Dreaming of Dandelions

My name is Sam and I have been everlarked since 2010. Main blog: booksandchocolatesmears.tumblr.com

[obscurenothings]

I'm all for nuanced asterid takes but personally for me leaving katniss alone in 12 post war was unforgivable. like sure she can have other factors that redeem her and working on a hospital is noble and stuff but. imagine how abandoned katniss felt AGAIN. and just after she was starting to let herself lean on her mom again in catching fire. katniss would have DIED if greasy sae didn't come back. you can't tell me asterid genuinely wholeheartedly thought haymitch was going to be a good responsible guardian, and even if she did he wasn't. if greasy sae didn't show up and force katniss to eat and encourage her to go outside katniss would have died alone, wounded and abandoned by her mother for the final time.

""You know why she can't come back." Yes. I know why. Because between my father and Prim and the ashes, the place is too painful to bear. But apparently not for me." Mockingjay, pg. 380

im genuinely curious to know what her life was like in 4 after the war (fic idea? 👀) but personally if I was a parent no matter how traumatized I am (and like she said asterid now has medicines for her depression) I can't imagine leaving my freshly burnt to a crisp, morphling addicted, psychologically irreparably traumatized teenage daughter entirely alone with a man who is at best a functioning alcoholic and at worst 100% neglectful. I feel like the bare minimum would be going with her to 12 and helping her stabilize and prepare her life before leaving for 4. not just cutting her loose as soon as her trial is over without so much as coming to see her. and I'm not saying asterid didn't care. katniss mentions the fact that she would sleep in the chair by her hospital bed, but after katniss recovers and after she shoots coin, it's never mentioned that her mother comes to visit her or speak to her. she just gets the letter with her new number.

so yeah long story short I do have sympathy for asterid but imo it is incredibly selfish and cruel to abandon katniss yet again to face the home and district all of those traumatic memories are held in without so much as a little support to get her on her feet. like katniss said, asterid felt going back to district twelve would be too much to psychologically bear but apparently she just left katniss to deal with that same weight entirely alone. imagine if greasy sae had decided to start a business in the capitol or move to a new district and katniss died alone and starving in her house, abandoned again, this time fatally, by the primary adult that was supposed to protect and support her.

[waitingformydandelion]

This makes me wonder if Astrid ever talked to Greasy Sae. I know we never see them interact, but there’s a lot that Katniss doesn’t notice. As two refugees from 12, they had opportunities in the escape and in 13. Is there a possibility that Astrid knew that Sae was going to 12 with her? Or even that she asked her to look in on Katniss? It still doesn’t make the abandonment better, but I’m still curious how much Asterid knew of what was happening in 12.

[inmyvampireempire]

I love tumblr because somehow I can end up being mutuals with a celebrity (someone that wrote a fic that I loved)

[mage-chocolate]

The biggest thing that jumps out at me on a reread of Mockingjay is how, even before Peeta is finally allowed to return to District 12, he’s repeatedly placed in situations—after the sewer kiss—that could have easily triggered his conditioning, where Katniss was doing things that could’ve easily been linked to the version of her that was falsely planted in his head. Instead, he consistently responds with affection.

Katniss admits to lying because she was on a mission for revenge. Peeta responds by telling her she still doesn’t understand the effect she has, and that people followed her because they believed in her.

Gale’s comment about how Katniss will only pick the person she can’t survive without has sparked a lot of discussion. While this is technically true, based on Gale’s speech patterns, he most likely meant it in the most literal sense, since he doesn’t tend to use metaphorical language. Either way, it’s not a great image of Katniss to be presenting to Peeta who just stays quiet.

Katniss votes yes for the Games. Peeta is already emotional when he hears the proposal, and he’s described as furious immediately after she votes—but none of that anger is directed at her. Instead, he channels all of that fury into trying to convince Haymitch not to vote yes.

Katniss kills an unarmed woman who was not the person she was supposed to kill. Peeta instantly understands what she’s going to do next and moves to protect her. Even when she draws blood from him, he’s still preoccupied with taking care of her.

Between this and Peeta coming back to her with clear eyes after going through some time with Aurelius, all signs point to her getting back the boy who would never harm her, even at her worst.

[katnissmellarkkk]

Only a couple more posts like this and then I’ll leave y’all alone but… I don’t know how to explain or articulate it properly but there is something I’ve never picked up on before that I suddenly caught when re-reading Mockingjay.

These two moments… when you compare and contrast them…

Gale’s touch and taste and heat remind me that at least my body’s still alive, and for the moment it’s a welcome feeling. I empty my mind and let the sensations run through my flesh, happy to lose myself. When Gale pulls away slightly, I move forward to close the gap, but I feel his hand under my chin. “Katniss,” he says. The instant I open my eyes, the world seems disjointed. This is not our woods or our mountains or our way. My hand automatically goes to the scar on my left temple, which I associate with confusion. “Now kiss me.” Bewildered, unblinking, I stand there while he leans in and presses his lips to mine briefly. He examines my face closely. “What’s going on in your head?”

“I don’t know,” I whisper back.

she says here she’s (somewhat passively) giving gale all that she withheld from him (when peeta, in her mind, was still a possibility) and thinks at least kissing him makes her feel somewhat alive, but even during the kiss she’s not present or focused on gale, and he catches onto that. but the portion highlighted is the important part of this scene. she is startled back into reality when gale calls her name and her awakening is the realization that this isn’t their way. she doesn’t even say “this isn’t my way” (as in, kissing isn’t something she does unless on camera for a show). and she doesn’t say “this isn’t our woods or our mountains or our home” (as in, this place is unfamiliar and strange and scary and that’s what’s disjointing her). no, she says “this isn’t our way”. because this isn’t what she does with gale. kissing gale feels alien and wrong in her heart. even with peeta out of the picture.

and then the second passage from later down the line in mockingjay:

Like the mutts. Like a rabid beast bent on ripping my throat out. And here, finally here in this place, in these circumstances, I will really have to kill him. And Snow will win. Hot, bitter hatred courses through me. Snow has won too much already today.

It’s a long shot, it’s suicide maybe, but I do the only thing I can think of. I lean in and kiss Peeta full on the mouth. His whole body starts shuddering, but I keep my lips pressed to his until I have to come up for air. My hands slide up his wrists to clasp his. “Don’t let him take you from me.”

peeta, who she claims to have given up on, is begging to be left behind. how many times has she claimed throughout this book that she wishes he was dead (either to end his suffering or to end her own)? and right here, she has just blown up the halo to mercifully kill finnick. she is so desensitized to death by this point. and she thinks she’s so desensitized to peeta. she doesn’t even want to consider he still is peeta. but here, when she has every reason to put him (and herself) out of his misery, she instead turns to kissing him. why? why would you kiss the monster who is actively fighting to not murder you with his bare hands? why would you kiss the boy you called a mutt? the one who you have already done your best to let go of? why would that even cross your mind as a last ditch effort?

because kissing peeta isn’t disjointing and it’s not something she only did for the cameras and it’s certainly not something she’s only doing passively. she’s kissing peeta to remind him who he is. to remind herself who he is to her. she’s tried so hard to stop caring for him, to sever the cord between the two of them, but in this moment she just can’t. she kisses him and says “don’t let him take you from me”.

because the act of kissing actually is their way.

[obscurenothings]

I felt there wasn't enough mom!katniss fanart so I made some 🤲🏼

digital artists you have my utmost respect how do you do it

also don't look at the background stay focused

[rosegardeninwinter]

Could you explain your logic on why Éowyn and Katniss are on the same wavelength?

Oh, most gladly! Both are fierce, independent women who go against societal convention to fight the good fight, both are valiant, kind, and stubborn, and both have stories that end, for some readers, in an underwhelming, "traditionally feminine" way.

I think it is easy to get caught up in how these two women are warriors, and not examine why they feel they must fight, or whether or not they want to fight forever.

Éowyn's desire to go to war is motivated primarily by her perception that her value lies in glory and death. She feels stymied by the expectations of her culture, and she's ready to go prove herself by the sword, not giving much thought to how very un-glorious war truly is (something Tolkien would have known all too well). Éowyn's fighting spirit, though beautiful, is not grounded: it is desperate. So is Katniss's. Katniss is in a near constant state of desperation, her fighting spirit channeled into survival, into protecting those she loves, and into inspiring resistance. Katniss is aware, having been in the Games, of how un-glorious war is, but she's stuck on the wheel already. By the end of Mockingjay, we see Katniss in a very similar position to Éowyn: disguising herself and heading into the belly of the beast for what is likely a suicide mission.

And this is why the "traditionally feminine" endings for the characters are actually important. It allows them to be grounded. Éowyn realizes that fighting for the sake of fighting will burn her up; Katniss already is burnt up.

This is where Faramir's perspective on war and revolt shines through: "I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness," he says, "nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend." Can you imagine Peeta saying the same? I most definitely can. And neither man is less a warrior for this outlook. It is only that they recognize that after the dust has settled and the battle is won, there must be something worth living for afterwards.

I don't think either woman ever loses her fighting spirit: far from it. But both women do have to figure out how to live in a post-war world, how to recover, and how to heal, and how to move forward.

[rosegardeninwinter]

I mean, and this ... entire passage ... this is so (well to me and my @porchwood​ loving brain) like the end of Mockingjay (bold mine for especially poignant connections): 

And Éowyn looked at Faramir long and steadily; and Faramir said: 'Do not scorn pity that is the gift of a gentle heart, Éowyn! But I do not offer you my pity. For you are a lady high and valiant and have yourself won renown that shall not be forgotten; and you are a lady beautiful, I deem, beyond even the words of the Elven-tongue to tell. And I love you. Once I pitied your sorrow. But now, were you sorrowless, without fear or any lack, were you the blissful Queen of Gondor, still I would love you. Éowyn, do you not love me?' 

Then the heart of Éowyn changed, or else at last she understood it. And suddenly her winter passed, and the sun shone on her. 

'I stand in Minas Anor, the Tower of the Sun,' she said; 'and behold! the Shadow has departed! I will be a shieldmaiden no longer, nor vie with the great Riders, nor take joy only in the songs of slaying. I will be a healer, and love all things that grow and are not barren.' And again she looked at Faramir. 'No longer do I desire to be a queen,' she said. 

Then Faramir laughed merrily. 'That is well,' he said; 'for I am not a king. Yet I will wed with the White Lady of Rohan, if it be her will. And if she will, then let us cross the River and in happier days let us dwell in fair Ithilien and there make a garden. All things will grow with joy there, if the White Lady comes.'

'Then must I leave my own people, man of Gondor?' she said. 'And would you have your proud folk say of you: "There goes a lord who tamed a wild shieldmaiden of the North! Was there no woman of the race of Númenor to choose?"' 

'I would,' said Faramir. And he took her in his arms and kissed her under the sunlit sky, and he cared not that they stood high upon the walls in the sight of many. And many indeed saw them and the light that shone about them as they came down from the walls and went hand in hand to the Houses of Healing. 

[electrictouchfob]

And just how well did that work for you, Katniss?

[dandelionsunset1210]

Katniss, like 3 years after she says this: Um ok so that’s actually my husband now #fosterfail

[sungodjasmine]

Everlark collage with all the drawings!

[firelightletters]

"Rue, who when you ask her what she loves most in the world, replies, of all things, 'Music.'"

— Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games, 2008

[saviourkingslut]

yeah yeah opening a fic and "he would not fucking say that" but what about you open the fic and "he would fucking say that". what about that pure feeling of euphoria when it's exactly right the way you like it

[iamatmybreakingpojnt]

Can you draw Peeta carrying katniss like front to front? Or whatever that hold is called

quick little doodle but i hope this is what you meant <3

[highly-flammable]

The Hunger Games, Chapter 10

After the tribute interviews are done, Katniss attacks Peeta right after disembarking the elevator because of what he said during his interview about liking her:

Catching Fire, Chapter 18

After the tribute interviews, as Katniss and Peeta get off the elevators, Peeta asks Katniss if he has to apologize for lying in his interview about them being married and expecting a child:

[toastbaby]

Ongoing fics that I highly recommend for all Everlark shippers:

The Sunset Castle by thesweetnessofspring

i wake you with your memory over me by mage_chocolate

Enchanted to meet you + the Victor, Mentor, Mockingjay series by firehelpmeforget

not a lot, just forever by rabbit_soup (+ the first fic of the series, The Rockrose and the Thistle)

to be known the way you should by whenyoureplayingsolitaire

Sunsetter by liberalkitch

A Hero on a History Book Page by electrictouchfob

Keeper by Likelav48

The Dancing Girl (+ the previous parts!!) by dandelionsunset_1210

Uncross Our Stars by Mandrake_Mistakes

Off the Record by PrincessPuffles

EDIT: One For The Money, Two For The Show by Cow_In_The_Sunset (can't believe I forgot!)

(I'm a bit nervous about making lists like this because the odds are that I forget something, so even if I'm not mentioning your fic, I'm probably still reading it but just have a limited memory (+ limited time)😅)

[connorwyndham]

Finnick Odair, victor of the 65th Hunger Games. (2024 version)

He was already a good fighter with the spears and knives he had found in the Cornucopia. When he received a silver parachute with a trident – which may be the most expensive gift I’ve ever seen given in the arena – it was all over. District 4’s industry is fishing. He’d been on boats his whole life. The trident was a natural, deadly extension of his arm. He wove a net out of some kind of vine he found, used it to entangle his opponents so he could spear them with the trident, and within a matter of days the crown was his.

[mage-chocolate]

Girl help everyone thinks your protective boyfriend is a happy go lucky golden retriever when he’s just as insane as you.

[you-askedforthis]

Katniss taking care of Peeta.

[justafewberries]

As someone who avoids collectables, I might actually have to get some from the youtooz x thg collab because what do you mean i can get “burnt bread 9in plush” and peeta in his rock form