all_inclusive | (no subject)

The scream that wrenches through the air makes Finnick halt in his steps immediately, back ramrod straight. It's strange how some aspects of the arena never leave you, but he's immediately honed in once again. He scarcely recognizes Peeta's voice, but he's heading toward it in a minute anyway. (This is different, he figures, because he's never run toward the sound of screaming inside an arena yet.) Still, it's almost a bizarre turn of events in the hotel. First he'd gone for Johanna, and then Katniss, and then Annie and now --

He gets in sight of Peeta and freezes again, because Peeta is in the worst shape of all of them by far. And Finnick certainly recognizes the remains of that wetsuit, because there's one still stashed away in his closet upstairs. He doesn't dare get closer, not yet.

"Peeta!" he says loudly, holding his hands up, hoping that he can establish himself as a non-threat. He's out of range of the sword for the time being, but he also doesn't have a weapon on him.

Even as disoriented as he is, Peeta recognizes Finnick. There's a measure of relief in the familiarity of the man. He knows that Finnick has saved his life time and again in the arena so he doesn't expect that he's in danger from him now. He recognizes that he's got his hands up, that he appears to be unarmed, but at the same time, should Finnick decide to attack, Peeta knows Finnick doesn't need a weapon to be deadly. He doesn't raise his sword, but he doesn't come closer.

"Where's Katniss?"

He'll get to 'what happened' and 'where are we' in a minute. He's got to establish that Katniss is safe first.

A stand-off. That Finnick can deal with. It's eons better than being charged by an injured boy with a sword. That sort of desperation is much more difficult to read in a fight than someone who has had years of training. And to be honest, Finnick doesn't entirely consider himself up to the task at the moment.

"She's here," Finnick says, trying to sound as reassuring as possible. That at least, he's had plenty of training in, and he doesn't even need to lie for it to be true. "She's fine, all right? Look around you, Peeta," he says slowly. "We're not in the arena anymore."

He knew the end of the Games was hell, but he hadn't realized how bad things got until he saw the state Peeta was in. It looked like it was a wonder that any of them got out of there alive. Another reason, he added grimly, to work at not going back to their old lives.

Peeta squeezes his eye tightly shut. He's trying to make sense of everything that Finnick is saying, everything that is going on and everything that had happened. He tries to be comforted by the fact that Katniss is here, so Finnick says. He still hasn't raised his sword against Finnick and he obviously trusts him enough to change closing his eyes for a moment.

He opens his eyes and looks around, as if the scenery might've changed. Nope, still a hotel of some sort. He swallows hard and looks back to Finnick.

"She's okay?" It's more question than anything, but it's impossible not to notice the way his shoulders sag in relief. He wants to believe Finnick, refuses to consider that he might be lying right now even though that thought keeping dinging in the back of his head.

"She's okay," Finnick repeats, giving Peeta the reassurance he needs without any problem. After all, he knows exactly how he would react if their situations were reversed and he was the one searching frantically for Annie, trying to find out if she was okay. If they had gone into the Arena together -- The thought still makes his stomach tighten uneasily, because even though she didn't go in, there had still been that clenching moment of fear as her name was drawn again.

"She has a room here," Finnick says. He starts to edge toward Peeta, keeping his motions slow, giving them both plenty of time to react if anything goes wrong. He doesn't ask for the sword yet, even though he wants to, because he also doesn't want to do anything to rouse Peeta's suspicious. He doesn't know if he can give Peeta too much information about the hotel without overwhelming him.

"Where are you hurt, Peeta?" he settles for asking instead, figuring that it's best to sort out whether he has any life-threatening injuries.

Another wave of relief washes over Peeta when Finnick reaffirms that Katniss is here and she's all right. He'd already been coping with paranoia in the arena that whispered to him that Beetee was trying to separate him and Katniss. This only fueled that paranoia along with almost everything else from the moment they'd separated.

Peeta watches him, wary, but he's by far a good deal more relaxed than he was when he first saw Finnick. He's not ready to give the sword up yet, so it's a good thing Finnick doesn't ask, but he's still dragging it, the tip against the floor (such horrible weapon care). He's not ready to let down all of his defenses, but he's far from on the offense.

"I'm okay," he answers. He's not, but he's alive and none of his injuries are life threatening. No one had gotten around to cutting his tracker out, so he wasn't actively bleeding. Of course, his heart had been stopped a couple of days ago, but Finnick had saved him then and he hadn't been in direct line of the electrocution, just the explosion. The worst of his injuries, if he had one at all, might be a concussion.

"I'm okay," he says it again, more as an affirmation to himself than anything. The ringing in his ears is beginning to subside. He glances around, as if noticing the place for the first time.

"Where are we?"

He looks far from okay, but from what Finnick can tell at this distance, there's nothing majorly broken and no immediate source of blood. He's upright, walking, and talking, so Finnick figures that's about as good as he's going to get for the time being.

He takes in a slow breath when Peeta asks where they are, because he's almost concerned about this part than anything else. The hotel, upon first entrance, reeks of being a trap. He'd been convinced of it, Jo had been convinced of it. Even Annie had been ready to believe that it was a hallucination instead of a tangible thing. It was as if there was something in their world that made them all suspicious for some reason.

"We're in hotel," Finnick answers, stating the obvious first. "The Capitol can't find us here, as far as we can tell." And then what would be more important to them -- maybe enough to trump the fact that it was a hotel run by unknown persons and pulled people from different times and worlds.