THG fic: "Spin Control" [15/23]

[trovia]

Title: Spin Control
Pairings: Finnick/Haymitch, Kat/Peeta
Characters: Finnick, Haymitch, Chaff, Peeta, Gale, Kat; plus appearances by Mags, Johanna, Caesar Flickerman, President Snow, Effie, Claudius Templesmith, Beetee, Prim, Thresh, Rue, District Twelve ensemble and various OC
Rating: adult
Warnings: forced prostitution & non-con; people dealing

Comments

[seta_suzume]

"that they hadn’t secretly exchanged marriage vows or whatever Mags thought this was" <- this kind of cracked me up :)

Loved the (sad, painful, awful) story of Caramel and all the stuff about Four!!! Oooh, this was sooo worth the wait.

[trovia]

Thank you! It was so much fun to explore a little more of what I set up about Four in Moss on the Ruins. This includes Caramel. I'd wanted to write him ever since I started giving him mentions in passing in MOTR. :))

[lorata]

hooooooooooooooooooooly

[trovia]

HEE.

Details? :)

[millari]

You posted!

It's soooo good! I LOVED beta'ing this. The interview with Flickerman had me hanging on the edge of my seat to see what bullshit Haymitch would come up with next. "I'm a talker." JEEZ HAYMITCH. COULD YOU LAY IT ON A LITTLE THICKER? YOU'RE LUCKY THE CAPITOLITES ARE IDIOTS. (That's a direct quote from President Snow, btw.)

But actually, having said that, I really did like how Haymitch's patter on Arena Talk was a mix of reality embellished with lies and self-conscious, cringeworthy overstatements ("Capitol's been golden, everyone's been so supportive...."). It wasn't all bullshit. There was real stuff about the drinking and Finnick buried in all that, and that made it sadder, actually, that he had to give pieces of his dignity and privacy away to the Capitol to appease them, to appease Snow

Re: MORE

[millari]

“People,” Caramel said, breathing, “People. Mags. People tell you stuff. You’re telling yourself stuff. You think there are things you need to be. Four hero, Twelve hero, whatever. Fuck it. Fuck all of it. They made you, accept it. I can’t even understand how the two of you managed, how you’ve even made this thing between you two happen. Fuck all of them. Start thinking of yourself first.

“There’s going to be a point when Haymitch will tell you that saving some kid or some bullshit like that is more important than the two of you. Don’t listen to him. There isn’t a difference, whether your kid makes it or some other. He loves fucking things up, too.”Wanted to point this quote out, because it really HURT so much to read, and was brilliant, and Jesus, if I'm not careful, Caramel could become my newest fandom obsession. I love how he has just that ounce of ability to think outside himself left that he can still wish for Finnick and Haymitch to make it. And also, since I know what's coming, I went totally flaily when I read this quote,

[roguedemon]

I went back and reread the Caramel scene, after reading the comments from the latest chapter and being amused (and a little irritated) at some of the reactions. (Like, I had to sit on my hands at the commenter that called Finnick and Haymitch cowards. I just can't with these idiots.) I knew when I read this scene that it was incredibly important. There is this expectation in our society that everyone must be selfless. But when you come down to it, I don't think people understand what that actually means. People think that there is one right answer, when there usually isn't. And they always assume that they themselves would act more nobly than the characters in the story they are sitting on their ass reading. It's a classic psychological phenomenon

[trovia]

That person... uh, yeah. I actually have a suspicion that he (I have a hunch it's a he) only read the most recent chapters, as I put in a thing at the opening author's note that basically said, "If you're just here for the Everlark, start reading at chapter x." (because sometimes I come looking for a particular character in a fic and then I'd appreciate such a pointer) Anyway! If he only read the little 74th Hunger Games bubble of SC, that might account for how he just doesn't at all seem to be aware of the themes of the fic. Or else, he just didn't like the ending and tried to argue that logically in some way, although his logic doesn't exactly work out. :p

But really though, should we really be surprised that some readers might call Haymitch and Finnick a coward? Because I'm kind of not

[trovia]

I'm kind of sad that nobody ever commented on this paragraph:

The Capitol liked watching the human interest stories in carefully administered, small doses; they digested them with the same ease and enthusiasm that Finnick’s starved, thirteen-year-old Seam tribute devoured his eight protein shakes a day. Spending two hours caring about an alcoholic made people feel selfless, more justified in going back to cheering for the dying district kids.It's all of both Finnick and my cynicism and bitterness about society's uselessness condensed in two sentences. I feel that it goes to the core of what the HG trilogy is all about, and what Collins wanted it to be about. (after all, she said she came up with the idea when she was zapping through TV stations and seeing war reports and talent shows next to each other. My belief that she hates what was done to her story by fandom (and editing and the movies) but decided to shut up and take the money was cemented when she gave that rare commentary about how THG isn't a love story at all, but a war

[trovia]

I'm having a strange urge to podcast that scene.

(I've never done that, but if I dare say so, I'm really good at the reading thing -- apart from how my accent might be alienating to people who expect futuristic American drawls :D)