thecapitol | (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

His eyes lit up with excitement and interest. He nodded, smiling broadly. "Yes, please. I love to learn new things. What should I do?"

"First, look me in the eyes. The eye contact is the most important thing." He demonstrated, with deep mock-seriousness. "And then we'll touch glasses four times - once to the front, then to the right, then the left, then - the hard part - the back sides." He demonstrated without properly touching, indicating only the order of the four maneuvers. "That's for the four elements." A grin-- "And then the fifth is when we drink."

It was a lie. There was no such tradition. A Ristopan toast looked like a Capitol one, more or less; they drank to the same things, too, to friendship, to true love, to luck, to success, to another round. The elements had nothing to do with it.

Something in Neffa, though, didn't want to have that in common. It pleased him, with a viciousness that did not touch his smile, to build this exclusivity on nothing at all. It pleased him that this was one small part of Ristopa he didn't have to share.

"So, then," he said, and his enthusiasm was seamless, eyebrows raised to ask Was that too much for you? He raised his glass between them, waiting for the first touch-- "To friendship?"

Timaeus lapped it all up eagerly. To have such an insight appealed deeply- a shared experience like this that reeked of exclusivity and, more importantly, acceptance into it. He nodded.

"I think I have it, yes." He began the sequence of touches, light clinks of the glass, pausing just before the fifth. "To friendship."

Neffa's grin widened at the final touch. "Exactly," he said, and drank with perfectly sincere enjoyment.

"I don't mean to be forward," he added, once he'd lowered his glass, "but your interest is... welcome. Most Sponsors here don't seem nearly so interested in where I - where any of us - come from." He cast a sidelong glance in the direction of a nearby gaggle of people, neon-dyed heads close together in conversation, and dropped his voice, sardonically cautious-- "I've been asked about District Seven three times this evening, and I live in fear of the day they find out how much of what I told them was made up on the spot."

Edited 2013-06-08 15:17 (UTC)

He chuckled, fondly, and drank deeply, eyeing Neffa over the rim of his glass.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it, my friend. Not all of us are as sincere in our involvement as others, but much like you Tributes, not all Sponsors are alike in habits, customs or indeed opinion."

"As I've learned tonight." He let his gaze drift briefly over the crowd. Opinions about what, he would have liked to ask-- about the Tributes? about the Games themselves? Timaeus might have involved himself more in details of the Tributes' previous lives than most others, but so far as his enthusiasm for a good murder went, Neffa didn't think him much of a deviant.

"...What do you get out of it?" he asked, after a comfortable pause. He was careful to keep any accusation out of his voice; it was not a challenge. There was hesitation there, a question he wouldn't have been comfortable enough to ask before.

"The Games?"
He laughed, looking over the crowd for a moment before catching Neffa's eye.
"I do what I can for those I can. Knowing there are victors living today through my help- well. That's reward enough, wouldn't you say?"

Neffa stared openly, and though it showed only because he was making no effort to hide it, his disbelief was not feigned. Timaeus really looked like he meant it. Neffa could point out a dozen people in this room who'd put money on Tributes' survival, but none so far who'd treated it as valuable in and of itself.

"...I don't think I need to say how I feel about living," he managed after a moment, dryly. "But there... aren't many like you here."