WHO: Katniss Everdeen and Eddie Castile WHAT: A meeting in the woods WHEN: Today WHERE: The woods WARNINGS: Nah STATUS: Completed Gdoc
Eddie went on his run every day. There wasn’t a day - rain, snow, sleet, whatever - that he didn’t take it. He needed it, both for his mental wellbeing along with his physical wellness. Some days, depending on what he had to do, it was shorter than others, and somedays it was longer. Today was one of the longer days. He’d already run from one side of town to the other, and now he’d cut a path through the woods, jogging along a trail he’d helped to carve out himself. The trees were all bare (except for the rare pine tree here and there), and he didn’t try to hide the sound of his shoes on the leaves as he crunched through them. There was nothing to fear in this bright sunshine, and he felt, strangely, relaxed.
That was, until he sensed another person just ahead. He wasn’t sure what gave them away, exactly, except that he knew for a fact that they were there.
He stopped, and without thinking his hand went to the charmed silver stake in his jacket.
“Who’s there?”
***
Now that she had a real job, Katniss didn’t do nearly as much hunting as she used to, especially not in the winter time when game was scarce. After the recent wave of disappearances though, she was on edge and felt the need to reconnect with nature, so she’d gotten up early and taken her bow out into the woods, making sure to leave a note for Prim and Mitsuko so they didn’t worry when they woke up.
Even though she was used to running into people out here, she hadn’t expected to find anyone else on a cold morning, and immediately reached for an arrow when she heard a voice.
“Katniss,” she said, following the voice until she could see a sturdily built young man. “And you are?”
***
“Eddie,” he said simply, and didn’t drop the stake. Hey, she was pointing a weapon at him. He wasn’t stupid. “Just out for a run.” He looked at the bow and arrow and frowned. “If you’re not planning on killing me, put that down.” He didn’t think she was, but he didn’t want weapons out if they weren’t necessary, and he had no doubt that she knew how to use them.
***
“Sorry,” Katniss apologized immediately as she lowered the bow and tucked the arrow back in her quiver. “Bad habit.” She was still unsettled from the explosion and mass disappearance so she was a bit more on edge than usual.
This was why she didn’t usually talk to people though. Most of her wanted to slink away in shame, but she knew that with as small as the town was, she would probably run into Eddie again somewhere and avoiding him now would make a future run-in more awkward. “Do you run a lot?”
***
“Yeah,” he replied. “Pretty much every day, actually. I can’t be a Guardian here, really, but I do’t want to let myself get out of shape just in case I get sent back and find myself in the middle of something. So I go to the gym every day, and I run everyday.”
It showed, too. Eddie was fit.
“What about you? Were you...hunting?”
***
Katniss nodded. “Yeah. It’s how I used to make a living.” And the woods were still her calming place, still reminded her of the good memories she had learning to use a bow with her father and the days before everything went to hell when she and Gale would escape to the woods.
“What’s a guardian do?” she asked. He was obviously in great shape and every attractive though she observed this more as a fact than as a note of interest.
***
“Is that what you do for a living here?” It had to have a use here, even if it was just restaurants fixing fresh game for everyone. He’d never hunted before - not animals, anyway. Strigoi, sure, but that was a different thing all together.
“We protect the Moroi vampires from the Strigoi vampires. Moroi are born, they’re alive, they live, they have kids, they die. Strigoi are your evil Dracula sort, unddead, soulless things.’
***
Vampires were something that Katniss only became familiar with since coming to Madison Valley, but she’d been here long enough to know that they weren’t all bad and she vaguely remembered hearing something about the guardian thing before now that he explained it.
“Sounds interesting,” she said. “I work at Bad Axe now. Hunting is just to fill my freezer.” Even though she had enough income to purchase food at the grocery store, some habits were hard to break.
***
“Oh, right, that’s the place you can throw axes, right? I keep meaning to stop by there but I never seem to end up having the time. Sounds like a lot of fun, really.” And cathartic. “I need to find a job. It’s weird because it’s not something I ever expected to have to do.”
And he’d never wanted to. All he’d ever wanted was to be a Guardian, and this place had taken that away.
***
“Yeah, we also have archery tag, which is the area where I work,” Katniss said, holding up her bow in example. “Johanna has taught me axe throwing though and it is kind of fun.” She didn’t think she’d ever find a weapon she preferred more than a bow, but it was good to have options in case of emergency. Which was always possible in Madison Valley.
She smiled. “You should come by sometime and check it out.”
***
“That does sound cool,” Eddie nodded. He’d heard of the place but had never made time to stop by. Maybe he should. Throwing axes sounded rather cathartic and he was pretty sure he’d be good at it too. “I will. I’ll stop by.”
He pulled out his phone and smiled at it, then looked back at her.
“Sorry, I’ve gotta get going and bring some stuff home from the store for my girlfriend. But I’ll definitely see you at the ax range this week.”
***
Katniss nodded. “Sounds good, it was nice meeting you.” She should probably head back too. At this rate, she wasn’t really interested in hunting anymore and she could go for some hot chocolate.