thecapitol | (no subject)

Who| Jack Atlas and OPEN
What| The Director of District 8 Commodity Control is throwing a masque in honor of the current Games. Everyone is, of course, encouraged to attend.
Where| Anomaly Restuarant
When| The end of Week 2
Warnings| None at the moment, though this will be updated if anything changes!

When the Director threw a party, everyone knew. Not just because of the fact of who he was, but the fact that he always threw a costume party. Always. And this was no exception. What was different was that it was thrown, not at the mansion, where previous parties had always been, but at a public restaurant. The official reason was that the mansion was undergoing a planned renovation, and it was sadly behind schedule. Of course the party venue was forced to change!

Not that it was a bad thing. The restaurant was appropriately decorated for the Arena-themed party, transformed into a tropical paradise "exhibit" with mechanical parrots flying around, and mosquito nets strewn all over various "wax figures". Or, as those not playing along with the theme would call them, the wait staff, all dressed in various exhibit clothing to reflect those found in the museum. The menu was all over the place, too - everything from "gift shop" chocolate truffles to "space pizza" to "Roosevelar's Bull Moose Rib Rack" could be had. And best of all, no one was complaining. After all, what did a little renovation hurt when the substitute was hardly lacking?

But Jack knew better. The party was supposed to be at the mansion, but that was the only true part of the story. In reality, the graffiti had appeared, mysteriously, all over the Director's gilded ballroom and on the outside walls the day before. Naturally, once the Peacekeepers had moved in to investigate, the matter on the party's location - not to mention its fate - was very quickly settled. Ironic, really, given how the Director had once claimed to Jack that throwing a party at such a place was out of the question.

At least Jack himself was not under suspicion for the crime. This time. But what about next time? They had almost condemned him for an accident; was it really so far of a stretch they could punish him for...nothing at all?

It was a question he'd have to push aside tonight. He was dressed in a leafy green frock coat, wearing a mask inspired by the tribal masks in the Arena. Because, on top of being a costume party, it was also a museum-inspired masque, and Jack was apparently meant to be a bird camouflaged in the jungle - a callback to his time in a more recent Arena as well as a nod to the current. A bird that had to chat up everyone with a smile underneath, in hopes that they would continue to bet on those District 8 Tributes still in the Arena, praying his eyes sparkled and his laugh sounded genuine enough. And - knowing how these parties would go - it would be an all night affair.

Hopefully, they wouldn't run out of Blue Mountain coffee before then.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It was at that moment that Jack passed by, seeing the quizzical look on Ian's face.

"Its fine," Jack pronounced. "Its just made a different way."

To prove his point, he himself went to take a slice. Or, at least what counted as a slice. Space-vaccumed food was very strange.

Ian didn't look convinced, but tried a bite of it anyway. "It's not bad," he concluded, surprised. "I'm not sure it quite tastes like pizza, but it's nice anyway." So he had another bite.

"I...don't know," Jack frowned, his nose crinkling just a bit. "They apparently made this stuff in the old days, for people going into space, or something. That's what the chef told me."

Though how anyone would go into space and live on something that tasted like that, he would never know.

"Really?" Ian sounded excited about that. At home the space race was just getting going and the idea of eating the same things astronauts in space did during that time appealed to him. "I wouldn't mind having to eat this if I went into space." He had another bite.

"Yeah, apparently." Jack frowned as he took another bite. Space food tasted...bland. "I don't know. You'd think the people in the Old Days were more creative."

That made Ian feel quite defensive because the 'Old Days' the other man was referring to must be his present. "This is quite creative," he protested, holding the pizza up. "It's not like anything else I've eaten."

"Well, I guess, but..." The frown deepened. "If space was such a big thing, I mean...wouldn't you want to bring up...important food to celebrate being up there? Like...steak? Filet mignon with the flakes on them, caviar, shark's fin soup? Champagne and cheesecake? That stuff had to have existed back then, too!..."

Or even a simple cool food like tacos. Tacos were more impressive than pizza. At least he knew how pizza worked, how to make pizza dough, growing up. He never got how taco shells came to being.

Edited 2014-02-04 15:26 (UTC)

"But it's heavy," Ian pointed out. "Getting away from Earth and into orbit takes a lot of fuel. The heavier your rocket the more fuel it takes, so you have as little luggage as you can. And then there's the problem of the lack of gravity. You don't want your champagne floating about the place."

Frown.

"But," he protested. "That's why they invented straws!"

Ian laughed, then clapped a hand over his mouth because he shouldn't laugh, this man was in earnest. "I'm not sure champagne would taste the same through a straw," he said once he'd calmed down a bit.

"Champagne is champagne," Jack replied, slightly miffed at this man's laughing at him. "And a good champagne will always taste perfect, no matter where you drink it."

~~At least, that was what Martha would say. Damn, he actually remembered her saying that?~~

Edited 2014-02-06 00:35 (UTC)

"Maybe I've not had good enough champagne," Ian said, trying to atone for his laughter. Although you might say that someone happy to eat space pizza is unlikely to care about the taste of champagne.

"You should try some!" The next thing Ian might know, Jack grabbed a glass from a passing tray, thrusting it towards him. "Here."

Ian was hardly about to complain when given a glass of champagne, so he took it and had a sip. "That is good champagne," he said, surprised. Given that the capitol tended towards excesses, he shouldn't be surprised that they could get good champagne.

"I'm still not sure it would taste as good through a straw, though." He wondered if he was going to be provided one of those too, to test the theory.

"...There's only one way to find out!" Ian should know the answer by now. Jack managed to get the attention of one of the waitresses, pointing at Ian. "Hey, could you get a straw for this guy's champagne glass?"

The look on the Avox's face was one which could only be described as 'are you seriously asking me this question'.

"...THIS I--" Jack's voice strained as his voice raised, forcing him to go back to a normal tone before he started coughing. "There's a really good reason for it. Just please go get it."

Edited 2014-02-07 14:03 (UTC)

The Avox went. Ian felt guilty for making work for her in getting a straw, but didn't say anything - he was worried about what might happen if he did. And it was too late now anyway and he just had another sip of his drink while he waited for the Avox to return.

"I suppose there are straws somewhere," he commented.

"Its usually the Avoxes who get that kind of stuff," Jack replied. "Not many people don't exactly want to go to the back and grab one, going away from the party."

"I suppose not." The Avox returned with a straw, which Ian took with a smile and a "Thank you". He could hardly refuse to try drinking the champagne through a straw and he was curious about how it would taste in any case, so he gave it a go.

"It tastes the same," he concluded, disappointed.

"Of course!" Jack folded his arms, satisfied. "So it could be brought to space!"

Ian wanted to point out that a straw wouldn't solve all problems, but he felt like this was someone who didn't want to put in the effort to understand. So he gave up explaining. It wasn't as if they were about to go up in space anyway, so it was merely a theoretical point. "Perhaps it can," he said. "But I think I'll stick to drinking it normally, on Earth." He took the straw out to have a sip from the glass.

That and he simply couldn't understand. The Old Days, while in its own ways primitive in comparison to Panem, still had marvels that Panem hadn't really undertaken or understood well. And for a guy like Jack, who was hardly the book smart guy to begin with, going into space sounded like something they did routinely and with absolutely no effort. Like gods of antiquity, only in spacesuits.

Which was why the idea that the spacepeople would eat such gross food that even his own District mates would be a bit wary of eating, was beyond him.

"You can do that," he shrugged. "I will have coffee!"

"More champagne for me, in that case," Ian said with a grin. He didn't mind what drinks other people drunk. He held his glass up, said "Cheers!", had a big swig and then wandered off to look for a top up.