#locking her door and yelling at Effie and haymitch

[enobariasteeth]

I hate how the movies took out the full blown tantrum katniss throws after the demonstration for the game makers

like yes, her feelings and fear is 100% valid but her slamming doors and sobbing facedown on her bed is so teenager

[countrymusiclover]

3 - Looking for an Alliance

Part 4

Are You District or Capitol?

Pretty please leave your thoughts in the comments 🙏 😁 ❤️ Tag list ( send an ask in my ask box to be added ) @lemonluvgirl @virtualsweetsdreamer @emma-andrea1 @voiddylanobrosey @kmc1989

@agentxx92

Sitting at the foot of my bed in the fancy bedroom I just silently stared at the wall. My stomach was twisting in intense nervous knots wishing I was somewhere else. Wishing that we weren’t back home just staying away from the Capitol. I had managed to hide for so long I felt trapped here more than I ever did when I would hide on the Reaping days until a few days ago. Hearing three knocks on my locked door I got up from my spot on the bed. “What are you doing here, dad?”

“You’re mother and I want to talk some things out with you.” He explained in a long Grey tea shirt and some black pants standing in the hallway.

I clicked my tongue not sure where this would go but agreed nonetheless. “Okay. I guess it's about time I meet my mother.”

My father and I went down the hallway and into the open living room with a lot of light being provided through the large windows. “My sweet dear, I would first like to apologize for the horrible state your father must have raised you in.” My mother Effie spoke up before we had even sat down on the couches.

“I may have drank around her but I never endangered her life while doing it. I took the best care that I could manage.” My father started talking to her.

She rolls her eyes wearing a pink wig and a dress to almost match its color that was all poofy too. “You say that now but she might have just spared your feelings.”

“When you come home after winning the games and your entire family is killed a few days later then we'll talk about what I spared her from!” He raised his tone, clutching the alcohol glass he held in his hands.

She went to respond but closed her mouth. “Haymitch, I-”

“So what did you need to talk to me about or is this what you meant by talking, angrily yelling how the other would've messed up my life.” I swore the tension in the room could be cut with a knife if you tried showing there was definitely history between these two.

My father shifted next to me on the couch. “I was thinking that you should start making some allies here. I don't know why Snow wants you but we should be prepared for the worst.”

“The worst being he throws me into the arena.” I gulped the end fabric of my shirt I had on. “So who should I start with first?”

He picked up the tv remote turning it on showing me the District 4 Reaping zooming in on Mags and Finnick. “I'd suggest Mags. She's a sweet elderly woman and is a mute unfortunately though.”

“I'll figure something out. What about the Capitol Darling?” I decided to use the nickname he had mentioned to Peeta, Katniss and I the other day.

My mother clasped her hands together in joy. “Ohhh. He's quite charming.”

“I'll talk with him and I'll do my best to convince him to help you out.” Dad touched my shoulder before I nodded leaving them there heading to the training area.

Walking around I didn't focus on what Katniss and Peeta were doing considering I wasn't experienced in any of this stuff. Finding a station that had ropes hanging on it I shrugged my shoulders deciding to start there. Picking up the rope the screen showed the direction to follow so I started folding it under and over until I felt someone move their hands over mine. "What the hell!" I jumped back elbowing whoever it was in the rib.

"Sorry. I'm sorry. I am really sorry, blossom." Spinning around I saw that it was Finnick Odair. He sends me a cheeky smile now holding the rope that I was holding in his hands.

Crossing my arms over my chest I take a step back away from him. I had my hair in a ponytail where some of it fell over my shoulder. "What do you want, Capital darling. You should know better than to sneak up on someone."

"Well yes I do know that. Now we should talk about what your skills are in the arena." He nodded where my eyes drifted down to the ways he was moving the rope into a knot. "Let me show you the best knot to know in the games."

"Why do you think I want your help. For all I know the second we get in the games I am the first person you go after." I scoffed under my breath glaring at him trying to remember that my father said there is no trust in the games. You had to look out for yourself and that's it.

Finnick stepped closer to me pausing his actions on the knot where we were almost pressing up against each other. "If I wanted you to be the first one dead I wouldn't be willing to help you. It may be hard for you to believe right now but not all the carriers are assholes..not really anyway."

"I....I'm sorry Finnick." I couldn't form a sentence because I was too focused on his eyes. I could see that they were watering meaning that he was telling the truth.

He sniffed changing his demeanor when he saw that Katniss was watching us from affair. Turning my head back to focus on him he sent me a smile and a chuckle. "Alright now this is where it can get quite complicated..don't look at me. Look at the knot."

"Sorry." I apologized softly seeing that he had finished the knot.

He then put it over his neck like he was hanging himself holding the rope out to me. "You want to take me down for a walk, blossom?"

"I'm good...why do you call me blossom exactly?" I questioned meeting his gaze when he removed the rope from around his neck.

He stepped up where he dropped his hands down at his sides, sending me a smile walking away. "Cause you came out as a surprise to everyone in the districts.” He slowly began walking away towards the elevators.

"I wouldn't trust him if I were you. He is very skilled at tricking people." I closely watched him walk away until Katniss walked up to me, arms crossed over her chest, sending me a look I couldn't read.

Shaking my head at her I turned back towards the knot that he had done and attempted to repeat what he had shown me. "The only secret that I had is known by the whole country now. I am gonna need any help I can get." She walked away where I huffed feeling more nervous of the days leading up to the games.

Standing there for a few after she had walked away I noticed that Finnick had hit the elevator button about to leave. “Finnick, wait a second! I - um - could you try and find out why Snow wants me here. If not I understand with the games things are different-”

“I'll do my best, Ariyne.” He flashed me a grin and I hated to admit that I enjoyed the way he said my name with that tone of voice.

Comments really appreciated ❤️

[elektrantchios]

to love is to destroy | h.a | one

pairing: Haymitch x Giselle Carmine (oc)

summary: the games don’t end at the sound of the last cannon, they don’t end at all

warnings: cannon hunger’s violence mentions, alcohol use and mentions of vomiting, angst, fluff and swearing

word count: 1k

a/n: I hope this is at least half decent and someone enjoys it

one

HUNGER GAMES MASTERLIST

Katniss thought of how little of a chance the tribute of 12 had. Haymitch who was always drunk and Gisella, the heart of stone. . Each reaping she arrived beautifully dressed and detached. 

The ever happy Effie Trinket had led them through the train and to the dining cart. Haymitch was nowhere to be seen, and Giselle hadn’t spoken to them yet, all she did was scribble away in the notepad in front of her.

Beside her Peeta Melark, the boy with the bread. Looked as defeated as she felt.

Supper came, rich meats, green salads and thick soups, followed by chocolate cake. In the middle of the meal, Effie makes a comment on them having manners while the ones from the year before ate with their hands.

Giselle remembered feeling hunger like that, she remembered being so hungry she ate worms from the ground. Whatever was left for that skinny girl from the steam, eat the rest of her food with her clean manicured hands. 

When the food had been cleared away and Effie had trodden off to watch the news, Giselle closed her notepad hard, causing the two tributes to look up. “We should talk plans,” she said, tapping the table. Peeta looked to Katniss , then the door and finally back to his mentor, “Shouldn’t we wait for Haymitch?”.

She pressed her lips together hard, then spoke. “Haymitch won’t be…..be ready until morning ... .maybe the afternoon”.

“He doesn’t care enough to join us?” Katniss asked.

“Or is he too drunk to join us?” Peeta followed up with. 

The mentor stared at them both, they were both holding back laughs, she was frowning. “Haymitch will hopefully join us tomorrow. If you’d like to drag him from the bar go ahead, I gave up trying that years ago”.

“I miss supper?” Haymitch wobbles his way into the cart, he frowns at the empty table. Katniss and Peeta still hold in their laughs. Then he vomits onto the floor, falling into the mess. 

She drops her head into her hands and sighs, when she looks up, Katniss and Peeta are hauling Haymitch to his feet. He slurs something she can’t make out. “STOP” she yells, running after them, “I’ll take him���. She throws his arm over her shoulder, balancing out the new weight. He hides his head in her hair, his breath trickling her neck, Katniss and Peeta look at them blushed and confused.

In all the years of watching the games they had never seen, Haymitch and Giselle so much as look at one another, even at the reaping she had looked away when he wobbled up on stage. Haymitch’s vomit soaked clothes were pressed against her clean, expensive gown. “Go on. We’ll carry this on tomorrow” she ordered them waving her hand.

Striped down in her underwear she knelt beside the tub. At first Haymitch didn’t notice the water but finally, his eyes were getting clearer and then he smiled. “Hi sweetheart”. She laughed pushing his hair back. “You’re an idiot”.

“Love you too”. He linked their fingers together, with his other hand he touched her cheek, “What are the kids like?”.

“They think you're a drunk and I’m a bitch”. 

He laughed, hauling himself out of the tub, “What else?” 

She shrugs, “I didn’t get to that”, she sat on the edge of the bed, “They look capable I guess”. 

The train kept on, under her feet she could feel the silent engine. Every year it was the same, she tried not to care, having locked her heart away a long time ago. But once night fell it was impossible to hide away. 

Haymitch got down on his knees before her, “I wish I didn’t make it” she breathed.

“I’m glad you did,” he tells her. 

She smiled, touching his cheek, it had taken years for love to grow, years for them to like one another. All the softness in him had been hacked away by the time she won the games. Then she was an angry child, angry at the world from taking the only family she had left.

Eventually Giselle found a seed of softness in Haymitch and it grew until it cured the anger that had taken root in her heart.

That love could only be expressed in private, where they were safe from threats and blackmail. But here right now on the silence train, she loved him.

 “flight or fight? That’s what it comes down to once you’re in the arena”

Haymitch had shown up mostly sober. Katniss and Peeta were waiting.

“If you pick flight then we need to start the narrative that you’re weak and not a threat until it’s too late. I personally think it’s a longshot but longshots have worked before”. She said.

“And fight?” Katniss asked.

“Fight” she smiled, “is where we find where your skills are and work on them . People need to know what you can do but we’ll go more into that when you’re assessed on your own”.

Old tapes showed both mentors had fought, Haymitch winning at double the odds, Giselle a skinny girl from the steam had shown fight no one expected.

When they had reached the capitol, Katniss and Peeta were sent off to be prepped, a team was waiting for Giselle too. Her curls were braided with gold ribbon into a low bun, golden paint was seamed across both eyes. 

She wore a white dress shirt that reached her upper thigh, over the top she wore a golden jacket with cream lace.  

When Giselle found Haymitch again, he had been bathed and dressed in a dark green suit, the colour of summer leaves. Seeing him she almost broke out into a smile but remembered who she was. The heart of stone. 

Passing a waiter she picked up one glass, swallowed it whole then replaced it with a full cup. 

“Haymitch” she greeted him. Victors and capitol citizens watched, possibly hoping for a fight. 

“Giselle,” he nodded. “Ariadne out did herself”. She shrugged at the statement, slipping on her drink. The trumpets began to play, Haymitch held out his hand, “We can’t be late”.  She gave her stiff shoulders a roll before taking his hand, “We wouldn’t want that”.

[ears-awake-eyes-opened]

Impossible things

(Hayffie 💙. For months I’ve been wanting to write about a Hayffie breakup, but I didn’t have language that felt authentic to me. Sensuality, angst, and playfulness are just pieces of the complex dynamic that makes them interesting to me. I see them stuck for years in dysfunctional relating, full of emotional highs and lows, struggling together and suffering even more when apart.)

***

Effie knew it wouldn’t take long for her return to the Capitol to become a curiosity of the press. Even with the passage of time and without her old facades, she was still quite recognizable. Her moving to 12 had been regarded as everything from sensational and romantic to scandalous and foolish.

She was prepared for the question when it came. Her cards were committed to memory.

“Can you tell us about your split from Haymitch Abernathy?”

She responded as she’d rehearsed, “I gave the relationship my best. But when it was hurting more to be in than out, I had to do something. I was losing myself. I had to stop and find myself again."

***

Haymitch sat in the dark with the screen flickering, tuned to the channel she’d watched sometimes. Her showing up on screen, right there in front of his face, wasn’t a surprise. If he was being honest with himself, he’d acknowledge that’s why he had the damn thing on most evenings since she’d left — wondering if he’d catch a glimpse of her.

Between his fingers, he twirled her hairpin — the one he’d kept for years. The twirling was a trick he’d learned with coins. While most people around him had been starving, he’d had enough coins to fuck around with and let them fall between the floorboards. That was a long time ago.

He clenched the clip in his hand, hard enough for the decorative metal to cut into his palm. He crossed the room in three angry steps and hurled the thing out the window.

“No comment!” He yelled at the screen. “You were supposed to tell those bastards ‘No comment!’”

When reporters had come knocking earlier, Haymitch hadn’t given them the satisfaction of hearing even those words. He just slammed the door in their faces.

Effie’s eyes were concealed under dark glasses, and he was as pissed about not being able to see them as much as he was pissed about her words to the reporter. Her hair was blowing in the wind. She caught a lock of it and tucked it behind her ear. Her lips were shiny pink like the flesh of white peaches.

Losing herself? He didn’t understand why that was a bad thing. She’d said it weeks before she’d left, and he brushed it off then. She was always complaining about something.

Losing himself was his OBJECTIVE not his complaint. He’d been doing that most of his life in alcohol. And for years, he’d been losing himself in her — her lips, her hair, her eyes, her body. Life had been less intolerable that way — being lost. Ah, hell. With her, life was better than tolerable. It was even good sometimes. She’d made it good.

But she’d been hurting?? For how long? She’d never said it in those words, and now she was telling the whole country.

***

The call that came through after the interview aired could have been anyone. “No doubt Mother has prepared a diatribe of the ways I’ve disgraced the family.”

When Effie answered, the extended silence told her the person there wasn’t her mother. The deep breath he took filled more than her ears. Her hands started shaking, and she tried to keep her voice steady. “...What do you want, Haymitch?”

Frustration throbbed in his head. The silence between them was more deafening than anything they might otherwise be screaming at each other.

“...We agreed to leave one another alone.” Her voice was everything but steady.

“We agreed to tell the press, ‘No comment,” he seethed.

“We agreed to spend our lives together. Obviously we don’t have a great track record with keeping our agreements.”

“You’re the one who left.”

“You’re the one who made me feel invisible — and insane.”

“Invisible? You make yourself impossible not to see! And insane?? Your feelings aren’t my responsibility.”

“Impossible?? You have at least a dozen ways of not looking, not listening, and not caring about what matters to me.”

“Just because I’m not paying attention to *The High Priestess* every second doesn’t mean I’m not caring.”

“That’s not what I mean. That’s not my expectation.”

“Then what DO you mean? Because it’s been a month, and I still don’t get it!”

“I gave up EVERYTHING for you!”

“Don’t put that on me! Your choices aren’t my responsibility either. If me and the kids weren’t part of ‘everything,’ then why’d you even come here and stay?”

Her voice softened. “That’s not what I meant. And you know why I stayed.”

“Tell me.”

“Damn it, Haymitch, you KNOW why.”

“Say it anyway. ...You say every other fucking thing a hundred times.”

“Fine! It was the curtains.”

That wasn’t the answer he was expecting.

“...The little flowers on the curtains I hung in our— in your bedroom. I imagined those flowers opening when the sun came up, and I wanted to be there every day to see them. I wanted all the words you said to me when you talked in your sleep.”

“What words? What’d I say?”

“You weren’t awake, so why does it matter?”

“Since we’re through, what’s the point in not telling me?”

“We’re going round in circles, like always. You exhaust me!”

“If you’re exhausted and you were hurting here, then it’s better that you’re gone.”

She hesitated. “IS it better?”

It’s hell, he didn’t say. “It’s pointless to be living a life that hurts. If you’re not hurting now, then you ought to be where you are.”

“Who says I’m not hurting?”

“ARE you?”

“Are YOU?”

“This is ridiculous. Forget I called—“

“You told me not to leave! When you were sleeping. You gripped my arm and murmured the reasons I should stay. So many mornings you did that while I imagined those flowers opening. THAT’S why I stayed so long.”

“Effie...”

“But I can’t keep living off of unconscious words. I’ve been lost in something that isn’t even real.”

“Not real?! Just because I don’t say it all when I’m conscious doesn’t mean it ain’t real.”

“Well you seem conscious now, so tell me what’s real.”

He got quiet. She always wanted him to talk about the feelings he drank to avoid. He waited for her to push him, but she just let the silence get bigger until it was pushing out from inside his chest.

“My hand is bleeding.”

“What?... Why?”

“I was holding your hairpin so tight the damn thing cut me. ...I hurt so bad that there aren’t words for it.”

“Haymitch...”

“I don’t know how to give you what you want.”

“I’ll be damned if it’s your hand that’s hurting beyond words. Why do you do that!? Why don’t you just tell me what you’re really feeling?”

“I just did! You knew who you were making a life with. Why expect me to be different now?”

She didn’t answer. The silence between them grew so pregnant that something needed to either be born right then or die.

“I love you.” She said the words he’d expected earlier.

“Me loving you in the way I do isn’t enough for you. ...And that’s bullshit.”

She was crying now. “This separation is killing me.”

“Then why are you doing this?”

“Because my needs aren’t bullshit. ...More hours than not, I was in that bed alone while you were passed out somewhere else. Those flowers opening was a fantasy.”

“I wanna be in that bed with you now. It’s OURS. ...Damn it. I hate this.”

“I hate this too. Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to pass that train every day and not get on it? But if I come home, our clothes will be off before we’ve even said a word. Our bodies will be saying a thousand things and fixing nothing at all. I’ll go from flying... to feeling certain we can make a life together... to feeling uncertain... to feeling that it’s impossible... to being completely deflated. Until the tension gets to be too much, and we’ll try to fix it again with sex. And it’ll be so good, so impossibly good that I’ll be flying and the cycle will start all over. That’s a roller coaster, Haymitch, not a life. I need to find my life again.”

Tears were welling up in his head, and if he didn’t end the call right then, she was gonna hear them in his voice. And if she did, she’d get on the train, and she’d be in his arms. He knew all that was true. — And she’d just gone into painful detail about why that wasn’t the right choice for her.

“Listen, I’ve gotta go. There’s something I need to do. I’m sorry for not leaving you alone like you wanted.”

“Haymitch—“ A click and a long tone told her he’d ended the call. She knew too well the sound of him shoving down his feelings. He was trying not to cry, and he was failing. The picture of him in her mind was so clear, and she could hardly stand not being with him. She wanted him like that. It was exactly how she wanted him, sliced open with his feelings showing. She felt desperate to call him back, but she knew he wouldn’t answer.

***

If forgetting her was something he could have done, then he would have headed to the liquor cabinet and drunk himself into the unconscious state that he apparently used to pour out the contents of his heart.

But since forgetting about her was not something he could do, he headed outside with a flashlight. And he combed the yard in full consciousness until he found the goddamn hairpin.

He went to bed that night holding it in his hand. The curtains blocked out the light from the night sky, and he couldn’t see the flowers. They were so small he’d rarely noticed them, but he wanted them now. He turned the lamp on low and rolled toward the window. They were tiny buds, golden like her hair.

He turned off the light. Tomorrow he’d take the curtains down. It hurt too much to look at them.

***

There was no angel on Effie’s shoulder advocating the wisdom in holding the line and finding herself again. There was no devil on her other shoulder advocating the indulgence in desire. All at once, both shoulders were filled with wild horses pulling her in a single direction — home. She didn’t need to inquire about the train schedule. She’d committed it to memory.

The roller coaster was pulling out of the station again, and she was already on it.

[everlark-your-own-adventure]

Mockingjay Manor - Ch 9

Chapter One /// Chapter Two /// Chapter Three /// Chapter Four /// Chapter Five /// Chapter Six /// Chapter Seven /// Chapter Eight

Happy Tuesday, Everlarkers! It’s time for one last visit to Mockingjay Manor. Times are tense for our heroes, injuries and enemies abound. How will they extract themselves from this mess? Hang on tight as @katnissdoesnotfollowback concludes our gripping journey in dramatic style!

“Do you still have your phone?” I ask Finnick. Seneca has now made his way inside the house, dousing the floors in the foyer with gasoline as he goes, and I briefly think that it’d be too much to ask for experiment M to make a reappearance right about now.

“In my pocket, but it’s dead,” Finnick reminds me, shifting Peeta’s weight on his shoulders.

“Peeta keeps a charger in the glove box. Here.” I try to search his pockets, but Peeta mumbles something and flinches back away from me again. Finnick barely keeps them from tumbling to the ground. He’s figured out what I’m doing, though, and distracts Peeta long enough for me to get the keys out of his pocket. “Make for the Jeep, call 9-1-1 as soon as you can. I’ll try to stall Seneca somehow.”

“Be careful, Katniss,” Finnick warns and then slinks through the shadows closer to the Jeep. I creep my way up to the front porch. From behind one of the columns, I watch Effie through the windshield as she lifts a large compact and slicks on a coat of lipstick. While she’s focused on her appearance, I slip inside the house and square my shoulders.

“Hey, asshole!” I yell and Seneca whirls around to face me, spraying gasoline over the beautiful floors. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I was looking for you,” he states weakly. “It’s so dangerous to go exploring in a rickety old house this late at night.”

“So you were going to burn it down around my ears?” I ask and Seneca fumbles for a moment or two, waving his hand in a useless gesture.

“Of course not,” he insists and rage fills me. I think of Johanna and Madge, somewhere in this house and oblivious to the danger they’re in. At least this new one. I think of Uncle Haymitch and how he’d been manipulated, used, and possibly blackmailed. His murdered wife Maysilee. Creepy Snow and his experiments topped off with these two greedy leeches trying to burn down my house and not caring who they hurt in the process. And I think of Peeta, his strange behavior and how I might still lose him tonight. But if I think about that too much, I might go insane, so instead I cling to my rage and pull the threads before I come unraveled.

I point towards the bright red gas can in his hands and snarl at him. “So I suppose that’s here to start a campfire. Did you bring marshmallows, too? I’m afraid I’m all out of chocolate bars to make s’mores. Fed them to the creepy, mutant birds in the attic.”

“Well I, uh—” he stammers and then the strangest thing happens. His eyes harden and he stands up straight. The usual fop that I’ve come to despise on some low level disappears and in his place is something sleeker and far more dangerous. “You’re just like him, you know. Your uncle. He was sarcastic and blind when he met his end, too.”

I take a few steps inside and Seneca flinches, so I keep going. “He died of a heart attack,” I remind Seneca, who laughs cruelly at my words.

“Oh no, my dear Katniss. He didn’t at all.”

“You’re a murderer!” I shout. He smiles and then something sharp scrapes painfully across my back. I yell and stagger forward, falling to my knees as I hear the familiar click clack of Effie’s heels and the soft tsk-ing of her tongue. Flames lick over my back as the floor boils in bright orange bubbles. How stupid of me to think she’d just wait inside the car.

“So impolite. Making such vile, unfounded accusations. Seneca is merely taking care of a public menace for me, aren’t you darling?” Effie trills as she examines her nails. The ends glow with something viscous and red. I try to crawl towards the door, but the orange bubbles have turned hot and burn my palms. The floor tilts violently and I retch. “Not to worry, my dear. The first dose is always the worst. From there…it’s only a matter of time.” Seneca hands her a fluttering white cloth and she sighs as she wipes her nails with it, staining the pristine thing red. Her talons, I realize. She’s laced them with the devil’s breath. Vines of the things sprout from the floor and wrap around my ankles, slowing my progress.

“And since you don’t have much time, let me explain a few things to you. Haymitch Abernathy was a drunken fool. A coward, too afraid to take risks. He was on his way to becoming one of the greatest engineers of our time but instead, he wanted a family with that whiny milksop of a wife. Well I knew I couldn’t just let him go and waste his millions on a pack of snotty children just like you. Poor Maysilee, unable to conceive though they did try so very hard,” Effie sings the words in a grating tune of false sympathy. I’ve almost reached the door as she keeps talking. Maybe if I can get there, through the ant hills sprouting up from the floor and spewing forth giant red ants, maybe I can flag down Finnick in the Jeep. My pulse pounds in my ears and for a moment, I think my heart actually slows. The distant rumbles of thunder alert me to the return of the storm.

“Well I couldn’t let them adopt a child. So Seneca and I took measures to make sure they didn’t. Your dear friend was correct about that,” she sneers and I freeze. How could she know about Madge–

Effie whistles and a flock of birds swoops gracefully down from the rafters. “Experimented on her with the Devil’s Breath.” One of them says in Madge’s voice. “Let experiment M loose.” Johanna’s voice joins in, “You need an exorcist.”

“Weapons in the house,” another says in my voice this time. Another sings about the hanging tree in Finnick’s and I cover my ears as all of our voices merge together and the birds form a swarm, screaming out in pain and fear.

“Katniss! Run!” Peeta’s voice yells above me. Peeta. I have to get to Peeta. It’s all I can think as the wings beat all around me, their beaks pecking at me and their words driving me insane. There’s a puff of sulfur and a light just above me. I reach towards it as Seneca stares down at me from the doorway, his face garish in the light from the match, his eyes black tar pits. I can just see the Jeep at a distance, two figures wrestling in the night. One of them scrambles for the door and the other wrenches him away as Effie hums and saunters back towards her Jaguar, it’s eyes glowing red. I can’t move. Instead, I watch, helpless as Peeta falls on Finnick and his fingers close around his throat—

“Okay, that’s it!” I shout and snatch the flashlight from Johanna’s hands. She freezes with her arm extended, hand curled into a strangling motion and her face twisted in rage. “You are not making Peeta murder Finnick.”

“What? No!” Finnick protests and shoves another handful of popcorn in his mouth. “If waf ‘us effing ‘ood.”

“Oh it was only now getting good?” Johanna asks and pops her hip to glare at her good friend.

Peeta lifts his marshmallow from the fire and frowns at the flaming thing before blowing it out. “Dang it, Jo. You made me burn another one.”

“Let her finish, Katniss,” Annie protests, her green eyes wide and luminescent in the firelight. “I want to know how it ends.”

“No!” I yell and everyone stares at me. I cross my arms and wriggle deeper into the blanket. “Couldn’t you have at least told your scary story from your own point of view?”

“That’s no fun,” Jo says with a wicked grin. “I don’t scare as easily as you do.”

“BLAGH!”

Hands clamp down on my shoulders. I scream. Smack them off and jump straight into Peeta’s lap as the other’s around the campfire lose it. Even Peeta’s biting his lip and trying not to laugh at me. I whack his chest as Madge wraps her arms around us both.

“I’m sorry, Katniss. I couldn’t resist,” Madge says between laughs. I plant my hand on her face and shove her away.

“None of you are my friends anymore,” I say petulantly.

“So do we all die or what?” Peeta asks and Jo shrugs before pointing around the circle. She starts with Finnick.

“Killed by your friend because you’re the jokester.” Next comes Madge. “Burned alive in the house, still haunts the grounds to this day with eerie song.” Madge claps her hands in glee. Then Johanna points to Peeta. “Locked in an asylum for the rest of your days.” To me, “Killed by the villain in your heroic efforts to save everyone else. Oh and that’s also because you had s-e-x,” she whispers the letters as she crosses her arms and grins. I sputter and protest that this was her story, not mine. She ignores me and moves on to herself. “Got away but don’t worry, I bite it in the sequel. Torn to shreds by the inexplicable reappearance of Experiment M.” She wriggles her fingers and twists her features into a grotesque mask. Then she drops her voice into a quiet but deep, creepy warble. “And Annie? Annie visits the burned-out shell of a house to look for her beloved and only finds the charred remains of a brass keyring, the echoes of birdsong, and half of Maysilee’s burned up portrait. Annie, of course, is the star of that sequel.”

“Oh no,” Annie says in the long pause after Johanna’s words and shakes her head, although she’s smiling.

“This is the thanks I get for letting you stay in my lavish mansion and mooch off my riches,” I mock. I try to stay mad at Johanna, but I can’t. The others seem just fine, talking about their favorite parts of her winding and twisted tale. Eventually, the full moon hangs high above us and the distant sounds of the night animals prowling in the woods beyond the fences reach our ears. Annie shivers and Finnick wraps a blanket around her, telling us that they’re turning in for the night. Madge and Johanna are next, laughing about the reality of our first meeting.

“No mutant birds, but I’m still not sure what kind of fungus that was growing in that attic aviary,” Madge jokes as she refers to the room she was hired to consult on the restoration of, only for us to learn that she was also Haymitch’s niece through her Aunt Maysilee. 

When it’s just Peeta and me, he roasts a few more marshmallows for us while I stand on the edge of the verandah and gaze up at the restored façade of Mockingjay Manor. It took some serious work and we almost missed our six month deadline, but in the end, we managed to meet Haymitch’s challenge.

I shift my eyes to look over at the house falling into disrepair next door. Next door is thankfully a bit of distance, though. It took the chill of fall to finally kill the smell of the genetically altered roses from his gardens and it will take some time to get over Coriolanus Snow’s attempts to blackmail me with Uncle Haymitch’s past as we worked to restore the manor. His nearly successful tries at blocking each step of the project. For now, it’s Snow’s estate that remains embroiled in legal debates, the old man having finally croaked during tea time, his death shrouded in mystery along with the scars ranging in age from a few weeks to years old found all over his body, resembling claw markings but unmatched to any kind of animal known to science. Maybe that’s why Johanna’s story freaked me out so much. Because at some point, it became difficult to find the line between the real and the made up as she spun the tale.

Mockingjay cosmetics, the hushed-up scandals of corporate misdeeds and ethics violations. The weird dreams that plagued Peeta for weeks after clearing the gardens and the bushes filled with razor sharp thorns left his arms cut and his blood exposed to toxins from fungi and plants alike. Even the hint of murder in Maysilee’s death. The child scheduled for adoption to two eager parents who built her a beautiful nursery, left somewhere in the system when the adoption agency pulled out and refused to give just Haymitch custody after Maysilee died. Haymitch wanted me to make it right, to find her and make sure she had a home, a family. I have a name – Lavinia Tulane. But I still haven’t gotten much farther than that.

“We’ll keep looking,” Peeta assures me as he steps up behind me and wraps his arms around me, his loud footfalls ensuring that he, at least, can’t scare me tonight. Something about Johanna’s story keeps nagging at me, though, and as I look up at Peeta’s concerned face, I know what it is that upset me so much. Just the idea of losing Peeta. But he’s here in front of me, so very alive and safe as he speaks softly. “In the meantime, do you want that last s’more? Or would you rather just go to bed?” That’s a question I definitely know the answer to. So I grab his hand and tug him inside and up the stairs, to where adventures of a more enjoyable nature await.

And that, friends, concludes Mockingjay Manor! We hope you enjoyed the ride! The story, in its entirety, will be posted on AO3 in time for Hallowe’en.

We’d like to express our deepest gratitude to our incredible group of authors, @burkygirl, @jennagill, @albinokittens300, @peetamymuse, @norbertsmom, @appleblossomgirl0305, @mega-aulover, @xerxia31, @katnissdoesnotfollowback and @peetabreadgirl. Your talent and creativity astounds us, you took this story to places we never could have imagined. Thank you!!

Itching for more Everlark-your-own-adventure? Stay tuned, because we’ll be launching a brand new story soon!

[everlarkficexchange]

Not a Walk in the Park

Written by: @booksrockmyface​

Rating: T

Prompt 6: Hi! I’d love to see the toast babies as bratty teenagers. Thanks :) [submitted by Anonymous]

Summary: Lily is getting ready for a date. Her brothers have quite a bit to say on the subject. Katniss and Peeta try desperately to keep the peace (and a secret).

Author’s note: Title comes from the Paramore song Still Into You. Many thanks to my bestie @thesaltywinteradult for betaing.

____

Peeta heard a loud squeal from the top of the stairs. Lily came running down with powder all over her wet hair.

“I’m going to kill them both.” She said angrily as she looked around for her brothers.

“What happened?” Peeta asked, lifting a hand up to brush the white from his daughter’s shoulders. “Is this baby powder?”

“Yes.” Lily was explosively angry. “Drew will be here in less than a half hour and those brats decided to put it in my blow dryer.”

Peeta suppressed a laugh. “It’ll be okay. Go use the blow dryer in mine and Mom’s bathroom and it’ll come out.”

Rowan laughed from the living room. “Is it snowing, Lil?”

Reed held up his hand for a high-five.

“You’re dead.” Lily said through her teeth, launching herself toward her younger brothers.

Peeta grabbed her wrist. “Finish getting ready for your date. I’ll handle these two.”

“I hate you.” Lily called over her shoulder as she stomped up the stairs.

Peeta crossed his arms. “Boys?”

“It was his idea.” Reed pointed to his younger brother.

“Nuh-uh!” Rowan shook his head. “Reed said it would be funny. Reed made me do it.”

Katniss stepped into the back door laughing with Gale. She paused when she saw the scene in front of her.

“What is it?” Katniss asked.

“Your sons decided to play a prank on their sister.” Peeta explained.

“Today?” Katniss stared Reed and Rowan down. “Is this true?”

They started talking over each other, saying it was the other’s idea. Gale made a mumbled excuse and backed out the door.

“Enough.” Katniss held up her hand. “Just apologize to your sister. And don’t prank her when she’s getting ready for a date.”

The boys looked between each other and then nodded and headed up the stairs.

_____

Reed stepped into Lily’s room. She wasn’t there, but he knew that. No need to try to get her to stop blow drying her hair just for an apology.

Rowan followed and wandered over to the vanity. He picked up Lily’s makeup bag. “Bet you’d look pretty with this lipstick.” He snorted as he held up a tube.

Reed laughed and took it from Rowan. “No, it’s more your color.” He swiped a bit of the red lipstick under his younger brother’s eyes.

Rowan laughed and did the same to Reed. They took out the eyeshadow next.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Lily asked from the doorway.

“We came to apologize.” Reed said, picking up one of Lily’s makeup wipes and cleaning his face.

Rowan followed suit.

“Apology not accepted.” Lily said. “You could have ruined my night.”

“Do you ever think that might have been the point?” Rowan snorted.

Lily advanced. “Get your butts out of my room now.”

“Or what?” Reed challenged.

“Or you’ll be sorry.” Lily said through clenched teeth.

“Oh, I’m so scared.” Reed laughed.

“Look at me shaking in my boots.” Rowan added.

“Dude, you’re barefoot.” Reed pointed out.

Rowan laughed. “You’re right, I am.”

Lily fumed. “Get out of my room.” She picked up a shoe from the corner and threw it in their direction. “I said get out!”

_____

Katniss leaned her forehead against Peeta’s shoulder. “I wasn’t ready a teenager. I definitely not ready for a dating one.”

Peeta laughed and kissed the top of her head. “Well, at least we have a couple more years until the other two are teenagers. And thirteen for the new one.”

“Oh, you’re funny.” She looked up. “I’m not sure I’m ready for sleepless nights because of a baby any more than I am because of a teenage daughter with a boyfriend.”

He rubbed her arms. “You said okay when I suggested the new addition.”

She grinned. “I think my exact words were somewhere along the lines of, ‘Oh, god, yes!’”

He laughed and pulled her in for a deep kiss. “Repeatedly.”

She laughed as she looked up the stairs. “I was going to be home earlier to help her get ready, but we got a pretty good sized deer. I helped Gale dress it, but he said he could get all the meat split up. He’ll bring it to us tomorrow.”

“Sounds good. But I’m so glad you’re finally back. Lily has been running all over like a chicken with her head cut off. Reed and Rowan haven’t helped.”

“Get out of my room!” Lily screamed from upstairs.

“We just wanted to say we were sorry!” Reed replied in the same tone.

“Yeah, don’t be ungrateful!” Rowan yelled.

Peeta sighed. “Maybe we should keep the news to ourselves until just before it’s born.”

Katniss laughed. “That won’t be easy. I always start showing early.”

He leaned his forehead against hers. “Either way, they won’t be too happy when they find out about the new baby.”

“Another one?” Lily asked. “Are you kidding me?”

Katniss and Peeta looked at each other in contrition and then to their children standing on the stairs in different levels of shock.

“You’re really having another baby?” Reed asked.

Katniss nodded. “Yeah.”

“This is the last thing I need.” Lily stormed back up the stairs.

Rowan’s eyes were big as he looked between his mother’s face and her stomach. “I get to be the big brother now.” He said softly.

“Yeah.” Peeta said. “You okay with that?”

“I don’t know.” Rowan said. “That’s a lot of responsibility.” He wandered off to the living room.

Reed sighed. “You two are the worst.” He followed his brother.

“I better change before the boy gets here.” Katniss said, walking toward the stairs.

“No, leave the hunting gear on.” Peeta took hold of her hips. “And it probably wouldn’t hurt to be looking over your arrows when he comes in. Or sharpening your knife.”

Katniss laughed and shook her head. “I’m not going to subtly threaten violence against our daughter’s boyfriend. I think our girl has better sense than to need our help warning a boy. She knows our expectations.”

Peeta sighed. “Okay, fair enough.”

She pressed a kiss to his lips. “I’ll go see if Lily needs some help.” She sauntered up the stairs.

Peeta let out a soft groan. “Why are you so gorgeous?”

Katniss paused at the top of the stairs and looked over her shoulder. “You should recognize the glow by now.” She winked and continued on.

_____

Lily was shaking her hair out when Katniss walked in her room. Fine powder fell to the floor from her dark locks. She sat up and looked in the mirror. The powder was mostly gone now. Lily reached for her hairbrush.

“You want me to do it?” Katniss asked as she walked over.

Lily smiled and handed the brush over. “Thanks.”

Katniss slowly ran the bristles through her daughter’s hair. “Younger siblings can be a real pain in the neck, huh?”

“Yeah.” Lily chewed her lip. “Why did you have go and get pregnant again?”

Katniss went to work on an intricate braid on Lily’s hair before she answered. “Your father always wanted a house full of kids. I only wanted two to start out with.” Katniss paused in talking to pick up a pin to slip into Lily’s hair. “After you came along, I decided two wouldn’t do it. I just loved you so much I could burst.” She finished the braid and then sat down beside her daughter. “Of course, then the pain medicine wore off and I changed my mind for a while. That’s why there’s a gap between each of you.” She gave her daughter a teasing grin.

“Does it hurt a lot to have a baby?” Lily asked with wide eyes.

With a laugh, Katniss wrapped an arm around her daughter’s shoulders. “It’s extremely painful. And I wouldn’t have made it with all three of you if your dad hadn’t been around to help out. So remember that and make your boyfriend wear a condom.”

Lily blushed deeply. “Whatever.”

Katniss kissed her temple. “Your dad and I decided we wanted another baby. No real thought behind it except we wanted another. Just know that we love you all so very much. And we never will stop.”

“If it’s a boy, I’m going to move in with Haymitch and Effie until I graduate.” Lily said with a smirk to rival her mother’s. The smile revealed a dimple in her cheek just like her father’s.

Katniss laughed and gave Lily’s shoulders a squeeze. “Good. One less mouth to feed here.”

Lily laughed. “Maybe I’ll come home for dinner. They can’t cook to save their lives. I don’t know how they survive.”

“A lot of takeout.” The doorbell rang and they both looked out to the hall. “Well, there he is.”

Lily gave her mother a nervous look. “Am I going to screw this up, Mom?”

Katniss shook her head. “You’ll do fine. You hang out at school. You’ve gone on group outings. Just behave like you normally do and everything will work out.” She gave Lily another kiss and helped her to her feet. “Have fun. And call if you need us to come get you.”

“Okay, Mama.” There was a tremble in her voice.

“Make sure you kiss her goodnight.” They heard Reed say as they made it down the stairs.

“But be careful, I don’t think she brushed her teeth for a week.” Rowan said.

“Boys.” Peeta warned.

Drew looked up as Lily stepped into the room. “Hi, Lily.”

With a blush, Lily said, “Hi, Drew.”

“Why are you all red?” Rowan asked with a giggle.

“Embarrassed about her face, I bet.” Reed said with a snicker.

Peeta placed a hand on each of their shoulders and pressed his thumbs in to add pressure. “Tell your sister to have a good time and then go to your rooms.”

“Have a good time.” Rowan said quickly.

Peeta dropped his hand from Rowan’s shoulder, but Reed refused to say anything.

Lily gave her father a quick kiss on the cheek and then pulled Drew out the house.

“We expect you back by ten.” Katniss called.

“Okay, Mama!” Lily said as she shut the door.

Peeta leaned down and looked into his older son’s face. “Your sister is nervous enough about this date as it is. You didn’t need to act like that. And when she gets home tonight, you’re going to apologize. Understand?”

Reed swallowed and looked over to where Katniss stood with arms crossed, eyes giving him a pointed look that said he needed to agree to his father’s terms.

“Yes, Dad.” Reed said softly.

“Go to your room until I have dinner ready.” Peeta straightened.

The boys stalked out of the room.

Katniss walked over and wrapped her arms around Peeta. “Do you remember our first official date?”

“I’ll never forget it.” Peeta said with a chuckle. “I threw up half a dozen times between the bakery and here.”

“And three more times on the date.”

“That you knew about.” He put his finger under her chin to lift her face. “But you were so patient with me.” He smiled, bringing out that dimple. “I wish it had just been nerves instead of food poisoning.”

She pressed her lips to his. “You were still so cute, opening doors for me and pulling out my chair.”

Peeta looked toward the window. “He seems like a good kid, but I’m still nervous.”

Katniss gently scratched his back. “I am too.”

“She’ll be okay.” Rowan said from the top of the stairs.

“Yeah, if he tries something, she’ll give him that left hook Haymitch taught her.” Reed said with a laugh. “And if that doesn’t work, he taught it to us too. We’ll kick his butt.”

Katniss laughed. “I guess Haymitch is good for something.” She looked to Peeta. “Did you start cooking yet?”

Peeta shook his head.

“Then let’s order pizza and watch the clock.” Katniss pulled her phone out of her pocket and headed for the living room.