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

[celebrityskinned]

Venus, on the other hand, having experienced one of the most intense hangovers of her short life due to that absinthe the other day, is staying well away from drinks that aren't water or fruit juice.

At the moment, she's guzzling it down in an attempt to wash the taste of jalapeños out of her mouth. Years of not having tastebuds failed to prepare her for the taste of spice.

She's sweating slightly when she runs across Kankri, and she's wearing a sarong under a dyed coat of faux fur - an unfortunate choice by one of her stylists, although not Claudia, that left her with freezing cold legs and overheated everything else.

"How you liking the party, kiddo?"

[privilegecheck]

Claudia put Kankri in too-big clothes again, in particular another turtleneck that he practically swims in, saying that he should play up that "lost, innocent look" of his. He doesn't know about publicity stunts or any such thing, but he's kind of glad, with how chilly it is out; the sweater is nice and snug.

He smiles and waves when he sees Venus, and has another big sip of the fizzy drink. "Well, you know, usually such events aren't my kind of thing. But this is rather nice! Even if the food is very hot. Have you been enjoying yourself, Venus?"

[celebrityskinned]

Kankri's outfit makes Venus want to reach over and ruffle his hair. Somehow, it reminds her of her little brothers, and that sends a pang through her chest that feels almost symptomatic of a real illness and not just emotions.

But she grins through it. "I have, but I've found out that some of the foods here are outright dangerous. I think I accidentally strip-mined my tongue from tastebuds."

[privilegecheck]

"Oh, so you haven't had food like that either? I thought it was just me, the way everyone was carrying on."

He steadies himself against a table, grinning back, a faint red flush in his cheeks. "Everyone's been quite nice. I didn't think they would be. I'm glad we came. I feel a little better about the Arena now. I mean, I hate it, but at least it's for something?"

Kankri, no, stop blabbing. He has a nice long gulp of his soda this time.

[celebrityskinned]

"I didn't have a physical body for almost decade. It's a long story, believe me." She points to her mouth. "Which means no tastebuds."

She raises her eyebrows at him slightly. "Are you okay. You look a little..."

She waves her hand around her face. "Red."

[privilegecheck]

"That's just my blood color, it's normal. I mean, it's not, but it's how I am. But being decorporealized doesn't sound like any kind of fun. Have you tried this?" He offers her his glass of soda. "It's very nice."

[celebrityskinned]

"No, I know your blood's red- wait. There's another troll whose blood is green. What's up with that?" She reaches for the soda and sniffs it for alcohol.

[privilegecheck]

"Oh, that's normal for trolls. I'm an anomaly, actually," he replies. The soda has no trace of alcohol in it, but Kankri is still clearly more than a little buzzed as he launches into exposition mode. "A mutant. I was very surprised to learn all you humans have the same blood as I do! I'm considered off the hemospectrum entirely. Trolls have all kinds of different blood colors, you know, but candy-apple red is certainly not one of them in the usual course of things."

[celebrityskinned]

Venus leans her head back and nods. "Right. I have no idea what a hemospectrum is, really, but it sounds like something that you might want to keep in the bedroom."

She takes a sip of the soda. "Man, this is just Coke, I think."

[privilegecheck]

"It's the range of blood colors for trolls. It also refers to the blood-based caste system," Kankri replies with a sage sort of nod. "And whatever that drink is it's quite nice! I like it."

[celebrityskinned]

"There's no way you're getting drunk off this. You sure this is all you've had tonight?" Venus juts her lower lip out. "I mean, not like I can get on your case for underage drinking, but you just look a little...out of it."

[privilegecheck]

"I haven't had anything else. Oh, except water," Kankri replies cheerfully. "I feel perfectly fine, really. Better than I have since coming here. It reminds me a little of Kurloz's so-called 'miracle elixir,' I only tasted it once, but I think this is better."

[celebrityskinned]

"Well, anything that reminds you of miracle anything should probably get nipped in the bud." She drains the glass she took from him. "Tour's been treating you alright?"

[privilegecheck]

Kankri pouts slightly, but doesn't protest, just snags a glass of water from someone passing by with a tray - not an Avox, thankfully, that seems a monstrous peculiarity of the Capitol for the most part.

"As well as can be, I suppose. I confess I feel rather lost much of the time, being so new and so...well, frankly, unsuited to this kind of life. But I'm finding I rather like the people here. And it's been nice to get out of that sterile tower they keep us in. I haven't been in what you might call civilization in, oh, I'd estimate three of your human years or so? So I thought I would be feeling more self-conscious around this many strangers, particularly aliens, but it's...they're different. From the Capitol, I mean."

[celebrityskinned]

"Yeah, they're a lot more chatty." Venus, by contrast, seems much less comfortable here than she is with the Capitol. She's used to swimming like a shark amongst shoals of superficial barracudas, not among being being genuine and honest. They make her somewhat uncomfortable.

She can see all the poverty written into their badly-fitted clothes, into the way some of them sneak food into their pockets, the way they ogle her earrings knowing that one could feed them for a month. Venus' hand comes up to the pendant of wire and beads a little girl gave her, a thanks for saving her sister from the Reaping pool.

"Want to take a walk?"