What are you tempted by? Are you resisting giving in to something, and why? Or are you indulging too much as it is?
Penelope Deim, President's Chief of Staff
The air is always thicker downtown, and it never fails to disgust her at every minute she's here. She never wants to be seen out here and yet it's a necessary step to get the information she needs. Her black heeled boots stop on the cracked pavement, her face rosy from the late winter air as she stares at the very place she has detested since she began working for the President.
A string of sources had led her to the bar that she had a particular aversion to. The flickering light, and the dimly lit windows of Club Valentino's blend in with the general dreariness of downtown Capitol; arguably the only place to go in downtown Capitol.
Club Valentino's: a dive bar advertised to the higher social circles. There's nothing particularly good about the bar, the sign flashes a neon purple in colour and even though she's standing across the street from it she swears she can hear the low hum of the purple light.
"Even the light looks disgusting." She says as she wraps herself warm in the black coat she's wearing, she fixes her hair, reddish brown in colour as it's the only thing that stands out from her unremarkable face.
Penelope Deim used to be so passionate about her job, she rose up the ranks from assistant to President Julius Nepos and to now becoming his Chief of Staff, a very commendable position in terms of Capitol politics.
She was overjoyed when she got the promotion a little over three years ago now, and she had worked to the best of her abilities. It paid well and paved the path for her to become President of Panem at some point. She literally lives within the palace; she is so close to her dreams coming true. Yet, there's something about the position that bothers her so much.
It didn't feel any different to her old position. She still ran errands, and any ideas she had was always taken into consideration but was seldom used, if at all, by the President. She breathes out loud, a sigh coming from her thin lips as she thinks about what life would have been like if she hadn't taken the position of assistant.
Would she have stayed happy for one? She wouldn't know, the only times she was happy was when she spent it with Jacob, her old partner in crime. Now that he's vanished, almost five years now, it's like a part of her had disappeared too.
They worked so well as a team, she brought the terror, and he brought the fear. They handled anything and everything the Capitol threw at them, and despite their differences they would always have each other's back, but now he's gone, she doesn't know where he had gone or if he was still alive.
She took a deep breath, the air stinging her nostrils as she does so and let it out as she crosses the road to get to the bar. She opens the door and to her surprise it looks busy; busier than she had ever seen it. She finds that suspicious and she notes it down as she makes a beeline to the bar, her boots practically sticking to the dark red carpet, from layers of spilled drinks.
Her feet drag her to the man she particularly dislikes, him turning around, his bright white smile flashes at her and she tries her best not to roll her eyes. She scoffs at him folding her arms as he gestures for her to take a seat.
Caligula Valentine looks at her, a mixture of playfulness and curiosity on his face. She keeps her straight face trying to see if he has an ulterior motive, but he doesn't seem to have any, yet. He begins to put some ice and various liquor into a shaker.
"To what do I owe the pleasure, Ms. Deim?" He asks her seemingly excited to see her, his smile devilish as always. "Not often do the President's Chief of Staff pays a visit to little ol' me."
"Cut the crap, Valentine." She says quickly and angrily. "I'm following a lead, and it's led me to this hellhole."
"You wound me." He fakes anguish. "My establishment has never been better, we just got new shipment of liquor from Six, would you like to try some?"
He shakes the shaker in front of her, hearing the ice inside it so loudly. She just watches him, her eyes narrowing to a glare. Caligula Valentine has never been a person she particularly liked. The man is cheeky, rude and so utterly detestable. She will admit that he's charismatic and people often describe their relationship as 'love-hate'.
She shudders at the thought of ever loving this man as he slides a cocktail glass over to her on the mahogany bar counter. He pours the drink through a strainer the liquid a light pink in colour, and he places two ice cubes and a pink umbrella, one that's matching his own hair colour. She looks at him with a straight face.
"I'm not here to drink." She says and Caligula feigns another stab wound through his heart in dramatic flair. "I'm here to ask you questions."
"How about this? For every sip of that drink, I'll answer one question." He says, raising an eyebrow challenging her, pressing all the right buttons.
There's nothing more satisfying than tipping the Capitol Peacekeepers about the seediness of this bar, she can plant some form of illegal something and watch it be ransacked. She wants to see that rat face fall and be horrified as every chair is smashed and every sticky carpet corner are overturned.
However, the President wants this to be discrete. Drawing attention to the investigation of missing personnel without the wider public knowing will greatly ease any unrest that could occur. They already have problems with recent rebellious outbursts in a few of the districts.
"You drink first." She says back to him and he just laughs taking the glass and taking a sip from the pinkish liquid.
"It tastes delicious." He says placing the glass back down in front of her. "You know the deal."
"Fine." She says taking the glass and downing it in one go. The liquid warms up her throat as it travels down and in an instant, it warms up the rest of her body. Caligula is clapping at her boldness as he raises his hands in defeat.
"I didn't anticipate that from you, Ms. Deim." He says looking at her with his green eyes. "Who knew you can still surprise me after all these years."
"Talk." She says putting the glass on the counter again and sliding it forward. "What do you know about the recent disappearance of a high-ranking Capitol official?"
"Nothing." He smiles as he leans back.
"Bullshit it's not nothing." She says leaning forward with her accusatory finger. "You're Caligula Valentine, the seediest man in the whole of Panem."
"And you are Penelope Deim, the smartest woman in the whole of Panem." He counters giggling and she can feel the blood in her veins start to boil as she sits back down crossing her arms. "When I tell you I know nothing, then I know nothing!"
She looks away briefly and as soon as she does that, from the corner of her eyes she could see a shadowy figure from the back of the establishment. She turns around more to see the shadowy figure, their face obscured slightly and the noise from the patrons disorients her a little bit, but she swears they're looking directly at her.
Penelope stands up from the barstool and the figure begins to walk away, with a little more speed than she had anticipated. She wants to call out to it, but she didn't want to draw attention to herself. She abandons Caligula for the time being, ignoring his call to come back as she makes her way across to the where the figure stood.
The corner of her eyes again shows the figure, and she goes to its direction trying to catch up to him. She follows the figure into the very back of the club and as she stops to look around, a set of stairs leading to an upper level, she had never seen this before.
She leaves the crowded and busy bar scene and ascend the steps, everything going quiet as she reaches the top of the stairs. A door meets her with big black letter saying 'STAFF' on it. She hesitates before opening it, pushing forward.
Penelope's eyes first focus on the chandelier that hangs in the middle of the room, then the various tables that scatter what looks like a mini bar. The walls on one side is lined with booths and the other side has a small jukebox.
Directly in front of her is a similar setup to what Caligula had downstairs. This time the counters have a marble finish as it glints and sparkles under the light of the chandelier. She traces her fingers over it feeling it glide over the surface. She looks ahead, a mirror shelf containing all the finest alcohol and liquor money can buy.
"What is this place?" She says to herself as she glances at herself in the mirror.
She turns around quickly when she sees another reflection other than her. Caligula greets her once again, this time with no smiles or laughing. A serious face is all she can see, almost a sorrowful look as well.
"I am sorely disappointed in you, Ms. Deim." He says looking her in the face. "I meant it when I said that you're quite possibly the smartest woman in the Capitol, but going up here? I'm afraid that we're going to run into complications."
"What sort of establishment do you run exactly?" She questions him, not fazed at all by the subtle threats coming from the man.
"Like I said downstairs, Ms. Deim, I don't know anything." He says hands wide open. "This is merely a function suite."
"Caligula, I'm not buying anything you're saying." She says dismissing the older man. "You're hiding something and I'm going to uncover it."
"Try as you might, you will never find anything. Do you know why?"
"Why?"
"Because I am not hiding anything from you or the President." He says to her. "Now if you would be so kind as to leave, I have to prepare this bar for some guests."
"What kind of guests?" She pries one more time, already knowing what he's going to say.
"That is between me and my staff." He says sternly. "Now if you may?"
He gestures back to the entrance and all Penelope can do is scoff as she follows the hand. "This isn't over."
Caligula bows at her and she leaves the room, descending down the stairs and out at the crowded club. She turns back once more, she meant it when she says it's not over and as she exits Club Valentino's she takes out a small phone and presses a button.
"Hello?" She says to the other person on the line. "Where are you?"
She begins to walk as she waits for the other person to speak on the phone. She keeps a straight face as the cracked pavement clashed with her boots, the same cold air biting at her face as a sharp gust of wind hits her face.
"I have a job for you."
A/N - An update! 4/6 prologues done!
Today we meet The Devil, not in the form of Penelope Deim but in the form of Caligula Valentine. He's definitely hiding something, and it's hinted in the last couple of chapters as to what he is hiding. Penelope, being Chief of Staff now, is trying to uncover what it is he's hiding, but the deeper she gets the dangerous it seems to be.
Well what do you think of Caligula and Penelope? I really like writing these two, it's quite refreshing and almost has a comedic undertone. Caligula seems to do a 180 when she discovers the upper bar though. He sus for sure.
would also like to remind you guys, and to those new readers, that submission deadlines are closing on the 30th of April. No time as of yet but it is on that day. If you do require extensions let me know asap so I can plan my way around characters and whatnot. At the moment I have received quite a lot of older tributes 17-18 year olds and I'm looking for some smols.
The next two weeks I will be closing spots as I finalise my cast list. I do hope to get a full cast list but I am quite happy to do a partial, and for that I want at least 15 tributes so get to submitting! I will update my profile page accordingly.
Cheers!
~Alec
