#I guess this is a Gale au I just really wanna see him be mean

[lo-batteryy]

What if he was mad? Where’s his rage? The desperation? I’m waiting for him to get in fist fights

[elsanna-shenanigans]

February Contest Submission #8: The Treasure Of Doggerland

words: ca. 5000 setting: Modern AU lemon: No cw: None

The Ocean held so many wonders and mysteries. While mankind had chartered the stars and heavens above, so little was known about what lay underneath the oceans and seas of the world. And for Anna and her colleague Kristoff, their life’s work had been to discover the mystery of one of the most fascinating underwater locations on earth.

Thousands of years ago, around the time of the last ice age, there was a large mass of land that connected the United Kingdom to the rest of Europe. Modern-day scientists had termed it Doggerland and there had been several expeditions to the area over the years that had dredged up all sorts of things, from bones to primitive tools used by early man.

For Anna and Kristoff though, they hoped to be the first explorers to make a complete survey of the whole area and finally make a map of every notable point of interest. Their work would hopefully be the backbone for all future research and exploration in the area for years to come.

Sadly, their work had hit a slight snag. They had been unable to fully acquire funding for such an expedition and so, had to go about it themselves. They’d flown to Denmark, hired a submarine, a ship and a captain who would take them out to sea.

It wasn’t much, but Anna hoped that at least part of the survey would allow them to convince investors to further support their efforts. But of course, that all did indeed depend on this whole endeavour being successful.

After being out at sea for over a day, Anna and Kristoff were ready to begin, starting with Anna going down in the submarine to make a survey of the area near their ship, before moving onwards to another area the next day. Anna had hoped that everything would go smoothly.

However, the weather had certainly gotten worse. As Anna stood on the deck of the ship, she felt torrential rain batter the deck of the old rackety vessel. The storm was one of the worst she’d ever seen. A wind that howled and threatened to carry Anna off the deck of the ship at any moment, to the waves the size of small houses, battering the sides of the ship every once in a while, drenching the deck in brine.

But Anna wasn’t scared. If anything, the storm was actually motivational for her, triggering some primal instinct to push onwards no matter what the weather was like. And besides, it wasn’t like she’d be above the water when she’d be doing her survey.

“Hell of a storm out here!” A voice called to her.

Anna turned, seeing the captain of the ship, Eric, walk over to her. “Yeah, not it’s a real tempest out here.”

Eric chuckled. “Not scared of a bit of thunder and lightning, are you?”

The redhead scoffed. “Hell no. Besides, where I grew up, we used to get storms like this every day.”

“Heh, you seem like a born sailor,” Eric remarked.

“Actually, my dad was a fisherman,” Anna explained. “I guess I got my love of the ocean from him.”

Kristoff soon joined them on deck, almost slipping over as another massive wave rocked the boat. He clung onto the railing, sighing in relief that he hadn’t been thrown overboard into the sea. As he stumbled back onto his feet, he walked over to Anna, clutching his coat as it was blown about in the gale.

“Did we have to do this in the middle of a storm?” Kristoff asked, his tone reflecting how unsure he felt.

Anna walked over to her partner. “Hey, when life gives you lemons.”

Her friend shot Anna a rather serious look. Kristoff had always been the cautious of the two, as far back as when they had met in college. He’d always had to be the one to keep Anna out of trouble and from the looks of this storm, it was probably suicide for Anna to go out in that.

“Anna, this storm is battering the ship!” Kristoff cried in alarm. “Are you sure you wanna go down in the sub now and not wait until the storm passes?”

“Yes, I’m sure!” Anna called back. “Besides, I’m going under the water, not across it.”

Kristoff folded his arms. “I don’t like it at all, feisty pants. With this storm, the sub might get caught in the currents and you could be dragged away. Or maybe smashed against some rocks and sink.”

“I’m a good swimmer,” Anna argued.

“Yeah, but you’re going thousands of feet down to the seafloor,” Kristoff reminded her. “You really think you can swim that far?”

“Kristoff, we spent five years planning this,” Anna argued. “I don’t intend to stop now just because of a bit of bad weather.”

Kristoff sighed, giving in. “Alright, I know never to argue with you when you’re stubborn like this. But I’m gonna keep in constant radio contact. The first sign of trouble, you hit those ballast tanks and come straight back up, right?”

“Sure thing,” Anna stated, putting a hand on her shoulder. “And Kristoff? Thanks for being here with me.”

Kristoff smiled. “Well… we are in this together after all.”

“Good” Anna stated. “You and Eric prepping the sub. I’m gonna get changed into my wetsuit and remind myself of the area we’re surveying today.”

As Anna went below decks to get changed, Eric chuckled.

“And what’s so funny?” Kristoff wondered.

“Oh, nothing. Just your girlfriend here reminds me a lot of my wife. Stubborn, very confident in herself… and a redhead too.”

Kristoff blushed. “Uh… she’s not my girlfriend.”

“Oh I apologise,” Eric said. “It’s just I thought that maybe…”

“Yeah, you aren’t the first but… I’m not exactly Anna’s preference if you get what I mean,” Kristoff said.

“Ah,” Eric nodded in understanding. “Duly noted.”

Down below, Anna was getting changed into her wetsuit. As she looked at herself in the mirror after tying her hair up in a bun, she felt a sense of butterflies in her chest. Finally, today was the day when five years of hard work were going to pay off once and for all.

As she went to a nearby table to look over the map of the region, the area she was going to survey, she looked at an old family photograph she’d brought with her. It was of her mother and father from when she was a little girl. Anna thought of how innocent she looked then, with her twin braids. These days, she felt much more mature about herself, wearing her hair longer.

“Well dad, I promised you I’d go see the sea for myself,” Anna whispered. “I bet you’d be proud of me.”

Tragically, Anna’s father had actually died at sea. His ship had been caught in a massive storm and capsized. The coast guard sadly never found his body, but the tragedy hadn’t stopped Anna from wanting to unlock the mysteries of the ocean itself. If anything, it had influenced her.

Anna smiled. “Maybe if I find anything down there, I’ll show it to you next time I’m home.” She sighed, remembering the coastal town in Maine where she grew up and spent her weekends on the beach, gazing out at the sea. It had been years since she visited her father’s grave, though she wasn’t exactly keen on seeing her mother again anytime.

But Anna didn’t have time to be dwelling on all that now, she had a route to memorise. She looked at the map again, making a mental note of the area once more. She wanted to survey the entire site, right down the last detail, leaving no stone unturned as it were.

When she was done, Anna headed out on deck, ready to begin her adventure.

xXx

Sometime later, Anna was on board the submarine as Eric lowered it into the water with the large crane on the back of his ship. As the crane let go, the yellow and black vessel plummeted down into the water, making an almighty splash as it hit the waves below.

Kristoff looked over the side of the ship, still concerned about the weather. He took out his pocket radio and spoke into it. “You all set down there, Anna?”

“Yeah, I’m about to fill my tanks now,” Anna replied.

The ballast tanks on the submarine soon filled with water and Kristoff watched as the sub dove under the waves. Anna sat at the controls of the craft, looking out of the glass cockpit at the ocean that surrounded her, watching the bubbles of air float to the surface as she descended.

As the sub sunk deeper and deeper, Anna switched on the submarine’s massive spotlights, illuminating the darkness surrounding her. She also switched on her sonar, the familiar echoing sound filling the canopy. On a nearby radar screen, Anna saw a monochromatic map of her surroundings appear next to her.

When she reached the ocean bed, Anna started up the sub’s engines. The small propellors on the craft pushed it forward, Anna driving across the sea bed. As she followed the route she mesmerised in her head, she looked around at the wonders that surrounded her.

Coral reefs, schools of fish, even a shark in the distance. But so far, there didn’t seem to be anything of much note. Though Anna wasn’t expecting to find much on her first trip. This was mainly so she could make a map of the actual area.

it would others later on that would likely be doing the real archaeological work.

Anna peered into the inky blackness as the submarine cruised across the sea bed. As she stared out of the window, seeing schools of fish swim through the glow of the submarine’s spotlights, she took a moment to enjoy the wonders.

But she thought about what this sea bed would have been like thousands of years ago when it was a vast grassy plain, where early mankind had once lived.

As she scanned across the seabed, Anna looked at the sonar screen to her left, seeing how it was picking up the nearby school of fish to her left and large rock formation to her right. It seemed like she had been coasting along the vast seabed for hours and covered some vast distance, but she had only gone a few miles away from the ship.

“How’re things going down there?” Kristoff asked.

“Kinda boring so far,” Anna admitted. “I’ve only covered about thirteen per cent of the area and I haven’t seen anything of much value besides some fish.”

“Well, we’re not likely to strike gold on our first day doing this, fiesty pants,” Kristoff replied. “How’s your oxygen meter doing?”

“I’ve got plenty of time,” Anna stated. “How’s the weather up there like?”

“Still not great, ” Kristoff stated. “Be careful down there.”

“I will,” Anna promised.

Over the next few hours, Anna’s submarine cruised across the seabed along the route, the oceanographer taking note of anything of interest. As time ticked by though, Anna started to become a bit bored. She partly wished she’d brought her phone down here with her to listen to some music, but she remembered why she hadn’t.

If she had to go out in her scuba gear, the canopy would be flooded and last time she checked, phones weren’t waterproof. But Anna knew she needed to do something to pass the time. So she started to sing a merry tune to herself, something from her dad’s old record collection.

“We all live in a yellow submarine,” Anna sang to herself. “Yellow submarine, yellow submarine.”

“Is that the Beatles you’re signing there?” Eric’s voice chimed in.

“Oh uh,” Anna stuttered, blushing bright red in embarrassment. “Yeah, yellow submarine was my favourite as a kid.”

“You’ve certainly got a lovely singing voice,” Eric complimented.

“Hey uh, captain, mind staying off the radio?” Kristoff said. “Anna’s doing important survey work down there.”

“No, it’s fine, Kristoff,” Anna replied. “Still pretty dull down here.”

However, just then, Anna heard a very loud ping from the submarine’s sonar. Anna’s eyes widened, looking at the monitor to her left. Though she couldn’t tell what it was, the sonar had detected something massive near Anna’s location.

“Woah, what the heck is that?” Anna wondered.

“Coral reef maybe?” Kristoff suggested.

“I’m gonna check it out,” Anna stated.

Turning her submarine to the left, Anna headed in the direction of the mysterious sonar signal. Though she hadn’t expected to find anything on the first day, she wasn’t exactly complaining now. The thought of whatever she was about to find filled her with passion for her adventure.

Eventually, after cruising for a while, Anna noticed something out of the cockpit of the sub. The ocean around her was starting to grow… lighter. There was something in the distance illuminating the surrounding ocean, just beyond a nearby rock formation.

Switching off the sub’s spotlights, Anna radioed Kristoff. “Kristoff, whatever I’ve found, it’s lighting the ocean up like a Christmas tree.”

“That’s odd. The storm is still raging up here, so it can’t be the sun.”

“No, it’s something here at the bottom of the sea,” Anna stated. “I’m going in a closer look.”

As Anna’s craft flew over the rock formation, her eyes widened as she looked upon what she had discovered. Just in front of Anna was a giant scaly, ring-like structure that encircled a large area of the ocean bed. It was at least the size of a football pitch, the structure of the ring made of a sparkling mineral that gave them the appearance of ice. One part of the ring seemed to resemble a dragon’s head.

But what intrigued Anna the most was what was at the centre of the ring. On some sort of strange stone plinth, there stood what appeared to be a statue. The statue was made of the same mineral as the giant ring, sparkling and glowing with unnatural light.

Taking the sub in closer, Anna gazed at the statue. It seemed to be around seven or eight feet in height, in the shape of what appeared to be a humanoid woman with pointed ears and long hair, wearing a flowing dress of some kind.

Her heart pulsing in her chest, Anna felt a strange sensation when looking at the statue. She was mesmerised by how beautiful it appeared to be, She almost could have sworn it was smiling… at her. She couldn’t take her eyes off it, no matter how hard she tried.

“Uh, Anna?” Kristoff spoke into the radio. “You okay?”

Anna didn’t respond.

“YO FEISTY PANTS!”

Gasping, Anna shook her head. “Uh, yeah big guy?”

“Are you alright ?” Kristoff wondered. “You went quiet for a moment there.”

“I… I think so,” Anna stated. “I’ve found the source of the signal. It’s some sort of massive underwater crystalline structure. No idea how old it is, but there seems to be some kind of statue here made of the same mineral.”

“What? How is that possible?”

“I know right! This changes everything we knew about this area,” Anna remarked. “Maybe those old rumours of Doggerland being the British Atlantis weren’t far off after all.”

“Maybe,” Kristoff stated. “But you should really finish up your survey. Come back to this area later, Anna.”

“No,” Anna insisted. “I… I think we should bring that statue back to the ship for further study. I’ll finish the survey tomorrow.”

“What?” Kristoff wondered. “Anna, I thought we were supposed to be only surveying the area.”

“Change of plans,” Anna said. “We’re bringing this statue up.”

She wasn’t sure what was happening, but some sort of strange influence was compelling her to protect this statue. She… She didn’t want to just leave it down here. Something so beautiful didn’t deserve to be hidden away from the world, in the depths of the ocean.

Kristoff sighed. “Alright, I’ll have Eric bring the ship over to your location. Hang tight there.”

“Thanks, Kristoff,” Anna replied.“

Taking the sub in closer, Anna activated its large, robotic grappling arms. The two massive claws extended from the craft as Anna positioned her vessel in just the right position in front of the statue. She had to be gentle though. The last thing she wanted was to damage the beautiful figure of ice before her.

Carefully, Anna manipulated the arms, their mechanical fingers gently clutching onto the statue. With a little tug, the statue was pulled free from the stone base it was attached to, now being held in the arms of Anna’s vessel, thankfully without a scratch or being chipped.

"Yes!” Anna cheered.

As the submarine floated upwards, Anna reached forward, her hand touching the glass of the canopy. She stared into the statue’s icy eyes, feeling that somehow, they were staring back at her. Anna smiled, feeling that she had done the right thing.

This was certainly something her father would have been proud of her for.

xXx

Once Anna was back on the surface and aboard the ship, the strange statue she’d recovered was brought down the cargo hold. Over the next few hours, Anna and Kristoff studied the mysterious sculpture, Anna in particular still mesmerised by its gorgeous features.

And she wasn’t alone in thinking that. Eric had complimented on how beautiful the statue was, which had made Anna feel unusually jealous. But right now, she and Kristoff were looking over the statue, trying to figure out what it was, what it was made of, and more importantly… who could have carved it.

But Anna wasn’t entirely focused on her work. Now that she had the statue with her and nothing was between them, she felt she could spend forever just staring at the gorgeous woman. She reached out, caressing the cold, icy surface of the statue in her hands.

For a moment, she felt as though her hands were meeting cold skin instead of rock and ice. Soft, smooth skin that belonged to whatever being the statue was in the image of. As she stroked the statue’s head. she imagined her fingers threading themselves through locks of soft hair.

It was quite an unusual sensation, the feeling as though this statue was, in fact, a living being and that Anna felt as though she and it were… connected somehow. Nothing in her life had made Anna feel quite like this before.

“So who do you think made it?” Kristoff wondered.

“I… I don’t know,” Anna admitted. “My guess is there was some sort of civilisation in this part of the world thousands of years ago that were wiped out when Doggerland fell under the sea.”

“You think so? This thing would predate the Egyptians if it did and I find that hard to believe,” Kristoff stated. “My guess is maybe it fell off a Viking ship or something during the middle ages, that it was carved around that time.”

“That doesn’t line up,” Anna admitted. “I didn’t see any shipwrecks in the area where I found her, or that stone plinth, or that weird ring structure that surrounded her. She’s quite a mystery.”

“That it is,” Kristoff admitted, though he was a little confused by Anna referring to the statue as a woman, despite it not being alive. But he brushed it off for the moment and looked at the statue. “It’s remarkably well preserved. Whatever this stuff it’s made of, it’s lasted for centuries.”

“She’s certainly unique,” Anna remarked, staring at the statue. “I doubt there’s anything else in the world quite like her.” She found herself gazing at the statue again, being lost in its features.

Kristoff gave her a look. He couldn’t ignore this now, especially now that Anna seemed to be consistently calling the statue a woman. “Uh, Anna… you know this statue isn’t a living being right?”

“Oh yeah?”

“Then why are you calling it a she?” Kristoff asked. “I mean, yeah it’s depicting a female figure, but she’s not exactly… alive. Are you sure you weren’t down there in the ocean too long and you’ve caught the bends?”

“W-What?!” Anna exclaimed, blushing bright red. “I’m fine, really! But… I hadn’t realised I was calling her a she. I… I can’t help it. It’s like she’s really here with us and she’s more than just some statue I found at the bottom of the sea. She’s… She’s completely perfect.” She looked away. “Don’t judge me, okay?”

“I won’t, don’t worry,” Kristoff chuckled. “Now I realise why you wanted to bring it up so badly. She is rather pretty and hey, wouldn’t be the first fictional person you’ve fallen for.”

Anna blushed redder, remembering how Kristoff used to tease her for her crushes on various fictional women when they first met. Lara Croft, Wonder Woman, Jasmine from Aladdin, Anna clearly had a type and this statue fitted it. She just hoped Kristoff wasn’t going to tease her too badly over it.

“But this is the first time I’ve seen you fall for a statue,” Kristoff remarked.

“Oh I can’t help it,” Anna sighed dreamily.

Her partner just smirked. “Even after all these years, you’re still a useless lesbian. I swear Honeymaren had no right to dump a cutie like you.”

Anna groaned. “Please don’t bring that up again… and for the record, this statue is still important regardless if I’m in love with her. If we show her to people, we’ll definitely get more funding to continue our research here and who knows what else we’ll find. Maybe some idea as to what the people who carved her were like.”

“Yeah and you get to look at a pretty girl,” Kristoff teased.

“Ugh, I hate you,” Anna groaned.

But Kristoff wasn’t wrong though. The statue was indeed gorgeous and… in a way, Anna wished she could keep it for herself. It didn’t deserve to be in some museum, with so many people staring at it. She wanted the statue to be hers, all hers. Part of her wanted to lean in and kiss the gorgeous statue… though that was a little weird even by her standards.

As she stared intently at the statue, she reached forward, caressing its crystalline surface. As she did so, she noticed that the dress of the statue seemed to be lined with strange runes, symbols that weren’t familiar to Anna at all. She thought about what they could possibly mean.

“Uh, Anna?” Kristoff then spoke to her.

Anna shook her head, drawn out of her daze again. “Uh yes?”

“I’m gonna go get something to eat. All this exploring has worked up an appetite. You coming?”

“Uh sure,” Anna replied flatly, still gazing at the statue.

She then left the room with Kristoff, going to get dinner with him. After leaving the room, however, Anna never saw the runes she’d been looking at on the statue were now glowing a mysterious white aura, as were the statue’s eyes. Clearly, there was definitely more to it than either of them could have imagined.

xXx

Anna was standing on a strange rocky beach in the middle of a storm, thunder and lightning crashing around her. She wasn’t sure what was happening or where this beach was. She walked around, feeling the freezing cold all around her. She desperately sought out shelter as rain pelted down from the sky.

But before Anna could reach a nearby cave, she looked out at the ocean as a massive wave rose above her. She screamed, trying to outrun it before she was drenched in the water. As she was dragged along the beach, Anna coughed and spluttered, seawater having jumped down her throat.

As she got to her feet, she looked around, seeing the storm only growing in intensity. At that moment, the howling wind was interrupted by a strange voice calling out to Anna in a melodic tone.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

“Who… Who said that?” Anna asked. “Where are you?”

Aaaaaaaa, the voice called out again.

As the howling wind resumed, Anna looked out at the stormy sea Was the voice… coming from the ocean? Anna wanted to know and suddenly, she sprinted into the ocean and to her amazement… she was somehow walking on the surface of the water itself, the waves turning slowly to ice beneath her feet.

“What the heck?” Anna asked, but then heard a loud rumbling as a massive sea serpent burst out of the water, flying over Anna’s head. The creature let out a deafening, hissing roar before it dove back into the water. For a few moments, Anna saw that it had scales made of the same crystal as the statue.

Then, she heard the sound of galloping, as a strange, horse-like creature galloped along the waves beside Anna, before also dipping under the waves. Anna blinked, confused as to what exactly was going on. But before she could think about that, she felt the wind pick up again.

Looking up, Anna saw a figure floating above her, flying on the wind itself. She couldn’t make out what the figure looked like, but it clearly had long flowing hair and was wearing a dress with a cape of some kind. Was this… was this the statue come to life?

Glowing blue eyes gazed upon Anna and the redhead felt… strangely comforted by them. They seemed so warm and inviting. And yet, Anna still had no clue what was actually going on here? Where was she? What were those creatures? What was this strange woman?

There has been an awakening, a voice then spoke. You have been chosen.

“What?” Anna asked. “I don’t understand.”

You are the one who will awaken us.

“Me? What are you-”

And then, Anna woke up.

The redhead panted as she shot out of bed, wiping her brow of sweat. She was glad that it had all just been some sort of crazy dream, yet she found herself filled with more thoughts about the statue. She… she felt that it was in danger somehow, that she had to be near it.

Quickly getting dressed Anna tried to make it out of her bedroom, only to trip up and fall over, banging her head on a wall. “Ow!”

She groaned, realising the storm outside the ship hadn’t calmed down at all. After rubbing her head, Anna made her way down to the cargo hold, wanting to check on her mysterious statue. Something about it was drawing to her, something she knew was connected to her dream.

Fortunately for Anna, the statue was safe. It hadn’t moved an inch, much to her relief. After going over to the statue, Anna let herself become lost in its beauty once more. She was glad to be alone with the mysterious statue, entranced by its wonders and secrets.

It sounded crazy to her now though, that she had indeed fallen for the statue. She felt guilty though, seeing as it was just a statue and not a real human being. No matter how much she wished the statue could come to life right before her eyes, Anna knew magic was only a thing that existed in fairytales.

It also seemed pathetic that the only woman she would love was a strange crystal figure she found at the bottom of the sea. Her love life hadn’t exactly been great. Most of her time she’d been focused on her work, but the few times she had tried dating it hadn’t gone well.

Honeymaren was the one that had stuck with her longest, but she had to leave her when her family had to move to the other side of the country. Anna understood why she left, even if Kristoff still insisted that she should have tried to make it still work between them.

Still, Anna knew that a statue wasn’t going to truly give her the connection and love she had truly wanted. It just wasn’t meant to be.

“I’m sorry,” Anna whispered. “You’re so beautiful, but I guess I should look somewhere else for love.” She caressed the being. “You can’t hear me, but I just want you to know that… I’m glad I found you and I know you’re going to help my research so, so very much.”

But the statue indeed didn’t respond and Anna felt guilty again, that the statue was heartbroken that Anna had to end it between them. And Anna realised she couldn’t do that. She couldn’t let go of her icy love, no matter how badly she knew it couldn’t work.

“Oh damn it,” Anna swore. “I’m sorry… I won’t leave you. I… I’ll make sure you’re safe, and where we can be together for as long as I live.” She caressed the statue. “I… I love you so much… my goddess.” And then at that moment, Anna kissed the statue’s lips.

As Anna kissed the statue deeply, pouring all of her love into it, the crystal figure started to glow an eerie blue. Unbeknownst to Anna, the icy crystal that the statue was made from started to melt like liquid, forming a puddle on the floor beneath her, flowing like water.

Anna felt the watery feeling against her lips, suddenly pulling away in shock. Her eyes widened as the glowing blue fluid melted away from the statue, giving way to skin and hair. The redhead covered her mouth in shock as the runes on the statue glowed again.

With the crystal having melted, the figure stood before Anna, a seemingly human woman with long blonde, almost white hair and sparkling blue eyes. She was dressed in a flowing, sparkling white dress, seemingly made of the same crystal that she had once been entombed in.

“What… What the?” Anna spoke, lost for words.

The blonde woman looked at her hands, feeling rather confused.

“Who… Who are you?” she asked her, and then looked around in wonder and puzzlement. “Where… where am I?”

[everlarkbirthdaygifts]

Happy Birthday, infinitegraces!

We wish a very Happy Birthday to @infinitegraces! We apologise for the short delay on your gift, and hope you had a wonderful day full of cake and surprises! To keep the party going a little while longer, @ally147writes has written a story just for you!

AN: Happy Birthday, @infinitegraces! Apologies for the delay - it’s been insane on my end! Sorry if this tiny little in-Panem, no-games AU isn’t quite what you were looking for - I’ve been deep in the recesses of academic writing for the past few weeks and I’ve forgotten what it’s like to write creatively... In any case, I hope you’ll enjoy :)

Katniss has only been to a couple of toastings before, for distant family members and some of her mother’s former patients. They’ve never been anything too fancy, but they’ve all been the same. Just the couple and their bread over the fire, and the invited townspeople singing the song behind them. On rare occasions, there’s a cake. On even rarer occasions, Katniss has been able to taste a piece.

Only ever a piece, though. Never anything more than a mouthful. So, when a server — dressed in a shirt so white she’s certain it’s never seen a puff of District 12 air before — hands her a chipped plate holding a large slice of soft, yellow cake with a layer of off-white cream in the middle, all she can do is stare at it.

 She never would have pegged Gale as someone who would choose to have such a large, ornate cake, whether he could afford it or not. But, she also doubts Gale had much to do with the decision. This is just as much Madge’s toasting, too.

 And of course Madge would want a Mellark’s Bakery cake.

 “You know, Catnip, you can eat it,” Gale says to her, grinning. Katniss doesn’t think she’s ever seen him smile so wide, ever.

 “I’m working my way up to it,” she says, nudging him with her elbow. “Where’s the newest Mrs. Hawthorne?”

 “She’s around here somewhere, probably with Ma and Posy, learning all the Hawthorne women’s secrets or something.”

 “Lucky her.”

 “Lucky me.” He winks, and Katniss groans. “Speaking of lucky, though, you wanna tell me why the baker’s kid’s been giving you eyes all night?”

 Katniss glances towards the serving table, where Peeta Mellark spent the entire night cutting up slices of cake and arranging them on plates. Like every time she’s looked up at him, though, his gaze is right there to meet hers. Earlier, he’d blushed and looked away when she caught him, like he’d been doing something wrong. Now, with maybe a little more of the sweetened mead making the rounds swimming in his veins, his gaze meets hers, unflinching and unmoving, like he’s waiting and searching for the right moment to make his move.

 Ass.

 She looks away with a scowl, cheeks flaming with heat. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she mutters.

 Gale laughs. “Sure you don’t.” He gives her a quick kiss on the cheek and says, “Talk to him, Catnip. The poor guy looks ready to pop. Or punch me. And I don’t think Madge would appreciate either of those things.”

 Without another word, he disappears into the crowd, accepting slaps on the back and hearty congratulations from everyone, Seam and Town alike. It’s such a strange sight in District 12, to see dark hair mingling with golden blond like it happens all the time. But, Katniss supposes, this wasn’t any ordinary toasting. How often does a lowly Seam miner marry the mayor’s daughter?

 “I’m glad you’re here tonight,” a warm, familiar voice says near her ear.

 She yelps, spins on her heel and almost slams into Peeta Mellark. His eyes go wide, and he reaches out to grip her shoulders, steadying her. “Whoa, I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

 “You didn’t scare me,” she mutters, taking a step back, but the frantic racing of her heart disagrees. “And why wouldn’t I be here?”

 Peeta shrugs, kicks at the ground with the rounded toe of his shiny shoe. She can see the bright red tips of his ears between his curls. “I just thought…” He trails off with a bitter laugh. “I don’t know what I thought, to be honest.”

 She rolls her eyes and takes a bite of the cake; sweet, and a little lemony, with a layer of fluffy cream in the middle. Delicious. “Whatever you thought, you thought wrong, Peeta. You always have. Gale and I are friends. Best friends. I don’t know how many times I need to tell you that.”

 “Right.” Peeta nods, shoves his hands in his pockets. “I, uh… know that now. I kind of worked it out when Madge came in the other day asking for a toasting cake.” He lets out a weak laugh. “Imagine my surprise when she said she’d be toasting with Gale.”

 Her eyes almost bug out of her head with disbelief. She sets the plate down on the rickety wooden table she’s standing near and takes a quick step forward, pokes the middle of his chest with the firm tip of her index finger. “You mean, you’ve known for days that there was literally zero chance of me ditching you for Gale and you still wouldn’t come and say sorry?”

 “I know.” He takes her hands in his and holds them hostage against his chest. “And I am sorry. So, so sorry. Like, you couldn’t even imagine how sorry.”

 “You were an ass, Peeta.”

 “I was.” He nods solemnly. “A huge, colossal ass.”

 She glares at him some more. “The biggest.”

 A tiny smile tugs at his lips but disappears just as quick as it came. “Yeah. I know. It’s no excuse, really, but given… you know, everything, I guess… it seemed impossible that you could be even remotely interested in me.”

 “What, that I could be interested in such a wonderful, generous, giving, caring man?” She scoffs and stares at the ground between their feet. “Yeah, how could that be possible?”

 He says nothing, not that she really expects him to. He just smiles again, more genuinely this time, and stares down at their hands trapped between them.

 “See, it’s stuff like that,” he says after a long moment as he plays with her fingers. “And the fact that it’s you saying it…” He pauses and shakes his head with a chuckle. “It’s insane.”

 “No,” she says, a little louder than she means to. “What’s insane is you thinking that I would spend all that time getting to know you, then kiss you, and then run back to Gale like it was all some stupid joke!”

 “He swaggered in and grabbed you like I was about to rob you of your innocence right there in the meadow! Forgive me if the messages were a little mixed!”

 “I might have agreed with you, if I hadn’t spent the better part of that afternoon with your hands up my shirt!”

 He grins at her, all wide and dopey. Her lips twitch with the urge to return it. “Yeah, all right. It was pretty insane of me.”

 “And to think we might have been able to keep doing that if you hadn’t just ignored me when I came in to see you last week. Twice.”

 He strokes a finger across her collarbone, making her shiver. “I’m a complete idiot, that’s for sure.”

 “Some might even wonder what you’re even doing,” she goes on, side-eyeing him. “Speaking to me now, if you’ve got such a low opinion of me.”

 He shakes his head; a stray, thick curl lands right between his eyes. “Not of you, Katniss. Never of you. Just of myself.”

 “Well,” she says with a sniff. “That’s pretty insane, too.”

 “Maybe a little,” he whispers. Their lips are only scant inches apart now. “Hey, you wanna get out of here? Maybe talk some more in private?”

 Katniss smirks, grips his hand in hers and drags him out to the edge of the town centre and into the dark.

 “Come on. I doubt there’s anyone in the meadow now.”

[thewildwilds]

i've been in a hunger games mood lately for some reason and your writing + art is inspiring me to try to write some thg fic as well! i'm not sure where to go about in terms of characterization, though - the books only give us an actual good glimpse into katniss, peeta, and gale; so i'm curious as to how you come up with proper characterizations for finnick, annie, johanna, etc. (+ other tributes like gloss who we don't get to see often?)

Oh gosh, I haven’t thought about THG in a while (except for THG AUs, oops) but hopefully I can help you out!

First you gotta remember that THG is very aggressively filtered through Katniss’s POV (and Katniss is, honestly, not that much of an insightful narrator) so even the people she interacts with a lot may not even be the people she thinks they are.

Besides factoring in the setting and current circumstances, I think proper characterization really just comes down to treating them like their own person, which I guess sounds deceptively simple. You gotta remember that these characters existed before their places in the story, and that stuff will factor into their personalities and perceptions. For example, you won’t believe how often I see writers refuse to give these characters actual friends or family outside of canon. I don’t know where this weird stigma towards original characters came from, but it’s pretty much a requirement if you wanna flesh out a believable character.

I also highly encourage you to give something to a character that’s all their own. This is a mistake I most often see with Annie, but I see it a fair amount with the other tributes as well (Glimmer, Gloss, etc). A lot of writers, for example, only use Annie in order to relate back to Finnick, which I personally think is a poor, poor choice. Annie can have a lot going for her that should be all her own.

But I guess the most important advice I can give for characterization is that you should be able to answer one question: What does this character want? This can be both long-term and short-term. For short-term (usually for scenes or one-shots), you might answer with something like: He wants her to listen to him. She wants to regain control of the situation. For long-term, this should be a strong, compelling driving force for this character. He wants to avenge his family. She wants to become the most famous person in the world. Essentially, everybody wants something at any given time. Once you nail this down, it should be pretty smooth sailing from there, because every action a character does should be towards furthering this goal.

Now, lucky (?) for me, I do tend to lean towards loving the minor or underappreciated characters (call me a hipster if you want), which means I can have a lot of fun with fleshing them out. And I guess when it comes down to it, practice makes perfect. So practice as much as you can! Even if it’s an OC at first. I’ve been making OCs for… forever, honestly, and it’s a different sort of challenge when you’re building a character from the ground up.

I hope that helps, anon, and good luck with the fic writing!!! I’m rooting for you!!!