All Hail Queen Lawrence

“annie is to finnick what peeta is to me” -> “finnick loves annie” -> “i love peeta”

HOWEVER

rule book? what rule book?

there’s only one rule

“only one winner may be allowed”

this isn’t just a twist for audience attention

this is the thesis

this is the crux, the precipice

Snow demanding his game’s holy principle hold

and these two smart, kind, lucky, extraordinary and ordinary kids

with so much love to spare

got to do what so many of the ghosts unknowingly trapped under their skin never got the chance to

you have to eat the poison yourself to keep your power, Snow knows this

except that he’s just found himself on the wrong side of the bargaining table

“no victor, no games”

“two victors, no games”

berry-sticky hands push their own pawns across the board

welcome back to the arena, Coryo

"twice the number of tributes, twice the glory"

Then a second.

Then a third.

The woods came alive with their melody as dozens joined in. He dove through the trees and then opened fire on the spot the voice had come from.

Had he hit her? He couldn’t tell, because the birdsong filled his ears, disorienting him. Little black specks swam in his field of vision, and his arm began to throb. “Lucy Gray!” he bellowed in frustration.

Clever, devious, deadly girl. She knew they’d cover for her. He lifted the rifle and machine-gunned the trees, trying to wipe out the birds. Many fluttered into the sky, but the song had spread, and the woods were alive with it.

“Lucy Gray! Lucy Gray!” Furious, he turned this way and that and finally blasted the woods in a full circle, going around and around until his bullets were spent. He collapsed on the ground, dizzy and nauseous, as the woods exploded, every bird of every kind screaming its head off while the mockingjays continued their rendition of “The Hanging Tree.”

Nature gone mad.

Genes gone bad.

Chaos.