Conscientia

[gamemakers]

WHO| Open
WHAT| Night life at the Speakeasy
WHEN| Evenings this week
WHERE| The Speakeasy
WARNINGS/NOTES| Feel free to use this party post style, or however you like if you would like to set any threads here.

The speakeasy was a classy joint. Wood panels, and soft velvet, and usually some kinda of live music, something mellow and easy to relax to. It was big, with low ceilings and with many back rooms, some easy to access, others less so. Easy to get lost in. And it gave off an air of class, of comfort, and being a part of something a little different from the rest. The kinda place where everybody knew your name, and everybody knew to be discreet about it.

It was the perfect place to grab a drink, sit, talk, and relax. No one over heard you, no one got in your business, but everyone was glad to talk if you wanted to find a friendly face. The owner, Conscientia, made her round every now and then, saying hello to her regulars, welcoming those who were new.

Comments

[buildingreality]

"It would," she murmured softly, glancing down to the folded napkin beneath her fingers, then back out to the rest of the room.

"'I liked the trend', as it were. 'I thought it was pretty'. Who could possibly argue?"

[nofunandgames]

"You've got this down already."

He smiled, wide. He knew she would, knew she was a good match. But it was good to know, for sure.

[buildingreality]

"I try," she replied, her own smile growing slightly wider. Not only was it nice to have this sort of approval, Elias was proving even better company than she'd initially thought.

[nofunandgames]

"Anything else you need to know just yet? I can't tell you too much right off the bat."

He didn't even know everything. Which was, he supposed, the way rebellions worked.

[buildingreality]

"I can't think of anything." Her eyes flicked back down to the napkin, pondering the symbol and all it meant for a long moment. "I suppose just what I need to do for now. Keep quiet, keep my head down?"

[nofunandgames]

"Exactly."

He smiled, leaned back.

"So now that's covered...would you like another drink."

[buildingreality]

Ariadne hesitated before a smile tugged at her mouth, and she tucked a lock of hair back behind her ear, "I'd love one."

[nofunandgames]

Lifting a hand, he caught the eye of the waitress, ordering one of the bars specials.

"So, how are you feeling about your tributes?"

[buildingreality]

"Not bad, actually," she replied as the waitress headed off to get the drinks. "I know it probably won't last long, and that the Capitol will bring someone new in at some point, but right now, I'd almost say they had a good chance.

"What about yours? Wyatt seems like he might be getting good at all of this."

[nofunandgames]

"Wyatt's who I'm most concerned with. The other it is mainly just making things comfortable for, although perhaps somebody will surprise me." He shrugged. "You never know who'll surprise you."

[buildingreality]

"Really?" She couldn't help the question, nor the curious way she regarded Elias at that point. Despite it having been a while back, Ariadne couldn't get the image of Wyatt dead at her feet out of her head in that second Arena. "You're right, though. I don't think I really have expectations of any of them. Maybe in hopes of not being surprised when it comes down to it."

[nofunandgames]

He shrugged.

"It's easier, here. When you know they'll wake up. And you're not just sending them to their deaths, year after year."

His eye closed, and although there were many face, it was always the same one that came to mind. Always.

[buildingreality]

Ariadne looked at him for a moment, sure that she had stumbled upon something that bothered him. She liked him more than Cobb; it was that alone that made her less willing to press on. Besides, it wasn't as though she couldn't figure out what was bothering him at least somewhat.

She reached out, touching her fingers to his forearm in a reassuring gesture. "It's the same process, isn't it? Sending them out, watching them die, watching the Capitol bring the body back. Only now, they fix them. Bring them back. Somehow."

[nofunandgames]

"I know it's not easy for them...it wasn't easy for you. I know the games they're playing, that this is a way to appease us. I know all that, and I still..." He sighed, looking down at the table, at her hand, and the remains of ice in his drink.

"I still am grateful. And I hate it."

[buildingreality]

"I don't think anyone can blame you for that. You've been here longer than we have; you've been through the Games the way they were meant to be," she replied, frowning to herself still. "You have a different experience of it all than we do. I don't think anyone here can actually claim to understand how the Capitol thinks, whether it's someone like you, or someone like the Gamemakers. It's all speculation."

[nofunandgames]

He nodded.

"It's all...it's very complicated. More so then one person can know."

He paused. "Well, maybe Snow."

[buildingreality]

"But Snow- Doesn't he run everything? In a way, at least?" Ariadne prompted, tipping her head to one side slightly, curious. "If there was anyone around here who knew everything, it would be him. But I don't think even he can predict everything."

[nofunandgames]

"Well hopefully not. If so, are who plan here is sorta fried, isn't it."

He laughed, softly, but the longing, the worry under that laugh were clear. Especially to someone like Ariadne.

[buildingreality]

"He's only one man," she pointed out, offering him a little smile that was hopefully quietly reassuring in some way. Snow might have thought that he knew everything, but he obviously didn't. Not if she was hearing about all this in the first place.

[nofunandgames]

"True. It's sometimes hard to think of him as...just another person."

A nightmare. That was on the mild end of things. The boogeyman who came nd took you away, so you'd never come home.

[buildingreality]

Ariadne focused her gaze on him, studying Elias' expression with a mild frown. She knew that her opinions of Snow were different from anyone who'd lived with him their whole life. It was easy to see where he was coming from.

"Well, it's not like he makes it easy for you to do that. It would work better for him to be a deity of sorts instead."

[nofunandgames]

Elias looked into his drink, a long, lingering study of what ice remained.

"I don't know if that would be better or worse. On the one hand, it would be nice to believe another human couldn't be that wicked. On the other..."

He gave her a wry smile.

"It gives a whole new meaning to god fearing..."

Religion still held on, in District 10...not strongly, but Elias knew the basics.

[buildingreality]

Her voice dropped then, and she leaned in a little bit. "Just imagine it, though, if he didn't have anything backing him up. If we somehow reduced him to just one man. No cameras, no Peacekeepers, no Gamemakers. If we took them out of the equation - just us against Snow - it would be possible. More than possible."

But she paused then, careful not to let her voice get too excited. "It would take careful planning, but I don't doubt that it's possible. Difficult, yes, but not impossible."

[nofunandgames]

"If it was just us against him..."

He trailed off, a bitter smile on his lips.

Just them again a frail old man. Very old. He didn't have to lay out the implication.

[buildingreality]

A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, more for the sake of the gesture than because she was genuinely pleased in any sort of way; it didn't crinkle her eyes the way a smile might normally.

"Maybe that's an idea."