#ballad of songbirds and snakes

[jeida-chi]

Mr and Mrs Snow 🥺

please reblog if you enjoy my art!!

(DM @burntblueberrywaffles for an invite to the Snowbaird discord!)

[geminibsworld]

yk im not normally a buzz cut girly but lemme touch the peach fuzz baby boy & absolutely don’t get me wrong tom with brown and longer hair????? omg but these pics????? baby boy lemme get you pregnant !!!!!!

[milliesfishes]

hii same anon again! feel free to ignore if you don’t want to do this ofc - but a perfect lake day with coryo but then you can tell something’s off. he then finally tells you about how he was reassigned to district two and doesn’t have any choice but to go and you two are both so heartbroken. and then maybe having to actually say goodbye? :’) guess i want to cry lol

⋆౨ৎ𝓹𝓮𝓪𝓬𝓮𝓴𝓮𝓮𝓹𝓮𝓻 𝓬𝓸𝓻𝔂𝓸 𝓫𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝓼 𝓾𝓹 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝔂𝓸𝓾⋆౨ৎ 𝓯𝓮𝓶 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓮𝓻 𝔁 𝓬𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓸𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓾𝓼 𝓼𝓷𝓸𝔀

Coriolanus’ lips found your fingers clasped with his hand, and you smiled slow and soft like sunlight. His other arm was resting lazily over your hips, the weight a comforting thing as his chest supported your back. It was perfect. Everything about it was perfect.

Truthfully, you loved every allotted day off he spent with you. It was a treasure amidst a sea of mundane days filled with labor and exhaustion. He smoothed every rough spot for you, made every ordinary trouble melt away.

Turning in his arms, you let your cheek fall against his chest, the metal of his dog tags cool from your time in the lake. Many a time you had fallen asleep with the rectangles pressed to your skin and awoken with his blood type imprinted there.

He let you move against him, quiet and stoic as always. Today in particular he'd been reserved but you assumed it was stress, not minding the lack of talk. Only when you were settled did he adjust his arms, one large hand splaying over your bare back. You hadn’t bothered to redress, and nor did he.

It was funny- a month ago he would have had his clothes on immediately after drying off, wary of the surroundings of nature he was so unfamiliar with. Now he sat upright, not against the tree like anyone from town would have done, but it didn’t matter. As long as you fit between his arms nothing else mattered.

Picking at the blanket underneath, you murmured, “I hope it can always be like this.” A bird’s whistle carried from the trees, flung out into the expanse of the glassy lake. His fingers stilled where they had been roving up and down, causing you to look up at him, meet his stormy blue eyes.

Right now, they were filled with thunderclouds of oceanic magnitude, and you sat up straight, brow knitting. Was he upset? Worried about something? "Coryo?"

The lake lapped calmly at the pebbly shore, the opposite of the mass of dread circulating and hardening in your chest. It was a buildup; you knew it was. He kept your fingers laced with his when he murmured, "I'm being transferred."

It felt as though someone had shoved you off the edge of something dark and looming, and now your body was flailing helplessly, plummeting to the jagged rocks of the unknown. Hovering clouds darkened the spot of sunshine you'd been lying in, and goosebumps rippled over your arms.

"Transferred?" You could only manage the single word, trying to leave out the accompanying emotions. Your efforts were in vain.

He gave a single nod, and you let out a little breath, looking away. The only that could have shocked you more than meeting was him leaving you. He'd looked so out of place that first night at the Hob, as if he didn't know what to do with himself.

It was hardly the same man staring back at you now, the lines of his face stiffened.

You sat all the way up, moving closer to him, knees pushing his thighs further apart. He took your hips again, trying to get you to stay still, but you refused, determined as ever. Framing his face with your palms, you searched him desperately. "What do you mean by transferred?"

"I took the advancement test. I passed. Now they want to send me to Two."

Your poor heart began to ache all over again. Every word from his mouth was eating at it like sugar to a rotting tooth. "Two."

"Sweetheart." He gently held your wrists, pulling your hands away from his cheeks. The more you looked at him the more you hurt. But you'd never been able to tear yourself from him yet. Though your time with him had been brief, Coriolanus had quickly become your favorite person, the only one you wanted to be with. You wanted a sea of endless nights cuddled to his chest, or under his arm at the Hob. Gent's girl is what the other Peacekeepers called you, lifting their bottles and grinning.

Tears began to prick your eyes. "You never even told me you took the test."

"I didn't know they would ship me out," he said with an edge, swallowing. "I thought maybe I'd be promoted here and get to stay. But they want me somewhere else."

"You're leaving me." It felt so selfish to say it that way. The man you loved was escaping the mousetrap of District Twelve and you were condemning for it. In all honesty, this was a chance you knew you would have jumped at had it been you.

Coriolanus breathed out through his nose, and you suppressed a chill both from the temperature and the look on his face. He didn't reach for you, letting you have your space as you tried not to cry. It was only when the first crystal drop leaked from your eye that his hands found your waist, pulling you back into his chest.

Your tears soaked his chest, and you took in sharp breaths, trying not to go hysterical. It was bad enough that he was comforting you when you were supposed to be excited for him.

All you could think of were the things you would miss. The barely-there lilt of his lips whenever you said something sweet or funny, The feel of his hands on you. Soft confessions he made when it was dark in your small home save for a candle, kissing your forehead when he left to get back in time for curfew. The way he kissed- like he'd been hungry his entire life and only you could satiate him.

A choked little sob bubbled up and darted past your lips when you realized exactly how alone you'd be when he was gone. Family long passed, being with him had been the closest you'd felt to home in a long while. Where do you go when your home is a million miles away?

To the bed he'd held you in, you gathered. To the places he used to be. It would be a measly substitute for what you really wanted.

"I'll write you," he promised, adjusting the daisy he'd plucked and put in your hair earlier. His body was growing taut, and you knew he was fighting internally as much as you were. "We'll...it'll be okay."

Maybe somehow you had always known he wouldn't be here forever. Given his origins somewhere that may as well have been universes away, you knew he wasn't destined for life in a place like this. With the simplicities you had learned to make enough.

You could almost see the path the future embroidered before you. Crinkled letters under your pillow because that was the closest you'd get to holding him again, hours emptied of his presence. It drained you like a rainy day, and you slid your arms around his torso. His chin dropped to your hair, one hand at your waist and the other fingering the strap of your damp crocheted undershirt.

A plea for him to stay nearly rose on your lips, and you lifted your head, wishing you were brave enough to say it. But you knew nothing could stop it now. The echoes of your desire were fading into the background as he breathed in through his nose, pressing his forehead down onto your head.

The way he held you spoke volumes, and you mentally penned it to remember for late. Your wet hair had been sticking to his chest like seaweed, and he brushed it behind your shoulder. "I...I'll miss you." Though his voice was steady, you could hear the cracks in the foundation. "I love you," he was really saying.

You allowed yourself one final sniffle before lifting your head, cupping his cheek and pressing your lips to his. His warm fingers found the nape of your neck over your hair, just holding you there until you pulled back. "I'll miss you too," you breathed, twin tears trickling from your eyes.

Ever since you knew him, you had watched the mask he'd worn as a young man from the Capitol chink and crumble away. Perhaps he had realized he didn't need it here. Not where humanity was in its barest bones, the natural world a pure comfort. In a romantic way you knew it was you too. You gave him all you had in the way of love, unearthing the undeniable fact that he cared for you that way too.

Coriolanus' hands found your cheeks, and he kissed you once more in a way full of longing. He searched your eyes, letting his forehead lean against yours. In that moment he looked almost desperate, matching you. Without closing his eyes, his lips pressed to yours in the tiniest of pecks. "I love you."

Maybe that would keep you warm at night when he was nothing but memory.

[binarisunset]

something I think a lot of people forget when talking about snowjanus’s dynamic is the fact that they genuinely get along. When I finally read the book, I was surprised to see how well they bounce off of each other. And Sejanus is constantly making Coriolanus laugh and smile!!!

Even when they’re in the arena, they’re still laughing at their silly little joke 😭

Mind you they’re literally in a death trap? They quite literally could die right there and they still got time to laugh and tease each other. That’s chemistry, baby!

Also these interactions from when they’re still in the Capitol…alright.

“And he was about to return it” they’re just two silly boy friends.

And Sejanus is such a tease when it comes to Coriolanus:

like yes they’re toxic and tragic and unhealthy but they were also just two boys who used to smile and laugh and tease each other. Not everything about them is as bleak as a lot of people make it up to be.

[leedosbunnyboy]

Seoho; Are You Coming To The Tree?

Genre: angst, hunger games au

Pairing: seoho x male!reader

Warning(s): sexual humor

Summary: you both knew the risks. to attempt to avoid the hunger games, to go against the capitol, it was crazy, but it was worth a shot.

It was never supposed to be like this.

It must have been some cruel joke. From fighting to your life in the impoverished hell that was your district, to being chosen to fight for your life in the capitol for the 11th annual Hunger Games. You weren’t going to win. You were going to die, you knew it. That was… until he showed.

Your boyfriend, somehow broke into the cellar you were locked in after being picked in the reaping.

“Get out of here Lee Seoho!” You hissed as the other male simply flashed you a toothy smile. “Couldn’t stay away, beautiful.” He smiled and leaned in to kiss you through the bars. “Did you really just come for a kiss?” You questioned. “Oh, trust me sweetheart. I’m aiming for a lot more than a kiss, but let’s get you out of here first.” Seoho smirked as your face flushed red. He reached into his bad and pulled out a makeshift lock pick and worked his magic until the door swung open with a creaky squeal.

You immediately rushed into Seoho’s arms and buried your face into his chest. He cradled your head and pressed kisses to your temple as you cried into his shirt. “Shh shh… it’s okay. I’ve got you. Hyung’s got you.” He whispered into your hair as he rocked you side to side. You looked up at him and he used his thumbs to wipe the tears out of your eyes before leaning in and capturing your lips in his.

Seoho was the one to break the kiss as he heard a peacekeeper patrolling just outside the cellar. “As much as I’d love to keep kissing my boy, I think we should get out of here before we’re found out.” You nod in agreement and take Seoho’s hand as he begins to lead you out of that god forsaken prison.

“Hop up there.” He instructs as you’ve approached a tunnel hidden above a fireplace. You nod and clumsily hop into the tunnel and aid Seoho once it’s his turn to enter.

“Just crawl until you see light okay?” He instructs as he covers up the tunnel behind himself. You follow his directions in the seemingly never ending rabbit hole, until your eyes are assaulted by the bright rays of the sun. “I think I see the end!” You exclaim. “Good keeping going forward, baby.” Seoho instructs.

Once you reach the surface, you dust yourself off and take in the trees around you. As soon as Seoho makes his way out of the tunnel, you tackle him into a hug. You both giggle as you litter kisses across each other’s faces while rolling in the grass. As Seoho finds himself hovering over you, he realizes just how precious you are to him and just how close he was to losing you. “You really had me scared back there.” He confesses. “I had myself scared.” You weakly laugh. “I was gonna die there, you know? I had no chance of winning.” Seoho simply leaned in and kissed you. “Shh, you’re not going anywhere.” He smiled down at you and stood up. “Let’s go. They’ll realize you’re gone sooner or later.” You nod and take his outstretched hand as you stand. “Where to?” You question as you walk through the thicket. “Our place. We’re gonna pack whatever we can carry and get out of here.” He explains. Watching around every corner to make sure he’s not being followed. “Do we have to leave? I’m sure if we lay low long enough we’ll be fine. We could stay in the pantry or Ms. Tammy’s tavern!” You offered. “Baby, we’re rebels now. The capitol will not let us live.” “But-“ “M/n!” You jumped as Seoho raised his voice. He immediately recognized his mistake and swooped in to embrace you. “I’m sorry baby. I didn’t mean to yell at you. It’s just… we can’t stay here. We’ll die.” His voice quivers as he says this. “I know… I know…” You bury your face in his chest, “I know…” Seoho held you closer. “We leave at sundown, okay?” You nod. “Let’s go then.”

[timelesslords]

thinking about how the hunger games were designed to prove that without society, order, government, someone to rule, we devolve into little more than animals, and how the games themselves prove over and over again that this is not true. We see it in every single game we witness.

Katniss placing flowers around Rue's body in the arena. Thresh sparing Katniss because she was kind to Rue, even though he was making it that much harder for himself to win.

Haymitch going back for Maysilee after hearing her scream even though their alliance had been broken. Haymitch holding her as she dies the same way Katniss did Rue.

Coral's "I can't have killed them all for nothing" when she realizes she's not going home. Lamina cutting down Marcus at great personal risk. And, my favorite moment in tbosas, Reaper collecting the bodies of his fellow tributes, his peers, even the ones who tried to kill him, into a pile. Taking the weapons from their hands. Closing their eyes and crossing their arms in the best approximation of a proper burial he can manage, covering them with the Capitol flag as a makeshift shroud.

The Games bring out the worst in people, yes. But despite the extreme circumstances, despite the exterior pressure of the Capitol, despite the fact that it could mean pain and heartbreak and death, it also shows that people have an enormous capacity for goodness. That even in a situation purposefully designed to make empathy impossible, people can't help but have it anyway.

Snow looks at the Games and all he can see is what's inside himself-- this pure animalistic drive to conquer and defeat. He kills and it feels good and he thinks that everyone else must feel that way too. He doesn't realize (maybe can't realize) that he is the exception, not the rule. He cannot see outside himself, outside his own warped perspective, to realize that the fact that people do show humanity in the games proves his entire worldview wrong.

[bloodybellycomb]

Both the hunger games before and now the ballad of songbirds and snakes proves that the young adult genre can produce some genuinely good storytelling while also examining social issues without talking down to its audience, which makes the ungodly amount of popular bad ya novels all the more embarrassing.

[let-me-sleep-or-die]

Yeah Katniss Is Lucy Gray’s greatest revenge on snow

But Peeta is how she haunts him. 

Katniss is Lucy’s anger. She’s the retribution. 

Katniss is fire. Katniss used her songs as a warcry. As a call to arms. 

Katniss is the fight. 

Katniss is the revenge. 

Peeta is Lucy’s kindness.  He’s the reminder. 

A boy in love with a songbird. A boy obsessed with with a victor from twelve. 

Peeta is the good that Lucy was. Peeta believes in that fundamental kindness Lucy gray did. Peeta is her memory. The reminder that Snow crossed that line into evil. 

Even after being high jacked, peeta warns people. He tells them to flee the danger. Run like Lucy did. 

Peeta knows how to hide. He can disappear in the woods. 

Just like Lucy did. 

Peeta is charismatic, someone the capitol fell in love with, like they did with Lucy. 

Peeta is the memory. 

Katniss was there to end Snow, to stop him to make sure everything he built was burned. 

Peeta was there to torment him. Be the ghost of Lucy. Make sure Snow was in pain over the woman he lost. 

[odairfilm]

In the epilogue of Mockingjay, Katniss only refers to her children as 'the boy' and 'the girl'. We never learn their real names. Throughout her life, Katniss has never really been allowed privacy or the ability to make many of her own decisions. Whether this was caused by the living conditions of the Seam and having to constantly provide for Prim and their mother, or by the fact that she was forced into the scrutiny of the public eye when she was reaped/volunteered and became the face of the rebellion- The Mockingjay.

So then all of this passes, she and Peeta are living together in District 12 in the Victor's Village, and they are finally allowed to choose how they want to live. After 15 years, she decides that she's ready to have kids. They can be raised in a safe environment with no Games, no threats. So the one choice she makes at the end is to keep their names from us, the audience. The one thing that gives us our identity before anything else. The one thing that, essentially, makes us who we are (also Suzanne is so meticulous with picking names throughout the series, so it would be special to Katniss and Peeta). She decides that that's only for her and her family to know.

We, who have literally seen every inch of her life from the reaping up until now, are being told that no, we don't get to see parts of her life without her permission anymore. And it always makes me so emotional. Like yes! Take back your life! Rest. Live. Love. But on YOUR terms and no one elses.

(I posted this on my TikTok acc @narniachrons as well. It wasn't stolen, I swear!)

[musenilla]

‘You had to kill me, but it killed you just the same.’

Theyyyy more art of them again. I think about how tragic they are almost ever hour. 

[jeida-chi]

this is what canonically happened after the woods scene. to me.

based on this tweet

[cissa-calls]

Watching the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is realizing that despite the obvious implication that Lucy Gray is the songbird and Snow is the Snake…it’s likely the opposite.

Lucy gray controlled the snakes and used them as her weapon of choice, the snake biting him was Lucy’s kiss goodbye. She is the snake.

Snow sold Sejanus out through the jabberjay’s, they were his tool to fly back home and back into power. He is the songbird.

But at the same time…as in her Ballad, Lucy Gray flys away with the mockingjays after she sings the Hanging Tree one final time while fleeing Snow. She is physically a songbird. And Snow chose to work with Dr. Gaul, who created and controlled those snakes. He was the snake who betrayed his friend.

Who is the songbird and who is the snake? It’s unclear, but isn’t that the mystery?

[vampiricrin]

pov: it's 2009. there is a new hunger games book coming out that you're really excited for except iTS NOT 2009 ITS LITERALLY 2024 AND WE'RE GETTING ANOTHER ONE

[diamondsunbursts-and-marblehalls]

Reaper is everything.

The respect he had for the other tributes. The grave he made for the fallen tributes. He was completely exposed and could have been killed by anyone, but recognizing those kids and respecting them the way they deserve was more important to him. The way he tore down the symbol of the government that was supposed to protect them, and used it to cover the bodies of the kids it failed so badly. His calm demeanor. The love he had for his sick and fragile district partner. The love he had for Wovey. The way he protected those gentle souls the best he could. He didn't even try to fight. He knew he wasn't going to kill any of these kids. He's the original revolution. He wasn't going to play the capitol's games. He didn't let them turn him into something he's not. He is everything good.

[insignificant457]

The scene was powerful in the book, but there was just something about watching reaper collect the bodies of the dead tributes in the arena. The way he removes the weapons from their hands, lays them out nicely, giving them the smallest bit of dignity in death. The contrast to the capitol gasping in shock as he pulls down the flag, not in rebellion, but in mourning. The way mourning in the hunger games IS an act of rebellion. “How are you going to punish me now?” The feed then immediately cutting to the news of the death of one capitol boy, whose death will be avenged upon those who had nothing to do with it. Only certain deaths are allowed to mean anything. God. Suzanne Collins knows what she’s doing.

[mockingjay-sings]

“Well, as they said, it's not over until the mockingjay sings.” ― Suzanne Collins, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes