[open]

[buildingreality]

WHO | Ariadne, Elias, and any of the other mentors who want to jump in
WHAT | watching the Games
WHEN | a few nights into the Arena
WHERE | the mentors' green room
WARNINGS / NOTES | none right now; will update as necessary

Ariadne found very quickly that she didn't really enjoy the Games much more outside of the Arena. Of course, at least out here, she could put herself to some use. Getting the odd sponsor gift for some of her more preferred Tributes, those she wanted to go far, and generally ignoring the rest of them.

At that particular moment, she was only paying just enough attention to know exactly what was happening; her other eye was on the rest of the room, keeping watch over the other mentors.

Comments

[galaxyherder]

It was getting easier; the faking and the smiling and the small talk. Subtlety and making nice wasn't exactly her forte, but in the place, it was a necessity if she wanted to keep her tongue or her head. Both of which she was quite fond of. Needed, even.

It was a relief to see her there. Ariadne. Dressed up like a doll for the Capitol. Not out in the arena, again. Despite how real, or not real it all was, Shepard did not like watching people die. It was something she was willing to kill for.

"District 6 seems to be doing well, so far." Shepard says as she takes a seat at Ariadne's side, a drink in hand and a smile on her face.

It was nice to have someone around that she could actually enjoy the presence of.

[buildingreality]

"We're certainly not dying, and I think that's a relief in and of itself," she replied lightly, a smile already pulling at her lips. The best part of being outside of the Arenas, save the fact that she really didn't enjoy killing - or rather, she had grown accustomed to it - was actually being able to hang out with a handful of people she normally couldn't.

"Yours aren't doing too bad, either."

[galaxyherder]

"Not too badly, no," she says rather proudly and sips at her drink. She cares about their victories only as much as she allows herself. But things are just easier if her tributes are doing well. People are more willing to talk to her if they think there might be a chance for victory. And she needs to talk to people, if she wants to get information.

"It's nice to have you here," she admits and settles herself more comfortably into her chair. "Have the others been treating you well?"

[buildingreality]

She understood the concept well enough; people didn't want to talk to other people unless there was something to get out of it, most of the time. It was just a fact of life, and one that needed to be worked with, not against. She nodded lightly in ascent. "Not too bad. I thought that things might be stranger on this side of things, but that's not quite the case. People are almost awestruck by me, especially when they meet me in person."

[galaxyherder]

"Good," Shepard tells her with a nod, smiling in approval. "Use that as long as you can. You will be surprised how far it can get you."

They were still a novelty to these people. Something fresh and shiny and new. It still hadn't worn of for Shepard, either. But it would be stronger with Ariadne. The newest. The youngest. The most experienced inside the Arena. She couldn't quite imagine what the girl had gone through. How different her life must be now compared to the world that she knew.

"But you probably don't need me to tell you that," she continues. Because Ariadne has always been smart. Shepard has known that about her since the first time they met, there on that snowy mountainside of Arena 01.

[buildingreality]

A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, and Ariadne shrugged a little. "I noticed, actually. It's amazing what you can do if they like you enough, and you ask nicely." It had already come in handy once or twice, though most of the sponsors she'd found for people hadn't provided much. Every little bit helped, after all, and she knew that she wouldn't have survived in the Arenas as long as she had without some of the help provided.

"I'll see if I can't perpetuate it a little bit," she laughed quietly.

[galaxyherder]

"I have a feeling you won't have a problem with that. They love you here. You haven't had the opportunity to watch them watch you like I have," she tells her. "You've been a favourite among many of them for some time now."

"I was at a party when you won." it seems terrible to admit that to her. To tell her that she had been sipping cocktails and rubbing elbows with the rich and powerful of Panem while she had been inside the arena, bleeding and fighting for her life.

[buildingreality]

She really was surprised to hear that she was a favourite, though Arthur had told her once before, in what felt now like a dream, that there was something about her. It had been flattering, though she hadn't been quite sure how to take it; in the end, she'd all but ignored the comment, taking it as a statement of fact, and nothing more. Now it seemed as though she had intrigued the Capitol the way she'd intrigued him, and she wondered if that wouldn't pose a problem or two in the future, if they ever took to picking her brain long enough to learn what she did back home.

"I had no idea," Ariadne admitted, tipping her head to one side, birdlike. "How could you tell?"

She paused a moment then, smiling a little at the admission, "I'm not that surprised. The parties are almost as big a part as the Arenas themselves."