The Victor is...

[gamemakers]

Who| EVERYONE. IC participation is mandatory (OOC is not, you may handwave)
What| Momoko's victory crowning
Where| The ball room
When| The Wednesday before the next arena.
Warnings/Notes| None atm.

The party was styled for Momoko.

The tables were covered in lace, delicate dishes and silverware, flowers that fell from vases covered in Victorian paintings. It was the most extravagant tea party to ever be thrown, with tiny, thin china cups and a too many tiny little finger foods being passed around to count. The ballroom has been styled in extravagant Baroque, as the Capitol was fairly liberal with their adaption of historical time periods.

The costumes were just as liberally chosen, from tall, powdered wigs holding birdcages with live birds, clearly hailing in the style of Marie Antoinette to regency gowns gathered under daringly (and occasionally outright) exposed busts to tight corsets and the skeletons of skirts exposed and decorated. A quarter played live music at one end of the room, before a wide dance floor.

At the head of the room there was a long table with a throne for Momoko, as elaborate as anything else in the room. And along the long table, group close to those who they seemed to enjoy, was a place for many of the Tributes, with a small place card that said "Special guest of The Capitol." This table was fed first, received drinks first, and was clearly favored.

Any Tributes not seated at the long table with their peers were dispersed among the the smaller table spread about the room, left to rub elbows with the guests invited from the Capitol, and the reporters covering the event. Security was, if anything, tighter than the last crowning.

These people have seats a the big kids table. You guys are free to decide who sits by who (And if three people sit by one person, don't worry too much about it) but they are, when possible set by their friends:

Atticus Bell
Draco Malfoy
Chibi-Usa
Dr. Grey
Adel
Tony Stark
Howard Bassem
Javert Neeshka
Vanessa Carlysle
Lindsey McDonald
R
Albert Wesker
K
Alpha
Diana
Katurian
Aunamee
Maximus
Blaine Anderson
Alex Rider
Glinda
Gaila
Parker
John Watson
Lottie LaBouff

Comments

[gruesome]

Some was an eternal trial to his stylist, particularly for themed events like this one. There was no way to make a 'giant hairy stick-bug,' as he'd heard her call him to one of her team, complement a setting like this one. But she had done her best, all the same. He wore a close-fitted jacket in a pale green, its squared hem cut to allow for his shape and heavy with scrolling black embroidery. There was more green on his face, carefully painted onto his fur to create the illusion that he wore an intricate mask, even hinting that there might be a human face beneath. The crest of fur on his head had been combed up and made to stay that way, gold-brown streaks bleached into it and a spray of pale, long leaves woven into it to dangle down by his face.

He'd hoped to sit beside Lottie, but she'd been invited to the top table and he had not. So he did not look forward to awkward conversations about food with whomever he wound up beside.

[teethofneedles]

Karis, as was rather typical of her, hadn't bothered to stick with her assigned seating. She'd prowled off, ostensibly to find the drinks, but really to see what else was going on in the giant hall. Much like Some, her stylists tended to despair when it came to her - she was all rotting flesh, bony arms and decay - but they'd managed to get her into a conservative dress with scarlet trim and lace. They'd even managed to get her hair into something resembling complacency. They really couldn't hide her teeth, though, as much as they'd like to.

She flopped into a seat next to Some with a rude gesture at a group of staring Capitol citizens and then glanced at her new neighbor. "Well, aren't you a pretty one."

Not that she can really tell about the colors. She's colorblind, after all.

This is either going to be awesome or awfully awesome.

[gruesome]

There was no point in hiding Some's, not when there was the whole rest of him. He blinked down at her, no two pairs of eyes closed at once, and tilted his head, trying not to sniff too noticeably.

"... Are you all right?"

Yeeep.

[teethofneedles]

Karis arched a brow and eyed him with a scowl, "No, I'm stuck in a fancy-dress party. I'm probably gonna die of boredom."

She groaned and stretched her arms out above her head, "I just wanna get to the fighting bits."

/friends you on plurk.

[gruesome]

"They aren't any fun," he said coolly, still more than a little bitter. "I've been in three. The parties are boring, but at least no one's dying here."

He hoped.

/o/

[teethofneedles]

"I dunno. Murdering people for entertainment is practically a past-time back home, might as well do it here, too."

Karis' expression turned into a rather nasty-looking grin, accompanied by a gravely, harsh chuckle. She glanced out over the room of teeming humanity and then back to Some with a deceptively innocent expression.

"Well, I could change that, but I don't think anyone would really appreciate blood on the tablecloths."

[gruesome]

He let himself lean noticeably away from her.

"No, not tonight. They execute people who kill outside the games, I've seen them do it."

[teethofneedles]

Karis noticed and actually followed him, leaning closer. Personal space was for losers.

"Lame. Breathers are all squeamish about that kinda thing. But hey, seen one bloody dismemberment, you've seen 'em all?"

She grinned at him again, putting her teeth on display, "So, what's your name, beastie?"

[gruesome]

He bared his nervously back, both mouths drawn tight. "Some. Some ovMennet. I belong to District Eight." And he hoped very much that she did not, though he didn't say so aloud. "How long have you been here?"

[teethofneedles]

Hey, look, he has a bit of a spine! She chuckled again and drew back slightly. She repeated his name once or twice, rolling it around, letting it flow off of her tongue, "Some, Some, Some. Can I call you Sommy? You know, just for short. Between friends."

There was a beat and then she added, "Oh, right. Karis Needleteeth. District 10, been here all of a week or two, I think."

[gruesome]

His outermost two pairs of eyes scanned the room near them, hoping none of the Capitol's reporters had heard that. "No, it is only Some, please. Sommy would be longer. And wrong."

[teethofneedles]

"I'm gonna call you Sommy!" Karis nodded firmly, as if the matter was already decided.

"I think it fits you. Hell, we could even up the ante, call you Sunny instead."

[gruesome]

"... No," he said, voice gone distinctly cold. "Are names not important to... whatever you are?"

[battroll]

"I'll say one thing for this place," Bruce said, more conversationally than might be expected, when he first saw who else was sitting at the small table everyone seemed to be pointing him towards. "You meet the most interesting people."

He was watching Some a little warily as he pulled out his chair to sit, but was doing so as unobtrusively as possible. He'd seen the footage of the games, of course, so he'd seen this... being? before, even if he hadn't met him. He just wasn't sure what to do about it. And here....

"How much is part of the costume?"

[gruesome]

Some glanced back to make certain his tail was out of anyone's way as Bruce sat down, and remembered to smile as he looked back up. This time, he was careful only to let one mouth show any teeth.

"Mine? Ah... just the coat. And the paint," he added, self-consciously touching his face. "I think it could have been much worse-" He cut himself off, actually looking at what the newcomer was wearing. "Ah... My apologies."

[battroll]

Bruce smiled, a little wryly.

"Don't worry, I've already seen a mirror. Though I'm really beginning to think I'm going to have to find a way to steal this costume when everything is done, just so I can burn it.

"Of course, I guess even I don't have the worst of it. I still can't believe what some of these people wear - most of them voluntarily."

Bruce was watching him, more sharply than it would appear - especially now. He felt like a doll, painted and covered with ruffles. Which was, of course, the intended effect.

[gruesome]

"Be glad that the parties have slowed down. They used to be just nearly non-stop. And clothing is supposed to be the specialty of my district. Or- not my district; I've still never been there," he corrected himself.

[battroll]

There's a pause as Bruce considers that.

"Well, I suppose it's not that much worse than some of the crazier themed parties back home, but..." He shudders, a little theatrically. "If there used to be that many more of these, I'm glad that I'm a relatively new arrival." For reasons different than the obvious ones - he also didn't have to die. Of course, that almost didn't matter; dying hadn't hurt much, and he'd rather die than have another die so he might live.

It was almost funny, that this... being was representing the district whose specialty was clothing, when its costume was so scant.

"From what I've been able to pick up, I think I'm in it for transportation."

[gruesome]

"I've been wondering how they choose who to give to which district. My kind doesn't even wear clothes. And I am guessing you know nothing particular about transportation?" he asked, stumbling just a little over the last word. English was clearly not his first language, but one he'd learned decently. "And they don't care to teach us about those things, just to send us off..." He trailed off, aware enough to be sheepish.

"I'm sorry. This last one was a difficult Arena."

[battroll]

"I know some, but you probably couldn't call it a specialty." He certainly knew less about it than he did some other fields - electronics, for example. There was a reason the Batmobile had a mechanic, a reason he didn't simply fix everything himself. He could learn, certainly, but he'd never been given cause.

The way he pronounced things was interesting, and clearly foreign - but also, it seemed, a subject for another time.

"You don't have anything to apologize for." His voice is a little grimmer. "I suppose in one sense I got off lucky - I'd barely arrived before someone killed me." And it had been odd, how familiar it felt to die.

[gruesome]

He couldn't help but grimace. "How wrong it is that I'm a little jealous. The dying is horrible, and I should rather stay there to help my friends, but I still would rather be here than there."

[battroll]

"It wasn't as bad as I was expecting. It's ridiculous to say, but I think I've had worse." He smiles, just a little, slightly bewildered.

[gruesome]

Some picked up his glass of water, with a small gesture of a toast. "Let us hope it will always be quick," he said, both his voices gone dry.

[battroll]

Bruce inclined his glass in return, but didn't drink. "If it's all the same to you, I'd prefer it stop altogether."

[gruesome]

Some drained his glass, and caught the eye of a passing server for another. Water was all he would get tonight. "Yes, of course... I am just... this is the second human city I have been to, and death was the standard of both of them. Death and sin."