(no subject)

[gamemakers]

WHO| Everyone!
WHAT| A Halloween Ball
WHEN| Halloween night
WHERE| The Tribute Center
WARNING/NOTES| None atm. Please tag in your subject lines if anything comes up.

The Capitol had been winding up to this for weeks. More and more extravagant decorations had begun to appear all over the city. Gruesome alleys dripping with gore, houses transformed into creaking, ancient cobweb covered dwellings, flickering ghosts haunting windows and doorways. The citizens themselves had becomes more and more extravagant as the days crept closer, dripping in glitters spiderwebs, hair teased to coil around pumpkins and crows, and decked out in meticulous costumes, often celebrating past victors, and even current tributes.

The ball at the Tribute Training Center wasn't anywhere near the only party that night, but it was the most extravagant, and the most sought after. The decorations had gone towards the classic (perhaps the goverment realizing other areas might move too close to home.) The building had been transformed into a spooky, ancient looking mansion, over taken by spiders and lit with flickering candles everywhere. The tables were spread with unimaginable heaping of treats, from grotesqueness mock organs to sparkling jewel colored sugar covered candies. Avoxs move about, for once literally ghosts, covered in their own shrouds of spider webs and sheer gauze, holding plates of smoking drinks.

Attendance for the Tributes was mandatory. As were costumes. And oh boy did their stylists go all out for this one. It was a parade and a party all rolled into ones and they weren't going to slack on that.

Comments

[mannersmatter]

Effie gingerly pressed one of the jewels decorating her cheeks into her skin. It had come loose, and although she had a little tube of glue tucked into her costumes, she didn't really want to rush off to the bathroom to remove on little jem.

But it would not stay put.

She could just pull it off, she supposed. But she was painted a lovely, pearly white, and she was sure, if the paint didn't come off fully with the little gem, it would certainly smudge there. And although she also had a small tube of the make up it just wouldn't looks the same.

So that left her sitting here, pressing the gem on and just hoping desperately it would stay put. Not touching it at all might be the best plan. However, if it fell off and she lost it, her make up would be ruined for the night.

Maybe she should just go glue it back on.

[mudbloodhater]

"I can't believe you've decorated yourself like that."

Perhaps not the best greeting, but it did him well enough. Besides, there was only so much one man could take, and Draco had been pushed to his limit by the fact that he couldn't even do so much as a proper Summoning charm while on his own. Besides, Effie was one of the few people he actually saw often enough to feel comfortable being slightly less than the charming facade he put on for the Capitol while there.

[mannersmatter]

"We are themed together, Draco dear." She said distractedly.

Draco was...something else. Unlike any tribute Effie had dealt with. But in part because well...he was quite a bit more like someone who belonged in the Capitol.

And that Effie could handle.

[mudbloodhater]

He rolled his eyes at her 'dear' comment, deciding right off the bat that she was like a nicer version of his mother. Right down to the attempts to make sure he was dressed nicely and watched his mouth. Thankfully, they weren't actually related.

"I still don't have jewels stuck to my face. Whose idea was it to theme everyone together?" Draco asked, making a face as he stared out at the crowd now, having a feeling it would be very easy to figure out who was District 12.

[mannersmatter]

"Mine."

And she gave him a look that suggested he better be please as punch that she had come up with such a wonderful idea.

[mudbloodhater]

He continued staring out at the crowd instead, pursing his mouth to keep from saying anything unfortunate. At least he knew well enough to know not to say something to Effie, of all people. Even the stylists could take his comments better than she could.

So he held his tongue, swiping a drink from a passing waitress, and then another for good measure. The second, he offered to her by way of peace offering, though his silence and the pinched look on his face probably told her exactly what he thought of her idea.

[mannersmatter]

Anyone passing by to those matching pursed faces might also assume they were related. But when he took the drink, her face relaxed a bit, and she gave him a gracious smile.

He could learn.

It was more than she could say for the rest of her team.

"So, I mean...besides certain things, how are you settling in?"

[mudbloodhater]

Draco was, after all, young and impressionable, and had been raised by a mother who would never let him have a drink while a lady went without (unless she had openly stated she didn't want one, of course). He could indeed learn, even if he didn't want to.

He sniffed, settling for a long sip of his drink. "Fine. I suppose. At least some of this isn't quite so different from back home." Even if he couldn't use his magic. That was the worst part of all of this.

[mannersmatter]

"Oh really? What is home like?"

Effie would admit, she did find all these worlds fascinating. She had always enjoyed history, and it was sort of like having many different histories to study. Different worlds with different ways.

[mudbloodhater]

"Well, I don't know. It's home. That's all it is," he replied, frowning over his glass. "I've never had to describe to to someone before; they always just know."

It was more the feelings that it evoked that what it actually was like, anyway, but he couldn't put words to that either.

[mannersmatter]

"Well, you'll want to tell everyone about it. Catch their attention. make them want to listen."

She was proud of herself, turning this into a lesson and a social event.

[tailforbrains]

The sparkly of the little gems had caught someone's eye, anyway. Neeshka would happily break from her costume-induced sulk to investigate something that looked valuable. So she sidled up to the elaborately made-up lady to have a closer look, trying not to look too interested in the bit of sparkle. She did a halfway-decent job, for once... possibly helped by the fact that she was dressed up like an angel, herself: fluffy fake wings, gold leaf halo, short white tunic that showed off her legs (and tail, but they couldn't well chop it off, after all), and even blue hair dye and face-powder, which had since become a bit smudged itself to reveal the ruddy skin underneath.

"What exactly are you made up as?" she had to ask, first of all. Hey, it worked as an opener, right?

[mannersmatter]

"Ah, a unicorn!"

The costumes ideas were hers (with Cinna and Portia's help, of course), and she was quite proud of them. Especially her own.

If only the other...well, that was not a thought for tonight. Tonight was for having fun, and Effie wasn't going to have her favorite holiday ruined by cloudy thoughts.

"An angel, yes?"

[tailforbrains]

Neeshka wrinkled her nose at the reminder. "Yeah, an angel. Even a unicorn'd be better. It's almost enough to make me itchy." Not really. Since it wasn't really magic or celestially aligned, it was really just all psychological for her, but it did still make her uncomfortable.

Besides, with a unicorn, she'd get to wear all those sparklies. "Are those real?" she asked, peering at the gem in Effie's hands.

[mannersmatter]

"Oh, is it the wings?" Effie asked, peering at her to try to figure out what, exactly, could be itchy about the costume. Maybe the maybe the make up. There was a lot of it...

"Oh, I don't think so. Just rhinestones." She said, shaking her head as her finger reached up to nudge the lose one, before she stopped herself.

[tailforbrains]

"What's a rhinestone?" Neeshka asked blankly, looking from the gem to Effie's eyes again. She understood colored glass for fake gems, but she'd never actually heard the word "rhinestone" before. And despite it seeming a bit silly to wear real gems plastered on your face, everything was so decadent here that the tiefling really wouldn't put it past them to do it.

[mannersmatter]

"A fake gem stone. A very good fake." She gestured to her face. "We could have easily used real ones, but when using so many, and wit such chance of them falling off, it just seemed smarter."

She didn't want anyone thinking they were cheap.

[tailforbrains]

"Oh." Neeshka looked visibly deflated, at that, and folded her arms uncomfortably, once again aware of the stupid outfit more than her chance of making a score. She rallied enough to make a disgruntled comment, though: "Well, that's disappointing. I thought you guys, you know, threw expensive stuff at everything."

[mannersmatter]

"Well, they're not cheap." Effie said, clearly slightly ruffled by that comment. She was never cheap.

"But there's a difference between being cheap and just being impractical."

[tailforbrains]

Neeshka rolled her eyes, arms still crossed and looking a bit pouty, truth be told. "Oh, nobody would want their costume to be called cheap, oh no!" Because that wasn't obvious or anything. "So tell me, how much would one of your rhinestones go for, if I-- or you, or anybody, were going to take it to a jeweler to sell?"

[mannersmatter]

"They're not that kinda of expensive. They're like...like makeup."

She was obviously beginning to become exasperated, not sure how to explain this to the other woman.

[punchdrunkvictory]

"What the hell are you doing princess?"

No. He knew what she was doing. Why he was asking was what he didn't know. Although to be honest, he didn't want to know much of anything right now. His legs were hot and itchy from the fur she'd made him wear and the horns sat uncomfortably on his head.

He was dressed as a satyr. Whatever the hell that was. And it was all her fault. So Haymitch was determined to be the ever present thorn in her side this evening. And the best way to do that was to get as drunk as possible.

[mannersmatter]

"It won't stick."

There was a bit of a whine in her voice that she wouldn't really show to anyone else. She looked up at him, an annoyed frown on his face.

"Oh! Glue it back on for me, will you."

[punchdrunkvictory]

Oh his dumb little escort.

"You want me to fix your make up?" Was she really serious about that? He couldn't tell. Then again, while Effie might be dumb, she was sincere in her...dumbness. As sincere as a superfical Capitolite could he guessed anyway.

"I don't even know how this works and you want me to fix it?"

Okay so maybe he was a little dumb from being drunk right now too.

[mannersmatter]

"Oh, Haymitch, don't be so..."

She let out an exasperated little huff, plucking the gem stone from her cheek, and holding it upside down on her finger, so the smooth side could have glue applied to it.

"All you have to do is press the stone to my face. See," She pulled out the little tube, gently pinning the cap between her teeth to unscrew it, and applying a tiny dot of glue. "I even put the glue on for you! I just can't see if I am putting it in the right place."

Really Haymitch, it wasn't rocket surgery.