"I have a lot more arm hair than I did before," observed Katniss, studying her forearm each time she brought it up, dumbbell in hand.
"That's probably because I've been injecting you with testosterone while you sleep, and mixing a ton of creatine with almost all of your food," said Peeta, spotting Haymitch on the bench.
"What?" she demanded.
He waved her off dismissively. "Don't worry about it. We have you on anabolic steroids too, but I figured you probably never wanted to have kids."
"I'd argue more, but I'm too blinded by a drug-fueled rage," she grunted, pumping her arms furiously.
Her fiance pointed to her, nodding. "Yes. That's it, right there."
Their training was intense, but ultimately short-lived, as the day of the reaping arrived. With the Peacekeepers under new management, it was an even grimmer affair than usual, with an almost perfectly still crowd standing silently by as the pool of three awaited their fate.
Effie made a brief and desperately enthusiastic introduction before reaching her hand into the ball to draw the name of the only female victor to ever come out of their district.
"Katniss Everdeen," she announced quietly. The selected candidate made her way to the stage, and it immediately became clear that something was awry, mainly due to the fact that it was painfully obvious that "Katniss" was in fact Prim wearing one of Katniss's coats with the hood up.
Ever the gracious host, Effie took a pause to let any possible joke that was being played take its course. When it became apparent that what was happening was a legitimate evasion attempt, she read Katniss's name again.
"Move on already!" came a husky voice, "She's right there! Wow, she's pretty hot too, strong but not masculine-am I right?"
"Katniss," Effie let out a strained breath, "You are embarrassing yourself."
"You're embarrassing yourself!" shouted the husky voice, then, as Peacekeepers began to move in towards its source, it cracked, "You don't want me to play anyway! I'm boring! Why not just take a whole class of kids who know each other and do a Battle Royale kind of deal?"
There was a brief struggle before the dissenting crowd member was forced onto the stage, and revealed to be Katniss Everdeen herself. She shoved herself away from the guards and brushed off her jacket in a flourish. Some sarcastic words of appreciation were given to her younger sibling as the failed decoy ducked into the crowd.
"Haymitch Abernathy," continued Effie.
As soon as the words had left her mouth, Peeta stood and took his mentor's place in the Games. Katniss groaned.
"Come on, we all wanted Haymitch to play. Now we'll never get to see that. We already know all your stuff; you can lift heavy objects and make yourself invisible with icing. I wanted to see Haymitch's powers."
"What powers?"
With a smile and raising of his eyebrows, Haymitch answered, "Oh, I have powers."
"See? And now, " Katniss directed a hand towards their mentor, "we will never get to find out what those powers are."
"Let's just get this over with," Peeta growled as the Peacekeepers led them onto the train.
