#mb134

"This mermaid just told me I have no soul," Everett said, turning away from the woman dressed as a mermaid and giving out fortunes. He had thought she'd say something pleasant, such as 'good fortune will come to you,' but instead she'd just told him she could not read his future because he didn't have a soul. "Shall we drink?" He held up his glass.

"Woah, woah," Mahlon paused the conversation, which could barely be called that, since he wasn't engaging, and the other person hadn't gotten more than a few words in before they'd been stopped. "See, thing is...you mistook me for someone who gives a fuck. Maybe try, uh--" He looked around the room, for a scapegoat to redirect to. "Shit, I dunno. A mirror? A therapist?" He held up three fingers, looking for an out, angling to escape. "Listen, I dance. I deal. I dip the fuck out as soon as I'm allowed. Conversation ain't really part of it. You want stupid, shallow fuckin' small talk? Try Meadowforge."

"It's called Fool's Gold," Nano explained, even though he'd only learned about it two rounds ago. The three shot glasses sat on the bar, shimmering, flecks of gold interspersed throughout the iridescent liquid. "One is liquor, one is ether, and one is just holographic water they've dyed." The three looked nearly identical, and Nano lowered himself down, studying them, trying to parse it out. "Pick one. Play a round."

"Let's try our luck, shall we?" Cress coaxed, slipping closer, looping her arm through. She nodded toward the fortune-telling mermaid perched on the dais in the corner of the room. "I've heard she's rather scathing, though, so don't say I didn't warn you."

Holland was holding one of the fake skulls from a table and peering at it closely, tapping it with her finger as if to examine it. "This is a shitty imitation of real bone," she complained, as if she'd expected anything different.

Cat was used to being an accessory on the arm of whoever would have her – that was what going to the Mentor's Ball was for, wasn't it? To be a hot piece of something for someone to brag about; Cat was over that, thought it was sick, she was tired of being used by the Capitolites, tired of being used by sponsors. Instead, she was here with an equal, with Holland and if that didn't have her giddy, nothing would've. However, she wouldn't have minded being an accessory for Holland and practically acted like one, with the way her eyes almost never left her as they entered the party.

She needed a moment.

As excited as Mason had been for the ball, once he was there, he really wasn't feeling it. He was exhausted. Dark, deep bags under his eyes proving he had not slept hat night. And maybe even the night before that. His clothes fitting slightly bigger as he was unable to eat much recently due to his stomach being in knots. Anxiety and stress had hit him even harder since his brother revealed he was going to be a father. That he cheated on Medea. Plus everything else what was going on in his life. Mason thought the best thing to do was avoid his brother and let him deal with the drama he caused on his own.. but when he had ever been good at holding grudges? Being mad at his brothers? Avoiding them? He had always been the one to crack first. To apologize first. Because he hated that negative feeling. At this point, he couldn't be mad at the one person he had left.