Annie Cresta is one with the waves (lifeisastorm) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-02-14 21:34:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, annie cresta, peeta mellark |
Who: Annie and Peeta
What: Investigating strange things and finding the cornucopia
When: Valentine’s Day, late afternoon/early evening when blood rain starts
Where: Their apartment complex then the beach
Warnings: Hunger Game related trauma
Status: Log | Complete
It was just a normal Sunday for Peeta despite the fact that it was Valentine’s Day. He had been planning something with Caroline for a while and was going to take her out to eat and then maybe take her out for a bit of dancing if she wanted to. He had bought her some flowers and a gift. It seemed silly to buy her any type of food because he could just make it himself, which was what he planned to do when they finally got back to his place later in the evening. He was currently keeping busy in his apartment getting ready for everything and hadn’t had a chance to look outside at the weather lately, so it was a bit of a surprise when he heard a knock at the door. Usually Caroline buzzed him to get in or he would meet her downstairs, so it couldn’t be here. He slipped his shirt on and was buttoning up as he made his way over to the door to answer it.
Annie wasn’t quite sure what to make of her upcoming dinner with Finnick. It was as friends. But on Valentine’s Day. She was anxious and excited and just… it was strange. She’d been getting ready when she had looked out her window. For as horrible as her neighbours were, she had an amazing view of the ocean which had been a major selling point for her as the ocean calmed her.
The ocean was not calm though. The waves were intense, but seeming to just… stop. It was typical Orange County strangeness with a dash of deja vu. Like something she had seen before. Then the blood rain. Which meant… Annie was going to investigate. She was nervous and praying she was just seeing things, but she couldn’t shake it. So instead she did the logical thing and went up to Peeta’s apartment and knocked.
Okay. So it was Valentine’s Day. There was a very good chance he wasn’t there and was already out with Caroline. She could let Finnick know that she was investigating something and see if he were available, or Johanna… but first, Peeta.
When he opened the door and caught sight of Annie his first reaction was to smile and he relaxed because it wasn’t Caroline, yet. He stepped aside to allow her to enter his apartment and he finished buttoning his shirt. “Hey Annie, Happy Valentine’s Day,” he answered breezily as he shut the door behind her and then raised an eyebrow in her direction, “To what do I owe this honor?” He was fairly certain that she was going out with Finnick tonight and hopefully she wasn’t having second thoughts about it. Lending an ear and giving advice would be easily given, but he really wanted those two to have a good time. And of course he was completely oblivious to the weather outside.
“Hi, Peeta. Happy Valentine’s Day.” Well. At least he was there. And he… clearly hadn’t seen the weather because he seemed perfectly at ease with himself, as though nothing were wrong. Or.. maybe there really was nothing wrong and the stress and worry about dinner with Finnick was getting to her. Oh god, that would not be good. But right.
“Something weird is happening.”
And before he could say much, she just grabbed her best friend’s hand and dragged him to the window to point to where the rain had turned to blood and where the tidal waves were. Annie could be very determined and forceful when she wanted to be. And with how anxious she was about this and the images it was creating in her mind? Well… she needed someone else to see it who she knew would tell her the truth.
“I don’t like it.”
The usual calm expression on Peeta’s face turned into one of confusion as Annie declared that something weird was happening. As he was about to protest and ask for clarification he was suddenly lead to the window. What he saw outside made his expression change drastically and his face turned into something a little darker. Blood rain. Tidal waves. No. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be happening here. His pulse started to quicken as a deep frown set in on his face.
“I don’t either. It’s too much like the Arena…”
And there. Off in the distance. Almost too obscure to see due to the rain there was a dark familiar shape. Peeta almost pressed his face against the glass in an attempt to get a better look, but he knew he would only succeed in making himself look stupid. So, instead he squinted and his frown grew deeper, “I don’t like what I see in the distance out there.”
Confusing Peeta, all in a day's work. Too bad the reason she was doing so was because of the blood rain and tidal waves that were crashing down. The second he mentioned the arena, the chill she had gotten worsened. That was definitely not what she had wanted to hear.
Of course, she hadn't noticed anything in the distance, so when Peeta mentioned it, the petite brunette looked out as well. Tensing, Annie bit her lower lip.
And just like that, Annie turned to go investigate. Maybe she was being illogical or rash. But she suddenly was filled with anxious energy and that meant going to investigate further, not really paying attention to if Peeta followed or not.
That ended up being a bad idea. Covered in blood, Annie quickly wished she had stayed inside as she got to where the shape was. A shape she recognised. Somewhere a scream was heard. A scream that came from Annie, but she wasn't even aware of herself in that moment.
Stumbling back, she felt like she was back there, blood on her face as if she had just seen Eric decapitated.
“no no no no no…”
Of course Peeta followed. There was absolutely no way that he would let Annie go out there by herself. Especially if that shape was what he thought it was. He grabbed a jacket off the back of the door and threw the hood up and grabbed an umbrella because he was sure that they would need it later.
His hands were shaking as he tucked his keys in his pocket and dashed after her. This couldn’t be happening. This was a safe place. Panem was not supposed to just suddenly appear in Orange County. But as he drew closer to the shape his worst fears came true and it struck home when Annie screamed.
It sent a shiver down his spine and he quickly moved to wrap an arm around her and hold her up. It truly was the cornucopia and it was filled with weapons. That wasn’t good - that meant that something was coming that they needed to be prepared for. It was the Quarter Quell all over again and Peeta was fighting hard to stay together as he stood shaking beside Annie.
“Shit.” that was all he could think to say in this moment.
She couldn’t breathe. Oh god, she couldn’t breathe. Vaguely Annie was aware that Peeta was next to her. But she was more focused on the fact the cornucopia was there. With weapons.
Why. For all the stress this place brought, the issues with reality it could bring up….it had never been Panem.
Until now apparently.
“Why is this happening? This can't be happening!”
“I...don’t know,” Peeta was at a complete loss. None of this made sense and it shouldn’t be happening. He finally remembered that he had an umbrella and opened it up to cover him and Annie before turning towards her.
“I promise that we will keep you safe. This isn’t going to be like the games. They can’t actually be here. We need to alert everyone.”
His phone was back in his apartment, but he would immediately send out a mass text once they got up there. They had to figure out what was going on and he prayed to God that nothing else from the Arena would be making an appearance. If it was just this (the rain/water/cornucopia) then he could handle that. Someone may be trying to make them afraid, but he was determined not to let anything resembling the Capitol ever win.
Annie was vaguely aware of what Peeta was saying, or at least, it wasn’t just sound but words that had some sort of rhyme and reason to them. They might not be fully comprehended in that moment as she was hyperventilating and trying not to have a complete freak out, but that wasn’t going so well for her.
“Welcome to the 76th Hunger Games…”
Her voice was weak, completely pale under the umbrella. Not that it was really obvious as she was also covered in blood as if she were Carrie. Of course, Annie didn’t really care in that moment. She was falling into shock and shaking and barely able to breathe. Really, getting inside would be a good idea. Instead she just looked up at Peeta desperately.
“Please tell me I’m hallucinating…”
“I wish I could….”
He answered her truthfully before taking one last look at the cornucopia off in the distance and then looped his arm a little tighter around Annie’s waist as he moved to help bring her inside. He would carry her if he had to, but he wanted to make sure that was okay with her before he actually did it. They were both being sent spinning into another world that they hoped would never co-exist with this one.
This was certainly going to put a damper on any plans for the evening. He wasn’t even sure how to compute what was going on, but he knew that he needed to contact the rest of their group. Someone had to know something more. Maybe there was other things somewhere else in the OC, but he also hoped there wasn’t. Maybe it was a group hallucination, but he highly doubted that. Instead, he was going to go inside and try to figure out what in the hell to do when he never expected to fight this fight again.
That was not the answer Annie wanted. Of course, she also never thought there would come a day when she wanted to be hallucinating, but given the current alternative? Hallucinations were much better than the reality that the cornucopia had shown up because that meant that something was going to happen. This was only the start. It always started off simple. Or simpler than what would come…
A high pitched whine from the back of her throat as Annie stumbled. It really was a good thing that Peeta was keeping her upright because in that moment, Annie was pretty sure the stress was going to make her pass out. There was blood in her eyes, she felt heavy, dizzy. Stopping, she bent over to try and catch her breath, snapping the bands around her wrists desperately.
Annie wanted a do over of the day. That was all there was to it.
At least there wasn’t a voice counting down or cannons being fired. Peeta could almost handle the cornucopia on its own, but if everything that came with the Games was going to happen then he might lose it. He did not fight his way out of the effects of the hijacking to have this happen to him. And he definitely wasn’t going to let his friends get hurt because of this.
When Annie stumbled he moved with her to right her. One look at her and he knew that she wasn’t doing well. “I’m going to carry you in, okay?” he hoped she wouldn’t mind as he moved an arm under her legs and scooped her up. She was surprisingly lightweight to Peeta and he was able to make it back to the apartment building, “I’m going to contact everyone once we get back to our place.”
God, if there were a cannon, Annie would definitely flip out. She couldn’t even handle fireworks without being back there. Actual cannons and count downs? Not like she was doing well in the handling department as it were.
Absently she nodded as Peeta said he was going to carry her in. Normally she’d protest but everything was spinning and Annie didn’t trust herself to get back on her own. There were so many voices and doubts, self loathing, all of it pounding in her head that it was making it difficult to even care about any self dignity she might have in that moment.
“Okay…” As if Annie were in any condition to contact the others.
Being the strong stoic one was becoming a trend for Peeta around here. He honestly didn’t mind because the Army had trained him to keep his cool in a situation and someone needed to be there to help Annie stay in reality and not lose herself. But, he knew the moment he was alone that he was probably going to punch a wall or something. This wasn’t supposed to be happening.
They made it back up to his apartment and he shouldered the door to get inside before depositing her on the kitchen floor. “I’m gonna grab you a towel,” he commented as he ran off to the bathroom, tossing his jacket into the bath tub and grabbed a couple towels that he didn’t care about. The blood would come out later. He also grabbed his phone on the way back and wrapped the towel around her.
That was as much as he could do for the moment before he busied himself with his phone and sent out the mass text and made sure to get a hold of everyone. Once that was done he tossed his phone on the table and looked at her, “Do you need me to do anything else?”
Floor was good. Floor meant she could find a corner to curl up against and hide from the world. Which was exactly what Annie did, clutching her hair and rocking back and forth. She was aware of the towel Peeta wrapped around her, having paused briefly at the motion and watched him.
Peeta. She knew him. It was safe here.
Her phone was in her apartment but she wasn’t really thinking about anyone she would need to tell or talk to. Peeta seemed to have that under control. But she felt sticky and gross and… she was being asked a question.
“....Can I shower and just… hide?” There was no way Annie wanted to stay alone. Or go back out there and even in the midst of her madness, she knew that Peeta shouldn’t be alone either. He actually had gone into the arena. She just had… lost it when her name had been called for the Quarter Quell and watched helplessly from District 4.
“Of course,” he answered with a warm smile as he went over to her to help her get back up and escort her to where his bathroom was. A few of Caroline’s products had spilled over into his bathroom, so at least he knew there would be something that Annie would like to use that didn’t smell like an Old Spice commercial. He would probably check on her after a little while because he wasn’t sure if she was truly fit to spend a long time in the shower.
“Just holler if you need anything at all. I’ll be right outside the door, okay?” He wasn’t planning on going anywhere even though he knew Caroline was coming over. He sent her a quick note about why he wouldn’t be down to get her right away.
Between some of Caroline’s products, and the fact the other young woman had clothing there which she’d already told Annie she could use if she ever showed up after swimming, it wasn’t like she would then need to change back into the blood covered clothing. So instead she just tried to smile in thanks as Peeta helped her up (and failed) before nodding.
“Okay. Thanks.”
Focusing enough to even get through that and to the bathroom was a struggle enough with the way her mind was racing. So it was going into the shower to hide. Well clean off the blood and not feel covered in gross. In theory at any rate.