The next morning, Johanna shakes Katniss awake until she's sitting up in bed and lucid enough to have a brief conversation, then leaves the room, toothbrush hanging from her mouth. Katniss stares at the wall across from her. Johanna had mumbled something about going down to the beach, but Katniss had been half-asleep - is still half-asleep - and didn't really understand anything.
She swings her feet across the bed and stands, moving to her bag to grab a small towel and a change of clothes. When she finishes changing in the bathroom, she opens the door and slips out of her room.
The house is quiet with a faint murmur of voices and the smell of breakfast. She pads quietly to the kitchen, making sure that she's not too silent on her feet. Johanna is sitting at the table, hands wrapped around a steaming mug, while Annie stands at the stove with her back to Katniss. "Good morning, Annie, Jo."
Johanna grunts. Annie jumps a bit before turning and smiling at Katniss. "Good morning, Katniss. Give me a minute or two to finish up. There's some coffee in the pot, with sugar and milk at the side." Katniss blinks at this. She's tried coffee before, when her dad was still alive, but it had been bitter and disgusting. After the rebellion, the only drinks she ever had in the house were water and hot chocolate. She scrunches her nose at the thought of drinking the black sludge and sits at the table.
After taking one look at Katniss' expression, Jo barks out a laugh. "Try the coffee, Brainless. It's actually good with milk and sugar." Katniss must still look doubtful, because Johanna pushes away from the table and walks to the counter. "I'll make you some, but only for today. After this, you're on your own." Katniss watches as she pours the dark liquid into a cup, then add a spoonful of sugar and a considerable amount of milk. She mixes the liquid with a spoon before returning to the table, setting the mug in front of Katniss just as Annie finishes cooking and puts a plate of eggs and toast in the center of the table.
Katniss is hesitant as she picks up the mug, but she realizes after taking a sip that it's actually sweet, although not as good as hot chocolate. Johanna just smirks while Annie smiles and pushes the plate of food towards Katniss, wordlessly urging her to have some breakfast. Much like the night before, breakfast with the two is fairly quiet, although Annie and Jo talk about various people. Katniss is quiet by nature, though, so she doesn't mind not being able to participate in the conversation. Honestly, she prefers it.
When Jo is finally done scarfing down food, she licks her fingers while looking at Katniss. "So, we'll be helping out at the beach this morning. I'll be working on boats, which you can do, too. You can also cook at Dori's kitchen or help Annie with weaving some fishing nets. Annie has to take care of Nick first, but she'll be there after dropping him off with Mahi. She's a local who takes care of kids for a small fee."
Katniss winces at the choices. She's not a particularly good cook, most likely because there weren't a lot of ingredients to choose from before. And she's pretty sure that Finnick deemed her hopeless when he tried teaching her to weave nets. In the end, that leaves her with helping Jo work on the boats.
Jo looks like she expected it when Katniss tells her where she might be able to help out, and they quickly leave the house after stuffing some sandwiches into a small bag. She explains on the way that there are only a few boats now since most of these were destroyed during the war. Since there are so little that can be used, the district is having a hard time because most of the remaining population can't do their work.
At the beach, Jo quickly guides Katniss to a group of people surrounded by planks of wood and boats at different levels of completion. A bronze-skinned man with dark hair stands up, dusting himself off, and smiles at them. "Hey, Jo. I see you've brought a friend for today." His green eyes glitter knowingly as they land on Katniss, and she shifts awkwardly as Johanna guffaws.
"Gil, this is Katniss. She's going to be here at Four for a while, but we're keeping it quiet." Johanna's voice is loud and sharp as she says the last part, and everyone who's staring immediately looks away. Katniss flushes while Gil chuckles.
"I'll try to keep people from spreading the word, then. So, any skills?" he asks, directing the question at Katniss.
She shrugs, trying not to look too uncertain. "I haven't done this before, but I'll do my best."
He hands Jo a set of tools before handing Katniss another. "Okay, Jo, you know where to go. Katniss, you'll be with me for today. Let's jump around and see what you can do, and you can focus on that from tomorrow onwards, okay?" He flashes another smile at her before walking off, and Katniss follows after a smirking Johanna pushes her.
She tries out various tasks throughout the day, taking a short break for lunch. By 4, Gil tells her that she'll do well cutting wood for the boats, smiling as he bids them goodbye.
As they walk to Mahi's house, Katniss asks about Annie's day. Annie smiles and talks about the process of weaving the nets until they arrive at a small house with green siding. It's noisy inside, and Katniss stays back a few steps while Annie walks up to the front door and knocks. A dark-skinned woman wearing a dress comes out. "Annie! I'll be out with Nick in a while, please wait." She slips back inside, but not before peering curiously at Katniss. Seconds later, she steps back out and hands Nick to Annie, then thrusts her hand out at Katniss. "Hi! I'm Mahi. I watch the local kids with my sister, Maya. You're Katniss Everdeen, aren't you?"
Katniss gives a small smile as she shakes the woman's hand. "Hello. Yes, I'm Katniss. I'll just be in the District for a while."
The woman looks at her thoughtfully before smiling at Johanna. "Keep this away from the channels, then?" When Johanna smirks, Mahi's smile only grows wider and more understanding. "Excellent. I'll tell the others tonight." She steps back towards the house. "Bye! Have a good night."
Johanna explains what Mahi meant when they get back to Annie's house. "The locals are gossips, but they keep things like this quiet if they know they have to. Mahi's friendly with everyone, and everyone also needs to be on good terms with her because she's one of the few people that takes care of kids around here. Same with Gil; everyone needs to be on his good side because he's the head of construction, and he knows a lot of people that can make your life hard." Katniss still feels a bit apprehensive, so Johanna elbows her. "Look, not a lot of people know that I'm here, and I've been staying here for a few weeks now. Don't worry. Go help Annie with dinner, will you? I can't cook for shit."
Katniss helps Annie prepare dinner for the next hour while Johanna entertains Nick. When they finally start eating dinner, she quickly finishes her meal and offers to feed Nick so Annie can eat in peace. Annie protests at first before smiling in appreciation at Katniss, who just works on feeding the small boy. Nick is shy at first, but he warms up to Katniss and starts laughing each time she pretends that the spoon is a bird flying to his mouth.
Everyone is done eating when Jo speaks. "Guess what, Annie?" Annie hums in response, and Katniss just barely catches Jo's mischievous smirk before she continues. "Gil is very, very, very smitten with Katniss here." Annie looks up at this, and Katniss reddens.
"What? He is not, Jo, stop lying," Katniss says a bit desperately, standing and collecting the plates in a pile.
"He is. I thought it might have been the whole 'Girl on Fire' effect at first, honestly, but he actually stuck around her the whole day. Something about clueless, brainless girls must do it for him, I guess." Johanna grins. "He kept staring at her during lunch, too, not that Brainless here noticed. The only things she looked at for more than 2 seconds were her sandwich and the planks of wood."
Annie looks thoughtful. "I can see why Gil might like Katniss. She's quiet and hardworking, while a lot of the women here are more friendly and outgoing. He was probably curious because she's famous, then became more interested because of how she acts."
Katniss flushes even more, and she glares at Jo before bringing the dishes to the sink and opening the faucet. "He's not smitten, okay? Even if he is, he's probably not going to be soon, so let's stop talking about this."
Annie smiles serenely as she picks Nick up and bounces him while Jo laughs. "Relax, Brainless, I'm just messing with you. But if he is interested, remember that it's not exactly bad to explore your options, okay? Go out on a few dates, kiss some guys. It doesn't even have to be Gil." Katniss scowls at Johanna, who looks entirely too amused as she follows Annie into the living room.
Johanna and Annie are playing peek-a-boo with Nick when Katniss finishes washing and drying the dishes. She leans against the counter in thought before walking into the next room and sitting on the couch. She watches them for a bit before looking down at her lap, fidgeting before speaking up. "I'm not really interested in finding someone right now."
The two women exchange indecipherable looks before Jo opens her mouth. "If this is about Peeta-"
"It's really not," Katniss says with a small laugh, cutting Jo off inadvertently. "Sorry. But no, it's not because of Peeta. I guess it's just not high on my list of priorities right now. It might actually be at the very bottom." She pauses before continuing slowly. "I left because I kept seeing them together, but I'm not over him yet, and I don't want to look for someone knowing that." She stares at the wooden ceiling, which is a dark brown color. "And I kind of want to try a lot of different things right now. I think looking for someone might stop me from doing that."
When she looks at them after a few seconds, they both look like they understand. Johanna rolls her eyes and starts making faces at Nick again. Annie just smiles.