Huh, that was new... (open)

Crys knew she should be heading back into D. 12 soon. Her hunt had gone well, leaving her with more than her small family needed. She could probably trade some of it with her neighbors. Her family would eat well tonight. But she wasn't ready to head back just yet. While the forest was full of its own stresses, it was a nice escape from the ones back at the seam. With one last guilty glance in the direction of the District, Crys pushed her way further into the forest.

The force of someone hitting running into her sent Crys stumbling forward, though she managed to catch herself before she fell, if only barely. She cursed herself for two reason. One was for letting whoever it was sneak so close to her without noticing. The second was for allowing herself to stumble and nearly fall.

She turned around cautiously wondering who else was wandering the forests as cluelessly as she had obviously been. She let her flaming red hair fall forward, sheilding her face just in case as she looked up to see a boy, taller than she was, although that was nothing new. Almost everyone was. "Watch your step, will ya?" she said angrilly, trying (unsucessfully) to hide the fact that she had some blame in his folly too.

Crys raised an eyebrow at him. He had to be kidding, right?

She put one hand on her hip, all attitude, unusual for her soft-spoken self. The forest did things like that for her. "And why would you have?" she asked, giving him a quick once over. "One look and I can tell your not from district 12. You're too clean. Well, at least, for a miner. You haven't a speck of coal dust on you."

She looked him up and down. "But you're obviously not a peacekeeper. They care to much to let themselves look so worn. So, where are you from then?"

Crys sighed. "No. Well, yes. I'm cautious. Attitude works best."

She looked out into the forest. "So you're a runaway then? I'd heard they were more common, but.... Which district you running from?" She asked, looking back at him.

At first Crys furrowed her eyebrows. And then she laughed.

"The capitol?! What are you crazy? That's like... the safest place, isn't it?"

She looked him up and down again. "But then, you probably didn't fit in there did you? You aren't all... Bedazzled like those Capitols on tv are. Still, it doesn't seem like the type of place you'd run from."

She rolled her eyes. "Well, duh. I'm not an idiot. I just meant that it's the safest place for its citizens."

"I mean, they all seem so deliriously happy it's sickening. No offense. It's not like I would know, is it? If we were in the Capitol I bet I wouldn't have to be wondering how I was going to feed my siblings every night, would I?"

She sat against a tree trunk, figuring he didn't plan on ending the conversation right away. It increased the height difference between them, but she didn't really care.

"Look, lets not fight fight about it, okay? I'm not in the mood."

"12, born and raised. I'm not kidding either. My dad had all the normal looks of 12, but my mom.... She was different. I heard somewhere that she had capitol blood, but who knows. District gossip spreads quickly and only holds the barest hint of a truth. Making up stories is too perfect a way to pass the time."

And that was the truth, however often people didn't believe her. Her parents had never been very talkative about their pasts, so it's not like Crys had anything to compare the rumors to. She'd learned to ignore them. They got her no where. And they just put silly fantasies into her younger siblings' heads