#Lucy I’m so sorry

[little-lovett]

lucy barker. that’s all 🥹⛅️🍯🤱🏼💛

[bookwyrminspiration]

I’ve had lucille for 154 pages and GOD lucy if I could give you a new author I WOULD you deserve it and I’m so sorry

[babycupart]

atom bomb, baby!

[introcoryo]

— au where you’re reaped as sejanus plinth’s tribute from district 2, and he breaks into the arena to get his final goodbyes in.

coriolanus can see the brunette’s jaw tighten in his peripheral vision when highbottom announces that he’ll be mentoring one of the district 2 tributes. that tightness is followed by a deep, deep scowl when the reapings are aired, and your sweet, lamb-like face is shown on the now, sejanus notices, glaring screen. he has half a mind to storm out, but instead swallows thickly to fool his brain into thinking he’s calm and collected.

he remembers you, as if a remnant from a previous life. sejanus knows this is a shameful way of thinking. he’s no capitolite. they can throw as much money as they want at him, keep his stomach full and plump of steak and apple pie, give him the so called luxury of attending the academy, but he knows his name will metaphorically never leave that reaping bowl. for each year the hunger games have commenced, three names were picked from district 2. a boy’s, a girl’s, and sejanus’s. he is in that arena with them, although not physically. and that is what hurts him most. his name, although not verbally chosen and spoken into a microphone, is amongst that litter, and yet he has the privilege, like every capitolite, of leaving the arena every year when the victor is announced, when his fellow district 2 tributes do not have that option.

upon first greeting you at the capitol zoo, a stinging pang shoots through his throat. he has absolutely no idea how he’ll be able to mentor you without completely destroying himself in the process. it’s eating him up inside; this hope that the academy has indirectly forced you to place in him. how that hope, crushed, would leave as you, god forbid, would have to take your final breaths in that arena, with nothing to attach to that despair but sejanus’s face.

you’re timid at first. you too, remembered this familiar face. the big brown eyes, never dull of emotion. long, fluttering eyelashes. he’s much taller now, with curly hair that looks like raw hazelnut under the sun. with the way he’s looking at you, you figured he did not outgrow his tenderness. it was no look of pity, though, but a look of understanding. of sharing your fear, instead of accepting your fate. that made you feel a comfort you haven’t felt since standing in your district’s square.

after a few minutes of silence, of examining each other wordlessly, communicating with shared gazes, sejanus decides to speak up first, albeit everyone knowing it is his heart that speaks for him.

“i am so, so sorry for—”

he begins, but you stop him. there wasn’t a point to this, you think. unless he was the one who picked out your name specifically, why would he even feel the need to apologize? that certainly won’t change anything.

“it’s fine. it’s not your fault. i know, big elephant in the room, i’m behind bars at a zoo. the odds just weren’t in my favor. i’m not sure they will decide they like me later, either.”

sejanus clenches a hand around one of the steel bars at your pessimism, but how can he blame you? he has no hope himself, how could he even possibly think you would? he wishes he could effortlessly bend the barrier separating you two with his palms, grabbing you by the hand and running off somewhere else. somewhere safe. somewhere hopeful. he knows he can’t, and that leaves a shake in his voice as he chooses his next words delicately.

“i just… if there’s any way i could help you, guarantee that you would… walk out of there unharmed…”

“well, i saw the district 12 girl with her supposed mentor in here. inside the zoo. you’re mine, i assume? do what a mentor has to do. mentor me out… and some food won’t hurt, either.”

at the mention of that, sejanus’s face slightly lights up, and he reaches into his scarlet colored blazer pocket, taking out a wrapped napkin and handing it to you. you reach through the bars to take this mysterious item from him, fingers lingering just a bit, and unwrap it to find a sandwich, diagonally cut. you smile wistfully at the simple meal before you, this being the very first act of kindness you’ve been on the receiving end of since coming to the capitol. so much for hosting etiquette.

“thank you, sejanus, really… here,” you say in an unanticipated small voice, holding out one of the pieces.

the brunette freezes. you’re still kind. all of this, and you’re still kind. perhaps that’s all you’ll ever be. perhaps that’s what will be what dooms you in that arena. you will try to speak heart to heart, not sword to sword. he loathes that he’s thinking this way. he absolutely despises that he knows you will not be able to walk away from this without staining your hands red, but what has made a home in his chest is the miserable feeling of not knowing whether you’ll be able to do that. he’s district. he will forever be district, a vow he made at birth. but here he is, standing in front of you, free. here he is, handing you food as though you truly belonged in that zoo. he is everything you wished you could be in that moment, and yet you still decide to share your meal with him, despite the rumbling coming from your stomach. he wants to take it. wants to act like this is a normal picnic that you two are having together, but he knows you need that full sandwich. he knows you should take all you can get.

and so he declines politely. you begin to talk about the changes in district 2 since he’s left, and how life continued, yet everyone was stuck. sejanus emphasizes. he listens. but the dread has not left his system. he starts to think about how he’ll see you in another life if this one wasn’t enough. there’s so much time on the other side, and here it all feels like a constant countdown. never knowing if your time will be cut short. he mentally chastises himself; he needs to be optimistic. he needs to be here for you, now. he needs to think about the life you’ll have when he gets you out, not if. soon enough, you’ll believe it too.

to say that sejanus was a complete wreck watching you enter that arena would be an understatement. the cameras capture your soft features so well that you look displaced. lost. you shouldn’t be there, he thinks. no one should be there. the tears that built up in a split second blur his vision, and when the bell rings, he is there, running as a district 2 tribute.

sejanus watches as you take his advice, as you run and hide immediately, and he is kept at bay through at least that. he can’t lose it now. not when you’ve placed your entire life bare in his hands.

but sejanus is weak, too. he feels too much too often. his thoughts are frantic, and he finds himself in that arena the following night. the thumping in his chest intensifies as the voice at the entrance pleads him to enjoy the show, and he scoffs at that. he checked the cameras before coming, so he knows exactly where you are, and he’s so overwhelmed with the thought of seeing you that it doesn’t register that he has now, momentarily, taken the path he very well could’ve lived if he had not moved to the capitol. sejanus plinth, district 2 tribute.

light footed, he makes his way across the arena, and up the stands. he saw you come out of hiding when it was safe out, when most of the tributes were either asleep or in the tunnels, gathering a weapon or two from the cornucopia then settling on high ground. he figures you were startled once you heard the automatic greeting that played when he walked in, so he whispers your name.

he whispers it again. so delicately. laced with so much sweetness, it feels wrong to say it here.

and then a third time. the syllables now come out desperate. overwrought. he can’t leave without seeing you. touching you. it will break him.

“sejanus?” his ears perk up, and he looks around, frenzied, trying to distinguish the direction your voice came from. you peek out from one of the stands, and when you find those big, brown eyes looking back at you, you pick yourself up entirely and run to hold the man before you. the man who rushed into the possibility of death head on just to wrap his arms around you. he’ll face it all, just for that. oh how he wished you knew how badly he wanted to swap your places.

“you’re… but how? why? it’s dangerous here—” sejanus wastes no time, cupping your cheeks and diving in to kiss you. his hands are holding on to you for dear life, as if his knees will give out without the support. his eyebrows are knit together, focused on the feel of your lips on his. they’re dry, chapped, and cracked, but he doesn’t care. he swipes his tongue along your bottom lip to give you some relief, making a mental note to send you some water as soon as he leaves.

he kisses you until it hurts him. until his lips are swollen and red. until the way you’re tightening your hands on his broad shoulders feels as though it’ll leave bruises. when you break the kiss to breathe, he tries to take you all in. to memorize everything. he desperately needs a pen and paper right this moment so he could draw you as accurately as he can, lest his memory fails him later.

the automatic voice sounds again, and only you turn your attention to the entrance. slowly comes coriolanus snow, the district 12 girl’s mentor, and his eyes scan the arena before they land on yours. you nudge sejanus lightly to direct his gaze to his friend, but he wants more. he can’t leave now. he can’t leave you. not like this.

“it’s okay, sejanus. i’ll be okay. help from the outside, and we’ll see each other again in no time.” you whisper, a tiny bit unconvincingly, eyes glossy. “just take care of yourself, okay?”

sejanus’s lips quiver, and he too whispers. you don’t believe it’s because of the other tributes, but because if he were to speak normally, only a sob would come out.

“you are myself. please take care of me.” you glance down and nod at that, tasting the saltwater that came rushing down your cheek. he wipes the trail that settled along your face, and begrudgingly makes his way to the blond.

sejanus is motivated by the thought, the need, to get you out of there. no matter the methods he uses. no matter the consequences he faces. he has the resources to buy you more time, and he finds himself not above exploiting them.

[darlingsnow0]

Lucy gray but instead of running during the wood scene she tries to gentle parent snow:

“friend, I know we have lots of big feelings bu- PUT THE GUN DOWN PLEASE FRIEND, we can not take our big feelings out on others friend😌”

[r3leee]

when the mockingjay sings

guess who’s back after two months 🤭 i’m so sorry y’all omfg 😭 anyway, hope y’all have seen tbosas (if you haven’t, IT IS SO GOOD, please watch it.) take some of my current gf <33

pairing: lucy gray baird x fem!reader

summary: your girlfriend comes back as the victor of the 10th hunger games, but doesn’t stay for long

warnings: established relationship, angst, hurt/comfort, cursing, going off the movie since I haven’t read the book yet

word count: 1,259, should take about ten minutes to read (longest to date!!)

listen to: stubborn love by the lumineers

IT WAS EASY falling in love with lucy gray baird. her charming voice, her sweet smile, her beautiful, beautiful, face, her personality, really all of it made you fall face first for her.

her lust shone over you so easily. she could ask you to jump off a cliff, and you would happily do it just to make her proud. that’s all you ever wanted from her. proudness. acceptance.

so it was really no surprise for lucy gray or the covey when you tried to volunteer for her at the reaping.

you remember the firm hand on your forearm, the one that belonged to your girlfriend after you just pleaded to go in place of her. “don’t.” you gave her a look of anger, eyebrows knitted.

“‘don’t?’ you expect me to let you die out there?” you could see tears welling up in her eyes, threatening to spill out.

and it killed you. this wasn’t the bold lucy gray you knew. the one who would scare you from behind while you were making breakfast. the one who always kissed you in front of your family.

no, this was a different lucy gray. her voice began to shake. “i’m sorry.” and with that, she was gone, the gentle touch that was once on your arm a near punishment for being in love with someone so intricate.

the next few days were hell for you. You couldn’t eat, go out to your family, anything. all you could do was sleep. and you didn’t dare turn on your tv and watch the games.

so to get news that your girlfriend was not only the victor, but also well was overjoying to you.

the day lucy gray came back was the happiest of your life. the first second she saw you, she immediately sprinted, jumping up into your arms.

you giggled, running your hands through her hair. “i knew you could do it,” you whispered, tears of joy starting to form.

“ya, and i knew you couldn’t,” she whispered back, laughing at her own words. you couldn’t help but laugh, too.

everything returned relatively back to normal; you’d come to her shows, you two would hang out every day and walk in the woods, and you’d sit with the covey.

until one day.

you sat at the hob, waiting for your girlfriend to perform as usual. she had just gone off stage for a brief moment. it was taking longer than usual, though, and you started to grow concerned.

after a while, lucy gray and her band returned back on stage, but something seemed off about the singer.

you knew your girlfriend well, and you knew that this wasn’t the normal her. she appeared to be fine on the surface, singing her songs with a smile on her face, but you knew better.

so, when the performance ended, you immediately ran to catch up with lucy gray. she was two steps ahead of you, immediately sprinting to your seat.

she quickly rested her hands on your face. “i love you and i’m sorry.” she pecked your lips and just like that, she was gone, running out of the hob. no time for you to ask what she meant.

days had passed, and to your fear, you hadn’t heard from your girlfriend. no sign of her around town.

you went to the covey, asking them if they’d seen her. nobody had seen lucy gray since the day at the hob. and allegedly, two people had shown up dead at the hob the same night your girlfriend ran off.

great.

you knew fate was going to catch up to you eventually after your girlfriend survived the games. so you accepted you’d never hear from her again.

you hid in your room, only coming out to use the bathroom or eat. you cried endlessly those few days.

lucy gray baird was your everything, and she was gone. of course she fucking was.

11:30 AM IS when you woke the next day. truly, you woke up at a much earlier time, but you didn’t get up until the cons of staying in bed outweighed the pros.

you slugged into the kitchen, going to fix yourself a cup of coffee. your family was already out at work or school, so you were all alone. nothing to disturb you.

until you heard a knock on the door. nobody ever knocked.

you walked to the door, not knowing who was there or why they were. you slowly opened the door just an inch, just to take a peak at who was there.

you couldn’t believe your eyes. you thought you must be hallucinating from all the sleep, or maybe still dreaming. maybe you never got out of bed at all. “lucy gray?”

you quickly pulled her into your house, making sure to lock the door right after. before either of you could get anything out, you wrapped her in a tight hug.

it was a longing one. you thought lucy gray was dead, and she thought you’d never get the opportunity to see her again. the hug seemed to last ages, only being broken to litter each other’s faces in kisses.

“where the fuck have you been, lucy gray?” you asked, inviting her to sit down on the couch next to you.

“hiding. it’s a long story.” she took a seat next to you, leaning her head on your shoulder.

“did you kill mayfair?” you asked, genuine concern in your eyes. “i’m not mad if you did-”

“no, no, i didn’t,” she interrupted, reassuring you. “i was just too closely related to the situation. and then…other things happened, so i can’t stay for long.” your face turned into one of confusion.

“what happened?”

“i just said it was a long story.” she laughed, prompting you to laugh after her. that laugh sent you spiraling.

“well, at least tell me where you’re hiding.”

“up in the woods. gonna head up north here soon. i just came to visit to let you know i’m still here.”

“let me come with you. please.” you were pleading. you didn’t know how much longer you could live without your girlfriend. having to deal with the past few days for the rest of your life would end you.

“it’s not safe, (name)-”

“then why’d you even come? just to taunt me?” you fought back.

“no. i’m just saying you can’t come.”

“you have to let me. please. these past few days have been hell without you, lucy gray. i can’t have you stripped away from me a second time. i didn’t know much you meant to me until you got reaped, and right after you came back you left again. if you don’t let me go with you i might actually die.”

her face softened during your confession. she’d never had much reassurance in her life. nobody to ever really kiss the tears away. you were different. you were special.

she slowly realized how you were her everything, too. your hearts were both chipping, but they both fit perfectly together.

she sighed. “okay. pack your things.”

your eyes lit up, immediately jumping up from the couch to grab your stuff.

you knew your parents wouldn’t care about this eventually. there’d be the initial shock, but after time, nobody would care. you were always seen as nothing but another mouth to feed.

your bag full, you walked out of your room for the last time. lucy gray called for you from the doorway. “you sure?”

as you gazed at your house for the final time, you nodded, joining her in the doorway. “positive.”

[flying-ham]

I know we’ve all discussed Lucy Gray as a foil for katniss, peeta, snow, ect BUT I think she’s all of them??? Lucy Gray is the blueprint for modern hunger games, and so she has elements of all the victors who came after her

Her theatricality and beauty captured the capitol from the moment she was reaped with nothing but a snake, a song, and a rainbow dress, the same way katniss captured them volunteering for prim. But even more so, she could use her songs the same way peeta used words. She knew how to use her talent in her favor, and ultimately won the hunger games because of it.

She may not have been a career, but she was still offered up as a (forced) sacrifice to protect the other girls of the district. She showed the capitol that the children in the districts were almost human, setting the stage for the luxurious quarters and food tributes came to expect. She’s the whole REASON mags’ 11th games had a victory tour! Parading her around like a spectacle to be dehumanized, instead of a traumatized teenage girl forced to fight for her life and forgotten back in the districts.

Hell, her and tigris’ implied prostitution is likely the origin of snow selling desirable tributes like finnick and cashmere

tldr: Lucy gray is a bad bitch who can’t be compared to just one character from the original series, because she’s an amalgamation of many different victors who came after her, and was largely the inspiration for all future hunger games

[catastrxblues]

another night another dead body everyone say hooray

[monsterbananatv-art]

All along there was some invisible strings trying you to me

[aweirddreadfulterror]

Idk man take this shity comic and leave me alone ToT I might clean this up, but probably not 😅😅 and I am Obsession with Maximus’s sad lil eyes O-O this was done without references and was done pure memory so it’s not accurate, and they aren’t drawn with clothes because I was feeling lazy -_- 

[strangestcase]

Actually I would like to shine a spotlight on the role of women in Jekyll and Hyde because in most versions of the story they’re there to be victims, defined by their suffering. Their personality is subsumed by their role: hapless sacrificial lamb, damsel in distress, battered whore, lover that gets a nasty taste of Jekyll’s true nature. Out of all of Hyde’s victims in the original book, the two who die and are named are men (Carew and Lanyon); the trampled little girl and the slapped match seller are but blips on the radar.

Fast forward to almost any 20th century movie adaptation of Jekyll and Hyde and the female characters added to the story so that it isn’t an entirely male cast (and to cudgel a romance into it, be it needed or not) almost always fit into one of two slots: Jekyll’s love interest, who sooner or later is victimized by Hyde… or Hyde’s punching bag. The latter usually is a sex worker he happily abuses, reinforcing both their positions in society— he the wealthy white man, she the un-person no-one would miss. And yes, we’re supposed to pity her, feel bad for her. Cringe when she dislikes Hyde and fear when she’s intrigued by him. There’s something sinister about how Jekyll and Hyde adaptations are morbidly fascinated with the killing of sex workers, the same way there’s something sinister about Stevenson’s refusal to mention women unless one is getting trampled underfoot.

Listen… I love Jekyll and Hyde to bits, I really do, but at the core of the story there is a hatred of women that is projected onto the characters and echoed with each movie, TV episode, and comic, even to this day. Women don’t matter and when they do they’re defined by their tortuous relationship to Jekyll/Hyde. I’m generalizing, of course, but it’s an upsetting trend.

I feel as if the intense homosocialization and hyperfocus on male professionalism in the original novella had been replicated in the worst ways with the way it is envisioned in pop culture, Hyde almost always painted preying on a random woman like he’s a vampire. There’s nothing wrong with gay subtext; there’s nothing wrong with a that focus; but Jekyll and Hyde as a piece of fiction is a fucking sausage party and I’m so tired of women being thrown at it like a bone to a pack of rabid dogs.

And then the fandom has the gall to go, “well the book is about gay men”. Don’t get angry at the (fictional) women getting raped and murdered- get angry at the people who decided all they have to do is get raped and murdered. And then, make the change yourself, since you’re so enlightened.

[starstruckodysseys]

you never called it love (how can you be heartbroken?)

kipperlilly, lucy, and the deaths between them.

read here on ao3

[mistandshcdow]

i was today years old when i found out that people ship lucy and her evil skull sidekick … and i was today years old when i found out i don’t hate it

[maidstew]

maybe this is silly but — do you have any thoughts on lucy grays specifically appalachian identity? I often think abt how the films erased the cultural / geographical specificities of district 12 even though it’s literally so so important to the books (it’s mentioned on page 2 of the hunger games) and idk I think it’s very interesting/ kinda funny and iconic that in response to that erasure suzanne collins literally made a character whose cultural identity cannot be erased without significantly altering her narrative function. On a meta textual level it’s also an interesting echo to the Capitol erasing lucy gray and then her being restored by the author - kinda? Idk I’m a huge appalachian folk nerd (it’s why I read tbosas lol) so I. Think abt it a lot

omg no this is not silly at all and i am so excited that someone wants to talk about Appalachian culture in the hunger games!! usually i feel like i’m just yelling my appalachian nonsense into the void. ps i love that you’re an appalachian folk nerd- are you also appalachian??

also let me apologize in advance- i started a new anxiety medicine and have felt awful and have had a lot of brain fog so it’s very possible that none of this makes sense or is even what you’re asking.

i ended up rambling a lot so i will put my actual answer under the cut:

the erasure of all the really appalachian things- especially the accents- in the trilogy will always devastate me. which i why i will go to my death defending rachel zegler against anyone who criticizes her accent in tbosas.

i love lucy gray and the covey because you absolutely can see so much appalachian and bluegrass influence in them and their lives- but the book makes it clear that they aren’t really district 12, therefore, not really appalachian.

i think in a lot of ways lucy gray really embodies an appalachian girl. she’s fun and strong and willing to do whatever it takes to survive. she’s not afraid of the woods or the creatures in it- she makes friends with the snakes. she loves music (my girl needs a banjo i will die on that hill) and brings that to her people. their performances are one of the few times that people in 12 really get to be carefree and have fun and it brings everyone together. music is such an important thing in appalachian culture and is something that always brings people together.

she as a double name and it’s important to address her using both- which is also a fairly common thing in appalachian culture, it’s rude to only refer to them by one of the names. (which is why if someone only calls her lucy i do not take their opinion on her character seriously at all.)

you can also see it in the way the covey are a family without all being really related and the way the older members take care of the younger ones. in the way they spend time at the lake fishing and swimming and collecting food from around the area to eat. in the clothes they wear. in their music (nothing you can take from me boot stomping version my beloved).

but i think the distraction that they aren’t really from district 12 and not really appalachian is important. you can see that in the way lucy gray describes the covey as outsiders in district 12. i think this is another way that you really see the influence of appalachian culture in district 12. it doesn’t matter how many similar traits that they have or how long they have lived there- they’re still outsiders to the people who have lived there their whole lives. they still aren’t fully trusted by the wider community because they’re different and not from around here.

i’ll stop rambling now because i think my brain fog is causing this to not make any sense but anyway thank you so much for sending this!!! i love talking about this!!! i would love to hear your thoughts as well

[tatumrileyslover]

Just so everyone knows, Capital Don’t Cry part two, if the poll chooses the happy and fluff option, there will still be angst, I will pull at your heartstrings for what you are choosing happen to my baby girl

[solar-halos]

i know i am so late to the party but someone pointed out that it’s canon that the mayor reads out the names of previous victors before each reaping and i just can’t stop thinking about that. like i really love the idea (in a tragic way) of everyone knowing lucy gray’s name without the story attached, especially since we know her art ended up having such a big impact on the country without a lot of ppl in the original trilogy even knowing it