Mini-Arena Reaping

[etcircenses]

Who| All Tributes, mentors, stylists, escorts, and some citizens.
What| The mini-arena reaping.
Where| The grand foyer of the Tribute Center.
When| 7pm Thursday (11/6). Please note: This log is forward dated by one week.
Warnings/Notes| Unhappy tributes.

At approximately 5pm Thursday, all of the Tributes were notified that their presence would be required at a mandatory meeting in the grand foyer of the Tribute Center. It was to be a formal occasion, and all of the stylists were instructed to dress their Tributes in their autumn best. At 8pm, Peacekeepers arrived at each floor to escort the Tributes down to the foyer, which had been decorated in a playful, nostalgic manner. The Tributes were seated at one of twelve large, numbered tables, though they were told they could mingle, dance, or help themselves to as much punch as they'd like. By all appearances, this little fete was nothing more than a typical, if somewhat bizarre Capitol celebration.

[ooc notes: General arena information can be found here. If you would like for your adult character to react violently/riot after the reaping, you must comment to this post.]

Comments

[samson]

Most people don't appreciate how much dedication goes into this hairstyle, so her appreciation is appreciated! Good taste, lady. You have good taste.

"Hopefully with just booze," he quips back, because he's pretty sure there is at least one person here who would be very happy to poison them all. This sort of situation breeds cut-throat behavior. But he tries not to think about that for the time being, instead just letting himself be taken by how charming this lady is.

"But a chaperone, huh? You a teacher?"

[belongsontv]

"We'll hope it'll just be booze then." Milla agreed with a shake of her head. The Psychic doesn't doubt the fact someone would possibly poison the punch. With the crowd gathered it wasn't that unlikely. It was never easy to separate from a war mentality and just slide back into the expectations of society. Much less this society.

She waggles a finger as she speaks, her accent thickening slightly while she sasses. "I'd rather not die from punch. I refuse to have that be on my tombstone."

"Occasionally, before all of this, I was helping at a summer camp." Not a lie per say, she was helping at Whispering Rock before she was drawn into the mess of the Capitol's games. Milla was just adept at being a secret agent as well.

[samson]

Brock just grins at her a little, charmed by her accent and her demeanor. He's always had a particular weakness for accents and the habits that came along with them. It's a nice change of pace from the weird, chirpy Capitolite accent that permeates everything, too, and most of the Tributes seem to be American, besides. Or at least they sound like they're American. He's not really sure how the whole different worlds thing works just quite yet.

Still, even though she's joking about it, there's a sliver of truth in there. They're all going to die sooner or later by someone else's hand. It's a sobering thought, and he doesn't particularly want to be sober right now, so he shoves it away.

"No kidding. I've done a little of that, before," he says, glancing around at the other tables. "Weirds me out a little that there are so many kids here."

[belongsontv]

Even with the inability to speak her native tongue, Portuguese still lingers at the edges of her words. It colors her english and motions. She's lived in America, but her home country still is clear in the way she behaves. When it occurs to Milla herself, she'll likely wonder how a place drawing from so many worlds seems to pull in so many Americans. It's certainly odd if anything.

"Weird is one way of putting it, baby." Her smile does soften as she spares a glance in the direction she knows her younger district mates have vanished off to. "You'd think they'd leave this sort of thing to adults. We aren't any better at emotionally handling it, but we have more tools to sort things out."

She waves her hand to dismiss the downer that settles over their conversation, "Tell me about you darling, I've been talking so much already."

[samson]

Logic and compassion don't really seem to be on the Capitol's mind so much as gory entertainment, but he doesn't disagree with her point. Brock would gladly kill a whole cadre of dudes every day if it would keep the kids out of it, but that's no fun for the Capitol.

Still, he might bring it up to... someone. One of these bastards has got to be open to new ideas. It's better than sitting around waiting for the inevitable every time.

He shrugs a little, letting her direct the flow of conversation. He doesn't much like talking about himself because he's not sure who to trust or who's listening, but he's decent enough at weaving around the meaty bits.

"It's okay. I'm not complaining," he says with a bit of a smile, because he really does like her accent. "I don't have a lot to tell; I just got here, uh... a few weeks ago, so I'm still getting my bearings. But I'm Brock."

[belongsontv]

The two can certainly agree on that much, whilst she isn't fond of killing- she'd rather do the fighting than letting children face this kind of thing. It is all so surreal and horrible. Milla isn't quite sure how she would have coped before she became a Psychonaut. Thankfully that- doesn't factor into things now. Now she can smile and be social without missing much of a beat.

"Ah, so you're new too, dear? Well, less new than I am." She says with a soft laugh. "It's a pleasure, Brock. I'm Milla." She sets her drink aside momentarily to offer the man her gloved hand for a handshake.

[samson]

Brock takes her hand, smiling a little. Milla. He'll have to keep an eye out for her going forward. Not many people here were such good conversationalists.

"Not sure if being new is something to celebrate," he says a little dryly, though he's still smiling. This place is kind of a nightmare in a lot of respects -- and he hasn't even been through one of those murder parties, yet. But give it time and he's sure he'll find all sorts of exciting new ways that this place is horrible.

He gestures around at the party in general. "Though I get the feeling celebrating for the sake of celebrating is something I'll need to get used to."

[belongsontv]

He'll discover for a small woman, she has a pretty firm handshake.

"It's still nice to know who else was just thrown into this mixing pot, baby. Makes me feel less out of odds." Even with that, Milla doesn't particularly seem out of her element, beyond the whole murder for other people's entertainment aspect.

"That certainly seems about right darling. I suspect if you sneezed there would be a party celebrating it." She jokes in turn, "I don't mind parties, but you need some time to breathe between them."

[samson]

Like her accent and her mannerisms, Milla's grip is yet another thing that Brock is a little charmed by. A strong, confident woman is always better than one who wilts and demurs. He's curious to see how she's going to do in the Arena, what she's capable of -- though again, there's the whole 'being forced to murder people' thing. So there are pros and cons.

"Me, I'm not really into big social gatherings," he says, taking a sip of punch. "I like to unwind every now and then like everybody else, but all the pomp and circumstance is a little goofy, you know?"

[belongsontv]

The dark skinned woman nods at his words, "I'm never one to turn down a party myself, baby, but it does make sense. Too much extravagance can be tiring." Milla knows the pomp and circumstance of Capitol parties will likely tire her out sooner rather than later. It's why she plans on having the occasional private gatherings given the chance, something without the expectations or heavy eyes weighing down on their actions.

"If you ever need a break, do tell me. I'd be glad to spend time with you." She offers him a friendly pat on the arm.

[samson]

Brock grins a little when she offers that, because he can think of a few ways they can spend time together, for sure.

"Yeah, I might have to take you up on that sometime," he says amiably, sipping at the punch again, then glancing back over his shoulder at the... party, for lack of a better word. "I don't think they want us skipping out early on these things, though."

[belongsontv]

The grin isn't missed, Milla briefly smiles playfully back before hiding it behind a hand with an easy laugh at his words. "With how mandated things are- I can guess as much." Milla agrees, sipping at her own drink as Brock looks at their surroundings. Being glammed up and hustled out shows this wasn't an optional party.

"Suppose we'll have to enjoy the prom over again. Be it run by something a little stricter than a high school."

[samson]

"Not exactly how I thought I'd be spending my night, but hey," he says, looking back at her again with a bit of a shrug. He probably shouldn't complain. Not only did that have the potential to get him in trouble, but he could have found himself with much worse company that Milla Vodello.

"So. You get a lot of dances at the, uh, summer camp?"

[belongsontv]

"It certainly could be much worse." Milla agrees, the company certainly is welcome. Though she's glad to take the bait when it comes to talking about working with children.

"A few- I also help out at a local school every once and awhile when it comes to dances." Musing on dances since past just makes Milla's smile take a softer edge. The mental minx is clearly fond of children if anything. "Dances at camp tend to be much less formal and more about having fun. Though the kids always seem to find someway to sneak off to make out." She shakes her head at the thought, taking another sip of her punch.

[samson]

"That's kids for you," he replies with a bit of a smile himself. Brock's own soft spot for kids should be getting pretty apparent by now too, though he should probably be a little more careful about how much he lets that slip. You never know who in this world would be willing to use children as leverage, after all.

"About a year ago, this guy I used to work for had a... well, kind of a homeschool prom, right? For his kids; he's got twins. Sad as hell, though," he says, gesturing vaguely with the punch in his hand. "They got, like, two whole friends their age. Whole thing was pretty much a disaster."

[belongsontv]

His soft spot just makes Milla hide a smile behind her cup once again, clearly charmed if anything. It's very genuine and sweet.

Her smile does fade at the description Brock gives, brows knitting together. The thought of a disastrous prom just makes her lips curl into a frown. "Oh no... those poor dears. I hope they- had some kind of other party to make up for it?"

[samson]

"Yeah, I wouldn't bet on that, actually," he says, screwing his eyes up to the side. "Their whole life is kinda... you know."

Also a disaster. It's terrible.

"I wouldn't worry about 'em too much, though. They'll get over it -- they grow up fast, you know?"