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

[punchdrunkvictory]

Haymitch had disappeared into his own corner, sitting at a table tucked away into the corner, nursing a drink that he'd been working at all night.

Business was a priority. He'd invited Effie along to test the waters with her, and to give whomever might be closely a reason to think there would be no business going on tonight.

Another sip. Anymore waiting and he'd have to order another drink.

[setfires]

Cinna had been avoiding public appearances since the new games had started. He had mostly been locked up in his room, letting rumors of the next visionary piece of art swirl around his hermit like ways. The Speakeasy was the perfect cover to pull him out of his workship, just as it had been crafted to be.

"Let me buy you the next round," he said as he slid in next to Haymitch. To anyone who looked at them, it was a perfectly natural thing for him to do. After all they were the mentor and stylist for the same district.

[punchdrunkvictory]

"Well well well," Haymith chuckled, looking to the man next to him, "Look who came out of hiding."

It had been a long time since he'd seen the other man. Too long really. He wished he could have followed him really, staying out of the spotlight and drink himself to sleep every night.

"I'm not gonna turn an offer like that down."

[setfires]

Cinna looked over Haymith, taking in just how drunk he is. "Do you remember the last Games we had with people from our world? You promised Katniss that you wouldn't drink while we were trying to keep her alive," his comment isn't really a complaint or a criticism. It's more a way to bring Katniss into the conversation, to ask if they have heard anything about her. Even in this place that is supposed to be safe, he's not entirely comfortable being anything other than subtle about his rebellious tendencies.

[punchdrunkvictory]

Katniss. He hadn't heard much of her beyond the live broadcast she and Peeta had given who knows how long ago, "Well. If it were her, I wouldn't be."

Her life and Peeta's were still in danger though. They were precisely under Snow's thumb and they had made it perfectly clear that if he stepped out of line...it would be his fault, "Believe it or not, I've been cutting back though."

[setfires]

"Cutting back is a good start," he said. He didn't really know Haymitch from before that deal had been struck, outside of the things he had seem broadcasted about the Victor. Becoming Katniss's Stylish had been his first time meeting the man in person. Still, he could see the way that the Victor carried himself, even understand it on some level (though he would never presume to truly understand what live was like for a Tribute or a Victor.)

"Were you the one to bring Effie here?"

[punchdrunkvictory]

"Maybe," Definitely yes, "Thought she could use a bit of culture in her life."

He set his drink down, sitting back in his chair. Working together with the man had been good for him. Really, that whole arena had been a wake up call for him. Sure he'd slipped back a bit, but he at least remembered how to care again.

[setfires]

"I think she has too much of that," he said, looking over to the brightly colored woman before looking back at Haymitch. "It's the rest of it I'm worried about."

He liked Effie well enough. He just wasn't sure he could trust her. She was a part of their team, but she was the part of it that belonged to the Capitol. At least that's what the more paranoid part of his mind thought.

[mannersmatter]

"There you are!"

Effie didn't wait for an invite, sliding into the booth next to Haymitch and scooting across in that awkward way one made it into a booth in a short skirt.

"You haven't been drinking the whole time have you?"

[punchdrunkvictory]

"And if I have?" He gave her a cheeky grin, finishing off his drink and turning to get the attention of one of the waitresses to get him another.

[mannersmatter]

She pursed her lips, giving him the look.

"Haymitch, we have work to do to get ready for this next arena, and I was hoping meeting you in a bar would make you a bit more open to it, but really, if you're going to get drunk so fast, i don't know what I'll do with you."

All of that in one breath.

[punchdrunkvictory]

"And what exactly did you have in mind for getting ready? Preparing them for their inevitable death and even more inevitable revival?"

So maybe he'd said something close to it before. But it was true. A never ending cycle that Snow watched very closely. Too closely for everyone's good.

[mannersmatter]

"You are so...fatalistic about all this. Look at the last...well, I mean not the last game but...Katniss and Peeta. We got BOTH of them out."

She tapped the smooth table with her jeweled nails, for emphasis. All the emphasis angrily tapping her nails could give.

[punchdrunkvictory]

She was right. Both of them got out. But once they got out, they were under the finger of the Capitol. All of the victors were, and it made him absolutely sick. He had no doubt that the Capitol was watching even him, a drunk who had seemed to stop caring again.

"There'snot going to be two ever again, Effie."

They won't allow it.

[mannersmatter]

"Well, we don't need two. Not at once. Just one at a time. Don't you want 12 to reap the benefits of winning again, all the rewards..."

Her voice was getting shriller, her frustration with him more obvious. Remembering they were in public, she brought it down a few notches, glowering at him over the table.

"Why do you never take this seriously? I would think you would, more than I!"