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

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Gaila offered him a dazzling smile back. She loved compliments. She could practically live off them.

"Parties are only as fun as you make them." She commented with a shrug of her leaf green shoulders. "You're Peeta, aren't you?" While she made a conscious effort to keep up the bimbo image in public, in private she'd been making a study of part victors and the other tributes.

"Well then, you're making this party the best party I've ever seen!" Peeta laughed, giving a nod. "That's right, I'm Peeta, Peeta Mellark. I'm afraid I don't know your name, but I promise, I won't ever forget it." He wasn't sure if he was supposed to do something different, so he put his hand out to shake hers like he'd done with the other tributes he'd talked to already.

"I'd be horribly offended if you did. Lieutenant Gaila of Orion. But Gaila is fine." She introduced herself, taking his hand and leaning forward to kiss him on the cheek. It was just how things were done on Orion.

He was a young man in love. A very public young man in love. And he was very, very much in love. But when a beautiful woman gave him a kiss on the cheek, he really did have a big, stupid grin on his face when she pulled away.

"Gaila, then. It's nice to meet you, Gaila, please, call me Peeta," The biggest stupid grin. "So." So what? Oh man, so what, he should have thought that through.

"How are you finding the Capitol?"

Gaila was of course aware of the whole Katniss and Peeta fuss. Her escort had gone out of her way to tell Gaila that she wasn't allowed to flirt with either of them. Which was part of the reason that Gaila was going out of her way to be 'friendly' and giving the woman a heartattack as they spoke.

She did ever so like a scandal.

"It's okay." She shrugged. "Kind of like home. I just get to go to all the parties here that I used to have to preform at on Orion."

Probably everyone was told not to flirt with either of them. That didn't mean people didn't mess with them, though. Of, you had to be careful about it, just like Peeta couldn't let it seem like anyone could dance too long with Katniss, and Katniss had to make sure Peeta didn't caught in any corners, but they worked it out.

Which was why Peeta stayed extremely far away from corners. "Orion is your home, right? Is it the name of a city, or country, or...?"

"Orion Prim. Planet. Biggest of the three in the Orion belt." She corrected him. "But I come from the capital Oria." Hence why city living like this was nothing shocking to her.

"Is your world... well, is it like ours? How different is it?" He laughed a little sheepishly. "It's strange, because I never considered there were other planets with life on them, out there. I can't even imagine any other groups out there besides us in Panem."

"Um. Well, Orion is a lot hotter." She commented thoughtfully. "We have two suns, not like you guys, so like we're a desert planet." Which was part of the reason she was green, photosynthesis was a far more efficient method of eating when hardly any crops grew.

A desert planet. The only desert Peeta had ever seen was when one of the games took place in one. There were cactus and tumbleweeds, and a lot of sand. It was always hot, and there wasn't much water to be found, and well. It was just awful, really.

"I've never seen a desert in person," Peeta said, almost cautiously. "Is it hard to live on a place like that?"

Gaila cocked her head.

"I don't really know to be honest." She replied to him in a rare moment of honesty and surprising naivety. "I spent most of my time indoors tending to my Master's needs and wants. I never had to go outside. I'd send a servant if I wanted anything."

It was a little startling, but Peeta appreciated it. It was hard to find people being honest in this place, and he was honored to have it.

"Oh." That took him even more by surprise. He wasn't sure what that meant. Was she a servant? A slave? Some kind of Avox, but without the tongue cutting out part? "That must have been..." At a loss for words, really.

"I guess that might be a little easier then having to survive out in the desert?"

"Mm, yeah, and he didn't want me to get stolen if he sent me to a market or outside alone." Gaila told him, tucking a curl behind her ear and looking out over the crowd. "But I was kept in the best fashion possible. S'why this isn't too strange to me. 'Part from the killing stuff. That's new. I mean, Goddess, there were some straight up backstabbing bitches on Orion but nobody ever actually killed anyone directly."

Peeta gave a soft laugh. "Well then that must be why you're fitting in so well. You know, I think I'd be a little more worried if the fashion was the strangest part about being here." He paused.

"Well, not just the only strange part. I mean, this is normal and not normal, to me. We're used to seeing all of these things on TV, and then when we're actually here, it's just very... different."

"I like to think I can make the best outta a bad situation." Gaila answered. And if the best meant she had to suck up to these disgusting excuses of people for better weapons and resources and chances in the arena then she would.

"Must be better though, right? 'Cause now no kids form your district have to die anymore."

"You definitely are," Peeta nodded, though he had to think through the next question. To say it was better, well. It sort of was and wasn't. Better that no more kids had to die, yes. Bad that people were brought here to die in their place.

"That is a good thing. But I feel a little bad for the people who are brought here. At least we've always known what to expect."

Gaila raised an eyebrow at him.

"Why'd you care? Your own are safe. At least do the rest of us a favour and be glad that it's us dying and not a bunch of kids that you're more likely to know." She couldn't understand what the moral quandaries over the whole thing was.

"I'm sorry," Peeta gave a grim smile. "It's just not in me to be glad that someone is dying, no matter who they are or where they're from. And you all do it over, and over, and over again." He looked off to the side.

"But I am glad that kids from back home aren't going to be in the games anymore. It might just take us some getting used to." He blamed himself for their predicament. And you couldn't come right out and say that it was a good thing that kids from the districts weren't going to die, since maybe this squashed any hint of rebellion in the face.

"Guess you must be a better person than me then." Gaila answered, looking out towards the water. "If I were in your shoes I would thank my lucky stars that it was them and not the people that I care and love for and even know that weren't dying. Strangers mean nothing to my species. Only the loved ones."

"I don't think I'm a better person," Peeta shrugged, looking away. "I'm glad kids that I know aren't dying anymore. I am. But I feel..." He paused. He wasn't sure if he could get away with saying this, but he wanted to say it to someone.

"I guess I feel guilty. For being a part of what brought you all here."

Gaila cocked her head. Normally she was the last person people went to with dramatic confessions like that.

"Well, to be disgustingly honest, you should feel guilty. But you're not the only one to blame. It was the big dudes that brought us here." Gaila told him.

Peeta blinked, before breaking into laughter. "Sorry. You're just the first person who's said that to my face." He coughed, slowly starting to stop laughing.

"Thank you for the honesty. All of it."

"Was that offensive?" Gaila asked with a crinkle in her brow.

"I'm not human. My concepts of honesty are different to yours. But you're welcome never the less."

"Not really offensive, just very... blunt," Peeta laughed softly. "Most of the people here treat everyone with gloves on. Being gentle and trying to make sure the truth isn't actually spoken, just implied. So someone who tells it like it is is not what they tend to have here."

He smiled. "It's both good and bad."

Gaila pursed her lips as she thought before shrugging. "Guess they don't make 'em like me 'cross most of the universe." She commented.

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shinyisfalse - 2013-07-10 04:33 (UTC) - Expand

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