thecapitol | Oh, this is the night and the heavens are right on this lovely Bella Notte

Who| Everyone who signed up for blind dating!
What| An evening of romance, or disaster, take your pick.
Where| The Swift Cut restaurant
When| 16th June
Warnings/Notes| The course of true love never did run smooth. Remember that if your character was not rolled in arena but you signed up for them to be here, you will need to mark their death on fatality reporting.

The atmosphere at the Swift Cut this evening is bustling. It's clear from the moment one enters the restaurant that they have pulled all the stops out for this televised extravaganza.

Every fire is lit and the air is filled with the scent of the roasting meat on spits over the flames; boar, beef, pork, venison and more. Pots bubble with the smell of hot stew, vegetables are being roasted in ovens and from giant casks around the room beer is being drawn. The staff are in full 'barbarian' getup, consisting of skimpy furs on both the male and the female servers but luckily for you they don't seem to expect a similar dress code from their guests.

Tribute's stylists may have had other ideas, of course.

The giant room has been clearly divided. Tribute's will find themselves directed to one side while trueborn citizens of Panem and petitioned out individuals are brought to the other. It is left up to them to find their table with the number they will be handed upon entering the restaurant. Whether they are the first to arrive at their table is a matter of chance but they can be sure that a cameraman will always be there to capture the moment of realisation on both participants faces when they realise who their date is.

Once everyone is seated the music will begin the play. Minstrels strum lutes and harps, their voices filling the air softly with traditional medieval ballads. There is a space set aside for dancing if anyone is in the mood.

Throughout the evening, and certainly at the end, Tribute's and Capitolites will find themselves sporadically approached by the show host to be asked questions about how they feel the evening is going. It's up to them how honestly they answer, though they should remember the camera's are always watching.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Derek is far from looking forward to this himself. He never goes on dates, not since he realized they were just a waste of his time and unlikely to actually get him or his Tributes any help. The people who wanted to date him weren't usually big on sponsorship.

When he approaches his table and sees who's waiting there, though, he relaxes at least a little. He barely knows Torin, but he knows the man is a classic Victor, so at least there's that. If he was supposed to spend the night with one of the new Tributes, he'd have been tempted to walk out, regardless of how bad it might look.

He's dressed up in slacks, a red button up and a nice leather jacket, and he gives Torin a grunt as he sits down at the table.

"Who put you up?"

Ah, another Victor. Not that Torin really knows Derek, but a Victor's infinitely preferable to, say, a Stylist. He just gives a weary smile in answer to that question. "I put myself up. Taking control of it on my own seemed more dignified then finding out this morning that certain parties had decided I needed to 'meet someone.' How about you?"

There's a quiet, frustrated growl in response to that. Shit, that was actually pretty smart, and Derek kind of wishes he'd thought of it. He'd known Chuck would probably sign him up - that was why Derek'd put Chuck's name on the list in retaliation - but he could have signed them both up and robbed Chuck of it completely.

He'll have to remember that for next time.

"My co-mentor is a jerk."

That gets a smile out of Torin. "So sorry to hear that." He pauses, then continues, "Perhaps now the best revenge would be to enjoy a pleasant evening despite the circumstances." He shrugs. "Dinner should at least be good."

Derek gives a short shrug. It’s unfortunate, yeah, but he’s used to it. Chuck’s always been a jerk. His eyes narrow briefly in concentration, as if he’s thinking really hard about whether or not that would be an appropriate revenge - he’s already decided, but he’s used to making it look like it takes a lot of work for him to think about something.

After a moment, he nods. “Should have a better time than him. What’re you getting?”

Torin's dealt with enough Victors to know that it's easy to come out of the Arena with all sorts of tics and oddities. Derek's taking extra time to think doesn't faze him.

"I thought I'd try the steak. I hear it's quite good here. Did you have anything special in mind?"

Honestly, Derek appreciates it. He does it mostly to put on a show, because he wants others to see it, but that doesn't mean he likes it when it's commented on or attention is drawn to it.

He's maybe a little bit hypocritical.

"Steak is good." It's almost absent, as most of his concentration is on looking closely at Torin.

"You controlled the mutts."

There's a sly smile at that statement. Torin's heard it many times before, and he casually takes a sip of his drink before answering."I don't know that control's the right word for it. I asked them to cooperate, and they did." Highly unusual for mutts, really. Highly unusual for the Gamemakers to slip up, unless they'd intended that to be a feature of the Arena. "They were just like any other animals."

Very unusual, and Derek knows that means Torin found some kind of loophole, either intentionally put there by the Gamemakers or because someone messed up, but it makes him curious.

"They thought I was going to be you."

Honestly, Derek was tempted. The wolf mutts and him, they'd had an understanding, and he'd never had to worry about them coming after him. He'd been tempted to take it to the next level, to see if he could get the wolf to take out other Tributes the way they'd taken out most of the other Careers.

In the end, he hadn't trusted anything created by the Capitol enough to go that route, and he'd taken their methods of killing instead. But the comparisons where made anyway, and that makes Derek a little more interested in Torin than some of the other Victors.

"You found your own strategies. In the end, we find victory in our own ways." And the Arena does strange things to people. Torin had never considered adapting the dinosaurs' techniques, but Derek had no such issues in taking the methods of the wolves. Torin smiles. "And not allying with the other Careers is always a fine choice."

Derek tilts his head a little at Torin's comment about finding victory in their own ways, like he doesn't quite understand what he means. It's habit more than anything else, even if Torin's actually proving to be decent company.

But the corners of his lips twitch up in the barest hint of a smile at that. There aren't very many Careers who choose not to ally with the other Careers, like he and Chuck and Torin did. "They were stupid."

Torin's perfectly willing to roll with Derek's apparent slowness. "No one ever repeats another's victory. Not exactly. "

But he can smile sadly at that comment. "A great many of them are often too consumed by their own greatness to make good decisions. It's rather a shame."

There’s a grunt of agreement there. Most of the kids that Torin would have mentored before the never-ending quell happened were probably Careers, same as the ones Derek was supposed look after. He guesses both of them know all too well what most of the Careers are like.

“Dead now. Shows what they knew.”

"Bad luck for some of them, foolishness for others." Torin shakes his head. "Makes the current competition interesting, that they have a chance to learn from fatal mistakes..."

Oh, this is the night and the heavens are right on this lovely Bella Notte

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