"stay alive"

2

The next few hours became a blur, from being dragged away by the peacekeepers and shoved onto a train with the other three tributes he barely knew. Two of them looked younger than him, they were both huddled in the corner of the carriage with each other, they seemed to have some familiarity with one another and Haymitch recognised their similar features ; dark brown, almost black hair, hazel coloured eyes. He assumed they were both related in some way,  but they both barely spoke anyway so socialising with them seemed pointless.

However, one of the female tributes looked to be around his age. She had long golden hair, with a fringe that fell just above her eyebrows, that seemed to compliment her features perfectly; her piercing blue eyes and fair toned skin. Unlike the other tributes she didn't seem to huddle in a corner or keep her head down, in a way she looked confident even if it was just a façade. Haymitch decided it would probably be a better decision to try and speak with her instead of the other two tributes, not that he was here to make friends but they were from the same district after all.  He took a seat on the armchair next to her, she didn't even seem to notice his presence. 

"Haymitch Abernathy" He stuck out his hand towards her, not sure what would be an appropriate greeting in a situation like theirs.

"I know"  She spoke  before looking over at him blankly, Haymitch silently scolded himself for not paying attention to any of the other tribute's names beforehand.

"And ,um, you?" Clearing his throat, he looked at her expectantly, realising how ignorant he sounded for not even bothering to care about anyone's name but his own being yelled.

"Maysilee Donner"  She responded, luckily she didn't seem too offended and eventually shook his hand, he noticed how hesitant she was and how her palms were sweaty despite the train being freezing. 

Not knowing what to say next, he decided it'd probably be best to leave her alone for now. The shock of the games was probably still setting in, or at least for him it was. He assumed that Maysilee also had family she had promised to get back to, everyone had something they were fighting for. A girl like her could get far in the games, he imagined her as a victor and a capitol favourite. Unfortunately Haymitch was also playing to win, and if he had a chance at getting back home nothing would stop him, not even her.  

***

The train ride was far from unpleasant, however he did not care to appreciate the Capitol's attempt at making this experience look enjoyable. Their carriage had been decorated with royal blue velvet cushions, chairs and even the carpet was made that same shade of blue. However, he did notice that  it wasn't fully decorated, certain parts of the walls were cracking and if it hadn't been  furnished you'd think it was about to fall apart. 

As they had no mentor like the other districts, they were given no prior guidance for strategies or sponsors, in a way Haymitch was thankful that district 12 would huddle around and obsessively watch the games each year because he had seen how vital it was to make sure the capitol liked you and to achieve a moderately high score but not too high that you're made a target for the careers. 

He wasn't too worried about the district 1 tributes, they were always surviving from purely relying on sponsors or the rest of the career pack and if they were skilled with a weapon most of the time they were in educated on the surroundings of the arena and survival skills so would die due to natural causes The district 2 tributes were the people he absolutely did not want to come into contact with at any point, they were the most lethal every year and would be the ones to slaughter half the tributes before turning on the district 1 careers and eventually their own partners.  No other districts really stood out to him except for district 3, even if they weren't known for combat they were typically highly intelligent which made them a threat, he remembered the year that Beetee Latier won by electrifying the final standing tributes after being underestimated throughout his training process.

One thing he'd do was take note of the strengths of each tribute and any signs of weaknesses, if he wanted to make it further into the games with double the tributes he needed to remain vigilant and know what he was up against. 

Suddenly the train was plummeted into darkness before arriving at the capitol. Haymitch made his way over to the window of the carriage to get a closer look at panem, he had only ever seen glimpses of it from the broadcasts of the games so like every other tribute he was incredibly intrigued.

It was safe to say that the architecture did not dissapoint, the city looked like something from another world. Probably because to the districts, it was. Their buildings were huge and all very neat and modern looking, if panem wasn't such an evil place Haymitch could understand the appeal.

Once the train started to slow and they pulled into the station, a sea of colours seemed to swallow the platform. All kinds of ridiculous dresses and hairstyles were on show, Haymitch thought they all looked like idiots quite frankly. He'd die before he let the capitol make him dress like that. Some citizens were flailing their hands about and shoving people infront just to get a better look at the tributes.

He knew that he had to appear enthusiastic in order to win over sponsors, so in the spur of the moment he began to smirk at some of the citizens below, even waving back at some of them to which they responded by clapping and cheering him on. It was funny how someone could be awarded so much praise for merely playing a part. He knew that because of the reputation district 12 had, he'd have to play this part better than anyone else.

***

Finally the train doors slid open and they were quickly ushered onto the platform, before he even had a chance to look around at the station he was being escorted through the crowds and away from the eyes of the citizens.
He had never seen so many colours in one place before, every capitolite he had caught a glimpse of looked like they had come straight out of a rainbow. Haymitch didn't even want to acknowledge the hideous makeup they all had smothered across their faces, he was probably more scared of that than the actual arena.

He didn't even want to question who the people leading them away were, he assumed they were stylists from the disgusted looks he was recieveing every 2 seconds. Honestly, what did they expect? District 12 wasn't exactly in pristine condition.

The stylist chambers weren't at all what he had anticipated, Haymitch felt more than exposed being showered down in such an open area but he had no energy to try and fight them off. Plus, if he wanted a chance at getting people to like him he needed to atleast smell better than he already did.
He could hear some other tributes still shrieking, begging to go home. Their screams rung in his ears, he hated how haunting this experience was. Children being sent to slaughter eachother each year, and for what, some revenge for a war that half of them weren't even alive for. Punishment for conflict they didn't create.

The sooner that this was over with, the sooner he could go home

A

ll he had to do was put on a smile and win those gullible idiots over. However, remaining calm right now was very hard when he had already been hosed down twice, he knew he smelt bad but this was incredibly humbling.

"Are you nearly done yet? Or do I need hosing down for the 100th time?" He remarked sarcastically, not bothering to care how offended they would be at this point.

"No, surprisingly. We're sending you to your stylist." At first Haymitch thought they were being nice, until he caught them rolling their eyes at his question. Great, time to meet another one of these colourful freaks.