thecapitol | It's all it will take, we'll go down in history

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It's all it will take, we'll go down in history

Who| Everyone in the Tribute Center (plus various Capitol citizens are in attendance)
What| A Saturnalia inspired extravaganza!
Where| A large, festive ballroom
When| Tonight!
Warnings/Notes| N/A? Let me know if this needs a warning!

Jennifer had spent weeks on the preparations for this glorious night, arranging for the food and gifts and music and dancing. Everything would be perfect, and she was certain all the attendees would have a marvelous time. And besides all that, this would be a perfect way to celebrate her husband's return to the Capitol! It had been weeks since Arturas had any time off to spend at home. Surely he'd be delighted by the fanfare and revelry.

The invitations stated that the party began promptly at 6:30, to bring an appetite, and be ready to dance. The attendees were instructed to dress in costume, to participate in the role-reversal theme of Saturnalia. Capitolites were to dress as Tributes while the Tributes were to dress in the most outlandish Capitol fashions imaginable. Jennifer herself was wearing a replica of the District 2 space costume, bedazzled and covered in crystals, for an extra glamorous kick, while her stoic husband sat at his table with his politician friends, dressed in an ice skating costume, a throwback to Arena 11. Clearly he had business to attend to, so it would be up to her to see to the party.

She made her way toward the entrance and prepared to greet everyone.

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"That's right." Whether he was agreeing to the costume or to the comment about Adrastea's parenting, Cal left it open to interpretation. His feelings on either didn't impact his ability to guide them around the dance floor with a notable amount of flourish. They swayed in time to the music, but he did continue to keep up some amount of respectability between them. It was a good thing, too, covered in metallic and glitter as he was. If they'd have been any closer, Jenny wouldn't have had any amount of plausible deniability later.

"I was in dancing lessons, you know." He mentioned finally, toward the end of the song. He didn't quite meet her eyes. Dancing lessons were relevant in this moment in time but generally paled in comparison to the sports, combat and survival training he would never actually need. Knowing how to properly tango just wasn't anywhere near as impressive. "Adrastea insisted."

Dancing was certainly more refined than hunting or combat, and to be fair, he was actually using his tango skills. As a bright young person of the Capitol, it was a necessary survival trick. Surely he could recognize that. More so than that, though, was the sneaking feeling that she wasn't merely dancing with Calendius. Jennifer had the growing suspicion that he might, in his own special way, be trying to seduce her.

... What a horrifying thought. No, wait. What a stupid assumption, and an utterly unfounded one. Cal knew better than that, and besides, he was patently not interested and neither was she. So there.

Jennifer shut her eyes to put those awful thoughts to rest. Instead of looking vexed, however, she seemed to be completely at ease and comfortable in Cal's arms. Instead of snapping back to reality, for a moment Jenny lost herself, and in that moment, she let herself sigh.

For the record, he wasn't trying, at least not consciously. He wouldn't do that, or so he thought. As he placed a hand at her waist, his palm pressing against the tight weave of her dress and feeling the warmth of her skin underneath it, he did, however, take a moment to appreciate her rather impressive genetics. Jennifer was a like an exotic bird in the Capitol, the rare person who carried off both intelligence and beauty, with a disarming quality of grace. It managed to charm the vast majority of the people with whom she came into contact and there was something to be said for that. At any rate, he pulled them along, hips swaying only somewhat provocatively to the beat. It was still a rather high class gathering, after all.

"You're a great dancer, you know." He said, dipping her to the music. He took pains to maintain his polite distance. "Very perceptive. Athletic and artful."

"Don't be ridiculous. I have two left feet and you know it," she laughed, chiding him gently as she followed in the dance. It felt so natural to move with him, to follow his lead and let him take her along on this brief little escape. Her own laughter brought her back to reality, however, and she was suddenly hyperaware of her surroundings and the fact that her husband was just across the ballroom and could turn to see her in Cal's arms at anytime. Not that they were doing anything improper. Not at all, in fact. There was nothing immoral or questionable about the hostess taking a dance with one of her guests.

Still, she found herself shifting a little awkwardly under his hands, not wanting to move them, but not wanting to stoke the flames of scandal nonetheless. What a precarious situation. All she wanted was to dance with him. She didn't want to start a scene.

Blushing faintly, she met Cal's gaze, and noted, perhaps for the first time, the imperfections in his eyes. They weren't symmetrical, unlike the rest of him. He was off kilter, just a bit, the last trace of nature in his otherwise flawless form. Jennifer thought he was so much more handsome for it.

Her knees almost gave out right then and there. Literally, she swooned and had to steady herself in his embrace. "Oh god. I must have tripped. See, I told you, I'm terribly clumsy!"

He could feel her slipping, although jejune as he was, Calendius mistook her nervousness for a reaction to implicit performance they were putting on rather than the act itself. Least of all did he suspect it had anything to do with him particularly. His arrogance had limits and Jennifer Blackwood ever thinking any better of him than being mildly amusing and (hopefully) good at his job was very much beyond them. He let himself hold her a little more securely, declining to laugh in reply to her self-deprecation. There was nothing wrong with being unable to do something, but there was nothing funny about it either. Especially when she was clearly more than capable of so much better.

Gently, he pulled them along to the music. His hips swaying with hers, a suggestion that she follow his lead a little more closely. "Calm down, just listen to the music." He closed his eyes, making a show of hearing the beat. Vaguely, he wished it was something more exciting than the stuff of typical fancy parties. "You aren't bad at all, Jenny, and anyway, if you start off by thinking you're perfect, you never will be. It's about effort and hard work." His smile widened. "You've already got the talent. It's just a matter of trusting yourself and working with your partner."

Trusting herself. That was easier said than done in this situation. He was distracting her, leading her along but leading her astray, and Jennifer couldn't help but feel a bit dismissive of him. She had to, otherwise she might betray more than she dared. Who on Earth taught him to speak that way? Surely his mother wouldn't approve.

"Yes, well. I think maybe I've had enough dancing for one night." She stopped moving suddenly, but she didn't let him go. As much as she wanted to stop, she didn't really want to stop at all. "I think I'd like some fresh air. Won't you step outside with me, Cal?"

Escort her.

Some combination of distraction and momentum kept him swaying for a moment. Even if Jennifer wouldn't allow herself to get lost and have fun, Calendius was far from above it. One of the benefits of having a reputation for stupidity was that he could get away with almost anything so long as it seemed unplanned, like a momentary lapse in judgment or ignorance of the expected protocol.

"I--" He glanced down to his chest, covered as it was in the layers of paint. She had to realize it was winter. Either she was kidding, or this was some kind of test. Either way, he was nothing if not competitive. He wouldn't let her think him unwilling or somehow less than enthusiastic. "Yeah, sure. Lead the way."

"Thank you," Jennifer said softly, looping her arm through his as she led him off the dance floor and toward the nearest exit, eyes fixed straight ahead as she walked in defiance of all the looky-loos and gossips who may have been watching them. She didn't intend to be out for long, just long enough for the fresh air to clear her head and cure her of her unhealthy and unprofessional fascination with Calendius Rey. Of course, it didn't help that even as she prayed for clarity, she had him at her side, mostly nude, mere centimeters from her body.

As they reached the exit, she looked back at him. "This won't happen again. You understand why, don't you?"

Absently, Cal let his mouth fall open slightly. Being the type of man that he was, having lived the type of life he had lived, it took him a moment to get what it was exactly that she might have been getting at. It wasn't naivety, really, but rather a sort of nonchalant acceptance of the way things generally were in the Capitol. If someone wanted something (or someone), they acted on it. Scandals were a tradable commodity, worth the weight of whatever press and amusing party gossip they could provide. The right kinds of scandals were even necessary if one hoped to maintain any sort of cultural relevancy. His perspective was both ignorant of the looky-loos, and yet somehow more invested in them. At any rate, he didn't care what they thought, only that they were thinking about him.

"That's too bad, Jenny." He said finally, licking his lips and not quite pouting at her. It took a fair amount of effort to ignore the cold, but he could maintain for a moment. He felt the goosebumps beginning to form on his arms and across his chest. "I thought we were having fun together."

She wanted to slap that stupid little pout right off his face. Instead, she leveled him with a hard, practiced stare, one usually reserved for the most trying of Tributes. He frustrated her, more so because he was teasing her even now. He had to know the effect he was having on her, and how difficult it was not to give in and let herself go astray. That could only spell trouble for herself and for her husband. And she believed in Arturas and everything he wanted to accomplish in his career. She wanted to help him. Allowing herself to fall into bed with a walking scandal was the exact opposite of what her husband's political career needed. Even being alone with Cal was likely dangerous.

Shit.

Quickly, she looked past Cal to assure that the door had shut behind them and that no one was watching them now. Of course, they were likely under surveillance, but so long as they didn't do anything noteworthy, it was unlikely that anyone would care if they simply spoke.

"Don't play coy with me." Jennifer said at last, biting on her lower lip. "There are so many reasons why this can't go any further. Can't you see that?"

He bit his bottom lip, finally frowning outright as he tasted the metallic paint on it and around his mouth. She had a point, he supposed. Jennifer Blackwood had an unimpeachable reputation. The worst anyone could say of her was that she'd been short with someone once or twice on a busy day. There were no, so far as anyone knew, skeletons lurking, affairs, unplanned pregnancies, long lost siblings with peculiar and unflattering facial hair, or even so much as a tasteless dress to mock. Rather Jennifer had achieved a delicate balance of media attention without becoming either a darling, or a mockery. That had to take a certain amount of care. For a moment, he almost felt bad for jeopardizing it.

Then he processed it all together. Them together, his status as her subordinate and the dynamic they had fallen into together. He smiled despite the bitter taste. It was a genuine expression, no less flirtatious than the one he'd sported during their dance, but behind Calendius' usually vapid eyes was a note of recognition. A surprising thoughtfulness that would have made the look almost sinister had it not also been so adoring. He was conniving, but doing so with the best (or what he believed to be the best) of intentions.

"Yes, and I can probably come up with a steamy headline or two for them, if they'd let me." He leaned in closer, ignoring her discomfort and the eyes around them. "But here's the thing, Jenny. If I didn't pay attention to you, they'd talk even more. Then it would really seem like we were hiding something."

He was right, and she knew he was right. But that didn't make it any easier for her to swallow. In fact, it made her blood boil all the more, especially in how he seemed to mock her entirely, even down to her expression. It was so unfair. She'd worked so hard to make everything perfect. Why did this idiot of a man, this floozy have to come along and jeopardize everything she'd constructed? Jennifer had to look away from him before she gave into his adoration and let all of her worries go.

"We're not hiding anything." She was insistent, emphatic, perhaps too much so. Like a reformed sinner, she felt the need to denounce the truth loudly, before it became known. Maybe Cal wasn't hiding anything. Maybe he was just being himself, flirtatious and fun and unburdened by the worries of the future of the world. Jennifer couldn't be that way though. She couldn't just laugh off the fact that the more time she spent around him, the more precarious her situation was becoming. Her attraction to him was, and would continue to be, a massive problem.

She hadn't noticed it, but there were tears pricking at her eyes, hot and stinging and making her eye make up run a bit. This was now the second time in as many months that she would allow herself to cry in front of Calendius. "We can't be anything else, Cal. You have to be my subordinate. That's all you can be to me, ever. It doesn't matter what we want. I..." She swallowed hard, suddenly aware that she was on the verge of breaking down completely. "I can't do this."

All she wanted to do was collapse against him and his stupid paint-streaked body. Why couldn't things be so easy as that? Instead, Jennifer turned her back to Cal and tried to dab at her eyes to prevent her face from becoming a mess.

"Oh, Jenny," He said quietly, closing the minimal space between them. He towered over her, really. It took Calendius a moment to realize this, so accustomed was he to assuming Jennifer to have the more advantageous position between them. Nevertheless, the physicality of it was clear cut enough. Abruptly, he reached up to cup her cheek. The palm of his hand was blessedly devoid of any incriminating body paint.

"You can do anything you want. You just have to ask for it." Lightly, he kissed away the tears that threatened to smudge her makeup. The pressure was gentle enough not to leave silver marks on her cheeks. "I'm good at keeping secrets."

Jennifer was taken by surprise, frozen in place as his lips brushed lightly over her cheek. She didn't know what to do, didn't know what she could possibly say to make him stop. What was worse, though, was that she didn't want him to stop at all. No, not at all. The entire core of her existence wanted nothing more than to melt against him, throw her arms securely around his neck and kiss him back. But she couldn't do that. Not here, not now, not ever.

"Cal," she whispered back, tears coming down in full force now. She reached for him, placing her palm on his chest and smearing the paint a little. It wasn't to push him away. She had to steady herself or she might just keel over from everything. "Don't do this to me. Please. I can't tell you no again. I can't lie like that."

"So don't," he sighed, a little impatient with her resistance. He wasn't used to being told no. It was exhilarating in a way, if he were to be entirely honest. It was also annoying as all get out. But he didn't want to seem pushy or unreasonable, so he contented himself with mildly disgruntled noises and body language. His lips resumed their former pout, his carefully arched eyebrows seemed concerned, almost hurt. Finally, he pulled away, separating them again to a polite distance. To the outside world it would seem as if he'd merely whispered something gossipy or licentious in her ear and she'd rebuked him. Disappointing though it might have been, that wasn't altogether divergent from what had actually happened.

"But just know that I'm around if you change your mind." The pout broke into a smile. It was flirtatious, almost dangerous. Calendius knew he was treading on thin ice, but it was also a challenge. He couldn't help himself. "I spend an awful lot of time in your office anyway."

Jennifer's eyes flashed with emotion, indignity perhaps, or maybe embarrassment. No matter the precise configuration, his words struck her to the core because ultimately they were true. She knew he would be there waiting for her, knew he would be in and out of her office at her beck and call. He was nothing if not persistent, and to her he had proved himself loyal. She realized, as she met his dangerous, flirtatious smile, that she could have Calendius Rey anytime she wanted, no strings attached. Unfortunately though, she was a woman who required all sorts of strings in order to function. Sometimes she felt she was more a puppet than a person.

"No," came her quick reply. To combat his intentionally provocative smirk, her expression became somewhat stormy. "You hardly know me at all if you think you can just bend me over a desk, Cal. I'm not the kind of woman who dabbles in office romances with some pretty boy just for the thrill of it. If I wanted mediocre sex with someone I didn't care about, don't you think I'd have engaged in it by now?"

Honestly? She was a little hurt that he'd think she was so easily won. Perhaps it was her high self-esteem talking, but Jennifer had always conducted herself better than that. She never gave her affections freely, even with the men she truly loved. And she never simply fell into bed with people. Surely Cal knew as much about her character already.

If her intention had been to wipe the smile off his face, she very nearly succeeded. Her words hurt, even burned at certain moments, but Cal was pure teflon. He'd been raised to be poised and poised he would be. "I already told you that I think you could have whatever you want. Right now, I think you want me, and if you want more than just my body, that's fine. I think you could probably have that, too. You're a remarkable woman, Jenny. I mean that."

The small wrinkles at his eyes pulled slightly. It was the only evidence of whether that was a genuine confession or just another party of the pretty boy act. "But just know that I'm way better than mediocre and I don't mind a challenge. I'm good at keeping secrets. I already told you that, too."

She softened slightly, watching as his expression shifted into something truer. It was in his eyes, it always was, like looking past the glossy exterior and into the truest part of his soul. He was challenging her, just as she's challenged him. And he wanted her. He wanted her enough to make that simple statement, that offer that he was willing to try, if she was.

How on Earth could she say no to that? Wait, no. Jennifer wasn't a pushover. If she was going to do anything so stupid and reckless, she had to be certain he wouldn't turn on her. Not now, not ever. And as his boss... she certainly had enough ammunition to ruin his personal career if he tried to sabotage things for Arturas. Tit for tat. Not that it would ever come to that, right?

... She couldn't believe she was contemplating revenge schemes before even daring to take a lover. What kind of a woman was she anyway?

"I want everything." Jennifer said at last, eyes locking with Cal's. "You're right. You're not mediocre. You're exceptional. And I won't have anything less. And I won't accept anything less than your everything." She kept her voice low, rolling up onto her toes to whisper into his ear. It looked innocent enough to seem like she was sharing some gossip of her own. Totally innocent. Totally legit. "And I have to be your everything, too. I'm not one of your little tarts you find in the party scene. I'm a queen."

To say that having her lean in close, no matter how innocuous the proximity was made to seem, excited him, would have been an understatement. It was a small victory, a miniature triumph to which he could cling when she'd decided he was, once again, unamusing. Dark eyes darted around uncertainly, taking in everything he possibly could of this moment before she repositioned them and it disappeared, taking his victory with it.

"I can do that," Calendius promised easily, as if Jennifer wasn't asking him to completely change what had become a pattern of behavior. As silly as it was, as unrealistic, he actually believed it wouldn't be a problem. That somehow, if he had her, he wouldn't feel compelled to fall into bed with just anyone who met a certain arbitrary standard of beauty. It would probably be simple enough, he told himself. It was a habit, not some sort of behavioral addiction, and besides, it's not like any of them could compare to her anyway.

He glanced up and then down. They stood in an arch, which led to the terrace from which they'd come. He noted the decorative patterns in the glossy floor and the equally decorative greenery dotting the crown molding above them. One plant in particular stuck out. His smile widened to show inhumanly perfect teeth, those wrinkles around his eyes becoming ever more evident.

Abruptly, but with a certain playful brusqueness, he pulled her closer, closing the distance between them with little regard for her dress, or the paint smudged all over his chest. His artist had used fixative. It shouldn't have been a problem. In an instant, he placed a hand on her chin, leaning downwards and guiding their lips together. She was soft against him and he felt a little annoyed that circumstances limited exactly how far he could take this. When he pulled away, Calendius made a show of glancing up again at the decoration above them.

"You can be my queen, Jenny. I'll do whatever you want me to do."

"Cal..." His name was lost on her lips, her questions and doubts silenced by his mouth meeting hers.

If Jenny had wanted to, she could have put a decisive end to all of this right then and there. She could have pushed him away, slapped him, cried out for help, any number of things. But she didn't and she wouldn't, not just because it was far easier to give in than to fight with him and herself, but because she wanted to feel Cal's lips against hers and wanted to know what it would be like to feel beautiful and loved and wanted again. And not just wanted by anyone, but wanted by someone who would swear to be loyal to her and her goals. She could be adored by the masses, but to be truly known and loved was another thing entirely.

When he finally pulled away and made a production out of glancing at the mistletoe decoration, she made her own show of rolling her eyes at him. What a pitiful excuse he'd found to kiss her, and yet...

"Your sense of discretion is horrendous, Calendius." Jennifer chided him as she took a deep breath. She made no attempt to leave his proximity, however, dangerous as it was. She too could use the festivities as an excuse to stretch propriety. "I require discretion. The moment any of this gets out, we're all ruined, all of us. I won't let this threaten my husband's career."

This. Apparently their conversation and subsequent exchange of saliva had a name now. Jennifer was reluctant to call it an affair. It wasn't an affair really so much as a lapse of judgment. But it had the very potential (and was, by nature of the agreements they were making there in the night air) more than a simple foolish moment of drunken revelry. Jennifer had full intentions of making Cal her lover and partner in crime, as it were. This required a full commitment from Calendius, and on her end, she would give him as much of herself as she could without ruining everything Arturas had worked for in his political schemings. This would not be, as she had stated, a simple office entanglement. This would be so much more.

The very idea frightened her to the core.

"I'm so scared," she confessed, pressing her forehead against his shoulder. The sweat from her brow and from his body transferred a bit of the paint, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Instead, she focused on his breathing, the way his skin felt against hers, prickling in the winter air, on the sound of his heartbeat. Her own seemed to flutter like a caged lark. "We can't stay here. We've been gone too long. They'll notice and someone will come looking. We have to be careful, Cal. We must."

"Yeah, yeah." He agreed, running a hand through his overly gelled hair. He knew she was right, of course. Any absence of the host would be noticed, and Calendius would be stupid more than naive if he believed his contributions at parties to be somehow subtle. Quite the pair they made together.

He wrung his hands, trying to clear the gel and temporary metallic dye from them to no avail. Oh well, it blended in with the paint decently enough. Jenny, on the other hand, wasn't so perfect looking anymore. On her cheek was an incriminating silver smudge. "You have a thing just there," he said blandly, pointing to the corresponding area on his own face rather than risking making it worse. "I usually carry a handkerchief or a towel or something, but there aren't exactly pockets in this thing."

Without thinking, she reached for her cheek to wipe of the smudge, only to succeed in making it worse and even more obvious. Of course, she couldn't see as much, being that it was dark and she lacked a mirror. She'd just have to excuse herself to the powder room before making her grand reentrance.

"You should go back inside. If anyone asks, I needed to reglue my lashes and I'll be in in a minute." She'd need to do more than that, of course. Truthfully, she needed to hyperventilate for a few minutes and maybe slap some sense into her head. What a perilous path she'd chosen. What a mess she was picking. And why? Why risk everything for him? As her dark eyes met his, the doubt in her gut seemed to vanish slightly, replaced with the thrill of lust and the unknown. How exciting it felt to feel wanted and worshipped. If only she could always feel that way...

Again, without thinking, she kissed him. Standing on her tiptoes, it was a bit of a stretch since he didn't seem to be expecting it. But it had to be done. Jennifer sealed her fate to Cal's, openly, willingly, and happily. It wasn't a chaste kiss either. It was as she was: needy, demanding, and passionate. And Cal would have no say in the matter this time.

The kiss was abrupt, to say the least, but certainly not unwelcome. Calendius felt himself smile into it as she lingered, closing his eyes, and letting her take the lead on whatever she wanted from it. Not that he was an unenthusiastic participant. Rather, he was pliant, acquiescing easily to her whims. It did take a certain amount of restraint not to pull her close again. But they'd been through that once, and her dress already, on close inspection, bore the consequences of it. It seemed unwise to risk making it worse.

He couldn't stop himself from running a hand along her jaw, though. She already needed to wash up. It wasn't as if he were doing any more damage than had already been done.

As they separated again, Calendius licked his lips, unable to resist smiling outright. "One day I'll get a real dance out of you, Jenny. I promise it'll be fun."

The comment wasn't meant to be lascivious, but then, after that kiss he couldn't be blamed if some amount of innuendo had slipped in.

Jennifer looked back to him with large, dark doe eyes. "Something to look forward to, then." Because she needed to stop, pace herself, and maybe have a night to reevaluate things. Or at the very least, she needed to get back to her party. Her public was waiting.

"We'll talk later. Lunch or something." Her voice was soft but commanding. There would be no wiggle room here, no changing her mind about continuing then and there, no matter how he might bite his lip or pout. She had duty and obligation to guide her. She had a husband just inside who was, undoubtedly wondering where his wife was at that very moment. "Go on ahead of me. People will be suspicious if we walk in together like this."

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It's all it will take, we'll go down in history

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