#HAYFFIE MENTIONED

[amisha-jaya]

This is me being delulu BUT

It's me or the cover of SORT looks like a bracelet?

And that's reminds me Lucy Gray's bracelet

But over all it reminds me the Haymitch's token.

The ✨️✨️✨️TEAM✨️✨️✨️ is alive

[gudvina]

In regarding to Effie/Hayffie (just briefly mentioned but i will include it) I feel like Katniss being a limited narrator (in the sense that she doesn't take a third party approach, and tells her story from the point of view she held while living its events) is something that's important to take in consideration.

What we do know of book Haymitch and book Effie (more so the latter) is limited to what Katniss sees firsthand.

Solely speaking about Effie, Katniss tells us a few things:

1. she's compassionate towards her and Peeta, and towards other victors too ("Oh, not Cecilia..." and her talking about Chaff)

2. Haymitch has an habit of defending her, and she does the same in the limits of her capacity

3. She is very observant; she sees that Katniss isn't able to sleep and gives her sleeping pills. She cares.

4. She was the one who proposed the tokens for the 75th HG.

Of course we don't get her full point of view or opinion, but that'd because Katniss genuinely didn't know, nor does she know about what happened to her in MJ until Flavius, Venia and Octavia tell her.

There is a lot that's said between the lines, that's easily forgettable but that make up her character and give us more context about what goes on with her.

Again, she's a character that's highly open to interpretation, because we don't know anything about her apart from these little tidbits Katniss shows us, and so it goes with Hayffie, if we want to make a stretch.

We only know that they often bicker, but we also see her defend Haymitch's role as a mentor, ally with him for Katniss and Peeta's sake and, again, we are told Haymitch will defend Effie.

And we are also told, in the end, that Haymitch and Plutarch take great pain to keep her alive.

Can't stress enough that the interpretations are endless, but the idea of Effie being more than a morally grey character (like an antagonist, or worse, a villain) is a stretch, given what we do know about her.

[greywitchproject]

FR. This year's MET gala is actually based on Effie bc she's such a fashion icon no I will not elaborate 😌

[sea-owl]

Another person I fully believe would have slayed at the Met Gala, Mama Effie Trinket.

Not only would she be one of the best dressed, but if her team was with her, she would make sure they would be on theme in their own personal styles. She's not gonna have her husband and kids being labeled as badly dressed, not on her watch.

[sincerelya-stories]

The Flamingo and the Bumblebee - Chapter 1

Rating: T

Summary: The first Reaping Day post-war is upon them, but this year Haymitch has other plans. Ones that involve a dress, a tradition, and the final wish of a lost friend.

It all started with:

My darling Flamingo

Ao3

[ellanainthetardis]

The fact that I can still get hate on ITGN even so long after it's been finished XD

[gudvina]

This is a little hc of mine that has to do with my wip:

during the 67th hunger games Effie and Haymitch danced during one of the Capitol mandated events. It wasn't exactly planned, and it involved a lot of puppy eyes from Effie, but ultimately Haymitch caved in. It wasn't the first time they had danced, admittedly, but he was unusually sober and the whole thing stuck with him for years because of that.

Now the fun part is that 16 years old Finnick definitely noticed, and would tease him immensely for it.

what are some of your hayffie headcanons ?! I wanna know 😭😭

[jugheadthelesbian]

sfw requests r open!!

alright im caving. while not feeling completely up to writing new chapters for anything, i am desperate to write something 😭😭

so x reader, x oc, and pairings requests r now open!! just send me ur asks w whatever u want for the following fandoms/characters

criminal minds

🩷 x reader/oc: i will do any of the characters from the team x reader or x oc but i LOVE writing elle, garcia, and morgan specifically

🩷 pairings: morcia, galvez, spencelle, hotchi, jemily, jelle, jarcia, ellemily, rossi x gideon, gideon x hotch

harry potter/marauders

🩷 x reader/oc: harry, ron, fred, george, lee jordan, hermione, ginny, luna, cedric, angelina johnson, lily evans, marlene, remus, sirius, peter, james, regulus, dorcas, mary, pandora, evan, barty, bellatrix, narcissa, alice, andromeda, and rita

🩷 pairings: ronmione, linny, lee x george, lee x fred, jily, jegulus, jegulily, regulily, pandalily, wolfstar, dorlene, marylene, marylily, quillkiller, nobleflower, and rosekiller

the hunger games

🩷 x reader/oc: finnick, annie, johanna, katniss, peeta, haymitch, cashmere, gloss, enobaria, lucy gray, sejanus, and cinna

🩷 pairings: odesta, johannie, everlark, hayffie, cashbaria, clato, and glarvel

mean girls(2024)

🩷 x reader/oc: regina, damien, janis, cady, gretchen, karen, and aaron

🩷 pairings: rejanis, fetchen, cady x aaron, ms norberry x mr duvall

stranger things

🩷 x reader/oc: max, lucas, dustin, mike, will, el, steve, robin, nancy, eddie, jonathan, argyle, and chrissy

🩷 pairings: lumax, elumax, byler, elmax, steddie, platonic stobin, ronance, hellcheer, buckingham, and jargyle

note: i will not do anything beyond making out and i will do angst and fluff :) if a character/pairing was not mentioned, but u want to request it, feel free to ask anyways and i will respond privately if i dont feel comfortable doing it. i can do head canons or full-on drabbles, u pick! i can also do platonic pairings or x reader/oc

as for introductions, im a chronic flirter with an obsession for reading who is loved by one(@siriusblackwannabe)

for more writing, go to my ao3:

[gutfaced]

🔥 and Haymitch?

many MANY things to say in which i usually do mention on here, but not this specifically.

haymitch is not unintelligent. it's so often i see posts or conversations in this fandom where he's constantly getting dumbed down to being an “aggressive drunk” or “stupid, ” especially within shipping (e.g, hayffie.) haymitch is one of the most smartest characters in the entire franchise. he's a functioning alcoholic with a stable helm on mentorship for a product of 24 years when we first meet him, and while although he is (in chapter 2-4 of the first book,) extremely inebriated and not only falls off a stage and pukes on himself and falls into it, he's very much in control of himself outside of that.

he's got a sharp memory (demonstrated when he took katniss and peeta to an old part of the district 11 justice building,) and is often 10 steps ahead of others in his thinking. in my opinion, there are times where he plays up his addiction & character to seem weak/unsuspicious (“she's got spunk!” alongside then pointing at capitol planted cameras,) but also lying to katniss about the uprisings.

he's not your average drunk and he isn't just some sleeze that only drinks booze and has no regard for other people, he spends the ENTIRE trilogy protecting katniss and peeta and also caring for those around him in a gruff, closed off way. most people forget that not only is he a solitary, agoraphobic survivor with ptsd, but he actually spites those experiences with suzanne's fresh approach to the idea of an alcoholic, who copes with trauma by drinking and STILL is able to get things done. he is not a textbook, stereotypical drunk, he is one of the more realistic takes in not only his grief, his coping, and his withdrawal + ptsd, but his humanity.

[hungergameshyperfixation]

I know Hayffie is most commonly a romantic ship, but I’d also love to see platonic Hayffie. In book canon they definitely don’t get along at certain points, but it’s clear Haymitch cares for her (he and Plutarch “fought” to keep her alive in Mockingjay). And not even to mention that they’re some form of canon in the films.

But anyway, in an alternate universe where they don’t hook up, or end up moving in together, etc…

Haymitch calling Effie in the reconstruction era of the Capitol, the two of them catching up and sharing updates. Both of them caring for Katniss and Peeta. Effie checking in and visiting for their sake, and bringing Haymitch a fancy drink she assumes he’ll enjoy.

The two of them generally getting along, occasionally bickering or disagreeing. They don’t exactly have a reason to stay in contact, but they do nonetheless.

Haymitch being happy to hear about a certain someone Effie’s been seeing; Effie absolutely overjoyed if/when Haymitch begrudgingly mentions that he’s seeing someone, etc. Or, both of them contently remaining single, and focusing on other joys.

Haymitch getting annoyed as hell when Effie pushes a call upwards of two hours. Effie talking about literally anything under the sun.

Effie, Plutarch, Haymitch, and the other adult victors occasionally meeting up when applicable; sharing stories and “reminiscing” on old times (especially considering a lot of them ‘worked’ together).

Idk, I know most of those things could still fit into the romantic ship category, but I just enjoy exploring different ideas with characters. I’m definitely of the opinion that platonic characters and ships are just as interesting and can be just as meaningful as romantic ones.

Plus, I’m queer and have been interested in different ideas of ‘relationship anarchy’ and just that general stuff, so I think it shines through a little bit; I like to queer the things I like LMAO.

[whatrealbeautylookslike]

if no one else got me I know my deranged hayffie mutuals got me

@effieforever @effieotto

@sparklebear11 honorable mention

[expectopatronum18]

Man i hope we get to see haymitch's relationship with his family and girlfriend. We know his father had died much before coz he only mentions his mother and brother. Was he the bread winner of the house in some way, much like Katniss was? Also I REALLY hope we get to see a little more about Mr and Mrs Everdeen(we don't even know their names). Not to mention how different district 12 was at the time, with loads of whippings and much harsher conditions. I especially wanna know more abt haymitch's gf..was it just casual or something serious? Did he regret her death because her association with him got that innocent girl killed or was it also because he seriously loved her? Also coz I need an actual, legitimate ship for haymitch (i don't ship hayffie). Oh and haymitch's narration would be AWESOME loll

Idk y ppl aren't more excited abt it, u don't get it, THIS IS THE MARAUDERS ERA VERSION OF THG

[aethermint]

Hayffie fic prompt... hope someone picks this up!

Alternative Version to Hunger Games Catching fire...

It's time for President Snow to announce the rules for the quarter quell. As per canon, he announces the victors to be reaped. However he also mentions a special surprise for panem, nothing is specified apart from the fact being a 'this is what happens when you embarass me' move.

At the reaping, Effie reaps Katniss and Haymitch and Peeta volunteers in his place and that is that. Then the mayor and gamekeepers pass the 'special surprise' in a note for their escort to read out allowed to District 12, with the rest of panem watching of course.

'For the 3rd Quarter Quell, in reciprocation of recent actions of rebellious insurgency, and the consequences should these fool's errands continue, the capitol offer up one of their own as tribute. Euphemia Trinket.'

Haymitch is quick to put himself back in the games, but he's not capitol. But perhaps President Snow might make an exception... maybe district 12 will have 3 tributes and one escort in the arena? Or will Haymitch have to leave his family behind in the arena.

What Snow expects to achieve here is to show the Capitol and the Districts that he is in charge, and no weakness or rebellious acts will be tolerated and swiftly dealt with. Most importantly to show the Capitol what will happen to them without his leadership. The districts will hunt them down and they will helpless to defend themselves without him in their corner. Poor Effie. But I reckon she'd be a force to be reckoned with, and make Snow regret it.

I feel this would be an interesting new take for this ship and explore dynamics between all the characters and all in the feels and good fun. I hope someone will take this up!! Otherwise might have to write it myself.

[hayffiebird]

Taste of Strawberries, chap. 42

Hayffie Post-Mockingjay Multi-chapter, Rated M

Four years have passed since the end of the war when Effie returns in to Haymitch’s life once again. An old friendship is renewed. Will it lead to something more?

Meanwhile Panem has entered a new era. The rebellion’s over, the borders are open but in the shadows, anger and mistrust are smoldering. Something that will affect Haymitch and Effie’s life in a way they never saw coming.

Author's note: As always, thank you for your lovely support! It's almost midnight here, I've been editing for six hours (oh God) and finally had to call it a day even if it ain't perfect. I hope you enjoy the result! Please consider leaving a comment and tell me your thoughts! What do you think will happen next? :)

Slight TRIGGER WARNING for minor mentions like in previous chapters.

Chapter 42

A big big big day

His gift wasn’t among the others. Haymitch turned the presents over. Those big enough to qualify. Squeezed one here, shook one there, holding on to hope that Effie or June or Annabel had signed the delivery while he was passed out.

No such luck. Course not.

Should’ve called the shop sooner.

He ran a tired hand through his hair and poured himself a shaky cup of coffee.

For someone who considered gifts overrated – unless they consisted of food or clothes maybe – he was pretty bloody bummed out about the whole thing. Silly, yeah but … he really wanted the twins to have it and have it on the right day.

Maybe tomorrow. Or the day after. The post office in Eleven was famously slow, according to Annabel.

He was halfway through his cup of joe when the front door opened.

Annabel, smiling and carrying the topnotch chocolate cake. And in her wake, Effie. With one birthday child on each hip.

God, was she pretty! Prettier than usual, if that was even possible. With the strawberry dress gone – thanks to a certain retired mentor – she wore a white and pink plaid dress. A wide skirt just brushing her kneecaps, spaghetti straps and a large flat bow at the side of her waist.

Her hair was gathered in a ponytail for a change. Pink ballet flats. No “yank friendly” jewelry around her neck. No lipstick or lipgloss either. She gave that up after the twins were born since she kissed it all off on them anyway. Around her ankle: a simple silver bracelet. Simple but beautiful.

Yeah, she was gonna kill him for sure.

Amy wore pink too. Pink with ruffles. No matching bow or ribbons though. Even if she’d had any hair to speak of, the little girl would not stand for it.

Her mother had gone and dusted off one of her own princess dresses, by the looks of it, in honor of today. A toned down, less outlandish one but still – definitely more Capitol than district. He counted four different shades of pink. Posy would have loved it.

Ian on the other hand looked just about ready for District 4, dressed up in a little sailor’s outfit. White and dark blue with boats printed on the chest.

Silly ol’ Effs.

She wasn’t usually that all consumed by the whole “pink for girls, blue for boys” ideal. At least not anymore. But even she couldn’t help herself sometimes.

He had to hand it to her though – if this was Capitol it was Capitol low key. He’d seen toddlers back in the old city who looked more like fashion accessories than actual human beings. And sure, Effie wasn’t above wrestling Haymitch into gaudy outfits but she always went easy on the twins. Just like she went easy on Alexander, when she was but a girl herself.

Quite telling, if you thought about it. What kind of person she was at the core.

And contrary to popular belief, Effie preferred the district look for her kids. How was that for ironic? And the clothes he wore as a baby and toddler? Shit, she treasured them like they were truffles – the rarest, most (would be) expensive ingredient Sae used in her cooking, once in a blue moon.

Each night before bed, Effie laid out the children’s clothes for tomorrow and make no mistake! Unless they were currently peed in, pooped at or covered in baby spit-up, she always chose something of his.

“What is it with you and these rags?” he once asked her back in Twelve, while he helped Amy into a patched up romper the color of porridge. “Seriously. Capitol Effie would have shuddered. Called them poor man’s gear. Washcloth outfits.”

“I would not!” Effie protested from the other side of the bed, working the mismatched buttons of Ian’s playsuit. “District Vintage, maybe. And these aren’t rags! Don’t call them that! You know how special they are to me.”

“Why?”

She lifted Ian up. Held him close. With her cheek against the top of his head, she glanced over at Haymitch like he was the biggest idiot in all of Panem.

“Because you are!” she said. “Special. Something you really should know by now. I had your love children, for crying out loud. You’d think that if anything would be a tip off. And every time I see Amy or Ian wearing something you wore, it’s like I get a little echo of you. The child you once were. And since I don’t have any baby pictures of you, this is the second best thing. Well”, she added after a moment’s pause. A smile curved her lips. “Except for the twins themselves. Because of course they’d come out looking exactly like you. That’s just my usual luck.”

“Luck or curse”, Haymitch replied. Amy yawned as he lifted her from the bed. “There we go, baby.” He rested her against the side of his chest, her head on his shoulder. “They have your hair”, he said, pointing out the obvious.

“Mm. Only proof we’ve got that you didn’t actually make them all on your own.”

She never made the connection. Between the clothes and his kid brother. So obvious and yet, the lights never came on.

It was alright though. Really. Sure, he always felt a little pinch every time he saw the kids in Amadeus’s clothes. But not as much anymore. Not as the months passed.

Yeah. By some miracle, that particular gash got to scab over. Become a scar. Tender to the touch yes, but not bleeding, festering.

As time wore on he started to associate the clothes not only with his dead brother and dead mother but with Amy and Ian as well. That was one big reason for it. Plus Amadeus would’ve loved it if he knew that his niece and nephew spent their days dressed in his old stuff.

And Sae – that sharp-eyed ol’ busybody – she much have known this. Predicted his change of heart, or else she never would have given the clothes to Effie in the first place.

When the twins were still newborns he thought Effie might break out Alexander’s old clothes for them. The precious few garments she still had of her stars and butterflies and lady bugs baby after that prick Kane burned the rest or whatever.

But she never did. Too painful. And, obviously, he steered clear off the subject since she wasn’t ready to deal with any of that. Perhaps she never would be.

The reality of that heart-breaking situation only made it easier for him to let her have a field day with “his” old rags. Sorry, his special rags.

You couldn’t be flint-hearted with Effie anyway. Her over the moon excitement. You got to be pretty fucking cruel to take that away. Especially after she blessed you with two children.

Oh God. She’s gonna hold that over my head forever!

Little echoes. Special because you are special. Yeah, he could see what she meant by that. If he reversed their positions in his head.

After she bought the house from June and Annabel and the last of their moving vans had left for District 11 – they arranged for her things to be brought back in. Effie had donated a lot of the furniture to vintage and charity shops when she lost her home but some were kept in storage. As were most of her personal belongings. Like, for instance, the piles upon piles of little kiddie clothes.

Not Alexander’s. Effie’s own.

Now, Haymitch didn’t consider himself a sentimental guy. But when he first got a load of those silly little outfits he was almost overcome with tenderness and affection. As if a kitten – Scotch maybe – just rolled over in his chest, flexing his tiny claws.

They were just so small and so ridiculous.

Princess-pink, primrose yellow, spring green and pale shades of purple like a lilac branch. Effie’s ma and pa had stockpiled the stuff like they had ten kids instead of one. Either they planned on producing a shitload of offspring or they lived by the notion that even a newborn’s outfit was to be worn only once.

“Oh, haha! Look at these!” Effie had chuckled over by the couch, holding out a pair of the tiniest high heeled baby shoes you ever saw. White with black dots and red on the inside. “I forgot I even had them. Say what you will about me, Haymitch. I had style. Right from the very beginning.”

“Yeah, totally”, he said, cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by boxes. “But those Haute Couture diapers were a waste on you. You just soiled them 24-7.”

Effie chuckled and placed the little shoes back in the box. Reached for a soft pink hooded romper instead. Velvet, by the look of it. Patterned with raspberry colored hearts.

“My parents always knew they wanted to have children”, she said. “Especially my mother. She had this romantic scenario in her head that she would be blessed with a baby on her wedding night. Or maybe even more than one. Twins run in my family, did I ever tell you?”

“Noo. Really?”

She brushed the soft fabric against her cheek. “Mama was so disappointed when it didn’t happen at the drop of a hat. They ended up trying for years to get pregnant. You know, the old-fashioned way.”

“What other ways are there?”

Effie smiled.

“Well, I for one am an IVF baby.”

 “A what?”

“IVF. In vitro fertilization. Hospital procedure. They removed one of my mother’s eggs and mixed it together with my father’s sperm. So, unlike you or Katniss or Peeta I was first on a lil’ petri dish.”

Haymitch grinned.

“Created in a lab. I should have known.”

“Just the embryo, silly! Which was then implanted into my mother’s womb. I was carried and born like any other baby. Took a few tries though. Like … half a dozen eggs or so. My father’s juices weren’t too great. It drove my mother halfway up the wall. The hormone injections she had to take.”

“Yeah, well.” Haymitch gave a light shrug. “It was worth the wait.”

Effie looked up from the romper, an amused glint in her eyes.

“Is that your way of saying you feel fortunate to have me in your life?”

“Is there any other way to put it? The way I see it, I got a pretty decent deal out of it. Three for the price of one.”

Effie chuckled and tossed a pair of baby socks his way.

“You darling you.” She folded the romper neatly and placed it in the “let’s keep” pile on the couch. “So, what do we do with all this? I mean, some we can use but the rest? Do we give it away or …?”

“Nah, too cruel. I vote that we keep ‘em. As a memory. A timestamp. ‘Effs Trinket – The early years’.”

In the end though, even the things they did keep – they hardly ever used. Not only were the clothes hella impractical to get on and off. They were also a pain to wash correctly. Shrunk super easily – especially with Haymitch in charge – and 80 % of it had to be hand washed anyway, if you didn’t want the colors to bleed.

Annabel set the birthday cake on the garden table. The soft clink pulled Haymitch out of his reverie. Amy’s eyes landed on June and the one year old instantly held her arms out with a firm whine. The blonde woman’s face brightened and the little girl soon climbed from her mother’s arms and into her auntie June’s.

The sight pinched Haymitch’s chest, immediately bringing on a self-insult.

Grow up. What’s wrong with people lovin’ them?

Nothing. Nothing at all. But he couldn’t help it. It hurt. Hurt that his daughter’s first impulse was to go to June and not him.

Annabel’s wife may have a hard time dealing with him as of late but she adored his children. They both did.

Ian was still with Effie. His little fist keeping a firm grasp on one of her dress straps.

Haymitch ached to hold him. Hug the crap out of him and seek some comfort in his softness and warmth and sweet baby smell.

But Effie wouldn’t want him to. He knew without her saying it. She didn’t trust him with them yet. Not when he was still so hangover he couldn’t even stomach a slice of birthday cake without puking on the lawn.

He downed the last of his coffee. He was going to need a lot of the stuff to get him through today. All the while, ignoring how much better it would taste with a drop or three of hard liquor.

His eyes kept returning to June, holding his daughter. Annabel said something about “sugar dream cookies” and turned for the house but her wife hardly noticed, absorbed as she was by his little girl. She tickled her tummy and the child giggled and squirmed in her embrace.

It was all he could do not to yank his kid out of her arms and yell something like “Get your own!!”

Biting the inside of his cheek, he turned and poured himself some more coffee.

She’s not taunting me on purpose.

It wasn’t June’s fault that he was a stinking hot mess who couldn’t do a thing right. Not even when his kids had a birthday.

June and Annabel had been some of the first to ever meet the twins. Even before Katniss and Peeta. Annabel at the hospital. June, a few days later.

“Want me to bring you anything?” she asked over the phone and Effie said, quick as a flash:

“Coffee. Please, a bucket of it!”

Black. Just the way she liked it. Along with some homemade cheesecake, courtesy of June.

He remembered the way her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree seeing Amy and Ian, sound asleep against Effie’s bosom. That’s where the twins liked it best, especially since their so called father was still too freaked to hold them.

“Oh, I want two myself”, Annabel had smiled, her brown eyes shiny. “Two just like them.”

“Well, don’t look at me”, Haymitch said, stretched out on the hard leather couch. “This factory’s closed.”

Effie and Annabel exchanged a look and they both chuckled.

“That’s unfortunate”, the latter said.

They were just joking around of course. And lucky him. Because after everything the two ladies had done for his family, he’d be hard-pressed to refuse.

For some reason, he never gave it much thought at the time, but seeing June with Amy just now … It got him wondering.

Why didn’t June and Annabel have any children themselves?

Sure, you could be fond of kids and great with them and still choose to be child-free. Happy to be just “mom’s fun friend” – or “mom’s wacko friend” if you were say Johanna Mason.

But June and Annabel, they seemed like the type who’d want a baby of their own. And they’d been together for like forever.

In the districts, there were of course only two ways you could have a kid. Cum shot or adoption. But, as Effie’d told him, in the Capitol – things worked differently when it came to fertility and conception. And being in a same-sex relationship with no immediate sperm producer in the household didn’t make it that much harder either. Not if you had money.

People sold their semen for cash in the big city. The hospital even made ads about it, urging people to contribute. Hell, guys like Priapus took pride in having fathered half the nation one cup at a time – to hear him tell it at least. And if you had a few eggs to spare and wanted to trade them in for the latest handbag, you needed only book an appointment.

So if June and Annabel wanted to make an omelette, they had options.

Maybe they can’t have kids.

Annabel’s story earlier. Her struggles with food. Maybe starving herself had done something to her menstrual cycle? He was no expert. Far from it. But he remembered a conversation he overheard at the Hob once. Between old Cray and some other peacekeeper.

“At the end of the day”, the full-fledged bastard said, “what you want is a real skintight lass. The flow doesn’t go over barren land, if you know what I mean?”

As for June … He couldn’t say he knew a lot about the woman. She was no open book. Not with him and especially not lately. If anything, she was the quiet, observing type. A bit like himself, maybe.

The only really private piece of information he had about her came from someone else. Plutarch. Who never knew when to shut up.

Haymitch were out grocery shopping for a very pregnant Effie and ran into him on the way back. The man had just returned after a prolonged stay in District 7. Apparently they were shooting the pilot of some wildlife documentary that the former Head Gamemaker pitched for Capitol TV. The first of 12 planned episodes. One season per district, starting in the vast woodlands with its mountain lions and coyotes and river otters. Haymitch remembered because of how much the whole project would have annoyed Johanna.

“Panem et Circenses”, Plutarch said with a land out like Whatcha gonna do? “We have to find new and exciting ways to entertain the audience. Now that the Hunger Games are a thing of the past.”

As for Effie, and her precarious situation – he knew all about it of course. Just like everyone else in town.

Haymitch, standing there in the heat with his full bags of soy milk and brussels sprouts, brown rice and melting ice cream just wanted to get the hell out of dodge but there was no stopping Plutarch Heavensbee once he got going. That man sure loved the sound of his own voice.

“… and ah, yes the Summers. Good people. All of them. I’m friends with her father”, he said. “Great polo player! A real blue-ribbon champion during his time at the University. Shame what happened to his family! Such a tragedy! They wanted a second child, you see. A boy this time. So badly. And when they were finally blessed with another pregnancy, his wife suffered a late-term miscarriage when June was about 16. Little Otho Summer Jr. Oh! An awful, bloody affair. Then some emergency surgery and … that’s that. No more children. Poor man. Was never the same.”

Complications during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum were not uncommon back in Twelve. Before the war. Especially among the starving families of the Seam. Thank God they had Sae and Tessa Everdeen but even in their expert hands mothers and babies were lost during Snow’s long reign.

“It’s a gamble at best”, Chaff once said, when they got to talking about it. “Not a month goes by in Eleven without us hearing the hammer blows of a coffin being made. A coffin meant for two.”

Haymitch remembered this one family. A young girl who broke off her engagement after her ma went through a really bloody labor, stretching out over three whole days. In the end, Sae managed to save both mother and child but the damage was already done.

Now, he saw no reason worth shit why you’d ever want to get married and have kids in a place like Twelve in a world like Snow’s. Some agreed with him on that note. Others didn’t. In this young woman’s case there was definitely a “before” and “after”.

Sae even had a name for it.

Tokophobia. Morbid fear of childbirth.

Maybe that was the case with June?

“Would you look at that”, Effie whispered, cheek against Ian’s temple. The words pulled Haymitch out of his depressing thoughts for a second time.

His son and baby mama were admiring Annabel’s cake.

“With a teddy for a candle”, Effie smiled and kissed the top of his head. “Just like Little Bear in the bedtime story we read at night. You remember Little Bear, my darling? But oh, we forgot the matches! You can’t blow the candle out and make a wish if not first we light it. Come baby, let’s set you down for a bit while I go look for them. Want to play with your letter blocks?”

She settled their son on the picnic blanket. The one under the apple tree. Kissed his soft, downy head a second time and turned for the house. Squeezed Annabel’s shoulder in passing when the brunette re-appeared with the plate of cookies and a jug of water and cucumber slices.

Haymitch watched as Effie bounded up the front steps and was gone.

She’s stressed out of her mind.

No question about it. She hid it but he could always tell. Recognized that stiff upper lip from the Games, covered behind bright smiles and weird exclamations like “You two are in for a treat! Crystal chandeliers, platinum doorknobs.”

As if the Games weren’t bad enough. With Haymitch Abernathy on your “team”, Effie had her work cut out for her. Because of him, her attention was constantly split. Pretty much since day one and especially in the last few years prior to Katniss and Peeta’s Games.

Her mind was in a constant state of, “Time to get them both on the train and where’s Haymitch? How many drinks has he had?” or “Let’s get these children ready for their interviews and where’s Haymitch? How drunk is he now?”

Yeah, he was little more than added stress on her shoulders.

Same thing now.

But I’m not drunk today. Haven’t had a drink since last night. What’s she thinking I’m gon’ do? Get wasted right in front of my kids?

He thrust the thought from his mind. He had exactly zero right to be annoyed today.

Instead, his gaze went to Ian sitting by himself on the blanket. Haymitch set his cup on an empty spot on the garden table and turned for June. June and Amy.

“Mind if I take a balloon? For the kid. I don’t know how to work that thing.” He nodded toward the container.

June eyed him with those green orbs, then nodded.

“Sure. Help yourself.”

With no knife at his disposal, June’s killer double knots were a challenge. Ian watched his struggles and each time the branches rustled overhead, a giggle rose from under it.

Haymitch allowed himself a small smile.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Laugh at your old man.”

He worked the knot loose and extricated the balloon from the tree. Orange. Like Effie’s hair. Once upon a long time ago.

“Here. Got something for ya.”

He crouched before his son, keeping a firm hold on the end of the string. But he was a little too quick about it, wobbled and slumped back on his ass. Tiny black dots swam across his field of vision. Like specks of dust from a fire.

Ian’s round gray eyes followed his every move. Forcing his lips upward, Haymitch struggled to regain his balance. Swallowed a flood of saliva against the summersaults his stomach made.

Please. Not here. Not now.

Feeling the cool grass underneath his palm he breathed slowly through his nose. And he was in luck. For once. The nausea subsided. The ringing as well. His vision cleared, leaving him with goose bumps all over and stinging armpits.

With shaky hands he tied the balloon string around Ian’s wrist.

“There you go, sweetheart.”

The boy shook his arm eagerly. Gave a breathy grin when the balloon bobbed.

Haymitch caressed his hair. His chubby cheek. Reached for the silver baby rattle next, a old gift of Annabel’s, and struggled to his feet with the gracefulness of someone twice his age.

The rattle found a home in Amy’s hand. He gave her strawberry hair a soft caress, just like he did Ian. His eyes went to her auntie.

“I’ll get you a balloon too if you want. Or … maybe a coffee?”

The woman drew a deep sigh.

“Fine”, she said, slightly less up in arms.

Back at the table he poured another cup. Added some cream and sugar. Behind him the front door opened. Effie with the matches no doubt. He set the hot fragrant peace offering in June’s hand. Contemplated if he actually remembered all the verses of “Happy Birthday” when his gaze dropped to Ian again.

He had but ten seconds to see it before Effie did.

The sight closed his throat up, like someone actually kept a choke hold on him. His hand flew to his back pocket, confirming what his eyes were already telling him.

The hipflask.

In his son’s hands.

Ian’s chubby baby fingers grazed against the scratched silver surface while he explored the corked up lid with his mouth. Chewing on it like he did everything.

Haymitch’s feet were already moving but it was too late.

“No!” The shriek escaping Effie’s lips made them all start. She was by Ian’s side in a heartbeat. Pulled him from the ground so fast that Haymitch’s knot unravelled and the balloon floated into the sky. Up and gone.

The boy was bawling, startled by his mother’s sudden cry. Effie clutched him to her chest, holding the hipflask a meter away.

“You brought this to the party?” she spat at Haymitch. “How could you? Take this revolting thing away from the children this instant!”

[incubationformadness]

Do u believe Hayffie remains childless after the war or do you believe they have children?

I don't know if answering this counts as a spoiler so don't read this if you want to have no idea about my Hayffie trajectory:

Honestly? I think they remain childless.

I'm not opposed to fics in which they have children - I've seen a fair few good ones - but in my personal opinion it doesn't fit with what we know of both partners, Haymitch in particular.

Haymitch has deep-seated trauma relating to the deaths of his family and his girlfriend (Iris Machen, if you're reading my fic), and I imagine that would drastically affect his opinion on having children. In canon, Katniss notes that Haymitch's life is "solitary confinement". This, I think, is a defensive mechanism to avoid vulnerability, but primarily to prevent endangering other people. In my fic, this extends to his dog, Daffodil - he's at first reluctant to adopt her out of his fear that Snow will have her killed (more than a decade after the murders of his loved ones). He's vigilant about her safety, stressed by unexpected knocks on his door, and holds a private hatred towards Peacekeepers. In other words, having anyone he's responsible for puts him in a state of fight-or-flight. That doesn't easily go away.

We also know from Mockingjay that post-rebellion Haymitch relapses his alcohol abuse. Haymitch's severe alcoholism and horrific, untreated PTSD (i.e. his tendency to respond to being suddenly woken up by lunging for a knife) would not put him in the best headspace for having children. And I imagine that he holds a great deal of guilt and discomfort being around any child, due to the emotional toll of repeatedly failing to save any of his tributes before Katniss and Peeta. Haymitch is also strongly effected by a collective trauma which effects the people of District 12, but in particular the people of the Seam (due to the higher rates of poverty, death, and Seam children being reaped for the Games). There's a pervasive feeling of the children aren't safe in the Seam. Not to mention that District 12 literally gets genocided during the second rebellion - we don't get to see Haymitch's direct reaction to that in Mockingjay, but that would definitely traumatise him. No matter how long he's lived in Victor's Village, I think that he maintains a Seam identity - and that place is obliterated by fire bombs.

Effie's opinion on children would be a complicated one. Book!Effie is something of an unknown, as she's not a fleshed-out character, while fic!Effie carries many problems. Out of the two of them, she's the more nurturing, responsible one, but she also suffers from her own severe childhood trauma, albeit of a very different nature. Fic!Effie genuinely likes children, but she also carries a suppressed terror of them, because they remind her of her defencelessness when she was a child. As a Capitolite, she doesn't have the collective ethnic trauma which Haymitch does, but she is part of a transgenerational trauma chain within the Trinket family - I don't know if I'll get the opportunity to explore this in the fic, but unbeknownst to her, her father (who molested her) was also a victim of childhood sexual abuse. While Effie has none of his sexual perversions, she is nevertheless haunted by a fear that she is fundamentally corrupt - she would fear passing this down to a child.

Additionally, her career as an escort also poses a lot of problems for her - the more she tries to play a maternal role to her younger tributes, the more she becomes emotionally attached to them, the more guilt she feels. Children remind her of her tributes, which stirs up many complicated feelings - her gradual de-programming is going to be a painful reckoning of her role in the deaths of the children she reaped.

Effie also goes through a lot during the war, which would definitely effect her mental health. We know that she was imprisoned in canon after the destruction of the arena of the 75th Games, and much of the fandom headcanon that she was tortured during her captivity. When Katniss reunites with her at the end of Mockingjay, Effie appears physically unchanged, but her eyes are "empty". This, I think, suggests dissociation, which in turns suggests some severe trauma. People who have literally just been traumatised don't immediately jump into having kids. And while Effie's canon age is unknown, I wrote her as only four years younger than Haymitch, which would place her at 37 or 38 years old at the end of the war. Realistically, she doesn't have long before she is physically incapable of having biological children.

Though the post-rebellion world of the Hunger Games is a better one, it doesn't mean that those traumas simply vanish. It takes Katniss at least fifteen years to feel safe enough to have children. Katniss, while arguably being the character most like Haymitch, is still much younger and less hardened than him. And while Effie is (at least pre-war) less overtly embittered, she is still far from being as open and hopeful as Peeta. So I just can't see kids happening post-war. They've both got so much baggage as it is.

I've toyed with the idea of a Hayffie child pre-war - like, maybe they have a secret 'oops' kid - but that would be out of character as they're both fundamentally pragmatic people who would know the implications of that. Considering the amount of colonial dialogue in TBOSAS, there's probably some Capitol law against procreating with district people (sexual relations with victors are fine, but a kid would probably be considered hereditarily unfit, to use a Nazi classification).

That's my yap of the day, thank you for the question!

[sohypothetically]

Post 5: Girls Night Out

The stats:

2 years from first published to complete

300,000 words

8 couples (10 if you include Hayffie)

2 main OCs (original characters)

29 pages of outline

So many euphemisms

So much food

So much research

So much research

The fic changed my perception of Gale completely

First person

So, so much smut

Mr. Mellark lives!

If there's one criticism... it might be verbs. Or maybe that the first part feels a little too "crack fic" and ambles too much.

This fic changed my life. It changed how I felt about the fandom, my place in it, and my writing.

Blurb:

Contemporary A/U. Johanna Mason copes with a breakup the only way she knows how: going on a man-hunt. She brings her roommate Katniss Everdeen with her and the rest is frat party history. Rated M for explicit language, sexual innuendo, and general snarkiness. Written for Prompts in Panem Places Challenge, Prompt: Frat House. (Ships: Jo/other, Everlark, Gadge, Odesta)Rated:��Fiction M - English - Humor/Romance 

Fanfic.net

A03

GNO Tumblr

For more about the genesis of this fic, read the Tolkien Food Blog description below the cut.

I'm going to apologize because I'm pretty sure my Anon response earlier sounded like sour grapes. Boohoo that I wasn't in the inner circle and that I wasn't regarded as one of the top 50 Everlark authors. So what?

I mention it because I think it's important to understand my headspace when I talk about this next fi. Where it came from and where it led me.

So it was March of 2013. I'm on the periphery of a fandom that was so freaking talented. HGRomance, Atetheredmind, Court81981, Dustwriter, Amelia_Day, DandelionSunset, Fnurfnur, Misshoneywell, Peetasbunmyoven, Annieoakley1, hutchhitched, jhutchmyanchor, Everlark_Pearl, JLaLa, Monroeslittle, Sponsormusings, Xerxia, pookieh, louezem, bleedtoloveher, katnissdoesnotfollowback, streetlightlove, famousfremus... the list of phenomenal Everlarkers went on for days.

We would regularly have something called "Prompts in Panem". (You can check this out at promptsinpanem.tumblr.com.) These were, well, what they sound like. Pre-A03 fic exchanges based on prompts. It ran for a week, with each day having a new prompt. Everlark only. They prompts would release maybe a week in advance? I don't remember how long, but I know that it was a Bacchanalian festival where we would gorge ourselves on all things Everlark. Creative. Full of pressure. The goal was to put out something that people would read and comment on. It was all about buzz. (To be clear, I miss these.)

At the same time, I was reading other bits and pieces outside of Everlark. Whiskeysnarker, who wrote the best Johanna Mason. Hawtsee, one of the best Gadgers. I beta'd for an Odesta author.

PIP started and I knew that there was nothing I had in my quiver that wasn't going to be done 100 times better by every other author in the fandom. I didn't have an angle, and I wanted one. I wanted something that would make for interesting reading. I had no ideas.

So I did what every writer does when experiencing a doubt-spiral. I poured myself a glass of wine. And one glass became two. I cried. Then I got mad, sort of like Katniss when she shoots the apple in the pig's mouth in THG. And I heard a voice in my head berating me stridently for my pity party. That voice became the voice of Johanna Mason for GNO. And let me tell you, she doesn't suffer fools. And she has opinions.

Everlark through the eyes of another? And that person is Johanna? And it starts at a frat party? Hell, yeah.

It was only ever supposed to be a one shot. And then honeylime08 made a comment about wanting more.

The rest is history.