the good & the bad (open/wingsonmyheels)

Kirin nodded along as Hector explained; it made sense after all. Still, she wanted to tell him her side of the story despite her growing paranoia. In the end though she gave in.

"I live on the eastern side, where it's closer to District 9. Normally there we get the occasional cats, but there are definitely more wolves. Still, bobcats and such attack my sheep." She hesitated. Had she said too much? By clarifying that she lived on the eastern side wasn't exactly that exposive. But still. She shook her head and went on. "For some reason all the animals avoid my farm. I guess you just have some bad luck then. Although it's probably good practice for your spear." Kirin thought about those words for a moment and nodded to herself. She and her long daggers worked great together. She was the one who drove out the cats after all, though she had little to no experience with dogs.

I know some spots which are really fun. It was a tempting offer, something Kirin was immediately up for. Hector made it seem like a challenge almost, and she never backed down from challenges...unless they were pointless. But she could see that this wasn't pointless, whatever he was planning. It was benificial. Sort of.

So she grinned and said, "Sure, why not?" Kirin didn't want to spend the rest of the time in the District square anymore; she wanted to roam around, have some fun. Work at home was already enough. "Lead the way."

Hector led Kirin away from the main portion of the District, through his pasture and his sheep. She couldn't help but let her eyes dart toward them, watching as they grazed on the grass. They reminded her so much of her own; it was pretty weird, actually.

She wasn't watching where she was going after that, which probably was a mistake. But soon enough Hector had led her to a small stream, and in the distance, a lake. Kirin let her eyes absorb all of this before tuning back into what he was saying. Wait, can you swim?

"Don't worry," she replied with a shrug. "I can swim perfectly fine." Kirin had learned when she was little; why not add an extra ability anyway? "I suppose we could follow the stream first. I haven't been in the water in a long time." But she had to admit that she was curious about Hector's friend.

The river seemed to be calling out to her, as crazy as that sounded. But Kirin let Hector wade into the water first before falling suit. He led her down the stream until they arrived at a bigger intersection - and after that, until they arrived at what appeared to Kirin to be a tiny cliff. She stared at it for a moment while Hector muttered a warning. Something about it being slippery.

"Wait..." Kirin took a few steps back. "Cliff diving?" She peered down, glancing at what laid beneath: mainly just more water. She was relieved that there were no rocks. "Are you sure this is safe?"

Right. Easy. Safe, as Hector said. Kirin let out a deep breath and nodded. "All right, I'll do it. Just...give me a second." She let out another deep breath, trying to get pumped for whatever she was about to do and then, before she could talk herself out of it, pushed off.

It was exhilarating. Kirin fell over, tumbling into a sort of half flip and yelled out loud in delight. The adrenaline pumped through her veins as she went into the water. The sudden impact of it shocked her at first, but then she got used to it and swam back up. The surface was only a couple of feet away so she pulled herself onto shore, coughing from the amount of water she'd accidentally swallowed on her way down.

Kirin was still coughing when Hector made it down as well; she waited for him to swim to the shore. A cool breeze picked up then, and she suppressed a shiver. Of course. She just had to be wet when it got windy.

But she laughed. "That was fun!" Shaking her head back and forth, Kirin squeezed the water from her hair, and then her dark clothing. "What now?" she asked Hector. Part of her wanted to jump off again, but the other part was curious for what else Hector knew about District 8, and what else he wanted her to see.