WHO : sparrow gardner & penelope valentinus / @ofgildedrose. WHERE : the tributes' introduction gala.
surely district eleven’s stylist had done the best they could - sparrow assumed so, anyway, from the look of them -, but no amount of goodwill could shake the fact that she simply wasn’t used to this attire. the intricate dresses that seemed to be all the rage in the capitol felt ungainly and impractical at best, downright restraining at worst. in eleven, she’d taken pride on her nimble movements and light-footedness, but they were near-impossible to show off now. could you give your stylist suggestions for future events? some pants would already be a huge improvement on…whatever was going on here. if she was possibly going to die, she didn’t want some of the last shots of her living self going around to show her tottering about like a newborn duckling.
straightening her spine as best she could, she wove her way through the crowd, eyes darting to and fro, trying to pick out her fellow tributes from the guests. they weren’t the only ones in attendance, though⎯some of these people were too well-dressed, too haughty-looking to be anything but capitolites born and bred. her gaze had just landed on one such attendee - an elegant woman, so put together sparrow might’ve believed her to have stepped out of a picture - when it was drawn by a glint of crystal, a swirl of dark liquid sweeping over the rim.
❛ oh⎯hey! ❜ her hand shot out before she could think, snatching up the glass at the base before it spilled its contents all over the lady’s dress. her own outfit was less fortunate, and she stared down at the wine stains that marred the cuff. well, that’s that. it was as good an excuse as any to request a quick change of clothes. ❛ sorry about it…ma’am, ❜ she added cautiously, because the situation did seem to warrant some formality. ❛ good thing i’m quick, huh? ❜