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

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.

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She bats her eyelashes and flashes her teeth in amusement. “Don’t I? I’m ever so glad you noticed.” Well, if he seems friendly enough to flirt, she decides they’re comfortable enough for her to let her ego off the leash a bit. “Crazy may draw the eye in the short-term, but class gives eternally.”

Pausing briefly, she attends to her drink. “While we’re on the topic… I suppose I shall reflect on my good fortune. Paired with someone who is not only looking stunning and dashing, but also speaking in a voice that could be music.”

Subtlety? Not here.

Quintus can feel the flush rise in his cheeks, and his eyes flick around nervously, as though expecting a camera to be shoved in front of him at any moment.

"Haven't gotten that one before," he says, smiling in embarrassment as he rests his face in his hand. "You really like my voice that much? I know I've still got a bit of a Districter accent going on."

"Such a thing should hardly be a detriment." She clucks her tongue playfully, still smiling.

Because he seems the type to appreciate compliments beyond the surface, she hazards another one before dipping back into her drink. "I find the content just as sweet as the sound, of course."

The vapidness of many Capitol conversations is a criticism she's been dancing closer and closer to voicing lately. That her suffering through such conversations is often due to her own efforts at flattery and manipulation, she doesn't blame at all.

"What can I say, you're good at bringing out my stories." His smile becomes a slightly more comfortable smirk. "And asking smart questions. Some of the stuff I've gotten--'they have parties out there?' 'couldn't you just shoot those troublemakers?' 'why were those kids freezing? couldn't they just turn the heat up?' Almost says more about the people here than it does the Districts."

She covers her mouth with her hand, but a laugh still rings out. "My goodness. And I imagine responding politely to those can be just as much a challenge as the rest of your job."

"I'd hardly call her a sympathizer, but my grandmother did her best to ensure she was as aware as she could be." Which wasn't always much, in this nation, but Grandmother Sorrows wasn't entirely without resources. "A pity she was never able to meet you."

He laughs too. "Things you learn through being a Peacekeeper--how to keep calm while dealing with idiots.

"Good for her. There's a lot of people that I think just get all comfortable in their own nice little corner of the world and don't want to peek outside of it, and they're really missing out." He wipes some of the condensation from the side of his glass. "Have you ever been on one of the district tours, or vacationed out there? I can't remember whether I ever asked."

"It's a valuable skill to have." Considering how many idiots there were in the world--it just wouldn't do to be constantly agitated because of them.

"I wasn't able to visit as much as I might have liked, but yes. I saw 11 when I was young, as well as a bit of 1."

"Oh yeah? It's been years since I was in One," he recalls. "My father was a retired Peacekeeper with some travel permits so I made a few trips there with my family when I was a kid. We used to go hiking and sledding and poke into all the little tourist shops. It was fun."

She smiles, imagining the memory. "It's a beautiful place, isn't it? Some of the things their craftspeople can do are amazing."

"Of course, I've heard great things about District Two as well. Leonidas was telling me all about some of the beautiful touches put on the buildings--I would love to see them someday."

"Too bad I can't get a bunch of those permits and run my own tours. Haven't been in Two since...when I was getting my surgeries done, probably, but I'm sure it hasn't changed that much. I'd take you through downtown and show you the best restaurants."

With a grin, he adds, "There wasn't much to it, but we also had a library."

She laughs. "That sounds like it would be marvelous."

Something like a grin lights up her face, though China tends to pride herself on not being the type to offer such a childish expression so readily. "Did you? What did it have? Some books on the history and culture of the area, I hope, but what else?"

There's something to be said for little libraries in niche places--once you sift through the dirt, there are always some gems.

"It had some good fiction. I used to read lots of crime and adventure stories--growing up, I went for this series about a group of boys unraveling mysteries. When I was recovering I found this book called The Backwoods which was about a group of Districters who get stranded in the wilderness in the middle of winter after their truck breaks down. It's told from the viewpoint of these Peacekeepers sent to find them, and when they get there--"

He stops himself. "I won't spoil it, but it's pretty disturbing. Not the happiest story ever, but really interesting."

She raises an eyebrow, smiling. "And it's from those books that Quintus the man was formed, hmm?"

Appreciatively, she nods. "Not everything needs a happy end." Though perhaps his qualifier is necessary considering how Capitolites tend to try to inject happy endings even into their bloodsports. They claim everyone is playing nicely even as they demand reparations, and they claim to honor and adore their Victors even though they're the ones who put the child through hell.

“I would love to see these books someday. They sound rather more fascinating than some of the fiction I carry." The cheesy romance novels cover quite a lot of ground but run rather short on literary merit, in her opinion.

"I guess. Though I never thought of myself as that adventurous."

He glances aside as the waiter returns with a platter of meat and bread to share, thanking him as he hands a plate across to China and fills one for himself. "I should check and see what I've got at home. I have a handful of books I brought in from the Districts but I think they're mostly nonfiction."

"At the least, you must consider yourself courageous. Adventurousness is merely an extension of that, so forgive those who conflate them." China would add that the latter tends to have a healthy dash of foolishness, and she wouldn't accuse him of that.

She accepts the plate with murmured thanks. She's careful in her selection, only taking the few pieces that don't seem to have much smell and that won't get stuck in her teeth. One does have to be careful.

"Nonfiction is even more my style. On what topics do you tend to read? Please tell me you'll occasionally dabble in something that isn't for work, as fascinating at that must be." She smiles gently--but, seriously, Quintus, you need a break.

"I've got books on the history of different technologies that aren't exactly work-related," he says in mock defensiveness. "There's a really interesting one about how a lot of the surveillance and security tech we have was developed in response to the needs of the Arenas. I also read biographies and--what'd you call disaster stories, I guess? Though I'm never sure how much I believe them when it's easy for the good guys to put things back together."

She nods in mock agreement. "Ah, yes, of course. Those sound nothing like your work--amazing."

"I'm surprised that dealing with real world incompetence doesn't ruin the charm of such books completely. A pity they aren't more accurate--they could be a fascinating study of human nature."

"They do seem to have less of the incompetence going on. Who knows, maybe that's why I like them--might be a nice escape from the real world once in a while."

He cuts a piece of meat, inspecting it briefly before putting it in his mouth. An unnecessary habit in the Capitol, carried by reflex over from the Districts--after suffering from food poisoning more than once while deployed, he'd come to check food served in unfamiliar places as a matter of course.

"What kind of nonfiction do you like?"

That is probably a good point about competence; her smile widens for just a second.

"Anything. I enjoy history, of course--something is made more beautiful if it's true, don't you think?" A platitude that she doesn't believe at all, so it's almost fitting when talking about Panem's special brand of history. "Culture, too. Those little odds and ends about the people we are."

She laughs, looking down into her drink. "I have a few books on weaponry, but I've hardly studied the topics intensely enough to impress you."

"You don't need to impress me," he assures her. "Definitely not in something that's part of my line of work. I've always enjoyed talking to people that can teach me things from an area I'm not so familiar with. Even if it's just the odds and ends."

"Thank you. What an intelligent outlook--you're sure to learn a lot with that attitude, and nothing learned is every useless." She clasps her hands together, smiling with a new passion. "In that case, let me tell you all the organization systems I've used for my library in the past ten or so years. You'll find it fascinating, I assure you."

Yes, she's joking.

"I bet," he says sarcastically, gesturing to his drink. "So fascinating that between that and this I might just nod off right here."

"Undoubtedly. But I can assure you that I would force as much as I could into your head before you fade away."

She looks around at the cameras, "Though you would finally be in peace from me, I don't believe they would offer you the same courtesy. You may wake up to find reruns of your sweetly slumbering face all over the gossip shows."

"That's true. They do love to feature me--I think because I'm so boring that they assume something's got to be going on behind the scenes. I can't tell you the number of times since I took this job that I've had reporters accosting me on the street or trying to take pictures without me noticing."

That comes close to making her want to laugh out loud, though she quashes the urge in favor of a barely visible smirk. “And they truly think someone with your skill set would be unaware of someone trying to follow him...?”

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