Who: Katniss & Open What: Blowing off some steam in the woods. Where: Clifty Falls State Park. When: Sunday morning Warnings | Status: possible talk of death, murder etc. | in progress
These woods weren't the ones surrounding District 12. It still felt familiar though, in the sense that it was a terrain Katniss could navigate. There was the risk she could get lost in such new surroundings, but what about this place didn't scream that they were lost already? That didn't stop her from moving through it with confidence though. It mattered some that Gale wasn't with her, but that was a yielding thought that got brushed under a layer of denial as Katniss crept through the woods. She missed the silence of Gale's movements and the comfort of having someone to watch her back. But she'd given up Gale and he was so far away now that thinking about him was stupid, no matter how much the woods made her think of him. So Katniss didn't.
The weather was wearing down as winter came on, it was cold, but not as horrible as it could be the later the season dragged on. Animals still prowled their paths and offered themselves up to good enough hunters as they struggled to live through the season. Katniss already had a brace of rabbits in her game bag, but habit and necessity kept her out. The day was young, the sun had come up an hour ago and the woods were coming alive with the sounds of life. And the random crunch of something behind her, so light she almost didn't hear it.
Katniss spun and notched an arrow mid-motion, almost sending it through the intruder in a blur. At the last second she jerked the bow up and sent the shaft flying into the trunk of the tree instead of the other person's throat.
Calm down. You're not in the Games.
But evidently she was still half there and twitchy. Her heart pounded wildly.