ⓢⓦⓔⓔⓣⓗⓔⓐⓡⓣ || 𝙝𝙖𝙮𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙚

ⓞⓝⓔ

—𝙃𝙀 𝙃𝙀𝘼𝙍𝙎 𝘼 𝙆𝙉𝙊𝘾𝙆 on the door of his Victors' Village house. As he drags his feet from the kitchen table to the door, he mumbles something incoherent. He finally gets to the door and opens it.

She scrunches up her nose at the smell. "There are things called windows, you know?" It takes him a while to recognize her voice, but one that irritates and then makes you impatient is hard to forget.

"Effie?" he drags his voice as he did with his feet earlier. "That's you?"

"I might be," she huffs and rolls her eyes. "Of course I am," she adds, chuckling.

"You're unrecognizable like this, sweetheart," he shakes his head. "Where are all those flamboyant clothes? And oh my god, did your wig blow away?" he chuckles.

Effie rolls her eyes again. "Are you gonna let me in? I'm freezing out here."

He pretends to think about it, as though he'd really leave her out. "Yeah," he says with a nod. "Come on in." He steps aside so as to let her pass.

"Eugh," she shudders. "You sure could use Hazelle right now."

"She's in Two with her children."

"Of course. She wouldn't leave them for one second after all that's happened," she nods. "Really, I'm gonna pass out if you don't open a window..." she sprints over to the nearest one with her heels.

"I've always wondered how you did that."

"Did what?"

"Run around on those stilts. It makes me dizzy just to think about it."

"They're not stilts, they're high heels," she says in a schoolteacher voice. "And I don't know, I guess I just got used to them. Besides, anything will make you dizzy right now, given your state." He growls at her, but she shrugs it off with a laugh. "You can't sound or look menacing even if you try to."

This makes him scoff weakly and shake his head. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. You don't scare me, Haymitch. You didn't scare me during that reaping, where you basically fell on me, and you think you can scare me with a lousy growl?"

"I don't...?" he raises an eyebrow in suspicion.

"You don't. You may scare everyone else away, but not me," she smiles a little as she opens a window, taking deep breaths. "Ah, fresh air at last."

"So, uh..." Haymitch scratches the back of his head. "Why are you here?" he tries to sound as polite as he can in the state he's in.

"Well, I... walked here from Thirteen... and I realized I had no place to go, so... yeah, that's why."

Guilt threatens to come out when he speaks, so he gulps it down. "Oh, I... I didn't mean to be rude... are you cold?"

"No, I'm fine. It rained on my way here, but now I'm all dried off. Thanks, though, Hay."

He's never been called like that. Not since his family and girlfriend were killed by Snow. It somehow hit him home. "My... um... family used to call me that..." he looks down, heading to a chair nearby.

"Oh, I'm sorry... I-I didn't know. I just thought that'd be easier for me to call you like that. I won't do it again if you don't want to."

"That's alright," he shakes his head to brush his memories off and reaches out for a bottle.

"No," Effie stops him, grabbing his arm. "Don't do that."

"Why not?"

"It's... bad for you."

He raises an eyebrow. "I know it is. Why do you think I do it?"

She just sighs and throws her hands up in exasperation. "Well excuse me for trying to care for you," she mumbles. "You really make it hard for us to care for you. Nevermind, please don't let me interfere with your self-destruction," she adds sarcastically. "I'm going next door."

"Us?" he frowns.

She heads back to the door, but turns her head to answer. "Yes, us. Peeta, Katniss..." she hesitates. "... and me," she adds in a whisper.

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