Boys, say you got a girl? Yes, true you got a man

[occasio]

WHO| Phi and D4 Party House, feat. Sigma Klim!
WHAT| Most of Phi's District staff live off-location, so Phi goes to do some networking. Things get a little out of hand when Phi decides it would be a fun idea to text Sigma about all the fun (read: booze) she's having. No one likes the party police.
WHEN| During the last week of the arena. [Backdated]
WHERE| D4 house in the Capitol.
WARNINGS| Underage drinking, minor drug use, etc.


Death by vicious animal is not Phi's preferred way to die, but it's better than some of the others she's experienced in the past. It doesn't even faze her when she wakes up in the Capitol again like nothing happened, not a single mark on her body. The only weird part is that everyone else remembers it as well. And they don't seem keen on letting her forget.

When the Tower feels too stifling, Phi finds herself heading for the store. She grabs a couple bags of chips, but only after an argument with the clerk over whether or not she should be allowed to buy a case of beer. You can die for the Capitol, but you can't buy a 12-pack. Sounds fair.

She ends up at a house out in one of the residential parts of the Capitol, an address that she'd been given but had never taken the time to visit. When you only have a week to train like your life actually does depend on it, there's not a whole lot of time to waste. Now she has all the time in the world, as far as she can tell, and she needs to be away from the cameras and the crowds. This is the only place she can think of.

"Here," she says as soon as the door opens, thrusting the three bags of chips at whoever opens the door and hoping they take pity on her. "Can I crash here for a while?"

Comments

[sociopathicwolf]

The first thing he thinks when he opens the door to food being shoved at him is that someone ordered out again and forgot to tell him. He accepts the chips automatically, prepared to growl at whatever delivery person decided to shove their food at him again while he waits for someone to pay them, but before he can turn back to snarl for whoever ordered shit to get out here to pay for it, he recognizes Phi.

His hackles lower as he frowns at her, but then he shrugs and steps aside to let her in. He and Chuck - and Anna now, too - usually do something for their Tributes when they first get back, might as well let this be Phi's.

Besides, she brought him chips, that means she gets to stay. Or at least, he's assuming the bags she shoved at him are his, because he's not giving them back now.

"Kur might try to dress you up," he warns as he kicks the door shut behind her. There's a pause, then, "Don't move the fish."

There are indeed seven or eight frilly, brightly colored fish scattered about the living room in small, individual aquariums, each strategically placed so it isn't in view of any of the others.

[furgood]

Meulin spotted Derek at the door and in a similar vein of thought, wondered who had ordered in. She slid up behind him, peeking around his shoulder. Oh--not food at all. Well. Sort of. She spotted the chips and noticed the inclusion of one bag of salt and vinegar. Her most favorite.

She smiles at Phi, waves. Then, when Derek is busy explaining something, she makes a brave but ultimately futile attempt to snag the bag.

"Are we having company? Or have you drafted your tributes into running errands for you?"

[quiethumerus]

It's clear who the Capitolite here is. Kurloz walks out in all-too-high heels, and matching garb, hair curled to perfection and dusted with glitter. He walks out with arms spreading wide, a smile on his face like he's about to drawl, daaarling. He doesn't seem to care that three's a crowd either, squishing into the doorway along with everyone else.

He saves space by draping over Meulin's shoulder's. He watches Meulin make a grab for chips, glances at Derek, then moves quick, plucking one from Derek's grip. They are hovered over Meulin's head and lowered carefully into her hands.

[occasio]

As soon as Derek steps aside, Phi gratefully takes the opportunity to come inside. What she's greeted with is... only about half what she expected. The Capitol has already prepared her for the ritzy glamour of living literally anywhere in the city, but the fish are a bit of a surprise. She's not quite sure why there's so many bettas until she remembers that at least three of the residents are from District Four. Right. Fishing. Okay. There were worse pets to have.

Meulin and Kurloz are the next to come to the door, and for a moment Phi is reminded humorously of a pack of vultures in the way that they pick at the bags of chips. There's a bit of relief that her offering has gone over so well with them.

"I'm not running errands. I just need a place to crash without a camera or a microphone in my face." That is to say, somewhere away from the Tribute Tower and half of the city besides. She figured she could count on these people not to hassle her too much. Half of them were Victors, they had to understand how much of a pain this was, right?

[sociopathicwolf]

There's an amused glint in his eye as Meulin tries ineffectively to grab for her favorite bag of chips - and it turns into a growl as Kurloz snatches them from him and ruins the game, expression disgruntled even though the growl is more playful than anything else. He eyes the remaining two bags, then tosses one over his shoulder in Chuck's general direction.

"Maybe our Tributes just like me," he deadpans at Meulin.

But his brows furrow at Phi's comment. Yeah, he does understand exactly how much of a pain that is.

"You getting hassled too much?"

[furgood]

Kurloz may be draped over her shoulders but she wiggles and shifts until she can peck him on the cheek, giggling the whole time. Derek can be put out all he wants but she has her prize.

Bag of chips secured, Meulin briefly considers making an escape back to the couch. The difficulty in following the conversation from even farther decides it for her and she simply opens the bag right there and then. Yesss there we go. Derek says something and with only half her attention on him, she catches only a few words, but it's enough to throw a grin back at him.

"You should be running errands fur them, not the other way around. We should purrobably let Phi in if she's coming in you know. Cold outside. Right, Phi?" Or at least she thinks so, what with the autumn shifting into winter, so unlike home.

[quiethumerus]

Well what a fine reward that is, to be kissed so sweet. He grins and lets her free, looking far warmer than he did when he and Phi first met. He makes a teasing face at Derek like if he could stick his tongue out her would be doing so. All in good fun.

When he turns to phi, he twirls his hand. Well, says his body language. You came to the right place. Likely still under surveillance as any part of Panem, but everyone knows that those cameras and the kinds Tributes face aren't remotely the same thing.

He bows and extends an arm in welcome, leaving space for her to come on in. Indeed, it was coming to be cold outside, though not as cold as Meulin feels, his poor summer kitten.

[occasio]

"Questioned," she answers Derek with a shrug. "Some people can't take a hint. Or you know, fill in the obvious blanks. What was the hardest thing that you had to do this arena? I dunno, die is pretty high up there. Hard to beat that."

She shouldn't bring the mood down like that, though. That was her problems to deal with. She's not here to ask for sympathy, and they're not here to listen to her bitterness over that ordeal. The faster she can forget about it, the better.

Refocusing her attention on the rest of the room, Phi gradually moves past Derek and Kurloz with a casual but curious sort of stroll. This place is nicer that the Tribute Tower. There's a certain kind of lived in coziness--like the difference between a hotel and someone's living room. Which is an apt analogy, she supposes.

"Didn't think you guys were this serious about the fish theme."

[sociopathicwolf]

His brows are pulled down as he continues to look grumpy, but there's a gleam of amusement in his eyes when Meulin grins at him and Kurloz shoots him a smug expression. It's the closest he really gets to goofing around, but it's still more than he'd do outside of their house.

"Fish're Chuck's."

Never mind the fact that Derek had bought every single one of them, carefully arranged them, and is usually the one who feeds them. They're still Chuck's.

He's still frowning over Phi's first response, though. He doesn't like that, her being questioned that much, especially without the knowledge of the staff. It's supposed to be part of his job to help her with that. "Can screen your interviewers. Pick a couple, make you exclusive. They'll help fend off others."

It's a tactic he and Chuck use. It cuts down on random people accosting them, when they have deals with others who are very interested in making sure that their exclusive remains exclusive, and are more than happy to help get rid of the competition. It means they have to give the ones they pick good stuff, every once in a while, but that's easy.

[furgood]

"And Derek's. Don't let him fool you. He bought them, I think. And purrobably named them."

That's Meulin alright, casually throwing Derek under the bus and letting District Four secrets out into the wild. Or into Phi's presence. She's quite obviously already decided to like Phi. Decision made. No turning back.

"I think Derek misses the tower. All that fish theme."

[quiethumerus]

Kurloz hovers about his friends, little to add his ownself but expressions of sympathy for Phi, amusement and disbelief at Derek, and nods of agreement with Meulin. Derek is a softy. The bus drives on over and Kurloz waves it goodbye.

He doesn't interrupt when Derek offers his help. It's fascinating in its way, seeing the other side of these things, how Victors do their dealings. It occurs that there are many Capitolites who'd be jealous of his place now. How curious that is. And Phi too, he thinks, would both add to this and receive the same jealousy.

He mimes the waves on shore with a hand, then puts that hand to his heart. The sea is their home.

[occasio]

Exclusives... Huh. Phi hadn't considered that. She really didn't want to answer any questions, but if she could pit the media back against itself and get away with only answering a few--That was a more ideal solution. "Yeah, we can do that." She's actually a little impressed that someone else was coming up with sneaky tactics like that. Score one for Derek.

But that doesn't get him out of the fish conversation.

Phi walks up to the closest fish, leaning down to peer into the tank. It's a pretty sort of decor, she'll give them that. Much better than the tackiness of the ocean theme in the Tribute tower. Not that anything was less than fancy in the Capitol, but there was a certain tastelessness to it which lacked the heartfelt sentiments found in the live fish here. Like a replication made for show without any passion for the theme.

"Cute. What's this one's name?" she asks, following up on Meulin's teasing. There might be the faintest hint of a smile on her lips.