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Suzanne Collins was so insane for this

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Update

Hello, everyone.

I deeply apologize for my long hiatus. I am not sure if many of you knew this, but since March of this year, I had a relative battling illness, and my spouse and I had been helping to take care of them. There was a brief period of time when they had become stable, which was around the brief time I returned in the summer to post 2 chapters of my TBOSAS fanfic before their condition began to decline again (hence my second hiatus). Unfortunately, despite our best efforts at rehabilitation, our loved one passed away a few weeks ago. Helping to take care of them and then having them leave us has been very hard. I just haven't had a lot of motivation or even time/energy to write. I also got in a car accident and suffered from a concussion, which didn't help. I had difficulty concentrating and staring at a computer screen for long periods of time without my head hurting or getting nauseous, making it difficult to type.

This year has been really hard on me, honestly, and I look forward to 2025. It's slowly getting better though. With this being said, I am working on the next chapter of TBOSAS and hope to have it posted within a week. I'm not sure if any of you are still interested in reading it due to my disappearance and the inconsistent updates, but for those who have hung in there, I appreciate your patience and support. I still plan to update the story until it is finished. I care a lot about it.

Hope you have a wonderful day.

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To Save a Mockingjay Ch 7 Further Delayed

Hello all,

I apologize for not updating yet. I am in the process of moving and there has also been a family emergency, resulting in me flying out of town. With how things are looking, I am not sure when I will be able to finish the chapter and post it. But I will be working on it when I can! Once again, thank you all for your patience!

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To Save a Mockingjay Ch 7 Will be Delayed

Hello everyone,

Unfortunately, this week's update to my TBOSAS fanfic will be postponed until the weekend. My sincerest apologies! Thank you so much for your patience!

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Hello everyone,

The 6th chapter of "To Save a Mockingjay" is not where I think it needs to be quite yet but I am too tired to keep working on it tonight so I plan to post the full chapter either tomorrow or Tuesday. Sorry for the delay!! HOWEVER, I didn't want to keep you all completely hanging so I decided to go ahead and post a part of it here as an apology and a thank you for your patience!! I am really nervous about this chapter as it goes in a direction I didn't originally intend and I am unsure of Coriolanus's voice/characterization. If you are willing and able, please share with me your thoughts! It may change what I do in this chapter...

EXTENDED CHAPTER 6 SNEAK PEEK

Snow POV

Disclaimer: I'd still consider this a rough version but not as bad as the other bits I am working on 😅 hence why I am fine with posting it.

***

Coriolanus watched in shock as Sejanus failed to respond to his jesting and instead began to tremble in place. His eyes rolled to the back of his head. He stayed like that for a few moments, unresponsive to any of the words of concern echoing around him before suddenly, he stopped. Then, he fell.

“Someone catch him!” Smiley exclaimed. Coriolanus was the first to react. He grabbed onto Sejanus right before he hit the floor. He shook him. "Sejanus?"

He didn't respond.

His face was growing paler by the second and his breathing was shallow. What was happening? Was he having a heart attack? A seizure? Surprisingly, Coriolanus had never witnessed either of these, not even during the war. But the thought of Sejanus having one of them made his blood run cold. 

Officers ran over to them. “What's wrong with Private Plinth?” they demanded. 

“I don't know,” answered Coriolanus. Something he didn't like. “He just collapsed.”

One of the officers then checked Sejanus's pulse and placed an ear above his chest. “He has a pulse and is still breathing. Let's get him up and take him to medical.” 

Coriolanus was aided by the rest of their bunkmates in lifting Sejanus off of the floor and carrying him to the clinic. Although, truthfully, he thought that they didn't need as many hands to get Sejanus up. Sejanus was surprisingly light.

A doctor and team of nurses quickly surrounded the bunkmates upon their arrival and had them lay Sejanus on a bed. They then dismissed them, explaining there was no waiting room and that the clinic was much too small for 4 teens to be lingering about. Coriolanus protested against this but he was met with stern resistance. Having no other choice, he returned with Bug, Beanpole, and Smiley to the mess hall to continue breakfast. 

It was a futile endeavor. He soon discovered that he could no longer get himself to eat. The others did not share this same difficulty. They brought up different scenarios as to what could have happened to Sejanus, including the idea that maybe he had an allergic reaction (which Coriolanus immediately shut down with the great point that Sejanus hadn't taken a bite of his food before he had his medical emergency and that he had eaten the same meal before with no such reaction). Bug, who had witnessed someone have a seizure before, feared that Sejanus had, in fact, experienced one, which did nothing to ease Coriolanus's apprehension.

Right when they thought things couldn't get any worse, Sarge then came in and broke the bitter news that after the scuffle last night, no one was allowed to leave the base alone. It was even being considered that the Hob would become off-limits. Truthfully, Coriolanus had momentarily forgotten about his plans to track down Lucy Gray with all the commotion surrounding Sejanus. But with the new rule in place, Lucy Gray and his burning desire to see her was brought back to the forefront of his mind. He glanced over his bunkmates, who were also upset to learn of the new protocol. He couldn't ask one of them to be his partner. Not if he didn't want to be bombarded with questions, or expose his cheating in the Games. He was better off waiting for Sejanus and asking him to accompany him.

‘That’s if Sejanus gets better,’ reminded a pessimistic inner voice. Nonsense. Of course he would get better.

He would.

They all headed back to their room after breakfast, with Bug, Smiley, and Beanpole doing so for their lingering headaches and Coriolanus because he had nothing better to do. While the others slept in their bunks, Coriolanus wrote a letter to Tigris. He didn't get very far on it. Words failed to come to him as easily as they often did, and after three scratched-out sentences, Coriolanus placed down the pen and opted to stare at the ceiling. 

His mind kept juggling between thoughts of Sejanus and Lucy Gray. Him seeing Sejanus again for the first time since the Games. The utter joy and hope that had filled him upon realizing he was no longer alone in this nightmarish world. The thrill he got at hearing Lucy Gray singing on stage. His terrible want to wrap his arms around her and never let her go. 

Then a more troubling thought; the idea of Sejanus abandoning him here in this backwoods district, with the inability to ever see Lucy Gray again. It had a probable chance of happening, given the circumstances. Coriolanus could see it now. Sejanus being deemed too ill to stay in the Peacekeepers, leaving the doctors no choice but to send him back to the Capitol and in the care of Ma and Strabo Plinth. Sejanus sulking about how miserable he was and how his family didn’t understand him while sipping on tea behind strong, Capitol walls. Meanwhile, Coriolanus destined for a life of solitude and tediousness in a degenerate place, with no chance of escape unless he passed his officer exam. And would he even pass? Certainly not, what with how little he'd been studying, mind focused on daydreams of Lucy Gray.

Or consider an even darker picture: a black casket with flowers atop it and a munitions giant glancing flippantly at Coriolanus before turning away, forgetting about his existence entirely. In this bleakest of scenarios, there would be no more baked goods from Ma. No Plinth sympathy to rely on if ever needed. Why would there be? There would no longer be a connection between the families, not with the foundation of it being dead. For what else could Coriolanus offer Strabo Plinth if not friendship to his wayward son? Money? Strabo had plenty. Status? Perhaps once, but now such a gesture would be shaky at best. Power? Coriolanus Snow had no power. Coriolanus had nothing. Nothing but an old family name. 

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Hello everyone. For this update of "To Save a Mockingjay," I have decided to post some fanart created by the talented @ackkinfe as chapter 6's sneak peek.

See you all Sunday ;)

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"To Save a Mockingjay" Sneak Peek 3

Hello, all. It's been a while. I hope to not disappear for as long as I did any time soon. The fifth chapter should be up by tomorrow. I've written it already, but I still want to go over some things in it before I post it.

Here is a sneak peek:

“Sejanus,” he said. “It’s time to wake up. How did you sleep? Are you feeling any better?”

She couldn’t get herself to respond right away. Blame it on her still being half-asleep or blame it on the unexpected proximity between them, but Sejanus found herself in a daze over his looks. He was beautiful to her. So very, very beautiful. Always had been, always would be. It hurt how pretty he looked. It wasn’t fair. Not when she knew the monster that lay beneath the beauty, and not when he’d never see her in the same way.

As far as she knew, Snow was strictly interested in those of the opposite sex. And even though Sejanus secretly fell into that category…well, she supposed that didn’t matter anymore. There was too much between them for that to be a possibility now. She couldn’t…she wouldn’t let him get that close to her.

For those unfamiliar with the story:

Sejanus Plinth finds herself no longer beneath the hanging tree but back at the barracks weeks before her death. Memories that are not her own disorient her. Then there's the voice.

"You must stop him, Sejanus. Stop President Snow."

Fem!Sejanus. Mix of movie and book canon

Read here

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"To Save a Mockingjay" Sneak Peek 2

Here is a sneak peek for the next update to my TBOSAS fic, "To Save a Mockingjay." The fourth chapter will be posted this week! I've got to say, based on what I have planned for the story so far, it looks like this fic will be fairly long. I hope you all are ok with that *nervously chuckles*

Chapter 3 Sneak Peek:

His excessive worrying over her and his chiding puzzled her, and her mind kept flitting back to the wide-eyed horror she saw on his face when she’d been choking. None of it made sense to her. He didn’t actually care about her. They weren’t really friends. He was only using her. So why was he acting so concerned? She felt like she was missing something…

The way she saw it, there could only be two explanations for his behavior: 1) he was worried because he actually did care about her, or 2) he was afraid that if she died, he would no longer be able to use her. 

She wondered if looking back over the memories Gale Hawthorne had sent her would help her find the answer, but she wasn’t sure how to conjure them up.

End of Sneak Peek.

That's right, folks...we will be taking a trip down memory lane for a bit.

See you then!

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Hello everyone, hope you all are doing well.

The update "To Save a Mockingjay" will be further delayed. I am hoping to have it posted by this weekend, but if not, it will be posted sometime next week. Thank you for your continued patience. We are almost there people! Just need a little more time. :) I am so excited

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Fanfic Update Announcement:

Hello!

To everyone who's been reading my fanfic "To Save a Mockingjay", I wanted to let you know that this week's chapter will be postponed to next week. I am sorry for the inconvenience. A combination of a busy week and a slight change in direction with the story has led to me changing the material I originally planned to post for this week, and I do not feel it is ready to be released yet (I also like to have a backlog of chapters which I don't currently have now with the change). I talked it over with my Beta and think this is the best course of action for the story. I prioritize quality over set releases and thus I have chosen to go forward with my decision. If the delay is extended, I will keep you updated. Thank you for your patience.

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"To Save a Mockingjay" Sneak Peek 1

Here are some sneak peeks to the next update for my fic, "To Save a Mockingjay."

I usually only give one blurb at a time for my sneak peeks, but due to me uploading 2 chapters at once, I am giving 2 sneak peeks.

Chapter 2 Sneak Peek:

Sejanus woke up for a second time that day, but this time in the clinic of the base. A nurse was hovering above her. “Oh, dear,” she said. “How are you feeling? That was quite a nasty fall you had.” Instead of directly responding, Sejanus burst into tears. 

“What’s wrong, honey? What’s wrong?” asked the nurse, alarmed. She reached for Sejanus as if to give her a hug, and the crying 18-year-old gladly pulled her into an embrace. “I’m such an idiot,” she hiccuped between sobs. The nurse clucked her tongue between her teeth. “Shush now. Don’t you say something like that. You’ve been so sweet since you got here. Why would you call yourself such a mean thing?” But Sejanus didn’t answer her. 

Chapter 3 Sneak Peek:

As if reading her mind, Snow walked away from her, but not to head for the exit, to her dismay. He returned to his previous reclined position on the bed. He didn’t look back at her as he said, “As I mentioned, Sejanus, I am not leaving you here alone. You should get some rest. Let me know if you need anything.”

His stubbornness to stay stomped her and, admittedly, angered her. Why was he so bent on not going without her? That’s when it hit her: none of their other bunkmates knew of Lucy Gray and his past as mentor and tribute in the 10th Hunger Games, nor of their romantic relationship. Peacekeeper and district? Sejanus didn’t actually think the others would care -  they’d probably be more amused than anything - and she definitely didn’t think they’d rat out Snow for it.

But it was all about appearances to Snow, and anything that would even dare to threaten his public image in the eyes of the Capitol would be too much of a risk for him. He trusted Sejanus not to say a word about Lucy Gray, and he wanted to ensure that as few people as possible knew about his relationship with her. This meant that he’d either have Sejanus as his partner whenever he went to meet with Lucy Gray, or he wouldn’t go at all. It really showed his priorities.

-End of Sneak Peeks

For those unfamiliar with the story:

Sejanus Plinth finds herself no longer beneath the hanging tree but back at the barracks weeks before her death. Memories that are not her own disorient her. Then there's the voice.

"You must stop him, Sejanus. Stop President Snow."

Fem!Sejanus. Mix of movie and book canon. Updates are once a week any time between Tuesday and Thursday (depends on your time zone). If I am unable to update for any reason, I will let readers know in advance, either on the most recent chapter or on my writer's blog.

Read here

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I Updated the Link to the Playlist

For those who could not access the link to the YouTube playlist for "To Save a Mockingjay," I updated the link. Sorry, I was not aware the original link was only sending viewers to "Humble", which was the first song on the list.

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Sejanus was definitely a physical manifestation of Coryo's good conscience. Sejanus represented kindness and innocence that borders on ignorance due to his upbringing, the same upbringing that Coriolanus should have had, if his father hadn't died. Sejanus lingers around, annoying Coryo with his goodness that reminded me of an angel on your shoulder.

And then we have this scene that I just can't stop thinking about where we can see how Coriolanus is not quite at Dr. Gaul's level regarding her ideas about the Hunger Games, but they're the only ones standing. She literally comes down to his level to hear his ideas. And in between them, Sejanus. She asks him what he thinks the Hunger Games are for and his answer in this moment doesn't satisfy her, and then when Sejanus dies, the barrier dissolves, and he knows the answer she wants and sets himself up to become her.

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'I SWEAR'

"Look at me, look at me. I'm gonna find us a way out of this, okay?".

"Okay? I swear, i swear".

"Hey, look at me. You came here for me, right? We're brothers? BROTHERS".

"So whatever you've done, i swear i will keep you safe".

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everything about coriolanus and sejanus is sick. because to sejanus, coryo was his everything. his best and only friend, his only companion, the only person in the academy who cared enough for him that he had even risked his life to bail him out of the arena. in district 12, when sejanus appeared in the brink of snow’s hopelessness and brought hope and familiarity to his life, coryo immediately embraced him, and then practically telling him that sejanus just saved him from committing suicide— which obviously only solidified sejanus’ belief that his best friend treasured him and loved him and cared for him unconditionally. (which i believe snow did, just to some extent).

but most of the times, to coryo, sejanus was just a friend. a friend that he tolerated every once in a while, a friend he resented lots of time because of his background, and a friend he really cared for, but not enough. never enough when the other choice was his country. and sejanus died not knowing that. he died without the knowledge that it was his best friend who betrayed him, and that he was still referred to as a “traitor” by him on an occasion with the dean.

and what’s so fucking sick is that coryo did care and mourn about it yes, but then he moved on and took on the ladder by taking pieces of what was left of his friend’s life with his blood on his hands and used it to his advantage.

he was taken in under the care of his dead friend’s family, loved and cared for, never had to worry about money anymore. ma and strabo plinth would never know that the reason their beloved son wasn’t alive, why their son wasn’t there anymore for his 19th birthday was because of his best friend they had just taken in. and no one would ever ever fucking find out.

and coryo. just. doesn’t. care. about. sejanus. anymore. in a snap. because now he has won, taking over panem one step at the time, and that has always been his biggest motivator. he might’ve cared for sejanus, like he cared for lucy gray, but that has never been enough. not when at the end of it all, the only person he has always been striving to save was himself and the glory of his family name and he ends up getting both. all’s well that ends well

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„you have to stop rescuing me“

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The last one is literally Snow following Sejanus to the back of the Hob. I said what I said.