#cato to brutus

[tiodolma]

Morgana: This servant would deliver me naked to the arms of my enemy.

Merlin: This servant wants you to live!

Morgana: So you take away my sword, you take away the choice. When did I go mad that you have to take choices from me for my own protection? Why don’t you bind my hands as well so I can’t defend myself at all?

[o1iveangel]

beautiful round romans :)

[lost-in-beacon-hills]

I think at this point everyone has different opinions on each of the Districts and honestly I love that. It's so fun to read people's thoughts.

(I'm sure I'm not the first person to think or say this but) I have a theory on why District One/Two win so many of the games beyond just being Volunteers in a game full of people going in blind.

It's something I've thought heavily about and even incorporated into my own fanfics.

But District One, I think, they win by raising their volunteers to be pretty. They train them to fight, yes, but I think they pull sponsors by making their kids "sexy." In both the book and movie, Glimmer is heavily sexualized. In the book, she's in a sheer gown that shows everything. In the movie, they tone it down but still show quite a bit of her body during the interview. Even the two victors we get to hear a little more about (Cashmere and Gloss) are mentioned to be pretty. Despite being a sibling duo, they're incredibly popular within the Capitol.

But even after they get 'popular' they don't turn down their attractiveness. She still dresses pretty with make up and smiles like she's been taught to do. He's still beefy and hot. You would think if they had any bodily autonomy they would start to tone themselves down in order to get away from the sex slavery.

I think sex appeal is what makes them a victor. Literally. People 'sponsor' them in the hopes of getting to fuck them. They get told that these people are who they're indebted to and most likely are forced into sex as a way to 'repay' them. Everyone says if Glimmer had won she would become the next Cashmere. Which is true. But no one points out how this is planned and a tactic that one consistently uses. Once they win they realize how fucked they are. They don't know they shouldn't want to win until it's over. It's too late to back out. Part of why Cashmeres life is devastating is because Gloss knew what was coming and he wanted better for her. But it happened away. And now they're stuck repaying the Capitol with their bodies.

In Two I think they raise fighters. They put all their effort into skill, endurance and survival. Out of all of the districts I think they do the best at giving them a chance. They make sure they send the best trained, the most skilled and the smartest. Clove is such a good example of this. She never missed her target. (Except for when Katniss moved the backpack making her miss). She was brilliant. Cato too. He was strong and a fantastic fighter. They only lost because the story demanded Katniss win. Hell there's so many moments where Katniss almost dies at their hands only to **magically** get away. (Thresh owing her, tracker jacker nest, not seeing her a few feet away) all of it. They weren't stupid meat heads. They were warriors. Children raised to kill.

I think they delbrately send plain victors. They don't want want to send "pretty" kids. They tone down any sort of beauty their tributes have. One of my favorite examples is Enobaria. She's pretty. And I think that's her downfall. It's mentioned in the series that she wins by ripping another tributes throat out with her teeth. (A popular theory is she was raped and used the very last thing she had in order to get away.) But she ends up getting her teeth filed down. While a lot of people think it was the Capitol, I believe it was her mentors. They filed them down, knowing she wouldn't be able to be raped again. I mean, who would have sex with her knowing one wrong move and you could be dead? She can bite your dick off in seconds if she wanted to. (Not to say she doesn't get booked) It would sway a lot of people away. I think much like Haymitch fighting against Katniss's breast implants, her mentors fought to get her teeth sharpened.

If they're able to I believe Two will alter the victors in order to make them less desirable. One plays it up, Two tones it down winning off skill and merit alone. Any sponsors they get isn't driven by sex.

It's why they win so much, and why the other districts have such a hard time getting sponsors.

I also think that District Four, the last of the career pack, has it's own way of creating victors. They send tributes like the rest but I think they do something different from the rest. My own headcanon is that they send orphans. It's fucked up but if I remember correctly they never mention Finnick having family.

I think they take the kids with nowhere else to go and put them in a training center. Whoever scores the best goes that year. Unluckily for Finnick, he was picked at 14. He was attractive, and part of me thinks Mags played into that to give him the advantage, thinking he didn't have family to leverage. It would have been fine, but then Annie happened. They use her as a control tactic.

I also think Finnick is the reason it was a one and done on leaning into the sex appeal. It fucked him over. Annie was pretty too but she wasn't used. (No one has ever said ah yes she's crazy let's just not rape her, fuckwads do it anyways.) But I think Mags learned from her mistake and played Annie down. Made her less pretty like they do in Two.

It's fucked. The entire system is fucked. But I think each 'career' district creates winners any way they can. No one in Four would volunteer they're disillusioned unlike one and two. So why not send the kids who have nothing, no one to come back to? In Two why not train them and maim them after to keep them safer? In One why not make them fuckable to win? They won't understand until its too late?

Maybe I've overthought this. Probably have. Idk. Just a thought.

[atefingersdagger]

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I wonder if the tributes who trained and volunteered for the Hunger Games are called "Careers" for a more symbolic reason. Yes, it makes sense from the standpoint that a career in of itself means a long-term occupation (training) that pays off with success (the Games).

But when I think of the word "career," it reminds me of when I was a kid and constantly asked what I wanted to do, expected to have it all figured out so early in life. These tributes are kids who are expected to know and be content with a life path. One that will ultimately destroy them.

Also, they are trained and brainwashed in the way people are trained up to believe they need to be a part of a certain workforce, that they must be okay with slaving away like a worker is told everyday under today's capitalism. That it is what it is, and they must prepare to sacrifice themselves for a job (i.e., being a tribute)

Or maybe it's just not that deep.

[mooingwithmidnight]

One thing about me is I’m always gonna defend the Careers. What do you mean you don’t see the tragedy in kids so heavily brainwashed they think being forced to murder other kids is an honor? What do you mean you don’t think about how terrifying it must be for Career victors when the illusion breaks but they survive? What do you mean you don’t see the parallels between the 74th and 75th Careers and lose your mind?

[burnerofstars]

Somewhere in Panem with the victors the 74th year

Katniss climbing the tree

Gloss: Really Haymitch, this is the girl that got an 11 as a training score??

Cato falls

Haymitch: At least she got up the fuckin tree.

Cashmere: It’s fine someone else will get her.

None if the carriers climbing

Enobaria: You gotta be kidding me.

Johanna and Finnick join on the couch

Johanna: Even Finnick’s kids could climb a fucking tree,

Finnick hiding laughter

Brutus: At least our kids made it past the blood bath, can’t say the same for either of yours.

Johanna: I bet you wish they’d kept one of mine around right about now.

Gloss: its fine, she’s a sitting duck, they can just shoot her, its not like she can dodge it, or move.

Glimmer misses shot

Haymitch: Did that girl ever hit any target with her arrow? Because mine did.

Cashmere: We told her to grab a short distance weapon, she has no aim.

Enobaria: that’s embarrassing, for the careers. Cato will get her, he doesn’t miss.

Cato fires arrow and misses

Brutus: Oh my god, I can’t watch this, im getting second hand embarrassment.

Haymitch: Can none of your kids climb a tree???

Cashmere: I guess not.

Marvel throws spear and misses

Finnick: None of them can aim either, this is just sad

Peeta: lets wait her out, she has to come down at some point.

Haymitch laughing hysterically,

Some time later

Katniss starting to cut down tracker jackers

Gloss: Did all our kids seriously fall asleep,

Cashmere rubbing her temples: Yea, they did

Johanna: Who sleeps that heavily in the arena??? Shes making so much noise how are they not awake?

Enobaria: She’s gonna die from those jackers before that nest falls,

Nest falls and careers scatter

Brutus: I need another drink,

Glimmer dies

Johanna: HAH HOW DOES IT FEEL HAVING YOUR CAREER BE TAKEN OUT BY THE DISTRICT 12 GIRL!

Cashmere: no comment,

Some more time later

Katniss plots with rue to blow up food

Gloss: they aren’t gonna fall for that.

They fall for it

Haymitch: you were saying?

Enobaria: This year sucks

Katniss kills Marvel

Johanna (drunk) : HAH BOTH OF YOUR TRIBUTES TAKEN OUT BY THE 12 GIRL!

Gloss: Ok im leaving now.

Cashmere: yea i think im also gonna head out…

Johanna (drunk): LOOSERS HAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

Finnick: ok Jo, come on, that’s enough for you,

Takes her alcohol

Johanna: no fairrrr, you never take Haymitch’s alcohol

Haymitch: he knows not to mess with me

Finnick: Every time you get drunk, you end up in a fist fight, or breaking something, or both, Haymitch just passes out.

Johanna: OH WHAT YOU WANNA FIGHT LETS FIGHT!

Finnick picks Jo up and carries her to the elevator as she continues screaming and fighting

Haymitch to Brutus and Enobaria: Haha, your tributes arent as cool as mineeee,

Brutus: at least our girl doesn’t look like she wants to vomit getting close to her supposed lover.

Finnick returns

Enobaria: that was fast?

Finnick: I locked her in her bathroom,

Haymitch: Didn’t she just break down the door last time?

Finnick: I handcuffed one of her hands to the pipes and the other to the door.

Elevator doors open revealing Johanna, drenched in water, still handcuffed to a pipe, and the door.

Finnick: I give up. *sits down*

Brutus: what the fuck is wrong with you.

Both Finnick and Jo simultaneously: A lot.

[clovemaysilee]

i actually loved the original movie casting of the careers because those were really good actors (Isabelle fuhrman's clove, as we know, basically raised me and shaped my thg experience) but I will say there should've been more people of color in the career pack for many reasons including how the whole model minority experience of being raised in a culture that has high expectations on you to perform well and make the family proud/their sacrifices worth it pairs amazingly with the entire concept of career district culture.

[solar-halos]

ways i think thg characters would get (social media) famous (a very mixed batch of modern au/canon compliant hcs)

• i’ve mentioned this before but finnick would get very popular singing popular songs in his caesar flickerman impression. “hellomy nameiscaesarflickerman. and this is MY COVER of espresso by my late greatgreatgreatgreat grandmother sabrina carpenter” (inspo: this fucking guy. this is exactly my type of humor bc i laughed so fucking hard at this when i first saw it i couldn’t breathe. anyway onto the rest of the post)

• because alt/goth annie owns my heart, she is making get ready with mes that are completely silent save for the pitter patter of her feet (inspo: malloryheartsyou). however one day she drops a five hour analysis on her fav piece of media and everyone freaks out over the sound of her voice

• brutus and gloss are the token guy best friends that everyone is weird about who sit in their rooms and watch stupid movies and give even stupider commentary

• cashmere is doing a little bit of everything! baking, makeup, sewing you name it. i feel like when she’s not in the capitol she just tries to stay busy (inspo: mia maples! love her our diy queen)

• glimmer THRIVES on doing shorts on how she thrift flips her clothes into something y2k inspired. she also makes questionable items into the cutest items ever (inspo for last part: this fashionista original diva. love her southern twang)

• clove is doing her makeup while telling crazy fucking stories “yeah he cheated on me—“ *checks her lipgloss, dabs at the excess “—so i drove his car off a cliff. while he was in it. i am excellent with a snorkel”

• cato is saying something stupid as fuck for views + comments. “isn’t it crazy how there isn’t a single color that starts with an O and ends with a E?” “women have it one day out of the year, but men have it all the time. what is it?” “there are no words that rhyme with pillow”

• johanna would have a podcast talking about various conspiracy theories like she believes them. sometimes finnick joins her and he continues the bit

• beetee is just straight up matpat. i dont think i have to link him but specifically his fnaf era. idk something about him making passionate youtube videos defending arguments he didn’t even believe with his life is just very young adult beetee to me that guy would be contrarian just for the sake of it

[allisluv]

hate hate HATE how much careers are forgotten.

finnick, annie, cato and clove get ALL the spotlight but i swear everyone forgets about:

enobaria

brutus

glimmer

marvel

cashmere (partly)

gloss

glimmer and marvel are only really mentioned in the clato fandom. i have seen cashmere in a fair few fics but not gloss. and enobaria does NOT deserve to be forgotten. everyone forgets that she held out and survived for so long in the 75th games and survived the rebellion, and her reward was to be a fucking footnote?

🟡 anon

and i think we forget how much trauma the careers went through too. why does no one talk about the fact they were basically brainwashed, and then won the games only to find out they were lied to their entire lives! my girlfriend and i are always talking about this so if you have any more thoughts i'd love to hear it!

[duxfemina]

*Ides

Damn autocorrect

[o1iveangel]

and we’re back again

[lost-in-beacon-hills]

Rating Hunger Games ships (on personal preferance) I tried to find gifs but there's like none for most of them :(((

10. Katniss x Finnick

I'm sorry I know everyone loves Finnick x Annie but we saw very little of her and I think him and Katniss would have been such a fun pairing. I found myself wishing Finnick paid more attention to her. Although I do love their friendship. 8 out of 10

9. Peeta x Clove

I'm soft at the idea of them. It's like everlark in a different font. She's closed off and I just know that under the right circumstances he'd be in love with her. 9 out of 10

8. Johanna x Cashmere

Kinda crack ship but I want to write a fic for these two. Enemies to lovers meets hateful lesbians. I can't read Johanna as anything other than Lesbain Ace. Cashmere would definitely have a soft spot for her. 100 out of 10

7. Foxface x Thresh

I love the idea of it. She's cunning and he's strong. They would have made the cutest couple. Plus look at him, he's a cutie patootie. 10 out of 10

6. Cato x Clove

They were canon. Can't tell me I'm wrong because they just were. 10 out of 10

5. Glimmer x Clove

I love lesbian Glimmer. That girl loves girls and it makes me so happy. Plus I really like them just growing together. Imagine them as friends even. I need it. 50 out of 10

4. Brutus x Enobaria

Controversial I know. But despite the age gap they would be codependent and each other's other half. I love them so much. (I like to think they spend years together as mentors before even looking at each other. She's well into her 20s or 30s before they even date) 10 out of 10

3. Haymitch x Effie

They're the sweetest. Effie is a darling and Haymitch cherishes her. 9 out of 10

2. Katniss x Peeta

The book was fucking perfect and I will accept nothing less. I don't even need fanfic to read. The original story makes me that happy. It's perfect. 1000 out of 10

1. Cato x Katniss

I go feral for these bitches. The book scene really hammered it home for me. She was always talking about the boy from two. She notices him a lot. He dies because of her in a horrible way. I need them to get a good ending. Plus he deserved so much better. (And also I'm a huge Alexander Ludwig Stan. Sue me.) Infinity out of 10

[atefingersdagger]

Passed the Deadline - new au on ao3

Tributes from the ages 18 to 30 are to be reaped for the third 3rd Quarter Quell.

(The 75th Games, but this time, the tributes from the 74th are adults. An AU, obviously)

Read here:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/64434193/chapters/165441958

-

The Quarter Quell starts here, where tributes from the ages of eighteen to thirty are to be reaped and thrown into the annual fight to the death. A special rule change for this year alone. He does find this unfair to a degree, but he won’t complain about it when it's a new opportunity for many.

Usually, it’s twelve to eighteen that are pulled from the giant glass bowls. One for the men and one for the women for each district. Cato expects many possible volunteers who missed the deadline at nineteen and beyond; those who didn’t raise their hands first, yell loud enough or couldn’t make it to the stage of the Justice building. That is what dictates who gets to participate.

@clatoisms @mariigoldzz @spiralling-thoughts @bloodmoon-spades @ylvisruinedmylife @dhaampyr @tryingssss (you don't have to read it, just spreading the word <3)

[enlitment]

Top 5 favorite historical events 👀

Oo, good one! Thanks for the ask ✨

1. The Ides of March

Apart from being a beloved Tumblr holiday, I just find the whole event so interesting! Few times in history have had such a lasting cultural impact (hello, statue of Brutus at the National Convention!).

Plus it's so wonderfully morally grey, which you can see from the different perception of Brutus throughout history (burning in lowest circle of Dante's hell vs. being hailed as a hero by the French revolutionaries).

Was it the right thing to do? It was an act of extreme violence, and the republic was arguably beyond saving anyway, as became clear later. Does it mean it was the wrong thing to do though? I'm definitely not qualified to answer that. But it is an interesting question to think about, which makes this event one of my favourites.

(Plus the whole thing kind of reads like an ancient tragedy, since it could be read as Brutus (& co) killing someone who was essentially a father figure to him, but also was widely known to have slept with his mother. Hamlet who?)

2. Camille rallying the crowds at Palais Royal

I'm a sucker for a good epic moment, and this is certainly one of them. Camille leaping on the table and overcoming his stutter to address the crowd of dissatisfied Parisians, inspiring them to take action? Yes please!

(not to mention that any event that demonstrates the power that words can have is going to be automatically interesting in my book.)

3. The Servilia Letter Affair

Situated during the late Roman Republic after the Catiline conspiracy, it's another hilarious evidence of the fact that poor Cato the Younger simply couldn't catch a break.

For those uninitiated: as Cato and Caesar were arguing about what kind of punishment is appropriate for the conspirators wanting to overthrow the consul, a mysterious letter was delivered to Caesar, right in the senate. Cato suspected that there was something foul going on, something that could potentially link Caesar - Cato's oponent - to the conspiracy that was just being discussed. He therefore seized the letter from Caesar and insisted he will read its contents out loud, in front of everyone. Doesn't sound all that unreasonable, right? ...except the document in question just happened to be a steamy, in Plutarch's words "unchaste" love-letter to Caesar, written by none other than Cato's own half-sister, Servilia.* Yikes. Cato apparently proceeded to then throw the letter back to Caesar, saying: "Take it, thou sot." Iconic.

* who was also Brutus' mother. See, it's all connected!

4. Publishing of the Éncyclopedie

I just love studying the Age of Enlightenment as a whole, but I think the Éncyclopedie is perhaps the best embodiment of all of the things the era was about. I like learning about the Éncyclopedistes - their petty personal dramas are fun to read about, but I also like the fact that what fuelled the project was a (mostly) genuine desire to educate people and make human knowledge more readily available to the masses.

Also look what I came across while in Verona!! ->

5. Women's March on Versailles

A great reminder that women can be a strong political force and that their place in history should not be overlooked! Though it was not necessarily a women-only event, it clearly shows just how much of a significant role women (and working class people in general) played in the French Revolution.

[askclato]

Clove: Fight me!

Cato: Ha! Look at your size! What are you gonna do, kick me in the ankle?

[Later]

Brutus: Why is Cato quivering on the ground crying?

Enobaria: Clove kicked him very hard in the ankle.

[clovemaysilee]

thinking about the careers and how much fun they'd have in very specific environments doing jobs that align with their personalities (especially since one of the many problems all of the characters suffer from is the complete lack of choice in literally anything, including what job they actually want to take).

cato would have loved the military (I know nothing about being in the military other than what my best friend has told me about her dad who was in the navy). the physical activity and strict routine are probably similar to training in canon, he has a loyal dog vibe where he likes taking orders, his traits of loyalty and leadership and persistence would serve him well. this isn't even just because district 2 was a military district, he literally has the vibe that he would totally be in the army if given the choice. important off topic note: he would look delicious in dog tag necklaces and it should have been him wearing those, not c*riolanus snow.

clove should be somewhere in the medical field, not necessarily out of compassion but because of her tireless competitiveness and stamina. she's fascinated by human anatomy, has a no-nonsense attitude and lack of fear of bodily fluids that would make her great in this setting. I know she would love sticking needles in people and extracting their blood. nursing requires more bedside manner and she is insensitive as hell so she would choose to work as a correctional nurse at a prison (aka one of my favorite ideas for a clato AU with Cato as a felon doing time for some heinous crime). I also see her choosing the medical school route so that she can be the one cutting open someone's heart one day as a cardiothoracic surgeon.

i don't think about marvel that often but based on his charm - mainly thanks to how jack quaid played him - and boyish sense of humor, I can see him as a comedian. I have no idea how much those people get paid to tell jokes on a stage but he'd be good at it.

glimmer would thrive as a social media influencer. just think about that charm and smile and her joyful, sociable personality!! the vibes of her channel are all about using it to support and empower the GirliesTM. she would love doing makeup tutorials and whatever else it is YouTube girls do. she'd fight off/ignore accusations of being vapid by using her content to spread joy.

continuing on to the careers not from the 74th:

enobaria would love a career that is similar to the ones I picked out for cato and clove. with that woman's attitude and high ponytail, she looks like she should be a military leader (I think those are called generals or commanders or lieutenants or something?) or some kind of emergency first responder, like an EMT. imagine her working at the same hospital as clove, and depending on if they have a similar job, being her mentor!! brutus 100% is like, a former navy SEAL or something. i'm completely blanking on gloss right now lol, with those arms and alan ritchson's size maybe he's a personal trainer. cashmere having a sister-channel in collaboration with glimmer's and they often pair up since the content they produce is so similar. annie is a career TO ME and she also belongs somewhere in the healthcare professions. according to the annie ceo @ongreenergrasses she would succeed as a midwife.