Tiger Tiger Burning Bright [closed to Katniss]

[acroodawakening]

Who| Guy and Katniss
What| Meeting and stuff
Where| Oh man, IDEK, in the jungle somewhere I guess?
When| Week 4, post Peeta-death, before Guy runs into Azula
Warnings/Notes| None so far.

There were at least a few advantages to this place being so wet. Aside from allowing Guy to gather rainwater in various ways for drinking, it also meant there was plenty of mud. Mud meant keeping his skin cool and it also meant camouflage and there was always more to add on when he sweated it off.

Katniss might not have been able to spot him at first, lurking among the trees nearby. His body was covered in the red-brown stripes it had been stained with before he'd arrived here and streaked by even more brown ones made of mud. The striped effect distorted his outline and made him harder to see in the dappled light that filtered down through the leaves.

But he hadn't spotted her yet, which meant he didn't know to be extra quiet, which meant she might hear a nearby rustling in the underbrush.

Comments

[inciting]

Studying him, she didn't make any move to get too close. Not just yet. But he seemed, at least, to be as peaceful as he claimed to be.

"Hi."

She looked down, checking for an injury automatically, before remembering what he was seeing. And feeling everything she had been working at ignoring surge up in a wave again, over taking her. The tremble in her hands starts, and she clenched them into fist, gouging crescents into her palms to control herself.

"It's not my blood." She finally bit out.

[acroodawakening]

He nodded gently but didn't seem disturbed or disgusted.

Either it was a friends or she had to kill someone to save herself and neither deserved anything other than compassion.

"I'm sorry then." He saw her clench her hands into fists. "Take a few deep breaths, okay? I know it hurts. This whole place -"

He broke off.

"There's always a little bit of peace in here when you need it," he pointed to his chest. "So I'm going to give you a moment of having someone nearby that won't try to hurt you so you have a breather. So you can find it."

[inciting]

She looked up at him, still and silent for a long moment, before she had to look away. Because she felt something hot and large growing in her chest, and she didn't know him well enough to let him see it.

"Thank you." She finally managed to whisper when she was sure her voice wouldn't give it away.

Because there wasn't anything more she needed right now. Not, at least, that anyone in the arena could supply. Leaning against the tree, she let herself feel it's strength, let herself take in deep breaths.

[acroodawakening]

Guy just nodded and sat there in silence, letting her have her moment. It would be up to her when either of them spoke again.

Quiet could be a gift sometimes. For now, the only sounds they could hear in the jungle around them were the gentle rustle of the breeze through the leaves.

While she took a moment to calm herself, he knelt there and spent a moment focusing on his own breathing, reveling in the fact it was still happening, and taking comfort in the fact that this place smelled green and wet like so many places back home.

[inciting]

Finally her thoughts began to circle from calming to trapping her, and she pulled herself away. She needed to move forward, she needed to get out of her and, hopefully, back to Peeta.

But first she needed to let Guy know how much that had meant.

"Did you get anything at the cornucopia?"

[acroodawakening]

Guy shook his head. He still wasn't sure what a Cornucopia was but between Gambit and some of the others, he'd gotten the basic idea. It had been a place full of food and other supplies.

"I woke up here," he said. "In the middle of it all. I got some gifts from the silver eggs that come down from the sky but that's about it."

[inciting]

"Make anything you can last as long as possible." She said, as she reached back to free her back pack. Letting it slip off one arm, she rummaged around in her purse, pulling out a can of beer and a some food.

"Here. For...helping me."

Someone this good shouldn't even be here.

[acroodawakening]

There were actual tears in his eyes at the sight of it being handed to him. He was so hungry. So so hungry.

One of those tears rolled down his cheek as he looked up at her.

"Thank you," he said quietly, taking her gifts.

He hadn't been expecting anything back.

"If I see you again - I'm not -" He took a deep breath. "I don't like to kill. I only kill if people try to kill me - do you understand? So let's try not to find each other again, okay? Maybe after. If we're both still here. Then I'd like to get to know you. We all deserve to be - to be people, to be known. Maybe you can tell me more about that sister and mother of yours then."

[inciting]

She smiled. She understood, boy did she understand.

"See you in the Capitol, then. It's a promise."

For herself, more than him. He would be there, for sure. She would get out, find Peeta, safe.

"I've got a few people you can meet, then."

[acroodawakening]

Guy nodded and then he knelt there, letting her go. He wouldn't stand up and pick up his spear until she was long gone.