This isn't s prompt but ofc, you can always leave me Haymitch related prompt!

Dealing with Johanna Mason
(39 years old)

The City lights twinkled down below in the distance and stretched as far as the eyes could see. Even at night, the Capitol beamed bright. It was unnatural and Haymitch disliked it. He missed the darkness in Twelve when the sun had set; the dirt pathway lit up only by dull glowing street lamps.

Most of their tributes were unsettled by it and Effie would usually send them to bed before they could begin to compare the Capitol to their district too much and start to miss home. She had done the same a few hours ago.

The Penthouse was quite except for the sound of Effie's pen scratching against the paper she was working on, drafting the schedule for tomorrow. In the living room, Finnick was hunched over the coffee table, staring intently at the chessboard as Haymitch continued to goad him into making a wrong move. Chaff was slumped next to Haymitch, cradling a bottle of whiskey to his chest.

Before Finnick, Chaff seldom spent his time at the Penthouse just to avoid being in close proximity with Effie so Haymitch and Chaff was often at random bars but ever since Finnick became a part of their group, the Penthouse became a place they would go to. Finnick would rather spend his downtime indoors, away from the public and the media. He loathed the attention and behind closed doors, he was free to be himself and drop his mask. Haymitch understood it so after sometime, he stopped asking Finnick about the frequent visits to the Penthouse.

"Make your move," Finnick told him.

Haymitch was about to move his bishop when he heard the whirring of the elevator. He tilted his head to the side, listening. "Are we expecting more company?"

Just then, the elevator doors slid open and with that, the peace and quiet in the Penthouse shattered.

Johanna Mason strode inside with her fists clenched at her sides, teeth gritted together as she glared daggers at everyone in the room especially Finnick. The three men tensed suddenly, sensing the trouble brewing. Effie pushed her chair back.

"You could have told me," she hissed and the sharpness in her voice made Haymitch rose to his feet. "You could have warned me!"

"What are you talking about?" Finnick frowned, looking at Chaff and Haymitch for a hint.

None of them was prepared for the attack. Johanna lunged at Finnick, her hands closing around his throat causing him to stumble back. She took advantage of it and pressed her weight down on him.

"Do something!" Effie shrieked, running towards Finnick but she was wise enough to maintain her distance. "Haymitch, please! Chaff!"

Finnick fought back. He swung his hand and it connected with her sides. There was a terrible tousle in the middle of the living room with each of them trying to get the upper hand.

After they met her last year at the end of her Games, Johanna had never truly accepted their hand of friendship but neither did she make an effort to make friends with any other victors from the other districts. When the 72nd Games rolled around and when Haymitch saw her again before the start of the Tributes' Parade that evening, she had given him a curt nod but kept to herself, only talking to her stylist and the tributes she had to mentor until now.

The coffee table rattled and if the situation wasn't so dire, Haymitch would have laughed at the sight of Effie in her heels hurriedly pulling the coffee table out of the way, afraid that they might smash the glass. She nearly stumbled from the effort if it wasn't for Chaff who gripped her arm and held her steady.

Having two young, strong victors in a physical fight with each other was a terrible thing. They were both survivors and none of them looked like they were prepared to give up. Johanna had just elbowed Finnick in his chest. As he fell to the floor, he grabbed her leg and yanked it hard.

Haymitch acted first. He wrapped his arms around Johanna's torso from behind and pulled her away from Finnick. She kicked and screamed until Haymitch clamped his hand over her mouth.

"Shut the fuck up," he growled into her ear. "You'll wake my tributes."

Chaff pushed Finnick back towards Effie and planted himself between Finnick and Johanna. He gave the girl a long hard stare and Johanna jutted her chin out defiantly.

"You ain't mad at him," Chaff pointed out. "I can tell 'cause you weren't trying to kill him."

"Would you rather she did?" Effie demanded. Her voice had taken on a sharp pitch, a sign that she was distress.

Chaff laughed, finding amusement in a situation none of them found hilarious. "Didn't you see the way they were fighting, Trinket? Nah, she's mad alright, but not at him. She's just taking it out on him. All that anger gotta go someplace, right?"

"She's got her hands around my throat," Finnick argued, gesturing wildly.

"That's going to bruise," Effie pulled his collar to check. "Come with me. I'll take you down to the clinic."

"You stay right there, sunshine," Chaff growled. "There's got to be a story to this. I want to hear it from the girl."

"Don't call me a girl," Johanna spat and tried to kick Chaff's shin but Haymitch was still holding on to her.

"Chaff's right, sweetheart, you can't take Finnick down to the Clinic. They're going to ask and this one," he rapped Johanna's head, "is going to get in trouble. Now, stop fucking moving, kid."

"Fuck you," Johanna elbowed him like she had done with Finnick.

Exasperated, Haymitch swung Johanna away from him and she fell, face buried on the sofa. She didn't move and she made no attempt to get up. For a second, Haymitch entertained an irrational thought that he had misjudged his own strength and had killed her. He approached Johanna slowly and that was when they all heard a strangled sob escaped from her.

They glanced at each other; their expression a myriad of confusion and surprise.

"Hey..." Finnick approached Johanna cautiously. He reached out to touch her shoulder but she shrugged it off, pushing herself up.

The muscles in her face were taut and tensed, and if she was embarrassed that they had caught her in a moment of weakness, they couldn't tell because she was back glaring at Finnick.

"Those people are not your lovers," she said and then she sneered, "how many people did you have to sleep with?"

Finnick blinked and clenched his jaws. Effie gasped at Johanna's audacity to ask such a personal question but for Haymitch and Chaff, the pieces fell together and everything made sense.

"I have a string of lovers, Johanna. You should read the papers sometimes," Finnick grinned.

"That's 'cause you let them sell you," she accused. "Drop the act, Finnick. They're selling you and you're letting them. You let them use you like you're a thing they can own and discard."

"They asked you, too," Finnick stated. It wasn't a question. Neither of them broke their gaze until finally, Finnick sighed. He sank onto the sofa next to her, head hung low. "I can't say no."

"What happened when you said no?"

Haymitch threw Johanna a sharp look. The way her question was phrased set off alarm bells in Haymitch's head. It was as if she knew nothing good will come out should anyone refused the Capitol and was fishing for confirmation from Finnick while holding on to her side of the story.

Had the girl answered to Snow?

Haymitch glanced over at Chaff but he had taken a seat on the armchair and was watching the scene unfold, completely ignoring him.

"What happened when I said no?" Finnick chuckled, a bemused smile on playing on his lips. "You know Mags, right? You met her... You asked once why she couldn't talk properly and why she mumbled. You were rude by the way," he pointed out. "When I said no, they stopped -"

Haymitch gestured at Effie to switch on the television and turn on the volume in order to drown their voices.

"- Mags from getting her medications. She had a stroke. I got the message loud and clear so I gave in but I got sick of it. I got sick of everything. I wanted to have control. I thought if I could control some aspect of it, it would be bearable. I wasn't very smart," Finnick let out a breath. "I began to pick and choose who should spend time with me, who could buy me. I refused the wrong person that one time."

"And?" Johanna pressed for answers.

"They threw Annie into the Games."

"That's the girl that went mad?"

"She's not mad," his eyes flashed dangerously.

"So they threatened you but they didn't kill anyone..."

"What did you do, Johanna?" Effie stared at her, hands covering her mouth.

"I told them to go fuck themselves," she grinned but her brown eyes had grown dim. "They can use their hands - they don't need me for that," she attempted a snide joke and made an obscene gesture but it fell flat.

Johanna wasn't good at masking her sadness or her emotions that well yet. They could still read her.

"Well, shit," Haymitch let out a breath, running his hand through his hair. He sat on the coffee table Effie had tried to drag away earlier. "They're not gonna like that."

"They didn't," Johanna laughed bitterly. Her face crumpled when she said, "My family was in a tractor to one of the sites this morning to go to work. The trees fell on them. They were crushed to death. My entire family gone - my grandmother, my two little sisters and my dad - all gone in a blink. The mayor called this morning to tell me."

"I'm so... I'm so sorry," Effie said, reaching out to give comfort but Johanna pulled her hand away and glared at her.

"Don't touch me," she spat. "The Capitol killed them. I'm not fucking stupid - it wasn't an accident. The timings are too -"

Johanna broke off and inhaled sharply. When she spoke next, the anger was back in her voice.

"None of you thought to tell me that the Capitol is selling Victors. I was summoned to the President's office the moment I stepped into the Capitol yesterday and now my family's fucking dead. You said something about being acquaintance," she turned towards Haymitch, "when you met me last year and you can't even fucking tell me that - "

"We didn't know if they would with you. The Capitol pick and choose who to sell," Haymitch explained. "Finnick was a given - he's popular - but you... You weren't exactly a crowd favourite, Jo. You didn't appeal to the crowd at the start of your Games - weak and sick - so you didn't have a fanbase. By the end of your Games, well, let's be honest, you did nothin' to reach out and please people with that glare and long faces you pull during your interviews."

"Why should I? I hate them," Johanna said angrily. "Didn't they ask you?"

Instead of answering her, Haymitch reached out for the bottle of whiskey on the table and took a swig from it. It was an easy enough question to answer but whatever his answer would be, he was certain Johanna would have more questions to it and it was the answer to those questions that he wasn't sure he wanted to give.

"They didn't," he said.

"Yeah? Why not? Can't say you're bad looking," she trailed his eyes over him.

Chaff chuckled but Johanna was already looking at him with a contemplative expression.

"Ah is it because they haven't got anyone to threaten you with, like Finnick? Or maybe, they haven't got anyone to kill? What is it?" Johanna asked without any due regard that her questions might be sensitive to some people or improper.

A muscle in his jaw ticked. Chaff and Effie already knew his story. Finnick would have known too, from Mags. He didn't see a reason to keep it to himself.

"They already killed everyone I cared about," he told her straight. "My family's life in exchange for the stunt I pulled in the arena. They had no more leverage against me. They can't make me do their bidding. They can't make you do their bidding."

Johanna nodded. "You?" she addressed the question to Chaff.

Chaff's answer was to raise his stump.

"Capitol could give me a new hand with all their advance medical technologies but I said no and you know why?" he grinned. "'Ain't nobody's gonna be interested in me 's long as I remain a cripple. Smart, no?"

"If you had told me this like last year, I could have chop off a leg or something," Johanna muttered darkly. "Too late now. My leg won't bring my family back."

Chaff handed her a drink. "Look, kid, it's tough. Being a victor ain't all the shine they made it out to be but you're still alive so you don't let them see you break. You never let them see you break," Chaff said. "Nobody outside the Games will understand; not the ones in your own district and not the ones in the Capitol."

"But we do," Finnick added earnestly. He gestured at Haymitch and Chaff, "they understand. They've helped me a lot."

Johanna didn't reply him. Instead, she turned towards Effie, the only one among them from the Capitol. Johanna didn't address Effie directly when she asked "And her? Don't tell me she understands - look at her."

Haymitch didn't answer. There was no point to it. Johanna wouldn't listen to him if it had come from him.

"She's alright," Chaff shrugged.

"Do you buy victors, too, to fill your time when the Games aren't on?" she directed the question at Effie.

Effie's mask slipped, startled at Johanna's question. He noticed but the others didn't.

"No," Effie told her.

"Maybe not now but what 'bout when you were younger? I bet it's crossed your mind," Johanna sneered.

"That's not fair," Effie said quietly.

"Yeah, my family being killed because I didn't want to be the Capitol's whore was very fair."

Johanna is a force. I love her. Don't you?