Made by Capitol

The soft knock at his door came unexpectantly. Haymitch had collapsed in his armchair, a bottle of Whiskey in his right hand. It was late and he seriously wondered what this woman wanted from him at this hour of night.

"I swear, Trinket, if you don't have a valid reason to disturb me, we'll have a problem", he called as he trotted to the door still hazy from sleep, which he had been lulled in for a few minutes.

Effie apologetically smiled at him, still clothed in her Capitol dress. He spared himself the comment when she let herself in and scuttled past him into his room. "We've to decide for a strategy", she said and didn't sound tired at all.

"Sweetheart ", he sighed irritated. "This can wait until tomorrow, can't it? I'm a dead man on two feet."

His statement educed a laugh from her, and she sat down on the second armchair where Haymitch usually disposed his dirty clothes. "No, it can't wait, I'm sorry."

With a grunt, he plopped down into his armchair and threw her a surveying look while she studied the notes on her clipboard. She had to be younger than him, but the make-up made her look some years older. More adult. Mature enough to face the world.

Effie must have noticed his staring because she curiously lifted her head, and her eyes met his. She had beautiful eyes, he had to admit that. But he wasn't fooled. Capitols were all the same, no matter how much they tried to hide it. Then, she gave him a nervous smile. She felt awkward in the situation. He couldn't blame her.

„Now start already", he scrambled to spare her the unpleasant moment.

"Right", she hurried, and her cheeks blushed. "I worked on Eustace's strategy, not only for the Games but also for her appearance at the Opening Ceremony and the interviews." Her voice had turned to her usual tone again.

"She desperately needs an empathic and confident charisma, no reluctance, so the people will remember her", Effie explained and rose her pen at the same moment. "The first impression counts. I just hope our stylists will make a great deal of effort, other than the last." Her gaze seemed far away as if her thoughts were already at the Opening Ceremony.

"If you came here to talk about fashion, I'll have to tell you that I'm the wrong go-to-guy for that", he interposed so she would leave him in piece with such details.

Her eyes examined him and his appearance, and she laughed. "You might be right."

"You're aware that I notice when someone makes fun of me, right sweetheart?" Haymitch raised his eyebrows in a pretended offended manner, and a moment later he wondered what he was doing. Why did he play with her as if the two of them were friends?

"First of all, you implied that yourself a second ago and second of all, the costume is enormously important", Effie shot back, and he sighed. This would be exhausting Games, he already felt that.

"I looked around for new stylists, but it's not that easy with Twelve", she recited her list. Then, she rose her head as if she had said something wrong. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to come over as rude. I just think it'd be better if we speak completely honest from the beginning. And sadly, this are the facts, and I can't change them. But please don't believe this to be my opinion, because it's definitely not, I want-"

"Do you even breathe while talking?" This woman could talk like a waterfall. Her wide eyes stared at him, confused. Apparently, she didn't understand sarcasm. "Don't worry, it's alright, just go ahead, I won't take anything personally."

"I talked with the current stylists and asked them to breathe new life into this years' Games. We'll see tomorrow, how it went."

"Good luck with that", Haymitch scoffed. Their stylists were nothing but scums. Sometimes he thought that even he himself could do a better job, if he really made an effort. The image of her face when she would see tomorrow's costumes brought a small grin to his lips.

Effie ignored his comment. "We've to present her beauty. She's beautiful eyes, green will be her color at the interview. Usually, the teams try to find the middle in between desirable and lovable when it comes to females, but regarding that Eustace is so young I'd say we stay with lovable."

Haymitch nodded in agreement. He couldn't imagine portraying Eustace as desirable. She was too young, only thirteen, and much too innocent. Suddenly, he was happy that it was Effie who now had the task to decide this and not Petunia anymore. Petunia would have gone with desirable.

„Lovable with a touch of humor to win the masses. I just hope she won't get stage fright." Now she was already thinking about the interviews. Haymitch felt the urge to fall asleep.

"Was there something else, sweetheart? This'll be the first time I fall asleep due to fatigue and not due to booze", he mumbled.

Effie's bright laugh lightened the room. She threw him an adorable look and probably wasn't even aware that her mask slipped away for a moment. Haymitch had never heard a Capitol laugh out loud, above all no woman. He couldn't help but grin back.

"What do you think about my strategy?", she finally asked. She was still smiling but in comparison to earlier, it suddenly seemed pretty distorted to Haymitch. The sparkle in her eyes had vanished as well. He was surprised. A second later, he felt stupid for wondering.

"Haymitch?", Effie brought him back to reality.

He quickly nodded. "Good … it's really good." Effie didn't seem pleased with that statement. She had spent a lot of time coming up with Eustace's strategy, more time than Petunia had ever invested in any tribute. Effie deserved more than good.

„Honestly sweetheart, I'm … positively surprised. Your plan's well-conceived, and I think … Eustace will be happy when she hears about this." He rose his bottle in her direction in a gesture of respect. Although he thought that this gesture would probably be considered as unpolite and indecent by a woman from the Capitol, Effie smiled at him, satisfied that he appreciated her effort.

"I'm worried about tomorrow", she suddenly interposed and carefully stroked over dress. She continued with small talk as if they were friends. Thereby, they barely knew each other. Haymitch sighed. Probably, she didn't want to appear rude.

"Go to sleep, sweetheart", he answered and rose from his chair to escort Effie to the door. Possible that she would interpret this as a booting out. It was one. Effie wasn't as bad as Petunia, but she was still exhausting. And she was still a Capitol.

Haymitch opened the door and wanted to throw it shut a immediately. Petunia was standing in the door frame. Just as Effie, she was still dressed up and she looked horrible with her huge fake eyelashes. She angrily stared at him. What did he do now?

"Is Effie here?", she asked in a degrading tone and peeked into the room past his wide figure. When her eyes met Effie, she was already pushing Haymitch aside. "Effie? How dare you to still run around at this hour?"

Haymitch could feel how the young woman stiffened behind him. He turned to her and saw that her face had frozen into an emotionless mask, the happy woman from minutes before was gone.

"But", Effie stuttered lost. "We just took care of Eustace's strategy."

Petunia shook her head and everyone who didn't know her well would think it was a disappointed action. "But not at this time of night. Isn't there a plan for tomorrow to take care of? Strategies can wait, there're more important things to manage right now."

"To be honest, the strategy is of very high importance", Effie explained in a mild tone, but one could still hear the fear in her voice.

"What about tomorrow's schedule?", Petunia asked in a superior tone as if the younger woman missed something. Haymitch knew this tone all too well. "Did you already finish it?"

A sudden panic seized Effie. "I must've forgotten that in all the hurry", she mumbled and Haymitch could see that she blushed. Such an unprofessional presence had to embarrass her. "Please excuse me. Good night."

Without giving him another glance, Effie rushed past him. Anger caught Haymitch and he threw Petunia a dark look. "Was this really necessary? She bothered enough with the strategies." He didn't know why he was defending Effie at all, but it seemed unfair in his opinion.

"This, my dear, is her job. But next to all the drinks you still might not have realized that", she immediately shot back.

"My drinking affairs are none of your business", Haymitch spat and turned his back on her to pull himself another glass. He expected Petunia to leave but she didn't.

"What right do you have to talk like that to us Capitols? You owe us so much." After years of working together, Petunia knew his sore spots pretty well.

Haymitch almost flinched. Almost. But he would never give this witch the pleasure to see his pain. Instead, he plunked his glass on the windowsill and turned back to her in a wild movement. Petunia leaned in the door frame as calmly as ever and with a derisive smile on her face.

"I don't owe you shit!", Haymitch furiously screamed. "I was the guy in the arena. If someone owes me it's you!"

„Don't you there to go down that path", Petunia hissed in return and came a threatening step closer. Her disgusting perfume cut off his breath. "You can be thankful you got off so lightly after your Games' fiasco!"

Thankful? He should be thankful? Thankful that they had executed his girl in front of his eyes, that they had burnt his family alive in their house? His hands began to shake. His sight turned red and he didn't know how long he would be able to control his body until he did something to this snake the Capitol wouldn't be too happy about.

And for a moment, as Haymitch had her directly in front of him, he considered it. To just kill her right now. What could they do? They couldn't punish him. There was nobody left to punish in his name. Not for nothing, he had avoided social contacts for all those years. Every risk was a too high risk. What could they do if he just snapped her neck here and now? He was the only living victor from District 12, they needed him.

Haymitch had already made a step in her direction when suddenly Effie came to his mind. She would psych out. The poor girl would probably have a nervous breakdown. He couldn't do this to her in her first year.

"Do you think I wanted this? This life? Believe me when I say that if I'd go back to the arena, I'd ensure to leave it in a coffin", he yelled instead and by a hair, he would have clashed his glass in front of her feet.

Petunia wanted this. She wanted to bring him to his borders one last time before she left the game. And every time, he fell for her tricks. But this wasn't new. The Capitol raised her to this machine that did her job dutifully and stamped down everything from outside the city.

And still. Effie didn't seem to play the game as good as Petunia. On all accounts, he didn't notice her to play games with him. Although … didn't she just manipulate him into helping her with the strategy?

I'm so sorry I haven't uploaded in such a long time. Tbh, I somehow thought that I uploaded in November for the last time, but appearently, this wasn't the case. I hope there is someone out there reading this right now, after all this time! So sorry! I'll update more often now.