New kind of victory.

[etcircenses]

Who| Everyone on the District Tours.
What| The Celebration dinners for all the Districts.
Where| Specified in thread.
When| The second night they are there.
Warnings/Notes| Find your district below. Leave any questions here. And please add any needed warning into your subject line when appropriate.

Comments

District Four

[etcircenses]

The party is at the end of the pier. Torches have been set up along the edges, lighting up the whole area, with string of lights criss crossed above the party goers head. The decoration are light, letting the natural beauty of the ocean do the job. The food is all freshly caught and prepared that day, unlucky for you if fish are not your thing. You’re in the wrong district, buddy.

A live band jams all night, composed of a sultry female singer and two guitarists. The party is lively, those in District 4 happily celebrating their tributes.

Re: District Four

[savedbyasong]

Shion has been taking everything in, from the surroundings to the people. District four is not as bad as he expected, he had imagined something like West Town, children starving to death, bodies in the streets. Here it was clear that there was inequality, between the district and the Capitol, but people at least were well fed.

Which meant nothing, Shion supposed when you considered the price of that had been their children, sent to the arenas to die. He remembered the words of the anonymous network hacker and kept his eyes wide open, for any signs that people were unhappy.

He stood at the edge of the pier, listening to the music; like nothing he had heard before, and staring out into the ocean. The real ocean, this time (hopefully) his wonder wouldn't be cut short by his death.

[finnickohdear]

Finnick is dressed lightly, the way he would for a Capitol party only it looks like it doesn't cost half as much as it usually would. He's in his element here, more calm and relaxed than he has been for a while, which wasn't saying a lot, really. Most of the night has been spent in the crowd, he had been on the lookout for someone. But when they didn't show up he resigned himself to sitting off to the side and watching the excitement. He is keeping a special eye on his new tributes.

He might be convinced to dance if anyone asked, but for now he's only going to intervene if something goes wrong.

[savedbyasong]

One of his tributes is nearby, extracting himself from his dance partner as the song ends. Trying not to insult people but also trying his best not to be dragged back onto into the crowd. There are a lot of people and he is not the greatest dancer.

He stands near Finnick and gives him a nervous smile, he hasn't spoken to his new mentor yet. He seemed nice, though Shion thought he probably wouldn't be so nice once he realised just how bad at the arena Shion was.

[finnickohdear]

Not every tribute who goes into the arena comes out a winner, it's just something of a relief to have them come back at all. He felt worse sending tributes in he didn't think had a chance.

"Enjoying the party? You've gotten a few dances in, I see."

Finnick was gentler with his tributes now than he would be in training. There's really no need to motivate them now.

[savedbyasong]

"Yeah..." He shrugged, "I couldn't get away." He sounded half terrified at the idea, and he was. Dancing was new for him, and he had never liked attention. As hard as it was to avoid it with the rediculous hair his stylists imposed on him.

[finnickohdear]

"I'm sure I could hide you away if you wanted. People here are used to their tributes being happily in the limelight, but if you're having trouble with it I'm sure we can find someone who will like it more."

He was entirely sincere about it, he didn't want his tributes to feel worse than they had to at a time like this.

[savedbyasong]

Shion blinked at him, he would very much to hide, though he wasn't sure there was anyone who would actually like so much attention. "Um..." He blinked at him, "I don't want to be any trouble."

He was blushing again, his face bright red, so much that you could barely see the mark on his cheek. He looked at Finnick, glad that he had offered to help, it made him a lot less terrifying than the other mentors he had met.

[finnickohdear]

"You're not any trouble. You're tributes here, now. People should be bending over backward to be nice to you. And if that means going without a dance, they'll live."

He was used to dealing with frightened kids, for better or worse, and he was getting pretty good at it. He offered Shion his hand.

"Come on, we'll find a nice, quiet spot to sit. Okay?"

[savedbyasong]

Shion blinked at him and took his hand nodding slowly. "Okay." He didn't actually think people should be going out of their way to be nice, he remembered what the strange anonymous person on the network had said, that there was still a lot of anger and they shouldn't expect people to be happy about their presence here.

"I'm Shion... I guess you already know that." Since he was a mentor, and it was his job to know such things.

[finnickohdear]

"And I'm Finnick, but I guess you know that already, too."

He took Shion out to the dock where it was actually peaceful. He liked it out here, it was easier to forget things he wanted to forget when he was by the ocean.

"How's this? A lot quieter, huh?"

[savedbyasong]

Shion followed him and smiled as he looked out at the ocean. "It is... thank you." He closed his eyes for a moment, reminding himself they were out of the arena, no one was going to sneak up and kill him for taking a moment to actually look at the surroundings around him.

"It's beautiful... and so big..."

[finnickohdear]

"Bigger than you can imagine." He looked over at Shion, who he didn't know nearly enough about. "Or maybe you can."

Finnick slipped his shoes off and dipped a foot into the water. It was an escape for him as well.

"Tell me about where you came from. It will help to know what you're fighting for."

[savedbyasong]

Shion copied him, taking off his shoes and dipping his feet in the water. It was cold, but sort of nice. He looked over at the man and then out at the ocean. "Most of my world was wasteland, there was a lot of war and disease... There are only six inhabitable cities and I come from one of them. It's nowhere near an ocean so until last arena I had never seen so much water..."

He shrugged, "My city wasn't really like the Capitol, but it has a lot of similarities, science is very important and how well you will do in life is determined when you are a small child. There was a lot of cruelty there... but it was hidden. It's different now, something happened..." It was a long story and Shion is never sure how to even start explaining Elyrius.

"We were working on rebuilding the city, making it a kinder place."

[iwatchtjhooker]

Sam is watching the crowd, looking for anyone who seems familiar from the material he's been able to review so far, anyone who seems different from the general revelers. And Finnick catches his eye, because he's familiar and Sam hasn't met him yet. Which means something.

He approaches midway through the evening, collected and quiet. "You're Finnick Odair, aren't you?" he asks, pitched to carry the short distance between them.

[finnickohdear]

Finnick smiles when he's approached. He recognizes Sam's face, but his name isn't right on the tip of his tongue the way some of the more established tributes are.

"The very same. And you're one of my new tributes. Enjoying the celebration so far?"

He steps close enough that they can talk one on one with only a few people listening in on them. It's never totally safe in a place like this.

[iwatchtjhooker]

"That's not exactly the word I'd choose," Sam says. He's going for wry, but it comes out tired, instead. Far too tired for his obvious youth. But then, Finnick would know about that. "I'm guessing I have the same questions as everyone else. Do you have any answers I won't expect?"

[finnickohdear]

It's not uncommon for tributes to sound like that, sadly. And he understands exactly where it's coming from.

"I guess it depends on the questions you ask, and what you're expecting. But I'm really here for advice, and to make sure you get gifts when things get bad. If you want to ask about any of those things, I'm here."

[iwatchtjhooker]

"All right," Sam says, shifting his shoulders. "Advise me how to get out of here."

[finnickohdear]

"Here specifically? Like the party? Or here as in the whole of Panem? Because one of those is easy to do, the other one, not so much."

He stops a passing waiter to get a drink, smiling widely the whole time. It probably makes it seem like he's not taking Sam as seriously as he should.

[iwatchtjhooker]

Sam's lips purse, his mouth going smaller than you'd expect, in a face so broad. "Not the party," he says, quietly, but with no less urgency for all that. He's well aware Finnick had to know what he meant. "Do you think I care about 'easy'?"

[finnickohdear]

"You'd better not care about easy, because you're not going to find it here. At least, not if you want to go back to your world. They're not going to want to let go of you if they can help it."

Which is Finnick's long winded way of saying he doesn't really know how to get Sam home again. He doesn't want to say that outright, though, he just doesn't want to admit it right out.

[iwatchtjhooker]

Sam doesn't particularly want to get back to his world. But as far as options go, dying here and dying there are what he's got and he knows which one he prefers. "Do you mean I won't find it easy?" he says. "Or at all? Because I'm not interested in what 'they' want."

[finnickohdear]

"Choices around here are pretty limited. You're best bet is to either win and become a Mentor or apply for Panem citizenship. I can't say I really recommend either, even if having a few other mentors would be helpful."

He doesn't want to lie to Sam straight out and tell him that things will be happy and fun for him in the Capitol. Sam doesn't seem like the sort who will be motivated by a prize he can't ever obtain.

[iwatchtjhooker]

Sam shakes his head. "I'm not doing that," he says. "I'm not killing. I've... there's been way too much of that already, for me. There are things back home. People I need to make sure are all right."

Dean had pulled him from death, a death Sam had been more than willing to accept, if it meant saving everyone else. Sam can't leave him there.