#anna reads tbosas

[catoscloves]

i finished my tbosas reread (which was surreal because i haven't thought about the book in 3-4 years) and one of the best qualities that suzanne's works have is that they create the best and most fascinating characters and can add so much dimension to even the most basic of side characters with just a few lines and garner interest in them.

like guys the tributes of the tenth hunger games, despite the fact that we get information about them from a narrator who literally does not care about them, are incredible?? even though we lack so many details about them...

marcus's tense relationship with his former classmate, sejanus, and being from district two, existing as a precursor to violent and bloodthirsty tributes like cato, clove, and enobaria.

lamina sobbing & in severe emotional distress to the point of being considered "useless" only to prove a fierce fighter that can survey her competition and is prepared to defend her survival, while also being merciful and killing a suffering tribute that wasn't even from her district.

wovey, bobbin, and dill being literal sweet angelic cinnamon rolls that were clearly too young to be here.

jessup's protectiveness over lucy gray because he was her friend and was a loyal and kind person.

coral, mizzen, and tanner being the original egotistical, boasting, violent career pack (and coral also tending to mizzen's injury especially when he was thirteen years old and weak and vulnerable and she could have, by all means, let him die).

teslee and circ using classic district three intelligence and manipulating the capitol's technology against their opponents.

and like reaper was certainly the best of all of them: extending kindness towards the other tributes, giving them dignified burials, outwardly and verbally expressing defiance against the capitol, his relationship with dill (protecting her as best he could), refusing to fight any of the other tributes, even going so far as to form a tentative and helpful alliance with lamina.

the tenth hunger games children are really unique likeable individuals with these great personalities, and suzanne as always did an excellent job at humanizing them despite the capitol's brutal treatment and capturing the reader's attention.

#the ballad of songbirds and snakes #anna reads tbosas #anna reads thg #reaper ash #dill #lamina #treech #(guys I'm sorry I couldn't think of anything for him alfjflrjf) #marcus #jessup #coral #mizzen #etc etc

[lasthaysileeshipper]

One-Shots/Short Stories Masterpost

Here are some one-shots and short stories I have written! Main trilogy fics are first, followed by TBOSAS fics.

Main Trilogy: 

District 12's Sweetheart (Haymitch Abernathy/Maysilee Donner) (T)

Aro-spec boy hit by the crush beam for the first time, in the worst possible place. He denies the feelings, of course.

—

Everyone’s Scared of Something (Haymitch Abernathy/Hazelle Hawthorne) (T)

One of many potential domestic futures I see for our favorite grouchy Victor. Domestic life isn't always easy for him, but it is a welcome change.

cw: flashbacks, ptsd

—

Funny in Hindsight (Haymitch Abernathy/Mrs. Undersee) (T)

Another one of many potential domestic futures I see for our favorite grouchy Victor. This is the most canon-divergent one of the bunch. Tooth rotting fluff, because after everything these two have been through, they deserve it. Could be read as queerplatonic, I'm not sure which route I want to take with them yet.

—

The Gentle Giant (Gloss) (T)

My take on why Gloss was a "problematic" victor.

cw: canon typical violence

—

The Girl with the Canary (Haymitch Abernathy/Maysilee Donner) (T)

Haymitch and Maysilee's first significant interaction. Meant to parallel the scene where Peeta gave the bread to a starving Katniss.

—

Hopeless Realist (Queerplatonic Haymitch Abernathy/Haymitch Abernathy’s Girl) (T)

A more unique take on Haymitch's relationship with his adolescent sweetheart. Sometimes a couple is a bi aro-spec guy and a lesbian!

—

Impromptu (Katniss Everdeen/Madge Undersee) (T)

An impromptu sleepover with Madge leaves Katniss feeling relaxed and flustered all at the same time.

—

An Infinite Debt (Haymitch Abernathy & Mrs. Undersee) (T)

My attempt at exploring a relationship between these two. They have so much potential, for better or for worse, and it's such a shame that there's so little about them. I went the more sentimental and optimistic route. This is their first interaction after Haymitch returns home from the Games.

cw: ptsd, alcoholism

—

Love in the Time of the Second Quarter Quell (Past!Haymitch Abernathy/Maysilee Donner) (T)

A look in to how Haymitch's feelings toward Maysilee have evolved over the past 25 years. Her page in the memorial scrapbook.

cw: flashbacks, ptsd, canon typical violence

—

Love Struck (Haymitch Abernathy/Hazelle Hawthorne) (M)

Love wasn’t a feeling that struck Haymitch very often. When it did, it was always in the wrong place and at the wrong time. That was why his feelings for Hazelle scared him so much. He wanted to be around her, to be with her so badly, but in his experience, love had only ever led to tragedy.

rated M for references to sex and sexuality

—

New Beginnings (Haymitch Abernathy/Mrs. Everdeen) (T)

Another one of many potential domestic futures I see for our favorite grouchy Victor. After many years, he (and Mrs. Everdeen) are finally given the opportunity to properly grieve.

—

Nothing is Fair (Cashmere & Gloss) (T)

Panem's brother and sister react to Katniss and Peeta's "engagement" with both anger and sadness. Tragic siblings are one of my greatest weaknesses.

cw: references to canon typical violence

—

An Overdue Apology (Lucy Gray Baird/Anna Viridian Polee (OC) (T)

A preview for an upcoming fic in which I give Lucy Gray a girlfriend because it’s what she deserves!

—

When I'm With You, the World (Almost) Disappears (Katniss Everdeen/Madge Undersee) (T)

In a time of great change and stress, Katniss is lucky to have Madge in her life.

—

TBOSAS:

The Calm Before the Storm (Casca Highbottom/Crassus Snow) (M)

The beginning of the end of this relationship.

Rated M for implied sexual content

—

The Lesser of Two Evils (Strabo Plinth) (T)

An exploration into Strabo Plinth's motivations for moving to the Capitol. A more sympathetic, morally gray take on him.

cw: implied miscarriage/stillbirth

—

The Little Things I'll Never Forget (Sejanus Plinth/Coriolanus Snow) (T)

Fifteen-year-old Sejanus pining for Coriolanus.

#lhs: one shots/short stories masterpost #lhs: thg fanfics #lhs: one shots/short stories #thg fanfic #thg fanfiction

[mega-ringsandthings-world]

OOF this is exactly the reason why i refuse to interact with the hg fandom... the hunger games IS NOT a love story. it’s about freedom vs oppression and survival and exploitation and friendship & family as a form of resistance and it’s never been a love story?? have any of them even read the books?? katniss enters a relationship with peeta because it keeps her and her family alive, not because she’s in love with him. katniss is refreshing as a protagonist because she’s not thinking about love but about how to keep herself and her family alive! do you know how rare that is for ya protags??? g-d.

also, the movies heavily romanticized the games and made it into a capitolite type story. there’s a reason why it reads like a love story in the movies!! and tbosas is suzanne writing a book that deliberately refuses to romantize what the movies did, so if it gets a movie, hollywood will have a fucking hard time doing it again.

to those who like a ship: go ahead! have fun! but don’t you fucking dare accuse people of taking the books out of context or anything like that. just bc you choose to look at a different section of the series doesn’t make their opinion any less valid or true.

to those who are pissed bc “it’s a love story!”: read the books. it’s not.

I stopped interacting as soon as I figured out the direction the fandom was going in. I was drawn in by all the themes that you mentioned, the hunger games is a brilliant and deep story with so much in it! But everyone just took the romance and ran with it, and the media and hollywood sure did help them in that regard. 

Not to mention that the romance was a staged, forced thing between two minors! Katniss had to pretend to be in love with Peeta for food. FOR FOOD! I understand how it formed and progressed, but let’s not forget how it began!   The TRUE love story is between Katniss and Prim, it’s the purest love Katniss has, Prim is her true love, the one she knows she loves above all others. And that’s not a romantic love, babey! Liken it to the love between Elsa and Anna in Frozen that we were all going wild over.

The hunger games is about one girl striving to survive and love under intense brutality and dehumanization! It’s about everything you mentioned!! Which is why I loved that Suzanne didn’t let us off the hook in Tbosas! We won’t be able to weasel our way into prettying it up for consumption this time.  People are welcome to like different aspects of the story. People are welcome to like a certain ship! People can cherry-pick and take away what they please. But you can see yourself to the door if you get upset over what other people take away from the story and by extension, the fandom.     

#the hunger games #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #ask

[catoscloves]

thinking about the scene in book!tbosas where teslee (district three female) was being attacked by the horrifying snakes and she nonverbally pleaded with mizzen (district four male) for help. and he only shook his head, not moving to help her - but the book specifically stated that this was more out of stunned fear/horror than any kind of menace or glee at teslee's imminent death.

and he wasn't even from her district too. they were not in an alliance. she literally had no reason to expect any assistance from him, but district divisions & sectionalism didn't matter when she was scared and in pain. none of these divisions of districts one, two, three, four, five through twelve matter!!! not when children are suffering and dying as penance for a just war that ended several years ago! it's as if the narrative is trying to tell you there is no difference between a suffering/dying child from one district or another.

#'i am snow's slave. that's why i killed cato & cato killed thresh & thresh killed clove & clove tried 2 kill me' #'remember who the real enemy is' #the only person responsible is snow #or the tyrannical govt in place before snow became president #etc etc etc #like it's such a recurring theme throughout the series that katniss herself takes pains to reinforce several times #yes she had to kill these ppl because her survival & peeta's demanded for it to happen #but she knew that people that she despised like cato or clove or enobaria or any other career tributes #were just as much victims of the capitol's cruelty as people she genuinely did not want to see dead like thresh/rue #also I'm thinking about how teslee begged mizzen to help her even though that's literally the opposite of the entire idea of the Games #('how can one have an ally in the hunger games?' - coryo himself) #and katniss saying 'you don't forget the face of the person who was your last hope' #teslee's last hope was some random middle school aged murderous boy from another district that she didn't know before any of this #and idk that's just getting to me #anna reads tbosas #anna reads thg #mizzen tbosas #teslee tbosas #the ballad of songbirds and snakes

[catoscloves]

the way snow and katniss parallel each other is actually completely insane and brings so much complexity to their twisted "bond" of trust

they both literally experienced the same hunger, the type of starvation that gnaws at a person and makes them believe they'll never have enough no matter how much food they eat. katniss knows this as a reality of life in district twelve. coriolanus is deeply ashamed of this poverty, especially in the Capitol culture of wealth and status determining your merit and appearances are highly valued.

in book!tbosas when snow is asked to sing the anthem as an honor to arachne after her death, coriolanus specifically says that there wasn't much music in his life (with the exception of his grandmother belting the anthem on a daily basis). this directly parallels how little relevance katniss sees music to have in her life, unless it's for the sake of a loved one (her father and prim). snow even states that in panem culture in general, there is little to no occasion for any type of music, which he explicitly states as the reason lucy gray quickly caught the country's attention.

they both can be considered self interested - but with very different motivations. coriolanus only desires power and personal success, and cares more about how his actions benefit him. katniss's actions almost always link back to someone's survival - volunteering for the 74th games to save prim, hunting with gale and potentially being punished for doing so illegally to feed her family, and plotting with haymitch to sacrifice her own life in the quarter quell arena so that peeta can survive. this is where the fundamental difference between them begins - coryo pretends to be considerate and kind while secretly planning on elevating his own interests, whereas katniss perceives herself to be selfish and unfriendly and cold while being a truly good and loving person.

thematically, the most important thing about these parallels between their lives is how they react to their experiences. coriolanus reacts to his trauma by spending the rest of his life looking out for only himself, abusing others, and never wanting to be vulnerable. however, katniss uses every opportunity she has to treat others going through the same experience as she is with kindness, empathy, and understanding.

#the ballad of songbirds and snakes #the hunger games #anna reads tbosas #anna reads thg #coriolanus snow #katniss everdeen

[catoscloves]

thinking about how coryo and dean highbottom are very distinctive individuals but ultimately did the same thing: condemn innocents to a gruesome and terrible death. and both did so unintentionally.

yes i know that coriolanus went on to become a brutal dictator and killer, and that even in tbosas he started killing people (bobbin, mayfair, etc) with some level of purpose and very intentionally, but considering sejanus's death in particular... coriolanus was obviously not a friend to sejanus at all and didn't value him as a human being/belittled sejanus's kindness and friendship, but all coryo thought would happen when he betrayed sejanus's rebel plot (even if this was extremely misguided and an example of poor judgement) was that sejanus would be whisked away from twelve to get some punishment from his father and no longer annoy coriolanus. for all of coriolanus's faults and his selfish actions, he had no intention or desire to see sejanus hanged.

casca faced a similar conflict when he invented the hunger games out of drunken whimsy. he didn't take the assignment seriously, severely underestimated the cruelty of the capitol's tyranny, and saw the entire thing of proposing children fight each other to the death as a laughing matter. this was just a theoretical concept, entertainment to him, until crassus and gaul made it grim reality and gave him all the credit for this heinous plan of retribution. casca was obviously vehemently opposed to his idea and assumed everyone would see just how ghastly the entire thing was. he assumed it would eventually fade out, and had to self-medicate when he realized it didn't. he had no desire to condemn hundreds of children to a terrible death and was against this idea, but it happened nonetheless, despite casca's intentions.

it's crazy to think about how these two parallel each other. they both had a strained relationship with their "best friend" that had extreme consequences, they both unintentionally (although in snow's case, lack of previous intention only applied to sejanus) contributed to the pain and deaths of others, and severely underestimated the capability for cruelty of the government they lived under.

#anna reads tbosas #anna reads thg #the hunger games #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #coriolanus snow #casca highbottom #like imagine telling the 1679 children that died in games 1-73 that the reason they had to suffer that fate #was because some drunk college kid accidentally gave his government the most sadistic punishment possible to use #idk it's just chilling

[catoscloves]

what's fascinating about the capitol's aversion to the behaviors of the district 6 tribute katniss mentioned, the one that katniss said went mad in his arena and started eating the dead to the point where the gamemakers had to electrocute him just to remove the bodies from the arena, is how it probably provoked a lot of trauma for people like snow, who had to witness that type of desperate, cannibalistic behavior, during the war. the gamemakers wouldn't have been alive during the war, so their disgust would only be caused by capitol standards of polite behavior and "humanity." (thinking of how effie commented on the barbarism of katniss and peeta's eating habits, despite the fact that she and the other capitol citizens literally watched children murder one another for their entertainment.) but for someone like snow, who actually had the misfortune to experience the horrors from before the games, cannibalism had an entirely different meaning. people always talk about how peeta and katniss reincarnated sejanus/lucy gray and brought down snow by being the ghosts of his past, but clearly his past came back to haunt him in other ways, too.

#snow literally had entire internal monologues in book!tbosas about how horrified he was by cannibalism #how he drew a line of comparison between people who ate people and the rats that were attacking the tributes #and how grateful he was not to have succumbed to what he considered the lowest form of humanity #he clearly was never very moral but cannibalism was something of a line drawn in the sand to him #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #anna reads tbosas #anna reads thg

[catoscloves]

it's crazy that dr gaul used to be an obstetrician. the woman responsible for the slaughter of innocent children is the same woman that your baby sees when it's born.

#even coryo had that train of thought lmao #tbosbas #anna reads tbosas #volumnia gaul

[catoscloves]

not snow literally spending the majority of his formative years experiencing the same terrible hunger and near starvation that katniss did...

#the ballad of songbirds and snakes #the hunger games #anna reads thg #anna reads tbosas #and then instead of empathising with other victims he chooses to place himself in a position of power over them #and abuse every kind and good person he's ever met

[catoscloves]

something about lucy gray telling snow that trust is far more important than love and that if she couldn't trust him he would be dead to her (and then actually fulfilling that promise by fleeing from him/attempting to injure him with a snakebite).

then, so many years later, katniss shares the exact same philosophy: choosing to serve herself because the only person she can trust is herself, and wanting to distance herself as far as possible from a person she perceives as an untrustworthy threat. and even when he claims to have loved her for years (which is actually true to some extent and not just a fantasy fed to the capitol to gain sponsors) she doesn't care about any of that (believing it to be a fiction created to win the game) when he acts in a way that makes him seemingly untrustworthy by joining the career pack. because of peeta's behavior katniss acts to ensure her own survival and doesn't attempt to secure his - not because she's heartless or unempathetic, or as a grab for power, but simply because she has no reason to. so by all means, she parallels snow's worldview of betraying others for the sake of self-servititude, except that that's not who she is and that isn't necessarily the case. when peeta chooses katniss and risks his life/pain and torture at the careers' hands for her survival, its an act of trust and faith and solidarity. and that's all katniss needs to care for him and want to preserve his life (and then later she choose to do so once the change to the rules, the fact that two victors are now allowed, gives her the power to). it was not a declaration of love for show, to provide the capitol with an entertaining performance, that wins her over. rather, it was an act of trust and loyalty that cemented this side of katniss's nature: the loyal and protective side that fights for the people she cares about and can trust.

romantic love wasn't nearly as important to katniss as the ability to trust someone. and in her interactions with her mother (and the distance katniss maintained between them because she couldn't trust mrs everdeen after she neglected katniss), katniss also shows that other forms of love, in this case: the familial kind, wasn't as much of a priority to her as trust was. gale, who was helpful and consistent and a reliable support system for her, was someone whom she held in high esteem. as such, katniss shares lucy gray's values of trust and loyalty and sees them to be of greater importance than love. she sees no logic in feeling betrayed by peeta wanting to be coached separately because there was no connection of trust between them to begin with. but unlike snow and lucy gray, the trust between katniss and peeta only strengthens with time, and katniss defies snow's worldview and expectations for her by choosing to help her lover and friend even at the detriment of her own survival.

katniss exhibits some of the same traits and values that snow and lucy gray do, but she and her relationship with peeta have this key fundamental difference: the existence of, and continuation of, trust.

#the hunger games #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #tbosas #everlark #katniss x peeta #katniss everdeen #peeta mellark #coriolanus snow #lucy gray baird #coriolanus x lucy gray #anna reads books #anna reads thg