burnedgirl (burnedgirl) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-06-03 23:36:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, gale hawthorne, katniss everdeen |
Who: Katniss and Gale
What: Patrolling during the Hellmouth plot
Where: Outside Haymitch’s house
When: After this
Rating: PG - swearing and vampire dusting
Status: Complete
Katniss had ordered in a couple of pizzas before it had gotten too dark for when Gale came over. They’d taken it upstairs and sat in the window seat in Katniss’ bedroom with the pizza between them, watching Vampires and other creatures moving below them. They’d talked some more, had a bit of a laugh and they were finishing off their pizza before heading down to patrol around the house.
“It’s crazy isn’t it. This place we live in is now infested with creatures that, until last week, I’d thought were still mythical,” she shook her head as another vampire moved through the back garden hunting for another victim.
Pizza and patrolling, it sounded good to Gale. Really good. Reminded him of when he and Katniss would go out hunting, spending a whole day in the forest with their weapons, each other, there in the great outdoors. In that instance, they were hunting to bring food back for their hungry families, whereas now it was more about strictly defense - but the principle still sort of applied. Mostly, it was time with Katniss that he liked the most - it felt like reconnecting, getting into the groove of things, and he had always promised to have her back. Even now, he still meant it.
“I really had to redefine what normal is, after moving here because this place is weird,” he agreed, and that was an understatement. Lately, Orange County had become an explosion of all things supernatural - there almost weren’t enough fighters to keep on top of everything, but they were all managing even as nasties kept crawling out from the woodwork and the actual portal to Hell they originated from. Shouldering his quiver of arrows, he reached for one and loaded up the bow. “We’ll stand guard on the porch out back?” And take out that fucker who was creeping around, first and foremost.
“Absolutely,” Katniss smiled and nodded at him. She’d felt the same about sharing the meal. It had felt right, no awkward silences, just companionship, laughter and friendship. After Gale had nocked his arrow, she got and up and followed suit, before leading the way downstairs and to the back door in the kitchen. Haymitch was in the front room watching tv, trying to keep his mind off the creatures that stalked the night outside and happy to let Gale and her do their thing. Standing by the hinges of the door, she stood with her back to it and, holding her bow and arrow in her right hand, put her left hand on the door handle. Looking up at Gale, she waited for him to nod and say he was ready. She knew he would understand.
Gale was ready. Born ready. The arrows he carried were made of wood, which was perfect because shooting the vampires in the chest with one ensured that they’d simply poof off into a cloud of dust. And while his aim wasn’t as good as Katniss’s, he was still proficient enough to hit the target - the dead center - and get done what needed to be done.
He nodded in confirmation, so Katniss could open the door. Then when she did, he went left, and she’d probably go right, and it was dark but he had keen night vision. Not to mention the adrenaline coursing through him, the need to protect and defend this house, was fueling him. The creature was swift but with a squint of one gunmetal grey eye, he let the arrow fly.
“There’s more than one.” Great.
Once Gale had cleared the threshold, Katniss quickly took proper hold of her bow and arrow before heading for the opposite direction to Gale. Hearing the bowstring release, she caught a movement out of the corner of her left eye in the dim porch light and quickly adjusted her aim as he called out his warning. "Got it," she told him, sighting and shooting her target in a few seconds. A blow to the chest and poof went the vampire.
At first Katniss had struggled with shooting them, these people, but after daring to read some posts on the Network she had quickly come to terms with the fact that they weren't human anymore. Their families would never see them again as they had known them before. They were pretty much mindless hunters and she switched her thinking back to how she had to think in the training room of the Games; faceless targets. It was sad, but it stopped her worrying about who she was shooting. So long as they looked like Mutts.
Another movement caught her attention. "Two on your right," she called, already nocking her second arrow.
When it came to the vampires, Gale wasn’t sure who or what sired them, but it was true - there wasn’t anything that would bring them back to the way they once were. They were now nightmare fuel, and that was an unfortunate thing - however, he wasn’t going to let that deter him from protecting his loved ones. Things happened and you had to do the best with what you could - it was either them, or us, and Gale was obviously going to choose us.
“Good shot,” he called back, when he heard the poof, the wooden arrow striking the vampire in where there was once a heart, now a creaky, hollow cavern. The two on your right was heeded, and he went around, using the pillars on the porch as cover before emerging a bit farther off - one target he found, shooting it efficiently. But the other he couldn’t get a glimpse of. “...I think it’s headed toward you?”
The snarky sounds of laughter gave the ugly thing away. “Aw, come on, pretty,” growled something from the shadows. “Don’t you wanna party??” Not only were those things ugly as sin, they were also assholes.
Katniss couldn't help but laugh and shake her head at Gale, but the vampire's response gave away its position. Seeing it looking out from behind a tree trunk, it gave just enough of a view of its chest for her to get the shot off. "I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to taunt them," she grinned at him. "It hardly seems fair given that they don't seem to have a brain between them," she said, retrieving another arrow from her quiver. There was at least another one in the darkness but it was staying back in the shadows. Probably scared after seeing it's buddies reduced to ash. Readying her bow for another volley, she waited and listened to the faint sounds of the vampire. "You hear that?"
“They’ve got balls, I’ll give them that,” Gale rumbled in amusement, because no, taunting your prey wasn’t usually a good idea. But it seemed like the remaining vampire was trying to sneak around and come at them from another angle - its tread was quiet, but not as silent, eerie, and velvety as Gale’s own. Hunter’s stealth, it was something he’d managed to hang onto in between worlds, apparently. “Maybe it wants us to think it took off...”
He listened. Listened for the telltale sounds of movement - rocks scattering, tiny branches breaking. It was quiet for a second. Just one or two. And then the vampire sprang.
Shit. “Shoot it!”
Katniss barely had time between spotting it, aiming and releasing the arrow. The vampire turned to dust as it sprung towards him, leaving him covered in ash. She stared at him for a second before putting a hand to her mouth to stifle her laugh. There were no other sounds around them to indicate any danger and she allowed herself a brief moment of jollity. Stepping up to him and Shouldering her bow, she started to brush him down and get the rest of the dust off of him, a smile still on her face. "Well, that's new," she remarked.
Okay, so yes, these particular brand of vampires exploded in a cloud of dust - which Gale supposed made sense - but it caused him to cough, waving the air in front of his face, and he tried not to breathe any of the mess into his lungs. Fangy’s innards were definitely comprised of ash right now, a pile on the ground, and he would hate to see what the state of Haymitch’s yard would look like when the sun came up. Probably wouldn’t be pretty.
“New, and hopefully the last for awhile,” Gale huffed, but he couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him too. Because everything was just so surreal. “Guess this means we’ll be staying up all night to stand guard.” He didn’t trust something else nasty to not come this way.
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Katniss replied, giving up trying to rid him of his dusty covering, she settled for straightening the front of his jacket. Even covered in vampire dust he cut a fine figure of a man. She couldn’t help but be grateful for this respite from the Dreams. It gave her some breathing room to really see Gale. She knew in the Dreams that he was attractive, but she was too busy being terrified of practically everything to really be able to do anything about it. Perhaps here could be different, she thought to herself, smiling up at him.
She cleared her throat and stepped back, scanning the darkness for movement and tucking some hair behind her ear. “I think we’re clear for a few minutes, you want tea? Coffee?” she asked, heading back to the open kitchen door.
May as well. Gale was so hyped up on adrenaline, that if anything jumped out from the depths of Hell, he was going to tear it apart with his bare hands. Not even close to being in the mood to fuck around here. “Coffee, sure,” he grinned in relief, because caffeine sounded like just the thing if they were going to stay up all night, and followed Katniss back into the kitchen.
He deposited his weapons close by, well within reach. Just in case, also far too hyped up to not be paranoid. “I will be glad when things are back to normal. Or whatever passes for normal around here. But even so, it’s nice to know that your archery is still top-notch, Catnip.”
“Yeah, this place definitely redefined the word ‘normal’,” Katniss commented, moving over to the kettle. She kept her bow and quiver on her back in case she needed them, but if what they had been saying on the Net was anything to go by then the vampires couldn’t actually come in unless invited so she felt marginally safer. “Thanks,you too. Seems the Dreams gifted me with that particular talent and it’s actually come in handy,” she smiled over her shoulder at him as she filled the kettle at the sink. “Cream and sugar?”
“Cream’s good, no sugar,” Gale replied, and he actually found the whole thing kind of funny. Well, more like this particular part. “You hated coffee, but your mom loved it, right?” he asked, leaning against the counter near where Katniss was. “Tastes evolve, I guess.” Now, coffee could actually be afforded - maybe that was how and why they’d both developed a taste for it anyway, because there were days Gale couldn’t be without a cup o’joe to help him stay awake at work.
What a strange life. A strange world. “The snare stuff kind of carried over too,” he shrugged. “I seem to have a better sense for when the prey will cross the trap, more than I ever did before.”
Katniss shrugged as she carried on making the cups up. "It's weird, I've hated even the smell of coffee until recently. I woke up after a Dream about...about the Capitol and had a craving for it. I think the decadence of it all sparked the need for the caffeine denied to us in the Seam," she huffed a little laugh. It was nice. To find something to laugh at about those Dreams. "Chocolate too! I wish I'd never tasted that delectable piece of Ambrosia," she grinned at him him. Growing up in the real world hadn't been as hard as the Seam, but it hadn't been a picnic. Few luxuries, mom doing her best to keep two girls healthy and happy and part of that was no sweet things: fewer trips to the dentists that way.
"You've tried snares here then? Where? How'd you do?" She asked, pouring the water in the cups and giving them a good stir. "Here," she smiled at him as she handed the cup over to him. Leaning her hip against the counter, she mirrored him as she listened to him intently.
He took the cup with a thanks, letting the coffee cool a little bit before he took a sip. “Makes sense you would crave chocolate,” Gale snickered. “Sometimes it’s like that for me too. I just want the things I never got to have.” Like ice cream and cookies and pastry - he was going to turn into a fat soldier if he kept visiting Peeta’s bakery, but part of it had to do with checking on his friend too. Things had been rough for him lately, what with the effects of the tracker jacker poison seeping into this reality, though Gale wasn’t sure how much Katniss knew. He’d just...stay out of that.
“Around, where I could catch rabbits,” he added, after taking a few more sips to let the dark liquid bite at his veins - caffeine, do your thing. “I tried with a few twitch-up snares, simple ones. I made rabbit stew. It’s actually a specialty of mine, even now.” And he was sort of proud of that? Hey, some things never changed. “Johanna doesn’t believe me that fried squirrel is good though. I’m going to prove her wrong.”
“A speciality of yours, huh? Well, obviously you’ll have to demonstrate before I can believe you,” Katniss teased, giving him a coy look over the rim of her coffee cup. “Otherwise it’s all talk and no follow through,” she grinned before taking a sip. Any reason to spend time with him really. It was so good to have him here, a reliable presence who she could turn to if needed. Haymitch was great and everything, but Gale was...well, Gale.
“Okay, okay,” Gale conceded, as if it were a huge big deal. It wasn’t, of course. He’d gladly share the fruits of his rabbit hunting labor with Katniss - and would share his rabbit stew. “You’ve got yourself a deal, Catnip.”
When things calmed down around here, sometime, eventually, he would make good on his word. But now, coffee mug in hand, he asked, “You ready to set up post and serve and protect?” Guarding the house for the rest of the night. What fun.
"Sir, yes sir," Katniss saluted him, coffee cup in the other hand. "However you want me," she told him, unable to keep the grin off her face.