Prompt : WRT Haymitch, Effie, and Oria - would you write a story about how it's (the anniversary of) Reaping Day after Oria's twelfth birthday, and the girl can't understand why her parents, and Aunt Katniss and Uncle Peeta, all are acting freaked out, when to Oria it's just a minor anniversary?

Not sure Reaping Day is a fixed day… More like a season in which they pick a day… Anyway, I chose to make this about her 12th birthday instead

Turning Twelve

The tension was odd and Effie knew their daughter had picked up on it. She tried to look cheerful for Oria's sake as she loaded her plate with her traditional birthday breakfast, tried to tell herself she was being stupid. Of course, if she was being stupid, Haymitch was being stupid too. He was trying to put up a front too but he had been up all night, fighting, she knew, not to go out and find liquor.

The phone's ringing sounded loud in the uncharacteristically silent kitchen. Oria looked up but Haymitch kept munching on his eggs so Effie stood up and answered it. "Hello?"

"Trinket." the usually grumpy voice replied. "It's your girl's birthday."

"Yes." she sighed and then, chiding herself, she put some cheer back into her voice. "How nice of you to remember! She will be happy you called."

"Twelve, is she?" Johanna asked before she could offer to get Oria on the phone.

"Yes." she answered without even pretending to sound cheerful this time.

"Haymitch's freaking out yet?" Seven's victor insisted but the cutting tone was there to mask her own worries rather than mock them. "When Finn reached twelve, Annie and I freaked out bad."

"It's only natural." she offered. "But nothing happened and nothing will. It's a birthday like any other."

"Sure." Johanna humored her. "Now, get your girl on the phone, we didn't call to talk to you."

She could hear Finn's voice in the background and she figured he and Annie were standing rather close to Johanna. Oria was already at her side before she could tell she had a call and she snatched the phone from her hand without a word of thanks or apology. She was getting difficult, trapped in that age between childhood and girlhood. She still loved her dolls but refused to play with them because she wasn't a baby anymore, she still acted like a tomboy but was more careful about the way she dressed, she loved going hunting with Katniss but she also devoured every fashion magazine she could put her hands on… And, naturally, she was starting to act as if her parents knew nothing about the real world, she felt misunderstood and resented every rule they tried to apply.

Effie had hoped that phase would have come later, when she was fourteen or fifteen but, obviously, Oria had a temper, just like her and Haymitch, and her teenage years promised to be difficult.

Effie sat back down at the kitchen table, watching their daughter stretch the phone cord to the maximum to escape to the hall so she could have some privacy.

"She will be worse than you. We spoiled her too much." Haymitch sighed, sullen.

They had spoiled her too much… Orianna had been a miracle to both of them and they had watched too many children die to take her for granted. She had completely put their lives upside down and Effie knew in her heart she would never have been as happy as she was without her. She might never have found the courage to face Haymitch again without her. So yes, they had spoiled her rotten, they had tried to be fair and to raise her well but they had been too lenient at times.

"Let's hope she will meet a boy who will teach her humility then." she chuckled, reaching for his hand..

He squeezed her fingers and brought her hand to his lips for a soft kiss on her knuckles. "First you never learned humility, sweetheart. Second, no boy is ever coming near my baby girl."

Effie wisely held her tongue on that front.

"She's just as safe as she was yesterday." she said out loud, for both of their sake. "The Games are over. Nobody will come to take her away. She is safe. We are all safe."

He squeezed her hand again but didn't answer.

°O°O°O°

Haymitch was cleaning the geese pen. It wasn't his favorite activity and he was usually happy to not do it until it became truly necessary but he needed the distraction and the physical labor. It was that or wandering in town in search of a glass of liquor. He had been thirsty since the previous night and no matter how many times Effie had pleaded for him to get back to bed, nothing had done the trick.

Oria was twelve and being twelve meant she was eligible for Reaping.

It didn't matter that there were no Reapings anymore. It didn't matter that Oria wasn't in any danger. He couldn't stop himself from thinking it : she was old enough to be reaped and thrown in an arena where she would either be forced to kill people or be killed.

"Hi, Dad."

He startled so badly he knocked his head on the wooden plank which prompt his daughter to giggle.

"You're too much like Katniss." he grumbled. "I'm going to put a fucking bell around your neck."

"That goes directly to the swear jar." Oria laughed. "Mom won't like it."

"Like you put money in that damned jar every time you swear." he snorted.

"Ladies don't swear." she grinned, reciting one of Effie's favorite motto.

"You should hear your mom when she's in a real mood." he mocked. "'Had fun at Katniss and Peeta's?"

"Willow and Uncle Peeta baked me a cake." she explained. "But it's not my real one. My real one is for tonight's dinner. Uncle Peeta said I would love it."

The cake was decorated with hundreds of little sugar flowers. Haymitch had seen it and he had no doubt Oria would love it as promised.

"Had any interesting gift yet?" he asked, going back to scrubbing bird feces from the floor of the pen.

"Only if you count Willow's beads necklace…" Oria answered in a voice that let him know that the gift shouldn't count. She showed him the colorful child friendly beads. She watched him work for a while, declining his suggestion that she grabbed a brush and helped him. She liked to feed the geese, not cleaning after them. "Why is everyone acting so weird?" she asked after ten minutes of silent watching.

"Weird how?" he tried to elude.

There was no eluding when Oria wanted to know something though.

"Finn said Aunt Jo and Aunt Annie were the same when he turned twelve." she continued. "He said it's because of the Games but the Games are over, Daddy, so why are you all acting like I'm going to die tomorrow?"

He tossed the brush aside and stood up, brushing the dust off his pants, contemplating how to answer that. Finally, he opted for the truth. "'Cause being twelve and a victor's kid usually meant a death sentence. There's nothing the Capitol liked more than a victor's child in the arena. If they were lucky, they waited until they were old enough to put up a good fight but in outer Districts, victors' kids tended to be reaped at twelve."

And his kid in particular would have had no chance.

"But the Games have been over for fourteen years." she shrugged.

He gritted his teeth and avoided his daughter's eyes. "For some people, they will never be over, baby girl."

"Well… Even if there were still Games and I was reaped, you know I could win so you shouldn't worry either way." she declared with such arrogance he wanted to shout some sense back into her.

"You think you could win?" he scoffed.

"Of course, I could win." she insisted, perching herself on the pen even though he had forbidden it for as long as he could remember. "I'm very good with a bow, maybe as good as Aunt Katniss. I can hunt and I can find my way in the woods. And I'm good with puzzles too. And I'm pretty and nice so sponsors would love me and send me tons of gifts. See? Nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, and can you slit someone's throat?" he spat, and regretted it just as quickly. "Sorry, baby girl. Sorry…" He looked down, unable to meet her eyes. "You should go see if your mom needs help."

She didn't move and when he dared glance up, she was watching him with a guarded gaze.

"Finn's mom won and she didn't kill anyone." she pointed out.

How to explain that Annie had won because of dumb luck and a lot of behind the scenes bargaining on Finnick's part? It wasn't a coincidence if that dam had broken when Annie was such an excellent swimmer.

"True." he granted even though it was a lie. "Go find your mom."

He didn't want to talk about the Games with his daughter, either his or her hypothetical ones. Oria would never see the inside of an arena and that was how he wanted things to be.

"Mom's a Capitol anyway." she said, jumping from the fence. "She was an escort. Nobody would have put me in an arena."

He doubted that would have stopped Snow but he let his daughter her illusions. She felt safe, she never knew the fear of growing up dreading your twelfth birthday because you knew it was time to take Tesserae to feed your family. Oria had never been hungry once in her life.

He watched her leave, so carefree, and prayed she would always remain ignorant.