#I LOVE 🦇FOR LETTING ME YAPPP

[colouredbyd]

dude i'm so annoyed w myself cuz i can't seem to find that one detail you mentioned that was like a big clue to the Black sisters and their situation😭😭 Im like, re reading the first 3 chpts over and over again its literally killing me dude

Anyways, crackshit thoughts rq, one thing i thought about is that in chapter 11 sirius mentioned that the capital wanted at least one black to win or make it, and we see that in these games, the 70th games, we see a lot, if not all, of the Black relatives in the games. SO, if Sirus didn't run away and stayed in district 7, would he have been in the arena alongside his brother and cousins?

OKAT STAY WITH ME FOR A SECOND!! prob gonna be WAYYY off but LET ME COOK FOR A SEC!!

one way i could see this happening is if the whole reg volunteering for reader still happens, but instead of James being reaped its sirius.

when Reg takes out James originally, we are under the impression that its purely for reader, and he says that, saying he has already died for her. but in chpt 11, we see that the 70th games log doesn;t even have James's name crossed out, implying that reg was always supposed to be in the games again. so what if, reg was always supposed to take someone out of the games to join them again.

in your og story, this makes me think and questions Regs motives again because even under the impression of doing something for reader, could he still be following the Capitals/crouch's orders

In my weird little "what if sirius stayed in district 7", if Reg was always supposed to take someone out of the games in order to rejoin, and for the 70th games they wanted to prove something or wtv you got planned by having all the blacks be in one games, and Sirius already being reaped, imagine if Reg had to take out reader and then ALL the Blacks, Narcissa, Andromeda, Bellatrix, Regulus, AND Sirius being the games.

...ok now as im writing this, its making me think about sirius's role in this story cuz like, how does he know all this, first it said that he was lost to the capital after a run in with peacekeepers(ironic since reg was basically lost to the capital but anyways), but then we see him district 13!?!?

AND ALSO they mention the Blacks were basically scattered around Panem but in chpt 1 it mentions Walburga being "too far gone in her own grief to care for him." kinda like Katniss's mom, but does this mean that she is with him in district 7? has reader ever met/seen her? and for the Black Family legacy, what does this mean? did she fall with grief over sirius? over orion? and if she is in district 7, why did they put Reg, Sirius, AND WALBURGA together but seperare the sisters??

since you sort of put the Crouchs as the "big bad", characters who in the OG OG series(as much as we/I hate to mention it) were very much side characters, rather then the voldemort, the main big bad in the OG OG series, could the "big bad" of the Black family in your story by the sisters parents? or maybe Orion since we've basically have no mention of him? again prob way off but idk...

could you tell I freaking love the Black family lol....this was supposed to just be a short little side note before i continue rereading and stuff haha... sorry btw if it makes no sense, its like 2am where i'm at lol. the writing is too good im afraid, literally making me think this hard even tho its alread summer for me😪(don't stop tho👅) 

OH AND BTW GOOD LUCK ON YOUR FINALSSS!!! SENDING HUGS AND KISSES!!

-🦇(she/her)(realized i never mentioned it lol)

hiiii love !! — first off, please forgive me if this response is a bit messy; i literally just woke up from a 6-hour post-finals nap, but the second i saw your message, i sat up in bed, and let me just say: i am obsessed with your brain

seriously, the fact that you’re rereading chapters, digging into crumbs, asking sharp questions and spinning possible theories — it’s the highest compliment a writer could receive!! i’m honored that you’re thinking this hard about this fic, and i’ll try my best to respond thoughtfully to every brilliant thing you brought up <3

first: the black legacy + the capital’s deal with the old families

you’re completely right to zero in on what sirius says in chapter 11. that quote — “the capital wants at least one black to win” — isn’t just a throwaway line. it’s a thread that pulls at a much older, darker tapestry that’s been woven behind the scenes of this fic from the very beginning

the hunger games, in this universe, were never meant to be about chance. they’re not about ordinary children fighting for survival. no, they were rigged from the start, constructed with dual purpose:

to control the districts through violence and spectacle, and

to preserve the powerful, ancient houses through manipulation and protection.

the alliance between the capitol and the founding families — the blacks, malfoys, rosiers, traverses, and a few unnamed others — is foundational lore, as sirius explains:

“Years ago, before any of us were even born, the Capitol made a deal—something ancient and rotten sealed behind golden doors. They went to the old families, the ones whose bloodlines ran thicker than laws, the ones who’d ruled long before the Capitol wore a crown. They offered them a bargain: loyalty for power. Silence for survival. The Capitol would keep its grip on Panem and the old houses—those ‘noble’ bloodlines—would keep their legacies, not above ground, not openly, but hidden. Protected and preserved.”

so yes — the black family isn’t simply a tragic one in this fic. it’s an institution, and within the framework of the 70th games, every single member of that family present in the arena was never meant to die. that includes narcissa, andromeda, bellatrix, lucius — and especially regulus

they are part of the alliance, and the unspoken rule is that the capitol fakes their deaths for the public, quietly retrieves them, and brings them to live (often in servitude, secrecy, or strategic exile) under its watchful eye. in exchange, their families remain powerful and untouched above ground

second: sirius’s role + “what if he had stayed in district 7?”

you bring up a really compelling hypothetical — what if sirius had never run away? would he have been reaped? would he have ended up in the arena?

it’s a great line of thought, and i love how you’re thinking in both alternate timelines and internal logic. but no — sirius was never meant to be in the games. narratively and politically, he couldn’t be

why?

because sirius did the one thing no heir of an alliance house is ever allowed to do: he rebelled.

he didn’t just defy the capital — he defied his lineage. he ran away, went missing, turned his back on the pact. and in this fic, the price for that isn’t just punishment — it’s erasure. in chapter 1, we’re told that walburga grieves him the way katniss’s mother did, slipping into herself, unable to care for anything

but here’s where i need to point something out that you absolutely caught but maybe didn’t fully realize:

this story is written in first person. meaning — you’re not reading the objective truth. you’re reading starling’s truth.

if she doesn’t know about the capital’s deals, neither do you.

if she’s been fed false information about walburga, you believe it too.

if the narrative tells you sirius died — you believe that, because she believes that.

so when you ask “is walburga really in district 7? did starling ever meet her?” — the honest answer is: you’re not supposed to know yet. starling’s POV is intentionally limited, so every assumption made in early chapters is meant to be questioned later. and trust me — many of them will be !!

as for sirius’s true fate, you’re absolutely right again: he reappears in district 13, and his survival wasn’t an accident. he found out a secret the capital buried, and they tried to silence him. they failed, and like other rebels — including remus — he was saved by d13 and brought into the fold. we haven’t explored the full extent of what happened to him yet, but know that everything you’re wondering about? it’s part of the plan. nothing was random.

plus another thing to note, regulus doesn't even know sirius is alive and thinks he is dead/missing and sirius thinks his brother is brainwashed and standing with the capitol...so there is that

third: regulus + reader + the truth about the second reaping

oh this one hit me, you asked:

“was reg really always meant to be in the games again? even if it wasn’t james who got reaped?”

the answer is: yes. james being the one he took out was convenient; a diversion. it made everything look emotionally driven, but the capital knew about his love for reader (since he volunteered the first time in the 65th games and made a deal when he won that she would be safe) they counted on it. and when he began moving against them — making mistakes he shouldn’t have — they retaliated the only way that would ensure his return to the arena: they reaped her, as a punishment for him

reader being reaped for the second time was rigged. just like katniss, the capital uses the people closest to rebels to manipulate them. they don’t just want to control the game — they want to control the players. and they knew that regulus — loyal, cold, calculating regulus — would crawl back into the fire for her, and they knew he’d win. or if not win, survive. because he’s a black, and no black dies unless the capitol says so

the real villain — and why i chose barty crouch sr.

i’m so glad you asked about the bigger political structure, because this story was never meant to be just a character-driven drama. at its heart, it was always a political one. and that’s exactly why i chose barty crouch sr. as the main antagonist

in the original series, he’s more of a background figure — a stern, morally inflexible ministry man. but in this version, that irrelevance is what makes him terrifying. because sometimes, in the real world, it’s not the loudest, flashiest villains who destroy lives. it’s the ones you barely notice, the bureaucrats, the quiet tyrants, the ones who write the laws that slowly break you down

i had originally considered making the antagonists more personal — the black sisters, for example — but i scrapped that idea

why? because then it would become a story about family vs family. and that’s not what this is. this story isn’t about one bloodline turning on itself — it’s about corruption, power, and the systems that protect the elite while feeding the poor to the wolves

and that’s what makes barty sr. the perfect antagonist. he represents the quiet face of institutional cruelty — the kind of evil that hides behind protocol and policy. the kind that doesn’t need to raise its voice to be dangerous. the kind that is terrifying

i can’t say too much without spoiling some major plot threads, but i’ll say this: the people we think are in control often aren’t. the ones we blame are sometimes only puppets, and the true power? the true rot? it hides in plain sight.

on legacy, privilege, and the rigged system of the games

this fic is, at its core, about how systems protect the powerful.

the hunger games are the ultimate symbol of corruption — an institution designed to punish the innocent while allowing the rich and well-connected to survive, even thrive

the founding families are the clearest example of this: no matter what happens, they are never truly at risk. they are either protected behind closed doors or quietly returned when the cameras turn away. they are preserved, sanitized, used.

meanwhile, the innocent — the ordinary tributes, the rebels, the children who don’t have old bloodlines or capital connections — are the ones who suffer. over and over again

it mirrors the real world, doesn’t it? the most irrelevant people rule over us. the ones who shouldn’t have power are the ones making the rules, and the ones we think are evil — the flashy villains, the ones wearing the crown — often turn out to be figureheads; distractions. sometimes we don’t even know who’s really in control until it’s far too late

that’s the world of the nightingale. that’s the engine driving it; legacy, grief, memory, and rage — all tangled up in a machine that was never built to let them win

also — just want to say thank you again 🦇. genuinely, your messages make me feel so seen. i’m always willing to write whole essays (clearly) answering anything you ask because the way you read this story? it means everything. thank you for caring this deeply, and i absolutely love you for giving me a chance to once again yap <33333