Hi Mandrake, can you tell us more about Peeta's sister in law, Laurel in your fic Uncross Our Stars? WHY is she such a bitch to Katniss at first?
Omg hi Mandrake of COURSE I'd love to share.
When Laurel was younger she fell in love with a boy from the Seam. She could’ve married him but of course her parents wouldn’t allow it, so she’d have to run away. Asterid did that but a lot of people are in love in a much less intense way than the soulmates of this series and it’s not always worth it because the loss for leaving is extreme. She’d lose her family, her friends, her future, all financial security which in Panem is food security, her children would have a higher risk of going into the games. She’d have to labor and struggle. It was a LOT to ask a 17/18 year old girl to sign up for and she just couldn’t do it. So she gave him up. And she felt terrible about it, because what if she’s not actually strong or brave at all? But along came Bran Mellark and even though I don’t think arranged marriages are totally forced on kids in my version of district 12, there was some pressure from her parents and maybe extra because of how rebellious she’s been in the past. And Bran had this calmness about him and he was so into her and she couldn’t stay with her parents forever so she let it happen and hoped maybe she’d find some peace with him.
But she was still worried she was a coward and afraid she made the wrong choices, so she decided to be sharp to make up for it. She would make sure nobody ever told her what to be again. She became a hard person. Laurel was never abusive or cruel but there were some ways Bran and Laurel mirrored the original Mr and Mrs Mellark. She was prickly, he was subdued. He learned that from his father, how to stay quiet and ordered when others are harsh or chaotic.
They had sex at first, a little bit. Because you’re supposed to, and he loved her a lot and she felt guilty for not loving him. It wasn’t really because of the man she gave up, she just made herself into a hard shell. He went no contact with his parents which helped, and they got on alright but it wasn’t truly working so they stopped trying. After a while, the steadiness of him softened her and she really did fall in love with him. He never made a grand gesture or even really flirted with her, he just made sure she was alright, always. And they were friends, and she grew past some things, and one day it just… worked. And they had baby Otto.
Despite all of that growth and loving her husband and being happy with how her life turned out, when Katniss shows up, Laurel is pissed. She’s always worried that she was a coward and then here comes Peeta, the one everyone knows IS actually a coward, and he does the one thing she couldn’t be brave enough to do. I mean at least when Laurel wanted someone from the Seam he knew she wanted him, but Peeta couldn’t do that. And Peeta was the kid who took all the beatings, never stood up for himself, never talked back. Not once. THAT kid, risked it all for the seam girl he loved? Infuriating. He got everything she had to give up. And he did it with privilege Laurel never had! He got to keep his bakery, his parents didn’t even throw him out. He had brothers to help him. His seam girl was the most logistically useful one ever born with her hunting and her healer mother. It just hit her in all her weakest spots. And she’s pregnant for this too! So yeah she was a bitch to Katniss until Katniss’s usual kindness soothed and calmed her. And she realized she was being unreasonable and decided to give her a shot.