immortalmuses

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[DAZED FROM BLOOD LOSS] hey not to kill the vibe completely but i think i am in love with you

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winners of the 74th hunger games

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Don't Let Go

ㅤㅤㅤPeeta  Mellark  has  made  an  enduring  habit  out  of  watching  Katniss  Everdeen,  and  he's  not  about  to  break  it  just  because  the  Capitol  sentenced  them  both  to  die.  If  anything,  this  forced  proximity  leading  up  to  the  Games  feels  like  an  opportunity  to  truly see Katniss  in  a  way  the  Baker's  Son  never  could  back  in  District  12.  Silvering  Linings,  y'know?

ㅤㅤㅤSo  he  watches  Katniss,  as  only  as  teenager  harboring  a  lifelong  crush can.  Peeta's  gaze  follows  her  when  she's  in  the  room,  he  dares  glances  from  the  corner  of  his  eye  when  she  sits  next  to  him.  If  Everdeen  notices,  she  has  the  grace  not  to  call  him  out  on  it.  By  the  time  they've  arrived  at  the  Remake  Center  in  the  Capitol,  Peeta's  just  about  catalogued  the  details  of  Katniss's  micro-expressions,  the  subtle  ways  in  which  she  telegraphs  (or  doesn't  telegraph)  her  emotions. 

ㅤㅤㅤMaybe  that's  creepy,  or…  or pathetic,  or  something.  But  Mellark  figures  he  might  as  well  indulge  himself  before  this  nightmare  reaches  its  inevitable  conclusion  and  he  winds  up  dead  in  the  arena.  Because  they  all  know  that's  how  it's  going  to  go…  he's  come  here  to  die.  The  least  (and  perhaps  most  fitting  thing)  the  baker's  son  can  do  is  go  down  with  the  memory  of  Katniss  Everdeen  behind  his  eyelids.

ㅤㅤㅤAnd  Peeta  thinks  he  can  at  least  be normal  about  their  fate,  about  how  close  Katniss  sometimes  stands  to  him,  about  her  rare  smiles  and  her  surprisingly  sharp  wit.  But  then  the  stylists  dress  them  up  in  the  tightest  garments  Mellark  has  ever  seen  in  his life,  nothing  like  coal  mining  outfits.  Cinna  only  puts  enough  makeup  on  Katniss  to  enhance  her  natural  beauty,  and  then  he  lights  them  both on  fire.

ㅤㅤㅤAnd  even  knowing  himself,  knowing  how  he  feels  already,  Peeta  has  never  seen  anyone  as  breathtaking  as  Katniss  Everdeen.  A  girl  not  just  on  fire,  a  girl who  is the  fire. 

ㅤㅤㅤ{  And  maybe  always  has  been.  } 

ㅤㅤㅤIn  that  chariot  ride,  she  grips  his  hand  hard  enough  that  Peeta  can  feel  his  bones  creak.  He  doesn't  say  a  word,  and  not  because  Cinna  tells  them  to  charm  the  audience.  The  baker  doesn't  want  her  to  let  go,  needs  the  excuse  to  keep looking  at  Katniss,  even  now.  He  doesn't  even  care  if  the  cameras  catch  him  staring,  it's  unlikely  anyone  is  looking  at him  anyway. 

ㅤㅤㅤWhen  Everdeen  makes  to  pull  away,  Peeta  tells  her,  "Don't  Let  Go,"  saying  he  might  fall  out  of  the  chariot  if  she  does.  And  that  part's  true,  at  least,  even  if  the  reason  for  his  unsteadiness  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  crowds,  or  the  horses,  or  the  literal  fire  pouring  off  his  back.  It's  entirely  to  do  with  how  Katniss  looks,  wreathed  in  flames. 

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"No I've got it!"

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🍊 The Orange by Wendy Cope

🌅 Illustrated by Peeta Mellark

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Writing in my brain: Beautiful flowing sentences full of powerful phrases and enigmatically witty dialogue. 

Writing on the page: They did the thing and said some stuff. There was snark. 

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it needs to be said that i like large chonky men with soft bellies and arms the size of my head

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i don’t want to be here if you’re not. // Amari to Bull uwu

ㅤㅤㅤ"Well I guess it's a good thing, then..." The Iron Bull grunts, levering himself up onto his elbow from a prone position. The Vitaar striping from the Qunari's cheek to his shoulders is sizzling on his skin, its rust colored poison cracked from deflecting dragon fire.

ㅤㅤㅤ"... that wherever you go, Kadan, I'm certain t'follow."

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Anyone who's ever done anything creative needs to fucking see this.

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Darkness closes in. Will you stand against it?

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Peeta Mellark is an integral member of the four D12 victors. He is literally the sunset on the reaping! How is this not clear? I’ve never wanted to report people for bad literary analysis more and I’m only half joking. It has forced me to commit a cardinal sin: analyze in anger!

1. Him being chosen by absolute accident is the point. Not only does he represent every single other tribute who simply gets chosen because they live in a messed up country but he represents how even with some odds being in your favor (older siblings, merchant family, being white, being popular, etc.) you are still very likely to be victimized by the oppressive structure of Panem.

2. When Haymitch says, “But she was smarter than me, or luckier” - the luck is all the people around Katniss who created the circumstances for her to lead a successful revolution (her father teaching her to hunt, the arena having woods, Rue healing her with leaves, Thresh not killing her, Haymitch consistently giving her support, her mother teaching her aspects of medicine, on and on and on) and Peeta is the number one, most important part of her luck in the first book. She has someone in the games actively putting her life before his… are you kidding? There is legitimately no better luck than that.

3. Even if we take Katniss out of it, Peeta is so impactful as a victor because most of his scenes would not be cut/doctored. What’s there to edit out? Instead, the viewers get a full view of him loving a girl so selflessly, using trickery and strategy instead of violence, keeping himself alive through art, joking on literal death’s door, and sharing so much of himself with the audience it becomes harder for them not to see him as a real human boy. How rare do you think that is for the games? Haymitch and LGB are caricatures of themselves in the games, playing roles that flatten them down. Even Katniss becomes one dimensional on screen without Peeta (and Rue, of course). It is also heavily implied that he does not kill anyone during the games (in a straightforward way) and even if you count Cato or the girl from 8 or even foxface, it’s never him hunting them or seeking out a kill - again how rare do you think that is to see on screen for Games viewers?

4. I didn’t think this needed to be said but: Katniss dies without Peeta in the first games. a) she goes for the bow and dies in the bloodbath; b) she is hunted and killed by Careers; c) she is killed by game makers because there’s no love story angle to keep them from just burning her entirely; d) she dies from tracker jacker stings or Cato because Peeta doesn’t defend her or tell her to run… I could go on…

5. But even if she does win and wins alone - the victory means as much (I would argue less than) any other rebellious victor winning, certainly less than Haymitch’s win. The biggest rebellion for their games is that two of them win! This is legit the only thing that distinguishes them from any other sympathetic, kind child who would have won the games. Like if Haymitch or Finnick or Wiress winning isn’t jarring enough for the Games to end… why do you think Katniss killing Peeta and winning solo would be? It would not.

6. And finally, I cannot stress this enough: There is no peaceful end to the rebellion or the trilogy without Peeta. “Peeta’s a whiz with fires” (HG) for a reason! Collins, over and over, shows us how fire can get out of control and destroy even those who are innocent and who you love (Gale, Beete, Peeta’s family, Haymitch’s family). If everyone really burns, there’s no one to clean the ashes. The reason not everyone burns is because of people like Peeta who can coax the flames in a way that is nurturing and consistent. I mean…. “Peeta fashioned some kind of incubator” is such an obvious detail. Those goslings don’t hatch without Peeta, life does not go on in peace and joy without Peeta.

It is no coincidence that when Maysilee says Lenore Dove got the “jump on us all” (in being a rebel), she is referring to LD using orange paint to make protest art!

We must stop pushing Peeta Mellark out of the narrative! He is literally the sunset on the reaping!

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more peeta

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quick little peeta

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I'm re-reading The Hunger Games right now because I'm working to improve Peeta's voice in my writing, and I just have to say... y'all need to go back and really look at each scene with this boy in it, because he's just So Fucking Clever. Even in the very beginning, even when Katniss can't see it and spends a stupid amount of time second guessing his intentions... He's just a very capable person, for all that he's an overwhelmed teenager thrust into a life-or-death situation.

Peeta is measured in his actions, he's smart in a way that shows he's accustomed to being underestimated, and he never, ever lets his Kindness be twisted into a weapon against others.

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ㅤㅤㅤPeeta senses the moment Katniss's eyes darken with outrage, no matter that her expression barely shifts. For someone who's generally regarded as stoic, she's not particularly good at hiding her emotions... at least not from him.

ㅤㅤㅤ{ Maybe that's because the baker's son has spent the last eleven years pining after her... }

ㅤㅤㅤAnd sure, Mellark agrees that Katniss has every right to be angry about this charade they're both forced to play, pretending to be grateful for assistance from the very people pitting them in deadly combat. But -- for all the man's faults -- Haymitch is right. Katniss cannot win these games without alliances, neither of them can. Peeta's gaze drifts to where some of the other tributes are socializing, the Careers as loud and confident as if they were playfighting in their own schoolyards. His mouth flattens into a line.

ㅤㅤㅤ"You're answering your own question, Katniss..." He says, very quietly, almost gently. "...we have to be nice to them because they want to see us dead."

@immortalmuses asked "Look, we all have tough days. All I'm saying is you've got to do your best to be nice to people." -

Katniss has to stop herself from laughing hysterically at that particular pearl of wisdom from her district-mate's mouth.

Peeta's really starting to sound like he's broken into Haymitch's stash of alcoholic drinks here, and the absurdity of the very idea of attempting to be nice to the very people - other tributes and the bizarre citizens of the Capitol alike - who are very actively rooting for her death ( and the deaths of twenty-two other children ) is just too much to really process just yet.

"Why should I?" she demands, though she knows what the answer will be ( being nice is going to get her sponsors, and sponsors could mean the difference between life and death ). "Why should I be nice to them when they just want to see me dead?"

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Today’s warm up sketches: Big Beautiful Bull