It was still dusk, therefor he had time enough to just walk around until his family would realize that he had disappeared. He knew their morning ritual, first one to be awake would be his youngest cousin Oliver, who would just continue on one of his drawings until mom walks in to wake up Rowan. While Rowan is complaining about it being too early and trying to stretch every minute he can until he really has to get out and hurry up, the others of the family suddenly all, one by one, appear in the living-room to eat their breakfast. All of them incredibly quiet in the early morning, opposite from the chaotic dinners. The first one to leave would be the boys heading to school, brought by either Rose or mom. Ivy would, as usual, be late and run to her job at the paper-factory a few minutes later. The last one to leave is the group of lumbers, better said, him and his uncle.

But he should have at least another hour until that whole ritual even starts. No, he counted himself lucky that he woke up this early, even earlier than usual, simply because he loved the feeling of the woods in the morning. The world seemed better, without the sounds of humans ruining it, with just the plain nature surrounding him. He tried to spot other creatures and until now he had already seen two squirrels, a few birds and dozens of insects. But right now he was looking at his best found until now: a beautiful trogon with the brightest colors, especially his large, yellow breast was truly amazing.

He had been staring to the tiny bird for at least ten minutes, making mental pictures of it so he could give the most detailed description to Oliver, who would hopefully draw it for him. Every detail, from the tiny black stripes on his white tail, to the darker shade of blue around his eyes. Something inside him wondered if the tiny bird felt okay with his bright colors. Maybe he hated them? Maybe he hated to be so colorful and showy. Just like he hated the way he looked. But no, the bird proudly held his beak high, showing off his colors while he was searching for food. 

Sadly, Wolf and the bird didn't seem to be alone in the forest at this early time, since someone less good at stalking managed to make the tiniest of noise, but enough for the bird to be alarmed and flee. Benjamin looked around, quite pissed at whoever decided to disturb his peaceful birdwatching


~ Open for everyone ~

Iduna decided to go for a walk. She has been cropped up in her house for quite some time now. She had watched the Hunger Games with much sadness and sorrow. So much that her heart could only bear so much. She knew it was only a matter of time before the next reaping would start.
It was only a matter of time before two young ones where sent off to their death. Although, district 7 now had their first victor. Their victor, Iduna snorted when that thought entered her mind. The life of that girl was her own. Even though nobody could escape the games. Yes, the girl wouldn’t be picked anymore. She won fair and square. But now she would have to mentor the next generation of possible victors. Nobody could escape the Hunger Games.

She had walked further than she had planned. With her mind so occupied with these thoughts about the Hunger Games, she forgot where to look. She had entered a part of the woods she didn’t recognize. She wasn’t utterly lost, yet. Iduna let out an irritated huff. How could she be so stupid? She walked a little bit further. Searching for a point she could recognize. Something that could help her on her way.
Iduna gave up after ten minutes. It was hopeless. She would survive in the woods, no doubt. Her feet were aching and just when she thought about sitting down, she saw a young man watching a bird. He was looking intensely at the tiny, feathered creature.  If it would have been a young child watching this intensely she would have found it very adorable. But now, this young man was her way out of the forest.

She almost felt pity to disturb his birdwatching, so Iduna tried to get closer to them without making any noise. Unfortunately, just like the rest of her day, this didn’t go as planned. She made the tinniest bit of noise she could muster, but it was enough to scare the bird. It took off in a flight and its bright colors shimmered in the rays of the sun. It was a beautiful sight. Although the happy feelings of this beautiful sight soon vanished when Iduna watched the face of the young man. He was rightly pissed off. The young woman tried to smile to ease the tension, but she knew she ruined a peaceful moment. Such a moment she was looking for herself. ‘I’m very sorry to disturb you …’ Iduna started, ‘but it seems that I’m a little lost. I’ve never been to this part of the woods before and you are the first human being I encountered.’ She continued with a little sheepish smile. ‘I was hoping you could help me find my way back. I am truly sorry for scaring the bird. It seems that I’m not that silent as I used to be.’ Iduna could only hope that the young man would be willing to help her. She looked at him with a pleading look in her eyes.


(damn, mag hopen dat mijn Engels goed genoeg is xD Het is lang geleden dat ik Engels heb geschreven.)

He was surprised to see a girl, who definitely didn't scare the bird on purpose. She even apologized, and he decided she was better than most people. So after she told him that she was lost, and asked for his help he didn't shrug and turn around, but instead he smiled. The way she looked made him even more willing to help. "Sure" he said softly while he stood up. "Er... I'll show you the way, maybe we'll even encounter some other animals" He continued while pulling the hoodie of his sweater over his blue-greyish hair, not feeling comfortable with it being plain in sight while other people were around. Then he started walking, in a slow pace so she could easily keep up, maybe even walk next to him.

He loves silence, being a man of few words it just feels natural and peaceful to him. But now he felt the need to keep up a conversation. Not wanting to frighten her with his weird self. So he tried, "What are you doing out so early? Er.. apart from getting lost I mean..", and immediately remembered why socializing just wasn't his thing, feeling even more awkward than as he had felt during the silence. But maybe, just maybe, the woman wouldn't notice, or wouldn't care. And he hoped she would just start a long story, until they reached a place she knew. So he could go back to his own, planned out world.

He glanced at her once more, she was certainly a beautiful lady, probably with lots of lovers, or maybe even a husband. Now that he looked at her more closely, she actually looked to be older than he first thought. He would guess her to be around 24 years old. Her hands showed the marks of a hard worker, complete with tiny scars and a thin layer of callus. But clothing and the fact that she was lost, made him guess that she didn't work with an axe, but rather in a workplace.  Yes, any other boy his age would fall in love with her, mostly to blame by their teenage hormones. But he didn't, he wasn't interesting in the things people his age were. No, he wasn't in love with her, but he was interested. In her story, in who she is, in who she was. And that's a whole lot more interest than usual.


~ Pfff, ik moet me eerder schamen voor mn Engels xD En sorry, ik wist niet goed hoe ik het langer kon maken en ging maar de liefde-kant op ~ 

Iduna couldn’t help but give the boy a wide smile. . Gratefulness was the first feeling that entered her when he said he wanted to help her. ‘Thank you so much!’ She almost hugged him then and there, but she restrained herself. He seemed kind of edgy. She let the gesture of pulling his hoodie go. Iduna wanted to make a remark, but seeing how uncomfortable he was she decided to let it slide.

They walked in silent for a little while. It was peaceful and Iduna didn’t mind the silence. She was used to a certain amount of silent. She was alone. Nobody in her house. Sometimes it looked so large and empty. Made her want a husband or more friends. But other times, she enjoyed the silence it would bring. It gave her a moment to overthink certain events. She didn’t know if the boy enjoyed the silence, but he broke it. He was asking her a question. It didn’t sound very confident and he stuttered a little bit. Iduna found it cute in some way. So she let out a soft giggle to the boy and gave him a small but sweet smile. ‘When meeting someone new, one usually start with introducing him- of herself to the other.’ She began, still with a smile on her face. ‘My name is Iduna. Iduna Ysgar. I was searching for herbs and good quality wood. You know, the wood that you cannot find near the village. It’s rotting or already been cut down several times. It needs time to grow and heal again.’ She explained briefly.
‘I fabricate furniture. Handmade for … .’ She started to explain, but decided to keep silent. She wasn’t proud that she made stuff for the capital. She hated it. Loathed it. But it earns her money. Money she needs to survive. ‘And I collect herbs for healing stuff. I’m the not so official healer in town.’ She decided to continue.

Iduna noticed the glance the boy gave her. She didn’t think it was a grown man. He looked in his late teenage years. Close to being an adult. Close to being out of the games. She noticed his look. He looked interested. Like he wanted to know her. Iduna got more glances when she walked through the village. Glanced from boys, from men. Men who were interested in her. Boys who would stumble with their words when she spoke to them. But not him. She gave him another smile. She looked to the ground and tucked away a stray of hair. It was getting in her face and she tucked it behind her ear. She looked over to the boy. ‘Now it’s your turn. I can’t keep you calling ‘boy’ this whole time. I told you mine name and now I would like to know yours. And I would like to know what a boy of your age is doing in the woods at this hour of the day.’

~ maakt niet uit! (: Sorry voor het lange wachten. Ik heb het best druk D:

He felt ashamed for not knowing basic communicating manners, but again, it was not his thing. But he was very interested to hear about her profession, maybe even more about the way she talked about the Capitol, how she refused to say it's name. But it didn't sound like she was blaming him, so maybe she just didn't know, maybe she had not seen his hair color, maybe he wouldn't be judged by her. The fact that she knew about herbs also sounded cool, also really useful, because he immediately thought about his own benefit.

He was listening, hoping she would just talk from now on, like Ivy would do. His sister could talk for hours after you asked her one question, often annoying but almost as often very useful. Sadly Iduna wasn't like Ivy, and she decided to ask for his name. "Wolf, Well, Benjamin Wolfe." He said, slightly too eager to answer. He noticed he was staring and quickly looked to the ground again. "They often call me Benja though. Apparently my real name is too complicated for some minds. Wolf is also cool." He shrugged. What else did she ask? Oh, what he was doing here at this time, right. "I, eh, was just enjoying the forest. It's a lot more.. alive, at this time of the day. Plus it helps me to escape from the rush-hour which will start at home any moment now." He continued walking in silence for a bit longer, puzzling if he should tell her the truth about his past or if he should just keep it silent. Even as an a-social person he did realize that lying about it would make it worse when the truth came out. So it was just a matter of chance if she would find out, and that chance depended on how often they would meet each other again. He also knew that waiting for it would make it more difficult, especially if she would hate him for it. All numbers said that it was the best idea to tell her now, so he slid off his hoodie, revealing his pretty brightly coloured hair.

"You seem to be unhappy about the fact you send your products to the Capitol. Quite ironic that the opposite happened to me..." He was surprised about the smoothness of his own sentence, without stuttering or err-ing. Now he could do nothing except hoping that she wouldn't judge him for things he had nothing to do with.



~ Ah joh ^.^ Liever een langzaam topic dan een dood topic

‘Benjamin, what a nice name.’ Iduna softly smiled. ‘It has a nice touch to it. And Wolf sounds fearsome and strong.’ She slightly nodded. More likely to herself. She thought about his answer to her second question. Benjamin wanted to escape the rush hour at home.
‘The forest does give you a moment of peace doesn’t it?’ She asked lightly while she turned her head towards the leafs, who were dancing with the wind. Some were falling, more like floating. Some would grow sick and tired of the forest. Yet, the people of district 7 knew nothing else. They were used to all the trees and the hard labor it provided.
‘So you decided to go on a walk to escape the busy life and the people back in the city. And then, surprise, here you find a human being who is destroying the peaceful atmosphere.’ Iduna smiled sheepishly.  

Yet here smile soon faltered. For someone who was socially clumsy he sure picked up the signs. He listened. Iduna was slightly taken back by his answer. She had seen his hair, but didn’t think about it. She let it slide, because he tried to hide it so much. He could lie about it, but she would not bought it. Yet, his statement about her business and him being thrown back into the districts made her anger towards the Capitol grow. How could they throw a child, because that’s what Benjamin is, to the slums they call districts. He would have had a better life in the Capitol. But …
‘Why would they throw one of their own in this slum?’ Iduna spoke softly. She glanced sideways. ‘They doomed you.’ Iduna spoke more directly now. ‘I can’t imagine you older than 18. No offence.’ She apologized quickly. ‘As a citizen of district 7 you are now in the games. Or at least you could be one of the likely candidates.’ She looked directly at him. ‘I despise the people who I sell my products to. They support the Hunger Games. They let small children and teenagers suffer for their own entertainment!’ Iduna sneered. Her nails dug into her skin when she folded her hands into fists. ‘And now, they put you here. I don’t know the reason why but anything is better than the districts.’ Iduna grew quiet again. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t want to offend you. I don’t know you but you seem like a good kid. It’s a pity you have to live your life in this sh*thole.’


He he ... eindelijk! Sorry dat het zo lang duurde xD

He just slightly smiled at nodded at her first comments, about the forest, about the peace. He didn't mind her being here, well, at least not that much. The woman seemed to respect the way nature works, and he appreciated that. But then she started ranting about the place he came from. He turned even more pale, he shouldn't have told her. But then he was surprised by the fact she felt pity for him. "Don't" He cut her off, putting his hoodie back on. "Don't feel pity for me." He shook his head, then continued walking in silence. Except, it wasn't silent anymore, not in his head. It was exploding with thoughts about what to say, how to explain his situation. Meanwhile he looked around, for something to distract himself with, something to distract her with. But the forest went on being peaceful and quiet, and there was nothing unique to point out and show of his skills with, just the common trees and plants, and no animals.

He finally re-found his ability to speak, slowly speaking so he wouldn't make any mistakes. "I'm luckier than most people here. Turn your pity towards the ones struggling daily to get around. I'm better of here than in that place of.. well.. fake-ness" He had said too much. Why would she even care? Why did he even bother? Panicking he looked at the sun, who was still slowly rising, spreading her warmth across the country. He put his hoodie even further, to cover his eyes and hopefully also to cover the fact he was lying when he said: "I should go.. my brother- cousin.. yeah.. do you know the way from here?" He was doing everything in his power to avoid looking at her. Please just let me go.

Dit... is even inkomen. En laat.. vooral heel laat... whoops.

With a slightly raised eyebrow she looked to the boy next to her. He listened to his explanation, or what should have been an explanation. Of some sorts. He had said something her not feeling pity. He walked in silent for a couple of minutes. He looked troubled and Iduna decided to let him sort things out in his head. It also gave her time to overthink his words directed to her. She wanted to give a comment. Give a further explanation about her way of thoughts, but Benjamin interrupted her before she could even speak a word.

"I'm luckier than most people here. Turn your pity towards the ones struggling daily to get around. I'm better of here than in that place of.. well.. fake-ness"
She should feel pity for the ones in the district. She gave a little snort while re-thinking the meaning of that sentence. She felt a little bit agitated about it. Of course she felt pity for her fellow district members. How could he think she wouldn’t? She has lived in this hell hole her whole life. She has seen the cruelness. The hardship people had to endure. Her hands, now balled to fists, started to tremble slightly. Her lips tightly sealed together so she wouldn’t blurt something menacing or hurtful. Iduna needed to think about her next words. Carefully.
Yet, when she stayed silent, even after he asked her directions, his words started to make more sense.
‘I know I should feel sorry for my fellow district members. I do. I do so very much. That’s why I became a healer of some sorts. But I always thought it would be better in the Capitol. Not have to feel the crunching pain of hunger. Not have to work yourself to death for others.’ Iduna added a little pause, ‘Not having to fight to death for others.’ She whispered the last part. ‘But if everything is a lie. Every little bit of information, admiration, every bit of love is fake?’ She let out a little sad laugh. ‘Then I wouldn’t want to live there either. Then I would rather live my life here, even though everyone I love had been taken away from me thanks to the Capitol.’
Iduna shook her head a little and looked at her surroundings. ‘I didn’t mean to embarrass or insult you. I do feel pity for you, but for other reasons than I have pity for the others of district 7.’ She confessed. ‘But to answer your question, yes I know where we are right now. I will lead you back home.’ She took a turn left and mentioned Benjamin to follow.
‘It would be a half an hour walk. If you still want to put up with me if that is … Otherwise I will try to give you directions.’


[Beter laat dan nooit zullen we maar zeggen xD]