lorata

[lorata]

sorry to sound like a capitol citizen for a second but i had to go to the mall for an errand and this year's fall colours are HORRENDOUS!!!!!

[lorata]

can y'all recommend me overcomplicated sff books with confusing unnecessary worldbuilding and unlikeable messy characters PLEASE i'm dying in the cozy desert

[lorata]

HATE when fluffy romance is wearing another genre as a coat. if you’re going to set the romance amid high-stakes political intrigue I need to feel the stakes! if you don’t care about the stakes you should’ve set the romance in a sleepy seaside town! rending my garments

[lorata]

gritting my teeth trying SO hard not to be a little hater

there are books i do not like. because i am not the target audience. and this is fine. but they are EVERYWHERE. and i cannot find books that i might like. because of the surfeit of ones i hate.

[lorata]

So like. In book 1 Katniss gets an 11/12 score by shooting an arrow at the Game Makers. And I'm pretty sure They (Game Makers, Snow, etc.) never actually publicize what happened in that private session. My question is: how would be D2 victors react if they ever found out? Disdain for the blatant disrespect and loss of control? Grudging respect? Something else? This just occurred to me a couple days ago and I've been obsessed with the idea of other Victors finding out what happened ever since.

most would assume it's a suicide thing, like "well THEY'RE out of the running" and stop taking them seriously as contenders. why else would you purposely torpedo your scores?

i feel like the twos are pretty dismissive of twelve in general and that is their tragic flaw

[lorata]

What, if any, disciplinary action was given to Lyme internally in Two after what she pulled with Claudius? Surely the head trainer had something to say or maybe VA. And how was the impact that had on Nikita considered?

i hate to say it but the impact on nikita is not under consideration. both mentors are always plotting to kill the other's kid, yanno?

if lyme had pulled that and then claudius lost then MAYBE but like. only one of them was ever coming home, it's not like they both could have walked out and they stabbed nikita in the back for funsies.

she does get brought in for a chat that's like, we are watching to see what the capitol does after this and if demand shifts away from alliances OR if One & Four cut us out it will be your fault. which now that mentor-brain has cooled off a bit she's like yeah okay fuck i wasn't thinking about that

(proctor: REALLY. COULD NOT HAVE GUESSED)

for the next few years two pushes harder on like ... more integrated pack dynamics: less infighting, more in-jokes/working together. both to control the narrative and also to reassure D1 and D4 that this is not the new normal and that they shouldn't escalate in kind

[lorata]

native edible plants embroidery!

this was my july camp project. it features sunchoke, sumac, gooseberry and chicory, using the ol' classics: satin, rope, blanket and french knot stitches

bonus: close-ups with their real-world counterparts! (the kids ate all the gooseberries before i could get a pic with them)

[lorata]

silly question, but what would happen if the victors tried to work retail? (I just started a retail job and so far I'm finding the d2 sponsor floor "imagine how you could kill everyone here" coping strategy pretty effective)

i really want to answer this properly but i have had NO time

petra actually worked retail in modern au (the sports one) -- she was an emancipated minor and didn't jump right to fame so she had to make rent somehow y'know? she hated hated HATED it, hated her manager hated the job hated the weird expectations hated the rules that made no sense hated the power tripping she was pretty much angry and this close to snapping all the time. so it's a good thing that she was cage fighting in the evenings lol!!

devon and misha would do fine at retail i think, devon would genuinely like it (but also make fun of people behind their backs and do killer impressions), misha likes meeting weird people and enjoys gossip and would also constantly be stealing so it's like enrichment. odin i also feel like would enjoy the social aspect of it, he'd looove to do like. a booth at a farmer's market or some nonsense, high traffic lots of personality. he'd wilt in a grocery store aisle though

claudius i think would actively die. worst nightmare. but he also just kind of absorbs misery so he'd do it he'd just hate it and then one day he'd snap and stab someone in the back room

i think nero would be fine but in the sense that he's like. so unkillable and his threshold is so ridiculously high. he's the quiet coworker and then one day he's like oh yeah i've seen 3 murders it's nbd and you're like WHAT and he just hums and goes back to stocking shelves

literally cannot imagine lyme in this scenario lol

[lorata]

As someone whos put a lot of thought into D2 and related things in the Hunger Games universe do you have any thoughts on Gale choosing to stay there post-canon? Personally I always thought it had some interesting implications, especially considering he was the one who thought to blow up the mountain base.

he doesn't think he's worth redeeming, so he goes to the people who will either kill him immediately or help him work to atone

i suspect at the end of the war he'd be satisfied with either outcome

i also think that d2 -- the collaborators, the postwar pariahs -- is the perfect place for a guy who made some brutal choices for the greater good to learn how to live with them and find a way to move forward

[lorata]

ARE YOU AWARE YOU ARE GREAT AND CUTE AND AWESOME AND SMART AND FUNNY??

THANK YOU I APPRECIATE IT

i have actually been hanging out with 7yos this week and they are the PERFECT age for gassing yourself up so it's been very fun

we've been embroidering together on our downtime (they are either learning from me or watching me do mine "because it's soothing") and it's a nonstop compliment circle over here

[lorata]

do the victors have big trips (or field trips lol) together? maybe they all do a trip post war?

i can't imagine big group vacations are allowed during the games era lol though they do go camping in-district in small groups sometimes

post-war i don't think there's ever like. a Big Family Vacation but the image is extremely hilarious. they do go visit some of the victors in the other districts (like when eibhlin wants to see the goats in nine) but not like ...... everyone together. i think there might be bloodshed

[lorata]

How did Adessa and Snow end up being ‘social’ in the first place? Ronan makes sense, but I wonder how Adessa got involved..?

i don't know how it started precisely but i know it involved chess

like most things snow was a man looking for enemies in every corner and adessa was an intellectual challenge but not a threat (until he made her one -- classic!) and for a man who can never relax it was oddly refreshing to chat with someone both frank and ruthless but without any ulterior motives. she wasn't trying to kill him and enjoyed their games for what they were, just games

he ruined it, obviously, the same he ruins everything (treating people as things), but will never admit that it's his fault

[lorata]

If there was a situation like the peacekeeper trainee-volunteer!Emory where the volunteer choked and someone else volunteered - what does the mentor do? Do they get the mentor who was meant to go that year, or does someone else who’s a better fit go in instead?

i imagine it's a bit of a scramble, the best odds are if the original one can go as they're the one who's been making all the sponsor inroads and laying networking groundwork for the past six months or so

but if the one who volunteered seems like they might stand a chance and there's someone who really would connect better they're gonna go with the winning combo.

[lorata]

You are so cool oh my god

re-reading We Must Be Killers with the goal of commenting

Top tier characters, amazing worldbuilding, absolutely horrible situations from another perspective, a wonderful mix of hope and despair... I could keep going but I think it'll be on AO3 instead.

Seriously though, you are an inspiration and an amazing author :)

ahhh thank you! :) 🩵🩵🩵 that is incredibly kind

i am a serial late-replier to AO3 comments so i'm glad you said something here! i read them on my lunch breaks and they bring me much joy

(this goes for anyone who comments by the way, i'm horrible at responding especially right now but i appreciate all of them!)

[lorata]

Who goes on the victory tour with mentor and victor??

there's a capitol escort and prep team but i don't care about them

[lorata]

Hope you’re well and happy late birthday!!! How do the victors handle guilt? Not like arena guilt but like ‘i was supposed to do something but didn’t and now I hurt someones feelings’ guilt

don't sweat over it. have an issue? fight it out, then share a drink, like gentlemen

[lorata]

passing dachsund shoved his lil nose inside the hem of my culottes and his owner said "oh! i'm so sorry, that was terribly forward of him" gonna be laughing about that interaction for days