October Author of the Month: IPunkPrincess

Happy Halloween to those of you living in countries that celebrate it! And countries where it's still the 31st...

There's language. Can we just assume there's always "language" in my posts? I'll let you know if there's anything major.

This month, Author of the Month is being awarded to IPunkPrincess *cheers* Her story Bright Lights is probably is probably my favorite AU of all time. (Do I use the phrase "favorite ____ of all time" too much?  I feel like I do.) Anyway, I generally have a really hard time with AU's because it's so difficult to get the characters right. In some stories, the characters are exactly the same, with no acknowledgement that the characters are living in an entirely different universe, which isn't good. On the other hand, some authors change the characters so much to fit their alternate universe and plot that if you changed the names you'd have no idea that the characters were even supposed to represent characters from a published canon. That's not any better. IPunkPrincess balances it exactly right, the characters fit the universe, but there are little idiosyncrasies from Collins' characters that have been translated to hers. Katniss is extremely hardworking, generally adverse to love, and always puts Prim first; Peeta is sweet,  kind, and selfless; Gale is incredibly goal-driven, Finnick starts out as an insufferable [not nice word], but eventually you start to love him...

In the story, Katniss and Gale are an indie band (duo?) looking to record a demo and get signed. Katniss' mom is out of the picture, but she lives with Prim. Peeta works at the same restaurant as Katniss, owned by Ms. Mellark. Eventually Madge, who has connections, is able to get them signed, and they start an album with Cinna producing, but he's soon replaced by Finnick. Here's a snippet:

"Katniss?" 

She sighed in relief as Peeta appeared behind her. He handed her a bottle of water as he looked from her to Finnick. "Oh, sorry…was I interrupting?" 

"NO! I mean, no, sweetie, you weren't," Katniss almost screamed as Finnick smirked. Peeta's eyebrows rose at her choice of words. The words were fake. She never called him sweetie or honey or any term of endearment. She called him Peeta and he called her Katniss and that was it. 

He wondered if this was because of the handsome man talking to her. He had been watching them from afar before he approached. It was obvious that the guy was flirting with her. He could tell she wasn't responding but he couldn't help feeling a little jealous. It was when he stepped closer to her that Peeta felt the need to approach. 

"Peeta, this is Finnick Odair. Finnick, this is my boyfriend, Peeta Mellark," she introduced him, holding on to his hand and giving it what he was sure was a reassuring squeeze. Crap. Crap, crap, crap. Finnick Odair, he thought. He had forgotten that Cinna had been replaced by this guy. Of all the people who could flirt with my girl, it had to be Finnick Odair. He knew about Odair's reputation, of course. He was sure Katniss did too. He knew she wouldn't fall for him. It was the fact that Finnick Odair was such a charming son of a bitch that scared the crap out of him. The rumor that no girl had ever refused him when he turned on the charm didn't help. 

"Nice to meet you," he said politely, offering his hand. Finnick smiled and shook his hand. He glanced briefly at Katniss then back at Peeta. 

"You're a lucky man, Mr. Mellark," he said seriously. "Sweetness here is very beautiful. And charming when she wants to be." 

Peeta, feeling quite possessive, wrapped his arms around Katniss. "I know, that's why I love her." 

He kissed her cheek, feeling very petty. 

Finnick smiled and turned to Katniss. "I forgot to tell you," he said slyly. "I'm going on tour. You should come with me."

Yay :D Five Lights is a multi-chapter epilogue to Bright Lights focusing on different characters.

She's also written two fabulous one-shots, Decoy and Anywhere, but you'll just have to go read those yourself. I have pre-calculus homework to do :P

Check out IPunkPrincess' work here. She definitely deserves this!