a strange new day | OTA

[treadswater]

WHO: Annie and YOU
WHEN: June
WHAT: Annie, having lunch and attempting to be sociable.
WHERE: Gazin's marketplace
WARNINGS: TBA

---

People can get used to anything. They build routines. Every boat Annie's served on has had its rhythms , every arena she's studied has had its patterns. On a boat, routines save lives: in the arena, patterns can be fatal. It all just depends.

So far, Annie has been thinking of this place as a cross between arena and boat. More boat, now. She's not exactly expecting her fellow... Well. They aren't tributes. Or fellow citizens. The people around her. She's not expecting them to ambush her.

(She's still keeping the possibility in mind, of course. She's not an idiot.)

All of which goes a ways to explaining how Annie has felt comfortable enough, or brave enough, to do this: have lunch, in the marketplace, after a morning of talking to perfect strangers.

She'd done that before Finnick arrived. She's capable of it. Even she can admit that. But he's the more sociable one, the one with the smooth tongue and the charm. It's been easier to let him do the talking, particularly when selling the fish they've been catching every day. But today their little rented boat is in for repair, and Finnick had been offered a spot on another fisherman's boat for a few hours. The relief Annie had felt had been a sharp reminder that, if they are staying for the foreseeable future in this weird place, the pair need more than a small room.

So Annie has been talking to people about rent. And renting living quarters. Or a small house. Or at least two rooms. Something that's not a small room in an inn. And she'd taken notes on a wax tablet and she'd been productive and-

It's exhausting.

But she's still on something like a roll, so she grabbed a pastry from a stall in the market-place, took a seat at one of the public tables and started to eat. She's still watchful, still cautious, but she's making an effort to be somewhat normal.

And if anyone walks over with food of their own, Annie will offer a smile and a quiet, "You're welcome to sit, you know."

Comments

[cantseeyoursin]

"No snow at all? How wonderful to live in such a mild climate." Having to endure winters where he is from can be difficult. He found it to be much easier here with the improvements that time and inventions have created.

"It is nice to meet you, Annie." He circles his arms once his hands are free of any food items and gives a little bow of his head. Such pleasantries are really necessary towards him since he wouldn't see them, but that doesn't mean he should not be polite in greeting her.

"I am Xiao Xingchen."

[treadswater]

"Xiao Xingchen," Annie repeats, carefully. It's not much like any name she's heard from either District or Capitol, but she's musical enough that she can pick up at least the sounds of his name.

Then her smile turns a bit crooked and her soft voice amused. "Well, I wouldn't call it mild. We got lots of heat and humidity and a rainy season with thunderstorms most days."

And hurricanes. The hurricanes are... not fun.

"It's a different climate. I, I uh take it you get snow?"

[cantseeyoursin]

"We have seasons. We also can endure a rainy period. The snow happens a few months out of the year."

He endures whatever the world throws at them because he has to. Obviously the earth needs the different weather patterns to be able to survive. He slowly begins to eat, just small bites so that he can continue their conversation during his meal.

"What was the name of your home?"

[treadswater]

This is still an honestly bizarre question. Someone from District Four asking wouldn't be an issue - which fishery are you from is a normal enough question. But no one outside District Four ever cared or really knew how her home was set up, and here?

Here, no one has heard of Panem at all.

"Um," she starts. "District Four. It's a, a district in Panem, which is the country?"

If she sounds slightly unsure, it's because she is. Not over where she's from, she knows that. But the terminology.

"And, you?"

[cantseeyoursin]

He listens to how she describes her home. It is odd but with as many different worlds as represented in this place it is normal to hear about strange places.

"I liked in a place called Yi City, a little village that didn't have much to speak about but people were friendly."

There is a fond smile on his face as he talks about his previous home. "But I was a traveler. I didn't really stay long in one place."

[treadswater]

"A traveler," Annie repeats, quietly. The word feels strange in her mouth. It's a strange concept. People in District Four might travel to different fisheries for work, and the boats and ships themselves obviously move about. But it's not for fun. It's work, with permits and forms, or at least, taking your chances hitchhiking on trains and ferries.

This sounds different. She's heard 'traveler' enough at the inn to get that much.

"What's that like? Um, travelling from place to place?"

[cantseeyoursin]

"Sometimes it was tiring, but there is also something fulfilling about experiencing different places. Helping people all over and not limiting oneself to what is around them."

But there is something to be said about having a stable home as well. That had been the goal that Zichen and himself had set out to try and form. Not that they ever got the chance. At least...until now.