DESPITE TRUSTING HAYMITCH TO DO WHAT HE COULD FOR KATNISS, IT DIDN'T HELP THAT HE KNEW HE WOULDN'T BE GOING GO SEE HER UNTIL SHE DECIDED TO COME OUT OF HER ROOM. When it came to mentoring, that was Haymitch's method. He had lost all but one of his couple dozen tributes. Sage hadn't even considered correcting Katniss when she said something. Haymitch had two tributes after he won until Sage won the sixty-eighth games. Haymitch had no intention of getting to know them now. Not until he had to. However, like he had said he would, Sage made his way to the room that had been his during his first train ride to the Capitol. As much as he didn't want to. But Peeta must have known that even Sage didn't want him to win.

Sage couldn't help but think of Deedee. When she went to the Capitol with Sage— she knew that Haymitch was putting his real advice into Sage. She didn't let it show all that much, but it couldn't have been a very motivating feeling to even try in the arena.

The next morning, Sage and Haymitch were joined by Peeta for breakfast. However Katniss didn't emerge from her room until well into the meal.

"Ah, why don't you join us." Haymitch announced as she took a at the end up the table. "I was just giving some lifesaving advice."

"Like what?"

"I was just asking about how to find shelter." Peeta informed her.

Least of your worries, Sage thought to himself. At least Sage thought that, the arena itself and whatever surprises the gamemakers tossed in were the second biggest worry you should have next to getting your hands on something to defend yourself with.

"Which is handy if you make it to nightfall alive," Sage pointed out.

But Katniss nor Peeta were very pleased with the response.

"How do you find shelter?" Katniss pressed further.

Haymitch sighed heavily, "Pass the jam," Haymitch spoke, drawing Katniss's eyes from Sage to her own mentor who gestured to an opened jar.

"How do you find shelter?" Katniss questioned again, this time irritation growing in her voice.

"Give me a chance to wake up, sweetheart." Haymitch told her, earning a scoff from Sage. Neither of them had slept that night. There was no waking up that he had to do. "This mentoring is very taxing stuff." he added while unscrewing the lid from his flask and pouring some into his coffee.

Both of the tributes watched a bit in horror. Peeta offered Sage a glance as if thankful that he was his mentor instead of Haymitch, despite their understanding of one another since their conversation before dinner the night before.

Like Katniss, Sage knocked on the door of Peeta's room. This time he waited for Peeta to allow him in. Once Peeta opened the door, Sage offered him a small smile. A small attempt at assuring him Sage would do the best he could at being his mentor.

"Settling in alright?" Sage question, stepping in and allowing the door to slide closed behind him.

"I guess," Peeta replied, turning and watching Sage walk across the room. Examining everything— it looked like the only thing that had been touched was the curtains.

Sage nodded, "That's good," he sighed, turning back towards Peeta to actually take a good look at him. Compared to the last two boys that Sage had mentored, Peeta looked like he would have had a fair shot. He wasn't as scrawny as a lot of the other boys in Twelve. He didn't have a sunken look on his face— he looked to be in good shape. "You don't have any secret special talents, do you? Anything that could help you? Or help me sell you to sponsors?"

Peeta furrowed his brows together, "You're actually going to try and get me sponsors?"

"Well, seeing as I'm your mentor, that's kind of my job."

"I just figured that Katniss would be your main concern."

Sage crossed his arms, she was his main concern.

"I get it, you don't actually want me to win."

Hearing Peeta say those words stung, they felt like little daggers catching each bit of showing skin.

"If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't want me to win."

Haymitch glanced at Sage, and the Peeta, before glancing at Katniss out of the corner of his eye. He began to slide his hand across the table, reaching for the jar of jam himself. But before his hand could reach it, a butter knife was thrusted into the dinning table just between his finger tips.

"Kat..." Sage muttered quietly as he shook his head, while Effie gave a much more dramatic response.

Her gasp came from the sitting area but seemed to surround them all, "That is mahogany!" she scolded while everyone looked at Katniss, Peeta had more of a shocked, or even scared look on his face. Sage watched Haymitch more closely, who looked at Katniss the same way he looked at Sage when Sage took it upon himself to wake Haymitch up.

"Katniss, his methods might not make sense bu-" Sage began to defend Haymitch.

"No, no, it's fine." Haymitch replied before leaning a bit closer to Katniss. "Well, look at you. You just killed a..." Haymitch yanked the knife out of the table. "Placemat. You really wanna know how to stay alive?" he questioned, glancing at Sage before he looked back at Katniss. "You get people to like you."

Katniss stared back at him, her face showed barely any emotion.

"Ohh, not what you were expecting?" Haymitch questioned before he reached for the jam and used the knife that Katniss had stabbed into the table to begin spreading jam on a piece of toast. "Well, when you're in the middle of the games, and your starving or freezing, some water, a knife, or even some matches can mean the difference between life and death." he paused for a moment, "And where do you get those things, Sage?" he turned to look at Sage, Sage could see the irritation in his eyes.

"Sponsors."

"Very good." Haymitch huffed before turning back to Katniss, "And to get sponsors, you have to get people to like you. And right now, sweetheart, you're not off to a real good start."

Briefly, Sage wanted to tell Haymitch that he had told him so. Katniss had never been a people person, even when she had been a kid. She was stubborn, and hated acting like she was happy about anything that she wasn't thrilled about. She didn't let people walk all over her in school, on more than one occasion either their father or mother would have to go get her and bring her home early because she got into a fight. So it was no surprise to Sage that Katniss already wasn't doing a great job at convincing Haymitch that she was going to even listen to his advice.

"Luckily, you already have a pitch to give. You're Sage's younger sister who volunteered for your younger sister." Haymitch stated.

Sage sighed heavily before he went to take a bite of his food in front of him, but before he could lift his fork up from the plate, Peeta pushed back from the table. Muttering something that Sage couldn't quite catch. Peeta rose to his feet and walked around the table, gawking at the view outside of the window.

"It's huge." he stated, "That's incredible..." he added, glancing back over his shoulder at the others still at the table.

Sage straightened his back, a similar sinking feeling filled him, causing him to lose whatever appetite he had as he caught sight of the towering Capitol buildings that shimmered in the morning sun. "It's something alright..." Sage muttered as the train entered the tunnel that brought them into the Capitol and to the station.

Sage glanced at Haymitch who seemed unamused by their arrival, and then looked at the end of the table and saw Katniss who was sitting upright in her chair. Her eyes watched the windows curiously, but not as awestruck as her district partner who was watching for little glances of the Capitol through the little openings in the tunnel. And as the train began to quickly hult to a smooth stop, the sound of cheering muffled by the train surrounded them. Usually, Sage would have rose to his feet to greet the cheering and colorful crowds with his new tribute. But he couldn't bring himself to do it this year. He couldn't help but wondering if they saw him smiling and waving beside Peeta, if it would affect how they'd see Katniss...

However he still pushed away from the table, and moved to the cart of drinks to get himself one last drink before he had to step off the train. Sage dug into his pocket and pulled out the small bottle, got himself one tablet of morphine and popped it onto his tongue and then as soon as he shoved the bottle back in his pocket he poured himself a shot of whiskey and used it to help the round tablet the rest of the way down his throat.

"–he knows what he's doing."

Sage turned back to the table just as Haymitch set the butterknife back in front of his tribute. His eyes then flickered to Peeta who stood before the window. For a second, he wondered if that was how he had looked when he first arrived at the Capitol. Smiling, waving, unbothered by what he was there for.

AUTHORS NOTE;
Thank you for reading lovelies! I'm loving writing Mentor-Sage so far, I hope ya'll are enjoying it so far too! Please remember to comment, vote, and follow for updates!

Stay Classy!