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

Shion nodded, "Maybe." He wasn't sure, maybe it was more honest, they had physical masks instead of the ones they usually wore.

"Make one out of the imagination?" Shion blinked at her, a little confused at the concept. "Like a story right?"

"Yep!" She looked over the room, plucking at the cape over her shoulders. "Just like a story you make up all on your own. Why, we could invent a story right here, make things a little more fun, don't you think? Call it Wheat Girl and Birdboy, Charmed Adventurers."

She winked, gently nudging Shion's shoulder to invite him in on the joke.

"We could..." Shion had never made up a story before, he hadn't long been introduced to stories and he tried to think how this one would go.

"Wheat girl and Birdboy. What kind of adventures do they have?"

He's trying.

She appreciates the effort. An injection of light silly fun into the heart of a sickening, grasping beast is worth pursuing, as long as the cost was minimal.

"Saving the crops from insect muttations? Redesigning gardens one at a time? Oh, racing for charity and the good of Panem?" Not the good of the Capitol.

"The first one." Shion smiled softly, "Birdboy can eat the insects, wheat girl can blend in with the plants, and attack any insects that get near." That was a workable tactic right?

"Wheatgirl can attract them in with her control over pollen?" Barbara tapped a finger against the filigree wheat on the side of her face. "Lure them closer, and then -- snap! Fuel for Birdboy! We'd be an unstoppable duo!"

Shion smiled and nodded, "The perfect team, and all the plants will grow tall and strong, and not be hurt by the insects." Nature working together in a much more extreme way than it did in the real world.

Only it did exactly that, under the Capitol's hand. They pushed past the borders of all kinds of sustainability, in no small part simply because they can.

"They defend the Grain Empire. They have whole songs dedicated to them?"

Shion nodded, "And plays written about their deeds." Shion didn't like scrutiny but he thought if he actually did something heroic, then having a song or a play written would not be too bad, better than everyone mentioning his not so heroic deaths.

"Celebrating the things that save lives? Unorthodox, but I like it. You could even say it might grow on me," she said, winking at the terrible display of humor.

She managed to get another smile out of Shion, terrible humour or no. "Rat says people prefer tragedies, but I like happier stories." They were different than real life, it was nice to read something where you knew it was going to turn out alright in the end.

"People are people, so I'd think they each prefer their own things. Me? I like happier stories, too." So few happy endings in the real world made the fictional ones bittersweet. Everyone deserved dreams, even if most their endings wouldn't be happy ones.

"Next time they've got something happy on stage, what do you say we rally u a few folk and go see it as a group?"

Shion smiled, brightly, his eyes lighting up. "Really? To a real theatre?" He had only been to the theatre in the West Town once, to see Nezumi. But he could imagine that such a place here in the capitol would be so very different, literally a world apart.

"I'd like that, could Rat come too?" He would probably complain the whole time and claim he could do it better, but Shion knew he would enjoy it really.

Edited 2014-02-21 06:29 (UTC)

Her smile was ready and immediate. Perhaps there are small kindnesses to fill in the cracks of the terrible walls being built for each of the Tributes in these cames.

"A real theatre!" she said. "Rat's your friend? Why not! The more, the merrier. Y'all need to pick out something you'd like to see, and we'll make an evening of it!"

And as minor a production as possible, smiling and thanking the right people, saying the silly things at the kinds of times where people weren't sure if they wanted to forgive or to forget or something else entirely.

Shion's smile brightened as he nodded, "Thank you!" It would be fun, he thought. He had no idea what kind of plays the Capitol put on, but he would do some research and find one that seemed would end happily.

"It's very kind of you."