You're a little bit damaged, I'm a sucker for that.

[themadgirl]

Slowly but surely over the last few months, Annie had been learning to trust the Nexus. Her faith was tentative, fragile, but she could not live the whole of her life inside a hotel room, no matter how lush or large. Not in general, and certainly not when she was only a month from being a mother. Holding Finnick's hand needed to be a comfort but not a crutch.

Still, it was an ongoing process, and she always opened doors with care.

From their windows she could see the sprawling gardens, her feet itching to wander amongst the blooms, but the space out there felt far too large, too open and exposed, and she hadn't quite managed going alone yet. Inside was seldom better, a maze of corridors and dead ends, but the library she liked. Quite a lot, actually.

Annie liked books to begin with, but the balcony was what she really loved, here. Sitting at the top of the spiral staircase, she could see the entire room and still get up easily with the help of the railing. A watchful bird on her perch.

She was there now, stack of books beside her on the top step and another open in her lap as she referenced the little notebook she'd taken to carrying around with her here. Everything was so different, and she was eager to learn as much as she could. The music she'd discovered on her telephone was particularly confusing.

Eyes narrowing at the page, Annie frowned. She glanced to her notes and then back again. "This makes no sense at all," she murmurred, and then jerked her attention up as someone else entered the room.


[THG cast mates, please read this first. <3]

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[withbread]

He'd gone to the library to look for some new recipe books. He wanted to try something from some of the different worlds and he figured the library was as good a place to start as any. He heard Annie upon entering and paused, smiling a little. It took him a moment to find her perch, but when he did, he wound his way up the staircase.

"What doesn't make sense? In this place, I can imagine it's quite a lot."

[themadgirl]

Even now, seeing Peeta in this place was always just a little bittersweet, a tiny tug on a conflicted heart. Annie was immensely grateful he hadn't endured the Capitol's torture, but still found herself sorry that their quietly shared bond was gone. Of course, she then always ended up feeling a bit sick with herself for missing something like that, and had wondered at first whether she might ever feel entirely comfortable around him again even after they'd established he wasn't a threat.

A silly worry, as it turned out, as his smile was infectious even when it was faint, and she found herself glad to see him despite it all. Annie flashed him a tentative smile in return as she watched him ascend the stairs.

"Only a song," she answered, and chewed against her bottom lip as she looked again to her notes. "Was there music on your telephone?"

[withbread]

Peeta wished he knew Annie better, wished he had that history with her even if he didn't want the torture that had come with it. Of course, he didn't know what lay ahead of him. He simply knew that something happened and that he and Annie were closer in her time. He liked that tentative smile. It felt as if he'd accomplished something, getting her to use it. Once he reached the landing, he sat down a couple of steps from her.

He hesitated at her question. "Yes, but I have to admit, I haven't used mine much. " He'd rarely used the phone in his victor house back in 12 either.

[themadgirl]

"It's very different from the songs we had in Four," Annie admitted, knowing that the handful of folk songs that had survived in Twelve probably hadn't been so different. Lost loves, family. Toiling in the mines instead of at sea.

"I like most of them, though," she admitted after a pause. "They're very…" She faltered, screwing her nose up as she cast for a suitable description. "Full. They're like a book, almost, and every instrument, and the singing, they're each a page, all layered on top of one another."

Said like that, it didn't sound like a very pleasant experience, Annie realized, but somehow it worked. It was almost like music out of the Capitol, but much better. There was heart in these songs, and they still had all of the same common themes. Lost loves, family. There was even a particularly sad one she'd found about a fishing boat captain who was struggling to bring in a big enough catch.

[withbread]

He nodded, listening to her. They were different from the songs in Twelve as well, but he figured that she knew that.

His brow furrowed as he listened to her description. It was a perfect description. "They are. I don't think I like them though. It's too complicated, too much to pick through." He preferred simple things. He always had, but then that probably had a lot to do with growing up in Twelve.

[themadgirl]

"No?" Annie wasn't certain why she was surprised, as it made sense. "They scared me at first," she admitted with a soft huff of laughter. "All that sound all at once." It had taken her a couple of weeks before curiosity and the desire to fit in had gotten the best of her, and even then she'd had to work up to listening to more than one song at a time.

"I might have a few that you'd like, though," she said. "No singing, just instruments. There's a pretty one that makes me think of the beach, and the old sailors' tales about girls who lived under the sea."

[withbread]

He nodded a little because while they didn't scare him so much as just overwhelm him, it was the same sort of thing. "They gave me a headache."

His brows went up. "Yeah? I'd like to hear them."

[themadgirl]

A smile broke across Annie's face, and she nodded once decisively. "I've got it here, just…" Setting aside her notebook and text, she fumbled in the pocket of her well-worn cardigan and pulled out a pair of earbud headphones.

"Here," she murmured, holding out the headphones once they were unwound and plugged into her phone. Cycling through her collection of favorite songs, she selected 'Any Other Name' and then sat back, watching Peeta with wide, expectant eyes.

[withbread]

He put the headphones in and listened, expectantly at first. As the song played, a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. Once the song was over, he nodded and slipped the earbuds out of his ears, handing them over to Annie. "I like that."