WHO: Finnick Odair and OPEN WHAT: Panicking a little WHEN: Monday afternoon WHERE: On the streets of Madison Valley WARNINGS: Possible talk of PTSD, non-con, TBD STATUS: Open/Ongoing
Finnick hadn't been able to sleep at all after his conversation with Clove. He'd tossed and turned to the point he was worried about disturbing Annie, so he'd gotten up and gone into the living room to pace. Back and forth, back and forth, his mind racing to a thousand different thoughts and a thousand different fears.
She'd brought them all back.
With just Annie here, he'd been struggling to put Panem behind him. To put the Capitol behind him. The Arena. All the terrible things he'd suffered and been forced to do were slowly starting to fade in the light of this different world, and he had started to hope that he'd be able to find peace from it all.
Then Clove had appeared, apparently fresh out of the Arena, and it had all come flooding back. She remembered him. Of course she did. Everyone thought they remembered him, everyone thought they knew him. The Capitol had made him that way; he was District 4's golden boy. District 4's whore was more like it.
He felt like he was going to be sick. As soon as he saw the rays of the sun peek above the horizon, he hurried out into the day, practically running down the sidewalks. He couldn't escape it. He couldn't escape the memories. The memories of the children he'd killed...the memories of what the Capitol had done to him afterwards, they weren't going anywhere; he couldn't escape them no matter what he did. And it was just so much.
He felt like he was going to cry. But he couldn't let it happen. He couldn't let himself fall into that abyss. He couldn't let those feelings swallow him again. He closed his eyes tightly, trying to give himself a destination, a purpose to be out.
Doughnuts. That was it. The bakery would be open this time of morning, and he'd take home some of the chocolate ones with sprinkles that Annie seemed to like so much. It would give him an excuse for being gone, and he wouldn't have to explain to her why he was so upset. He couldn't do that to her. She didn't need the added worry; she had enough of her own to worry about.
He was still practically running when he reached the bakery, and very narrowly avoided a collision with someone heading to the same place he was. He forced a smile, which probably looked rather frightening, to be honest, and opened the door for them.