Date Auction!

[gamemakers]

Who| Everyone, including Tributes who made it to the end
What| Date auction
When| After the finale but before the crowning
Where| The Capitol
Warnings| None yet

The date auction is set on the top of the tallest hotel in the center of the Capitol. Citizens pack into the elevators, tittering as they're jetted up to the sixty-third floor. Massive headdresses get caught on each other and toes are stepped on, and more than a few minor scuffles break out.

Extra stars have been projected into the night sky, which has been artificially cleared of clouds. The sun has set, leaving the vibrant purple of evening to shine down on the beautiful marble dance floor and new pool in the shape of a heart, lit up with pink lights. Avoxes serve hot dishes to each guest at the little red-clad tables. There are promises of a firework show in the evening.

The theme of the evening is love, and the reds, silks and abundance of roses all speak to a classical romantic bent.

Pedestals with small, ornate thrones sit for each of the signed-up Tributes. A hologram television behind each shows off images of their greatest accomplishments in each Arena, while a ticky-tape at the bottom of the screen describes random trivia about each of them, down from boxers or briefs to their darkest confessions made anywhere in the Capitol or Arena. It serves, of course, as both advertising and a reminder to the Tributes that they are always being monitored. A very slight amount of the thrones have clear plastic cuffs around the ankles, to keep the more unruly Tributes from going anywhere until the party's over. An Avox aside each Tribute holds a silent auction list where citizens, Tributes and Games-people alike can bid assi on their favorites.

"Ladies and gentlemen," a booming female voice announces from nowhere, "Celebrus Magazine, in conjunction with The Romulus Hotel, are delighted to host the first annual Hunger Games Date Auction for charity! As a matter of decorum, let us remind you of some ground rules. A guest's actions reflects on the hotel, and the Romulus reserves the right to remove anyone in any position of authority from the premises for any reason, including going beyond the boundaries of a date auction. Any unseemly, fraudulent or presumptive action on the part of the guest will lead to their immediate dismissal. These Tributes volunteered for charity, and their wishes should be respected.

"You may bid as much as you like, on however many Tributes you like, but please don't promise more assi than you have on-hand. All donations will be taken at the time the winning bidder is announced. Get excited, but don't get too excited!

"And now…may the bidding begin!"

At no point does Celebrus Magazine indicate what sort of charity any of the money generated was going towards.

Comments

[freebitchbaby]

"Pssst. Pssst."

Gaila was infinitely bored. She had been lounging and slouching all over her throne for the past hour and now she wanted to get down and party but she wasn't allowed to yet. So the only option was to get drunk and mess with the other Tributes.

"Hey cutie, crack a smile. It's for charity, not for life." Not like her origins. Gaila snorted to herself and downed the rest of the drink in her glass before gesturing for an Avox. "Have you even had anything to drink? Dulls the pain and boredom of auctions, trust me."

[formersurgeon]

Joan glanced over at the woman, and wondered if the green skin was a common style choice in the Capitol. She hadn't seen it anywhere else, but maybe she was trying to be a trend setter.

"I haven't," she added, and reached out to snag a drink the next time a waiter came by. "I take it they have a lot of these auctions?"

[freebitchbaby]

"First time I've been to one in the Capitol." Gaila replied, gesturing for another glass of wine. It would dull her boredom at the very least. She took a sip of her drink before continuing. "I've been around for two arenas, though, so not that long really."

"But they had them on my home planet." Hence why she was drinking her wine at an alarming rate. At first she had thought it would be a nice easy way to get a few more sponsors but the more she sat there, the more it reminded her of her years as a slave. "This is more polite though, gotta say."

[formersurgeon]

Joan took a sip from her drink, which proved to taste like some sort of a cross between champagne, Sprite, and a hint of tequila. She swallowed the strange concoction, and raised her eyebrows at the woman.

"Your home planet," she repeated. It was a weird way of saying what Joan had already said way more than she ever thought she would: "my world" and "my universe." But that was what she meant, right?

Right?

Hey, if there are other universes...

"Do you mean you're not from Earth?"

[freebitchbaby]

Gaila raised her eyebrow at the other woman.

"Do they have many green humes where you're from?" She shot back in confusion. Maybe they really did have ones of every tone on this human's Earth. "No. I'm Orion. I come from Oria Prime. Or an alien if you wanna use archaic and offensive terms." Gaila sarcastically added, raising her wine glass in a playful toast.

[formersurgeon]

"Honestly? Considering the fashion choices around here, I thought you dyed your skin to start a trend or something."

Okay. Zombies, turtles, and now aliens. Orions, she corrected herself.

"I think we're all aliens, here."

[freebitchbaby]

"No. All my species are green. Helps with eating light. Chlorophyll and all that." Gaila waved her hand in an 'oh you know' fashion. Because clearly it was a no big deal to her. "Born this way, baby."

"True." She nodded. "Yet some of us are more alien-y than others. There seems to be an over-abundance of humans."

[formersurgeon]

"That is true," she agreed, then looked around the room. "Although with some of the people here, I don't think you can be sure," she said with a smirk.

"So...you photosynthesize? How does that work? Do you have to eat food, or is the photosynthesis enough?"

[freebitchbaby]

Gaila pulled a face of disgust. "I don't imbibe." Discussing eating was a serious taboo on Orion. "Photosynthesis only." Which was why the odd days and nights in the last arena had been a near hell for her.

"I have a sunlamp in my room that I use mostly, but I prefer the real stuff when I can get it. I need a good hour a day to keep me going." Gaila told her, always happy to talk about herself.

[formersurgeon]

"Just an hour? That's amazing." She glanced at the drink in the woman's hand. "So...you don't eat. But you clearly drink. I imagine you need a lot of water as well."

[freebitchbaby]

"That's Orions, baby. Minimum of two litres of liquid a day." Gaila replied. "Alcohol however? I purely for pleasure and getting through boring situations like this one." Or rather, stressful situations.

[formersurgeon]

"Two litres. Wow. I hope you weren't in the desert in this last arena. A lot of sun, not so much water."

She smiled faintly at the explanation of why she drank alcohol. "Apparently common across species."

[freebitchbaby]

"I was." Gaila pulled a face at her. "Luckily, I got a lotta sponsors who wanted to see me win, so they kept me in water." And she had severely rationed herself when she'd been running low on it.

"There's almost something beautiful 'bout that but I'm honestly too buzzed to know what." The Orion told her.

[formersurgeon]

"And that's probably part of it," she said with a smile. "So, how long have you been here?"

She figured a couple areas at least, if she had a lot of sponsors.

[freebitchbaby]

"Coupla months. I started on the Disneyworld arena." Gaila told her, tonking yet more of her drink. "How 'bout you? Haven't seen your face about."

[formersurgeon]

"They have Disney World here? Of all the things to remain constant over universes."

She takes another drink of her concoction.

"I came in during the last arena. Had no idea what was going on, they just shoved me in there. All of this is totally new to me."

[freebitchbaby]

"It was like if Disney hadda had a zombie apocalypse." She informed the other woman.

"Urgh. That sucks." Gaila pulled a face of sympathy. "At least I had a chance to get used to the Capitol before getting thrown in. Gaila, by the way. Lieutenant Gaila of Orion." She waved. "I'd shake your hand or some shit but I think I'd get in trouble for getting off these thingies."

[formersurgeon]

"Lieutenant Gaila. Nice to meet you," Joan said with a little wave. "I'm Joan Watson. Of Earth."

Saying that sounded more awkward than she expected.

[freebitchbaby]

Gaila laughed. "You don't have to say of Earth. I lived there. I'd know what you squishy humans look like anywhere. I only say that 'cause I never picked a last name for myself."

[formersurgeon]

"I see," she said with a slight smile to hide a twinge of embarrassment. "You're probably from the future, then. My future, I mean. Where I'm from, we haven't made contact with aliens...sorry...people from other planets. Yet."

[freebitchbaby]

Gaila waved it off. "S'okay. I get that a lot these days. I smacked a guy in my first day here for asking if I was an alien." That conversation hadn't gone down too spectacularly. "You're tryin' I can tell." She commented.

[formersurgeon]

"I usually call people what they want to be called. Seems rude otherwise."

She glanced around.

"I thought maybe this was my future. Considering I only see humans among the citizens, though, I doubt that both this future and the one you come from can both happen. Which supports the idea of alternate universes."

[freebitchbaby]

"Course it does. Most likely this or yours is a fracture universe of an original universe and has some slight alterations that only came apparent in later years or decades or lifetimes. Most alternative timelines and universes are actually quite similar." Gaila commented, showing her whipsmart intellect that was normally so well covered by the bimbo persona she did her level best to portray to the Capitol.

"You never know, there's got to be one universe where we're all animals."

[formersurgeon]

She gave a short laugh at that thought. "Sorry, I was just thinking about how a friend of mine would be a really moody cat." She tilted her head. "What kinds of animals are there on your planet?"

[freebitchbaby]

"I don't really know, to be honest." Gaila told her, standing only to sit back down and tuck her legs under herself, gesturing at an Avox for another drink. "I was a slavegirl back home. I never got to leave a master's home without their permission, I only saw the outside when I was a child at the markets." And even then she hadn't seen many animals. "There's lots of flying ones though. Birds." She corrected after a moment's thought about what the human word was. "With wings, I could see those a lot."