The Deck | Afternoon | Saturday | July 10

[therewaslife]

The clouds were easing the heat a bit and, without the sun hanging high in the sky, Bod figured that spending some time outside wouldn't give way to an inevitable sunburn. He thought about walking into town but eventually decided that that could wait till later.

Instead, he veered off and clambered onto the deck, sliding into one of the empty loungers and actually choosing to be lazy for once. Usually, laziness was a side effect of having nothing to do or trying to avoid something else but today, he just wanted to relax. He found himself caught up in the movements of the clouds, dark and opaque as they were. He wondered what the sky looked like behind them, if the peeks of blue would stay long and where those clouds would go after moving off.

It wasn't heavy contemplation but he was enthralled by it anyway.

[Deck is open. I like clouds.]

Comments

[therewaslife]

"We've pale skin," he said, showing her one arm. "And thus, it doesn't take as long if we're in the sun as others. It's a sensitivity to the sun."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"Ohhhh." Katniss understood. She held out her own arm, with its tanner skin, and replied, "People from the Seam -- that's part of District 12 -- like me, we have olive skin. But the people from the town are pale, like you. My mother and sister have complexions like yours. I never really thought about whether they'd burn in the sun more easily. Can't you put some sort of cream or tonic on your skin to protect it?"

[therewaslife]

"We can, yes," he said, peering at her skin. The different skin tones people had fascinated him. That everyone, the millions upon millions of people, were all individually different was astounding.

"If it were sunny out, I'd be wearing sunscreen to prevent myself from getting a sunburn," he told her. "Sometimes it doesn't always help. My cheeks and nose will get pink and stay that way for a few days."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"My mother wears a large hat when she goes outdoors, sometimes," Katniss said with a perfectly straight face. "Perhaps you'd benefit from one as well."

[therewaslife]

"A large hat?" he asked, looking up towards his head. "Do you think I've head for a hat?"

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"Everything I know about fashion, I learned from having a stylist a month ago," Katniss told him, shrugging. "And he declared me so hopeless that he basically just dressed me without any input. So. Maybe?"

[therewaslife]

"I don't know if I'm much of a hat person, honestly," he said, ruffling his hair. "I've never worn one before. I've never needed one. The sun here is a bit different than the sun in England."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"It's different than District 12, too," she admitted. "Brighter. And the animals and plants are different." She seemed a little perturbed by that fact, yes.

[therewaslife]

"How different?" he asked, always interested in learning about new cultures.

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"Deer should not be blue." She thought that was explanatory enough.

[therewaslife]

"No, they probably shouldn't," he said, brow furrowing at that. "Were they aggressive?"

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"No, just like a deer would," she noted. "But still. Blue. That's weird. They might be poisonous."

[therewaslife]

"Or they might just be a different hue," Bod pointed out gently. "Nature is an elastic thing. Animals, they remind me of humans in a way. No two animals are entirely the same. Perhaps the blue is just an unknown species."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"An unknown species that might be poisonous," she replied. "Animals that are bright colors are often deadly to their predators."

[therewaslife]

"That sounds like a generalization," Bod said, tilting his head. "Have you seen every bright colored animal there is?"

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"No," she admitted. "But my mother's a healer, and I'm a hunter. Sometimes generalizations like that keep you alive. It just means I shouldn't try to eat the blue deer."

[therewaslife]

"Especially when there's plenty of food in town to ease your hunger, I would think," Bod said, half smiling. "Did you always have to hunt for your food back home?"

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"Yes," she said, shrugging. "My father died when I was eleven, and with him went our livelihood. Hunting was the only way to survive." She frowned, and added, "The ghosts kept you fed, I assume?"

[therewaslife]

"No, Silas did," Bod replied. "He was the graveyard's caretaker and also my guardian. The ghosts, they couldn't leave the graveyard to purchase food. Silas could."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

Katniss nodded, because she'd wondered about that. "Could he see them?"

[therewaslife]

"He could." Bod nodded once. "Those that aren't completely dead, they have to be given something called Freedom of the Graveyard in order to see the ghosts. I was given that. So was Silas."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"Is there a limit to how many people can have it?" she wondered. "So that not everyone is wandering around looking at ghosts?"

[therewaslife]

"There isn't but it has to be agreed upon by all the ghosts in the graveyard," Bod shared. "If one ghost wants to give it out, they have to have the majority of the other occupants of the graveyard agree to it."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"That seems fair," she decided after a moment's thought. "That it has to be unanimous. They must have liked you."

[therewaslife]

"I hope so considering they let me stay for nearly sixteen years," he said and smiled wistfully. "I imagine my mum was quite convincing. She can be when she wants to be."