#1 annie cresta defender

Picturing them cuddled up together with their baby somewhere near the sea,,, they brought plenty of blankets and Finnick carries around their gigantic baby bag and pushes the stroller because he wants Annie to walk in front of him. Headcannoning that Annie walks super slowly because every time she sees a bug/flower/rock that interests her she has to stop and appreciate it for a bit. Other people get tired of it but both of them adore how much slower their lives are now. When Annie doesn't have to take care of anything outside their paces equal out too, so they're basically walking at the same speed. And if Finnick slows down a little to walk slightly behind her #loveshiswife and blames it on the baby that doesn't hurt either.

I think they love to go out at the ass-crack of dawn, too. Annie will try to identify every bird-call she hears while Finnick does super poor impressions of them, claiming "I'm just helping you identify them, love". And yeah he mostly does it because he's addicted to making her laugh, but it works so what's the harm? Annie makes sure to gather all the flowers that have been ripped from the soil one way or another and brings them home to be dried. I think she turns them into powders, then paints, and sells them on the side. Once they tried painting each other after dinner, with all the house lights off and their windows open to let the salty breeze through, but neither of them were very good at it. Finnick helps her muddle the pigments because her hands ache after too long, so instead she plays with the baby or pesters Finnick to go faster faster faster and loses it when he acts like he's in the paint-making Olympics. Because he would never act sane again if it put even the smallest smile on her face. Because they're disgustingly in love.

"Well alright I'm bad but then you're no prize either. // Alright I'm bad but then that's nothing new."

This could simply be her referencing how she encouraged Billy Taupe to steal, but it's framed as a response to a direct accusation in my opinion. The verse before suggests it too, saying "Then one day you left saying I was no good". I think Billy Taupe felt manipulated by her when their luck started running out, so he turned away from the Covey in favour of more lawful company. It feels like a situation of him getting back at his loud, opinionated girlfriend by siding with the more powerful, secure people of District 12. We know that the Covey were outsiders of District 12 and that they only ended up there permanently because of how their cards were laid out. And then to punish her he helps rig the reaping against her, and we start to see a lot of parallels between him and Coriolanus. Both act as love interests who were initially drawn in by what Lucy Gray had to offer them. For Coriolanus it was control and a sense of supremacy, while for Billy Taupe it was security. And of course she provided them both with entertainment.

Lucy Gray's role as an entertainer, however, is ultimately what prevents both Coriolanus and Billy Taupe from being secure in their relationships. Through both of their songs she frames their love as being for what she provides instead of for her.

"So who will you turn to tomorrow, I wonder? // For when the bell rings, lover, you're on your own."

"Cold and clean, swirling over my skin, you cloak me. // You soak right in, down to my heart."

Even though the songs themselves are completely different, both highlight just how aware Lucy Gray is of the dynamics in their relationships. Having moved on from Billy Taupe she promptly realizes how Coriolanus is keen to sanitize her image and support her as long as her can profit from her actions. Then finally, because her song to Snow is a love song, we get to the punchline;

"It's why I need you – you're pure as the driven snow."

This line means a lot to me and I think it should mean a lot to you, too. Driven snow refers to any snow that has been carried by the wind without previously being frozen. Superficially, this is the purest snow, being the snow that lands on top with few contaminants (You know what I'm getting at here...). In my eyes though this refers to Coriolanus' precarious social status after the Games that drives him to District 12 as punishment. The line is borderline satirical, because how pure could Snow be if he has been pushed to the most disparaged region of the country? Surely not pure at all.

I keep thinking about how all of them include oversteps from Capitol, too. Snow literally forcing himself into the zoo, Capitol citizens feeding Haymitch like he's hired entertainment. Guards immediately being at Katniss' house after electrifying the fence and torturing Peeta to be unrecognizable. It gets more and more extreme as the years go by.

And then there's the scene in Mockingjay where Gale and Katniss are allowed to hunt without direct supervision. How they've made it to District 13, but are still being tracked and observed under the guise of generosity. Coin puts so much effort into persuading Katniss to be the face of their rebellion by using her desire for peace as a technique for control. At face value District 13 is very different, but it's harder to put your finger on what's the same. Katniss knows because there's proof of it on her leg. The need to profit off of people's proximity while continuing to trap them.

And then Coin proposes one final Games. So out of left field that suddenly Katniss is the one inside the zoo, feeding caged children, electrifying the fence. She's the one torturing Peeta. Because Katniss knows that it starts small, distinguishing between Us and Them.

"We're at the start, the colours disappear

I never watch the stars, there's so much down here"

I keep thinking about Haymitch, Wellie and Silka around the tree at the end of the Games. I would give anything to know what went through Silka's mind when Haymitch dropped that chocolate. Surely her first thought was that they were trying to ambush her and her luck had run out. But when she found out it was a treat did she think it was a mistake? We know she's overcome by the reality of the Games, but we also hear that she stops crying. I can only think about her sitting there, mind swarming with all the violence and ill-will she was raised with as a Career. It must've been jarring to see that all the propaganda she was taught didn't peak when it should've. I wonder what happened to her between that night and the day after when she kills Wellie. It's such an interesting contrast because they go from one of the kindest actions in the book to the most cruel one.

Do you think she was mad at them for having sympathy? I imagine the Careers watch the Games every year and that a lot of them are disgusted when their District representatives die. Because surely there were other Games, before Katniss and Peeta's, where moments like Rue getting buried in flowers made the final cut. I think about her talking about their strategies with her friends, promising herself to never get caught up in the temporary kindnesses and alliances she saw on TV. Because kindness doesn't make you strong.

It's heartbreaking to think about. I picture Annie watching Finnick return from the Capitol every year and seeing his facade crack, desperate to share the relative safety she feels in her body with him despite it being all she has left, because by this point his prostitution surely contributes to her insanity, too. I think about Finnick watching Annie struggle to cling to reality and knowing it could be worse, would be worse if she was exploited - knowing deep down that his love for her manifests as defense but also keeps him exploited.

Sometimes I think about Wiress being one of the brightest minds to ever win the Games, refusing to participate in the violence they breed because she could depend on her intelligence instead. How she wanted to take her intelligence and make something of it by ending the Capitol's oppression during the 50th Games. I think about her being at most 19 years old when their plan to flood the arena fails and is completely cut out as a propaganda measure, but they still torture her to insanity as punishment.