I’m drunk and crying about Rue from the hunger games

You Burn With Us ONE

Masterlist

T H E R E A P I N G

“Up and at em.” Birdie shouts, throwing open the blinds of her father’s home in the victory village. She could already tell that he was wasted and going to make her day as difficult as possible. “If you’re not up by the time Effie comes around, she’ll have your head.” 

The 74th Annual Hunger Games are around the corner and today is the day of the Reaping. 2 tributes, a boy and a girl, between the ages of 12 and 25 will be selected at random to represent District 12 against two tributes from each of the 11 other districts. 

Birdie Abernathy was victor of the 72nd Hunger Games, 22 years after he father Haymitch won the 50th Hunger Games at 21. Birdie walks across the courtyard to her home, she can see her best friend helping his brothers get ready through the window.

Jake Seresin won last year's games, and fortunately for his family they’ve been better off ever since except for the anxiety of his younger brother getting reaped. The pattern and rumors had proven it time and time again. Families of victors always got chosen. Birdie was living proof but some victors in other districts weren’t as lucky to see their kids afterwards and Jake constantly worries about his siblings. Fortunately, with his victory, his brothers never have to take out tesserae to feed their family so they are only in a handful of times, unlike Jake who had nearly hundred collected by the time he was reaped. 

Jake catches a glimpse of Birdie and flashes his usual grin. Birdie smiles back before heading inside her home to prepare for the reaping and before long the horn is signaling everyone to head for the justice building.

“Hey Songbird.” Jake greets as Birdie falls in step with him. 

“Hey freakshow.” Birdie smiles, bumping him just as they cross the gates of the Victor’s Village. 

“Ouch, still hurts Birdie.” Jake laughs in return. “Your dad already headed off before us?”

“Do you really think he was sober enough to do that?”

“Effie will have his head.” Jake shrugs as his brothers run back past the two playing tag.

“Effie’s gonna have all our heads if we're late.” 

“Bennet! Jordan! Let's go!” Jake calls as they start running back. 

“Welcome! Welcome, welcome.” Effie speaks into the microphone front and center on the stage of the Justice Building. “Happy Hunger Games. And, may the odds be ever in your favor. Now, before we begin. We have a very special film. Brought to you all the way from the Capitol!” The footage rolls and you completely block it out. 13 years of listening to the video talking about how beneficial the Hunger Games is, you basically have it memorized. You only begin paying attention again when Effie speaks up.

“I just love that.” Effie sighs as it ends. “Now, the time has come for us to select one courageous young man and woman for the honor of representing District 12 in the 74th Annual Hunger games. As usual, ladies first.” Effie walks over to the giant fishbowl and pulls a random paper. She takes a deep breath and says “Primrose Everdeen.” The crowd turns to look at the young blonde girl who has only the look of fear on her face. Birdie and Jake recognise the girl as one of Bennet’s friends. Birdie sighs when she realizes that she’s only 12.

“Where are you, dear?” Effie calls. “Come on up.” Just as Primrose starts walking, someone calls her name.

“Prim! Prim!” Prim’s older sister Katniss, Birdie recognizes her from the trips to the schools she made after her games, runs forward only to be stopped by peacekeepers. “No! I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute.” Katniss screams, pushing past them.

“Looks like we have a volunteer!” Effie smiles. Everyone watches as Katniss speaks to her sister before pushing her behind her and walking on stage. “A dramatic turn of events here in district 12. Yes, well, District 12’s very first volunteer. What’s your name?”

“Katniss Everdeen.”

“Well, I bet my hat that was your sister, wasn’t it?” Katniss agrees. “Let's have a hand for our very first volunteer, Katniss Everdeen.” The district salutes her with a three finger salute until Effie continues. “And now, for the boys.”  Effie pulls a name from the bottom of the bowl. “Peeta Mellark.”

Birdie watches the crowd of boys part to show the baker’s son. Birdie had actually grown close with the boy ever since she donated some of her rations to keep their bakery open last year. So she knew the boy well.

“Here we are. Our Tributes from District 12.” Effie smiles as Peeta joins everyone on stage. “Well, come on you two. Shake hands.” Peeta and Katniss shake as Effie continues speaking. “Happy Hunger Games and be the odds be ever in your favor.”

Taglist (I forgot it earlier🫢🫣): @mamachasesmayhem @sarahsmi13s @callsignbirdy @hookslove1592 @stillreadingfantasy @kmc1989 @tgmreader @ashcosmo @bethbunnyy

so i am reading the ballad of songbirds and snakes for the first time ever and i am so invested in the book, i was wondering in your personal opinion if snow ever truly loved lucy but he chose the capitol ways over love instead? also what do you think happens to lucy since we never hear about her? did snow kill her or did she run away and eventually die? my thoughts are that no matter what that lucy gray baird was such a big impact on snow that until his dying day, he is haunted by her.

Hi! I think Snow loved the idea of Lucy Gray. He was (and is) a narcissist who thinks he owned Lucy Gray. "Lucy Gray, my Lucy Gray, is she doing this for me? For my attention? No one else can have her except me." is clear behavior that he thinks it's all about him and his control over her. I think he chose being Capitol over everything. (Like his friendship with Sejanus). He was power and money hungry. I think Snow didn't kill her. My own personal theory is that she made her way to District 13 and ended up telling 13 personal stories about Snow. Which is why the "Mockingjay" is a big deal. Snow's hatred of them since he arrived in District 12 as a peacekeeper. "The shows not over until the mockingjay sings" - Lucy Gray After I finished reading Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, I began to question my theories from over a decade ago. I think strings were pulled to have Prim's named be reaped knowing Katniss would volunteer. They (13) always had an eye on Katniss. Hence Madge Undersee giving Katniss the mockingjay pin. I think her farther, the Mayor, was part of the rebel plan. It all connects! It makes sense on why Snow was OBSESSED with Katniss and wanting to take her down. It reminded him of Lucy, the Covey, life in 12. Katniss singing songs that he heard Lucy Gray and Maude Ivory sing in the meadow. I would give anything in the world to know what was happening in Snow's head when he heard Katniss sing Deep in the Meadow to Rue. And don't get me started on how I think Plutarch Heavensbee is the BACKBONE to the rebellion. Me right now:

Who was the most lucky and un-lucky person from The Hunger Games trilogy?

Why do you pick them? Please give reasons.

You can interpret the luck and un-luck thing however you want.

Thank you :)

@curiousnonny

Hi anon :)

This is an interesting question.

[This got pretty long so I'm putting it under read more]

I think, generally speaking, the Capitol citizens are pretty lucky because even if -as we can tell from the Ballads Of Songbirds And Snakes- some are clearly poor, for the most part, they're well off and don't have to worry about food or anything but also -and in a world such as panem that's very important- they don't have to worry about being a tribute and all that entails.

So by opposition, the people living in the districts (and even more the ones in the poorer districts) are unlucky for very obvious reasons I think : The Capitol basically exploits them and, as if it wasn't enough, each year they have to see at least one if not two of their children die in some messed up event. The worst luck being for the ones that did end up in the arena.

If I have to single out characters, I think some cases can be made :

For most unlucky :

Prim -> Someone did a great post about how she was doomed by the narrative and was never gonna survive. That said, I don't know if that makes her unlucky because, actually, in a lot of ways, she was lucky :

She's saved for certain death in the Games by her sister who even after her games keep doing things to protect her.

She survives the destruction of District 12 after the 75th Games because Gale saves her.

The attack on District 13 in Mockingjay could have been fatal to her and several of the people that lived there had it not been for Peeta's warning.

She's always saved from almost certain death. Until she isn't. Because in the end, none of it mattered. She was always gonna die.

Haymitch -> He lives in District 12 aka the poorest district and lives in the poorest part of that already very poor District.

As if it wasn't enough, he gets reaped at 16. When you think about it, that's only 3 years before he was gonna be illegible for the games.

Then it gets worse because the year he gets reaped is a Quarter Quell (aka a special edition) that sees the numbers of tributes double. So, not only does he have to participate in the Games, he also has even less likely odds at surviving. And yet he does. You'd think that'd make him the luckiest man, except it wasn't luck that made him survive the Games, it was the fact that he was smart and used the shield of the arena as a weapon.

He was punished for it. All of his loved ones were murdered. So he goes through this very traumatic experience in worse condition than usual just so he can witness all the people he loves die.

Then, as if it wasn't enough, he has to mentor the next kids that go to the Games. And year after year, he has to watch all these kids die. Katniss and Peeta change everything for him though.

Finnick -> If I remember correctly, we're never told whether he volunteered or not. He's from a Career District where volunteering tends to happen so he might have, but it could also just have been the one year no one did volunteer. In the end, it doesn't really matter. The games shouldn't be a thing to begin with. Anyway, back to the point. This would make him an even better contender for most unlucky though

He's reaped at 14 and he ends up winning and he's the youngest one to do so.

You'd think he'd then be left to live out the rest of his life in peace but, then, because people found him attractive, he ends up getting prostituted by Snow.

Also same as Haymitch, he becomes a mentor and has to watch most of the kids he mentors die.

Then, he gets reaped again for the 75th Games. He survives again but had to watch someone he cares about and was surely important to him (Mags) die.

Meanwhile, his girlfriend gets taken and tortured by the Capitol and all to get to him (which it does). He gets to reunite and even marry her but that happiness is short lived because he dies during the rebellion.

For most lucky :

I thought about it a lot and I actually think it might be Plutarch.

He's not from the Districts so he never had to worry about being a tribute.

He never got caught for any of his scheming against Snow/the Capitol.

My memory could be off but he also never had to be in the thick of the fighting ?

He comes out unscathed at the end of the Rebellion

He gets a good position in the new government which let's be real is exactly what he wanted. and also had a good position in the old one.

He's just never in a bad position. But again I could remember wrong.

I can't exactly rememeber everything that happed because it's been so long since I watched hg but does Peeta regain all of his memories at the end ? I mean all of them ? Also I always wonder but do you think his parents love each other even if his father loved Katniss's mother when he was young ? And do you think Peeta love his parents and brothers too or was it really a loveless family after all ?

Hello Anon, sorry it’s taken me this long to answer your ask, I’ve been offline the past few days.

I assume you’ve only seen the movies, right? It’s not explicitly explained in either books or movies if Peeta regained his memories 100% or not. We do know per the books, that Peeta struggles with hijacking episodes maybe for the rest of his life, and we also know from the books, Him and Katniss make a book of their memories of people they knew and/or loved so they wouldn’t forget them. I think it’s safe to say Peeta recovered most of his memories, since it’s said that the Capitol mostly tampered with memories of Katniss and they didn’t touch his childhood, etc, but the truth is, it’s not a checked fact.

In regards to his family, I have no reason to believe his family was completely loveless. Sure, his parents may have been described as less that loving, but the truth is that we don’t know, because we’ve never actually interacted with them, except for what little interactions Katniss had with them: in the books, Mr Mellark brings cookies for Katniss after the reaping and sits with her in silence for their allotted time to say goodbye, and right before he leaves, he promises Katniss he’ll watch out for Prim while she’s gone, which makes Katniss feel relief in that her sister wont starve to death if the baker is gonna try and help her. Katniss says the baker is one of the only merchants she can consistently count on to trade with fairly, he’s quiet but kind to her and Prim.

Now, Mrs Mellark, Katniss tells us the kids in the District nicknamed her The Witch, because she’s mean and angry. It’s evident she hits her children hard enough to bruise, but in the book Peeta tells Katniss that his mom tried to “cheer him up” by jokingly saying “At least 12 will have chance, she’s a survivor, that one.” (I’m paraphrasing since I do t have my books handy right now). The comment was hurtful to Peeta, who was heading out to certain death, but its important to see Peeta was aware in his mom’s misguided attempt to help, that at least the woman was trying to cheer him up during an awful situation. I’m not going to say the woman was a good mother by any means, but people are complicated beings with lots of flaws that sometimes eclipse any good trait they may have… I’m not excusing Mrs Mellark, just merely stating that while she was angry and physically abusive, her son was able to see her tried to cheer him up… not that she succeeded.

I believe Peeta loves his family, because people—humans— are geared to love or at the very least feel fondness for one’s immediate nucleus. I say this because I know of someone who got terribly beaten by her mom as a child, and to this day, she’s watched over her ailing parents with love and care… I asked her once, when we were teenagers, if she loved her mom after basically being a punching bag, and she told me “Of course I love her. She’s my mom. She’s just unable to calm herself down when she’s in a rage, but sometimes, she can be very nice a d sweet,” So, people just sometimes excuse certain behaviors, because they’re family, or because it’s a self preservation mechanism, I’m not sure, is not healthy or excusable, it just is a fact of life.

So I believe Peeta loves his family, his mother, despite what we know of the Mellarks. I cannot say they were a loveless family just based on Katniss’ observations, because she never truly saw them more than a handful of minutes at a time, and all her experiences with Peeta’s mom were bad, yet with the baker he was quiet and fair in business. She says nothing about Peeta’s brothers, other than one was probably still reaping age and didn’t volunteer at the reaping which wasn’t a shock to her, since her volunteering for Prim was the anomaly.

Now, Peeta lived alone in Victor’s Village after games, but we don’t know why. The fandom has speculated a lot about it, but there could be any number of reasons why the Mellarks live at the bakery still, we don’t know for sure, so I can’t conclusively say that Peeta living alone after becoming a Victor means his family didn’t love him. Now, the fact that he says in the arena in CF that “Nobody needs him” is a tad more telling, yet, not enough to indicate he’s not loved by his family, Katniss herself says that he’s right, his family would mourn him, as well as handful of friends, but their lives wouldn’t be destroyed like her’s would, meaning she’d be more affected by Peeta’s death than his own family, so that’s a hard question to answer.

Whether Mr and Mrs Mellark loved each other, I would say, they probably liked each other enough to marry and procreate, but they may not feel romantic love for each other. Also, just the fact that Mr Mellark says he wanted to marry Katniss’ mom when he was younger, doesn’t mean he’s still in love with her. I wanted to marry my very first boyfriend, loved him for years after we broke up, then I grew older and realized I wasn’t as in love with him any longer. What does get me, is the fact that he always looked out for Katniss and Prim, by being fair and buying their products. He may have been fond of the girls because of who their mother was, but he may have just have respected Katniss that much for surviving and working hard… we’ll never know.

Sorry this is so long. I’ve been trying to upload this thing with a below the cut, but I can feel vertigo starting to take hold and I can’t focus too long on the screen. Thank you for the ask!

Everlark Fic Exchange. PROMPTS

Springtime Edition 2020.

These are the prompts we’ve received so far.

Crossed out prompts have already been selected and are being turned into fics!

A huge ‘Thank you’ to everyone who’s taken the time to come up with an idea and send it our way. Your prompts are the heart of the Exchange. Without them, our authors wouldn’t get to write all those beautiful fics. So, please, keep them coming!

You haven’t sent anything yet? Don’t worry, there’s still time. We’ll be receiving prompts until March 8.  Don’t be afraid to inspire us!

Prompts:

Prompt 1: Middle Mellark brother never wanted a baby bro. Spends half his life defending or admiring or manipulating Peeta, but the other half hating him for being so perfect (the favorite sweet talker and best baker wrestler). Whether to help or torment him, Rye asks reserved Katniss on a date to get a reaction. Maybe told as a wedding toast? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 2: Katniss is a high end house painter who works with expensive decorators, hired to paint an up and coming artists home. Turns out it’s Peeta, the boy her mother saved from an abusive home, who then disappeared. [submitted by @niceworksherlock]

Prompt 3: Imaginative only child Prim loves acting out all sorts of adventures with her favorite action figures Katniss and Peeta. (Toy Story-ish talking toys?) [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 4: Gale attempts to shoot Peeta during a hijacking episode on the Star Squad. Leaving Peeta wounded but not fatally. Katniss thinks Gale killed him. [submitted by Anonymous]

Prompt 5: Prompt has been removed.

Prompt 6: Medieval Au: Queen Katniss is in love. Too bad the person, Peeta is a renounced rebellion leader now turned into the personal sexslave of King Cato Snow, the son of Coriolanus Snow. With each passing day its becoming more and more dangerous for this star-crossed lovers to survive. Will she risk her family (sister Prim and mom) for love or will she be able to utilise the secrets of the castle Capitol in her favour to usurp the evil King and his father? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 7: Katniss Everdeen the daughter of a billionaire tries to antagonise her father. So she decides to date poor, uneducated simple boy Peeta. Her whole family (even Prim) hates him. Too bad his father has already arranged her marriage with his business partner's son Gale, a smart, handsome and successful man. Will she really fall for Peeta or will she bow to her father's will? Does Peeta feel himself worthy of Katniss? [submitted by @white-dandelion-seeds]

Prompt 8: Peeta is a rich ceo and in love with another who disappeared before their marriage. So he withdraw within himself. But then he meets katniss( her background is up to you ) and falls in love for the second time. [submitted by @mysteriouslycraftyreview]

Prompt 9: Katniss is a commoner and peeta is a cruel king. He wants katniss to be his mistress. How will they fall in love is up to you. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 10: katniss and peeta are best friends who were in a friends w benefits arrangement in the past. now the hunger for each other is coming back. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 11: in panem au where everlark isn't reaped and peeta knocks up katniss. [submitted by @sunflowerslyf]

Prompt 12: katniss walks out of the fitting room wearing only a bikini to ask her friend if it suits her but it isnt her friend at the other side of the door but peeta. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 13: Katniss and Peeta work things out after the first Games and become closer and closer, and their love grows deeper. One day though, they are caught by Mrs. Everdeen and a fight ensues...(outcome is up to you, as long as it is Everlark!) [submitted by @albinokittens300]

Prompt 14: THG The Witcher AU with Katniss = Geralt, Peeta = Yenn, Prim = Ciri [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 15: A Below Deck inspired Everlark. Bonus points for including Odesta. [submitted by @historywriter2007]

Prompt 16: Hades!Katniss/Persephone!Peeta Katniss has stolen herself a husband. As Peeta becomes acclimated to being co ruler of the underworld Katniss finds herself bewitched by him beyond any measure she believed possible. But someone is not too happy with Katniss and has vowed vengeance. Vengeance in the form of the husband Katniss has come to revere. [submitted by @lovely-tothe-bone]

Prompt 17: Everlark enemies to lovers, a long standing grudge (could be anything, even simple) but somehow it is discovered that Katniss is a bone marrow match for Peeta. If she doesn't donate he will die. [submitted by @lovely-tothe-bone​]

Prompt 18: A Wrinkle in Time AU - Meg!Katniss, Charles Wallace!Prim, Calvin!Peeta. [submitted by @lovely-tothe-bone​]

Prompt 19: Everlark inspired by Netflix show Love is blind. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 20: Peeta is the CEO and katniss is his secretary. They have an affair and katniss gets pregnant but when she tells peeta he doesn't believe her and accuse her of trying to trap him. What will he do when he realize his mistake and how will he win katniss back. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 21: High school romance based on the movie Wild Child. [submitted by @mysteriouslycraftyreview]

Prompt 22: Set in early 20th century. Katniss and Peeta are from two rival families who have been enemies since forever. They have a chance meeting which led to them falling in love. They are completely unaware of their identity. Will their love survive or will their relationship crumble. [submitted by @mysteriouslycraftyreview]

Prompt 23: Rumor: MrEverdeen crossed fence dividing Town and Seam, kidnapped Mrs Everdeen making her his commonlaw wife. Years later, Mellark sons plan to avenge their father by raiding Seam and kidnapping one of Everdeens daughters for one of them to take as a wife! Does Katniss “volunteer,” does she escape, how do the 3 brothers decide what to do with her since they didn’t plan it all out well? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 24: After Prim survives her first reaping, Katniss realizes she must have better plan for Prim’s future; fights to reclaim rights to the apothecary; wins it back after drawn out legal battle; installs her mom and Prim as owners. But Katniss not welcome in town for her Seam looks and distasteful takeover of a town business, and she’s not welcome in Seam as she refuses to marry Gale. So now 18 and past reaping, what will she do, where will she go, does anyone need her, can she let herself need anyone? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 25: Panem’s Mellark bakers are practically royalty, but with power comes responsibility. Peeta struck deal long ago to someday take reigns of Corp and settle down once dad retires if he can sow wild oats until then fucking everything that moves. Time’s up! Must propose! Publicity stunt for Mardi Gras - will bake engagement ring into cupcakes, makes sure his choice of wife will get that one, but mixup! Some girl in D12 gets it by mistake! Can’t admit his error! Katniss feels miracle, $ woes over! [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 26: the night before the Quarter Quell, in the sleepless dark, Katniss and Peeta allow themselves to indulge in the bittersweet dream of a future they’ll never have together (“if it wasn’t us, what would you do?” “I’d want to marry you” “tell me”) [submitted by @rosegardeninwinter]

Prompt 27: Pick a “what if” - what if Katniss was at Peeta’s bedside when he woke after losing his leg? - what if Katniss hadn’t been locked inside her room after wandering at night when she decides to seek out Peeta? - what if Haymitch hadn’t left the train when it stopped and upset Peeta with his comment? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 28: The truth finally comes out years later: Lily broke off the engagement only after the baker had knocked up her best friend, and for the baby’s sake she had left to run a free clinic in the seam where she does find true love. Her family invites her back to the apothecary now that they know and they forgive her for marrying a mine worker now that he’s deceased anyway. How does young Katniss adjust to life in town; Peeta, Delly, Madge as neighbors; not needing to go over the fence but wanting to? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 29: Post-MJ, Growing Together. Peeta is finally showing his affection and love for Katniss as they heal and reconnect. Katniss, being Katniss, seems to act like she doesn't appreciate this, and is less than enthused. Peeta, taking this like an adult, stops showing her with the affection and tries to show her his love in other ways. Katniss, however, does not appreciate him stopping those things and set out to try and get him to continue it again because she misses it. [submitted by @albinokittens300]

Prompt 30: When Prim needs a bone marrow reconstitution that can only be accomplished via genetic matched umbilical stem cell transplantation, Mrs E confesses that the baker is Prim’s father. Prim’s best chance of survival depends on Katniss having a Mellark’s child for the donor cells. How does she get one of the Mellarks to agree? And what are negotiations like regarding conception and what to do with the baby once it’s born? What if it’s more than one baby because of the medication Katniss is given? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 31: “We never see you two so much as kiss in public but last night we all heard you have sex.” Who says it (Johanna, Haymitch, Finnick or ?) and under what circumstances (vacation rental, baby monitor mishap or ?) is up to you. From BBA [submitted by Buttercupbadass]

Prompt 32: Pre-books fic about a young Peeta crushing on Katniss. His friends tease him about his crush constantly, and it irritates him because everyone seems to know except Katniss herself. But he just rolls his eyes good-naturedly whenever his friends say something about it. [submitted by @madetofly]

Prompt 33: Roommates+Friends-with-Benefits: It’s finally March and Katniss is hankering for a Shamrock Shake because “Damned it, Peeta! I can taste the mint!” So he drives her to every McDonald's in a 40 mile radius without luck. She cries, surprising both of them ‘cause she never cries… Peeta takes matters into his hands, buys ingredients for a homemade 🍀 shake plus a pregnancy test just in case. You decide what’s the result and what Everlark does with the knowledge/scare. Extra points for humor. [submitted by @alliswell21]

Prompt 34: Peeta Mellark is the owner of a popular bakery chain and has no time for romance. Katniss Everdeen is struggling, about to be evicted, in deep debt and desperate, she jokingly tells her friend Madge over a cheese bun, she needs a Sugar Daddy to put her trough college and Peeta happens to overhear it. She’s a regular at his main shop, and is cute if a few years his junior. He offers her a deal she can’t refuse. Age gap. Extra cookies for accidental toastbaby and falling in love. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 35: No reaping AU. At 19, Katniss considers marrying Gale for practical reasons; the fact she just heard the baker’s son toasted and was assigned a house at the edge of town has nothing to do with it... maybe. What happens next? (was Peeta really married or was it his brother? Does she marry Gale? Does Everlark ever talk? Will Peeta cheat if he’s actually married? Can Katniss admit she loves the Boy with the Bread? Is this forbidden love?) is up to you. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 36: Frustrated and stressed out Single dad!Peeta needs a fuck desperately. His best friend, Katniss, unwittingly offers to help him out. Things get murky with repressed feelings, but one thing’s certain, Peeta can’t keep his hands to himself anymore and Katniss is all too willing to oblige at the drop of a hat, regardless of place, time and her own emotions, as long as he keeps whispering all his sexy, filthy thoughts into her ear. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 37: Not-Reaped, In-Panem AU where Peeta and Katniss have begun quietly seeing one another. It is very early on and they are really only just getting a bearing on how deep their feelings are when one day Katniss sees Peeta beat by his mother and no amount of will power will stop her from going and confronting the witch. She goes in there on a war path but stops when she sees just how hurt Peeta is this time, with open gash on his leg from when he had fallen to the ground... [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 38: Everlark inspired by Netflix's Spinning Out (But honestly I believe it was the other way around!) [submitted by @justhereforthefanfiction]

Prompt 39: Taylor Swift - Mary’s Song (aka childhood best friends to lovers to husband and wife) [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 40: No choice - friends Katniss and Gale must wed to become legal guardians of siblings. Still not enough to avoid financial ruin. Convinced only way to get desperately needed fast cash is for Katniss to first offer virginity to highest bidder. But how to find him or her, how to negotiate terms, does she confide in anyone, how should she prepare, will it all be quick and forgotten as she hopes, what could go wrong, can she keep this secret, can she use a fake name, can she hire a service? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 41: Inspired by the dancing kid meme. A video clip of either Katniss/Peeta as a child becomes a huge meme. How do they handle it? Maybe it gets them together? Maybe it’s creation tears them apart? [submitted by Buttercupbadass]

Prompt 42: Every time there’s a really bad storm, a bolt of lightning precedes Katniss getting transported to another life. She’s always Katniss with all her memories, but everything around her is different. Peeta is always there, she just needs to figure out if he’s friend, foe, stranger. And, damn it, the storms this spring with global warming sometimes has her in and out of situations before she can figure anything out. Gale complicate things further. It’s enough to drive her crazy... [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 43: Katniss post-war becomes crazy cat lady, dedicates herself to caring for every stray, calls them all Buttercup, don’t get along with Haymitch’s geese. Now does Dr Aurelius make a house call? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 44: Believing that taking a new young bride every 5 years will keep him youthful, Snow arranges to marry wife #12 from D12. In the hours between the ceremony and the wedding night, he drops dead. 16-yr-old Katniss returns to 12 but now she’s “Widow Snow.” Can she ever be Katniss, district huntress again? With all that $, wedding gifts, etc that were sent on the train with her? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 45: Prompt has been removed.

Prompt 46: Pacific Rim inspired AU with drift compatible Everlark (or not if you’re inspired by angst). I really just want to see more of that aspect of Pacific Rim explored than what they did in the movie and what better way to do it than with Everlark! [submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 47: katniss and peeta have a one night stand after meeting at a bar. when katniss visits her gyno turns out peeta is her new doctor. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 48: best friends!everlark who take each other's virginity. [submitted by @sunflowerslyf]

Prompt 49: "I'm your boss, give me your pants. Now." [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 50: everlark discovering on their date that they've missed each other their whole lives (living in the same city, went to the same high school, going to the same halloween and nye parties, were set up before by different friends but stood each other up, shopping at the same store, etc.) [submitted by @sunflowerslyf]

Prompt 51: Katniss E, the Valedictorian of Panem High school, is perfect in all fields of life. And that is the crush of awkward, average in studies, not so popular, never had a girlfriend, often bullied Peeta M. Not only does she have a very popular friend circle but also a handsome, popular boyfriend Gale H. Will she even want to be his friend? Is his crush doomed to fail? Eventual Everlark. [submitted by @white-dandelion-seeds]

Prompt 52: “The Tao of Peeta” - maybe setting is as (small, remote, surrounded by wild creatures) D12 is being used as a penal colony for dangerous (political?) prisoners? Bring in other victors? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 53: Katniss’s parents finally convinces her to attend the military ball because they are honoring her dad after some time of trying to distance herself from the military world. At the ball, she meets a handsome, charming man that might bring her back into the world she was trying to leave. [submitted by @animekpopxx]

Prompt 54: Heart wrenching angst Everlark based on the song “Me Dedique A Perderte” by Alejandro Fernandez. [submitted by @animekpopxx​]

Prompt 55: The Prophecy states: “A powerful witch that’s born from the two worlds,will reunite them and will bring peace. “ Everyone thought that the prophecy was talking about her. And she did bring change and hope to everyone but who ultimately brought the peace was her unborn child. [submitted by @animekpopxx​]

Prompt 56: Who dun it? Shortly after Katniss goes to one of those paint and kiln your own porcelain places, (owner artist Peeta), people start disappearing. The only connection seems to be that they were people she bitched about while sipping too much wine and painting her piece. She becomes prime suspect. No bodies can be found, how are they vanishing? Can she offer an alibi for each disappearance? That guy Peeta keeps popping up, is he following her? She’s sure she caught him looking at her... [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 57: In a place where the world prospers with a female dominated world, Coriolanus Snow successfully does a coup over the reigning Everdeen family with ruthless bunches of man to create a world where men dominate.But the people’s hope is in the form of a Katniss Everdeen and Snow did not know that she was right under his nose the whole time before it was too late. [submitted by @animekpopxx]

Prompt 58: Historical au where princess katniss and duke peeta are secretly sleeping together, are caught, and now have to marry each other. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 59: Growing up Peeta started loving her. It was a gradual thing that happened throughout his childhood and into his teens. But something changes when he hits puberty. Her scent has heightened, he can spot her from miles away. He gets a bit possessive. But the biggest thing is when his body starts to heat up and even just the thought of you gets him hard for days. He finds out the family secret of his werewolf genes, something his parents thought passed him. How can he go by with his day and be with her without scaring her away by humping her because of his heat. [submitted by @animekpopxx]

Prompt 60: After severe flooding(?) community urged to open homes to disaster victims. Mrs. E offers to take in children only. Peeta and bro assigned there temporarily. Peeta quiet, polite? Bro constant source of embarrassment? Prim doesn’t want them to ever leave? Does Gale have anything to say about this? How does Katniss deal with it? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 61: Peeta knew better, but he did stupid things when he got drunk. Now he’s caged at the animal shelter in his wolf form. And, omg, Katniss Everdeen let her little sister drag her in to see the dogs?! He knows he shouldn’t, but teen hormones. He just wants to lick her hand. Get a tummy rub. Hump her leg. Sleep on her bed. Omg, they take him home!!!! He needs to let his dad know where he is. Omg. He needs to figure out his bakery shift. “God, don’t let Katniss catch me licking my balls.” [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 62: one night stand!everlark sleeping together the same night a terrible snowstorm hits the city and everything gets shut down with no way to get home. perhaps a two night stand? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 63: katniss and peeta who are exes wake up together naked, hungover, and married. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 64: She’s a good girl, goes to confession weekly. He’s a bad boy, on the run, slips into the confessional booth just in time. Now he’s stuck hiding in here for a bit hearing the some dull some crazy confessions of the elderly - and of one young girl with the sexiest voice. May go to hell for this, but he’s a guy and can’t help himself with what he says/does next. One of them ends up saying, “Oh, God! Yes!” [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 65: Everlark fluff based on the song Sugar by Maren Morris. [submitted by @lovely-tothe-bone]

Prompt 66: Everlark post apocalypse, katniss and peeta are neighbors and the only two that make it to katniss's father's bunker in time. Over the course of several years the two have grown quite close having no one else, but now provisions are running low. Do they face the unknown outside or stay put, knowing they only have food to last another week? [sent by anonymous]

Prompt 67: Her parents said that it was just a childhood crush and that she will outgrow it. But why does her heart flutters. When she’s finally old enough to get a job, she immediately gets a part time job to be close to him. Will is pursue her love against people’s negative views because he’s so much older than her. Or go for it and make him fall in love with her. Age Gap Older!Peeta. [submitted by @animekpopxx]

Prompt 68: Dark Coffee Shop AU - Capitol Peeta runs a Coffee/Pastry shop in the poshest part of the Capitol. Near by President Snow’s Mansion. Capitol!Katniss is a frequent customer. Things in the Capitol begin to deteriorate as the rebellion drags on. Are they sympathetic to the rebel cause? [submitted by @oakfarmer12]

Prompt 69: College boy Peeta helps incoming students move into the dorms. Katniss is his next assignment. Age Gap? Maybe Katniss is an older student going to college later? Grad student? Maybe Peeta is a senior, Katniss a Freshman? The possibilities are endless! [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 70: Peeta picks up a hitchhiker in the mountains one night, only to find it's his childhood best friend and now escaped convict Katniss Everdeen. In a panic he calls police but after hearing her side of the story comes to believe she didn't actually murder anyone. Everlark on the run. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 71: King Snow forces the daughter of dead rebel leader Katniss to marry is adpoted son Peeta M and kills her father. P coming to know the truth on their wedding night vows to avenge Mr E's death. K hates him and carries on her own rebellion supplying her next clan leader Gale information from the Castle. When Snow is killed and rebels overtake Capitol chaos ensures. Ally of rebel, a neighbouring kingdom's queen Coin tries to use the situation in her favour. Whose side will K take? Eventual Everlark. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 72: Peeta is off a very abusive, poor home. His school friend Katniss has the exact opposite home: well loved and well off family. What happens when opposite worlds clash? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 73: I am a simple woman: I just want Katniss Everdeen content and loved and washed in moonlight I don’t care how you do it. [submitted by @rosegardeninwinter]

Prompt 74: Katniss Everdeen is horny. It has been three months since she left asshole Gale to enjoy her life. She just needs a good fuck. She goes man-hunting to a local bar with Jo. The even ends up with her being naked on her bed, with the head of a very handsome blonde, stocky stranger between her thighs. But after her first orgasm of the night when he says: I’ve never done this before, will it be the last? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 75: An in-Panem arranged marriage a/u where Katniss is slightly older than Peeta. [submitted by @endlessnightlock]

Prompt 76: Modern a/u Katniss is getting over the loss of her sister (you decide how) when she meets Peeta. She’s closed off but he finds a way in. Maybe she works for him? Him for her? Maybe she cries herself to sleep on his bread scented shoulder? (Please yes I need that) [submitted by @endlessnightlock]

Prompt 77: Katniss Everdeen has a handsome neighbour. It dosen't help that she just came out of a shitty relationship with her ex Gale Hawthorne. Too bad he is a 19 years old virgin boy and she is a woman of the world at 31. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 78: Post MJ, the new government of Panem has finally decided to lift the exile to Twelve order off of Katniss. Where are Katniss and Peeta in their lives? What is the first thing they do? Do they just have a quiet celebration or do they go somewhere? [submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 79: Peeta has been planning this marriage proposal for months. It goes horribly wrong. Tell me all about it and what happens next?[submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 80: Katniss helps undo the lies Peeta’s mother (and the Capitol) told him about himself (namely that awful “stupid creature” comment) and reminds him that he is worthy and precious to her and really, that’s all that matters [submitted by @rosegardeninwinter]

Prompt 81: Katniss finds her soulmate at her bachelorette party (aka Peeta)(Happy ending please) [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 82: Post MJ, when Peeta touches Katniss’ neck wrong, she has a flashback of him almost strangling her and has to be heavily consoled. This leads to a conversation about his attacking her when he came back from the capitol. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 83: Katniss is whipped instead of Gale in Catching Fire, Peeta’s the one who’s there to take care of her after. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 84: [Historical AU: 1930s Hollywood] Silver screen star Peeta Mellark has captured millions of hearts, and housekeeper Katniss isn't immune. She's stunned when Peeta comes to court her eccentric heiress employer, Madge. Katniss' shock only grows when Peeta offers to pay for her help in winning him Madge's hand in marriage - and access to her fortune, with which he intends to fund his directorial debut. [submitted by @gamesmakers]

Prompt 85: During an episode of Peetas, he locks Katniss outside in the snow for an entire night. Haymitch is passed out drunk and doesn’t let her in, she can’t find anywhere else to go all night so she ends up catching a really bad cold. When Peeta comes to his senses he feels horrible and nurses her back to health. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 86: After MJ Peeta has a hijack relapse for a few minutes where he insults Katniss’ appearance and body (more extreme version of when he said she wasn’t very pretty in Mockingjay) which hits a nerve, especially since her body was damaged in the explosion that killed Prim. After he’s back to himself, he feels terrible, but Katniss brushes it off. It’s only when she refuses to have sex with him now that he realizes how insecure she might be. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 87: On the train a few days before the Quarter Quell, in another effort to break her before the second games, Snow orders Katniss to have sex with someone in the capitol who paid for her company. When she tries to refuse, Snow threatens her family. She agrees but partway through panics and tries to stop it, only to have the buyer turn on her and get physically violent. She comes to Peeta afterwards and he comforts her, holds her, takes care of her and promises he’ll never let someone hurt her again. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 88: Not reaped. Peeta and Katniss fake date. [submitted by @anxiouslyintroverted]

Prompt 89: Amish!world. Katniss and Peeta are courting each other and are just waiting for Katniss to be of age to get married cause Peeta’s 2 years older. But things gets tough when a Snow comes to their county and spots Katniss. He ask her father if she can be his wife. [submitted by @animekpopxx]

Prompt 90: anyone for an Everlark Alcott or Austen-esque period drama? because I sure am so just gonna speak that into existence. [submitted by @rosegardeninwinter]

Prompt 91: ​High school. Peeta is the perfect golden boy. Katniss is a rebellious, infamous girl who always skips class and who everyone fears. She is every boys wet dream and every girls nightmare. How will they both fall in love? [submitted by @mysteriouslycraftyreview]

Prompt 92: High school musical au: katniss and peeta as troy and Gabriella. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 93: Katniss is preparing for first Toastbaby and going through some hardcore nesting urges. Peeta, of course, thinks this is perfect and willing to help her anyway he can even if that means repainting the nursery for a third time. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 94: Toastbaby gets into a bit of a scrape, nothing too serious, and Everlark struggles with finding the balance between being there for toastbaby but not being too overly protective. [submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 95: Everlark meet cute, “Oh wait... you’re NOT my blind date?” We’re they set up with each other or with someone else? How do they figure out the mix up? What happens after? Disgustingly fluffy welcome. [submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 96: Everlark in the verge of breaking up. Why? Are they married or dating? Do they fix it or go their separate ways? [submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 97: Katniss makes three game changing shots, one in each of the books. What if... she missed? Pick one for her to miss and how does it change the story? Cato’s hand in THG, the forcefield in CF, or Coin in MJ. [submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 98: I would love some good rated E Everlark smut. Post mockingjay, Everlark growing back together and when I say smut I don't mean porn. I mean they need each other. Can't live without each other. Pour their hearts out and heal each other with their love from all the trauma they went through and make up time that they wasted holding their feelings back and pining after each other. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 99: Peeta has been spending too much time around his brothers (lol), Katniss makes a remark about wanting a snack, he replys “I have something you can snack on” Peeta is instantly mortified by his stupid comment because he is a gentleman. What happens next? It’s up to you. Could be sexy, could be a different kind of tongue lashing? [submitted by @endlessnightlock]

Prompt 100: Peeta's thoughts/what really happened to him at the end of the war and his thoughts regarding Prim's death. [submitted by @acpoe82]

Prompt 101: The night of the interviews in Catching Fire, Snow delays the games by a few days after Peetas announcement that Katniss is pregnant and demands Katniss gets a forced abortion in the capitol. Peeta and Katniss try to tell the truth, that she’s not pregnant but Snow isn’t listening and she’s forced into the procedure. Peeta is allowed to stay with her during and after, lots of hurt/comfort, etc. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 102: Katniss is uncomfortable with relying on Peeta even post MJ(pre epilogue). She only accepts his affection after nightmares, she doesn’t think she deserves it otherwise. She feels like he’s still too good for her & that she’ll never deserve him, on top of how she lacks trust in anyone bc of her childhood & having to be strong for Prim and her mom. One night after a severely bad nightmare she blacks out and come to, to Peeta bathing her in the tub, being gentle & loving & affectionate & soothing. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 103: best friends!everlark where katniss sets peeta up on a date with her friend, when peeta and date hit it off she realizes that she's actually in love with him but does nothing about it, few years later, peeta and girl are engaged and after a night of drinking, peeta and katniss accidentally hook up. how they get together is up to you (hea pls) [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 104: Katniss is captured instead of Peeta but instead of being injected with tracker jacker serum she’s beaten, starved, lashed and throttled. When her spirit is weak enough the capitol returns her to D13 where Peeta (and Haymitch/Effie) help her recover. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 105: what if one of them was a librarian and the other a (struggling? or drawing away patrons and stealing employees) bookstore owner (maybe who was more interested in things other than books) - Enemies to lovers? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 106: Everlark based on the movie Groundhog Day, where one (or both?) relive the same day over and over until they get it right. [submitted by @xerxia31]

Prompt 107: Katniss gets jealous of Peeta paying attention to other girls during their “growing back together” period. Super jealous. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 108: A story based on the lyrics to Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" [submitted by @xerxia31]

Prompt 109: Dialogue prompt: "I deserve better than this!" [submitted by @xerxia31]

Prompt 110: AU. Everlark live across from each other in fancy New York (or the like) penthouses. With all those large windows, they see each other daily and know the other's routine and all he/she does, but they've never met. A chance meeting occurs. What will happen? The circumstances of their living arrangements/any backstory and what happens between them is up to you. [submitted by @acpoe82]

Prompt 111: Hand Porn - looking, breathlessly touching, reading the story told by the calluses, the scars, the strength, while admiring all they’ve done, appreciating all they do, anticipating everything they will do for love - sensitive, expressive, powerful, creative, protective, sensuous hand porn. [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 112: 40-year-old virgin Peeta. Based as loosely as you want on the movie. Everlark, of course. [submitted by @acpoe82]

Prompt 113: Katniss saw Peeta naked in the arena after he got hurt but he hadn’t seen her. During CF while Peeta is training Katniss and Haymitch hard, Katniss falls out of exhaustion and being overworked and hurts her back slightly. Feeling guilty, Peeta gives strips her naked, gives her a bath and rubs healing lotions from her mom all over her. How does he react to the first time seeing her naked?[submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 114: Katniss trips and falls in the quarter quell and breaks her ankle, resulting in Peeta carrying her everywhere. She doesn’t like looking weak in front of the other victors but since she doesn’t plan on living through the games this time it’s good to be taken care of one last time. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 115: During the victory tour, for whatever reason, author can decide, Peeta has to help Katniss undress at the end of the day, only to discover/for her to remember too late, that she didn’t put any underwear on underneath her clothes. His shock/her humiliation ensues. (But he tries to make her feel better ofc) [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 116: Peeta braids Katniss’ hair to soothe her. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 117: AU where Peeta wasn’t hijacked when he returned from the capitol, just shaken up, during Star Squad, Katniss has a bad flashback and Gale witnesses Peeta be the only person who could comfort her. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 118: the nutcracker au! katniss as clara and peeta as the nutcracker. and if there could be a scene with snow, that would be really nice! [submitted by @omercilessmoon]

Prompt 119: “If you were taken by the capitol and hijacked, and then tried to kill Peeta, is this how he would be treating you” a fic where it’s Katniss the capitol hijacked and the second part of mockingjay from their reunion on is reversed. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 120: “I know that everyone on the planet is born with heterochromia, but I’m blind, so literally anyone could lie to me and say that they’re my soulmate. Why should I believe you?” Blind!peeta soulmate AU. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 121: Peeta has returned to D13 along with Katniss. But she is being forced to be the Mockingjay and portray a new angle, that Gale is her actual lover, Peeta was being forced on her by Capitol and Snow. How does Katniss manage the peer pressure? [submitted by @white-dandelion-seeds]

Prompt 122: The soldiers bring back to district 13 Peeta but he is not hijacked. He has been beaten badly, starved and sexually abused. All this led him to become an emotional avox. Will Katniss be able to help him recover from the trauma? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 123: Katniss never volunteers instead she is picked. While peeta volunteers for his brother(what’s wrong with his brother is up to you) and promises him that he will try to win. Peeta turns into the mockingjay ( or whatever variation he will have). [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 124: In MJ I noticed Peeta became more of himself when Katniss was affectionate to him and it helped him fight the venom. So my prompt is when Peeta comes back from being hijacked Katniss realizes this sooner and it starts off slow at first but then they get to the point of having sex and it pretty much heals him completely. HEA for Everlark please. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 125: EFE Prompt: Everlark + Faith. Be it in people, spiritual, or otherwise. Explore the loss of it, regaining of it, or finding it for the first time. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 126: Anything AU based on the song “Talk” by Hozier. Simple enough I think. [submitted by @theliferuiner]

Prompt 127: The earth is in perilous danger from a great evil and only Katniss can stop it. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 128: Peeta saves Katniss from being raped by someone in the capitol. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 129: Katniss & Peeta had a baby. But then miscommunication caused them to split. Peeta is still heavily involved in his baby's life. Katniss is seeing someone else & quickly rising in socioeconomic status with her talent as singer. Peeta on the other hand is facing more & more troubles with his family life. He isn’t being able to spare time their child. Its also becoming difficult for him to keep up with Katniss. Will their rift grow? Or will Katniss finally acknowledge her true feelings for him? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 130: What if Haymitch hadn’t said thise words to Katniss when Peeta joined Star-squad in Mockingjay? Would Katniss have come to her senses or would she be still angry at Peeta. A Mockingjay AU. [submitted by @white-dandelion-seeds]

Prompt 131: “Do you love me? Do you really? Because I go through every day of my life, thinking that nobody loves me.” [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 132: Both Mellark brothers, eldest and youngest love Katniss Everdeen. She is engaged to the eldest but her heart belongs to the youngest. Jealous!Peeta. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 133: Birth of their first child. Peeta helping and supporting Katniss. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 134: Visual Prompt. To see it go HERE [submitted by @javistg]

Prompt 135: Non specific prompt. Peeta called Katniss baby as a pet name. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 136: Katniss gets stung pretty bad by tracker jackers post mockingjay. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 137: Friends to lovers road trip au! Katniss wants to take a summer off to explore the country, Peeta volunteers to go with her. Bonus points if one of them is an absolutely oblivious idiot. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 138: Everlark loosely based off 90 day fiance. Could be AgeGap, one could have ulterior motives(until they end up catching real feelings), or it's a genuine connection. Author decides. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 139: There are fics where Peeta's mom tries to set him up with town girls. What if Peeta's mom tries to set him up with Katniss for once. Maybe both moms team up together? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 140: In Panem AU where Peeta is a Mail Order Husband. As the youngest son of a merchant class Capitol family, he has accepted he will never inherit the family bakery. But when his family contract him to an arranged marriage to further the business he will never own, he escapes by signing up to a programme to relocate and marry a district woman. Why Katniss needs a husband, is up to the author. Everlark endgame :) [submitted by @louezem]

Prompt 141: Katniss is the lone victor of 74th Annual Hunger Games. Peeta is a Capitaloit. Snow forces Katniss to be like other victor. How will they meet? How will they fall in love? What will happen when the revolution starts? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 142: Gale comes to district 12 again years after mockingjay and runs into a little girl shooting an arrow, only to find out it’s Katniss and Peetas daughter. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 143: The girl of my dreams asked me if I needed a ride home from campus so I obviously let her drive me home then walked back to campus a couple of hours later to get my car. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 144: Peeta's perspective. A more in-depth look at how he joined and tricked the Careers and led them away from Katniss in the Hunger Games. [submitted by @acpoe82]

Prompt 145: Not reaped; Snow overthrown; D12 unscathed; miners unionize; postwar prosperity; Seam transformation; Hob center of commerce. Teens Katniss and Peeta have new options and new pressures. How do they navigate this new reality? How do they handle graduating? How do they find their way to each other without reaping and with seam now middle class and restrictions lifted? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 146: Powerful Matchmaker arranges marriage between Everdeen girl (to whom she owes a big favor) and the young cinnamon scented baker boy the girl has loved ever since he first slipped her a sugar cookie with her namesake flower beautifully decorated in frosting, the yellow primrose. What will Katniss do when she only learns of it in church as the first of the 3 Sunday banns are read? Has she ever spoken to Peeta? Will she search her feelings for him? Will he object to the match? Does he have any say? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 147: The movie "Me Before You" Everlark style. [submitted by @acpoe82]

Prompt 148: Gale dosen't design the bomb but someone else does. Prim lives, but Katniss still kills snow. Gale cones back to district 12 along with Katniss. But problems arise when Peeta cones back too. Eventual Everlark. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 149: Peeta is whipped in catching fire instead of gale. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 150: Everlark based on the movie Blast from the Past starring Brendan Frasier and Alicia Silverstone. Peeta’s family lives in a bomb shelter for an extended period of time and he has to leave and venture out by himself with no knowledge of the current world. He hires Katniss to help him out and they fall in love. (Rough summary!) Rated M/E would be spectacular! [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 151: Everlark based on the song ocean avenue. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 152: King Peeta Mellark of Panem is looking for a wife, and he isn't getting any younger. None of the potential suitors does it for him - until he runs across local dragon slayer Katniss Everdeen after his kingdom comes under attack. She's exactly what he wants. The only problem? She absolutely hates him and it's up to him to convince her to marry him. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 153: Katniss opens up to Peeta about her insecurities about herself and about how he’s too good for her. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 154: One where Katniss is humiliated and Peeta makes her feel better. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 155: Post Mockingjay but before epilogue, Katniss has a good dream about her dad still being alive and how much he’d like Peeta and how wonderful everything would be. When she wakes up at first she doesn’t realize it was a dream, but when she does she’s absolutely inconsolable. Peeta comforts her the best he can. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 156: Just any or maybe multiple times Katniss got her period around Peeta. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 157: Unfocused while hunting from a nightmare the night before an animal sneaks up on Katniss and injured her, not deathly but enough that she can’t make it home on her own. Peeta gets worried when she’s not back after dark and goes after to find her freezing cold and bleeding and shivering. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 158: Toastbabies make breakfast in bed for their parents anniversary, only to walk in on them doing the do. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 159: Katniss tries to make herself up to look pretty for Peeta but doesn’t know how to do it well and it’s a disaster but he thought she was beautiful just as she was. [submitted by anonymous]

A Mockingjay Joniss AU - pt. 1: i’ve made up my mind (i’m never going back)

11.11.19 

A Mockingjay Joniss AU - pt. 1: i’ve made up my mind (i’m never going back) 

A Mockingjay AU WIP where Katniss reevaluates whether her best future is a path she had never considered. After Johanna fails the Block, it occurs to Katniss that her future is not pre-destined, that she’s done enough, and that she doesn’t owe any one, or any cause, a suicide mission. 

A/N: There are no promises of quality assurance. Also, I make no promises about updates. (If I add that sort of pressure on myself about it, I’ll end up loathe to work on it.) This will likely hold a lot of things in common with other Mockingjay Joniss AUs, namely a return to District 7 instead of District 12, and an emphasis on the pair helping each other recover set against a backdrop of quasi-homesteading. I make zero assertions POV and tense will stay consistent across updates. This is an adventure in pantsting with a general goal in mind, rather than something I’m pre-plotting.

Feel free to send me constructive witticisms, requests, asks, comments, trolling, whatever.

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District 13 - Medical

Johanna’s limbs twitched, body emitting a mix of grunts and whimpers. Katniss guessed she was fighting in her sleep.

Or maybe running. The morphling line in her IV was a rifle with vicious recoil. Awake, it tricked you into believing pain was farther away and anxiety quieter than they actually were. Helpful. Maybe. Asleep, it made it harder to wake from the nightmares.

“Jo...” 

Katniss nudged her shoulder with a knuckle, leaning forward out of her visitor’s chair only far enough to breach the edge of Johanna’s medical bed. Best to keep out of the way of swinging arms, if Johanna woke up fighting. “Johanna, wake up.”

In response, Johanna’s grunts and twitches ratcheted in intensity. 

Katniss guessed at what she was dreaming. Maybe fighting mutts while they tried to pull her under water. What kind of mutts might the Capitol design for that? Giant fish with fiery eyes, men’s arms, and children’s hands?  Eels with multiple tails which encapsulate you while the monsters drag you deeper into the pressing blackness, down until you finally have no choice but to gasp in water and drown yourself?

The Capitol and its mutts. 

Katniss tried again to wake Johanna, but she only rolled in her hospital bed, tangling herself and her IV line in her bleached, too-white sheets while letting out a sleep-garbled plea.

Maybe not Capitol mutts, Katniss thought. This happened in The Block, the Rebellion’s own customizable mini-Arena. So, Rebellion mutts. Coin and her well-oiled machine could squeeze and fracture a person every bit as well as Snow and the Games could a Tribute. Less horrific and premeditated, definitely. Better justified, absolutely. Without the evil intent, hopefully.  But they could still do it, all the same.

What was it Peeta had said in that interview? 

Once you’re in the arena, the rest of the world becomes very distant. All the people and things you loved or cared about almost cease to exist. As bad as it makes you feel, you’re going to have to do some killing, because in the arena, you only get one wish. And it’s very costly. It costs a lot more than your life. To murder innocent people? It costs everything you are. So you hold on to your wish.

His wish had been for Katniss to live. Katniss’ had been for him to. And here they were. Everyone, except for Cinna, who she’d gone into the Quarter Quell caring about was somehow, miraculously, still alive. Prim. Her mother. Gale. Haymitch. Effie. Peeta might still be mentally disordered, but at least with her staying away, he was progressing well enough to decorate a wedding cake. 

A wedding cake. That image made Katniss grunt. Finnick and Annie.

It wasn’t just those she cared about before the Quarter Quell who were still alive, it was also those she newly cared about. Those two. Beetee.

Johanna.

Johanna, for whom Katniss had experienced the impulse to volunteer as roommate. The one she’d sidled up to as a training partner. The one whose nightmares and traumas she’d been ready-fit acquaintances with. And also the one whose crass, doesn’t-give-a-fuck facade had gone from infuriating Katniss, when they’d first met, to actually making her laugh.

She sat on the edge of the bed and made one last, forceful attempt to stir Johanna, managing to cajole her onto her back and into wakefulness enough that she blinked with hazy recognition.

“Shit. Can’t a girl sleep without being molested?” Johanna was mumbling, voice rough.

“You were having a nightmare.”

“I can see your face, so clearly I must still be having it.”

“Funny.”

Johanna’s lids drifted shut.

“Have to be good for at least something, brainless, or else these wonderful District Thirteen people might decide it’s not worth the cost-benefit to feed me.”

“You’re good at lot of things,” Katniss joked. “Or at least that’s what you’re always going on to everyone about.”

Still with eyes closed, Johanna’s face pulled a smirk. “And wouldn’t you be lucky to experience every last one of those things, Everdeen.”

Katniss snorted and rolled her eyes. “You’re incredible.”

“Most wait ‘till after to tell me that.”

“You know what I meant,” Katniss corrected, refusing to fall prey to the attempt at embarrassing her. She started untangling the sheet from around the IV as something else to focus on.

Johanna peeked open one eye to watch, then wiggled the rest of her arm free from the bedding as soon as Katniss was done, purposefully floundering it through the air until she thwacked her palm against Katniss’ cheek. She pushed her face away with token force, punctuated by a complaining groan.

“Go a-way. Your sickening goodness makes my ass itch. How’s a mentally disordered person supposed to sleep?"

Katniss managed to huff like she was offended, but when Johanna’s hand didn’t move away from her face, she pulled it down to her lap and held onto it, frowning.

“They’re re-classifying you as that again?”

Johanna’s hand twitched in Katniss’.

“What? No. It’s nothing.”

“Johanna...”

“I’m fine, leave it.”  She yanked her hand free. “Aren’t you supposed to be prepping for an assassination mission right now anyway? Why are you here?”

Katniss frowned again at the abruptly acerbic tone, but she’d built up some resistance to it over time, and was tired herself, so she chose not walk into the trap. She was about to lay her own, anyway, after a fashion.

“You mean the suicide mission?” Her voice was a whisper, and she said it only after looking away from Johanna and picking her cuticles for a few long moments.

“What?” Johanna shimmied up into a sitting position, eyes wide and body instantly tense. “What are you talking about?”

Boggs’ words from a group meeting with Coin weeks before had been revolving through Katniss’ mind for the previous twenty-four hours.

Even if we’re careful, we can’t guarantee her safety. She’ll be a target for every-

He hadn’t gotten to finish, because Katniss herself had interrupted him. But she could definitely fill in the blank herself.

“Think about, Johanna. Because since the Block, I’ve certainly been thinking about it. At best, it’s a mission doomed to fail. At worst, it’s a death sentence. I think I’ve slept less than you in the last forty-eight hours.”

“You promised.” Johanna and pulled her arms tightly around her shoulders to make herself smaller. Triggered into a minor episode, she shook her head non-stop, as if doing so could change the reality of what Katniss had said. “You promised you’d kill him for me. I need him to be dead!”

Katniss sighed loudly and stared up at ceiling, fighting her own frustration as well as Johanna’s. Fighting to keep her voice calm.

“I know. I know I did, Johanna. And he will.“ She put a hand on Johanna’s knee to calm her, only to have Johanna swipe it away. But she went on. “We’ve breached the Capitol. We have forces there. Everyone wants Snow’s head. The Rebellion has come too far to stop, and Coin is going to make sure he ends up dead one way or another. But think about it. I’m not a trained assassin, I’m barely a solider. I don’t have an anonymous face. What chance do I really have? I’m a girl with a rifle and a bow. In the middle of a city decked out with Gamemakers’ traps, thousands of peacekeeper who know my face, and tens of thousands of Capitol citizens ready to raise an alert.” She gave Johanna a grim smile. “Those odds are way higher against than we faced in all of our games combined. And my target? One man on the far side of a war zone, almost certainly sealed away in a well-guarded bomb shelter.”

Katniss gave a weak shrug. “Boggs is right. He didn’t call it a suicide mission out loud, but he knows it is. I’ve been seeing it in his eyes, the hoping that I'd see it for myself.”

“Fuck,” Johanna hissed. “I’m so fucking tired of all this SHIT!”

The sudden screaming brought in the medical staff. Johanna shouted wild curses at them, alarming them all the more, but Katniss eventually talked them into leaving. It took long minutes, but Johanna’s shaking slowly evolved to despondent rocking. And then her chin sank to her chest, followed a moment later by a sniff, and then her dragging an arm across her face to wipe at it. Finally, she gripped her skull and let herself fall back flat onto the bed.

“Jo, I don’t know what kind of a life you want to have when this is over, but I’ve made up my mind. I’m not going back. I’ve done enough. We’ve both done enough. We don’t owe anyone. It’s not selfish: We’ve reached the point where we’re no longer necessary. Coin and the other District Leaders can duke it out; it doesn’t need to be Mockingay business. The only thing I want is to live a quiet life where I know Prim is safe and I can shrink out from under the spotlight. That’s what started this for me. That’s the promise I need to keep. The one I made to her on Reaping Day. That I’d live and come back to her.” She added, “You can’t tell me that at least part of you isn’t interested.”

There was more sniffling, and more face wiping. And a few ragged breaths before there was an exhausted response.

“Do you really believe that’s possible?”

“I think Coin will give it to us. She needs popular Victors around after the Capitol falls like a bear needs bees stinging at its nose when it wants honey. At this stage, my quiet exit might be as tempting for her as it is for me. And face it, from her perspective- If I’m right- if I do go, at best my death makes a good propo, except that it comes at the cost of the Capitol claiming credit for killing me. But if I actually succeeded, she risks me having an even bigger voice in Panem’s future. Considering how we’ve butted heads already, that’s not something she’s likely to want. And that puts not just me, but everyone I care about right back in danger.” Katniss had risked sneaking that train of thought into a whispered conversation with Boggs over that morning’s breakfast.

The look he’d given her had been answer enough.

“For once, I’d like the chance to choose my own fate instead of being manipulated into one.”

Johanna continued to stare up at the ceiling.

“You’re serious about this.”

“I have the bone-chilling feeling I need to be.”

“And so what,” Johanna struggled for the energy to push herself up on her elbows, glaring, “this is you asking my blessing to beg Coin to send you, your family, and lover boy back to Twelve so you can have a guilt-free happily ever after?”

Katniss gave herself time to cycle through a slow breath. Being about to say it aloud made it feel more like killing someone than letting them go. But Johanna was impatient.

“I’m sick of this visit, Katniss. Just say whatever it is and get it over with.”

“Fine.” Katniss sucked in a breath. “Peeta’s a long way from being able to go anywhere without a counselor. Maybe things could be different. In the future, after time passes and he’s better and I don’t feel constantly conflicted over what I should be feeling and how much of that is me over what people keep telling me I feel. And-”

“There goes your self-righteous we-really-love-each-other act, princess.”

“Shut up, Johanna! It’s complicated and you know it. And like I said, maybe things could be different. None of us knows that, though. But what I do know is that neither he or I need that sort of pressure right now, and right now is when I need to make a decision for the people who are still within my reach.”

Johanna relented, begrudgingly.

“If you go back to Twelve, you realize he’ll just end up back there at some point. If you go home, he follows. He won’t be able to help it.”

Katniss hesitated, but then nodded sadly. “I know.”

“Is that what you want?”

Katniss didn’t respond. Instead, after some quiet, she reached over to the nightstand for Johanna’s pine bundle, laying it on the bed. Her fingers lingered on it briefly before withdrawing.

“This was on the floor when I came in. Decided you didn’t like it after all?”

“Probably fell out while I was sleeping.” Johanna picked it up and took a sniff, then kept it at her nose to breathe the scent.

“Had you wanted to go back to Seven when this was all done?”

“I...” Johanna’s shoulders slowly sagged. “I don’t know,” she said simply, expression carefully neutral. “I don’t have anything there. Haven’t for a long time. And I haven’t even been able to picture a world that’s that normal enough to even try thinking about it.”

“Well, do. At this point, the three us of would rather go to Seven with you than back to Twelve.” Johanna narrowed her eyes, surprised. Perhaps suspicious. It didn’t phase Katniss. “Haymitch and Finnick have both agreed to help me make the argument to Coin for us.” And when Johanna only continued to study Katniss, without voicing an objection, Katniss hazarded some levity, "And anyway, you’re practically required to say yes: Prim insists she wants to adopt you into the family.”

“I’m not a fucking pet,” Johanna responded, eventually, but without real heat.

“Whatever you say, lumber-woman.” Katniss chuckled at the dirty face Johanna made at that, before standing to leave. “I think we both know Prim's pretty good at getting what she wants.”

“It should be illegal to be that fucking adorable.”

“Yeah,” Katniss agreed, to be polite. “Okay, well, I’m going to go talk to Haymitch. You aren’t laying a string of profanity down on me, so I’m going to run with it.”

Johanna pulled her knees to her chest, making herself small again.

“What is it?”

Johanna shook her head.

“Come on, Johanna.”

“I... don’t want to get dragged there and then dumped, if you guys don’t like it.” A tear raced down her cheek, then another, which Johanna cursed even as she wiped them away. “I... Fuck, I can’t believe I’m saying this. If you tell anyone, especially that stupid head doctor, that I'm saying this, I’ll rip your spine out.”  The tears were still coming. “But I don’t think I can handle having people and then losing them again.”

Again. The weight of that word settled on Katniss’ shoulders.

She struggled with how to respond, in the end climbing onto the bed and letting Johanna curl into her side.

Fics in May.

Hi, everyone!

It’s been ages since I did one of these, but I’m finally back!

Life was certainly busy last year and I didn’t read, or write, as much as I wanted to, but I still found a little time to enjoy some beautiful fics. 

Here they are, hope you find a new favourite among them. Happy reading!

Have suggestions or fic recs? Send them my way!

Multi-Chapters / WIPs

After the Fire by @otrascosasseries

Everything changed a day like today but three years ago. This exact day but three years back, I lost the two people in the world I cared most about, but I'm going to try to recover one.

Case of the Honeymoons by @katnissdoesnotfollowback

Newlywed Everlark smut.

The Christmas You Never Knew You Always Wanted by @mtk4fun

Haymitch Abernathy, a lonely, wealthy business owner, experiences a Christmas unlike any he's ever known when his secretary Effie Trinket plans his holiday.

Damaged, Broken, and Unhinged by @rosefyrefyre and fanficallergy

After her father dies of black lung disease, Katniss is forced to do the unthinkable in order to keep her younger siblings alive and all of them out of the community home. Now, with the unexpected help of the baker's youngest son, she has to figure out how to go from just surviving to thriving in poverty-stricken Twelve.

Epoch by TheAmazingJAJ

"Love has no distance, it hath no continent, its eyes are for the stars." Soulmates AU in which Peeta grew up in Two and both volunteer for the 74th Hunger Games.

Geometry by @dandeliononfire

Peeta finds himself married to Katniss as the result of a bargain struck between his father and her dying mother. The road forward is unclear, painful, but also Bittersweet. Can Peeta solve the Geometry of how their lives are meant to fit together? Canon-divergent; neither Prim nor Peeta were reaped for the 74th Games.

How Do You Know? by @notanislander

Just a simple growing back together story as told from the perspective of our five senses.

Inevitability by @xerxia31

For Prompts in Panem farewell tour Day 2: What if? What if Peeta and Prim hadn't been reaped? Inspired by the canon line ‘this would have happened anyway’.

Inmate by @badnovels

Everlark meeting in prison.

It Happens Eventually Anyway by Meyers1020

This is an Everlark time-travel fic that begins immediately before the epilogue of MJ, but finds Peeta inexplicably waking the next morning to find it is the day of the reaping for the 74th games. Everything is just how he remembered it, except for the changes he makes.

May 8 by @shesasurvivor

May 8th is Katniss Everdeen's birthday! To be updated every year with a fic in honor of this date.

My Fate is in Your Hands by @historywriter2007

The world changed overnight, now Katniss must take her place in this new reality. When a hidden family secret is revealed she must make a decision that will change her life while she learns who she can truely trust.

Peeta’s Honeymoon Survival Kit by Medea Smyke

What could Peeta possibly need for his honeymoon? Lord knows. Good thing he's got such good friends, like Gale and Finnick, to help him figure it all out

Play My Way by @booksrockmyface

Katniss discovered a way to take back a lot of the control she feels she loses with her chronic pain by controlling men for pay. But she is ready to have a more meaningful relationship by tying up the same man every day.

Secret Kisses, Secret Wishes by @katnissdoesnotfollowback

Katniss enters the Arena of the 74th Hunger Games with her best friend and hunting partner, but she’s really not sure what to make of one of her mentors -- the boy with the bread and victor of the 73rd Games.

See Right Through My Walls by @booksrockmyface

Peeta has a lot on his plate with a cake decorating business, a young son, and his son's drug addicted mother floating in and out of the picture. But when he meets Katniss through mutual friends, he decides to make a little room. All he has to do is show Katniss that friendship is fine, but romance is better.

Things Remembered by @marzgaperez

AU Everlark where Katniss and Peeta cross paths after nearly a decade. A kind gesture from the past leads to possibilities for the future.

Drabbles and One-Shots

100th Hunger Games by WildcatPacer

A Good Thing to Do by @historywriter2007

Apprehension and Anticipation by @rosefyrefyre and fanficallergy

Asdfghjkl - Inspired by my phone's worthless autocorrect by @everybirdfellsilent

The Communicator by Buttercupbadass

Drunken Truth by @booksrockmyface

Drabble by @mega-aulover

Eating In by @historywriter2007

Everlark grinding and under the influence by @shesasurvivor

Familial Relations by Court81981

For Love (And Money), an Everlark one shot by @booksrockmyface

Grandparents by @ellanainthetardis

Here for a reason by @bigstarkenergy

“Hey, you dropped this.” by @shesasurvivor

“I know you’d rather not answer the question, but I’ve really got to hear it to know you don’t have a concussion.” by @butrfac14 

“I may have overdone it.” by @shesasurvivor

Jealousy by @jlalafics

Just Dance by @rosefyrefyre and fanficallergy

Katniss has to put butter on Peeta’s bread, and he hates it by @sponsormusings

The Little Black Dress by @ellanainthetardis

The Little Things by @thegirlfromoverthepond

Mechanic!Peeta au by @katnissdoesnotfollowback

Morning Snuggles by @katnissdoesnotfollowback

My friend dragged me to this party... by @jlalafics

My Heart is Heavy by @dracoisalooker76

The Night Before by @historywriter2007

Of Trends, Jealousy & Lingerie Magazines by @ellanainthetardis

Office Romance by @mega-aulover

Office with a View by Buttercupbadass

One Night Stand/Unplanned Pregnancy prompt by @it-was-so-human

Paired at the Theme Park by @thegirlfromoverthepond

Person A is too small to put the top ornament on the three so Person B lift them up by @awkwardeverlark

Peeta the Friendly Ghost by @alliswell21

Peeta’s Pocket by Buttercupbadass

Post MJ: Katniss’s birthday drabble by @tobeverytender 

Prom Couple!Everlark by @ally147writes

Singles Will Be Paired by @mega-aulover

Someone Worth Melting For by @andthisisthewonder

Stranded by @pirateherokillian

Studying for finals. One is the tutor the other only pretends to need help by @alliswell21

Through the Wood by Buttercupbadass

Time after Time by Buttercupbadass

A Toast to Victory by @ghtlovesthg

Wanderlust by @muttpeeta

When Peeta met Katniss by @alliswell21

Whoa! by @notanislander

“You aren't serious... Are you?" by @booksrockmyface

Everlark Fic Exchange. Springtime Edition 2019.

Always You by @sunsetsrmydreams

Be In My Eye by @reachingforaspark

By the Book by @hutchhitched

Extended Office Hours by @hutchhitched

F-CATS by Buttercupisbrainless

Glitch b-y @booksrockmyface

I Just Can't Remember Why We Said Goodbye by @butrfac14

Incubus by @alliswell21

In From the Cold by @melacka

It’s Your Birthday (2) by @sunsetsrmydreams

Katniss the Baker? by @norbertsmom

Long Exposure by @alliswell21

Love the Sunrise by @hutchhitched

Reflections by @justajjfan

Singing Duets by @historywriter2007

Stranded Travellers by @historywriter2007

Tripping in Love by @neverstopwhileyoureahead

Unmasked by M

hadncchoice replied to your post

Listen I too was obsessed my first blog on tumblr was a Katniss blog and I'm in the [ slow ] process of bringing her back so. Also, this is amazing.

well when or if you do, hmu. i’ve got a hunger games verse for tyrus that’s just waiting to be used. & thanks. tbh i was really proud of them back in the day. if you’re interested here’s the other three “chapters” lol

Chapter 2 - Looking back

I don’t know why I did it, but I suppose in a way, I do. I burnt the bread on purpose, to give her. I feel as if deep down the beating was worth it, even though it stings. I just couldn’t bear to see her like that, starving, so weak she could barely stand, I never knew her, but by god, I never forget her name, Katniss Everdeen. I heard somewhere she was named after a flower, hardly seemed appropriate in the state she was in. As I sit in my room, confined as further punishment, I decide that, in this little way, I made an impact in her life, that she might remember me, similar to the way I remember her, from the first day of school. I wish I could work up the nerve to talk to her, to have a real conversation, not just me throwing some bread at her feet, hoping she’d appreciate it. I think back to recount exactly what happened.

It was raining heavily and I saw her dragging her feet as I got the opportunity to quickly glance out the window. I was glad to be inside by the glow of the fire in which I baked the bread, but I couldn’t help feeling sad she could not be as fortunate. She was soaked to the bone, wearing a jacket much too large, carrying a bundle in her hand. Her eyes were gaunt and she looked frozen, not to mention starving. She quickly disappeared from view and then not a moment later, my mother was screaming at her… fowl words that shouldn’t be spoken to anyone undeserved, but I suppose that in her mind, they were. My mother yelled at her, wanting Katniss to stay out of our trash bins, honestly, I didn’t see the harm in any of it but my mother was in a bit of a rage. I peeked out behind her, hoping to maybe catch the eye of someone I didn’t know, but somehow, in a way, cared about. Katniss went to start moving on again and met my gaze for just over a second, but I hoped that it was long enough for her to see the apologetic look in my eyes. My mother roughly pushed me back inside and I quickly went to tend to the bread in the fire, I don’t know what exactly was going through my mind and I purposefully burned the bread. Already upset, my mother was harsh, not that she wouldn’t have been otherwise. She hit me, right across my face. I already knew it would result in a black eye before it was even over. I quickly grabbed the two burned loafs of bread and hurried out towards the pig trough knowing what my mother would tell me to do before it left her lips. Her words stung nearly as bad as the blow to my cheek.

“Feed it to the pig, you stupid creature. Why not? No one decent will buy burned bread!”

I started to tear away the burnt bits and toss them into the trough. Then the front door bakery bell rang, and my mother disappeared to tend to the new customer. I could tell she was watching me, I wanted so bad to turn to her, and just hand her fresh bread but, I had done what I could, I couldn’t help but feel her eyes as they bore into me as she saw my red cheek. I quickly checked the bakery door, as if making sure the coast was clear before lightly tossing her a loaf of bread. The second one went quickly after the first and I rushed back inside. The whole thing happened in a blur, I just hoped that this act would put me on her radar. I don’t know what I really expected. A hello at school? Maybe even a thank you. I didn’t really think it would mean as much to her as it did. From that day on, I just sort of knew, deep down, I had to have her, because even as ugly as she would seem at that moment to others, she remained as graceful as that little girl in the red plaid dress, and she visited my dreams, as she was my escape from reality, as I was the glow of hope she needed in hers.

Chapter 3 – The Bread

She visited me in my dreams so often, it was hard to think of anyone else. I was popular, I was liked, I was single, it wasn’t like I didn’t have any girls chasing after me either though. Apparently, according to my friend who overheard some girls discussing this in town, I was/am the cutest guy in our grade. Since I heard this, I couldn’t help but feel a little awkward when any of the girls came to speak to me, knowing that they liked me but all I could think about was Katniss. As I grew older, I gradually got over this but I was the only guy, who never had a girlfriend, not that there wasn’t anyone trying to change it, I just couldn’t be bothered with any ordinary girl, I wanted her. No matter how much I talked myself up to it, I couldn’t talk to her, I was just too nervous. I never told anyone I had a crush on her either, it just seemed too personal, even though people told me theirs all the time.

Years crept by and like every year, I was nervous about the reaping. I was frantic my first year. Growing up watching the games, I was scared that I would ever have to go there, that I would ever have to kill another human being, the mere thought sent me reeling at first. I couldn’t stand the games but after the reaping went by each year, I got more used to the idea that there IS a chance I could be picked but I simply reassured myself there were plenty of other names in there, and odds are, the one pulled would not be my own. Somewhere at the back of my mind I suppose I hope Katniss wouldn’t be picked either but over the years, I came to terms with the fact she would probably never fall for me what with her being so close to that Gale Hawthorne. It was pretty obvious they cared for each other. I secretly find myself hating Gale, knowing he’s probably going to end up with Katniss, not me. And I find myself facing the same fate as my father, as Gale would end up a coal miner like most men in the seam. I would often catch myself staring at her from across the room, or in the halls, luckily no one ever really noticed. Except one day, the day after I gave her the bread, she saw me, and our eyes met for a brief second. I got so nervous I looked away, I regretted it immediately. I looked back at her a couple moments later to be sure she wasn’t still looking at me and what saw me made my slightly confused. Katniss had picked up a simple dandelion yet it gave her an enormous smile. She then took Prim’s hand and walked away, and once again, I was wishing I had the courage to speak to her. Later that day I realized something, I had hoped to catch her eye, and when I did, I looked away. I realized this was just one more reason she wouldn’t fall for me, I was being a coward, and she was the bravest person I thought I’d like to know, Katniss, the survivor.

Chapter 4 – The odds are never in my favour

Like most other people living in the Seam, Katniss will be signing up for tesserae, I just know it, and even though I somehow know it won’t make any difference, I hope that the odds will be in her favour and she won’t be picked, and this year, knowing that her little sister Primrose, will also be part of the reaping for the first time, I find myself hoping that she won’t be chosen either.

Once again, I stand in that both familiar and alien place among other boys my age, waiting and hoping that no one I know will be called. My anxiety heightens as the mayor comes out and gives his annual speech about the history of Panem and the Hunger Games. I just try and block it out, letting my mind wander back to the bakery where a warm fire and a fresh loaf of bread awaits me. I’m wandering the bakery, preparing cookies, kneading dough, when all of the sudden, I am forced back to reality as I hear the shrill voice of Effie Trinket call out the first name. It’s not mine, not Katniss, not even Gale’s. “Primrose Everdeen” The voice rings out loud and clear. I can faintly hear the crowd whispering unhappily as they do when someone that young is chosen. I can’t see much from where I am, but I gather that Katniss is fighting to get to her as I hear Prim’s name called out, “Prim!” choked at first, then stronger. “Prim!” I make my way to the edge of the crowd just as I hear the words I hoped Katniss wouldn’t say.

“I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!”

I’m so preoccupied hoping that my name won’t be the next called more than ever, that I barely catch what’s being said. Effie Trinket said something about being lovely, and the mayor seems slightly upset but remains stern. Katniss tells them her name and then Effie replies with something about a sister. Next I vaguely remember the old Victor from our district coming onstage, Haymitch Abernathy, he says something about Katniss but I didn’t quite catch what, something spunky if I’m correct. Then they announce the male tribute. Somehow my face remains plain, almost calm if you will, but it takes all my will power to keep it that way when the unspeakable happens.

“Peeta Mellark”

My name rings out and I am frozen to the spot. I will my legs to move and I steadily make my way onto the stage, and wait for what will happen next. The mayor begins to read out the Treaty of Treason as required every year. I’m not really listening and it doesn’t seem like Katniss seems to be paying much attention either. My mind is on other things. Why her? It could have been anyone else but it had to be her, I don’t know why, but I promised myself I would try to keep her safe, even if it meant giving my own life. My family could manage the bakery without me but without Katniss, her family would surely starve. At least this little mission gave me a small sense of purpose, there wasn’t really much else that could at this point I glumly thought to myself as I braced myself for what would be my final, and worst next couple months of my life, that is of course, if I’m lucky enough to last that long.

The Hunger Games: The Tributes

I recently returned to Tumblr, and with that decision came a thirst to return to the roots of the fandom that got me here in the first place. So here I am doing a reread of the entire thg series, along with some analysis, quotes, and questions along the way! I’ve decided to make posts for each of the three sections of each book, so here goes the first one.

The Tributes

At the beginning of this book, I think it’s only right that we start with Katniss talking about Prim. The entire series always comes back to it, because Katniss time and time again is working to protect her. Whether it be from bad dreams before her first reaping or the horrors later on, Katniss’ central motivator is her little sister. At times she seems to be a little too overprotective at great cost to herself, obviously by volunteering but also by refusing to let her take out tesserae. We meet Gale, and I’ve always wondered how he learned to snare and when he started going into the woods. Were their fathers friends, or did take their children to the woods separately? Did they ever intend to work together, or did they without the kids knowing?

The word “rebellion” is first stated on page 5, which is no accident on Suzanne Collins’ part. In the first 80 pages alone it’s mentioned 6 times, which is more than the rest of the book. She talks about the punishments of rebellion, the rebellion 74 years prior, and her thoughts when Haymitch remarks about how her at Peeta holding hands on the chariot could be seen as rebellious. From the start of the series, Katniss has been instigating rebellion even when she doesn’t mean to. Poaching, refusing children, volunteering for her sister (instead of the “honor”), shooting at the Gamemakers, showing solidarity with Peeta. I’m sure President Snow approves of none of that.

Before Katniss ever goes into the Games, I already have a sense of some mental health issues with her. It would be an easy diagnosis for her, a sudden death of her father, the sequential “loss” of her mother, and the responsibility of head of the household being thrust on her small 11-year-old shoulders. She is very doubtful of people who want to help her and finds it hard to understand how people can be kind and not expect anything in return. With this, she has a soft spot for kindness so maybe that’s why she doesn’t care for it much. I’m not an expert on mental health, but it wasn’t easy for her to take this in such a short amount of time, and there’s obviously some residual trauma she has to deal with. She talks about nightmares of her father’s death, is constantly worrying about anything and everything, and describes herself in negative ways. Some quotes to support my thoughts:

"Gale says I never smile except in the woods.” 

“I learned to hold my tongue and to turn my features into an indifferent mask so that no one could ever read my thoughts”

“I’m not the forgiving type.”

“[Peeta] gives my hand hat I think is meant to be a reassuring squeeze. Maybe it’s just a nervous spasm.”

“A kind Peeta Mellark is far more dangerous to me than an unkind one. Kind people have a way of working their way inside me and rooting there”

“He gives me a smile that seems so genuinely sweet with just the right touch of shyness that unexpected warmth rushes through me. A warning bell goes off in my head. Don’t be so stupid... He is luring you in to make you easy prey. The more likable he is, the more deadly he is.”

She has closed herself off so much and never seemed to have found healthy coping mechanisms. Sure she feels better out in the woods where she used to spend time with her father, but inside the fence she hasn’t found a way to be happy in her day-to-day life. This will only exaggerate after the Games.

Katniss’ friendship with Madge has always been strange to me. As the mayor’s daughter you’d think Madge would have been a part of the popular group in school, but she “keeps to herself... [and] neither of us really has a group of friends”. They eat lunch and partner in gym class in relative silence, which just seems awkward even if they are shy people. Madge is originally wearing the mockingjay pin when Katniss and Gale go to sell strawberries which to me marked her as an important character for the rest of the series. Madge’s absence in the films was a bummer because she has such an interesting and complex connection to the story that was lost when they removed her. When she goes to visit Katniss in the Justice Building, we knows she gives Katniss the pin but we’re not entirely sure why. “There’s an urgency in her tone” when she gives it to Katniss, and doesn’t really take no for an answer when she pins it to her dress. It also may just be me wanting to find something, but I’ve always had an underlying thought that Madge has a crush on Katniss. The kiss on the cheek, the silent (nervous?) presence around Katniss, not being part of the “popular” crowd, maybe she was outcast by her peers for this reason. I would be 100% supportive of a bisexual Madge. This was a pretty short scene on paper, but there’s a lot of meaning with the pin that we’ll discuss as we get further into the books.

The reaping itself gave me a lot of questions about how the Games came to be. We learn about the Dark Days and the Capitol extinguishing a rebellion that started the Games, but what were the districts rebelling against in the Dark Days? What was going so wrong that they wanted to rebel, and how much worse did it get with the implementation of the Games and other district punishments? District 12 has a population of 8,000, but we know this is the smallest district by far. Katniss thinks about this on her Victory Tour, but how do they host reapings with larger districts that may have 8,000 kids or more? Is there a protocol if the chosen child wasn’t at the reaping due to sudden severe illness, death, or they had run off across district boundaries like Gale wanted to do? I’ve also always wondered what happens if someone volunteers but the original tribute wants to go in the Games (like in 1 or 2), who decides?

When Katniss takes the stage, this is how I see the rebellion beginning. The silence of the crowd, the district gesture, a solidarity throughout the entire district. The rebels lost the original rebellion because they could not communicate and were fighting 13 individual wars, so President Snow is probably pretty weary of any sort of unification that doesn’t outright support the Capitol. I also love the juxtaposition that she can see the hills of the woods from the platform in the square. As she’s saying goodbye to her freedom, she is also saying goodbye to her freedom in the woods and her relatively safe existence. On a fun note, when Katniss gets to the train station and overanalyzes Peeta’s appearance in front of the cameras, we get our first description of Johanna Mason and her tactics in her Games.

Throughout the train ride and the initial prep, we learn a lot about the differences between how the Capitol and districts see the Games. Effie and Katniss’ prep team are so detached from the actual horrors of the Games the same way Nazis had no issue with seeing Jewish people as less. It’s not their fault, it’s how they were raised being in the Capitol and all they know. They may not realize it, but they see the tributes as subhuman and because Katniss has never experienced this before, she immediately doesn’t like any of them. She already feels like just a piece in the Games even though she won’t realize it for a while. Cinna is her saving grace, because he actually seems to understand how terrible the Games really are. Right away I suspect he is most likely part of the underground rebellion in the Capitol, if he thinks like that yet still wants to work with tributes and subsequently their mentors. When Katniss first meets him he says “I asked for District Twelve” and just keeps going as if it were common to request working with the “least desirable district”. We never get his full story, but I can only imagine what lead him to this life path.

Finally we start to see the beginnings of Everlark!! Katniss knows more about Peeta than she realizes and if they hadn’t been reaped I want to believe they’d still find each other. I could never actually Katniss making it in the mines and they have such history going back to their parents. We get our first flirty feeling from Katniss, even if she doesn’t know what that means. When Peeta complements her after the parade and smiles “unexpected warmth rushes through me”. I’ve always laughed at that remark because she’s so unused to desire and pleasure she has no understanding of what’s happening. They train together, they talk each other up, they have no clue of what’s to come. Katniss barely has a grip on the past when she realizes “I have kept track of the boy with the bread”. Her coldness throughout their training makes sense given her history of distancing herself from pleasure, such as when Prim had to “drag [her] over to admire [the cakes at the bakery]”. If it wasn’t functional she didn’t need it, so having frivolous things for enjoyment (boys) isn’t an option. Only later does she realize she can allow herself these things without harm.

As Effie tries to sell Katniss and Peeta, it’s an interesting slip-up that she says “if you put enough pressure on coal it turns to pearls”, especially when we know the significance of the pearl in the future. Another quote that pops out to me is when she talks about Lavinia, and says “you don’t forget the face of the person who was your last hope”. She doesn’t know it now, but Katniss will be again be the face of hope for people who have nothing else to hope for. While training we see the parallels between Rue and Prim, who are both named after yellow flowers and resemble the same person to Katniss. Someone to protect.

When the interviews come, as much as she tries, Katniss isn’t going to get over her self-doubts just because Haymitch yelled at her so she isn’t very giving. She tried giving herself up, but it’s impossible when you’re talking to someone you don’t trust. When Peeta drops his bomb, we start to understand what his weapon is. While Katniss is lethal with a bow and has hunter instincts, Peeta can read people and moves a crowd with words. In his case, the pen really is more powerful than the sword.

Sassniss and other funny/interesting quotes

“District 12. Where you can starve to death in safety”

Exactly how am I supposed to work in a thank-you in there? Somehow it just won’t seem sincere if I’m trying to slit his throat.

So yes, I can handle a fork and knife. But I hate Effie’s comment so much I make a point of eating the rest of my meal with my fingers.

“Your mentor has a lot to learn about presentation. A lot about televised behavior”. Peeta unexpectedly laughs. “He was drunk,” says Peeta. “He’s drunk every year.” “Every day,” I add.

“Up, up up! It’s going to be a big, big, big day!” I try and imagine, for a moment, what it must be like inside that woman’s head.

One time, my mother told me that I always eat like I’ll never see food again. And I said “I won’t unless I bring it home.” That shut her up.

“Can you hit anything with that knife besides a table?” - Haymitch

It’s hard to hate my prep team. They’re such total idiots.

“With all that alcohol in him, it’s probably not advisable to have him around an open flame.”

Delly Cartwright is a pasty-faced, lumpy girl with yellowish hair who looks about as much like our server as a beetle does a butterfly.

You get the feeling that the knot-tying class is not the Hunger Games hot spot.

“If only you could frost someone to death”

 I try and animate my face as I recall the event, a true story, in which I’d foolishly challenged a black bear over the rights to a beehive.

“Thank you for your consideration,” I say. Then I give a slight bow and walk straight toward the exit without being dismissed.

I avoid looking at anyone as I take tiny spoonfuls of fish soup. The saltiness reminds me of my tears.

“Well, Catnip, stealing’s punishable by death, or hadn’t you heard?” he says... Gale’s eyes fastened on the bow. “Can I see that?” I hand it over. “Just remember, stealing’s punishable by death.”

“See, like this. I’m smiling at you even though you’re aggravating me.” “Yes, it feels very convincing.”

The world isn’t fair

Time stood still for Madge when Effie Trinket called out Prim’s name at the reaping. No. No. Please no. Her thoughts were playing in an endless loop for what it felt like minutes when it was actually just a few seconds. Prim was an innocent little girl, the careers in the Capitol would devour her in seconds. It wasn’t fair. Not to Katniss, not to her mother, not to anyone. And then her best friend volunteered for Prim and suddenly time was running again. Katniss ran towards the stage while Madge stood still, her face was expressionless and passive even though she was freaking out on the inside. Even trying to stop her could have consequences for not just her but for her parents, it was too risky. Her best friend was going into the arena and there was nothing she could do to help her. Except... The mockingjay pin. Her aunt Maysilee’s pin. It’s been in their family for generations and while it didn’t help Maysilee to get out, Haymitch had won those Games. The mockingjay had strong symbolism and maybe it’s strength would help Katniss find her own. Madge wanted to believe that Katniss could come back alive. Peeta was a lovely guy, but if she had to choose between them, she would hope that Katniss made it back. 

With Katniss gone, Madge sat alone at lunch, giving her plenty of time to think. She wanted to help, but she didn’t know how. She felt helpless. It was her mother, during one of her clearer moments, giving her the idea to bring some food to Prim and her mother. There was only one problem, she didn’t know where Katniss lived. Katniss had only ever been to her house when her and Gale sold them strawberries. Madge had never stepped foot in the Seam before and she had always been curious about it. So now she had a problem and there was only one solution she could think of, even if she didn’t want that. Find Gale and ask him to direct her to Katniss’ house. She knew Katniss provided for them and with her in the arena they must be hungry so while she couldn’t hunt like Katniss she could bring them food from her house, things that didn’t expire quickly. Going up to Gale was one of the hardest things she ever had to do. He hated her. She knew that. If she didn’t, the way he mocked her dress at the day of the reaping reminded her of it. She didn’t know why, maybe he hated her because he was angry that her family didn’t have to worry about food. While that was true, they had many other things to worry about that no one saw. Her mother. Entertaining capitol guests that visited them. One wrong word or move could mean the end for them and Madge was brought up with constant awareness of that. Fumbling nervously with her hands while she stood outside the school she waited for Gale to come out of the doors. All attempted courage flew out of the window when they stood face to face. “Um..hi...excuse me..Gale?” She winced at how pathetic she sounded. Madge had never come up to him and spoke to him, too scared that he’d laugh in her face. She had always admired him and while she knew it was hopeless she had had a crush on him for years. Clearing her throat she collected herself. “I was wondering if you could tell me how to get to Katniss’ house? I wanted to bring some food to Prim and Mrs Everdeen.”  Would he even help her? She didn’t know, but she had to take that shot. Otherwise she would have to go into the Seam by herself and try to ask around and do her best not to get lost. It was still light out now, she could do this. She didn’t need his help. Right..? 

@sayeedswritings

THE HUNGER GAMES

I really enjoyed reading The Hunger Games, because the book is very compelling and you can follow the book really well. The setting in the story is very well described and thought out. I feel like I feel like I connect with almost all of the characters except for Haymitch. His character is very drunk all the time because he lost all of his family because of The Hunger Games. The Start The story begins in district 12 on reaping day. The day the hunger games competitors are chosen Katniss and Prim wake up. Prim, Katnisses younger sister is very scared because it is her first year in the hunger games drawing. Katniss comforts Prim. Then she sneaks out beyond the fence to go hunting in the woods with her best friend Gale. They see each other and call the other one over. They share a breakfast with goat cheese from Prims goat and fresh bread from the bakery. Katniss meets up back at her house to put on a dress for the reaping. The dress is all gray because of the solemn situation. Prim and Katniss walk into the center of the poor part of district 12. They line up by age 12 in the back because they have the least chance of getting drawn. 18 year olds are in the front because they have the highest chance of being drawn. 13 to 17 year olds are in the middle. The person who draws the names from district 12 is Efiie Trinket. She comes onto the stage to select the competitors. Effie first walks onto the stage and says to all the children welcome to the 74th annual hunger games. May the odds be ever in your favor. She then says ladies first and reaches her hand in to the bowl filled with names. She selects Primrose Everdeen (Prim). But before Prim could get onto the stage Katniss volunteered to take her place. The boy tribute is Peeta Mellark. The Capital Both Katniss and Peeta are taken into the justice building to say there last goodbyes to  everyone. Then they get on a train to the capitol. There they meet Haymitch ,their trainer. He is the only living district 12 winner because he won the 50th hunger games. Peeta and Katniss suspect that he isn't going to be much help because he smells of liquor. He says to them that he will sober up and try to be the most help to them as possible. Katniss then goes back to her room on the train and tried to sleep. She is mostly restless from what is in her near future the hunger games. The train arrives in the capitol. The people in the capitol have weird hair colors and clothes amd are very excited to see them. They are the ones that watch and bet on people in the games. Katniss and Peeta are rushed to the stylists to get ready for the opening ceremonies. Katniss meets Cinna her main stylist and they talk about what she is going to wear. She expects a coal miner get up because that is district 12 import. Instead Cinna decides to make them look like coal burning. He puts fake flames on them to get the attention of the capitol and they did just that. As soon as they got on the carriages the Capitol took immediate notice to them and were screaming there names. Highest Score The group of Katniss, Peeta, Effie and Haymitch ride the elevator to the rooms on the 12th floor. They get there and eat the dinner of pea soup and chicken. Everything that they don’t have in district 12. The next day they go down into the training room. They work on things that they don’t know how to do like knots and camouflage. They made sure not to show of weightlifting for Peeta. Andd not to do archery for Katniss, because that is their best skills. They then go into the private session to show the game makers what they can do. Katniss does archery and nobody pays any attention to her. She shoots an arrow at an apple to prove herself and then leaves. She goes back upstairs to see the score. 1 was the lowest and 12 is the highest. Peeta gets a 9 and Katniss gets the highest out of the 24 with a 11. They all celebrate and then go to sleep. The next day they all get ready for the interviews. When the interview comes, Katniss is in a red dress. The dress glows red when you spin. Everything goes fine until Peeta confesses his love for Katniss. Katniss gets very mad at Peeta and hits him. Haymitch told her he was helping and that it was all fake. They all go to bed and the next day they get transported to the arena. Let the games begin Cinna goes with Katniss and tthey put her in a light but warm clothing and say theiregoodbyes. Katniss hears the countdown and gets on her pedestal. Then it goes up and they can see the arena. There's a lake and a forest and Katniss spots a bow. She gets distracted and can't get the bow. Another girl gets it so Katniss runs off with only a backpack. She runs for a day and then sleeps in a tree. The next day she smells something burning and sees a fire and a wall of it going straight towards her. She runs away and gets burnt on her way. Then she finds a little pond to stay in and cool off her burns. Getting Help Katniss then sees a package and there a cream in it. She puts it on her burns and runs cause she hears a group of other competitors coming. Then she runs and climbs a tree because it is dark. She realizes its a pack of the huge kids from district 1 2 and 4 and Peeta. Then she sleeps a little until she sees a pair of eyes. She realizes its the 12 year old competitor, Rue. Rue just points to a nest of tracker jackers that when you get stung you are almost paralyzed instantly. Catniss cuts it to send it down on the kids trying to kill her. She gets 3 stings on the way. The nest opens and kills 2 and injures the others. Katniss runs away and steals the bow and arrow from one of the girls. The Alliance Katniss wanders for a while and then finds Rue. They form an alliance and share their things. The two also form a plan to steal all of the supplies that the tributes from 1 2 and 4 have. They set a plan where Rue starts 3 fires in different spots while Katniss tries to destroy the supplies. She sees one of the girls run through the area but thenrealizes that its surrounded by bombs. Katniss shoots an bag of apples with an arrow and sets of a bomb destroying the supplies. She gets away with only an injured ear and goes to find Rue. Katniss doesn't find her until she hears her scream. She runs toward her only to find her in a trap. Then Katniss sees a boy throw a spear and kill Rue. Katniss is filled with emotions and shoots the boy and kills him. Team Work Katniss is sad and then decides to find Peeta. The game makers announced that if your partner from the same disrtrict and you make it to the final 2, you can win together. So she goes to find Peeta and finds him almost dead and camouflaged in a rock. She tries to help his wounds but can't. Until she hears that the gamemakers are having a feast at the starting area. You will find a bag with what you need there. So Katniss leaves Peeta to go get it. When she gets there she sees one of the girls get her bag and run. Then she sees the girl from district 1, Clove, run to get the bags and then Katniss does too. She gets there and Clove throws a knife at Katniss and hits her in the head. Clove leaps onto Katniss and is about to kill her. Then Thresh, a huge boy comes and asks if she killed the little girl, Rue. She said no and then kills her and tells Katniss to run because she helped Rue. Katniss gets back to Peeta and gives him the medicine. She waits for a day until Peeta feels better. When he does they go hunting and kill a couple things. Peeta finds poison berries and puts hem in his bag. A girl then steals them and eats them and dies. That means there are only 4 people left. Katniss, Peeta, Thresh and the boy from district 1 Cato. Then they hear a cannon meaning a death and Thresh died. The End They run back to the beginning when they hear Cato scream. He is running away from wolves and they get on top of the Cornicopia. To get away from the wolves Cato grabs Peeta and tries to kill him. Katniss shoots him in the hand and Cato falls into the wolves and dies. Then the game makers announce that Peeta and Katniss must fight. But instead they threaten to kill themselves with the poison berries. The game makers decided that 2 winners is better then no winner and give in letting them both win. And, ending the 74th hunger games, they were the first 2 people to win a single hunger games. To learn more about the series, check out Wikepidia "The Hunger Games". If you want to read more of my writings, feel free to check out WHAT SWIMMING MEANS TO ME.https://solidparent.com/what-swimming-means-to-me/ Read the full article

reTHG: The Hunger Games - Chapters One and Two: Setting up the game

I

I am finally going to do a proper post on Madge - someday.  She’s a surprisingly complex character for someone who has a couple of brief appearances.

But first, and more importantly, the scene between Katniss, Madge and Gale is packed with important information.  We learn a little bit more about the extremity of the class divisions in District 12 and this hints at the Capitol’s own divide-and-conquer version of the “southern strategy.”  So, that while all the teen-aged citizens of Panem are subject to reaping in the Games, there is a government-sanctioned system in place to ensure that some of the citizens have - or feel they have - a measure of added safety, and this reinforces their privilege and status.  “Seam” children, the children of the laboring class, are far more likely to have to take tesserae, a form of welfare that a) is humiliatingly public; and b) increases the odds of being reaped, by quite a lot.   So Gale’s resentment, and perhaps that of others, is diffused among the Capitol and his fellow District 12 citizens.  There would also be little inducement for class reconciliation, for wage equity or social welfare internally in District 12 because every Seam child who needs to take tesserae dramatically reduces the chances for Merchant children to be reaped.

  We’re never told for sure whether there are similar divisions in the other Districts.  The Career districts go their own way and try to game the system.  But we are told in Mockingjay that there is a difference in attitude even in District Two between the laborers and the rest of the District, so it is not unthinkable that this is a widespread issue.

We learn that, while Gale has a hard time seeing Madge without seeing her privilege, both Katniss and Madge are attracted by a greater force - mutual introversion :-) - and cross class lines to hang out with each other.  We see that Katniss already has the ability to see an issue from a slightly greater vantage point than Gale, whose genuinely tragic fate is all in place, right here at the beginning.  She understands both his rage and that he is misplacing it by turning it on Madge. We learn that while he knows his anger is misplaced, he can’t quite contain it.  

II

Whatever may or may not be going on behind the scenes of a potential rebellion, the figures of the Mayor, Effie and Haymitch on the stage just before the Reaping is like a tableaux of the failure of adults to engage in a world that needs fixing: resignation, complicity, escapism.  

(Or, possibly I’m just projecting, lol.  Times have changed since the last time I read this book.)

I’ve given a lot of private thought to the history of Panem, the timing, the exact things that might have happened, the current size and layout; but that’s not my strong suit.  I love to read other people’s theories about it.

With one obvious exception, Haymitch is the first person to wake to Katniss’ “fire.”  While the District crowd honors her solemnly with their funerary salute, Haymitch comes very close to openly taunting the Capitol, using her as his inspiration.   It would be funny if, even in his drunken state, he realized what he was saying and tumbled off the stage on purpose to pull back the situation before it became too dangerous.  OR, assuming a standing rebellion, perhaps the entire thing was a stunt, a designed signal.  

III  

“Ring and Mirror update.”  Chapter 2 of THG begins with the aftermath of Prim’s reaping and Chapter 26 of Mockingjay begins with the aftermath of her death.  This chapter in MJ also closes the little story that begins here, with Katniss relying on Gale to take Prim away from danger - to physically remove her from the town square.  I really feel sorry for future-Gale, forever second-guessing not only his failure to volunteer for the Games but also his work for the rebellion.  (Maybe.)

IV

“When they televise the replay of the reapings tonight, everyone will make note of my tears, and I’ll be marked as an easy target.  A weakling.  I will give no one that satisfaction.”  This is an important revelation.  While Cinna’s clothes and the storyline Haymitch and Peeta concoct are key factors in setting up the scenario that allows Katniss to win the game, it is, in the end, Katniss’ ability to understand the game, to predict the actions of the Gamemakers, that ultimately tips it in her favor.  And she knows better than to allow them the ability to read her in turn.  Again, a variety of factors play into her decision to not kill Peeta at the very end of the Game, but the fact that this decision was not predictable to the Gamemakers is incredibly important to the outcome.

6 The shock of hearing Haymitch's voice yesterday, of learning that he was not only functional but had some measure of control over my life again, enraged me. I left the studio directly and refused to acknowledge his comments from the booth today. Even so, I knew immediately he was right about my performance. It took the whole of this morning for him to convince the others of my limitations. That I can't pull it off. I can't stand in a television studio wearing a costume and makeup in a cloud of fake smoke and rally the districts to victory. It's amazing, really, how long I have survived the cameras. The credit for that, of course, goes to Peeta. Alone, I can't be the Mockingjay. We gather around the huge table in Command. Coin and her people. Plutarch, Fulvia, and my prep team. A group from 12 that includes Haymitch and Gale, but also a few others I can't explain, like Leevy and Greasy Sae. At the last minute, Finnick wheels Beetee in, accompanied by Dalton, the cattle expert from 10. I suppose that Coin has assembled this strange assortment of people as witnesses to my failure. However, it's Haymitch who welcomes everyone, and by his words I understand that they have come at his personal invitation. This is the first time we've been in a room together since I clawed him. I avoid looking at him directly, but I catch a glimpse of his reflection in one of the shiny control consoles along the wall. He looks slightly yellow and has lost a lot of weight, giving him a shrunken appearance. For a second, I'm afraid he's dying. I have to remind myself that I don't care. The first thing Haymitch does is to show the footage we've just shot. I seem to have reached some new low under Plutarch and Fulvia's guidance. Both my voice and body have a jerky, disjointed quality, like a puppet being manipulated by unseen forces. "All right," Haymitch says when it's over. "Would anyone like to argue that this is of use to us in winning the war?" No one does. "That saves time. So, let's all be quiet for a minute. I want everyone to think of one incident where Katniss Everdeen genuinely moved you. Not where you were jealous of her hairstyle, or her dress went up in flames or she made a halfway decent shot with an arrow. Not where Peeta was making you like her. I want to hear one moment whereshe made you feel something real." Quiet stretches out and I'm beginning to think it will never end, when Leevy speaks up. "When she volunteered to take Prim's place at the reaping. Because I'm sure she thought she was going to die." "Good. Excellent example," says Haymitch. He takes a purple marker and writes on a notepad. "Volunteered for sister at reaping." Haymitch looks around the table. "Somebody else." I'm surprised that the next speaker is Boggs, who I think of as a muscular robot that does Coin's bidding. "When she sang the song. While the little girl died." Somewhere in my head an image surfaces of Boggs with a young boy perched up on his hip. In the dining hall, I think. Maybe he's not a robot after all. "Who didn't get choked up at that, right?" says Haymitch, writing it down. "I cried when she drugged Peeta so she could go get him medicine and when she kissed him good-bye!" blurts out Octavia. Then she covers her mouth, like she's sure this was a bad mistake. But Haymitch only nods. "Oh, yeah. Drugs Peeta to save his life. Very nice." The moments begin to come thick and fast and in no particular order. When I took Rue on as an ally.Extended my hand to Chaff on interview night. Tried to carry Mags. And again and again when I held out those berries that meant different things to different people. Love for Peeta. Refusal to give in under impossible odds. Defiance of the Capitol's inhumanity. Haymitch holds up the notepad. "So, the question is, what do all of these have in common?" "They were Katniss's," says Gale quietly. "No one told her what to do or say." "Unscripted, yes!" says Beetee. He reaches over and pats my hand. "So we should just leave you alone, right?" People laugh. I even smile a little. "Well, that's all very nice but not very helpful," says Fulvia peevishly. "Unfortunately, her opportunities for being wonderful are rather limited here in Thirteen. So unless you're suggesting we toss her into the middle of combat - " "That'sexactly what I'm suggesting," says Haymitch. "Put her out in the field and just keep the cameras rolling." "But people think she's pregnant," Gale points out. "We'll spread the word that she lost the baby from the electrical shock in the arena," Plutarch replies. "Very sad. Very unfortunate." The idea of sending me into combat is controversial. But Haymitch has a pretty tight case. If I perform well only in real-life circumstances, then into them I should go. "Every time we coach her or give her lines, the best we can hope for is okay. It has to come from her. That's what people are responding to." "Even if we're careful, we can't guarantee her safety," says Boggs. "She'll be a target for every - " "I want to go," I break in. "I'm no help to the rebels here." "And if you're killed?" asks Coin. "Make sure you get some footage. You can use that, anyway," I answer. "Fine," says Coin. "But let's take it one step at a time. Find the least dangerous situation that can evoke some spontaneity in you." She walks around Command, studying the illuminated district maps that show the ongoing troop positions in the war. "Take her into Eight this afternoon. There was heavy bombing this morning, but the raid seems to have run its course. I want her armed with a squad of bodyguards. Camera crew on the ground. Haymitch, you'll be airborne and in contact with her. Let's see what happens there. Does anyone have any other comments?" "Wash her face," says Dalton. Everyone turns to him. "She's still a girl and you made her look thirty-five. Feels wrong. Like something the Capitol would do." As Coin adjourns the meeting, Haymitch asks her if he can speak to me privately. The others leave except for Gale, who lingers uncertainly by my side. "What are you worried about?" Haymitch asks him. "I'm the one who needs the bodyguard." "It's okay," I tell Gale, and he goes. Then there's just the hum of the instruments, the purr of the ventilation system. Haymitch takes the seat across from me. "We're going to have to work together again. So, go ahead. Just say it." I think of the snarling, cruel exchange back on the hovercraft. The bitterness that followed. But all I say is "I can't believe you didn't rescue Peeta." "I know," he replies. There's a sense of incompleteness. And not because he hasn't apologized. But because we were a team. We had a deal to keep Peeta safe. A drunken, unrealistic deal made in the dark of night, but a deal just the same. And in my heart of hearts, I know we both failed. "Now you say it," I tell him. "I can't believe you let him out of your sight that night," says Haymitch. I nod. That's it. "I play it over and over in my head. What I could have done to keep him by my side without breaking the alliance. But nothing comes to me." "You didn't have a choice. And even if I could've made Plutarch stay and rescue him that night, the whole hovercraft would've gone down. We barely got out as it was." I finally meet Haymitch's eyes. Seam eyes. Gray and deep and ringed with the circles of sleepless nights. "He's not dead yet, Katniss." "We're still in the game." I try to say this with optimism, but my voice cracks. "Still in. And I'm still your mentor." Haymitch points his marker at me. "When you're on the ground, remember I'm airborne. I'll have the better view, so do what I tell you." "We'll see," I answer. I return to the Remake Room and watch the streaks of makeup disappear down the drain as I scrub my face clean. The person in the mirror looks ragged, with her uneven skin and tired eyes, but she looks like me. I rip the armband off, revealing the ugly scar from the tracker. There. That looks like me, too. Since I'll be in a combat zone, Beetee helps me with armor Cinna designed. A helmet of some interwoven metal that fits close to my head. The material's supple, like fabric, and can be drawn back like a hood in case I don't want it up full-time. A vest to reinforce the protection over my vital organs. A small white earpiece that attaches to my collar by a wire. Beetee secures a mask to my belt that I don't have to wear unless there's a gas attack. "If you see anyone dropping for reasons you can't explain, put it on immediately," he says. Finally, he straps a sheath divided into three cylinders of arrows to my back. "Just remember: Right side, fire. Left side, explosive. Center, regular. You shouldn't need them, but better safe than sorry." Boggs shows up to escort me down to the Airborne Division. Just as the elevator arrives, Finnick appears in a state of agitation. "Katniss, they won't let me go! I told them I'm fine, but they won't even let me ride in the hovercraft!" I take in Finnick - his bare legs showing between his hospital gown and slippers, his tangle of hair, the half-knotted rope twisted around his fingers, the wild look in his eyes - and know any plea on my part will be useless. Even I don't think it's a good idea to bring him. So I smack my hand on my forehead and say, "Oh, I forgot. It's this stupid concussion. I was supposed to tell you to report to Beetee in Special Weaponry. He's designed a new trident for you." At the word trident, it's as if the old Finnick surfaces. "Really? What's it do?" "I don't know. But if it's anything like my bow and arrows, you're going to love it," I say. "You'll need to train with it, though." "Right. Of course. I guess I better get down there," he says. "Finnick?" I say. "Maybe some pants?" He looks down at his legs as if noticing his outfit for the first time. Then he whips off his hospital gown, leaving him in just his underwear. "Why? Do you find this" - he strikes a ridiculously provocative pose - "distracting?" I can't help laughing because it's funny, and it's extra funny because it makes Boggs look so uncomfortable, and I'm happy because Finnick actually sounds like the guy I met at the Quarter Quell. "I'm only human, Odair." I get in before the elevator doors close. "Sorry," I say to Boggs. "Don't be. I thought you...handled that well," he says. "Better than my having to arrest him, anyway." "Yeah," I say. I sneak a sidelong glance at him. He's probably in his mid-forties, with close-cropped gray hair and blue eyes. Incredible posture. He's spoken out twice today in ways that make me think he would rather be friends than enemies. Maybe I should give him a chance. But he just seems so in step with Coin.... There's a series of loud clicks. The elevator comes to a slight pause and then begins to move laterally to the left. "It goes sideways?" I ask. "Yes. There's a whole network of elevator paths under Thirteen," he answers. "This one lies just above the transport spoke to the fifth airlift platform. It's taking us to the Hangar." The Hangar. The dungeons. Special Defense. Somewhere food is grown. Power generated. Air and water purified. "Thirteen is even larger than I thought." "Can't take credit for much of it," says Boggs. "We basically inherited the place. It's been all we can do to keep it running." The clicks resume. We drop down again briefly - just a couple of levels - and the doors open on the Hangar. "Oh," I let out involuntarily at the sight of the fleet. Row after row of different kinds of hovercraft. "Did you inherit these, too?" "Some we manufactured. Some were part of the Capitol's air force. They've been updated, of course," says Boggs. I feel that twinge of hatred against 13 again. "So, you had all this, and you left the rest of the districts defenseless against the Capitol." "It's not that simple," he shoots back. "We were in no position to launch a counterattack until recently. We could barely stay alive. After we'd overthrown and executed the Capitol's people, only a handful of us even knew how to pilot. We could've nuked them with missiles, yes. But there's always the larger question: If we engage in that type of war with the Capitol, would there be any human life left?" "That sounds like what Peeta said. And you all called him a traitor," I counter. "Because he called for a cease-fire," says Boggs. "You'll notice neither side has launched nuclear weapons. We're working it out the old-fashioned way. Over here, Soldier Everdeen." He indicates one of the smaller hovercraft. I mount the stairs and find it packed with the television crew and equipment. Everyone else is dressed in 13's dark gray military jumpsuits, even Haymitch, although he seems unhappy about the snugness of his collar. Fulvia Cardew hustles over and makes a sound of frustration when she sees my clean face. "All that work, down the drain. I'm not blaming you, Katniss. It's just that very few people are born with camera-ready faces. Like him." She snags Gale, who's in a conversation with Plutarch, and spins him toward us. "Isn't he handsome?" Gale does look striking in the uniform, I guess. But the question just embarrasses us both, given our history. I'm trying to think of a witty comeback, when Boggs says brusquely, "Well, don't expect us to be too impressed. We just saw Finnick Odair in his underwear." I decide to go ahead and like Boggs. There's a warning of the upcoming takeoff and I strap myself into a seat next to Gale, facing off with Haymitch and Plutarch. We glide through a maze of tunnels that opens out onto a platform. Some sort of elevator device lifts the craft slowly up through the levels. All at once we're outside in a large field surrounded by woods, then we rise off the platform and become wrapped in clouds. Now that the flurry of activity leading up to this mission is over, I realize I have no idea what I'm facing on this trip to District 8. In fact, I know very little about the actual state of the war. Or what it would take to win it. Or what would happen if we did. Plutarch tries to lay it out in simple terms for me. First of all, every district is currently at war with the Capitol except 2, which has always had a favored relationship with our enemies despite its participation in the Hunger Games. They get more food and better living conditions. After the Dark Days and the supposed destruction of 13, District 2 became the Capitol's new center of defense, although it's publicly presented as the home of the nation's stone quarries, in the same way that 13 was known for graphite mining. District 2 not only manufactures weaponry, it trains and even supplies Peacekeepers. "You mean...some of the Peacekeepers are born in Two?" I ask. "I thought they all came from the Capitol." Plutarch nods. "That's what you're supposed to think. And some do come from the Capitol. But its population could never sustain a force that size. Then there's the problem of recruiting Capitol-raised citizens for a dull life of deprivation in the districts. A twenty-year commitment to the Peacekeepers, no marriage, no children allowed. Some buy into it for the honor of the thing, others take it on as an alternative to punishment. For instance, join the Peacekeepers and your debts are forgiven. Many people are swamped in debt in the Capitol, but not all of them are fit for military duty. So District Two is where we turn for additional troops. It's a way for their people to escape poverty and a life in the quarries. They're raised with a warrior mind-set. You've seen how eager their children are to volunteer to be tributes." Cato and Clove. Brutus and Enobaria. I've seen their eagerness and their bloodlust, too. "But all the other districts are on our side?" I ask. "Yes. Our goal is to take over the districts one by one, ending with District Two, thus cutting off the Capitol's supply chain. Then, once it's weakened, we invade the Capitol itself," says Plutarch. "That will be a whole other type of challenge. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." "If we win, who would be in charge of the government?" Gale asks. "Everyone," Plutarch tells him. "We're going to form a republic where the people of each district and the Capitol can elect their own representatives to be their voice in a centralized government. Don't look so suspicious; it's worked before." "In books," Haymitch mutters. "In history books," says Plutarch. "And if our ancestors could do it, then we can, too." Frankly, our ancestors don't seem much to brag about. I mean, look at the state they left us in, with the wars and the broken planet. Clearly, they didn't care about what would happen to the people who came after them. But this republic idea sounds like an improvement over our current government. "And if we lose?" I ask. "If we lose?" Plutarch looks out at the clouds, and an ironic smile twists his lips. "Then I would expect next year's Hunger Games to be quite unforgettable. That reminds me." He takes a vial from his vest, shakes a few deep violet pills into his hand, and holds them out to us. "We named themnightlock in your honor, Katniss. The rebels can't afford for any of us to be captured now. But I promise, it will be completely painless." I take hold of a capsule, unsure of where to put it. Plutarch taps a spot on my shoulder at the front of my left sleeve. I examine it and find a tiny pocket that both secures and conceals the pill. Even if my hands were tied, I could lean my head forward and bite it free. Cinna, it seems, has thought of everything.

Be In My Eye

(Prompt 70)

Written by: @reachingforaspark on tumblr, Grace_d on AO3

Prompt by: @567inpanem

Prompt 70: No one Katniss knew got reaped, and after the 75th the games stopped, hunting became easier, she’s looking forward to graduation, and she feels a growing attraction to boy with bread but she’s clueless as to what to do after 1 ½ decades of acting role of son her father never had and man of the house. She approaches problem like stalking game: observe. She learns a lot but realizes she needs help from only one person: popular merchant and Peeta expert Delly who’s thrilled to help in manhunt <3 

AN: Thanks so much for the prompt @567inpanem. I got super excited and planned out a multi chapter fic response to this prompt, but considering I’ve got two other two Everlark multi chapter WIPs already I abandoned. Instead I crafted a one shot from a scene in the story I planned, which still fits the prompt. When I have some free time I’d love to revisit and expand on the world presented in the prompt. Thanks to @xerxia31 and @javistg for organising!

Rating: General, minor coarse language.

Disclaimer: This is a fan work and I don’t own The Hunger Games!

Be In My Eye

Peeta Mellark is everywhere since the Revolution. At the moment, he’s between me and my way back into the district. And he’s not alone.

I pull back into the tree-line, watching as he walks in circles around the meadow. Twin blonde heads flash in the sunlight. He’s got his niece, Ava, scooped against his broad chest with one arm, a bag tucked under the other. He must find what he’s looking for, because he sets Ava on her feet and pulls a blanket from his pack. Peeta always spends a few hours on a Sunday looking after his brother’s toddler.

It’s a perfect spring day, and he’s picked the end where the wildflowers grow, under the overhang of the great oak tree that reaches across into the fence. Recently someone has hung a swing from the heavy branch, and it drifts softly in the breeze.

Belatedly, I realise there’s no reason for me to be lurking in the woods. I have a hunting permit now, and special permission to be beyond the fence. I hear Delly’s cross voice in my head. He’s just a boy, she’d told me, not a damn bear. Stop hiding. I’ve discovered that Delly Cartwright is an unexpectedly bossy ally. But for whatever reason I don’t feel like strolling out of the trees and interrupting this scene.

Peeta is propped up on his forearms while his niece sits in front of him, babbling away. From here I can just hear her bright tones, punctuated by squeals as she occasionally reaches over to pat his face. Babies in Twelve are round cheeked and happy now, and Ava is no exception. My mother and Prim cooed for a week over her the first time she attended the new check-up clinic. I’m not one for babies normally, but now the Hunger Games are abolished, even I have a smile for Ava, with her dimpled chin and blonde curls.

I can see Peeta’s concentrating, the tilt of his head familiar. It’s how he looks when he’s filling out the chalkboards in class, or listening to the New Panem broadcasts we get once a week from District Thirteen. I creep closer, sticking to the shadows until I can make out the dimple in his cheek as Ava pokes his nose. He catches her hand before it ends up in his eye and pretends to bite it. Ava squeals and toddles off, Peeta chasing her. Something about the scene makes my stomach hurt, and I brush it away.

It’s just the normal discomfort I have when I look at Peeta lately. It’s worse when he smiles, and awful when he laughs. I’ve chalked it up to ongoing guilt about never thanking him for the bread, compounded by the realisation recently that Peeta has probably never thought twice about it. Since the Revolution he’s demonstrated his goodness a hundred times over, volunteering every second he’s not in class or at the bakery, at the school, for the new construction, he even carries clinic supplies from the train station for my mother.

He’s left a sketchbook open on the blanket, pencil forgotten. My eyes linger on it for a second, but instead I track the two Mellark’s in the meadow. I walk parallel to their path, them in the sun, me in the trees, a fence between us, as Ava waddles from place to place ripping flowers from the ground and handing them to Peeta. He accepts each one with serious thanks. The sight of Peeta cupping fistfuls of daisies in his wide hands would be amusing if it wasn’t so achingly sweet. Something’s wrong with my damn stomach again. I’ll talk to Mum about it when I get home.

He herds Ava back towards the shade, and distracts her with cut up apple slices while he picks up his pencil again. If I climb out onto the branch supporting the swing I’ll probably be able to see what he’s doing, but I hesitate. There’s pretty good foliage cover, it’s not like I would be interrupting, but it feels like it’s crossing some kind of line. I try to remember if Delly said anything about that. Somehow I don’t think it’s come up yet. We’re still on the ‘how to say Hello to Peeta’ stage. Casting my mind about, I do remember her saying, Show you’re interested in what he’s interested in. Checking out his art is being interested right? I’ll just scoot out and scoot back before he even notices me.

Deciding that sounds reasonable, I spin my game bag around my back and scale the tree, my handholds sure and steady. I inch along the branch on my stomach, shifting out until I’m almost overtop the swing. Ava’s still got an apple slice clutched in one hand, and a stick in the other, scratching it against the dirt. And Peeta is sliding his pencil against the paper, drawing. I suck a deep breath. It’s incredible. He’s loosely sketched Ava, crouched in a pile of wildflowers, plump fingers clasped around a stem. With each run over the outline he refines her soft form, lines becoming clearer as if he’s pulling her out of the page. It’s mesmerising, and I rest my head against the branch as I follow his hand across the page. The breeze blows my hair against my forehead and I relax into the tree.

I watch Peeta’s hand gripping the pencil lightly, follow the line of his forearms, watching the muscles underneath his skin ripple a little. The light hairs on his arms glint gold as the breeze catches the light and dappled shadows play over his shoulders. Between the rustling leaves around me, the swishing of the grasses and the soft scratching of Peeta’s pencil, I feel trapped in a sort of dream. He flips the page, starting a new sketch, and a rope braid begins to form. My daydream is interrupted by Ava clambering on Peeta’s lap, a prize clutched in her hand.

“Rock!” she demands, holding it out to him.

“Thanks Ava,” he says, “what a pretty rock.”

I smile a little to myself.

“Apple!” She points to the basket and Peeta agrees, picking up a daisy and tucking it into her hair. It slips straight through her thin curls.

“Tree!” she points again and Peeta attempts to tuck the daisy behind her ear. It falls out, dragged by the heavy head of the flower. “Bird!” she squeals, ducking out of Peeta’s reach. “Swing!” she points again.

I bite my lip, holding back a laugh, as Peeta uselessly tries to fix the flower in her hair.

“Girl!” Ava squeals.

I freeze. Ava’s pointing directly at me. I wiggle backwards, trying to retreat.

“Girl?” Peeta sounds confused as his head swings around. “Oh!”

He’s seen me.

“Hey Peeta.” I say lamely, sitting up with a little wave. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“Hey Katniss,” he says, squinting up at me. “Fancy seeing you…up there.” The left corner of his mouth lifts.

I scoot forwards and quickly lower myself down the rope swing. I drop onto the wooden seat. What did Delly say again? Smile, (no not like that Katniss, you aren’t a maniac), and be nice. I force a smile onto my face. It feels like a grimace. Two pairs of blue eyes watch me. I’m suddenly aware that I’m a hot, sweaty mess, with a bag full of dead animals, and there’s a leaf in my braid.

“Katniss, this is Ava,” Peeta says politely, flipping his notebook closed. “Ava, this is my friend Katniss.”

She tucks herself into Peeta’s side. “Bird now?” She asks.

Peeta laughs, lifting the girl into his lap. “Yes, Katniss is just like a bird. And when she sings all the other birds stop to listen it’s so pretty.” He busies himself with finger-combing Ava’s hair.

“Preddy.” Ava repeats seriously, looking at me.

I flush and look away. No wonder I can’t talk to Peeta. I can hardly cope with him telling a silly story to a child.

Sit up straight Katniss, Delly chides me. I roll my shoulders back. Ask him about himself.

“How are you?” I say and cringe at my pathetic conversation starter.

“I’m good thanks. Ava and I are having a lovely picnic. Aren’t we?” He says smoothly, tickling Ava’s sides and smiling a little at me. “And you? Good hunting today?”

“Yeah, very successful.” I kick my foot against the ground, pushing myself on the swing a little. “I forgot my key, for the gate, that’s why I was in the tree. Had to get home.” I stumble over my lie.

“Well lucky for us then. We got to see you in your natural habit.” Peeta says. He’s doing that half smile of his again.

I scowl and pull the leaf from my hair, feeling more like a wild thing than ever.

“Hey! Aim that laser glare elsewhere.” Peeta protests, rubbing the back of his neck. “I meant that as a compliment.”

My stomach rolls. I’m saved from the horror of trying to work out what to do with a compliment from Peeta by him letting out a horrified yelp and lunging for Ava. “Ava! Spit that out.”

She’s got a bundle of dandelions clenched in her chubby fist. A stray yellow petal is stuck to the drool on the side of her chin. I laugh and reassure him that dandelions are completely edible. I’ve eaten enough of them.

“Are you sure?” He asks. He flops back on the blanket, propping his hands behind him. “Oh right, apprentice botanist and resident woodland expert. That’s exciting.”

I nod, surprised he’s heard about my job offer. I guess most people have, new opportunities like that are exciting in Twelve. I push myself on the swing a little, lifting my feet out of the grass.

“You can’t eat these can you?” He gestures to the pile of white flowers beside him. “I feel bad. We practically stripped the whole meadow.”

I laugh.

“You can make wine with them, but I have a better idea.” I say.

I kneel down beside him on the blanket. I run my thumbnail through the stem of a daisy, then thread another daisy through it, showing him what I’m doing. Peeta picks up the method quickly, pulling together his own short string of flowers. Ava wanders back over, sitting between us, leaning on my bare knee with her sticky fingers. I hum to her as I thread dandelions as well as daisies together, trying not to look at Peeta’s hands.

“How do I finish it?” Peeta asks eventually.

I take his short chain from him, rounding off the end to make a tidy crown. I lay it onto Ava’s head. She looks a picture, with her round blue eyes staring seriously at me and the daisies floating on her golden curls. Peeta’s looking at her too, a gentle smile on his face. There’s a smattering of golden freckles across the bridge of his nose that I’ve never been close enough to see before. My stomach flutters again.

Impulsively, I lean over and place my completed chain on Peeta’s head. “For you.” I say, pushing his messy waves off his forehead.

I realise what I’ve done just as Peeta reaches up to grab my hand, startled. I shoot to my feet, knocking Ava back into Peeta’s lap.

“Now you’re matching.” I stammer, avoiding his wide-eyed gaze. Ava seems unaffected by my awkwardness, blowing me a bye-bye kiss as I scoop up my bag and bolt across the meadow, hand tingling.

I try to think of what Delly would say in this circumstance, but all I can recall is her parting advice.

Just be yourself.