HI! Once again, this is a present from your Secret Santa! They wrote it, I’m just posting it here as a helpful elf and we both hope you enjoy it @jobanana7!
Katniss woke up cocooned in five different blankets, her body nice and toasty. She poked her head out of her snuggly burrito and winced. The air in her room was beyond chilly, her nose twitching unhappily.
Do we live in Antarctica? Why is it so cold?
She ducked back beneath the covers just as Peeta came in, whistling some Christmas tune under his breath.
“Power’s still out,” he told her and she grimaced. No wonder it’s so freezing. The blizzard yesterday had left the entire city dark and apparently, Mayor Snow was having issues fixing the problem. Glad I didn’t vote for him.
“It’s almost eleven. Are you gunna get up?” Peeta continued and Katniss burrowed even farther down.
“No,” she mumbled and could practically hear him rolling his eyes. “It’s too cold.”
“You can’t lie here all day, at least come to the couch so we can do something.”
“What?”
“The laptop’s still charged, we could watch a movie.”
Katniss thought about it, contemplated refusing, but ultimately sighed in agreement.
“Fine,” she grumbled, pushing herself up while still keeping herself wrapped up tight. She waddled her way down the hall and fell onto the sofa, Peeta fighting a smile as he followed her. He set the laptop up on the coffee table and dug around in the movie cupboard beneath the TV.
“What’re you in the mood for?” he asked and Katniss shrugged.
“Surprise me.”
He chose something with a grin and popped it in before settling down beside her. She opened her blankets so he could cuddle up beside her and then pulled them back over them both. His arms were nice and snuggly around her as the movie started and-
“Are you kidding me?” she asked. Peeta smiled innocently.
“Moulin Rouge is an amazing movie. I think it’s about time you watched it.”
She narrowed her eyes. Peeta was a huge fan of musicals, something Katniss could never quite get behind. He’d been all over her to watch this one for ages, encouraged by Madge (the traitor) who was also a big fan apparently. Katniss continues to frown at him.
“You could always get up and change it,” he offered and she glared. He laughed and pulled her closer and alright, so maybe movies full of singing were dumb, but she could maybe make an exception. Especially if her other option was leaving this cuddle and braving the frozen wasteland of their living room.
“Well played Mellark,” she said and he laughed again, kissing her temple. She snuggled in a little closer, his warmth heating her all the way to her toes and maybe this wasn’t so bad after all.
This was written by your YIP Secret Santa, I’m just posting it as one of Santa’s elves. We both hope you like it @jobanana7!
“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…”
Katniss trudged through the thick snow, her toes curling in her boots. A damp chill had already seeped into her socks and she tucked her hands beneath her arms to keep them warm. The snow was nearly up to her knees and still it kept falling, heavy and cold and white. Of all the days not to take the car to work…
The bus hadn’t come of course, the blizzard apparently too much for it to handle, so here she was, walking home in what might well be classified as the snowpocalypse. The icy wind blew harshly, throwing great clouds of snow in her face and Katniss sunk deeper into her scarf, cursing herself for not accepting Gale’s offer of a ride home. She hadn’t wanted to take him so far out of his way and foolishly, she’d still believed the bus wouldn’t abandon her. In reward for her faith, here she was, likely to be buried and not found until spring.
She could’ve driven herself in the morning, but she’d thought taking the bus would be a smarter idea. After all, she wouldn’t have to scrape the windows or brush the snow off the roof, she wouldn’t have to wait for it to heat up or shovel the driveway, and she’d even avoid the traffic, what with the bus having that special lane.
That had turned out well.
“Walking in a winter wonderland…”
Katniss sighed as she pushed her way down the sidewalk, everything painted in cheery colours by the Christmas lights on every storefront. She contemplated ducking inside one to thaw out, but that would just make it worse when she inevitably had to head back out. She bent over at another gust of freezing wind and slogged onwards, counting each step as she did. She’d just passed 6th, which meant only six blocks to go.
“Rudolph the red nosed reindeer had a very shiny nose…”
Warbly carols blared from the speakers of every festive shop and Katniss decided that no matter what, she was staying home tomorrow. If Heavensbee doesn’t give us the day off, I don’t care. She’d found out from Gale that all the schools had preemptively declared a snow day for tomorrow and Katniss decided they had the right idea. Unlike Gale of course, she had no children of her own, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t pretend she had to babysit someone else tomorrow. After all, who was Heavensbee to know that she didn’t have nieces or nephews or siblings that needed watching? He could either cancel work tomorrow or expect most of his employees to call in sick, because she was sure there was no way anyone wanted to go back out in this.
I am literally going to drown in snow.
She passed 8th and the music began to fade, shops and boutiques replaced with squat apartment buildings and the one grubby convenience store. Again she thought of hiding out inside, but she couldn’t give up now.
9th, 10th, almost there.
She was just passing the Laundromat when the whole world went dark, every single light blinking out in an instant. A power out, goodie. There were no stars or moon to light her way, hidden as they were by storm clouds and Katniss continued mostly on instinct, her entire body going numb. She turned on 12th with a dizzying swell of relief, but of course, the snow was worse here than on the boulevard, because when did anyone ever bother to plow 12th? Never, that’s when. Katniss was positive all her toes must’ve fallen off but she struggled up the sloping hill of 12th as best she could, the proximity to home dragging her onwards. Almost there, almost there.
She scrambled up the steps, the cold of the railing biting into her fingers through her mittens. She heaved open the building’s door and took a moment to relish the lack of wind inside. She fumbled in her pocket for her keys but she couldn’t use them, her fingers too thick in their wool coverings to be of much use. She bit her lip and steeled herself for the frozenness to come. Just do it quick, like a band-aid. She yanked off her mitten and hurriedly unlocked the door into the lobby, her hand already screaming in protest.
The lobby was pitch dark but Katniss ran anyways, tripping up the stairs as she squeezed her hand under her arm. Why do we live on the fourth floor again? She huffed and puffed until she reached their floor and shuddered as she saw her breath before her in the faint candlelight spilling out from beneath every door. 404, 406, 408, 410, oh thank god 412.
She fell against their door and her hand wept at the idea of being forced to unlock it. Sorry, sorry she thought as her shaking fingers vibrated around her cold metal key. She nearly tumbled inside and shut the door behind her, leaning against it feeling both exhausted and popsicle-lized.
The apartment was lit with every candle they owned and Katniss had the strong urge to collapse on the sofa and set it on fire. Man oh man, do I wish we had a fireplace.
“I was afraid I was going to have to go out there with a search party soon,” Peeta teased from the kitchen and Katniss was almost afraid to remove her winter wear, terrified to find out just how chilly their apartment really was.
“I almost died,” she reported as Peeta came towards her with a grin, one that suggested he thought she might be exaggerating.
“Gale texted me a while ago, he said he offered you a ride but you wanted to take the bus. I can’t imagine that was very fun,” he said, wrapping his arms around her waist and she shook her head, snow falling in clumps onto the floor.
“The bus never actually came,” she groused and Peeta’s eyes widened.
“So what? You walked?”
She nodded and Peeta looked at her like she’d lost her mind.
“That’s insane. You should’ve called me.”
Katniss avoided looking at him, the logic of that suggestion settling in. Why didn’t I think of that? Peeta sighed.
“I guess I’m just going to have to warm you up,” he said and then he kissed her. Not a peck or a kiss hello, but the kind that made her a little dizzy, his warm hands sliding under her layers to touch the skin of her back and his tongue meeting hers. He pulled away and she blinked slowly, head still a little fuzzy.
“Mistletoe,” he murmured against her mouth and she looked up at the clump he’d hung above their door.
“Hmm,” she said. “Still cold.”
Peeta grinned and kissed her again, his fingers heating every inch of skin they touched. Katniss clung to him as they fumbled their way to the bedroom and though she soon found herself wearing a lot less layers, she was definitely a great deal warmer.
awkward moment when you’re trying to be nice and it maybe comes across as flirting, like whoops, no I am not hitting on you, I just can’t socialize apparently.
So hi, hello, I would love to talk to you about Tenel Ka Chume Ta’Djo, aka one of the most badass Star Wars Ladies and the queen of my heart (seriously, Tenel Ka is everything).
I don’t want to ramble on too long (but I could, oh man, I could) so I’m just gunna give a bit of a rundown on why Tenel Ka is absolutely awesome, why Disney never should’ve erased her from canon and why you should totally go find all the books she’s in and read them right away.
So, who is Tenel Ka?
-Tenel Ka Chume Ta’Djo is a cast member of the Star Wars Expanded Universe: Legends Continuity (aka the stuff that was canon until Disney showed up and was all “nah, g”).
-She’s a super awesome jedi knight (like seriously she’s great)
-She only has one and a half arms but still kicks all the ass
-She’s capable of kicking ass even without lightsabers/the force
-Made her lightsaber out of a rancor tooth aka that big beastie Luke fights in Jabba’s palace in RotJ
-Her dad’s side of the family are the rulers of the Hapes Consortium aka sixty three planets
-Her mom’s side are a warrior tribe of force sensitive “witches”
-She spends her free time at the jedi academy scaling the side of temples and stuff
-She becomes Queen Mother of Hapes even though she never wanted to, because someone has to save the galaxy and get shit done
-Does not put up with anyone’s shit
-Is a great friend who really loves her besties
-Plays the political game with extreme finesse
-Is a total action mom
-Does the right thing even when it breaks her heart
-Admits when she was wrong and accepts responsibility for her mistakes
-Has an adorable/heartbreaking love story that never once detracts from her being a total badass jedi queen
etc etc
So all in all, Tenel Ka rocks my socks and she'll totally rock yours too, so look her up, read all her books and then be sad that Disney has put a stop to any future Tenel Ka awesomeness
