The bustling of the seemingly never-ending party had begun to irritate Johanna who just wanted to get back to the train and sleep. She was sick of the Victory Tour, but luckily she was more than halfway through, with her current stop being District 4. Earlier that day, she gave her speech and tried her best to avoid looking at the family of the girl she'd so viciously killed. After spending the whole day pretending to listen to everyone who spoke to her, and fidgeting with her green, shimmering dress that was a little too short for comfort, she needed to escape.

She scanned the room to see if she could find Finnick, the only somewhat bearable person she'd met at the Capitol, only to be disappointed by his absence. Her next option was to slip away into the bathroom. She quickly walked away from the crowd, avoiding eye contact with everyone she passed, and rushed into the women's bathroom. She shut the door behind her, the buzz of the party now faint behind the wooden barrier, and exhaled in relief. She leaned against the bathroom counter, happy to finally have some silence.

Johanna looked in the mirror, she looked polished, sparkly, elegant even, but she did not feel like any of those things. Her reflection was someone different than before the Games, it was now that of a girl who mercilessly killed, a girl who was drenched in the blood of other tributes when the hovercraft collected her from the arena. She stared into the reflection of her eyes, filled with guilt and anger. It was the first time she had been alone all day– but she realized she wasn't alone at all when one of the stalls behind her opened. Out came a young woman with long, flowing hair, wearing a pale-pink dress. After a second of staring at her, she realized it was Annie Cresta, the girl who won last year.

Annie froze in her steps when she saw Johanna, not expecting it to be her who'd stormed into the bathroom only to gasp over the sink. "Hi," Annie said shyly. She felt nervous upon realizing she was alone with Johanna Mason. She seemed unfriendly, and the way she brutally killed the final tributes with an axe disturbed Annie, especially since the same weapon was used to kill her own district partner. Johanna didn't expect to see the mad girl at the party, according to everyone Annie had gone completely off the deep end.

"Hey," she responded, lifting her hands from the counter and fixing her posture.

"What are you doing here?" Annie asked.

"Taking a break. I can't stand the people out there," Johanna said bitterly.

"Me too, but I left at the beginning of the party," Annie said, her voice now above a whisper.

"I just want to get back to my district and be left alone, that's the deal when you win the Games, isn't it?" Johanna exclaims, clearly aggravated. Little did she know, she was not going to be left alone, not without paying a great price. Annie did not have the heart to tell her that victors are never truly left alone, and she figured Johanna's question was rhetorical, so she didn't answer it.

"Same, I hate Capitol people parties. It reminds me of my own tour," Annie slowly approached the sink, a few feet adjacent to Johanna. She remembered Annie's Victory Tour the year before, the poor girl barely made it through, her escort had to read off her cards for her in a few districts.

Johanna was intrigued by Annie, the mad girl who seemed rather normal. She was quiet, fidgety, and maybe a little awkward, but no part of her seemed crazy. And Johanna decided she would make a good conversation partner. "So is that what brings you here? You can't stand the pretentious Capitol goons either?" she asks with a smirk on her face.

Annie looked up from her hands, "Yeah, they're shallow, loud, selfish, obnoxious, the more time you spend around them the worse they get. You should have seen how they treated me last year," Annie says, mirroring Johanna's annoyance. Her open anger towards the Capitol was refreshing for Annie, if not a little worrying, but somehow she felt comfortable sharing her frustration too. Which was odd since moments before Annie was completely intimidated by her, and now they were both bashing the people of the Capitol together.

"You're telling me," she scoffed, "I forgot how infuriating they are, I've only been around them for like a week and I already want to yank my hair out,"

"Have you seen the vomit drink yet? I can't believe they are so wasteful while everyone starves in the districts," Annie says while crossing her arms. Johanna looks at Annie and nods with a grimace on her face.

"And they look at us with pity for what we've gone through, just to sit back and watch the Games again next year," Annie says, disgusted.

"God, I know. It makes me want to throw my axe at them!" Johanna joked. Annie's smile fell at her statement and she became tense. Johanna had forgotten about the events of Annie's Hunger Games the year before, her district partner Merwyn was beheaded with an axe. She regretted making such a joke.

"Oh.. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or anything," Johanna apologized, looking down at her feet.

"It's fine," Annie said with a small shrug, though she was clearly still uneasy.

They sat in silence for a moment until Johanna sighed, "Well, I better get back out there or my stylist is going to have a fit over me not showing off his dress," she rolled her eyes.

"I'll go with you, if you want," Annie suggests, giving Johanna a friendly smile. She felt relieved at her suggestion, she didn't want to go back out there alone.

"Sure," Johanna shrugged.

With a deep breath, they opened the door, letting in the sounds of the party, and made their way through the flock of people. They stood together silently by the drink table, until Johanna was forced into another torturous conversation. When it was time to leave, Johanna waved goodbye to Annie as her escort led her back to the train. A part of her felt a little disappointed, maybe even sad, that she didn't get to talk to her more, the mad girl wasn't really mad after all. If anything, she seemed kind of cool.