#lorataverse | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cloversworldsblog · 2 months

Text

A View from the Victors Lounge

For @lorata because I am completely obsessed with her District 2 multiverse and because the disparity between Victor Alec's experience and how the world might see him has been stuck in my head for years. Everything comes from her sandbox so probably won't make any sense to anyone who hasn't read that first.

Every outlier hates careers.

It’s one of the things that binds every victor sitting in the lounge, watching with resignation and simmering rage as another one of Panem’s proudest psychopaths gets pulled out of the arena, hands still covered in the blood of eighteen children who didn’t choose to be there.

Every outlier hates careers, but there are some they hate more than others and in that respect, everyone’s preferences are different. Whenever the topic comes up, as it inevitably does when Two takes the crown, there’s a debate over which type is worst.

Callista is always a popular choice, especially among the Tens, who take her title as something of an insult to their district’s profession.

‘They say she misses the blood,’ Angus will snarl into his seventh glass of some backwater moonshine he insists on bringing with him to the Capitol, ‘They’re all psychopaths but at least some of them leave that behind. She’d climb back into the arena tomorrow if it would give her the chance to torture another kid.’

‘At least she was born that way,’ Cora from Nine will counter; her own preference is drugs that make the world hazy but there’s a sharpness about her which never quite vanishes, a gleam in her eyes that makes Chaff sure she see the strings controlling them better than most, ‘It’s the ones that think it’s an honour or a duty that sicken me. They tell themselves they’re morally superior because they don’t enjoy it but really they’re worse than any of ones in it for the blood. Callista might be a true born psycho but she doesn’t think that everything she did was good or moral or forgivable just because she gave a clean kill to some twelve year old kid.’

(Cora had tried to attack Devon the first time he’d made some quip about how great tesserae was. Burt and Angus had had to drag her out of the Victor’s Lounge, frothing at the mouth and screaming threats she could never deliver on)

Chaff never participates in the debates; he’s never really cared whether they’re born that way or trained, not when they’re out there killing kids and laughing about it. Haymitch might get all philosophical, spouting all sorts of rubbish about them just being pawns in the game the Capitol plays but Chaff has never bought that. There’s always a choice and the careers, whether they were born wanting it or brainwashed into it, have never hesitated to make it.

Chaff has always hated them all equally until the latest one raises his spear in triumph. For the first time since his own arena, he feels the pull of that bitter hatred that allowed him to cross the line from boy to killer.

He hates this one most; District Two’s newest murderer, who stepped onto the stage and announced to the world that he was thrilled to be following in his brother’s footsteps. Who watched his brother die an agonising death in the arena and still wanted to kill kids so much that even his brother’s death didn't make him pause. Who sat in his interview talking about honour and his brother’s spirit cheering him on as though any of it was something to be proud of.

Chaff watches him get bundled into the hovercraft and the rage builds up inside him, just like it did in the arena except this time there’s nothing he can do about it. He reaches for Teff’s bottle of rotgut and takes a long swig.

‘His daddy must be proud,’ he sneers, ‘Only took two sons to get them the victor they wanted.’

‘A family like that,’ Teff scoffs, ‘They’re probably gutted he didn’t follow in his brother’s footsteps and die for his country like a good little loyalist should. It’s the greatest honour after all,’ he raises his glass in a mock toast.

Diana lets out a bitter laugh but Chaff doesn’t join in. He drinks and drinks and his anger stays at the surface, where it’s sat ever since last year’s victor gave that interview about playing tributes in the woods and dreaming of when they’d be able to live out those fantasies for real.

‘Looks like he’s gonna sacrifice something,’ Angus slurs, as the feed switches over to footage from the Hospital, ‘No way they’re gonna keep the arm if it’s not better by interview. It’ll be just like it was with you.’

‘It’s nothing like me,’ says Chaff, his lips twisting into something ugly, ‘He’s a career; he deserves it.’

#District 2 #OC: Alec Seward #Lorata #Lorataverse #Chaff #the hunger games #thg

43 notes · View notes

irenespring · 2 months

Text

Happy Ides of March to @lorata's Victors: you would have loved finding some old history book and then making Brutus' life hell all day every year.

#we must be killers: tales from district two #district two #the hunger games #lorataverse #Everyone saves their broken or old knives they no longer want for Ides of March and then dumps them on Brutus' doorstep #he thinks he's safe and then in the afternoon...more knives #Bb!Misha made Ides of March knives when she was forced into metalwork #Devon makes him a knife-shaped cake and uses frosting like paint to perfectly shade and make it look like metal #Lyme and Brutus have a toga wearing contest one year #ides of march

22 notes · View notes

lorata · 1 year

Note

My friend Jess and I were talking about the Hunger Games Resurgence the other day and one of our mutual friends joined the conversation asking who our favorite characters were. Without hesitation I said Devon... I then went on to talk about him and our friend goes "wait which Victor is that again I don't really remember" AND THATS WHEN IT HIT ME THAT DEVON ONLY EXISTS IN THE LORATAVERSE AND I MADE MYSELF SAD

I am oddly charmed that it's Devon who broke containment in your brain! I feel like he's a bit of an underdog but Misha would definitely applaud your taste

I also am confused but pleased by the THG Renaissance! It's every bit as relevant now as it was 15 years ago and deserves all the love and attention

#lorata answers #anonymous #we must be killers: tales from district 2

22 notes · View notes

irenespring · 4 months

Text

House MD Characters and Their Mentors

Oh look it's more of this very niche character analysis. This time I'm looking at which of @lorata's District Two Victors would be good mentors for House characters. House fans reading this: you would really like Lorata's writing. Only limited Hunger Games knowledge required (basically you need to know the premise); lots of messed up people making the best of things, found family shenanigans, emotional angst, and queerness.

Anyway, time for mentors!

James Wilson: Devon. The essence of a Devon tribute. Really wants to make the world better. Fairly messed up and depressed, but does genuinely care about the district, and even the kid he volunteers for. The one bit of really key information we are provided about Devon's tributes is that Devon's dreamers burn bright, but flame out as the reality of the Games shatters their world view. This reminds me a lot of how House says that "Wilson thinks that if he cares enough he'll never have to die" contrasted with Wilson's feelings of betrayal and devastation that he, a oncologist who gave his life to treating cancer, is dying of cancer. He served the Capitol, believed everything the Center told him, and the truth of the Games ---the pain and the guilt and the injustice of it all--- is a sudden betrayal that completely unbalances him. The only way he wins is through temporary Arena madness, the kind of desperation that caused him to double his dose of chemo in a last ditch effort to survive and make the world make sense again during canon. Devon's main challenge post-Arena is helping him rebuild his shattered sense of self: Wilson thought he was a good person, but you can only win the Hunger Games by being vicious. Devon, as someone who had a similar break, is the best choice to help him form a cohesive identity. Devon can see him for who he actually is, all of it, and still say he cares. Devon can cite his own struggles with accepting care without "enough work" in return to get Victor!Wilson to step back from compulsively ignoring his needs to "earn" affection. Devon can pull him out of spirals about how his mental state is worse than his brother's now and show him how there is a way forward. The Victory Tour almost kills him, all those people hate him even though he only ever did what was asked of him and what he thought was right. Along with Devon, there is probably only one other person who could help him embrace that he does not need to be perfect or liked by everyone, which brings us to...

Gregory House: Adessa. I went through multiple avenues with this one. First I thought Callista, because viciousness and unapologetic attitude. Then I thought Lyme, because abusive childhood, resentment of the rules, and attachment issues. So we had option A and option B...and we somehow landed around option L. I dismissed Callista because of the reasons I thought Lyme. I moved away from Lyme because she works best with tributes who want to open up but can't until after they win. Claudius wants a family, Misha wants affection, etc. House wouldn't want to open up--- he would want respect, validation, and someone to make everything make sense. The reasons Adessa wasn't a good fit for Nero would make her a great fit for Victor!House. Nero wanted to be told Adessa loves him, but House wouldn't trust any obvious display of affection---instead perceiving his mentor's care for him through nonverbal actions she takes: exactly what Adessa expected to be true of Nero. Adessa can make recovery and all the chaotic, swirling feelings fit within a reasonable framework. She can answer his questions and treat him like someone with a rational mind. She knows that if he opens up, he probably doesn't want to be touched. She understands why he doesn't want the cuddly relationship that Victor!Wilson would have with Devon. She wouldn't pressure him to talk about feelings before he was ready and would give him space when he was ready. She understands his intellectual curiosity. She's probably the only one who could get him to invest in therapy. He wouldn't go based on "I've been there" talks or "I care about you" talks, he would go because "after a significant trauma the logical course of action is to seek medical care, so that one can be assigned medications to regulate neurotransmitters, and to remove unwanted chaos so one can better focus on more important matters." Oh, and also if John House every showed up to take credit for shaping his son into a Victor, Adessa has a briefcase full of knives and decades of fantasizing about taking revenge on behalf of her Victors. They would find his body in pieces...probably. If Adessa was feeling nice and wanted Blythe to have closure.

Devon is terrified when Adessa requests a meeting with him. Misha asks him what he did like fifty times and he doesn't know. He almost calls his mentor, but doesn't because he's a mentor too now, dammit and Adessa totally shouldn't scare him anymore. When he shows up she opens with: "Our Victors appear to have significant romantic attraction to each other. Shall we hasten their union via jointly planned manipulation, culminating in an arranged one-on-one meal over candlelight, perhaps involving the exchange of flowers?"

Lisa Cuddy: Nero. This one is hard. Cuddy is a lot more difficult to analyze than House and Wilson even though I actually prefer her over House (Wilson is my favorite, he just has so many problems, weird habits, and hidden depression). She has a lot of contradictions. She's manipulative, but empathetic. She genuinely advocates for the rules, but allows for crazy ass things to take place. She seems to argue for the rules because she has to, but is inherently drawn to the more chaotic, vigilante tendencies of House. She puts on a show of obeying regulations set by those above her, but seeks power so that she can facilitate what she thinks is right (she repeatedly says she's the only one who would employ House). This is reflective of a Nero tribute. She doesn't know why she is drawn to violence and competition of the Centre, but she is. She completes her kill tests with the highest scores in her year, but she mainly only feels guilty for not feeling guilty. She doesn't have a rationalization for why she is like this the way someone with House's history has. She should want to join the Peacekeepers or be a medic. But the more time passes in the Centre, the more she wants to win the Hunger Games. She goes into the Games a year early, the youngest District Two volunteer in history, and even though she knows the killing is wrong she still wants to win because why shouldn't it be her? She's better at this than the others. However, the inner conflict causes problems post-Games, as the criticisms from other districts actually hurt her, because she agrees. She knows there's something wrong, she fears she might secretly be evil. Nero, with a lifetime of dealing with conflicted, crazy tributes, knows how to reassure her that even if that something is actually wrong, she still has people who love her.

Bonus! Ducklings:

Foreman: Brutus. He's just here to do his job. He knows he's better than his Centre rivals, so his job is the Games. Trying to make it right or wrong will only drive you crazy.

Chase: Lyme. Daddy issues, alcoholism in the family history, wants the authority to like him. Lots of weird hidden triggers.

Cameron: Emory. Wants to be a decent person, just kept going in the Centre because she figured no one would pick her and she owed it to her district to keep trying. She had a baby Victor crush on House and Adessa had to take Emory aside and be like "the baby is making my Victor uncomfortable, tell her to calm down."

Thirteen: Misha. Rules are for suckers, enjoy your life while you have it, desperately try to find meaning in the world while pretending you don't give a shit.

Kutner: Lyme. Wants to find a place to belong, shoves his emotional issues down because he thinks nobody cares. Thinks outside the box, but still responds well around authority he respects.

Taub: I have no fucking idea. Seriously, the more I try to think about this the more I have no thoughts, head empty. Maybe Odin? Odin has a "do what you're supposed to do no matter what, no matter the cost" ideology that would cause a mentor mismatch like Adessa and Nero but at least that mismatch is something.

Anyway if one (1) person requests a Victors!House/Wilson I will write scenes so you have been warned.

#house md #gregory house #james wilson #lisa cuddy #the ducklings #the hunger games #district two #lorataverse #we must be killers: tales from District Two #mentor meme #character analysis #like really niche character analysis #a longwinded piece of character analysis that will make no sense to anyone? me? you must be mistaken #but anyway I have Thoughts and I'm making it everyone else's problem

22 notes · View notes

irenespring · 6 months

Text

TV characters and their mentors

I have realized as I watch TV and find myself liking a character I also start considering who their mentor in @lorata's THG District Two system would be, almost as a personality test. I've put too much thought into it to not publish it somewhere. So, here is a very niche character analysis. TV characters and their District Two mentors. If you are a fan of these shows and have no idea what I'm talking about because you don't read Lorata, do it now. I haven't read the Hunger Games since middle school but I return to Lorata's District Two every few months.

The Mentalist:

Patrick Jane: Callista. The way this fits is actually one of the reasons I decided to actually write a post. He considers himself immune to the rules. He hates authority. He is charming and manipulative, with only fleeting indications he has a conscience. A chaos agent. Exactly what Callista looks for. He would absolutely break up the career alliance early because he decides he doesn't want to kill the youngest tributes if he doesn't have to for his survival and he would rather kill his "allies." It gets Callista in hot water with the other alliance mentors but she is just like "he's excellent."

Teresa Lisbon: Brutus. Lisbon is actually a lot like what Petra would probably become in twenty years. Still hot-headed, still stubborn and rules-focused, still wanting respect at all costs... but a little more chill about it. She's a pretty easy choice for Brutus because she gets things done and doesn't resort to the flashy nonsense of certain Calli tributes. Speaking of... Jane and Lisbon kind of work as an inversion of the classic "back-to-back Victors are a wild girl and chill boy" and would probably hate each other at first before slowly becoming closer as time goes on.

SVU (this is a weird case because I've published a THG AU, but lets just say all of them are Two in this case):

Alex Cabot: This is the hardest of all of them for me, but I'm going to say Devon. She fits the dreamer archetype of always wanting to make things better for everyone (even with the weird season 18 twist SVU pulled, Alex is still fighting for what she perceives as justice). That twist however does rule her out for most of Brutus' branch because it's coloring too far outside the lines. She's very charming and witty, but is focused on trying to do right in the world, rather than the more self-focused goals of Callista or Misha (my runner up for this character).

Olivia Benson: Brutus. Pretty much for the same reasons as Lisbon. She is very closely tied with the rules; even when she disagrees with them, she never really thinks about leaving. She is District Two in the AU I published, so I'm to promote myself and say for more insight into how she views the Games as a Career, go read that.

Rafael Barba: Lyme. The essence of a Lyme tribute. Abusive childhood, attachment issues, using flash to cover for insecurities, depression, and ambition. Has a very tough time in early recovery because he has difficulty squaring the horrors of the Games with his motivation for volunteering---a Claudius-esque (though less intense) desire for family and acceptance.

Sonny Carisi: Tough to decide between Devon and Emory but I'm going to go with Emory. He bakes for everyone. He tries to be a good person even the face of horrors. He has no real desire to do violence to people except when under massive amounts of pressure. He didn't even necessarily need to be volunteering, he just did his best, tried to make friends, and figured they'd tell him to stop when he failed.

Bones (this is another interesting case because I have written a THG AU but have not posted because of how much it uses Lorata's characters in the absence of mentor characters in Bones, and in the AU Temperance is from District Nine, but they will both be Two in this case):

Temperance Brennan: Artemisia. She isn't really sorry about anything from Career training, viewing the Program as the only rational choice given the Capitol's governmental system. She often insults other candidates on accident, because she is the best according to the rankings so why do they take offense when she points it out? She avoids serious injury because she really is the best. It cracks Misha up just reading the file. After it becomes clear in recovery that many of her nightmares come from the foster family that she was sent to after he parents and brother abandoned her, Misha tracks them down to make sure they...understand her displeasure.

Seeley Booth: Emory. He is Two in the AU I'm writing so I've thought this through at length. In the show, he is very pre-occupied with being a good person despite having killed people, and Emory is described as the most decent of the Victors. I've thought of an argument where as Lyme is to Claudius, so Emory would be to Booth growing up in District Two. He also has a habit of pushing all his emotions down because he views them as unimportant, something Emory is shown to have a very good way of countering as a mentor. Emory and Misha meet up to talk about how their Victors are clearly infatuated with each other, Emory dismisses it because Misha had a crush on her, but Misha is like "no this is different." They wager a batch of cookies (Misha's would be baked by Devon). Misha accepts her cookies at Seeley and Temperance's wedding.

ER:

Kerry Weaver: Lyme. A lot of the characters I like have similar vibes, so the explanation for this one is kind of similar to Rafael. She has a harsh persona that is used as a cover for someone struggling with abandonment issues and wanting to belong. As a District Two candidate, she likely would be a lot like Petra (quick to anger, sensitive to being disrespected or not taken seriously), but with less regard for duty and more personal investment. She cares about the people of her district, but she wants to win for herself and the family she would be promised. I've almost written an essay on Kerry and how she behaves and her mental health while she thinks she has a shot at fitting in to ER's found family, and how it declines after she realizes that they will never accept her around season 7 and 8. She really, really wants a family, and Lyme is drawn to those types of tributes.

15 notes · View notes

irenespring · 3 months

Text

House MD- Hunger Games District Two Victor AU: Victor!House and his Mentor

Actual fic! I stir from the depths of writer's block.

---

Author Notes:

I'm back for sort of some writing! I found @lorata's world and character building for District Two so comprehensive that sometimes when I get attached to a messed up character, I start applying them to their District Two world. I've written posts about who House MD characters' mentor would be, and I was inspired to actually write some scenes.

This one isn't dialogue heavy (shocking for me) but I did think it was necessary to set up the fusion of the House characters and Hunger Games world. It's primarily hurt/comfort.

The timeline of the character victories is very unrealistic (the gamemakers would never let District Two win this much) but oh well, this is a weird AU/crossover fic. The Hunger Games divergence here is what if Cashmere couldn't face what her life would be after her victory? So the 62nd and 63rd Games would go to Two. Also Enobaria's victory in the 62nd with Nero as a mentor is replaced by Lisa (Cuddy) with Nero as a mentor. Later, a "what if one of the District Two tributes listened to their mentors and killed Finnick in the bloodbath of the 65th" for Wilson's victory. Sorry to Finnick and Enobaria, but this is still technically a House AU.

Also Hunger Games tech is weird. The kind of prosthetic I describe I think fits with Capitol technology.

Lorata's District Two holds that volunteers ditch their last names so as unnatural as it is, House is Gregory, Cuddy will be Lisa, and Wilson will be James. I know, I know.

Many thanks to Lorata for their permission to use their characters. And for their work in general. It's absolutely stellar.

---

Trigger warnings: references to child abuse, depictions of violence, ableism, dystopian government horribleness

---

The story:

The first connection he makes when arriving at the Victor’s Village is with his mentor, Adessa. Good, obedient Victors bond with their mentors in the Capitol, seeing as the mentor is always there. And saved their life, or something. But Gregory is and has always been dedicated to ignoring tradition and making his own rules. Which is why it is super fucking annoying that he found someone whose rules he listens to. At least he was able to maintain his rage for a couple weeks. That’s almost something.

If he were the type of person to say sappy shit like she’s the parent he never had, or that he would be way more tolerant of authority if they were all like her, well, he would say it. But he’s not, so he doesn’t, end of story. Well, not out loud at least.

But he did hate her at first. On account of waking up in the Capitol hospital missing his leg.

He remembers the final fight, Cashmere sticking her poisoned knife into his thigh as he barely managed to dodge, knowing it should have struck something vital. He also remembers when he ran her through with one of his short swords, and she leaned in close with blood staining her teeth, looked at his leg, and whispered that at least he’d have something to remember her by.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that she had planned for him to win, even though he knows she hated him. That maybe the thought of him being the one to kill her was outweighed by the fear of what victory would mean for a girl from District One. Hurting him was the only way she could make it clear that he hadn’t beaten her. They had fought in training after it became clear she didn’t find him funny. During the almost mandatory pack banter, they played up the kind of sexual tension that only works when built on actual loathing tension. They tried to kill each other in the career pack split. She had been fighting for keeps then, he is certain. But he doesn’t know about the finale. One of the first things he let Adessa help him with was the feeling that she, his enemy, had gifted him his life and victory, only hurting his leg as a token of her (lack of) esteem.

Hell of a token, though. After the adrenaline of the fight he felt the pain, the agonizing pain, worse than anything he had felt in his eighteen years of enduring torture. But he made it to the hovercraft walking on both his legs.

He had his leg. He woke up without it.

He hated his mentor for the entire week it took to get back to the district. He endured the doctors talking about the newest prosthetics. He only barely listened to Adessa’s instructions on the proper humility to show to President Snow in order to avoid being summarily executed. He hated it. He hated looking the President in the eye and talking about how happy he was that he would be an ambulatory cripple, and how thankful he was for the Capitol’s mercy. He hated Adessa viciously, blamed her for taking away his choice even now that he had won and should have some fucking control over his life, but he listened because what she said made sense and he wasn’t suicidal.

After they finally got to the Village, it was another week until she was sure he was physically healthy enough for a hike. She took him deep into the forest under the guise of helping the prosthetic map his old neural pathways. When they were far enough she was certain no one or nothing would overhear, she gifted him with the truth.

No coddling, no hiding, no softening the words for the fragile, crippled baby Victor.

She told him what she overheard the doctors talking about. How the muscle in his thigh had died. They could save his leg, but they would have to remove the muscle almost entirely. He wouldn’t be able to walk without a cane, and he would almost certainly be in excruciating pain for the rest of his life. And then one of them had commented on how living with this “challenge” would be such a show of District Two bravery at its finest. The other had waved the comment off, but did say that it would show District Two that it wasn’t invulnerable. It wasn’t immune from the pain of the Games. Wouldn’t want them to get cocky, now that they’ve won twice in a row.

They didn’t know Adessa had overheard. Five minutes later they “briefed her” on the options. She asked them whether removing the leg entirely would lessen the risk of chronic pain. They admitted that it would, almost entirely, but insisted they could save it. She ordered them, as Gregory’s medical proxy, to remove his leg. They talked up their surgery, she insisted on amputation. They invoked the President’s support of the brilliance of the surgical technique, Adessa had held firm, affecting District Two's distrust of new technology.

She then looked Gregory in the eye and explained to him that yes, he would have to do insufferable press about living as an amputee. But it was nothing compared to the nightmares they’d force him through with a visible limp or mobility aid. The realistic-looking prosthetic, and its robotic technology helping him walk, would lessen the image image the Capitol press wanted. If Adessa had chosen the surgery, they would want to see Gregory's scar in every interview. They would only ever describe him in terms of his cane and gait. They would expect him to be soft and welcoming and unobtrusive— because surely an obviously disabled Victory couldn’t be frightening.

And even that was nothing compared to the inescapable pain they would make him endure with a smile and a humble word.

Nothing compared to how much danger he would be in if the President decided District Two was getting uppity, and forced Gregory onto morphling to cope with his pain, with the purpose of getting him addicted— thus showing the district one of their symbols was “weak.” How even then he would still be expected to praise his torturers.

She held eye contact and told him that he had been unconscious, and she had used her decades of experience navigating the Capitol to make a judgment call.

She hadn’t been able to stop her first Victor from falling into the claws of the Capitol, and she wouldn’t let it happen again.

She wanted him to recover and finally live without the constant threat of physical pain. He had to stop himself from widening his eyes when she told him that he deserved a life with as little pain as possible.

So, she made them cut off his leg, she concluded. It seemed to her the only rational thing to do.

And then she did something the Centre had told him no mentor would do. Because mentors made choices for their Victors and took it as their due. She told him if he still thought she had made the wrong decision, she would apologize. She would make it up to him. He should have had control over his body, she had said with a viciousness he knew couldn’t be just about him.

He had stared back at her, shocked, feeling as though the world had been shaken from its axis.

It somehow hadn’t occurred to him that she genuinely cared if he suffered. That she wasn’t just blindly exercising her power, as every authority in his life had done before her. She didn’t want him to hurt. She respected him. She talked to him as someone worthy of the facts. He was a person to her, not just a symbol of her prestige or the district’s strength. He was a person, and she wanted to help him.

He scanned her face, looking for the slightest hint of falsehood, he didn’t find it. Her stare was firm and unwavering. It wasn’t warm, but it was honest.

He wanted to believe her, he wanted to trust her so badly it shocked him. Something in his chest hurt, because he couldn’t shut out the hope that this time it would be different. He should know better, but that knowledge was drowned by the desperate chorus in his mind that maybe, maybe, someone cared.

It allowed him, for one moment, to force himself to take her at her word. To consider the merits of the argument she presented.

In a moment that will definitely have sweeping strings behind in the soapy biopic he’ll make about himself, he realized she had made the right call.

She made the right call. For him. Even though the Capitol didn’t want her to. She put his needs ahead of the Capitol— he’ll maybe leave that part out of the script.

When he makes the movie, he’ll definitely also leave out how his next thought, that repeated in his mind over and over, was that maybe he’d be safe now.

Safe.

He had never, ever, in his life, been safe.

And for some stupid fucking reason this robbed him of his ability to communicate beyond a nod, and produced a shit-ton of tears. He blamed the psych meds then and he blames them now, but still, a shit-ton of tears. So. Many. Fucking. Tears.

But before he could start properly hating himself for showing he wasn’t worthy of her respect with such a weak display, she moved into his line of sight. She carefully placed her hand on his shoulder, giving him time to register it as no threat.

She didn’t crowd him into a suffocating hug. She didn’t force him to speak. She didn’t patronize him with stupid “comforting” nonsense.

She let him cry —loudly and messily, like a small child that had never been forced into an ice-bath and thus didn’t know to shut the fuck up before someone heard— and she let him feel her steady, calm presence behind him. If he moved one of his hands to grasp her hand, just for a second, neither of them needed to talk about it.

When he calmed down, he let his eyes reach hers again, blue meeting brown. And they stayed like that, not speaking but understanding each other, for a long moment. Finally she nodded, and he nodded back, and they exchanged small, barely-there smiles.

“We should continue our walk,” she told him. “The prosthetic does work better the more impulses it receives from the brain. Additionally, it is unseasonably cool today, and therefore we will be less likely to dehydrate on a longer journey, compared to tomorrow’s forecast.”

That made sense. Something making sense grounded him. It let him start thinking clearly. Maybe he’d feel better if his new leg worked more like his old.

He still didn’t want to look at it, but the prosthetic no longer made him want to rip it off his body and beat everyone in the vicinity, especially Adessa, to death.

“That’s a good idea.”

They returned to the village’s main hiking path and continued towards the lake. Gregory hated the walk prior to their conversation. The not-quite-connected prosthetic made him slightly unsteady, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that if/when a tribute burst out of the bushes, he wouldn’t be able to fight. He had felt helpless, like his mere presence would bring someone violent and angry to hurt him in his weakened state. When he had looked at Adessa, he wondered if she was judging him, or if she was enjoying having her power over him cemented in such a physical way. She could do whatever she wanted to him and he couldn’t even run.

After The Talk (as he would forever call it, earning an amused smirk from Adessa) it was different.

He still felt helpless, for fleeting moments. But less so. When he felt the tell-tale squeezing in his chest, he subtly looked over at his mentor, walking a comfortable distance away, but still next to him. This time looking at her was strangely comforting.

It took him a while to place the not-unpleasant feeling that had settled across his mind: he felt less alone.

He felt like maybe he really did have someone that would protect him.

He’s the messed up kind of person that needed to win the damn Hunger Games to get anything good in his life. But at least it worked.

He and his mentor still walk to the lake often, and she keeps him safe.

#house md #the hunger games #lorataverse #we must be killers: tales from district two #district two #gregory house #fanfiction #one shot #hurt/comfort #mentor feelings #adessa #of course the first house fic I write is this highly specific AU #because my productivity can never be on anything a broad audience would want to read #it would break the space time continuum #tw child abuse reference #tw societal ableism #tw violence

10 notes · View notes

irenespring · 2 years

Text

District Two Victor Sims

@lorata I made some sims of your Victors! I don’t have a ton of CC clothes so there were limited options but I think they’re pretty good. I’m going to put them in order of most recent to oldest. I hope you like them!

Outfits order: everyday, formal, sports, sleep, party, swimsuit, hot weather, cold weather

Petra:

Traits: Hot-headed, active, perfectionist

Aspiration: Leader of the Pack

Notes: She doesn’t dress overly feminine but she thinks Lyme is overdoing a little (*cough* a lot *cough*). She hates that pink dress but what the Capitol wants, the Capitol gets. She’s not hot-headed, she just doesn’t take shit. What’s so difficult to understand about that? Whatever.

Claudius:

Traits: Gloomy, creative, music lover

Aspiration: Musical genius

Lyme gave him one of her suits (after she had it tailored to fit him). It was kind of the best day of his life. Misha is a liar, he did not cry for 12 hours straight... more like .5 hours. And that’s just fine, and if you want to say otherwise just give him a moment to go grab his sword.

Enobaria:

Traits: Mean, erratic, self-absorbed

Aspiration: Public enemy

When she’s at home, she wants to wear as close to a blanket nest as she’s allowed. When she’s not... well, she’s got abs and likes to inspire envy. Also the more Capitol guys ask her out, the more fun it is to shoot them down and/or threaten to kill them.

Devon:

Traits: Outgoing, romantic, goofball

Aspiration: Friend of the world

One of his favorite things about being a Victor that he didn’t expect was getting to experiment with different styles. But the swimsuit is pure strategy for when he doesn’t feel like talking but still wants to get laid.

Artemisia:

Traits: Mean, romantic, goofball

Aspiration: Chief of mischief

Only idiots rely on one style (except for Lyme, like is scary and masculine and awesome), because honestly it’s just *so* boring. She can do ball gowns, she can do bikinis, she can do casual “I will never leave this couch” sweaters. It’s not hard, but maybe she’s just special (she’s definitely special).

Lyme:

Traits: Good, self-assured, hates children

Aspiration: Neighborhood confidante

Dresses are ick and bright colors give her headaches. Besides, if someone is judging her for her style she doesn’t want to know them anyway. Shallow assholes.

“Brutus stole my sponsor party outfit. It was mine, and he was so jealous of the pure masculine energy that he decided to steal it and lie about it like a little baby coward. The only thing stopping me from covering the village with fliers is that Ronan would be annoyed and Misha never cares about context.”

Emory:

Traits: Unflirty, good, loves the outdoors

Aspiration: Master chef

If something tears and it can’t be mended, it has to be replaced. And if you spill something on your shirt you can’t just show up to a nice event like a Twelve. Also, apparently you can’t wear tennis shoes to everything. Therefore, multiple outfits.

Brutus:

Traits: Self-assured, outgoing, loves the outdoors.

Aspiration: Bodybuilder (sorry for the copout I was stumped)

Fancy clothes are for Capitolites so he only wears them when he’s in the Capitol. Everything else just needs to suitable for sudden pushup competitions with Lyme whenever she gets any ideas.

Speaking of:

“I did not steal Lyme’s outfit. I bought it in the Capitol. Devon was there. Yes, you were, Devon. I don’t know if it’s the one with the ‘cute cashier’ because I was too busy buying MY outfit. Listen, Lyme, if you burn yours I’ll burn mine because we’ll never live it down if the paparazzi... or Snow forbid, Misha, finds out about this. No that is not an admission of guilt. One of us has to be an adult, and it’s obviously not going to be you.”

Callista:

Traits: Non-committal, animal enthusiast, romantic

Aspiration: Serial romantic

If it doesn’t make half the Capitol scared and the other half turned on, it’s not worth the money.

Nero:

Traits: Insider, maker, good

Aspiration: Neighborhood confidante

He’s just going to wear the first thing he sees that looks comfortable unless Snow orders him not to, and if you say anything Adessa and Callista will use your remains as rose fertilizer and cat food respectively.

Odin:

Traits: Self-assured, bookworm, perfectionist

Aspiration: Freelance Botanist

He could still be intimidating and terrifying if he wanted to, it’s just that these days he mostly wants to garden instead.

Hera:

Traits: Outgoing, creative, loves the outdoors

Aspiration: The curator (chosen by near random selection)

She let her hair go gray because none of your business. And she wears nicer clothes because she loves her Victor, she does, but dear Snow, Calli, some of us have to wear actual fabric on our bodies.

Adessa:

Traits: Loner, snob, perfectionist

Aspiration: Academic

“No, these suits are not all the same, some of them are clearly blue.”

Caius (pure guesswork 1)

Traits: Outgoing, goofball, cheerful

Aspiration: Angling ace (?)

He likes to be refined every now and then, but he hardly ever goes to the Capitol and it’s not like he’s going to be in a magazine if he wears the wrong glasses, so who cares?

Luna (pure guesswork 2)

Traits: Art lover, gloomy, creative

Aspiration: Painter extraordinaire

What is life without a little quirkiness and color? Just because you’re a Victor doesn’t mean you have to be self-righteous and drab.

Ronan:

Traits: Insider, outgoing, loves the outdoors

Aspiration: Successful Lineage

Notes: He’s retired. He’ll wear what is comfortable and what he can get dog hair out of.

#district 2 #victors #The Hunger Games #sims #character design #lorataverse #lyme #brutus

11 notes · View notes