#darius hunger games imagine

[indigosuvi]

If Only

age in bio when interacting. minors do not interact.

Word Count: 502 | Read it on AO3

Summary: Nothing but sex here with Darius.

Your hands were on his abs. Slowly, you began to slide your hands up, feeling his body. Your hands rested on his shoulders. His blue eyes are watching your every movement. His eyes want you to keep going. He wanted to tell you to keep going. He wanted to tease you. There were so many things he wanted to tell you, but he never could. You ran your fingers through his messy red hair. He tilted his head up, and you moved in, your lips connected with his neck. He let out a moan, and then you started to move your hips up and down. He opened his mouth, his moan louder than before. You sat up, and your hands slowly traced the muscle of his biceps. You continued moving your hips up and down. Darius put his hands on your hips and helped you to move. Every so often, he would thrust up into you, and you would let out a moan. Darius smiled as he continued watching you. He enjoyed every moment he had with you. If it wasn't for his lack of a tongue, he would flirt with you. It didn't matter that you had been together for months. He had been a flirtatious person before his punishment. You continued bouncing up and down on his cock. Your noises filled the air, and Darius sat back, watching you enjoy yourself. When you came, Darius would soon follow after. Your movements soon slowed, and Darius kissed your neck. Your hand was in his hair and the other one was on his shoulder. He continued to kiss and gently nibble at your neck. You bit your lip, and when he finally stopped, you spoke.

"Let's go again." You breathed out.

Darius moved, so that you were lying down. His hands were on your hips. He slowly rubbed himself against you, the best that he could do at teasing. He continued rubbing himself against you until you began to whine and beg him to be inside of you. He slid himself inside of you and slowly began to thrust his hips back and forth. As time went on, his thrusting only became more intense. He went harder and faster. You were both moaning, and Darius always kept his eyes on you. He knew you could speak, and you would tell him if anything was wrong. However, he couldn't help but sometimes forget that he was the one who couldn't speak. He slid out and thrust himself into you, hard, causing you to moan out, and Darius continued. Your hands grasped his wrists as he continued to thrust. Once you had cum, Darius came and stayed inside of you, before eventually pulling out. He laid next to you and wrapped an arm around your body. His breathing was hard, but he tried his best to control it. It wasn't easy. It never was. He lost his tongue for standing up for what was right. The capitol never liked anyone that stood against them.

© SUVIDRACHE — do not copy, translate, modify, or plagiarize my work. reblogs are appreciated!

[smallpapers]

The Owl House + Lumity + Hunger Games AU??? Idk LMAO I’m still on a THG kick after rereading/watching the whole trilogy!!

Some thoughts on the AU under the cut

Okay so this is a stupid idea but I’m just having fun with it. Obviously it won’t follow the hunger games directly because the situation and characters are different, but some stuff kinda connects!!

Katniss and Peeta= Luz and Amity

Prim & Ms Everdeen & buttercup = Vee and Camilla and King

The Mellarks = Odalia (fitting!), Alador, and Ed + Em (fits since both Peet and Ami have two older siblings). I don’t think they’d run a bakery though, but something abomination related that fits here.

Haymitch = Eda

Madge = Gus??

Gale = I’m afraid there’s no Gale equivalent here because it doesn’t make sense in this AU, and I’m not a fan of love triangles anyway.

Effie = Hooty. This is funny to me. the peak of my fanart career

Cinna and Portia = Darius and Eberwolf

Senecca Crane = Kiki

Snow = Belos obviously

Ceasar = Adrian

Plutarch = Raine

Finnick = Hunter

Annie or Johanna ish situation = Willow??

Coin = ummm either Lilith or Collector hm

Anyways I kept the human and witch ears because I thought that could be an interesting tie with the Merchants vs Seam. And Amity’s hair is fully green in the interview scene because she got her grown roots dyed during the makeover! In this scenario I imagine Odalia would make her children dye funky hair colours in hopes of getting into the ‘capitol’ equivalent, which I guess is the Emperors Coven.

Also instead of girl on fire, Luz would have some ‘light’ related title.

[f1llory]

i know this all started like 11 years ago but i'm still so mad at how the hunger games movies have removed practically every trace of the avoxes that they can. i know that movies can't include everything from the books, but the avoxes are so important to the story and it does a real disservice to the movies by removing them. also, it would have added maybe a couple minutes per movie to include them the way they were in the books.

there are mentions of them here and there, and we do see lavinia briefly, but the only avox who's there in any meaningful way is pollux. and they couldn't take him out of the movie! not only is he important to include with the camera crew, he has to be there because he's the one who leads the group through the tunnels. if it were possible to cut him out of mockingjay, i think they would have.

removing so many scenes with lavinia genuinely detracted from my enjoyment of the first movie. especially witnessing her capture & carrying the guilt about it. when there are avoxes waiting on her, katniss does treat them politely, but i think it would have been so important & impactful to see her truly recognizing lavinia and her humanity and trying to communicate with her like anyone else. fixing this probably wouldn't add more than like 5 minutes to the runtime, but it would be such an improvement.

and don't even get me started with darius being removed from the movies. maybe he shows us a little less about katniss's character than lavinia would, but the mentions of him in catching fire add so much to our imagination of the hob and illustrate just how different peacekeepers were in district 12. this is also the first time this has happened to someone katniss actually knows. i think this would take maybe a minute and a half to fix? at most. really all we would need to see is darius talking to katniss in the hob, then being one of the peacekeepers getting captured when thread takes over.

obviously they kept pollux in because they literally couldn't remove him from mockingjay. i don't really have any complaints about his portrayal in the movies, which is kind of surprising given how passionate i am about him. also, the movie actually portrayed castor's death better than the book! it wasn't really in the book, basically castor was there and then he wasn't. so the movie version has a lot more impact.

also, it sucks that we didn't get to hear what happened to lavinia and darius. i always have intense second-hand embarrassment at the fact that in the book, peeta realizes pollux is an avox then immediately starts trauma dumping about seeing lavinia and darius tortured to death. if it were done as written in the movie, i might have experienced literal physical pain. but at the same time, i think it's very important that katniss finds out what happened to them. also in the books, squad 451 hears all the avoxes in the tunnels screaming as the mutts kill them. i feel like that would have been really easy to add in.

anyways we are moving on before i write an entire dissertation on pollux.

it was even worse in tbosas! the movie cut the scene where snow sees dr. gaul experimenting on and torturing avoxes. it would have been absolutely horrifying to see that translated to the screen, but it's incredibly important to snow's character development and his transformation into someone who both allows and perpetuates that cruelty. also, justice for ma plinth! i think it would have been incredible to see more of her and the way she treats people. in the book, she is so kind and caring to the avoxes working in her house. they're able to communicate with her, and she cooks food that will be easy for them to eat. since treating the avoxes as remotely human is so unusual, treating them with such love and respect is a revolutionary act, and goes to show what kind of person sejanus was raised to be. i know that this would add quite a bit to the runtime, but it probably should have been two movies anyways.

i know that side/background characters are cut from movies all the time. it happens. but even without getting a lot of lines, the avoxes are incredibly important to the story. these are people who have been enslaved, tortured, and dehumanized more than basically anyone else in panem. once characters truly see the avoxes, they're forced to confront the true brutality of the capitol and what they'll do to keep people in line. i think the movies don't truly force audiences to confront the brutality of this punishment. any rebellion is punished by literally robbing people of their voices and cutting them off from everything they've known. even if there's someone left to buy their freedom, they're physically disfigured for life--even removal of part of the tongue can have catastrophic side effects.

also, characters' perceptions of avoxes can say a lot about the kind of person they are. avoxes are the lowest class in panem, and treated with about as much agency as a piece of furniture. people aren't supposed to treat them like people. they're only supposed to talk to avoxes when giving them an order. despite this, there are certain characters who choose to show them kindness and love.

anyways i'm gonna end this here before i write a post so long it crashes tumblr but pls ask me literally anything about pollux i am in love w him <3

[thgfanfictionlibrary]

Teen and Up Rated Fics Masterlist (52)

Part 1- Part 48 / Part 49 / Part 50 / Part 51 /

Created: May 13th, 2024

Last Checked:—-

100 Channels and Nothing On-IzzySamson (ao3) Summary: Prompt- Katniss watches Capitol TV for the first time since coming home. Re-runs of the Games is on—Katniss’s Games. How does she deal with it, when it is showing on nearly every channel? 100 Tributes-JennaGill, Lbug84 (ao3) Summary: Peeta arrives home to some strange noises... 74th Hunger Games Challenge: We Always Were-jamiesommers (ao3) Summary: In this A/U story Katniss and Peeta go into the Games as a couple. It is based on the book, the movie, and a hell of a lot of my imagination. Since it is written in multiple POV's you'll be able to see what was happening in District 12 during the Tribute Parade, and what was going on at the Capitol during the Games. The Sequels are Catching Fire: Rekindling and Mockingjay: Broken Wings.  A Dare & A Date-JHsgf82 (ao3) Summary: Modern AU. Katniss is dared by her friends to watch a horror movie in the theater alone (and she hates them!). Little does she know she'll come home with far more than a movie ticket stub as proof of her evening. A Knock on the Door-JavisTG (ao3) Summary: “Soon after I go to bed, there’s a quiet knock on my door, but I ignore it. I don’t want Peeta tonight. Especially not with Darius around.” CF p220 Canon divergent. What if Katniss had opened the door? A Lubricated Conversation-icbiwf (ao3) Summary: Set pre-CF. The Victory Tour is fast approaching, and Haymitch has decided that Katniss and Peeta need to talk. Katniss needs to get some things off her chest. Peeta needs to be brought down a peg or two. And Haymitch really, really needs a drink. Better Together-JavisTG (ao3) Summary: The war is over. Prim is alive. What happens if Katniss doesn’t go back to District 12 after the war. Bound TwoGether-JHsgf82 (ao3) Summary: (AU) Autumn Everdeen and Dawn Mellark meet at an archery and survival skills camp. Even though their resemblance is uncanny, they've never met before, and they don't exactly like one another. Through a series of pranks and hijinks, they are forced together, and they bond, only to discover a secret...they're sisters! But not just sisters, identical twins! Each desiring to spend time with their other parent, and possibly get the idiots, who so obviously still love one another, back together, Autumn and Dawn come up with a cunning ruse. Based on "The Parent Trap." Dancing Under the Snow.-JavisTG (ao3) Summary: I open my eyes. The pale winter morning sun floods the room. Outside a soft flurry is coming down, the sunshine bounces off the snowflakes and makes them look like dancing falling stars. It's the shortest day of the year. Katniss wakes up in Peeta's arms. Delly's Present - A Bilingual Everlark One-Shot-JavisTG (ao3) Summary: Peeta Mellark just spent the last three months learning to speak Spanish. The certificate in his hand says he's ready to carry out a conversation but, is he ready to speak to the gorgeous shop-owner across the street?

[heavensbeehall]

"The Hunger Games", Chapter 6 & 7

Buy the book here.

Part 1: The Tributes

Chapter 6 & 7 -- The Tributes get rooms in the Tribute Center. Effie thinks Peeta and Katniss are pearls. The showers in the Capitol are weird (not sure a current through the scalp to detangle hair could work?). Katniss meets Lavinia again. Peeta covers for her. She confides to him. Katniss learns about force fields (for next book!).

In Chapter 7, Peeta and Katniss talk each other up to Haymitch. Katniss slams the door to her room, like any good YA protagonist. Training begins with the other Tributes. Rue follows District 12. Katniss doesn't like pretending to be friends with Peeta or how the Gamemakers ignore her. She shoots her shot and is not dismissed.

Questions:

-- Katniss is always describing food that sounds good. I have never had goose liver? Should I?

-- Would you flee the Capitol if you were born there? I think I'd like to believe I would. Or at least be part of the Underground Resistance. But if the Hunger Games was my only form of entertainment, the worst version of me might just binge watch all the seasons.

-- Why so many redheads in Panem (Lavinia, Foxface, later Darius, Annie, Mags as a girl, and most of the District 4 tributes in the films)? They are only 2% of our current population. It seems like there was some kind of ginger population explosion during the end of the world.

Quote:

And apparently, I have not been as oblivious to him as I imagined, either. The flour. The wrestling. I have kept track of the boy with the bread.

[black-dhalias]

Masterlist

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[mtk4fun]

Katniss Everdeen’s Mental Health Toolbox

I’ve probably read The Hunger Games trilogy at least a dozen times now. And what’s become more and more apparent to me with every reading is the vast quantities of mental health advice that author Suzanne Collins has woven throughout the books. In these particular times, it might be useful to remind ourselves of the things that helped Katniss survive the circumstances she endured. Below is a compilation in no particular order. Katniss pays attention to the good. So I focus on the one really good thing that’s happened since I landed in the arena. I have a bow and arrows! (THG p. 19)

She uses self-talk to calm herself. I use a technique one of the doctors suggested. I start with the simplest things I know to be true and work toward the more complicated. The list rolls in my head…

My name is Katniss Everdeen. I am seventeen years old. My home is in District 12. I was in the Hunger Games. I escaped. The Capitol hates me. Peeta has been taken prisoner. He is thought to be dead. Most likely he is dead. It is probably for the best if he is dead… (Mockingjay p. 4)

She mentally stops scary thoughts until she is better able to deal with them. I push the thought (about Cinna’s death) away because it’s impossibly painful to dwell on without losing my fragile hold on the situation entirely. (Mockingjay p. 12)

She uses activity as a distraction. “Want to hear them do a real song?” I burst out. Anything to stop those memories. (Mockingjay p. 122)

He (Finnick) sits under the safety light in his space, knotting his rope, not even pretending to rest…“The more you can distract yourself, the better, he says.” (Mockingjay 154 &156)

She uses happy memories to calm her troubled spirit. I sit on the side of my bed (after discovering Darius is an Avox), elbows on my knees, forehead on my fists, and watch the glowing suit in the darkness, imagining I am in my old home in District 12, huddled beside the fire. (Mockingjay p. 218-219)

She uses the technique of acting “as if” to give her courage. I want to run away...But there’s no one here but me. I try to capture the calm demeanor my mother assumes when handling particularly bad cases. (THG p. 256)

She stills her fears through sensory means. I know velvet because my mother has a dress with a collar made of the stuff. When I sit on the (velvet) couch, I can’t help running my fingers over the fabric repeatedly. It helps to calm me…(THG p. 34)

I sit back on my bed cross-legged and find myself rubbing the smooth iridescent surface of the pearl back and forth across my lips. For some reason it’s soothing. (Mockingjay p. 33)

She recognizes that physical touch brings comfort in times of distress. Finally, Gale is here and maybe there is nothing romantic between us, but when he opens his arms I don’t hesitate to go in. His body is familiar to me. (THG p. 38)

…the warmth of Rue at my side, her head cradled on my shoulder, have given me a sense of security. I realize, for the first time, how very lonely I’ve been in the arena. How comforting the presence of another human being can be. (THG p. 209)

We manage the darkness as we did in the arena wrapped in each other’s arms, guarding against danger that can descend at any moment. (CF p.72 )

I wake screaming from nightmares of mutts and lost children. But his arms are there to comfort me. (Mockingjay p. 388)

She recognizes that she has emotions and takes an inventory of them. I dig around inside myself, trying to register anger, hatred, longing. I only find relief. (Mockingjay p. 384)

She feels her grief. Out of nowhere, the tears begin to pour down my cheeks. “She’s dead.” (Mockingjay p. 386)

She spends time in nature, relishing its healing properties. The woods became our savior, and each day I went a bit further into its arms. (THG p. 51)

We could be above ground. Out in the woods. We could be ourselves again. (Mockingjay p. 36)

It is the old Katniss’s favorite kind of day. The woods awakening after the long winter. (Mockingjay p. 385)

She understands that after loss basic necessities, familiar belongings, and pets can bring comfort. …there were more than enough clean, white living compartments (for the refugees from District 12), plenty of clothing, and three meals a day…..They were safe. They were being cared for. (Mockingjay p. 8)

My mother hugs the wedding photo tightly against her chest and then places it, along with the book of plants, on our government-issued chest of drawers. I hang my father’s jacket on the back of a chair. For a moment, the place seems also like home. (Mockingjay p. 19-20)

Prim just sits on the floor weeping (happy tears) and rocking that awful Buttercup, who interrupts his purring only for an occasional hiss at me. (Mockingjay p. 19)

She values her relationships knowing that they keep her centered. I drink in his (Peeta’s) wholeness, the soundness of his body and mind. It runs through me like the morphling they give me in the hospital, dulling the pain of the last weeks. (Mockingjay p. 22)

This is one of the few good things about 13. Getting Gale back…..we’ve managed to regain our friendship. (Mockingjay p. 28)

She practices her passion, and even views projects as a way to heal. We hunt, like in the old days… it’s about as close to happiness as I think I can currently get. (Mockingjay p. 53)

“Doing the cake was a kind of therapy.” (Mockingjay p. 228)

I tell him (Dr. Aurelius) about my idea for the book…. We (Katniss and Peeta) seal the pages with salt water and promises to live well to make their lives count. Haymitch finally joins us. (Mockingjay p. 387)

She keeps herself busy. I try to follow Dr. Aurelius’ advice, just going through the motions… we learn to keep busy again. Peeta bakes. I hunt. Haymitch drinks until the liquor runs out, and then raises geese until the next train arrives. (Mockingjay p. 387)

She practices forgiveness. I’ve been trying hard to mend my relationship with my mother… My time in the arena made me realize how I needed to stop punishing her for something she couldn’t help, specifically the crushing depression she fell into after my father’s death. Because sometimes things happen to people and they’re not equipped to deal with them. (CF p. 31)

I had to forgive Finnick for his role in the conspiracy that landed me here. …it takes too much energy to stay angry with someone who cries so much. (Mockingjay p. 12)

She accepts the reality of a difficult situation. Just accept that it will be a bad night I tell myself. (THG p. 279).

And yet there’s something calming about the idea that this torment could come to an end. (Mockingjay p. 167)

She learns to live in the present. “That’s one thing I think my head doctor might be right about. (says Johanna) There’s no going back. So we might as well get on with things.” (Mockingjay p. 239)

She learns to avoid self-pity. Finnick and I sit a long time in silence…”How do you bear it?” …“Better not to give into it. It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart.” (Mockingjay p. 156)

Katniss counts her blessings.  …on bad mornings, it feels impossible to take pleasure in anything because I’m afraid it could be taken away. That’s when I make a list in my head of every act of goodness I’ve seen someone do. It’s like a game. Repetitive. Even a little tedious after more than twenty years.  (Mockingjay p. 390)

[lovely-tothe-bone]

From an analytical standpoint I think some of the hardest deaths too (for me) are the other tributes in the 74th games, I think about how much Cato suffered and Peeta talking about their deaths in mockingjay. They were a victim of the system, and I think it is cruel in a different way than what Katniss went through in 12 because in the career districts they're raised to think dying in the hunger games is an honor. can you imagine teaching children that? i loved your previous ask so now I'm here

Cato's is the most gruesome because we know what's happening and how long it goes for. That's why Darius and Lavinia's affect me so much. I mean, the Games itself is essentially torture so you have that prolonged fear and hunger and pain. And then to die the way Cato did.

I truly can't imagine. I grew up very rough and so it's always been my aim to provide my kids the safety and innocence every child deserves. I would definitely not be having kids if I lived in Panem.

Always glad to hear others thoughts and feelings, thanks for sharing 🙂

[everlarkbirthdaygifts]

Happy Birthday, bandathebillie!

Apologies for the short delay in posting your fic, @bandathebillie! We hope you had a wonderful birthday, and celebrated in style! To keep your party going a little while longer, the lovely @herainab has written a story just for you!

Title: The Relationship Plan

Gift for bandathebillie who requested Catching Fire AU. This is part one with more to come.

I hope you have a wonderful birthday and enjoy a sweet hit of Everlark!

Premise: Peeta proposes a relationship plan to Katniss leading up to their Victory tour to try and beat President Snow at his own game. But there is more behind the love timeline than Katniss realises.

---

Thunder booms and the lightning lights up the late evening sky in the far distance.

The tears stream down my face.

There's a massive delivery sitting on my front porch. Packages covered in the official Capitol seal. Boxes filled with unimaginable things. Winter clothing that isn’t threadbare and worn. Food that could feed all of The Seam residents. There are things in there that I never imagined I'd own. 

This is my second delivery from The Capitol after being home for just 8 weeks. The first was just food and gifts from admirers. This is the first full package filled with our talent items, more clothing, food and anything else my mother ordered after I threw the forms at her.

I have electricity constantly. Running hot water. A fireplace to keep us warm with firewood cut and at the ready when the winter chill fills the air.

I have a house that could fit my home in the seam inside it several times. My own room with a soft mattress. A pillow that is not too soft but not too hard. Sheets and blankets that are made of the most beautiful silk.  

I don’t deserve any of this.

I stare at the boxes left on the porch, and I see them all. Rue, Thresh, Foxface, Glimmer, Clove.... they died for me to have this. To live a life of luxury. I don't have to worry about how I'm going to feed Prim. How I'm going to clothe her for the winter. What items I'm going to need to trade.

Mom and Prim are in town assisting in a delivery. I’ve been at our Seam house hiding out, unable to face my District. The fence has been on since we’ve returned. The children have just returned back to school after a happy summer. Families have been well fed and are enjoying extra portions of their rations.

But it’ll come to an end when a new victor is crowned, and the extra rations are delivered to a new district, and everyone will be left to starve and struggle. There'll be an influx of babies born but nothing to feed them with. Babies will cry in hunger, their mother's milk will dry up quicker than they wish, siblings will stand hollow-cheeked in the streets looking for food, father's wages won't be enough to cover daily expenses of food, the district will be exposed to a simple cold that will wipe a fair few citizens out, young and old.

They'll look to me for hope, but I have no hope to give them. All I can give them is a broken 16-year-old girl who is trying to keep her sister alive while still playing the game.

I can’t keep playing their game.

I turn on my heel, a knot of pain forming in my stomach, the rain has started to fall. I pass his house; he's just returned home from Town and to has received his package.  

“Katniss?” He calls out to me. “Katniss, stop!” He yells after me and gives chase.

“Would you just leave me alone?” I call back to him, tears streaming down my face. I’m hoping I can beat him and put some distance between us.

“Katniss!” He calls after me, chasing me through the Victor Village and towards the fence line.

“Just leave me alone?” I cry as I run, the knot in my stomach is slowing me down, and I'm feeling winded. Thunder sounds close to the District.

I have to keep running. I need to breathe. I need the woods. I need to not be here.

“Katniss, don’t!”

The fence is in my line of sight, and I reach out to duck underneath it, but he catches me, pulling me back before my hand touches the fence.

The electrified fence.

“Stop!” He tells me as I fight his hold on my body. He’s keeping me anchored to his body, trying to calm me down as I thrash in his arms.

"Let me go!" I cry, trying to break free from his hold. "Let me go!"

“I can’t.” He tells me as the thunder roars.

“Please!” I cry. “Just leave me alone.”

A bolt of lightning strikes a tree just inside the fence, splitting it cleanly right down the middle.

I’m too stunned to move and feel Peeta drag me away from the fence towards the safety of one of the empty houses.

We’re in the safety of the house when another strike of lightning hits the place where we were just standing next to the fence, the tree falling onto the fence as well, sending sparks flying and the power in Twelve sparking off.

He breaks a window, unlocking the door and dragging me down into the dark basement.

He allows me to cry it out while we wait out the storm.

I cry, trying to get the big knot out of my stomach but it just aches even more.

“Katniss. Talk to me.” He coaxes, crawling towards me. He's found a torch to light up the basement.

We're soaked to the bone. Covered in mud from head to toe. I'm shivering, but I can't focus on that.

“Katniss, please.”

I cry out a no and hold my knees to my chest.

He doesn’t stray far from me.

I can see he’s conflicted as to whether he should comfort me, wrapping me in his arms or let me cry it out.

I sob, hiccupping, before I bury my face into my knees as the rain continues to fall, the thunder and lightning right on top of us.

The thunder sounds like the canons in the arena.

“No, stop! Stop.” I cry, rocking as the thunder rumbles. “Please!”

I feel my hands pulled from my ears, my face brought towards, and he does the only thing he can think of.

To kiss me.

I focus on his lips. The way he squeezes my wrists and holds me steady as he kisses me. Trying to bring me back to him.

He pulls away slightly, looking me in the eyes and gripping my cheeks. “Stay with me.” He murmurs.

I look into his beautiful blue eyes. Settle on the calming color of the blues and exhale. “Always.”

He brings me to his chest, letting me rest against his chest and holds me as the storm passes. We don’t say a lot but being in each other’s arms is enough to get through the storm.

“What happened?” He asks me.

“I just saw the packages on the porch, and all these emotions filled me. I saw all their faces." I admit to him. "I don't deserve this."

He rubs my back before pushing my hair behind my ear and kisses my forehead.

“Nobody does.” He answers. “All I can think about is the blood on my hands. I can hear the screaming. The pleading to not be killed. The careers laughter. It’s like I’m reliving the arena in a waking nightmare.”

We’ve only been home for eight weeks. The scars may have been polished, but the internal scars will never heal. We'll be able to hear the screams for years.

"That's why Haymitch drinks," Peeta whispers. "To numb the pain." He exhales. "He sleeps with a knife under his pillow, and he doesn't sleep in the darkness because it's all too real for him."

“Will we ever leave the arena?” I ask him.

“No.” He breathes out. “This is our life. Expensive gifts, food to feed us for a lifetime, an allowance and everything else to try and hide the fact that we’re broken inside.”

“How do the other Victor’s survive?”

“I think they just hang on. Get through one day at a time.” He says. “We have to do the same just try and live each day.”

The storm passes, but we stay locked in each other's arms. Our clothes are soaked still, and I start shivering.

“We should get out of these clothes. Your mother will be worried.”

"She hasn't seemed to show a lot of that since I've returned."

“She might not show it or say it, but she does care for you." He reminds me. "She cares about you more than my mother does."

Which is true. I think his own mother was shocked to see him return home. I thought she'd ride alongside him on his win, but she's all but shut him out. They decided before we were even out of the arena that he was moving out on his own.

“Come on.” He says.

I stand first and help him up. We exit the same way we entered the house, and we study the damage done to the window.

“We should probably report the damage.” He says.

"Or it could have been a kid with a ball," I suggest. "We just stumbled across it."

“I’ll go and see Darius tomorrow then.” He says with a slight smile.

He walks alongside me, avoiding the puddles of mud and water.

“Did you want to come over for some stew?” I ask him. “I don’t know how long Mom and Prim will be with the delivery.”

He looks up at me and nods. “Alright.” He smiles slightly. “Let me get changed and I’ll be right over.”

I watch him walk into his house, and I go into my house, avoiding the delivery on the front step and focusing on the stew on the stove while lighting candles around the house.

Peeta arrives with a loaf of bread under his arm, and I watch him slice thick pieces for us to dip into our stew.

The one good thing about having him across the way was the abundance of fresh bread.

“Do you mind watching the stew while I quickly get changed?”

“I’ve got it.” He tells me with a smile. “Take your time.”

I nod, thanking him and heading up to change out of my muddy, rain-soaked clothes.

I dress in flannel pyjama pants and a sweater, knowing Peeta won’t mind the very casual look. I let my hair out of its braid, ridding of any tangles and letting the curls hang over my shoulders and down my back.

I find Peeta has begun to unpack the packages, especially the food and filling our cupboards.

I watch him from the doorway, watch as he quietly works, humming to himself as he flits between the package and the stew on the stovetop.

“You didn’t need to do that.” I say softly, startling him.

“I forgot how light on your feet you are.” He chuckles as he places a small package of flour in the cupboard. “I didn’t want any mice getting into it. Or the food especially.”

“They may as well, there’s more than enough to feed my family for years.”

He nods, and I move to help him unpack the last of the food.

The rest of the package is waiting in the living room. I know Prim will be excited to rifle through it all, trying on clothes, using the pens, claiming books and anything else that we've been gifted.

Peeta dishes up our stew, and we sit across from each other in the kitchen. Our only source of light is from candlelight.

“The last time we sat in near darkness was the cave.” He mentions.

“Hard to believe that was two months ago.” I say, swallowing the lump in my throat.

“I feel like I’ve aged 5 years since we left.”

“Me too.”

It’s mostly silence. We’ve hardly spoken since we’ve returned. Unsure of what to really say.

The train didn't leave us on the best of terms, and I've been cautious of how to broach anything with him. I hurt him. I know that.

But I hope he realises I did it to save his life. To bring him home, despite it not seeming as glamorous as people imagine.

We tidy up, Peeta washes, and I dry the dishes, putting them away.

“What’s the Victory tour going to be like?”

“I’m guessing a lot of speeches, dinners, balls and smiling.” He replies. “People will want to see us.” He swallows the lump in his throat as he hands me a plate. “We’re going to have to present ourselves as being in love, you know?”

I take the plate. “Yeah, I guess we are.”

“They won’t let us go that easily.” He sighs. “Katniss, I wanted to speak to you about my behaviour on the train. I shouldn’t have shut you out. You saved us. I know that.”

“You have nothing to apologise for.” I tell him.

“Katniss, I don’t think you lead me on either.” He whispers.

“What?”

“I know you felt something in that cave.”

I blush slightly. There's no denying that I felt this stirring when we kissed. I felt this type of hunger. I felt my soul awakening. Despite the heat of his fever and blood poisoning, we shared moments we'd never forget.

"It's fine to not understand your feelings." He reassures me. "I don't even think you're certain what was real and not real in the arena, but I feel like most of the kisses weren't for the cameras." He grips my hand, squeezing it and forcing me to smile at him. "We're under a lot of pressure.” He says. “But I hope you know that I’m here beside you through everything we’re going to be going through in the coming months. You can talk to me. Indulge me in those thoughts in your head. Lean on me when you’re scared. Ask me for advice.”

“Ok.”

"I won't break. I think to survive this, we're going to need each other." He sighs. "Only we know what we've been through. Only we understand what we've been through. Those nightmares, dreams, and tears, I'll ward them all away if you ask me too." He tells me. He pushes a loose strand of hair behind my ear and smiles at me. “Don’t shut me out and I won’t do the same.” He leans closer towards me and presses a kiss to my forehead.

I look up at him, staring into his eyes, our hands still connected and I watch as he licks his lips and I lean forward to press my own lips to his own.

“Katniss, you home?” Prim calls out, kicking her boots off in the hallway and coming rushing in. “Oh, Peeta, I wasn’t expecting to see you.” Peeta and I step apart from each other. Prim looks between the two of us.

“Oh, he dropped some bread off, and I invited him to eat with me." I tell her. "I wasn't sure how long you and Mom would be."

“Oh, the labor is going to last a bit longer. Mom sent me home because I have school tomorrow.” Prim tells us. “Is there any stew left?”

“Yeah, I’ll heat you up some. Why don’t you go and shower and it’ll be ready when you get out?”

She nods, giving Peeta and I one last look before she heads off upstairs.

“I should be getting home.” He tells me. “Thanks for dinner.”

“Thanks for saving me tonight.”

“I’ll always save you. In this lifetime and every other lifetime.” He tells me with a small smile.

I follow him to the front door, watch him put his shoes back on, and when he stands, I pull him towards me, pressing a kiss to his lips. Just a soft kiss but a kiss to tell him I appreciate his help today.

“Thank you.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” He smiles at me. “Have a nice evening.”

“Night, Peeta.”

I watch him walk home before stepping inside, closing the door behind me.

“You like him!” Prim squeals from the top of the stairs where she’s perched herself to spy on us.

“Prim! What did I tell you about spying on people’s conversations?”

“Oh, lighten up. I was just coming back down for my pyjamas.” She tells me. “I just caught the tail end.”

“You could at least pretend you didn’t hear any of it.” I scowl.

“I think you like him more than you want to admit to me.” She pokes me.

“Prim, just drop it.”

“Ok.” She smirks. “For now.”

“Prim.” I groan as she rushes past me upstairs. “You like him, you like him, you like him.”

I much prefer her childish behaviour than the words she speaks in fear. She's thriving since I've returned and looks like the girl that never spent a day starving in her entire life.

If she had won the games, she'd never survive the life of a victor. She might for the first few years but the Capitol was attracted to beautiful things, and Prim would be one of them. She'd be defiled, used, abused and have her innocence taken away. She wouldn't return as my Little Duck, she'd be this broken

victor.

I wanted to keep her innocence as long as I could because having a broken sister would kill me.

“Fine, I do.”

She squeals and embraces me before running upstairs to shower, and I just shake my head with a slight smile on my face.

---

“Hey, thought I could accompany you two beautiful Everdeen girls into town?” Peeta calls out to us the next week. I said I’d walk Prim to school as I had to get a few things from town.

“Sure, Peeta.” Prim smiles. “What are you up to today?”

“Going to help dad out for a little while at the bakery." He tells us. I look at him with a worried look.

“Oh, are you decorating any cakes?”

“Well, I might be able to make you one especially, Miss Primrose.” He smiles at her.

Prim and Peeta chat mostly, and I feel like the third wheel as we head to town. We both say goodbye to Prim at the crossroads, and she catches up with some of her friends before we head on down the road to town.

“You know this is probably setting an impression on the townsfolk." I comment, noticing how close he is to me.

“Well, we need to keep up with appearances.” He tells me through gritted teeth. We greet a group of children on their way to school.

“What, why?”

“He’s watching us.”

“How?”

“Haymitch caught wind that a whole new team of Peacekeepers are being deployed in the coming week.” He tells me. “He’s also recruiting the help of a lot of cameras, locals and our homes are bugged.”

“What?”

“Last week after the storm, when the Capitol technicians came to fix the power, they added a few features to our homes.” He tells me. “Don’t worry, just the downstairs.” He tells me, shushing me to keep quiet. “Haymitch gave me the heads up.”

“What does this mean?”

"We continue on with our lives the way we have been. We watch what we say inside our homes. We ensure we're careful on what we're doing out in public. We just be on guard as much as possible. Anything relating to the Capitol we don’t speak of in our homes or around anyone we can’t trust.” He tells me.

“And what does that mean for us?”

“Well, if we continue visiting each other, going for walks together into town, keeping up those appearances then I think he should be happy.”  He smiles at me. “Haymitch told me Snow’s not convinced of our love story.”

“Oh, he told you?”

“If we continue the way we’re going, I’m hoping we’ll get him off our back.”

“So you want to continue a fake relationship?”

“I don’t think it’s fake, Katniss.” He says stopping me and grabbing my hands. "I do feel genuine feelings from you. And I hope you recognise my feelings for you are truly genuine." I nod as he cups my jaw with his hand and smiles at me. "No rush or pressure but I want you to know that you are looking quite beautiful today.” He brushes his thumb down my cheek and then presses a quick kiss to my forehead. A small group of peacekeepers are heading along the path towards the school. “Shall we continue into town?”

Peeta nods at the peacekeepers and grabs my hand as we head into town.

I had to admit, it wasn’t so bad. There could be worse people I could be engaged in a fake relationship with.

A group of merchant women have gathered outside the greengrocer. A toddler runs between the women, chasing his older sister who’s not yet school age.

They turn to look at us, noticing our fingers entwined and stop their conversation.

“Good morning to you all.” Peeta greets them as we head for the door of the grocer. He kneels down to be eye to eye with the two kids and smiles at them. “Morning Miss Penny and Mr Darcy.” He greets them, ruffling Darcy’s blond curls and smiling at him. “Hope you are good."

They both nod enthusiastically and Peeta plays a magic trick of pulling a coin from behind their ears. They’re entranced with the trick and Peeta gives them a small coin each.

I watch their mother roll their eyes at the ‘charity’ her children have just received but what Peeta has given them is enough for one sweet each.

I try not to scowl too much and watch as Peeta interacts with the children. My heart flutters inside my chest. I hope he'll one day get to become a father. A father to beautiful blonde haired and blued eyed children.

The women look up at me with the mother reaching down for their hands.

“Come on, Penny and Darcy, we better leave Mr Peeta and Miss Katniss to go about their day.” She reaches down for their hands, pulling them away from us. “We have work to do unlike others around here.”

The women stalk off, their noses held in the air like they’re something of importance.

“They really don’t like the idea of a Seam girl being a Victor do they?”

"No." Peeta replies and opens the door. "But they better get used to it. You are part-merchant."

“That I am.” I agree. “But also someone with a lot of spare change." I say a little too loudly for these women to hear me. "Worth a try." I shrug my shoulders.

Peeta carries the bag, and he accompanies me for the rest of my errands. We call into the bakery for him to say hello to his family and he collects some ingredients from his family, slipping some coin into the register and bidding them goodbye. His mother has just ducked out, and I know he doesn't want to subject me to her.

But we aren’t so lucky.

“Peeta, what brings you here?” His mother asks, stepping through the door. She looks me up and down and crosses her arms over her chest.

“Just saying hello.” He tells her. “How’ve you been?”

“You know, fine.” She purses her lips. “Katniss.”

"Hello, Mrs Mellark."

“What are you doing with my son?”

“She had some errands to run, and I thought I'd help her carry her things back.” He tells her. “Since we’re neighbors now.”

“Right, neighbors." She states. "How is Victor's Village? Cozy I bet?"

“It’s very spacious. You should come and see it for yourself one day.” He tells her. “I’d happily give you a tour of my new home, might even invite you over for dinner. Katniss makes a wonderful stew.”

“Why would I want a meal made by Seam Scum?”

“Mother, I will not have you insult my girlfriend like that.” He tells her, reaching for my hand. I watch the color drain from her face. “And she’s not from The Seam, she’s from Victor’s Village.” He reminds her.

“Just because she’s moved out from The Seam doesn’t mean she’s still not that scum.”

“Mother, I will not have you insult Katniss any further. If you wish to visit us for dinner one evening, you have my number.” He tells her. He takes one of the bags from me. “Come on, Katniss, we have to pick supplies up from the apothecary." He lets me leave first. "Goodbye, mother."

“Slow down, Peeta!” I call after him. We’ve just finished the last of the errands, and he's made a beeline to head back. The conversation with his mother upset him.

But she was insulting me more than him.

“Peeta, just talk to me.” I beg. He shakes his head and walks faster. I try to keep up, matching his strides.

Anytime before I’d had run out on Mrs Mellark. Let her words get to me and would have made my way to the woods.

But I don’t want that woman to reduce me to nothing. Not reacting was the best defence against Mrs Mellark.

I grab his arm and steer him towards the old rotunda. I check to see if it’s been bugged before I speak.

“Peeta, you’re mother is just wicked. She’s a sad woman who will never change." I tell him. "If I had almost lost my son in the games, I'm sure my attitude would change, I'd see this as a second chance to make my amends, but she's not like that and really, you don't need a woman who doesn't care about you."

“She’s my mother.”

“I know but the things she’s done to you, I don’t believe she should get to call you her son.” I tell him. “There are a lot of other people out there that care for you and want to love you." I squeeze his hand. "I can take her insults, Peeta. Her words mean nothing to me. They don't hurt me. I know where I came from, my heritage and all. People just forget that because I favor my father in looks."

“It just hurts that she doesn’t believe you’re worthy of me. That I can’t be with a Seam girl. She’s so caught up in the old ways that it’s scandalous of me to be interested in you.”

"Who cares what they all think. We're alive at the end of the day, and I think they should be celebrating that more than where we come from." I remind him. “Come on, let’s get these groceries home.

He goes to his own home, and I go about unpacking the groceries, making lunch and wandering the house bored out of my mind. I nap on the couch, read a book and braid my hair over and over again.

I decide I might walk into town to meet Prim, but I find Peeta at the front door, cake in hand and a notebook in the other.

“Hi.” I greet him.

“I have a proposition.” He tells me.

“About?”

“I think we should go somewhere else.” He tells me.

He places the cake on the bench with a note for Prim and takes my hand, leading me through the Victor’s Village towards the gardens. We find the stone bench and take a seat. Peeta shows me what he’s been working on and it’s in a lot of depth and detail.

The Relationship Plan

“You’ve planned out our relationship?” I ask him.

"It's about being three steps in front of Snow." He tells me. "We have to be on our toes so I thought if we have a timeline to follow, we can be smart and ahead of Snow. He won't predict our moves, and we're winning."

“I don’t want this to be about winning. I just want to keep Prim alive.”

"I know you do, but we can't protect Prim if we're dead." He reminds me. "We just have to be smart and on our toes."

“Don’t you think Snow will pick up that we’re following a timeline?”

“We’re madly in love, Katniss.” He smirks. “We’re just doing what they expect us to do but a little more prematurely than they expect. It’ll work, even Haymitch thought it was a good idea.”

I look at the timeline and see what he’s planned out from now leading up to the games and a little beyond.

“Peeta, they’re going to expect children from us.” I whisper.

He wraps an arm around my shoulder and scoots closer to me. "I won't expect us to anything you're not comfortable with.” He kisses my temple.  

It’s brilliant what he’s planned out. Every little bit of detail. It's a master plan, and I feel as if we can pull it off.

“So, if you agree we’ll start the ball rolling tomorrow.” He tells me. “I’ll call Effie and get her to organise some jewellery catalogues to be sent out. That will get the gossip started.”

I look at the timeline and study it. Peeta has thought of every detail, right down to the little things and people whom we’ll get to help us pull off our plan.

"We're going to have photographers in our faces and watching our every move."

“That’s alright. I suppose it helps Snow keep an eye on our every move.” I respond. “I won’t be able to hunt though.”

"Yes, you will, just limited trips." He smiles. "I'll be the diversion, and they officially can't step inside Victor Village so you'll sneak out and I'll head into town. It'll work."

“I won’t be able to see Gale.”

He frowns slightly. "I think it'll be best for you to step away from him, especially if Snow thinks something is going on between you two." He grasps my hand. "It'll be hard I know but think of Prim."

It’s true, anything to keep Prim alive will be worth it.

“Alright, let’s get started.” I smile at him.

---

“When will these photographers leave?” Prim asks, peaking a look out the living room window.

They've been camped out for nearly 8 weeks, and Peeta and I are planning our engagement to happen in a matter of days. He's ordered the ring, and it's arriving today on the train. The photographers have died down in numbers, assuming an engagement wasn’t going to take place but if one photo of Peeta carrying a small parcel from the train will set off the rumors again, and more photographers and possibly film crew will head on out.

"Soon." I tell her. "I know it's hard, but they just want to be here in case."

"But you and Peeta aren't planning an engagement are you?" She asks me. We hadn't informed her of the plan, and I was playing dumb.

“I don’t think so Prim. If Peeta is he hasn’t let on.” I tell her. “Come on, I’ll walk you to school.”

Peeta would leave just after us, the train arriving at 9 where he’ll pick up the ring packaged in the jewellery company seal and he’ll walk on home with the package on display.

I put my head down as we walk by the press and Prim and I chat quietly as we head to school.

I kiss Prim goodbye and turn on my heel, heading back home with my hands buried deep inside my coat pockets.

Peeta comes over an hour later, and we remain in the house together.

“Peeta, I need a hand down in the basement to move a few things.”

He follows me down the stairs, and we take a seat on an old chest.

“Did you get it?” I ask him.

I notice him beaming and he nods. "Yeah, I did. It's beautiful."

I decided I didn’t want to see it, I trusted him to pick something for me.

“We’re doing this?” I confirm.

He nods and smiles. "We're doing this." He squeezes my hand and leans over and kisses me.

In the last few weeks despite following the planned timeline, our relationship has bloomed. I’ve tried to focus less on saving my butt and actually enjoying time with Peeta. On learning everything there is about him and letting my attraction grow.

If we’re going to be on this train forever, I might as well get to know the man I’ll be spending my life with.

We pull apart breathless, and he smiles at me, brushing his thumb over the corner of my mouth and smiling.

“Can’t wait to get fake engaged to you.” He laughs.

I laugh too, and he kisses me again before he leads me up the stairs.

Two nights later, I'm standing in his kitchen where we've just eaten roast chicken and danced in the kitchen to some music before dessert when he gets down on one knee and professes his love as he flashes an emerald stone ring at me.

The ring was gorgeous.

"Emerald for your birth month and for your favourite color.” He tells me, slipping the ring on my finger and kissing me.

He spins me around the kitchen, and we dance the night away.

He walks me home quite late where we share the news with my mother and sister before he leaves for his house.

“It’s beautiful.” My mother comments. “He did a marvellous job.” She had helped him pick a few out. He also asked for Haymitch’s opinion.

I smile. I've been gushing all night because he genuinely does know me and picked something for me and not for show.

“Can I tell my friends at school?”

"Of course you can." I say as I embrace her.

We were relying on a few people to spread the news while I hid out for a few days.

Prim would go to school telling her friends who’d spread the news like playground gossip. The children would go home and tell their parents the news who'd have hopefully already heard.

I'd tell Madge when she comes around for an early breakfast, one we'd been sharing for the last 8 weeks. She'd hopefully bypass home and tell her father before rushing off to school. Her father would notify the staff in the house and then the team at the Justice building who'd tell everyone who'd step foot into the building. Commander Cray would hear, telling a few peacekeepers who'd then share the news amongst the barracks. The peacekeepers that hung out at The Hob would spread the news to all those in the Hob. Then those in the hob will share the news with their customers who'd later go and tell their families.

Peeta would inform his family first thing in the morning and hoped they’d display a picture of us in the window congratulating us. This notice would catch the attention of the Merchants and word would spread amongst them all and their customers who’d tell their neighbours and friends. By the time the notice goes up, Madge should have told her father who’d be on his way to work.

And finally, Effie we'd tell her during a phone call. She'll tell her friends who'd then spread the news to everyone they knew, and it’d quickly make it’s way to the President and the press. The press would camp out, knowing we were leaving for the tour very soon and knew they'd see the ring on my finger hopefully before we leave.

We'd step out first thing Saturday morning, Peeta picking me up and accompanying me into town. The press would have a shot of the ring immediately, and by the time we returned home, it'd be confirmed and Peeta and me on every Capitol TV program and front cover of their newspapers and magazines. The press would then head on back to the Capitol to ready themselves for our Victory Tour, and a Capitol TV crew would arrive early on Monday morning for our lead up interview of the Tour, and we'd speak officially and exclusively of our news. Our news we'd hope would set the tone of the Victory Tour.

And our plan is executed perfectly.

---

“Katniss and Peeta, we must know, how did he propose?” Caesar asks us through the camera.

We’re due to leave for District 11 in 15 minutes.

I'm standing with my left hand on his chest to show off the ring as we embrace. Snow flurries are in our hair and on the fur of our coats. My lipstick is slightly smudged, and Peeta has a little bit of pink on the corner of his mouth after our kiss in the snow.

"We had just eaten roast chicken, and I invited her to dance in the kitchen with me before we had dessert." He tells them. "I whispered in her ear as we danced how lucky I am to have found someone like her and how I don't want to live without her. I've almost lost her once, and I wanted her to know how much she truly means to me in case something does happen.”

“He got down on one knee… his good knee.” I laugh which causes Caesar to laugh wildly. “And then said, ‘Katniss, I don’t want to spend another day without you. I want to make you my wife and stay with you always.’” I recall for all of Panem, staring into Peeta’s eyes.

“And she said yes.” Peeta smiles, staring back at me. “She made me the happiest man in the world.”

"How exciting!" He gushes. "Am I right folks?" The crowd agrees with awes and coos. "Well we better let you be, and we'll be checking in on your throughout the Victory Tour. Thank you Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, we’ll be seeing you two here on this very stage in less than a fortnight.”

We wave goodbye and stand there until the lights on the camera go off. I brush the snow from his hair, fix his collar of his coat and smile just before I lean in and peck him on the lips.

"No time for that, we have a train to catch." Effie barks, stepping down from the porch of my house and leading everyone to the cars that will take us to the train station.

“You ready for this?” He asks me with a questioning look.

“Yes.”

[decadentrpg-blog]

WELCOME ROSE, YOU’VE BEEN ACCEPTED FOR THE ROLE OF ANTONELLA PICQUERY

Admins Note: My favorite femme fatale has arrived to stun us all. I absolutely squealed at your interpretation of Antonella. Every facet of her narcissism, her excessive indulgence and proud ego has been carved out. The sample paragraph had me chuckling, poor bloke! All in all, I can’t wait to see Antonella twirl past midnight, capturing sin with every step she takes.  Congratulations on your acceptance again, please make sure to head your way to the checklist and submit your account within the next 24 hours!

OUT OF CHARACTER

Name / Alias: Rose.  Pronouns: She/Her. Age: 21. Timezone: EST (GMT +5) 

IN CHARACTER

Full Name: Antonella Margaux Picquery Sexuality: Bisexual. Gender/Pronouns: Cis Female. She/Her. Hogwarts House: Slytherin.

Head canons

warning Mentions of death, narcissistic shenanigans.

ONE She caresses her lover’s cheek. I could kill someone, if I needed to, she thinks, and then kisses her. And even if I didn’t need to, I think I could.

TWO There are two sorts of lovers. Curiosities and passions. The former begins on a whim, at the briefest mix of boredom and interest. And is done with and gone as quick as it occured. The second is sweeter and, well. She doesn’t pursue them. She’s too beautiful to pursue anyone or anything. Anything she desires eventually must make its way to her. So she keeps the door open. She sets out the trail of breadcrumbs and waits for them to find themself where she always knew they would. In her thrall. It’s inevitable.

THREE Antonella has a higher tolerance for pretty muggles over ugly wizards. Far better to listen to idle small talk pour from lovely lips, rather than intricate spells from a cracked maw. In fact, she once had a muggle. He glanced about her apartments and laughed, nervous. Irritating. But he looked like the angels had cut him from the night sky. She wanted to sink her teeth into him. So she did. Until one day, she met a golden eyed half veela and left him, forgotten, in Morocco.

& HORUS “Stay with me,” she says. “I love you,” and it feels like the truth. The best lies always do. He stays, she stays, they stay. One day she lies to him and it feels like the truth, tastes like the truth, sounds like the truth. And while she remembers the words in stunned silence (were they the truth? impossible) he leaves.

FIVE Antonella is morbidly blithe and playfully cruel. She believes life is only a series of distractions and games. It is an exercise in enjoyment and the one who lives best is the one who laughs most. So she laughs and lives for herself and her pleasure alone. Labor is what others do to support her wants and her yearnings; worker bees for a queen. She bears them neither gratitude or malice. Her payment is every moment they’re allowed to observe her. What they have is symbiotic. Without culture, the arts, people like her, how could they ever bear their grim, small lives?

SIX Her grandmother dies, face haggard and hidden, and Antonella has never admired anyone more. When her mother comes to slide the veil away, Antonella slaps her hands. This is a final, sacred wish. The aesthetic preserved at all cost. She takes and keeps the lesson. She buries it in her heart, and lets it sprout.

SEVEN No one’s ever made her grow up and so, there are traces of a child’s ambiguous innocence within her. An almost complete absence of empathy for others. An almost impressive preoccupation with herself and her own wants, needs, and comfort. If an acquaintance is weeping, she knows enough to say nothing of her slight hunger, to embrace and comfort them, but she will wonder, wistfully, of when can she go and indulge herself? She has spent her life being spoiled, and sees no reason why that should stop.

EIGHT This’s how her parents regard her: A living doll. A paradox. Dolls don’t live. They exist. They’re displayed and owned. What do dolls exist for, if not to be handled? If not to be the eternal object to another’s subject. Nothing great could come from anything so slight, and delicate. This is the worst hurt of her half life.

& WREN She looks at Wren and says, “Charming.” This has only happened twice before, and the best time had been in an empty glen, her veins full of liquor and delight. The thestral had gazed at her and she at it. A warm, fondness overtook her, the same fondness that heated her neck when she considered Wren, the same fondness she had for all rough diamonds. For the beauty that hid itself in plain sight. With every rebuff and dismissal, the indignant fondness doesn’t diminish. It grows. “Quaint,” she breathes under her breath, as Wren flees her, because she has been here before. She has done this before. And the sweetest part of a thing’s creation is its destruction. The artist knows best how to ruin art. Piecing it all together, building it all up, only to learn its most intimate machination, to know the best way to pluck the heart of it out, and watch it topple. She’s a child demolishing her sand castles, her blood hot and salted. Another game, another dear distraction; the foundation of life.

& EVANDER Antonella never accepts the bill when it comes. It has never and will never occur to her that she should. Sometimes she might consider the morality of an action. That it’s wrong, that it might hurt. But then here is the crux of the matter: She wants, so she does, and she takes. She wants her fiance’s friend, Evander, so she has him, and when she no longer wants him--a whim, a curiosity--he’s tossed aside. Forgotten.

& DARIUS Given the choice, she surrounds herself with beautiful things and beautiful people. Envy is rarely, if ever, a present concern of hers. She would say, I long to be surrounded by beautiful women and beautiful men. And never dream to add, Beautiful, but not as beautiful as myself. What a hypothetical, theoretical waste of breath. Where would she find anyone or anything as beautiful as herself? Or, since she’s already sunk into the depths of myth and fantasy, more beautiful. In a story, or a dream? She may’ve met one such woman, in a nightmare, but it was only Antonella’s reflection arisen from the dark sea. She may’ve met one such woman at a party, where she had been so wrecked with terror and drunkenness and desire that she knew she would die, but it was only her staring back from the window.

So her fiance isn’t as beautiful as her, but she loves to look at him, and be looked upon with him. Has she ever looked finer than with him at her side, than with her at his side, their arms entangled? And has anything ever felt more distant and unsettled, than his hand on her shoulder? Stiff, dry, odd. Lust melts her lovers into her but he remains cold and far off. She might pretend to feel for him romantic distress when she clasps their hands together, but the more time passes the more her passion for him becomes devoured by pride and vanity and sooner or later, rage.

In Character Paragraph

Antonella sways, breathes in air soaked with color and delirium. Smiles at a girl draped in silver sparkle, her mouth like a melted rose. There are whispers and clumsy gazes directed towards Antonella, who preens. There are trumpets and saxophones screaming away into the night. “The muggles are working themselves into a terrible frenzy tonight.” She loves it. Her walk is one-third dance.

“They’re called No Maj,” her companion, Douglas, corrects her, thoughtless, and she ignores him in the same manner. He hasn’t noticed the anticipation of reverie around them. He doesn’t have the nose for it as she does, and he’s too preoccupied with how he must look to her, anyways. Which is just as well.

A Rolls Royce waits to chariot them to an intimate gathering of artists, on the edge of Harlem and nowhere. It’s a convertible; the interior all butterscotch leather that complements her dark silhouette, her cream gown, her easy privilege. Antonella drives because her companion can’t and won’t. Because he becomes wrecked with a terrible sweat at first sight of the automobile. Because she wants to and it’s hers and she ignores his hand wringing. His vague mutterings on humiliation and control. Was this the muggleborn in him talking? How exotic. “I prefer portkey,” he says, finally.

“Oh, darling, you’re no fun,” she replies, snapping her elegant, leather gloves on. Those gloves are too much involved in her excitement to drive. She has been overcome, for the past two days, by the thought of them and how sporty and fine she’ll look with her hands on the wheel. Her hair flying in the wind behind her, a cape of midnight darker than even the night around them.

How glamorous! And irresistable she’ll seem, even more so than she always does, if that’s possible. She regards Douglas, her expression pleasant and juxtaposed against the frost in her eyes, “Don’t tell me you get car sick, Douglas.” If he does, she just might abandon him right there, rather than follow him by portkey, or have him ruin her butterscotch seats. Her heart’s too much set on the idea of herself in the car with her gloves on. She imagines the jittering men and smirking women, their admiring gazes warm against her skin.

Rather than answer her, he gapes at her. His grey eyes wide and striking enough to remind her why she allowed him into her company. “My name is Harold.”

“What is that, Henry?” she asks, his voice lost beneath the engines hum and her own delight. As the car takes off at a terrible speed, he forgets himself and what he means to say. He clutches the dashboard instead. Her smile is serene. His yelps escalate as the vehicle slips off the Manhattan Bridge. The East River swallows them whole, and Antonella peers at the sickly sea life swimming around their bubble.

“How can you call yourself a wizard, Henry? Everything shocks and upsets you.” Ilvermorny must be a poor institution indeed. “It’s almost as if you’ve never been in an enchanted vehicle before.”

“You upset me,” he gasps.

Before she can reply, the car begins to sing, a sweet thrilling blues melody, and Antonella crows along with it, their voices clear and lovely above Douglas’s frantic complaints. The night looks full of possibilities. She can tilt the car just so and shake Douglas out into the blue beyond. (Cruel? Perhaps, but how cruel was he, to bore her so?) She can find someone beautiful and sink with them into the Atlantic. Laugh and drink at the intimate gathering. Laugh and drink at the frenzy behind her, instead, and fill those muggles’ hearts with unexpected rapture. Swim with the sharks. Make love beneath the moon. Or any number of pleasures, as yet undiscovered. How good to be alive. How good to be Antonella.

Extras

Mockblog.​Edits.​Playlist.

[noxianhand-archive]

curls her fingers into his breastplate, then tugs him down for a firm kiss. they'd done this dance long enough - her body ached for a release it seemed he could give. " come, general. i think you and i both tire of these games. "

hit darius with your best kiss | @eciledkinda accepting, yeah.

their few shared experiences in the battlefield made them flirt with possibilities, with something far more carnal than what is routine to the newly appointed hand. it’s by the tail end of one of the typical military events in noxus that she approaches him, eyes burning and hands firm as she tugs him down, kiss like treaty’s seal placed upon his lips; a pragmatic decree of intent, a confirmation of it. there’s a vague smile to his lips when she pulls back, a glint of subdued mischief in the dark rust of his eyes.

he’d imagined their banter and exchanged looks would lead to this, at some point.

he had not expected her to tire of the game so quick.

“direct as always, commander,”  the wolf’s growl in his voice is ever-present as he places a gauntleted hand over the small of her back, rough fingertips over the leather of her official garb. he leans down and captures her mouth with his own, a form of measured hunger in his actions, teeth dragging over her bottom lip before he breaks the kiss. “---but i believe we must find a more suited location for---this conclusion.”

[veneataur]

By day 30 I imagine Liam has gotten Darius to loosen up a bit. Probably even found that Darius has a bit of a devious, playful side of him that is hidden underneath the pressure of being a tech billionaire.

So, day thirty finds the two sitting in the main room of the Treehouse, an opened pizza box, with a half-eaten pizza, on the coffee table, along with some other junk food like M&M’s, Doritos, and popcorn and bottles of beer. Both have forgotten, momentarily, that in just a few minutes the ARK bunker will unlock, releasing the 160 occupants into a still-undestroyed Earth.  Thus, they are surprised when they hear a familiar voice behind them, piercing through their focus on the screen in front of them.

“Video games! This is how you spent your thirty days while we were locked in there, worrying day and night, on edge about every single noise.” Even in a crowd of thousands, Darius would know Grace’s voice, especially in that tone.

“It’s Mario Kart and no. We solved everything.” Darius doesn’t even look from the screen, twisting his body in time with the game.

“Everything?” Grace crosses her arms and gives Darius that look that should melt him because it has every other man in the past.

“Well we’re still working on world peace and hunger, but yeah.” That’s Liam with a level of sass that could only be gained by spending thirty days with Darius, a black belt in sass.

“I cried every night. I missed you every second I was down there.” Jillian takes a step forward.

“Did you even miss us,” Grace asks.

“Of course,” Liam and Darius answer in unison, the kind that spoke of spending too many long days together. Their sincerity is diminished by them still staring at the screen as their cars go careening around the race track.

“Harris?” The two women turn to Harris, who is usually quiet anyway but has been unusually quiet.

“I’m playing the winner,” he says, sitting down in between the two.

[everlarkedalways]

Hey guys! I hope you’re having a good week and you’ve been able to see some of the amazing thoughts out there. Props to @katamount, @igsy-blog, @roseymama, @iliveilaughiloveiread, @imaginatvytitle & @duckpotatodandelion for being amazing.

THE HUNGER GAMES: CH. 13 & 14

The fire. It’s a repeated theme throughout and in these chapters it becomes a literal threat to Katniss, even what she imagines is a jab to her coined nickname. This entire section is laced with literal and symbolic metaphors. Why do you think fire is a such an important symbol for this trilogy and how does it carry its theme throughout?

The Careers finally find Katniss and she really does best them and I love it. Do you think Peeta was formulating some sort of plan as they slept? I always feel like the Careers strategy is mediocre at best for him and if he really did have Katniss’s safety in mind, what was he actually doing to ensure it? What do you guys think? 

The Hunger Games world is this mix of old world and sci-fi that’s really interesting. The Capitol has access to all this technology where they literally create mutts and arenas that can do whatever they want. Whereas we have the Districts that are representations of the early 1900′s mixed here and there with modern amenities. What are some of the most interesting sci-fi technologies that interest you?

PROMPTS

I was thinking of silly random things for characters in The Hunger Games. Like, Glimmer is allergic to bee stings. Gale goes gluten-free after Katniss chooses Peeta. Darius becomes the author of the best selling tongue twister book. Can you think of anymore?

Post THG-related fire pics, art, posts, etc. You guys are good at this stuff. Get crazy.

Make a post of all your THG fan stuff. Art you’ve made, fics you’ve written, shirts you own, cups you drink out of, blankets, keychains, figures, dolls, cutouts, etc...etc................

Make a post and tag it with #rethg and it’ll be queued to post sometime this week! Thank you everyone!!!!