Afraid of The Water? (Vesper)

There are many components to the sea that can be enjoyable without actually being in it. Some days were easier to handle than others, but other days Ezrah couldn't so much as watch a wave for too long before the sway of it threatened to drag him to the ground. That day happened to be one of the better ones. He could enjoy the sea: the salty smells, the crash of the waves, and soft grains of sand giving under his weight and pooling around the sides of his bare feet. Let his senses throw him back into the simpler days of his childhood where he actually used to engage in the sea as most District 4 children.

A hard few hours work at the loading docks and he was allowed a meager break. He'd been working extra hard to simply keep his mind away from the topic on everyone's lips: the Games. It's not an event he treasured thinking about. Ezrah'd avoided yet another reaping, and was thankful for that. He didn't linger on the thought much more because those who were plucked from District 4 was no one he knew personally.

The sun had been playing between the clouds all day, sparing him from much of his usual redness across his face. It still lingered, just barely flush around his cheeks now that the clouds grew fewer and fewer. With the sun he'd shed most of his upper layers for his break, leaving him in a simple short sleeved shirt still drying out by the sea wind. A half eaten loaf of seaweed bread held between his hands as he walked along the beach. He picked at it every few steps, plopping the piece in his mouth to savor.

He kept his right ear to the sea, the good ear, so that he could listen to the waves without actually having to watch them. Instead of the sea, his eyes followed his feet as they traced the line where the dry and wet sand met. Often he'd note the impressions left in the sand, noting what kind of sea life had crawled around the area. Mostly the little indents of ghost crabs, gulls, and always the shallow imprint of a human foot or two.

It was never surprising actually coming across someone at the beach, not when most the district was in love with the sea. Naturally, when Ezrah found the tracks of another human, he would look. So when he'd come across the fading impression of where Ebba once sat, his eyes traced the footsteps back out to the sea. To little of his surprise, there she still stood, red hair blazing in contrast to the graying blue ocean.

But why...? had to be his first thought. The sea was cold, it felt cold as the wind pushed it against his face. Even though it shouldn't have been surprising that a few die-hards would still embrace the frigid waters in the middle of winter, especially if not working. She didn't look like she was working or that she was even old enough to be. This wasn't the best place for harvesting anything, at least not that he was aware of.

He was never the one to pry, let alone start a conversation...but the words just fell out of his mouth as soon as he swallowed his bite of bread.

"What are you doing?



Trying to turn blue?"

His own words had caused him to tense up. As soon as he noticed himself, he relaxed and shoved another small tear of bread into his mouth, since his foot could not make the journey itself.

"I'm looking for a house to buy. What do you think I'm doing?"

Ezrah could only raise his eyebrows slightly in surprise at the snarky reply. Well, he had it coming. He'd said something impulsive and stupid in attempt at sounding clever, and it had failed miserably. She was like most of the others, enthralled with the sea, much like he'd been at one point. A lot of them did live on houseboats. She'd probably be one of them even though she'd clearly had been playing up the same sarcasm he'd thrown at her. For a brief, he felt as if it was his signal to back away. Snappiness rarely came hand in hand with polite conversation. But then..she smiled, perhaps trying to make up for her previous words.

"It's not as cold as it seems in here, you should know that. It's a nice place to...relax. To take one's mind off things rather forgotten than retained," I know how that is, he thought. Why was he even so far down the shore in the first place? Willingly engaging a stranger that looked to be around his own age? Both of them were looking to avoid the Capitol's parade of the violence and death of their people.

Ezrah swallowed his bread, gazing down at the loaf briefly before looking back up.

"Yeah, but not usually in January. You must really need it," he retorted. Stating the obvious, this time his tone was more soft and genuine, but more hesitant. It was rude to pry, and the last thing he'd want to do was make someone uncomfortable. However, she had opened the door to that conversation, so he was going to take it. "The beach works perfectly well, too."