Finnick | Backstory | Post-Tour
Feb. 26th, 2014 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
themadgirlAs it turned out, the Capitol's curiosity regarding its victors only carried so far.
Most of what Annie remembered about that night—What her escort had delicately labeled her "episode"—were little more than flashes, but with the benefit of time she could see how quickly it had all happened. There had been no attempt to return her to the ball, only Mags and Finnick bundling her swiftly onto the train. She'd lost one of her shoes at some point, like the old fairy story, and when she'd recalled this days later, she'd fallen into a sudden and manic laughing fit that lasted until she was half-hoarse.
When the train had begun to move that night and Finnick hadn't been on it, she'd laid down right where they'd placed her, curled up on her bed in her gown, hem dirty, one bare foot peeking from beneath frothy fabric. She wasn't certain how long it had been, but she remembered Mags coming in, and the gentle confidence of the old woman's fingers as she sat Annie up and carefully stripped her of the Capitol. Unpinning the weight of Annie's hair, wiping her face clean, and perhaps most tellingly, removing the dress by cutting it cleanly up the side with a pair of shears. Annie had stayed in bed the entire next day and then emerged thoroughly sober, freshly eighteen, and with a curt dismissal of her escort. Mags had given her the thumbs-up.
Her mother had hovered for awhile, had skirted on the edge of difficult questions but ultimately relented when no solid answers were forthcoming. With Annie so quiet and withdrawn, it wasn't unlike when she'd first returned from the games, but for two glaring differences: More introspection and less Finnick.
Today, Annie's mother had been the first, but not last, person to tell her about the train. Four was a large district, but in some respects it was like the smallest village, and word traveled fast. Preparing for a passenger train was unusual enough for assumptions to be made. Annie had gone for a walk.
Hours later she nudged her way through the back door and into the kitchen, shawl trailing behind her and laden basket hooked over one arm. Barefoot from the moment she returned from the Capitol, there was sand dusted like sugar up to her ankles and over her toes, and she tracked it inside without thought or hesitation. Following after was Bosun, who had been her father's water dog, a gentle giant in his old age with baleful brown eyes and silver sprinkled in his dark coat. From the moment Annie had stepped into the house after returning from the Capitol, he'd not left her side. Not once.
Just now he padded to the end of the kitchen table and sat, turning his wise, old gaze upon Finnick where he was lingering the hallway beyond. Basket still over her arm, Annie paused at the sink and flicked a glance to the doorway. Seeing Finnick again would hurt; she'd known that. What surprised her was how calm she felt, most of her anger bled out of her by time and resignation. Wordless, she turned her attention back to the basket and began carefully washing the sand from the shells she had collected.
Most of what Annie remembered about that night—What her escort had delicately labeled her "episode"—were little more than flashes, but with the benefit of time she could see how quickly it had all happened. There had been no attempt to return her to the ball, only Mags and Finnick bundling her swiftly onto the train. She'd lost one of her shoes at some point, like the old fairy story, and when she'd recalled this days later, she'd fallen into a sudden and manic laughing fit that lasted until she was half-hoarse.
When the train had begun to move that night and Finnick hadn't been on it, she'd laid down right where they'd placed her, curled up on her bed in her gown, hem dirty, one bare foot peeking from beneath frothy fabric. She wasn't certain how long it had been, but she remembered Mags coming in, and the gentle confidence of the old woman's fingers as she sat Annie up and carefully stripped her of the Capitol. Unpinning the weight of Annie's hair, wiping her face clean, and perhaps most tellingly, removing the dress by cutting it cleanly up the side with a pair of shears. Annie had stayed in bed the entire next day and then emerged thoroughly sober, freshly eighteen, and with a curt dismissal of her escort. Mags had given her the thumbs-up.
Her mother had hovered for awhile, had skirted on the edge of difficult questions but ultimately relented when no solid answers were forthcoming. With Annie so quiet and withdrawn, it wasn't unlike when she'd first returned from the games, but for two glaring differences: More introspection and less Finnick.
Today, Annie's mother had been the first, but not last, person to tell her about the train. Four was a large district, but in some respects it was like the smallest village, and word traveled fast. Preparing for a passenger train was unusual enough for assumptions to be made. Annie had gone for a walk.
Hours later she nudged her way through the back door and into the kitchen, shawl trailing behind her and laden basket hooked over one arm. Barefoot from the moment she returned from the Capitol, there was sand dusted like sugar up to her ankles and over her toes, and she tracked it inside without thought or hesitation. Following after was Bosun, who had been her father's water dog, a gentle giant in his old age with baleful brown eyes and silver sprinkled in his dark coat. From the moment Annie had stepped into the house after returning from the Capitol, he'd not left her side. Not once.
Just now he padded to the end of the kitchen table and sat, turning his wise, old gaze upon Finnick where he was lingering the hallway beyond. Basket still over her arm, Annie paused at the sink and flicked a glance to the doorway. Seeing Finnick again would hurt; she'd known that. What surprised her was how calm she felt, most of her anger bled out of her by time and resignation. Wordless, she turned her attention back to the basket and began carefully washing the sand from the shells she had collected.
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Date: 2014-03-04 12:32 pm (UTC)Funny, how Gaila and Finnick apparently had that in common, and Annie refused to listen to either of them.
"Have you been home?" she asked, lifting her head from Finnick's shoulder to peer curiously up at him.
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Date: 2014-03-04 04:30 pm (UTC)"No," Finnick answered, glancing down at her when she looked up at him. He pushed some of her hair behind her ear, letting his fingertips linger. "I'm sure Sara will come looking soon," he said with a faint smile. His mother was probably the only thing keeping his youngest sister from tearing over to Annie's house to reclaim him. His mother, who perhaps had the strongest delusions about just what had happened after his Games, seemed to believe that Annie would help drive him away from the lifestyle he'd developed in the Capitol. He dreaded whatever she was going to say when he got home.
"Do you want to come over for dinner?" Finnick asked quietly, his fingers idly touching her, gently caressing the line of her neck. It was probably too soon, he thought. He didn't want to let go of her yet, but it would probably be too much for her to sit there and listen to him lie to his family about everything that had happened.
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Date: 2014-03-04 04:44 pm (UTC)"Let me change," she replied, her feet still bare and the hem of her skirt stiff with dried salt water. Finnick's family saw her nearly every day in various states of disorder, yet somehow it mattered how she looked.
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Date: 2014-03-04 04:51 pm (UTC)"I love you," Finnick breathed against Annie's lips. He felt emboldened now that he had said it once, and he wanted to tell her it every day, every hour. "I'll wait downstairs." Finnick suggested, figuring he owed some reassurance to Annie's mom after they had been up here for so long, locked in the bathroom while Annie shouted at him.
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Date: 2014-03-04 06:17 pm (UTC)"I love you, too," Annie replied, finding it was infinitely easier to say now, even if she'd not shied away from admitting it in the first place. More than anything, she wanted to linger here, in this small safe place they'd created, in the warmth of Finnick's arms, in the weight of those words. In the end, she gave herself a few moments more, and then began, slowly, to step toward the door.
"I won't be long," she promised, fingers keeping hold of Finnick's until the last possible moment, when she turned, unlocked the door, and stepped out into the hall.
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Date: 2014-03-04 06:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-03-04 08:06 pm (UTC)Annie's steps were unfailingly quiet these days, and even in this new house she knew every creaky plank and squeaky hinge. Pausing just outside the living room, she took a moment to peer inside at the picture of her mother being grudgingly wooed by her boyfriend. Gaila had been so used to entertaining attention from attractive men for so long, it had to be hard for her now to resist the urge to simply give in and play along.
"I'm ready," Annie finally spoke up, fidgeting under her shawl.
Gaila's gaze shot up, and then bounced between her daughter and the boy seated across from her, dubiousness turning to resignation in her eyes. "Not too late," she firmly told Finnick, as if what was bothering her could be resolved by so little as a curfew.
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Date: 2014-03-04 08:17 pm (UTC)"Not too late," Finnick promised automatically, already aware the words would nothing to reassure Gaila when they came from him.
His attention was already focused entirely on Annie anyway. He walked over to where she was, wrapping an arm around her so that they were touching once again when they headed out of the house and back into the bracing air that was chilled by the nearby sea.
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Date: 2014-03-04 09:31 pm (UTC)"Are you sure they won't be annoyed that I'm there?" she asked as they walked the little distance to the Odair house, despite the fact that she got along well with almost everyone in Finnick's family. "They won't think I'm stealing time away from them?"
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Date: 2014-03-04 09:37 pm (UTC)"Annie," Finnick answered, sounding incredulous. "My sisters love you so much, they will probably be more happy to see you than me." He didn't even think that it was an exaggeration. In the weeks before the Victory Tour -- the weeks in which he and Annie had been spending an increasing amount of time together, his youngest sisters had grown more and more fond of Annie and were completely ready to induct Annie into the Odair clan. He didn't dare mention it, knowing it would be a sore subject now, but Sara was already curiously chattering on about when they were getting married.
His father would ignore both of them, and his mother would fret over both of them not eating enough.
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Date: 2014-03-04 09:56 pm (UTC)In truth, it had been difficult to avoid them, even in that first week when she'd barely come out of her room. It seemed as though everyday someone was coming by to check on her, bringing flowers or food or well-wishes, having to be gently turned away by her mother, who had lied with all the aplomb of a Capitol native, saying Annie was in bed with a fever.
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Date: 2014-03-04 10:14 pm (UTC)"Did you?" Finnick asked they started up the steps to his house. "How much trouble did they get you in?" It was amazing that he was seen as the troublemaker; he'd seen the sort of things that Coral and Sara could get up to if given half the chance. Aerona, of course, was far too old for such things now, but she'd had her day as well.
Finnick gathered her up against him on the doorstep, pausing a moment before going in. He kissed her carefully, knowing that it was going to be their last moment alone for a little bit. He would steal these seconds however he could.
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Date: 2014-03-04 11:21 pm (UTC)"I love you," she breathed against his mouth, and nosed against his cheek, the faint scrape of stubble against her skin. "I love you so much."
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Date: 2014-03-05 02:14 am (UTC)"I love you, Annie," he breathed out in return, his hands sliding along her waist, underneath her shawl. She felt more solid here than she had when they were on the train together, and even now he wasn't sure if it was him or her who had been slipping away -- although, the truth was that it had been both of them. Neither of them had been solidly seated in their own bodies. And whenever he held her like this, he never wanted to let her go again. He pressed his nose gently back against hers -- and then the door in front of them flung open.
"Finnick, bring her inside!" Sara bellowed right in his ear.
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Date: 2014-03-05 02:58 am (UTC)"It is cold out here," she allowed, but made no move to step inside yet.
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Date: 2014-03-05 03:12 am (UTC)"I suppose it is cold out here," Finnick agreed with a teasing smile. He guided Annie up the rest of the steps first, keep a hand on her lower back. He followed just a step after her. The warmth of the house was a welcome sensation -- even if he was almost immediately attacked by Sara, who threw her arms hastily around his neck. Coral followed not seconds later, jumping onto his other side.
Mags was already at the kitchen table. Aerona and his father lingered near the stove, but his mother went to Annie right away. Finnick could barely hear what she was saying, although it sounded to be something along the lines of how both he and Annie needed to better, paired with a warning to the girls to give him space to breathe.
"Did you get your presents?" Finnick asked when their arms were no longer around his neck.
"What?" Coral asked, eyes instantly alert. "No."
"Huh," Finnick said. "Maybe they got sent back on the train then." He shrugged. He took the opportunity to kiss his mother on the cheek, smiling at her as well.
"No, they didn't!" Coral said at his back as he turned and took Annie's hand, leading them to sit beside Mags.
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Date: 2014-03-05 03:29 am (UTC)Sitting down, she reached instinctively for Mags' closest hand, and the older woman gave her fingers a reassuring squeeze, the gesture feeling a little like a lifeline as the girls bounded exuberantly around them.
In a rare pause in the chatter, Annie turned to Finnick, her head canted, birdlike, eyebrows arched. "Where's my present?" she asked, only the faintest twitch at the corners of her mouth giving her away.
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Date: 2014-03-05 03:38 am (UTC)"Oh, yours must have gotten left on the train, too," Finnick answered, matching her smile immediately. Mags patted the back of his wrist reassuringly with her other hand.
"Or, maybe the two of you should go check the back room," Finnick suggested to his younger sisters who bounded immediately out of the kitchen to see what had been brought when they weren't paying attention. It was a challenge finding things that would suit them; they were in the early teenage years and he didn't dare bring home most of the things that girls their age in the Capitol were wearing. Plenty of it was fabric that Aerona and their mother would make into dresses. And some of the more subtle jewelry. He still brought the odd toy, things that were so strange that they served as a source of amusement for awhile.
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Date: 2014-03-05 04:01 am (UTC)"I guess you'll just have to make it up to me," she told him, and popped the bit of bread into her mouth with a smile. Mags wagged a playful finger Finnick's way with a look that seemed to say that he should have known better—About the presents, or Annie, or both.
Of course, maintaining a haughty facade was nigh on impossible for Annie, and she was instantly back to smiling at Finnick's mother with a little crinkle of her nose when the woman turned back toward the table.
"Whatever's for dinner smells nice," Annie said. "I don't know if my mom said anything, but thank you for the care packages. It was all really good."
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Date: 2014-03-05 04:12 am (UTC)"I'm sure I'll find a way," Finnick said with a smile. He certainly hadn't brought anything back from the Capitol, because he didn't think there was a single thing in the entire city that held any value for her.
Finnick reached for Annie's hand when she began to speak to his mom, catching it gently underneath the table. He ran his hand slowly along her palm, enjoying such a simple and profound point of contact.
"Thank you, dear," Finnick's mother answered, taking a momentary break to sit down beside them. "You poor thing, getting sick on your Tour. It's no wonder though. The ridiculous pace they set you at. Finnick was sick at the end of his Tour, too."
Finnick squeezed Annie's hand lightly. He'd been sick in the same way Annie had been, of course. Terrified of the world he had stepped into and overwhelmed by what was expected of him now.
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Date: 2014-03-05 04:21 am (UTC)"I think we're both just happy to be back home," she added, something true to balance out lying by omission. Sometimes she wondered whether it was better to have a mother who had become cynical and wary, or one like this, who refused to acknowledge the plain truth as some sort of self-preservation. Annie could definitely understand the appeal of the second option.