The little girl with dark curls and blue eyes had never been up in her aunt's and uncle's attic before. She didn't even know where to start
poking her head into first. Clumsily, she tumbled across a box that had her aunt's name: 'Effie Trinket: District 12 Escort' it said. Inside, golden accessories glimmered in the shape of a bird, she saw flamboyant dresses and such outfits the little girl had never dreamed of seeing. Immediately, she dressed up in anything she could find.
As soon as she was done she rushed downstairs and called for her aunt. She had a tired look on her face, her simple hair tied back tightly. As she saw her niece all color drained from her face. Her gray eyes quickly started shimmering and she had to put her fingers up to her lips to steady them. All she could say was his name, the only person who had ever been able to get her back to herself, even after she had disguised herself as a completely different person.
"Haymitch!" he came darting in, sensing the desperation in his wife's voice, knowing how she was holding back tears. As he saw what was in front of them it was like he had the key to Effie's mind, the images of the memories flashing through her mind and bringing back her pain. For a long time he had been the only one she trusted, the only one who knew the real Effie Trinket: the forgotten District 12 girl who had lost her whole family to the Games, fled to the Capitol and hid herself behind the dresses, makeup and wigs, trying her best to make her tributes make the perfect impressions and every year waiting for them to come back until she lost hope. He was just about to say something when she walked up to the girl and knelt down next to her.
"Sweetie." A tear dribbling down her cheek brought color back to her as a paintbrush to an empty canvas. "You look fabulous." She forced a smile. "But I want you to promise me you'll never hide yourself behind all of this."
Slowly she started taking off the girl's wig and wiped messy makeup off her puffy cheeks. "You are beautiful just the way you are. Don't you ever forget that." And when the second tear fell, she knew it was from remembering almost off by heart what Haymitch always used to tell her.
The doors to the room opened, and a young and strong couple Effie owed her life to came in. All she could see in them was a large flame and she remembered how she used to just see a spark. They were her hope. The two that finally returned.
"Our victors." she whispered to Haymitch.
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129,744 Literary Works • 671,510 Reviews
This was really great! I love the hunger games, and while at first I did not like Effie, I really liked her in Mockingjay and Catching Fire. She really cared about Katniss and Peeta, and was very sad to see them go into the Quarter Quell, knowing that only one could come back, if they came back at all. I love the backstory you gave her, and how Haymitch helped bring her back. It was very sweet, and I loved how gentle and kind he was with his niece. Job well done.
This was a very cool story about Effie. She was my favorite character in The Hunger Games and it made me happy to see something written about her. I very much enjoyed this but at points I was confused. By confused I just mean that there were some lines I had to read more than once.
I love how you put in how Effie lost hope when her tributes did not come back from the games. It showed the level of humanity in her that people often forget. I also love how you mentioned her "simple hair" because Effie and simple are two things you would never expect to see in the same sentence. I really do love how you wrote about Effie's future because at the end of the book we did not really know what was going on with her.
I would also really like to see a continuation to this because the ending makes me want to know more of what is going to happen. I really do like how in this you took away Effie's glamour and showed the "human" side of her instead of the sparkle crazed Capitol snob. Overall this was a very good fanfiction and I was fascinated by it. Good work.
Aw I'm really happy you liked it, thank you!
I never thought about continuing it... I don't know I always tend to write just short snippets of fanfiction but never write a full story with a plot line
The Missing Piece here for a review! I loved this! I mean I would have NEVER thought to write about Effie's future! It's AMAZING! I didn't notice any grammar mistakes so that's good! But my favorite part was
'"Sweetie." a tear dribbling down her cheek brought color back to her as a paintbrush to an empty canvas. "You look fabulous." she forced a smile. "But I want you to promise me you'll never hide yourself behind all of this."'
It's so true! I so loved this! I liked the detail and everything! Keep writing!
~The Missing Piece
Thanks for reviewing another of my work!! Happy to have found a fellow Ttribute *raises hand in three fingered salute*
Haha. Np.
I know you already have some great reviews below, but I just wanted to comment and say how much I enjoyed this!
This was very interesting! I never imagined that Effie would marry Haymitch. I like that twist! Honestly what bothered me the most was the uncapitalized sentences and wrongly punctuated dialogues. But I'm just like that
I don't think that the Capitol would just accept a random runaway girl without doing a background check or something. Also, for Effie to travel all the way from District 12 to the Capitol alone, as a young girl, and Effie being Effie, would be highly unlikely. I think it might be better for her to be a Capitol girl who had self-image problems or something.
And I LOVE how you bring in Katniss and Peeta at the end. Awesome!
I was looking for a HG fanfic and found this. I thoroughly enjoyed this and it just had me wanting to read more! Very very creative idea here!
Keep up the great writing!
KeiPie
Thanks for the review!
I totally get what you mean about Effie. I sort of mention in my reply to the first eview that this is just a theory, almost like a plot twist. I was just exploring the quetsion of "What if...?"
Thanks for reading!
Wow. That's an interesting take on the story. It's a creative back story for Effie to have. I never would have guessed that she was from district twelve or that she would ever marry Haymitch. It's certainly creative, but...well, I don't know. The whole part about her being from district twelve and having her whole family lost to the games seems kind of far fetched. It doesn't fit in with the novels very well.
I love how you have the little girl find Effie's old things. It was creative and a unique way to introduce the story.
You had good description in the story, but it was a bit wordy in some places. In others, it was what I like to call "bald". It didn't have enough information.
Effie without her wigs on...I can't picture it. It seems so...foreign and wrong. But it's a good detail to add to the story.
I like how Katniss and Peeta come in at the end. You don't actually say their names, but by describing the fire, the spark, and what they did for Effie, you know who it is.
It seemed a bit short to me...
Just an idea, and I'm okay with it if you want to use it, but what if Katniss and Peeta bring their two kids over for a play date? It would just be a tiny twist in the end of the plot and it would tie in with the novels well.
I really did like this. I like anything that has to do with the Hunger Games, really. But this was really cool!
Merry Christmas!
yubbies21
Thank you for your lovely comment!
I understand the issue with the characters, how it may not seem very related to the ones we know in Suzanne's story... I replied to that in the previous review if you want to have a look but in summary I guess this just explores new ideas and parts of the characters and is to be read open-mindedly.
I'm happy you understood it was Katniss and Peeta, on purpose I thought it might have been more effective to not give their names.
On your suggestion, I'm not sure if I was able to make it come across in my story but the little girl with dark hair and blue eyes is supposed to be Katniss' and Peeta's daughter. I always imagined they would be very close to Haymitch and in this version also Effie so that's why I refer to them as the girl's 'aunt and uncle'.
Merry Christmas fellow Hunger Games fan!
I see. I really didn't make the connection with the little girl being Peeta's and Katniss's. But now, the story makes more sense.
Length was decent. Adjectives and descriptive words were appropriately used. The end was perfect. The theme introduced in this short story was very well done. And the feelings/emotions of the characters were fabulous. It was written in such a way that I wanted to read more, and that's a great talent to possess.
But since this is a site for constructive critisism, I will give it. (btw, sorry about any spelling mistakes in here, for some weird reason, I don't have spellcheck...)
First off. You are very wordy. Examples:
This could be just "...start poking her head first." There are a lot of small things like this in your story that detract from what is actually going on. They are very miniscule errors and really aren't errors at all except that when you read it outloud it sounds forced and well, just wordy.
Secondly. (and this is probably the biggest point) The characters we have in the Hunger Games series of Effie and Haymitch are so unrealted to the ones in this short story. In the last book, I don't remember reading anything that even indicated that Effie and Haymitch so much as liked each other, that Effie was going to stop dressing up, or that Haymitch was ever going to be that lovable father figure. And nothing even remotely indicated that Haymitch would ever marry. Honestly. I don't remember super well, but after Haymitch returned from the games as victor didn't the Capitol kill the women he loved. This made Haymitch bitter and he turned to alcoholism. Even after everything was resolved with the Capitol, I could never see Haymitch falling in love with anyone. It just wasn't in his character.
Same thing with Effie. There was nothing to indicate that she even slightly disliked dressing up. Point is, you're using the characters created by someone else and not being true to who they were characterized as. It seems wrong to use their names when it isn't their character. ..if you see what I mean, hopefully I don't sound to harsh or anything...
...Alright, other than those two points, I really don't see anything wrong with this. At least, nothing that jumps out at me.
Thanks for comment, I appreciate all your comments!
What I mean is that I used this fanfic to explore and imagine these completely different sides to these characters, possibly having changed after Mockingjay. 
I guess that's what I meant all along.
I know that I can be sooo wordy and I really need to work on that
As to how I changed the characters I want to start off by saying that you are absolutely right. Nowhere in the books does it suggest this fatherly side to Haymitch, as you said, or the fact that Effie didn't actually want to dress up. I also understand when you say that even after Mockingjay you couldn't see these characters change. Being a fanfic, I wanted to take the characters and explore new and different sides to them. As I mention in my description of the story, this is just a 'theory', as in this is just what some part of my imagination thinks that could happen to Haymitch and Effie. People seem to ship them (Hayffie) as they are opposite yet attracting poles, although of course, not everybody sees that or believes in it.
Also, about Effie, I added in that part about her real past in order to connect with the fact that she no longer dressed up. I'm sorry, it's late, I don't know if I'm making sense!
However, being a huge Hunger Games fan, I would never in a million years dream of contradicting Suzanne's work by not being true to it. I realize that it may seem a completely seperate piece of work although I really hope you can try and look at it from a more open-minded perspective. More like, you already have a clear idea of their characters and what would happen to them at the end, but what if...?
Hope this didn't sound too defensive as I did appreciate your criticism! It's helpful to know the different point of views from readers!
Haha, that makes complete sense. And don't get me wrong, the story was well written! Alright, sounds good.
I look forward to hearing more from you. 