Cate Dunlap - Blog Posts

Reblogging this bc I just have too much to say for a comment

I think a way to incorporate powers is still utilizing the spread of compound V except it was first experimented with by being released on the poorer districts before selling to the richer/those more known for winning and training for their games. Marie could be that second or 3rd generation in her district that DID gain powers, and you could even do something with making compound V either skip certain kids/generations or it is simply very frowned upon by the district due to the fact they are the result of experimentation. Generally unhappy with how they were used as lab rats amongst other things and it reflects poorly on those who were born with those powers.

In terms of Marie’s brutality I definitely also think she is very good with bows but is especially talented with knives possibly because her father had been a butcher and she’d taken up on that line of work. He could have also doubled as someone who helped with prepping bodies for funerals or could have been involved in some underground work that had him taking out organs in order to get income for his family and when Marie catches him he decides to start teaching her about it. This could in part be why Marie is so good with making a show of her murders as she both knows how to silently and swiftly kill someone AND knows how to get someone to dramatically bleed out. Her knowledge on how weak and vulnerable the human body truly is in situations where it isn’t protected is what makes her so deadly outside of just the use of her powers. (This also gives me the idea of one of her nicknames being bloodhound, however that’s only in the case of her being the kind of person in her first game that consistently hunted her victims.) If you were to go that route you could have it be where Marie HAD to hide her powers to avoid discrimination or worse. The games could also act as sort of experimentation to test the limits, weaknesses, etc. of those they’ve enhanced and how they fare in battle with or without training. And to control the population of powered individuals for their own peace of mind while favoring the more powerful just for their own safety in the idea that friendship and pampering will get them own their good side.

I could see Marie still killing her parents in this au, and it could even be taken a step further where Annabeth had to help her cover up the murder and pretend it was a freak accident, which did a good deal of damage to their relationship. Marie taking Annabeths place in the name pulling could also provide either a build or decline in their relationship as well considering Annabeth has the potential to be solely bitter towards Marie or holster a good deal of survivors guilt.

I could totally see Neuman being a former victor and mentor to Marie. Sort of like haymitch except she’s far more brutal and generally seems like she was born and bred for that kind of environment in Marie’s perspective. She’s just sort of intricate and layered in a way Marie doesn’t quite understand when she starts out but quickly comes to the same realizations Neumann once had, except she decides to take a different route with it that wasn’t just rolling over and accepting every gift thrown her way until she was a capital favorite who went on to mentor another.

Emma being a stylist for Marie makes a LOT of sense to me, and while she’s still somewhat aware of the capitals cruelty I think due to being raised in the capital she still has a layer of ignorance that comes with being at that level.

Jordan I think should be a 2 time victor for the sole purpose of reflecting how their capabilities were consistently pushed away in light of somebody else. Them “not being marketable” could have to do with their attitude and general distaste with most people that weren’t their mentor or friends. However they do have a good following that mostly has to do with sexualizing them (due to their power) opposed to really caring for them, which could add onto the reason why Jordan generally doesn’t like many sponsors or people from the capital outside of what they’ll give them. I think due to the obvious trauma they’d receive from the games amongst the manipulation of the capital they likely struggled with addiction for awhile as well.

I totally agree with Luke being the golden boy, however I think there’d be a game (possibly in the fic) that ends up getting rigged to have Luke and Sam paired together. Of course this could lead to Luke’s death, and I also think Sam’s prior protection against being put in the games could possibly double as the time he spent with Emma whenever he was in the capital during the games or with Luke.

As for Cate I think while she is Luke’s stylist she doubles as someone who’s in on the game making, however she chooses not to speak about it or inform anyone of it. Her being Shetty’s adopted daughter could be somewhat of a secret that she’s kept and guarded or it could be common knowledge while Cate pretends to be very disconnected from the woman and had only been adopted because she was, in a way, just a publicity stunt. The poor orphan child with a tragic story adopted by Shetty, a woman in power who’s just so kind! That kinda shit. If Shetty isn’t president, she’s definitely high up there and is the FIRST sponsor Marie gets after Shetty sees her utilize her power.

Andre I think could be aware of Cate’s affiliation and true relationship with Shetty, and because of this Cate is able to get intimately close with Andre to the degree she ends up cheating. OR. The throuple route <<33 bc I love them being poly. I think Andre doesn’t really have anything going for him maybe? Like yes his dad is trying very hard to shove him under his wing in order for him to be prepared to take his dads place when he’s gone, (and you could also have it where maybe Andre did still receive a power, but has been forced to hide it because his dad is scared of him getting pulled into the games) but he’s more focused on partying and being high or drunk all the time. I imagine he’s VERY checked out of reality and overall just. Has no stance on the imbalance between the districts and capitals aside from being like hey don’t be a dick, ya know? Just because I think even canon Andre has that rich kid attitude of knowing he could just throw it all away and run if he so felt like it and he’d be fine! Because he’s rich, and therefore set for for life. I think Andre could still sort of absently flirt with Marie but their relationship turns to hesitant friendship before rocketing towards very thin acquaintanceship due to Andre just being so. Ignorant. While Marie is hyper aware of the shit going on because she knows the hardship of living in a very poor district.

I can also see Marie and Jordan having the same situation as Katniss and Peeta in terms of them becoming the staple “star crossed lovers” as well. I think it’d be fun if Jordan and Marie ended up pairing together opposed to sticking with their teammates for whatever reason, or they’d already formed a small group and their teammates died. And the game in the fic could be the one where all the chars involved in the games meet and end up banding together much like they did in the movie where they broke the border.

edit; actually think Marie could be the eye opener for Andre and be where he starts to get all righteous n shit before getting shot down by his dad

begging someone to pls help me construct a gen v hunger games au ......... my brain is so dead from college but i might actually write while the roman empires are empiring

marie is a tribute (maybe 16 or 15), probably for a district who hasn't one in a long time, similar to district 12 in the books/movies. honestly, i do not know who would be her mentor or a former victor for her, so i do sort of see marie having to enter the games alone.

i don't think she's a volunteer or if she'd volunteer for her sister because i think i'd like to keep the complexity of their relationship and not speaking but now that i think of it, i do see her volunteering for the sister she doesn't speak to anymore but still loves.

i'm not sure if this au will have powers, but marie would be skilled at long-range combat, she's good with a knife- fights like a street rat, fights like an orphan.

i'd imagine she gets the name bloody marie after murdering most of the tributes, always covered in blood (hence the name). or maybe in her final battle, we get the blood rain from catching fire, covering her and the other tribute in blood as they battle to death. trying to breathe and see as hot thick blood envelop them. i think that marie ends the battle slashing the throat and the tribute sputtering blood at her.

if not the blood rain, she slashes the throat and it covers her in blood. or she when she kills a tribute the blood gets everywhere. something like that.

if she doesn't have a mentor, for some reason, i can see emma as the daughter of a capitol member having to be the escort- but her quickly knowing the games for the cruelty it is and trying to campaign for marie throughout the games- oh or a stylist.

the others in this case... hm...

jordan li is a victor, they won a few games ago, they're probably a year older than her and was reaped when they were maybe 15 or 14. i feel like youngest victor would give them some clout. not sure how the shifting would work but who fucking cares its like year 2110?

i'm not sure how jordan would hate her, they might find her annoying, especially if she has no mentor to hold her back. marie's personality is spitfire and it's passion and she doesn't bother to act prim because she has no reason to think she'll live after this. she can try her hardest but she'll probably die.

luke riordan is a victor, he's definitely the finnick od'air of this au. he's the capitol's golden boy, what they don't know is he's planning the rebellion behind their back. i do see luke being a youngest winner as well, it adds to the appeal. probably has the same post-games treatment as finnick as well, he's appealing to the sponsors and won his game from the sponsors. while i'm unsure with marie, luke definitely volunteered for sam- had a whole "i volunteer! i volunteer as tribute". he made a deal with snow post-games to keep his brother out of the reaping bowl.

andre anderson is the son of a victor, his father works closely now with the capitol to make tech. andre is being looked at for a position in the capitol, maybe as gamemaker? not sure what to do with him.

cate is the adopted daughter of shetty, maybe shetty is the president or she has a high position. cate was luke's stylist maybe, i feel like cate would be a stylist.

shetty, like i mentioned before maybe is snow, if we want to contain this to solely the gen v cast. i'm struggling to come up with the president, maybe stan edgar. i wonder how newman falls into place here, she's definitely a sponsor for marie that's for sure.

anyways that's all. ihave so far lol

Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. X

💎Cate Dunlap💎

Cate’s one of my favorite onscreen villains, seeing as how she takes the whole Queen of Mean trope and gives an audience something to worry about.

Cate’s ability is a tactile form of mind control, along with a seemingly unstable form of telepathy. While she can read minds, she seems to have difficulty fully controlling the individual thoughts she wants to pay attention to. I’m assuming this is from her relying on power suppressants which made her rusty at mind reading, especially since she seems to be off the pills and completely fine now.

I would imagine that at the point of the V in her system giving her this ability, she would have just been coming into her own as a woman in a world that tells young girls to hyper-obsess about their social impact on the world around them. Imagine if you shot a young Regina George up with Compound V. Wouldn’t having the ability to read the minds of her teenage subjects and force them to think, believe, and do whatever she wants by placing a guiding hand on their shoulder be a perfect mutation for her body to produce?

Having the ability to command people to do her dirty work based solely on touch, Cate relies on the fact that her beauty and unassuming nature would allow her to get close enough to touch any potential opponent. This way of thinking reminds me of Glimmer from “The Hunger Games”, seeing as how in the books, she attempted to sneak in a diamond ring that, upon unscrewing the jewel, revealed a poisoned spike. A weapon like that wielded in a battle royale style death match is unimaginably arrogant and short sighted. While it may seem cunning, her entire battle strategy hinged on her beauty and ability to draw close enough to another tribute while their guard was down to prick them with a mini spike. Cate, regardless of her own agency in the matter, shares a similar viewpoint. It wasn’t until Marie blew up her arm that she was forced to confront the fact that, when her reach is snubbed by a legitimately strong influence, she’s ultimately powerless.

The ultimate tragedy of her character is a lack of true intimacy. After she unwittingly compelled her little brother to disappear in a forest and “get lost”, to which his body was never found, her parents were horrified to do so much as touch their own daughter. When she was with Luke she repeatedly mind controlled him, and she ended up doing the same to Andre. Anyone and everyone she gets close to will inevitably fear that the ungloved intimacy they share with her is inauthentic, which creates a cruel cycle of her feeling the need to compel the people around her to forget all of the horrible things she’s done.

This is the exact play that Dean Shetty makes on her. Understanding and even aiding to curate Cate fears of her powers and whether the only reason people would ever love her is because she’s making them do so, Shetty is one of the few characters to consistently touch Cate. This shifts the dynamic between the two of them, and while it initially seemed to be done out of kindness, you very quickly understand that Shetty’s touch was equally manipulative as Cate’s.

Cate’s seemingly a pathological liar and manipulator, appearing unable to discern her own lies from Vought’s narrative. She’s both a pawn and a player, but I believe this next season will prove her to come out as a hero and unlikely ally to Marie and the true Guardians of Godolkin.

has anyone noticed it?