thecapitol | (no subject)

WHO| Effie and Haymitch
WHAT| After the elevator drop, and seeing Haymitch taken away the same way Katniss and Peeta were, she is having a bit of a melt down.
WHEN| Evening
WHERE| The Tribute training center.
WARNING/NOTES| None atm.

The stacks of paper work had been organized and reorganized too many times to count, and when Effie looked at them, all she saw was chaos. All of the information just kept slipping from her mind.

She had no idea what she was going to do. If District 12 had no mentors...there was no hope at all for getting them out. Of course she could take over some duties. In the years she had been working with just Haymitch they had had to make quite a few things work just between the two of them. And of course, there were time she had had to make them work just with her, because he was...indisposed.

But that had always been temporary. A hangover away. Right now...Katniss and Peeta had been gone weeks. No one would invest in a team without a mentor. She wouldn't even be allowed near the room to dispense the gifts from sponsors even if she did manage to get them.

Finally she just folded her arms on the table and gave in to the urge to cry.

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His eyes snapped to her. Their mouths. Snow wouldn't do something so cruel to his victors and precious Capitol Citizens would he. Haymitch frowned at her, trying to figure it out, "What are you talking about?"

Effie wasn't thinking that far ahead was she? To be honest, as long as he'd known her, he'd taken her as an idiot.

Although, that applied to most everyone he met, including Katniss.

If she was going where he thought she was going with this...perhaps he needed to start giving the frilly, puff ball princess a chance for once.

"Well, parties are fun and all but you can't party constantly. We can't keep getting sponsors over and over again. What happens when these become to...to...normal?"

It was a thought that had been occupying her brain a lot lately. That and the places where...where this went against what she was taught. How could tributes from other worlds be sacrificing themselves in pride for their country? They had no pride. They didn't know how important this was, what an honor it was?

"No clue princess," the wind had been sucked out of his sails. She'd made a completely unintentional a point; a point that shouldn't be ignored, because yes, eventually, something would happen to them. That much had been proven by the Capitol with them stealing Katniss and Peeta away.

Okay. He'd give her one more chance. The cynic in him criticized him, but hell, he always did; "What do you think we should do then?"

"Oh I don't even know. I don't know if they'll let us...save. Just..." She sighed, and her hand went up to play with the flower in her hair, nervously.

It just felt like everything was about to collapse. In a big way. Maybe bigger than she could even grasp. The way things kept changing around here, who knew what would happen?

"Keep our heads down. Make connections."

He pointed at her, the corner of his lip twisted up in a partial smirk. One that either indicated the wheels were turning in that alcohol soaked brain of his...or that it was more alcohol soaked than normal.

"I think you'll get the hang of this yet, princess."

"The hang of what?"

She frowned at him, having no idea that, although they were coming at it from different directions, they had ended up at primarily the same page.

"Don't worry about it for now," he smirked to her, "Just know you're going to get the hang of it."

Haymitch was never someone to clue people in after all. Katniss and Peeta had learned that the hard way. And Effie was probably going to have to learn it also.

"Haymitch, you can't just...say things like that!" She exclaimed, turning to face him. This was a big deal, and Haymitch was frustrating enough without having to deal with him being mysterious.

He shrugged, "Why not? You'll find out eventually. That I know."

Where eventually was in a week or in a year, he couldn't say. Because he still didn't know. For now he had to sit on his hands, and hope Effie got it right when the time came.

She pursed her lips, glaring at him for a long moment, weighing what argument might convince him to talk.

"Fine. Fine, It's not like we're a team here. It's not like we're suppose to be working together or anything."

"Hun," Haymitch started, "Use that pretty little head of yours. We're still working together. Probably more now than we have in a long time."

He was serious despite his tone. Now, instead of being in two different books, they were pages apart. She was finally understanding what the districts had felt for so long.

"How are we suppose to work together as an efficient team if you are hiding things from me?"

She was now moving in front of him, her index finger coming up to poke him indignantly, to illustrate her frustration.