A/N Sorry for the lateness, still figuring this whole thing out

Mayadeen:

I don't understand the interview before the Hunger Games. They dress you up and give you 5 minutes to charm the audience and tell them how you will be able to kill 23 children. Or 47 in this case.

I bag up the sweets and hand it to the woman. I've seen her around, at school when I was younger and coming out of the mines. "Enjoy your sweets, what's the special occasion?"

"I'm getting married, I wanted something sweet and we can't afford a cake so I'm buying some sweets."

"Enjoy your special day."

She smiles and walks out of the store. I love working at the sweet shop if only to see the smiles of those we sell to. I hear a knocking on the back door and spin around, Archer and Willow are standing outside the door, holding a duck each. I'm about to pay them when the door jingles and a peacekeeper, in full uniform walks in. They hide in the cupboard, trying to conceal the birds.

"This is the Donner sweetshop?" the peacekeeper asks. I nod and wash my hands in our basin. I don't think the peacekeeper will appreciate a ducky sweet.

"What would you like to order, sir?" I ask, trying to keep myself from panicking. If Archer and Willow are found I'm sentencing everyone in my family as well as Archer and Willow to a beating or death.

"I'd like some honey drops."

I fish the honey drops out of the bin. There's a fucking duck in the cupboard. "Here you go, the tip jar is over there" I say, handing the bag to the peacekeeper. He pays me, puts the first coin in the tip jar and walks outside. I let myself relax. Even if I have nothing to hide the peacekeepers are terrifying, but when I do have something to hide they're enough to trigger the headaches. I walk to the cupboard and let the boys out, take the duck and pay them. My head is pounding and I'm doing everything I can to not fall over. I put the duck in our secret room and walk to my own. I feel like my head is about to explode. I collapse on my bed and curl up under the blanket, squeezing my eyes shut. The light is too bright, my head is too sore, my sister's not here.

I'd like to stay curled up for the rest of the summer, not watching the games, not working at the shop, not watching her die. Not watching the stupid interviews that just say 'Congrats! You're cute enough to kill 47 kids!'

It's just so stupid.

Haymitch:

I look at Maylisee, she's holding her head with her hands and groaning, is the session with Cherry that bad, bad enough to cause headaches.

"Cherry is a crazy woman!" she yells, her voice muffled by the pillow she's got over her head. "Why can't I just pretend to look pretty or something? I don't want to have to act sexy!"

I shrug, apparently Maylisee and I've become something like friends. We talk to each other, calm each other down and don't tell anyone else what's up. It's simple, I like it.

An avox walks into our room and passes me a note, I look at my feet and take it, careful not to touch their hand. I'm supposed to come down and practice my interview with Cherry. I've already practiced how to sit down in a suit and wear uncomfortable shoes but now comes the worst part. Making people like me. I walk into the room that Cherry uses for the interview practicing and sit down. She takes one look at me and says: "Arrogant. You're so arrogant."

I shrug. "Ok, can I leave then?"

"Nope, now we do practice interviews."

I groan. "Do we have to?"

"Yes."

We sit in the room for a while, Cherry asks me questions from a long list of interview questions, I try to answer them as arrogantly as possible.

"And last one, do you have anyone back home?"

Laurel:

I walk around the street, trying not to make eye contact to any peacekeepers. I end up at the mines. Dad's going to be finishing his shift soon and then we can all eat food and watch the interviews. I hope that Caesar doesn't ask if he has anyone back home. I'm better at reacting than Arch but I really don't feel like pretending to be the hopeful girlfriend of my hopeless brother's boyfriend. I wish Arch had acted a little less like a surprised deer.

"Alice!" a young man in a mining uniform swings a young woman, Alice, around in his arms. "Did you get the sweets?" Alice nods, "Yes, I got it from the Donner sweetshop."

"Pity about their daughter."

"Yes, but first let's pity ourselves for not being able to afford sweets."

Alice kisses the man and walks off with him, arm in arm. I wish I had someone to walk arm in arm with. To pity ourselves with. To forget about the Hunger Games with. I wish Archer still had that, but we're alone now and it kinda sucks.

Maylisee:

Haymitch sits on the roof with me, staring off into space. I fiddle with the windchimes, it's very loud, loud enough for our talking to remain unrecorded.

"I just want Archer to stay with me," he say suddenly. "If I'm going to die I want one thing about me that I've kept from the Capitol, one thing that they won't spoil."

"I get." I say. "I'm going to tell them about my life but I want the details to myself. Something to hold onto."

I yawn and lean back onto Haymitch, he fiddles with my hair. It's almost like we're friends. And now we're crying, small tears, quiet tears, tears because we're safe to cry here, near each other, without the prying eyes of the Capitol.

"Come on." he says. "Let's do this."

()

I look in the mirror and see a completely different girl. She wears a light blue dress matching her eyes, apparently going all out on the straightness of her hair, braiding a small piece of it. She's beautiful. I can't believe she's me.

I walk onto the stage and see all of the other tributes and feel a little sick to my stomach. How can I win? How will I win? I catch Haymitch's eye. He's wearing a black suit and they decided to go all out on his curly hair. Even though he looks so different I can still tell he's a Seam boy, olive skin, grey eyes, brown hair. Looks exactly like the kids back home. I look like a Capitol girl, no one at home's going to want a Capitol girl to win.

"First up is Royce from District 1."

The tributes fly by 1 after the other. Bliss goes for deadly but sexy. Athena is smart and dangerous. Issac is kind and caring. Leif is a gentle giant who's not afraid to kill. Barley has a knowledge of survival skills. Peppa is fast and nimble. And then it's...

"Haymitch Abernathy."

Haymitch:

I walk onto the stage, trying not to freak out, this is hard. "Hello Haymitch!" Caesar says. I put on the mask, my cocky, arrogant, smug exoskeleton.

"Hello Caesar."

We go back and forth, me saying what I think I should say, lying through my teeth, trying to pretend this is my natural state. Even though it is my natural state, my natural protection from the world.

"Do you have anyone back home?"

"Yeah, girlfriend Laurel. My mom and brother, Hemlock and my friend Archer. A couple others They're pretty ok." Smug, I have friends. A girlfriend. They're not my lifeline to the planet, they're pretty ok.

"So, how do you feel about the 100% increase in tributes this year."

"Well I'd say they're about 100% as stupid so my odds are roughly the same." I give a smirk to the audience. This is fun, being a arrogant piece of slime. It's nice to not worry about anything. To live in the moment and say that you're great. I love it.

"And we're out of time, thank you Haymitch Abernathy."

I grab his hand and take a bow to the audience. Giving them another cheeky smile. I guess I'm great at acting.

"William Darkore."

William walks to the stage. I think he's going for kind, caring, older brother, then Ashley is called. She's going for pretty and demure. Not a great angle but she is only 12.

"Maylisee Donner."

Maylisee sits down on the chair, she's going for sexy and she's pulling it off well. Even though I look very Seam, I'd bet anyone from 12 could see she was also a District kid. She's got the small frame, the thin body, less about beauty and more about starvation. The merchant kids do get more to eat but that doesn't mean she's going to be well fed.

She blathers on and on about home and how she's going to win. "Hey, May." I say, after she comes back to stand with me. "You're cute enough to kill 47 kids."

"That sounds like something my sister would say."