August Author of the Month: It's All In Your Mind

There’s language again. Lowercase “L” though, aka, no F-words or S-words.

Oh gosh, in more than half the world it’s already September. I’m sorry I’m so late!

Our Author of the Month is It's All In Your Mind. I guest reviewed her story Resistance before I became an Nightlock Staff member (you can see it here). I don't have time to find another author though.

And she’s my favorite author in the fandom, so I can only feel so guilty.

It’s All In Your Mind writes a Finnick/Annie series called Resistance with five stories, Resistance, Resistance: Brave, Resistance: Falling, Resistance: Bloodstream, and Resistance: Crossfire. I discovered her after searching for Finnick/Annie stories and finding Resistance: Falling. I read it up to where she had written followed it immediately, and waited with bated breath for each new chapter. Then I realized that there were two stories before that.

I read both of them in two days.

So I’m going to put a clip from each story and then talk about them briefly:

(FINNICK)

Finally, mercifully, Asper's head rolls to Annie's feet, leaving a river of blood to follow.

On the far wall, his light switches off and I know that his suffering is over. His life is over.

Why? Why didn't anyone volunteer for him at the reaping? We're a Career district! There are plenty of eligible boys who could've taken his place!

No, that's not fair. I'm not being fair.

I knew that he would die from the moment his name was called. I chose to try and bring Annie home. I'm just as responsible for his death as anyone.

My mind is going numb.

In the arena, the group is taking a moment to swallow it all before they finish off Annie. I can only pray that she won't suffer too much.

But Annie has other plans.

This one’s from Resistance. FYI Asper is Annie’s district partner. He was probably around thirteen. I love her take on Finnick’s POV, it’s just so real throughout the entire story. The emotion is real, and it make sense, and yeah...it’s really good.

Moving on to a clip from Resistance: Brave.

(FINNICK)

"I hear you've got yourself a girlfriend." Dad stands up to get himself a new bottle of vodka. "That mad girl, right?"

"She's not mad," I mumble.

"Yes she is," says Dad. He sits down again and hands me a tumbler and a bottle of bourbon. "Do you love her?"

"Yeah," I say.

Dad smiles. "Then let's hope you don't get her killed."

"Screw you," I say. I stand up and make for the door. "You know, I get that you hate me. I got your family killed, and I'm not even related to you by blood. I'm sorry about that. But at least I'm trying to make things right. You're just being a dick about it. It's been four years. Stop feeling sorry for yourself!"

Dad's nostrils flare in anger and he charges at me. It's pathetic how quickly I not only dodge him, but pin him on the ground with one arm up in the air. I can't help myself. I snap his arm like a twig, let him go, and flee out the front door.

And enter angry!Finnick. Because as much as we (we being the Finnick obsessed) like to think that he’s manipulated into being this and that and the next thing, and by his own will he’s a perfect angel.

He’s not.

And It’s All In Your Mind’s not afraid to show it. This is definitely not him at his most aggressive, but I think this was the best scene to put in here. Moving on again.

(FINNICK)

As soon as I sit, the phone starts ringing. I reach over and pick it up. "Hello?"

"Finnick.

"Johanna."

"I've been trying to get a hold of you for hours!" she says. "Did you see it?"

"Yeah, I saw it." I sigh.

"Then why the hell didn't you pick up the phone one of the eight thousand times I called?" she spits.

"Mags had a stroke."

"Oh," she says. "Well, is she going to be okay?"

"Yeah."

"How about you?"

"No."

Straight from the first chapter. This is right after the announcement of the Quarter Quell. I just love, love, love the ending of this chapter. I struggle with ending my own chapters, and it just leaves an impression. This was the first chapter of Resistance I ever read, and this is what got me sucked in. Next:

(ANNIE)

A look of absolute horror washes over Broadsea's face. Immediately, his hands start shaking and his chest starts heaving. "Why is she here?"

He's bloody and bruised. He's wearing a pair of black shorts similar to mine and one of these metal collars.

Thaddeus releases me and I fall to the floor. There's a cold sort of feeling in my arm the blood rushes back into it. "Isn't it obvious, BR64?" he asks. "She's here to keep Finnick in line. And the warden thought she might loosen your tongue, too. I thought he was wrong. But then again . . ."

Just as I make it onto my knees, he smacks me back to the ground. Then kicks me in the ribs so hard I hear a crack.

I can't see anything through the tears pouring from my eyes. But I don't make a sound.

"Maybe I'm not getting my point across." He turns and addresses the others. "Boys. Collar-shock."

What's a collar-shock? Whatever it is, Broadsea doesn't seem to like the sound of it. He clenches his jaw so hard I think he's gonna shatter his teeth.

One of the other Peacekeepers taps a white cuff on his wrist. "Requesting collar-shock on AC70."

Broadsea doesn't say a thing. Instead, he glares at Thaddeus as though looks could kill.

The voice of that woman – the receptionist lady – comes out of nowhere. "Request granted."

There's a tiny ringing noise in my ear as the blinking red light on my collar changes. It stops blinking and stays steady. Then it turns blue.

Shortly afterwards, the pain comes.

Can't exactly say what it's like 'cause I've never felt it before. Rips the scream right out of my throat. Hurts. Burns, stings, itches, freezes, everything. All at once. Constricts my throat so I can't breathe. Or move. Or do anything but scream.

When it stops a few moments later, I stay on the ground. It's not worth it to move. Breathing sounds like nails scraping on a chalkboard.

"Are you sure you don't want to tell us anything?" Thaddeus asks Broadsea.

"Go to hell," Broadsea says calmly. He hasn't bothered to take his eyes off of Thaddeus this whole time.

Broadsea is victor of the 64th Games. Him and Finnick do not get along that well because Finnick had to kill his girlfriend to get back home, but every once in awhile the “the enemy of my enemy is my friends” applies. Oh, and Broadsea’s been kinda sorta crushing on Annie for awhile. All of these switch between Finnick and Annie’s POV, but I just haven’t given you Annie’s POV yet. Not because it’s not as good, she tackles the whole “unstable Annie” thing really well, probably the best I’ve seen.

Last but not least, Crossfire.

(FINNICK)

"Twinkle, twinkle, little . . . something-or-other. I don't know the words to this song. But I'm singing it anyway. Something about the sky and lights. Please stop crying and fall asleep. Shut up, my dear Cillian. La, la, la, la . . . go to bed."

Thankfully, by the end of my poorly-improvised song, my son is asleep.

I look out the train's window and watch the thinning trees whoosh past. In a few minutes, we'll be able to see the mountains. An hour after that, we'll be in the Capitol.

Annie's still fast asleep, curled up in a nest of blankets. Dodge is probably sleeping, too.

I'll explain. For the 76th and final Hunger Games, all the victors have been called to the Capitol to attend. And by all victors, I mean all victors: Katniss, Peeta, Haymitch, Johanna, Beetee, Enobaria, Dodge, Annie, and me – and our son, Cillian. Absolutely everyone agrees that it'd be better to leave Cilly back in District 4. But everyone also agrees that at five weeks old, he's much too young to leave his mother. I set Cilly down in his makeshift cradle and sit on the bed beside Annie. "Come on, sweetie," I say, stroking her hair. "Time to wake up."

Annie pouts and rolls over onto her stomach, spinning the sheets even tighter around her. "No."

"Yes." I carefully tug her up into a sitting position, supporting her with my arms as she leans against my chest. I start pushing her disheveled curls away from her face as she rubs her eyes. "So, how did you sleep?" I ask.

"Good," she replies after yawning. "I think that's the longest I've slept in a month."

"Mmm," I say. "A full three hours."

She starts peeling the blankets away from her. "How's my baby?"

"He's asleep."

She looks up at me with those huge, green doe-eyes. "And how are you?"

"Nervous." I kiss the top of her head. "And very hungry."

First chapter of Crossfire. I think it’s funny that Finnick’s such a horrible parent. I think it’s warranted, seriously, can you see Finnick as a dad, but yeah, he’s not a very good parent. And Annie is super awesome. I think it’s great to finally see a situation where Annie’s a lot more capable than Finnick.

So, that’s It’s All In Your Mind, August's Author of the Month. Check out her work here.