Thg Tbosas - Tumblr Posts
You Can't, You Can't Catch me Now I'm coming like storm into your town
Part 1/Part 2/Part 3/rest on Masterlist
[Mentor!Coriolanus Snow x time-travel, thg-era, tribute!reader x toxic!Finnick Odair (in the Peacekeeper era)]
Warning: gore, blood, gun and knife violence, serious injury, death, physical assult, possibly non-con...as I said, maybe...
Summary: You are a rebel, the last chance of the rebellion against President Snow. You're told to go on one last mission to kill the man who massacred Panem. It took you years to understand your mission when you became [name] Lily Baird, starting from the age of five till before the reaping day of the 10th Hunger Games.
The day you began your plan to destroy President Snow before he became the villain he was meant to become.
'Both sisters, Lucy Gray and [Name] Lily Baird are a part of the Covey, and though they have been chosen as tribute for both District 12 and 9 because of our own mistakes, we hope they will stay safe.'
You knew about [Name] Lily Baird, named after her because your mother was inspired by her fiery personality and strength, but now you realize that you were transported to a time before the Baird sisters died, one of sickness and one because of Coriolanus Snow himself.
'I will kill you, President Coriolanus Snow.'
Coriolanus stood beside his cousin, lost in his train of thought. Tigris paused to question him about his tribute since he had mentored her during the day before noticing a scratch on his face.
‘Coryo! Why haven’t you put a bandaid onto that cut?’
Coriolanus glanced at Tigris before gazing at the scratch on his hand.
He was sure that the scar on his face was worse than his hand but he abandoned the thought of covering it because…Well, what if [Name] Lily Baird had attacked him because she liked him? He had seen her red face multiple times and she always ended up extending her claws like a cat.
‘They’re her marks on my skin.’ Coriolanus shrugged, glancing back at Tigris as she stood by the stove lost in shock. She grimaced as he gently smiled at the thought and walked to the dining table where Grandma’am sat.
The old woman glanced at him before settling down and calling a maid to hand her the scarf.
Grandma’am has always been stuck in a world before the Civil War between the Capital and the Districts so Coriolanus intervened through the elder woman's anger at a non-existent person and went to fetch it from another room.
Tigris sighed, gazing back at the boiling cabbage in a hot pan in front. Her mind kept on sliding back to her cousin’s answer about why his tribute kept on attacking him.
‘ Her marks on my skin? Well, isn’t he delusional…’ Tigris mumbled before going back to the hot pan on the stove.
‘Sejanus,’ the boy beside Coriolanus looked up at the blonde near him.
‘Yeah? You need something?’
‘Does [Name] Lily attack the other tributes like she does to me?’
Sejanus stopped chewing midway through the sandwich Ma had made.
‘No, she’s nice once you meet her the second time. I saw her with Dill, Wovey, and Reaper once and she was teaching them about how to tell the difference between certain seeds for some reason.’ He shrugged. ‘Apparently, Wovey and Dill were interested…Why though?’
Sejanus then glanced at the scars Coriolanus had received from his tribute and frowned, having heard about what happened yesterday. Tigris had told him about it when he had stopped by their penthouse.
‘So…I’m the only one? I’m special to her?’
Clemensia Dovecote, one of his acquaintances since they weren’t close, interrupted the conversation before Sejanus could respond.
‘Listen, Coryo, don’t get caught up in your delusions. She hates you, I’m sure about that.’
Coriolanus scoffed at the girl in front of him before grinning at you while you were being dragged by a Peacekeeper.
He stepped towards you, ignoring his friends' comments, and wrapped a hand around your waist but was pushed away.
‘Get off me!’ You sneered before stomping away in an angry fit.
Coriolanus glanced back at his friends but ignored them once they shook their heads, mentally telling him that, ‘they told him so.’ But unfortunately, he had lost himself to you.
At least to his future First Lady of Panem.
One sentence kept repeating in his head while he was following you,
‘I’m her only, she made me claim her as mine.’
And without sensing the slight possessiveness coming from your mentor, you glared at the arrogant boy who was meant to keep you safe.
‘Really wish I could destroy you now, Coriolanus Snow.’
next chapter is gonna be Sej x Lucy Gray sooooo be warned ig?
You Can't, You Can't Catch me Now I'm coming like storm into your town
Lucy Gray x Sejanus' Pov
Part I/Part 2/Part 3/
Masterlist
[dark!Sejanus Plinth x Tribute!Lucy Gray Baird]
Warning: violence, serious injury, death, physical assult, gun and knife violence, possibly non-con...maybe.
Summary: You are a rebel, the last chance of the rebellion against President Snow. You're told to go on one last mission to kill the man who massacred Panem. It took you years to understand your mission when you became [name] Lily Baird, starting from the age of five till before the reaping day of the 10th Hunger Games.
The day you began your plan to destroy President Snow before he became the villain he was meant to become.
'Both sisters, Lucy Gray and [Name] Lily Baird are a part of the Covey, and though they have been chosen as tribute for both District 12 and 9 because of our own mistakes, we hope they will stay safe.'
You knew about [Name] Lily Baird, named after her because your mother was inspired by her fiery personality and strength, but now you realize that you were transported to a time before the Baird sisters died, one of sickness and one because of Coriolanus Snow himself.
'I will kill you, President Coriolanus Snow.'
‘ [Name],’ Lucy Gray started. ‘ Has your mentor acted…Suspicious?’
You hummed, eyes focused on your sister.
‘He always acts like we’re attached to the hip and never lets another Capital boy talk to me. I’m grateful for that but he’s too controlling, he thinks that he can own me.’
It's been a couple of days since the beginning of the 10th Hunger Games and Sejanus and Coriolanus have been acting like you and Lucy Gray are nothing but their precious pets.
Lucy Gray shivered before telling you her side.
‘ Sejanus gives me his ma’s cooking and likes to act like all he wants to do is stay close to me. The President’s son, Felix Ravinstill, came up to me once and Sejanus got mad and tripped him as he passed.’
The both of you faded into a silent duo once Reaper came into the room with Dill.
‘Wovey was tired but Dill wanted to hear more about District 9.’ Reaper smiled down at his fellow tribute.
You smiled up at the young girl and tapped on the cold floor as a motion to sit beside you and Lucy Gray.
‘Come over, Dill! What more do you want to know?’
It was nothing but a distraction for both parties involved.
After an hour or so, Peacekeepers brought most tributes out to practice with their mentors-including Lucy Gray- about how to try and kill each other.
Sejanus started to walk up to her before the District 4 girl-Coral- and her mentor, Festus Creed, interrupted the conversation.
‘You’re the District 12 tribute who was the thing that Sejanus Plinth traded his District 9 tribute for, right?’
Festus then smiled while looking at her.
As if he was some kind of angel…
‘Lucy Gray, you don’t have to converse with him.’ Sejanus announced, glancing at the Creed boy. Festus’ smile faltered before whispering to his tribute to move past her.
Sejanus glared at his back before turning toward Lucy Gray and smiled.
‘So, what should we practice today?’
‘Sejanus! How was today?’ Ma questioned as her dress swished as she went to hug her son.
Sejanus smiled before beginning to talk about how he had developed a slight crush on his tribute. Luckily, his Pa and Ma understand the Districts and don’t mind if he marries a District girl.
‘Lucy Gray is just so…Gorgeous, she’s gorgeous, kind, and cheerful. I don’t know how to define my infatuation with her…’ Sejanus sighed before turning to his parents for a sign of advice.
Strabo Plinth laughed before gifting his son an idea of how to get Lucy Gray in his spell.
‘Help Coriolanus cheat the Games. You know that he will do anything to win and by promising your tribute you will take her away from this torture, she will devote her trust to you. Then you just have nothing but an easy ride up to convince her that you are the perfect husband for her.’ Strabo shrugged as he turned his attention back to the newspaper on his lap.
Sejanus grinned at his father before kissing Ma on the cheek and turning to the door to meet with Coriolanus Snow. Ma yelled for him to eat first but he told her that he would bring the Snow family to eat here.
‘Lucy Gray Baird…Don’t you love me too?’
posted like 3 chaps bc i havent posted in a while
I most certainly WILL write a mile long text once I finish reading The Hunger Games about its bazillion critics on capitalism, race, and so on and there's nothing anyone can say or do to convince me otherwise
I just realized how this "the villain is just misunderstood" thing we have going on is heading dangerously to "I condone fascists because they have a tragic backstory and are hot" and I'm getting more and more turned off every time I think about it
Gale and Revolutionary Hate
Okay, it's been a while since I last spoke about THG but I'll give it a try because I've been thinking a lot about this matter.
It's been a while since I saw someone on TikTok defending Gale because, if I remember correctly, he was somewhat of a true revolutionary. The person meant that Gale not only believed in the Revolution but also thought violence was justified for it and although I don't disagree with it - I do think violence is justified in the face of oppression - I think this person forgot a crucial part of what is needed in a Revolution: organizing.
When Marx first brought up the idea of hatred as fuel for the Revolution, what he meant wasn't scorching and annihilating the enemies but using the hatred (born out of indignation for our oppression) as motivation to organize. Organization means being able to get together, form a community, and with that be capable of resisting capitalistic oppression.
And that's exactly what is lacking in Gale.
Don't get me wrong, there is a tremendous anti-violence message in Hunger Games - although I attribute it more to the trauma Katniss goes through because of it (which is warranted) than any ideological point Collins could be trying to make. And that message is definitely not one to pass when the motives of the Revolution are fair but anyhow, the point is: message or no message, I still believe Gale isn't a good example of a revolutionary.
That's because Gale, although filled with an appropriate amount of hatred to fuel a Revolution, lacks another essential aspect of a revolutionary, one Che Guevara puts quite well: "The true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality."
That's because love is the thing that should be at the core of your hatred. Otherwise, we fall into a trap: in our hatred and need to destroy our enemies, we forget why we're fighting in the first place - the people who are oppressed by this enemy.
So the fact that Gale is willing to go so far as to explode the people out of the mountain on District 2, that he'd bomb the Capital with no care for the people who are there on the side of the revolution but unable to get to the other side of the fight, is what makes him a bad revolutionary.
Because his hatred isn't filled with the notion of community, he sees anyone who doesn't rebel loudly and proudly as an enemy, which simply isn't true. Not everyone will help the Revolution by making a fuss, or by fighting, not everyone can do that. Gale's unwillingness to understand so shows that his hatred isn't founded in any idea of community between the oppressed or love for the people he's a part of but actually is founded in personal offense of the Capital against him and the people he cares about.
Although that's a valid sentiment if your motivations are wrong, so will your actions.
And that's why I think Prim (in the films) and Peeta are the closest thing to a good revolutionary we've got there:
Prim understands there's a reason for violence, which she doesn't partake in not because she thinks it is wrong but simply because it's not her. More than that, Prim's capacity to empathize isn't blurred by her need to survive like Katniss's (understandably so, of course) so she is able to see the people who become collateral damage with kindness and openness that lack in Gale, for example.
Peeta is the same: he understands the necessity of violence but he won't partake in it unless it's the only way (which reminds me of Fidel Castro's quote: "Revolutionaries didn't choose armed struggle as the best path, it's the path the oppressors imposed on the people. And so the people only have two choices: to suffer or to fight"). Peeta chooses to be kind but his violence stems from the hatred this very kindness creates.
So no, I don't think Gale is a good revolutionary regardless of how The Hunger Games was written.
I really like how this is structured by the way lol (:
Love, I'm not sure how you think all your points don't prove mine.
What I'm saying about Gale isn't that he isn't a good revolutionary at all, I'm saying, however, he's not an example to follow. So let's go through all of the points you make, shall we?
"What about the families, Katniss?" meaning, the families of his district. His community, the people he lived with his whole life, you mean.
It's easy to empathize with one's own community, the harder part of revolution is to understand not everyone is oppressed the same and empathize with the ones whose oppression doesn't look like yours. One thing that Gale repeatedly doesn't do.
So, the Nut provides weaponry to the Capital, right? And who produces this weapons? Is it the peacekeepers? Or is it the people of District 2?
The same people, mind you, who had their children thrown into the games despite having fought for the Capital during the Dark Days. The same people who were judged by the Capital as animals despite having more money then them, like with Sejanus. Their oppression is more insidious but it's there, that's why Katniss says that "they have no fight" between them.
Because they are not the real enemy.
Throwing a bomb at them is like killing factory workers for working on producing weapons for the US. Maybe it'd slow them down, maybe it'd cause problems, but at the end of the day, if the Capital had won, those people would be just another casualty of war and proof of the revolution's "barbarian ways".
Not even saying how dumb and disorganized it'd be to just blow the Nut and leave them to starve slowly under there, therefore denying the Revolution's own chance to seize these weapons, of seizing control of the flow of supplies, of seizing control of troops and gathering even more people for their own side. Not even saying what it'd do for the Revolution's propaganda.
Because you know, an organized revolution isn't just about gathering a bunch of people and weapons and attacking, it's also about spreading the revolution's prerogative, it's about convincing the people of their own struggle. Revolution doesn't work if you win but have a whole majority of people who oppose you in the territory you've won. It needs propaganda, it needs to be adhesive.
Otherwise you can win and never get to change anything because the people you claim to represent doesn't support you anymore.
Gale's idea for the Nut could've cost them the war, both strategically and politically, if it was done earlier in the war.
And the Capital? Is it the people in the Capital's own fault they're are systematically oppressed and alienated? Is it the avoxes choice to be slaves for the Capital? Is it their choice to be trapped there, most of them unable to reach District 13, like the Avoxes Katniss and Gale see running in the forest?
Sure, Gale has a lot of love — for people whose oppression he understands. He denies, however, the deep intersectionality that exists in oppression, the complexity of this oppression. And to deny that, is to deny the liberation of classes that also need liberation but don't look like you.
And I refuse to enter the discussion of whose oppression is more pressing. You don't have liberation unless every oppressed people is liberated.
Sure, I'm not saying the people in the Capital or even in the loyalist districts don't have much more privileges than Gale, Katniss, and the other Districts had. But that doesn't make them a free kill zone. I do support violent revolution, what I refuse to support is stupidity.
And do not accuse me of racism because I deny Gale's ability to represent revolutionary hate. I could very well cite Reaper or Thresh as better representatives of revolutionary qualities.
It's not by occasion that District 11 is the one to begin the revolution: all of the characters who represent District 11 exemplify perfectly what should be expected from a true revolutionary. They're compassionate people who understand no oppression looks the same and will NOT fight unless it's absolutely necessary to do so.
When Reaper gathers the bodies of the children who died in the arena, he gathers ALL the bodies, even of the kids from loyalist districts because he knows they're all oppressed. His empathy reaches all oppressed people, not only people whose oppression look like his.
That's revolutionary love. When he defies the Capital after giving the kids some dignity, that's revolutionary hatred.
When Peeta and Katniss want to donate their Victor's prize with Rue and Thresh's family, when all of the tributes from the Quarter Quell join their tables and have lunch together — that's revolutionary love.
When Katniss tells people to turn to the real enemy — that's revolutionary hatred.
When Fidel Castro tells people that the Revolution's use of violence is justified because that's the only language their oppressors understand, he doesn't mean it's fair game to annihilate your enemy. A revolution's ideal isn't to annihilate the enemy — it's liberating the oppressed. Cuba didn't exactly destroyed the US last time I checked for example but they did liberated their own people internally.
That's the crucial difference Gale's ideals and actions don't differentiate between. Armed struggle is more than fine but violence isn't the only tool at disposition and we shouldn't act like it is. Not only because it makes us forget the very purpose of the struggle but also because you don't win a war by only having the biggest army or being more ruthless than your enemy. War is decided by many other factors than this.
Violence for liberation is more than a must. Stupidity isn't, lacking will to empathize with others isn't, lacking of significative and critical strategy isn't, because that's lack of organization. Many of the reasons, for example, why Che left the fight in Congo was because their lack of popular support and internal conflicts between the revolutionary side.
Why do you thinks that is? Because organization comes from various fronts, and there's always other ways to consider how yo fight a revolution. Sides Gales doesn't acknowledges or recognizes.
White or non-white, Gale is a mediocre example of revolutionary so stop presuming things about me regarding my understanding of what I read and start respecting that some people do have both the intelligence and the academic background in both political science, war strategy and racial studies, and can still have a different take on a literary fiction than you do.
I don't appreciate being told what my own values and morals are by people who don't know me and don't seem interested of having a conversation instead of just dumping their frustrations and projections on me.
Gale and Revolutionary Hate
Okay, it's been a while since I last spoke about THG but I'll give it a try because I've been thinking a lot about this matter.
It's been a while since I saw someone on TikTok defending Gale because, if I remember correctly, he was somewhat of a true revolutionary. The person meant that Gale not only believed in the Revolution but also thought violence was justified for it and although I don't disagree with it - I do think violence is justified in the face of oppression - I think this person forgot a crucial part of what is needed in a Revolution: organizing.
When Marx first brought up the idea of hatred as fuel for the Revolution, what he meant wasn't scorching and annihilating the enemies but using the hatred (born out of indignation for our oppression) as motivation to organize. Organization means being able to get together, form a community, and with that be capable of resisting capitalistic oppression.
And that's exactly what is lacking in Gale.
Don't get me wrong, there is a tremendous anti-violence message in Hunger Games - although I attribute it more to the trauma Katniss goes through because of it (which is warranted) than any ideological point Collins could be trying to make. And that message is definitely not one to pass when the motives of the Revolution are fair but anyhow, the point is: message or no message, I still believe Gale isn't a good example of a revolutionary.
That's because Gale, although filled with an appropriate amount of hatred to fuel a Revolution, lacks another essential aspect of a revolutionary, one Che Guevara puts quite well: "The true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality."
That's because love is the thing that should be at the core of your hatred. Otherwise, we fall into a trap: in our hatred and need to destroy our enemies, we forget why we're fighting in the first place - the people who are oppressed by this enemy.
So the fact that Gale is willing to go so far as to explode the people out of the mountain on District 2, that he'd bomb the Capital with no care for the people who are there on the side of the revolution but unable to get to the other side of the fight, is what makes him a bad revolutionary.
Because his hatred isn't filled with the notion of community, he sees anyone who doesn't rebel loudly and proudly as an enemy, which simply isn't true. Not everyone will help the Revolution by making a fuss, or by fighting, not everyone can do that. Gale's unwillingness to understand so shows that his hatred isn't founded in any idea of community between the oppressed or love for the people he's a part of but actually is founded in personal offense of the Capital against him and the people he cares about.
Although that's a valid sentiment if your motivations are wrong, so will your actions.
And that's why I think Prim (in the films) and Peeta are the closest thing to a good revolutionary we've got there:
Prim understands there's a reason for violence, which she doesn't partake in not because she thinks it is wrong but simply because it's not her. More than that, Prim's capacity to empathize isn't blurred by her need to survive like Katniss's (understandably so, of course) so she is able to see the people who become collateral damage with kindness and openness that lack in Gale, for example.
Peeta is the same: he understands the necessity of violence but he won't partake in it unless it's the only way (which reminds me of Fidel Castro's quote: "Revolutionaries didn't choose armed struggle as the best path, it's the path the oppressors imposed on the people. And so the people only have two choices: to suffer or to fight"). Peeta chooses to be kind but his violence stems from the hatred this very kindness creates.
So no, I don't think Gale is a good revolutionary regardless of how The Hunger Games was written.
I really like how this is structured by the way lol (:
TBOSAS really puts the treatment of the tributes into perspective. Because they're not treated like that to make it a thing of glory or as a last meal - at least not primarily. They're treated like that so they can be seen as "Capitol" to the citizens.
During the time of the interviews, they are seen as Capitol, as worthy of respect, able to be related to and vouched for. Once they enter the arena, this is all stripped from them and they are left with District struggle. Not amount of bourgeoise masquerade can remove what is seen as District barbarism.
The sponsors' gifts represent the Capitol as "saviours" of the Districts: even the strongest would die without the Capitol's mercy. Or, at least, that's the idea Snow wants to portray.
Once they make it out of the arena, they have been gifted fully with the mercy of the Capitol. Not to the point at which they are Capitol themselves, but they are worthy of spectacle: stripped of their identity and made to conform with Capitol life.
It's like the colonisation of the Districts, in a way, as their culture was stolen from them - a tactic used repeatedly to control independent nationalities and cultures by colonisers. Of course, it's practically impossible to strip a community of their identity, even if they are forced to forget their culture. And we see this with District 12 - they still have roots of their culture left, with Katniss saying that they dance very well and her family having extensive knowledge of plants, supporting the idea that Katniss has Indigenous heritage. And they have other customs, such as the toasting ceremony.
So, the victors are torn from their identity, which has already previously been stolen by the Capitol, and made to conform to Capitol life. But even that is not genuine. Rather, they exist as a laughing stock as it is clear that they are only parading as something they are not. They are entertainment for the Capitol citizens, nothing more.
Listen. The Hunger Games - but they’re all English. Think about how funny that would be.
“I’ll fuckin shank ya bruv”
"I’ll chef you up fam”
"Oi, pussio, get back here"
"Piss off you bloody wanker"
I’ve seen people talk about the tesserae system and how exploitative it is, how it strengthens class divide, how it targets the lower class, but I don’t think I’ve seen anyone discuss that it’s actively a reward for having children.
Same as how women were given a small amount of money and rewards for each child they had in fascist Germany, the tesserae system works to exploit people’s desperation to have more children. Again, it enforces the hope in the hunger games; especially in the larger districts, it can be seen as a reward for very little risk.
It makes participation in Hunger Games (and thus the act having children itself) become an active job - a responsibility for which families are rewarded. This is especially interesting because we do not know much about the treatment of women, but it definitely shows how Panem was at least built on a misogynistic society, if it isn’t actively Patriarchal itself, because it implies that women are treated as little more than mothers when having children is a viable source of food for a while.
And that then exacerbates class warfare. It turns the lower classes on the middle classes, as they are not so desperate as to risk losing a child just to survive.
It’s implied in Mockingjay that the human race was on the brink of extinction in Panem, so rewarding people for having kids was very likely a way to combat humanity’s dwindling numbers.
I'm interested in the demographic of the THG fandom and how that affects people's thoughts on the series. If you could fill out this form, that'd be great!
It's for purely personal reasons and your answers won't be used anywhere except maybe a Tumblr post. All questions are optional, so you don't need to give any information you don't want to :)
If you could rb for reach, that'd be great :D