Self Promotion Sundays #13

After a very long break I present Self Promotion Sundays #13! And it's fitting that today is the Super Bowl, is it not? As the most popular televised athletic event (for a reason I don't understand)? Dare I say, as our Hunger Games??

The Orphan
by RedneckPlasticFlamingo
Summary: "As we all know, your father passed away on the day of the reaping recently. Would you mind elaborating?" Rue could feel the audience. They had their breaths bated, leaning forward hungrily in their chairs. "A Peacekeeper killed him," she told Caesar. The crowd burst in gasps and shrieks. But little did Rue know, her few words would cause Panem to break completely.
Status: In Progress

The Spark
by thebigdog2895
Summary: Disclaimer: I own nothing. Set after Mockingjay, but before the epilogue, one can see that Katniss and Peeta's love for each other flames on hotter than the sun. All it took, was a spark.
Status: Complete

Safe and Sound / Like a Heart Needs to Beat / Sea of Flames
A Cato and Clove AE series by thebigdog2895
Summary: Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is a heartfelt story about Clove and Cato with an altered future and the people they are. WARNING: LEMONS!
Status: Complete

Faded Burns
by xoleah25
Summary: Peeta and Katniss have returned back to District 12. As they try to figure out the beginnings of their normal lives, where will this lead the two ex-starcrossed lovers? A Pre-Epilogue that tells of the pairs rekindling.
Status: In Progress

Enjoy :)

-cindella204

Five Stars in Five Thousand Words #2

Hello! This is cindella204 with the second installment of Five Stars in Five Thousand Words, Nightlock's newest series focusing on short fics.

Counting The Ways by RainahFiclets
post-mockingjay extension, less than two thousand words, rated G
Counting The Ways is a short fic explaining the lives of Annie and her son after the war. I'm actually not a big fan of post-Mockingjay fics, but this one is beautifully written summary with great symbolism. I love reading about Annie as a parent, and this definitely delivers.

A Day like Today by VanillaMostly
family study, less than four thousand words, rated T
I have never had much attachment to the Undersees, but this story really made me thing. A Day like Today is an exploration of Madge's first reaping and explores the dynamic of that family in a way that I loved. Also, the characterization of Madge's mom is spot on in my eyes.

That's all for this month. Enjoy!

Five Stars in Five Thousand Words #1

Hi everyone! It's cindella204.

First of all, Little Miss Mione's interview with FernWithy was our TWO HUNDRETH post on Nighlock. *cheers* I'd like to say thank you to everyone who reads our posts and everyone who writes THG fanfiction! We couldn't do it without you all! *kisses*

Anyway, I would like to officially announce that we (the Nightlock team) have decided to put the Author of the Month recommendations on hold for now. Although there are plenty of deserving authors out there, the way FanFiction.Net and other sites are set up it can be very difficult to find them, and we simply do not have the time to scour the databases looking.

If you know of an author who is deserving of this honor, please find a form where you can read over the requirements and submit an author here. I will still be posting any authors that you, the readers, submit.

I'd also like to introduce to you my newest venture, along with Self Promotion Sundays, Five Stars in Five Thousand Words. Yes, the name is very, very cheesy. Naming conventions aren't my thing. Each installment of this new series will feature two absolutely stunning pieces that are five thousand words or less. Since we're all very busy, I thought it would be fitting to have a spotlight on fics that you can read in less than ten minutes and still fully enjoy. So without further ado, Five Stars in Five Thousand Words: Installment #1!

just a number by halcyon calamity
Character study, less than five hundred words, rated T
just a number focuses on Clove and how certain numbers are used to define her. I've always enjoyed oneshots with a repeating theme like this, and this is definitely a good one, especially if the upbringing of careers interests you. Although it wasn't particularly emotional, I still thought it was a powerful piece to read, especially the penultimate (second to last) number.

Crushed by Ghanaperu
Character study, movieverse, less than two thousand words, rated K+
First of all, don't get scared by movieverse. I only mentioned it because it's in the summary and I wanted to address it. It's not super conflicting of anything in the book. Anyway, Crushed is an absolutely beautiful exploration of Gale's perspective before and after the 74th Games. It's truly hard to put it into words. I have always had a hard time relating to Gale—canon, film, and fanfiction—but I was feeling...crushed after I read this.

BONUS! (sort of)
Volveré by Reyra.Elienahi
I really enjoyed Volveré (Translation: I will return), but it wasn't one I could really use for the segment because it's not in English. If there are any Spanish speakers or students around I would strongly encourage you to check out. This story covers the reaping in District Four for the Quarter Quell. I am only a mediocre Spanish student, but I understood enough to really love it.

Well, that's it for this installment! I hope you enjoyed it :)

-cindella204

May Author of the Month: Fluttering Phalanges

May Author of the Month: Very, very late *dodges rotten tomatoes*

For May, we are recognizing Fluttering Phalanges! Her Hayffie piece, Of Perfume, Liquor, and Baby Bottles has broken the 1K review barrier on FF.N, but she has some other pieces that haven't gotten the attention they deserve considering.

Because of that, I'm going to review Perfume in three sentences (fragments), and then talk about other stories.

Familiar concept. Beautifully executed. Worth the read by far.

Moving onto Food for Thought: An Interesting Outlook on Seven Meals. This story is centered on Hayffie like most (but not all) of her work. Haymitch and Effie are either married or doing that thing where you live together, share income and resources, and plan to be together for life, for better or worse, but don't get married. Either way, these cute anecdotes are full of fun little surprises, with appearances by Katniss, Peeta, Annie, and her son (she names him Bae). This a cute, light-hearted piece that'll bring a smile to your face!

Flickers of Hope is also one of my favorites. This one focuses on Thresh and Rue's train ride to the Capitol before the 74th Hunger Games. Although I think Rue is an important character for the structure of the book, I've admittedly never felt much connection to the District Eleven characters. In fact, after seeing the film my pity card shifted toward Cato because, frankly, the acting was a lot better. And then I read Catching Fire and Mockingjay and all of those characters were blown out of the water. But back to the story; Fluttering Phalanges made me connect with Thresh to a certain degree which was great. The story focuses on a few hopeful and heartbreaking conversations between Thresh and Rue with a perfect ending (that I won't spoil) that just brings it all together.

No Finnick and no quotes. Anything is possible, guys ;)

Please go enjoy the work of Fluttering Phalanges by clicking the link!

April Author of the Month: frombluetored

Here's the Author of the Month for April! I'm using this social media manager called IFTTT now, and it emails me and yells at me on the last day of every month to make sure I do this XD

Okay, the Author of the Month for April is: frombluetored!

Her beautiful combination of angst, psychology, and suspense is so powerful it's hard to handle. Seriously, I often have to take a break in the middle of a five thousand word chapter because I just CAN'T.

The first of her stories that I discovered was Inside the Ward: A Study of Panem's Mentally Ill. With out ruining the effect of her storytelling, the AU story focuses on college senior Finnick Odair, who is struggling to decide what to write his final dissertation on when a shocking discovery hits surprisingly close to home. The decision is suddenly clear: he wants to write about Panem, Florida's Capitol Institute: the most controversial inpatient treatment center in the area. Somehow this idea leads him to checking himself into a six month stay, and the story is her exploration of that.

"We've talked about this in secret, the faculty members that is. And we know there's only one thing we really can do at this point. We have to make the public aware. We have to thoroughly investigate and present our case with so much evidence that not even the most extravagant lawyer in the country can dismiss the case. We need witnesses; we need to see what goes on in there. But the problem is that no one comes out. The only ones who do are not even in the records of having ever been there once they're gone, and, as you saw, are rendered speechless for the rest of their lives." 

Finnick grasped the back of his head and breathed slowly through his mouth, wishing he had never decided to get up early to go downtown for breakfast this morning. 

"You say you want a thesis, boy?" Dr. Abernathy said suddenly, his voice sparked with a newfound energy. Finnick lifted his head slowly. Dr. Abernathy continued. "You do it. Check yourself in. Pretend you're unstable, see what goes on. Write about it. If you want a way to guarantee a seat in grad school, this is it."

Beginning of the end. Also, some pretty interesting surprises in Finnick's character are included. Love it.

I also really like her story The Art of Escaping. It's a recap of Finnick and Annie's relationship, and although it's far from my headcanon, the intricacies of their characters is beautifully written.

Definitely check out frombluetored's work, she's an amazing author with great potential!

-cindella204

Winter Authors of the Month

You don't want to here my excuses and/or sob story, and I know that, but the winter months have been rough. Regardless, I'm back now, and I will be doing all the Authors of the Month in one fell swoop!

December: clockwatching

I think my favorite thing about clockwatching's work is that she does these little snapshots of a character's life, but manages to pack so much into so little. 

From Mind Games (in Johanna's POV):

With slow steps, I head towards the exit. Three more steps, two more, one last step… I look behind me, making sure no one is watching, then reach for the handle and quickly jump out. Well, that was the goal anyway. Instead I jump straight into Mr. Odair. 

"Why, hello there," he smirks. 

I narrow my eyes. He still looks at me amused, as if I'm a small child, not close in age. I realize that was the main reason I was looking for him in the first place, because he's close in age. The victor of last year won at age eighteen, the one before that, seventeen. They're not that much older, so I don't understand why I don't care for them. 

Well, I don't care for anybody. 

But Finnick Odair. He's different. 

Perhaps it's the way he thinks he's so perfect. So irresistible. His bronze-colored hair, golden skin, and green eyes probably don't help diminish his ego, either. I think that's why I am so interested in him. The one person who is probably worse than me, or at least a close second. I can despise him without being a hypocrite. 

This doesn't help my glare at all, and I can feel my eyes soften for a moment. Finnick looks at me more seriously then, and I can't tell which emotion of mine is stronger right now; the anger for letting my guard down, or the fact that Finnick can be serious. 

"Need to escape?" he asks me quietly. "Follow me."

Although Johanna's not my favorite character in the series, I just love reading character pieces on her. Her attitude is so complex, and I love it. Mind Games is a series of snapshots involving Finnick and Johanna, and it's one of the best portrayals of their friendship that I've seen.

January: montreal-girl

montreal-girl's specialty seems to be oneshots exploring character depth, but she's still relatively knew to the site, so I'm excited to see what she comes up with in the future. 

From Goodbye:

She's the last one to see him and has to watch his family go in and out of the room before they finally say it's her turn. He doesn't look at her right away, and she doesn't even think he notices she's there until she's standing next to him and he says her name. 

"Don't say goodbye, Finn," She says, but he shakes his head. 

"You know I might not come back, Annie." His words scare her, so to silence him she throws her arms around his waist. 

"You're my best friend," she whispers against his chest. He hesitates at first, but eventually gives in and they stand there until the Peacekeeper opens the door and announces that her three minutes are up. She's walking out the door when he says it. 

"Goodbye, Annie." 

She turns around to glare at him for it, but he already has his back to her so she says nothing.

In my headcanon for them (I write Finnick fanfiction), they don't meet this early, but it really doesn't matter. She just gets these characters, especially Finnick and Annie, and it just rips your heart apart in all the right ways.

February: SabaceanBabe

Few can write the true brokenness of a victor like SabaceanBabe. It's pretty much agreed that every victor has PTSD in some form, as manifested through nightmares, flashbacks, etc. She explores all the other parts though, the symptoms of atypical depression which usually accompany PTSD, the desperate attempts at coping, often in self-destructive ways, the emotional confusion...

From I Want My Innocence Back:

Again, Finnick laughs. "That's one interpretation." He doesn't even think about it when he reaches into his pocket and pulls out the frayed piece of rope, begins to work knots that have slipped into muscle memory, he's done them so often these past few months. 

Snow smiles, an ugly and broken thing. There is blood between his teeth, limning them in red, outlining his gums in crimson and Finnick shudders. "What do you want, beautiful boy? Did you come here simply to see me brought low?" 

Still working knots, Finnick circles Snow. He can't stop moving; if he stops moving, he might shatter. "What I want, you can't give me." He circles and circles, his gaze fixed on Snow, the white hair, the mottled skin absent makeup, the dark suit with a perfect white rosebud in the lapel. He stops in front of him, looks down. "I want my innocence back. Mine and Annie's and Johanna's and Katniss' and Peeta's. I want the lives you've stolen from us and from all the other innocents you've harmed." He leans down, his hands heavy on Snow's wrists and whispers, "I want my pride, my self-respect back, but I'll settle for your miserable life."

 This story just rips me apart.  Literally. It's intense in the sense of captured Snow et cetera, et cetera, but also Finnick is transparently broken in a way that we don't usually see, and it's written SO beautifully, my word.

I just realized that all these excerpts have Finnick in them >.< What can I say, I love him. I promise all these authors write other characters though if he's not your cup of tea.

Please check out our Winter Authors of the Month: clockwatching, montreal-girl, and SabaceanBabe!

Self Promotion Sundays #11

Self Promotion Sundays! *cheering*

and the sky falls into burning flames
by IridescentLife
Summary: Cinna, Portia, their pasts, and the District Eleven Victory Tour celebration.
Status: Complete

Enjoy!

-cindella204

Self Promotion Sundays #10

It's the tenth Self Promotion Sundays! Yay! Today's story comes to you from DarkGoddess76!

The First Time
by DarkGoddess76
Summary: Everyone knows it isn't the dead who suffer, but those who are forced to live on without them. Takes place after their return to District Twelve, and before the birth of Katniss' and Peeta's first child.
Status: Complete

Check it out!

November Author of the Month: JustAFantasyGirl

Hello, everyone! I have an excuse for waiting until the last day of the month this time, I did NaNoWriMo this month. Anyway, the Author of the Month for November is JustAFantasyGirl! She writes AU fics; I've gotten way more into those lately. I'd like to talk about two of her stories although she has more.

This is a PG-13 rec, not for language, but for actual content. If you are under the age of thirteen, or that three-letter "s" word makes you squeamish, then this author's probably not for you. Sorry.

Pass the Tequila, I Think I'll Be Needing It is a fun, happy AU based around an extracurricular trip in a European (Scottish, I think) school system. To use an analogy, think of a classic play, like Romeo and Juliet, and then some random fun one that your school's drama department did. Even though no one's heard of the play except for the kids who are in it, that one is as, or even more, enjoyable than Romeo and Juliet, a world-renowned work. Pass The Tequila, I Think I'll Be Needing It is the same way. Although there are more POV switches than I personally like, and it's a plot that is extremely paring driven, it's fun and exciting, and the chapters are written in a way that you can't help but hit the next button, regardless of whether you have the time or not. 

Johanna's POV 

Shoot me. Just shoot me right now. Preferably not in the foot or the leg so I can still make an attempt of running away from this. 

"Hey coach," Gale greeted my uncle, not letting me out of our embrace in an attempt to cover me. 

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked. "No actually I don't want to know. Not after Mag's Christmas party fiasco," he added quickly and I blushed into Gales chest, remembering how most of my family had heard us having sex. At least Mags had thought we were just being kids and jumping on the bed. I don't think I'd ever grow up in her eyes. 

"We were just swimming and then umm… a fish came along… and it ate our clothes… and now we can't… umm… remember where we left our stuff," Gale tried and failed epically to think of any reason we would be like this. 

"I swear to God if I ever have to see you naked again Hawthorne it will not be pretty," my uncle sighed. At least he was tolerant. And a lot calmer than the first time he'd figured out we had one hell of an odd relationship going on. 

"Are you saying it's pretty now?" I asked, unable to hold my tongue as my sarcasm took over. 

"Johanna now is not the time. Nor will there ever be a time when I want to discuss the "prettiness" of your boyfriend, or thing, whatever the hell this is. Bring a nice girl home and I will gladly sit and talk about it all night with you," he answered and I could hear his smirk. "Put this on," he added and I felt Gale pull a t-shirt over my head. I obediently put my arms into it.

It's a fun one; definitely check it out.

My favorite story by her is actually Dancing with Shadows. This one's got a concept that's worth A MILLION BUCKS! It's amazing anyway, but then she drops this huge bomb, and then ERMAGHERD! Yes, I just said "ermagherd". Stuff just got real. The concept is that the Hunger Games is a huge psychological mind game, not an actual death game. Those who "die" are sent to a top-secret underground compound called District 14 where they are trained to be a secret army just in case the victors eventually try to start a rebellion. President Snow knows that the best way to shut the victors down is make them fight the same people they "killed" in their Games. The story focuses on Cato and Clove as they deal with the complete contradiction of what they spent their entire lives training for.

I woke up staring at the ceiling. Last night had not been my best nights sleep. When I hadn't been dreaming about murdering children or my own death images of what could have happened to Cato in the arena would make random appearances. After the time a bear ripped him to shreds I had given up on sleep and headed to the living room. I admired the bookcase; it was lined with books I'd never heard of. They were beautiful though, all of them old looking leather bound copies with golden fancy looking letters on them. I had run my hand along them, as if I could absorb their knowledge through simply touching them. Eventually settling on something called "The Importance Of Being Earnest" I hurried back to bed. I was confused at first; it wasn't like a usual book. It seemed to be set up like a show, but not like a television show where there could have been as many takes as possible but a show with a live audience it seemed. In spite of this I had continued reading but had only made it to the end of "Act One, Scene One" before drifting off into a much happier sleep. Well when I say happier, I really mean dreamless, but I figure that's as good as it's going to get now. 

I pulled myself out of bed and into the shower in the en-suite. This whole dying thing wasn't as bad as I'd thought it was going to be, well minus the fact that after out chat last night Cato had seemed even weirder if that was possible. Now he was just silent, sulking around the apartment like the world had ended. I mean I get why it's going to be difficult for him, he was clearly far more affected by the Games than the rest of us, but I still kept wishing he'd just snap out of it. 

I did love showers. We'd had them at home but they couldn't compare to the standards of the Capitol showers. I exhaled as the water warmed my back, instantly making the front of me feel colder, I turned around and allowed the water to trickle over my face, removing the final traces of sleep from my eyes. I ran my hands through my hair and went about cleaning myself, removing any traces of the night from me. What was at least half an hour later I emerged from the shower and wrapped a towel around myself. I headed into the bedroom to get some clothes and nearly dropped the towel in shock. 

"Jesus Cato what are you doing here?" I screamed at him. Confused and depressed he may be but there are still limits to what I can deal with at six in the morning.
Naturally he didn't answer. Because that would've been far too useful for me. He simply got up walked over took my head in his hands and kissed me. Of course naturally I didn't resist; my Cato was back! He remembered! He felt the way he had in the Games! I allowed his lips to part mine as the kiss deepened, I wanted so badly to wrap my arms around him, but it meant losing the towel and well I didn't think we were ready for that yet. So instead I let his hands do the wandering. Let them explore the nape of my neck, let his fingers run through my hair, let his fingertips tickle down my back. When he pulled away I almost pulled him back in, then I remembered it wasn't my place to do that. I had to do this at his pace if I wanted it to happen at all. He was looking at me, not smiling but like he was trying to work something out before walking off. 

"Good morning to you too then sweet cheeks," I muttered at the doorframe he'd just departed through.

Messed up Cato. Winning. And there's a huge plot twist that comes in as well. Yes. It's amazing. 

JustAFantasyGirl's work is awesome, please check out her writing here!

-cindella204 

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!

September Author of the Month: Miss Scarlet 05

Hey everyone! This is cindella204 with September's Author of the Month. I'm sorry it's late, the odds have not been in my favor lately with school. Anyway, the author of the month is...

...Miss Scarlet 05! *cheers* She's actually gotten a decent amount of attention from us because both Grow Together and Pants have been reviewed on this site (See them here and here). I want to focus on some of her other work though.

Firstly, Kissing Lessons With Finnick. If you haven't read my other AotM posts, I love Finnick. He's so...cheeky, for lack of better words, in this story and it's amazing. It's an alternate take on Katniss' Tour stop in D4, technically A/U I guess since it says in Catching Fire that she had never met Finnick.

"Putting on a show?" he whispers in my ear. "Why would you ever do a thing like that? A ruthless victor like you...Couldn't you have anyone you wanted?" 

He knows very well that I will forever be one half of the star-crossed lovers from District 12 and Snow's threat weighs heavily on me. If Finnick's not convinced, I've failed. My face falls in defeat. It takes me a second to recover the death stare I've been giving this Casanova. 

"Don't worry, kitten. Finnick will help you out." He puts his hands on each side of my head by some magic maneuver my stylists' headache-inducing creation falls out like it was held in place with a sleek ribbon instead of 100 bobby pins. 

He puts his forehead on mine and fluffs my hair over our faces. "Now, people think we're kissing." I almost smile at the trick until he pokes my nose. Is Finnick Odair mentoring me? 

Although Finnick's a bit OOC; he's obnoxious, but not as bad as she has him later in this story, I don't mean that as an insult. It's a tad crack-y in a hilarious, amazing way that make this one of my favorite stories. Also Katniss' weird mix of confusion, panic, disgust, and a little bit of gratitude is really well done.

"One for the road?" he begs. 

I bite at him. 

"Please," he coos. "I do so love a biter." 

"I'll be sure to let Enobaria know," I push at him to get out. 

He turns back toward me and sticks his bottom lip out, staring at me with intent sea green eyes. Finnick Odair is pouting. I'm not sure anyone's ever resisted him before. This makes me practically giddy as I move my mouth towards his, stopping millimeter away and putting my hand over his lips. "I don't think so," I simper. He picks this second to lick my hand with all the moisture in his mouth. 

Disgusted I pull away. I should have never given Finnick that much of a reaction. My penance is a large wet tongue curled sloppily up my cheek. 

If I had my bow, he'd be a dead man. But all I have is a bobby pin so I pitch that at him as hard as I can. He catches it easily, puts it in his mouth like a toothpick. He then playfully pops me with a rubber band. "Wait a few minutes and then come out," Finnick instructs me as he eases out the door.

There's one of the more obnoxious parts. Anyway, the dialogue she creates between them?
Effortless and awesome.

Now to another one, Christmas Behind Closed Doors. First of all, I kind of like the concept of Katniss and Peeta trying to get their alone time each year on Christmas Eve. It seems like a very...normal thing for a couple to do, which is nice for a Post-Mockingjay fic. 

That scowl used to intimidate me, but now I'm not sure it's possible to love it any more than I do. Katniss hums quietly to herself as she watches our oldest daughter dot frosting scruff on his Haymitch's gingerbread chin. Just the sound of her humming makes my heart flutter the same way it did the first time. Two children and over two decades later and I still can't believe that all of this is real. I am such a lucky man. 

Her figure is still as trim as ever and when her braid slips off her shoulder, I catch sight of her ever so subtly scarred neck—one of my favorite spots to kiss. 

Does she know how much I need her? How lost I'd be without her? How much I can't wait to get her alone like I do every Christmas Eve? 

When the children are suitably distracted by all the sugar, she slips out without a sound. I wait a few minutes and go to leave.

Also, her portrayal of their family is really sweet.

She watches as the children decorate holiday cookies. Occasionally she twitches her mouth, offers a hand, but for the most part she lets them decorate pink haired and purple-lipped gingerbread people without a word. 

There's more frosting in our boy's face than on the cookie, but his smile is so big even Katniss couldn't scowl. She just looks on with a bemused twinkle in her eye and winks at me when he isn't looking. 

He bites the leg off a gingerbread man and holds it up for all to see. "Look mama, I made dad!" 

She takes one look at the maimed, yellow-haired, blue-eyed creation and spits out her cocoa and shakes her head. 

"Not funny," I try my sternest voice, but end up laughing anyway. 

Katniss recovers and hands the boy a piece of red and white striped candy. "A cane," she suggests. 

He attaches the candy cane to the cookie. "Like Uncle Haymitch?" he asks.
Katniss nods and gives him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. 

"Ooh, I'm going to make Uncle Haymitch," the girl announces. She immediately picks up a frosting bag and sets to work. She scrunches up her mouth in intense concentration. Her scowl looks like a mini version of her mother's.

Yeah, it's sweet :) This story's a fun little piece like Kissing Lessons With Finnick, but it's extremely well written. Pants and Grow Together are also phenomenal but those have already reviewed here, see the link above.

Again, I apologize that this is late, and please go check out Miss Scarlet 05's work here.

Self Promotion Sundays #9

Self Promotion Sundays!

They were the fighters
By Mockingjaywithfangs
Summary: Several poems about the tributes of the 74th annual hunger games, the victors, the careers, victory and its' price, the districts, war and the Capitol.
Status: In-progress

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.

Self-Promotion Sundays #8

Self-Promotion Sundays #8 folks. There's a lot today.

To The One I Hoped To Marry
by Miss M of Q
Summary: Some letters are never meant to be sent. These are the ones Mr. Mellark wrote for Mrs. Everdeen over the years. One-shot.
Status: Complete

Flames and sobriquets
by Mockingjaywithfangs
Summary: AU. She is a survivor from District twelve, he is a citizen of the Capitol. He is broken, so is she. Maybe they understand each other than they think. Cato/Katniss
Status: In-progress

Glorify our district
by Mockingjaywithfangs
Summary: "It is the only thing we know how to do, it is the only thing we are meant to do, killing and glorifying our district" A poem about the Careers, mainly inspired in Clove and Cato's personality.
Status: Complete

The 220th Hunger Games: Test of Survival
by TeamKatniss4Ever
Summary: This is the story of the 220th Hunger Games, a story of skill, wit, and survival. Only one can win, but to do that, you can rarely keep yourself.  Who will prevail in this death trap?
Status: In-progress

A Knife in the Gut
by TeamKatniss4Ever
Summary: We've all heard the the 74th Hunger Games from the POV of Katniss, but how about Clove? This is the story of Clove DeGracia.
Status: In-progress

Melancholy
by SheepAmongstWolves12
Summary: Peeta recounts how he was "just a piece in Katniss' games" in order to survive the Hunger Games. Now Peeta finds himself indulging on a path of self destruction in order to try to forget what happened between him and Katniss. Is there still hope for their relationship or will Peeta forever see her as the girl who broke his heart? Rated M for later. Set during CF.
Status: In-progress

Enjoy!

-cindella204

July's Author of the Month: C.K.isback

Warning: There’s is some Language in this. You should know what a capital L means.

Hi everyone! It’s cindella204 presenting July’s Author of the Month, C.K.isback! I have loved her oneshot The Games We Play for a very long time, but recently I’ve stumbled upon more of her work, and it’s all great.

The Games We Play is a poetry piece that has short descriptions of six of our favorite characters (Haymitch, Johanna, Katniss, Finnick, Peeta, and Gale) followed by the Capitol. I’d really like to copy and paste the whole fic, especially since it’s short, but that probably wouldn’t be good form, so I’ll just pick three.

Finnick lies. 

Lies about his feelings.

Lies about his pain. 

Lies about his love.

His hurt.

His anger.

Lies about his sanity.

x

Peeta convinces

Convinces the Capitol.

Convinces the Rebellion.

Convinces to be good.

To right the wrongs.

To walk in light.

Convinces himself that it actually matters.

x

The Capitol laughs

Laughs about the Games.

Laughs about the Victors.

Laughs about the struggles.

The pain.

The loss.

Because to them, it's all just a game.

I talked in my last Author of Month post about how I’m obsessed with Finnick and Finnick/Annie is my OTP. “Finnick lies” is probably the best way you can summarize what I’ve coined “Finnick Odair’s Ten Years of Hell” in two words. Or even one sentence. Mind=blown. When I first read that, I was like “ASDFGHLKOMGthatwasamazing”. 

Next is another one of my favorite characters, Peeta. Peeta convinces. Peeta being the main “good” character in the series, the yang to Katniss’ yin (oh my gosh that sounded cheesy), but what we forget sometimes is that he too has blood on his hands. Katniss had a semi-decent reason to kill Marvel, he killed Rue, but why did Peeta kill D8 girl? It definitely looked good to the Careers, but he didn’t have to. They did ask him to, he offered to. Therefore, I like “Peeta convinces” because I feel like he has a lot to convince himself of never mind everyone else.

The Capitol laughs. Amazing. The end.

Next story.

I wanted to talk about this one, called What the Hell, Guys? because it works with a minor character in an amazing way. This is Titus, that guy from 6 who was a cannibal:

To be frank, I don't really get why the hell what I did was such a big deal. 

I mean, come on! Hello people, these are the Hunger Games! Not the "Let's play nice and not kill each other!" Games. I was just being smart - sensible. And yet they had to go and fuck my life up. Not cool. 

Anyways, it's simple logic: Hunger is to eating as Games is to winning. And winning means eliminating the competition. 

It was only smart to do them both at the same time. Saved me the trouble of bitchin' about what to eat. 

But the Capitol had to open their little plastic mouths and quibble about it. "But cannibalism is immoral." "Eating other people is gross!" "God, that Titus kid must be really screwed up, I hope someone kills him." 

News Flash, jerks: The Hunger Games is immoral. If you want something that'll make your stomachs sick and leave you thinking "How could anyone do this?", all us Districts have to do is flip on our T.V.. Why do you think I became a cannibal? For my own enjoyment? Because human flesh tastes like chicken? 

No. I did it because of you.

That’s the beginning of it. I just think it’s really interesting how she characterized him, and I really enjoyed it. It’s just really different then what you’re used to seeing, because most of the main characters in this series don’t have this kind of tone. Johanna, and maybe Finnick on a really bad day, but regardless, it was really original and I loved that.

So, C.K.isback has twenty-three more awesome Hunger Games stories, so go check her out over on FF.N here!

-cindella204

Self-Promotion Sundays #7

Welcome to the seventh edition of Self-Promotion Sundays, brought to you by cindella204 and Nightlock Fic Recs!

Today we have two stories, both of which are written by Clover80!

Behind The Scenes - The Mentors
Summary: Ever wonder what was going on with the mentors during the games? A typical Hunger Games from their point of view!
Status: In-Progress

The Things They Left Behind
Summary: Everyone leaves things behind when they die, some of them tell a lot about the person who died. A series of oneshots about things left behind by characters who died in The Hunger Games trilogy.
Status: In-Progress

Enjoy!

-cindella204

Self-Promotion Sundays #6

Hey folks, cindella204 again with Self-Promotion Sundays (on Tuesday). Sorry for the delay, last Sunday I was at Kruger National Park in South Africa where they apparently have no wifi (No wifi at a major tourist attraction? Seriously?). So yeah, it's on Tuesday. Whatever. Anyway, this week's stories:

Waiting for forever and a day
by donargh
Summary: What was in the unknown sections of the Quell arena? It’s the morning after that kiss. Plans are being established to kill Enobaria and Brutus. However, the victors are forced to take flight in one of the unknown areas of the arena. What horrors have the Game makers conjured up that could possibly harm one of the victors?
Status: In-Progress

We Remember: The Other Everdeen Girl
by Miss M of Q
Summary: One-shot. In celebration of the first 25 years since the Fall of the Capitol, Caesar Flickerman writes about the unsung heroes of Panem in his post-war newspaper column, We Remember. In this article, he pays tribute to Primrose Everdeen, the Mockingjay's sister.
Status: Complete

That's all for this time! Enjoy!

-cindella204

June's Author of the Month: Tokoloshe Monster

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to do spoiler warnings or not, but just in case their may be some slight Mockingjay spoilers in this. You've been warned.

Hi everyone! It's cindella204 with June's Author of the Month, Tokoloshe Monster! Her Maximum Ride oneshot This Is How A Heart Breaks is one of my favorite stories of all time, so when she started writing Hunger Games fics I was thrilled. She does not disappoint. All of her stories have the same eloquence that just makes me say, "Wow." Here's a piece from of the living, an Alternate Ending Finnick/Katniss:

The first time they clawed at each other, they fell asleep on opposite sides of the bed. They woke up tangled together and both of them kept their eyes closed, Katniss pretending that the hair on her cheek was gold, and Finnick tried to convince himself that the hand resting over his heart wasn't a huntress's.  

Then Finnick fully awoke and slid himself out of bed and put his clothes on, while Katniss pretended to be asleep, pulling the sex-soaked sheets over her bare shoulders to try and hide what happened. (She failed.) 

After that first time, they make sure to part ways before dawn breaks. That way they can pretend that they only dream their encounters. Daytime would make things real, and that's exactly what they don't want at all.

Did I mention that I absolutely HATE Finnick/Katniss? Well, I do. I write Finnick-centered fics myself, and I am obsessed with Finnick/Annie. It is definitely the ship I support the most in this series, and probably in every fandom. Finnick belongs with Annie. The end. So how did this Finnick/Katniss end up in my favorites?

1. It's an Alternate Ending that actually makes sense. Exploring non-canon pairings can be fun. I don't write them much, but I do enjoy reading them. My issue is when the stupidest situations are used to create an opening for them. Finnick and Katniss are not going to experience mysterious attraction in a broken elevator, and there will not be accident in Thirteen that will electrocute and kill everyone in the hospital including Annie, Peeta, Prim, and Mrs. Everdeen. Finnick and Katniss will not go to each other for comfort, somehow ending in a steamy one-night stand, and then fall for each other and forget all about Annie and Peeta. It's not happening. Sorry. This isn't like that. Without spoiling too much, it's actually a realistic situation. And more importantly, it's gradual. Katniss doesn't wake up one morning and say, "You know what, I'm over Peeta. Finnick, let's have sex," which is good, because can you really see Katniss saying that? And even if she did, can you imagine Finnick's reaction to that? Exactly. if Finnick and Katniss were ever going to get together, it would be under a certain set of circumstances, and these are them.


2. Her pacing is brilliant. I already talked about how gradual was important, but the timing in general is perfect. She uses timeskips to keep the story brief, but where details are needed they're there, and in just the right way too. It's not really something I can explain, but timing is important to me in all stories, and she's got it.


3. The diction and syntax are PERFECT to convey the emotion the characters are expressing. Oh my gosh, look what Honors English has done to me. That's word choice, and the way words are arranged. With all the trauma in the exposition, and the...emotional tension throughout this story, it's so key, and once again, I'm not disappointed. This actually applies to all of Tokoloshe's stories in every fandom, including these Hunger Games ones.
   
   

   "Do you want some?" she asks, noticing the look of longing on his face. 

   "Of course," he replies, although they're probably both talking about two very different things.

   
   I love the way she writes that. It's just perfect...cute and fluffy, but realistic, which you've probably realized is a big thing for me. The wording is so beautiful, I can't even explain it. It's just AMAZING.

Okay, I just completely fan-girled over one story, but there are six more like this. They're all amazing, so check her out here.

P.S. I'm so long winded...please go check out her stories, though.

-cindella204