I'm taken aback as the man excitedly bounces in place and elbows the fire-haired girl. He tugs on the piece of cloth around his neck, and then slowly strolls up to me.
"Yes, hello." says his smile and he glances back to his friend and motions her forward. "It's nice to meet you, Katniss."
The strange inflection of my name leaves me a bit confused, yet there is such a look of excitement on his sweaty, dirt-covered face, that I can't help but believe the fire-haired girl's words of his innocence.
"We're a bit stranded, and have been for a while." He says softly, and as the hairless mounds under his forehead rise, I inadvertently produce a confused look.
She must have caught it, "Yeah, he has no eyebrows. If that's not anymore reason to believe his stupidity-"
"Pond." He shakes his head disapprovingly at her, yet she only shrugs. "I am brilliant."
I lightly smile as the fire-haired girl mouths "Nope" behind him, and he darts his head back at her and points an accusing finger.
Despite the voice in the back of my head, who sounds so much like Gale, and his words telling me to run, there was something…..different about the pair of them that I couldn't feel myself resist.
"All right…" I say quietly. "Y-You're weird and seemingly nice. I don't know what I can do, but if it's a place to rest for a bit, you can follow me."
A wide, childish smile spread across the strange man's face and he excitedly glances back to her, and she seems to humor him a thumbs-up.
"Thank you, Katniss."
How the fire-haired girl must've caught my buried confusion, I didn't know, but she speaks up my thoughts regardless, "Yeah, he also does weird inflections of names he likes. You'll start rollin' with it soon."
As I feel myself slowly start to lower my guard, I find myself listening to their footsteps, his are surprisingly light on his toes, while hers are steady. Though I appreciate their silence. For a few moments, I almost forget they're following me, until a quiet banter breaks out again, and I suppose the strange man, the "Doctor" stubbed his toes against a hidden stump. But soon it's just gibberish as the fire-haired girl hushes him.
I find it intriguing to witness though. I have spent most of my life in these woods, and I'm quite confident to say I know them like the back of my hand. To see how other people see my forests, it's strange. I catch a few birds in the corner of my eye, yet his pleasant gasp breaks my concentrations and sends my arrow way off. She shoves her elbow in his side, and they're set off bickering again. It's only until I glance back at them do they stop.
"Sorry." the Doctor mouths, while she rolls her eyes at him.
I motion them to stand still a moment, and I slide down a slope, slipping my arrows in an open tree cavity and feeding my bow beneath a pair of rocks. The two are somewhat startled when I quickly dart back up to them, yet I give them a reassuring motion forward.
It doesn't take long for us to reach the wire fence. I effortlessly maneuver through it, and I hear the sound of one of them swiftly following, and we both look back to him as he looks nervously at it.
"'Says 'High Voltage'." He mutters, rubbing his forefingers and thumbs together as he swallows anxiously.
The fire-haired girl grumbles impatiently, "C'mon, Doctor. You saw we weaved through it fine."
I watch as he grips his side absently, and his face somewhat saddens. With a sigh, he slowly slips his leg between a pair of wires and flinches out the other side, quickly dusting off his pants, and marching off with a brisk pace.
"What was that about?" I hesitantly whisper to the fire-haired girl, who is watching him walk and shaking her head at him.
"He's a bit cautious when it's just him." She says, and she gives me a quick glance. "Imagine if you didn't have your bow and arrow to hunt with. I s'pose it's a bit like that."
"He's a hunter?" I press my lips together when I realize how doubtful my voice sounds, but her laugh vindicates my questioning tone.
We both look to where he was walking, and we somewhat flinch as he's briskly walking back to us. I feel a bit uneasy that he looks immediately to me.
"Realized you have no idea where you're going?" asks the fire-haired girl, in something of a patronizing way.
His hand darts up to her face, "I'm not talkin' to you." To which she just scoffs. "I apologize, Katniss. Would you mind leading the way?"
There is that strange smile again. I have never seen anyone with that smile before. That sort of smile that could ask you to jump off a cliff, and you would and you would run back up to climb it just to do it again. I hated how I started to feel a bit flustered every time he smiled that way.
"Of course." I say quietly, and duck my head as I step in front of them.
Ten minutes or so of complete silence pass until we reach my house. It isn't until I see the crippled roof that the gnawing, sickening feeling of "What am I doing?" sets in the pit of my stomach. The frantic look of Gale's face and his shouting for me to run, and what do I do? I've brought the strangers to my own home. Who were they? What if they somehow belonged to the Capitol? Their strangeness certainly could suggest that. Plus, they talk a bit funny. Perhaps that's how people in the Capitol talk. And I've gone and led them to my home, carelessly risking my family's safety. What if they were officers patrolling the forest for anyone who crosses the fence?
My thoughts bury me and it isn't until the two are beside me, that I realize I must've stopped walking. I can feel my subconscious telling me to turn around or to lead them a different way. How could I be so stupid? What was-
The odd man somewhat leaps in front of my face and there's that smile again as he seems to be reassuring me. And it works. Whatever is there that that smile couldn't sway? Perhaps, I decide, the fire-haired girl.
He smiles and produces a silent clap, "This is your home?" His excitement is bewildering, and I bite my tongue before asking him if he sees the same place as I do.
That cynic inside of me watches his face in the corner of my eye as we walk closer to my house. District 12 consists of starvation, misery, and every aspect of the words 'plague' and 'suffering'. I feel a bit sick that I want the 'Doctor' to see it and for it to affect him negatively. There's no wonder contentment and the hollow feeling of 'happiness' isn't here. When people who have lived in it so long have become vicious wolves to shred the innocence apart. I wonder when it was that I became one.
I lead them to the side of my house, so that it blocks as much of the District's despair as possible. Yet before I can fully turn to them, I see Gale step out and his relieved look to see me quickly bleeds monotonous as he notices the strangers.
His eyes fixate on the Doctor, and suddenly an old memory comes back to me and I remember the day an adolescent bear crossed my path while I was out hunting. I already had my bow ready, yet the second it stepped in view, I hesitated. The bear began scraping its teeth against a tree, and I paused in watching the bark as it fell to the ground. My instinct twitched my arm back, and almost immediately as I felt the strain, the bear darted its head in my direction and stared at me. The way it stared, the way its eyes met mine. Strong, so very strong, just in its eyes. And yet there was something else. The tension in my arm slowly started to cause my bow to tremble, and that's when I see it. As its holding my gaze, a smaller bear waddled out of the bushes and began nibbling on the damp bark. The strength I saw, and yet it was just as much…..scared. Terrified, even. It looked at me knowingly, like it knew what I was about to do; take its life, and what its death would do to the cub. I slowly lowered my bow and backed away. Whatever voice had spoken to me, whatever hand gently led my arrow away from it, and I can't help but think of my father.
Gale stands, slowly drifting in front of me, and he stares at the Doctor in the same way that adolescent bear stared at me. I glance to the fire-haired girl, and she must notice because she slowly grabs the Doctor's arm and tries to back him away. Yet his innocence was almost humorous, how oblivious it made him.
He smiles widely at Gale, "Oh yes, hello! We met you earlier." And darts his arm to him for a handshake. Though at least he quickly picks up on the 'Get the hell out of my face' look and withdraws it. "It's all right, I'm the Doctor. I'm as safe as it gets."
The fire-haired girl blurts out a laugh and we all look at her as she shakes her head to herself. "Sorry, couldn't help it. Go on, then."
Gale leans over to me, yet his eyes don't leave the Doctor's, "What the hell have you done? Why did you-"
"We needed help." interrupts the Doctor softly, and as I watch his arms dangle anxiously at his side, I can tell he's trying to connect with Gale, to earn his trust, or at least some civil standing. But Gale is as uncompromising and steady as ever.
I lose track of time as I glance from Gale to the Doctor as they remain trapped in some sort of testosterone trance, and for a moment I just wish they would act like animals and tear each other apart to settle their issues. But wait, that would be bad and violent and bad. Oh, but I still find myself not caring, anything is better than this irrelevant stand-off.
As I look to the fire-haired girl, I'm surprised to find her to have drifted off. I turn my head slowly, and I catch her in the corner of my eye, slipping off to behind the house. With a quick check back to the pair of them, I drift away as well, and when I slip behind the corner of the house, I finally hear Gale's voice, questioning and threatening. I roll my eyes at his tone, yet suddenly I feel a flash of his protective uncertainty as I see the fire-haired girl kneeling next to my little sister and her goat. I keep my distance, and listen.
"Is Katniss your sister?" asks the fire-haired girl with a gentle, almost silk-like voice.
Prim nods, and continues combing her fingers through Lady's fur. There is something vulnerable in the way she speaks, something sincere. I can't help but wonder if the fire-haired girl sees someone in Prim. With that small smile that holds through every word Prim says and that look in her eye, she must.
The rough, commanding voice of Gale soon takes my attention, and I glance back to see the Doctor nonchalantly marching up to me and he pauses to look at the goat. That wide, child-ish smile again and I feel a faint one come upon me also just at the sight of him.
Gale grabs me and pulls me aside, "Katniss, you can't possibly trust them."
"Oh well, you know I speak goat." I hear the Doctor say proudly in the background.
"I think they're harmless."
He shakes his head, and shuffles anxiously, looking at me with that same look, "You better be careful, Catnip."
I nod, and without another word, he turns and walks away.
"Well, she's very grateful of the care you've given her, Prim."
The Doctor turns his head at the same moment I approach and he smile kindly at me.
"And to you, as well."
My defense mechanism immediately turns on and I give a shirking smile as I motion them to come with me. It's the one strange day my mother isn't sulking in the house. I glare at the cat, who hisses at me with more anger than usual, and listen to the rhythmic sound of our shoes knocking about the wood as we walk inside the house.
"This is about it." I say and toss my arms up at the rotted planks that hang out from the walls. I make note to fix it later, even though I know it's just grabbing a fist-size rock and trying to beat them back in.
"It's wonderful, Katniss. Really."
As I glance back at them, I see the fire-haired girl thoughtfully rubbing her thumb across a thin layer of dirt while her companion looks around almost wonderstruck. I swallow my cynicism. I know that smile and innocence will fade the longer he sees District 12. For now, I can't not let him walk naively.
"So ask us the questions, then." The fire-haired girl looks up at me and presses her lips together to muster some sort of smile.
I try my best to appear as innocent and confused as possible, but her knowing look tells me she would never buy it, despite him jumping already to that conclusion.
"Certainly, we're quite suspicious in itself." He stretches the elastic bands around his shoulders as his eyes trail across the ceiling. "You're very smart, Katniss, and not at all naïve. But," His green eyes fall on me, "I give you this gentle warning, it may be better to know nothing of where we're from or who we were before now. Explanations in this case are always confusing and induce a shrill of panic."
I swallow dryly and I feel a throbbing pulse run up my neck at the anxiety, "You aren't from the Capitol, are you? Are you some sort of….Peacemaker?" I whisper.
He bounces in place from excitement, "Oh, I like that! Peacemaker." He nods approvingly to himself. "Yes, I would say that's about right of us."
I look to the fire-haired girl, and she's shaking her head and silently scoffing at him. "I don't think that's exactly what she means, Doctor."
His head darts to her, "What? Is this some sort of dirty joke?" He somewhat hangs his head, "I never get those."
She sighs, "No. I think Peacemakers are like the strict police of each District, and they work for the Capitol."
Almost simultaneously we stare at her, a bit puzzled, him more so curious and me more so concerned.
"How do you know?"
The fire-haired girl shrugs, "That's what Prim told me."
"Okay," I comb the sweaty strands of my hair back and quietly sigh, "so you're not with the Capitol?"
The Doctor looked to her out of the corner of his eye for a decision, and as she shakes her head, he promptly joins in on the head-shaking of "No".
"Well then, who are you?"
The Doctor hesitantly opens his mouth to speak, yet shuts it and rubs his hands together. I find myself looking expectantly to each of them as they both stand awkwardly in front of me. My eyes dart to him when I see him open his mouth again.
"I'm the Docto—"
The fire-haired girl shoves the back of her hand into his chest, "We're time travelers."
"Oh, perfect, Amy." He grumbles, taking a few steps away from her as he seemingly pouts.
"I know he wanted to be all mysterious and 'It's better not to know', but the truth is we're time travelers and once again, almost suspiciously again, something happened with his stupid—"
"Sexy!" He protests rather loudly.
Her hands fall on her hips and she shakes her head critically at him, "Stupid time machine and it gone off and went without us. And Doctor, being the great oncoming storm that he is, couldn't bother to actually find civilization, and most of all-" I reflect a moment, indecisive if I was glad to be hearing their bickering up close or if I prefer to have it back to only hearing distant angry-whispering. "Most of all, Doctor, you ate the damn blackberries I found."
I look to him and catch him shrug, "How was I supposed to know they were yours, Pond?"
The fire-haired girl brings her hands up to her face and stifles whatever fuming outburst must've risen, and she suddenly turns to me and smiles, albeit, crossly. "Le'mme ask Katniss about that, then."
He cringes at her, "Don't involve her—"
"No, no. As you said, Doctor, she's very smart and not at all naïve. I'm sure she could tell us which clue.-", I catch him mouthing a mock of her accent, yet I quickly glance back to her as she's on her way to the top of her rant. "—decides which side is right and which is the side of the four-year old!"
"Well then, it's your side. I'm eleven-hundred and…" he pauses and his mouth contorts together as he seems to hope the 'and' wasn't heard. But as I expect, she never misses anything.
"Four." She says, crossing her arms firmly. "You're eleven-hundred and four."
The Doctor scoffs, "As if that matters. You're twenty-four."
I glance to her quickly and she somewhat leaps in place, "My damn coat pocket! They were in my coat pocket," She flails her arms, "and I was wearing the coat still!"
He again shrugs, "You're making a scene, Pond."
"And you didn't even eat them all."
My head darts to him questioningly, "You didn't even eat them all?"
"Nope!"
"Shut up, I told you they were too tart!"
"Four days, Doctor! Four days we were out there and the only decent thing I found—"
"Let it go, woman!"
"—were those damn blackberries and then you go and steal them, and when you think they're not 'good', you throw half of the pile in the river and the rest, you stomp on!"
"They were too tart! I disagreed with their flavor!"
I watch as they each stiffen into the same defiant, headstrong pose, silently glaring at each other, and once more a memory flutters in my head. I see Gale's smirking face as he conceals something behind his back, and I know he must've made a very good kill. But the smirk is something else. As he stares at my defeated, sweat-covered face, he knows that my solo run of hunting that day failed miserably and I'm already bitter over it all. He remains quiet and I replay the moment of my arrow blatantly missing the first wild boar I had ever seen. I wasn't sure what, but I supposed something must have startled it. The second before I ask him, his arm hauls a rather large carcass in front of me, and my mouth drops at the sight of the wild boar. My eyes dart up to his face, and he's now quietly laughing as I take it in. It all finally registers for me.
"What's wrong, Catnip?" He says coyly, purposely trying to provoke me. "Surprised to see a wild boar? I thought you might be."
"You startled it." I murmur, and I look for the small scrap on its hind leg where the startling rock had hit it, and I feel a strange anger boil straight through to my hand.
Effortlessly and surprisingly quick, I swing my bow up at his face, yet he only ducks, now laughing heartily as he begins to run away.
"You stole my kill!" I shout at him, pulling back an arrow and letting it fly, and he flinches forward up a hill as it pierces the boar. "That's my kill!"
"See ya' tomorrow, Catnip!" He playfully yells back, stopping a moment to turn back and salute at me with that smirk.
It was one of those rare days where he acted so childish, and I only allowed it because he hardly allowed himself to be that way, so I allowed him those days. Knowing that the next time I would see him, he would once again have the weight of the world on his shoulders.
I blink out of my thoughts to see them both staring at me curiously, and I try to immediately push myself into my mindset as provider and caretaker.
"You both can rest here until you find your…." I pause to remember what it was the fire-haired girl said, lightly shaking my head at the ridiculousness of it all, "time machine. But you have to stop fighting."
She sighs, and he strangely contorts his mouth together into only what I can assume is an ashamed pout, and they both reluctantly nod.
"Better watch out, then. Keep up that fiery attitude and you both might be forced into fighting in the Games." My nonchalant tone is quickly met with puzzled faces, and I can't help but scoff. "All right, I'm starting to believe your time traveler story, how have you never heard of the Games?"
The Doctor slowly smiles, "Are they…..entertaining?"
I scoff again, and quickly weave a strand of hair behind my ear, "Anything but. If there's one thing that's closest to Hell, it's the Hunger Games."