thecapitol | (no subject)

(no subject)

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

"Well, I'd hope it's still true," Atticus teased a little. "Unless you've been doing some time traveling in between."

He still wasn't sure what to make of the people in the Capitol for the most part, but he was inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt.

"Trust me, if I had the ability to time travel, I wouldn't be coming back and forth to this place," Peeta remarked, and then paused. "Coming back to this boat, I mean. Or is it ship? I don't know what the right term is for a yacht, it's not like I ever needed to call them anything since we don't have any back home!"

As smooth of a save as he could make it. He was still getting back into practice with this, but it did come naturally. Like riding a bike, people said, but he'd never ridden one of those, either.

Okay, that was a little weird, but Atticus was getting used to the whole not saying what you mean thing. He could sympathize a little.

"It's a boat. Not big enough for a ship," he offered with a bit of a smile.

"I'm learning new things all the time, then," So bemused about it. "I feel like I should start taking notes of some kind, among all of the people from different worlds here, I almost feel out of my depth!"

There really was a lot going on here, with so many tributes around. They were infinitely more interesting then the swarms of fans trying to get at him, too.

"You feel out of your depth?" Atticus laughed a little, snorting softly. "Imagine what the rest of us are going through."

"No, that I can't even begin to imagine. I think anything I pictured wouldn't be even close to the reality," Peeta said, completely honest. He just couldn't imagine it. Maybe it was like when he'd been taken to the Capitol, dolled up, and sent into an arena to kill other kids. But at least, then, there was the hope that he would get to go back home.

What must it be like, to not know if you would ever get to see your world again?

"I'm sorry this happened to you."

Atticus shrugged, running a hand through his mop of curls. "It happened to you too, right?"

"Yeah, but it's different. You might be honored to be here," Honored was the term they were using for this, right? "But you didn't expect for any of this to happen. It's not your world, your life didn't begin here. We were raised knowing what to expect, and then what to expect if we get reaped. It usually means you die. But sometimes, someone can win. But people in the districts, we just move on with our lives once we're done with the reaping, because anyone over eighteen isn't eligible."

"Does expecting it make it better?" Atticus asked, wrinkling his nose a little. He couldn't imagine living in fear of this.

"No. It's awful. But all you have to do is go through six years of it. If you've gotten through till then, then you have nothing to worry about. Until your kids are in the reaping," Peeta waved his hand. "But that's not what I meant. You guys, you go into the arena, and when you die, they bring you back so you can play again."

Didn't they get it? This was like immortality. There were twenty-two dead tributes left behind when Peeta and Katniss won. Why didn't they bother to bring them back from the dead?

"Yeah, still not seeing how that's any worse than how you had it," Atticus pointed out. As far as he could tell, it was better. Even if they did have to keep dying. At least they didn't...at least he hadn't actually killed anyone.

"It's not really a better or worse kind of deal," Peeta said, holding out his hands, palms up. "It's just not a good one. There are some people--" He took a deep breath.

"There are some people, even at this party, that are sorry because what they did led into what's happening now to you. To all of the people from other worlds that are being brought here without a say in it."

Atticus frowned a little in concern, leaning toward Peeta.

"It probably doesn't help those people, but...I don't hold it against them."

He hesitated a moment before adding, "Actually...I think it was kinda badass."

it both helped and didn't help. Maybe now Peeta knew that the people brought here didn't want to kill him or Katniss, or so he was hoping. All of the blame lay solely on the Capitol, and in any other circumstance, Peeta would agree with them. But they started it. And one day, they were going to finish it.

"What?" He was startled from his thoughts by the last comment, and it made him smile, just a little. "Really? Badass?"

"Yeah," Atticus said with a bit of a smile. "I mean...that's totally...well, it takes a lot of guts. Breaking the rules in a place like this. No matter why you do it."

He gave a soft 'heh'. This was getting on tough territory, and he had to tread lightly. "Sometimes we make the choices we make because they're the right ones to make. And sometimes, we make the choices because our instinct tells us what to do."

He smiled. "It was definitely not something that was ever done before. People seem to love it. Especially in the Districts, they love how we defied the odds," A pause. "For our love."

Atticus certainly wasn't trying to get anyone into trouble here, so he smiles at the answer, nodding.

"Yeah, that's pretty romantic, there. Romeo and Juliet kind of thing."

"The media did dub us 'The Star-Crossed Lovers' of District Twelve," Giving a small shake of his head, he wasn't entirely successful in not rolling his eyes. "They love giving names to things."

"It's marketing," Atticus said, smiling faintly. "Gotta make it memorable, stick in people's minds."

"Well then, we probably should give a lot of credit to whoever came up with the name first!" Peeta said brightly. "Unless it was my mentor. Then we should probably congratulate whoever said it second."

Atticus laughed at the thought. "Who's your mentor?"

"Haymitch Abernathy. He's not really a party kind of guy, he tends to stick more to the rooms, so a lot of people haven't really seen him around much," Peeta shrugged, giving a helpless smile. "But no one can force Haymitch into doing anything he doesn't really want to. He and Effie, our escort? They're always bickering. It's actually pretty fun to watch!"

Of course, no one had seen Haymitch for a long time now. Once Peeta was released, he'd spoken to Katniss about it. He was nowhere to be found, probably still in custody. Not a good sign, but they had to pretend he was still around.

"I don't think I know him," Atticus admitted. "But he sounds pretty interesting. I can't say I know any of my mentors very well."

"Well, if you ever meet him? Try not to have a drink in your hand," Peeta frowned. "No? What district are you from again? Not that I know many others, this will actually be my first year mentoring, so I... don't know the others. Not personally, anyway."

"District one? It's, like, luxury goods or something. I don't know." He shook his head.

"Are all the old victors mentors now?"