#thgagain

I need you

Well... So... I have two things to say:

1. I wanted to expand somehow Peeta’s portrait I did for “how you draw his hair” ask. I mean, why not?

2. I wanted to participate in #thgagain and this is an iconic look for the first book of the series.

3. Oops, did I say TWO things to say? Never mind. I really really HATE the one I draw in November, it’s awful. So I always wanted to redraw this outfit.

4. Also I find a mistake in my old drawing and HAD to redraw it immediately.

So here we are! Everlark Outfit #9, version 2.

What do we know about this outfit: Cinna does my hair in my simple trademark braid down my back. Then the clothes arrive, the same for every tribute. Cinna has had no say in my outfit, does not even know what will be in the package, but he helps me dress in the undergarments, simple tawny pants, light green blouse, sturdy brown belt, and thin, hooded black jacket that falls to my thighs. “The material in the jacket’s designed to reflect body heat. Expect some cool nights,” he says. The boots, worn over skintight socks, are better than I could have hoped for. Soft leather not unlike my ones at home. These have a narrow flexible rubber sole with treads though. Good for running. I think I’m finished when Cinna pulls the gold mockingjay pin from his pocket. I had completely forgotten about it. [Katniss] + a bright orange backpack. + silver sheath of arrows and a bow, already strung [Peeta] + I agently unzip his jacket, unbutton his shirt and ease them off him. + I hand Peeta my knife, since whatever weapons he once had are long gone, and he slips it into his belt.

-

“Where is Haymitch, anyway? Isn’t he supposed to protect us from this sort of thing?” says Peeta.

“With all that alcohol in him, it’s probably not advisable to have him around an open flame,” I say.

And suddenly we’re both laughing. I guess we’re both so nervous about the Games and more pressingly, petrified of being turned into human torches, we’re not acting sensibly.

-

“Lean down a minute first,” he says. “Need to tell you something.” I lean over and put my good ear to his lips, which tickle as he whispers. “Remember, we’re madly in love, so it’s all right to kiss me anytime you feel like it.”

I jerk my head back but end up laughing. “Thanks, I’ll keep it in mind.”

-

“Katniss?” Peeta says. I meet his eyes, knowing my face must be some shade of green. He mouths the words. “How about that kiss?”

I burst out laughing because the whole thing is so revolting I can’t stand it.

“Something wrong?” he asks a little too innocently.

-

“You know they didn’t expect that to happen. It wasn’t meant to be part of the arena. They never planned on anyone using it as a weapon. It made them look stupid that he figured it out. I bet they had a good time trying to spin that one. Bet that’s why I don’t remember seeing it on television. It’s almost as bad as us and the berries!”

I can’t help laughing, really laughing, for the first time in months. Peeta just shakes his head like I’ve lost my mind — and maybe I have, a little.

-

Beetee is still messing around the tree, doing I don’t know what, taking measurements and such. At one point he snaps off a sliver of bark, joins us, and throws it against the force field. It bounces back and lands on the ground, glowing. In a few moments it returns to its original color. “Well, that explains a lot,” says Beetee. I look at Peeta and can’t help biting my lip to keep from laughing since it explains absolutely nothing to anyone but Beetee.

-

Peeta’s just pried open an oyster when I hear him give a laugh. “Hey, look at this!” He holds up a glistening, perfect pearl about the size of a pea. “You know, if you put enough pressure on coal it turns to pearls,” he says earnestly to Finnick.

“No, it doesn’t,” says Finnick dismissively. But I crack up, remembering that’s how a clueless Effie Trinket presented us to the people of the Capitol last year, before anyone knew us. As coal pressured into pearls by our weighty existence. Beauty that arose out of pain.

To celebrate the end of the awesome reread for the first THG book organized by @everlarkedalways​ , I thought it would be nice to compile the illustrations I’ve made over the course of it. It was such a cool experience and I’m quite proud of myself for having managed to draw at least one illustration per week/ every 3 chapters consistently over these past 9 weeks! Because I ended up with more illustrations than fit properly in one post, I decided to arrange them per parts of the book :) Can’t wait to tackle Book 2! 😁

https://www.change.org/p/let-maiah-wynne-keep-her-videos-up

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On May 8th, we begin a journey through the three amazing books that comprise the trilogy of The Hunger Games. Over the next six months we'll create, share and converse about the books through a joint reread and weekly prompts meant to inspire creativity. All of this culminating in a movie rewatch this fall.

Katniss putting her hunting boots on before any of her clothes is such an odd, funny detail

the Seam is a nickname, not an official designation

small descriptions of the district I have glossed before: “black cinder streets” “squat gray houses” and the Meadow (Katniss’s caps, not mine) is a “scruffy field,” not exactly the idyl we often imagine

Katniss’s description of her father’s death is so abrupt and perfunctory in comparisons to some of her other descriptions you can almost feel the walls built up around her grief

the woods are not just hard to get into, they’re dangerous, with rabid animals and poisonous snakes

the surreptitious apple harvest is a lovely image of the stubbornness of the people of 12

Katniss looking quickly over her shoulder after making the “starve to death in safety” remark is a great characterization moment: a hint of rebellion, then instant fear

I love the mention of younger Katniss being a feisty girl with lots of opinions about the Capitol

and yet another key characterization about her learning to school her tongue and her face to stay safe: Katniss isn’t a cold person, but she is very cautious

even she acknowledges that her detached demeanor isn’t her truest self when she admits she can be herself when she’s with Gale

I love the detail of the berry bushes protecting from unwanted eyes because it feels like yet another folksy detail

she smiles when she sees her best friend, and I love that for her

Gale and Katniss’s names are elemental: Gale’s is an air name, connected to wind and storms, and Katniss’s is a water and earth name, because katniss plants grow by water

real subtle with the arrow in the bread there, Suzanne

how did I forget how genuinely sweet this moment with Gale and Katniss getting excited over bread and cheese is? oh platonic Everthorne we barely knew ye

I also seemed to forget that Mr. Everdeen met Mrs. Everdeen because he brought her herbs

Katniss says she’s not the forgiving type, but right before she says that, she seems to be trying to extend empathy, however sour, to the mother who let her turn to “skin and bones”

Katniss’s description of the landscape of the woods (“teeming with life” with a “blue sky” and “soft breeze”) again, speaks to her eye for beauty and capacity for possibility

and then the topic of children comes up and there’s almost instant irritability between Gale and Katniss: it’s so sudden and Katniss is so instantly defensive and eager to explain to the audience that she and Gale are not an item — I’m curious why they snap at each other so quickly when the topic of the future comes up? thoughts?

I do think it is very sweet that Gale is thinking of children, despite the state of his world

of the three main kids, his family is easily the most functional we see, and I bet that influences his thoughts and expectations

they fish with poles! how backwoods of them

as someone who was so taken aback when I discovered that the black market wasn’t actually a place you could go to, it appeases me somewhat that the Hob is an actual physical black market in a warehouse

I think it’s so compassionate of Katniss to understand that just because some people have it better than her, it doesn’t make them bad people or snobs (in the case of Madge)

okay, this exchange is not nearly as heated as I remembered: Gale makes a comment that could either be genuine or sarcastic, and Madge responds in kind, Gale makes his comment about it being far less likely she’ll go to the Capitol (which is true, if unhelpful), and Katniss mediates, and they leave

I understand there some class and race interpretations that could be read here, but I don’t think it’s as toxic of a conversation as I remembered

and Gale and Madge are big kids: they can both say things that are both correct and insensitive

the expositional purpose is served, and Katniss comes away looking even more compassionate than ever when she expresses that Gale’s frustration is founded and it’s easy to resent people like Madge when they make comments with harmless intent, but hurting impact

but even Gale has the emotional maturity on the very next page to acknowledge that the system is what is truly broken, and the interpersonal relationships because of it

“I let him yell” — Katniss is such a caring person, because even as she shoves her own needs and emotions down, she allows Gale this outlet for his, even as it scares off game

Prim in Katniss’s first reaping outfit is such a macabre bit of hand-me-down nostalgia

the “lovely” soft blue dress is such a beautiful image, as is Prim’s “hushed” voice when she tells Katniss she’s beautiful

the detail of them saving the strawberries and bread for later is another gut wrenching foreshadowing (because we know something is going to happen even if we’ve never read the book before) in the vein of a side character in a movie saying they’ll do something with their family when they get home and we just know they’re going to die in the next scene

Katniss describes the town square as a place that can be pleasant, especially on market days!

but then she immediately counters it with the image of bright (I read that as too colorful) banners against grimy buildings and cameras like “buzzards” above

much as the movies are not my cup of tea, I think they did a good job with the too bright, overexposed atmosphere of this scene

Effie wears a green suit, not a pink one! though her wig is pink

some quasi-religious language with the “time for repentance and thanks” line from the mayor (though it’s my personal belief the Capitol did its best to stamp out organized religion, some sermon language never hurt to use in your dictatorship)

I remember reading Prim’s name be called and my heart dropped right into my stomach: I was NOT anticipating it, and Suzanne really knows how to end a chapter on a cliffhanger