we wine, we dine, and everything is fine [open!]

[capitolprivilege]

Who| Everyone still in the Capitol. If the Hunger Games is a significant part of your life, or if you wield any influence at all in the Capitol, you've received an invitation. Unless you're Victory Hannibal.
What| Week 1 viewing party! It's horror-movie/monster themed, so break out your best sexy witch/vampire/mummy costumes! Also, feel free to use it for sponsor schmoozing.
Where| A ballroom, and some adjacent rooms.
When| Just before the Arena begins, and into the night.
Warnings/Notes| Watch this space for warnings. Also, feel free to make closed threads amongst yourselves, but Stephen will likely at some point come up to greet you personally. If you think your Capitol character would be familiar with the Reagan family, make an OOC note, and I'll give you a quick rundown on their sordid past.


There is a fog machine.

The fog hovers around the guests' knees and ankles, doing nothing to impede visibility or movement, but it creates a ~mysterious~ atmosphere. The ballroom is modest, by Capitol standards, able to comfortably hold about a hundred people. There's plenty of space. The room is dimly lit from concealed sources that nonetheless throw the guests' shadows into frightening shapes on the wall. There are tables laden with food along one wall, and plenty of comfortable seating, for projected onto the far wall is a live feed from the Games.

Through the doors are smaller, more intimate rooms, with cushy couches and a smaller screen apiece for watching the Games a little more privately. One pair of double-doors leads out onto a balcony with a beautiful view of the city.

Everyone who received the invitation was informed of the theme, of course: no pressure, but if you want your outfit to match (and he's sure you do), make sure it's a little bit -- spooky.

Stephen himself, tastefully attired in a shimmery black suit, cape, and vampire teeth, is moving about the guests, giving friendly greetings to those he knows, making polite conversation with those he does not, ensuring that everybody (or at least, everybody possible) is having a good time. So what if his smile looks a little fixed, every once in a while? It's a party. What could possibly be wrong?

Comments

[confidentially]

Was it admirable? Or was it totally twisted? Jessica wasn't exactly sure which was truer. She cared about her tributes, Albert and Eponine especially, but she knew it was sick to be so keen on watching them die. "They're giving their lives for us. The least I can do is pay attention."

As for being typecast...? Well, she was pretty much used to it. She'd played up the sex kitten part, now it was hers to play for eternity.

Jessica coughed again, then forced a smile. "What can I say? I was born to be a cheerleader."

[hit_girl_mindy]

"Yeah, but if you're jaded abut the games, and some of us definitely are, its hard to have to go sit and watch people perform in it and die in all these different ways. When you care about what you do, you start to really get attached to all of them, and that's pretty much inviting pain."

Something Mindy had, sadly, already done the past week and a half.

She snickered. "Oh bullshit. I've seen enough shit on cheerleaders to know they stay on the sidelines. They don't get involve in the game. What do you call what you did with Ian?"

Besides stupid, for all of them really.

[confidentially]

"The pain is inevitable, hon. You can't live in this world without being a little bit jaded. But seeing them die over and over again doesn't make it any less significant. They're still dying for us. If they do it and we don't acknowledge it, then what's the point?" Jessica fidgeted a little, swirling her glass and watching the alcohol whirl into a spiral. Clearing her throat, she carried on.

"I call that being his mentor," she said in a guarded tone, just in case anyone was listening in. She'd gotten off relatively easy for what she'd done with Ian. She'd been lucky, able to use her relationship with him as a pass to talk to him without fear of punishment. If the Peacekeepers found out she'd been more involved than that, she risked serious injury or worse. "I'd do the same thing for any of my tributes."

[hit_girl_mindy]

"Oh, I'm already pretty jaded. That's why I'm here and still hobnobbing for my Tributes. Granted, I'm not sure I'd say that everyone is dying for us per say. Lie, if someone trips and falls in a bear pit or something, I'd call them a victim of their own stupidity."

She took a sip of a nearby cocktail, apparently fairly adjusted to the taste now.

"Yeah, I know. What I wouldn't call it is being a cheerleader. It takes an effort to cheer and smile, sure, but it takes a whole lot more to put your neck out for your tribute like that. You could have just left him to his own devices. It's good to know that you look at them more than just pieces of a puzzle."

More and more, Mindy could see beyond the sex kitten persona.

[confidentially]

Jessica shook her head, clearing some phlegm from her throat. "That's because you didn't grow up here. Whether they fall into a bear pit or freeze to death or get shanked by another tribute, they're in that Arena so kids in the districts don't have to go. Their sacrifice spares the lives of the kids in District Three. And Nine. And all the others. They're literally dying to spare the lives of my family. How can I not be grateful? How can any of us ignore that?"

[hit_girl_mindy]

"It doesn't feel like that when you're the one dying," Mindy reminded her, "but I won't lie: when I finally got to meet the people in District Nine, that was when it started to be real to me. I'm used to the people I help not even know I exist: I work in shadow, ask for nothing, get to be as brutal as I want to be. This place makes me have to care, because now people have faces and depending on what's happening to me, I can't even kill fair."

Something she'd never had to worry about when it was flunkies.

"Still can't figure for the life of me why they stopped taking the district's kids. Not clear cut anyway."

[confidentially]

Her eyes were watering, so she took a moment to wipe away the tears. Remnants of glittery mascara pooled on the back of her hand. "If we knew the answer to that, we'd be running this place. I don't think anyone here knows the real reasons behind anything in Panem."

[hit_girl_mindy]

"No choice but to call it stupid for stupid's sake."

Hopeless. Shitty.

"Hey, you really should sit this one out princess, you aren't looking up to it. No joke."

[confidentially]

"Maybe I can duck into another room for a rest." She wasn't going to miss the party, but she really did need to lie down. Abruptly, she forced herself up off the sofa. "Excuse me."

[hit_girl_mindy]

"Yeah, you do that," Mindy said, watching her go. She was going to want to talk to her later. She hadn't anticipated this at all, but she kind of liked her more than she expected. She was at least a way more caring mentor than she'd thought.