Just Hunting ... (lev, brokenlullaby, Rizz)

"You're a brat, Echo Voss! A brat! Did you hear me? Huh?"

"Yeah, I heard you," Echo called over her shoulder, tossing her dark hair over her shoulder in a manner that suggested annoyance. She didn't even bother to look back at her father as she marched defiantly away. "I heard you. I just don't care." He didn't say anything more after that. He probably couldn't think of anything to say at all. Echo had always had a way of shutting him up. She liked to think he was afraid of her, though she knew that was far from the truth. She wasn't the least bit intimidating. Not in her opinion.

"Don't care. Never will," she mumbled to herself, making her way toward the forest. Hunting might do her some good. It might take her mind off of her family, if not for just a few moments. With her bow slung over her shoulder and her dark brown billowing out behind her, Echo did look intimidating - more intimidating than she normally looked, at least. She even looked slightly scary suspended in a tall oak tree, hanging from her feet.

Echo had always loved trees. They were rough and coarse, yes, but they were perfect for climbing. One would have that that by now, after seventeen years, Echo would have outgrown her habit of climbing trees, but she never did. She never would. She was a hunter, whether her parents chose to believe it or not. Normally when she decided to sneak out of the house and go hunting, they laughed at her. She laughed back. They were wrong. She was right. That's how it always went in her house. They were a strange family, indeed.

Down below her, Echo could see a boy sitting on a branch. It wasn't every day she saw a boy in a tree. Might as well make the most of it... Echo swung downward, hoping to catch the boy by surprise. When their faces were almost touching, Echo's mouth twisted in a wry grin. She must look an odd sight, suspended upside down, whereas the boy was sitting right side up.

"Hello there. It's not every day I find a boy in my tree."

"Nice to meet you Echo, my name is Jace Ryder. You are from this district aren't you?" Jace decided if he was going to befriend this "Echo" he might as well find out some useful information for his association. Never a bad idea to work when off hours. He looked into her eyes and saw something strange ... something he had never seen in someone when they met him. Over excitement? Loneliness? The need for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? He shrugged off the thought and listened to her as she spoke.

Oh dear god she was going to make him leave a tree? How stupid was that? She was like a little girl walking in on her brother playing video games and wanting ot watch Unicorn Princess, whining when he says he is busy and goes to tell the mom. Well ... Echo wasn't his sister so he didn't expect this from her but from anyone in his family he would have expected this behavior. What kind of a person would pop out, scare someone have to the Capitol, and then try to kick them out of a tree? What kind of a human did that sort of thing? Well ... other than Echo ....

Oh no now there was a condition. What was he going to have to do give her money? Kiss her? Maybe stab himself in his big toe with an arrow. Whatever it was he was almost sure it wasn't worth it. He could always hop over to the tree right next to the one he was sitting on. He rolled his eyes at her and asked ina put on kind tone, "What condition?" As he waited for her to reply he sheathed his knife after cleaning it of a strange liquid that had gotten there from the last time he ... escorted a runaway from the woods.