thecapitol | (no subject)

Who| Hatter and OPEN
What| tea, Tea, Games, betting, anything you like
Where| Wonderland
When| Anytime this week
Warnings/Notes| For anyone not familiar with Hatter's canon, he owns a tea shop! Where he sells actual tea. Also Tea, which is something very different all together. Basically they are bottled emotions. Only good ones, not bad. Your character drinks it and they feel whatever the emotion is: passion, excitement, happiness, innocence, clear conscience, etc. Hatter's shop (Wonderland) is the only place in the Capitol where you can buy Tea, but it is not manufactured by Hatter. It's made by the Capitol, and he doesn't ask too many questions about how.

Also, if you want to come to Wonderland, you must wear a hat. Don't have one? Don't worry! Hatter will provide one at the door. But you may not like his choice.

Hatter was not at all pleased with the new directions the Games were taking, but you would never hear that from his mouth. Nope. He's playing the good citizen just now, and he's even gone so far as to spruce up the shop a bit for the occasion. It looks just a bit like the candy arena, in fact, bright colors and glistening treats. There are the Teas, of course, lined up in a neat row, bright and cheerful, but the tables and chairs are now of the same hues.

The proprietor himself is alternating between staying by the counter to monitor the bets placed and wandering amongst the clientele to see that everyone has everything they need.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hatter spots him quickly. It's a look a lot of his customers have when they arrive and very few have when they leave. Being the proper host, for once, he goes to greet the man with a friendly smile.

"Afternoon. Good or not, it is afternoon, at least. Or after noon. It's always after noon, in some sense.

"Anyway, aren't you forgetting something?" He gestures to the man's head and touches the brim of his own hat.

It's intriguing, the way this man speaks in word play. Katurian can't decide if he likes it or if it unsettles him. It's clever, but clever in a way most people can't immediately understand. It's the kind of language that can just as easily become a weapon.

He shrinks back.

"I'm only looking," he says, as though that can be an excuse. He knots his hands. "It won't be more than a minute."

"Still, rules are rules and there for a reason," Hatter says, glancing briefly to the man's hands. No exceptions, not even for this. Not even for 'only looking.'

"Hang on a tic." He turns to a box by the door and pulls out a hat, offering it to the man.

"Sorry."

He flinches away from the hat, his back bumping into the doorframe behind him. It was one thing, going someplace where he didn't belong, but it was quite another to embrace it. Something about the hat makes it official somehow, transforming him from a curious, anonymous shadow and into a customer.

"No," he says, something like anger tinging his words. He drops his eyes. He shakes his head. "No, I don't-- I don't need it. I'm fine. I'm going."

With his eyes still down at the ground, he fumbles for the exit.

Hatter is almost hurt by that. That someone would choose to leave his establishment rather than put on a hat was...well, not unheard of, but definitely not common.

"If you're sure? Looks to me like you could use a bit of Serenity..."

"Looks to me like you're trying to make a sale," he says, which would have been a witty retort if his voice were not trembling and his eyes weren't averted.

He grabs the knob and swings the door open. When he leaves, it clicks shut harshly behind him.

One customer more or less hardly makes a difference to Hatter's day, but he can't help feeling a little bad for this one, wishing he could help.

But if there's one thing Hatter has learned in his life it's that he can't possibly help everyone, much as he would like to.

So if he frowns at the door a moment before turning back to his work, well, the important thing is that he does turn back to his work.