Any time period. Any victor, or numerous victors, are from another district from canon. So, a Katniss from One, a Haymitch from Seven, a Finnick from Three, whatever. Feel free to change things up in terms of district "groups" too (have Katniss and Johanna from the same district, for example). How does this change the story?
Johanna, Haymitch, Mags, Finnick/Annie, teentroviaApril 27 2013, 14:18:16 UTC
Since I've been meaning to write at least one prompt for this...
No beta, apologies for any errors.
District Twelve's sixteen-year-old Finnick Odair and Annie Cresta are huddled up under a blanket in their cave, her head resting on his chest and his arm wrapped around her waist. His tears smeared across both their cheeks. Even now, asleep, they exude a sense of love and pain and so much raw fear of losing one another that it's hard to look at.
Up in Mentor Central, Johanna Mason can't decide if she wants to shudder at the sight or puke.
That old anger is trying to well up again at the sight - about how nobody would ever have started a petition for a rule change to save her, about how there hadn't been a volunteer the year her name was drawn. Of course there hadn't been and she'd had to save her own ass. Play the scared hysterical girl and then the crazy bitch when every other victor of Four got to be a hero, revered by the district and the Capitol both. She hadn't been a volunteer, just meat, and her name hadn't been carved
( ... )
She'd got a suspicion that that rule change is only going to stay in effect until just before the end. Wondering if anybody else is thinking the same or if it's just her being jaded again, she sneers about herself. Apparently, she'd going soft, because she isn't gonna bring that up
( ... )
Intriguing take on things here, and I like how "the more things change, the more they stay the same." Maybe it's not quite as stark as being from Seven and Twelve, but Johanna still feels rejected and angry and hemmed in by a forced Capitol role. Haymitch still drinks to cope and seems to feel isolated. Mags is still respected by her district.
everyone on Victors' Rock knows that Haymitch secretly just is this big bad teddy bear inside
Worst kept secret among the victors in general, I think. ;)
Thank you! Yeah, I wanted to change things up but I also wanted to give the characters the chance to stay roughly the same people. So Haymitch isn't happy and he drinks, but he doesn't drink a lot yet and the other victors are noticing, trying to keep him grounded. Johanna still had to play the same strategy in her Games even though she's from Four, because there was no volunteer for her, but that also means there's a whiff of "wasn't good enough to win fair and square like other Four victors" about that. All in all, though, Johanna and Haymitch are clearly better off in a district full of victors
( ... )
Oh, they're definitely better off since they're not totally isolated as they are in Seven and Twelve. It's a subtle change but it works.
That's Four mentality right there because almost any other district would give her some props for not relying on the crutch of a volunteer. ;)
Mags is a good pick for that--I could maybe see Woof as well given his long association with the Games.
And those last three are definitely interesting to think about. :D I'm curious now how, say, someone like Johanna would work with One. I think Haymitch could transition to One decently enough: as a lingering, even seductive, angle to present, "snarky, clever, and edgy" transitions well even if you cut out the additional angle of his being from a poor district.
But Johanna could likely get away with "vicious cunning bitch" in Two (Enobaria pretty much riffed off the same theme) but One, being the sexy, charming, graceful district...?
Yeah, I was kind of coming at it the other way--running their Capitol persona and seeing how they'd fit in--or not--in other districts based on that widespread public perception, since I think that national perception has such an inescapable influence on their actual personality. Surprisingly enough I think it still works because both of them would have problems with acceptance.
Haymitch will still care too much and will likely push people away, and he won't quite fit on a personal level since he's probably too snarky and abrasive for both One and Two, and his win coming by challenging the Gamemakers will not be looked upon well because One and Two know you don't show up the Capitol.
Johanna will probably still alarm people: even in Two, they'd likely consider her supposed deception and slyness with her tears to be "unworthy", whereas in One, her supposed viciousness wouldn't come across well)
Yeah, I can see how that would work for you because you've got a firmer idea about their backstories than I do. Me, I'm still more flexible and mostly borrowing from millari when it comes to pre-Games Haymitch. ;) But yeah, it works because there character is so tightly connected to their personas. It's harder to do that with somebody like Mags. Or even Kat.
Though how do you think Haymitch and Johanna would have ended up volunteering as Careers? Any idea?
So after that whole spiel, my guess would be that in One, they would have been from poorer families looking to advance in the world, in Two they'd probably be either that or kids of Peacekeeper families who'd see it as their duty (ideally, if they have more than one kid, at least one of them enters the Academy), and in Four they'd either have been "luck of the draw" if they were sixteen or older, or else generally acknowledged as a likely volunteer for the volunteer pool in case the kid drawn was too young.
Sorry it took me so long to get back to this. I wanted to write you a review first; I thought that's probably a reply you'd want to read more urgently. ;)
This is really interesting! I'm currently reading this long District Two fic that I'm sure you've seen around, "Fixed to a Star" by lorata, and the Careers' mindset really interests me. I guess it makes a lot of sense for poor people to use the Games as a way of getting money and advancing their social status. Especially since at least Two would have a lot of fairly poor people with the miners, and I can see how the artisan district of One also would vomit up a lot of folks who're just not gifted in anything related to that. It's a much more specialized district than, say, the ones where everybody can help in the harvest. (this is also why I'm intensely curious about District Three)
This is so fun! I love Johanna's voice throughout. She's so bitter and yet so obviously affected by emotions, despite how jaded she tries to act.
It's so interesting to put Mags as the Haymitch character. I think of all the victors, Mags would probably deal the best with being a sole victor for so many years. It was funny to see her doing the same kinds of things that Haymitch must have done in Mentor Central (i.e. be unconscious at the console) but how it feels entirely different if the reason she's asleep like that is because she's an old woman rather than a drunk.
And I like the change of subbing Finnick and Annie for Kat and Peeta. So Kat lost and Peeta won that year, I take it? I guess they were never the star-crossed lovers then, huh, so that makes sense. But how interesting to imagine Annie and Finnick transposed into the Kat and Peeta roles. Would that mean that one of them is the Mockingjay? Which one would you choose and why? Inquiring millaris want to know. :D
Mags probably does get away with things like that because of her age, as opposed to Haymitch's drunkenness. But of the named victors we have, she'd probably handle it best, and there's something woefully depressing about her being twice Haymitch's age and still never having a victor.
I'd probably be more interested to see Annie in the MJ role because we know so little about her!
In my head, Mags was the first victor of Twelve and then there was another, but they died. Way too depressing otherwise.
I'd say Finnick/Annie would likely have a very different dynamic from Kat/Peeta and there wouldn't be a Mockingjay constellation in the first place. I think they would be a symbol together. They'd show their feelings for each other much more openly and everybody would always want to see them together.
Thank you! It was a fun little ficlet to write. With Johanna, I just wanted to retain her hard edges but also show how she'd be better off in Four and how being around other victors would make her a little happier and softer. Likewise, Haymitch would still be troubled and have a tendency of isolating himself but there would be people watching out for him.
Hm, I don't know how Peeta won... oh! I think Peeta had Maysilee as district partner instead of Kat (which means Haymitch would have had Rue :D). Kat is a District One volunteer who became a Career to support her family. I can picture her as a Career quite well - we've talked about how unapologetic she is before.
I said to deathmallow below, I think Finnick/Annie would have a different dynamic from Kat/Peeta and they'd probably be more likely to do things together; people would want to see them on the screen together. (though they would also be much more boring than K/P, honestly, much more compliant)
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No beta, apologies for any errors.
District Twelve's sixteen-year-old Finnick Odair and Annie Cresta are huddled up under a blanket in their cave, her head resting on his chest and his arm wrapped around her waist. His tears smeared across both their cheeks. Even now, asleep, they exude a sense of love and pain and so much raw fear of losing one another that it's hard to look at.
Up in Mentor Central, Johanna Mason can't decide if she wants to shudder at the sight or puke.
That old anger is trying to well up again at the sight - about how nobody would ever have started a petition for a rule change to save her, about how there hadn't been a volunteer the year her name was drawn. Of course there hadn't been and she'd had to save her own ass. Play the scared hysterical girl and then the crazy bitch when every other victor of Four got to be a hero, revered by the district and the Capitol both. She hadn't been a volunteer, just meat, and her name hadn't been carved ( ... )
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everyone on Victors' Rock knows that Haymitch secretly just is this big bad teddy bear inside
Worst kept secret among the victors in general, I think. ;)
Thank you for this!
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That's Four mentality right there because almost any other district would give her some props for not relying on the crutch of a volunteer. ;)
Mags is a good pick for that--I could maybe see Woof as well given his long association with the Games.
And those last three are definitely interesting to think about. :D I'm curious now how, say, someone like Johanna would work with One. I think Haymitch could transition to One decently enough: as a lingering, even seductive, angle to present, "snarky, clever, and edgy" transitions well even if you cut out the additional angle of his being from a poor district.
But Johanna could likely get away with "vicious cunning bitch" in Two (Enobaria pretty much riffed off the same theme) but One, being the sexy, charming, graceful district...?
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Haymitch will still care too much and will likely push people away, and he won't quite fit on a personal level since he's probably too snarky and abrasive for both One and Two, and his win coming by challenging the Gamemakers will not be looked upon well because One and Two know you don't show up the Capitol.
Johanna will probably still alarm people: even in Two, they'd likely consider her supposed deception and slyness with her tears to be "unworthy", whereas in One, her supposed viciousness wouldn't come across well)
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Though how do you think Haymitch and Johanna would have ended up volunteering as Careers? Any idea?
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This is really interesting! I'm currently reading this long District Two fic that I'm sure you've seen around, "Fixed to a Star" by lorata, and the Careers' mindset really interests me. I guess it makes a lot of sense for poor people to use the Games as a way of getting money and advancing their social status. Especially since at least Two would have a lot of fairly poor people with the miners, and I can see how the artisan district of One also would vomit up a lot of folks who're just not gifted in anything related to that. It's a much more specialized district than, say, the ones where everybody can help in the harvest. (this is also why I'm intensely curious about District Three)
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It's so interesting to put Mags as the Haymitch character. I think of all the victors, Mags would probably deal the best with being a sole victor for so many years. It was funny to see her doing the same kinds of things that Haymitch must have done in Mentor Central (i.e. be unconscious at the console) but how it feels entirely different if the reason she's asleep like that is because she's an old woman rather than a drunk.
And I like the change of subbing Finnick and Annie for Kat and Peeta. So Kat lost and Peeta won that year, I take it? I guess they were never the star-crossed lovers then, huh, so that makes sense. But how interesting to imagine Annie and Finnick transposed into the Kat and Peeta roles. Would that mean that one of them is the Mockingjay? Which one would you choose and why? Inquiring millaris want to know. :D
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Mags probably does get away with things like that because of her age, as opposed to Haymitch's drunkenness. But of the named victors we have, she'd probably handle it best, and there's something woefully depressing about her being twice Haymitch's age and still never having a victor.
I'd probably be more interested to see Annie in the MJ role because we know so little about her!
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I'd say Finnick/Annie would likely have a very different dynamic from Kat/Peeta and there wouldn't be a Mockingjay constellation in the first place. I think they would be a symbol together. They'd show their feelings for each other much more openly and everybody would always want to see them together.
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Hm, I don't know how Peeta won... oh! I think Peeta had Maysilee as district partner instead of Kat (which means Haymitch would have had Rue :D). Kat is a District One volunteer who became a Career to support her family. I can picture her as a Career quite well - we've talked about how unapologetic she is before.
I said to deathmallow below, I think Finnick/Annie would have a different dynamic from Kat/Peeta and they'd probably be more likely to do things together; people would want to see them on the screen together. (though they would also be much more boring than K/P, honestly, much more compliant)
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