thecapitol | (no subject)

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Who| Timaeus Nadir and all his guests. If you are in the Capitol, you've been invited!
What| A spectacular Viewing Party and opportunity for tributes to get sponsorship
Where| The Victoria Ascendant, on the lake
When| After the most recent death roll!
Warnings/Notes| Probable skeeviness of the Nice Guy variety.

Welcome to the Victoria Ascendant, latest in the Ascendant line of luxury yachts as built by the Nadir company. Tonight, the Victoria Ascendant is the stage set for a spectacular party, also paid for by the company and specifically designed and organised by a team of event specialists overseen by your host for this evening, Timaeus Nadir- wealthy eligible bachelor, melodramatic heir apparent to the company chair, frequent sponsor of the Games. The Victoria Ascendant is fully equipped with every obscenely luxurious item imaginable, and practically drips opulence.

When first welcomed aboard you will be assured that your every need will be seen to, your every desire catered for. Staff are on hand to answer any questions you might have or guide you to various areas of the ship, provide you with food, drink, or suggestions of how best to take advantage of the Victoria Ascendant's many amenities- they are here as hosts, but also as salespeople for those of the guests with money to burn- this party is serving more than one purpose. Tributes who responded to their invite will also receive a delicate, hand-written note in a golden envelope as they board- the content of which will be posted as a reply to their response to this post.(I'll do this once your character turns up.)

Although the Victoria Ascendant has a magnificent dining room for formal, sit-down occasions, the food for the party will be circulating the various lounge areas and decks. There is also a buffet table, for those of you who prefer to help yourselves, and a fully stocked bar. Provided are a baffling variety of foods and beverages, seemingly unconnected- but each tribute will find that if at any point during their stay in the Capitol they have requested a particular food or drink item, it is available here. Or, at least, the closest approximation the catering staff could conjure up. Seating is provided in intimate groupings around tables for the most part, though there are large, sprawling couches against the walls. Central to the dining area is a magnificent aquarium filled with brightly coloured fish. Anyone looking closely enough will recognise them- varieties of piranha- but don't worry, they've been more than adequately fed and the glass is thick.

While there are various screens displaying the Games throughout the ship, Viewing is also taking place on an enormous screen, set up in a seperate lounge area with full floor-to-ceiling windows all along one side. Here, staff wait to take bets or help organise the giving of sponsor gifts. Large, comfortable couches line the room, and the central table overflows with a spectacular arrangement of edible flowers and fruit.

Later in the evening, you will be told that the firework display is about to begin, and invited to go up onto the main deck to watch. The fireworks themselves will be launched from smaller boats across the lake, and the display is set to be truly spectacular. It will be set to some music that Tributes may find familiar- various melodies pulled from the most recent Arena. The large swimming pool on the deck is open, but it is too early in the year to be comfortable to use. Instead, it is being used as an unusual centrepiece for the evening. Floating in the illuminated water is a gigantic iceberg, sculpted into a stylised model of the current arena and populated with frozen figures. Eagle-eyed Tributes may be able to spot themselves depicted in ice- more often than not, the moment of their deaths are the pose of choice, if a little tweaked for the sake of a more dramatic scene.

Enjoy!

Adachi · Ariadne · Asha · Atticus · Beck · Blaine · Calico · Callista · Chris · Diana · Don · Eddie · Eponine · Eva · Gaila · Glinda · Harley · Howard · Julie · Kurt · Marty · Maximus · Momoko · Neffa · Parker · Peeta · Phil · Pruna · R · Sigma · Some · Thane · Timaeus · Topher

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I said 'supposed to be', not 'are'!" he says quickly. "And...it doesn't matter if you were bad at home. And it doesn't matter if we're bad in the Arena. It really doesn't."

He needs to believe that. Situations where survival is paramount have their own morality. "But yeah. Teach me Argot. Sounds like a plan."

"I know. I know. I didn't mean-" She sighs and shakes her head.

"Where can we go? Whisper to me carefully and I shall ask M'sieur Sigma, and you may say who you wish and we will learn so you can still have your friends once we have run. We will still be able to send a letter - but it will look as if nonsense, you know?"

"We'll need someone in the know. An escort or an...an Avox, maybe, or maybe your stylist? I don't know anyone in District 3." He scratches the back of his head. "I think maybe...R. Julie. Wyatt. Sigma will want to bring K. I think that's all we can handle."

"That is more than enough... I don't want to tell Valeria though, not after what she has done to me. What about... I do not know anybody else. We can do it without them."

She's quite tickled by the idea. "See. I told you I knew things. We cannot tell the Inspector though. He will have me - and if we ever do go home, he will have my whole family at once and it'd be the guillotine or life in prison."

"Up to you about the Stylist. Do you want me to like...throw red paint on her or something?" He bites his lip. It's so many people, and not only that, but R would require extra attention because he's so slow. Suddenly this has moved from a good private idea between him and Eponine to an expedition, and Howard knows full well neither he nor Eponine will be allowed to call the shots.

"I won't tell the Inspector. Believe me, I want as little to do with the police as you do."

Eponine, on the other hand, is blisfully unaware of any difficulties. She has no idea how to teach it; she'd heard her Papa use bits when she was little, but really, it was when they came toParis that she became fluent. And slowly, it became the dialect she used most often. But how to teach? She can worry about that later.

"Ithink that'd be a waste of red paint. And still, Cogne Javert will see and we will be in trouble. He had me jailed for less than that, for I did nothing. But no. We can do it alone."

"Okay. We can do it." He nods, then decides they should save further planning until they have their coded language figured out. "Have you eaten yet? The little pastries are really good and we're both looking pretty skinny."

"That is a silly question, Howard. Of course I have."

She pats her stomach. "But always I'm hungry. I can eat more now. I haven't had the pastries though."

"Hey, last time I asked you didn't want to eat because of drugged food or whatever. Let's get you some pastries." He grins an offers his hand as he stands.

"Do not remind me, Howard. I did bad things that day."

Her smile fades as she remembers her interactions with Inspector Javert and with Sigma especially. And perhaps that other man - Wesker?

But she takes Howard's hand and lets him pull her up. In her high heels, she's almost a foot taller than him. They do make an odd couple.

"The past don't matter. Not to people like us." He likes that, thinking he and Eponine are his own little group, outcasts sharing a bond of uniqueness with each other. Vagabonds. Refugees. Rebels, maybe.

"You want to find a place alone after this?"

The past matters so much to Eponine. She lives in the past, in fantasies. When she can. If she could. It was a better time in the past. And until now, she's had no future. But she's not going to correct Howard. She likes that he unites her with him. She doesn't particularly think of herself as a rebel or a vagabond. But it's nice all the same.

"Yes... a place really alone though? That will be hard work, I think."

"I have an idea. How do you feel about stealing from the guy who owns this boat?"

"Steal?"

Eponine feels... truthfully, she feels sick to the stomach. But she finds herself nodding anyway.

Howard gestures to one of the lifeboats. "We could maybe use some time alone. I know how to use a boat, you know Argot. Sounds legit to me."

She laughs at him, out of sheer surprise - exhileration at what they're going to do.

"And you can definitely make it go? When shall we do it? Now? Quickly?"

"You're up for it? Really?" He laughs back, and takes her by the wrist and heads for the lifeboat, casting a glance over his shoulder to make sure no one's watching them while they plan it.

"I suppose... Howard? Can you really drive it?"

She wouldn't have a clue what to do with a boat. But she lets him lead her over. "Where shall we go? Just to the middle of the water, where no one can hear?"

"That sounds nice, right? I mean, if you're okay with that." Howard reaches into his pocket, where he has a little piece of metal beaten into a sort of pen-like rod. "I stole a boat once. I know how to do it."

He pauses. "You trust me, right?"

"Yes..." She watches carefully as Howard draws out the metal piece. She's seen it's like before, of course. Papa had had many in their room, hidden under their mattresses. The tools of a robber and a thief.

"You know, we could just keep going. Keep sailing... not tonight, we need food. I've always wanted to see the things that Marius spoke of. He didn't know I listened, but I did, through the wall and at the inns. I'd like to see the temples and the rivers and the ruins."

She shifts slightly, so that she acts as a barrier between Howard's hands and the rest of the room. She's used to being a shield and a distraction for the gang to get on with their work.

"Yeah. We could, if we had a map, if we knew where we were going..." He doesn't sound dubious. He's thinking. He's figuring out everything they need to get their plan into place. "Consider this a test run to make sure neither of us have seasickness problems."

He sees what she's doing and appreciates it. He starts to undo some of the ropes that hold the lifeboat at a lash. He tries not to think about how Eponine is still thinking of Marius.

"We get out of here, we can go anywhere you want."

"We don't need a map. We can just go... sail to anywhere. We could go to England. Or Greece. Marius had a book about Greece; that man sailed all around too... I don't remember the rest. Just sailing, and Marius would groan because he didn't know a word."

She smiles a little as she remembers evenings sat on the floor of their room, with her ear pressed flat against the wall, trying to hear, over her family's noise, Marius' fevered whispers as he translated the 'Odyssey'. The story, despite the bits she heard being fragmented, as she was often interrupted by her parents, or the gang, or simply because Marius' voice was too low, had seemed beautiful to her. And now, she, like the man in the story, could see the world with her best friend.

"I do not care about being sick. I have been sick before; it has not killed me. We will have a good time, Howard. Just the two of us and the monsters and the mermaids in the sea."

"We'll need a map to make sure we aren't going in circles. And then we can find Greece." He tries not to grimace at Marius' name. He's already feeling jealous and he and Eponine have only been together a few days.

"Well, maybe not monsters. I'd rather us just run into mermaids." Howard thinks to himself that Eponine could be a cute mermaid. Maybe he can steal some nice clothes for her from the Capitol before they go, things she would like that covered her up but were still fancy, but he doesn't know if she'd appreciate it.

"Do you know how to do that? I have never even SEEN a map!" She knows what it is at least. That makes her feel a bit more intelligent, at least.

"Mermaids would be lovely. Do you think they're real? I'd like to see one of those. I am sure my Mama used to tell me a story when I was little... but I don't remember."

She WOULD appreciate nice clothes. They're one of the best bits about the Capitol as far as she's concerned.

"Are you nearly done? Somebody will see soon."

"I'd say I don't think mermaids are real, but since we seen aliens and magicians since we got here...sure, why wouldn't there be mermaids?" He keeps twisting and fiddling with the clasp on the lock to the ropes until he hears a pop. "Got it. Perfect. Now help me get this rope into the bottom of the raft."

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Timaeus next.

here comes trouble

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