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clatoera · 1 year

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Always Remember We’re Burned for Better Chapter 6: Everybody’s Watching To See The Fallout

...hey guys. Sorry this is so late. I have been working 18 hour days all week, trying to gather skills, experiences, and make a strong impression on my preceptors. I’m in my dream rotation right now and essentially being an utter gunner LMAO.

I only have two more weeks of being unreliable though, and then i’ll be back to regular scheduled posting.

AO3

Masterpost of 1-5

Title from Eyes Open (t swift), because of COURSE for the 74th games I had to use a song from the movie!

Extra love to @ms1818 and @ohhowwehavefallen as usual, who have listened to me scream cry throw up and ask “Does cato seem like he likes clove” 18 times week.

This is one of my weaker chapters, I know that, but ya girl is a tired little girl (25 year old adult woman)

“So…what are we supposed to say to them?” Comes in a harsh whisper from Clove, from where she and Cato hid just beyond the door frame in one of the extra bedrooms of the district two floor. “We’re not technically their mentors right?”

“You’re supposed to be learning how to mentor, yes, and hiding in the spare room isn’t helping.” Enobaria hisses, grabbing both Clove and Cato by their upper arms and pulling them with her. “You’re at the very least going to watch and learn.”

“To be fair, I was here last year.” Cato mumbles as Enobaria pulls them into the open and empty center room.

“Yeah, and I had to tell you that you weren’t allowed to fuck your tribute girl, so you aren’t off to a shining start, Cato.” Enobaria shoves them both down on the circular couch, standing before them with hands on her hips and a disapproving look etched across her face. “Wasn’t this your life long goal? And you don’t even know how to talk to your tributes? You TRAINED with these two, weren’t they your friends?”

“I didn’t have any friends.” Clove reminds, leaning Into Cato’s side for no other reason than to irritate Enobaira. “Unless you count him.”

“Oh we’re just friends?” Cato teases, pinching the skin of her hip before he tugs her nearly into his lap. “That’s now what I thought on the way here when you were begging me to–”

“Shut it.” Clove’s eyes roll, but Enobaria buries her fingers into her temples at the way they incessantly flirt with one another.

“Dumb. Dumber. Not the time. You two are not here together. You’re here to mentor. To gather the sponsors. To do the things necessary to ensure more victors. In fact, you two shouldn’t even be sleeping in the same–”

“Absolutely not.” Clove snipped, pulling her feet up onto the couch with her, tucking herself closer to Cato. “That’s not happening, next instruction please, Enobaria.”

She tosses the remote to the large screen at them with more force than strictly necessary. “First step. Your tributes are down there getting prepped for the parade. You two watch the reapings. You take notes. Potential allies. Potential threats. Write down who you want, contact their mentors”

“It’s always two and one. The most we’d add is four.” Cato catches the pen that Enobaria tosses at them next, the small pad of paper for notes hitting him solidly in the chest. “We’ll talk to Glimmer and Marvel tomorrow, we’ll arrange it, it’ll be fine.”

“Then watch for entertainment, I don’t care. It’s part of your job now.” Enobaria turns to walk away, but stops herself and narrows her gaze at the two. “And I do mean watch.”

Cato and Clove find watching the reapings brings out a competitive side they had shoved down for the last year.

Clove’s been shifted off his lap at some point, and sits crossed legged with various pieces of papers scattered around on her knees and thighs. Cato keeps a running list of Yes, No, Maybe, Absolutely not, Dies in the blood bath, or “Does that even count as a tribute.”

“Do all those girls in one look the same?” Clove comments before she writes the very district one style name on their little list, noting specifically how she seemed already that she’d end up taking a pretty-girl angle. She scribbles something next to her name as she watches her so proudly ascend the stage as a volunteer. Cato cranes over to see that it simply reads “Dumb”, before he reads the “Unremarkable” next to the boy’s name.

“We have to have a win from two, obviously. Assert our dominance over Glimmer and Marvel as mentors.” She decides as their own district reaping replay happens, nothing they needed to note there, considering they grew up with these kids.

“Babe, do you really think Glimmer cares that much? Last year her boy died and she literally said ‘aww…sad.’ before she went back to talking about you.” Cato crumples a piece of paper and tosses it across the room when he is unhappy with the options from three. “I think it’ll be our boy this year. He was always pretty good.”

“It certainly isn't going to be four.” Clove points her pen towards the screen as a twelve year old with curly hair is pulled for their male tribute. “Do we have to ally with them? They’re not going to add anything…” She gives a single nod of approval as the girl is called up. Probably 15, but looks on the stronger end. “The girl might be useful. We can’t pick one over the other though, huh?”

“Finnick has to know the kid has no shot. We’ll play nice.” Cato shrugs, adding the girl to the yes list. “Maybe he’ll go out at the cornucopia anyway.”

As four to 11 pass, they continually add to the no list, barely bothering to pay attention anymore.

“You ready not to be the shiniest thing in Panem anymore?” Cato teases, pulling Clove back to his lap, arms loosely threading around her waist as he kisses her cheek. “Sent to the backburner of victors past..” His lips find her jawline, hands deftly twisting her so her body faces him.

“You think they’re going to ever let us live in peace?” Clove taunts back, wrapping her forearms gently around his shoulders, fingers toying gently with the hair at the base of his neck. “New victor or not, we’re still who everyone wants.” She leans her neck back, shivering as his lips trace the sensitive skin there. “I actually..I kind of look forward to it.”

Cato pulls away, eyebrow cocked at his girlfriend, looking her up and down rapidly. “Since when do you want less attention?”

“I’m tired of talking about my mom…about Enobaria.. talking about us. There are just some things I want us to keep for ourselves.” Clove had become a little more aware than ever exactly how much her life would have changed had her mother won, and she isn’t sure she would have liked who she became had she been raised in the eyes of the Capitol. It can’t be great to be a kid in that light, with constant cameras on you, being paraded around the country like an accessory to a successful parent.

“We can come out every year for the games, but we can just live our lives.” Clove sighs, strumming her thumb over his cheekbone, pressing her forehead to his. “I never thought much about what life would be like after winning. It would be great.. But I honestly cannot believe how nice it sounds to just go back home, train kids at the academy… have Enobaria and Brutus just let themselves in for breakfast every week.”

“You’ve gone soft,” Cato pulls her closer, the edge in his voice somehow teasing but also..almost longing. Cato had been far more open about his simple desires for his life after the games in the past year, but she hadn’t verbalized such similar desires until now. It wasn’t soft, no, it was just growth.

“I wouldn’t go that far, I’ll still beat those training kids into the floor.” Clove leans in at the exact moment a heart-wrenching screech fills the room from the reaping playback on the television.

The girl on the screen is frantic, pulling a tiny blonde thing into a hug before being led forward to the destitute district twelve stage.

“Did that girl just–” Clove cranes her head, watching as the twelve girls ascend the stage with her head held high. Not in pride, like a career would, but in a way that she does not falter in tears like so many tributes do.

“From twelve? She must have a death wish.” Cato scoffs, trying to pull Clove’s attention back to him with a squeeze of her thigh. “She’ll be dead in the first ten minutes.”

Though the escort continues talking, Clove can’t drag her attention away when she hears the name, and how she shares it with the young girl who was just called.

“She did it for her little sister…” Sure, Clove may not understand the type of familial love, but it’s still unusual to see someone so willing to die for their sibling.

“Siblings get reaped all the time, what good is there when one dies over the other?” He shakes his head, knowing full well that while he would have done it for his own baby sister, had that been at all possible or necessary. He has much more likelihood of survival than anyone else, for one. Besides, he couldn’t volunteer in her place anyway.

“Exactly… There's something about her. She’s going to be trouble, Cato.” Clove warns, eyes tracking the girl as she walks across the stage. “I’d have done it for Cora, but I would win.” She’d have done it anyway, winning or not, and that's not even her sister, but that isn’t the point. “You don’t do that unless you have a chance.”

“She won’t make it a day.” Cato disagreed, leaning back full on the couch, pulling her fully on top of him as he does so. He tucks his chin against the top of her dark hair, fingers drumming lightly on her lower back.

A little blonde boy takes the stage next to her, practically the same size as this Katniss Everdeen. Peeta.

“Is that one named after bread?”

“And they say district one has bad names.”

Clove laughs into chest, forgetting any concern over the volunteer from twelve.

A glass vase shatters against the window as soon as that final, aggravating score is announced, grabbed and released from Cato’s hand as he starts moving towards their current tributes.

“Are you fucking with me?” Comes from him, as he wraps his hand around their boy’s throat, single handedly pinning him to the wall.

“You two idiots have no fucking idea how she got an Eleven?” Comes from her, as she grabs her girl by the hair and tugs her neck back sharply, earning a whimper from her ex classmate.

“HEY, Hands off the tributes.” Brutus insists, tugging Cato back at the same time Enobaria pries clove off the girl.

“You two are going to get yourselves fucking killed by that girl from 12. You’re going to lose. To Twelve.” Cato snarls, thrashing his shoulders to get out of Brutus’ grasp, freeing an arm just enough to grab the boy by his shirt. “You’ll be an embarrassment to two. Couldn’t even figure out her skill, which, clearly she has a lot of.”

“What did she do in training? Is she fast, is she smart, what did she do all week?” Clove breaks free from Enobaria, but does not put her hands back on the girl.

“I-I don’t know-” She stammers, violently shaking her head and trying to back away from her mentor, before tripping and falling to the floor. “She didn’t show anything–”

“She had to have shown something!” Cato growls, directing back to his boy. “Clove knew when she saw her volunteer she was trouble, and you ignored the biggest rule, of scoping out your competition.” Cato practically throws him away by the shirt, tossing the boy to the floor beside his partner.

“They’ve already been stealing the attention for days.” Clove recalls, standing beside Cato with her arms across her chest, the two of them towering over their cowering tributes on the floor. “The parade? With the flames? Noone was talking about you two. You’re literally standing in the smoke from fire girl right now. Noone sees you, no one cares about who you are.”

“You need to snuff her out, got it? First kill. At the cornucopia you hunt her down and you get rid of her.” Cato warns, as the two of them shuffle backwards. “Go sleep, you have the interviews tomorrow and you can’t fuck those up.”

They watch as their tributes scramble to their feet and practically run down the hall out of sightline of Cato, Clove, Enobaria, and Brutus.

The second they are in their respective rooms –fortunately, there was no concern for the two of them slipping off together– it is their turn to be grabbed by their once mentors.

Brutus has an arm against his chest, pinning him to the wall, while Enobaria holds next to him on that wall with the hand around her throat.

“What the fuck are you two doing,” Brutus pushes Cato in a little harder, until Cato relents and lets his head his the wall.

“You can’t manhandle your tributes, are you stupid? You’re supposed to guide them!”

“What are you calling this then, Enobaria-” Clove tries to push her hand away, only for Enobaira to tighten her grasp on her neck.

“Oh you’re not our tributes anymore, you’re on par with us, and you aren’t going to embarrass us by your little childish meltdowns.” Enobaira lets go of Clove, letting her fall to the floor gasping for the air she had been deprived of.

Brutus releases Cato at the same time, but he only glares back at his mentor, unlike Clove who’s choking the air back into her body. “This isn’t your year, don’t take it so personal.”

“It’s our first year on this side.” Cato huffs, crossing his arms over his chest to face off with Brutus. “We wouldn’t have made that mistake.”

“It’s her first year. You did this last year, you have no excuse. You weren’t very good at it last year, either.” Brutus warns, shoving Cato with two fingers on his shoulder. “You didn’t even know his name.”

“Because he didn’t matter. I’d have killed him myself to get her out.”

“They aren’t your competition, that Twelve girl isn’t. You aren’t against them, don’t take it so personally.” Enobaria pulls Clove to her feet by her shoulders, helping her stand after sending her to the ground moments ago. “You two have a long future of this ahead of you. You can’t take it so personally.”

“You’d have done worse to us if a twelve girl out scored us.” Clove coughs out, rubbing her hand over her throat to soothe what is surely angry skin there.

“Yeah, but you’re Cato and Clove. We always expected the best out of you two.”

“I think it went well.” Cato admits, handing off one of the glasses is in hand to his girlfriend, who sits on the floor in front of her couch. Her legs are outstretched before her with ankles crossed, as she reaches out and shoots him a smile before she takes the glass from him. She basks in the warmth of the artificial fireplace under the television screen,

“They’re not us, but they’ll do.” Clove teases, taking a long, slow sip of the drink as she waits for him to come to her level.

Cato slides down next to her, crossing his outstretched legs in front of him as well, before tugging her against him. “Noone’s ever going to be us.”

“Not a chance.” Clove curls into him, tucking her head into his shoulder and humming as the girl from 5 crosses off the stage. “Not the strongest field this year.”

“The kids from one are idiots.” Cato agreed, laying his head on top of hers, rubbing his hand over the outside of her shoulder.

“They’re always idiots in one. We both know they pretty much breed for looks like show horses. They don’t care much about what's on the inside so long as they have the shiniest coats and longest legs.” Clove snickers, leaning down to open the brown square box between their feet. She pops open the box to the bubbling cheese pizza on the inside, and a smile of absolute delight spreads across her face.

“Oh come one, you like Glimmer and Marvel. They’re nice.” Cato points out, laughing as Clove lifts a slice of pizza from the box and tilts her head back so the warm cheese can slide off the crust and into her mouth. “All the food in this place and this is what you wanted? Why are you eating it like that?”

“I never said they weren’t nice, I said they weren’t smart.“ Clove scrapes the rest of the cheese off with her teeth, before returning to the tip of the triangle and rolling the dough into a little roll before taking a bite across the crust. “What? It’s good.”

“Still doesn’t answer as to why there was all the food in the capitol and you wanted Pizza of all things. Why are you stripping the cheese, you just..bite into it?” Cato illustrates, knitting his eyebrows together as he watches Clove continue to disassemble her pieces.

“It works for me.” Clove defends, glancing up to see they’re onto district ten already. “Cato. We had what you wanted yesterday, let me have this greasy, doughy Pizza okay? We don’t even have this back home.”

“We could probably make it..” It wasn't a lie, though. They had nothing like this back home, and certainly nothing like this growing up. Sure, two wasn’t a poor district by any means, but they were trained that food was fuel for reaching peak performance. Almost every meal in the academy was some combination of high protein in the form of eggs or plain, bland chicken, usually rice, and some steamed, bitter vegetable. Take the joy out of eating and no one will dare to over or under eat– you’re maximizing your physicality, nothing else.

There was nothing like the greasy, cheesy pizza they tried for the first time after the end of her party, during her tour. There was nothing like the fresh, crisp sushi from four. Or the rich, bloody rare steak Cato fell QUICKLY obsessed with during his own tour last year. Just the other night when the two of them had slipped out after scores came out, Clove absolutely devoured the entire basket of salty fries when she tried them for the first time.

“I think this is my favorite food.” Clove mumbled around the carb she shoved into her mouth, officially 1/4th done with their late night snack. “I can’t believe I'm saying that.”

“What, do you like Pizza? You used to roll up cheese slices in bread, I’m not actually shocked-”

“No. That we live a life where we can have a favorite food.” Clove picks up her glass from before and swirls the contents before taking a long drink. “God they’d smack me back in the academy if they heard me say that. How many times did they tell us you eat to perform, nothing more?”

“We won, baby. We can eat whatever we want, whenever we want.” Cato understands, though, deep down. Nineteen (and nearly nineteen) years old, and they were just for the first time getting to try things. Getting to enjoy things. “Isn’t that the point of the life of a victor?”

“For my birthday, I want fries. And that steak you really like that's still bleeding inside. Oh and Pizza. I want Pizza.” Clove decides, satiated for now and settles back in his arms.

“Anything you want, Clove. Anything.”

It would, after all, be the first of her birthday’s that they’d spend together, not training.

They settle back against the couch as the boy from eleven leaves the stage. Cato identified him as a possible threat due to his size earlier this week, but his training score didn’t alarm them enough to actually raise flags. Besides, He denied their tributes’ offer of allyship. His loss.

The girl was almost sad to watch. Sure, there were little kids in their own games, but neither had to take them out on their own. They died at the hands of others, who had no choice but to only kill the weakest who were incapable of defending themselves, or from exposure to the elements themselves. She was so childlike, baby face still perfectly intact, that she barely even looked old enough to compete.

The girl from twelve is next, and Clove feels Cato tense up beside her. They expect she must reveal something to gain her sponsors, right?

Wrong.

She’s unremarkable. Awkward, forcing a smile and forcing laughs. She lacks a charisma that all careers have– they wouldn’t be cleared to volunteer if they couldn’t work the crowd, something that clearly doesn’t matter in Twelve.

Clove nearly throws up in her mouth when the girl spins in her dress, flames spiraling below her knees. “What even is this stupid fire thing?” Sure, the fire itself was a cool touch, but this girl…she didn’t have the spark herself, so to speak. “This is getting ridiculous.”

“The girl on fire.” Cato mumbles, finishing his drink swiftly. “Our kids are going to smother her out. They have to.”

“She’s dangerous, I'm telling you. She’s got no personality, but she’s got them eating out of her hand. This flame thing…the training score..she’s dangerous.” Clove insists, sliding down to full lay on the ground, head using his thigh as a pillow. Now that the girl was over, there was nothing left to watch.

“They’ll take her out. I’m not worried.” Cato threads his fingers through her hair, stroking down the dark length of it. “Two’s the only one worth watching. Third year in a row.”

“Even so, they aren’t as good as we were. It’s a weak group all around this year. There’s boring games ahead.” Clove stretches in his lap, raising dark eyebrows at him enticingly. “I guess we’ll just have to make our own entertainment this week, right?”

“Last year Enobaria dragged me off the couch by the ear to go get you sponsors. We’ll have to hide from her.”

“She only cared because it was me…are you afraid of her?” Clove teases, reaching up and brushing her fingernails under his jaw.

“Maybe a little.” Cato admits, before the laughs of the audience during Peeta Mellark’s interview distracts them.

“He’s got the people skills at least. Together they’d be a good team.” Cato gives a small nod of approval, but shrugs anyway. “Not that it matters. A team only gets you so far.”

“People like him.” Clove agrees, propping herself up on her elbow to watch the rest of the interview. “He has a good rapport with the audience.”

They give a little smile when Caesar asks about a girl back home, and offers him dating advice. There’s no shot the kid is going home, it seems cruel to make him talk about things that will not be. Leave it to Caesar.

“He seems earnest at least-” She offers, stopping abruptly when they hear;

“She came here with me.”

The response has Clove shooting up straight, rapidly looking between Cato and the screen.

“NO way in Hell.” She snaps, kicking the box by their feet away. “NOT a chance in hell. There's no way.”

“Is he trying to be us?” Cato questions, staring straight through the tv like he could intimidate the lie out of the boy from here.

“What does he think he’s trying to pull? There’s no chemistry there, there's not a chance in hell That's real. NO way. He’s trying to recreate us. He has to be.”

“Not a fucking shot.” He pulls her to his lap as if to illustrate the point, settling her knees on either side of his legs. “He has to be trying to be us. Stupid, stupid, plan. I want him dead just for suggesting it.”

“There's no other us.” Clove agrees, wrapping her legs around his waist, grinding her hips down into his. “Noone even comes close.”

“Never.” He assures, before coming down hard against her bottom lip.

—

“You don’t need to keep giving me surprises, Cato.” Clove teases, as he leads her down the back staircase to the roof of the training center. “You know I don’t even like to be surprised.”

“This isn’t so much a surprise, we’re done with most of those.” He gives her hand a tight squeeze as he leads her back to the main access levels of the building, where they are actually allowed to be.

“Baby, between all the gifts, the marshmallow treats for breakfast, and the dinner, and the second dinner on the roof…what's the big deal about nineteen?” Clove asks, following him down the stairs as closely as her legs can carry her, “We already won the games, it’s not like I escaped that..”

It goes without saying of course, That Clove has officially outlived her mother today.

“We’ve spent the last ten years training on your birthday, I missed your seventeenth, and you missed your eighteenth.” He pulls her into the main lobby of the training center, slipping in through a side door that they really shouldn’t even know exists. “It’s the first time since I've met you that you actually have more guaranteed.” Sure, there was never a question that she would win her games, but now it’s actual reality. There are no more games to hangover them, no more risk to their lives. “And that’s worth a lot.”

Clove wraps her arm around his forearm, squeezing her hand in both appreciation and understanding. “Well, thank you. I’m not complaining about the outpouring of love.”

He grins at her, but brings them to a pause before the door to one of the many lounge areas. “Just so you know..this was absolutely not my idea.”

“What do you–”

“I told them you’d hate it, do not take my head off for this.”

Cato pushes the door open, and gently nudges her inside before him.

Inside the private room is as close to what they could consider “friends.” There’s Enobaria and Brutus, next to Glimmer and Marvel. By the bar are Johanna Mason and Finnick Odair, eyes locked on the games actively happening on the screen, miss fire girl being chased down by flame in the trees. Johanna and Finnick’s tributes are long since dead, neither making it very far past the initial bloodbath this year.

“What the fuck is happening–” Clove narrows her eyes, as Enobaria intercepts her from the side.

“We figured you wouldn’t want to do anything big, but it’s a big deal, your first birthday as a victor.” She explains, pulling her closer into the room. “Considering your birthday is during the games Kid, you’re never going to escape this.” Enobaria squeezes her by the shoulder, letting her fully enter the space and soak it in. “Happy Birthday, Clove.”

Enobaria knows the significance of nineteen for her, the first birthday that Clove’s mother never had herself.

Glimmer looks like she’s about to envelope her in a hug when she stops short, putting her hands up. “Sorry, right, you don’t do touching! Happy Birthday!” She smiles brightly at the girl, “Cato said you’d hate this but I thought it would just be so fun!”

Marvel gestures to the back corner of the room. “Glimmer’s been planning this for weeks, she’s got a hell of a combo of food back there. The cookies are fantastic.”

“A little warning would have been nice, Cato.” Clove whispers through teeth clenched in a smile, making her way towards the back table Marvel had referenced. She grabs a single fry, arms still crossed firmly over her chest.

“Enobaria said you’d never agree.” Cato explains, reaching over her to grab a piece of one of the cookies Marvel had raved about. “And Glimmer really really wanted to see your face. I told her it wouldn’t be pleased but… People like you, Clove. You deserve to know that.”

She wants to argue back, that the only person in the entire group of kids they grew up with that liked her was him, that not even her father or her grandmother liked her, that even her mother didn’t like her enough to stay behind with her (which, Clove objectively knows is not the case), but she does not get the chance as Glimmer grabs her by the hand and pulls her away.

She’s passed around the room, to Brutus next, then Finnick and Johanna who are wrapped up in watching the girl from twelve submerge in the water.

“Annie wanted me to tell you she was going to come.” Finnick explains first, before nodding his head towards the screen. “It’s a little harder on her than most, when we lose our tributes.” He need not explain further, everyone being aware of Annie’s immense post games trauma. They all had it, but Annie actually showed it.

“Were you born for this shit, Clove? A birthday during the games, that's unbelievable.” Johanna taunts, gesturing to the screen. “Looks like your tributes are about to give you a gift too, look.”

Clove directs her attention to the games, where indeed, the pack of careers are chasing down Katniss Everdeen. A snide smirk grows across her face, but pauses when she is taken back by the blonde trailing behind them.

“Is that–”

“Damn, Loverboy played us all.” Brutus grumbles, leaning against the top of the bar beside Clove. “He got in with our kids, and is after the girl.”

“They’re using him to get to her, they have to be.” Glimmer suggests, and truthfully, Clove is sure of it too. The boy has no skills he offers them, except for a declaration of love for his partner.

“I can’t believe he’s hunting her down.” Cato comes behind her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder as she leans back against him. “So much for all that about being into her..”

They all watch as Katniss scrambles up the tree like a little squirrel, clearly experienced. Was this her talent? No, this wouldn’t earn an eleven.

The boy from two is threatening to come after her, and is indeed trying, but the sheer weight of him paired with a lack of experience sends him crashing down onto the solid earth beneath the trees.

“They’re so stupid to send him. Both of our girls are so much lighter.” Marvel shakes his head, redirecting his attention back to his plate of assorted snacks. “That’s like sending Cato over Clove, stupid.”

Clove scoffs as the girl from one goes next, missing her by several inches with a bow and arrow. “That was her skill, really Glimmer? She’s not even a moving target.”

Before Glimmer can defend the girl, Cato flinches as the District Two boy tries to take it into his own hands, missing by an even greater margin.

“They’re poor fucking excuses for Careers.” Cato decides, reaching behind the bar and grabbing himself an entire bottle of the first clear liquor he gets his hands on.

“We’d never be that bad. None of us.” Clove agrees, gesturing to herself, Cato, Glimmer and Marvel. “We’d never get outsmarted by a bitch from Twelve.” She snatches the bottle from Cato’s hands, taking a long, hard drink without even gagging this time. Growth.

“You’re all so humble.” Finnick chimes in, hoping off of the barstool he was straddling. “That’ll be it for me, I think. They’re not going to get her tonight.”

The boy from twelve, who has stayed in the back staring with wide doe eyes, contributing nothing to the hunt for the girl, suggests waiting her out, but never looks away from where she hides in the tree.

“He’s protecting her.” Clove recognizes the look he gives as he stares up the tree, something she registers as anything but malice. “That's why he’s with ours. He’s trying to lead them away, to keep her alive. He’s protecting her.”

“Maybe he really does like her.” Surprise floods Johanna’s voice. “I don’t think she gives a fuck about him, but he likes her.”

“He’s got a death wish.” Enobaria announces in the general direction of the group of young victors huddled around the bar. “They’ll take him out as soon as they realize what he’s doing. He’s buying her time, but she’ll get nothing out of it.”

“Haymitch Abernathy has to be practically unconscious by now.” Brutus comments, as the camera focuses away from their tributes– the district one girl and the district two boy getting a little too handsy for national television– and instead focuses on the quaking girl in the tree.

As if on cue, a little gray parcel descends into the trees directly to her lap.

“No fucking way.” Comes from Marvel.

“How the fuck did she get sponsors” is a growl from Cato.

“Is Haymitch even awake?” Asks Johanna.

“I knew she was going to be trouble.” Clove pushes back to head towards the table of her favorite treats. “If they don’t get her in the morning, we’re in for it….anyway. I think I'll enjoy my cake now.”

The next morning they wake up to the news that Katniss dropped a nest on their kids, the girl from one is dead, and she absconded with the bow and arrow that she pried from her dead hands.

Long distance weapon, score of 11, and apparent sponsor favorite.

In for it, indeed.

–

The four of them, Cato, Clove, Glimmer, and Marvel, are spaced out on the couch in the District One Suite, having been relieved from their ‘smile at sponsors’ duties for the time being by their older counterparts. Clove had gotten a little too close to tossing a steak knife at a man who suggested she exchange favors in order for a few hundred dollars to change hands, and Enboaria pulled her away just in time to prevent an addition to her body count, sending the four of them out of sight and out of mind for the afternoon.

Their tributes didn't even need anything, they had a whole cornucopia full of goods.

“What is she doing?” Glimmer rises from the couch to the balls of her feet, when an arrow pierces the bag of apples hanging precariously amongst their supplies. “She’s trying to–”

Before the words fall the apple does, and the entire screen is filled with a massive explosion

“I fucking knew it.” Clove throws the nearest pillow in the general direction of the screen. “It’s taking them way too long to kill her, she’s going to end up getting one of them first.”

“At least it isn’t us.” Marvel shrugs, wrapping his legs around Glimmer and pulling her closer to him, deftly braiding tiny braids into her blonde curls. “That girl is sneaky.”

“She’s smart, she smoked them out. I hate to say it but she’s a threat.” Cato finally admits, rubbing his hand over his face in frustration.

“Oh look– and now she got yours! Oh fuck she is good” Clove directs, just as the boy from one crumbles to his knees with an arrow in his chest. “She’s taken down both of yours! What's that leave..our two.. Five’s girl..the two from twelve..the two from eleven.”

“One from Eleven.”

“No, they’re both still alive I think, Cato–”

“No. Not anymore, look.”

Clove snaps her head to attention as a shaky, crying song comes from Katniss, watching the life drain out of that little girl’s face. “Is this a talent show now? Glimmer, can you imagine going up there and doing a little twirl….Glimmer?”

The response is sniffles, and the Blonde girl with tears streaming down her face.

“Are you for real?”

“Glimmer you WON the games six years ago. You KILLED twelve year olds. There’s no crying over the Hunger Games.”

“They look like babies to me now, she was just so small!” Glimmer whimpers, curling up against Marvel’s side. “She was just so little.”

“Glimmer you’re like twenty one, they aren’t THAT much younger than you were when you won.” Clove nudges her foot with her own. “Come on. Laugh at the singing.”

“It’s not about that–”

Silence falls over them when they catch what Katniss does next. As they watch her arrange flowers around this girl, effectively burying her. She gives some gesture towards a camera, and Glimmer once again lets out a little sob from inside her chest.

“Everyone is going to root for her.” Cato thinks aloud, shaking his head in utter, absolute disdain. “Who buries another tribute?’ “Someone who hates the games and everything they stand for.”

Noone dares to mention the implications of Clove’s statement.

Hours later, they are with the rest of the victors when an announcement is made.

They’re looking at each other across the room, the silent communication of let's get out of here understood between them both, as evidenced by the smirk on his face and the playful raise of her eyebrows. Cato is letting himself out of the conversation when the room goes from boisterous, jovial conversation to a hushed, stun crowd of victors.

Two Victors.

Two Victors from the same district.

The silence is felt most strongly by the movement of Cato to Clove, of Glimmer to Marvel, of Annie somehow even closer to Finnick. Glimmer’s siblings gravitate closer to her, and Enobaria takes a nearly imperceptible step towards the group as well, though unclear to whom.

The girl goes in search of Peeta, who is somehow against all odds still alive.

“Haymitch, what the hell did you do?” It’s Cashmere, oddly enough, who’s beautiful voice breaks the silence.

“It’s between us two, now.” He says simply, raising his glass towards the entire horde of careers. “You’re welcome, cheers.”

“Seriously, Haymitch, what did you do?” One of the far older victors, closer to Haymitch in age than any of the others, grasps him by both shoulders. “What have you done?”

“Young love everyone! We all know how much they simply eat that up.” He directs directly at Cato and Clove, something between mischief and disdain on his features. “I have to thank you, you’re great examples to persuade them.”

“We are nothing like them.” Clove hisses, taking a step dangerously close to Haymitch, hands reaching for the neck of his shirt. “Never compare us to them.

“It’s inevitable, Sweetheart. Don’t get all riled up, trust me, they don’t want to be you two.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Cato steps in now, towering over the drunk on his barstool.

“You don’t have to worry about them stealing your attention, I can promise. She won’t want it.”

“Well she’ll be dead soon, anyway, and Two will have Four Victors in three years. A record.” Clove promises, stepping away from the middle aged man, but not before she grabs Cato’s arm and pulls him back too.

By the time that Katniss finds Peeta, on the verge of death, and manages to drag him to a cave, Clove is sure of it. Two has this one in the bag.

“Look at her. She looks like she wants to cry anytime she has to touch him.” Glimmer taunts, watching the girl’s color drain from her flesh anytime she has to get too close to the boy.

“I’d want to cry if you looked at me like she looks at him.” Marvel agrees, the four of them standing in a semi circle around Haymitch, who is slumped over the bar.

“Wouldn’t it be an absolute shame to die a complete virgin, probably never even been kissed.” Clove barbs, a wide smile plastered on her face. “Oh look at her. She looks so uncomfortable. Good job Haymitch, you were right, this is great.”

“This is your grand love story?” Gloss chimes in from across the room, all of them locked in on watching the absolute dread in Katniss Everdeen’s eyes as she inches closer to the boy.

“Will you all shut your mouths-” Haymitch slams his glass down, turning to berate them at the exact moment Clove lets out an absolute scream of a laugh.

“Shut the FUCK up!”

“There’s NO way people believe this.”

“She looks like she’s going to cry.”

“Oh my god, they think that's a kiss?” Clove snarks, craning her head around for Enobaria. “Enobaria! Was that how I was kissing at sixteen?”

“Clove, I wish that's how you two were at sixteen.” Enobaria joins the circle, sneering at the screen full of awkward teen barely-kisses.

“You two weren’t even that tame in training, everyone knew you were just a few minutes apart from sneaking off to some closet.” Brutus adds, completing the circle behind Haymitch.

“There's no way anyone believes that's real.” Glimmer agrees, shaking her head in disgust. “And without any sort of chapstick, that couldn’t have even felt good.”

“What do you know about what people believe?” Haymitch waves his hands about, borderline belligerent at the taunting and jeers from the generations worth of career victors. “That looks perfectly real.”

Cato raises his eyebrow, moving at the same time she does, before he grabs Clove by the face, crashing his lips against hers. She understands his point, immediately hooking her arms around his shoulders just in time for him to bend her backwards.

“See what I mean, when I said I wish they only looked like your two.” Enobaria whispers to Haymitch, who has pushed himself up and through the group of victors.

When they pull apart, Clove is smirking and Cato calls out to the disappearing drunk. “Still think yours looked believable?”

–

The games continue to play out as a nightmare.

Their girl almost gets her, only to brag and get her neck broken by the giant guy from eleven.

Clove sees herself out, unable to face the mocking she has so freely dished out herself.

Their boy is in the final three. And instead of throwing the bow off, or tossing them to the mutts below, he tries to take them both head on.

A mercy arrow comes from fire girl, after she and Peeta decide it’s worth untying the tourniquet on his leg.

“Well Haymitch, we have to hand it to you.” Brutus offers, as the sun comes up on the screen in the arena. “Congratulations on your victors–”

Another rule change pauses the congratulations and the surprise of a twelve win.

Only one victor.

“She’ll shoot him. She’s got a sister to get home to.” Finnick claims, shaking his head in distaste. “Sad. Thought they had a chance.”

“He’ll bleed out anyway” Johanna agrees, “He actually likes her, too. He isn’t faking it. “

“Think he’ll die for her though?” Enobaria questions, settling down on the couch beside Clove.

“If he loves her, for real, then yeah. He will.” Cato admits, shaking his head.

The berries are in her hand and it’s Clove who knows what's happening first.

“OH my god they’re going to kill themselves.”

“There has to be a–”

“Cato, shh, listen.”

The room full of victors is completely silent, truly sitting on the edge of their seats, in various stages of disbelief as the two of them raise their suicide pact to their mouths in perfect unison.

A panicked voice fills the arena, and the entirety of the room lets out anticipated breaths they did not mean to be holding.

I present to you the winners of the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games.

The room is still quiet, processing, accepting the reality and anticipating the fallout from exactly what Katniss Everdeen just suggested and did, when two finely dressed officials enter the room without so much as a knock.

“Cato. Clove. President Snow would like to see you both. Immediately. “

#always remember we're burned for better #arwbfb #arwbfb tag #clato #cato and clove #clato au #cato and clove fanfic #clato fanfic #the hunger games fanfic #glimmer and marvel are back in buisness

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mxllitiam · 10 months

Text

@subsiist sent five times happy: ( five times peeta made effie happy. )

one.

she's gotten used to the sickening tension of the train ride on their way to the capitol. tributes are freshly out of their families, haymitch is often too drunk to be coherent. effie is left to dry out tears and offer comfort as she can. she's gotten better at it, over these years, awkward pats that have turned into warm hugs and combed back hairs.

this time, there is no crying. the girl looks mortified, but she doesn't cry. the boy looks curious, at best. as if he's had all the time in the world to come to terms with his end and has accepted it. he looks around the train and at their food with simple wonder in his eyes.

katniss everdeen and peeta mellark. effie never forgets a name she reads from one of those little papers in the bowl.

peeta catches her eyes and she smiles, gentle. he seems like someone who won't give her much trouble. a kindred spirit much like herself, he seems deadset on being polite to everyone around him. he's caring. which makes it all the more difficult to lead him into the hunger games when the time comes, but that's part of her job.

"you look nice today," he offers, and effie has to blink back her surprise at the honesty in his tone.

no one from twelve has ever complimented her before. their fashion senses are incredibly different, of course, so she tries not to take it personally. but he has seen her, for what is worth and, even if he's lying for the sake of making small talk, even if people pleasing is a streak too strong in his blood, even then, she knows he means it. to some extent, he wants to make her happy, with a compliment. and he does.

"thank you," she responds, just a beat too late, and her smile widens. "you look pretty handsome yourself. just wait until you both see what cinna and portia have in store for you."

he seems like someone who's going to slither into her heart and stay there.

two.

the victory tour is coming to an end, much to her dismay.

she knows it's been tiring. she knows they're tired. she gets to go back to her place at the capitol, back to her bland routine and empty rooms, and it's selfish of her to dread it, but she does. she likes the spectacle. she likes celebrating their love, she likes puffing her chest up and being proud of finally having her victors. she knows they don't seem to enjoy it too much, particularly haymitch and katniss, but she hopes they're not too terribly unhappy. at least not all the time.

the truth is that she cowers at the thought of being alone again after so much energy buzzing around her. even here, now, as she stays up terribly late and stirs sugar into her tea against the silence, she knows she's not alone. they're all sleeping in their own train compartments, the two lovebirds possibly together. she's not alone, not really. they only have two more districts to visit.

the sound of someone joining her pulls her from nostalgic thoughts, and she smiles in greeting as she sees peeta. he says he can't sleep, and they share small talk as she makes him a cup of tea.

"thank you, effie." he says, looking at her in that way he sometimes did, with so many unsaid things. they all had a way with nonwords, the people from twelve. for someone so literal and so talkative, she's still learning to pick up on it.

and she does now, she thinks, and it makes her heart grow a few sizes. her smile softens and she nods her head. she feels loved.

three.

when she comes home to her capitol apartment, in one bland afternoon, there is a bundled package on her kitchen table.

the victory tour has ended weeks ago, so her routine is back to the normal everyday boredom of whenever she's not working in the games. her friendships feel weirdly futile and hollow now. she's trying to remember what she did for fun before the 74th hunger games.

curious hands unfurl the package to find a loaf of bread, perfectly crispy on the outside and soft to the touch, its aroma fills up the kitchen quickly. she mentioned to peeta once about how she can never find the perfect ciabatta near her place. she scrambles for the note and her grin is wide when she reads his handwriting, i know you like this one!

she pins his card to her fridge, right by a photograph of him and katniss smiling up on a stage, on their victory tour. she grins all the way through her delicious bread-and-butter dinner that night.

four.

she always calls. she checks up on them, as if her escorting job is a lifelong sentence that ties them together, no matter how begrudging they may be in keeping her around. she doesn't think about it, she makes excuses for every call of hers that goes unanswered, and brushes off their tired tones when they talk to her.

someone almost always answers, though. of course it'd be peeta.

she tries not to give him too much grief, worried she could be suffocating -- knowing she could be suffocating. she calls every other week, when she has news to share. a new magazine that came out with an article about them, or the latest twelve-inspired whacky piece of fashion she's seen at a store.

she calls, he picks up. you can hear the smile in her voice.

five.

things are almost normal, sometimes. when there's a chill in the air and the victor's village is filled with the distant sounds coming from one of the houses. there's talking, a lot of it, for this team's standards. maybe everyone has just enough booze in their system to make it happen, effie isn't sure, but she likes it.

she basks in it.

it's almost normal here, there's no arguing, they're not fighting off impending death. they don't have to worry about mentoring in the next games yet, she's been cleared to visit even if she's off-duty. she's grateful to be invited.

peeta blows out candles on top of his cake and they all cheer for him. he's smiling, grinning from ear to ear, the flush in his cheeks makes him look healthy and alive.

he's happy. so she's happy, too.

#effie : peeta #mxllitiam : drabble #she just wants him to be happy i'm #ugly sobbing

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mockingjaysfm · 1 year

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chapter one . 𝚆𝙴𝙻𝙲𝙾𝙼𝙴 𝚃𝙾 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙲𝙰𝙿𝙸𝚃𝙾𝙻

you’re here, golden and beautiful. the capitol awaits, a gleaming, glowing beacon, and you are its prize. the tributes arrive and an announcement is made — you will not go straight to your apartments, instead it’s straight to the auditorium where caesar flickerman announces your fate.

i volunteer as tribute . it is like a battle cry as they scramble to be with the ones they love.

but wait — what is that ? the lights go out, and before anyone can react, you hear the three tone whistle shared between katniss and rue all those years ago in the 74th games rings throughout the theatre, and on the blackened screens comes a symbol, a mockingjay.

screams erupt, for surely this is some sort of attack? caesar gains control of the theatre once more and ushers the tributes and victors off the stage where they are escorted back to the trainings center by none to gentle peacekeepers.

you’re not sure what to do. go to your apartment? to the bar? to the rooftop garden? where can you go to escape this terror? you’re in the thick of it, and all eyes are on you, scrutinising... suspicious. are you one of them? are you a mockingjay?

we are officially open for in character interactions ! feel free to start writing threads and tag starters under #mj.open .

in summary, our muses have officially landed in the tribute center where the tributes will live and train for the next week. however upon arriving, tributes and the victors they are related to were brought on stage with caesar flickerman and told that the victors would have the chance to volunteer to go into the arena with their loved one. when the victors stepped forward to volunteer, the theatre was thrust into blackness and the rebellion made itself known for the first time.

please feel free to write over the in story duration of two days. this is time for your characters to settle into the training center before the tribute parade.

have fun and feel free to reach out with any questions!

#mj.one

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shesniktarch · 1 year

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of course as im typing that i decide to watch the gotg trailer and now im trying not to break down bc i told nan several times she had to at least make it to her 74th birthday to see groot again because she loved him so freaking much

(she had a planter that she kept by her bed because she kept medication in it and she never opened the christmas groot funko she got last year its still in its little box)

if youre in the cinema in may watching it and you hear crying dont worry its just me and mum

blac/k panther already got us bad the other week may is gonna be worse

and yeah i havent watched the special yet i really want to but idk what it’ll do to me

#‹ ooc ! / charlie af . ›#grief tw

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ellanainthetardis · 3 years

Note

How long did it actually take you to write Invictus? What was your initial inspiration for it? And did you intend for it to be a 10 year (in fic) duration, or you know 116 chapters?😆 Was there any moment where you were stumped? Love that fic. It has my whole ❤.

Invictus was a while ago so I don't remember all the details but I think it must have taken me close to a year? Maybe less... I was writing other stuff on the side I think...

The inspiration was really the "what if" Haymitch's brother was alive, how would that change things... And, no, it definitely wasn't supposed to be 116 chapters but I'm very bad at evaluating how long a fic is going to be. I suppose that's the downside of just going with the flow and not planning, sometimes I think it will be a couple of chapters and usually it ends up being 30+ (looking at you When it Rains It Pours and April Showers XD).

I probably had a few times when I had to put it aside for a couple of weeks to go write something else... I can't remember though if it was done before I started publishing it... It must have been.... I don't usually like posting WIP until they're finished because I hate leaving readers hanging... I can't really remember now but yeah I think the worst part to write was the actual 74th HG... I really wanted to get to the rebellion part and I think we reached a point around the 70th when Hayden started to feel redundant, like the plot was clearly shifting more to hayffie and he was just awkwardly there...

The fact that he remained unaware so long was also a problem because it stretched credibility past a point so I was forced to have Haymitch reveal fractions of the truth over time... But I also really wanted the special appointment secret to only explode during the rebellion when Effie wouldn't be here to support him through it...

I have a few favorite scenes in that fic... One of them was one I wanted for a long time and it's the confrontation Effie/Iris in the kitchen during the wedding dress photoshoot... I remember having such a clear idea of what I wanted for that scene that, as usual when you have a too specific idea in mind, it was a struggle to write and didn't end up being as impactful as what I wanted... I just really wanted Haymitch to be very close to the end of the rope and being compared to his father was the last straw and just being like "YOU WANT THE TRUTH? YOU WANT THE TRUTH?" and Effie being the last rampart because as much as she advocated for him to tell his family... This wasn't the way.

The dynamics with the brothers was really the one I was most interested in when I started too. If you watch Supernatural, you will find I borrowed some of that weird unhealthy codependency/need to protect at all cost from them... Another key scene I wanted was the one in Thirteen when Haymitch tell Hayden Effie's gone and it's just... All out war. Haymitch's breakdown... That was difficult to write, I remember I made myself cry because I was completely into it... Or maybe I was PMSing at the time, who knows...

Another thing I hesitated with are povs. At one point, you have an Iris pov. It's the only not-hayffie one. I think at that point I must ahve been maybe struggling and was thinking of opening it to iris and hayden but it never come to pass in the end...

#ask #anon #invictus

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posthungergamessyndrome · 3 years

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so here’s my long overdue review of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes that no one asked for. I finally read the book, well listened to the audiobook, coz i dunno how to read a book anymore.

This book was everything I expected it to be and also not. Definitely the first two parts was easily predictable, we all kinda assumed that was the general arc that story would take. So while I found the first two parts enjoyable, learning more about the history of the games and learn more of Capitol, i wasn’t really hooked until the third part.

But let me say this first tho, Ms. Suzanne Collins, you never disappoint. Also I have questions and I hate that she wasn’t able to go on a book tour (I haven’t read her Q&A tho).

I still have the same qualms as i did about the prequel as i did before I read it. While I get the early records of the games were shoddy, and the 10th Hunger Games was erased but for one copy hidden in some vault, that doesn’t matter, what matter is Snow knows.

So If Snow had that relationship with the Games and Lucy, the first victor of d12, a lot of the decisions he made in the trilogy made no sense.

I get it, he wanted to forget, it’s decades until Katniss came along. While there might be parallels, Lucy and Katniss are very different characters. But all I can think off is the reason he didn’t kill Katniss sooner, was it really because she would end up a martyr or rallying cry for the district, which happened anyways, or he was practically disassociating the moment Katniss was reaped?

Were Katniss and Peeta unintentionally triggers to so many of his hidden traumas that’s why he made so many misteps? Katniss singing the meadow song to Rue, triggered. Peeta mentioning the Valley song, triggered. Mockingjay, triggered. The Hanging Tree, triggered.

Was he so busy crying in the shower that he wasn’t able to stop Seneca Crane from making bad calls during the 74th Games? Two winners from the same district, would Snow really okay’d that himself?

And also, I’ve always thought that anything he did towards Peeta was coz he wanted to hurt Katniss. But no, he wanted to hurt that boy. Peeta reminds him of his young self, at least the young person everyone saw him as, charming, smart, and loyal. And in a way, had Peeta been born in the Capitol and was among Snow’s contemporaries, Snow would have seen him as his ultimate rival.

Coz Snow was smart and knows how to manipulate people, but Peeta does it a lot better and a lot more successfully. With Snow, it’s right in front of his face and he still misses it. Often he is so close to getting it. How could he not have thought of the star-crossed lovers angle? How?? When one Peeta Mellark thought of it?

Which idk if there’s fanfics of that yet, but I need to read them asap, Katniss and Peeta and teen Snow, make it happen.

(But I was looking at my notes and I wrote probably the reason Snow didn’t think of the star crossed lovers angle because it was about his survival not about Lucy’s. Lucy was at best, seen as his possession. Even at the moments he was honestly in love with her, he still saw her as someone belonging to him only. )

Snow had two relationships going on: with Sejanus and with Lucy. I did find his relationship with Sejanus more interesting, because I think it’s that relationship that shaped him more that his relationship with Lucy.

I did like and even at some points enjoyed their Slytherin-Hufflepuff BFFship going on, coz despite how Snow let us know what he really thinks versus what he actually says, he was drawn to protect Sejanus, even though he’s reluctant about it or insist that he was made to do it or it’s also to benefit himself.

And I’m not saying there’s queerbaiting in this book, but certain pairings in this book makes more sense to ship than Johanna and Katniss.

With Lucy, i know many were wary or didn’t want Snow to have a relationship with her. For me i was open to it, at least intrigued to see where it will go or how will it be handled.

Honestly while it is still better written than most YA romances, I found it very insta-love. Again, my sense of timeline in this novel might be different coz I was listening to the audiobook instead of reading it, but they fell in love pretty quick.

While listening to the audiobook, i thought, if their relationship is at this point it must have been weeks since the reaping and the games haven’t started yet, and then Snow says it’s just been five days. They were making out I think by day 3 or something.

Maybe because I knew they relationship was doomed from the start and we know how Snow ends up, I was amused by certain moments in their relationship, coz all I can think about it is, oh honey no.

but also, I am mad that Ms. Collins is capable of writing amazing fluff moments in the midst of a dystopian world, and she wastes them on Snow and Lucy? Where was all that for Katniss and Peeta? i was given crumbs in the trilogy, Snow and Lucy made out so many times, at one point I even thought they were going to sleep together, like how dare you Ms. Collins.

For the many years we debated the meaning behind The Hanging Tree, Ms Collins, said no hun, this is what the songs means, let me tell you it’s origin story. And omg Suzanne, that was fucked up. Thanks.

One of the things I was worried about for this prequel is that while it is set in the future, the messages in it will seem outdated because a lot has changed since the trilogy came out.

But she wrote this book well before it was announced in 2019, before it was released in 2020, but she still made it very relevant for today and I think the messaging of this prequel would be more resonant in the future, like the trilogy is.

She touched upon how we really value children, and that immediately reminded me of school mass shootings and how we haven’t done anything about it. She lives in Sandy Hook when the shooting happened so this makes sense she makes a statement about it. And now we are sending kids to school in a middle of a pandemic for political reasons not because we are concerned about their education.

And there’s also mentions of a pandemic in a middle of a war, let’s say it was a whole mental experience alternating between listening to the audiobook and watching the news on January 6.

I also loved the lines: “why do people think the only thing they need for a revolution is anger?” and “we pour money into industries not people.”

While it’s almost unbelievable that the modern hunger games was merely a student group project by a bunch of privileged rich kids and one person who thinks slavery is okay ended up writing the whole thing anyways, that’s basically how this country and our system of governance was founded.

Dr. Gaul is also every Security and Development professor I had in grad school who teaches that war never ends and it’s not about winning it’s about control to a class of future leaders at the state department, white house, and pentagon. i mean, it’s the cornerstone of US foreign policy since end of WW2.

While also listening to this book, I am dead sure that Suzanne could write a different version of Catching Fire where Katniss and Peeta were mentors and they uncover the hidden 10 hunger games tape, and it still will be a be hella of a story.

It also makes sense that the two characters that could possibly tell us or Katniss the connection of Snow to Lucy were the ones who can’t talk: Mags and Tigris.

obviously lucy ended up in 13, possibly related to Alma Coin coz where else will she get that personal hatred against Snow?

Snow could have at least picked Clemensia or Lys, but Livia? i guess make sense since her offspring ended up being Plutarch’s assistant.

I feel like if i read the prequel before the trilogy, it would be a different reading experience. But at the same time, Snow, while he had his moments, is an unlikeable character even as an anti-hero, and his moral stand point is something i dont agree with, coz you know, he’s basically a republican. it’s like reading a book about a young Mitch McConnell, doesn’t matter if the system hurt him sometimes, as long as it hurts others more and keeps him in control, and i gag. I don’t think i would finish reading the prequel if i started with it instead of the trilogy.

but it does solidifies my theory that Snow’s evil is not because he is out of touch with the rest of panem, he knows suffering that’s why he knows how to exploit it. He is not oblivious to the problems, but he arrived at different conclusions or convictions, because again he supports the system that controls his enemies, even if the system is cruel to him too. Again, a Republican. Don’t be one, don’t date one.

I do wonder tho if he made good with champagne tuesdays when he became president.

I don’t see how this prequel works as a movie adaptation tho, even if turned into three parts. It makes more sense for it to be a series, so if lionsgate hasn’t declared bankruptcy before they can adapt this into screen, maybe with the state of movies right now due to the pandemic, they will be more convinced to make this into a series for Netflix or to launch their own streaming service.

#the ballad of songbirds and snakes #coriolanus snow #the hunger games

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bloodys44 · 3 years

Text

Silence and Cigarette Smoke

Original story and bonus content found here! ↓↓↓↓

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13289933/1/Silence-and-Cigarette-Smoke

I just posted chapter 9 on FF.net so please feel free to read ahead if you enjoy :)

Chapter 6: The Letters To A Ghost

788

(25th day of summer)

Mom,

I helped Natsu dig a grave for Lissana today. He was extremely adamant about it even though we were never able to retrieve her body. Not to mention that we already held a service for her weeks ago. He dug it by hand at her favorite lookout, told me he wanted her soul to rest where she would never miss the sun rise or set. The headstone he made her read "An angel who falls may now pass to the home of their gods. A forever sunrise to lighten the lives of the dark." It was beautiful Mama, Natsu worked really hard on it.

He didn't sleep in my dorm last night for the first time since we came home. I went by his room to check on him but I heard him crying. In all the years I've known Natsu, I've only seen that once, when we lost her initially. He sounded so sad, It broke my heart. I was too scared to go in so I left him for the night. I really miss her too.

Remembering your warm hugs,

Lucy.

(86th day of summer)

Dear Mom,

Today was really hard, I miss you.

It's been two months since I last wrote to you. Natsu went out on his first job since Lissana today. He wouldn't take me with him no matter how much I begged. He's never left me behind before, I know it was only one job, but it still stung. He barely speaks anymore, just follows me around silently. I feel like I'm losing my partner. Gray and Levy say I need to give him time and space, that he likes to grieve alone. I get that Mama, I really do, but he isn't the only one grieving. I feel like he died with her in the mine. I miss him too.

He still gave me some of the reward money even though he did the request alone. I wish he wouldn't, it feels like pitty. I don't want his pity, I just want to talk to him like I used too.

Mira is still having nightmares. I've been sleeping on the terrace by my room. Her crying breaks my heart and I fear it will never heal if I keep listening.

This was a bad letter, sorry Mom,

Lucy.

(43rd day of fall)

Mom,

I almost destroyed grandmother Anna's book today. The sight of it turns my stomach, and I haven't been able to open it yet. Natsu wouldn't let me ruin it though, he told me if it was gone the whole trip would be worth nothing. He's right, I know. I just want the hurt to stop.

Fall is here now, I love how the grounds look with all the autumn colors. Though I miss the pink cherry blossoms, they remind me of Natsu's hair, but I think his shade is fading too. He stresses too much. I think you would still like it.

Love always,

Lucy.

(58th day of winter)

Mama,

Today was good. It was Juvia's birthday. The guild held a small party for her, it was perfect considering the mourning mood that's dulled the air. There were smiles and cake, and everybody was laughing again, just like old times, I loved it. Gray asked her to be his girlfriend, finally. I think that's the part she loved the most. They're leaving on a mission that's supposed to take around four months. Knowing her, Juvia will treat every second like an extended honeymoon. She really was ecstatic mama, I wish you could have seen the joy on her face. I think everyone could feel it, I even saw Mira dancing slowly in the corner with her husband Laxus. She hasn't left her room since we told her what happened. I hope she's starting to feel like herself again. It's almost the new year, so maybe things will start to get better for everyone.

Natsu didn't show, of course. He hasn't been around much lately. He's always working alone or hiding around the castle where I can't find him, not even at our special clearing in the forest, the one he found me in. That's where he always used to hide. I haven't spoken much more than a sentence to him in weeks. I really miss him. Even with the happiness of today, I feel really alone again. He doesn't stay the night with me anymore.

Lucy.

(64th day of winter)

Dear Mom,

Gray and Juvia left on their job this morning. We all went down to the gate to wave them off. Even Natsu showed up, rare but welcomed. Gray is his best friend, and even though they haven't talked much either, I think he's going to miss him.

I asked Natsu if he wanted to take a job with me. It's been a while and I'm running out of money and I refuse to accept any more of his. I keep having to pick up extra shifts with the infirmary to keep up with my guild fees. He said no. I got mad and stormed off like a child.

He came to my room later in the night for the first time in months. I thought he was coming to tell me he changed his mind, that he wanted to take a request with me, though it ended up being the exact opposite. He came in yelling, spouting off that he couldn't take me on a job because I couldn't protect myself and he wasn't capable of doing it either. He rambled on for almost an hour, he's never yelled at me before, and mama he was screaming. But I decided I really didn't mind, its the most I've heard him speak in months. It wasn't near as bad as father used to make it. I was just happy to hear his voice again.

Merry Christmas,

Lucy.

-789-

(74th day of winter)

Mama,

He's gone.

He really did it. He left me alone for real. And god Mama, winter is so cold without him.

He visited me last night, I woke to him sitting at the end of my bed. It startled me since he hadn't been back to my room since he came in yelling. He looked so sad, his lips were pressed together like he was scared to speak the words trapped in his head. He crawled up beside me, just sitting there staring as if he could see right through me. He was so close, I could feel the heat of his breath over my nose. His eyes so dark they blended with the night. Eventually, I tried to ask him what was wrong, but he didn't answer, instead, he leaned in closer. He tried to kiss me, but I moved away. I really couldn't believe it, that he would have the audacity to try something like that after months without so much as a word. This visit was my turn to yell. I said things I would have never imagined saying to him, to my favorite person alive.

I went to his room later, I felt so bad for how I had spoken to him, I wanted to apologize. When I got there his room was empty, mattress stripped clean and drawers pulled open and bare. I think he was trying to kiss me goodbye. I'm so scared he won't come back Mama. I think he really did die that day in the mine.

Lucy.

(76th day of spring)

Hey Mom,

Gray and Juvia came back today, half a month early. They ran into some trouble, a man with metal clawed gloves dipped in some sort of poison. Gray's okay, but Juvia is really sick. He says she hasn't woken for three days. He's really worried about her, I can tell from the way his hands shake. He hasn't left her bedside all day. It's sweet, but it reminded me of Natsu. I miss when he used to spend the night.

I haven't heard from him, not even a letter. I hope he's okay.

Love from your dearest,

Lucy.

(86th day of spring)

Dear Mom,

Spring always reminds me of you, I remember how much it was your favorite, even though I always preferred summer. I miss when we strolled the garden together and the only thing to worry about was not fraying my gown or scuffing my shoes.

Juvia still hasn't woken up yet, and I think Gray is starting to panic. He's going on lots of jobs, says he can't stay on the grounds too long or he starts to worry about her. I offered to be his new 'in-term' partner while he waits for her to get better. I really need to make some more money, and I don't think Natsu is coming back anytime soon.

We leave tomorrow morning and I'm kind of excited, I've never been on a job without Natsu before. I think it'll be a good chance to prove myself. I just hope this doesn't make me miss him any more than I already do.

Love,

Lucy.

(32nd day of summer)

Mama,

Working with Gray has been really nice. He's actually a lot more kind and sweet then his cold persona would suggest. I think I can see why Juvia likes him so much. Gray listens, he's a good holder of information, a place to vent. He's held me while I cried and talked me through my nonsense brain. Sometime's he even shares his cigarettes with me. He's a really good guy, and I can see how much he loves Juvia. I really hope she wakes up soon, Porlyusica started warning of impairments the longer she's unconscious.

I'm glad Gray has been so good to me, it's nice having a friend to talk too again. I know Levy's here too, but she's always busy with guild work. The rest of the members are all amazing and accepting but it's just not the same. I hope he doesn't forget about me, or how close we've gotten when Juvia wakes up.

I'm really worried about Natsu. Mira says he's never been gone this long without at least a letter. I've been reading as many of Fiore's damage and crime reports as I can get my hands on. I pray that all the flame-related incidents are him. It gives me hope that he's alive.

Lucy.

(84th day of summer)

Hi Mom,

It's been a really long time, Summer's almost over now.

Please Mama, don't judge me. I think I made a mistake. Gray and I went too far, we slept together. I gave him all my firsts, and I think he gave me some of his. I regret it all, and I can tell he does too. We had an awful day, our mission was a complete failure. We spent the night at some shabby inn, the bed smelled like rot but we honestly didn't care. We both cried after and pretended we couldn't hear one another. Juvia's been in a coma for almost half a year. I think he's trying to process the thought of actually losing her. I swear I could taste sadness on his lips. I think we're both grieving the loss of someone significant.

I thought about Natsu the entire time, I could picture all his scars over Gray's skin. I pretended his icy breath smelt of cinnamon and ash. It's been so long, but I still think about him every minute. I wish he had been the first to touch me. I love Gray, I really do, but not like that. My body feels dirty even after scrubbing my skin raw.

I can't pick out any damage or crime reports that I could even remotely relate to Natsu, and his mattress doesn't smell like him anymore either. I sleep there every night. If he's with you Mama, please take care of him.

I love you, so much,

Lucy.

(49th day of fall)

Dear Mom,

I asked Gray if he thought I should dig a metaphorical grave for Natsu. He told me I was crazy, said he would know if that 'cocky fire pit went out'. I hope he's right. We don't talk about what happened. Ever. We just pretend it never did.

I've been studying telepathy, and I'm getting pretty good. And yes, I learned it from great grandmother's book. I finally opened it. I feel dirty knowing the thoughts of my teammates sometime's so I don't use it often, however, my new favorite trick is dream diving. I do it to Gray when we're out on missions and he's gone to bed for the night. I hope he doesn't feel violated, his dreams aren't very interesting anyway. The only constant is the cold. Don't ask me how somebody dream's in temperatures, he just does.

Other time's though, I try to reach Natsu. I'm not really sure how far my range is and I have no reason to believe it could ever reach him. I still try though.

Lucy.

(73rd day of fall)

Mama,

Juvia woke up. I'm not sure if this is good or bad news. She's unresponsive, constantly staring at the ceiling. Porlyusica says there's a good chance of more function after a few days. But the sight of her, so sunken and lifeless is nothing less than disturbing. It's shattering Gray's heart, and watching it shatters mine. He won't eat, it's been four days. I don't want to lose another friend. This year has been the worst.

Job requests are coming in fewer and fewer, all of Fiore is under such a heated eye. Royal guards on every corner, in every continent. It's nerve-racking to hire mages while under constant watch, and nearly impossible for said mages to complete missions unsaved. The streets are war zone's, the anti-magic forces haven't been this strong since the initial banning or the day you died. One day, I want to fix it, this awful divide of man and man. I tell myself your death wasn't for nothing. I hope nobody dies for nothing. Too much of valuable human life is wasted. Humanity is cruel I suppose.

Your's truly,

Lucy.

(50th day of Winter)

Mom,

A very merry Christmas to you, and to Natsu. I hope he's with you and not lost in the stars. Things have been getting better. Juvia is up and talking, she can even walk around a bit with a sturdy shoulder from Gray. My heart hasn't felt relief like this in far too long, I feel like it could burst. I couldn't help but cry when I saw Gray smile again. All it took was Juvia's mangled stutter of his name. It was such a pure smile, like he had decided to donate his soul to her. I don't blame him, Juvia is an amazing woman. I feel like I stabbed her in the back and I don't think the guilt for my excursion with Gray will ever go away. I wonder if he plans to tell her. I thought about doing it myself, but it feels unfair to confess how another tried to mend their grieving heart.

It's almost been an entire year since he left. I don't think I really believe that he's dead but sometime's it's easier to lie about it. Natsu showed me a whole new world, took my hand and cherished me with such open arms. I can deny it all I want, but I know I fell in love with him, his every feature is burned against the inside of my skull. If he really is gone, I won't forget him, but I think I'll be okay eventually.

Sending you love filled with holiday warmth,

Lucy.

Original story and bonus content found here! ↓↓↓↓

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13289933/1/Silence-and-Cigarette-Smoke

#natsu #natsu dragneel #lucy #lucy heartfilia #Nalu #nalu fanfic #nalu fanfiction #fan fiction #fanfic #fairy tail #fairy tail fanfiction #gray fullbuster #juvia lockser

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everlarkficquestions · 3 years

Text

Sunday Stumped Day 31

It’s another Sunday Stumped Day!

Sometimes we straight out get stumped. So every few months we will pick a Sunday when we’ll post of a list of asks that we need your help on.

If you know the answer to any of these asks please shoot us a message/ ask/ with the Post number and the fic details and we’ll add it and give you a shout out with our thanks. Any links you can provide will also be super helpful.

Thanks!

Post 1 , Post 2 , Post 3, Post 4, Post 5, Post 6, Post 7, Post 8, Post 9, Post 10, Post 11, Post 12, Post 13, Post 14, Post 15, Post 16, Post 17, Post 18, Post 19, Post 20, Post 21, Post 22 , Post 23, Post 24, Post 25, Post 26, Post 27, Post 28, Post 29 , and Post 30 can be found here - and there are still fics we need your help with.

521. bnedd said to everlarkficquestions:

Hi! I’m looking for a fic I read awhile ago. it’s post mockingjay and Peeta still has bad episodes. Gale comes back and the story shows her process of choosing Peeta over gale and one thing I really remember about it is that Peeta has a bad episode in katniss’s room and destroys it and snaps her favorite bow in half. Thanks in advance!

522. 19fundiesandcounting said to everlarkficquestions:

Any fics where Katniss fakes an orgasm?

523. thefuckingstory said to everlarkficquestions:

hi i'm looking for a fic with everlark building up to having sex after the end of the series and working through trauma together. i think katniss masturbates in the lake at one point.

524. imaginationgirl555555 said to everlarkficquestions:

Looking for katniss/peeta fanfic. Katniss asked peeta over, believe baby was involved, he found out she is actually goigg on date, try's to persuade her not to go but she leaves. Ends up in her car crying at the restraunt where she was supposed to meet Cato for date. She ends up leaving to go to peeta

525. brithna said to everlarkficquestions:

Looking for two fics. I remember a lot of it takes place in the tour... Pretty and and heavy. I think there was one part where they were on the train trying to climb to top just to see if they could. It pisses me off that I can't remember more because that's not a lot to go on, I know. Another one -- the team pretty much helps some woman (I think) to jump off the train and get to D4. That's all I can remember...

526. brithna said to everlarkficquestions:

Also looking for fic where katniss' mom tears Peeta's mom a new ass because she hit him then he basically moves in with them?

527. mellarkablegirl said to everlarkficquestions:

Hello! It's me again. Sorry about the tonnes of asks. But I just wanted to know if anyone has everlarked the movie 'No Reservations ' ? The one with Catherine Zeta Jones and Aaron Eckhart. Cause its practically begging to be . Also all the characters in the movie fit so well into the THG universe. Once again I'm sorry about the influx of asks🙈

528. mandelion82 said to everlarkficquestions:

I'm looking for an Age Gap fic where Peeta is Katniss’s teacher and they play piano together. In the end, he asks her father for permission to take her out.

529. waywardangel-wilds said to everlarkficquestions:

Hi! I read a fic a long time ago that I cannot remember the name of it or anything. I remember that Katniss and Peeta had been arguing, or were just mad at each other for a while. Peeta went to town and was standing outside his house talking to a girl holding a laundry basket (delly I think?) And Katniss was so pissed at both of them that she shot an arrow at the porch column behind them.

530. 19fundiesandcounting said to everlarkficquestions:

Any fics where Katniss dies in the quell?

531. saltyfacedelusion said to everlarkficquestions:

Hi! I remember reading a small FIC, similar to the Final eight by fernwithy. A “five times”story. Gale watches the games and the first and second and comments on some points (actions, words of Peeta, of course kisses:)) angry and jealous. I looked at your jealous Gale sheet, but I didn't see anything like it. Looking for a week, desperate ((Can you think of something?)

532. wendywobbles said to everlarkficquestions:

Hello! I was hoping you could work your story finding magic for me. I remember reading a story ages ago. Katniss gets hurt, Peeta is a nurse and in her medicated state she sings to him or is super vocal about how cute he is. Gale catches it on his phone and it ends up online. It was a very sweet story, I’d love to read it again. Thanks 🙂

533. i-am-batman-chick said to everlarkficquestions:

Hey, Thanks for keeping up on this. I was wondering if you could help me find a story I read a while ago. I can't remember much but Katniss and Peeta were both going back into the arena. I remember there being a part where they were on the roof and Joanna was peeking out of the door watching them. I think she didn't believe they were really an item. I'm not too sure but I think when they were in the arena they were also talking about how they broke into Haymitchs and stole his alcohol too. TIA

FOUND! Catching Fire: Rekindling- Jamie Sommers The Johanna roof spying happens in Chapter 18 (Thank you, @icbiwf!)

534. hersheys-oranges said to everlarkficquestions:

Hello, I’m trying to find this EverLark fanfic where I think they’re both campaign managers. Peeta is from an influential family and Katniss is from a common background. I think the author was gonna rewrite the story from either Katniss or Peeta’s POV because the first version was very well-taken. Thank you. :)

535. suenosyutopias said to everlarkficquestions:

katniss cheats on peeta with gale and peeta stays with katniss because prim comes to visit (sorry my english)

536. weepingmilkshakesandwich said to everlarkficquestions:

Hi! Any fics where Katniss wears Peeta's jacket or shirt and other people notice?

The Bet by amelia_day, Peeta’s sweatshirt (Thank you, @567inpanem!)

537. ryookineko said to everlarkficquestions:

Hi Guys, I am looking for a Pride and Prejudice type fanfic where Peeta is a merchant and Gale is like a dark bad Darcy. Katniss and Prim lives with Haymitch and Effie is like their governess trying to get Katniss married. I tried the master lists but couldn’t find it. Thanks!

FOUND Prospects & Propriety - juniebugg

538.

do you have any 5+1 or 4+1 fics?

539. the-fire-might-be-shooting-at-us said:

Hi! I'm looking for a fit where Peeta doesn't mention Katniss or his love for her in THG and so after the games he basically gets turned into Finnick 2.0. I think there was an unrequited Katniss/Gale relationship at some point but I'm not sure.

540. bethpeaches123 said:

Hi, you wonderful people! I’m looking for a fic where Peeta is a teacher/prof and Katniss is a student and they run into each other at a coffee shop one night and instead of her taking the bus he drives her home. Anyone know which fic I’m talking about? That’s literally the only thing I remember because I kept picturing the coffee shop i frequent. Thank you for your help!!

FOUND! The Professor by atetheredmind. (Thank you @mrspeetamellark and @sunsetsrmydreams!)

541. mellarkablegirl said to everlarkficquestions:

the second one where Katniss's mother sells her villa/cottage to Peet and Finnick who open a restaurant or bed and breakfast there. I think Katniss moves back in with her mother when this happens .

542. allonsycaptain said to everlarkficquestions:

hey, could you please help me find a fic? i read it this summer, in the story peeta and katniss were taking pills to treat their depression/ptsd, and then they stopped taking them because they couldn’t have sex because of them, and then they were sick later and felt terrible because they stopped taking them.. thank you for your help:)

FOUND! Cold Embers - lieselmemengers (Thank you, @rosegardeninwinter!)

543. Hey guys thank your for all the hard work! I am searching for a fic that I dont remember its name, is about Katniss and Peeta being a couple and one night at a party Delly kisses Peeta and Katniss decides to return home by herself walking on the street and someone kidnapps her for years, she has a miscarriage from her rapist but she manages to escape. The rest of the fic is of her coping from the trauma and Peeta helping her. — aloe--verga

544. hungergamesfangirl02 said to everlarkficquestions:

Hii! Do yall know of a fic where Katniss is taken hostage into the Capitol. And either she had intimacy or is pregnant with Peeta. And she gets hijacked to think Peeta is bad and that he raped her. And then Peeta is the Mockingjay. And when Katniss is rescued, and she talks to herself. And when she can tell what happened to her, Gale beats up Peeta.

545. justanotherrandomaccount9999 said to everlarkficquestions:

Hi! Do you know any fics where Katniss saw Peeta with another girl after the 74th Games but before the Quarter Quell? Thanks.

546. 19fundiesandcounting said to everlarkficquestions:

Hi, I’m looking for a fix where everyone in district twelve, the victors and everlark were escaping a peace keeper attack through tunnels that led to district 13 but Finnick and katniss got captured. Also I believe that Cato and glimmer were torturing them. Thanks

547. myhopesareanchoredinyou said to everlarkficquestions:

hey! i’m looking for a fic (i thiiink it was on fan fiction. com or whatever) where gale gets reaped instead of katniss and peeta and katniss and peeta and gale are friends and gale thinks katniss is in love with her and katniss and peeta have sex in the meadow and katniss gets pregnant and they have to get married? they get married and katniss wears her moms dress?

A Mistake – VMA1998

548. redhoodhungergames said to everlarkficquestions:

Hey! I don’t know too much about the fic but I’ll just list what I remember •Peeta and Katniss have sex in a kitchen, and in order to not make noise she bites onto his neck•peeta and gale are Gaurding some place and gale either sees the mark or peeta mentions it and he’s like “damn, she bit you?” (Gale doesn’t like Katniss here.)That’s...about all I remember, they weren’t sent into the games here if I recall correctly but I believe they exist Anyway I hope this is enough!

549. bethpeaches123 said to everlarkficquestions:

Hi, first of all, thank you so much for the work you do with this, it is so appreciated and impressive how much knowledge you have! The fic I’m looking for is when Katniss and Peeta have won the Games and (I think) are forced to get married, and they get envelopes and have to go to The Capitol and have sex while paying customers watch? And at one point, they’re performing for a couple of men and one of them tries to join them I think? I’ve been doing some digging around but can’t for the life of me find it. TIA!!

550. craftydiva0828 said to everlarkficquestions:

Thanks in advance and maybe I'm losing it but... Is there a fic where Katniss is pregnant during the Quell and they call the baby "Banana nut bread". I think they also communicate in sign language or silently.

FOUND! Catching Fire: Rekindling- Jamie Sommers (Thank you, @blackberrysweater and @superchocovian!)

Do any of these fics ring a bell? Please let us know!

#~#ssd #sunday stumped day

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vincered · 4 years

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❛ IF YOU WANT TO HAVE IT ALL , TAKE IT ALL 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 , 𝟕𝟐𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 , 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐬

[ PARK CHAEWON, CIS FEMALE, SHE / HER. ] introducing nero waterway, VICTOR of the 72nd hunger games, representing district two. my sources say that they are twenty years old & that they’re pretty handy with manipulating opponents and allies alike. wonder if that did them any good in the arena ? anyways, caesar says you can’t miss them, because they remind everyone of a battle cry echoing sending shockwaves through ankle deep water, an unsatisfied hum falling from carefully painted lips to preserve a pristine reputation, the sound of short staves hitting a dummy in the dead of night – raw hands interrupted by an unwelcome visitor & happily sipping on hard-earned wine , hiding the bitter taste of blood behind a victorious grin.

NOT ME literally seeing this rp & screaming becos i was JUST thinkin about the hunger games . i was actually gonna bring nero in as a tribute but i remembered i love nero so i couldn’t but some day one day maybe , i don’t know . n e ways , i’m cc , i can’t spell & i prefer feminine , she / her pronouns . NERO is much like her namesake , the horrifying roman emperor , very ... bad ! in short , she don’t giv a fucc but i hope she ... grows . BUT this is super long , i’m sorry . if u wanna plot PLS like this & i’ll hope on over (: also pls click HERE for a mobile version of this since ik it might b hard to read on my theme .

❛ 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖔𝖓𝖊 ╱ 𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

FULL NAME nero atlas waterway NICKNAME(S) empress ( by the capitol , obviously ) , snake , traitor . AGE twenty GENDER / PRONOUNS cis gendered female / she / her ORIENTATION pansexual , demiromantic HOMETOWN district two , inner city near the wealth FACE CLAIM park chaewon ( go won of loona )

aesthetic : a battle cry echoing ; sending shockwaves through ankle deep water , an unsatisfied hum falling from carefully painted lips to preserve a pristine reputation , fingers taped with bloodying bandages after hours of training past her point , raised by wolves she learns to bare her teeth – but not before she learns to hide her claws , bloodthirsty eyes while holding an opponent underwater – her LAUGH is still used as a soundbite , the sound of short staves hitting a dummy in the dead of night – raw hands interrupted by an unwelcome visitor , attending parties with regret laced in the way she stands properly ( was victory her best option for infamy ? ) & hiding the bitter taste of blood behind a victorious grin .

LABEL the potentate , the truculent , the amoral MORAL ALIGNMENTS neutral evil / chaotic neutral ( + ) POSITIVES strategic , potent , adroit , tactical ( - ) NEGATIVES barbaric , nefarious , blasphemous , fustian HOGWARTS HOUSE slytherin first , ravenclaw second MYTHOLOGICAL PARENT athena + mars DEADLY SIN wrath + pride

❛ 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖙𝖜𝖔 ╱ 𝐜𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞

trigger warning : death , murder , drowning

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢. nero , a name synonymous with evil & barbaric acts – blessed is the baby girl born into the waterway family . her brother , augustus is primed to be a victor ; tall , lethal with the personality to match . she can still remember being held face down in the bathtub by a boy three years her senior , body flailing as she struggles for air – nero can remember her brother burning her arm over an open flame , can recall every cut their parents had to pay thousands to prevent a scar . nero got the name synonymous with evil , but it should’ve been given to the boy who tried to throw her into the quarries when she was five . their parents , politicians in their own right – an ambassador to the capitol , married to the deputy mayor – are eager to produce a victor , to throw augustus into the spotlight with a laurel wreath onto his dark hair . they look to nero & hope for the same thing – two victors are better than one – & once they finish wiping bathwater from her mouth , finish healing a burn & picking up a broken body from the rock tops , they put her in augustus’s path . the perfect opponent , the perfect rival , the best partner in school .

so the academy accepts both waterway children & they climb the ranks faster than no other . once nero learns how to wield a weapon , how to hold her own – payback is dished out faster than augustus can blink & through the attempted murder the siblings enact , respect is earned . it’s rocky , but there are new nights they spend taping each other up & walking each other home . teen years are spent together , ruling the career academies with their sheer ego & skill . augustus , rocks the spear like a gladiator while nero adopts short staves . they both excel in everything , including the bloodlust & the craving to kill . waterways in their true form , they’re in talks to volunteer & only the stupid would oppose their will . but , at nineteen augustus is found dead in the quarries – feet away from where nero laid at five , feeling the life slip from her fingers . nero , who’s never shed a tear in public cried for the next week , red rimmed eyes glaring at everyone who looked her way at a sniffle . it’s deemed an accident , but augustus – so close to victory , would’ve never accidentally fallen to his death .

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐢. the plan is to enter the games at twenty - three ; an age near the middle of the pack , not too young , not too old . but the games are supposed to be hers – they’re supposed to be augustus’s , so she volunteers at eighteen . her sheer potency shirks her competition & she strides to the stage with a smirk curled on her lips . the capitol takes an instant liking to her – just the name nero strikes their hearts with admiration ; mixed with the baby face , the clear bloodlust in crimson lips as she boasts with pride about the games . she loves the games , she loves the capitol , she’s a victor wrapped up in the cloth of a princess . it becomes clear that manipulation is her forte – she’s good with words , she leaves everyone’s head spinning & she walks away with a training score of ten before interviews . when she meets the stage clad in a a ruffly dress , she makes the crowd love her ( ❛ oh , it’s an honor . ❜ , ❛ i hope i can make you guys proud of me . ❜ , ❛ my brother would’ve been so happy that you guys have given me a proud welcome . ❜ ) – she earns her fair share of sponsors the night before her games & goes into the game knowing she’ll win .

her games are much like her , barbaric down to the bone . a seemingly never ending fjord , surrounded by climbable walls of rock – it almost reminds her of home . the bloodbath starts on rocky shores , the cornucopia is the mouth of a cave halfway underwater & nero claims her first kills in the water . the girl from eleven , held underwater the way her brother held her ; the boy from three , head bashed in with a rock ; the pair from five , spear through the pair like kebob . her allies look to her for instructions , the career pack waits for an eighteen year old empress to give orders to her soldiers . the careers run the game , it’s almost un-fun to watch if not for nero & her sheer entertainment . her laughs , the quips she sends to allies & non allies alike , still used as soundbites & promotions to this day . she starts wars with her words before ending it herself with crimson stained hands . she turns her allies against each other just to take them down herself in the woods , promises safety to the non careers only to betray them in the cruelest of ways . her final showdown – the girl from three ; she survived to kill the girl that killed her partner , for love , or something – the thing nero’s never searched for . they survive a fall from a cliff into icy waters & after nearly dying from electrocution , blood is spilt in fjord water & nero claims the crown with her knee on the back of the tribute , hands drenched like the hair clutched in her fingers . she can still remember her brother trying to drown her , he’s with her when she wins .

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐢𝐢. a willing tribute , an ecstatic victor . she’s chased the crown for as long as she’s lived & to hold it in her hands is enough to make her smile for a lifetime . eager to shake hands with president snow , nero has an easier life as a tribute than most – she has NO regrets , she’s the perfect tribute , the perfect victor & quickly rises to almost it - girl status . her face is everywhere , the face of multiple brands & products , life size advertisements are all around the capitol & her game goes down in history ( top three on the most ruthless , cruelest victors in history ) . because of her willingness & her eagerness , she gets an easy life – parties with the rich , nights spent with fans willingly . snow keeps a loose leash on his newest , favorite victor ; lets her wield her words in whichever way she wants & nero gets everything she wants . she watches with her head held high as others suffer , losing no sleep , sleeping with whoever she wants , gaining whatever she wants – empress nero is branded on her skin in invisible ink , but she wears the title with pride .

and yet , she feels a little suffocated by the time the 74th games come around . she’s known now , a capitol lap dog , a willing victor , a willing tribute – nero waterway is not only lethal , she’s ruthless ; but , there’s a part of her that realizes snow is tightening her leash . he demands secrets from the people she beds , the lives of her parents hangs over her heads & for the first time in her life , nero FALTERS underneath the watchful gaze of the capitol . she doesn’t live up to her namesake for the few months leading up to the games , shirks from the limelight she’s grown to love as she reevaluates her decisions . regret’s started to seep into her bones , but nero is an empress , she doesn’t know how to surrender .

❛ 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖗𝖊𝖊 ╱ 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

exterior , known to be both potent & untrustworthy – nero’s still managed to wrap the capitol around her little finger . she makes heads spin with harmless words , pulls strings while she bakes cakes for her favorite game makers . outwardly , people know she’s NOT to be underestimated – that though she’s terrifyingly tiny , she’s much more lethal than most people will ever be in their entire lives . nero , like her namesake , synonymous with evil & savagery , will start wars without lifting a finger & laugh while her fingers get stained with blood .

& while the capitol craves it , it may rub other victors the wrong way . a bit too proud of her achievements , nero has absolutely no regrets about her life . she’s trained for it her entire life , she grasps her laurel wreath in between crimson hands & she boasts her pride . she rolls in the fame & the glory , not understanding the nightmares & the remorse felt by other winners clad in gold . young & naive , she’s almost childlike with her pure glee – if not for the bloodthirsty barbarian hiding inside of her . outrageously pretentious , borderline evil , everything she says has a meaning behind it – usually negative .

interior , nero is lonely . a victorious socialite of all things now , she trains the potential tributes back home , attends lavish parties & mingles with high status citizens but she’s lonely at the top . a stranger to romance , she’s never sought after it as much as she seeks sexual interactions – she more craves friendship , companionship in the way she used to have an older brother .

but she hides it well , takes pictures by her advertisements , watches the games with glee , laughs with game makers & other ruthless victors . she masks her loneliness & her suspicion with charm & her preceding reputation , unaware that her isolation is exactly what president snow wants . her loneliness is what he counts on , but as smart as nero is strategically , she stupid .

midway , her psyche’s been a bit twisted & contorted because of her upbringing – what , with the attempted murder & the glorification of the annual murder games . she’s been an unfortunate victim of the capitol’s brainwashing , viewing the games as an extravagant event & winning to be the greatest honor . she’s flourished as a victor as well , willingly playing into everything the capitol wants her to become as a side effect of being so terribly naive about everything .

there’s a part of her that’s starting to suspect something is wrong – whispers of traitors & to keep a close watch on all the victors , but it’s not like nero has many actual friends . not many people actually want to befriend someone that’d gladly go into the games again , but she’s sat back & observed while snow tightens her leash , restricting her from her daily life . early signs of regret are starting to seep into her bones as snow starts demanding more & more , but she’s been idolizing the capitol & everything all her life – it’ll take a lifetime to wipe her slate clean .

❛ 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖋𝖔𝖚𝖗 ╱ 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧

in conclusion : nero’s evil , very bad , very annoying . & don’t look at me , i know this is long & THIS is why i couldn’t take up two muses cos then i’d be stupid for BOTH & i’m simply so fuckin stupid please love me anyway if u wanna plot .... jus like this & i’ll slide in .

#oddsintro

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pisati · 4 years

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I mean, I’m over it.

I don’t even think it was a trigger. I was on the way here if not here already. sometimes it takes me a little bit to pick it apart.

I did have a good day. I felt godawful when I woke up but it helped to get out of my head. charlotte and I went to the mall, bought too many things neither of us needed. cinnabon included. I’m never really a fan of trying on clothes or looking in mirrors but it wasn’t terrible today. I found a sweater I really like, and a nice knit cardigan. and a blue jacket at old navy that was at least $50 full-price but was on sale for $15; it actually looked pretty okay on me. it’s nice to go shopping and not completely hate how I look in things. I do wish I could get over my hair being so thin. I honestly feel like I’d feel better about my body if my hair were just thicker. I’m tired of caring so much about my physical appearance; of feeling so gross and self-conscious all the time that I need to adjust my hair every few seconds. wish it were just as easy as “stop caring”.

we went to bath & body works and I tried another sample of the rose/vanilla lotion in their aromatherapy line; I hadn’t smelled it since I went to get that other rose stuff. I almost wish I’d splurged a little on that one instead though. it was just as nice as I remembered. I kept smelling the back of my hand while we went around the mall. talk about aromatherapy.

I even felt pretty okay after charlotte dropped me off at home. I do think I’ll get myself out of this. but it’s not okay that it’s still happening.

I still want to make music. I feel like I have so much to get out but I just don’t know how. I keep falling back into chords and songs I already know. last time I thought I came up with something cool, I realized two days later that it was echoing Hozier’s In The Woods Somewhere. not the same notes, but the same pattern for sure. I don’t even know all that many chords, just the basic ones. I don’t know how to do much more than that. lessons didn’t help me either. it makes me real sad. it’s discouraging. I have the space for a setup now and I got a table all laid out with my midi keyboard and interface, put my amp and looper pedal next to it, and I have my guitars sitting in their stands. but for now I’m just looking at all of it, like it belongs to someone else.

don’t know why I feel like I have so much more to say. like there’s something I need to get out. I don’t even know what it is. maybe I trained myself this way. feel anything, bad especially, write. I don’t even expect it to resolve; it almost never does. I don’t always have something to say. sometimes I just write to write. there’s always words floating around in my head, and sometimes I just need to get them out, not get a message across.

I prefer living alone. I do. every time I’ve had roommates, even good ones, it’s been stressful for me. some days I just want to be alone and I relish having a space solely of my own to come home to. but other times it’s just too quiet. I feel like I did when I was at school-- this is nothing new to me. I used to sometimes wish my mom would stay at her boyfriend’s so I could have the house to myself, but other times I wanted her to be home. I knew she’d inevitably snap at me for something or another, but I’d still go downstairs to talk to her. I’d still hole myself up in my room, but somehow it was a small comfort to know there was someone else home. now it’s just me.

I thought about it earlier; I wish my mom and I were closer. there’s so much I wish I could talk to her about. if she’d ever been better about mental health and emotions. when I get really anxious she’s the first one I think to call, even though I know in the past she’s gotten mad at me for being unable to stop panicking. I still have that hope that she’s someone I can go to for comfort. this isn’t the first time I’ve wanted this badly to call her over feeling bad. your mother is your first comfort in the world, you should be able to go to her for that at any age. I feel like I’m mothering my own shitty brain and sometimes I just want to be able to go to my own mother and cry on her shoulder and have her hold me and maybe even offer some advice. but she’s got her own issues. I take care of mine.

yesterday would’ve been my dad’s 74th birthday. it hit me probably a bit late, but it hit me nonetheless. looked at that picture at just the wrong time and I was done for. I wish I could call him too. I’m afraid I’m going to forget his voice; I already forgot so many of his stories. he got on every last nerve of mine before he passed but I miss him so much. he’d asked me, one of the last times I saw him, did we deserve this? and I hope he knows he didn’t.

whatever trajectory I thought I had, I feel like I’m losing it again. maybe it’s the seasonal affective. maybe it’s whatever the fuck this is. I’m so tired of being me. I’m only 25 and I’m fucking exhausted. I want so badly to be hopeful. I want to be able to experience the future I think I want, one that I’ll be happy with. but I have so much fear I’ll never get there. and it’s not for lack of trying. I can do everything right, and things can still go wrong. it’s happened before, it’s not unlikely it’ll happen again. I’ve accepted that fact. but if that’s facts... how can I let myself be hopeful?

the rational part of my brain has been tapping its foot for a week at least. are we done with this shit yet? can we maybe stop? when the bad feelings stop, I stop reacting to them. I can make myself stop crying. I can make myself get up and do things. I’ve been picking myself up off the floor, calming myself down, keeping myself distracted, and trying everything I know how to do to feel just numb if not better for years. I can’t make this feeling stop. it stops when it stops.

I’m going to send a message to my psych’s office and ask about therapy. they do have telepsych options as well, and if they want me to do weekly sessions that would be the best option for me. I’ve needed a good therapist for longer than I’m probably aware of. I’ve tried a good number of them and none of them seem to know what to tell me. I swear to god if this one calls me “wise beyond my years” like the last two... while I appreciate the compliment, it’s not helpful. I’m hyperaware of how hyperaware I can be. once I learned to train my critical thinking skills it just made the spiraling worse. I’d like to learn how to stop doing that. how to shut my brain the fuck up. how to not hate being myself in a world I don’t feel like I’m made for. how to take steps forward instead of being too scared of every possible outcome that isn’t good. you know, easy stuff.

---

I don’t know. I’m just tired. don’t know and frankly don’t much care if you even read these dumb posts anymore, gavin, but I’m sorry if you’ve bothered to and sorry if you’re tired of my shit too. I told you I didn’t want to put this all on you; you’ve got your own shit to deal with and I didn’t want you to think it was your fault in any way. don’t quite know what you’re going through, but you don’t need to be pulling me out of this nonsense on top of it. this sure would be one hell of an overreaction to “us being in a relationship is an unrealistic scenario”, especially when I kind of already knew that. sucked to know for real for real, but not that much, lmao. that’s not what started this spiral-- this started well before you and I ever met. more than anything you’ve been helping me reach a point where I’m hopeful I can get out of it and I’m so grateful to have you as a friend. I’m not really sure you feel like you can say the same about me, and I’m sorry for that too. you being so distant lately just feeds the nasty part of my brain that convinces me I drive everyone away. you’re well within your rights to take your space, but I just really hope it’s not because of anything I did. this time of year is reminding me of last winter, when you had a break from work and we’d stayed up all night for a few nights talking about anything and everything. I miss that. and please don’t worry about leading me on; I’m glad to know more definitively where you stand and I respect that. I really do just miss your company, whether you’re feeling good or bad or whatever. that’s, you know, the whole thing with friends. I know you isolate, and I guess there’s not much I can do about that. just know I’m still here. I’ve still got a hand out, if you’d like to take it. and that’s okay if not; it’s there anyway.

#meh

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parkjmini · 7 years

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fam(ily) - two | pkjm

parent!au: park jimin A single father of twins show you the true meaning of family and what it takes to love like a parent, even if they aren’t your own. word count: 4,840 genre: fluff// future angst? ?? i dont think there is any rn warnings: explicit language, slight degree of exploitation one | two | three

[A/N]: how do ppl manage to write 6k chapters like dang?? that’s a lot of work ??

Ever since encountering Jimin, you never skipped out on morning drop off. Jimin dropped them off at school every morning and picked them up from after care. You left earlier than after care hours because you had to work at the club. Your only opportunity was morning drop off.

Before meeting Jimin, you hid inside the classroom. It wasn’t your responsibility to greet the parents, your cousin was the face of her classroom. You usually helped her with planning out her lesson plans for the next couple of days. It wasn’t anything that needed your immediate attention.

“Since when did you do drop off?” Kim asked the morning of the first time you joined her by the door. You had shrugged and smiled brightly at the incoming students and parents.

Many parents were confused at your presence because they’ve never seen you before. You had to explain that you were an intern, not a substitute for the day. Even several students had commented on your sudden change.

Your cousin didn’t make it a big deal, because she knew your intentions. It became obvious when Jimin arrived with Minjoo and Minseo. Kim had silently watched your body language and the slight tint on your cheeks arise.

Now every morning, you shared a small conversation with Jimin whenever you could. Kim would greet other parents in the process.

“Good morning, Ms. Kim... (Y/N).” Jimin shyly smiled. He usually showed up in business attire, however, he entered with a simply, cozy hoodie. Minjoo and Minseo were jumping in their matching lilac dresses, holding their father’s hands. They were eager for another day at kindergarten.

“Good morning !!!” Minseo hugged your legs and squished her face into your thighs. Minjoo did the same to Kim. The twins were usually very affectionate to adults.

“Daddy, you’re picking us up early today right?” Minjoo peered up and tugged at the hem of Jimin’s black hoodie.

“You’re picking them up early, Jimin?” Kim asked for clarification.

He smiled and shook his head. “They’re not going to after care today and for the next following days.”

“Ah, what’s the occasion?” Kim was very chill with him. It was like they were friends and had talked often prior.

“The office is having some employee getaway, so no one is there.” He chuckled, looking at you while he spoke.

“And Daddy didn’t want to leave us because he said he was going to miss us.” Minseo smiled, trying to embarrass her father.

In your surprise, Jimin merely knelt down and gave Minseo and Minjoo wet goodbye kisses on their cheeks. “I’m going to miss you when you guys are at school too. I have nothing to distract me while you two are away.”

“Maybe you can watch all the Disney princess movies and finally tell us which one is your favorite!” Minjoo suggested and pecked Jimin’s cheek.

“Hm.. you two are my favorite princesses.” He helped them zip up their huge backpacks after pulling out their jackets. You loved his interactions with his daughters. They were often too blatantly honest and he always had hearts in his eyes when he talked to them. A true fool for his daughters.

It was a warm sight. You’ve never seen a parent with such care and devoted attention for his babies. Many would drop off their children without a single goodbye, others had phone conversations or didn’t even bother to walk them down the rest of the way.

Jimin was attentive and held their hands as they walked. The love he had for the twins poured right out of his heart. You wondered how someone could love someone so much. Maybe it was parental love, something foreign to you.

“Daddy I love you.” Minseo kissed his cheek and Jimin caressed her small face.

“I love you too, Seonnie and you too, JooJoo.” He wrapped their jackets around their small waists to allow easy access.

“Don’t forget your promise, Ms. (Y/N)!” Minseo chimed before entering the classroom.

Minjoo and Minseo didn’t hesitate to always remind you about your promise you made them a few weeks ago. You thought that young children had horrible memories, but these two were persistent. They took pinky promises very seriously.

You laughed in response to the 74th reminder they’ve given you. You nodded, “I won’t, monkey.” That was your special nickname for them.

“Okay, I’ve held it in long enough. But what is this promise that they keep mentioning?” Kim questioned and darted between your’s and Jimin’s expressions.

Jimin answered for you, “it’s nothing. (Y/N) just promised them that she’d join us for dinner one night, which I tried to warn you not to.”

“I didn’t think they’d remember for so long.” You defended yourself. Jimin ruffled his messy, bedhair. He looked so cuddly with such a relaxed look.

“Pinky promises are sacred to those two. They never forget.” Jimin tried to explain in a midst of laughter.

“Wow, dinner! That sounds nice, though.” Kim smirked and nudged your elbow.

You rolled your eyes at her, knowing her intents. Jimin caught on and cleared his throat, “you seriously don’t have to though. I can get them to stop bothering you about it.”

“Jimin, half of the reason I promised them was because I actually do want to. I haven’t found the chance, that’s it.” You didn’t want his smile to falter.

Kim spoke on your behalf, “she’s never has time, always working.”

“Understandable. Well, you have my number when you do find the time.” Jimin waved his phone with a grin. “Well, I’ll see you two at 3 PM. Have a nice day, ladies.”

“Bye, Jimin.” Kim pulled you into the room and shut the door. “You have his number?”

“Yeah, I needed to contact him for something. Don’t get weird.” You sighed and strolled over towards the waiting children.

“You have his number and he invited you to dinner? We need to talk about this.” Kim shook your arm excitedly.

“If you want to talk to me, come find me at the club. I don’t want to talk about it here.” You groaned and swore you acted more mature than your older cousin.

Kim was practically your best friend. Every family member would comment as to how you two got along with one another so well. She was a couple of years older than you, but she shared the same struggles and understood you more than anyone. She supported your decisions instead of picked at your weak points.

She was the first to decide that she wanted to be a teacher, especially to younger kids. Kim was unable to have kids of her own, so being able to work in a school made her feel like she did have them --- 20 of them. You knew she needed some extra help because she was still new, so it was by chance that you two were placed together.

As the day went further along, your excitement gradually built. You felt like a young girl waiting to see her crush. You felt like your feelings for Jimin were harmless though. You merely wanted to be his friend, his good friend. You convinced yourself that you wouldn’t replace the mother to his beautiful girls.

Kim stepped out to use the bathroom, so you were left to watch the kids. They were busy with cutting and crafting. Minjoo and Minseo sat together and often shared the task between each other. Minjoo would cut everything while Minseo created both of their crafts. They were both super hardworking and zoned in on their work, so it caught your attention when Minseo put the bottle of glue down and turned to face the other student on her left.

“I’ve never met my mom.” She spoke rather loud and confidently. You watched attentively to see if you should intervene. The twins never spoke about their mother or seemed bother about family subjects.

“She doesn’t live with you?” The young boy asked, casually cutting right through the needed piece for his tiger mask. “I know Ricky’s dad doesn’t live with him, right Rick?”

Ricky nodded his head, “Daddy lives in a different city, I see him on the weekends.”

“We only live with our Daddy. We don’t know where our mom is.” Minjoo placed her scissors on her desk and waited for the other kids’ reactions.

“You don’t have a mom?” Ricky asked, slightly snickering with the other boys.

“Well of course we have a mom. How else were we born?” Minseo sassed and you held in a laugh. She was unpredictably honest and very smart.

“Then where is she?” One of the boys questioned.

Minjoo shrugged and picked up her scissors again, “Daddy says she’s in a better place.”

“A better place? What does that mean? Disneyland?” He marveled and Minseo laughed.

“No. Daddy didn’t tell us where, just not here.”

“Do you want a mom?”

Minjoo sat there in hard thought before answering with something that broke your heart, “that would be nice.” Her bottom lip quivered and her wails filled the room. You got up and ran over.

“Hey Monkey, what’s wrong?” You knelt down. She instantaneously wrapped her arms around your neck and cried into your shirt. All the students were staring, asking what was wrong.

Kim walked back in and stared at you with confusion. She assessed the situation at hand and clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention. “Kids, it’s clean up time! Everyone help clean and get ready for pick up.”

You carried Minjoo over to the corner of the room, and set her down on the classroom rug. Rubbing her back, you cooed into her ear. “It’s okay, Minjoo. Don’t cry. I’ve got you.”

“Ms. (Y/N)..” she hiccuped between her sobs, “.. do you have a mommy?”

You gulped and pulled back to face the unstable girl. She was rubbing her eyes and her mouth hung down on her face. “I do. But it doesn’t make it any different if you don’t.”

“Yes it does! Everyone has a mommy with them, and me and sissy don’t. We are the only ones who don’t have one! Everyone has two parents to love them.” She stomped.

“Monkey, let me ask you a question. Do you love your daddy?” You whispered, speaking in a calm voice. She nodded. “Is your daddy like a mommy? Does he love you just as much as if you were to have a mommy?”

She pouted and stopped crying. You’ve stumped her. Her big, glossy eyes blinked back at you. “Yes.”

“I think if your daddy loves you just as much as if you were to have a mommy and he plays a role of both a daddy and a mommy, that’s enough.” You ended with a small smiled. “Now, are we going to stop crying?”

Minseo hurried over and placed the finalized tiger mask over her sister’s head. “Yeah, sissy. Let’s stop crying. I even finished your tiger mask for you!”

Minjoo touched the messily colored construction paper over her face. You were so proud of Minseo. She took care of her sister and often times stood up for her. “Where’s your’s?” You asked Minseo.

Minseo shrugged, “I didn’t have time to finish it.” You helped Minjoo push the mask into her hair, out of her face. “Um, you’re welcome, Minjoo.” She sassed.

“Thank you.” Minjoo mumbled and hugged her sister. She turned to you and reached out her arms. You carried her, supporting her body on your hip. “Ms. (Y/N), if I were to have a mommy, I’d wish she was you.” She giggled into your ear.

You were shocked at her comment and cleared your throat. You weren’t sure how to respond, but you were slightly honored she liked you enough to say something like that. Minseo held onto your free hand and pulled you towards the cubbies. Majority of the students were gone already. There were only two left and they went to after care.

“Minseo, Minjoo, Daddy’s here.” Kim called for them. Minseo applauded happily and grabbed her’s and her sister’s backpacks. She put her’s on her back and carried Minjoo’s in her tiny hands. She pulled you out the door with her, along with Minjoo still in your arms.

Kim laughed when you came out, “you’re joining home with them?” You smiled and shook your head.

Jimin’s face fell when he saw Minjoo in your arms. He pouted at his daughter and brushed her soft cheeks, “what happened, baby?” He unconsciously reached for their backpacks with his other hand.

“It was nothing, Daddy.” Minseo lied. “Can we go get ice cream so JooJoo can feel better?”

“Ice cream!” Minjoo cheered.

“Are you sure it was nothing, JooJoo?” Jimin was still persistent about his daughter’s drying tears. He looked over at you for a confirmation. You knew Minseo lied so it wouldn’t hurt her father’s feelings. She didn’t want her dad to feel bad.

“Monkey was sad that we couldn’t finish our arts and craft today.” It was a white lie. Jimin seemed unconvinced, but left it. He exhaled sharply and nodded.

“That’s why I gave her mine, Daddy, look!” Minseo pointed to the tiger mask on Minjoo’s head.

“Wow, baby girl, it looks good. You made JooJoo such a fierce tiger.” He collected Minjoo from your arms and held onto his other daughter’s hand. “I’ll call you.” He said to you while bidding goodbye to Kim.

You froze, confused as to why he would. “Bye Ms.(Y/N)” The twins waved as they were being whisked away by Jimin. Kim lead the remaining children to the after care room.

You collected your things to prepare to leave for the club. On your desk, you saw a roughly colored tiger mask sitting on top of your previous work. Flipping it around, you saw the small message written in blue crayon.

To Ms. (Y/N)

thank you

from Minseo Monkey

You gasped at the thoughtful gift. Nothing has ever touched you this hard. It was such a sweet gift, even if it was just an arts and craft project. It was hers, but she gave it to you. You took a quick photo and sent it to both Kim and Jimin.

secretly thank Minseo for me for her gift. she is a saint !

You walked to your car and your phone buzzed. It was a new message from Jimin.

She wants you to wear it and send us a picture of it

You laughed, but obliged happily. Getting into your car, you placed the mask over your face. You struck a pose you’d soon regret. You almost cried from laughing at how ridiculous you looked, but sent it anyway. Within seconds, Jimin replied with a cute selfie of him and Minseo. She was in mid giggle, with her missing teeth in view and Jimin was giving you a thumbs-up. Following the photo was another picture, but it was Minjoo with two ice cream cones in her hand. Her infamous smile was resting on her face perfectly, her eyes disappearing.

someone’s a happy camper again, Jimin typed.

You sat in your car, smiling like a fool at the family’s adorable pictures. A part of you was happy that they shared these moments with you. The other part was sad that you weren’t spending it with them. A love that you didn’t understand grew at the bottom of your heart. You desired to protect them and make sure that their happy smiles stayed on their faces.

she deserves that ice cream (:

i think you deserve some too ! (: have fun at work, (Y/N).

thanks Jimin haha

Midway through your shift, Kim entered the loud atmosphere. She greet you and ordered her usual. “Why are you so happy to see me? We were together all day.” You laughed at your giddy cousin.

Sipping her drink, she wiggled her eyebrows. “Oh you know why I’m so happy to see you. I want to know the details about you and Jimin.”

“Stop talking so loud, Wes is in the back.” You gestured over to your boss.

“I don’t care about Wes. He’s a horrible man and you know it. He’s not even your boyfriend.”

A sour taste filled your mouth. It was true, what Kim was saying. Wes wasn’t your boyfriend or anything romantically involved. He was your boss who you slept with to keep a job. He meant nothing to you, but you knew how he was when he got jealous or mad.

“No, he’s not my boyfriend, but I can still lose my job.” You kept your voice low

Kim rolled her eyes, “I wish you’d get your teaching license already so I can hire you to be my co-teacher. You wouldn’t have to fuck your way into a job.”

“For me to get my license, I have to stay in school. For me to stay in school, I have to pay a tuition.”

“I know and I wouldn’t mind lending you money.” Kim always offered to pay for your expenses, but you wouldn’t let her. You didn’t like owing money and you were too prideful.

“Kim.. are you here to judge me about my job because you can do that anytime you want. I know you didn’t come down to the club, past your bedtime to do that.” You joked. Kim usually didn’t leave her house past six because of how much work she needed to keep up with.

“Okay, so spill. How do you guys end up meeting? I refuse to believe that you guys hit it off in five minutes outside my classroom.” She giggled, so ready for the tea she was about to receive.

You sighed and leaned over the counter, “I met him when he was sitting right here.” You pointed at the counter right in front of Kim. Her eyes were the size of watermelons.

“He came to the club?!” She almost choked. “I guess that makes sense. He’s still young.”

“Yeah, I spoke to him a little. Made him my special drink.”

“You made him your special drink? (Y/N), he has children! Did you want him to die?” She rolled her eyes.

In your defense, you didn’t know he had children that night. “I didn’t know he had kids, Kim. He looked really exhausted, so I helped him out a bit. His friends were here with him and they took care of him, so he was okay. He left his jacket that night and I didn’t want anyone to steal it, so I held onto it for him. His car keys were in his pocket, so I parked his car into my spot before I left.”

“You parked? I’m surprised you didn’t crash.” You poured her another drink.

“Me too. And then, the next morning, I opened the door to your classroom and there he was. The twins were holding his hand and the man from the club was standing right in front of me. I thought I was never going to see him again, maybe once more for his jacket, but that would be it. I was super surprised when I found out he was a dad. He gave off a young vibe when he sat here.”

“Isn’t he cute? I never had anyone to talk about him with because your lazy ass wouldn’t join me for morning drop off.” A dreamy look came across her face.

“Why don’t you get with him?” You chuckled. She snapped out of her day dream and frowned.

“That’s weird, plus I don’t think he wants to get with me. I think he wants you.” She snickered, a smirk on her face.

The heat returned to your face, making an obvious red glow appear. “Stop, Kim. I’m trying to be his friend. The guy lost the love of his life not that long ago, that’s so insensitive.”

“That doesn’t stop you from blushing, though.”

“Whatever. Anyways, I got his number from the twins’ contact information. I wanted to give him back his things and then we met up out in the club parking lot. The twins made me promise to join them for dinner because they didn’t want me to leave.” A chill ran down your spine when you felt someone inching closer to you.

“Wes.” Kim whispered and you gulped. Turning around, you saw the man smiling at you.

“I was going to surprise you again.” Wes slung his arm around your waist. “Hey Kim. Isn’t it past your bedtime?” He laughed.

“Would you look at the time? I guess it is.” She said in the most monotone voice. She gathered her purse and paid for her drink.

“Don’t, Kim. It’s fine.” You gave it back to her. She rolled her eyes, but accepted it anyways.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, cuzzo.” She left and waved off.

You felt Wes’ wet lips coat your ear. “Wes, stop.”

“I haven’t seen you in such a long time. Are you avoiding me?” He smirked. His hands finding anyway to grab onto you.

“Why would I do that?” Your shaky hands couldn’t hold onto the bottles of alcohol. Wes scared you, so you kept you witty remarks to a minimum.

“Maybe you found a new guy to run off to.” He joked. You did. Since Jimin came into your life, you didn’t want to sleep with anyone. You didn’t want to flirt with guys or even think about anyone else.

“No way.” You croaked.

“Why don’t we leave this place and you get to leave your shift early today?” He muttered into your ear and you clenched the glass in your hand. Your grip was so tight that your knuckles turned white.

“Am I still getting paid for the rest of my hours?” That was all you cared about --- the money. He chuckled darkly and nodded. His eyes were filled with lust as he stared at you.

You sighed and took off your apron. You hurried to get changed and clocked out. Getting into your car, you rushed over to Wes’ house. The path brought back horrifying memories.

You hated having to sleep with him, but you didn’t have a choice. You were desperate and the offer was handed to you on a silver platter. However, it just made you feel like less of a person. It made you feel ashamed of yourself.

He wasn’t even good in bed either. It wasn’t even enjoyable if you wanted to like it. Wes didn’t last long and you were never one who was satisfied. It was all about him and his needs.

You arrived at the same time as him and you followed him into his dingy house. Unbuttoning your shirt, you just wanted to get it over with and leave.

Your phone rang when you and Wes finished. You tried to bring your heart rate down as you reached for your phone. You answered without looking at the caller ID.

“Hello?” You answered, catching your breath.

“Hey (Y/N).” It was Jimin. You shot up in bed and Wes looked at you strangely. “I was wondering if you were busy.”

“Oh no, what’s wrong?” You got up to take the call in another room, so Wes wouldn’t hear.

“Nothing, there’s nothing wrong. I wanted to take you on that offer about a dinner. I bought way too much food and the girls insisted for me to call you.” You could hear the twins giggling in the background. They were calling your name and yelling incoherent things.

“I’ll be there.” You smiled into the receiver.

“Oh... I mean.. you don’t have to-- if you have work, I completely understand. This was super spontaneous.” Jimin rambled on and on, he wasn’t expecting you to agree.

You laughed quietly, “I’m off early tonight. I was going to call you when I changed.” You weren’t, but you thought a small lie wouldn’t hurt.

“Okay. Well, I’ll text you my address.” Jimin cleared his throat and you said your farewells before hanging up. You walked back into Wes’ room to put your clothes back on.

“Where are you going?” He asked you, putting his phone down.

You made up a random excuse, “Kim called. She left something at school and her car ran out of gas. It’s really important.”

“Alright.” He didn’t bother to listen to you anymore after you two fucked. He didn’t care about you after the deed.

You showed yourself out and made sure your makeup looked okay before heading to Jimin’s house. It wasn’t a long drive and he actually lived near Kim. Your stomach churned from nervousness and excitement. You were actually going to have dinner with them.

It must’ve been a while since you made that promise and you were starting to believe it was never going to happen. But there you were, making your way to your favorite family.

Dinner wasn’t at all uncomfortable. The twins wouldn’t allow for it to be a lick of silence. Jimin had made two dishes and the rest were take out. It was all your favorite kinds of food.

Their house was very cozy and neat. There were occasional toys scattered near the couch, but overall it was nice. Everything was organized and the house wasn’t too small or too big. It was perfect.

You always felt like your apartment was too big for you because you live alone. There were way too many rooms that you didn’t need and it was majority empty.

Halfway through dinner, the door was being jiggled. Jimin got up as the Minseo turned in her seat to see who it was. Minjoo sneakily stole a sausage off Minseo’s plate. Before Jimin could open the door, it opened on its own.

“Wow Jen, good job at being fashionably late.” Jimin commented and let a young woman in. She had similar features to the twins, you had to do a double take. Her hair was long and thin. She didn’t look much older than you and definitely not older than Jimin. Her frame was petite and she fell right at Jimin’s chin. She handed Jimin bags filled with pastry boxes.

“I told you I was only stopping by for dessert and packing some food for my lunch.” She smiled, even her smile was beautiful. She had rows of straight whites and small dimples on her cheek. Her big eyes landed on you, then back at Jimin, then back at you. “Thank god I bought extra. I knew you were going to invite someone and not tell me. You always do that.”

You wondered as to who she was. Was she his sister? Was she his girlfriend? The last thought made you nervous and your heart drop. It had to be that. You were probably misreading Jimin’s actions. They seemed comfortable, and she knew all his detailed habits. She also had the key to their house. Kim didn’t even have a key to your apartment.

“I’m Jen.” She stuck out her hand to introduce herself. You shook it.

“I’m (Y/N).” You faked a smile, dishearten at how much more beautiful she was up close. The twins hopped out of their seats to hug Jen. They had their cheeks filled with rice, but it didn’t stop them from getting cradled in her arms.

“How have my girls been?” That was it. That was the final clue. Jen was Jimin’s girlfriend. Why else would she refer to them as her’s?

Dinner was becoming hard to swallow because of the knot in your throat. Jimin sat back down and noticed your distracted face. “(Y/N), you okay?”

You removed yourself from the rejoiced scene and saw the confusion in Jimin’s eyes. “I’m fine. I was just trying to guess what was in those boxes.” You lied.

Jen laughed, even her laugh was adorable! “They’re cupcakes.”

Minseo gasped, “cupcakes?! It’s it the---”

“---double chocolate chip with strawberry icing? What else would it be?” She finished Minseo’s sentence and the young girl thanked her repeatedly.

“You spoil them too much.” Jimin mumbled.

Jen scoffed, “says the one who got them ice cream today. You got Minjoo two cones.”

You were starting to feel left out as they bantered like a couple. You felt like an intruder, a stranger. The twins were busy flicking rice at each other’s faces and Jimin and Jen were laughing harmoniously together.

And you sat at the end of the table, swirling your utensils in your bowl. You were wondering what excuse you could use to get yourself out of this atmosphere. This dinner didn’t go as how you thought it was going to be. You were bathing in your jealousy and silence.

You saw the happiness in Jimin’s eyes as he spoke to Jen. Her nose crinkled when she laughed from time to time. She was the epitome of a female. You were envious, you had to admit. Her slender hands rested on the top of Minjoo’s head as she started braiding the child’s silky black hair that resembled her’s. It was a picture perfect family and you felt guilty for ever deciding it was okay to intrude.

[A/N]: sorry nothing interesting as really happened yet, it’s a slow build up !! but thank you for reading and stay tuned for more chapters ((:

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artdjgblog · 7 years

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Picture Show (or, The OOPSCARS)

I derive from an area of rural Missouri (The Show Me State) where some still refer to going to see a movie at the theater as, “Going to the SHOW.”

Other than the last few World Series outcomes and the Super Bowl a few weeks prior, off the top of my head the 89th Academy Awards Best Picture envelope mix-up is the most bizarre thing I’ve seen unfold on live television. What a show! I won’t add much more as there are plenty of articles, social media swaps, insider commentary and “think pieces” on La La Land passing the Oscar to Moonlight.

However, it has me thinking of my own playful “Oops! We messed up! The real winner is ACTUALLY ... “ results with the Academy’s top prize. Or, simply the films that have stuck far more to me than others over the years. Many of the top winners are fine films, but I prefer others. And in some cases there’s a tie. In the end, awards don’t matter as we like what we like surrounded by much larger fish to fry in the oil pan of life. But, to further my self-serving at the culture buffet, there are many times the Academy nailed it (even in cases where I shamefully didn’t see all respective nominees).

For the record, extensive research and reminders would be far too exhaustive an attempt to highlight all the films I fantasy-feel should have made the Best Picture nomination cut in a given year. (That would be for another opinionated and elongated discussion.) Therefore, I’ll just stick to those picks that are stuck in true time. Also, I won’t span the entirety of the 89 awards, rather the last 50. I guess this also reveals I have catching up to do with many pictures prior to the 1970s. Not to mention a good chunk sprinkled throughout the years of this little exercise.

I’m declaring myself ineligible for the years I’ve barely seen any Best Picture nominated films or, gulp, none at all. (And from what I understand not seeing all films nominated doesn’t stop actual Oscar voters. Which, is a little weird to me.) There are even a handful of the big winners I’ve yet to see. What kind of film fan am I? (Confession: Moonlight ... I wanted to see you for months but it never worked out. Sorry. Congrats, though!) So, really, why am I doing this? Because it’s fun! It’s hard to see or remember them all, so this may help me fill in the gaps. I’m not in it for an argument. Does the “O” in OSCAR stand for OPINION or OOPS?

Motion Pictures by Neil Young, 1974

BOLD = My Vote(s) / NA = My Idiot Eyes Unseen

1967 (40th) - INELIGIBLE TO VOTE PER ONLY SEEING 2 FILMS! In the Heat of the Night (NA) Bonnie and Clyde Doctor Dolittle (NA) The Graduate (SHOULD HAVE NAILED IT!) Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (NA)

1968 (41st) - INELIGIBLE TO VOTE PER NOT SEEING ANY FILMS! Oliver! (NA) Funny Girl (NA) The Lion in Winter (NA) Rachel, Rachel (NA) Romeo and Juliet (NA)

1969 (42nd) - INELIGIBLE TO VOTE PER ONLY SEEING 2 FILMS! Midnight Cowboy Anne of the Thousand Days (NA) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Hello, Dolly! (NA) Z (NA) 1970 (43rd) Patton Airport (NA) Five Easy Pieces Love Story (NA) M*A*S*H 1971 (44th) The French Connection (NA) A Clockwork Orange Fiddler on the Roof The Last Picture Show Nicholas and Alexandra (NA) 1972 (45th) - NAILED IT! The Godfather Cabaret Deliverance The Emigrants (NA) Sounder (NA) 1973 (46th) The Sting American Graffiti Cries and Whispers (NA) The Exorcist A Touch of Class (NA) 1974 (47th) The Godfather Part II Chinatown The Conversation Lenny The Towering Inferno (NA) 1975 (48th) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Barry Lyndon Dog Day Afternoon Jaws Nashville 1976 (49th) Rocky All the President's Men Bound for Glory (NA) Network Taxi Driver 1977 (50th) - INELIGIBLE TO VOTE PER ONLY SEEING 2 FILMS! Annie Hall The Goodbye Girl (NA) Julia (NA) Star Wars (SHOULD HAVE NAILED IT!) The Turning Point (NA) 1978 (51st) - NAILED IT! The Deer Hunter Coming Home Heaven Can Wait (NA) Midnight Express An Unmarried Woman (NA) 1979 (52nd) - INELIGIBLE TO VOTE PER ONLY SEEING 1 FILM! Kramer vs. Kramer (NA) All That Jazz (NA) Apocalypse Now (SHOULD HAVE NAILED IT!) Breaking Away (NA) Norma Rae (NA) 1980 (53rd) Ordinary People Coal Miner's Daughter (NA) The Elephant Man Raging Bull Tess (NA) 1981 (54th) Chariots of Fire (NA) Atlantic City On Golden Pond Raiders of the Lost Ark Reds (NA) 1982 (55th) Gandhi E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Missing (NA) Tootsie The Verdict (NA) 1983 (56th) - INELIGIBLE TO VOTE PER ONLY SEEING 1 FILM! Terms of Endearment The Big Chill (NA) The Dresser (NA) The Right Stuff (NA) Tender Mercies (NA) 1984 (57th) - INELIGIBLE TO VOTE PER NOT SEEING ANY FILMS! Amadeus (NA) The Killing Fields (NA) A Passage to India (NA) Places in the Heart (NA) A Soldier's Story (NA) 1985 (58th) Out of Africa (NA) The Color Purple Kiss of the Spider Woman (NA) Prizzi's Honor Witness 1986 (59th) - INELIGIBLE TO VOTE PER ONLY SEEING 2 FILMS! Platoon Children of a Lesser God (NA) Hannah and Her Sisters The Mission (NA) A Room with a View (NA) 1987 (60th) - NAILED IT! The Last Emperor Broadcast News Fatal Attraction Hope and Glory (NA) Moonstruck 1988 (61st) - INELIGIBLE TO VOTE PER ONLY SEEING 2 FILMS! Rain Man The Accidental Tourist (NA) Dangerous Liaisons (NA) Mississippi Burning Working Girl (NA) 1989 (62nd) Driving Miss Daisy Born on the Fourth of July Dead Poets Society Field of Dreams My Left Foot 1990 (63rd) - NAILED IT! / DEMANDS A TIE! Dances with Wolves Awakenings Ghost The Godfather Part III (NA) Goodfellas 1991 (64th) - NAILED IT! The Silence of the Lambs Beauty and the Beast Bugsy (NA) JFK The Prince of Tides (NA) 1992 (65th) - INELIGIBLE TO VOTE PER ONLY SEEING 1 FILM! Unforgiven (NAILED IT ANYWAY!) The Crying Game (NA) A Few Good Men (NA) Howard's End (NA) Scent of a Woman (NA) 1993 (66th) - INELIGIBLE TO VOTE PER ONLY SEEING 2 FILMS! Schindler's List (NAILED IT ANYWAY!) The Fugitive In the Name of the Father (NA) The Piano (NA) The Remains of the Day (NA) 1994 (67th) Forrest Gump Four Weddings and a Funeral (NA) Pulp Fiction Quiz Show The Shawshank Redemption 1995 (68th) - NAILED IT! / DEMANDS A TIE! Braveheart Apollo 13 Babe Il Postino: The Postman Sense and Sensibility (NA) 1996 (69th) The English Patient Fargo Jerry Maguire Secrets & Lies (NA) Shine 1997 (70th) Titanic As Good as It Gets The Full Monty (NA) Good Will Hunting L.A. Confidential (NA) 1998 (71st) Shakespeare in Love Elizabeth (NA) Life Is Beautiful Saving Private Ryan The Thin Red Line 1999 (72nd) American Beauty The Cider House Rules The Green Mile (NA) The Insider The Sixth Sense 2000 (73rd) Gladiator Chocolat Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Erin Brockovich Traffic 2001 (74th) A Beautiful Mind Gosford Park (NA) In the Bedroom The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Moulin Rouge! 2002 (75th) - NAILED IT! / DEMANDS A TIE! Chicago Gangs of New York The Hours (NA) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers The Pianist 2003 (76th) - NAILED IT! / DEMANDS A TIE! The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Lost in Translation Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (NA) Mystic River Seabiscuit (NA) 2004 (77th) - NAILED IT! / DEMANDS A TIE! Million Dollar Baby The Aviator Finding Neverland Ray Sideways 2005 (78th) Crash Brokeback Mountain Capote Good Night, and Good Luck Munich 2006 (79th) - NAILED IT! The Departed Babel Letters from Iwo Jima Little Miss Sunshine The Queen (NA) 2007 (80th) - NAILED IT! / DEMANDS A TIE! No Country for Old Men Atonement (NA) Juno Michael Clayton (NA) There Will Be Blood 2008 (81st) - NAILED IT! Slumdog Millionaire The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Frost/Nixon Milk The Reader 2009 (82nd) - DEMANDS A TIE! The Hurt Locker Avatar The Blind Side District 9 An Education Inglourious Basterds Precious (NA) A Serious Man Up Up in the Air 2010 (83rd) - DEMANDS A TIE! The King's Speech 127 Hours Black Swan The Fighter Inception The Social Network Toy Story 3 True Grit Winter's Bone 2011 (84th) - DEMANDS A TIE! The Artist The Descendants Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (NA) The Help Hugo Midnight in Paris Moneyball The Tree of Life War Horse 2012 (85th) - DEMANDS A TIE! Argo Amour Beasts of the Southern Wild Django Unchained Les Misérables (NA) Life of Pi Lincoln Silver Linings Playbook Zero Dark Thirty 2013 (86th) - DEMANDS A TIE! 12 Years a Slave American Hustle Captain Phillips (NA) Dallas Buyers Club Gravity Her Nebraska Philomena The Wolf of Wall Street 2014 (87th) - NAILED IT! / DEMANDS A TIE! Birdman American Sniper Boyhood The Grand Budapest Hotel The Imitation Game Selma The Theory of Everything Whiplash 2015 (88th) - DEMANDS A TIE! Spotlight The Big Short Bridge of Spies Brooklyn Mad Max: Fury Road The Martian The Revenant Room

-djg

#oscars #academyawards #movies #films #awards #notesonculture

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