Chapter 2 : Capitol Circus
The second night in a town was usually the busiest but the area around the Big Top was sadly lacking a crowd. There were a few people wandering around waiting for the show to start, some of them Haymitch knew from town, others he had never seen before. The people from the circus themselves were easy to spot. They were running around in a hurry, some already wearing make-up or costumes…
Haymitch strolled through the animals display and decided that they were short staffed.
He wasn't sure what he even was doing there. He had told himself again and again that he wouldn't come and yet there he was, wearing a black leather jacket that had seen better days and his only pair of clean pants that didn't have holes anywhere. He hadn't bothered trying to comb his hair or shave the stubble that ate half his face but he figured for once he wasn't sticking out like a sore thumb like he had everywhere else ever since he had left the circus.
The pull had been too strong.
He had walked all the way, swearing to himself he would turn back and go home with every new step, but the moment he had spotted the huge striped red tent, he had been lost. The Big Top called to him like a beacon and he had purchased a ticket from the young man at the booth without even realizing it.
Here, everything was a reminder.
The music in the air, drums and fanfare tunes that were intrinsically linked to the couple of hours preceding a show… The smell of popcorn, hay and animals… The sounds of people calling out to each other, of various animals making their opinions known, of vendors haranguing the visitors for souvenirs… Children laughing… Here, a grandfather holding a little girl's hand and pointing at a zebra with his walking stick… There, a boy escaping his mother to run to a woman leading horses out of their paddock… The fairy lights being switched on when the night fell properly…
It was so similar to the last time he had been in a circus, to that last night…
"Hurry up, Bitchy Mitchy…" Mabel had laughed when she had left the main tent, leaving him to check on the dismantling process. "You know I don't like going to bed alone…"
The last words he had heard from her.
Afterwards, when it had only been ashes and smoke and shocked-shell people holding each other tight and crying… He could still hear her voice ringing in his ears… Hurry up, Bitchy Mitchy… And his gruff annoyed answer… Don't call me that… The same annoyed answer he always gave to that nickname, the only reason she used it in the first place…
He walked between makeshift paddocks and iron cages, barely registering the animals inside. The menagerie never was his department. He had always felt a bit sorry to see them trapped like that. Hayden had loved them though. His brother had always been begging to be allowed to help with them. Elephants. That had been Hayden's favorite animal. Elephants.
There were no elephants at the Capitol Circus but everything else was more or less like he remembered it. There were goats, for some reason, and there was a woman inviting kids to come and pet them which was either a clever idea or a recipe for disaster.
Haymitch was still pondering the wisdom of a petting zoo when he found himself face to face with an honest to god lion. Right there, in the middle of an alley of cages, free to roam around, there was a lion who had clearly seen better days. A part of his right ear was gone, patches of hair were missing from his mane and he had a wild spark in his eyes that had Haymitch standing very, very still.
"Don't worry. Buttercup is tame."
He blinked and dared looking away from the wild animal long enough to spot the little girl he hadn't noticed next to the huge predator. She was holding a leash, he realized, a leash that was linked to a leather collar around the lion's neck. The collar had blue gemstones on it that matched the girl's costume. Her blond hair was parted into two French braids and her blue eyes were sparkling with amusement but no mockery.
"Sweetheart… I'm pretty sure that's not a puppy you've got here." he said, glancing around in hope that he would find the animal trainer rushing to them. The place was deserted though.
"I rescued him from another circus when he was a baby." the girl explained, unconcerned. She was petting the lion's side, apparently not realizing that if the animal leaped away, she wouldn't be strong enough to hold him back. "They weren't nice to him but he's my best friend. We have an act together. Are you coming in to watch the show?"
And, of all things, the mangled lion started purring.
Haymitch opened and closed his mouth twice and then found himself nodding. "Yeah."
The little girl – she couldn't be more than twelve, he figured – flashed him a bright smile. "You should go take your seat then. It's going to start soon. That's what the bell means." The bell… He must have missed it, too lost in his memories. And he must also have looked too hesitant because the girl slipped her hand into his as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "Come on, I'll show you."
She led him toward the Big Top's entrance and he followed, just like the lion on her other side.
"You know it ain't safe to talk to strange men lurking in the dark, yeah?" he asked, for the sake of it, because she looked like a nice kid and he wasn't sure how the posh woman was running her circus.
"Buttercup would eat you if you tried to attack me and my sister can hit the bullseye at a distance of sixty-five yards." she answered calmly.
He supposed that made sense.
"Your sister throws knives?" he asked, interested despite himself.
"She's an archer." the girl grinned. "The best ever! Wait until you see her eat fire…"
He didn't really see what one had to do with the other but he shrugged and accepted that at face value.
"Here you are!" she said brightly when they reached the entrance. "I have to hurry or I will miss the opening! Enjoy the show!"
He watched her saunter away to what he presumed to be the back entrance, the lion stalking after her like an overgrown dog. He was pretty sure she didn't need the leash at all.
Well… That was something.
He gave his ticket to the same young man who had sold it to him and quickly climbed at the top of the bleachers. Most of the audience had gathered on the first few rows but that was for amateurs. The best view was at the top, plus it allowed him to hide in the shadows and that was how he preferred it.
The least one could say was that the show wasn't sold out. Half of the seats were still free but he figured, given the war, it wasn't that surprising.
The lights dimmed a minute or so after he had taken his seat and he leaned forward a little, all the better not to miss a thing. His heart was beating fast in his chest, like it used to every time he was about to jump on stage…
Then a spotlight pierced the darkness and… He leaned back, a smirk on his lips. Well… Nobody could say that woman didn't rock red. That was certainly a new look for ringleaders and one the men in the crowd were sold on if the appreciative murmurs were to go by. The red bodice hugged her body and left very little to the imagination, the golden fluff on her shoulders and the matching embroideries on the red fabric were a nice touch, but his eyes fixated on her endless legs… The thigh-high black boots, the top hat on her blond curls and the black bowtie around her neck that was purely decorative… He hardly registered any of it.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!" Effie Trinket's voice boomed in the tent as she tossed her arms in the air. "Welcome, welcome, to Capitol Circus!"
The whip in her hand, he decided, was overkill.
A flick of it and the show was on the road. He clapped with everyone else when she asked them to greet the artists but pursed his lips when he realized how few of them there were. No wonder she was looking to hire.
The first number was a dexterity performance probably the sister of the lion girl. The girl launched arrows after arrows, never missing her target. The first one was a practice target, the next one was a flying plate, the third one was an apple placed on another girl's head. That one tore a few gasps and admiring applause from the crowd but it was too little too late. It felt like a built-up and not a climax.
Of course, then she started playing with fire and while a part of him instinctively recoiled at the sight of flames – he knew exactly how long it would have taken fire to swallow the tent and the surrounding trailers, how fast it could claim lives and how savagely it could devour everything – he had to admit it was daring and interesting. She wasn't just a classic fire-eater, she conjured it. She spit it out, she waved her hands and it burst forth around her…
He understood the black dress better now.
It took him all of two minutes to spot the hidden mechanisms but it was a nice trick and he wondered if she had been mentored by another magician or if she had developed that herself. With some proper training…
"Katniss Everdeen, The Girl On Fire!" the ringleader presented with a graceful sweep of her arm when the girl ran off under the crowd's applause.
Someone needed to teach that kid how to smile, he decided.
The next number was a clown one. The young man whom he had bought his ticket from. It wasn't bad but it wasn't awesome either. Then again, he was alone and a clown number was hard to pull without a sidekick.
It was followed by a horse show with a young woman doing figures on their back, directing the four horses and the two zebras the circus owned as if she could speak directly into their minds. It wasn't too daring, she was obviously playing it safe, but the girl was pretty and she shyly waved at the crowd as Effie announced her off.
There was a boring strength number from a kid who piled up weights as if it still interested people to watch people flex and lift things up… If, at least, he had been lifting interesting stuff but no…
Gale Hawthorne didn't convince him and if the lukewarm applause was to be believed, he didn't convince the crowd either. That being said, he was far more amusing when he was tied to a spinning wheel and Johanna Mason tossed axes at him.
Why she needed to wear two thin pieces of spandex while she was doing that was anyone's guess but it worked. She was better at throwing axes than Haymitch used to be at throwing knives.
Then came Prim and her lion. Buttercup obediently jumped through loops and opened his mouth so she could place her little head between his pointy teeth. It was classic and not too original but she was so young it worked anyway and the crowd was wild for her.
"Primrose Everdeen!" Effie Trinket cheerfully shouted, making the applause double.
There were more numbers. A girl and a boy called Glimmer and Marvel had a sword swallower act going. A little black girl around the same age as the lion girl performed an aerial silk number that made him check several times that the safety net was in place. Rue The Bird, Effie cheerfully called at the end. Well, Rue was exceptionally good at what she did. Then came a boy called Thresh who did some acrobatics figures with a trampoline…
And when he was done another young man announced Effie Trinket which wasn't the norm. The ringleader called the number, no matter if they were performing next or not. But he understood why she wasn't the one manning the mic when he spotted her at the top of the tent. She had lost the black boots.
The next thing he realized was that they had rolled off the safety net.
His mouth ran dry.
Rationally, he knew nobody would have taken that decision lightly, even to add a wow factor to the show. If she was going up there without a back-up plan, it was because she could, and yet…
She was a posh girl from a posh family, so what did she know? You didn't just wake up one day and buy a circus… You were born into it or life tossed you that way but you didn't just…
She was walking the tightrope, strutting on that thin line as if she was strolling down the street. She danced, unconcerned by the void underneath…
And then she did a cartwheel and his heart might have stopped beating in his chest. The rope was far from being steady, he could see it from down there, the swaying was light but at that height it was enough to be fatal. It took her a second to find her balance back and more than one person in the audience gasped and then cheered when she took a bow, apparently unbothered that she had almost plummeted to her death.
Another cartwheel and she fell…
Haymitch's heart did stop in his chest, certain he was about to witness a gruesome accident.
And then he gaped when he realized it was deliberate. She was hanging from that rope by a foot, her curly hair was swinging under her head… Once the shock was off, the audience cheered and clapped.
He brought the flask he had been steadily drinking from since the start of the show to his lips and then put it away. She had done the impossible and put him off liquor.
She righted herself on the rope – he wasn't sure how because that had never really been his area of expertise but he had watched Mags fly in the air often enough to know there were a thousand tricks – and then she did a somersault and …
The only thought in Haymitch's head was that she was determined to break her neck. There was no safety net and no way she would grab that rope back…
But she never intended to…
Someone caught her in mid-air. The young man who had announced her.
The cheering was loud and enthusiastic. Trapeze acts were always popular but Haymitch had to admit this one was particularly good. He could see Mags' touch in it. The guy made it look simple and Trinket made it look like she had always been meant to fly. They exchanged trapezes, did figures, caught each other at the last possible moment…
By the time they made it back on the ground, Haymitch was clapping with everyone else.
"Finnick Odair!" Trinket called out, a little out of breath, once Rue had run back to her with the mic.
The young man took an exaggerated deep bow and sent kisses to the audience who bought into that like a charm. Music rang out and all the performers trickled back in, singing what probably was the circus' anthem. It wasn't in synch and, just like the opening number, it left a lot to be desired.
Still, the audience seemed to like it. They were all happy and smiling when they wandered out of the tent, guided by the clown who had sold tickets before the show. Haymitch followed them down the bleachers until he was back on even ground, hesitated, and then wandered on the ring…
Oh, the memories…
The heat of the spotlights was still the same, still enough to make him sweat in his jacket. He rubbed his mouth, the stubble irritating his palm.
Haymitch Abernathy, The Victor Illusionist!
Ladies and Gentlemen, clap for your ringleader!
"Sir, this way please…" the clown called out to him.
He crashed back to the present with a start. He was the last one in the tent. He glanced at the flap from which all the performers had come from and he felt torn.
He should leave.
He knew that.
He didn't belong there.
It wasn't the Quell Circus. His mother wouldn't be backstage collecting costumes that needed repairs and his brother wouldn't be checking all the animals had water, food and clean hay and Mabel wouldn't be waiting for him, an easy joke on her lips… And the others… The others were either dead or scattered around the globe in different circuses if they hadn't been tossed in the green hell that was Nam already…
He didn't belong there.
But he didn't belong to the stream of spectators either.
The hay stuck to his soles when he took a few hesitant steps toward the flap that hid the artists' entrance.
"Sir…" the clown frowned behind him.
"I've got an appointment with your ringleader." he lied without even a glance for the kid. They shouldn't let the clown do the placing and crowd ushering anyway. Clowns weren't supposed to talk, it broke the magic.
Backstage, it was the usual chaos he remembered well. People were walking around the small space, laughing or shouting out to each other, reliving the show and its mishaps… A draft of cold air was sweeping in from the open entrance at the back of the tent… He spotted Trinket easily enough.
She was talking to the archer-slash-fire-eater.
He sidestepped the little aerial silk artist and ignored her curious gaze, ignored the way the acrobat with the trampoline immediately gathered her close when he spotted a stranger in their midst… Brother and sister, maybe.
Haymitch marched on straight to the ringleader in her red and gold bodice but smirked at the kid she was talking with.
"Nice dress." he told her, his eyes narrowing on the cleverly hidden mechanisms on her sleeves. Then he glanced at Trinket and lifted his eyebrows, letting his gaze travel down the short expanse of red fabric. "Not yours."
She pursed her lips but they twitched in what he thought to be amusement anyway. Her eyes were narrowed and she planted her hands on her hips. "Are you always drunk, Mr Abernathy?"
He hadn't been sure she had picked up on that the previous day. He shrugged, his smirk deepening. "Afraid so."
They stared at each other for a while. She averted her eyes first, glancing at the girl who was frowning and then looking back at him. "I am glad to see you. I was not confident you would come."
"What can I say… I'm a masochist." he retorted.
She pursed her lips harder and he decided irritating her could quickly become a favorite hobby of his. She was too easy to rile up.
"Dare I ask what you thought of the show?" Her voice curbed into forced civility. She was the kind of person who was always polite, he supposed.
"You need an opening number that doesn't want to make people go to sleep. The closing number sucks and everything you're offering's been done a hundred times." he said frankly. "You're common and that's not gonna cut it in this day and age. Ten, twenty years ago, that would have been okay but now people want sensational and you're not selling it."
Trinket took it on the chin like a pro. Her face was set in a mask of polite interest, she didn't even blink.
The girl though. She choked.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" the kid snapped, loud enough that all the artists who had still been hanging around turned toward them.
"Just a simple guy who knows a thing or two about circus life." he snorted. "By the way, you might want not to tug so hard on that string when you do your final fireball thing… Bit obvious, sweetheart." The kid could sneer, he would give her that. "And you've got as much charm as a slug. Might want to work on that too."
"Please, do try not to antagonize everyone on your first night." Trinket winced.
"First night?" the girl repeated with clear alarm. "What do you mean first night?"
A few of the others had gathered and Haymitch rolled his eyes. "She doesn't mean anything 'cause I haven't said yes yet."
"You are here, isn't that answer enough?" Trinket challenged. Her face suddenly lit up and she darted a hand toward her trapeze partner who had just entered the tent to see what the commotion was about. "Finnick! Come here! Mr Abernathy, this is Finnick Odair. Mags' grandson."
Haymitch frowned, a little shocked. He had known Mags all his life and he had never known she had had children…
"Adopted." the young man said, as if reading his mind. He outstretched a hand that Haymitch shook. "It's good to meet you, though. I've heard a lot about you…"
"Abernathy?" another kid repeated. The blond girl who swallowed swords.
"Like the magician?" the black little girl who did aerial silk piped up, excitement in her eyes. "You're famous!"
Was he still? He had been once upon a time. Posters with his name plastered around towns were guaranteed to bring people to the circus the next night. But that had been almost a decade ago now. Before he went to Vietnam, when he had still been young. Sixteen at most. Afterwards… Afterwards he had come back to a circus that was quickly falling apart and he had stepped up because someone needed to. He had been too busy running it to spend time on his acts. The daring innovative magician who always wanted to do more, go bigger, had started relying on what he knew how to do. Mabel had started getting bored to play his assistant even… She had been developing her cards tricks into an act of her own… And then, of course, the fire…
"You're joining?" Finnick asked, hopeful but not surprised. Unlike the others.
Mags had sent Trinket to him, after all, so it wasn't that surprising that the young man would be aware that the woman had sought him out.
"What do we need a magician for?" the fire girl grumbled, a scowl on her face. "He hated the show and we're doing just fine."
"You need a magician 'cause a magician's job is to distract the audience and dazzle them into seeing things that aren't there. Like talent." he said quietly, reaching behind the little girl's ear and producing a coin seemingly out of thin air. It was a cheap trick. One that he had mastered when he was five. One that he hadn't pulled in years. The aerial silk girl grinned at him and snatched the coin. He looked back at the scowling girl and shrugged. "That's also the job of a ringleader, turns out."
"Effie's our ringleader." the girl snapped back.
"Not out of choice." Trinket cut in calmly. "And we do lack an artistic vision since Mags passed, Katniss." It was plain to see the girl didn't like it and Trinket sighed. "Please, can you go check Annie and Prim have the animals covered?" Then, she turned to her partner. "Finnick, will you…"
"I've got it, Effie." the young man smiled. "I'm gonna help Gale and Peeta dismantle and then I'm gonna make sure everything is loaded and ready to go."
"Thank you." she beamed. "Mr Abernathy, if you would…"
She gestured at the tent's entrance and he stepped outside, almost shocked by how freezing it was. He had been so caught up in the circus, he hadn't realized how low the temperature had dropped. Circus life tended to do that to him. Got his blood flowing.
Unless, of course, it was the ringleader and her tight red bodice…
Let's face it, he was never going to be able to resist that outfit ;) What did you think of the show and the troupe? Let me know your thoughts!