If the other tributes weren't intimidating before, then they were when they received their official scores. Suddenly, Prim was rather glad to have Johanna and Finnick as allies; better to be working with deadly people than against them. As the show went on for the evening, she and the others commented alongside the commentary on television, mostly it was just Haymitch speculating on who had done what, and why they got such a high or low score. Eventually, the presentation had come to their district, and Prim was anxious to see her marks. There was a part of her that worried she would be the lowest-scoring tribute out of all of them, that missing one target by a mile and not landing every hit had cost her something precious.

As Caesar Flickerman began, Prim held her breath. She didn't even want to look at the TV, but when her score was finally revealed, the blonde breathed a sigh of relief. Seven wasn't that bad, and everyone around her seemed to be proud, especially Gale and Katniss. Prim smiled and leaned into Gale, “thank you,” she said, laughing in near disbelief. Her smile widened as Katniss bounded her way over to kiss her cheek. Accomplishments always felt ten times better when Katniss was proud, but Prim was just happy not to have let anyone down. Now she could stop worrying about it.

Unlike Prim, Haymitch wasn't very worried about his score. Thanks to Katniss being on her best behavior at the ball, and how oddly charming Prim and Gale could be, District 12 had an abundance of sponsors and he highly doubted that any of them would do terrible enough to warrant a second thought by the Capitol citizens and their never-ending pocketbooks. After the program had announced Prim's score, and Haymitch gave her a thumbs up, it was his turn to be scrutinized. He had been through this once before, and remembered the anxiety he had tried to hide. Now, he was calm and collected, although he raised his eyebrow when his score was revealed to be one shy of double digits.

The others seemed pleased by it anyway and Haymitch shrugged. “Yeah, yeah,” he replied dismissively to Peeta's comment about old dogs and new tricks. It would have been accurate had he not done the same thing during his first meeting with the Gamemakers. Quickly, Caeser was moving onto Gale and Haymitch was decidedly more interested. After all of the grief that the younger man had been giving him over the last week, Haymitch wanted to see just how good or bad Gale had done. The mentor in him wanted to see a high score, but the angry jerk embedded into his personality hoped for a seven.

Luckily, Gale was granted a nine. Their twin scores irritated Haymitch slightly, not wanting to be compared to his most recent pain in the ass, but Caeser and Claudius were cheerily doing just that. It sounded like the men from 12 were supposed to stand together, get along and work together, all of that nonsense. Haymitch congratulated Gale anyway, not as proudly as Katniss and Prim had, but he didn't want to look bad or give Peeta the impression that something needed fixing. Now that the Games were just a stone's throw away, the new mentor needed to concentrate on his job and think strategically.

Finally, the program was at its end, and they had come to Katniss. Out of every former Victor that had been reaped that year, Haymitch knew that everyone across Panem was the most excited to see Katniss. Knowing what she had done, he wondered if the Gamemakers would give her the lowest possible score, something to make the uprising doubt her, or something far higher than anyone had received that evening so that she would be even more of a target. Haymitch watched in silence until the number finally showed up on screen. An eleven was impressive, but fair—it was the same score she had gotten the year before. Although he had been tipsy at the time, Haymitch remembered being surprised and realizing, for the first time, that Katniss had it in her to win the whole thing. Being right was sometimes very costly.

“Good job,” he said, the traces of a smile still on his lips as he looked at Katniss. The urge to lean over and give her a kiss was strong, but Haymitch resisted as Peeta began to speak. He seemed generally pleased by the evening, as did Effie, but Haymitch wasn't looking forward to what was coming next. Interviews were almost as pointless as the parade, just another excuse for them to get dressed up and pushed around on stage for the Capitol's amusement.

As Effie and Peeta retired for the night, probably up to something, the four tributes were left alone to bask in the glory that was decently good scores. Haymitch himself had every intention of getting the hell out of the living room and securing himself a few hours of peace and quiet before bed, but Gale seemed to have other ideas. It wasn't until Katniss practically begged him with a look to stick around. The former Victor found himself sighing, wishing that he was either drunk enough to enjoy himself, or leave without caring who he upset. As Katniss got up to fuss over Prim, Haymitch found himself on his feet as well.

Something was compelling him to reach out to Gale as they approached the dining room. Dessert was still being served, and in the absence of alcohol, sugar was just as good. “Nine's a pretty good score,” he said, looking over to the younger man as he poked at something yellow and lemon scented. 

Focused on getting Katniss another raspberry tart, Prim hadn't even noticed that Haymitch and Gale were having a moment. “I hope she's less worried now,” the blonde commented as she plucked one of the tarts from the serving plate and handed it off to her sister. Thinking about her their mother was handling both daughters in the Games was something Prim had been avoiding, but she really hoped that the woman could hold out for just a little longer. Escape meant saving her too, just one more life riding on Peeta's plan. “But you're right,” Prim added with a smile, picking up a glass of sparkling juice, “I'm sure she's proud of us. All of us.” Haymitch and Gale included.

Taking a seat at the table, Prim continued to focus on her sister. “I can't believe you did that though,” she laughed softly, “with the dummy and the arrows. I thought Peeta was going to explode when he heard.”