The Crowning of Mindy McReady

[etcircenses]

Who| Everyone who's anyone.
What| The Crowning.
Where| A warehouse on the edge of town.
When| Starting from early evening till late into the night.
Warnings/Notes| Be sure to check the linked thread for plot purposes, even if you don't tag into it.

The party is brightly colored.

The theme, subtly, is super heroes. Boldly paints city scapes are splattered across the walls, and hallways are made to look like dingy, potentially crime ridden alleys. From the upper walkways of the warehouse, party goers can get hooked into harnesses and swing out over the dance floor. Above them, tributes and VIPS can find themselves on a clear plastic dance floor levitated above everything, looking like they're hanging in air.

Masks are passed out in plenty, and capes are easy to find, while brightly colored drinks themed around super powers are plentiful. None of them actually work, but many of the Capitol people are happy to pretend, mocking super strength or invisibility with each new beverage.

Under the dance floor a catacomb of tunnels and rooms full of obstacles is splashed with black light receptive colors. Party goers are given vests and laser guns, marked green for villains and red for heros, and set loose to hunt each other in the laser tags playground. The screens in the dance floor keep a running tally of which side is winning, displaying the players on the screens around the room, along with clips from the arenas.

About half way through the night, everyone is gathered to the main stage for a special announcement.

Comments

Guy Crood - Pre-Reaping

[acroodawakening]

Apparently Guy's stylists couldn't tear themselves away from the caveman thing which was why Guy was...a caveman superhero. Okay.

Not that he knew what a superhero even was.

He liked the club, though. It was good for separating crowds and lightly bopping people (and making it look accidental) if they crowded in too close. He still wasn't used to big crowds, but this time he was managing to not hide under a table at least. (For now.)

[capitolprivilege]

Stephen was one of the ones who got too close and got bopped -- it wasn't because he was trying to dance with Guy, he just wanted to talk!

"Ouch! Watch where you're swinging that thing," Stephen complained, rubbing the top of his head ruefully.

[acroodawakening]

"Sorry. I'll try to be more careful." A pause. "Provided the reasons you're in my space in this vaguely defined area -" He gestured with his free hand in a wobbly circle around himself "- is for reasons other than asking to feel my biceps. That's gotten old pretty fast."

He wasn't even that muscular. Capitol people were just weird. But they had a firm view in their heads of him being some wild muscleman. If he was physically stronger they probably would've been trying to get him to lift them over his head like weights or would've been handing over their babies for him to use as barbells.

[capitolprivilege]

"I promise," said Stephen solemnly, "it didn't even cross my mind."

He held out his hand.

"My name is Stephen Reagan. I'm the new escort for District 6."

[acroodawakening]

By now he'd learned about the handshake thing, but he wasn't inclined to give people a gesture of friendliness when they were from the Capitol, not unless they turned out to be the kinder ones, like Cinna or Victors like Peeta and Katniss.

So he opted to just give a wiggly-fingered little wave in greeting.

"So you're one of the ones that tells us where to be while they control our entire lives, right?"

[capitolprivilege]

Stephen, like so many others in the Capitol, assumed Guy just didn't know about handshakes, and therefore took no offense.

He did, however, take offense to what Guy had to say. Stephen frowned, put off.

"That's a little harsh," he said, furrowing his eyebrows as he put his hand back in his pocket. "I'm here to help you navigate life in the Capitol. It's not all parades and formal functions -- you have plenty of time to yourself, and it's part of my job to make sure you get everywhere you want to go, not just where you need to go. I'll also be working with your mentors, to net you as many sponsors as you can get in the Arena."

[acroodawakening]

"Where I want to go is home. I don't like the parties, I don't like being stuck living in one place instead of traveling the world, I don't like being away from my family, I don't like most of the people here - other than the Tributes, I hate the arenas, and every single minute that I'm forced to be in this world is one where I'm stuck somewhere I don't want to be."

He tilted his head at him.

"What about that isn't control?"

He didn't speak this way to normal Capitol citizens - he was all smiles and fake laughter when he didn't just hide under tables to avoid them - but he tended to hold back far less with the escorts, stylists, and mentors that worked with them in the day to day.

If they couldn't take a little cynicism from people forced into a death match, they needed to find another line of work.

Re: Guy Crood - Pre-Reaping

[saisamour]

Ah, yes, tables and taking to hiding under them: one that Marius was considering in all seriousness, given his blue-painted skin, not to mention his current lack of dark curls and decent clothing.

He huffed and frowned as he edged as far as possible from the crowd, keeping close to the shadows and the warehouse walls, still irritated at his stylist's wardrobe choice. Really, the tiny, black undergarment they handed him earlier barely covered anything at all!

He was glancing around nervously, praying his escort not catch him, when he almost stumbled into Guy. Almost, which was a great improvement when it came to a Pontmercy. He blinked, momentarily stunned at Guy's costume before realizing that he was not really one to speak, and stuttered before he managed a hasty, embarrassed, "Forgive me! I did not see you there."

[acroodawakening]

"Don't worry about - BAHAHA!" Guy quickly coughed and cleared his throat to stop laughing. From the constant tug of war with his stylists, he knew it wasn't Marius' fault he was dressed that way, and he knew how uncomfortable it could be when you were forced to wear very little clothing. He wasn't wearing much more himself.

Still, given the long, meandering conversation they'd once had about his own shirtlessness, he couldn't forgo at least a little teasing.

"How's your wife?" he asked Marius. "Is she okay? With how much bare chest you've got going on right now, she must have hit the floor at least a few times now."

His gentle smile showed there was no malice in his teasing, though. It probably sounded not all that different in tone than how his friends from home teased him.

[saisamour]

And how often Marius was teased back in Paris, indeed. He managed to make a face at Guy even as he wrapped his arms around himself, because modesty.

"She is..." Not decently-dressed, to be quite honest, and a blush crept up his cheeks when he recalled the way the skin-tight material clung to her curves and—well, yes. Thank God for the blue paint, for at least it hid the redness of his face. "Rather well, thank you for asking."

[acroodawakening]

"You know, when I'm bothered by being out in the open, I usually do that 'hiding under a table' thing."

He nodded towards a nearby table.

"Wanna give it a go? Trust me, it'll work wonders for the feeling awkward thing. I'll keep you company."

It'd be a break from the prying eyes.

[saisamour]

Marius's eyes darted from Guy to underneath the table, then back to Guy once more. His brow furrowed and he fell silent for a brief second or so, as if trying to decipher whether Guy was suggesting it in jest.

Eventually, he decided to say, carefully, "Thank you, but I would much rather prefer the corner of a room."

[acroodawakening]

He'd meant it entirely seriously.

"I can clear a way to the corner of the room with my bonking stick."

It wasn't a real club since it was hollow and made of plastic. Therefore it was a bonking stick.

There was an area that had a few less people not far from them. He could easily bonk their way to freedom.

Re: Guy Crood - Pre-Reaping

[atippleoftransparency]

"Pehhh!"

Lyle, dressed in a red and gold bodysuit with a flared collar, recoiled as far as he could from the drink he just tasted without actually dropping it on the floor.

"Do not get the 'Shapeshifter Surprise'," he advices the (presumed Tribute) with the club and the weird helmet standing closest to him. "I've been to Durla, there is nothing on that planet that tastes this awful."

Re: Guy Crood - Pre-Reaping

[acroodawakening]

"I don't know what a few of the words you said there are, so I'll just take your word for it."

Shapeshifter? Durla?

"I don't drink anyway. I can't really digest alcohol."

He narrowed his eyes slightly as he recognized Lyle.

"You're friends with the obnoxious green guy, right?"

Re: Guy Crood - Pre-Reaping

[atippleoftransparency]

"Yeah? Huh, that's interesting." Lyle abandoned the drink on a passing tray. "If I had access to a proper lab, I could probably synthesize something equivalent you could digest, but..." He gestured around them and shrugged.

"I'm not sure how many obnoxious green guys are here, but that sounds like a reasonably accurate description of Brainy." He answered. "So, yes."

Re: Guy Crood - Pre-Reaping

[acroodawakening]

That prompted a very sarcastic, "So, Mr. Future Guy, are you going to be like him and crack jokes about my mud hut? Which I didn't have back home, by the way, since I was a nomad. Or my belief in the thunder god causing rain? Which is nonexistent since I know it's caused by water evaporating and condensing into clouds and had an idea of that before I even got here. Or are you someone I'll actually be able to tolerate for more than ten seconds? 'Cause us troglodytes, we're very busy, you know. All that scratching our rear ends and looking for brains since we don't have any."

Re: Guy Crood - Pre-Reaping

[atippleoftransparency]

"Your loss on the mud hut thing," Lyle said, raising his eyebrows. "Those are great fun."

Granted, they'd had to dig Neutral out of the one they'd built because they hadn't thought to involve the one sentient on the team actually trained in construction in the project, but everything had turned out okay in the end.

"As for whether or not you can tolerate me for more than ten seconds, that's up to you. But Brainy and I aren't secretly a hive mind, if that's what you're wondering." He smirked. "I think it's funny when someone gets him with a good zinger."

Lyle had been...less than impressed with certain comments made on public forums, once he'd determined that it wasn't part of Brainy's cover story.

Re: Guy Crood - Pre-Reaping

[acroodawakening]

Guy stopped bristling quite as much while hearing that.

"Okay, so, you're not exactly sharing the same brain."

He paused.

"But you are the guy that goes around bragging about how evil he is and how he likes poisoning people. What's up with that?"

Re: Guy Crood - Pre-Reaping

[halfa_hero]

"I have never been so thankful that I already have my own superhero uniform."

Danny, of course, had been stuffed into a facsimile of his hazmat suit and had his hair forcibly dyed white.

"You're the one who was doing the jokes earlier, right? I'm Danny."

Re: Guy Crood - Pre-Reaping

[acroodawakening]

"Yep. I'm Guy. Hi."

He grinned at him.

"I don't have my own superhero uniform and that is probably because I have no idea what a superhero is."

He looked down at himself.

"And yet this still isn't the worst thing they've put me in. I at least like the bonking stick."

Re: Guy Crood - Pre-Reaping

[halfa_hero]

"It's basically a someone who fights crime or giant monsters in a silly costume. Usually with powers, a ridiculous amount of training, and/or technology." Danny explained.

"I had the powers and the tech. Training...not so much."

Re: Guy Crood - Pre-Reaping

[acroodawakening]

"And crime is...that's when there are laws and people don't follow them, right? When they do bad things? So superheroes fight the people who are breaking the rules?"

He couldn't even imagine that many people existing to even make it necessary.

Re: Guy Crood - Pre-Reaping

[halfa_hero]

"Most of 'em do, yeah. I, personally, don't. I sort of have different fish to fry."

He paused here, because he was well aware some people might consider the idea of ghosts crazy. "Okay, bear with me, because I'm gonna bring up something that I'm not sure you know about, or if you do you're gonna think I'm insane. Where you're from, do people tell stories about other people coming back from the dead?

Re: Guy Crood - Pre-Reaping

[acroodawakening]

"Yeah, like as a scary thing that doesn't actually happen. There's stories about spirits, though."

He added, "I tend not to believe in that stuff because I try to believe in the things I can see but if I saw it, I'd believe it."