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moreespressoformydepresso · 5 months

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So to expand upon this TreeMina post since I have my computer... @crazycriter

I am now officially using lore I've thought up for a potential book of mine. In case Hannah reads this, no it's not the one I told you about. That's a different thing entirely.

Lets start with my (probably disastrous) attempt at explaining the world and magic in short fashion. As stated, the magic society is a hidden one. It exists in plain sight, but only those who are a part of it can see it. This hidden society has two subcultures: Order and Chaos. They are, naturally, in a constant conflict with one another since they're polar opposites and all that. Order's hidden city has very grandiose buildings with a very structured general layout that doesn't vary much between buildings. Walk into one and you have a pretty solid idea of what all the others look like. They have personal touches but everything is very, well... orderly. Symmetry is key in everything for them. They call themselves reglarians and use order magic. As you may expect, they believe that order is the correct way to be and are very much lawful on the alignment chart. What kind of lawful depends on the person. In terms of clothing they certainly have similar outfits. You can tell someone's a reglarian if you know what you're looking for, even though the clothes themselves are very different. It's a similar, recognizable theme rather than a uniform. It's about patterns and styles, and they tend to stick with light color schemes and very much consider themselves the "light side" in general. Because order is good, and chaos is bad. Their buildings are higher up in every city they reside in, some are even in the sky and hidden by magic. Very divine-esque aesthetic, like they're trying to literally be above chaos. For some extra spice you can go with my version where the two sides actively call themselves Light and Dark, to feed into the conflict you may start to see growing here already.

Meanwhile, Chaos (they call themselves warlings) lives mostly in the actual, literal underground of the city. In a complete opposite to Order, their buildings are all very different and openly uniquee, often making no sense in layout on purpose. Honestly everything about them is the complete opposite of Order. Generally darker color schemes and a very nonsensical... everything, really. That's not to say that there's nothing homey about them though, because they know how to make places cozy. If dizzying, given how they will use their magic to actively confuse anyone who comes into the house. It's a go down the steps into the basement to enter the upstairs bedroom kind of situation. Their clothing is alike in how different it is. Some like very practical clothes, some wear the most extravagant nightmare to move in you've ever seen. The only consistency is that their main color is almost always dark, but even that has exceptions. Really, the only common theme that holds true for every single warling is mayhem. They are, well, chaos. Gotta give it to them, they are dedicated to their brand. Rules are made to be broken and their whole culture is built around causing as much mayhem as possible. Not in a way that hurts people, but they've been designated the bad guys by their magic so why not follow their nature? It's not like they can change how they're perceived. Warlings have their strong opinions on the good vs evil debate and they don't necessarily like being seen as "evil" for something they had no control over, but it's not something they actively oppose. They do cause mischief on the regular for kicks, so it's not like they're helping their image.

Ykw I'll save the actual history and conflicts between these groups for a later post and stay focused on the worldbuilding for now. The magic system! Order is pretty straightforward. Their magic is very structured, with rules on what they can and can't do and explanations for why those rules exist. It's something you can study and understand completely if you take the time. Most of their magic comes down to rules, actually. Changing the rules of nature to some extent. They call upon the world and make it do what they want, working within the limits of whatever they're working with. Water can turn to ice, but it cannot naturally turn into wine. So order cannot turn water into wine because that's not how nature works. Those are against the rules. Chaos, on the other hand, works pretty much the exact opposite way. There are limitations but there aren't. They can't do absolutely everything except sometimes they can. Does this make sense? No. That's the point. The magic system is that there is no magic system. In a sense it's more worldly, because it changes with the moon. Metaphorically, because no order is allowed here. That's actually a conflict between Treech and Lamina. Mostly it's a problem for Lamina, though. She's been raised with order drilled into her head from the day she was born. The world works on order, she was told, and that's what makes them better than chaos. They are the world, and chaos tries to destroy them. Good vs Evil. But Chaos magic is a direct refutation of that, because it's entirely natural and there isn't a single semblance of order involved. Yet it exists just fine. She was taught chaos only destroys, yet it's existed for years.

She and Treech fight several times because he "refuses to explain" his magic to her, but the thing is that he can't. It makes no sense. That's all there is to it. You can try all you want to figure out how it works but you'll only drive yourself insane because the whole point is that it doesn't make sense. There is nothing logical about it. It's disorganized and chaotic, because that's its nature. A direct opposite of Lamina's entire life and worldview. By the end, the resolution to the conflict is her finally realizing that maybe her people don't know everything. It ends with her finally accepting that sometimes, things just don't make sense, and sometimes you just gotta live with that. Yes, there are parallels to psychology there that I may explain later.

#the ballad of songbirds and snakes #tbosas #the hunger games #hunger games #treech tbosas #treech #tbosas treech #treech thg #lamina #tbosas lamina #lamina thg #lamina tbosas #treemina #lumberlove #alternate universe #au

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moreespressoformydepresso · 7 months

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Continuation of this post:

Lets get into what happens in the arena! I don’t have a solid plotline and I might actually write this so I won’t focus too much on the events and instead focus more on my ideas for the games as a whole. I’ll add right now I think these games would be more like the 74th/75th than like the 10th because Snow’s been involved for 15 years by this point. After the initial 3 or so years the biggest changes made to the games were likely the level of technology available to make them more horrifying. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it already but my Treech is a theater nerd. Keep this in mind.

The token Treech takes into the games is a small shawl Lamina gave him. It’s not warming enough for the gamemakers to feel it gives him a big advantage in terms of hypothermia and it isn’t strong enough to be uses as a noose on someone, so they allow it. The shawl is red like Lamina’s hair, and it makes Treech feel safe to have it with him. He keeps it in the pocket of his arena wear for camouflage reasons but it’s there and he can touch it and that’s what matters. Speaking of arena wear, the tributes get dark gray pants with black shoes, a shirt that’s somewhere around oakmoss green, and a vest that’s so dark gray it may as well be black. It’s perfect for blending in as well as one can with the arena’s color scheme.

This year’s arena is village-themed. In the centre, there’s a collection of simple clay huts and simple, one-story buildings. Only two buildings really stick out: a small tower and a building reminiscent of the justice buildings in all districts. The middle of the village is a large square completely empty aside from the cornucopia in the middle (made to look like an actual cornucopia, with the material looking a lot like twine) and the starting spots with the launch pads. Surrounding the village are 8 other kinds of villages like a compass. The houses sometimes contain supplies like food, but in very hidden secret spots. For example, in one village there may be one single, random hut that has a trapdoor to the only basement in that village hidden by a bookcase. To the north is a frozen tundra with iglo’s and other buildings made out of ice. The entire northeast to southeast part of the arena is a forest, very reminiscent of district 7 to Treech. Tundra goes over into a mountain in the northeast, covered in pine trees and snow. The village has two-story houses with pointed roofs scattered over the side of the mountain. In the east, the forest is mostly made up of oak trees. Only at the edges are the trees a normal size. Unnaturally large oak trees make up most of the area, and they’re where the village is located. It’s a collection of tree houses of various sizes connected by rope bridges. Very rickety, unstable rope bridges. Because they’re all so high up and hidden from view by branches, these buildings are hard to find and most tributes miss them completely.

The southeast part of the forest consists almost entirely of dead trees. These dried out trees are as big as most of the east forest, and the houses are inside the trunks. Water can be found in “pockets” underground, but those can only be found by following the rodent-like mutts that have poisonous bites. They only attack when provoked, so tributes must be careful when following them as they dig up the water. Meanwhile, the south of the arena is a desert. The buildings in its village area are either caves hidden in the dunes or made of clay and straw. Mostly huts with only one room. The climate is dry and miserable, but at least you can spot other tributes from a mile away because of the dirth of actual stuff aside from the village. I mean, they can also see you from a mile away, but still.

The northwest to the southwest is entirely made up of jungle. Unlike the forest, where the hot areas are very dry, the jungle is unbearably humid. The northwest is the worst, because it’s so close to the desert. The village is found entirely underground in an elaborate system of caves that actually extends underneath the village in the middle of the arena. Only a few of the caves contain houses, but the whole cave system is a fantastic hiding place. Also a horrible one, because only the village has torches on the walls and it’s very easy to get lost down there. As for the west village, while the western side of the arena has jungle, most of the middle of this area is taken up by a gigantic lake. Where the east village is found up in the trees, the west village is found at the bottom of the lake. The houses have air in them, and the walls hold hidden pumps that keep up the oxygen level. These are all connected to one system of pipes. Finally, the northwest. It’s very cold and windy here, and the village just like the northeast the village is high up. But differently. Instead of one big mountain with a village on it, this is a set of very high rock peaks with mist obscuring most of the area below. These rock peaks have buildings on them, connected by rope bridges just like the treehouse village, but with the added danger of strong gusts of wind that make the entire village unsafe. Only inside the sturdy houses can tributes be sure they won’t be thrown off their perch, into the misty abyss below. Aside from the north and the south, this is the only area where the weather is the biggest threat to tributes. Everywhere else is predominantly dangerous because of mutts and traps set off by the gamemakers.

With all the technicalities out of the way, time for the actual events taking place in the arena. In accordance with his defensive, sneaky strategy and lack of alliance, Treech looks for the best place to run as soon as he gets lifted into the arena. It’s not hard to deduce the careers will pillage all nearby houses as soon as the bloodbath’s over, so that’s not a great option. Aaanndd already I have three different ways this could go. One of them relies on a stupid amount of luck, though, and when I created this AU months ago my main idea was that Treech wins predominantly because everyone thinks he’s completely reliant on luck, which makes them underestimate how capable he is. So yeah that one’s out. Vote on the other two, I guess? They lead to the same outcome.

Option one: Treech sprints around the other tributes and snags a couple of backpacks on the outer rim of the bloodbath. He’s a very fast runner so he’s gone before anyone can truly attack him. Of course, he keeps running until he reaches the edge of the village and finds himself in the desert.

Option two: his beginning strategy is still the same, the difference is how successful his escape attempt is. While running around the edge of the bloodbath, his path his blocked by one of the other tributes. Another one attacks him from behind, and while the backpack in his hands saves him from getting speared by a spear it doesn’t stop the second person from slashing him across the stomach. They miss everything important because Treech dodged it quickly, but he knows if he gets up he’ll be skewered. So instead he makes use of the fact that the canons for the bloodbath only go off after every living being has left the premises. He stays down and plays dead. Because he’s an incredibly good actor, it’s very convincing. Ascaia isn’t around to tell anyone he’s an actor so the tributes take his wide open eyes and completely unmoving body as a sign that he’s dead. Also the blood currently seeping through his shirt. If this is the version you go with, Pup sends him a new shirt so he can avoid infection. Once everyone’s left the scene of the bloodbath and he’s sure everyone’s gone, he stands up and goes the exact opposite direction as the careers and is a lot sneakier because who knows where other tributes are hiding. He, of course, ends up in the desert again. In this version the two tributes who thought they killed him don’t see his face in the sky and realize he may not be as helpless as he’d convinced everyone he is. So he’s a little less under the radar for the other tributes this time. Also, he might start off with more supplies like food and possibly knives (though the other weapons still at the cornucopia aren’t ones he can use well enough for them to be worth taking). In this version, Lamina breaks down completely upon seeing his “death” and then cries of happiness when it turns out he’s still alive.

Since district 7 is very cold this is not his scene and he realizes that if he stays there, he’s fucked. If you’re not used to hot weather no amount of water is gonna save you from the constant discomfort, which will distract you. Being distracted is, obviously, a very bad thing in the games. So he bounces right off of the idea of going in there and instead starts moving along the outskirts of the city. If he successfully ran from the bloodbath, this is where he dumps all his supplies into one backback and ditches the empty ones. Pack light and all that. It’s just like sneaking around town back home, which he’s used to, so he doesn’t come across anyone aside from one near-miss with a tribute hiding out in a house Treech has to sneak past. If he has the knives, he decides not to attack them because he’s trying to avoid unnecessary fights even with the element of surprise. If they don’t attack him, he won’t attack them. If he doesn’t have the knives he has no choice but to stay unnoticed. Once he reaches the forest, he decides it’s safer than the main village and dives between the trees. He comes across the southeast village first and explores it for a bit, deciding it’s best to stay there until it’s dark and the temperature has lowered before moving again. When he keeps seeing little mutts going back and forth, looking better every time they come back, he decides to track them and finds the water. He waits for the mutts to leave again before filling some of the empty flasks so he has a supply of water to quench his thirst for at least a few days if he’s careful with it. Some tributes may possibly pass by, but Treech has found the least conspicuous house in the village and hides out in the top of the dead, hollow tree, so they never find him.

When it’s finally dark and he can move without being seen or succumbing to the unbearable heat, he keeps moving. When he’s in the alive part of the arena, he climbs into the trees and moves by walking over the sturdier branches to avoid being ambushed. Since he works in the trees back in 7, he’s a very good climber and also an expert at jumping from tree to tree silently. This post is already stupidly long, so I’ll cut it off now and see whether I keep going lol we’ll see how well received these posts are? Anyways yeah there’s the continuation of the big AU @crazycriter now gimme my coffee

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moreespressoformydepresso · 7 months

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Guess who continues to make themself cry with their own ideas? This gal :)

This idea has been in the drafts for a long time and because @crazycriter was interested I’ve finally decided to finish this behemoth of a post and the sequel in my drafts I’m debating on posting as well. I hope this lives up to your expectations in ways my big fic likely will not when I (hopefully) post it somewhere next week 💜

A few months ago I made a biiigggg AU post starring Lamina and Treech, and in most of them they’re siblings because family angst and all that. But them being in a romantic relationship opens up whole new doors!! So lets talk about one of my 25th Hunger Games AU’s, and I’ll expand on another one like I said I would in that past post. This will not be random AU blurbs like the past post, this will be a pretty detailed plot synopsis because I may write this if there’s enough interest. Only after I’ve both posted the big one-shot and finished The Losing Battle We Won’t Stop Fighting, because I try to limit myself to actively working on 3 WIP’s and I’ve got one lined up to fill one of those two spots already. With that out of the way, let’s go! :)

Basic concept:

So I had two main ideas for an alternate first quarter quell. The one that’s relevant for today’s barrage of my madness is the AU where the tributes are picked from the families of the victors, to show that even the strongest cannot protect their loved ones from the Capitol’s might (and monstrousness). Well, how about we change that from being unable to protect their loved ones, to being unable to protect their lovers. The only exception is if said lover is also a previous victor, because the 75th games was the first time they broke the promise that victors wouldn’t have to go into the arena again. To truly hammer in the message, the victors won’t be mentoring this year. Instead, the gamemakers are going back to the original system where the top performing academy students mentor the tributes in the hopes of winning a monetary prize. Previous victors are not allowed to even see their lovers, let alone talk to them. As for what kind of tributes will fight in the games this year… Pretty much all the victors stay far away from love the first few years after their victory, because the deep sea of trauma that comes with watching 23 kids die in the span of days and knowing that you’re only alive because of their horrific fates isn’t very conducive to building a healthy relationship. Therefore, the people now eligible to be picked as tributes are all pretty far into adulthood, the wives and husbands of the victors of the first few games, mostly.

The part where LumberKids/LumberLove/Lameech/Treemina becomes relevant:

District seven has only had one female victor so far, which is Lamina, and she and Treech were in a relationship before she was reaped. If there are any gay victors, they don’t have a boyfriend anyone knows of. Her talking about him in her interview and her mentor sending people to district seven to interview Treech during the games are a big part as to why she won, since it gained her a whole bunch of sponsors. They’re both well-known and beloved in the capitol, and the fact that the people love their love story so much is the only reason Lamina wasn’t forced into the more… unsavory side effects that come with being a victor (side eyes Finnick Odair I think it’s pretty clear age isn’t a dealbreaker for them). Because of this, Treech is the only possible male tribute for the Quarter Quell, and due to the before mentioned usual mental health break from dating he’s also the only minor who becomes a tribute. The person closest to him in age is over 25, and due to him being from the poorer area (headcanon) of one of the poorer districts (canon), he’s also the least well-fed. He doesn’t live with Lamina, and despite her offering he refuses most of the benefits her victory gave her because he’d rather give it to his family. All the other tributes are living with their partners, and thus healthier than Treech is. Their brains and bodies are fully developed and they’ve got a lot more life experience than he does, so all the odds are against him here.

The reaping is a sombre affair, because for a brief moment the district rejoiced at not having to send in their kids for once. It’s still horrible, but even the girlfriends/wives that are now gonna have to fight to the death are okay with it because at least they had a good run on earth and, for one year, their daughters are safe. But then they remember that there’s only one boy who qualifies for the reaping, and the mood sours instantly. All the other districts get to send in adults, but they’re still gonna lose a child. It’s not fair. There are still two bowls, and after the oldest woman (roughly in her forties) volunteers, the escort tries her damnest to be cheery as she swirls her hand in the bowl for the guys. It’s almost like she’s trying to prolong the inevitable, because there’s only one piece of paper lying innocently at the bottom and there’s only one person standing on the right side of the podium. It’s impossible for her to not feel any sympathy when the only sound filling the square is Lamina’s muffled sobs. After she finally reads out the name, Treech steps forward, far past the initial horror. Reality hasn’t quite crashed down on him yet, but the claws have been sunk into his soul for long enough that he’s dissociated.

He looks like he does during the reaping in the movie, but while the escort gives out her little speech tears do shimmer in his eyes. More due to Lamina’s obvious distress and his inability to console her than the fact that he’s probably going to die. He feels… numb, on that front. It doesn’t quite feel real. When the escort takes the hands of the tributes to raise them in the air, Treech stares blankly for a second before wiping the tears from his face and raising his chin high because he knows how the games work. Again, Lamina won partially due to the sponsors he helped her get. If there’s anything he learned from watching her games it’s that if you want to win, you have to be interesting. If you’re not, people will only bet on your odds of winning, and those are decidedly not in Treech’s favor. Especially since his age is going to be a stigma that’ll make people hesitant to bet on him. No matter how skilled he is, the simple fact that he’s so young will hang over his head. He’ll have to twist the odds he does have control over to balance it out. The one advantage he has is that he’s the only tribute that the capitol already knows and cares about, and they really like him. He’s a capitol favorite, despite seemingly having very low chances of surviving even the first day in the arena, let alone actually winning.

For the opening ceremony, the district 7 stylists lean into the nature aspect of their industry rather than their produce. The female tribute, who I’ll call Ascaia, wears a long dress made of colorful leaves and flowers. She gets a flower crown as well. Treech, on the other hand, has a less flashy outfit. Green pants and a green, sleeveless top that look like they’re made of leaves. His arms are covered with what looks like vines, and his outfit has subtle golden elements to give it a little pop. On his head is a golden laurel wreath, a symbol of triumph and victory. Two nature spirits, one bold and wild, the other calm and peaceful. They catch attention immediately, and after the ceremony they’re introduced to their mentors.

Treech’s mentor ends up being Pliny “Pup” Harrington, who somehow met and befriended Lamina during one of her visits to the capitol, though Treech had never met him before. Pup pulled some strings to switch assigned tributes with another mentor so he could give his friend’s boyfriend the best help he could possibly get. Not that the other student minded switching, given how disastrous everyone perceives Treech’s chances to be. Pup tries not to get too attached, but they end up becoming close friends by the time the week is up. Aside from Pup passing messages between the two lovebirds, they discuss strategy both in the game and out of it. Pup’s dad has clout because of his position in the navy, and Pup is fully using that to his advantage. People jump at the chance of getting in his good graces, so quite a few sponsors warm up to the idea of supporting him, although most are still on the fence. They may be swayed by the training scores, and that’s where it gets a little difficult. Treech has to decide how to approach these scores, and he has to decide carefully. On one hand, he can play fully into the “underdog destined to die soon” act that he cannot escape no matter what he does by getting a score around 2 to 4, but that risks putting off the sponsors who don’t want to invest in tributes that have no chance of making it. Or he could lean into getting sponsors by getting a high score and risk putting a massive target on his back, which is a horrible idea because his whole strategy is to play the long game. Stay hidden, away from fights, and sneak around. Prepare to use the deteriorated state of the last remaining tributes to his advantage at the end of the games. It’s a lot harder to stay out of danger when people are actively hunting you down. Especially because a lot of the other tributes could body Treech no problem when it comes to raw physical strength. So, he and Pup decide to go with the middle option and aim for a mid score. Not low enough to turn off sponsors but not high enough to really stand out. I’m not sure at what point training was implemented, but for the sake of the story I’m gonna say there was a massive technological development in the 15 years between the 10th and 25th hunger games so training is pretty much just like in the 74th and 75th games.

During training, Treech spends most of his time at the survival stations. He’s already good at climbing and fire-starting because he’s from district seven, but the rest is mostly new. Most tributes gravitate towards the weapons stations, but Treech ignores them in the interest of remaining as far under the radar as possible. The second and third day the weapons stations are empty enough for Treech to use them in short bursts, mostly the knives (at Pup’s suggestion, since they’re very common and versatile). He deliberately flubs the ax station, balancing it so that he’s good enough to be believable (since he is from the lumber district) but bad enough to not be considered a threat. The private session comes, and Treech needs to choose one skill to show the gamemakers. It’s a tough choice between the edibles, axes, and climbing, but since he doesn’t wanna risk straining his muscles too much he goes with edibles. They saw him climb plenty during the open training sessions, as it was his way of not losing his muscle strength without showing all his cards to the other tributes. It lands him a solid 6, showing sponsors he’s not hopeless without being outstanding enough that other tributes will pay more attention to him.

Lastly, it’s time for the interview. The only real advantage Treech has is that, again, the capitol already knows him. They loved Lamina, in part because they loved her relationship with him. He was central to her story and instrumental to her victory, and the Capitol adores him for it. And Treech milks it for all it’s worth. Most of his interview is spent talking about his life back in district seven after Lamina’s return, and his short stories about their hijinks with their friends leaves everyone aw’ing. He makes sure to also build up his own personality, sharing things about him that aren’t necessarily connected to Lamina so he comes off more genuine instead of making this sound like a shallow attempt at profiting from his girlfriend’s victory. So he’ll mention carving wooden figurines for her and shows everyone a small wooden box he made in the capitol as a gift to his stylist, to both reinforce his love for his girlfriend and showcase his individuality. It works, because Lamina won the 23d games (at 15. Treech is 16-17 during the 25th games) so he’s got a lot of room to work with. Their story happened recently enough that it’s still fresh in everyone’s mind, but long enough ago that it’s mostly smoldering coals for Treech to reignite without it feeling like a rehash of this sick reality show’s previous ‘plotlines’.

Treech manages to successfully recapture the hearts of the capitol citizens, and he becomes a favorite to win. Now he’s done all he can with his time in the capitol, and he’s a few hours away from going into the arena. Pup informs him that all the victors have to watch from back home, set on the stage so the entire district can see their reactions to their lovers fighting for their lives. In response, Treech carves Lamina one last figurine. A heart laid on a bed of dahlias and roses, symbolizing eternal love. From the top of one of the arches of the heart, a small bouquet of hyacints and poppies cascaded slightly over the edge. Hyacinths represent sorrow and regret, but also forgiveness, whereas poppies symbolize remembrance. The message was clear: “Our love is eternal. I’m sorry we didn’t have more time together, please forgive me for leaving you so soon. I love you.”

Just before Treech is taken to the arena, he gives the figurine to Pup and asks him to give it to his girlfriend for him. Pup agrees to give it to Lamina, but only if Treech promises he’ll do whatever it takes to be the one leaving that arena alive. Not just for Lamina, or for Treech’s family and friends back home, but for Pup as well. Treech promises to do what he can, and they both know he can’t do much more than that. They hug one last time, and then Treech is escorted to the arena.

Will he keep his promise? Will he live? Will he die in the first 30 seconds? Will he go insane? I know, but if you want me to write this as an actual story I’ll keep some details to myself :D

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