Katniss found out that it was Marvel that had to do an impromptu speech after she fell apart.
When they got back to the train, and during the first two days of the travel to district Four, Katniss realized that her breakdown was being talked about by most of the Capitol media.
Good. That was what she was hoping for.
Haymitch despite his advice in District 3 didn't bring up her act when they got back to the train.
Katniss expected him to.
She expected him to give her unwanted feedback like he usually did and Katniss spent more time than she would have liked analyzing whether his silence meant she was doing a great job at it, or if it meant she blatantly crossed the line that even he had stopped any effort to try to save her at this point.
She both hoped and settled on the former.
However, it was Cato who brought it up when they were alone, both of them up early for breakfast, as usual.
"Maybe, I should have just done the same thing to get out of doing my speech."
His voice was so low that Katniss wouldn't have heard what he said clearly if there were any other background noise in the room.
It was the fact that no one else was in the room, that Katniss quickly put together that he was indeed talking to her.
She looked back at him sitting at the table over her shoulders.
He wasn't looking at her. His body wasn't even turned in her direction. He was just lifting his cup towards his face as he drank the coffee or tea that it held.
This was the first thing he said to her, since the game ended. Well, truly since he tried to strangle her post-games on the aircraft back to the Capitol.
Katniss's mind was suddenly illuminated by the plot of Cato breaking down and crying in front of the crowd, like she did.
She shuddered at the absurdity of it.
I doubt that'll work for you.
The words came to her mind, but she just couldn't speak them. Whether because she did not want to confirm his suspicion of her faking it or because she did not want to continue in any way this conversation that he had started.
She already had Marvel to deal with in the realm of unwanted conversations with her fellow Victor, so instead Katniss walked out of the dining hall to her room with her breakfast.
They wanted another interview.
It was tradition for Victors to do interviews at certain points during the Victor's tour, but Katniss knew that her ploy in District 3 probably played a part in the sudden request for an interview.
"They need to believe that you are getting along."
Katniss was gazing down at her dinner plate, and so didn't really catch who said it, but she looked up and gazed around, hoping the annoyance was clear in her face.
Really? That's what they should be worried about?
Perhaps that was what the other two Victor's had to worry about. Putting on a realistic play that we didn't totally despise each other.
Katniss had better things to worry about.
"Really? That's it?" It was Marvel that spoke up, and Katniss took the time to glare at him through all the different scenarios and worry going through her mind.
"Well, this interview isn't really about you." Haymitch slurred, probably already half-drunk from his multiple glasses of wine, he had throughout dinner.
Marvel was staring at her mentor before his eyes moved over to her. "Right."
His face was impassive, which took Katniss aback.
She doubts Marvel could hide his facial expression if he even tried, or even tried to. His face like his mouth had no filter.
"I keep forgetting that Girl on Fire is the star in this show." He added, showing how he felt.
Katniss scoffed, rolling her eyes, before replying in a wry voice, "I'll happily hand over the spotlight to you."
"Well, if you weren't - "
Marvel didn't have time to finish before he was cut off by Cashmere,
"As much as I am enjoying this banter, Let's not do this when we are a few days out from an interview where we will try to convince the entire country that you don't hate each other."
"Why?" Cato spoke causing all eyes to land on him.
"Yeah." Marvel jumped in, dropping his fork with a thud on his plate and motioning his now free hand towards Cato. "What difference does it make if they think we are BFFs or not?"
Katniss scoffs at the thought of pretending to be friendly with either of them on national television. Pretending not to hate them she could probably pull off - maybe - but acting friendly was a whole other ballpark.
"If you don't give them a story, they will make up one." Brutus chimed in.
"This is fucking crazy." Katniss said more to herself when she heard the word 'story', but apparently, her outburst was audible to the entire table, who now had eyes on her.
She made the sudden decision to pull back her chair and leave dinner.
There was a knock on her door and Katniss opened the door to see Haymitch.
Finally.
"This interview is for me, isn't it?" Katniss left the door open while walking back to one of the many sofas in her giant quarters.
"What did you expect, sweetheart?" Haymitch was drunk, or at least partially, but Katniss was so in need of Haymitch telling her what to do, that she quickly dismissed asking him to leave and come back in the morning.
He dropped heavily into the sofa next to her and Katniss pulled her legs up to wrap her arms tightly around them.
There were a few moments of silence, and Katniss had to look over at her mentor to make sure that he hadn't fallen in a drunken stupor on her sofa.
He was staring at the ceiling.
Katniss sighed. "What should I do?"
Haymitch started to chuckle.
Katniss started to rethink her earlier thoughts. Maybe he was too drunk to actually have a conversation about how to not further piss off Snow.
"Are you actually going to do what I say?"
It depended on what he would say, but Katniss just shrugged.
"Say you miss Peeta, that all you were thinking was that he should have been the person saying the speech, and not you." He recommended, completely shocking Katniss. "Throw in some tears if you can."
More silence, but Katniss nodded a few minutes later, and added, "Then they will bring up the headlines between me and Cato."
Haymitch sat up on the sofa, albeit clumsily. "Exactly. You telling them how much you miss Peeta will prove how ridiculous that story was."
A sudden guilt built in Katniss. She was using Peeta to save herself, even now after his death, she was using his love for her to save herself.
She buried the feeling as swiftly as she could, not wanting it to layer on top of all her other whirlwind of emotions.
When they reached District 4, the news crew occupied the train.
They apparently wanted the interview before Victor's speech, and it would be live.
"I want raw, uncut, genuine responses!" The female interviewer said in her high Capitolian accent, that made Katniss want to cover her ears.
"Katniss, you sit in the middle, dear." Katniss stared at a single couch that stood in front of all the camera equipment.
Katniss made no effort to move.
"Cato on the left, Marvel on the right!" She announced soon after in her shrill voice.
When none of the Victors moved towards the sofa, the interview swiftly moved towards Katniss and grasped her hands with her cheetah-pattern tattooed hand and claw-like nails.
Her grip wasn't tight, but the claw-like nails made impressions on Katniss's arm as she was dragged to the middle of the sofa and plopped down.
Katniss was sure she was glaring bluntly at the woman, who suddenly shouted in a rushed tone, "We will be live in a minute or so, come now!" waving Marvel and Cato, who seemed hesitant but was eventually pushed and pulled towards the sofa until they were both bordering her.
The space between them was present but minuscule and Katniss abhorred the feeling of Marvel's jacket towards her bare arm and Cato's knee brushing on her legs.
"Smile!" The woman ordered in her constant cheery loud voice before sitting down in the chair a few feet in front of them and putting on a sudden smile that was a bit unnerving to Katniss.
The woman started talking, signaling that they were indeed live but Katniss' brain was so scattered that it wasn't until the women shouted "Katniss!" that she was drawn out from her inner thought, with a slight jump that caused her right hand to end up on Marvel's leg.
She quickly retracted her hand, though heavily deliberating in her mind where to put them since they were hardly any space at her sides.
She let her hands drop in her lap, and tried to turn her attention to the interviewer, but from the side of her eyes, she could see Marvel's smirk despite him looking forward into the camera.
"Yes." Katniss shook the thought from her head.
"There seems to be a lot on your mind." She smiled that unnerving smile at her.
"Ahm," Katniss froze, not knowing how to respond to that.
There was a few seconds of awkward silence, before the interviewer asked her, "How has this Victor Tour been for you?"
"Good." Katniss answered, before realizing that giving one-word answers were probably not the best way to carry out this interview. "I guess."
Another few seconds of silence.
Fuck. Katniss cursed in her head, as she kept eye contact with the interviewer who had a plastered smile on her face that differed from the confused,disappointed look in her eyes.
Her eyes suddenly shift to her left. "Cato?"
"Amazing." His tone was flat and he made no signs of expanding his answer, leading the interviewer's smile to drop significantly but not completely as her eyes moved over to Marvel.
Marvel, who didn't even need to be prodded to answer, "I am having the time of my life."
Kay Numbleberry's eyes lit up at Marvel's charming answer.
"That's great to hear!" She chimed. "Now, now, the Capitol wants to know what you three have been up to since your crowning as Victors."
Katniss made no effort to answer, instead just staring at Kay.
Neither did Cato.
It was Marvel who was left to speak again, who again easily charmed Kay into prolonging her unnerving smile.
Katniss smirked, Marvel was getting the spotlight he so craved, and she was totally alright with the interviewer ignoring her for the rest of the time, but no such luck.
After Marvel answered all of the superficial, starting questions, Kay's eyes landed back on her.
"Now, Katniss, let's talk about your break down in District 3. Truly heart-wrenching." Kay clutched the kerchief in her hand, and Katniss had to stop herself from smiling at her theatrics. "Tell us what happened."
"Ahm." Katniss shifted slightly, trying to sit more comfortably but eventually just ending up with her back leaning towards Cato's side. She hoped her shift in position would cause him to lean away, but he didn't. " I was just thinking about Peeta."
That brought on a gasp from Kay, causing Katniss to pause.
Kay seems on the verge of tears and if Katniss wasn't trying so hard to think about her next statements, she would have probably broken out of character and laughed at Kay's insincere, fake dramatics.
"He should be the one here, not me." Katniss ended.
There was silence, and Katniss couldn't tell if it was because what she said came off as profound, or if it was just awkward like all the silence before.
She actually meant what she said, despite saying it in hopes towards an agenda.
"You are still in love with Peeta?" Kay pressed.
"Yes." Katniss lied.
"So the recent headline between you and Cato?" Katniss' heart raced, despite expecting the question.
"Untrue."
Kay looked over at Cato for confirmation. "Cato?"
"No."
There was a gasp, and a feeling of being outside her body hit Katniss, and it took her a few seconds to realize that she started to laugh out loud as her mind came back to the present, and the end of her laugh started the profound, tense silence in the room.
"What?!" Katniss exclaimed.
"Are you saying that the headline instigating something between you and Katniss is true?" Kay leaned forward in her chair.
Cato shrugged, an impassive look on his face and the feeling of being outside her body hit Katniss again, and this time when she snapped out of it, her hand was bruised and in pain and she was being lifted off the couch and carried out of the room.