Annie Cresta - Blog Posts

There is a possibility that Annie volunteered for her games. I saw someone talk about this on tik tok and I thought it was interesting. Annie is from 4, a career District, so there is the possibility of her training her entire life, her volunteering, her going into the games, and her idea of glory quickly shattering once she saw her district colleague be horribly death. she went mad because that's a very traumatic thing to witness, but one thing that might have played into her madness was having this idea of glory being stripped away revealing the reality of the games. After seeing the games in such a romanticised way her entire life, just to realise how ruthless they actually are, destroying her perception of reality. (Since she would have trained her entire life for the games)

Thinking about the lyrics from ballad of Lucy Gray but applied to Haymitch and Maysilee Donner, and his girlfriend, and his family, and literally all the people haunting him while he slowly drinks himself to death after winning the games

Jabberjays | Johanna Mason

Pairing: Johanna Mason x fem!reader (District4!Finnick's sister!reader)

Summary: During the attack of the Jabberjays Katniss is introduced to a whole different Johanna.

Warning/s: a bit of angst, a bit of fluff, the quarter quell, jabberjays, panic, screaming, weapons, you know typical hunger games stuff, also this is more like a short blurb but yeah, possible grammar and spelling mistakes

Author's note: I always wanted to write something about the Jabberjay attack so I absolutely loved the request! Also I made the reader Finnick's sister, I hope that's okay. Hope you enjoy!!

Request -> hi! i have a request for johanna!! could u do one where fem!reader and her are in a relationship that’s not secret just private (like only finnick knows) but something happens in the arena where johanna gets worried about r & finnick and katniss have a talk like johanna and katniss did in the movie abt annie? sry if that was too long or didn’t make sense! ty <33

Johanna just went into the thick forest to get some water with the spile that Haymitch send them so that they don't die of dehydration. She was regretting it now.

Katniss, Peeta, Beetee, your brother Finnick and you were on the beach. You were sitting with Katniss on the dry sand as you anxiously waited for Johanna to return from the forest as you stated at the hole in the sand that Johanna's ax made.

Thankfully, you thought to yourself, she took it with her.

Everything was relatively peaceful, too peaceful even. You didn't like it one bit. Something was coming. The game makers wouldn't allow the things to be so peaceful for so long. You were soon proven right as you heard the ear piercing scream that only seemed to shake through you.

"Johanna!" Your voice screamed back, every bit of common sense leaving you as you bolted towards the sound of Johanna's bloody-like screams.

You left your knives on the beach, along with the rest of your team that were screaming your name, confused from your actions as they tried to keep up with you. You were in a vulnerable place as you waved your hands around, trying to keep the thick leaves, that were swang down blocking your vision, away from your face as you ran still screaming Johanna's name as much as she screamed yours.

"Johanna!" You shouted as you reached the center of the forest where Johanna's screams were.

You were moving around in the circle, trying to determine where exactly her voice was coming from. After a while it hit you as you realized that her screams were coming from above. High in the trees. Then you saw the jabberjays flopping their little wings in the air, swaying the leaves of the trees and you knew that you fell right in the Capitol's trap.

"Y/N!" Finnick's muffled voice came towards you and you quickly turned towards him. Katniss, Beetee and Peeta were there with him, looking extremely concerned.

But why were they not coming closer?

The painful sounds of Johanna's screaming was messing with your head, panick gripping onto each and every fragment of your mind and body.

Why were they not coming over? Why aren't they helping? Why are they just standing there?!

Your felt your arms moving up, your hands gripping your head to try and kill the ever racing thoughts and the continuous mocking of the jabberjays. Then, as your eyes frantically searched the area, you spotted Johanna. Her eyes full of concern only reserved for her close friends and her love.

Then, the next thing that happened just confused you even more. Finnick grabbed her arm quickly, stopping her as she moved forward towards you, ax in her hand. She twisted her arm, releasing her arm from Finnick's grip as she yelled at him while he talked to her about something that you didn't hear. Her expression changed from concerned to utterly horrified.

"Y/N!" You heard Johanna's muffled, concerned voice mixing with the imitation of the screaming that the jabberjays provided.

You didn't think, the constant screaming was too much. You ran towards her, but came to a stop when your body hit something invisible. The force field. You started banging your hands against the force field trying to ignore the looks of pity and concern from your lover, brother and allies. You didn't want to except this.

The screaming intensified as the birds got closer to you, and you found yourself sliding onto the ground, screaming bloody murder just so you could tone down the sound of Johanna's and Finnick's torturous screams. Johanna was taping on the force field shouting at you something that you didn't understand.

That's how Johanna found herself banging her ax forcefully against the force field, trying to break it. Finnick next to her, hitting the force field with his trident, his eyes full of concern as he watched his baby sister's torture.

The new hour began and Katniss watched the scene in front of her not believing the state that Johanna was in. The hurried movements with her ax, the horrified expression on her face, her eyes full of concern. She cared about someone here. She actually, genuinely, cared about someone here.

°

"Y/N!" Johanna's voice reached your ears, tearing through the ringing in them as you swayed back and forth on the ground. "The hour is up! You okay! It's over! I'm here!"

After you finally came to your senses enough to look at her, you immediately wrapped your arms around her as tightly as you possibly could, not letting go.

"Johanna," You gasped through neverending sobs as your body shook against hers. "You're all right."

"We're both alright." She answered you with the softest voice Katniss ever heard.

Later on you all gathered at the beach once again. Peeta and Beetee went of a bit further away on the beach, looking for some food. Johanna and you settled down on the edge of the beach away from the rest of the team, but still in their eyesight, and finally Katniss and Finnick sat down, learning against the trees.

"Are they together?" Katniss asked Finnick, breaking the silence. "Johanna and Y/N?"

"Yes." Finnick answered immediately, his sea-green eyes snapped to look at her gray ones. "They didn't really keep it a secret, it was private. Only Mags, Annie, Haymitch and I knew really. They wanted to keep it in the close circle of friends."

"I've never seen Johanna act like that before," Katniss quietly murmured as she processed this new information that Finnick told her. "It was quite terrifying."

"Yeah, well," Finnick couldn't help himself as he chuckled playfully at her confession. "Johanna loves her so much. It is terrifying, honestly." He, however, continued on a more serious note. "Y/N won her games a year before Johanna. She helped her when she was going through tough times after she went out of the arena. Johanna lost her family. Y/N is the only thing that she lives for, now. She said it herself when I gave her, correction," Finnick held his finger up in the air, noting that he expressed himself wrongly. "Tried, key word tried, to give her I'm-her-older-protective-brother-so-you-better-not-hurt-her speach."

"And how did that turn out?" Katniss couldn't help but to ask, given how Johanna was she knew that his answer was going to be good.

"Oh, she smacked me across the head." Finnick smiled and Katniss found herself laughing at his answer just like she expected to.

Finnick and Katniss gazed to the couple that was still knee deep in the water, arms wrapped around each other as you sat in between Johanna's legs, your back leaning against her front.

"I'm glad that they have each other," Katniss spoke her thoughts out loud. "Even though they are so different they just seem to fit so well with one another."

"Definitely."

"What the hell are you two gossiping about?" Johanna called out causing you to giggle softly as you spoke.

"Yeah! And why the hell didn't you invite us?!"

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TAGLIST:

@caroline-books @thecrowdedstreetin1944

I saw you recently did one like this but I still wanted to ask, (sorry) because I like your blog very very much. Do you have any other recs that take place during Annie’s games, with like the development in the relationship between Annie and finnick? If the ending is with Finn 💀 that’s ok but preferably not… it can be short or long

Love your writing style btw

Hi, thanks so much for your interest! I don’t know how many new recs I’ll be able to give you since I just did a similar list, but I’ll try. I also might be mentioning fics I’ve put on previous lists, but they were from a long time ago so you might not have seen them. If you haven't already, I would strongly recommend looking at my other lists because there are many stories there that fit your request!

The first two have been mentioned on other lists, and the rest are new.

Breathe by The_Twisted_Kingdom - This is a long one that starts at Annie’s Games. I like the dramatic irony in here because they don’t know each other and Annie doesn’t know what Finnick is doing in the Capitol. I will mention that it's incomplete and hasn't been updated for about three years, so just a warning about that.

Just Us by Nanyoky - This is another one that I really like and it's similar to the one above. It is completed (and canon compliant, sorry) but the story wraps up nicely. This could be a good read if you haven't checked it out yet.

this little universe between our backs by electrumqueen - This is a short one but it fits your request and is so beautiful. There's such a strong command of language here that really makes it a compelling read.

(no) hope in the water by rhllors - This is in a similar style to the last one. I really like how it portrays the brutality of the Games and Annie's resilience through it, as well as her and Finnick's relationship.

Five boys who were not Finnick Odair. by sakurasencha - This is a cool take on Finnick and Annie's dynamic, as well as Annie's history. It's a nonlinear narrative dealing mostly in flashbacks, but the central point of the story is Annie's Games and the aftermath. This could be a good read if you're looking for something unique.

Where the Sun Meets the Sea by sunflowersmile - This one really fleshes out Annie's life and her relationship with Finnick outside of the Games, although the Games are a focal point. It's alternating POV with Finnick and Annie so it's also cool to see both sides.

Not About Heroes by EmilyRose34 - This is a fic with the classic premise of Annie's Games, but what I think makes this one unique is the dynamic created between Finnick and Annie. It really helps illustrate the "she crept up on me" line because they don't really register each other right away. I really like the slow burn here.

I hope you can find something, and feel free to reblog with additions or self-promo if you want!

Lately, I've been fascinated by The Hunger Games AU story A Standing Engagement by @bettsfic featuring Annie Cresta & Finnick Odair.

The Hunger Games is a dark dystopian reality that in so many ways mirrors our own, and it's gruesomeness is portrayed so hauntingly in this story. Annie Cresta is given a different backstory from canon, and lives in the capital. Her past is still dark. Life in the capital is heartbreaking: constant monitoring, putting on a display, not showing your real self and the dark undercurrents of danger & exploitation are always there.

Annie has lost most of her childhood memories, and lives in a world where image matters more than truth. Narration is by necessity unreliable as Annie does not know nor trust in what is truly happening, and doesn't remember except in haunting tainted glimpses. Annie pays Finnick to pretend to love her & act like he truly cares, and therefore, what trust can there be that what Finnick says & does is honest and real?

We see Finnick only through Annie's eyes and supplement that knowledge from what we know from canon: I think that leads us to trust Finnick's honesty in caring for & loving Annie earlier than the story itself warrants. Chapter 8/16 has just been published, and the truth of his love is acknowledged. Yet, that very truth is dangerous & puts them both in jeopardy - which we already know from canon. And so, this story weaves an interesting tale.

Their history - the fisherman's boy and the screaming girl - is referenced in small glimpses and details and I enjoy going back and rereading after new chapters to see earlier hints in a different light, like the best kind of stories do.

In our view of Finnick & his exploitation, we see our own celebrity culture: objectiving to such a degree we no longer acknowledge people as humans. The story is clever in its examination of what that does and means.

Annie & Finnick are both starkly lonely and vulnerable and yet able to reach each other behind all the masks. I'm curious to read where this story is going next now that the monthly meetings can no longer take place and the next Hunger Games are around the corner.

Do you think Mags just stuck Finnick with Haymitch whenever she couldn't watch him while in the Capitol? I think it'd be cute with Haymitch, semi-drunk, having to watch over another kid because Mags asked him to and since it's Mags he can't say no.

He gets Annie too eventually because Mags decides that despite the alcohol, Haymitch is good with talking down kids. He lets her read to him and listens. Much softer than his sass with Finnick.

After the 74th game he's now stuck with four kids indefinitely because of course Katniss and Peeta are also his. Kids flock to him like glue and he doesn't know why.

I want more fics of Haymitch being sweet with kids because it's literally ingrained in him. They're his reluctant gaggle of geese.

here’s an Odesta for the first time in months

My Hunger Games Playlist

AKA songs I'd love to make animatics to but that requires SO MUCH time that instead I just daydream what it'd look like

I Bet On Losing Dogs by Mitski- Obviously I'm not the first to say this, but it's a very Haymitch song (at least to me) specifically about him being a mentor

Yeti by Paris Paloma- The tragedy of Katniss and Gale's friendship falling apart because it IS a tragedy that makes my heart hurt when I think about it too much. They were each other's safe place to be children and now that's gone forever.

From Eden by Hozier- Finnick's POV about himself and his relationship with Annie throughout the years. The song sounding so upbeat but the lyrics being so hopeless (but not about her) and self deprecating is very Finnick to me

Eat Your Young by Hozier- Honestly this one could just be an anthem for Panem, specifically through President Snow's POV

Pale White Horse by The Oh Hellos- This song sounds like its straight out of the books tbh. It'd be Katniss's journey throughout the books, specifically through her relationship with President Snow.

Curses by The Crane Wives- Katniss and Peeta growing back together but still trying to process the trauma of everything they've been through while living on the mass graves of everything they've ever known.

my hunger games characters height head-canons (even though nobody asked)

Annie and Finnick:

I’ve seen so many fics where Annie is short and that’s cute of course, but tall Annie oh my goodness. She has my heart!! Also I feel like a lot of the short Annie headcanons is just because they want a cute height difference between her and Finnick (also because her movie actors super short, love stef but this is my book headcanons) but guys, they can still have a cute height difference with them both being tall. So I headcanon Finnick as 6’4 (I had trouble deciding with Finnick because I know 6’4 is like, uncommon? I dont know if it’s THAT uncommon) and Annie is 5’9 because I couldn’t decide between 5’8-5’10 so I picked 5’9 because it’s right in the middle. Also I don’t want ANYBODY saying “oh, 5’9 isn’t that tall” it is for a woman pleaaaseee!!! anyway, it’s still a cute height difference right?

Also I saw somebody that reposted one of my posts that was like “Katniss for the short girlies, Annie for the tall girlies, and the tall girlie gets the tall guy” and yes exactlyyy. Also this is more of a personal preference I am so sick of the extremely short petite girl with the tall, muscular guy it was cute at first (and it still can be cute if played right) but now I feel like it’s all I see and I need more tall girl x tall guy relationships

Also im a firm believer in swimmers body Annie, im a firm believer in most district four people having swimmers body’s actually like fight me if you disagree it makes so much sense.

This discussion has been going around so I’m interested to see where we stand on this!

I love your Finnick x Annie fanart,and everything about it. However,I'm going to make a very specific compliment about your Annie fanart:she always looks fit and somewhat muscular, even (at least as an adult). I've never vibed with her as a small, delicate-looking woman. Besides,she survived a flooded arena,one needs skill, stamina and strength. To top it all,I love the idea of Annie looking like an Olympic swimmer and still being the "Poor Mad Girl" - even in the books,it seemed like she got that nickname due to her PTSD showing in awkward ways(plus,I've seen an autistic HC for her,and it made sense to me that she'd have both) and being showcased to all of Panem.

Ironically,the one I imagined being small and thin was Johanna Mason,lol. Her strategy in the Games was basically "Pretend to be the weepy little girl".

Thank you! And I agree! I actually headcanon that Annie was a career tribute (but not a volunteer, I have a whole thing about it and my ideas about how all the career districts handle their tributes differently) so I definitely think she would have been very strong going into the games.

I also can see her losing a lot of muscle/weight after her games though. Whatever muscle she does gain back I think would be from running, walking, but especially swimming over the last 5 years

But even with that in mind I like drawing her with naturally wider shoulders and on the taller side because I also like the idea of her looking like a pro swimmer so she always looks stronger even at her "weakest"

And about Johanna, I imagine her with like a sleeper build lol. Like she definitely has muscle from working in lumber, but I also imagine her really tiny too

HI! I've been busy with work and other projects, but I really missed drawing my two favorites so Here's a sketch of Finnick and Annie giggling over something only they find funny

Childhood friends/sweethearts Odesta

Childhood friends/sweethearts Odesta

Not too close.

HELLO DEAR ARTIST i’m so sorry for spam liking your content but i just discovered your account and absolutely love your art style and your art!!!!! obsessed with the way u draw all the characters (and love the amount of finnick and annie content 😭😭)

anyways! just wanted to send off a lil message to let u know that u are so so talented! and to say hello as a new follower :)

Thank you so much you're so nice 😭😭😭😭

And Annie and Finnick are my favorite!! (I was actually drawing them today haha)

Bonus: Annie reassuring him about it post reunion

I was looking at my drawing I did of Finnick from a few days ago and thought the random stray hair highlights I added actually looked more like gray hairs. And then I couldn't shake the idea of (handsome, darling of The Capitol) Finnick going gray at 24 from all the stess, bad diet, lack of light, etc that he went through at the beginning of Mockingjay

Lazy Summer Morning

Lazy Summer Morning

poor baby is still mentally recovering from her games

(I'm doing a comic about annie and finnick so thats why she is dress like that)

(in the comic it is explain that her stylist is making her use one ot that skin lightening cream so she'll be looking more capitol-like, thats why her stylist makes her red-head also, cuz it was my headcanon that shes naturally brunett)

yessss that defo answers my questions! ur thoughts on compassion & community intertwined w rebellion definitely show up in ur art lol. something more specific i have been curious abt is ur version of the endings of each specific hunger games & ur characterization/portrayal of the victors at those points! if u have any more thoughts abt any of those characters or their games id love to hear.... im also very not neurotypical abt hunger games

For sure!! But this is a novel and a half so I apologize in advance (also most of this is from memory so anyone can correct me if I'm getting any details wrong)

((TW: For visual depictions of Blood, Gore, and Wounds))

I realized I'd seen barely any art showing what the victors would have looked like when they won their games. They were all just kids and I feel like it can be easy to forget that sometimes

For all of them, I made the background one of their main "weapons" but tried to make it look like its turning back on them instead since there are no victors as Haymitch said.

I'll try to explain them all more in depth individually going in the order I drew them:

Finnick Odair, 65th Games:

His main weapons were his trident and nets that he made with vines. His background is one of the nets ready to trap him.

Finnick was the youngest victor ever at only 14. I really really wanted to emphasize just how little that is. (Especially since we know exactly why the Capitol loved him from the start…) Once I actually drew him looking that little I had to step away for a bit because I made myself too sad…

Outside of just how horrific his age is as a concept, I tried to think about what circumstances would lead to him actually winning when surrounded by older tributes. I think he would have had to avoid any kind of fight he didn't have the upper hand in. We know that he got the most expensive sponsor gifts in the history of the games (a trident), so he probably got plenty of sponsors outside of that as well. Because of that I doubt he needed to go looking for supplies much if ever so it was easy to avoid people there. He was also probably in a career pack, despite his age, due to his training and his popularity, and they would have hunted other tributes down together much like the one we saw in the first book (safer in numbers). Once it was narrowing down and the pack broke is when I think he started catching people in nets. All of that is a long winded way of saying that's why, unlike the other victors I drew, I only show him with minor cuts and bruises.

Originally I was going to draw him with a kind of strained smile like he was acting for an audience from the start. But I decided I actually think its sadder if he believed he was popular because of his skill and strategy as a fighter and only learned the whole truth after he won and that's when he started acting more for the camera. Instead I gave him a more muted despair kind of look, like his world is crashing down. One of my favorite parts about the movies, mainly THG and ABOSAS, is when they give the career tributes at the end a moment of realization about what they've done, and I wanted to give Finnick his. I'm a person that believes Finnick had to have volunteered for his games. I think he would have legitimately believed in the propaganda the career districts were fed and had a bit of a (very middle school boy) ego about his abilities. (I was NOT expecting to write so much about his lmao)

Enobaria, 62nd Games

She's most well known for ripping someones throat out with her teeth. (Her background is her sharpened teeth getting ready to eat her.) This is treated by The Capitol, and by Katniss, as grotesque and terrifying blood lust (Which obviously the Capitol loves her for). However, and I'm not at all the first to say it, that sounds more like a terrified and desperate attempt to survive a fight she was losing and an example of hysterical strength. We know that Career packs have had bloody betrayals in the past and I can see Enobaria being a part of one of them. Enobaria doesn't have a canonical age, but I decided to put her on the younger side (15 or 16.) I can imagine some of the older, bigger tributes deciding she was the weakest link towards the end and that was the result. I tried to make the blood around her mouth and down her shirt look more faded, like she tried desperately to wipe it off (Also I had to step away from drawing again after I drew her little tooth gap)

I think she probably leaned into the bloodthirsty image afterwards as a way to protect herself and (maybe even started to believe it too)

Annie Cresta, 70th Games

Annie's known for losing her mind after seeing her district partner decapitated in front of her. After that, she ran off and hid until the game makers started an earth quake, which made the large dam in the arena break and cause a huge flood. Annie was the only survivor because she was the strongest swimmer. So I decided to make her background dark water that's churning up and over her head. I also think it can work well as a way to show her mental state in the moment (and afterwards) Annie is actually one of my favorite characters in the series and I've been writing out a plan for a possible comic series about her that'll go more in depth about my headcanons for her. (when I say comic series, I mean sketches and oneshots, not a full thing lmao) It wouldn't take place during her games (outside of a few flashbacks when I need more context), instead it would start at her Victory Tour and go into her first (and last) year as a mentor for the 71st Games. Which is a perfect segue to-

Johanna Mason, 71st Games

Johanna is actually first mentioned early on in the first book when Katniss is wondering if the reason Peeta is crying is because he plans to act weak and helpless as a strategy in the games. (Katniss, he just found out he has to fight in a murder tournament with his crush. He's just Sad.) She bases her theory on Johanna, who pretended she was a "sniveling, cowardly fool" in the arena until the final stretch of the games when she proved to be deadly with an axe.

OR….. Katniss is an unreliable narrator and Johanna was actually a terrified kid from a district with so few victors that she was the only name in the bowl for the Quarter Quell… This is totally just a personal headcanon of mine tho lol. I think there would have been a point in her games where she realized she actually had a chance and that's when she seemingly had a huge character turn around. Maybe there was a infighting with the careers that ended in multiple deaths and there was only a few left along with any other tributes hiding away like her. Maybe she poked around what was left of their camp, found the axe, and felt strength from her district.

Her background was a little harder for me. Just slapping a big axe behind her felt cheesy. But them I remembered her saying there was no one left that she loved. So instead I put trees that could represent her loved ones (Two fully grown trees, a younger "teenage" tree, and a sapling) that are in the process of being cut down.

Haymitch Abernathy, 50th Games

Don't worry, I'm almost done. I don't have as much to say about Haymitch since we know SO much about what happened in his games. But his background was probably the hardest for me. His main weapon was invisible after all. I thought maybe the axe that was used, but again, That would look cheesy. I tried (and kinda failed imo) to draw the cliff side the force field was on instead. But the main thing I did was split the three panels I had on the previous drawings into six for two reasons. 1: Because he had to face twice as many tributes in order to win and 2: Being the only victor of a district that's tributes are seen as fodder for the blood bath means he had to meet and watch the death of twice as many kids every year.

I realized we never got to see Finnick in an outfit he would have chosen for himself :(

I think he would like "grandpa" style clothes: -Comfortable and loose-fitting -Warm, soft colors -Fun but cozy patterns

I think he'd like that.

The amount of comfort Finnick and Annie must have had to bring each other over the years makes me weepy

The "Victors"

I little while ago I drew what some of the Victors might have looked like when they won their games and made myself very sad in the process

I feel like we get so used to their adult versions we see in the series that we forget they were all children too.

!!!!MAJOR Trigger Warning!!!!

Blood and Gore ahead (I know it might not be a lot for some people, but it is for me, and that goes double since they're only kids)

Haymitch Abernathy- Victor of the 50th Hunger Games

Enobaria- Victor of the 62nd Hunger Games

Finnick Odair- Victor of the 65th Hunger Games

Annie Cresta- Victor of the 70th Hunger Games

Johanna Mason- Victor of the 71st Hunger Games

The "Victors"

I little while ago I drew what some of the Victors might have looked like when they won their games and made myself very sad in the process

I feel like we get so used to their adult versions we see in the series that we forget they were all children too.

!!!!MAJOR Trigger Warning!!!!

Blood and Gore ahead (I know it might not be a lot for some people, but it is for me, and that goes double since they're only kids)

Haymitch Abernathy- Victor of the 50th Hunger Games

Enobaria- Victor of the 62nd Hunger Games

Finnick Odair- Victor of the 65th Hunger Games

Annie Cresta- Victor of the 70th Hunger Games

Johanna Mason- Victor of the 71st Hunger Games

Omg guys they're so alive and breathing and loving, I hope nothing bad happens to them <3

The ending they deserved :(

Annie Cresta

When ever I know I want to draw a character multiple times (OC or fanart),I make a quick "character sheet" that's not really a character sheet but just a full body and a bust.