Thanks again for the reviews. Warning that there's some darker content in this chapter, although nothing graphic.
After having been in district 12 for a few hours the train was a shock to her eyes. The colours were unbelievably bright, the whole effect was somewhat overwhelming. She could only imagine what it must be like for Miriam and Davis who would have never experienced anything but washed out pastels. Miriam was wandering around the carriage touching everything, Davis was just gaping.
The schedule said they had two hours to congratulate and celebrate with the tributes. Effie used it to give them a tour of the train since they were both so taken with it. She showed them their bedrooms, to which both of them uttered gasps of delight. Davis threw himself onto the bed with a shriek which made all three of them giggle.
Effie was telling Miriam about the bedspread, velvet and taffeta, as Davis sat cross legged on the bed, bouncing up and down. The kids were still a little wide eyed and shaky, but with a little bit of distraction they were at least smiling.
"What the fuck is going on in here."
She was such an idiot. With all the distraction of the reaping, she'd forgotten what had happened with Rhinestone last year.
"Kids, go to the dining car, there are some cakes on the table, help yourselves. Haymitch and I will be along in a moment."
Davis looked warily between the two of them and for a second he looked like he would refuse to leave her with Haymitch, but Miriam tugged at his arm and pulled him away. She even shot an apologetic look at Effie as she left, a little bit of attention had gone a long way there.
Effie stared at Haymitch and willed him to be silent until the kids left, and surprisingly enough he was.
"He's dead. Rhinestone. He killed himself. Couldn't live with what he'd done." Technically not a lie. He couldn't live with what he'd done because the Capitol wouldn't let him. And although he had put the lethal dose of sleeping pills in his mouth and swallowed them, thus killing himself, she was the one who had put the dose in his hand, offered him a glass of water to swallow them with and watched to make sure he kept them down.
She had no regrets about it either, the man was a monster, the girl had barely been able to walk when they put her in the arena, she'd only gone a few paces before she was cut down. That she'd been eighteen and initially willing was utterly besides the point in Effie's mind, even if some of the older gamesmakers had disagreed. Fortunately President Snow had agreed with her. Couldn't have escorts injuring tributes, it didn't make for good watching when they got in the arena. An example needed to be made.
Haymitch said nothing, just looked at her. His fingers were gripped so tightly around the neck of the bottle that his knuckles had turned white. She wondered whether it was Rhinestone he was imaging strangling or if it was her own neck his fingers itched to wrap around.
"He deserved it Haymitch."
"They were smiling when I came in, laughing even. You're good with them. Don't hurt them." She started to tell him she wouldn't, she would never hurt them, but he interrupted, "Don't. Just don't. You ought to go back to them now, I think I upset them."
"They'll be ok. The recaps are starting soon, are you going to join us?"
"No point. You've seen those two, they've got no chance. Especially after last year." Haymitch was right of course, the boy from 6 had won last year by hiding until the careers killed each other. He managed to stay hidden long enough for the last living career to die from blood loss before she managed to hunt him down. It had been deeply unpopular, they'd want someone more marketable this year, and it wouldn't be Davis or Miriam.
She watched the recaps with the kids, they'd managed to make a good showing out of 12's reaping, but it was clear from the start who the favourite was going to be. There was a boy from 2 who was a good foot taller than any of the other tributes and his district partner was a vicious little thing who had hissed and bared her teeth at the other girls who had tried to volunteer. As soon as she could Effie had the kids away from the television. She played it off as embarrassment when the recap showed Haymitch kissing her, and the kids bought it easily enough. Really she just needed to get them away from the undeniable fact that they had no chance at all.
She managed to keep them distracted through a meal by teaching them table manners and feeding them sweet treats. They were both exhausted, and despite her being anxious about leaving them alone with their own thoughts they both went to bed without any difficulty.
Once they were gone she worked up the courage to knock on Haymitch's door. If she'd thought he was drunk at the reaping it was nothing compared to his current state. He was barely able to keep upright.
"What do you want Sweetheart, I'm kind of busy right now." He waved his bottle at her to illustrate his point, as if she couldn't tell what it was he was busy doing.
"They've gone to bed now. You should too. I need you up and sober in the morning, we need to work on a strategy for them."
"They're going to die."
Effie pursed her lips, and whispered, "Yes, but there's at least two weeks before that happens, and we need a strategy for them." She doesn't wait for an answer, she doesn't need one. She knows from his previous games that he will fight for his tributes, she just needs him to be sober enough to do it in a coherent manner.
"Alright, I'll put the bottle down and go to bed. We'll work something out for them in the morning."
She should leave it at that, she knows she should, but she doesn't. She has to know what this relationship is going to be, if he is going to use her for more than just escorting the tributes. "Excellent. If you need anything, anything at all my room is at the end of the corridor." There, not an invitation, but an acknowledgement that if he wants her he can have her.
When she gets back to her room she redoes her make-up and re-pins her wig and puts on a slip that reveals more than it hides. It's very uncomfortable, but she isn't intending on sleeping. She's fairly certain he won't come for her, it isn't in line with what she knows about him, but you never really can tell with men and sex.
She spends hours watching the door and eventually falls asleep sitting up, which is just as well as even though it leaves her with a sore neck when she wakes up it's better than if she had fallen asleep with her wig pins stabbing into her skull. Despite the pain in her neck she feels more at ease than at any point since she was assigned as an escort.