#and that’s the POINT like. he tried to kill her and the mockingjays but didn’t realize how much of her story would become a part of district

[mtvjedi]

okay not to hunger games post on main AGAIN but. i just know snow was shitting his pants every single day of the 74th hunger games and that’s what makes the theories that prim was preselected or the capitol was watching katniss so dumb because snow spent 60 years literally gaslighting himself into believing that he killed lucy gray and no one remembered her. and in those 60 years only one (1) tribute from district 12 won the hunger games. so of course he’d gotten comfortable and really believed that even though he still didn’t know what happened to lucy gray, even in district 12 they don’t know or care about her. but then some random 12 year old gets reaped in district 12 and her sister volunteers for her. and her sister’s name is katniss, which of course he knows is kind of a desperate, starving person’s sort of plant in district 12, because lucy gray told him about it, but that’s just a coincidence. she DOES kind of remind him of her, but that’s probably just because they both have dark hair and they’re both from district 12 and she really made an impact at the reaping. but then she allies herself with the little girl from district 11 who has no chance of winning, so she’s not just using rue as a means to an end, she really cares about her. and then when rue dies, she sings the meadow song as she covers her body with flowers. and the meadow song, well, that was one of lucy gray’s songs, and he didn’t think anyone still knew any of lucy gray’s songs. and then she fucking WINS, and everyone in the capitol loves her and peeta and prim, and at the crowning ceremony she’s wearing a mockingjay pin, and of course she couldn’t possibly know what it means to him, and when he compliments it she says “thank you. it’s from my district.” and that’s just in the hunger games! not even to mention that the symbol of the districts’ revolution is a mockingjay, and katniss becomes that symbol, and eventually it is lucy gray’s mockingjay that takes him down.

like lucy gray’s impact fr. he DID succeed in erasing her, no one in district 12 remembers her, but they do remember the songs and the birds, and snow realizes that he could never fully erase her. probably anyone in district 12 could tell you about the mockingjays.

[magics-neptunes-things]

Mockingjay - Part 8

Hi guys!

I'm sorry for the wait, I know that usually I give you the chapter on Friday, but I wasn't able to yesterday.

This one is a little darker, please be aware of that while reading it.

TW : Death, blood, injuries, grief.

Chapter before

Ona wakes up abruptly, a hand coming suddenly on her mouth to prevent her from shouting. She still is in the tree where she fell asleep a little earlier, while Teagan was supposed to stand guard. But it’s not him who is looking at Ona with undisguised anger.

It’s Lucy.

Eyes widened; Ona tries to move but Lucy doesn’t let her.

“What’s happening?” Ona whispers, Lucy’s hand always on her mouth.

“Did you kill him?” Lucy whispers-shout.

“What?”

Lucy’s voice is low, full of an anger that Ona doesn’t understand. Just like she doesn’t understand why Lucy is talking about. Ona tries to read more in Lucy’s eyes, but she can’t.

“What are you talking about?” the younger one finally says.

“Declan. Did you kill him?”

“What?” Ona frowns. “No, of course not.”

Lucy is still looking at her, but she finally removes her hand from Ona’s mouth. The latter takes advantage of it to look around them, looking for Teagan. But the young boy is nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s Teagan?” Ona asks.

But it doesn’t seem to be Lucy’s first interest. She seems so angry; Ona never saw her like this. She won’t say that she’s scared, but she’s definitely impressive like that. The situation is really mind blowing for Ona. She wanted so much to see Lucy one more time, but not like this.

“At the place where the Games began, there is a scoreboard. It says that you killed someone. If it wasn’t Declan, who was it?”

“The boy from the 5” Ona mumbles, not really wanting to remember that awful moment. “He was chasing Teagan at first and then he came back for us. I – I didn’t have any choice.”

Ona shivers and it has nothing to do with the cold. It is cold actually, but with the hoodie she’s wearing and the habit of the temperature, she was okay like this.

Lucy seems to think about Ona’s answer, looking at her while squinting her eyes. She seems furious. Ona can understand because she was pretty close to Declan, but there is no world where Ona could kill him.

“If it’s not you, who was it?”

Ona rolls her eyes and crosses her arms on her chest. Now that the surprise is passed, she has trouble keeping up with the way Lucy is talking to her.

“Your two girlfriends. He was with them at the lake, right? They pushed him in the water. I don’t know what is really inside the water, but he died almost immediately. Then there was this strange fog coming from the lake and I think it’s what killed Lilith too. I was in a house in the city with Teagan, we had time to run away. They were closer to the lake; Lilith didn’t get that chance. I guess Kayla didn’t explain things like this?”

When Lucy always seems to hesitate, Ona stands up a little bit more to face her. She doesn’t know what happened to Lucy for her to have doubts about her like that, but Ona doesn’t like it.

“If you don’t believe me, why don’t you look at the scoreboard? I’m pretty sure you know everything your friends do, don’t you?”

“It doesn’t show the score from the death’s people.”

“How convenient” Ona snorts.

They look at each other for several seconds. Ona feels sad and angry at the same time. She wanted to see Lucy one more time to have a good memory of her, not a fight about something like this.

“Who told you I killed Declan?” Ona asks finally.

“Kayla” Lucy answers only.

Kayla, or the only one of the trios from the lake who survived. It made Ona roll her eyes at the thought. Of course, it’s easier to accuse someone else of her betrayal. It makes Ona sick that Lucy chose to believe Kayla and not her.

She doesn’t know why Kayla was accusing her, though.

“Why would she say that?” Ona frowns softly.

“That is exactly my point.”

That icy tone, again. Ona bites her lips, not knowing what to answer to that. But she doesn’t look away when Lucy looks at her right in the eyes.

“Where is Teagan?” Ona asks again.

“He went to the river for some water. He’s not a very good guard if you want my opinion.”

“At least he believes me” Ona points out.

Lucy opens her mouth to answer but that is at this very moment that they hear someone walking in their direction. Ona could now recognize Teagan’s footsteps easily. She wanted to tell Lucy that it was him, but the older girl hurries to get out of her tree.

“Lucy!” Ona whispers.

She doesn’t hear Lucy’s answer or if she does, she even can’t see her since she jumps off the tree. Ona feels her heart breaking. This talk was worse than anything else in the world. She just has time to recompose her poker face when Teagan arrives.

“Where were you?” Ona asks him.

“I was thirsty. I didn’t think you’d wake up”

“You can’t leave like that” Ona answers maybe a little too harshly. “What if something happens to you and I’m not here?”

“I’m sorry?”

He seems a little surprised by Ona outburst, and the brunette takes a deep breath to calm herself. Teagan isn’t the reason for her fight with Lucy, he doesn’t have to deal with Ona’s bad mood.

“No, I’m sorry” Ona sighs softly. “Just tell me when you leave, okay?”

The young boy nods softly, smiling shyly at Ona. The girl smiles back at him, before looking at the sky. She is bored sitting on that tree to be honest, even if she knows it was what they decided with Alexia. But she doesn’t even know all the arena, even if Teagan gave her some information about it.

“I was thinking that we can make a reserve of food and water and go to the desert, what do you think? They won’t come to look for us there.”

After all, who can say to Ona that Lucy won’t come back with the other tributes? She’s not sure about anything anymore. She doesn’t want to explain to Teagan why she proposes that, but the boy seems happy about that idea. He proposes to go pick up some fruits while Ona goes for more water.

They even take some wood, with the lighter they found and the pan, they are even able to boil some water just in case. Without a second thought, they leave their tree to start walking towards the desert.

“I’m not sure that the starting point will be safe” Ona thinks out loud after several minutes. “Maybe we should take a detour”

Teagan doesn’t discuss this and follows Ona when she decides to stay close to the river during the walk. Lucy went to the starting point; she told her some hours before. Maybe it’s where she is now staying with her teammates. She wonders how many people Seth and Camden have killed since the beginning of the Games.

“Have you heard that?”

Ona frowns and turns in Teagan’s direction. She stops walking, trying to hear what Tegan might have heard.

“Wolves” she whispers after having heard them. “Let’s not stay here, come on.”

Even if she would rather cross the path of a wolf than Camden, she still wants to live as long as possible. They are not close to the mountain or even the snow, but after all no one can force wolves to stay where they are supposed to be. Plus, they might be hungry after several days.

“They seem close” Teagan mumbles, saying out loud what Ona didn’t want to think about.

“It’s okay. When we will be in the desert, they won’t follow us.”

She still walks a little faster though, her ears are attentive to any suspicious noise. Now she’s careful about human and animal sounds. Ona just really hopes that she won’t have to fight against snake or aggressive camels in the desert.

They were out of the forest now. Ona can see the buildings where they start the Games several days before from here. It’s just a long plain now, grass as far as the eye can see. Until she’s finally able to see what looks like some sand after. The bad news is that there is a big land dip between the grass and the sand.

The river falls into it, but Ona can’t hear the sound of the water falling in a lake below or even on the ground. The height must be appalling.

“We need to find a way to cross it” Teagan says.

Ona nods and looks around, but she doesn’t see anything who might help them. No bridge, no branch long enough to go on the other side.

“How deep is that hole?” Teagan asks, leaning a little to have a better view.

“Want to go see it by yourself?”

The male’s voice makes them both turn around and Ona feels her stomach drop. Camden and Seth are in front of them, both looking very scary. Camden has one of his knees hidden behind a big home-made bandage. It’s bloody. Ona doesn’t know who hurt him, but it doesn’t look good.

Just like their life right now.

In an instinctive way, Ona puts her arm in front of Tegan to make him go behind her. She knows it will be hard for her to protect him. Unlike last time, there isn’t any tree for her to hide him.

“Who hurted you, Sweetheart?” Seth asks, coming closer to Ona acting like he wants to touch her face.

“Go away” Ona grumbles, making a move to avoid his touch.

She looks for the knife attached to her backpack, taking it in her hand. She still knows she doesn’t have any chance, especially with two of them in front of her. But she still can hurt them too, making it easier for anyone else to kill them.

Maybe Lucy. By the way, where is she now? Did they kill her?

Her panic quickly goes down again when she reminds herself that she hasn’t heard any canon for a long time now. The last time it was when she killed that boy. She probably is alright.

“Are you really getting ready to fight?” Camden chuckles.

But Ona doesn’t answer. She looks at them with attention, ready to fight the first one who will try his chance. The worst possibility is that they both attack her at the same time, she doesn’t know she’s supposed to escape them in that case.

Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened. They just share a look at one point and run towards Ona and Teagan. It’s the kind of move and understanding coming after having trained it several times.

Teagan screams but Ona doesn’t say anything. Both men are fighting with their bare hands, even if Ona saw that they have weapons. Apparently, they don’t seem to think that they will need it to fight.

She’s not afraid about using her knife herself, protecting Teagan and herself as much as she can. She knows she can’t kill them, but if she hurts them enough, maybe they will have time to run away. Camden is the weaker one because of his injury, so Ona concentrates her attacks on him.

At some point, Teagan manages to escape the brawl, crawling to the backpacks Seth and Camden left on the floor.

But Seth sees him.

“Hey! He’s taking your hammer!” he shouts to Camden.

The boy turns around to look and Ona takes advantage of it to hit him on his injured knee with her knife. Hard.

“Teagan, run!” Ona shouts to the boy, over Camden’s howling of pain.

The hammer makes a metallic sound when Teagan lets it fall on the ground. It must be heavy. Enraged, Camden gives her a massive kick in her stomach while Seth chases Teagan. The hit cuts off Ona’s breath, preventing her from getting up.

Between Camden’s legs, she can see Teagan running, but it looks like he’s coming closer to them again. Ona doesn’t understand his move, until she sees him jumping on Camden’s back. He manages to make him fall, sadly on Ona. Ona can’t retain a whimper of pain.

“Enough! Throw them on the cliff!”

Seth is near them again. He seems to have had enough of this fight, maybe a little ashamed to have been threatened by a girl and a child.

After that, this is a mess of arms, kicks and shouts. Ona and Teagan are fighting for their life.

“Ona!”

Ona can hear Lucy’s voice and her head turns in the direction of the sound automatically. She’s even able to see her for half of a second before being thrown into the void, Teagan next to her.

“No!”

Lucy’s scream would probably have emotionalized every single person on earth, but it’s not Ona’s important point for now.

Ona managed to clutch at a root, several metres from the surface. Teagan didn’t have that chance. Grief burns her throat, and she has tears in her eyes, preventing her from seeing properly.

Her arms are burning too. After all those days without having eaten and slept enough, she doesn’t have the same strength as before.

There are grunts and noise of fights under Ona’s head. It seems like Lucy forgot all the thoughts she has about keeping herself safe with her alliance. Ona tries to ease the burning of her arms and shoulders by pushing on her legs, but the walls are dusty and the more she tries, the more pebbles and sand are falling under her.

She doesn’t want to give up though, wanting to catch Lucy when she falls. And maybe help her to reach the surface again.

But it surprisingly isn’t Lucy who falls almost two metres away from her. It’s Seth. Ona froze, looking at his body falling until she couldn’t see him anymore. Soon after, there are two shots of cannon. 

One for Seth. 

One for Teagan.

“Right, run away to your lying bitch, asshole!”

Lucy’s voice is shaking with what Ona thinks is anger. Ona wants to call the other girl, but she doesn’t have the strength to. She’s not even sure that Lucy is still here anyway.

At least she was able to see her one more time, Ona thinks. And she wasn’t angry this time. Closing her eyes, Ona let her forehead go against the wall. She knows she won’t last long. She just wants to visualise Lucy’s face one more time.

Lucy doesn’t know what pushed her to have a look at the cliff. She didn't realise that there were only two shots of cannon, not three. All she knows is that when she sees Ona, she feels like her heart is starting to beat again.

“Ona” she whispers at first, falling on her knees to see her better before getting into action again. “Ona!” she calls a little harder, not wanting to scare the other girl anyway.

They share a look when Ona raises her hand in her direction and Lucy can say that Ona doesn’t have any strength left.

“Okay, hold on. Hold on, please.”

She doesn’t let Ona answer anything before running to Seth and Camden’s backpack. She knows what is inside, but she doesn’t waste any time, she just flips them upside down to grab the rope she was looking for.

Lucy then runs to the cliff, terrified at the idea of Ona being not here anymore. She is barely holding it. But she is.

“Grab it” Lucy instructs, throwing a part of the rope to Ona.

The younger one wraps it around one of her arms, ignoring the burning against her skin. With her other arm, she grabs it and looks up again.

She can’t see Lucy anymore, but she can feel how much strength she’s putting in the effort to take her on the surface again. Ona feels like it’s taking an eternity and she’s pretty sure that she can feel Lucy’s strength getting low. Just when she wanted to tell her to just let her go, Ona can see grass again.

Ona lets go of the rope with one hand, grabbing the grass and the dirt while she pushes on the wall with her legs. The hope gives her suddenly more strength. With a last combined effort, Lucy and Ona manage to put Ona in security again. Or at least on the ground.

Lying on the ground, Ona tries to take her breath. The sky is grey under their head, and she doesn’t know if her breathing is hard because of Teagan’s death or the efforts she just put her body in.

“We need to move” Ona hears Lucy say. “I’m pretty sure Camden will come back with Kayla. I should have killed her earlier, why was I so stupid!”

While Ona sits, Lucy puts all the things she thinks they will need into a backpack. Teagan’s one having fallen with him.

“Can you walk?”

Ona can see Lucy’s concern in her eyes. She feels out of it, like if her head isn’t with her body anymore. Ona gets up, trying to ignore how her head spins at the movement. She doesn’t even realise that she’s falling, until Lucy catches her, passing her arm around her waist.

“Okay, we’re going to do things in another way.”

Ona looks at Lucy putting a bag on her stomach, before putting the other on Ona's back. Then she makes Ona climb on her back and starts to walk.

“Lucy…” Ona whispers, rocked by Lucy's quick walk.

“Sh. Just take deep breaths and don’t fall asleep, okay?”

Ona just hums, letting her head go into Lucy’s neck. Not falling asleep is harder than she thought. She feels lulled by Lucy’s movements and her scent.

At some point, Ona feels better enough to let the guilt be too big to let Lucy carry her like this for any longer. She kisses Lucy’s neck, smiling softly when she feels the goosebumps under her lips.

“I can walk” Ona finally says.

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah”

Lucy stops to slowly put Ona on the ground again. She looks at her closely, looking at any sign that Ona wasn’t feeling good. But Ona does, or at least as much as she can with her injuries.

“Where are we going?”

Ona doesn’t recognize that part of the arena, she never came here before.

“To the mountain. If we get higher, we can see them better.”

Ona nods and lets Lucy grab her hand before starting to walk again. She loses track of time, only concentrating on not falling on a rock. And Lucy’s warm hand in hers. At some point, it starts snowing and Lucy takes them into a cave.

“I saw you had wood in your bag, I’m going to make a fire, okay?”

Ona nods. Lucy choses a part of the cave hidden from the enter, to avoid the wind. And Ona realises it a little later, not to be seen by someone else. Ona just stays here, looking at the light from the fire on the walls. She realises that she’s crying only when Lucy sits next to her.

Lucy puts her hand softly on Ona’s back and it’s enough for the younger one to break.

“I wanted to save him. I just couldn’t” she chokes between tears and sobs.

Teagan’s death is hard to reach for Ona. They spend almost all their time together in the arena. She knew they had only little chance, but in her head, Teagan always would outlive her. She imagined that she would give her life for him.

“Hey now, you did everything you could to save him. You saved him several times before today.”

Lucy’s voice is soft, softer than she ever was.

“It wasn’t enough” Ona whispers through her tears.

“It’s okay” Lucy whispers.

Lucy passes both of her arms around Ona waist, taking her against her to rock her softly. Ona doesn’t really understand the sweet nothing Lucy whispers into her ears while comforting her, to be honest. But Lucy’s voice is enough.

“I’m sorry I arrived too late to save you both” Lucy says at some point, when Ona stops crying. “I thought I was too late for you too”

Her voice is only a whisper now, barely stronger than the crackling of the fire in front of them.

“But then I saw you grabbing this root… I was never as relieved as at that moment. I thought I lost you forever.”

Ona sniffles and raises her head to look at Lucy. Until now she had her head on her shoulder, her eyes lost somewhere on the fire. She must look awful but Lucy cups her cheek with the most tender gesture ever and uses her thumb to wipe Ona’s tears.

“Even if I were dead, you wouldn’t have lost me.” Ona whispers.

Into Lucy’s eyes, Ona forgets everything. She forgets her injuries, her stomach who hurts like crazy. The grief of Teagan’s death and the fact that they now have mortal enemies, probably looking for them everywhere.

“My parents aren’t okay with me being gay” Lucy blurts suddenly. “That is why Jorge was the only one who came to say goodbye. They were ashamed of me being their daughter.”

“How can someone be ashamed of you?” Ona thinks out loud, before shaking her head softly. “Why are you telling me this now?”

“Because I’m going to kiss you.”

And she does. They haven’t kissed for days now, the last time it was before the Games. The kiss is tentative, Lucy’s hand always on Ona’s cheek. But it’s enough to make Ona melts.

Ona presses her body against Lucy after several seconds, but the pain of her injuries are waking up. She can’t help but groan in pain, making Lucy let go of her very quickly.

“It’s nothing” Ona assures when she crosses Lucy’s panicked eyes. “I think I have some bruises somewhere.”

After that, Lucy looks closely at Ona for the first time. She already had seen her face and eyes injured earlier, when they talked in the tree. But now she can see the burns on Ona’s arms, where the rope was.

And of course, Ona took some violent kicks from her fight with Camden and Seth.

“I saw that you had some cream in your backpack, could they be used to those injuries?” Lucy asks.

“I don’t know. I received it from the sponsors, after my face’s injury.”

Lucy hums, reaching for it. Ona gives it to her, looking at Lucy who sniffs it.

“Mh. Maybe we will use it just to your face, just in case.”

Ona nods. She doesn’t want to die because she puts the wrong cream at the wrong place on her body. She wanted to take it back from Lucy’s hand, but the dark-haired girl hides it behind her back.

“Close your eyes” she says.

Ona rolls her eyes and obliges, letting Lucy put the cream on her face. She is soft and tender, and Ona feels her body relax a little bit at the touch. She could sleep right now.

“Who hurts you like this?”

It reminds Ona about Seth’s question earlier, but this time there is no fun behind it. It’s just genuine concern.

“The boy from the 5. I can’t remember his name.”

“Is he the one you killed?”

“Yeah”

Lucy stays silent after this, still taking care of Ona. She insists on seeing Ona’s other injuries, making the girl roll her eyes again. Lucy cleans Ona’s burning on her hand and puts some cold water on her stomach, where she got kicked by Camden.

“Now sleep” Lucy finally says when she’s fine with the care she gave to Ona.

Ona frowns and opens her mouth to talk, but Lucy silences her by putting a finger on her lips.

“Sleep. I’ll take care of you.”

“Wake me up in four hours if I’m still asleep” Ona asks.

“Sure” Lucy snorts.

She won’t do it; they both know it already. But Lucy only has to stroke Ona’s hair for two minutes before the girl is out of the world, feeling really safe for the first time since she left her District.

“This is the first time we are sleeping together” Ona mumbles into Lucy’s knee when she snuggles against her.

Lucy hums, still stroking Ona’s hair. She has a lot to ask to Ona, just like Ona probably has a lot to ask at her. They will talk tomorrow. Tomorrow it will be them against the rest of the world, but for now, Ona needs to rest.

Next Chapter

[ilguna]

Can I get 6 and 23 from list 2 with Finnick please?

☼ sunburst (Finnick Odair) ☼

warnings; swearing, gun use, blood mention, ehh gore.

wc; 2.5k

prompt; 6. "I know, it hurts. I'm so sorry, but we have to get this out." AND 23. "You need to keep your eyes open. Just a little longer."

--

When you were recruited to be a part of the mission to storm the Capitol, you were under the impression that you’d actually be in some danger. You spent weeks training in District Thirteen, thinking that you were going to be running for your life every waking moment. It was supposed to be more like being inside of an arena, than a walk on the bad side of District Four.

Both of which you can handle, for the record.

What you can’t handle is the boredom that comes with being a member of the Star Squad. While you were told you’d be at the front lines with the rest of the rebels, the reality is that you’re stuck days behind them. President Coin is too afraid of putting their precious Mockingjay into danger.

It’s an interesting concept, considering that Katniss has expressed no issue in the past surrounding the idea of putting her life on the line. The first time she did this was when she wanted to get sent to District Eight, an active battlezone, to see the citizens there. The next time was District Two, where a gun was held to her head, and she still proceeded to give a speech, and got shot for it.

You suppose that’s the exact problem, though. She can be a magnet for trouble, whether she intends to be or not. In that case, you’re not sure why they didn’t tell you that you’d be stuck here with a mixed group, beforehand. You might’ve changed your mind and found a different way to help the rebellion.

And it’s not like you haven’t tried to have patience, because you have. It’s been severely run thin by the propo team—a camera crew from the Capitol, their only job being to film videos to slice together to show the districts. Their incessant need to get a shot of absolutely everything that’s going on has got you beyond irritated.

They’re so demanding with it, and all it is is a bunch of bullshit. They want you to walk down the street the right way, looking fierce and in the middle of battle. When in reality, there’s no one for a several mile radius, and all the threats are being given away by the Holo. A device that was made to tell you where the traps, the pods, are. 

If you could, you’d tell them that you’re done participating, but you really have no choice. You’ve been seen in so many of their other videos, that it’ll make the districts and the Capitol question why you’re not in the rest. Either they’ll think that you died, or that you’ve decided the rebellion isn’t worth fighting for.

Which isn’t true in the slightest. You just think that it’s morally wrong to be back here, pretending like you’re fighting, when the faceless rebels at the front lines are the ones almost getting killed everyday. You want to be up there, with them.

The rebels ahead don’t set off all the pods, though. They leave the mild ones behind, marking them as such, assuming that the group behind them will take it out when they pass. That group happens to be you.

Sometimes, Boggs, the squad leader, will see a pod on the Holo, so he’ll ask for volunteers to set it off, naturally. You don’t even know what the point of raising your hand is, anymore. He won’t call on you, or Finnick, or Katniss. He keeps his attention on the District Thirteen trained soldiers to do the important tasks.

Despite the fact that you had, once again, spent weeks training to be able to do something like that. 

What will happen is that Katniss will pretend to set off the pod with an arrow at a distance, to keep her from getting hurt by accident. While a soldier off to the side will trigger it. This makes the rest of you all duck for cover, afraid of whatever the pod has to offer. And when it’s all said and done, and you’re ready to move on, the next step is to reenact your reactions to defending yourself from whatever threat came out of the pod.

It’s been four days of this, and it’s driving you crazy. You’ll spend a few hours pretending to fight, and then return to camp for the rest of the night, safely out of harm's way. It’s taking everything in you not to ask Boggs to leave to go back to the Nut, where the rest of the rebel soldiers are. Maybe there, you can get reassigned.

The problem would be convincing Finnick to go with you, because he doesn’t mind being in the Star Squad. He thinks it’s great, because that means you’re not in any immediate danger. After what they did to Peeta, the last thing he wants is for the Capitol to potentially get their hands on you, or for you to die.

Neither of which you plan on letting happen.

The only way you’ll be able to get him to leave is if you do it without bringing it up to him first. Cut out the whole conversation on how he’d prefer if you went with Coin’s plan, instead of making your own. He has a way with words, and he knows this. That’s why your resolve can crumble in the matter of fifteen minutes, all because he’s the one reasoning with you.

That’s what you’ll do tonight then; you’ll go talk to Boggs.

The Holo begins to beep loudly, warning your squad that you’re coming close to a pod. Boggs slows his pace, opening it up to take a look. When he comes to a full stop, so do you.

A sigh escapes you, Finnick glances over, watching as you turn around to take a few steps away. This is the fourth pod that you’ve come across today, meaning that Boggs will probably call it a day after this. Even though you’ve covered more distance today than you have the past three.

“The Holo says it’s going to be a swarm of muttation gnats.” Boggs says, “Who wants to hit it?”

You turn to face the squad, watching as almost every hand flies up, with the exception of you, Finnick and Katniss. Even Gale, Katniss’s best friend from Twelve, has his hand raised. You think he’s been tasked once, which is the hope he’s probably holding on to.

Regardless, Boggs motions at one of the Leeg twins. “Leeg, I want you. The rest of you, go find someone to stand in the meantime.”

You cross your arms over your chest, shaking your head. “Predictable.”

“Come on, (Y/n).” Finnick grabs the underside of your arm, pulling you with him to the other side of the street.

The pod is disguised as an electrical box on the side of an orange shop. If it weren’t for the Holo, you wouldn’t have suspected a thing of it, but that’s the whole point. The pods are hidden in plain sight, meant for your eyes to glance over them, so that they can kill you later on.

The best the Capitol can do is gnats?

“Okay, Katniss, we’ll focus on pulling the arrow back, and holding it.” Cressida begins, she’s the one that has the specific propo visions. If this doesn’t go according to her plan, she’ll rework it and have Katniss do it over again until it’s right.

“Just a regular arrow?” Katniss asks, reaching back to grab one.

“No, we’ll have Leeg set off the pod, and then you’ll use an explosive arrow to kill the gnats.” Cressida says, looking at Boggs. He gives her an approving nod.

“What happens when that shot isn’t good enough and we have to start over?” You mutter, Finnick bumps your shoulder.

“I know you’re unhappy, but can we please not make enemies out of the people that could save our lives?” Finnick asks.

You look at Finnick, “I’m not making promises I won’t keep.”

You watch as Cressida gives Katniss directions on where to stand and how to hold her bow. This gives the cameramen, Castor and Pollux, enough time to find their angles, because realistically, there won’t be an opportunity for reshoots. With one of them on Katniss, and the other on the pod, Cressida gives Boggs the go ahead.

“On the count of three, Leeg.” Boggs tells her. Finnick adjusts his footing, prepared to duck if necessary. You don’t move from where you stand, staring dead at the pod. “One, two, three!”

Leeg shoots at the pod, piercing the metal that encases the gnats, leaving bullet holes. The sound of metal on metal screeches through the quiet street, as the door swings open, releasing what’s inside.

A startled scream comes from you as piercing pains hit you all across your body, throwing you back onto the ground. The back of your head slams against the cement of the sidewalk, causing you to squeeze your eyes shut, as the world begins to spin.

“(Y/n)?” Finnick’s voice wavers.

The punctured points in your body begin to deepen, as the shrapnel from the box begins to burrow in your skin. You grunt, writhing, eyes opening suddenly to see it for yourself.

It’s not shrapnel, they’re metal darts, and they've got claws that are digging into your skin.

“No!” Someone cries.

“We need the medic team!” Jackson barks, her voice is clear. “We’ve got two down, Boggs!”

“Copy.” He says.

From what you can tell, you got a brunt of the hit, a consequence of not taking cover like you were instructed to. There’s over a dozen of these, stuck in your body, going deeper as the seconds tick on.

“Get them out.” Your voice is rough, as you reach to grab one. “Get them out of me!”

“(Y/n), honey—” Finnick seizes your hand, keeping you from doing it. “Stop, leave them.”

“They’re in me!” You cry, “They’re going to kill me.”

“We can’t take them out. We learned this, remember? They’re stinting the blood, we have to wait for—”

“No, she’s right.” Katniss is standing at your feet. “Look at them.”

You don’t want to, not when they all move at once, ripping your skin open further. You can see the brief stream of blood in the air, before it’s gone, covered by the dart. It’s not large enough to block the chunk of skin it’s pulled from your body, though, because the blood begins to pool, quickly.

“Shit.” Finnick says.

There’s a girl crying, when you lift your head to see, you find that it’s the other Leeg sister, on her knees, next to the first one. The one that had shot at the pod, now has a dart sticking out of the side of her head. It’s already found her brain.

She’s dead.

You begin to breathe heavier when you realize that this will be your fate, too, if they don’t start to pull them out. Which must be the same conclusion that Finnick comes to, because he rolls back his sleeves, hands hovering over one of them.

You grab the heel of his shoe, knowing that you’ll need something to hold on to. He gives you a look, and you nod quickly, urging him to do it. The second that his hand is around the dart, it begins to wiggle. To keep it from going further, he yanks.

You scream, throwing your head back, body tense, as the entire world goes white. It clings on, refusing to be pulled off in just one attempt. 

“Stop!” You tell them, “Stop!”

“Katniss, I need help.” Finnick says.

She drops her bow without question to get to her knees to help him. You watch through blurred tears as she holds the dart while he pries the claws apart. It’s like a thousand needles jabbing into your skin repeatedly, refusing to leave the area alone.

And then they get it free, and the first tear slides down your cheek.

The metal clinks on the ground from Katniss dropping it. 

You can’t help the sob that breaks through your lips. This is just the beginning isn’t it?

“Hold on, honey.” He tells you.

“I don’t—”

He begins to pull at this dart, more aggressive than he was the first time. Unprepared, you cry through gritted teeth, squeezing his shoe. He manages to unhook it faster this time, but that means little to you.

Him and Katniss go back and forth, pulling them out of the areas they think will hurt the least. There’s a few times where their hands slip, which causes an indescribable pain. 

The pool of blood beneath you is growing. You can feel the puddle reach your fingers on your free hand, coating your skin in red.

“There’s only two left, (Y/n).” Finnick smooths your hair back. “These will hurt the most.”

“Just wait.” You tell him, grabbing onto the bunched sleeve.

“We can’t stop, or it’ll keep digging in.” He tells you. “Breathe, okay?”

“Finnick.” You warn, bracing yourself when he secures his hand around the metal dart, beginning to pull.

The feeling of your guts being yanked from your body, makes the dark spots at the corners of your vision come around quickly. For a moment, you’re gone, drifting off into the peaceful voice, until Finnick’s lifting your head up with one hand.

“You need to keep your eyes open. Just a little longer.” Finnick tells you

“I can’t.” You sniff. “I want to be done.”

“One more.” He tells you, lowering your head back to the ground.

“No.” Your lips tremble.

He grabs the dart, you squeeze your eyes shut. “Please! Please, please, please! It hurts!”

“I know, it hurts.” Finnick says, he doesn’t sound very happy that he has to do this to you. “I’m so sorry, baby, but we have to get this out.”

This one has decided to hold on, taking twice as long as it normally does. For a second, it almost slips out of their hands, when Finnick’s able to pry the claws open.

A faint sense of relief floods through you, but it’s gone when your body begins to tingle. “Finnick.” You whisper. With a shaky hand, you dip your fingers into one of the many wounds that will end up being scars. The exposed raw flesh against your fingers makes you nauseous.

It subsides slightly when you pull your hand out, and find an orange substance mixed with the blood.

Poison.

“No.” Finnick says, looking at Boggs, presumably. “How far out are the medics?”

“They’ll be here any minute.” He says, coming over to see better.

“They need to have an antidote ready.” Finnick’s voice echoes, bouncing back and forth in your head, as he splits into two people, then four…

Your eyes flutter shut.

--

this was part of my 3k celebration!!

[daisyswift3]

UMM so cruel summer and a lot of other songs are making a lotttt more sense now that I’ve realized the “devil” that Taylor keeps referring to is actually the music industry as a whole thanks to @keepingsecretstokeepyoutk (see this post). “He looks up grinning like a devil” // “I would’ve stayed on my knees and I damn sure never would’ve danced w the devil AT 19” // “Dear reader if you aim at the devil make sure you don’t miss.” Do you remember the Top Global Artist vid that spotify released that had cruel summer as the background song and had a bunch of cruel summer references? Yeah go back and watch that again w this context in mind 😃 Taylor (the angel) has had enough of the games and is gonna end them once and for all which is very Katniss Everdeen of her—hello the archer 🏹 if any of you have read or watched the hunger games you know how the story ends

And you'll also remember that Katniss escapes the games twice by cheating--the first time w poison berries and the second time by destroying the arena itself (which was a clock) WITH itself using a lightning strike current at midnight that shot thru her arrow -> "And there was one prize I'd cheat to win." Not to mention Katniss was the mockingjay, a symbol of rebellion and resistance. And the fire symbolism in this trilogy was meant to represent how that rebellion can spread from a spark of hope. Snow lands on top but fire melts snow. Taylor is a huge hunger games fan so I wouldn't be surprised at all if these parallels were intentional. Also I'm not the first one to notice the hunger games connections, I saw some other gaylors point this out so I can't take full credit for that

“You play stupid games you win stupid prizes” // “Devils roll the dice” // "Baby let the games begin" // The scrabble instagram post // The mastermind chess board // "You see all the wisest women had to do it this way, cause we were born to be the pawn in every lover's game" // "No more keeping score now I just keep you warm. No more tug of war now I just know there's more"

I think it's possible Taylor knew that her masters were gonna be sold hence all the game imagery and songs abt heartbreak on lover

She's literally gonna take down the industry as a whole and expose everything. This is the reason for all the cryptic messages and meticulous planning. AND THIS IS WHAT THE ALBATROSS IS ABT TOO. “She’s the albatross she is here to destroy you.” They tried to keep her locked away in cages and towers and closets and tried taming her and pulling out her teeth but it didn’t work

“Devils that you know raise worse hell than a stranger” SHE’S the devil now and she’s abt to make their lives a living hell

“She’s the death you chose” i.e. the music industry chose to kill Taylor (which is why TTPD is a post-mortem album) so now she’s coming back to haunt them hence the ghostly Victorian attire. “We gather here we line up weeping in a sunlit room and if I’m on fire you’ll be made of ashes too.” THIS is the karma she’s talking abt that will happen at midnight!!

“You’ll see me in hindsight tangled up w you all night burning it down”

I am the APPARITION. I am the LINE OF POETRY. THAT’S TAYLOR. SHE’S THE GHOST WRITING POST-MORTEM POETRY

Literally feel like I am abt to explode from all the earth-shattering revelations I’ve just had

[cutpaperbleedswater]

My final thesis on Gale bitch-boy Hawthorne

It’s no secret the majority of the fandom would like to pay Gale a visit and pull out his guts, but is it entirely for the right reason?

Yes I massively understand how his hand in the design of the bomb that murdered Prim and the flippant way he did anything but apologise with his heart and soul to Katniss can really create an itch. To Katniss, we know Prim was absolutely everything, the sun and the moon, to her and she had trusted Gale for so many years to help her keep her sister shining as bright as their world allowed only to have him be the so said ‘cause’ of her death an absolute betrayal both of trust and character. Even if Prim wasn’t in the field, the idea itself is already so morally wrong that you would probably slap the thought out of your head. He tries to dust it off as necessary to a war when Katniss sees the plans but was it, really? Prims death is not souly Gale’s fault at all but we see why Katniss reacts so strongly too it, her hunting partner of four years, her fellow squad member, one of the two people Katniss considered friends, she trusted him with her sister, asking him to keep her alive if she didn’t make it in the Games and to have him even sticking a pinkie in the plans of Prim’s demise. Another point that is mentioned in the books is that he didn’t order the bombs to go off and he couldn’t as he was trapped, with no communication nor knowledge within Katniss’s struggling squad but the incentive is all the same. The worst moral crime Katniss (and thereby, the reader) could think of and attributes it to him who doesn’t say anything and leaves her for a better life for himself while she is at the helms of the skirt of reality.

His entire character in mockingjay was really unfair. When Katniss has the audacity to make another friend, who more so understands the turmoil inside her head, he acts cold about it, dare one say, childishly. He does earn a small redemption point when he defends Peeta after his first interview but we don’t know the motives. He distances himself from Katniss and acts like it’s her fault, failing to realise there is a gap there, one that came to be after the end of her first Games but he wilfully tried to ignore. He hunts with Katniss, arguably their only common ground in the events of the book after their families appear reasonably safe. Gale’s goals appear to prioritise winning the war and can’t except when Katniss doesn’t share that, focused more on Peeta’s absence and coming to grips with being a doll for another child which only aligns with his when Peeta is back and she sees that she loves someone who she decides no longer exists and runs away, into Gales arms, his lips which he sadly says doesn’t really count like by that point he still hopes but is wearing off the delusion. He makes an off centred remark about why Katniss cares so much for her prep team that causes yet more fissures in the chasm between them which is interesting when only moments before, they acted as two bodies/one mind. When he offers to kill Peeta during the active war, it’s viewed (most likely) more to him as putting down a rabid dog with rabies learning to cope around the illnesses, picking up the pieces when Katniss refused, still seeing the humanity in Peeta even purely out of delusion. Gale attempts to read her stance on the situation and is incorrect or could it be he truly somewhat cared for Peeta by proxy of Katniss, when he defends him to her? Yet later on he proves how well he knows hee during his conversation with Peeta where the point that she will only choose who proves their use to her which is both callous and utterly correct which annoys Katniss immensely and presents his fear of no longer being relevant to her.

Catching Fire, kissing her, not a cool move and claiming he ‘had to do it at least once’ means nothing. He sees the difference in his friend but ignores it as he knows that there are things Katniss has survived without him, feeding their family and general life no longer the case. He strives to stay relevant to her so she doesn’t start relations with her Co Victor and Mentor, who can understand way more than he can. But as the mining quotas increase, his opportunity decrease, only one day a week he is allowed with her, in their sanctuary. He relies on Katniss, begrudgingly, to make sure his family have available food and necessary items, like he promised Katniss to do with her family had she not walked out. Gale, in his own blind way, manages to gaslight Katniss into assuming she loves him after watching her perform a whole romance with Peeta that help keeps him alive, which she waits a while to bring it up to him. The fact that it’s never mentioned they the Hawthornes attend dinner/lunch at the Everdeens house could allude to his sourness or something weirder as when he is recovering from being whipped, there is no mention of his family. I know it’s stated that there’s bad snow but they aren’t mentioned at all maybe showcasing the separation in Katniss’s mind between Gale and his family. When he is whipped, all three D12 Victors impose none other than for what Gale means to Katniss and help until he is discharged to Ms Everdeens care and Katniss sits by his side and holds his hand as he sleeps, eventually kissing him, assumingly safe in the knowledge he will never know but he does.

In the Hunger Games, Gale and Katniss’s relationship is way better defined and more jokey, friendly like. They have inside jokes, shared goals and fears, same responsibilities. They have the same pressure but the moment Katniss is at the risk of greeting death, again, he tries to tell her to come back by saying killing an animal and human are still the same basic principle, seeming to already accept the barbarism the Games command without setting foot in the arena, perhaps for holding the opinion that what he does is harder as the main provider for a family of five. He understands the Games concept exceptionally well but the moment he has to attribute real people too it in any way sympathetic, he is unable and unwilling, removing the savagery of core human kind and our individual core beliefs they make us human in our own right. He drags Prim away from the scene of her big sister volunteering to essentially die for her, as a salute to Katniss in a way of sorts, demonstrating how he protects what’s hers.

We learn that all along he had romantic intentions, going so far as to want children, towards Katniss that she was as blind as a bat too and he loved the closed off version of Katniss that was his who had time in her life to smile, such as the incident when Gale realised he minded. He doesn’t make any move, reasons unknown but he punishes her for it anyway in a way over the series, for not choosing him, for loving a Merchant, Traitor, liar and other. For choosing the bakers kid over him even with all Katniss and Peeta went through together. He doesn’t seem to like Peeta but not hate him as seen at points made early on, it’s likely he envies Peeta and is jealous over Katniss or he knows he loosely owes Peeta for getting Katniss home, a debt he understandably despises and wishes it to be left unpaid such as Katniss not thanking Peeta for the bread.

To conclude; Gale is emotionally constipated and immature and a slight romantic. Katniss has a rather cynical outlook on everything in the world and acts so much older than she is, already weighed down with life and she seems to understand the childlessness that want is, never seeming to entertain an out to a life she gets thrust into. Gale seems to think he can use this to get an advantage which he can’t but he shows immaturity over it and relentless that Katniss doesn’t have the passion for. He can’t seem to read a room. Doesn’t weigh in morality and logic in the same scale. He’s 18/19 during the series and still seems to be a bit behind a 16/17 year old in the terms of world view. His hope for a life with him and Katniss sort of protecting his mind from some of the rougher life aspects. He seems to fully mature when the bombs drop but acts the opposite to Katniss with hurtful yet accurate statements directed to her heart left, right and centre.

[runningfrom2am]

leave it to me to make a 18-point commentary on a 2.8k oneshot 🤭

10. "Yes, well... we have never been well liked." i really like how this comes out as if she really has spent time thinking about where they went wrong and trying to rationalise it. also i don’t if it was intentional on your part but this adds to her not getting over being retired as the head gamemaker because of people.

11. it feels like they weren’t allowed to be together, until her last night, following the days of coin’s takeover, she is looking out to her garden but at the same time, to her husband. also she is given the chance of staying in her bedroom but he is down with the roses and the raspberries.

12. her pride and the fact that what sejanus is asking of her is an act of betrayal by her definition are the greatest obstacles that stand in the way of her survival but as the one who believed in and actively tried to observe “humanity unmasked” she knew taking the offer was the only way for her to go.

13. her realising that she is alive by luck and past impressions, just like sejanus, must’ve been chilling because not only it breaks the illusion of power she had at the time, but while sejanus was spared, she was left alone and those two are very different.

14. “Were you really any better than him?” i want to believe you didn’t tell him that you had killed and buried sejanus so thanks to the power of important details, you are, in this sense.

15. i hope nothing bad happened to their kids but at the same time it doesn’t seem likely for them to not have partaken in the games at all, considering the ages. maybe they didn’t get executed thanks to the mockingjay.

16. HER FINAL SALUTE!!!

17. the fact that coin probably let her go by the condition of carrying her plan of hurting snow is very in character, he couldn’t have known about the celebration beforehand.

18. he mourned the death of his love twice and at both, she was alive even if meant to be dead. her “deaths” could be traced back to him by a very thin line, in his knowledge but her real tragedies were having to leave everything she has known behind.

NO BC AS YOU SHOULD AND I AM EATING IT UP i love talking ab this so pls do haha

10. okay yes and that was NOT intentional but i do love that it makes sense. in hindsight you’re totally right (not us just talking ab things that are canon to this that just aren’t in the fic hahah)

11. absolutely coin demanded they be separated immediately. bc SO MUCH of their power was power they shared- they did it all together, so separating them (and no doubt publicizing this somehow) is the first signal to the rebellion and the districts that it really was over, they won. even though few people know this, it is a massive accomplishment on their behalf to even be able to separate them bc of their history of what they have done just to stay together. including but not limited to: coryo risking r’s life for the chance that she would be sent away with him, killing mayfair, sending the recording of sejanus (bc if he left he would leave them to be executed “just for knowing him” and also he would be putting a SPOTLIGHT on where r had been hiding), and even allegedly killing lucy gray. (and by few people who know this, i mean sejanus and lucy gray who no doubt shared these stories to some in 13.)

12. she tried to fight it, but deep down she knew she couldn’t really say no. her “conditions” were a final act of power that she could really have, to convince herself this was a smart decision. yes she was betraying her husband, but she made sejanus promise that their granddaughter would not be harmed. maybe she even negotiated to get custody of her while she is in hiding. so it was a betrayal, BUT she had several reasons.

13. YES and same thing i mentioned on the last one about her conditions applies here.

14. oh absolutely she is nowhere near as guilty as him, but that’s hard for her to believe because of how extremely highly she regards him even then. she almost wanted to find more blame to place on herself so they were still level.

15. we can hope not, but like you said considering the ages, i think they have done some unforgivable things too. i think r and coryo know that as well.

16. i cried while writing it bc ✋ shut up it’s so sad

17. oh for sure. but ALSO can we consider the possibility that she didn’t even know? bc what we do know is that many of her higher ups knew that she wasn’t much better than the previous presidential couple. when katniss shoots her, plutarch is smiling bc that’s what needed to happen and he knew it. i think sejanus and lucy gray didn’t like her either, so it’s entirely possible that they hoped this is what katniss would do, maybe she even told lucy gray that that was her plan. it’s not too far fetched to guess that sejanus could organize this without coin’s knowledge. coin would love the idea of hurting the president by having an over the top celebration about his wife’s murder, but would that be worth letting her live? maybe not. idk just something to think about haha

18. I KNOWWW IM SO SAD FOR HIM TOO. HE DOESNT EVEN KNOW. she’ll be grappling with that decision for a long time knowing that AGAIN he is grieving her death, but this time he will never find out that she is still alive.

[bicraigmanning]

one of my least favorite book-to-screen changes in thg is a really specific moment between gale and peeta, where peeta is expressing that they should kill him or at least give him something to do it himself with because he can’t control himself and will be a hindrance to the mission.

in the movie, gale says, “i’ll kill you myself before that happens,” in response to peeta saying he needs a nightlock pill so he can die when he needs to - aka, before he gets triggered and tried to kill katniss again. gale’s response in the movie is obviously and exclusively a confirmation that he will kill peeta if it means protecting katniss. which is true enough to his character, but i think fundamentally misinterprets the scene in mockinjay, the book.

in the book, while it’s true that he’s insistent for a while on them leaving him because he’s a danger, when it’s pointed out to him that people from the capital could find him, he is Terrified of that. he says something like, “maybe you think it’s kinder to just dump me somewhere, but that’s as good as leaving me in the hands of the capital.”

and gale’s response is, “i’ll kill you before that happens. i promise.”

and! in another story, in another world, maybe just in a different interaction in this world, this would maybe be a threat, but this is gale showing peeta a kindness! a morbid one, to be sure, but a kindness all the same. he knows what it is to prefer to die over being trapped in the custody of the capital, knows what they did to peeta, and unlike before, when he was too wrapped up in his rage and grief and anger to see the horrible position peeta was in when filming the capital’s props, he is able to extend him this one courtesy. it’s the “i promise” that really gets me because it’s, again, a very morbid but still real display of comfort, of friendship that’s never really between them but that he is able to display here. (it's also a parallel to earlier in the book, when he callously asks katniss if she wants him to kill a hijacked peeta for her, because even though hijacked peeta is so different from his old self, so cruel in some ways in that moment, it disturbs her that gale would offer this because he's still a person. but in this scene, gale isn't saying this callously or to be cruel or out of jealousy. he is saying it because he understands peeta's fear and knows it's not unfounded.)

and i guess this change maybe bothers me because it speaks to a certain fandom rhetoric (and the promotion of the films didn’t really help on this front) that gale and peeta, like. hate each other when they… just don’t?

don’t get me wrong, there are some mutual resentments between them that we see in catching fire and especially in mockingjay, and katniss is right in saying they’re not friends, with gale criticizing him for the capital propos and a hijacked peeta more obviously displaying a callous kind of jealousy that he’s never quite expressed all that much, at least vocally, before. (the closest he got was in catching fire, when he asked katniss if she really only kissed gale once.)

but also. peeta defends gale at the whipping post, helps to carry him back, and offers to watch him so that katniss can rest. and yes, maybe those are both things he does for katniss (though i would actually argue i think he would’ve helped gale even without katniss there at the whipping post). gale helps peeta and haymitch and katniss train with snares and traps, and after, in what i think is one of the most interesting things to note about their dynamic, laments that “it would be better if he were easier to hate.” and that's the whole goddamn point, isn't it? katniss even laughs and says, "tell me about it," lamenting that she couldn't just hate and discard him in the first arena. peeta includes gale in the locket reminding katniss why she needs to live. gale plays real or not real with peeta, and tells him things about their shared, destroyed District Twelve that he doesn’t really remember. he gets peeta water in the middle of the night since he’s restrained and can't get it for himself.

and he promises to kill peeta before the capital can take him, knowing why peeta would consider that the more merciful thing. he's even the one who eventually does give peeta his own nightlock pill. and peeta expresses concern for him, too, in case he needs it, but gale assures him he's got his own detonating arrows and katniss herself if he needs a quick mercy kill.

and yes, a lot of those things are at least partly for katniss, but the point is also that they’re there, these kindesses are there, that people aren’t simply violent, malicious monsters, the way that the games are intended to convince people of. even between two boys who love the same girl and don’t really know what to do about it, who somewhat resent each other for it, there is still the capacity for kindness, for understanding.

and it just bothers me, i guess, because while those other small moments are important, gale’s promise here is one of the few kindnesses between them that doesn’t really have much to do with katniss - who, even knowing how lost and unstable and potentially dangerous to the mission and she herself is, can’t even pay lip service to the idea that she’ll kill peeta if it comes to it. she shows she could do it if she has to, she almost does when the mutts are approaching and peeta is whispering her name along with them in his sleep -but she can’t provide him the comfort of saying it, wondering privately if it's because she cares about him or because she's using him in her own private Game against Snow - but gale can. and gale does.

and it just bothers me, even though it’s such a small moment, because despite gale and peeta’s many, many differences, it is one of the few moments of genuine understanding and camaraderie we see between them, finally unmarred or complicated by their mutual feelings for katniss.

[kahlanmars]

BAD FEELING part. 16

HELLO. This is bad, I admit it. It's a cry-your-heart-out chapter, I warn you. Oh and there's a Haymitch POV too!

MASTERLIST

16. Risk something

The day after turns out to be one of the best of your life. You decide to forget about the Haymitch situation until he returns, there is no point in worrying about the future when you could be bombed any time, and put your head on the job.

You were right, being a teacher is your life. Maybe not only that, maybe you can have other things, but this is definitely your road. 

«What about we try to read a real book tomorrow? As for the ones who can already do that, I’ll assign some lectures from the library of the District.»

The kids look satisfied with the lesson and you can breathe again. You were really nervous they could hate you or think you are incapable of being a teacher, but it went well. The kids from your district know you as Holly’s daughter, so they trust you, and you tried some calculus, reading a book and some music. For the first day, especially after a trauma, you think it’s okay.

Most of these kids saw their family dying. You won’t push it. If they will find contentment in a book you will see it as a success.

«Can I come in?» 

A voice asks you and you see Finnick Odair at the door. His face is bruised and his expression is broken, but he’s standing up, so… silver lining, you guess.

«Finnick! Of course you can. Do you want an orange? Some kids didn’t eat their snack, which is weird but… well, now that they are in district 13 they can be spoiled sometimes, don’t you think? It’s their right, they are kids.»

He raises his eyebrows, clearly amused. «Am I making you uncomfortable?» 

«A little,» You confess. «You are… Finnick Odair.» 

It’s like meeting a celebrity. It’s okay when you are saved from the games, and you don’t even know what is happening, but here it’s a little weird, like you and him don’t belong in the same world.

He peels an orange, slowly. «Still have my charme, I see.»

You know what he is doing. He is scared to death for Annie so he covers behind flirting. «It’s not that, you know you are not my type.»

«Yeah, no dentures, no walking stick, no white hair.» He jokes and you immediately throw a book at him. 

«Oh shut up, he's blonde.» You point out, «As much as I would like you to miss me, why are you in a school?» 

He sits on a table, he surely can’t sit in a kid's chair. «They’ll try to do a spot with Katniss. Pass-pro, they call it. Katniss is… let’s say it, Katniss is a bad actress.»

«Poor kid.» You echo him. You and Katniss are not friends, but that girls’ life is a nightmare. Forced to be the Mockingjay, forced to be a fighter all her life.

«They want us to do a commercial video. We will tell what happened after our games, and what President Snow made us do.»

You look at him in disbelief. «You and me?»

«Well, I’m the sex symbol and you are the princess, so yeah. Until Katniss warms up.»

«No.» Your voice is harsher than you wanted to be, but you can’t say anything about what happened in Capitol City. That shit made you a murderer. You killed a man, and people like you become war criminals quickly. You can’t give anyone a weapon like that. At least, not for free.

«Daisy…»

«They will use our secrets, Finnick.» You try to resonate with him, you know he is not dumb, he is quite smart. «What if we win and then they turn on us? Say things like we were Snow’s spies?» 

«We are not.» He answers, and he lends his arm. «You could ask for something in return.»

«I want complete immunity for me, for Effie Trinket and the prep team, if they are alive.» You demand in front of Alma Coin. She doesn’t like you any more that she likes Haymitch or Effie, but this is the only way you can do it. You thought about Portia and Cinna too, but they organised the revolution so you don’t think they can be in danger.

«Complete immunity? Miss Trinket…»

«Miss Trinket is an asset of the revolution and she was well aware that, if she changed her job, the kids from the district would have been in worse hands. This or nothing. I’m not eager to do this.» You don’t have that much confidence, but you want complete immunity for your Effie. And, well, for yourself. 

She looks at you like she wants to murder you with her bare hands. «This better be good.»

«It will be.»

The preparation team is hardly professional, but you and Effie manage to recreate a District evolution of your makeup and hair from the games. You sculpt your face with contour and use eyeliner for a doe look, like you are an innocent princess. 

«How do you feel?» She asks you while she braids your hair. You go for a braid, but looser than Katniss’s, because you two are different people but at the same time you are on her team. «I miss the daisies in your hair.»

«I think you should take this eyeliner. You deserved it.» Her hands soothe you, and she deserves something. She had a bad time adjusting and nobody cares. And you want the eyeliner too. «I feel… scared. I don’t want to tell them the truth.»

«You are so strong, darling girl. You can do this.» She squeezes your arms in encouragement.

When you are ready, they take you to the cameras. They are not as prepared as Caesar, but it’s still intimidating. You can tell Katniss panicked.   

«My name is Daisy Pinecone and I was a tribute for the Hunger Games this year.» You begin, and your voice is okay, not too broken but still emotional. «When you are a tribute, President Snow asks you to do some job for him. He… he said I needed to kill a man in order to keep everybody safe. He threatened my mother, my mentor and my escort. The man I killed was not a good man, Snow sent me to him as a reward for something, he wanted to-» You stop, but you know you have to finish it. «To rape me. When I killed him, tho, I didn’t do it for me. I did because I wanted to protect the people I loved from President Snow. This is the man you think is a saint.»

The camera is off now. You are shaking a little, but you manage to keep it up without crying. You did it. Now everybody will know you are a killer. 

You go to your room, just because you need to be alone, but you find Haymitch at your door and suddenly everything is better and you forget about the interview.

«You are back!» You push yourself into him, and he accepts your eager kisses, but you can sense something is wrong. You don’t have that face when a stunning girl wants to smother you with kisses. «I missed you so, so, so much.» 

«I missed you too, babygirl.» Babygirl it’s new. It’s not yours, and it’s odd. You love Sweetheart, occasionally Gorgeous, especially when he is turned on or really tired, but this… you don’t like it so much.

You close your door behind you. 

«Then kiss me properly!» You joke. And this time he lifts you up and takes your breath away with his lips. Again, you don’t have that much experience, but he is really, really good at what he does to you, you are pudding in his hands.

«You, you are the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever laid my eyes on.» He whispers against your lips. «You make me crazy.»

«They let you out?» You want confirmation, and he nods. «For good?»

«For good.»

You blush. «Take me to bed, wouldn’t you? I want to welcome you back properly.»

«I can’t.» He takes a deep breath and he takes a step back. You frown, confused. «Daisy… I don’t even know how to begin.»

«You are breaking up with me.» It’s not a question, it’s a fact. His body language, his words, the expression on his face. It is crystal clear. But why?

«Something happened.»

«What the hell could have happened in a rehabilitation centre? Is it for the last time? You didn’t hurt me, you did your best and it’s-» 

«Inez is Marjorie.» He blurts out.

You see the world crumble. This, this is news. Inez, the cute nurse who helped you so much, is in reality Haymitch’s long-last girlfriend, the one who died in a fire when he was sixteen. 

You nearly faint, he has to catch you and now his arms are around yours. It should be illegal how protected you feel even now.

«Pardon me?» You try not to look puzzled, but fail miserably. 

«I reacted that way too, I really thought she was part of the hallucinations.» 

The memories creep in your head. “Get out of her, you demon!”, he voiced in the hospital, before crashing your ribs.

«She didn’t tell me, we talked a lot.» You point out with a whisper. 

«She didn’t want to overstep, she wanted to discuss it with me before.» As much as you don’t like it, you can get why she did it.

«You are getting back with her.» You accuse him.

«She almost died for me, and waited for me all these years… I don’t abandon people, sweetheart.»

He doesn’t. You know how to live without him, yours is not even a relationship, but Marjorie is the love of his life, the girl he has always dreamed about in his sleep. His guilt is about her.

Dear heavens, it was hard enough to compete with a ghost, but the ghost turned real. And you feel ashamed thinking that. 

Marjorie has been through hell and returned. She was just a girl when President Snow tried to kill her, she… she deserves a happy ending. You just don’t want it to be at your expense, but it seems like it’s not a possibility.

«I understand.» You nod, and you can understand it. He blamed himself for her death all his life. «They took her away from you when you were sixteen and now you can be reunited, that’s fairytale stuff.» 

You blink repeatedly to prevent you from crying, and take a step back before he could hug you. You can’t deal with his hugs now. The scent of woods, you’ll never feel it again. You’ll never feel him again.

«That’s not… I don’t…» He stumbles into his words. 

«She’s the love of your life. I refuse to be the wicked witch.»

You really, really try not to cry. And you fail.

«You couldn’t never be the villain in my story.» He tries again to hug you, and now you are trapped against the wall but he’s the one who takes a step back when he sees the expression on your face.

«I’m trying not to be selfish here and that’s not something I’m good at.» You whisper. Tell me you want me, tell me you don’t want her, you want me, you are good with me, you feel something for me, choose me. I’ll be selfish if you ask me. Risk something, I have got nothing. Please.

«Yeah, same situation here.» He takes a step forward and he cups your face with his hands. «Listen to me.»

«You are not my mentor.» You manage a little smile.

«Just this once. You go and live your best life because, the things about being selfish? It’s bullshit. You are a fucking good person. And you are smarter than most people out there. And I won’t mention you are fucking beautiful.»

«Seriously, your language is outrageous.» He ignores you. 

«Will you do that? Live your life, forget about me?» He asks. No, you don’t want to forget about him. You don’t want to live your life without the first man you ever…

«But we could be friends.» You offer, tears in your eyes.

«You want us to be friends?» He repeats in disbelief.

«Yeah, I mean… you saved my life. I don’t want to forget you.» You don’t want to forget how his lips feel against yours, his moans, his kisses, the spot on his neck that you love to bite. Will she bite him? Kiss him? Sleep with him? She will hold hands with him and probably marry him, they are both in their 40s. He will call her “Sweetheart”. You can’t stand with the thought because you know you are the one who will be forgotten.

«Friends.» He repeats. «If that’s what you want.»

His eyes lingers on your lips a little too much, his face is too close to yours, your nose touches his. When you give him a chaste peck for goodbye, he quickly transforms it into a long, passionate kiss. In a moment his hands are around your body and his breath is in yours and it becomes almost painful how you need air but won’t let go.

«Friends don’t do that.» You point out, your chest going up and down trying to breathe. He is already cheating on Marjorie, because he has a silent promise with her. He doesn’t cheat. Are you making him do that? Are you the bad person, the wicked witch, the young seductress? Maybe. But you love him, and you don’t feel bad, you just feel desperate.

«One last time.» He mutters, just as despairing as you are. 

«One last time.» You agree, how couldn’t you agree on that. His hands are on your body, his lips are on your skin as he quickly undresses you to feel you.  

You make love through the tears. Every touch, every kiss and every moan is filled with emotions. It’s not rough, it’s not fast, it’s slow and all you want to do is taste him another time, for the last time.

And then, just like that, it’s over.

«I can’t imagine a world without you.» You whisper against his bare chest. You are not ready to let him go.

«It’s better this way, Daisy. You will live your age without dragging me around and I…»

«You’ll stay with her.» You try not to put poison in your words, but you fail. Again.

«I thought she was dead, Daisy. She lost her family because of me.»

«Stop calling me Daisy, you never called me Daisy this much.» You fight, angry. «I’m letting you go, I’m doing the right thing here, but don’t call me Daisy. And don’t you dare call her “Sweetheart”. Or Gorgeous.» You sound really pissed off, but when you watch him and you see him as broken as you are, you add a little «Please.»

He nods. «You know I… care for you.» You care for me, I love you.

«Of course I know.» It’s just too painful, you’ll stay in this bed forever.

«Come here, a little more.» 

«A little more.» You promise, and you stay in his embrace.

The rehabilitation centre is not welcoming, but the whole District isn’t. And the day I’m supposed to be alone, fucking Holly Pinecone has to shout against my face.

You don’t shout at a victor. You just don’t. But she is Daisy’s mother, so I try to keep my mouth closed. 

«I can’t believe you slept with my baby.» She storms into my room like a fury. I have to take a deep, deep breath. «I can’t believe you have a relationship with her.»

Ours is hardly a relationship, but it’s not the right time to point it out. «She’s not your baby, Holly, she’s an adult.»

«She was born a year after you won the games, you pervert!» She yells. Again.

«Yeah well I’m really old so that doesn’t make her a baby.» The deadly glare I earn tells me to shut up. «It happened, okay? I didn’t mean for it to happen, but it happened. I like her.»

«Yeah, you like her and she worships your ground. She loves you.»

«She hardly loves me, Hol.» Doesn’t she? She’s younger, I know that. 

I really didn’t want it to happen. It was meant to be a soft spot. The gorgeous woman I knew had a little crush on you. And for a year it was like that… But then she was chosen for the Hunger Games, and I didn’t want to lose her. I just couldn’t. And I wanted to do *shit* like making her laugh. 

«She changed. Between you and that Trinket woman… I don’t recognize her anymore.» 

«The games change you, I can tell. Give her time.»

«You give her time! Because she is young, Haymitch. I’m not saying you are a bad man, okay? I know you. But because I know you, I can see how wrong it is. Daisy is smart, smart enough to have a happy fulfilled life after this madness will end. How would she spend her life with you? Cleaning your house and your vomit?» 

Fuck, she’s not wrong. Annoying, but right, and I played the same play in my head everyday at the beginning. But she had the right to decide too.

«We never talked about future plans, Holly you are a mother but…»

«You. You didn’t think about this because, let’s be frank here, you won’t have that much of a future anymore. She won’t lift a finger without your permit and you know it. She loves kids so much she always wanted to be a teacher. You want kids? No. And she’s in her twenties now. Now would be the time to make them. She is so curious, she wants to travel. Do you want to travel? No. You are perfectly content to stay in your victor’s house in District 12. It’s bad to say, but you saw how she looked at Capitol City in the interviews, how she loved that life. And I’m sure she would love travelling through the Districts too. 

Do you think she’ll do that when you will scoff just one time at the idea? No. She will be by your side, just like she spent all her days in the district calling the nurses for you.»

«You are being unfair.» She’s being totally right. 

«And you are being selfish. I’m not saying that you should love her, but if you care for her…»

«Of course I care for her.» I spat. I almost blew up the whole revolution for Daisy Pinecone. 

«Set her free. She will cry a bit but she won’t spend her life hovering over you.» 

«We think the time is up for you, Abernathy. You are okay.» I didn’t feel okay. To be fair, tho, I didn’t feel like shit, not like before. The trembles were bad, but the hallucinations were the worst. I saw my family dying countless times, and Daisy more than once. 

«At least… you.» 

I couldn’t be hallucinating again, but that nurse is… no, it can’t be happening.

«You can go now.» She said, and I stopped her wrist. Not exactly the right behaviour to go out of the rehabilitation centre, I knew that, but her reaction couldn’t be stopped. 

She closed her eyes.

«Marjorie?» I tried. 

«My name is Inez.» She couldn’t lie. She was never able to lie. «Here.» 

She quickly explained. The district had spies twenty five years ago too, they knew President Snow was going to set a fire at my family and at her, they managed to save her but not my mother and brother.

I had to admit I was pissed they couldn’t. Or they wouldn’t. 

«I saw you all these years.» She confessed. «They told me not to contact you, and it was impossible from here anyway.»

All these years, all the guilt, the thought of her trapped in a burning house. I felt tears through my eyes. «I am so sorry.»

«It’s not your fault, Haymitch, just Snow’s.» I heard her voice, but that didn’t change anything. «But we need to talk.»

«Yes, we surely do.» I agreed. 

«I missed you so much.» She was crying now. I couldn’t handle women crying that well. Effie maybe, because I was used to her, and with Daisy was easy, but… «Do you think we could, I don’t know, try again? I know it’s stupid, it’s really stupid but all these years I was trapped here and…»

She was trapped here because of me, that was the hidden truth. 

«I’m with Daisy.» I managed to say. «You met her.»

«Yeah, the kid. I forgot about her.» She laughed awkwardly, «Then I’ll go.»

«We still need to talk.»

«We’ll talk, Haymitch. Go to your girlfriend.»  

«You are back!» Daisy jumped on me, so happy. She was always so happy, it was always a joy to be around her. «I missed you so, so, so much.» 

«I missed you too, babygirl.» That was true. After two weeks together all the time, it has been a torture not to kiss her and hug her whenever I wanted. 

«Then kiss me properly!» I had to talk to her. I didn’t need to linger on her glorious lips or her hips or her breasts. 

«You, you are the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever laid my eyes on.» I told her, just because I knew she would make a squeaky sound I liked so much. «You make me crazy.»

«They let you out?» She wanted to know, with her big doe eyes. She had eyeliner on them today, Heaven knows where she managed to find it. «For good?»

«For good.» At least I hoped. I just wanted to get wasted, on wine, on her… 

«Take me to bed, wouldn’t you? I want to welcome you back properly.» And that’s tempting. But not right, she deserved more from me. 

«I can’t.» I sighed. «Daisy… I don’t even know how to begin.»

«You are breaking up with me.» Of course not. I didn’t want to break up with her, even if we weren’t in a relationship. I just wanted to let her know about Marjorie. 

«Something happened.» I confessed. 

«What the hell could have happened in a rehabilitation centre? Is it for the last time? You didn’t hurt me, you did your best and it’s-» 

«Inez is Marjorie.» It’s not my secret to tell, and I’m already cheating on her trust. 

«Pardon me?» She looked lost, she almost fainted and when I catched her, I could smell her perfume. She, and that was hilarious, didn’t smell like daisies. She smelled like roses. And that scent was a fucking addiction.  

«I reacted that way too, I really thought she was part of the hallucinations.» 

«She didn’t tell me, we talked a lot.» 

«She didn’t want to overstep, she wanted to discuss it with me before.» 

«You are getting back with her.» No. That was the right thing, but I really didn’t want the right thing.

But then again, she was quick enough to jump into the solution. I knew she didn’t want to break up, but maybe deep down she took the opportunity. She knew she was twenty four, hell, I tried to tell her after the games. In the games there was a thing, that wasn’t almost real, but now it was. And Holly was right.

«She almost died for me, and waited for me all these years… I don’t abandon people, sweetheart.»

«I understand. They took her away from you when you were sixteen and now you can be reunited, that’s fairytale stuff.» 

«That’s not… I don’t…» I didn’t know what to do. That was odd, I wasn’t stupid, but she looked so stubborn. She wanted kids, today was meant to be the first lesson in the school for the district 12 kids. Maybe that was why she had makeup on. She was so excited, she loved kids.

I didn’t want kids. 

She wanted to travel. I hated travelling. She wanted a Capitol life, a life like Effie’s. She could have it.

«She’s the love of your life. I refuse to be the wicked witch.»

«You couldn’t never be the villain in my story.» I tendered at her sight. 

«I’m trying not to be selfish here and that’s not something I’m good at.» 

«Yeah, same situation here.» 

I got it. I knew what I had to do, how it was supposed to be. I was meant to be with Marjorie, she suffered all her life for me, and I wasn’t going to let Daisy do the same. I could let her free. 

Free to live her life, marry a young man and spend her life with a bunch of kids I didn’t want, or to become a model. 

None of the lives she wanted had nothing to do with me. And that was okay, she was too young. Too bright. It wasn’t her fault I was a broken man, but I was not going to let her waste her life with me. 

No matter how much it was going to hurt.

TAG LIST: @crimsonincursive

[antoine-triplett]

Book Katniss and Movie Katniss.

What key point or best qualities of Katniss' that lost in the movie adaptation?

What do you think about Jennifer Lawrence portrayal of Katniss?

Thank you 😊

@curiousnonny

Katniss is a tough character to portray on screen because so much of her personality is happening underneath the surface. Which is just… so ironic given the source material. A good deal of her humour and observations get lost because we don’t have her constant narration to rely on and she often keeps her true feelings close to the chest. It’s just an unfortunate reality of using two different mediums to tell a story. It’s most apparent in Mockingjay Part 1 where she doesn’t actually do much but has a lot of thoughts. They seemed to struggle to effectively convey her jumbled feelings while also making a decent action movie. I saw the movies long before reading the books and that one confused me a bunch. I didn’t understand why she was suddenly so obsessed with Peeta, especially with everything else going on. They erased a lot of her struggles with PTSD and mental health, I guess because it’s not as exciting as tons of explosions? It makes some of her decisions confusing in the context of the movies though because you don’t get the full scope of why she chooses to do some things that seem like a bad idea.

Katniss’ costuming bothers me and I don’t think they quite nailed her character in that respect. Her victory tour outfits make her look like a 35 year old lawyer? In the book Cinna pointedly tries to make her look younger during that part to make her seem more innocent (they kind of do this with the yellow dress at the end of the first movie, but then the vibe for CF is totally different). For some reason they dressed her in blue for a bunch of that movie which seems random. In the book blue has a symbolic link to Prim's character and also Peeta's eyes are blue which inspires some symbolism in her narrative, but they don't allude to anything like that in the movies. It could have been an opportunity to subtly show her starting Capitol trends by having people wear a signature colour (hello red, orange, or gold because it’s called CATCHING FIRE, but they chose blue?) of hers or something but they were just like meh, she looks fancy, good enough. I wouldn’t mind so much if her costumes weren’t actually important to the plot, but they are significant enough to have a bit more care taken in that department. Cinna literally gets killed because he uses fashion as a way to protest against the actions of The Capitol. The Mockingjay movies aren’t as bad, but that’s mostly because she’s wearing standard issue clothes from 13. She’s back to wearing lawyer clothes and looking like she’s going to a photoshoot at the end. Like…

This is not Katniss to me and she was in charge of dressing herself by that point and also deep in the throes of PTSD/canonically looking like crap. Even the yellow dress she wears in the final epilogue scene irks me because it feels little out of character, like they were just trying to find a way to make her look different/older. (And, of course, suddenly hyper-feminine because she’s a mom and wife now and the only way to do that is in a pretty dress 🙄)

I imagined her wearing more stuff like this when given the choice, and the green/brown/neutral colour palatte makes sense for her character:

Jennifer did a good job, but Katniss being white washed is shitty. No shade to her, but they could have easily found someone more fitting to the character description full stop.

[goldrushenthusiast]

If it’s the childhood aspect you’re after, the fact that Peeta was in smitten with Katniss from the moment he heard her sing when she was like FIVE might help!!

Honestly though I totally get it, reading the first book for a second I was rooting for Gale too, but I HATE childhood boy bsfs who turn out to be jerks so much that any of that affection was killed in Catching Fire, and his stuff in mockingjay couldn’t make up for it.

I think for Peeta, it’s just that to dig for the personal stuff you have to dig deeper and interpret more things because Katniss doesn’t tell us straight out like she does with Gale (mentioning Hazel & his siblings & his work in the mines, all of that).

Like we know he has two older brothers, but we don’t even know their NAMES like we do Gale’s siblings, not to mention (and this ties back into my original point about who you root for showing who you are) Gale’s most likely more appealing to the overworked, more protective older siblings, and Peeta is probably more appealing to the forgotten younger siblings and only children.

Of course, there can always be exceptions- me for example. I’m an older sibling, who protects my younger sibling, but I have actively tried to avoid thinking like Gale (by that I mean thinking very black and white and pretty pessimisticly and jealously) and trying to be more like Peeta because in the end, I do end up identifying more with him in his other aspects (such as not being angry when people don’t love him the same as he loves them, vs Gale being angry and almost demanding and manipulating love to get it).

Honestly I get being upset about Gale’s storyline too, but I completely understand it and I think it was in character for him. He was always more of a fighter than a lover, and he didn’t WANT to change that.

Sorry if this is way too much for what you asked for lol, or not at all, but I love rambling sorry.

I could talk about how if you’re team Gale or team Peeta and your views on each character & their relations to Katniss show who YOU are, and how YOUR view of a character can be very telling forever, but I don’t think y’all are ready for that conversation yet lol

[viridianllamasinthesilentspace]

Sorting “The Hunger Games”

In “Mockingjay”, Haymitch explains to District 13 why their PR efforts with Katniss are failing: Katniss cannot be scripted. Her power and her charisma stem directly from her reactivity. Every time Katniss has kindled fervor it has been unintentional and genuinely meant: mourning Rue; volunteering for Prim; saluting District 8 on the tour; standing in front of the hospital bombing and calling for war.

Katniss can lie (see: faking her relationship with Peeta during “Catching Fire”), but she hates it. She is consistently and powerfully at her most influential when thrown into games or war zones and allowed to react, improvise, and emote. This honesty, genuineness and fervor resulting in unintentional, inspirational leadership is a stunning example of the Gryffindor Secondary.

Now contrast this with Peeta, who goes into the Capitol’s publicity consciously planning to play them: waving at the crowds, choosing to love Katniss aloud for both their sakes. He has the Hufflepuff Secondary superpower: Unlike Finnick (darling Slytherin/Slytherin), Peeta means it when he smiles at the audience, even if only for that moment. Peeta is changeable and conscious, but he is genuine, if ruthless, with his emotions.

Peeta means it, but unlike Katniss, he can choose to. His words to Katniss in “The Hunger Games”—“I will still be me”—point to that difference. It’s vitally important to Peeta, that choice, that integrity; but Katniss doesn’t understand why that is wanted or needed. She will be herself whether she wants to or not.

But both Katniss and Peeta are Slytherin Primaries. When the chips are down, they both value their loved ones above all else. Katniss barters her (vital) place in District 13’s rebellion for Peeta’s safety and Prim’s cat. Her first major act as protagonist—volunteering for Prim—is a Slytherin Primary’s desperate cry. She didn’t volunteer because it was good or right, or because Prim was young and bright and so very worth saving, but because Prim was hers.

Katniss was willing to die and kill to save Prim and to get back to her; until she meets Rue, who as Prim’s stand-in tickles those same Slytherin priorities; until she falls for Peeta. It did not become more immoral to kill, or not save, them because she came to know them better. She knew Peeta, in particular, was a person and a good one before she entered the arena, but she was willing to let him die if she had to. It was not until she decided he was “one of hers” that she was willing to gamble her own life for him.

Peeta looks a little bit like a Hufflepuff Primary, because his Secondary is so purposefully loud, and because the story is told from Katniss’s point of view. He shows love like a Hufflepuff: with care, service, and kindness, but that’s his Secondary, his “how.” It’s his Slytherin Primary that makes him care and sacrifice, specifically (and often solely) for Katniss. He wants her to live and he wants her to live more than himself—or innocent bystanders. Peeta’s willing to play the Capitol’s games: to trick the Career Tributes in the first book; to team up with useful people—not good ones—in the second Games, if it means saving Katniss. He tells her this, on the beach: If she’s not alive, he doesn’t want to be. He’s a desperate and rather unhealthy self-sacrificing little Slytherin, but this is an unhealthy little world.

※

Both Gale and Prim, by virtue of wanting to be in Katniss’s life, are really, really good at modeling Slytherin. In Katniss’s absence, Gale prioritizes Prim and Mrs. Everdeen like a Slytherin might. He’s a Gryffindor Primary at heart, so he tries to save everyone and feels guilty for every life lost, but for Katniss’s sake, he saves them first.

Gale’s got a Ravenclaw Secondary—the comment in “Mockingjay”, understanding Katniss after the kiss.

“I was in pain.”

He’s observant, level-headed, and planned, whether it’s evacuating District 12, figuring out how to keep his people fed, or understanding the world and people around him.

Gale and Katniss get along well in their Gryffindor to some degree—he admires her Secondary, her Mockingjay; she likes his steadiness, but seems to most of all appreciate his Slytherin model. By the end, he frightens her, because at her heart, she values her people first and he does not. Truly, truly backed against a wall, Gale will easily drop his hard-won Slytherin model and do the right thing, no matter the sacrifice. At the end of the day, prioritizing the people he loved would make him feel guilty.

Prim is both really good at modeling her Slytherin sister and very good at modeling the usefulness of the Slytherin Secondary. She tells her sister to ask for things in District 13 because she understands that Katniss is powerful there, even if good, straightforward Gryff Secondary Katniss does not. Under her effective Slytherin modeling, though, I think Prim’s got the service and generalized empathy of a Hufflepuff Primary, and the same practical, efficient Ravenclaw Secondary as Gale. Where Gale uses his to save people, Prim, the young doctor, uses hers to help them.

※

Finnick was objectified and forced into prostitution from what we’re left to assume was a very early age—he was fourteen when he won his game, and it’s implied that he was already a sex icon at that point. The way he turned that abuse into a way for him to accumulate power against the Capitol, to collect their secrets and stockpile weaponized information, is all his Slytherin Secondary. As we already mentioned, when he’s onstage smiling at the Capitol, he doesn’t mean it. But something that Finnick is excellent at is using truth. Not just in terms of secrets, but in terms of performance. When he wishes goodbye to that “special someone”, he’s entirely aware that he’s playing on the heart-strings and lusts of the people in the audience, but it comes off so genuinely because he’s directing it at his Annie.

It’s a truth hidden inside a secret, masquerading as the truth. He has layers of deceit and honesty and misdirection, and it’s with the adaptive impulse of the Slytherin Secondary that he’s able to keep everything straight. He gives them what they want in the moment and lets them underestimate him. Who needs deeper consistency of persona, like Peeta builds? Finnick’s strategy is not about building an honest rapport. It’s a series of intuitive indulgences that work because they take advantage of how people—especially the people in the—Capitol, see what they want to see. Finnick uses his Secondary like a magician.

At the beginning of “Mockingjay: Part 1″, we follow the sounds of his sobbing to his room only to find him sitting on his bed, clearly upset but no longer demonstrative. He’s carefully constructed a mask, and he can decide when to let it crack.

Finnick has had such reason and opportunity to “petrify”—to scar his possibilities for further hurt by refusing to bond and value anyone outside himself. This is how a Slytherin Primary goes cold, the same way a Hufflepuff gets disillusioned and burrows in on themselves, or a Gryffindor loses faith. Finnick has been through far and away enough to justify having a little black heart of Petrified charcoal. But, somehow, despite the Hunger Games, despite his abuse in the Capitol, despite the fact that Snow’s go-to ploy is to blackmail you with those you love—Finnick finds and creates deep, vulnerable bonds with Mags and Annie. There’s a bravery and a defiance in that refusal to go cold; to stay safe.

This also makes Finnick’s words in “Mockingjay” particularly striking when he wishes Annie dead; it sounds a little terrible, yes, but from Finnick’s style of Slytherin that’s a mature and selfless thing to wish for. Annie’s death is going to scar him, even deeper than Mags’. She is a vulnerability and a weakness; but Finnick is mature enough to value Annie over the effect Annie has on him. Her death is going to kill him, in one way or another; it might finally Petrify him, the way nothing else so far has been able to—but this is not about him, and he recognizes that. He’s thinking about her.

(Can you tell I love Finnick? I love Finnick. —Kat)

TL;DR

Katniss is the epitome of a powerful Slytherin/Gryffindor—a Slytherin committed to her few people against all odds, and changing the very world around her with the unintentional leadership of a sincere Gryffindor Secondary.

Peeta is a Slytherin Primary as well, with an even smaller inner circle of people than Katniss, but it’s masked by his Hufflepuff Secondary’s warmth.

Prim is a giving, service-oriented Hufflepuff Primary with an analytical Ravenclaw Secondary, and a cunning, clever Slytherin model.

Gale, who tries to fight for the world, is a Gryffindor Primary with a deliberate, observant Ravenclaw Secondary. He’s also got a Slytherin [Primary] model that comforts Katniss.

Finnick is a Slytherin/Slytherin and he needs a lot of hugs.

[magics-neptunes-things]

Mockingjay - Part 10

Hello :)

Once again sorry for the delay, but here is the next chapter for Mockingjay!

Please enjoy ♥

TW : Death or mention of death, blood, injury, suggestive, fight

Chapter before

After their mutual declaration and several (a lot of) kisses exchanged, Lucy finally falls asleep, exhausted by her fight and her injuries. Ona didn’t ask Lucy what happened exactly during the fight, she keeps her questions for later.

Ona was awake all night, looking at Lucy. Just in case she wakes up with pain or something bad happens. But Lucy’s sleep seems peaceful, she only winces from time to time, while changing position. We must say that maybe the ground of a cave isn’t the most comfortable thing in the world.

Being in that position is strange for Ona, she’s not used to being the strong one. It’s usually Lucy who took care of her during their moments together, not the other way. She likes the idea of Lucy being at ease enough with her for it, but of course Ona hates the fact that Lucy is hurt.

They never heard the cannon, so Ona assumed that Tony must be alive somewhere. He doesn’t seem to have any allies, unless they’re all dead already. But the weapon he had was probably from a sponsor. Ona doesn’t know if she will receive more things after the attack she did against her compatriot.

But she stands her ground. Between Lucy and Tony, there she has not a single hesitation.

While Lucy sleeps, Ona lights the fire again and puts some wet tissues on Lucy’s forehead to ease her fever. It seems to work; Lucy’s forehead seems less hot with time.

Ona makes herself more arrows too, she used almost all of them during their fight with Tony. She wonders briefly where the man is, before deciding that she doesn’t care. He might be Joan’s friend; she still has to fight for herself. And the girl she’s in love with.

Talking about Lucy, the girls finally stir for good, but groan in pain while turning on her back. Her face is clenched and Ona hurries to come closer to her.

“Where are you hurt?” she asks softly, removing some hair from her face.

“My head”

“Your head? You didn’t say anything about your head yesterday!”

Ona tries to make Lucy move a little to see which part of her head is hurting. The latter tries to fight against Ona at first, but it was before seeing how determined Ona was. Lucy sighs softly, finally turning on her side.

“Lucy what the fuck”

Lucy doesn’t answer anything and it’s maybe better like this. Ona is mixed between worry and anger against Lucy. There is a wound here too, one that Ona didn’t clean yesterday because Lucy didn’t say anything.

“You couldn’t have done anything anyway” Lucy finally mumbles.

“I still could have cleaned it” Ona answer, her gaze burning.

Lucy chooses widely not to answer anything and crosses her arms when Ona starts to look at the injury. It seems less important than the one on her stomach, but still less superficial than the ones she has on her arms.

Ona cleans Lucy’s head, wondering how she missed the dry blood in Lucy’s hair, before making the girl roll on her back to clean the injury on her stomach.

“How did he manage to attack you by the way?”

Lucy raises her eyes on Ona’s face. The brunette isn’t looking at her, concentrating on her work in Lucy’s body. Lucy sighs softly before answering.

“He took me by surprise. I was looking for food when he jumped on me from behind. He hit me with his weapon. I didn’t hear him coming. He smashed me on my head and from then it was hard to fight back.”

Ona nods softly, wondering if the noises she heard while she was alone in the forest was actually Tony. She hasn’t mentioned it to Lucy until now.

“I think I heard footsteps when I was waiting for you. At that point I was thinking it was you, but when I turned around there was no one. I wonder if it was him.”

“Maybe” Lucy answers after several seconds of thinking. “If it’s him, it means that he chose not to kill you.”

“Yeah…” Ona says slowly. “Or that I could have save you earlier”

Ona was finished with Lucy’s tape since several minutes, so Lucy takes her by her arm to take her closer.

“Don’t reflect like this. You saved me. If you came earlier, maybe you wouldn’t have been able to shoot him like you did. Great aim, by the way.”

Ona rolls her eyes and smiles, snuggling against Lucy as much as she can while being careful not to hurt her more. She smiles when she feels Lucy sighing from well-being, softly kissing her jaw.

“All of those trainings’ session are finally paying off. Looks like training his force wasn’t as useful as he thought.”

“Looks like listening to your mentor was a great idea” Lucy teases.

“It was. It’s because of her advice that I’m still alive”

“I’m glad Alexia Putellas is a genius then.”

Ona hums, stroking Lucy’s neck with her nose. She doesn’t know how much time they will have for themselves, she’s decided to enjoy it as much as she can. She loves Lucy’s scent and how hot and soft her skin is here.

“You know that he’s in love with you right? Tony?”

“I don’t care” Ona answers, kissing Lucy’s neck between her two sentences. “I’m in love with someone else.”

Lucy smiles at this, grabbing softly Ona’s chin between one of her hands.

“Look at you, you little flirt” she says with a smile, before taking Ona’s face against her to kiss her.

Ona smiles against Lucy’s lips, deepening the kiss quickly. Lucy lets her access to her mouth and Ona kind of forgets where they are. All she can think of is Lucy, Lucy’s hand, Lucy’s skin against her, Lucy’s touch. She still remembers not to hurt her, but when Lucy gently tilts them so that Ona is on her back, Ona can’t help but break the kiss.

“Your stomach…” Ona begins.

But Lucy smiles again, putting a finger on her lips.

“I’m fine” she whispers.

She looks in Ona’s eyes again before leaning in for another kiss. After two seconds of hesitation, Ona kisses her back, passing her arms around her neck. Ona is pretty sure that she could kiss Lucy all day long without being used to it. Or tired.

She shivers when Lucy’s fingers slide under the tissues of her clothes, stroking her skin with her fingertips. The sensations are even better than what she remembered or imagined, but when Lucy starts to suck her neck, she feels heat waves in her body and especially between her legs. Under the pleasure, Ona’s fingers (who were under Lucy’s clothes too) sink into the skin of Lucy’s back.

Lucy is very respectful about what Ona told her while still in the Capitol. Ona is sure that Lucy remembers that she never has been intimate with someone else like this. When Lucy is satisfied with her work on Ona’s neck, she kisses the skin lovingly here.

But Lucy seems to come back to reality for real when Ona tries to remove Lucy’s shirt.

“Ona, we don’t have to – “

“No. I want it”

Lucy hesitates for several seconds, looking deep in Ona’s eyes. But Ona only smiles at her, letting her hands run on her back and on her hips.

“I’m sure” she adds, seeing hesitation in Lucy’s eyes.

“Just… Tell me when you want to stop, please”

“I will.”

Ona wanted to answer that she won’t have to say it, because she was certain of what she wants. But she doesn’t have time, Lucy leaning another time for another kiss. Ona doesn’t wait any second to kiss Lucy back. She wants it, she’s sure about it. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that they might be dead in several hours, but there isn’t another person in the world she would do it with.

Ona’s clothes are suddenly too much on her skin, but Lucy’s hands manage to smooth her skin with their strokes.

There is no rush between them; they both take their time to discover each other and to remember each other at their fingertips.

And some time later, Ona is pretty sure that she never felt so blissful than now. When she looks up at Lucy who is holding her close against her body, she thinks that Lucy feels the same way.

Lucy feels Ona’s gaze on her because she looks at Ona back, offering her one of her perfect smiles.

“How are you?”

“Pretty great” Lucy smirks at Ona over the fire.

“I was talking about your head” Ona chuckles.

She’s still a little mad at Lucy for having kept that injury away from her. But Lucy shrugs, still adding another branch of wood into the fire. The night is here now, and they had to leave the cave for several hours during the day. It has been their refuge and Lucy is a little scared that the leaders of the Games will try to make them get out of it.

“Can I see it?”

“Will you take no as an answer?” Lucy arches an eyebrow.

“No” Ona smirks.

Lucy rolls her eyes but turns around to let Ona have a look. The younger girl doesn’t wait a second and kneels behind Lucy, gently looking at Lucy’s wound. She hums when she sees it. It doesn’t look very good, but it seems to heal as best as possible.

“It looks okay” Ona whispers. “Are you still in pain? Honestly.”

“It’s okay. Pounding sometimes but I will survive.”

Ona bites her bottom lip, preferring not to remember that they are in a Game fighting for their life. She stays silent and Lucy doesn’t seem to catch what she is thinking about. She starts to talk anyway, taking Ona’s mind away from there.

“We need a plan now. To know how to fight against the others.”

“What do you have in mind?” Ona asks, going to sit in front of the other girl.

“First, we have Camden and Kayla. Camden is hardly injured, but Kayla doesn’t have any injury as long as I’m aware. It would be a hard fight if we were crossing their path. The best thing would be to have them separated. They were near the starting point until now, but they might have changed now.”

Ona nods. It would make sense; Lucy is now with her, and she knows where they were staying. Plus, one of them is hurt and they would probably want to hide him as long as possible.

“Then we have Tony. You hurt him pretty badly.”

Ona nods once again. She doesn’t know if it’s pretty bad, but he wasn’t able to stand up for several minutes at least. It’s still something.

“How would you feel about fighting against him again?” Lucy asks. “I know he’s a friend of your brother but…”

“I’ll do it as many times as I need if it means you will be safe” Ona doesn’t hesitate to answer.

There is a moment of silence, during which they share a look. Ona is determined and very certain of what she just said. She would give her life for Lucy, so she doesn’t mind a single second fighting against her district’s partner.

Lucy, on the other hand, gives the impression to Ona that she’s looking for something special in her eyes. But Ona let her look, not having anything to hide from her. After a moment, Lucy finally talks again.

“And then the two girls. We don’t know if they are together, but we can guess they are.”

“Haven’t you seen them at one point?”

Lucy shakes her head to answer no.

“They might be hidden somewhere. They haven’t killed anyone for now.”

“Could they be in the desert? That’s what we wanted to do with Teagan, we were almost sure that no one will come for us there”

“Maybe…” Lucy answers slowly, looking by the entrance of the cave. “I know there is an oasis somewhere, if they found it it’s probably the safest place in the arena.”

“How do you know that?” Ona frowns.

“I went to it at the beginning”

Lucy shrugs and Ona frowns. Lucy asked her a lot of questions about her adventure until they met again, but Ona sometimes feels like she doesn’t want to talk about hers. Which is a little strange in Ona’s eyes.

Ona stands, pretending to be looking for something in their bags. She doesn’t like that feeling in the bottom of her stomach. And it has nothing to do with the kick she received during her fight.

“You never told me”

Lucy shrugs one more time before answering, still sitting on the ground.

“I went with Declan. We just wanted to see what was there.”

Ona hums only, her back turned to Lucy. The brunette catches easily that something is disturbing Ona, only by the other girl’s behavior. Ona usually never hides her eyes to her, or even her face.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Lucy asks.

“Nothing.”

 But Lucy knows better. Rather than letting it go and talking about something else, she gets up to press her front against Ona’s back, passing her arms around Ona’s waist. Her chin is on Ona’s shoulder when she talks again.

“Ona, what’s wrong?”

Ona sighs softly. She knows she’s probably stupid about her reaction and she’s a little bit ashamed, to be honest. But Lucy is waiting patiently for her answer, and she finally opens her mouth again.

“It’s just… Sometimes I feel like you are hiding something from me. I don’t like it.”

She knows she’s right when Lucy bites her bottom lip before answering. Ona turns her head as good as she can given their position, looking for Lucy’s green eyes. When Lucy stays silent, Ona talks again, whispering this time.

“What happened?”

Lucy sighs at her turn, letting Ona go. The younger girl doesn’t like the way her body suddenly seems very cold without Lucy’s embrace. She squeezes her arms around her body, looking at Lucy.

“It’s just that I have to do some things. And I’m scared that if you know them it will change how you see me.”

Ona tilts her head, searching for Lucy’s eyes. Lucy seems so tense that it scared her. Suddenly she’s not a tribute at the Hunger Games, she’s just a girl waiting for the love of her life to admit what fault she did when they weren’t together.

“Like I told you, I had to do things and play a role at the beginning. I needed people to think that I just wanted to win and that we weren’t even friends you and me”

Ona nods, waiting more or less patiently about the end of Lucy’s confession.

“To show people that I was really into it, I had to kill. A lot of people. In fact, after killing Seth, I’m the one with the higher number of murders.”

“Oh…” Ona breaths.

She wasn’t expecting this to be honest. She doesn’t know what she was expecting, to be honest. But Lucy is still looking at her feet, not able to look up at Ona. So, the younger girl approaches her, kneeling a little bit to have their eyes at the same level.

“Lucy, it’s okay. You did it for us. You didn’t have the choice”

“I didn’t” she repeats. “If I had… I just needed to be with you again.”

“We are now”

“Yeah”

Ona smiles softly at Lucy, who smiles almost shyly back. She doesn’t like to be seen as weak or something, but the way Ona cups her face to kiss her makes her feel lighter than ever. She still doesn’t understand what she did to find a girl as sweet and kind as Ona.  

The morning after, they decided to sort out their things to know what to take with them in their backpack and what to leave in the cave. They let some food they know would be damaged in their bag during the day, for example. Ona is never leaving her hoodie under her jacket, loving the soft feeling against her skin.

They take their weapons of course, the medical kits and the most important things to survive.

“Okay, let’s go” Lucy says, looking at the fire behind them.

Ona is looking at the cave with a little pout. She feels like they won’t come back, and it makes her a little sad. It’s once again a memory of her history with Lucy where she probably won’t be able to come again.

Easily understanding what Ona is feeling, Lucy smiles softly and passes her arm around Ona’s shoulders.

“Come on, Love. It will be okay”

She kisses Ona temple before taking her to go down the mountain again. Ona let her do, blushing softly at Lucy’s surname. It’s the first time she calls her something like that. Of course, she loves it.

They decided to go to the desert, Ona hoping not to cross someone else’s path during this. Or at least someone they can kill easily. They walk silently, just in case. Ona asked Lucy if she saw the wolves too, but the older woman answered negatively. But it seems to her that one of the tributes died because of the wolves. The idea made Ona shivers.

Lucy is walking first; Ona really closes behind her. She has to fight against Lucy to prevent her not from carrying all the heavy things. Ona is really scared that Lucy’s stomach will start bleeding again. She changed Lucy’s bandage before leaving, putting the old one in the fire.

The walk is pretty long, it seems that there is only one bridge to cross the breach. And that it is far away from where they are.

“It’s weird that we haven’t crossed anyone’s path” Ona mumbles at some point.

“Yeah” Lucy answers. “I think they used the fog to make people come closer to each other, I wouldn’t be surprised if they do something similar soon.”

Ona hums. She doesn’t really like the idea. The last time she had time with Teagan to leave, but it wasn’t the case for Lilith. Her death might have been harsh If Ona remembered correctly the screams of pain that she lets go before dying.

When they finally reach the bridge, Ona takes a last look behind her before crossing it, still behind Lucy. As soon as they arrive on the other side, the heath strikes them hard.

“What the fuck” Ona says, instinctively tying her hair.

Lucy smiles when she hears and sees Ona. Then she looks around, trying to remember where she went with Tony.

“I’m pretty sure the Oasis isn’t that way” she says, pointing somewhere right in front of them. “That’s where we went with Declan. Maybe we should go there?”

Ona nods, not having anything to say. She never came here before. The heath and the sand everywhere are very impressive, to be honest. But if they find the oasis, they could have something very interesting to have.

Still walking, Ona looks at Lucy’s neck and the drop of sweat running slowly on her skin. The sun is still high in the sky, which is a good thing because it means they still have a lot of time before the night. But they are still very hot because of the sun too.

“Are you okay?” Ona asks Lucy for the thousand times since they left.

“I am” Lucy answers patiently. “What about you?”

“I’m fine.”

They walk for some time more, seeing nothing around them other than sand and blue sky, until…

“This is the end of the arena”

Ona raises her head to look where Lucy is pointing. She doesn’t see anything at first, until she finally sees something looking like mini light blue lightning running in front of her eyes.

“We turn around?” Ona proposes.

Lucy bites her lips, thinking for several seconds before answering.

“I don’t know. If we do that, we will lose time and maybe we won’t find the oasis. But at least we know where we are exactly.”

“We were coming from the east to west. We just had to look at the sun to know where to go back” Ona shrugs.

There is a moment of silence, Lucy looking at Ona blankly for some long seconds, before answering.

“You know how to find your way with the sky?”

Lucy’s amazement is easily audible in her voice when she asks that question. But Ona just shrugs before smirking.

“I thought you would be able to do it too, aren’t you the one coming from the best fisherman’s family of Panem?”

Lucy rolls her eyes and smiles.

“I have nothing from the Bronze. And we have a compass and that kind of thing.”

They are walking next to each other now, softly bumping into each other from time to time while talking. There is nothing around them and they would easily see if someone else was here.

But they have to admit at some point that finding the oasis is harder than they thought. The sun is now hiding behind the horizon, gradually plunging them into the night.

“Do you want to take the torch?” Lucy asks Ona.

“I don’t know. Is this not going to draw attention to us?”

Ona looks at Lucy for several seconds before answering, not wanting to scare the girl.

“Are there not scorpions that come out of the sand at night?”

Lucy froze and looks at Ona, her eyebrows softly frowned. It’s something they learned during the survival courses, but to be honest, Lucy completely forgot about it.

“You are right…” Lucy answers slowly, before opening her eyes wide. “Wait, what is on your arm?”

Frowning at turn, Ona looks at her arm. A scorpion. There is a scorpion on her arm.

Next chapter

[glitteryglitter]

hii i have a request for a finnick story. so i was thinking maybe if it was during the quarter quell and the reader is a victor for district 1 or something and her and finnick hate each other but secretly care about each other. the reader ends up leaving her alliance with the careers to join finnicks group forming an alliance at some point in the games. THANKS!!

𝙰𝙽: It's been a while since I read Mockingjay, so I'm sorry if some details are off. Thank you so much for requesting!

𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜: Mentions of violence

𝙿𝚊𝚒𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐: Finnick X District 1! Fem! Reader

𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝: 1286

                                                       ๑*˚🍓˚*๑

The quarter quell had been an absolute nightmare for everyone. even the careers

As they all milled around a clearing in the forest, they all had the exact same worries.

They were all terrified, for themselves, and each other.

Y/n had almost gotten stabbed, and Gloss hadn't been doing too well either.

Even Brutus looked visibly stressed.

Meanwhile, Enobaria had been glancing around the small clearing shiftily. The careers had decided to stay in a part of the arena that didn't look as dangerous, yet the tension was almost unbearable.

The entire experience had been even worse than Y/n's first hunger games, mainly because people very close to her were very likely to be killed,

Also the absolutely insufferably cocky district four boy was in the arena with her.

He'd even had the nerve to recited a love poem he'd written to someone in his interview.

Y/n couldn't imagine anyone actually wanting to spend more than five minutes with him and his overall demeanor.

She truly couldn't stand him, or his deep blue eyes. Why anyone would ever want to date him, she didn't know.

Why he thought he had a chance with someone, she didn't know either. But, she wasn't one to judge, and the topic of him dating someone merely made her feel angry, so she decided to shove all thoughts of Finnick and his love life out of her already racing mind.

What y/n did know for certain, was that she'd do everything in her power to make sure that those in her alliance stayed alive.

At that moment, monkey mutts, hundreds of them appeared and began running towards the group.

Y/n tried to focus, but there were so many of them, and she certainly didn't want any of them to catch up with her.

She couldn't place where they were coming from, but she didn't really need to at the moment.

What she needed, was to keep her allies safe.

The careers scattered.

Their previous attempts at sticking together were not working out as well as they had hoped.

Gloss dashed towards the ocean, meanwhile, Brutus ran through some bushes.

Enobaria had already disappeared, no doubt trying to get away from the horrible little mutts as well.

It was at that moment that Y/n realized something: She was all alone.

She really needed a plan.

However, with the monkey's shrieking playing in her head, practically driving her insane, it was hard to think straight.

She ran in the direction she thought Gloss had gone, but only succeeded in getting lost.

Finally, she found an area that was thankfully, small-primate-free.

Y/n was left with the terrifying feeling of being alone, and very very vulnerable.

She'd dropped her spear and there was no way that the others were unarmed.

She knew some hand-to-hand combat, but not enough to save herself if someone else had a knife.

Or worse, a bow and arrow.

                                              ๑*˚🍓˚*๑

At that moment. she heard voices.

Internally swearing, she crouched behind some vines as Finnick, Mags, Johanna, Katniss, and Peeta came into view.

They looked like they were arguing about something, Y/n only hoped that they would leave as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, that was not the case.

They all sat down and appeared to be setting up a place to stay.

Perfect.

Just perfect.

She had no way of escaping and Finnick, that idiot was with them.

She just couldn't believe how his hair still looked that good!

Wait, what?

She didn't know where that thought had come from, but she didn't particularly care, as long as she never needed to think about it again. ever.

If only there was a way for her to escape...

At that moment, a tree branch cracked and fell to the ground, startling her.

Y/n promptly tipped over and fell into plain view.

Everyone looked up and froze.

"Who is that?" Peeta asked.

Finnick, that idiot, walked over.

"Look who it is" Finnick pulled her up onto her feet with a hard expression on his face.

Y/n cringed slightly.

You two know each other?" Peeta asked, sounding more confused by the minute.

"Of course, they do. Finnick couldn't take his eyes off of her at the interviews. All through the training, I couldn't tell if they wanted to murder or kiss each other, but it was definitely one of the two. Don't act like you didn't see it." Katniss whispered.

That warranted a glare from the two.

"Listen, I don't think you like me very much, but I need to join your alliance."

Y/n was desperate at this point and this seemed to be her best bet if she didn't want to get murdered.

She really didn't want to rely on anyone, especially not Finnick, but she didn't have any other choice at the moment.

He nodded. "We'll make it work."

Finnick sighed, He didn't want to ever talk with the district 1 girl ever again.

He hated to admit it, but Katniss was right.

Y/n seemed to despise him, despite his best attempts at flirting.

He'd even written her a poem and recited it for the entire capitol to hear.

She certainly was special, and it would be better if he didn't have to kill her.

                                              ๑*˚🍓˚*๑

Several hours passed and the group, plus y/n, decided to move on.

They'd been walking for a while when she recognized the area they were in.

There weren't any monkey mutts this time.

Y/n was just beginning to relax when she heard something.

The sound of wings, along with Finnick shrieking.

"Y/n stop screaming You're not helping anyone!" Finnick yelled.

"Me? You're the one screaming! Could you maybe stop it? Just let me think!"

"Just shut up! You two weren't screaming up until now and it's not helping anything." Johanna was standing off to the side, completely calm as the entire group dissolved into chaos.

She did have a point.

Y/n remembered something.

She'd been told that Jabberjays echoed the screams of the person one cared about the most.

Why on earth were they echoing Finnick?

She realized then and there, it was all so obvious.

Maybe she did want to kiss him.

Had she been jealous all this time?

Why hadn't she noticed this earlier?

How on earth would she deal with this?

She was in the Quarter Quell of all things, definitely not the most romantic place to confess your love to someone.

Y/n took a few deep breaths, she knew that the screams weren't real.

It was a bad time to tell Finnick her feelings, but it was better now than never.

"Finnick, I need to tell you something"

Y/n was practically shaking, but she still persisted.

How do I say this...I hated you- I thought I hated you... She paused to take a deep breath.

Finnick hoped this was going the way he thought it was. Did she like him? She couldn't possibly. After all, she'd basically admitted to wanting to murder him. But had she? She'd never said it specifically.

"I like you. I didn't want to admit it, but I like you. A lot. I understand if you don't feel the same, but- she paused again no doubt, thinking she'd said something very wrong.

"Can we kiss?" Finnick asked.

This must be a dream. A fever dream, but still, a very, very good one.

Y/n thought as she melted into the kiss.

"Oh my god. What is it with you two? I can't believe I decided to ally with this group", Johanna hollered over the Jabberjays.

"Because we're better than the careers, of course! Sorry, y/n not you." Finnick yelled back.

She shook her head.

Y/n could still see a hint of a smile on her lips.

                                               ๑*˚🍓˚*๑

[endlessnightlock]

Regarding Katniss in the mockingjay dress, I don’t think that put her in more danger than she was already in because Snow had already let her know that her and Peeta’s performance post-74th Games wouldn’t save her skin because they hadn’t done enough to stop the Rebellion. As soon as the card was read for the Quarter Quell, Katniss knew she was going to die. She knew she was marked for death in the arena, and I interpreted everything that happened after that point was desperation mode.

The Mockingjay dress felt like Cinna’s middle finger to Snow because A. he knew he was going to die and B. despite the rebels plan, Katniss very well might die too. Snow had every intention of killing everyone who stood in his way.

Haymitch was considered trustworthy by the rebels, and if he didn’t want Katniss and Peeta to know about the rescue from the QQ arena, I think Cinna probably trusted his judgement. Haymitch always tried to protect Katniss, so why would Cinna risk that?

Anyway, agree to disagree on Cinna I guess :). Interesting discussion!

Unpopular opinion confession: I am really not much into Cinna as a character. I don't openly dislike him, but I still don't get how Katniss was so trusting f him right off the bat with one interaction. I understand that he was probably the first person to show kindness to her after the reaping, but I just don't feel it while reading the book. I suppose movie!Cinna also doesn't really convince me (unlike Effie. I don't really care about her much in the books, but movie!Effie is just awesome.)

So, convince me Cinna is really awesome. I dare you.

Edit: Now I'm thinking maybe if he was played by someone else I might like him better?

[keouil]

open your wounds (make them a garden)

yuuta hears birdsongs around inumaki. 1k. inuokko. g. also on ao3 / twitter / cc

“What the hell is that?”

Yuuta stops abruptly in his steps, peering around the forest. Inumaki halts beside him with a worried frown already on his face. A faint buzzing sound grated his ears. 

“Do you hear that?” Yuuta looks over the canopy of bamboo trees towering over them, open and clear and not a single flap of wings in the vicinity. “Mockingjays? This far out into Tokyo?”

Inumaki gingerly takes a look around, straining his ears for any minute sound. Yuuta waits with bated breath. The sound quieted, somehow, until all they could hear then was the swishing of the maple leaves and the chiming echoes of the bamboo pipes. 

That, and Maki yelling at them from way ahead of the entrance. “What is the hold up over there?” she seethes. “I’ll finish this mission myself if I have to! Men – so useless!”

Inumaki nudges at him to hurry along, and it’s when his hand snags on the crook of his elbow, that Yuuta hears it again: this time louder and more ringing. The afternoon was blaring down at them, cool summer air brushing against the hairs on his skin, but the way his touch ghosted over the goosebumps at the base of his neck had nothing to do with it.

It wasn’t a mockingjay afterall. 

-- 

“You have birds inside you. How are you not freaked out?”

Inumaki sighs deeply, maybe even a little exasperatedly, because they’ve been over this way too many times for it to still be an issue. They’re somewhere over a small patch of woods at the back of the dorm, enjoying one of the rare few days they weren’t fending off curses or learning about how to fend off curses. The sound was melodic now, unforeign on his ears after Gojo all but laughed at him when he asked about it, only to be fed an extensive lesson on the many ways a Toge could manifest curse sounds—and that, sometimes, it wasn’t so cursed. 

It was a lovely sound, really, like windpipes of lullabies stringed together. 

Maki narrowed her eyes at him. “For the nth time, new kid,” she starts, dog-earing a page from her book. “They’re not birds.”

“They just  sound  like it,” Panda adds cheerfully. “Took you long enough to notice though. What did you think you were hearing all this time?”

Yuuta gives them both an incredulous look, completely stunted at their nonchalance. “Birds, guys. I thought I was hearing birds! Like the rest of the regular human population!”

“But you’re not a human,” Maki deadpans, at the same time Panda gingerly replies, “Regular seems like a stretch.”

Inumaki makes a little sound beside him, somewhere north of a grunt and a sigh. His face looked forlorn, but the sounds, oh they were really  lovely: like fresh mildew unfurling from the earth, and spring dancing with trees. He even looked a little bit more luminescent, almost ethereal, like he didn’t already have the most elfishly dazzling features Yuuta had seen on anyone ever.

“Hey,” Yuuta says, nudging his shoulder. It was hard to stay agitated, and the only reason he really was is because he was still having a hard time wrapping his head around it, when all he could hear was  this. “Does it hurt?”

Inumaki shakes his head a little, fingers moving up to sign. Not at all.

Yuuta feels some of his apprehension dwindle. “Well,” he says. “Then that’s all that really matters, isn’t it?”

 --

By the time dusk falls over the school compound, Yuuta is inexcusably and morbidly exhausted.

The mission had been another run of the mill, exorcise this and kill that. There was an outbreak of particularly malevolent energy around the slums of Harajuku, and they were dispatched to get rid of them as quickly and quietly as possible. Yuuta’s katana and Maki’s spear did the trick, clean metal slicing over disfigured flesh: but it was bloody nonetheless. Their line of work wasn’t always pretty, and there was a point so much of that ugliness imprinted on you; no matter how hard you tried washing your hands off the blood. 

It lives in the cages of his bones and the burrows of his soul.

That’s when he hears it: a small twang, at first, like a stroke on a chord being prematurely fine-tuned. The stars hung low over the awning of maple trees around the school, tall and grand and enclosing. A longer tune played out this time, a stringing of melodic sounds that seemed to unspool from the depths of something deeper and darker. It sounded like something alive from the forest, and suddenly from somewhere closer to him than he feels.

Yuuta thinks its the wind playing tricks on his mind, because it wouldn’t be the first time the school spooked him out with its booby traps, when Inumaki comes to a stop beside him.

“You’re doing it again,” Yuuta notes, a little awestruck.

Inumaki deflates. Sorry, I can’t control—

“No,” Yuuta cuts him off, stopping the motion of his fingers. If he kept very still, he’d hear it: the sound of waves crashing together in every hiss, boulders and sand meshing together with every whistle, the transient sound of the rise and fall of the ocean’s heartbeat. He felt himself mellow out with it. “Don’t stop. It’s.. it’s nice.” 

There’ve been a great deal many horrific sights and violent acts in this world. But when Yuuta glances out at the man beside him, taking in the rhythm of his soul echoed throughout the opera of their lives, he finds that yes: curses, too, could be lovely.

[javistg]

A Second Chance CH 3.

It’s been almost two years since I posted Chapter 2 but Chapter 3 is finally ready!

I want to dedicate this chapter to @mega-aulover, @567inpanem, @katnissdoesnotfollowback, @hutchhitched, @justajjfan, @thegirlfromoverthepond, @booksrockmyface, @albinokittens300, @animekpopxx, @alliswell21, @alwayseverlark, @nightlock-1989, @katnissmeowverdeen, @mandelion82, @norbertsmom, @rosegardeninwinter, @everybirdfellsilent, @thelettersfromnoone, @mrspeetamellark, @taylerwrites, @ameliaodair, @everlark-always, @emilia206 and everyone else who joined this year’s @everlarkficexchange. 

Thank you all for bringing inspiration back into my inbox, for reminding me of how fun it is to create something and to share it with this wonderful fandom.

Also, @theeverlarkingmoose this chapter is for you. Your words of encouragement made me want to go back and re-read what I had written. Everything started falling in place after that ❤️ 

Based on prompt 110: A time travel AU: Katniss from Mockingjay, (any part of the book, it's up to you), winds up back the day before her sister's first reaping. What does she do now that she knows what's coming? Now that she knows how Peeta feels about her, and she knows how desperately she needs him, and what they could share? What on earth could she, or should she, even do/change? And what is she should lose it all again? [submitted by @wingletblackbird For EFE 2019]

To read from the beginning, you can go to AO3 or FF.net

CHAPTER 3.

The tribute train speeds along, silently hovering over the tracks on its way to the Capitol.

Alone in her compartment, Katniss cries. The hope and joy from the previous day are gone. Sorrow and defeat fill her heart as she sits on the bed.

Clutching a bag full of frosted cookies against her chest, she tries to come to terms with the fact that the unthinkable has happened again.

Covering her eyes from the glaring summer sun, an effervescent Effie Trinket walked onto the stage and pulled Prim's name out of a giant glass bowl.

For the second time in her life, Katniss stepped forward and volunteered to take her sister's place.

The crowd parted to let her through. Prim cried. Gale carried her away.

A silent District 12 saluted their tribute. Haymitch interrupted the proceedings with his drunken antics, and a rattled Effie called out Peeta's name.

After finishing the Treaty of Treason, the mayor prompted the tributes to shake hands.

Sorrow, pain, and an unexpected dash of hope danced in Peeta's eyes as he looked straight at her and gently squeezed her hand. Comforted by the gesture she no longer confused with a nervous spasm, Katniss squeezed back.

The goodbyes at the Justice Building were just as bad as she remembered them.

Katniss had thought it would be easier. She had imagined that knowing she had a real shot at coming back would help her be more convincing, more generous.

She wanted to be kinder to her mother --who had already proven she was strong enough to keep on going while Katniss was away-- and to leave her sister with a sense of certainty, with a bit of hope to cling to.

But, as soon as Prim started crying, Katniss's fears took over, and her resolutions melted as quickly as a blanket of snow.

In the end, history repeated itself, and Katniss used up most of her time going over all the practical stuff Prim and her mother needed to know. Right before the Peacekeepers barged in, the three Everdeen women hugged and promised, once again, that they would try their best.

Once her family left, Mr. Mellark delivered his cookies. The baker was just as quiet this time around, but Katniss didn't mind. Instead of fretting over his intentions, she was grateful for his generosity and kindness.

The door opened again, and Madge came in like a whirlwind, holding out the mockingjay pin and talking about district tokens.

"I'll bring it back," Katniss promised as her friend leaned in to fix the bird to her dress.

Madge kissed her friend's cheek. "I'm counting on that."

Madge had barely left the room when Gale walked in.

His eyes were dark and stormy, but when he opened his arms, she walked straight into them.

Their breakfast that morning hadn't been as pleasant as the one she remembered. Instead of joking around and talking about escaping into the woods, Gale had been surly and quiet.  

To Katniss's relief, he hadn't mentioned Peeta or her stroll around the Meadow the previous afternoon. It didn't matter. His contribution to the meal, a day-old tesserae grain roll that could have only come from the Hob, spoke louder than any words ever could.

Gale Hawthorne hadn't been in the mood to stop by the bakery that morning.  

"Listen," he said, stepping away from their embrace to look at her face. "Getting a knife should be pretty easy, but you've got to get your hands on a bow. That's your best chance."

Katniss smiled. There he was, her friend, her partner, the man who was willing to put his own feelings aside, like he'd done in Thirteen, to help and support her.

No matter what, Gale had her back. Even if he wasn't thrilled with her right now, he would keep her family safe.

"You know how to kill," Gale insisted as they discussed strategies.

"Not people," she muttered.

"How different can it be, really?" A grim remark uttered in a moment of despair. She had never liked it but, after surviving two arenas, it made her furious.

"It's incredibly different!" Katniss yelled. Anger and dread danced in her veins as she remembered where she was headed to. "I'd be killing a person, Gale! A person! I'd be erasing their thoughts, their dreams, their—,"

"Listen," Gale grabbed her by the shoulders, "Catnip, you can't think that way. Not in the arena. You need to remember, only one comes out, right?"

Only one. The words were oddly familiar. Numb, Katniss nodded.

"Say it,” he pressed.

"They have to have a victor," Katniss whispered. Looking up into Gale's silver eyes, she repeated, "Only one comes out."

"That's it, and you can be the one. You can be the one who comes home, back to Prim, back to your mother. Because that's all that matters, right? They are all that matters."

"Right."

Pulling her back into his arms, Gale lowered his head to her ear and whispered, "You can do this, Katniss. Just… promise me, you won't let anyone distract you."

Anyone. He meant Peeta, of course. But Peeta wasn’t a distraction, he was her mission.

Clinging to his embrace to soak up his warmth, she promised, “I won’t.”  

A Peacekeeper walked in.

Always the nonconformist, Gale asked for more time. He was granted none.

"Don't let them starve!" Katniss cried out, panicked, as her friend was escorted out of the room.

"I won't!" Gale vowed. "You know I won't!"

XXXXX




By the time Effie comes to collect her for supper, Katniss's tears have dried up.




Resigned to her fate, Katniss follows her escort through the narrow, rocking corridor into the dining room where Peeta sits, waiting for them.




At the sight of him, Katniss's breath hitches. This is the Peeta she knows best. Capitol clothes, winning smile, and a touch of… heartbreak in his eyes.




That wasn't there earlier, Katniss thinks. What happened? As Peeta's eyes flit away, she suddenly remembers. His mother.




Yes, Mrs. Mellark just told her youngest son that he's not good enough to come back from the arena.  




She wants to run to his side, to wrap her arms around him, press a kiss on his forehead, and soothe his pain away.




She wishes with all her heart that she could tell him that the Witch and her bitterness don't matter, but she can't. Instead, she bites her lip, takes the empty chair by his side, and waits for Effie to start giving instructions.




The supper comes in courses. The starter, a thick carrot soup, is followed by a green salad.




Katniss is reaching for the platter with the lamb chops and mashed potatoes when Peeta leans into her side and casually says, "So… when you said you'd be at the back…"




Surprised, Katniss glances back at him. The teasing glint in his eyes brings a smile to her lips. "I guess I meant the front," she says, stabbing a lamb chop with her fork and dropping it on her plate. With a coy shrug, she adds, "I confuse them sometimes."




Peeta's retort is interrupted by Effie's shrill voice. "Oh! Are you two friends?"




Katniss freezes, but Peeta quickly comes to her rescue. "Not really," he says, ladling a dollop of mashed potatoes on his plate, "we go to school together, that's all."




Effie takes this news with a polite nod. Just as they're about to finish the main course, she speaks again. "At least, you two have decent manners," she says. "The pair last year ate everything with their hands like a couple of savages. It completely upset my digestion."




Katniss narrows her eyes. Over the last couple of years, she's come to appreciate Effie, but her comment still disgusts her. So, once again, she makes a point of eating the rest of her meal with her fingers and wiping her hands on the tablecloth when she's done.




Bewildered, Effie straightens up in her chair, pursing her pink lips in shocked disapproval.




Good, Katniss thinks with a satisfied smirk. Things are just as they should be.

XXXXX




Katniss's first day in the Capitol is almost an exact replica of her previous one.




Her prep team scrubs and strips every inch of her body, removing all her hair and leaving her like a plucked bird, ready for roasting.




Later, when Cinna walks into the room, Katniss rolls her hands into tight fists and, somehow, manages to stop herself from lunging into his arms.




XXXXX




The carriage ride around the City Circle is a huge success.  




While Portia is busy extinguishing the last of the artificial flames, Katniss reluctantly lets go of Peeta's hand.




"Thanks for keeping hold of me," says Peeta massaging his hand, "I was getting a little shaky there."  




"It didn't show," Katniss tells him. "I'm sure no one noticed."




"I'm sure they didn't notice anything but you," he replies, looking boldly into her eyes, "You should wear flames more often. They suit you."




Then, he does it again. He flashes her that smile, the one she knows he saves just for her, genuinely sweet with just the right touch of shyness.




Warmth rushes through her, and she bites her lip to keep from smiling too widely. She used to feel so vulnerable whenever this happened --like Peeta was in control, and she couldn't trust herself around him-- but she knows better now. Peeta's not trying to manipulate her, he's just paying her a compliment, and he's damned good at it!




No warning bells go off. No thoughts of hidden agendas, or strategies, or games cross Katniss's mind. Only joy and affection propel her as she stands on tiptoe and kisses his cheek, right on his bruise.




XXXXX




When Katniss notices the red-headed Avox at the dinner table later that night, she doesn't even flinch.




With watchful eyes, she follows the girl's movements and tries not to think about Darius —or the way he looked at her the last time they saw each other in that same room.




Taking a bite of her cake, Katniss glances back at Peeta and wonders —just for an instant— if he ever saw what Effie called the "matching set" while Snow kept him captive.




The thought is too painful to even consider, so she stops poking at it and goes back to the conversation around the table.




Later, as she lies in bed looking at images of a slow trickling stream projected on her wall, she silently berates herself for her silence. Her original reaction hadn't really hurt anyone, but it had led to Peeta covering for her and showing her the rooftop garden.




She longs to go there now. It's the only place where she can breathe, and she's sure Peeta's there already, looking down unto the Capitol skyline. But how can she join him when no one in this timeline has shown her the way?




The answer is so simple it makes her laugh. The terrace isn't exactly hidden, and Peeta knows she's an illegal hunter who sneaks under an electrified fence every day. He won't question her if she says she just stumbled upon it while exploring the apartment.




Katniss steps into the cool, windy evening air. Twelve floors down, the Capitol twinkles like a vast field of fireflies. It's a familiar sight by now, but it still fills her with wonder.




Peeta's already there, standing by the railing at the edge of the roof. His eyes widen when he sees her approach.




"How did you find this place?" Katniss asks, trying her best to sound surprised.




"Cinna showed me," Peeta says. "You?"




"I did some exploring."




Katniss reaches his side, and they both turn to look out onto the skyline.

"You can practically see the whole city," Peeta says.




They stand there for a few minutes, enjoying the show of flickering lights, listening to the wind chimes behind them and the noises from the city below.




They're standing so close together that she can feel the warmth radiating off of him. A little closer and I would smell his scent, she thinks, hoping she could wrap her arms around him and bury her face in his shirt.




"A penny for your thoughts," Peeta asks.




Startled out of her reverie, Katniss laughs, "A penny? Is that the going rate in town?"




Peeta shrugs. "I guess. It's just something my grandmother used to say."




She's heard this before, back on their victory tour, but she still asks, "Which grandmother?"




"Grandma Mellark. She had tons of sayings, one for every occasion. She died when I was ten, but I still remember some of them." After a short pause, he asks, "How about you? Do you remember your grandparents?"




"No. I never met them."




Peeta turns towards her. The earnest curiosity dancing in his eyes tugs at her heart. "Never?"




Katniss shakes her head. "I know my mother's parents ran the apothecary up until a few years ago, but we never went there. I might have seen them on the street, but…"




"And on your father's side?"




"They both died before I was born. I don't know much about them, just that they knew a lot about plants and that my grandmother loved music. My dad used to say that she could remember any song after only hearing it once and that she had a beautiful voice."




Peeta's hushed words are almost lost in the din of the wind chimes, but they reach her all the same. "Just like yours."




She's about to contradict him but, when she looks up, her mind goes blank. Peeta's looking back at her with a tenderness and warmth that still haunts her dreams.

“I don’t sing,” she hears herself say.




"But you used to,” Peeta says, “back when we were little.”




It's almost like being back in the cave. Her skin tingles, her heart soars.

Flustered, Katniss asks, "You remember that?"




Peeta looks away. His cheeks turn beet red as he softly admits, "I do."  

Her heart's hammering madly against her rib cage now.

For an instant, she thinks he's going to tell her the story again, the one about their first day of school and the teacher asking her to sing; but he does no such thing.

Keeping his eyes on the horizon, Peeta straightens up and pushes himself away from her and the railing.




Disappointed, Katniss turns away.

Deep down, she's also relieved. As much as she wants to regain the closeness she once shared with Peeta, she knows they're not ready yet.




Unlike her, Peeta doesn't know what their future holds. He likes her well enough, but they're training for the Games. He still needs to keep his distance from his district partner.




Satisfied that she's done plenty for one night, Katniss stretches her arms over her head and fakes a yawn. "We should get some rest," she says.




"Yeah. Tomorrow's going to be a big, big, big day!"




Katniss laughs. Peeta's impersonation of their escort has always been pitch-perfect.




They climb the stairs together. When they reach the corridor that leads up to their rooms, Peeta whispers, "Good night, Katniss."




The words wrap around her heart, soothing her like no morphling ever did. She's still savoring them when she whispers back, "Good night, Peeta."




XXXXX




It's a little before ten when Katniss and Peeta step out of the elevator and into the Training Center. The other tributes are already there gathered in a circle around Atala, the head trainer.




As soon as the tall woman starts to talk, Katniss tunes her out. She's heard the little speech twice already. She doesn't need to listen to it again.




Beside her, Peeta lets out a small sigh.




He's frustrated, Katniss thinks. She considers reaching out to squeeze his hand but stops herself, knowing that Peeta probably won’t welcome the gesture right now.

She can’t blame him, not after the morning they've had.




The discussion over their individual skills at breakfast had been slightly less contentious this time around, but not by much.




After mentioning Katniss’s abilities, Peeta had still brought up his mother's hurtful parting words.




Katniss had been less cagey. She had managed to keep the bread incident out of the conversation, but Peeta's comment about the effect she had on people had —once again— raised her hackles. Not because she had felt insulted, lile the first time, but because she’d been reminded of everything she’d lost.




As she saw the old Peeta willing to give his life for her, she couldn’t help but think of the other version of him; the version she had left behind in District 13. That Peeta hated her. He had gone through hell and back to be with her and now he wanted her dead.




Who knows? She bitterly told herself after Haymitch dismissed them. Maybe this magical effect of mine doesn't last very long. Maybe, one day, the whole country will wake up and hate me too.




XXXXX




While Atala reads down the list of the skill stations, Katniss can't keep her eyes from flitting around the room.




Marvel. Clove. Cato. Fox-face. Thresh. Rue.




Her chest tightens. These are the faces that haunt her dreams. The voices that echo in her nightmares.




Katniss bites her lip to keep from screaming. Her palms are clammy, her heart is racing, but she doesn't move an inch.




This is the hardest thing she's had to do so far, and she needs to get it right. She can't let the others see her distress.




Slowly averting her eyes, she reminds herself, My name is Katniss Everdeen. I am seventeen years old. My home is District 12. I was in the Hunger Games. I escaped. The Capitol hates me, but I came back.




Katniss breathes. In. Out. In. Out.




Her heart rate is almost back to normal when she finishes. I came back to make Snow pay.




She's still lost in her thoughts when Peeta nudges her arm and makes her jump.




His expression is sober. "Where would you like to start?"




Katniss looks around at the Career Tributes who are already showing off, clearly trying to intimidate the field. Then at the others, the underfed, the incompetent, shakily having their first lessons with a knife or an ax.




"Suppose we tie some knots," she says.




"Right you are," says Peeta.




XXXXX




They spend their morning trying out different skills.




Now that she knows what type of arena awaits her, Katniss realizes that the stations are full of clues. The kinds of ropes they use at the knot-tying class. The mud, clay, and berry juices available in the camouflage section. They all seem so obvious now that she knows they'll be going to a forest.




When they reach the medicinal plants' section, Katniss stops short. The last time she was here, she practically skipped it, but she's on a different mission now, so she walks in and makes sure Peeta follows.




A big screen shows pictures of plants with a brief description underneath.




Katniss flips through the crisp images until she finds what she's looking for: the leaves Rue used to treat her.




"These are great!" she enthusiastically tells Peeta. "They fight off infection, bring down swelling, and numb the pain. They're handy when you've been stung by insects or bees. You have to chew them up into a pulp and spit them on top of your wound."




Peeta wrinkles his nose. "Spit them?"




"Yeah," Katniss confirms, "Otherwise, you won't release their properties. My mother would use other methods, but…" Lowering her voice, she adds, "Sometimes you don't have a lot of options when you're out in the woods."




Apparently satisfied with her answer, Peeta nods. After glancing around to make sure no one is listening, he whispers, "Have you been stung many times?"




"Only twice," Katniss admits, "I immediately pulled the stingers out and put the leaves on top. It wasn't so bad."




Peeta's eyes are locked on the screen as he says, "Maybe I should stuff my pockets with these if I ever find any in the arena. You know? Just in case."




"It won't hurt," Katniss agrees, holding on to the hope that he will do just that.




XXXXX




On the second night of her training, Katniss decides to go back to the rooftop.




Peeta is already there. He's sitting on a bench by the flower beds with a sketchpad propped up against his bent knee. The little bundle of pencils she gave him back in District Twelve rests by his side.




She can tell he's distracted, so she clears her throat to make her presence known.




"Hey!" Peeta calls out. He looks tired, but his smile is sweet and welcoming.




"Mind if I join you?" she asks.




Peeta pats the empty seat next to him, and Katniss walks over.  




A small sigh escapes her as she sits down. Her daytime routine hasn't been as tiring this time around, but she's still beat.




"Nice pad," she says.




"It's Portia's," Peeta runs his fingers along the edge of the paper in a reverent caress. "She said I could borrow it."




Anticipating her next question, Peeta tilts the pad in her direction.




Katniss gasps. The angle of the image is one she cannot place, but there's no doubt in her mind, Peeta has painted her woods.




Reaching for the corner of the pad so as not to smudge his drawing, she asks, "Where is this?"




"It's the view from my house."




Katniss narrows her eyes, the bakery is in the center of town, but Peeta hasn't included any buildings in his picture. "Your house?"




"There's an attic that we use for storage. I like to go up there sometimes. It's higher than most buildings in the district, so you get to see all the way out into the woods."




Katniss stares at the drawing and tells herself not to cry, but it's not easy. Not when Prim and District Twelve are so far away, not when Peeta is opening up to her in ways he never did before.




"Do you like it?" Peeta asks.




The nervous tremor in his voice tugs at her heart; she reaches for his arm and gives him a reassuring squeeze. "Of course I do! Peeta, it's extraordinary! Prim's right. You're very talented."




Peeta shakes his head and accepts the compliment with a quiet, "Thank you."




Letting go of him, Katniss settles in her seat, resting her back against the wall and stretching her legs. Nodding to his pad, she says, "Go on. Don't let me interrupt."




Peeta starts drawing again.




Katniss watches, mesmerized, as his hand dances over the paper, making the blank page bloom with delicate strokes of color.




They stay like that for a while, side by side on the bench, wrapped in peaceful silence, enjoying each other's presence and silently wishing for more time.




XXXXX




As soon as the anthem is over, Katniss makes a beeline out of the Training Center lobby and onto the elevator bank. Moving swiftly, she veers into a car that does not contain Peeta.




The crowd slows the entourages of stylists and mentors and chaperones. Soon, Katniss finds herself alone with only other tributes for company. No one speaks.




The elevator stops to deposit four tributes before she's alone. One quick breath is all she has time for before the doors open on the twelfth floor.




Peeta has only just stepped from his car when she slams her palms into his chest and pushes him towards the wall.




Peeta loses his balance, but the wall breaks his fall. A few inches away from him, an ugly urn filled with fake flowers stands on its pedestal, untouched.  




With Peeta safely out of harm's way, Katniss grabs the urn and smashes it on the floor, shattering it into hundreds of tiny pieces.




Good, she thinks as she takes a step back, I've always hated the damned thing.




"What was that for?" Peeta says, aghast.




"You had no right! No right to go saying those things about me!" Katniss yells at him.




Before Peeta can say anything, the elevators open, and the whole crew is there, Effie, Haymitch, Cinna, and Portia.




"What's going on?" says Effie, a note of hysteria in her voice as she notices the broken urn and Peeta slumped form against the wall. "Did you trip?”




"No," says Peeta pushing himself off the wall to straighten up, "Katniss broke it after she shoved me."




Haymitch turns on Katniss. "Shoved him?"




"This was your idea, wasn't it?" Katniss answers, "Turning me into some kind of fool in front of the entire country?"




"It was my idea," Peeta cuts in. "Haymitch just helped me with it."




The hurt in his eyes guts her, but she can't back down now. This is how she reacted the first time around, and as hard as it is, she knows she has to stick with it.




"Yes, Haymitch is very helpful. To you!" she yells.




"You are a fool," Haymitch says in disgust. "Do you think he hurt you? That boy just gave you something you could never achieve on your own."




"He made me look weak!" Katniss says.




"He made you look desirable! And let's face it, you can use all the help you can get in that department. You were about as romantic as dirt until he said he wanted you. Now they all do. You're all they're talking about. The star-crossed lovers from District Twelve!" says Haymitch.




"But we're not star-crossed lovers!" she says.




Haymitch grabs her shoulders and pins her against the wall. "Who cares? It's all a big show. It's all how you're perceived…"




As Haymitch prattles on about sponsors, Katniss tunes out. She doesn't need to be convinced of anything. She already knows their strategy is the right one.  




As soon as Cinna steps into the conversation, Katniss softens. "I should have been told, so I didn't look so stupid," she grumbles.




"No, your reaction was perfect. If you'd known, it wouldn't have read as real," says Portia.




"She's just worried about her boyfriend," says Peeta gruffly, eyes locked on the shattered urn.




Katniss fixes him with a deadly glare. "I don't have a boyfriend."




"Whatever," says Peeta. "But I bet he's smart enough to know a bluff when he sees it. Besides, you didn't say you loved me. So what does it matter?"




As the words sink in, an old familiar darkness envelops her. This, right here, is what has caused so much pain between them.




Even after all this time and everything they've been through, she has never been able to tell Peeta how she feels about him. Just as she's never told Gale that he's nothing more than a dear friend.




This silence, this reticence, has hurt Peeta over and over again. It's the reason why he pushed her away after their first Game and why President Snow was able to twist his mind and convince him that she was a mutt programmed to kill him.




I need to do better, she thinks. This time around, I need to do more.




Feeling all eyes on her, Katniss turns to Cinna and asks, "After he said he loved me, did you think I could be in love with him, too?"




"I did," says Portia. "The way you avoided looking at the cameras, the blush."




The others chime in, agreeing.




"You're golden, sweetheart," Haymitch adds. "You're going to have sponsors lined up around the block."




Worried that she's going to burst out in tears, she forces herself to acknowledge Peeta. "I'm sorry I shoved you."




"Doesn't matter," he shrugs. "The urn got it worse."




Portia and Cinna's goodnatured laughter diffuses the remaining tension.




"Come on, let's eat," says Haymitch directing everyone towards the delicious smells wafting in from the dining room.




XXXXX




The roof is not lit at night, but as soon as her bare feet reach its tiled surface, she sees his silhouette, black against the lights that shine endlessly in the Capitol.




There's quite a commotion going on down in the streets, music and singing and car horns. Katniss knows she could slip away now without Peeta noticing her; he wouldn't hear her over the din, but that's not what she wants.




Her feet move soundlessly across the tiles. She's only a yard behind him when she says, "You should be getting some sleep."




Peeta starts but doesn't turn, just gives his head a slight shake. "I didn't want to miss the party. It's for us, after all."




She comes up beside him and leans over the edge of the rail. The wide streets are full of dancing people. Squinting to get a better look at them, she asks, "Are they in costumes?"




"Who could tell? With all the crazy clothes they wear here." Turning to her, he asks, "Couldn't sleep, either?"




"Couldn't turn my mind off," she says.




"Thinking about your family?"




"Not exactly," she admits a bit guiltily. After going through two arenas, she's not as worried about Prim and her mother as she once was. She knows they can cope without her. "All I can do is wonder about tomorrow. Which is pointless, of course."




Facing him, she says, "I really am sorry about before."




"It doesn't matter, Katniss," Peeta says.




"I was just upset that you would share something private like that…"




Peeta nods. "I know."




"And, also… I just don't get it. I mean, why would you give me an advantage like that? You're going to need sponsors too, you know?"




Peeta shakes his head. "It won't make a difference. I've never been a contender in these Games. Not really."




Katniss reaches for his hand. "Peeta, that's no way to be thinking."




"Why not? It's true." With the gentlest of touches, Peeta runs his fingers over the back of Katniss's hand. "My best hope is to not disgrace myself and . . ." he hesitates.




With a small squeeze, she silently encourages him to continue.




"I don't know how to say it exactly," Peeta finally says. "Only . . . I want to die as myself. Does that make any sense?"




Katniss swallows thickly.




Once upon a time, she stood there and told him that she didn't understand and —most importantly— that she didn't care. But she's a different person now. She knows exactly what he means and why it matters.




Although she knows what he's getting at, she still needs him to complete his thought. Shyly, she asks, "Do you mean you won't kill anyone?"




"No, when the time comes, I'm sure I'll kill just like everybody else. I can't go down without a fight. Only I keep wishing I could think of a way to . . . to show the Capitol they don't own me. That I'm more than just a piece in their Games," says Peeta.




Her chest tightens at his words. Being back in that moment with him reminds her of everything that’s gone wrong in her life.

Before her mind can wander back into the dark recesses of her pain, she says, "The thing is, Peeta, you're not. None of us are. That's how the Games work."




"OK, but within that framework, there's still you, there's still me," he insists. "Don't you see?"




Katniss nods. She sees, she knows, she understands. What's more, she still can't believe she was ever so blind.




She inches closer to him so he can hear her over the ruckus of the city and the wind chimes.




In her mind, she repeats the little speech she's prepared for this moment. Every year they throw us in an arena and tell us to kill each other, and we do it. But there's a part, deep inside of us, that they don't own, a part that refuses to be pushed around and that will stand up and say, "enough, this is a line I won't cross."




But, once she opens her mouth, the words that slip from her lips are quite different, "I don't have a boyfriend."




Peeta blinks. Once. Twice. "What?"




Katniss bursts out laughing. "I'm sorry, I just…" Bewildered, she covers her face to hide her embarrassment and silently reprimand herself for losing her focus.




With a shake of her head, she straightens up. Her earnest eyes meet Peeta's. "I get what you're saying. They are forcing us to fight for our lives, but they don't get to decide how we go about it, right? We do. At the end of the day, it's up to us. We choose who to attack and who to help, when to face danger and when to hide. "




Peeta nods. "Right." Looking out into the sprawling city, he adds, "I just hope I can make the right choices, you know?"




Katniss sighs. “Yeah, me too.”




Leaning against the railing, Peeta tilts his head to look at her. The playful glint in his eyes is something she hasn't seen in a very long time. "So, you don't have a boyfriend."




Katniss shakes her head, chuckling at the absurdity of the topic.




"What about the guy who took your sister away at the reaping?"




"That's Gale."




"Uh-huh," Peeta's head bobs up and down as he nods. "And Gale is…"




Katniss looks up at him. He's so open, so pure, right now that all her thoughts about plans and strategies melt away. "He's just a friend," she says.




Peeta's smile forms slowly, warm and genuine, a little flirty even. It makes her whole body tingle. "Just a friend, huh? Does he know that?"




Katniss's jaw goes slack. Back in the day, she would have answered with a resounding "yes, of course, he does" but, that answer doesn't really fit the situation. She knows that now. So, instead of throwing her righteous indignation at him, she asks, "What do you mean?"




Peeta shrugs. "I don't know. It's just… I thought you had something with him."




Genuinely intrigued, she asks, "Why?"




"Um," Peeta fills his lungs with crisp Capitol air. As he pushes it out, he says, "You seem to spend a lot of time together. Whenever I see you around town, you're either with him or with Prim. I used to think he was your cousin or something. You favor each other. But then... there was the look."




Katniss frowns. "The look?"




"Yeah." Peeta's shy smile makes another appearance. "He kept glaring at me the other day when we met up by the Meadow." The shocked expression on her face makes him chuckle. "I'm surprised you didn't notice."




"Well," Katniss reaches for the end of her messy braid and begins twisting it around her finger. "I wasn't focusing on him."




Peeta's lips part, but no words come out.




Blushing, Katniss turns to face the city again. "Gale and I hunt together. Our families are close. That's it."




Peeta's gentle touch on her elbow gets her attention. Kind, soft eyes gaze straight into hers when he says, "You know, Katniss, what I said earlier—,"




Impulsively, she leans forward and kisses him, stopping his words.




It takes Peeta half a second to react. In one fluid move, he wraps an arm around her waist and pulls her to him.




His lips meld with hers in a slow, sweet dance.  




After months of pain and sorrow, Katniss finally feels joy. Closing her eyes, she forgets the world and kisses him with abandon.




Peeta's free hand makes its way to the back of her head, where he buries his fingers in her hair to keep her there, rooted in his arms, anchored to him.




Elated, Katniss hums her approval.




This kiss is like the cave and the beach all rolled into one. It's like every happy moment they've ever shared together, every smile, every touch. It's like coming home after a long day, like finding her soul.




That familiar stirring inside her chest, warm and curious, comes back to life. It fills her entire being with want and need, pushing her to explore more. Blindly, she follows.




Holding on to his broad shoulders, Katniss pulls him even closer, pressing herself against his chest until she can feel his heartbeat, strong and steady, beating against her own.

Smiling, Peeta begins raining kisses over her cheeks, her nose, her forehead.




Her skin tingles. Her pulse races. Her heart soars.




I'll keep you safe, she promises, holding on to him like she did back at the beach, back when they were surrounded by mutts and enemies and lies.

With one long sigh, Peeta finally pulls away, pressing his forehead to hers while they both catch their breaths.

In that brief moment of glorious harmony only one thought goes through her mind. Peeta. Every heartbeat is like a reminder. He's back, he's here, he's mine.

Glancing up, she finds his eyes, dark and dazed, and she knows. Whatever this is, Peeta feels it too. He always has.  




"Katniss—,"




"No," she interrupts again, placing her fingers on his lips to quiet him. She hates what she's about to do, but she doesn't have a choice.




She takes a step away from him and immediately feels lost. "You have a plan for tomorrow, right?"




Peeta's face falls at the sudden reminder of why they're there. He nods.




Reaching forward, Katniss brushes the hair back from his forehead in one last tender caress. "That's what you need to focus on, OK? Just think about—,"




"Staying alive?" Peeta finishes, a crooked grin pulling at the corner of his mouth.  




Katniss cups his cheek. "Exactly." Her heart skips a beat when he leans into her touch, but she still insists, "This doesn't change anything that happens tomorrow, Peeta. It can't."




"I know," he says, covering her hand with his and pressing a kiss to her palm. "It just changes everything that's happened until today."




Katniss bites her lip and nods. Peeta's right. Even for her, things are dramatically different now. There's so much more at stake. She knows where they stand, and she's no longer running away from him and the things he makes her feel.




Rising to the tips of her toes, she kisses him one last time. "See you tomorrow," she says.




Then, she walks away.