knew, it was almost dark.
The girl put her right arm against the tree, trying to support her body to stand up. She had to find Finnick. He was out there somewhere. She couldn't leave him. She was finally able to stand up, barely but in a world of hurt. She had to keep going. She walked over the stream, trying to walk in the same direction as Finnick did. Was this Pyra's fault? Did she do this to him? God, she didn't know. She just wanted it all to stop.
The darkness consumed the woods. She was terrified, as the only light that was guiding her was the moon. She could only hear the sound of her footsteps and her heavy breathing. She was shaking, and her whole body told her to stop.
You betrayed me. You went behind my back and now you think an apology is enough?
If it helps, I’m sorry too.
I don't think it really matters what we deserve.
You wanted me in here, so here I am.
Hours went by, her thoughts all trying to be untangled. The things that were said to her kept haunting her. Everything she did wrong and everything she could've done right was just playing over and over again in her head. Why couldn't she just be a damn fisherman and kept her mouth shut? "I'm sorry," she said to herself. And she repeated it. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
She finally came to a large hill, and just below, she saw something out of the ordinary. The moon's light shined on it, seeing the outline of a body. "Finnick," she said out of relief and exhaustion. She stepped down the hill, carefully and ever so slightly. It took her several minutes to get down to the bottom of the hill. Finnick was out cold. She flipped him over, seeing that he was still breathing. Oh god, she hoped he was okay.
The blonde looked at her surroundings, which wasn't much considering how dark it was. To her right, she saw a big tree that would possibly give them cover for the night. With her right arm, Pyra grabbed his arm and held it as tightly as possible. She grabbed him and pulled, moving him inch by inch. Her energy was completely drained, but she wasn't going to give up. She didn't have a choice.
Pyra finally moved him to the tree, sitting him up against the tree. Pyra was in agonizing pain. She had to breath for just a second and think. Though it wasn't freezing outside, it was still cold enough that if Finnick didn't get some sort of warmth, he might come down with an infection. As much as Pyra didn't want to, she took off her shirt and pants and put Finnick into them. It was small on him, but it still fit and she hoped it would help. She felt so exposed as she looked down at her chest. Half of it was blue from being bruised, and she tried her best to cover herself with her arms. She hated being in this state.
The blonde hair girl was used to staying up for three nights straight to the point where she would pass out eventually, so though she wasn't necessarily tired in the sense of sleeping, she was exhausted from the pain and walking she had to do. She hadn't had any nutrition nor warmth in a long while. The one thing she remembered how to do was to make a fire. She made dinner every night for her family and would make a fire when they didn't have matches sometimes.
She gathered sticks, grass, and rocks and carried them back to their makeshift camp spot. She set up a small fire pit. She sighed, putting the stick in between her hands and trying to create a spark. When she moved her arm though, she felt a stabbing pain go through her body. All she wanted was a fire. All she wanted was for everything to be okay. Pyra dropped the stick buried her head into her hands. Out of frustration and anger of herself, she bawled. She hated being so weak and so defenseless. She tried to make herself warm by putting her legs against her chest and trapping the heat, but her fingers were the most cold. She couldn't do anything about it. Pyra honestly felt like she couldn't do anything at all anymore.
WORD COUNT: 1225
TAG: Finnick Odair
NOTES: They're so sad 
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District 4
Hunger Games Victor
Heterosexual
23 Years Old
Relationship:
??
Occupation:
HG Status:
Social Butterfly
Last Online:
Jan 17, 2024 11:55:03 GMT -7
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Post by Finnick Odair on Oct 31, 2017 18:02:01 GMT -7
In the midst of the blackness, Finnick heard crying. It wasn't the gentle, restrained cries of someone who feared being overheard, but the full bawling of someone truly upset. Slowly, and without moving anything else, he opened his eyes. The darkness was a little less out here, but the world was still shadows more than anything else. His mind, empty now, first took in his condition. There was a dull ache in his head and his senses were starting to awaken to pinpricks and valleys of pain elsewhere along his body. He was sitting up, and whatever it was he was leaning against felt sturdy enough. The night air was cold against his skin, but on his hands and face more than anywhere else. He glanced down. He was wearing clothes again, those same ugly prison clothes that had been his sole wardrobe for what felt like years - only these clothes didn't fit him quite right. The sleeves stopped before his wrists, the pants before his ankles, and they felt a bit tight. Someone else's clothes. The sobbing hadn't stopped when Finnick opened his eyes, so the sobber must not be aware of him yet. His eyes moved along the shadowy trees and brush to settle on a figure, huddled into itself not far from him. He focused, and even though it was dark, he figured easily enough that it was Pyra. It most likely was, anyway. She shook, with sobs and he guessed the cold. Her skin shone in the moonlight, and there was more of it than there should be right now. He was wearing her clothes, then. But he couldn't remember taking them, or how either of them had gotten here, or if he should know why she was crying. All he knew was that he should do something about it. Slowly, afraid to scare her, he moved toward her. It made him aware of an excruciating pain near his right ankle and he grit his teeth, but didn't cry out. He had to lift it, just using his left leg to move. He could look into that later. The other pains, except perhaps the dull throb in his head, were unimportant too. When he was close enough, he gently pulled her back against his chest, a leg on either side of her. He didn't know if this would be a welcome gesture, or if he'd done something that would make her pull away and cry harder. He still didn't feel totally in this awake world yet, not even sure if this was a dream, not entirely sure where he was. All he knew was this feeling that he needed to protect her, and another that recognized her need for warmth. Perhaps he was responsible for taking both. He probably was, but if she did allow it, he would hold her. "You're going to have to fill in the blanks," he said after a moment. "And it's all blank."
WC: 492 Tag: Pyra ElswoodNotes: They arrrre, and your posts kill me, Syd. Geez, poor girl, having to save Finnick again |
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District 4
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???
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Post by Pyra Elswood on Oct 31, 2017 19:21:18 GMT -7
Pyra jumped when she felt a touch on her bare back. She almost jumped out of her position, but she turned her head and saw it was Finnick. She didn't even realize that he was awake now. She covered her chest with her hands, knowing that she shouldn't care about him seeing her body but she did. Her whole body ached, though she was able to relax when he pulled her back into his chest. It made her feel more secure, and though she should be mad at Finnick right now, she knew she couldn't. This wasn't his fault. If anything, him being like that was her fault. She wanted to join the rebellion and he helped her out. Though she was still shaking, she wiped her tears off of her face. He was back to Finnick again.
When he had said that everything was blank, she sighed. He didn't even know what he was doing. She wondered if she should lie to him, tell him that everything was alright and he must've drank something in the water. But it was just two, and Pyra was past the point of lying. She remembered a time where she would do anything to get what she wanted. That was a tactic she used in the games. But now, she had nothing else but Finnick and truth on her side. If she lied to him now, she might break a trust that the two barely had.
"You blacked out. I don't know what set it off, but you just lost yourself." Pyra started out, staying close to Finnick to try to preserve warmth. "You ended up running away and falling down a hill. I looked for you for hours and I think I dislocated my shoulder. I'm glad I found you though. I tried to make a damn fire, but I couldn't." She spoke about the last sentence in an almost angry fashion. She didn't know why she was so upset that she couldn't make a fire. It made her the most upset out of everything.
Pyra couldn't bring herself to tell Finnick that he threw her against a tree and hurt her. He was already in enough pain and she didn't want to make him feel worse. The last thing she wanted was for Finnick to leave because he was scared that he would hurt her. She didn't care as long as she had someone. She knew that was a bad way of justifying it, but when someone like her had lost everything, there was nothing else she could do. She enjoyed Finnick and his company anyways. She was glad that she was stuck with him, even if he could kill her at a moment's notice. He was a good guy.
"I have no idea where we are now or how far we are from the boat. I'm sorry, I couldn't keep track." She knew the large hill was a good starting point, but would she even be able to make it in the condition she was in? She knew she probably couldn't, not until she healed and had some food. Pyra felt that if she took another step, she might break both of her legs. She felt like she was a failure.
WORD COUNT: 539
TAG: Finnick Odair |
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District 4
Hunger Games Victor
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23 Years Old
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??
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Post by Finnick Odair on Nov 1, 2017 7:37:05 GMT -7
It felt good to hold on to something, to someone. He felt warmer too with her body heat against him, though the spots where his fingers touched the skin of her arms felt like ice. How long had she been out here, mostly naked? Why would he have let her be if he'd known? His mind couldn't hold on to anything solidly before he'd blacked out - or before he'd just fallen asleep? Whichever it was. For a moment, he stopped trying to force it to. He used to be one who tried not to wonder about the past, or have regrets. It never did anyone any good to do that, and Finnick had always lived in the now. It didn't mean he didn't have nightmares about the past, but it meant at least that during waking hours, he focused on getting through the present. Prison had changed that some, but now that he was free, he needed to return to who he was - if he could. Finnick listened to what Pyra told him had happened, trying to see if it sparked anything in his memory. All it sparked was that sensation of running, of pushing himself to his limits as if he were running away from something that would kill him. Falling down a hill didn't surprise him then, but what had started it? He didn't know. Maybe it didn't matter. Anything could trigger him, at any time. He was a bomb, and the girl he held now could be his casualty at any time. He should go off on his own, but there his chance of survival dropped. "I'm sorry," he said, though the words didn't begin to cover it. "I wouldn't have blamed you if you didn't look for me." And he meant it, at least right now. Leaning back a little as she kept talking, he looked at her back. Even in this darkness he could see how the skin clung to her bones, the result of being fed just enough to stay alive. One shoulder did look wrong though, and he gently felt it with the tips of his fingers. Yeah, it was probably dislocated. He wanted to ask how that had happened, but it didn't matter. Or maybe he didn't want to know right now. "Being lost isn't really too different from where we were before," he replied, a shrug in his voice. "It's not your fault. You didn't go on a crazy spree and run off in unfamiliar woods. Or maybe you did too and I missed it." He wasn't in a hurry to go anywhere right now anyway. Being lost through the morning wouldn't harm them. Finnick looked next to the pair of them and saw the tools for the fire Pyra had tried to make. He could make it. He was pretty rusty, since it had probably been years since he'd been safely back in District 4, but he at least didn't have a dislocated shoulder getting in the way. "I'll start the fire," he said as he pulled away from her. He winced at the pain the movement caused him, especially in his right ankle, but tried to ignore it. He tried to keep that foot off the ground as he moved to position himself in front of the fire, though if he had looked and been able to see, he would have found it twisted at a weird angle. It felt colder away from Pyra, and if he was colder, he could only imagine what she felt. He lifted the shirt she had put on him over his head and handed it over to her. He'd give her the pants too if it didn't feel impossible to move like that. "I might have gotten it all bloody, but we're not afraid of that," he said by way of apology, then got to work on the fire. With limbs that felt leaden, sore, and unused, starting the fire wasn't a quick process for Finnick. Normally, he might have filled the span of time with talk, but it was enough for his mind to focus on this. Finally, the spark caught and he gently blew it into life. Once it was going well enough to sustain itself a bit, he looked back at Pyra. "You shouldn't trust me to fix your shoulder," he began, glancing down at it, "but there isn't anyone else out here. If you want me to, I will."
WC: 740 Tag: Pyra Elswood |
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District 4
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18 Years Old
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???
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Post by Pyra Elswood on Nov 2, 2017 0:11:04 GMT -7
Finnick's voice was welcoming in the silence of the words. It gave her a sense of familiarity and security in the vast wooded area. Whenever he spoke, Pyra realized that she wasn't facing whatever it was alone. Though Finnick had his issues, and Pyra had plenty of hers, they were still a team that thrived and fell together. If it wasn't for Pyra, Finnick might have died in the woods. If it wasn't for Finnick, Pyra might not have had the courage to keep living. When he said that he wouldn't have blamed her if she didn't look for him, she shook her head. "Don't be," Pyra said in response to him apologizing. He shouldn't be sorry. He gave her motivation not to sit somewhere and wither away. She cared an awful lot about him and his survival. Once, Finnick and Pyra were some of the most important people in Panem. Now, it was like they were at the bottom. She wondered if anyone knew or cared if the two of them were alive or dead.
Though the two were lost, it was almost a good feeling. They had nothing to worry about but to make a fire. They had no destination, no job, and nobody judging them. During the Hunger Games, they watched tributes every move. It was a strange feeling that nobody was watching them in the woods. During and after the games, Pyra was so used to being watched all the time and recorded that she thought nothing of it. When they were in the prison and the camera was trained on them at all times, she minded it then. They could watch her suffer and laugh. For the first time in a long time, they weren't being recorded. She was still paranoid about it, though she didn't have the energy to make sure there weren't any cameras around.
"It's alright. I found you, that's all that matters, right?" Pyra said with a half-smile. Finnick then got up to go make a fire, leaving her with chills on her back in the cold air. He tossed her her shirt. It was bloodied, but she didn't care. Though she knew Finnick should still wear it, she put it on without hesitation. It warmed her, giving her body a break from the slow wind that occupied the air in the woods.
Silence filled the air between the two, and she was okay with that. His presence helped her come to terms with reality, even if they had nothing to say to each other. She watched him make a fire, the pain forcing her to stay awake through it all. When the fire caught to the other items, she inched closer to it, trying to get warm.
Finnick came over to her and suggested that he should pop her shoulder. Her eyes grew wide as she looked at him. What a scary thing to do, she thought, but he offered and it wasn't like she had a large range of medical help from anyone else where they were at. She let out a long, deep breath. "Alright, Dr. Odair, I trust you," she said, closing her eyes and trying to use comedy as a coping mechanism. She hoped that the pop of the shoulder wouldn't set him off. If it did, she would just go look for him again, no matter how broken she was.
WORD COUNT: 571
TAG: Finnick Odair |
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District 4
Hunger Games Victor
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Post by Finnick Odair on Nov 5, 2017 8:56:51 GMT -7
"I found you, that's all that matters, right?" Half of Finnick's lips pulled up into a smile too at that. Out here, how much of what they did or didn't do actually mattered? "Out here, I guess so," he replied. He would have been alone if she hadn't found him, hadn't tried, and that wouldn't have meant anything good for him. They were stuck together, at least as long as they wanted to keep surviving. Alone, maybe they'd each live - maybe - but it probably wouldn't do wonders for his mental state. There would be no way to know what was real and what wasn't without another person there to verify it for him. Despite the silence and length of time it was taking, Finnick oddly didn't get frustrated in starting the fire. In most ways, they had all the time in the world right now. Aside from being cold, he could be working at this fire for hours and it wouldn't matter much. They could survive with or without it. When the spark finally caught, there was a feeling of overwhelming satisfaction. It was such a small thing, but he hadn't accomplished anything good in a long time. Fire was good, felt good, and maybe it was a little repayment for Pyra saving his life - again. Because it wasn't the first time, was it? There was the attempted prison escape. There was her telling him she would leave if he didn't come with her now, after the prison fell. There was simply having her around, next to him in the cell or after it. He couldn't count the amount of times she'd saved him, and it was odd. He'd never been one people had to save before, but now? Apparently, he was. "Your first mistake," Finnick said lightly when Pyra agreed to having her shoulder reset. Truthfully, he'd never actually done it before, but a million years ago, he'd learned how. Having a dislocated shoulder could mean death in the arena, especially if it was on the side of your good hand. It was part of the mostly-joke of a survival class he'd taken back at the academy. He wasn't supposed to take it until he was older, but Finnick had manage to find a way in at 14. They'd used simulations as practice then, and that was past a decade ago, but he'd have to give it his best shop. And if he made it worse? Well, he never claimed to actually be good at it, but leaving her shoulder the way it was would make things harder for both of them. With a gentle push on her chest, he asked Pyra to lay down. It seemed like it would be easier that way. Then he moved her arm up almost parallel with her shoulder, pulling as he pushed against her side to keep her stable. Perhaps three seconds passed then before he heard the distinct pop sound, and he immediately let go. Either he'd fixed it or broken it more, but that pop at least meant something had happened. As soon as he heard that pop too, he felt something pop in his mind. "I did that to begin with, didn't I," he said. It wasn't a question, and he couldn't remember actually doing it, but you usually don't dislocate your shoulder by falling down or banging into a tree wrong. He sat back, resting his arms atop his knees as he looked at her. "I try to kill you, you try to save me. We make one hell of a team, Pyra. If we ever decide to make it back to civilization, if we live that long, they'll probably write songs about us." It bothered him, of course - both the fact that he couldn't remember doing it and the fact that he had. He was a bomb, and one time he'd accidentally snap her neck or impale her on a tree branch, and when he came back to himself, he'd have to live with that. He looked away from her and into the fire, his light-hearted humor vanishing at that thought. But what if she deserved it? a part of his mind asked. What if she started everything? He still wasn't sure. Maybe he should just ask her. Maybe she'd lie if he did, but maybe not. He wouldn't know the difference for sure, but maybe it would give him something at least. So, as he watched the fire, Finnick just simply asked her the thing that had been on his mind since before she'd first come to his cell. "Did you sell me out to the Capitol before the battle?" He might have said us, but he wasn't entirely sure District 13 hadn't somehow been in on it too. The face hovering over him before he'd passed out in that train tunnel still changed constantly.
WC: 809 Tag: Pyra Elswood
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District 4
Heterosexual
18 Years Old
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Post by Pyra Elswood on Nov 13, 2017 22:48:32 GMT -7
Pyra often wondered where she would end up if Finnick didn't drink with her that night. She had a lot of time spent in her cell, just thinking about everything that went right and went wrong in her life. One of those was this ripple effect she had with people. It was especially with Finnick, someone she didn't really associate with until strange circumstances brought them together. If he had never drank with Pyra that night, she probably would have died. Maybe Finnick would have to, whether it was in battle or in the prison. A part of her kept telling herself to run away from Finnick. Not because he was dangerous, but because she was dangerous. She always had a way with people, though she didn't know if she was unintentionally manipulating them or just had a string of bad luck. Pyra wanted nothing more than for Finnick to be happy, and a part of her told her that he would be happy without her. Then again, the rest of herself said that she had to stay for his sake. Out in the wilderness, they were all each other had. With Finnick messed up in the head, who knows what he would do if he was left alone. Pyra knew it was the same for her too.
She did as Finnick asked and laid down. She was definitely not looking forward to her shoulder popping. It shouldn't have bothered her--she went through worse--but it was still nervous for her. Finnick seemed so calm now as she looked up at him, though he was probably just as nervous as her. He was doing his best, and that was all Pyra could ask for. Neither of them were doctors, but they knew the basics of medicine that might help them. Pyra gritted her teeth when her shoulder popped back into place. It didn't hurt as much as she thought it did, though she knew it would need to heal before she could do anything major. She let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks," she said with a small smile, laying there for a few seconds before getting back up.
She sat up and sat next to Finnick, sprawling her legs out and hunching her back a little. Pyra turned her head and looked at Finnick, who had asked that he had dislocated. "Does it matter? It's fixed. Don't worry about it too much." The last thing Pyra wanted Finnick to do was worry. He already seemed to have a lot of things on his mind, and it didn't matter whether he was about to go berserk or he was about to pass out. He seemed different every hour, though it was nice when she could chat with Finnick like this. It wasn't condescending, like in the cells, or life-threatening, like the first time they really spoke to each other. It was just a genuine conversation. "Oh god, the last thing I need is attention from other people right now. I would rather have people ignore me than songs being written about us." She laughed. If there ever was a song written about her, she would probably just close her ears and ignore it. Once, she loved when people had all eyes on her. Now, she couldn't stand anyone to look at her except for Finnick. She felt gross and deformed. She obviously wasn't the latter, but that was how she felt.
She could see Finnick's mood change in an instant. She flinched, but she realized that it wasn't going to be chaotic Finnick. He had something on his mind, just as he always did. She didn't take her eyes off of him, even if he wasn't looking at her. He then asked something that he assumed a million times before. Did you sell me out to the Capitol before the battle? The woman sighed. Even if she told him the truth, would he believe her?
"Finnick, look at me," she said to him, her tone serious as well. "I would never do that. Not intentionally." Her mind raced. In a way, she did sell him out. She was too distracted by her own surroundings. "It was my fault that the train was late. I was talking to Quirinus' mother and things got out of hand. I was pulled into the train because I was ten minutes late. But I never meant to hurt you in any way." She said. He had to know the truth. Her voice was calm through it all, but she didn't look anywhere else but Finnick. "If I sold you out, I would've never have come and try to save you in the prison. I risked everything for you. I would spend ten more years in jail if it meant that I could have saved you from that day in the train, even if it wasn't all my fault."
WORD COUNT: 812
TAG: Finnick Odair |
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District 4
Hunger Games Victor
Heterosexual
23 Years Old
Relationship:
??
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Post by Finnick Odair on Nov 15, 2017 8:33:53 GMT -7
Did it matter? Yes and no. Yes, it did matter because this was apparently who Finnick Odair was now - a person who could go off the rails and hurt someone, then not have any memory of it. But no, it didn't matter, because it wasn't enough to make him venture out on his own. It should have been, maybe, but it wasn't. He didn't want to have to be saved, again and again, but having her there was something he needed. It was motivation, and he just had to hope he could keep himself in check. But they didn't linger on the topic long, and he chuckled lightly at her response to getting songs in her name. "I think you'd be pretty interesting in a song. You'd probably be the heroine in ours."Finnick's joking had vanished second later though, considering what he was and what she might have done. When she asked him to look at her, he did, the flames and shadows from the fire dancing across her face. Perhaps he should have asked her in the full light of day, when he could see things more clearly. Perhaps he should never have asked, because he wasn't sure what he would do with her answer. As she answered him, he tried to look for lies, for malice, for a sort of self-satisfaction in what she'd done in her words or her face. He found none of these, though that didn't prove anything. There were good liars out there, and for most of the time he'd known her, he'd really only known her voice. Maybe she was a good liar. Yet, he wanted to believe Pyra. The betrayal didn't make the same sense in his head as her serving his sentence alongside him. It didn't answer why she'd come back to him, because as they were leaving the prison a million years ago - this morning? - he'd seen her cell. It wasn't a lavish setup granted by the Capitol. It was identical to his. Maybe she still had betrayed him and that cell was punishment for her not being able to crack Finnick like they wanted, but that didn't feel right either. Things didn't add up, but if she hadn't betrayed him, than why wasn't he sure of it? Why did he sometimes see her standing over him in the train tunnel, her voice cold as she told the Peacekeepers what a valuable prisoner he would be? But then again, he didn't only see her face. There were others, and he had no way of knowing which was the right one. She'd mentioned Quirinus' mother, and it took several moments before he could place that name, and then the mother. He hadn't watched the Games as they happened unless Annie was scheduled for an interview, but he'd watched the vast majority of them later. He needed to understand Pyra a little better before trusting her with the rebellion in District 4. Quirinus had been her district partner and final competitor. They'd been quite a team on screen, fake lovers for parts of it - but then, Pyra had told Finnick once that she'd loved the boy. Maybe all that should have been enough to clue Finnick in to her capacity for betrayal, but he also understood the Games. It was kill or die, and there was no middle ground. The mother, he remembered from interviews, was so confident in her son, usually smiling harder than she actually wanted to while holding a baby in her arms. Why would Pyra choose that day to strike up a conversation with the mother of her dead enemy lover? But it also seemed too odd a detail to make up and throw in there, unless it was intentionally meant to throw him off. There was silence as Finnick contemplated these things, watching Pyra all the while. He'd chosen to go down this rabbit hole and there was no going back. "Don't say things you don't mean," he finally said. "Ten more years in a place like that and you'd be nothing but a shell. No one would do that." I wouldn't. Would I? Would the old me have done it? He wasn't sure. He turned his body to her fully now, leaning in a little. "Smiles used to call you the Capitol's whore, and he'd laugh at how I'd trusted you. He'd laugh at how it was I trusted anyone. I think he thought my life was pretty funny." He smiled a little at that, though it was a dark smile. He didn't know if he'd ever mentioned Smiles specifically to Pyra. "But someone told them that we were down there. Someone shot me. If it wasn't you, then who was it?" The person who betrayed him - maybe them, if District 13 too was blameless - didn't have to be the same person that shot him, but they felt tied in his mind. Pyra had been able to stay outside after the battle, and he had to hope that she knew something.
WC: 836 Tag: Pyra Elswood |
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District 4
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18 Years Old
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Post by Pyra Elswood on Nov 15, 2017 15:48:24 GMT -7
Pyra remembered when she once looked up to Finnick. Before the games, she never really cared about who was who or even watched the Hunger Games. But she knew who Finnick Odair was--everyone did. He was the face of District 4 and the perfect model of a perfect victor. He was the poster child of the games. The Capitol loved him and so did the people. She would always hear girls at school talk about how handsome he was and boys talk about how jealous they were of him. He was seemingly untouchable to the common folk. Even she was jealous of him at some point. She felt like he didn't even have to work to be treated like a god while she was out working her tail off for several hours every day while making barely enough money to put bread on the table. When she went into the games, she knew that was wrong. She knew that, once you won, you had to be perfect on the outside or else there would be consequences. The perfect Finnick Odair wasn't so perfect after all. When she found that out while talking to him, it almost broke her heart in a way. He seemed so happy on television but he wasn't. He was human, just like she was and everybody else.
Seeing Finnick with her at that moment made her realize how far she came, though it wasn't a good thing. She didn't take her eyes off of him. She remembered posters of him all over Panem ten years ago, when she was just a little girl and he was a teenager. The face she saw plastered everywhere seemed like a completely different person from the man in front of her now. The man in front of her was more broken than put together, but that didn't matter to Pyra. If those school girls and boys had seen Finnick now, they might have run away or praised him, but Pyra did neither. To her, Finnick wasn't a god. She watched and listened to him through his worst, and he did the same with her. In the short amount of time they knew each other, Pyra felt like he was the only person who she could trust with anything anymore. A couple years ago, she was jealous of him. Now, she needed him.
She listened to Finnick speak, both of them looking at each other intensely. They had each other's full attention, both in a physical aspect and an emotional aspect. For Pyra, there was nothing else but Finnick and his words right now. What she would say to him felt like the most important words she ever said. They were both on the verge of insanity and they needed each other to listen right now. "I don't have any reason to say things that I don't mean right now, Finnick. So when I say that I would stay in there for 10 more years, I'm not lying. Even if I lost everything that's a part of me, I would do it. I've hurt a lot of people Finnick, and if I could go back and save one more person, it would be you." Part of her wanted to contradict herself, but she knew it was true. Finnick was loved by so many, and because of her, his world came crashing down in an instant. Even if she saved him and never saw him again, she would be okay with that. She wished a part of her would say that she would save Adam or Quirinus, but she hated herself for saying that she wouldn't. She experienced Finnick's pain for the last million years in the prison. She heard his words, his outbursts, his cries. She wouldn't wish that on anybody, and what Finnick went through was what she regretted the most.
When Finnick spoke again, his words made her look down from his eyes and down to his chest. The Capitol's whore. Those words hurt her in a way she never thought they would. It wasn't Finnick who said it about her, but it was something that made her feel dirty. Those words were true. Before the prison, she made a deal with Snow and turned to escorting. And before that, she cheated on Adam with several men. Though those words were cruel, they were true. That was what hurt Pyra the most to hear Finnick say that. After a second, she looked back up at him. Why would this man, Smiles, talk about her like she was scum? She never met him. At least, she didn't think she did. The words were obviously meant to hurt Finnick, but the way Finnick spoke made it seem like Smiles held Pyra's name as a power over Finnick. No wonder he didn't trust her. "That's because he would never experience what you went through. He said those things because he was afraid of you, right?" She asked, though she didn't know why she was questioning him. She wondered if Finnick knew the answer to that.
And then he asked the million dollar question. Who was it? No matter how many times Pyra slept around or how many people she spoke to, she never knew who destroyed their plan. Pyra shook her head and sighed. "Your guess is as good as mine. It could've been anyone. It could've been a rebel, it could've been a Peacekeeper. I don't give a damn about either side anymore. I haven't for a long time." There were so many sides and so many opinions that didn't matter to her anymore. "Finnick, I trusted you with my life back then. You were the one that helped me in so many ways. It wouldn't make sense for me to stab you in the back. I wanted to save you more than I wanted to save myself. That's why I tried to break you out of the prison. I didn't care about getting captured as long as you made it." She owed it to him more than he would ever realize.
WORD COUNT: 1015
TAG: Finnick Odair |
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District 4
Hunger Games Victor
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23 Years Old
Relationship:
??
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Post by Finnick Odair on Nov 15, 2017 21:35:16 GMT -7
"Don't pick me," was all Finnick could say to that. If she really was crazy enough to be willing to trade ten years in that place for him, he couldn't change it. He wouldn't want that, though. He'd seen what the time in there had done to her. She was not that same vibrant girl who'd fought her way through the arena, or even the same one who felt so much that she'd been ready to kill herself. The prison had taken big chunks out of her - her memory, her strength, her will. In his more lucid moments, Finnick understood that it was his fault. The person he was now wasn't really worth saving, although that didn't mean he was giving up. And the person he was before? The celebrity, who thought he had figured out how to walk the line between fame and family, between the exaggerated version the world saw and his actual self? Maybe he was worth saving once, but in this new world that he didn't understand yet, he wasn't sure old Finnick would have a place in it either. Of course Finnick noticed Pyra look away when he told her what Smiles had called her. For a moment, it was like a breath in this intense conversation, but not a good one. He'd been called the same thing at one time, but it was a name he'd embraced if it meant people he loved would stay safe. He wasn't even sure what all it meant in regards to Pyra, other than that Smiles had been saying that she'd do whatever the Capitol said. It was why she'd turned on him, though her intensity in denying that was starting to make him change his mind. Had Smiles meant literally then? Had she sold herself out like he had? What Pyra said didn't address that though, but something totally different. Yes,
he was afraid of me," Finnick said, partly in surprise. He'd known that, but he'd forgotten it. Smiles had been afraid of him, yes, and that's why he was never without his stick. Even if he remained on the other side of the cell, Smiles had the stick. Who knows if fear was the reason he said the things he did, but fear was definitely the reason for a lot of things Smiles had done. And in the end, that fear had been well deserved. Finnick had hoped for answers, to this question above all else. Striking Pyra's name off the list of suspects didn't narrow the field all that much, and a part of him wanted to know who to thank for his "gifts". Even if he never left these woods or found other people again, he wanted to know who had given them up. It wasn't for the sake of District 13, whose cause he couldn't believe in anymore, but things would have changed if they'd taken District 4 that day. It seemed like they had changed anyway, but maybe it wouldn't have had to be so violent. Maybe a lot of things wouldn't have needed to happen. And he wanted to know who had shot him, who had taken away the thing that made him a man forever and seemed well-satisfied in doing so. Even if he couldn't or wouldn't return the favor, the knowing might stop the never-ending reel of faces he saw, the doubt in his mind about what was real and what wasn't, at least in this. But Pyra had no answers. Either she was hiding them or didn't have them - but Finnick was tired of being suspicious right now. He was tired of wondering if his only ally was his enemy, and so for now, he decided he would believe what she said. He could worry about questioning it later if he needed to. Pyra didn't know, and had only wanted to help him and, at one time, the cause. She was just as much a victim of the game of power as he'd been. She was not evil or malicious. It was not laughable to trust her, but important to. If he took everything she'd said as true, she cared about him enough to put him above herself in the grand scheme of things. That was dumb of her to feel. It was exactly because Finnick had once been that way that he'd ended up where he was. He'd trusted and loved many, and they'd taken advantage of him. But maybe she hadn't, which was both stupid and a relief. "We almost did make it," he said, his voice softer. "But I had to turn around and kill Smiles. I had to, and it didn't even matter seconds after I did it. We got new jailers and worse rooms. You could have kept running, though. You should have. All I did was tell you things you should have already known, have a drink with you, and give you something to do. All that's not worth that cell or the way they scrambled up our brains, or being stuck out here with a madman." It was a punishment for her good intentions. He was. He couldn't do anything about it now except try to understand it. "But you're also the only reason I'm still alive and not entirely insane, so I'm going to trust you."
WC: 886 Tag: Pyra Elswood
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District 4
Heterosexual
18 Years Old
Relationship:
Complicated
Occupation:
???
HG Status:
Victor
Life of the Party
Last Online:
Nov 6, 2018 1:05:01 GMT -7
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Post by Pyra Elswood on Nov 16, 2017 15:20:44 GMT -7
Pyra never really cared about the things people said about her. Before she was locked up, she had given up on everyone. She wanted people to say bad things about her to give her the attention she craved from others. She would've welcomed being called the Capitol's whore or a liar. As long as it gave her attention and made her feel more powerful, that was all she needed. She was a string of bad luck, and the more people she could hurt, the better everyone around her would be. That was why she volunteered to prostitute herself in the Capitol--she wanted to get Adam away from her. It was why she abandoned her family in favor of the rebellion. She used to consider herself a good person before everything happened, but Pyra knew she was far from a saint now. What the Smiles man said really hurt her now. She knew she wouldn't be able to take any criticism from anyone now. She felt like glass, both physically and mentally, and it would be easy for someone just to break her.
Everything in the past few months had felt like a long nightmare. She felt like, if she snapped her fingers, she would wake up in her bed next to Adam and everything would be okay. Even the games felt untouchable to her, like it was a memory that belonged to someone else. But she had to stay grounded. Her mind wondered back to what Finnick was saying, that Smiles was afraid of him. She took a deep breath and nodded. "Good."
Pyra knew that Finnick wouldn't understand how much he meant to her. Back then, when the games and the lack of attention from the one person close to her almost pushed her over the edge, he saved her. Charming Finnick Odair, once untouchable but on her level at that moment. He saved her from killing herself. It was the first real time she saw Finnick as a real human being and not a god. He held her and gave her the attention she wasn't getting from Adam. He was there for her when nobody else was.
"Finnick, you gave me a purpose." She said as she looked back at the fire. Was this even real? If it wasn't, she didn't know what she would do. Would she wake up, or was she just in the middle of the woods by herself hallucinating? "You helped me when nobody else would. You have no idea how truly alone I was." The odds of her talking to Finnick in the middle of the woods after a war felt like something she couldn't grasp anymore. She still spoke, though even her words seemed to slip. "Even if you're not real out here, I'm glad I have this Finnick Odair. Not some god from when I saw you after you won."
Pyra looked slowly back at Finnick. She wanted whatever this was to be real. Even though Pyra went through so much, she was still terrified that it was all a dream and that she would go back to nothing. Maybe she never left her cell and she would wake up there alone. Maybe this was a hallucination of whatever drugs she was given in prison. Maybe she never went into the games at all and she would wake up next to Breckon. Pyra reached out her hand towards Finnick. She needed to know that he was physically there for her now and not just something she was imagining. The second her hand made contact with his cheek, she pulled back quickly. He was there. If he wasn't, her hands might have just went through him. Her hand ran through her hair. "I'm sorry," she said, quickly coming back from whatever that trip was.
WORD COUNT: 639
TAG: Finnick Odair |
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District 4
Hunger Games Victor
Heterosexual
23 Years Old
Relationship:
??
Occupation:
HG Status:
Social Butterfly
Last Online:
Jan 17, 2024 11:55:03 GMT -7
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Post by Finnick Odair on Nov 29, 2017 9:06:00 GMT -7
Finnick had found a stick with which to poke the fire, a useless gesture but one that gave his hands something to do. It seemed all he was doing since being captured was self-reflecting, when he wasn't trying to smother the anger and pain of so many disappointing and betraying him. Out here though, it seemed like the line between what was true and what was concocted in the Capitol was even more blurred. If Pyra hadn't betrayed him, had anyone? Had Annie really cheated? Had Caspian really taken advantage of both Annie and Finnick's request? Had Aless led them into a trap? Had Mags turned her back? The lack of surety in anything made him restless, his fingers aching for something to do. Finnick had looked back at Pyra when he'd told her he would trust her, so he watched her response. He wanted to know why she had done what she did for him. At one time, before all this, he might have thought it was because everyone simply loved him, her included. Snow had taken advantage of that, but it didn't seem to make it less true. He'd always been charming, handsome, skilled at many things. He hadn't needed to question people's loyalties or motivations in regards to himself. He hadn't ever thought of it as being conceited, but just understanding the kind of power he could have over people. But all of that didn't work now. He'd lost a lot of the things that had made him Finnick Odair since then, and he'd felt over time that Pyra wasn't the type of girl to do something just for a pretty face and charming smile. He might have found something to say to her telling him that he gave her purpose, but what she said next caught him off guard. Not real. He hadn't even considered the fact that he might be hallucinating Pyra's very existence. How had he not thought of it? Wasn't the first sign of true crazy not realizing it at all? Perhaps he'd emerged from the prison alone and concocted her as a sort of guiding spirit. Perhaps he hadn't emerged at all, but died and this was all his mind living on somehow. Or he was simply dreaming, and would wake back up to Smiles or the cold whiteness of his second prison cell. Maybe it was simply that he hadn't wanted to consider himself so crazy as to make up what they'd gone through since leaving the Capitol. Finnick flinched when Pyra touched his cheek, though it was from fear that he wouldn't feel it - that maybe it would feel like a ghost hand, or nothing at all. But he'd felt her, her hand cold but definitely there. "Don't be," he told her, feeling a bit like he could breath again knowing he wasn't that far gone. "I'd never considered that you weren't real. Means you've got a better head on than I do." He smiled a little, then moved closer to her. He wasn't sure how long this knowledge - now that it had been questioned - would last, like any knowledge he had out here. He'd forgotten about his ankle though, and the movement sent a stab of pain up his right leg. He grunted, then forced the pain down. The pain was the reminder that he was awake. He didn't need to hold her again, although his bare chest would have welcomed the warmth despite the fire. All of him would have welcomed it, actually. It had cleared his head to hold her before, and he'd so lacked the human contact he needed in the months or years he'd been imprisoned. Instead, he settled for a sort of leaning against her, feeling the presence of her from his right knee up along his side. He settled his right hand on his right knee, his fingers just barely brushing the bare skin of her legs, and put his left hand behind him on the ground for support. It was comforting, feeling her next to him, and more than that. More than that, but there were lines that were dangerous and couldn't be uncrossed. "I don't know how we're going to survive out here, as we are," he said, making a gesture between them, "but if we keep having to apologize to each other, we're not going to be able to do anything else. Let me just issue a blanket apology now for everything I have and will do, including but not limited to trying to kill you in another rage haze."
WC: 760 Tag: Pyra Elswood |
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District 4
Heterosexual
18 Years Old
Relationship:
Complicated
Occupation:
???
HG Status:
Victor
Life of the Party
Last Online:
Nov 6, 2018 1:05:01 GMT -7
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Post by Pyra Elswood on Dec 5, 2017 10:03:47 GMT -7
Pyra realized how quiet it was out in the woods. In District 4, there was always the sound of waves crashing on the shore, or boats honking their horns, or birds chirping their loudest. The only sound around them was the crackling of fire, the occasional bug noise, and their voices that filled the air. It was almost haunting. It reminded her of when she slept in the games and how quiet it was. That was different. There, she was always on guard. Now? She would've been okay if someone came out of the bushes to stab her. Accepting death was a calming feeling, an emotion that she never felt before. Even though she accepted death, she didn't want to die as long as Finnick was next to her. She wanted to try to do everything she could for the both of them, and if death just got in the way of her work, she would be okay with that. She knew Finnick was real. She had nothing else to go off of. Pyra knew that there would be no doubt that she would keep checking if he was real to make sure that she wasn't completely insane, but for now, she was satisfied.
For months, Pyra and Finnick were locked up with the most minimal of physical contact. The only physical contact she got was the hands of Peacekeepers that dragged her from point A to point B. Then, it was one of the things she craved. She wanted to sleep in the same bed with someone or even just hold someone for the sake of that contact that she desperately needed. Maybe that was one of the reasons Snow put her and Finnick in isolation. They were close enough to speak with each other but far enough away that they couldn't see or touch each other. With Finnick so close to her now, she was hesitant of that contact, even if it was just brushing legs. Yet, she wanted to fully hold him and get that need that she was deprived of in the jail. She didn't know what she wanted, which was usual for the Elswood girl.
When he said that she had a better head than he did, she gave a little chuckle. "Give it a few days, you might not be saying that." Pyra didn't know what she was capable of. She was completely unpredictable. At least with Finnick, she knew that he might kill her at any moment. She had no idea what they did to her. Even when she was in the woods alone looking for Finnick, she could hear the people of her past. When Finnick was with her, that stopped, though she didn't believe that it was completely gone. She knew it was selfish, but she was glad Finnick left the prison behind to come with her. People died because of that decision, but Pyra was done worrying about other people. She had done that her whole life. Now, she was going to focus on herself and Finnick. Nothing more.
She looked at Finnick, watching him move until he was closer to her. Her heart was racing, both from trying to come down from the confusion of the hallucination and that Finnick gave her warmth, even if they were an inch apart. She knew there was tension that was there from the lack of physical contact. Still, Pyra moved even closer, scooting her body with her good arm where the inch between them was closed. She lightly leaned her head up against his arm. Her right arm held her body and her left was in her lap, still in pain.
"Apology accepted," she said with a smile. "Here's a blanket apology for my awful and unstable emotions." Pyra tried more than anything to have a level-head, but in the prison, her emotions were at her worst. They messed with her like nothing had ever done. She didn't know if it was an experiment or it was because she was in there for such a long time. Either way, she knew her emotions would probably be unpredictable. And if Finnick killed her because of it, so be it.
Pyra sighed, taking in the warmth of the fire. She laughed a little. "How did we even get here?" It wasn't much of how they got there--of course by boat--but more of the sense in what happened to the two of them to end up in the middle of the woods after the war of Panem. She didn't even know if the rebels or the Capitol won. To her, it didn't really matter. "I mean, we're in the middle of the woods with nobody around and we're not dead. I definitely don't think the odds have been in our favor." Pyra knew that making a joke about the Hunger Games was pretty tasteless, but it fit with what she had to say.
WORD COUNT: 802
TAG: Finnick Odair |
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District 4
Hunger Games Victor
Heterosexual
23 Years Old
Relationship:
??
Occupation:
HG Status:
Social Butterfly
Last Online:
Jan 17, 2024 11:55:03 GMT -7
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Post by Finnick Odair on Dec 6, 2017 8:38:59 GMT -7
Finnick gave a small smile when she said the saner one could change in a few days. "Guess we'll just have to see," he said. Of the two of them, it seemed like Pyra was handling things far better than he was. She thought to stop the boat for food, went off to find him when he'd snapped, convinced him to leave the crumbling prison. So far, the best he'd seemed to have done in their limited freedom was not die and not kill her. They were accomplishments, sure, but not great ones in the grand scheme of things. Maybe this was all a result of what they'd done to him in the prison, or maybe this was a result of him, Finnick Odair, acting out because he was alone. Alone, although he had Pyra. It did feel good to be touching someone else again. It was funny the things you don't think about missing one day when you have them, and human contact was a big one. He'd always embrace physical contact with others before, unafraid to touch complete strangers whether he was basically asked to by Snow or not. Some might have said he had no concept of personal space, but that wasn't true. He understood it, but he mostly ignored it. You could tell a lot about a person by how they reacted when you were in their space. For some, it induced fear or shyness and for others it had the opposite effect. People were more honestly themselves when you were that close to them. In prison, the only thing he would have had to get close to were uniformed Peacekeepers, and there wasn't much chance of that. Not with those sticks, not with the way they handled him. For months or years, he could only imagine what it was like to be close to someone. Now that he had that again, stopping it or taking it away would be hard. She leaned against him and he gently moved his right arm around her back. He remembered that her injured arm - the one he'd injured - was between them, and so he didn't really pull her any closer. He let his hand rest on her side just above her hip though, still leaving himself open to be leaned against. "Mm, we each have our demons," he replied. "I accept your apology." She'd been pretty stable since the escape, but she hadn't always been stable back in the prison. But who was he to judge when he was the definition of unstable? How did they get here? Finnick had always tied it back to the train tunnel, but that wasn't really true. It was more than that. It was everything. He wasn't sure he believed in fate, but being here also felt like some sort of inevitability. "I would say not being dead or around anyone else means we do have something in our favor," he said, giving a dark chuckle at Pyra's phrasing of their situation. "In whatever hell world is back in the Capitol and maybe the whole nation, we might just be better off here than anywhere else." He could have tried to answer her question actually, but he was sure it would bring up things and emotions he shouldn't bring up. He could feel them there, bubbling under the surface, waiting, and it was too soon for another blackout rage again. It was too soon to hurt her again when they were otherwise in a good place. "As for how we got here, you chose the land. I just chose the campsite. That one back there was too close to the water." He wanted to be close to the water again though - not the stream, but the sea.
WC: 624 Tag: Pyra ElswoodNotes: #onlywannawritefinnick |
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