itinere | action + network

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For the most part, Katniss spends February inside. It isn't something she's fond of but she remembers the last time there had been creatures in Itinere. Matt had to rescue her from lizard mutts because all she could focus on had been Finnick's death and not the prevention of her own. Though the chances of that happening again are slim (these are different creatures and not the lizard mutts, not the things that still haunt her nightmares every now and then), there are chance she doesn't want to take. Everyone seems to be following trend for the most part, and only going out when needed. She's done her best to do the same.

Eventually though, restlessness gets the better of her and she decides to slip out early one morning. She opens the door to her apartment, she stops dead in her tracks. There's a heart on the doorstep and from the looks of it, not one belonging to a deer or any similar sized creature. She doesn't hesitate to pick it up. That's when the memories hit.

She can't see in the memories, not in the conventional manner that she's used to, but regardless she sees herself. In the memories, she's singing and dancing in a rainstorm - high from the glow of that golden orb. There's amusement and joy stemming from the memory similar to how she remembers that night. But it's more than that. Even though Katniss refuses to admit it, she had been in love with Matt by that point. She doesn't expect to experience his side of things: the realization in that moment that she could be someone he's falling for, too.

It's jarring and the heart nearly slips out of her hands. Her own heart pounds in her chest and she races to Matt's apartment. Katniss doesn't hesitate to use her key; that awkward encounter with Foggy is the last thing on her mind right now. As she opens the door, she shouts into the apartment, "Matt! Matt! Answer me!"

But if there's an answer, it's not from the man she's looking for. Katniss looks down at the heart in her hand and she feels a kind of pain she hasn't felt since Prim disappeared from Itinere. It might as well be her own blood coating her hand given how much she hurts. This has to be some kind of sick joke. It has to be. Somehow, she stays rational enough to pull out her phone and type in a quick text:

Text to Everyone:

When is the last time you spoke with Matt Murdock?

[ooc: if you have reason to be near or around matt murdock's apartment, feel free to catch katniss there. or whatever; i'm flexible!]

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Katniss?

[ she's looked in all the normal places for her sister at home and turned up nothing, so now she's reaching out, not really willing to risk the streets herself right now. she hasn't seen matt, but she's worried about her sister. ]

Edited 2017-02-11 19:08 (UTC)

It's been a few days. I thought he was with you.

When I told him about the dragon things. You won't find him. ~~They got him.~~

The drag the muttations?

[It's the only word she really has for the creatures. Dragons aren't heard of in Panem.

Unfortunately, the pit in her stomach is growing. It doesn't take much to put two and two together.]

Did they get him?

[She still feels a little awkward around him. In part because of their first meeting. More so because she wants to make such a good impression on Matt's best friend.

Right now though? Right now she can't remember to feel any of that.]

No. I'm at his apartment right now. Are you near?

Prim.

[If Katniss new how, she'd emphasize her sister's name with all the italics possible to indicate her relief. Prim's alive. Here. There won't (she hopes so hard there won't) be another heart waiting for her if she goes back upstairs.

Matt's death? disappearance? something entirely worse? hurts enough. But if she had to lose Prim as well?]

I'm at Matt's.

[ While Bo is unfamiliar with the term, she knows that they're both on the same page. ]

Yes. ...and yes. I'm sorry...

[She hates this. She hates that Matt's been taken from her and she hates that this little girl is the one to have to tell her. She hates that someone Bo's age has to carry the weight of this knowledge. Feels the urge to apologize for something Katniss is certain she has no control over.

She hates that Matt's been harmed. That he's.... he's gone just like everyone else she's ever loved. Loved. She never got to tell him that, did she? That she loves him.]

Not your fault. [She's struggling to keep it together right now. Not to break. Then a thought hits her:] You weren't there, were you?

[ It's almost impossible not to feel the sorrow drenching the city of Itinere the past couple of days. Matt means a lot to Bo; he's taught her how to fight so that she doesn't have to depend so much on her abilities. But he doesn't mean as much to her as she can tell he meant to Katniss.

The confusing thing is that it doesn't feel like he's gone gone, and Bo can't quite wrap her head around that to figure out what it might mean, so she doesn't dare bring it up, lest she give Katniss a ray of hope that might not be worth clinging to. ]

No, we split up to cover more ground. ...I miss him, too.

Edited 2017-02-23 04:11 (UTC)

You're safe, though, right?

And don't worry. I'm not leaving the house.

[ she's not equipped to fight and they both know it. besides, she doesn't think she could handle the emotional trauma given what these things seem to do. ]

I'm just around the corner.

[ It's a text and he shouldn't read too much into it, but if Matt isn't with Katniss then where is he? ]

I'll meet you there.

Hurry. [She remembers her manners a second later.] Please.

I am.

[As much as she wants to be with her sister right now, she can't bare to leave what she has of Matt here in this apartment. She hopes Prim will understand. Give her a little time before she goes home again.]

He isn't.

[She had been out there, too? That's worrisome. The girl is too young to be out there, fighting against these creatures. She should be at home with her guardian, safe and playing with that stuffed toy of hers. Katniss has seen too many others lose their childhoods at too young an age. For all her heart aches over Matt's death, it aches over the thought that even here, there are children that aren't acting like children.

Sorrow like this, presented on so many levels, can be overwhelming. It's tempting to curl up in a tight ball leaning against Matt's bed, and hide until everything is right again. Can't she? It's so hard to be strong.

At least Bo has inadvertently provided Katniss with a distraction.]

Don't. Don't you go out again. It's too dangerous.

I have to.

[ Bo can understand the trepidation that comes with knowing a child her age is still going to go out in that mess to try to stop it. Tate and Milton would've lost their minds. Sirius, too. Peter probably doesn't like it much and she knows Matt didn't, but Bo is one of the most powerful people here when she really puts her mind to it. She can't afford to sit this one out. Nobody can afford for her to sit this one out. ]

I'll be okay, Katniss. But I have to.

Oh, Katniss.

I'll be here when you get back.

[It's on the tip of Katniss' tongue to ask if her sister will keep this promise. But she's afraid to ask, afraid to do or say anything that might make their Gamemakers
take Prim away from her, too. She wants to hug her sister tightly. To know that she's not completely alone here.

Last year, it had been Matt consoling her after Primm's disappearance. She never would have thought it would be the other way around, too.

Eventually, after talking to Foggy, after neatly packing a few of Matt's shirts to cling to, she makes it back to their home. As soon as she sees Prim, Katniss wraps her arms tightly around her sister and lets the tears start to fall.]

[There's conviction in the typed words, conviction that a girl as young as Bo shouldn't have. It makes Katniss feel both sympathy and a great amount of admiration for the girl. This isn't argument that she's going to win. There's no point in trying.

But at least she can offer something:]

Do you need company?

[Katniss might not have any powers but she is good with a bow.]

[ It's only because Bo doesn't sense anything bad happening to Katniss that she's going to agree to this. Well, that and she knows how sad Katniss is and maybe Bo isn't the one who needs the company right now... ]

Sure. I'll meet you in the lobby. We can go together.

[ prim is waiting in the dining area, though as soon as she hears the door open, she's up and moving. she spares one glance at her sister before they sweep each other up and hold each other close. prim squeezes her eyes shut and simply lets herself hold katniss for once, one hand gently rubbing up and down her sister's back a few times.

usually it's the other way around, but prim doesn't mind it this way, too.

after a while, she speaks, her voice soft and gentle: ] People come back here, remember? He could come back and be fine.

[At least she has Prim. She tries to remind herself that. Prim's here, whole and alive. Her sister's hugging her back just as tightly as Katniss hugs her. It hurts but she's not alone. Does that make it better or worse? She could still lose Prim again.
Find Prim's heart on their doorstep, too. She had been an idiot to let someone new in. She had been an idiot to fall so deeply for him. Because he's gone now. Not sent back to New York the way Prim had been returned to Panem. He's dead.

And she's supposed to be the stronger one. Prim doesn't cray when Katniss cries, not like when they were younger, but that doesn't mean she wants to give her sister any unnecessary grief. It is soothing being held by her. Her voice even more so.

She takes a deep breath when Prim speaks. Katniss uses the back of her hand to wipe at her eyes.] I found his heart, Prim.

[ it's probably only a matter of time at this point before prim loses the battle to tears, but for now she's fighting it steadily. in the last few years, prim has grown up so much, mostly out of necessity. but it is what it is and she's doing everything she can to comfort her sister now.

it sounds awful, losing a heart, but still... prim has to hope, even if katniss can't. ]

People do come back, Katniss. Give it some time, okay? We can make a trip back over when these things are all gone.

Edited 2017-05-15 18:46 (UTC)

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