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Johanna sits in the dressing room at the studio, getting her makeup done before the show and trying to stay calm. Sep wasn't helping. His usually lax demeanor was absent today, replaced with a tenseness that seemed unnatural on him, and he kept pacing behind her, which was distracting as she watched him in the mirror. "We can't fuck this up," he says, as he's been saying all week.
"We?" she says, a little annoyed, since ultimately it's her out there, on the camera, hosting the show. It's her face broadcast to Panem.
He pauses, coming to lean against the counter so he can look her in the eyes. "Who taught you how to smize?" he asks. "Who taught you how to get the District 1 ratings up by changing your laugh? And appealing to District 5 with those special greetings? The whole country loves you and why? Because of me!"
She has to admit it's the truth. She has no idea what the other Districts like, she barely knows what the Capitol likes. Without Sep to guide her every step of the way, she would have failed at the show several times over by now. And now, in the third season, she is about to start her biggest challenge yet, and she knows she would fail it without his guidance. In fact, she still might. "I feel like I'm going to be sick," she says, leaning back in the chair, earning a cluck of disapproval from the stylist who had been working on her makeup.
"No, none of that. Imagine how nervous your guests are," Sep says.
Johanna has been clean from morphling since the Games, after the overdose during the Opening Ceremonies. She'd still had alcohol from time to time, but she wouldn't dare try to host the show drunk. So it's a very sober, terrible anxiety that courses through her now.
The third, current season of Capitol Gains has a new conceit: the guests would come from all over Panem. They would be carefully selected, no radicals or rebel sympathizers, of course, but all 12 Districts plus the Capitol could apply to have contestants on the show. As far as Johanna knew, it was just about the only way to come and see the Capitol and to be on National television without being in the Games.
Her first contestants are from District 4, two fisherman and a school teacher, and they had taken the train in and been given the typical Capitol treatment all day: fancy meals and a tour of the famous buildings, before being fancied up for the recording that evening. After, they would be shipped back home, one of them a bit richer.
But for Johanna, the pressure was on. These were not Capitolites, trained to say the right things, or not to say too much. They were not trained to understand that a camera meant that what they did and said would be recorded forever. She needed to be cautious with the guests from the Districts, recognizing they could go off-script and she would have to wrangle them back. She could not use Capitol-specific jokes, and she wouldn't know their jokes. She still needed to find common ground and make for an entertaining program for all of Panem. And she needed to make sure it was to Snow's liking.
All of the prize money going to the Districts was about all she could hope for, and so Johanna appreciated the change, but it made her nervous nonetheless. As a producer ushers her backstage for the final checks, Sep follows, muttering final advice into her ear. "District 4 absolutely adores Mags and Finnick. The people there are famous for over-salting their food because they make so much salt there. The trident is sort of an in-joke with them, now. Talk to them about swimming, since most of us are kinda shit at it."
She nods, barely absorbing any of it, and then she is shoved onto the soundstage. It's her usual set: the little podium that provided a shelf but had a thin base so as not to block her outfit, the box of buttons so she could select right and wrong answers, the three desks for the contestants to stand behind, the scoreboard. It is all the same, but with some new upgrades for season 3.
There is a map on one wall, showing all of Panem, today's episode had District 4 glowing, indicating where the contestants hailed from. The wheel for Philanthropy Friday is gone. Every day is philanthropy now, by the Capitol standards. And yet the audience is still here. People from the Districts are rare enough that they are curious, eager to see new specimens, and they have packed in for the season premiere.
"Welcome back to Capitol Gains!" she says, and they cheer. "I'm your host, Johanna Mason. Please welcome to the stage our contestants, coming all the way from District 4… Perch, Garrick, and Endivia!"
Somehow she makes it through, gaining momentum as she goes. She realizes that she does know more about District 4 than she thought: that all the time she used to spend with Finnick had resulted in him telling her quite a bit about his home, and so between the quiz questions, she is able to joke and chat quite easily with her contestants. And where she doesn't know something, she asks them an easy question, something she knows the Capitolites would love to know: 'What did you enjoy most about your visit today?' or 'What is your favorite food back home?'
She avoids asking them what they want to spend the prize money on, afraid that if they were anything like the people in District 7, it would be on necessities, on food and medicine and heat for the winter. Afterwards, once the cameras are off, she shakes their hands, thanking them for being on the show. "I'm glad I could come," the woman says, "Even if I didn't win. My daughter was begging me to apply. She loves watching you every night."
Johanna is surprised by this, that there's a little girl from a District with Finnick and Annie and Mags who wants to see her, but is even more taken aback when the woman pulls out a pen and her show notes. "Will you sign this for me? She'd be delighted." Johanna obliges, asking the girl's name to address her properly in the message.
And so it goes, for months and months, 5 nights per week she sees contestants from the Districts, sending someone home with prize money. The Capitolites love it, seeing new and interesting people, and Snow seems happy with the arrangement, or at least, Sep continues to tell her that the ratings are good and that the Capitol people on the broadcasting board are happy. She wonders what it's all for, this persona she's building, and the show being broadcast around Panem, but no one invites her to the rooms where those types of decisions are made.
She sees Enobaria as often as she can, usually two or three nights a week, enjoying a late night meal or at least a drink, and then getting into bed with her. Sometimes they have sex, sometimes they're too exhausted. But it's so nice to not be alone, and to have someone who actually cares about her.
"I think Cash is sleeping with Brutus," Enobaria says, one night as they lay in bed, pressed close together. Johanna is still too wired to sleep, even though it's well past midnight.
"No way."
"Yes," Enobaria insists. "Maybe for a while now, but I hadn't noticed."
"Well, must be annoying to be so hot and have so few options," Johanna says, earning herself a poke in the side from Enobaria.
"I could say the same about you," Enobaria says, leaning over to kiss her on the neck.
Johanna laughs, leaning back into the contact. "Maybe not me, but definitely you. That's why you're here, right? Limited options?"
Enobaria tugs on Johanna's shoulder until she falls onto her back and they are making eye contact again. "Of course not," Enobaria says. "Being close to anyone as a Victor is dangerous, I don't take that lightly. I'm not here because of any petty reason."
Johanna nods, too afraid her words will sound frivolous compared to the seriousness with which Enobaria was speaking.
"I watched your show tonight," Enobaria continues, reaching over to stroke Johanna's hair. "You were kind to those women from 2."
"Of course," Johanna says, because that was her job.
"They were loyalists, they would sell you out in a moment if they knew you had any rebel ideas."
"Of course," Johanna says again. "But I'm not going to make a scene on national television." And the turns her head away, not exactly to avoid Enobaria, but maybe to break her gaze, a bit. "I don't think you could call me a rebel anymore, anyways" she says, and it breaks her heart to say it.
But it's true, she can't deny it. None of the rebels ever spoke with her about their plans anymore. She understood why: she was too enmeshed in Snow's ecosystem, perhaps in a way that could be useful, but no one had figured out how yet. And she'd gone so long isolated from the others, and so long living her Capitol life, that even her thoughts had shifted. From ideas that things needed to change badly, and as soon as possible, to perhaps it wouldn't be horrible if she could scrape out a life like this. She knows in her heart that things need to change, that District 7 is impoverished and miserable while the Capitol has excesses abounding, but change means war and war means death and after the Games, death becomes harder to swallow. The devil you know, and all that.
Enobaria continues running her fingers through Johanna's hair, quiet for a moment. "Maybe not now, but I think they can count on you when it matters," she says. Johanna wonders if this is true. She imagines Haymitch calling in a favor, asking her to… to what? She can't even imagine what the rebels would want from her anymore. She shrugs, frustrated with her own uselessness, just a smiling, happy pawn of Snow's.
"What will that woman spend her money on?" Johanna asks, trying to change the subject.
Enobaria laughs a little, taking a deep breath as she considers. "Loyalists never spend money on anything fun," she says. "Grain, probably. Maybe a first aid kit. Ammunition. New boots."
"Sounds wise," Johanna says.
"Yes. Probably. People like them are always preparing for things to turn even worse. But if I didn't have Victor money, if I just lived in 2 and I got a windfall like that… I'd buy wine. And all my favorite foods for my family to eat. And I'd probably throw a party for all my friends and neighbors. Money like that comes, and then it goes, you know?"
Johanna wonders what she would do in the winner's shoes. It's hard to imagine, because it's hard to imagine herself embedded in her District again. Did she still have a family? Any friends? Has she never used morphling? It's an impossible task, so she thinks about Enobaria's answer instead. Enobaria had implied Loyalists hoard the money, so did that make Enobaria a rebel? It seemed like an impossible thing for a Career to be, but then again, she thought that she would never be friends with Enobaria, let alone her lover. "I bet you'd throw a great party," is all she says in reply, and it's the truth.
The Victory Tour is a relief, in a way, when it finally comes. Enobaria had begun to feel stir crazy in the Capitol, with nothing but the synthetic buildings and synthetic bodies around her, and endless tasks of reading the news and pleasuring Capitolites who saw her as an eccentricity. Among them was Seneca Crane, who she was assigned to get close to, and she didn't mind the task, exactly - he wasn't a particularly cruel man, at least - but it was still sex she didn't want to have with someone she didn't care for, someone who ran the Hunger Games, in the end.
So when the Victory Tour rolls around, she expects to have to plead with Brutus to let her go, to tell him how much she needs to get out of the Capitol, but he defers before she even opens her mouth.
He wants time with Cashmere, Enobaria understands that, and he also needed extra time to record his show. Brutus's show was a "challenge" concept, where each episode revolved around him facing some challenge: strength, eating, poise, etc. Because he had to travel and learn new skills for many episodes, it was more involved than the recordings Enobaria and Johanna did, and he was dedicated to making a good product. "You go," Brutus tells her, the night they talk. "I have already been on two Victory Tours."
She realized a few months ago that he and Cashmere had a relationship of sorts, but now that she has noticed, it's impossible not to see. She's happy for them, even if she doesn't really understand the match, but she watches as Brutus happily listens to Cashmere talk as they sunbathe on the roof, and Cashmere excitedly reacts as Brutus lists the things he wants to do with her on their next day off.
And so Enobaria goes with Amycus on the Tour, the boy still shellshocked from his win, but pleased, she can tell. He is a Career - this is what he trained for. Of course, nothing can prepare you for actually being in the arena - she is certain he did not anticipate having to smash another child's head in with a brick - but he's had a few months back home, time for that memory to fade and for friends and family to reassure him of his heroics.
He's polite and well-spoken, though a little shy, and Enobaria remembers that she had thought the girl tribute had a better chance when the Games started. He doesn't particularly want to say words at each stop, but Enobaria and their escort, Chimera, help compose them.
They stop first in District 12, and she assures him that things will get easier. That District 12 has had no winners since the 50th, and they're not due for any soon. The people are thin and coal-stained, and they gather for the ceremony with melancholy expressions. Enobaria sees Haymitch near the right side of the crowd and figures they'll need to talk privately, later, since it doesn't seem like they'll be invited to any sort of tour or special meal.
So later, past dark, once Amycus has fallen asleep, she tells Chimera she's taking a walk and does, wandering all the way to the Victor's Village. There's only one house with any light in the windows, and she knocks gently on the door.
Haymitch opens the door after a few seconds, smelling lightly of alcohol but not looking drunk. "You alone?" he asks.
"Yeah."
He steps back to let her in. There's empty bottles lined up on the kitchen counter, an empty plate on the coffee table before the television, which was now on mute. There is a threadbare sofa and a rocking chair, little other furniture, and a hotplate and a small icebox in the kitchen. Austere, but it was a home. "I don't have much to offer, unless you like white liquor."
She crinkles her nose as the very suggestion. "I don't need a drink," she says, and takes the seat he offers, in the rocking chair. He looks well enough, but she thinks he just might be groomed for the Victory Tour, with a fresh haircut and his best clothes. She wonders what he looked like last week. "I've been seeing Crane," she says, deciding to get right to business. "He seems fond of me, at least. He's very, very curious about the Victors, loves talking about that."
Haymitch rolls his eyes, as if he expects such behavior. "Please, indulge him a little longer," he says. "We need him to trust you during the next Games, in case we need to make a request of him."
Enobaria wonders if she has this much sway with the Head Gamemaker, and thinks she might, actually. If she phrased the request correctly, or put it indirectly to make it think it was his idea, she could probably get him to do a lot of things. It's tempting to want to try something on her own, but she is from District 2, she knows to operate with orders. "Do you know what you'll need to do?" she asks, curious.
Haymitch shakes his head. "Take down Johanna, for one thing," he says.
Enobaria has no idea what he's talking about, and doesn't like the way this sounds. "What? Why?"
Haymitch smiles a bit, and Enobaria shrinks back, like he's seen too much of her. "Sorry, forgot she's your girlfriend," he says, a hint of an amused smile on his face. "But we've created a monster."
"What are you saying?" She's deciding how long she wants to tolerate him before she punches him in the face. She's done his bidding, trusted him as a rebel, and now he's turned on Johanna?
He sighs, as if figuring out how to explain a concept to a small child. "You are in the Capitol all the time, you don't see it, but you will, now that you're on the Victory Tour. Johanna is popular. Beloved even. Snow has created a tool to make the Districts think the Capitol cares about them and their thoughts."
"And Finnick caused this," she surmises.
"He didn't cause this, but he sure didn't help," Haymitch says. It seems that he would not put this on Finnick, much as Enobaria would be willing to. "Snow did this, intentionally and cleverly, taking Johanna out of the rebels' hands and making her a Capitol darling."
"So what are you going to do?"
He shrugs. "I've been asking myself that for a year, ever since I came back here and all anyone wanted to do was turn the TV on to watch Jo every night. We can't get her to act on any rebel instructions. Snow would kill her in an instant, and then blame the rebels, saying 'Look! They killed your precious host!' And people would despise us. He still might try it for less."
The thought that Snow might kill Johanna just to drum up District sympathy hadn't occurred to her. "I'll tell her not to try anything," she says.
He gestures at nothing with his hands, indicating how tied he feels. "The only thing I can think of is that we need something to counter her, someone the Districts can get behind on the other side. But who that is, and how they would reach the whole country, hell if I know."
Enobaria chews on the problem for a minute, knowing Johanna's life hangs in the balance. She should have known their life in the Capitol was too good to be true. Snow is keeping her around for what? To read the news? To keep an eye on her, most likely. And he's keeping Johanna around to keep the Districts loyal. "One of the Tributes," she says. "The Games are the only other thing broadcast nationally. It has to be one of the Tributes."
"A kid?"
She shrugs. "Why not?" What did all the Districts have in common? Sending children to the Games. "That's what's evil about the Capitol, isn't it? Slaughtering kids?"
Haymitch gives her a look as if to say: there's a lot of evil in the Capitol, but he concedes. "I'll think about it. Talk to Jo, when you're back. Tell her to watch herself."
She nods, getting up to leave. She walks back through District 12 carefully in the dark, aware of all of the sights and smells and sounds that were so different from the Capitol. She could see dirt on the ground, coal on the jackets discarded on the porch rails. She could see broken things, old things, sights that would never occur in the Capitol. It is nice to see something different for a change, to remember the rest of Panem.
And Haymitch's words ring true as she continues the Victory Tour. Everywhere they go, televisions turn on at the evening hour to watch Johanna present Capitol Gains. Their hosts will try to guess the answers before the contestants, sometimes groups will compete to see who's earning more hypothetical money. If they stay in a District that is the same as the contestants on that night, everyone will gather in a pub to watch, excited to cheer on their neighbors.
By the time she gets to District 7, Amycus has gotten the hang of the Victory Tour, and Enobaria has a little more freedom to explore. She sees Blight and the more reclusive Victor from District 7, who she learns is named Jackson. They invite her for dinner after the ceremony, and she realizes they don't invite Chimera and Amycus, so she excuses herself and follows them back to their Victor's Village.
She sees what must be Johanna's house, with a boarded up window. There are now little trinkets outside of it: little figures of her made from clay, squares made up to look like the question categories, plenty of little saplings in the garden outside. But she only loiters for a minute, going into Blight's house instead.
"Haymitch says you've been helping the rebels," Blight says, looking at her a little skeptically, but his gaze softening quickly. He pours her wine while Jackson stays in the living room, turning on the television. It's Johanna, of course it's Johanna, but for once she's in Johanna's District.
She nods, just a bit, to let him know that she is, but her eyes stay glued to the screen. Johanna is smiling, greeting the three people from District 10, explaining the rules of the game, asking them about their day in the Capitol. "He says she's become Loyalist propaganda," she says, sipping the wine.
Blight clicks his tongue, setting a dish down on the table. "If she is, that's their fault. Not looking out for her properly, always prioritizing someone else." He sighs. "Though it's my fault as well."
Jackson puts the cigarette in the ashtray and comes to sit, turning the television up enough that they can hear it. He's old, his hair and beard graying, and he watches her with the same knowing look as Haymitch, though he holds his tongue.
During the meal, there's a commotion from behind them, and they all turn to the television. Jackson abandons the table, rushing back to the living room, and Blight and Enobaria follow. One of the contestants was arguing, yelling even. "You don't care!" he was saying. "You got yours, and now you're satisfied. Why are you asking about our food? Because they told you to? You're not going to come visit District 10 anytime soon, are you?"
The three of them stand transfixed, watching, as Johanna steps closer. She had been at the contestants desks, interviewing them, but now she comes around to his side, and Enobaria can't breathe. "You're on national television," she says. "Don't you want to share your favorite things about your District with others across Panem?"
He considers this for a moment, and then instead, in what feels like a slowed down moment, he shoves her into the desk and Enobaria watches as she hits her head, falling to the ground, her head bleeding as the camera continues to run. The man takes the microphone that's fallen from her hand and walks towards the camera, and Enobaria realizes that he came to the conclusion that her saying they were on national television meant this was his one and only opportunity to say his piece in front of the whole nation.
But the show cuts out, and there's nothing more to see. She assumes he is arrested, the other two are probably taken for questioning as well. Johanna will probably be patched up and good as new in a day or two, but Enobaria's all the way in District 7, she doesn't know for sure. She can't calm down, and she wants to pace, so she walks back to the dining room, grabbing her glass of wine that she had abandoned earlier.
Blight raises his eyebrows, tapping his bag of tobacco, and she nods.
They stand outside on the chilly porch, smoking side by side, and all she can see is Johanna, bloody and unconscious on her television screen. She was watching a game show, not the Hunger Games. But it brought back what Haymitch said: that Snow would kill Johanna for nothing and blame it on the rebels. She shudders to think that this was all a plant, that this was all set up just to build sympathy. Because it had worked. She sees it now: how effective the silly show was. All across Panem, thousands of people were probably worried about Johanna's well-being, not about the man who was probably trying to bring an audience to the plights facing District 10, to the hunger, the suffering, the change that was needed: rebel ideologies. He was the villain. She was a victim. And even though Enobaria wants Snow dethroned, even though she's sleeping with a vile man to try to bring about a rebellion, she can't say she's immune.