Thicker Than Blood Start

[gamemakers]

For Tributes with keen eyes, they'll notice that Peacekeeper presence seems increased and yet infinitely more ineffective in the last few weeks. Peacekeepers seem harried, as do the Stylists, and most of the Escorts titter and plot without alerting the Tributes as to what, exactly, is so exciting. They simply say that this weekend they'll know.

And so it happens that on the weekend in question, the Tributes are woken by their Escorts early and brought to a restaurant for a hearty breakfast. The restaurant is nothing spectacular, although they seem to be trying to make an impression on the television cameras that float around. The sleepy, cranky meal goes by and then the Tributes are led back to their Suites for a mandatory meeting.

Sitting on couches and the floor, in chairs and on windowsills, standing off to the side - people from the Tributes' homes are waiting to greet them in each District Suite. Some are confused, some accepting, some frightened and some elated to see their beloved. Either way, it should be an eventful reunion.

Comments

[youbarium]

Oh, well, that answered that. Some others might have commented on the juxtaposition of the mundane and the terrifying, but not Carlos. He was far, far too used to it.

"Thank you for being so forthcoming about this," said Carlos. "Like I said, I'm a scientist, so I'm very interested in individuals from other worlds, and I'm a District 10 tribute, so I am also interested in whether or not I should run tests on my food before I eat it." This was said completely casually. "Anyway, you said you were from a species of shapeshifters. Do they all share your current basic physiology in their unaltered state?"

[chamthulhu]

"Brainy and Lyle aren't really the best at, shall we say, creating good will with other people. Which we do sometimes - you can't get up to villainy 24/7. I just want them to have a chance."

As for his species, that was something he had no problems talking about.

"They did. (Past tense and all.)" He snaked out some tentacles for Carlos to get a better view. "We, uh, didn't exactly have a peaceful history. The stories went that Durlan civilization destroyed itself in a six-minute war. After that, our planet was a wasteland. Supposedly, we changed ourselves to be able shapeshift to survive. No one even remembered what we used to look like before so we tended to go a little...amorphous when we're not shifting, like this. I tend to go humanoid a lot, though, since I spend so much time with humanoids. One form some Durlans thought we used to take was that of orange humanoids with antennae, so that's the face I tend to wear the most. The girlfriend likes when I actually have lips. Without my powers, I can't shift to it, though."

[youbarium]

Ah, right. If their universe was destroyed, Cham would be the only Durlan left. Carlos felt a twinge of guilt -- the use of present tense might have been insensitive.

"Lips matter to most humanoids in romantic relationships, yes," said Carlos, quickly, not really wanting to linger on the subject. "Do you mind if I make notes about this conversation later? I ask because I know it's covered a lot of very personal subjects and if you don't want a record of it lying around, I understand completely."

[chamthulhu]

"It's fine. Just don't let Brainy and Lyle know I said so much. They like to pretend they have social skills."

[youbarium]

"All right." Amusement tinged Carlos's voice -- he really didn't mind Brainy and Lyle, eccentric as they were. He probably would have outright admitted to liking them, actually, if they didn't make it so clear that they should be kept at arm's length. After all, Lyle was a poisoner and Brainy was an awkward green bag of mixed friendship signals.

Then again, if what Cham said was true, they might not make bad friends, or at least allies, after all. Carlos had known much worse people. He opened his mouth to say something else, but the communicator on his wrist beeped at him. He glanced at Cham, then back down at the holo-watch. (He still called it a holo-watch in his head, because he thought it sounded cool.)

"I'm sorry, I have to take this," he said, standing up. "Excuse me."

[chamthulhu]

"No problem."

He appreciated the opportunity to add to Lyle and Brainy's cover.

And the lack of judgementality was a good thing. Hopefully, he'd made them sound more sympathetic so they could keep up the villain routine and not go without gaining allies.

Then, when the time came that they could show their true colors, when they could be Legion, maybe those people would stick by them even more.

[youbarium]

"It was nice meeting you--" said Carlos as he headed for the door. "Goodbye!"