itinere | [open]

It's been over a year now since Katniss first made her way into Itinere and found her sister alive and well. The door to return home has been here all this time, a haunting reminder of the life that she probably should be living back in Panem. But it's better this way. It's better that she's here in Itinere, with her sister, away from anyone still living that she might be able to hurt. Peeta's the only person left there that she really cares about (though she does miss Gale every now and then), and ultimately, he's better off without her. They're all better off without her. Safer. So much safer.

Now that life in Itinere has returned to normal (or whatever passes for normal here), Katniss has returned to spending a good portion of her day outside. Prim had survived the near end of the world. So had she. Their apartment is back. The forest is back. And though it had taken a little while longer, she trusts her sister not to get herself killed in this strange world. Trusts her enough that she doesn't try to spend every waking hour by her side.

So instead she returns to her old habits. Katniss wakes up bright and early every morning to slip into the forest and hunt. She never goes anywhere without her bow or quiver. Her hunts are always successful but that's no longer the point of these forays. Since the Hunger Games, since food has been relatively plentiful, the hunts are her way of coping. Of trying to make it through a day knowing everything she's done in the past couple of years. To maybe even learn how to be okay with the life that she leads.

When not in the forest, Katniss can be found exploring the town itself - or at the edge of the ocean. The water still amazes her, even a year later. Though she carries her PDA with her, she generally ignores it. The conversations people tend to have on it are of no concern to her. But she keeps it just in case Prim ever needs her. Because that's all that really matters in the end: keeping Prim alive.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

One day after Prim has closed up the apothecary for the day, she finds Katniss down by the water. Things seem to be better now, what with the city being more normal, but it's hard to shake the feeling that this is just another Arena and things could come crashing down at any minute. Prim has never even been in an Arena. Not like Katniss. She can't imagine what her sister might think of it all.

So she's quiet as she approaches, stopping by the water's edge to dip her toes in. "Did you have a good day?" she asks conversationally, to see how her sister is doing.

Katniss has been in the arena. Twice. What had happened a few months prior had been far too reminiscent of the time spent in both arenas. It had been too reminiscent of all the arenas she had watched on television as a child and again, preparing for the Quarter Quell. But it had also been more terrifying than anything she had experienced in an arena. Far more catastrophic. And just as difficult to recover from.

But as before, she's had Prim. She's had Prim in her life and that's made everything a lot better. The night terrors visit her just as regularly. Life moves on. And though she misses Panem, it usually isn't so bad here. She likes living by the water.

"Not bad," she admits, looking over at her sister and giving her a small grin in greeting. "Nothing fell out of the sky again, so I guess that has to be a good sign. How was your day, little duck?"

Prim smiles, glancing up at the sky again, as though to search for a crack in it. "Looks pretty normal to me," she agrees. At the very least, it looks like it always had and that's... that's good. Better than it was.

"It was good," she answers, turning her attention back to her sister with a smile. "Quiet, though. Not a lot of people coming in, but it was good. I like it that way. Sometimes things appear and I have to restock or rearrange, but it's good. I've found a couple of books in the stores on herbal remedies and I've been reading those. It's a lot of what I already knew, but there's a lot of new stuff, too."

Everything is good for her. Prim would never change what she's learning and the chance she has here. But speaking of ducks...

"I feel like there should be ducks on this water."

When her sister looks up at the sky, Katniss does the same. But aside from a few stray clouds, there doesn’t seem to be much to see. It’s blue, whole, normal. There aren’t any cracks or muttations or anything else terrifying to observe. She’d be grateful if it stays that way for a long time. Katniss is done with arenas. With games. And while she still considers Itinere one most of the time, she prefers it when she can almost forget.

“If there’s anything you need me to look for in the forests, I don’t mind,” Katniss offers, thinking of her father’s herb book for a few seconds and nearly smiling. She had enjoyed helping him gather herbs for her mother when she had been a child. The near-smile persists as she looks out at the water. “There are other birds on the water sometimes. Here. Back in District 4. But I’ve never seen ducks.”

Prim considers the offer seriously. Katniss doesn't give that sort of offer lightly. "If you find anything you know that's helpful, I could use those," she responds. "And maybe later I can show you a couple of new ones from the books I've been reading." She's been learning a whole lot since her apothecary turned up. What better reason than because she's running one like their mother's family once did?

She giggles at the thought of birds and ducks out on the water. "I hope some turn up someday. Then I can talk to them. Quack!" Ducks and Katniss' little duck. What could be better?

Prim doesn't even have to ask. She nods quickly in response. Katniss always keeps an eye out for anything useful or interesting to bring back to her sister. Even though it's not here, she has most of her father's plant book memorized. She had started before their father had died so that she could be more of a help when he took her out into the forest with him. It shouldn't be hard to learn a few more plants, especially if the pictures in Prim's book are clear enough.

"Guess you'll just have to learn to talk to the gulls if they don't show up," she responds with a chuckle. Katniss falls quiet for a few seconds, looking out at the ocean and remembering a life before the 74th Hunger Games. Life hadn't been easy but it had been filled with precious memories. Like that of ducks and Katniss' own little duck. "But maybe some will appear. There are new people arriving. And new buildings. Why not new animals?"

Katniss is always helpful, always willing to do anything Prim needs, and Prim appreciates that more than she can ever say. A smile crosses her face, a little brighter and wider than it was before. "Gulls wouldn't be so bad," she muses, thoughtfully. Not exactly her first choice, but she loves all animals. "At least there are animals at all."

Ducks had always been their little thing, ever since Prim's shirttails started hanging out in a bunch like a duck tail. Even though she's older now, she's glad that Katniss hasn't let that go. It's one more thing to tie the sisters, one more thing that tells Prim that Katniss hasn't left her.

"Do you think it works like that?" she asks curiously. "Animals walking through doors or just appearing?" Itinere does seem to have a sort of fairytale quality in that people can wish for just about anything except more people. Maybe animals would be the same. It gets her thinking. What about Buttercup and Lady?

At least there are animals here, though Katniss takes relief in that in an entirely different way from her sister. Her sister just loves animals. Katniss, meanwhile, likes knowing that there's something out there to hunt. A way that she can maintain some autonomy from the grocers in Itinere. It also gives her a way to cope. What would she do without that outlet?

Katniss will never willingly leave Prim. Not if she can help it. It's why she's stayed here for the past year rather than take advantage of the door back to Panem. Prim is more important than any life she was supposed to have back there.

"I don't know," she admits honestly, turning her head in the vague sort of direction of where the door ought to be. It's a silly little thought but it does hold its potential. "Maybe some do? The ones that start the populations here?"

It's something to think about. While they might not be able to keep an eye on the doors to be sure, Prim can at least add coming down to the water on her list of daily things to do. It might give her something else that isn't working or helping at home. Not that she really minds either of those, but she misses the days when she had Lady and Buttercup to tend.

"Guess I'll have to check it out every day," she says with a grin. "I miss having animals to take care of."

Although Katniss doesn't really miss the presence of animals in their lives, she knows that her sister does. Buttercup and Lady had been like extra members of the Everdeen family to her sister. To Katniss, Lady had been useful but Buttercup? Not in the slightest. She doesn't miss the cat in the slightest.

But for the sake of her sister's happiness, she wouldn't grumble all that much if Buttercup walked through those doors one day.

"You'll find one sooner or later," Katniss insists, trying to cheer Prim up. "When you least expect it."

After all, hadn't that been how Buttercup came into their lives?

[open]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject