[CLOSED] Lost in the darkness

[ylgr]

WHO: Lyanna Stark (ylgr), Finnick Odair (fishermansweater), and Annie Cresta (treadswater),
WHEN: March
WHAT: Her brother is gone. Lyanna is going a little sad feral wolf maiden at the loss. Fortunately she’s made a new friend-shaped acquaintance who gets the needing to be a sad feral wolf. (And her new friend-shaped acquaintance's boyfriend.)
WHERE: All over Gazin.
WARNINGS: None, probably

Ned is gone. His things sit in the room in the inn they share when he’s in Gazin, Pantheon sits in the stables alongside Sona. But there’s no sign of him. She’s searched and searched, spoken to all those who live in Gazin that they’ve seen, spoken to, worked for... and nothing. No one has seen him. She rides out, day, after day, after day. Searching the woods for him. All the spots they frequent regularly.

Nothing.

He’s gone. He’s gone.

The ONE thing about this place that she loved, that made it easy to be here, is gone. Her dearest brother, someone she’s not sure she’ll ever see again in Westeros. He’s gone from her. She’s lost her brother all over again. She can’t breathe, can’t think, with how her heart breaks. How she aches for the loss of her family.

A part of her is missing.

She can’t stay in Gazin anymore. She can’t. So she gathers some of her things and flees, into the woods. Into the trees, where it’s quiet, and she’s alone. She hunts, and she works, earning gold for the goal she and Ned had shared, here. To build themselves a sort of Winterfell, a place they could call home. She only returns to Gazin to bathe, tend to Sona and Pantheon, and turn in her quarry. Then she returns to the woods. She doesn’t know when the wolves started following her, but they have, and they don’t seem intent on causing her harm. They seem curious. Almost friendly. Like calls to like, perhaps. She is a she-wolf, after all. She’s a Stark. She takes to tossing them scraps of her hunts. Having conversations with them as though they can understand her. And they stay with her. Hunt with her. They make a very unusual pack, but she finds she likes it. As much as she can bring herself to like anything right now. But their company is... welcome. (They remain in the woods when she returns to Gazin. Waiting for her to return.)

There’s a cave, far out in the trees near the river, that she uses for her camp. And at night she returns there, builds a fire, and sits there, gazing into the flames, tears streaming down her cheeks. Unable to take how it feels, how there’s a hole in her heart longing for her brother’s company, lost and alone and heartbroken in her sadness, she screams, pouring out the loss and sorrow into the night. As though mourning with her, her two wolf companions howl.

Comments

[treadswater]

Annie can come across as nervous, flighty, easily distractable, and in all fairness, she often is all those things. But she's also observant. Ever since Lyanna had (gently) dragged her out of the snow on her first, terrifying day, Annie had watched her movements. Kindness is rare, and Annie wants to understand. So she'd noticed the sturdy man who was often in Lyanna's company. Not a lover, but... family, she thinks. Friend, family, something like that. And she'd noticed Lyanna's behaviour when the man vanished.

(Annie had stuck close to Finnick for days after. She's not losing him again.)

But given her own behaviour when Finnick had been Reaped with Mags and taken to the Captiol, and before that, when various members of her family were killed, she isn't going to judge another woman for her grief. But she might... keep an eye out for her.

Particularly as she and Finnick are getting more adventurous in their exploration.

This might not be Panem, this might be not be an arena, but information can save lives. Their lives. So they've been exploring the terrain surrounding Gazin. Up and down the river, into the forest. They've been taking note of the wildlife, the layout of the land, the availability of food if they have to run. Tonight, Annie and Finnick have left the safety of their inn room to see the forest at night.

Nights can change everything. And Finnick being safe for the days he spent out in the snow still doesn't mean they know everything they need to.

So they are out in the middle of the night. It'll be a few hours until daybreak. And that's when Annie hears the scream.

It's not sharp. It's not a scream of physical pain or fear. She knows those screams. This is a howl of anguish. And then those wolves...

Annie looks over at Finnick and steps closer to him.

"Should we?" she asks, softly.

Should we go look? The sounds are very, very close.

tw: ptsd

[fishermansweater]

Although he'd been out in the forest for several nights in the cold when he'd first arrived here, he hadn't been enthusiastic to be out here again at night. hasn't said as much to Annie, but he also hadn't been exploring after dark until now, when he's with her.

It's too easy to remember the panic of waking in the middle of the night to Katniss' yells, the sudden flight through the jungle and the way his body had failed him, not just him but Mags, until all he could do was let her sacrifice herself to the fog to save Peeta. He's trying not to imagine the other traps they hadn't uncovered in the jungle, the things that could have been waiting in the night if they'd strayed into the wrong segment of the arena, but it's hard.

So his first reaction to the scream is to freeze on the spot. It doesn't take him long to get control back, but the moment is there (and he hates it). He forces the feeling down until it's relegated to a sense of unease crawling down his spine, and reaches out a hand to take Annie's.

If the scream isn't pain or alarm, it may still be someone who needs some sort of help, especially since there are clearly wolves near whoever that is. But since it's not a scream for help, it's also probably not the result of the sort of trap he's been trying not to think about.

(A female voice, he thinks.)

"I think so," he says. "But we should be ready."

Ready for what, he makes obvious as they move forward into the night, changing the grip on his trident so he's prepared to defend, and pacing himself to be a few steps ahead of Annie.

It's not long before the light of a fire appears; for a moment he wonders why they hadn't seen it earlier, but then he sees that it's partly hidden by the mouth of a cave. Actually entering the cave will illuminate them against the doorway and their eyes will have to adjust to the light, so Finnick hangs back and calls out instead of chancing that much danger.

"Hello?"

[ylgr]

Lyanna doesn’t... expect company. She doesn’t expect anything. But there’s the sound of people, of footsteps and voices and someone calling out. Her wolf companions are instantly on their feet, teeth bared towards the sounds of voices and footsteps. (She’s been calling them Suvion and Jelmor. Suvion is the black wolf, and Jelmor is the sort of tawny grey. ) She reaches out, settling a hand on each of their backs. “Easy,” she tells them, voice soft and only for them. They don’t... relax, exactly, but they’re no longer the smallest measure away from growling.

“Who’s there?” she answers, voice remarkably steady despite her anguish and the tears trickling down her cheeks. Ready to let her wolves go and grab for a weapon should she need to.

[treadswater]

Everything that is in Annie from the Games, from the Career Academy, is telling her not to reply. To melt away, now that the element of surprise is lost.

The rest of Annie squashes it. This could be a very stupid idea. But this isn't the arena, and people have been kind to her. Like Bucky. Like Lyanna and this sounds like Lyanna.

She can... She can try to be kind in return.

"Annie." No, that's too soft. "It's Annie. Lyanna? And. Annie and a friend."

[fishermansweater]

Finnick's not unsympathetic, despite what many people in Panem would think. There'd been real pain in the scream they'd heard, and having decided to approach, he wants to try to help, if he can. They're challenged, the reply making Annie look -- and sound, for a moment -- like she wants to hide, to backtrack on deciding to investigate.

But then she speaks again, her voice stronger, and she names Lyanna, the woman who'd been first to help her when she arrived.

Finnick reaches for Annie's hand and squeezes it in the dark.

"And Finnick," he says, his voice firm but calm. "I know Annie from Panem."