Staffer's Retreat

[whatisay]

WHO| Every Escort, Stylist and Mentor. Any Capitolites or Peacekeepers who might have reason to oversee or visit.
WHAT| A professional retreat for the overworked, underpaid, and super underappreciated Tribute Care Teams.
WHERE| A chalet in District One, easily accessible by train.
WHEN| Before the next death roll.
WARNINGS| Typical Capitolites being entitled asshats.
NOTES| I've put up some subthreads for various activities, if you want to add more just do so under the appropriate day subheader!

Staffer's Retreat. Mandatory. The teams for each District are given a handful of days to prepare for the weekend, which, they're told, is going to be scheduled for a weekend with no big shake-ups in the Arena and perfect weather for outdoor activities. On Friday morning, they're taken by train to a small chalet tucked into a mountainside. A few inches of snow covers the ground but the sky is clear, reflected in the beautiful lake at the base of the mountain.

Until Sunday evening, their days will be packed with "professional development". The schedule looks something like this:

Friday:
Icebreakers
Trust Falls
Hypothetical Scenarios: How to Be the First Person Chosen for a Bomb Shelter
Three-Legged Race
Self-Care Hour: Mandatory Yoga
Dinner
Breaking Down Stereotypes Workshop

Saturday:
Mandatory Mentor Group Therapy: PTSD is Not An Excuse
Mandatory Escort/Stylist Workshop: Building Trust with Your Tributes
Mandatory Sexual Harassment Training: Focus on Tribute/Mentor and Tribute/Escort Relationships
Lunch
Capture-the-Flag
Group Lego-Building
Dinner
12am Karaoke

Sunday:
5:30am Continental Breakfast
Compliment Circle
Journal Hour
Farewells

Comments

FRIDAY

[whatisay]

ICEBREAKERS

[whatisay]

Staffers are put into pairs and asked to introduce themselves by playing Who I Am. After sixty seconds, they switch pairs.

[Make your own subthread and tag each other!]

Emily Finch

[conifer]

Emily had been pretty dubious about the whole idea of the retreat. Getting to know the other mentors was certainly a good idea, but she tended to be quite awkward with the sort of forced interaction that teambuilding exercises usually elicited. She feels very conspicuous, crossing her arms over her chest and glancing around, giving a smile that's friendly but guarded at her partner.

"I am Emily, daughter of Carla, daughter of Nerea, daughter of ... others." She falters a little at the 'others', her brow clouding over, thinking about who they might have been, her ancestors before the Dark Days.

[milieus]

Jennifer was all too happy to participate in the team building retreat. She'd been hoping it would go well and didn't mind at all leading by example and getting down to business, taking a moment to recall all the fabulous names of her maternal line.

"I'm Jennifer, which of course you know. My mother was named Daria, and she was the daughter of Alba, who was the daughter of Pyrrha, who was the daughter of Eunomia, who was the daughter of Melissa." She paused, pursing her lips as she considered the generations of long dead women whose blood flowed in her veins. She'd known her grandmother, Alba, and had met her great-grandmother, Pyrrha, but the others were mysteries to her. They were nothing to her but names now... names, and a gentle note to herself to look these women up someday. Clearing her throat, she continued, "Melissa's mother was named Sonia, I think."

[capitolprivilege]

"I am Stephen," he begins, counting on his fingers, "son of Portia, daughter of Justinia, daughter of Cressida, daughter of Lavinia, daughter of Messalina, daughter of..." It's at the great-great-great-great grandmother that he falters.

"....sorry. I've got nothing past that.

Jolie

[reallynow]

This is all a little too much like grade school to be truly enjoyable for Jolie, particularly when it takes a big slice out of the me-time she so dearly needs in between big events and sewing. At the very least, it's a time for dressing up nice and schmoozing. Maybe once she phones it in she can just camp at the bar and pretend this isn't a big waste of time.

She greets her match with a brilliant smile, the product of Capitol dentistry at it's finest, and proceeds to introduce herself. "Hi, I'm Jolie. I like not wasting my time and being other places. Chances are you probably already knew that, so kudos. Anyway, my mother is like me only older and taller and her mother is also like me only older and he doesn't wear a wig and then her mother is even older and dead." She holds out a hand to shake, and she's enthusiastic about it at least. "If we wanna talk about something more important- I dress District Eight and I've been doing it for longer than a lady likes to admit."

[69problems]

"I am the Signless, adoptive son of the Dolorosa... who had no troll parents and never told me about her lusus."

Yyyeah. This isn't exactly a good game for a troll to play when their species is hatched in batches of hundreds has little to no concept of familial bonds to other trolls. He's the only troll who ever had a mother, but that's about as far back as his 'family' goes. At least he has the good grace to look a little sheepish about it.

"I'm sorry. A lineage isn't something trolls really have."

At least that's kind of an interesting conversation starter in itself?

Leonidas Cora

[lionhearted_victor]

The retreat had to be some sort of punishment towards the Staff, it's the only way this all made sense. That or they genuinely thought this could strengthen their work resolve. Either way, Leo stands up and speaks up,

"I am Leonidas, only son of Raphael and Catalina Cora. My lineage is not of importance to me, what we do now is what matters. And for the record," he'd glare at Calendius for this one, "Not a hobbit as some people claim I am. I failed to become a Tribute when my chance due to an injury to my knee, and now I make sure that others have a better shot that I did then."

Kevin

[asmilinggod]

"Hi, friend! I am Kevin!"

There is a very very long, uncomfortable pause. He stands there, grinning at his partner, who is no doubt waiting for the rest of his statement.

It never comes.

He just stands there, waiting for a response.

Jessica Wakefield

[confidentially]

It took a great deal of coaxing to get Jessica to attend the meetings. It wasn’t because of her drinking, since she could generally be counted on to keep it together most days. It was more that she had it in her head that she needed to run away at any cost. Being present, participating in the activities was difficult and she really hated it. But she had to try. Or rather, she had to pretend to try.

Naming all of her dead female relatives was harder on her than she cared to let on, though, even with her pearly white grin and magazine ready hair and outfit.

“I’m Jessica, daughter of Alice. Alice was the daughter of Marjorie, who was the daughter of Samantha. Samantha’s mother was Jessamyn, and Jessamyn’s mother was also named Alice. My family was really creative with names, if you haven’t noticed.” Her smile was forced, voice hollow, but she was participating, and that’s what mattered. “My sister was named Elizabeth. She was named from my great-great aunt, Elisabeth, Jessamyn’s twin. We had three sets of identical twins in six generations.”

China Sorrows

[contrarianlibrarian]

"China Sorrows. Daughter of Sofronia who in turn was the daughter of Thalea. Neither of whom saw fit to share with me more than that. 'Aren't we all daughters of Panem?' were their words, I believe."

She leans forward to her partner, something of a mischievous look on her face. "Personally, I think they said that only to be sanctimonious, but who am I to question?"

TRUST FALLS

[whatisay]

One person stands on a platform with everyone else beneath and behind them. That person, trusting the group to catch them, falls backwards off the platform.

[Make your own thread and the first person to tag in decides if your character gets caught or not.]

Jason Compson

[whatisay]

No amount of bitching, whining and moaning to the powers that be have managed to get Jason out of this. After considering pretending to have the flu, then cancer, then the cancer-flu, he finally gave up and got on the train. He managed to get through the icebreakers without combusting into a fireball of resentment at having to be here at all, but then trust falls come up, and he becomes entirely convinced that this entire event was put on to punish him, personally.

Trust hasn't been something he's given to anyone since his teen years, and in fact, he's made it a point of pride to assume that everyone everywhere is trying to screw him over either through deceit or through disappointing amounts of laziness. He almost asks the prompter why he doesn't just jump headfirst on cement for all the difference it'll make, but instead, hands jammed into his pockets, he sulkily mounts the stairs and stands at the edge of the platform.

Might as well go for it. If he breaks his skull open...well, he'll deal with that then. He wouldn't be the first Compson to have head problems. He falls backwards.

Leonidas Cora

[lionhearted_victor]

Whoever got to catch Leonidas would be in for hell, he was that mad. He had to be dragged out of his apartment in the tower, away from work for this asinine "professional" weekend. Bullshit, this reeked of the staff leaders getting too many complaints or something. Bonding experience his ass and might as well do this one and get his arm broken or something. Sit the rest out and reconsider some life choices. Sure, Leo was short but like hell he trusts anyone that isn't Torin or Clara.

Emily Finch

[conifer]

Trust wasn't something that came easily to Emily. She'd seen the worst part of herself in a complete betrayal of trust, and now that part of her had been unearthed, it was something she had to live with every day. She knew not everyone was as bad as she perceived herself to be, but she felt that those who'd survived the Games or chose to have anything to do with making them a spectacle and celebration were certainly worthy of her wariness. She can either use herself as the yardstick to measure how far to trust others by, or she can use the sweet, naive, too trusting Calder. And she knows from bitter experience that it's the less trustworthy who stay alive.

So many of the faces looking up at her now were of Capitolites, and she's thoroughly expecting every one of them to miss catching her. It will be a very pleasant surprise if she's proved wrong.

HYPOTHETICAL SCENARIOS

[whatisay]

Staffers are asked to discuss the question: if only six people are allowed to survive the apocalypse in a bomb shelter, how should those people be decided? They are asked to consider their unconscious biases and 'intangible' qualities such as positive attitudes.

[One giant thread, free-for-all.]

THREE-LEGGED RACE

[whatisay]

Staffers are paired up and tied together at the thigh. They must cross a snowy field before the other teams. Winner receives a gift voucher to the Heliogabalan and free drinks throughout the retreat.

[RNG says Jolie and Linden, working together, win. Make your own subthreads with a partner of your choice.]

MANDATORY YOGA

[cigne]

Introductory hatha yoga, lead by a calm and pleasant instructor who's ready to bring peace and clarity to every staffer.

Mats available in the back of the room.

[Make subthreads and whisper to your neighbors.]

SATURDAY

[whatisay]

MENTOR GROUP THERAPY

[whatisay]

Mentors are led to a room with quiet New Age music playing and pillows on the floor. Everyone is told to take a hot chocolate chip cookie and some tissues and a therapist instructs them to tell, in detail, their most horrible Arena experience to the group.

[One big thread free-for-all, no tagging order, go nuts.]

CAPTURE THE FLAG

[whatisay]

Staffers are split up into teams and instructed to steal the other team's flag in the snowy field.

[Set up however many subthreads you want, free-for-all.]

KARAOKE

[whatisay]

A ballroom is outfitted with a karaoke machine with a bevy of hits from before the days of Panem. Alcohol is flowing freely and the music is loud. The machine randomly selects people it instructs to sing if they're not participating enough.

[Mingle threads.]

VIEWING ROOM post workshops

[reallynow]

Since Escorts still have work to do, at the end of the day the Staff are free to lounge around in the Viewing Room. It's full of couches for sitting on and various screens playing highlight reels at low volumes. Drinks are served and there's plenty of room to sit and take notes and make calls.

SUNDAY

[whatisay]

COMPLIMENT CIRCLE

[whatisay]

Staffers are sat down in a circle and asked to write one nice thing about each person in the circle, which they must be willing to share when called on. An employee of the chalet calls on people by drawing from a hat.

"Oceana, do you have something nice to say about...Sergius?"

[One giant thread free-for-all, feel free to NPC the employee selecting the next person to compliment.]