Requested by anon: You are my favorite Hayffie writer. Your writing is great. I have a prompt for you. Could you write about the first meeting between Effie and Haymitch and about what they both think? Like two parts about the same event? Thank you so much if you decide to do it.

Meeting Effie Trinket

(26 years old)

The Reaping for the 60th Hunger Games was not due to start in another fifteen minutes but Haymitch was already at the Justice Building. He wouldn't have been there early if it wasn't for the man pacing in front of him, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Dammit, Undersee," Haymitch barked, "sit down. You're givin' me a headache."

Nolan Undersee stopped abruptly which was good except now he was standing in front of Haymitch, towering over him.

"He should be here. The man is never late, you know that."

Haymitch exhaled loudly.

"Thought you were following him around like a lost puppy," Haymitch mumbled. "You shoulda' come here with him then, not arrive first."

District Twelve's current Mayor was old and because of that, he was looking for a replacement. Somehow, he had seen something in Nolan and had taken the young man under his wing. Nolan took his apprenticeship appointment rather seriously - as he should since it was a brilliant opportunity for him to better his life now that his young family was growing – and he had shadowed the Mayor for three weeks, learning the trick of the trade.

"Sit down, Nolan," Haymitch ordered when Nolan's only answer was to look out the window worriedly. He raised his flask in the man's direction. "Drink?"

"No, thank you," Nolan declined politely and took the seat Haymitch had offered him. "So ... This new escort…. What do you think of her? Did they tell you anything about her in the Capitol?"

It took a while for what he said to register and when it did, Haymitch who was slouching in his seat, sat up slightly straighter.

"What'd you say?"

"Your new … Oh, come now, Haymitch, you don't have a clue about this, do you?"

"Can't say I do," Haymitch said.

"That'll explain. She arrived yesterday and the Mayor hosted a dinner for her in your absence. I was wondering why you said nothing about her arrival. We were only informed the morning before she arrived."

"There was dinner? You fed a Capitol citizen when you could have fed two families in the Seam?" Haymitch scoffed.

"She is the Capitol, Haymitch. We couldn't just…." He trailed off and deciding that it was better not to pursue that line of topic, Nolan changed the subject. "It turns out that she came a day early to get acquainted with you but, well… You stood her up."

"I didn't know she was coming, did I?" he grumbled. "She could have called ahead."

"She did. She called the Mayor. When I found out, I sent Mace over to your house to get you for dinner but the kid said you were out cold."

"Mace?" Haymitch frowned. His expression turned serious. "You sent one of the Mellark's boys to my house? Could have killed that kid - don't do that again, Nolan, don't send people to my house."

Nolan sighed. "She seems nice - your new escort. Young, too."

Haymitch did not deign to reply him. He was thinking quietly to himself. He supposed Amara must have at some point told him that the 59th Games was her last. That would explain why she had been so adamant on taking him out to dinner before he left for Twelve last year – a farewell because Amara was the kind to host her own farewell dinner – except with the alcohol, he couldn't really remember much.

In a desperate need to fill the silence – Nolan Undersee hated silences, a fatal flaw that Haymitch noticed he possessed since they were kids – he tried to engage Haymitch in small talks.

"Aspen caught us a deer for dinner yesterday. If he hadn't, we probably would have to feed your new escort with squirrels or worst, Sae's soup," he chuckled. "What an impression that would make, huh? You don't go out with him to the woods anymore, do you?"

"Haven't been doing that since I won the Games, Nolan," Haymitch told him. "Don't really need to anymore, do I?"

"Ah - well, you were shit at setting up snares, anyway," Nolan joked and Haymitch smirked, recalling random memories of his young self's misadventure beyond the fence. Aspen had always assigned him the role of a lookout.

"Why don't you come around sometimes, Mitch? We haven't really… you and I… We… Well, Marilyn would love to have you over, I'm sure."

"No, Nolan, she wouldn't. And you know I - I can't. I look at her and..."

I see Maysilee.

"I've got a little girl now. She's nearly two - you haven't seen her before," he tried. "Madge's her name."

"I will eventually when she turns Twelve."

That shut him up effectively It was a cruel reminder that his daughter would ultimately be amongst the children currently filling up the Square outside and Haymitch almost regret it.

Nolan stood up abruptly, rubbing his hands together in agitation and peered out of the window once more.

"Why aren't you escorting the escort?" Haymitch laughed at that joke. "Won't she get lost?"

"I offered, she told me not to trouble myself. She said she remembers. She'll be here. She wanted to get a look around, said something about architecture. I don't understand the lure of Twelve's architecture but I didn't want to make a fool of myself."

Haymitch raised an eyebrow. "What architecture? And in Twelve, no less - must be fucking crazy. Not a good sign for me, yeah?"

"That is not a very nice thing to say to someone you have not even met," a voice told him off.

"Oh!" Nolan looked away, embarrassed to be caught talking about her.

Haymitch on the other hand, turned his head slightly to his left, towards the voice only to be assaulted by a mess of bright red. She was tall, although he thought the heels probably had a lot to do with the height and she held herself with a certain rigidity which he found exhausting to look at.

Probably have no idea how to relax and have a good time, he scoffed silently.

She approached him. A proper gentleman would have stood up to greet her but he said he was a gentleman so he remained seated, slouched where he was. As she came closer, he had to crane his neck to look at her and it was starting to get uncomfortable. When she suddenly thrust her hand forward, Haymitch blinked. She waited until she grew impatient.

"It's only polite to shake someone's hand when the person offers it," she clucked her tongue in disapproval. "A good man does not lack manners."

"Never said anything about being good," he sneered. "That's not my image."

She didn't react and that irritated him more than it should. Other people would have bristled or would have said something but all she did was to look at him with growing exasperation. Wanting to throw her off her game, Haymitch grabbed her hand and planted a wet, sloppy kiss on the back of it.

That did it. She gasped and abruptly pulled her hand back but something stopped her from wiping it, front to back, on her dress. Her manners, he realised later on. It would have been the height of bad manners. Effie Trinket doused herself in manners the way he did with alcohol.

"Haymitch," Nolan Undersee hissed. "My apologies, Miss Trinket, this is, uh, this is Haymitch Abernathy. Haymitch, this is Effie Trinket."

"What happened to the old goat?"

From his peripheral vision, Haymitch could make out Nolan barely able to stop himself from face palming in frustration.

"Old…" Effie's brow wrinkled and when the realisation set in, her eyes widened. "You mean Amara Varvari? That's very rude."

"Yeah, I meant her," he blinked rapidly to clear his vision. The alcohol was making his sight blurry. "Don't worry, sweetheart, I'll think of a name for you."

"Sweetheart is already bad enough considering I am not yours," she retorted.

Haymitch arched an eyebrow in amusement and when she realised what she said, Effie blushed, though it was difficult to discern with all that make-up.

"Sweetheart it is, then," Haymitch taunted with a note of finality. "Now, what happened to my old escort? Can't say I'm sorry to see her go but out of curiousity…"

"She's retired, Mr. Abernathy, surely she had inform you of the same?"

"Might have," he shrugged. "I don't know."

They stood in front of each other, neither having anything further to say to the other. Haymitch took the opportunity to seize her up, running his eyes over her. She jutted her chin out stubbornly, refusing to be intimidated by it.

He smirked. This was going to be interesting. He tipped his flask back in a mock toast and took a long swig from it.

"Welcome to Twelve, sweetheart. You won't find your fame here," he sneered.

As he passed by her, Haymitch burped loudly. Effie spun around, looking scandalised that one would do that in front of others.

"He's not at all like how I imagined he would be," Effie said once he was out of ear-shot. "He was really something when he was sixteen. The Capitol loved him."

"A lot of years have passed between then and now," Nolan stood beside her, watching Haymitch staggered out on to the podium. "Ten years is a long time. It changes people. The Haymitch I knew was a different person but that boy is long gone. If you wish to work with him well, Ms Trinket, I suggest you rid yourself of the disillusion… the image of that sixteen year old boy, and take him as he is now."

Effie gave him a quizzical look but she was listening to Nolan intently, sensing a story, something deeper.

"I will trust your judgment. You are his friend after all."

"I was," Nolan smiled sadly. "I was at one point."

It is late so I only wrote it in H's pov. I might write this first meeting in E's pov at a later time. Just to clarify, Mace is Peeta's brother.

What do you think of their first meeting? Leave a review.