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Who| Draco Malfoy and the Peer Review Team (Eva Salazar, Bruce Banner, Daniel Jackson, Sherlock Holmes, and Gretel)
What| once upon a time, Draco applied to become a Capitol citizen.
Where| throughout the tower
When| backdated to the day before Momoko's Crowning Ceremony
Notes| each member of the peer review team will have previously received a letter in regards to the process. Each member may find Draco wherever they choose; he'll have made himself available for them.

Draco had been waiting a little while to see what exactly the Capitol was going to do about his little proposal. It seemed to him like they were almost going to ignore him - hardly a good sign, he thought - until he finally got a letter telling him about a handful of other Tributes (and a Victor, it seemed) who were going to judge him. Seemed like pure laziness to the blond, but if it got him his citizenship, then so be it.

So there he was, hanging around in convenient places around the tower, making himself available to that small handful of people.

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Draco was banking on utilising his charm and wit to sway each of his interviewers to his side. He'd been good at it back at school, and it hadn't been so long that he'd lose that talent. Besides, dying repeatedly hurt, not that he was going to bring that up; it simply wasn't polite conversation.

"Nice to meet you too," he offered, taking Daniel's hand for a firm shake. "Outside seems fine; it's a nice enough day. Better than the rooms - they're a bit stuffy, aren't they?"

Good, confident handshake, Daniel noticed absently. But not too hard, like he was trying to prove something and squeeze his fingers right off. He'd run into his share of those before, a few back in the academic community and a number back on base. Colonel Makepeace had been one of those; where Jack didn't exactly scream out "text-book military" most of the time, Makepeace was probably the guy someone had in mind when they did. he had a feeling the marine was testing to see if he'd flinch. Daniel had returned the shake stone-faced and smiled back at him.

He returned this hand shake, then put his own hands in his pockets. "Stuffy and it's way too easy for the stylist pack of bloodhounds to find you. Come on."

Daniel turned, leading the way towards the elevator. "Why don't you tell me a little about yourself. What did you do back home? Anything you miss in particular?"

He merely sniggered at the comment, tucking his own hands into his pockets as they headed away. He was more than happy to do so, to get away from the Tribute suites. It was sort of funny, in a way: Draco thought to himself that if all this went well, maybe he'd actually get away from them permanently. He'd come back for visits, though.

"I was a student back home. In my sixth year of school," he stated simply, one shoulder shrugging. "Not terribly exciting, I suppose, but it was a life. And not one where I was waiting to be sent off to my death, hm? Not exactly the most pleasant of things to be hanging over your head."

He'd give the Capitol one thing. Their elevators didn't take their time getting to the waiting floor. Daniel stepped inside, moving aside to make room for Draco before he reached over and pressed for the ground floor.

Maybe not terribly exciting but school, Daniel felt, was incredibly important, and could lead to opportunities later that could surprise you. "School could be exciting, depending on what you ended up studying....but you're right, it does pale next to a life-or-death scenario. Even boring looks great now."

Hopefully, Daniel could help change that. Draco might not go back to school, but at least he could avoid the arena, if Daniel had anything to say about it." What did you study in?"

Rocking back on his heels a little - playing up his obvious youth when he hoped that it might earn him a point or two in his favour - Draco stepped to one side of the elevator. Not too close, not too far away; the right distance, he'd learned from his many trips through the strange ascension chamber. It had taken some time to get used to, but now he could deal with it like he could deal with Apparition - with only the faintest amount of nausea.

He suppressed a mild snigger, his own words from the beginning of that year echoing in his head, something about not wanting to return to Hogwarts for another year. Now, he'd have loved to get back.

"A variety of topics, really," Draco hazarded, remembering well the way some people had treated his magic with scepticism. "Things like...erm. Astronomy. Arithmancy. Ancient Runes. History."

Daniel remained, more at ease with the elevator and the wait, than it seemed Draco was. Draco shifted, rocked back on his heels with the energy that came with being that young, and...okay, now Daniel was starting to feel the tiniest bit old now, so he was going to stop while he was ahead.

He couldn't help but look pleased. They certainly didn't sound like the usual topics for a kid Draco's age, which pointed to Draco being smart and ambitious and curious, three things which in Daniel's opinion, some people could use more of. "Sounds like a full courseload, but at least it's interesting. Arithmancy's an unusual course for a school to offer; how are you finding that one?"

The elevator eventually slid to a stop, and the doors opened. Daniel stepped out.

He shrugged a little, a smile twitching to his lips; he could only imagine what kind of reaction he'd get if he said the rest of the classes he was taking, rather than just the ones that sounded the most normal. But Daniel was right - Draco was smart, ambitious, and curious, almost to a fault in some cases. "Oh, it's not bad. It could be worse, but it could be better," he stated mildly as he followed Daniel out. "The teacher's more normal than some of them I've seen, at least."

There was already a decent crowd on the walkways, a living rainbow sea of people. Daniel's eyes teared up just a little at wall of colors. Ow.

Daniel snorted. "It seems like every school has its share of characters; I had a linguistics professor who was trying to make it into the Guinness Book of Records with a rubberband ball on his off time and showed up drunk half the time to his first set of classes; he actually taught better on those days. How about you?"

He'd been there long enough to get used to that sea of people, like glittering fish scales in the light, but that didn't change the fact that Draco still gaped when they stepped out, albeit subtly.

"You've no idea," he replied with a mild chuckle, stifling the urge to snort right back though the situation seemed to call for it well enough. "We had one woman who was absolutely convinced she was some sort of psychic, and kept making wild attempts at predicting the future for people. Sadly, they all ended in some kind of brutal death for the person in question. It all got sort of old after a day or two of it.

"A rubber band ball, though?"

It really was incredible seeing all the different ways people found ways to express themselves in the Capitol. If it weren't for the Hunger Games, Daniel would have loved to take more time to study the matter.

Daniel opened his mouth, about to point out that she was bound to get someone's future right just by probability and persistence, if not ability or talent. The words quickly died as Draco went on. Daniel's mouth closed. he shot Draco an odd look; how was that getting old? "...Maybe she did have some sort of sense after all. I feel sorry for her. And for her students."

So that rubber band ball was looking very harmless and lighthearted in comparison.

"Yeah, literally a ball comprised of rubber bands. You can overlay enough over each other so that they can form something pretty big and hard if you put enough time, effort and rubber bands into it. It's a time waster."

Draco merely shrugged. Perhaps Trelawney did eventually get something right. Who really knew. All he knew was that it was sort of obnoxious, and the entire class was a crock; he could be spending his time in far more interesting classes, struggling along with essays on things he cared about instead of on the cycles of the moon and how they affected horoscopes. "I dropped her class as soon as I could. I just feel bad for the poor sods who were actually interested in the subject matter."

Amusement played across his face at the explanation of the ball. "Really. Well, that sounds like it would be an exceedingly good way to waste time. They'd need quite a bit of stretch after a time, wouldn't they? What with how big it would get."

Daniel snorted. He never thought he'd spend any amount of time talking about the mechanics of what went behind or was necessary in making a rubber band ball. Talk about bringing back memories; that seemed like another life, another planet entirely. Everything before the Stargate seemed so small and dull, in some ways. "I think he was never sure what to do with his free time when he didn't have classes or his work or papers. I imagine they would. I've never wanted to make one."

He felt sorry for the students who ended up a subject of her predictions. "Same here. Although that brings me to something else I'd like to ask you - for the sake of the interview. And don't feel pressured about how to answer."

Which probably was going to do the opposite, he thought. Daniel hurriedly pressed on. "Aside from the obvious answer, why would you want to become a Capitol citizen? What would you have to offer?"

"Seems like an awful lot of work," Draco agreed, wrinkling his nose a little. Admittedly, he and his classmates did like to play miniature games of Quidditch with floated balls of paper. That wasn't that much more productive.

He straightened a little though, at the mention of the interview, clearing his throat. It was true, it did make him a little more tense, a little bit more pressured, but he would be fine; this was a walk in the park compared to some things he had to do back home. "Creativity, of course. A different way of looking at things from some of the other Capitol citizens. The world I'm from is nothing like this, and I think it could really benefit them to have me around," he replied after a moment, a bit smug that he'd strung those words together so succinctly.

Daniel had to agree. It sounded like it, but then again, a whole lot of busywork was better than getting around to what you had been procrastinating to avoid in the first place.

Draco's seemed to straighten, as if on edge, in a way Daniel hoped he wouldn't, since he wasn't about to condemn him to the Games if he had any say. He couldn't blame him for it, but still. The answer seemed cautious, more deliberately thought of. It almost felt like a college interview or cover letter for a job. Don't worry, it was going to be pretty hard to fail; Daniel had long since made up his mind, and now this was more for curiosity's sake, and to get to know Draco more. "I wouldn't mind hearing more about your world sometime. Anyway. What makes you think that the Capitol might like thinking outside the box, especially from a person they may consider as an outsider?"

It was cautious, if for no other reason than the fact that Draco really did want this dearly. He didn't want to go back in, he didn't want to have to be at other people's mercy. It wasn't even the killing any more. Not that he'd be uttering any of that aloud. Better to let Daniel go on thinking whatever it was he thought now. Hopefully it was something good.

"I'm sure it could happen eventually," he conceded in response to Daniel's first request; it was almost strange how many people were curious about his world, though he was wary to immediately offer up the answers. Especially after Momoko's reactions. He was almost embarrassed about his lack of magic now, like it somehow made him less of a person. Draco shrugged eventually, "I wouldn't want to be too far out of the box. But I've been here a little while. I'd fit in with them, I think. A bit more, at any rate."

Eventually. Maybe after the results of his petition were in. Daniel couldn't see any reason why they wouldn't grant it. It wasn't like the Capitol was hurting for Tributes.

If anything, Draco was also cautious and smart, and while he'd seemed proud a moment ago about what he could bring to the Capitol, he had stepped back with a surprising grace. Daniel did his best to sound neutral, though part of him was disappointed Draco hadn't stuck to his guns. Personally, he thought the Capitol could use more people pushing buttons and boundaries.

Then again, if he had any real say about what the Capitol would do, there wouldn't be any Games in the first place. "So you probably won't be riling them up or anything. What sort of job would you look for, it this passed?"

Draco didn't really think that the Capitol needed him as Tribute either; still, that didn't seem to stop them from throwing him into every Arena possible. It really ought to have been boring after a time.

He didn't disagree with Daniel, but neither did he entirely agree. The Games were horrible, true, but Draco was first and foremost a coward: he wasn't about to do anything that involved sticking his neck out. He kept to himself, he danced with Victors, he dared to perhaps fancy one. That was the extent of his button-pushing.

"Perhaps a decorator of some form. Maybe a Stylist, eventually."

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