THG fic: "Spin Control" [17/23]

[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]

"After all, the Capitol wanted to be entertained." <- that definitely says it all to me too about the Capitol allowing for Careers

It was very, very interesting to read about Finnick asking Mr. Undersee for his permission/to back him up on the gym.

I love all the sections in this fic where Finnick interacts with kids. :) (and when the throwing knives came up I was just waiting for Haymitch to finally show himself again)

I thought Prim and Katniss were really good here too.

[trovia]

<- that definitely says it all to me too about the Capitol allowing for Careers

Yeah, makes sense, doesn't it? I can just picture the first time a tribute picked up a sword and twirled it awesomely, and all the Capitol went, oh.

Thank you so much. I'm glad you liked it. :) Heh, the fandom is spoiled for Haymitch's super-secret awesome throwing knife skills. I can never help but notice that we don't even know if he has any. Kat sort of just assumes, but we've never seen him throw one successfully. Of course, withdrawal jitters are not the best motivator to do it well, either.

[roguedemon]

An update! Yippee!! *Does backflips* I'll have preliminary comments later. :)

[trovia]

Yay! :D

[roguedemon]

WOW. There is so much in here. I'm going to have to wait a few days before I have time to really sit down and unpack everything

[trovia]

Aw, thank you. :) I'd be very curious to see what else you'd have to say

[roguedemon]

Hmmm. I finally have time to try to reply to this. Let's see if I can hit the important points.

This thing you say about this having two layers is spot-on. I mean, much like Mags must have once done in Four, he's doing good things here, both for himself and for Twelve. It's a great way of coping. But it's still a coping mechanism and he's definitely somewhat obsessive about it - take this away and chances are he'd crumble and never get up. It just happens to be socially acceptableThat's something I really love about what you're doing here: you're exploring the different ways people cope, and tailoring them to each character. Everyone has their own drug, as you say in the fic, and some are more socially effective than others. And everyday coping mechanisms can do a lot of damage if taken to extremes. I think that many writers make the mistake of assuming that everyone reacts to extreme stress by drinking or doing drugs or acting out in some obviously self-destructive fashion. From everything I've seen, that's definitely not the case

[trovia]

I think that many writers make the mistake of assuming that everyone reacts to extreme stress by drinking or doing drugs or acting out in some obviously self-destructive fashion.Yeah, that's a thing I'm very conscious about. I think writers - particularly young writers - have in there head one most extreme reaction that is to be head to a situation. Probably the one they would have, but sometimes also one they get out of canon, like drugs in THG. I grew very aware of this from reading other people's stories - I remember reading a HP fic ages ago, I couldn't tell you anymore what it was about, but it relayed this idea that everybody's reaction to terrible news they can't handle would be fainting. So people kept dropping throughout the fic like at a gas bomb attack. That stuck with me as a thing to avoid. I'm very conscious about behaviors that are dictated by canon and then repeated in fic, and I spend a lot of time trying to figure out which characters would have different reactions. One thing that I noticed a lot in my earliest days

[roguedemon]

I ended up having to break up this monster comment into three parts:

I liked how effectively you showed that Finnick is outwardly functioning very well, with just little things throughout the fic showing his strain. The mentions of sugar and extra exercise, fidgeting when he talks to the Mayor and making himself stop.

I loved the whole section with Gale. As mentioned in an earlier conversation, it makes sense that they could find common ground. It also makes sense that Finnick would want to learn more about the forest and snares, things like that. He's from a district where they live off the sea, where they need to understand their environment to survive. So I would think Finnick would be interested in adapting to the new terrain.

His eyes narrow, he filed away everything Finnick said, all there and focused and primed; it was easy to see how this boy, in a district that offered barely any books, just crappy schooling preparing for work at the mines, had decided to pour his all into hunting. It wasn’t just that he was desperate to

[trovia]

I liked how effectively you showed that Finnick is outwardly functioning very well, with just little things throughout the fic showing his strain.

Thank you! Now this is something I have a great deal of personal experience with. ;)

He's from a district where they live off the sea, where they need to understand their environment to survive. So I would think Finnick would be interested in adapting to the new terrain.Oooh, I love that take on him. Yes. I was mostly thinking in terms of how he reacts to problems by finding something to do, and also how learning what things are made of is a control thing for him. "I need to know what this is so that I can break it down into smaller bits which I can fight or use

[roguedemon]

And last, but not least:

He could have given him a hint, Finnick supposed, all over again. They’d reached this point once before. He couldn’t make himself tell him outright, he couldn’t say, “Maybe it isn’t what it seems.” but he could make himself say something that felt smaller, put Gale’s mind to work and pray.

Or he could just put it to rest and resolve that he didn’t care, and either Gale would deal with it or he would not. The only reason he cared what Gale thought anyway was because he thought Gale was right when he called him a slut.

Gale wrinkled his forehead, but not in distaste, just working.Yeah, that sums up the problem right there. I admit that I wish Gale would figure it out somehow, because I want Finnick to have someone his own age that understands who is really is to some extent. But Finnick's own relative peace of mind is more important

[trovia]

You know, I struggled a lot with the Gale/Finnick issue re: how much should Gale figure out. Me being me, I settled on the less happy option. He doesn't figure it out. For Finnick, having to learn to live with the fact that people will always have that negative image of him is a harsh lesson that he shouldn't have to learn, but that's life. He'll just have to deal. He'll have to learn to differentiate between what people see and the reality of who he is.

And he's adorable with the kids. I love Aleese and how she seems to want to jump in and defend Finnick, and how she seems to be the only Haymitch fan in D12. :)

Hah. Totally. :D Her brother too. More on it in the upcoming chapter.

The way I see it, breaking down the world into bits and then tackling the bits is a lesson Finnick learned from Mags. She's very pragmatic. It's a great thing to be taught. "Let's find a thing we can tackle."

D12 and their whole situation is just triggering for Finnick in general -- he's soaking in the helplessness and it's pushing him to do things.Ugh

[trovia]

A lot of stuff here. I like the mention of Mags -- Finnick is angry at her now that he has a new understanding of certain issues, courtesy of Caramel. D12 and their whole situation is just triggering for Finnick in general -- he's soaking in the helplessness and it's pushing him to do things. He's showing a lot of empathy and compassion for these kids and he realizes that they are all stuck with a horrible reality.

Looking at this now, I think a big reason why Finnick feels so strongly for the kids is because a part of him understands that he himself lost himself at that age. It's the last age that he can remember feeling normal and like other people have the same experiences as him. Considering how he's such a master of projection, of course he would get fiercely protective of kids at a stage of development that he himself remembers just breaking away.