A/N: So while I'd say this comes after Private Club, it's not exactly a sequel as much as a mini-spin off for a moment. Plus I kind of like the idea of Haymitch keeping a bit of an eye on Annie with Finnick gone and her closest fellow Victors by age being Everlark and Johanna. (Plus does anyone see Enobaria as exactly caring too much about seeing all of these "outer district" Victors?)

And with 10 up now, are there any favorites of the bunch? Something you'd like to see a little more from a different point of view? Anything?

Effie had only ever gotten the opportunity to see District 4 during the Victory Tour. She had spent so much of her time in the Capitol working without much of a vacation since she was 18. Now they had gone out there to see Mrs. Everdeen while Katniss and Peeta had invited them to come along with. Effie was enjoying it for the sea and chance to see little Merrick again without the party setting. It was just nice to be able to see some familiar faces…

They spent most of the day playing around making sand castles and learning how to fish. That was not a part Effie particularly enjoyed considering they were slick and just felt slimy when Katniss made her hold it. It might have been a trip to see friends and family, but it was also the closest thing any of them had had to a vacation in a long time. There were no threats coming out of the Capitol or Peacekeepers doing more than just dealing with actual crimes instead of whatever they could make up to charge the people with.

Peace suited the District 12 team just fine.

Peeta had even offered up to make dinner with Effie and Katniss' assistance in the kitchen for Annie teaching him how to make the District 4 bread before they went home. And with a somewhat baby sitter, it left Annie with the opportunity to just go and sit at the end of her dock and dangle her feet in the water. She smiled faintly at the sound of footsteps not bothering with stealth that came to just sit next to her without a word. "Hello Haymitch Abernathy."

"Just one or the other is fine there, Annie... Apparently I'm not deemed fit to work on much of anything, so thought I'd check up on you. Plus you looked kind of lonely out here." He was looking oddly presentable for him with his dark hair cut and brushed back and a shirt that didn't have fifty kinds of unidentifiable stains on them. The fading sunlight was only being favorable to him and with his already olive colored skin, he didn't entirely look out of place here in District 4.

"It's peaceful, and I like the ocean." Her toes just barely brushed the tops of the waves as a few moments passed. "I was fine, but you don't have to leave, Haymitch. We're all just lonely souls."

"Sometimes. It's good to have company though. Probably the only thing that made the Capitol tolerable all those years was knowing you had other people around who understood the way things were in the Arena."

Annie nodded silently. "Snow always made me. Only so much Finnick could do without it coming out that he was defying him by having me on the side… The boy that followed me as Victor was always nice though when it came to the silly parties. Especially when Jo started teasing…" Her expression got vacant, lost in a memory somewhere far from that moment in time. "I miss him."

Haymitch was sure it would be wrong to question if she meant the boy from the 71st games or Finnick at that moment. And it would be his guess that he would be incorrect. "I'm sure, little mermaid."

At least the little nickname gets her to smile again. "Little mermaid?"

"Well you know… You're short." He used his hand to show the comparison between their heights even just sitting down. "So little, and I don't think I've known that many really good swimmers. Plus it seems like a far better nickname than others people attach without really knowing you."

"So says the Drunk of District 12."

"Crazy Cresta."

"Alcoholic Abernathy."

"Insanny Annie."

"Heinous Haymitch!"

"Who calls me that?"

"Effie, probably," she just replies with a giggle.

"This is likely true…" It was probably the most strongly worded thing Effie would actually say about him considering anything more might be violating her perfect code of manners. "She tolerates me on her best days and loathes me on her worst."

"Or loves you."

Haymitch just snorted in laughter at the idea. "What? Are we back to the days of "she threw dirt in your hair, so she must like you"? Because that's basically what Effie does to me most of the time, but it's also what seems to just work for us."

"You never threw dirt in a girl's hair?" Annie looked over at him skeptically.

"Oh, I never said that. By the time I actually found a girl though I was more in the habit of pulling things out of the dirt to give to her. Like flowers." This was not going down a path he was particularly fond of and yet it kept coming up here lately. "She ended up paying for me not dying in the end, but it was a long time ago."

"I'm sorry."

"We've all got our cracks. At least we don't have to worry so much any more about people trying to exploit them."

Annie scooted a little closer to him and sighed, resting her head on his shoulder. "Broken. Just… Broken." Haymitch just put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. There didn't need to be anything else said between them as two people who had been locked up in some of the worst the Capitol had to offer as a form of entertainment for the masses. It was only after that you realized that after the Reaping the lucky ones were the ones who died and didn't have to continue with new Games of some form or another.

Neither heard much of the retreating footsteps behind them or to take it as anything more than the wind. Effie Trinket has been known for being rather light on her feet however. She's out of the loop again, but this time it's not troubling her quite as much since it is her choice. Right now they probably wouldn't want to see her anyhow with the long moment of loathing for the Capitol who had thrown them into their personal nightmares. It had taken her years to figure out it wasn't some odd creature in District 7 that made those horrible noises on the way to the Capitol while she was trying to sleep but actually the Mentor in the other room having finally fallen asleep.

She did her best not to interrupt Katniss and Peeta wrapped up in each other and Merry still in the middle of a nap. There were many sides she had seen to the Drunken Mentor. Most of them were not the prettiest sides and could be rather horrible and… Heinous was it?

Full out displays of kindness had never been one of them.