a curious case

"Right…" he responded, his concealed wry visage evaporating into the heat of his own beverage.  At least he had the alcohol for some type of consolation.  "I suppose I can believe that for right now, Jackie.  Though I am ever curious about what is you were thinking." the Capitolite cooed, a sly wink ensuing.

Running his free hand over his chin as if to think, he propped one leg over the other and slouched back.  “Now that is certainly interesting, Jackie.  I haven’t much looked into the first four districts this year—you know, trying to keep things fresh.  I’ve heard rumors of a few brutes from Two, a girl named Tatiana Bressia and then a male—Brash Gunner—but other than those two saps my sources are dry.” He sighed, a distasteful frown on his lips.  He hated predictable games, and he feared that this year would be no different.  Unless…

Oh Gods, he’d forgotten how boring this man could be.  Trying to get an upper hand on the situation almost did not seem worth the effort, but his curiosity was still piqued.  Inquisitive about how Jacaranda would continue to act if the lies kept spewing, Raiko decided it would ultimately be more entertaining to keep the conversation going.  Besides, at this rate, what came next from Jac’s mouth would be a surprise, and Raiko loved surprises—especially when they were to his pleasure.

“Oh well, then there’s only one thing to do to fix that problem.” He simply mused, sipping life from his coffee.  “And besides, Jackie, it’s not like there aren’t people out there willing to make passionate, lust-filled love with you.  Oh!  Just think about it—” The crazed man said, waving his free hand in the air and gazing off in space as the imagination kicked in.  “Jacaranda Fitzroy’s Day Out.  It’d make a beaucoup of money, Jackie, and you’d get to pick your lovely co-star in love.  Doesn’t that sound grand?”

Raiko sighed, the smile on his lips quickly fading into an amused grin at the silly notion of it all.  About to take another sip of his coffee, it was the abrupt calling of his name that got his attention once more.  Turning to the other, head tilted and eyes wide, he smirked.  Now that was interesting.  Finally he’d remembered.  “Oh, what is it Jackie boy?  Usually people don’t call my name with that much excitement unless we’re in the middle of impious actions.”

Though Raiko recalled the time when he’d first met Jac and saw how reserved he was then, a self-reminder to the topic at hand.  Reservation was fine, but he had to remember that he was trying to convince another elite about something completely untrue.  He had to play it safe and it would require some reservation of his own. 

“Oh, please, I wouldn’t dare impede on your trade, Fitzroy.  What kind of friend would that make me?” He laughed pompously, waving a dismissive hand in the air.  “I’d tell you more information if I knew the concrete details, Jackie, rest assured.  But for now let rumors be rumors.  They’re harmless until true.” The man pressed in his the sincerest tone he could muster.  “For now, there are more pressing matters.  Such as the upcoming tributes.  Now what district do you think we should all be observing this year?”

  With absolutely no clue how to respond to Raiko's... advances?, Jac hid behind his hot chocolate. He blinked furiously as the slight residual steam drifted up. His face flushed for a longer time than he was comfortable with.

"I, uh... No. I just..." He couldn't admit that he had just remembered the man's name! That would be a huge social misstep. "I just was... shocked. About what I thought... I think. Yeah." He hid again.

But then something was said that Jac knew well. Tributes. His eyes widened a little and he looked up at Raiko with the slightest twinkle in his eye. The Games always fascinated him.

The brunette only hoped that Jacaranda would be able to let his hair down after his drink.

That is, if he managed to actually drink it.

Her eyes narrowed, disbelief etching on her features. His own expression was clearly one of disgust—- and was that horror? Tilting her head to the left, Terra’s mouth hung open in a small ‘o’ shape. Had he never had a shot? Why did he sip at it? Of course it was going to taste disgusting, that was why she knew to toss it back in one quick mouthful. That thought then posed a question in her mind; had he ever even had a drink before?

"God." One word spat with clear distaste, and it sat on the bar between the two, an awkward set of three letters. Now she spoke to the bar tender. "Get me another one of those. Actually, make it two. But get him an apple juice. In a kid’s popper." 

The woman sighed and pushed her hair away from her face. “Think you can handle an apple juice, Fitzroy?” Their drinks were served, but to Terra’s dismay his own drink was a tall glass of apple cider. Nothing particularly childlike in that concoction. “You know, maybe this drink will be better. Just try it, alright? And don’t splutter it everywhere.” 

Before he knew what to say or do, another drink had appeared before him. He eyed it warily, especially as she downed another two fire concoctions. That didn't seem human. He pulled the glass towards his lips and was relieved to find it much more palatable than the first.

A grin spread across his face, and he nodded. "Yeah, no, this is much better. Thank you." He took another sip and glanced at the bartender. Being as discreet as he could be, he slid a credit card across the bar to the man. He waved a finger at himself and Terra. This was the least he could do. He took another sip of the cider and looked at the woman.

"Oh, Jackie boy.  I’m so sorry.  I understand if you don’t want to or if you’re holding out for someone special, but we have to do something about this modest behavior.  It’s so odd to see you outside of social festivities but for someone of your credentials to simply be acting dubious, well, you’re making me worried.”

Frowning, he took his hand from the man’s leg and leaned back.  There was a slight glint in his eyes, the work of deception well under way.  It was a thrilling time, trying to inveigle someone into a certain state of mind.  In this case, he’d make sure that Jacaranda Fitzroy never forgot him again. 

"No, I mean... I'm not like - holding out - I'm just... Wait..."

Cogs were whirring in his mind. Suicune. No. Geico. No. Wait. Treeko. Raygun. Kinko? Capitolites always had weird names like that. Ryan. Too normal. Raymond. What?

And then there was talk of competition. Jac's mind raced towards the District Four development plans his father was negotiating. Who else would be trying to build training facilities? Sure, some Capitolites liked to venture into the business, and of course there was always talk of lesser academies popping up. But usually the Fitzroys either bought out or drove out their competition. Lazarus Goodpull, perhaps. He had been a pain for a while. Or Sophie Taymor; she had been pouring money into District Four Tributes for years now.

"Raiko!!"

The name leapt from Jac's lips so quickly that he startled himself. The man from the party... how long ago? Did it matter? Raiko. Raiko Spectral. That was who this man was. 

However, the sudden shift from business to the man in front of him had sent Jac's brain into a tailspin again. His brow furrowed as he tried to sort the mess and jumble of his thoughts. Instead, he ended up with a hodgepodge of competition and names that had little connection at all to the conversation at hand.

Both offended and intrigued, Raiko couldn’t resist playing mind games with him.  After all, it was only fair.  No one was supposed to forget Raiko Spectral. 

“Oh, I’ve been splendid, old friend.  You know, amassing wealth and dabbling in various affairs—not of the romance kind, mind you, unless you’re strictly speaking of a few mistakes here and there—and of course keeping up with the scene.” The suave man casually spewed, a soft rocking in his seat.  It was at that exact moment that the barista returned with his order and as she scurried off, he took out his flask of rum and added a few ounces to the drink. 

Holding it high to Jacaranda, he gave a smooth smile and took a large swig from its contents.  As the warmth spread in his body his senses grew more and more amused.  His headache was finally subsiding and a faint twinkle lit up his eyes.  What he had previously mentioned was mostly true, but he wanted to take a gander at whether or not the sex tidbit would fluster his old acquaintance.  If not, he’d find a way to make the man even more miserably awkward until his name became obvious. 

“She got the order wrong,” he sighed as he placed his mug down, “but the liquor makes it almost worth it.  Though really, Jackie, it pains me to see you so tight.  Have you been laid lately?  I have a mountain of connections to help suit your needs, not that I doubt you have a ton of your own—but I can’t help but sense your dreadful disposition.” Raiko explained, an expression of worry tactfully pulled onto his face. 

Jac's eyes widened briefly as the man spiked his drink. It was barely two o'clock! To be fair, Jac wasn't a big drinker. He didn't really know anything about the whole culture of alcohol. Perhaps this was normal? He forced a small grin to his lips. Something was forming in his mind. A name? Entei?

"Have you been laid lately?"

Against his will, Jac's jaw began flapping up and down. "Uh, no. I mean, uh what? No. No I haven't - are you -" His eyes lanced down to the hand on his knee, then bulged at the man's next words.

All thoughts of a name had been erased. Something much more urgent had entered his brain.

Amy hiccuped as she glanced at the well dressed man attempting to slide by him. He was familiar; she recognized him from her days training back home, but in her drunken haze she could not place him.

She tried to flatten against the wall of the stairwell, hoping that the man would simply pass by her. The bottle shook in her hand as she attempted further movement, prompting her to drop it.

Crash!

The glass bottle shattered, spilling clear liquid all over the stairs and the man who was coming down the stairs.

“Oh nooooo, no no.”

She crawled down the steps to the pieces of vodka soaked glass, cutting her palms as she clumsily cleaned it up.

Whatever.

"Amethyst Alkali does not clean up spilled drinks." Jac froze in his tracks faster than the blood froze in his veins. It couldn't be. This girl had to be lying. Jac whipped around with a pointed crack as more glass was ground to dust beneath his heel.

He looked down at the girl and - sure enough - it was the Victor in the flesh. The very flushed flesh, but the flesh nonetheless. This was the girl who had trained at his father's academy in District One. Who had killed their best chance at a Victor, and then became the Victor herself. 

This was Amethyst Alkali.

Jac's temperament roller coastered again. Instantly, he was holding out a hand with a giddy smile on his face. "Ms. Alkali! Oh, goodness. What is this... No, never mind. Never mind that. Ms. Alkali, this is an honor to meet you. Truly. Here, let's get you up."

A smile spread across gold-painted lips, her teeth shining strangely behind the shimmering makeup. “When I’m through with you, you’re going to be all sorts of bait. Or, maybe you’ll even be the big fish.” She said this with a wink and a nudge, hoping to appeal to the side of him that was drawn to women—-or men. Whatever floated his boat, Terra did not care, but now she was too excited to even properly think about potential social consequences. 

If anyone ever asked why she was talking to him, she could just say she was doing her bit for charity.

Flicking her hair over her left shoulder, Terra the downed her drink and clicked her fingers, prompting the bartender to give them each a shot of something that had a bizarre purple flame flickering on its surface. She picked her’s up daintily between two fingers, and gestured for him to do the same.

"Alright, lesson number one. Down this without making a face." Truthfully, this wasn’t really a lesson, but Terra knew that she would have to be far more drunk than she was to be able to deal with his mumbling—- and perhaps if he was drunker, then he too would loosen up a bit. "Ready? Go."

Suddenly, there was a small fire in front of him. He unwittingly let out a small yelp, but no one around him seemed concerned about the flame on the bar. His eyes snapped to Terra. She, too, had a small inferno in front of her. To his absolute bewilderment, she drank the thing. The first thought that went through his mind was, She must be some sort of dragon.

With more grimace than he was sure she wanted, Jac cautiously raised the cup to his lips. He blew slightly across the surface, but the purple flame just flickered in defiance. He brought the demonic thing closer to his mouth, his eyebrows growing dangerously close to one another. He gave it another, more forceful blow and this time, the flame flickered out.

Jac glanced again over to Terra, who was looking at him expectantly. A small, nervous smile pulled at his lips. He didn't drink alcohol. Perhaps he should say that. He set the small cup down and looked at the girl. "I should probably tell you that this is my... uh, like, I don't really.." He squeezed his eyes closed, a flush coming to his cheeks. Grand.

"No, it's just... ugh. Nevermind." He brought the cup up to his lips and took the smallest sip. His mouth was instantly on fire, but he forced himself not to start gagging. Instead, one eye squeezed shut intensely. The command to "not make a face" suddenly popped back into his head and he tried to open his eye, but the other one began to close and soon he was squinting. He should probably take another sip. That's what you did, right?

How the hell had this woman taken a full shot of this poison?

Shooing his guest from the night before away with nothing but an over-sized bathrobe, he called in his stylists to begin prepping his aching body to face the rest of the day.  In no time he was looking better, the dark bags under his eyes brilliantly concealed by some of the finest make-up in the Capitol and his hair was slicked back perfectly, just the way he liked it.  Pleased with his progress thus far, he now only wanted one thing and there was only one place he accepted to get it. 

Sun on his back as he opened the door to the coffee shop, his smile was instantaneous upon seeing the handful of other citizens within the shop.  However, he couldn’t help but allow his smile to grow as his eyes fell upon the man in the corner.  Without even ordering, he was already in front of the other taking a seat.  Adjusting himself until comfortable, he was already in full speech by the time one of the shopkeepers were headed over. 

Jac's body responded before his mind had processed the person and he jolted a little more violently than his book could handle. It bounced down to the ground, and Jac's body had already lurched forward to catch it before he had even realized he had dropped it. Somewhere during this all, his voice had decided to start working like a motorboat, spitting out "uhs" and "ehs" at random intervals.

After his embarrassing knee-jerk reaction, Jac barely had time to collect himself before the man was spouting a coffee order at him. His jaw fell open. Was he supposed to be getting this man coffee? Who was he? Did he honestly believe Jac was a barista to be ordered around?

And then he said his name. Or rather, he said "Jackie." That was unusual. Jacaranda was used to his name being shortened to "Jac," but very few people ever called him "Jackie." In fact, the last time he had been called "Jackie" was about a year ago, when... what was his name?

Jac's eyes finally focused on the handsome man in front of him. His eyebrows scrunched together as he tried to place the man. However, it was becoming increasingly apparent that Jac's brain didn't remember him. His facial expression unchanged, Jac's vocal chords took over again before his brain could.

"Uh.. right. Yeah. It's been a long time! Totally!"

Jac blinked, bringing his focus back to the present. His eyes widened as he realized his mouth was hanging open. He slammed his jaw shut and scooped up his hot chocolate to hide the small nervous twitch that was developing in his lips. Socializing. How did one do that again?