The Tribute Parade

The next morning Jeanetty followed the girl, Katniss, to the dinning car. It was apparent she had slept very little. The boy, Peeta, and Haymitch were already eating, and discussing strategy. Jeanetty sat on Hymitch's other side as Katniss sat between the two males at the head of the table. Haymitch spared her a short but heated glance before turning his gaze to Katniss.

"I was just giving some life saving advice," he said to her as he poured himself and Jeanetty a cup of coffee.

"Like what?"

"I was just asking about how to find shelter," Peeta said as he ate.

"Which would come in handy if, in fact, you were still alive," Haymitch said pointedly.

"How do you find shelter?"

He sighed. "Pass the jam."

Katniss was undeterred. "How do you find shelter?"

"Give me a chance to wake up, sweetheart." He took a flask from the breast pocket of his robe and poured a generous amount into his coffee. "This 'Mentoring' is very taxing stuff."

He offered the flask to Jeanetty, who waved him away. "One of us has to be sober."

He nodded and set down the flask before reaching for the jam himself. "Can you pass the marmalade?"

The Tribute quickly picked up her knife and stabbed the table between his fingers. Effie gasped from her chair by the window. "That is mahogany!"

Haymitch pulled the knife out of the table. "Look at you," he said mockingly. "Just killed a placemat."

"You really want to know how to stay alive?" Jeanetty sliced her sausage and mixed it with her eggs. "You get people to like you."

Katniss's face slacked from its stoic form and Haymitch pulled the knife full of jam back to him and proceeded to spread it vigorously over his toast. "Oh? Not what you were expecting? Well, when your in the middle of the Games and your starving, or freezing, some water, a knife, or even some matches can make a difference between life and death."

"And those only come from Sponsors," Jeanetty continued. "And to get Sponsors, you have to make people like you."

Haymitch took over the conversation again. "And right now, sweetheart, you're not off to a real good start."

"There it is," Peeta said getting out of his chair and going to the window behind the Mentors. The outermost view of the Capitol spanned before them. "It's huge! That's incredible."

They entered the tunnel leading to the under ground station. The station was filled to the brim with several hundred cheering people, each clamoring over each other to get a good look at the Tributes from District 12. Peeta began to wave with an awed smile on his face and the crowed cheered louder.

Haymitch handed the knife back to Katniss. "You better keep this knife. He knows what he's doing."

The two Tributes were transferred to the grooming facility while the Mentors and Effie retreated to the stands on the Avenue of Tributes. As they watched the Tribute Parade they listened to the Master of Ceremonies talk about the districts and made fun of his enthusiasm. Afterwords They met up with Cinna and the Tributes as they dismounted their carriage.

"That was amazing," Cinna said leading the group.

"Well done," Jeanetty said pulling Peeta to her.

Effie was overjoyed. "Oh! We are all anybody's going to be talking about."

"So brave," Haymitch said in his usual sarcastic manner.

Katniss looked at him nonplussed. "Are you sure you should be near an open flame?"

"Fake flame? Are you sure you should..." His teasing smile fell as he looked over her shoulder at District 2's Tributes. The boy was staring directly at Katniss. Haymitch took a calming breath. "Let's, uh, let's go up stairs."

As they walked on Effie spoke. "So, each of the Districts get their own floor. And, since your from 12, you get the penthouse." A short elevator ride and the Tributes were stunned by their elegant surroundings. Effie showed them around as the Mentor's trailed behind. "So, this is the living room." She saw the Tributes faces. "I know. I know. Now your rooms are right over here. Now, why don't you go clean yourselves up a little before dinner?"

Jeanetty went to her room, a room that she and Haymitch had more often than not shared at first when he had become overly drunk. Hers was closer to the living and dining areas after all. Though now they shared it because of their growing relationship and subsequent paranoia. Haymitch entered minutes after her with his own things.

"Did they put your things in your room again?" She looked at him from the mirror where she was changing her earrings.

"I keep moving my stuff in here and they keep putting it in there. You'd think they'd learn."

She continued to look at him from the mirror as she took down her hair from the updo Effie's hair designer had wrangled it into before breakfast. "Just like the nightmares?"

He shooed her hands away and pulled pins away from her head. "Damn straight." He left a few curles on top of her head leading down the back of her head. "There, much better." She chuckled at him and paid him a kiss for his help. "Shall we?" He held his arm out to her to escort her from the room.

She nodded and stood. "We shall," she said placing her hand in the crook of his elbow.

A/n: I almost forgot what day it was.