There had never been a natural sense of responsibility inside of Haymitch, and he had never cared much for other people until he had been Reaped into the Games. Maysilee Donner had been the first person outside of his family who actually mattered to him, and to this day he felt that her death had been his fault. If only he had asked her to stay with him for a little longer, if he had gone after her, or even if he had never let align with him in the first place, she could have made it out alive. The people that he was currently sitting with were his friends, individuals whom Haymitch had spent years with, and he felt that he owed them a way out of this. There was only so much that he could do on his own, and Haymitch felt hopelessly stuck.

When Katniss came over, Haymitch couldn't help but look surprised. She had distanced herself from their group as soon as possible when training had started and he hadn't thought he would hear her speak again until dinner that night. Her attitude seemed to have changed though, and she was asking Finnick for advice, and even tempting Johanna into a sparring match. Briefly, Haymitch wondered if she had lost her mind, and the former Victor from District 7 seemed to be wondering the same thing. Insanity definitely had to be the case when Katniss mentioned Beetee and Wiress, the pair from 3 who Haymitch thought were incredibly useless.

“She was joking, right?” Johanna asked, her normally sneering lips now wearing a look of shock and confusion. 

Haymitch paused before standing up, eyes focused on Katniss and Finnick as they left the cafeteria. “I have no idea,” he answered. “Can't hurt, though.” If Katniss wanted to take her training seriously, then Johanna was the perfect match for her and more than likely the stiffest competition she had among former female winners next to Cashmere.

As Haymitch left the cafeteria with Johanna and Chaff, Prim was still seated and finishing her lunch. She, Gale, Yelven and Iva had a table all to themselves and the young blonde was happy that she and Gale had managed to befriend other tributes. They were a source of wisdom, able to give accounts of what was going on outside of District 12 and Prim wasn't that surprised to hear that things had gotten bad. For the first time she was really starting to understand that impact that Katniss and Peeta's win had had across Panem. The Capitol was running scared, and that only confirmed for her that she wasn't in these games by any lack of luck. They were trying to destroy Katniss and Prim knew there would be a target on her back by association.

Of course, the topic of Katniss finally did come up and Prim didn't blame Yelven or Iva for being curious, but she was confused about why Gale was choosing to downplay his relationship with her sister. They were incredibly close and always had been, denying it didn't make sense. “She would probably do anything for anyone if they needed help,” she explained and then Iva mentioned seeing what she had done for Rue. Katniss was still troubled by that and Prim wished to change the subject because it was hard for her to think of her sister being in so much pain.

Soon after lunch had come to an end and Prim thanked Gale for taking her tray. She talked with Iva about the few survival skills she actually had, most of them coming from Gale over the last year but a few were tricks that Katniss had taught her years ago. Now that she would have to go into the arena, Prim wished she had gone on more hunts with Katniss and actually bothered to learn something outside of her comfort zone. The boys returned to the table and Gale's suggestion of weight lifting was accepted by both Prim and Iva. She doubted that it would a thirteen year old much good, but there was always hope. At the very least, the redhead was small enough to hide out for a while if things got tough.

On their way in, Prim spotted Katniss and she seemed to be in a better mood. Prim was still worried about her, but she was glad that whatever was wrong had worked itself out. “Alright,” she nodded in agreement to Gale's plan. The running wasn't going to bother her, but Prim wasn't the strongest person around. She did a lot of lifting back home when it came to cleaning or cooking, but it wasn't anything like Peeta did at the bakery. She followed Gale and the others over to the area with the weights and chose a dumbbell that wouldn't strain her muscles or wear her out too quickly. 

Across the large room, Haymitch had also spotted Katniss and he found it hard to keep his eyes off of her. He desperately wanted to know what was going through her mind and why she had decided to warm up to Finnick and Johanna all of the sudden. While the change was for the better, Haymitch didn't think that she was suddenly taking his advice, or working extra hard to make Peeta's job easier. Not knowing things really did bother him, especially when it concerned Katniss and he would have gone to talk to her but they were on uncertain terms from that morning and he didn't want to risk having a fight in front of the other tributes. District 12 was supposed to look like a united front.

“Go ask her to spar,” Haymitch said to Johanna, giving her a nudge in the shoulder. She glared at him and probably would have punched him if it weren't for the threat of being reprimanded.

“Why don't you spar with her?” she asked, smirking.

Haymitch laughed, “what do you think I've been doing for the last year?” It was meant to be a joke, but it was a fairly accurate analogy of what his relationship with Katniss had been like. He smiled at the thought but quickly shook it away. “Go ask her, though. Give her a challenge.” Because Haymitch thought Katniss might as well make the most of her time.

Whether Johanna went to take Katniss up on her offer or not was unknown to Haymitch and he decided to use the second half of the day to actually train. His friends were still close by, but the former Victor was happy to familiarize himself with the ax. He practiced throwing it and worked out a new stance for himself. Age had definitely caught up with him, muscles and joints no longer worked the same way, but Haymitch thought he was still a contender. He would get far enough in the games, and if he failed, he trusted Gale to be there to take his place. He had watched the other tribute practice with the sword earlier in the day and he was already coming along nicely.