entranceway | [video/action]

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[She's always excelled at keeping to herself, not letting anyone in. It's been how many months since she arrived here? And still, she can count the number of people she actually trusts on one hand. Finnick and Haymitch. Anyone else? Anyone else, she's still excels at keeping at arms length. It's better that way, she tells herself. Better for them, better for her. She's not someone worth befriending.

Because, in the end, she still can't break the feeling that all she does is get those she cares for hurt. For once in her life, she's doing her best not to be selfish. She doesn't need friends to survive this place. With Haymitch's stores, her ability with a bow, and Finnick's with a trident, they'll have all the food needed. They'll be able to protect each other when the game played here finally comes to a head. She has her allies. She doesn't need any other.

But it is a lonely life. And coming down from the high of actually being able to hunt large game the past few days, the loneliness only seems more amplified.

It's why she actually sits on the front steps of the mansion, staring at the phone device in her hands. Her quiver rests on the step behind her and her bow rests against her right side. A measly squirrel sits in front of her. Today's hunt had been one of the worst since arriving here. She hasn't been this empty handed in a while. And whether she admits it or not, the lack of success is starting to eat at her.

She flips the phone over in her hands before finally turning it on. There's a second of hesitation before she finally asks:]

They can turn on you. Or disappear at any moment. So what's the point? Seeking out allies here? Why bother?

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[Toothless' exceptionally good vision means that he spots Katniss on the front steps a good ways off, while still in the forest. He can smell that something is amiss; her scent is off, in a way that makes the Nightfury feel edgy. Especially when he smells the scent of flesh near her, but not a great deal of it. While they've only met once or twice, he remembers her saying something about hunting in the morning. And making his presence known.

A decision happens rapid-fire, and the dragon slinks away in the forest to find the fish pond. There aren't many fish in it — it hasn't restocked since the last time he ransacked it — but there are enough. It takes him some time, herding the fish underneath the surface until he can snap them up in his teeth. He gets them eventually: two fat trout, which are a mouthful even for him.

The Nightfury scoops them up in his mouth and then makes his way to the front of the mansion. He trots, rather than his usual slink, so that Katniss can hear him coming, and then deposits the fish on the steps, looking up at her with wide eyes.

He trills. Here, viking. These are for you.]

[She hears him before she sees him. The sound of footsteps, quadrupedal footsteps, on one of the paths towards the mansion. She looks up, away from the phone and towards the blue creature trotting in her direction. It takes her a moment to remember not to be afraid. It's not one of the lizard muttations from the Capitol. It's the other muttation. No, dragon. That's what the man had called it, the artist.

A dragon.

The realization hits her before she reaches for her bow. But her fingers twitch, eager to just in case. Especially when the dragon dumps something on the step beside her. It takes her a second and her eyes go wide when she realizes what he had brought her.

Trout. Food. As if he somehow knew her hunt had been poor today.]

...thank you.

[He makes a low, rumbling noise in response, but his expression is pleased. Whenever he brings fish to Hiccup, his fish is most often given away to other dragons. That this viking is accepting of them is nice. It strokes the ego that rests under those green eyes of his.

Of course, half the time, his fish are slimy from having been spit up, but that's beside the point. They're a gift.]

[Dragon spit can be cleaned off. The fish need to be prepared anyway before she can make any use of them. Descaled and deboned, at the very least. Cooked or salted or pickled. Regardless, there's no look of squeamishness on her face as she leans forward to pick up the fish.

She's had to handle far worse in her life.]

I don't have much to trade. [It doesn't matter that she had fed him most of her squirrels the first time they had met. That had been out of fear, not out of obligation. Katniss reaches for the squirrel on her belt, puny in comparison to the fat trout, and holds it up.] There wasn't much out there today.

[Toothless looks at the squirrel in her hand for a moment, before he shakes his head and gives a very quiet snort. Nothing in return is needed. His belly is full from the magical dining room, which the dragon uses quite a bit. Too much, maybe. His belly has become a bit larger than it used to be, when it was just Hiccup to monitor his intake.

What can he say? He loves fish, and there's an infinite supply here.]

[She shifts uncomfortably in her seat. This time, it's not because of his intelligence or resemblance to lizard mutts. It's his refusal to accept the trade. Were he ordinary human, she'd feel exactly the same way.

Katniss hates owing people. Putting herself in the debt of others.

The dragon seems intelligent enough. Would he understand that concept, too? The idea of a fair trade?

Slowly, she holds out the squirrel. With her free hand, she gestures to the fish now lying on the steps beside her.]

You gave me these.

[He cants his head to the side, looking down at the fish briefly — and then back up to Katniss' offering. Her insistence is puzzling. Surely she would want her squirrel and the fish, he thinks, rumbling low in his throat. Were he hungry, he certainly would want all three. Why doesn't she?

Slowly, he nods his head. The fish are freely given.]

I should give you something in return.

[Because people were rarely altruistic in District 12. At least not when she had been growing up. After her father's death, when she her mother had been catatonic and useless, she and her sister starving, it had been up to Katniss to fend for the family. People like Peeta, people who showed pity and compassion, were rare. And he had been punished for his actions.

You don't accept favors. Not unless you were desperate.]

It's fair.

[Toothless looks at her for another long moment, a doubtful look crossing his draconic face. It is fair, he supposes, in the way that vikings barter with each other. Dragons give up fish for each other, too, when hungry, but keep the biggest for themselves. Dragons don't think as much as vikings do, he knows.

It does seem to vex her. Perhaps he should accept. He had intended this as a kindness, after all. And now he knows something new about this viking.

So, hesitantly, Toothless leans forward and gingerly takes the squirrel from Katniss, showing the greatest of care with his short teeth.]

[She keeps still when the dragon leans closer to take the squirrel. Even if she had pet him before, the intelligence behind the lizard like eyes still unnerved her. It was all she could do not to back flash to the mutts stalking them in the Capitol underground. The intelligence in their eyes...

But this animal isn't a lizard mutt. She notices the care he puts behind picking the squirrel up. It's enough to push her fears away and even offer a small smile of gratitude.

Then it's back to the hard part. Figuring out the social interaction she's so bad at. What would Prim do? She never seemed to have any problems with strays.

Finally:]

I'm Katniss.

[He brightens at that positive shift in expression. It's good to know that he's helped. Of course, names are tricky. He almost always has to launch into a guessing game as to what his given name is, and if the viking isn't up for it it can be impossible. Given that, he really doesn't mind whatever name vikings here decide to give him.

Names aren't nearly as important for dragons, after all. But they're very important in regards to vikings.

Toothless rumbles, a greeting, which tapers off into a high sound, almost like a purr.]

[She thinks she can can hear a difference in this noise over others she's made. Something friendly. Like the noise Buttercup would make in greeting whenever Prim was around instead of the hisses that Katniss always received. It's... oddly comforting and for a moment there, she can almost see why Prim always smiled whenever she saw her cat.

But this creature is far more intelligent than Buttercup. Not to mention far more useful.]

Someone said you were a dragon. Or is that your name?

[Toothless sits up straight, puffing out his chest. He's a terrific dragon, he seems to be saying, ears perked forward and eyes sliding momentarily closed. Not that many in Wonderland have met a dragon before him. Most seem to think that he isn't real, or is some other kind of beast.

But a dragon he is, even if he may very well be the last of his kind.]

[He looks almost cute, puffing out his chest like that. And despite herself, she laughs. The pack of her hand covers her mouth to try to hide the grin, feeling almost ridiculous. Dragon or not, he's still an animal. She's never been very fond of animals - except as food. Lady had been acceptable enough because of her use. But Buttercup? Any of the other pets found in District 12? She had absolutely no time for any of them.

But none of them had ever brought her fish before.

She nods at his wings, now curious.] Can you fly?

[That's a complicated question. Yes and no. But he tries for the simplest answer he can, turning his head to nudge at the leather harness around him, running to the artificial fin on his tail. The empty place where his real fin once was.

In the beginning, Hiccup had had to win the dragon over. Toothless had been divided on the issue of vikings, mostly because he'd been trapped and frightened. But in no time at all, the young viking's antics had won him over.

And now he can fly again, with the help of his friend.]

[She eyes the harness when he turns to show it, wondering why she hadn't noticed it before. Then again, she had been more preoccupied with his teeth and the intelligent look in his eyes. Convinced he was going to attack her, harm her in some way. But he's not a lizard mutt. That much she's figured out by now. Her gaze follows the harness downward until she notices the fake fin.

A scar. Much like the scars that covered her body now. She could almost sympathize. Could he fly alone or did he always need a partner?]

Not alone. Do you miss it?

[Slowly, he shakes his head once.

Hiccup had made him a fin he could fun with like his real fin, and at first Toothless had enjoyed it. But then he had realized that there was something missing, something he had come to depend on. Being alone in the air had felt strange and alien, despite the fact that it should have come naturally to him.

So he had returned to Hiccup, discarded the fin, and never looked back.]

Oh.

[She smiles ruefully in response. It makes her think of hunting, of how much better it had always been when she had had Gale by her side. She hadn't liked losing that time with him to the mines. Now though, it seems like such a ridiculous regret. She had lost him to worse.

It also makes her think of Peeta. Of how strange it is being in a game without him by her side.]

Is he here?

[Brightly, eyes gleaming, Toothless nods.

He'd been so panicked, on arrival, to think of being here without Hiccup. But then he'd found his viking friend quickly enough, and now they'd explored this strange island together. Being together with someone was so much better than being alone.

He cants his head to the side and rumbles curiously at Katniss. Does she have someone, too?]

[She wasn't necessarily alone here. She had Haymitch. And Finnick. They were people from her home who understood her paranoia, who knew her prior to her arrival here. But neither of them are worth the bright eyed look the dragon gives her when thinking of his rider. If she had to be trapped here, neither were who she would want by her side.

It didn't matter how many times she kept telling herself that Peeta was better off not being here. He didn't deserve to be in a game again. He deserved so much better. And that included better than her.

So she shakes her head, looking a little crestfallen. She tries to hide her emotion but it doesn't work. Quietly,]

It's okay. He's where he should be.

[His expression sombers as he takes note of that shift in Katniss' behavior. Not having anyone very close to you can be very lonely indeed. Toothless leans his head forward and on the step next to Katniss, giving her leg a gentle nudge with his snout as he does so.

Even if this person is where they should be, it doesn't change the fact that Katniss is away from him.

The Nightfury trills softly. He's here, too, at least.]

Stupid Dragon.

[She mutters the words softly, much the same way she would mutter stupid cat to Buttercup these days. It's not meant to be an insult but more of a term of endearment. She's not good with animals. She still doesn't like them. But some understanding had been reached between her and Buttercup after Prim's death. When he had returned from District 13 and they had spent the night crying over a shared loss.

Her hand reaches out, a little bit shaky, and she places her hand on his snout. His gesture is appreciated.]

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