People In Glass Houses...

[neclectus]

Who | Timaeus Nadir and guests
What | Timaeus is hosting a picnic get-together/catch-up.
Where | The picnic will be taking place in the Tropical Habitat Dome.
When| We'll be using a bit of wibbly time so that people who want to attend can.
Warnings/Notes| None as of yet.

(This is an opportunity for me to make some new CR as well as catch up with ongoing relationships, but I also want to encourage tagging around between characters! Feel free to do whatever you like in the setting with whoever you like! Also I will be backtagging this so don't feel you've missed the boat if you haven't tagged in immediately <3)

Timaeus certainly knew how to organise a gathering- even if it wasn't an outrageously opulent celebration to be held on one of his own yachts. This one was to be held under the expansive dome of the Tropical Habitat- the entire location rented out for the day to Timaeus and his guests, a loosely private affair- formal invitations as such hadn't been extended, but those welcome knew they were. Naturally, all tributes and victors were included in this group.

The Dome was a beautiful piece of architecture in itself, though antiquated when compared with the technology used for the Arenas. Rather than invisible forcefields, the climate of the interior was separated from the outside by elaborately curving steel and glass. Inside, tropical plants of all types thrived- there was a still, green pond and, deeper inside, a cascading waterfall. Butterflies in hundreds of colours, sizes and shapes flitted about, tropical birds swooped between the trees, brightly coloured fish darted in the water.
Blankets and cushions had been scattered in the main clearing with hampers of food, but there was plenty of space for the guests to break away from the gathering if they so desired- the dome was full of winding paths through the greenery- some even climbing around the trunks of the largest trees and leading to viewing platforms above. In a temporary gazebo in the clearing, a string quartet played music that wasn't quite the classical pieces Tributes were familiar with. 

Timaeus himself seemed in a brighter mood than he had been for months, more than happy to make conversation with anyone who approached him- though he was certainly keeping an eye open for particular individuals. Some that he'd met, some that he'd lost and had returned to him, and others still that he had yet to meet.

Comments

[neclectus]

"Every 25 years, every quarter century, there is a particularly interesting Games. This Never-Ending Quell, with all of you being brought from outside Panem- it's the 75th. Come to think of it, I don't know how it's going to go on from here..."

[hit_girl_mindy]

Mindy just looked confused.

"A never ending quell? What's that mean?"

[neclectus]

"Ah- goodness, your escorts really should be doing a better job of explaining this to you! In the past, the Hunger Games were an annual event rather than they are now," Timaeus explained. "The 74th Games, the one Katniss and Peeta won together, was the last annual one. You have been told about that, haven't you?"

[hit_girl_mindy]

"About Katniss and Peeta? Yeah, I know about that. It marked the end of the games as they existed, and brought about what we have now, I guess. Fun for the whole family instead of just kids picked from different Districts. A reminder of the violent past and all of that. I just didn't know they were a yearly thing until now."

[neclectus]

Timaeus seemed a little distracted, now, clearly caught up in the memory of that fateful Arena, the Girl on Fire...

"Have you spent much time with them? Such a story, those two- it's hard to explain the absolute frenzy that built up around them unless you lived it- though I admit the arrival of visitors from other worlds has inspired a fair amount of excitement too."

[hit_girl_mindy]

Mindy did not miss a thing, of course, and definitely knew this was something she was going to have to look up. there was definitely more going on than she thought.

"Only Katniss. She was with another girl who had her eye injured. She was a pretty standoffish girl, if I could describe her off the top of my head. Motivated. There's a lot going on with her. But I'm sorta curious: how long HAS our entry in the games gone on?"

[neclectus]

Timaeus had to think about that one for a moment, counting off arenas on his fingers.

"Oh. This was the 8th arena of the Neverending Quell- I keep forgetting that there are so few of you still here since the first one. Actually, come to think of it, I don't think anyone here has been in every arena. Eliot, Wyatt and Donatello have been with us since the second one."

[hit_girl_mindy]

"Huh," Mindy said, looking down. "So I guess they know more about the ins and outs more than anyone. A question came up in my head though, one I can't figure for the life of me. The games exist to make one district better off than another one, but they did that by using their kids. What made them not wanna do that, and go with strangers from other worlds? It just makes it seem so less personal, I guess."

[neclectus]

"Haven't a clue," Timaeus told her, a broad smile on his face. "More intrigue, perhaps? And it certainly demonstrates the power of the Capitol, wouldn't you say, being able to call in Tributes from other worlds? You would have to ask one of the Gamemakers. It's really not my area of expertise, or indeed, interest."

[hit_girl_mindy]

"I have a feeling the Gamemakers wouldn't really be so forthright in their answer," Mindy said, shrugging. "But then, I'm not the type satisfied with bland explanation and blind following. When it comes down to it, the thing that will probably pique my interest is really what's happening in the games. It's sort of my forte."

[neclectus]

"A magician never reveals his secrets," Timaeus agreed with a chuckle. "I think you may be right- and I very much look forward to seeing what you can do."

[hit_girl_mindy]

"Yeah, they'd be a pretty shitty magician that way. But hell, I guess they can just dangle things and I'm gonna go for whatever they throw my way. Stay tuned: I'm gonna try to make things interesting."