(no subject)

[mannersmatter]

WHO| EVERYONE
WHAT| Effie is throwing a small scale party for just the tributes.
WHERE| The District 12 suite.
WHEN| Christmas
WARNINGS/NOTES| Secret Santa's are under the cut. Feel free to tag in whether you signed up for secret santa or not.

Effie had tried very hard to make this a party that was actually made for the tributes, not made to show them off.

She had tried very, very hard.

The food was what she had been able to investigate as “home” cooking for those she could track down, an odd arrangement of food that sometimes got close to the tributes home food, and sometimes was a terrible disaster. Blood pudding, for example, was a dish best avoided. But then it usually was.

The best hits reel had been her idea. It took a tense conversation with Haymitch and about 45 minutes to convince her that now, that wasn’t really what any Tribute wanted to see when they were trying to relax.

After that the party was much nicer, mellow music, holiday cheer and, for a holiday party, fairly low key. Lorne had karoke going in one room, while another had a large glittering Christmas tree and mellow music playing, with the District 12 windows wide open to show the snow covered city underneath.

Eliot-Neeshka
Kevin-Lottie
Valeria-Tony
Momoko-Draco
Alpha-Anna
Cinna-Momoko
Epoinine-Alpha
Alex-Jade
Jade-Ariadne
Neeshka-Eliot
Anna-Valeria
Lindsey-Glinda
Glinda-Annie
Ariadne-cinna
Elliot-Alex
Lottie- Eponine
Annie-Jade
Tony-Glinda
Shepard-Lindsey
Draco-Kevin

Comments

[tailforbrains]

Neeshka had finally embraced her wardrobe. Well, not all of it, but she could at least be less picky about it, and she didn't mind so much showing off her belly. It was, after all, a cute sort of belly, right? With a long shimmery vest, a diagonal midriff shirt that went all the way down one arm, and pair of skinny pants, she might not be quite as beruffled and brightly colored as the natives, but she didn't seem entirely out of place and medieval as she used to, either.

The tail and horns still didn't go away, but hey, she liked being unique.

She snorted at the "greatest hits" screens, laughed at finding haggis, of all things, among the offered spoils, and found herself some bubbly champagne and mingled around cheerfully. She'd find Eliot eventually to give him his gift, but that could wait.

[the_marshal]

Suddenly, from behind, there was a gentle tug on her tail, warm and callused fingers there and then gone as quickly as they'd come.

When she turned, she'd find Wyatt, hat in hand, with his eyebrows lifted toward his shining, neatly styled hair and a small, uncertain sort of smile pulling at one corner of his mouth.

[tailforbrains]

"Hey!" Neeshka squeaked, turning around in a quick hop. When she saw who it was, though, her unamused expression turned into a nose-wrinkled grin. "That's attached, you know!" she told him brightly. "Doesn't come off! You're looking good." Better than last time, for sure, and how in the world had he gotten his hair to slick down like that? She wanted to touch it and find out-- give her a minute or two, and she might.

[the_marshal]

"Just checkin'," he teased back, smile widening in response to hers. "Wouldn't want you to lose it."

His cheeks, still slightly damp from his shave, might have reddened a bit at the compliment, but he waved it off quickly - literally, even, gesturing to her with his old hat. "And you, all bright-eyed and bushy tailed."

A sure sight better than when he'd left her in the arena.

(His eyes did flick back up to her face quickly though. The Capitol might have been lax on the manners, but he tried and staring was rude.)

[tailforbrains]

"Aw, bushy-tailed?" Neeshka grinned impishly, and looked over her shoulder at said tail, and her backside, just to make sure it wasn't actually bushy. That'd be funny, if it was, and she wouldn't put it past these capitol people to try and make her grow hair on her tail, or something. "I've had plenty of time to get all settled in again, anyway."

She nudged him lightly with her elbow. "And how're you doing? All recovered, I see, and they did do a good job cleaning you up for the party. Or someone did."

[the_marshal]

He reached up, almost self-conciously, to touch his carefully combed hair lightly before he could stop himself.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd gotten so gussied up. (He didn't count being forced too for Capitol events.)

Cheeks ruddy and his voice gone to gravel (he never knew what to do with this kind of flattery), he shrugged. "It's a special occassion, I reckoned that called for some effort."

if he didn't use any hairspray or anything, I'll edit XD

[tailforbrains]

"A special occasion that's just for us, right?" Neeshka gave in to temptation, after that blush and that self-conscious hair-touch: she stood up on tip-toes, and ruffled his carefully-styled hair.

Or tried to, anyway. "Oh, geez. What did you put in that, Wyatt?" she exclaimed, shaking her hand and laughing incredulously. "It's all-- all-- stiff!" Oil, the only hair-styling product she knew about, certainly didn't do that!

Maybe it's Maybelline.

[the_marshal]

Suddenly, in the face of her laughter, he was twice as self-conscious, uncertain as he was to what it meant.

"Capitol's got some fancy name for it now," he gruffed, leaning slightly to avoid her hands, feeling stupid. "But it's just pomade."

[tailforbrains]

And Neeshka was loving every minute of it. Putting people off-balance was fun, and he was cute when he got all awkward and embarrassed. She prodded him gently with her tail spade. "Hey, pomade's still pretty fancy, to me. I've never even heard of it!"

[the_marshal]

He rubbed the afflicted spot idly with one hand, chased her tail with the other.

"They don't have hair wax where you're from?" he asked, curiosity a comforting balm to his embarrassment. (Some of it at anyways.) "How does a man get presentable there then?"

Come to think of it, he didn't even know where she was from. He wondered if it would be rude to ask.

[retrieverchef]

Eliot made his way over to his giftee. He hadn't really known what to get her, what sort of thing she'd like. But he'd seen her throwing snowballs during the blizzard. And he'd been more than reluctant to use that damn credit card. After his last meeting with that Capitol bitch, the last thing he wanted was to give them anything else to use against him. So he'd made a batch of cookies and packaged them.

"Neeshka, right?" He smiled as he greeted her.

[tailforbrains]

"What-- oh. Hi." Neeshka took a beat to register that this wasn't Lindsey-- she knew about the twins, of course, but she hadn't interacted much with Eliot, so it took a moment to get them straight in her head. There really were quite a few differences, weren't there? How interesting!

Then she grinned. "Yep, that's me. And you're Eliot."

Which meant she had something for him, right back. Hers, sadly, was less tasty than cookies.

[retrieverchef]

He smiled and nodded. "That'd be me," he replied, handing her the package. "I was asked to give you this."

It was technically true. Well, not in the sense he implied and not that package, per se, but he had been asked to give her something. And since this wasn't his first time doing a secret Santa...