The fiasco has begun and Capitol is in full-on festivity mode. Parties are thrown left and right and Sponsors flocked to the biggest parties to spot the Victors. Effie is tired. She's been mingling and socializing for hours on end and she wants to retire to the penthouse but Haymitch is still out there somewhere doing god knows what. He told her he needs to take care of something and then disappeared. She cannot return to the penthouse without him because letting a Quell Victor walk back to the Center is a bit scandalous.
Cinna and Portia bailed on her tonight, saying they need to finish Katniss and Peeta's dresses for the Caesar interview. Tomorrow the tributes' parade will commence. That's why she really needs to get back to the penthouse to rest because she's needed to wake up very early tomorrow. If she will only spot Haymitch somewhere so she can drag his ass inside the car and go home. Her wish was answered a few minutes later when she saw Haymitch speaking quite intimately with Chaff and Finnick at the corner. At first, one would thought they're on their usual game, just drinking and bantering, but there's something with the way Haymitch listened closely to whatever it is the two were saying that got her curious. She knows him too well. She knows when he makes that look, it means he's planning something, strategizing.
"Effie, dear…" she turned around and saw Mags, "How are you doing?" the Victor asked.
"Oh, quite fine…just waiting for Haymitch to be done talking with Chaff and Finnick…" her eyes glanced towards them again and it's like they're very occupied with their discussion, "What are they on about? They've been huddled in the corner for hours", she answered then wondered out loud.
Mags' face is unreadable. Most of the time, Effie feels like she's part of the group, that she's part of the family but there were times when she's reminded that she's no Victor. She will never understand the bond they all have because she's an escort. She's always the outsider.
"You know the boys. They can go on and on about anything that does not make sense", she's lying to her. Effie can just tell.
In all the years she had known Mags, being a liar is not one of the old woman's traits. That's why it's so easy for her to spot that she's lying to her now. She should call her out on it but chose not to.
"Oh, don't I know that! I wouldn't make such a fuss but my shoes are killing me and I want to go back to the penthouse. The parade tomorrow is going to be early and I need my beauty rest", she rode along.
It's true she wants to go back. She just wished that they will stop hiding things from her. Hasn't she done enough to warrant their trusts?
"Let me get Haymitch away from those two", Mags responded and walked away.
She reached Haymitch, Chaff, and Finnick and glared at them.
"Would you three stopped discussing these matters in this kind of place? You're not very subtle. Besides, Effie wants to go back to the penthouse, boy. She's already suspecting you three are up to something. May I need to remind you how dangerous it will be for her if she gets involved?" the old Victor chided all of them.
Mags is aware of what happened to Effie during her absence from the Capitol. She knew about the supposed retirement, Seneca's proposal, and Snow's threats to the escort. She's not going to drag her into their plans of rebellion especially since the said plans are not so concrete as she would like.
"I guess I should get my escort out of this place. Keep me posted", Haymitch replied and left to go to Effie.
The other Victors watched him approached the escort and the two left the bar.
"Is Trinket going to be a problem?" Chaff asked.
In his mind, she has always been a problem. The Capitol doll got Haymitch all wrapped up in her fingers. She's a danger to his best friend.
"Even if she knows something, she will not betray Haymitch", Finnick answered.
"She's still Capitol and you know that. It's one thing to stick up for her Victors from time to time but to fully betray her city, her family, her friends? That's a big ask", Eleven's Victor argued.
Unlike them, if Effie joins the rebellion, she will have to turn her back from everything she's ever known, everyone she loves and cares about…her life.
"No one is recruiting anyone until we know for sure how we're going to get out of the arena. None of this talk is going to work if majority of the Wingmen are stuck in a dome. Focus on that", Mags said and it ended the discussion about Effie.
Inside the car, Effie is feeling the waters with Haymitch. He's been quiet and preoccupied lately. She initially thinks it's about the game. This year is different from others. Their friends are going to die in the arena so it's the most obvious reason but after seeing him earlier with the others, she's not so sure anymore. They're hiding something from her.
"Everything okay, Haymitch?" she asked cautiously.
The window is rolled up between them and the driver so it's safe to talk.
"Yeah…just Chaff being an ass as always", he lied.
He never done that before on her face. If there's something he does not want to talk about, he will tell her to leave it alone, not lie to her. Mags did the same thing earlier and she's certain that if she asks Finnick, the boy will lie to her too.
"Alright…I trust you", she muttered.
The way he looked at her screamed guilt. She smiled at him so tension will leave his body and it worked a little but it did not make her feel any better. Something is about to happen and she does not what or where she will stand. Everyone is keeping her in the dark.
Later that night, he did not stay in her room. He slept with her but left before he could fall asleep with her. He stopped doing that for years. He said it's better for him to sleep in her bedroom than for her to come to his but he's back to leaving in the middle of the night again. Even Cinna and Portia are acting strange for her. The kids are oblivious and she tried to keep it together for them.
She checked Katniss' makeup one last time before nodding in satisfaction that everything is in place.
"Cinna said this one got flames too", the girl muttered.
"You're the Girl on Fire, dear. It's your trademark", she replied with a smile.
Katniss looked gorgeous and she loves what Cinna has done with the dress.
"…but he calls me Mockingjay. I don't understand why", the girl said.
She tried to hide the way she stiffened. Mockingjay…why does that make her feel nervous all of a sudden?
"I believe that's because of your token last year", Katniss frowned. "I saw your uniform last year. I saw the pin, but it's alright", Effie explained.
The girl relaxes.
"Maybe that's the reason why", she replied.
Effie is already piecing it all in her head. She recalled at the lounge how the Victors formed an alliance and called themselves Wingmen. Now, Cinna is calling Katniss the Mockingjay. That hybrid bird is not very popular in the Capitol. A hybrid between jabberjay and mockingbird, the Capitol deemed the mockingjay as a failed experiment and something that should not exist and yet it's out there. That bird defied the Capitol in a sense. Cinna calling Katniss that is a big red flag for her. It couldn't be a coincidence that Haymitch suggested their group to be called Wingmen. Who's the pilot? Katniss?
She watched as Finnick approached Katniss with that glint in his eyes. He's sizing her up, assessing. What is he doing? Haymitch introduced the others to her and Peeta and she can see their interest in Katniss in particular. Her heart is pounding in her chest. Whatever they are planning, Katniss is right at the center of it and she's the only one who's in the dark of it, aside from the kids.
The parade started and just like last year, her kids' costume blazed and dazzled the crowd.
"It will not kill her to smile", Haymitch muttered under his breath.
The girl is staring Snow again the way the old man is staring at her. It's a battle of gazes.
"Well, it will not go well with their outfit. They're meant to look fierce", she just said to lighten up the mood.
Haymitch had grown distant after the parade. He's always busy but it's not to find Sponsors. She knows that because she's the one doing all the work again. He's always out, taking care of something but never returned with any forms or pledges. He's quiet too and drinking less and less. At night, he would climb up her bed, sleep with her, and then leave in the middle of the night. She can feel things are shifting and she's helpless. All she can do now is her job and to make sure that her kids are going to get all the help they will need inside the arena.
At the night of Caesar's interview, Cinna had made a wedding gown for Katniss. Apparently, Snow insisted on it as some sort of mockery, a future that might never happen to Katniss. Effie insisted to do the girl's makeup herself while fighting tears from falling. It would have been really a shame if the girl will never experience such things. It made her think of the children she had lost throughout the years. They had lost their chances in experiencing more in life. It was taken from them way too early and too brutally.
"Oh Katniss…you would have been the world's most beautiful bride", she just couldn't help herself. It's part of her job not to get too emotional. It does not help her Victors but they're hers. They're her kids. It does not have to be biological. She feels it in her heart. They are hers. "Now, let's go show them what real beauty looks like", she said to the girl.
Katniss understood what her escort meant. It's not the physical beauty that she was referring to. She also noticed how Effie had put on a light makeup on her face. She wants the world to see her as herself, not as the darling of the Capitol, not as a Victor, but herself. She wants her to show them her heart.
They stood backstage as one by one got called for their interviews. It was done in pairs unlike the previous years since the people know each of the Victors. Effie controlled her breathing when it's Finnick and Mags turn. The boy tried to use his usual charm but she knows better. She had known him since he was fourteen. She can see the sadness in his eyes and the despair. When it's Johanna's turn, the girl did not hold back her tongue or her temper. She expressed her anger to the Capitol for dragging her back into the game. It earned a collected hum of approval from the remaining Victors backstage. They all share her feelings, her rage. It's just that not everyone is like her, with nothing to lose.
She felt Peeta and Katniss getting nervous while Chaff and Seeder are being interviewed on stage. Effie realized she cannot just stand by and be an escort anymore, not when everyone she cares about is walking into their deaths. It does not feel right. She must exhaust all options possible to save them.
"Peeta dear…a moment?" she called on.
Katniss frowned but did not stop the boy. The interview for Eleven's Victors are still on-going. Peeta walked towards her, not too far away from Katniss but far enough for some privacy for what she's about to say.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I have to ask something from you…a little change in your speech for tonight", she answered.
"Alright…tell me", the boy agreed.
"I need you to announce to the world that Katniss is pregnant", she said.
The boy immediately turned pale.
"Effie, we're not…I know we've been sharing one room but we're not doing…"
"I know, but they don't know that. As far as the world is concerned, you two are engaged. You're supposed to be married but was postponed because of the game. It was not enough to rally everyone to be in your favor. Announcing that Katniss is pregnant will cause an uproar to the Capitol", she explained.
It is then it dawned on the boy what she was trying to do.
"You're hoping that people will demand to stop the game", he guessed.
"…and I am hoping it will be enough to make that happen", she confirmed.