BYTE THE DUST

she shrugged. it had been a point of contention this games more than most, and now Enna didn't know the answer. The reapings said district. Farina said district. she had said district. but Oxford said capitol, her parents said capitol, even peacekeepers and passersby treated her capitol. Even Vox Parva was a capitolite, definitionally. and that was her too.

"Oh-kay," he drew out the word, nodding, clearing his throat awkwardly. Nano eyed her curiously, wondering if it was a bit like Conny had been: Career, but not cutthroat. The thing he expected, and not. Nano spent so much of his life living in the black and white; it was odd to muddle through the grey. Maybe that's what Enna was. Grey. He liked the way that sounded in his head.

Now that he thought about it, he had no idea whether it was a Seven thing, or just something that someone had managed to make work in Seven. Maybe the latter if the Capitol was doling it out? And what about casserole, would they have a ball sometime featuring various casseroles? He didn't know, but it didn't seem out of the question, frankly.

Nano took a handful from the bag, filling his cheeks with it, surprised at the texture. He chewed awkwardly for a minute, slowly, swallowing before sniffing the remaining bagful. "Huh." It was a lackluster appraisal, but Nano still pulled out another handful, so it was decent enough. "They're like opposites," he noted. "This is all...shape." There wasn't a better term for it. The food was highly structured, hard and sharp even, where the kernels were. "And casseroles have no shape at all. It's just mush." Nano smiled at that, amused by the opposites of their districts, by the joy of sharing something across their siloed district lines (even if it was being poorly appropriated).

Enna snickered before she hushed herself. He might seem upset, but it was a little hard to know who was truly safe in a ballroom like this. Slate hadn't introduced them, after all. "They do when you're capitol." she recovered. "it's all hello, Madam. have a good day, miss. nearly gave me a heart attack the first time, I thought I was in trouble." that was the only time peacekeepers talked to orphans, when they needed to be put in line.

Nano laughed, but it was laced with a thin veil of confusion. "I don't get it. Are you Capitol, or are you district?" He wanted to understand her, to size her up accordingly. Who was she? Who did she claim to be?

"What the fuck is a casserole?" he asked, mystified. If he'd heard it in any other context, he'd have sworn it must be a type of hat worn by Capitolites that had gone out of fashion or something.

"Yeah. I mean, there's a few steps in between, but yeah." that was the long and short of it. "I was busy in three. one of the peacekeepers was a real chatterbox there. didn't have time to talk to anyone else. it's fine."

"Funny, they don't do much talking when they're on rounds," Nano mused, tone tinging bitter. But Enna had said she was district, so maybe it was okay to show a little dissent.

"Well, I probably can't get us far. You and I probably have undercover Capitol agents or something tailing us at these things." He rubbed the back of his neck, then remembering everything Nano had been through, added, "Kidding. Really."

Nano laughed, a hiccuping sound, just a beat longer than a scoff. "Yeah, I know." He hated the tip-toeing, the backtracking, even if it was for good cause. "But you're probably not wrong." That was the worst part: that Nano's fears -- his delusions, as the doctors called them -- weren't that far off.

"Yeah, everybody knows cress." That was one thing that was for absolute certain. Enna chuckled, shaking her head. "hey, it's chill. I'm normal, I'm not going to come after you in the night if you disrespect my family crest or anything." The lydonsbees did have one. Enna could never remember it, but she knew they did have one.

Nano nodded, even though he didn't fully understand at first. "You moved here from Nine to be a stylist?" That seemed highly unusual, but if Cress as involved -- or, rather, her meddling -- then he couldn't rule anything out. "Yeah, yeah, I meant Slate's tour. I was, uh... I was there, in Three, but--" There wasn't a good way to say Slate and I got into a fight backstage about the rebellion, so I dipped, so Nano just shrugged.

Denver was pleased when she saw Nano. He was so quiet, or he had been the few times they had interacted - she wasn't sure if he was the kind of person who would go to a big ball. She was glad he was though.

Nano jumped, not expecting to be spoken to. Most people wouldn't go near him, or they handled him like he'd spent the past three months in a psychiatric institution, which...well, was true. Kid gloves. That's what they all used. Nano could feel the softness of the interactions with others, which contrasted against the coarse handling from sponsors who had no fucking idea how to talk to normal human beings (like come on, read the fucking room). But he liked Denver, even if she was weirdly enthusiastic about all of this: the Games, the arena, the slaughter. "Hey," he recovered (not well). "Just, uh...hanging out." Trying to stay out of the way as long as Nanni was alive. "Didn't realize you'd be here. Is Charon somewhere playing tonsil hockey again?"

"oh." Enna felt dumb, but he was laughing, and after a moment's hesitation she was too. it was a warm kind of laugh, looking at the way he held the cup and took a large gulp. "I mean, it tastes terrible. but all district drinks do." She'd been seventeen when she'd left, plenty old enough to take a shot or two of stuff that felt like pure fire in the throat. it's district nine's finest. she'd been told, and handed another to drink quicker.

"Do they?" He wouldn't really know. Nano wasn't a drinker, or...he hadn't been, before it all. Really, though, he missed moonshine from Eleven, made by Nettle and dolled out with love. "I'm--" But she said everyone knew him, which made Nano blush, throat bobbing as he swallowed dryly, the movement rough. "Yeah, uh-- I mean, I know who Cress is, obviously, and I know what a stylist is so...if you just put the two....together....then..." Nano took another gulp of the rancid drink, feeling like a fucking idiot who couldn't string two words together to save his life.

"You doing okay?" He hadn't spoken to Nano in a while, but he'd... heard things. Word got around, especially somewhere like the Tower. There was no such thing as private business. "If you ever want an excuse to disappear from this sort of thing for a little while, I'm definitely your guy. I hate this stuff." And, he remembered when he'd felt his most fragile, large crowds tended to make everything he felt a hundred times louder.

Nano blinked, a little fuzzy beneath the haze of alcohol. He wasn't supposed to be drinking on his meds. He knew it. Link knew it. So, naturally, Nano was avoiding Link. "Hey," he smiled, though maybe just the corners turned up. "This shit's the worst." A huff of agreement, and he offered an arm out, sleeve covered with teddy bears stitched to the fabric. "If you can get me the fuck out of here, you win a prize."

"oh, really?" Enna took it, not bothering to sniff at it first. He was a victor, and they didn't know each other. why would he have any reason to lie to her? so she took a big, hearty drink, choking as it poured down her throat in a huge gulp. still, she kept drinking, only able to finish a third of the glass before her reserves were dried up and she literally couldn't choke down any more.

Nano's brows lifted so high that his forehead crinkled, glasses slipping down his nose so that he had to push them up. "Uh--" He cleared his throat, recovering from the shock, impressed and a little aroused that she'd just fucking forced that down. "Um--" Nano cleared his throat, laughing awkwardly, "No. We-- Not in the fucking slightest." And then he shoulders eased, and he was laughing more freely, taking the glass back from her, slinging back a gulp so she didn't have to suffer alone. It was awful. He struggled now to spit it on the ground. "It's shit. My sister and I prank sponsors with it. I don't--" He didn't understand. He'd never met a Capitolite who could even swallow this trash once. "Are you... Sorry, who are you? Have we met?"

@nano-cache

It was always easier to stomach these things with a prank or a drink, and Nano was pretty sure he wasn't exactly supposed to indulge in either. But if he was going to make it through this cycle without offing anyone (himself included), he was going to do whatever the fuck he wanted and deal with the repercussions at a later time. "Delicacy from Three," Nano said, voice easy, nonchalant. He offered the glass out, brows lifting. "You chug it. Gives you a rush."