It's a secret... tell your friends

[forserious]

Who| Zoolander and anyone!
What| A welcome party of Capitol proportions
Where| Super secret warehouse party club
When| A few days before the crowning.
Warnings/Notes| None!


Everyone currently in the Tribute Tower and the well to do and elite from around the Capitol have all received some invitations! They say in hand written letters: "Wellcome Derik to Distrik 10!" and includes a time and a place. The time is tonight and the place is an old warehouse that most people probably thought was closed down. Anyone who chooses to take up this odd invitation will find that the warehouse is now a jumping club with music pulsing and many bouncers out front.

Of course, those who have received invitations are allowed in straight away. A couple of hours into the evening Derrick will have the DJs stop spinning for a bit so he can address everyone in his slightly airy tone.

"Wow, I'm excited to see so many of you here. This is a great way to be greeted into the fabulous world of tribute fashion."


Anyone from District 10 who comes in will be escorted to the VIP lounge where Derrick is waiting for them. He has custom drinks available and specialty gift bags that include colognes, makeup of every kind, and some creams for every sort of skin type.

"I'm glad you could come. I'm ready to meet all the fantastic people I'll be designing for and dressing up. Do you have any special requests?"

I should be noted these special requests may or may not be entirely forgotten by morning.

Comments

[youbarium]

"The opening?" Carlos repeats, dumbfounded. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen Telemachus in a couple of days... "Oh, no. I have a bad feeling about this," he mutters under his breath.

"Derrick," he says aloud, squaring his shoulders under the lab coat and peering intently through his glasses, "do you know what happened to the last District 10 stylist?"

[forserious]

"He had to leave suddenly for health reasons. I'm just super excited I get to take his place, I've always want to design for something really important. And this is really extra important."

That was the line Derrick had been given and he isn't about to question it. Why should he? Why would the Capitol lie to him? He motions a waiter over to bring them drinks. His tributes clearly have a lot to learn about relaxing, which is an important part of looking good.

[youbarium]

Health reasons, Carlos thinks, face openly doubtful. But if that was true, why didn't I hear anything about it until now? Telemachus was perfectly healthy last week. There's more to this than I'm being told. He knows the kind of world he lives in, and he knows the kinds of things that happen to him. His mouth pulls into a thin line. Carlos does not know for sure that something has happened to Telemachus, but he thinks he knows who to ask about it.

This is the second time something unfortunate has befallen someone who cut Carlos's hair, and that doesn't look like coincidence, not to a scientist. It looks like a pattern. He sits down slowly on the retro grunge-punk armchair he had been ushered in front of.

"No thanks," Carlos mutters almost unconsciously to the waiter, waving the drink away.

[forserious]

Even if Carlos were to ask, this would probably be over Zoolander's head. He was more interested in his own place and what he's going to do for the world. He's going to be great, and he's going to start with a tribute that's already pretty popular.

"Don't worry, it's all paid for. You can have whatever you want."

[youbarium]

"No, it's all right, I didn't come here to drink," Carlos replies. "I only came because I saw that it was my district and I wanted to know who you were."

[forserious]

Without missing a beat Derrick offers his hand.

"Hi, I'm Derrick Zoolander, former model and stylist for District 10 tributes. You don't even have to actually be from District 10 and I'll make you look good."

He's just so happy to be meeting so many new and interesting people.

[youbarium]

"That's good," said Carlos, "since I'm not actually from District 10. None of us are, anymore." He wasn't sure what to make of this Derrick Zoolander, not without more data, but so far the unscientific impression he was getting was standard Capitol citizen. He supposed it was too much to hope for a stylist who was as understanding as Telemachus had been.

"You're from the Capitol, right?"

[forserious]

"Yes, I grew up here and my father still lives here with my brothers. They're not models, though, I'm the only one who turned out really really good looking."

He gave Carlos an extra intense look, which was pretty much like all his other looks, but he leaned forward more.

"So you're, like, from another planet, right? Like an alien?"

[youbarium]

What?

"No, I'm not an alien," said Carlos tersely. "I'm from Earth, the same as you, just a different version of it." Hadn't anyone explained how the Neverending Quell worked to this man? How had he gotten a job as a stylist without understanding where the tributes came from?