etcircenses: (Default)
Panem Events ([personal profile] etcircenses) wrote in [community profile] thecapitol2013-12-15 06:36 am

The Crowning of Enjolras

WHO| All Tributes and Victor, plus a few Capitol guests
WHAT| The Crowning of Enjolras
WHERE| The Tribute Center
WHEN| A few weeks after the end of the Arena
WARNINGS| Forced medical experimentation, needles.

The atmosphere surrounding the Crowning is both tense and secretive. The style teams flutter around listlessly, having received no information from which to draft their designs. Newspapers take bets on when it will be announced where the Crowning is being held, descending into grousing when no press release is given. Peacekeepers pour in and out of the Tribute Center, accompanied by scientists who occasionally pull Tributes aside and look at the veins in their elbows. Even the Avoxes seem jumpier than usual.

Aside from the Tribute Center's new giant marble statute of a nude Enjolras, posed like the famed David, one could almost forget the party is supposed to be celebratory.

When the day arrives, the Escorts and their assistants don't lead the Tributes to their style teams to be gussied instead. Instead, they hush the Tributes and bring them to their bedrooms, where a Peacekeeper, a white-coated citizen and several Avoxes await them. The Escorts instruct the Tributes to lay down in their bed and close their eyes, and a needle is inserted into their arms that the Escorts insist will 'take them to the party'. It's soon followed by a series of sensors taped to the forehead.

Just relax, the Escorts say, and they do their very best to make sure their Tributes feel minimal anxiety. If the Tributes resist too much, more Peacekeepers are called in, and the Tributes are forced into submission.

The first effect is a sort of paralysis - not the terrifying inability to move, but a signal to the brain that says why move? Moving is so much effort. It's quickly followed by drowsiness, and then a chill that radiates from the needle into the body, and finally, unconsciousness.

And that is when the party begins. The Tributes, now dressed in luxurious 1830's French clothing of a quality beyond even what their Stylists could manage, wake up in the front row of a large stone theater setting reminiscent of, simultaneously, Greek and French architecture. The floor of the theater is filled with buffets of every imaginable sort of food. Rose petals fall from the sky, which displays a sunset worthy of award-winning photography.

For his part, Enjolras sits in a throne made of books on the ring of the amphitheater, flanked by Marius, Cosette, Eponine, and bizarrely enough Venus Dee Milo and Ellie, seated on lush pillows and carpets made of dinosaur skin (with the heads comically attached and eyes lolling).

"Welcome, welcome, our Tributes and Mentors, to the first ever somnofestival, sponsored by Hypnogogia!" Caesar Flickerman, noted talkshow host and Games presenter, appears in a fabulous sequined toga in the center of the amphitheater. He doesn't need a microphone; the acoustics here are flawless. "And congratulations to our Victor! Let us hear it for Enjolras!"

He awaits applause.

"As you may have noticed, you're inside a shared dream, due to the just fantastic technology from the Capitol and certain, ah, biological contributions from our dear favorite Aunamee." He holds a hand out and gestures to Aunamee, anticipating wild applause. "We thought that for our most philosophical Victor yet, we should celebrate in a way that's a little bit…cerebral."

Caesar laughs and gestures at all the food, then puts a cheeky finger to his lips. "By all means, enjoy yourselves. Even the most indulgent desserts here won't show up on your hips tomorrow. The party only last three hours, so you might as well get started!"

He vanishes into thin air, leaving the Tributes to celebrate. Occasionally, the Tributes will hear voices in their heads - chatter from the Peacekeeper and scientist and Escort still in their room, in the waking world. Otherwise, this is a party like any other, if somewhat surreal in nature.

-/-

The party begins the same way for all the Tributes. For an unlucky few, however, it soon diverges as they come under an unfortunate glitch in the system.

They'll look around and find only a handful of their fellow Tributes around them. The sky, rather than being a magnificent splay of color, is now blank white, and yet the lighting in the theater seems dim. A sense of panic, detached from any conscious thoughts, surges forth in them like the tide.

For them, this isn't a shared dream. This is a shared nightmare.
lessthanelementary: (pic#)

[personal profile] lessthanelementary 2013-12-19 07:04 am (UTC)(link)
Gods. They're dressed almost the same. The cuts and colors vary, of course, and Enjolras is more ostentatious as befits a Victor (the crown certainly... sends a message), but the inspiration clearly comes from much the same place. ...Enjolras' country, probably, Neffa realizes. The Capitol takes near-unforgivable liberties with fashion, but tonight's array of styles is startlingly consistent, especially considering none of it is real.

But he pastes on a smile-- almost comforted, somehow, by the knowledge that Enjolras will interpret it for the artful tangle of cordiality and mild contempt it is. "Enjolras! You snuck up on me. An entrance fit for the Arena." Especially if his victory was based on hiding. It's fitting, somehow. He shrugs, with exaggerated nonchalance, and adds, "Though you'll have to forgive me my ignorance regarding the final score. I wasn't present."

That's a statement that needs blunting, so he half-turns and picks up a glass of wine off a tray (that he's fairly certain wasn't there the last time he turned around) and offers it to Enjolras with a smile; it sparkles a little too brilliantly, doesn't quite throw back the light correctly. "Here, by the way. To your victory." (Funny-- ten minutes ago he was dreading being approached with any variation on Where have you been?, and now he's irritated that Enjolras didn't notice he was gone.)
celebrityskinned: (Happy - Hot Shit)

[personal profile] celebrityskinned 2013-12-19 07:06 am (UTC)(link)
"It does. You could spin that in front of a crowd, I'm sure." She loops an arm around his waist. A smile darts around the corners of her lips. "But what would your superpower be?"
acroodawakening: (073)

[personal profile] acroodawakening 2013-12-19 07:19 am (UTC)(link)
What was there to tell off? It was actually a bit of a relief to know someone that young was that ferocious. How else would a child be able to handle all this? It was horrifying enough that there were children here, let alone completely defenseless ones.

"I'm new. They threw me into the middle of the fighting. This is the first time I've been in this place." He added, "Not the dream, I mean, although that's new - and terrifying - but where we were when we were awake."

He asked a question he wasn't looking forward to having answered.

"How long have you been here?"
Edited 2013-12-19 07:19 (UTC)
showbizpanache: (pic#7162852)

[personal profile] showbizpanache 2013-12-19 07:43 am (UTC)(link)
[Kurt doesn't exactly feel as thrilled as Harley does. The whole thing just seems creepy, as if it can all go wrong at any moment. It's really, really hard not to enjoy all the beautiful fashion and food though. It's the way Kurt feels about the Capitol in general-- It's deplorable, but he can't deny how nice it all is.

And that really makes no sense at all.

He catches sight of a familiar face and walks over to greet her.
]

Harley?
wronglychosen: ≫ manga (huh)

[personal profile] wronglychosen 2013-12-19 07:44 am (UTC)(link)
Ah, yes. Perfect opening there to squeeze in a little question.

"Wait, wait, correct me if I'm wrong," Zelos said quickly, putting up one hand. "Isn't this a fight to the death? Once you win, you don't have to fight again. That's the deal, isn't it?"
iselldrugstothecommunity: (Scared - Worry)

Re: Guy

[personal profile] iselldrugstothecommunity 2013-12-19 07:48 am (UTC)(link)
Howard's in a different sort of hell. The exact opposite, in fact.

He saw the footage from the 74th Hunger Games, saw the bits about how a kid from District 3 dug up landmines and rearranged them around the pyramid of food. Somewhere he lodged that idea in his head as a sort of option he'd have in future Arenas. It lay there, festering and dormant, stinking up the mental tupperware with mold.

And now it's back out. Howard's standing on the buffet table from the party, having come here for the food and realized that he can't leave, because he just knows the mines are buried somewhere. He's trapped here with all these hoarded riches of indulgent food, and he doesn't know how to leave.

And it's getting dark. He paces until he hears someone coming, and squinting through the night he can make out a figure, and then a voice. A voice saying something he definitely doesn't think is compatible with the dangers of this particular nightmare.

He waves his arms as highly, widely and quickly as he can, trying desperately to signal to Guy, looking against the dim, dim light like an animal trying to make itself scary by being bigger. "Stop!"
celebrityskinned: (Basic - I'unno)

Re: Kain

[personal profile] celebrityskinned 2013-12-19 08:05 am (UTC)(link)
"Hey, what'd those rose petals ever do to you?"

Venus is a little tipsy, having discovered that alcohol has some of its intoxicating effects even in the dream. She isn't drunk, and apparently dream-her can hold her liquor much better than she can in real life, but she's decidedly bubbly. Earlier in the evening she held herself regally in her black and white gown, but now she sits cowboy-style on a chair, head lilting casually to the side. She plays with a straw in one hand.

"God, you look so dour. Lighten up a little."
wronglychosen: ≫ manga (fakest smile)

[personal profile] wronglychosen 2013-12-19 08:16 am (UTC)(link)
He stilled very minutely beneath the arm before relaxing again, a little surprised at himself. It'd clearly been too long since he'd been in the ballroom scene if the lack of personal space actually made him react at all. It was a weird thought, and a tribute to the influence of his companions back home, that he actually was starting to feel a little choked by the flirtatious intimacy.

"I don't know, maybe I'm the luckiest guy in the world?" Zelos suggested with a cheesy grin. "I mean, I'd have to be, standing here with a gorgeous woman."

He slipped his arm off her shoulders and retreated a step, before holding his hand out to her with a slight bow. "But I know how to make this even better."
shambler: (006)

[personal profile] shambler 2013-12-19 08:42 am (UTC)(link)
"Guy...?" R repeats, not because it's a terribly hard word but because it's...well, it's weird. Like that guy Guy. Awkward for other reasons.

At least it's an easy name to pronounce. Hard to forget. R opts to go for that second question because the first is awkward. Hi, we're the Dead and we're here to eat all your brains if you don't mind kind of awkward. He doesn't want to talk about corpsehood yet. R's grey face transforms to a confused look as he blinks - he remembered to blink! - at Guy.

"You don't - okay. Ughhhh...." R stalls, defaulting to a groan out of habit. "They're like...building blocks. Language. Speech. Communication..."

He falls silent, stymied. This is probably the part where he should've paid more attention to class when he was alive. Staring at Guy, he just shrugs again, as if that proves his point.
acroodawakening: (009)

[personal profile] acroodawakening 2013-12-19 08:52 am (UTC)(link)
"I think I get it."

He didn't get it but then that was because the building blocks of communication were sounds and Arr was a sound so he didn't know why it was called a letter. Maybe it was a sound that was part of other words though and letter was a word for some kind of root sound. Like if someone was just named "ooh" or "uuuh."

He noticed that careful dodge, though, and he wasn't letting that go.

"Yeah, so, the other question? I notice you didn't really, ah, answer that one."

That was the one he'd wanted an answer to most. He was even tapping his fingers against his knee as if he was a little bit on edge anticipating it.
acroodawakening: (010)

[personal profile] acroodawakening 2013-12-19 09:16 am (UTC)(link)
It wasn't enough to make him stop in time but he'd slowed down enough so that he simply barreled into Howard, knocking them both down. Fortunately, he knocked them down mostly in the spot Howard had already been standing.

"It's coming!" Guy cried out, trying to disentangle himself from Howard's limbs and help the teen to his feet so that he could run, too. "And I think it might be more than one! Get up! Get up!"

shambler: (085)

[personal profile] shambler 2013-12-19 09:43 am (UTC)(link)
"I was...answering the letter one. One thing at a...time," R mutters. What would help was if he could bury his face in his food's guts, ostrich-style, and pretend he didn't hear the question because he'd have an excuse then. Guy as quick on as feet as he is with that spear, he's starting to realize, and he can't even pretend he's too busy groaning to answer.

Tough customer.

R finally gets to it. He looks and feels too alert to sell the swaying zombie routine and something tells him that Guy would be onto him. This is the kind of Tribute his Escort would've loved to groom: sharp and squirrely with plenty of hair to work with.

"I'm a zombie. Dead? Goes uggggh brains?" R searches for that "oh yeah" moment in Guy's face. "It's like being sick but...you don't ever get better."

Well, for awhile, you might. Bite someone's frontal lobe and you could at least feel like you belonged for a few seconds. It probably didn't quality as an overall improvement, though.
acroodawakening: (019)

[personal profile] acroodawakening 2013-12-19 10:14 am (UTC)(link)
The thing with the dead was that they were supposed to stay dead. That was the thing that happened in a nice, orderly world. That was why they did a whole little burial ritual to celebrate their lives and mourn them and send them on their way. In his world, with all its wildness and unpredictability, death was one of the only certainties in life. While it was a sad, terrible thing, having that certainty yanked out from under his feet was enough to leave him shaken.

But R wasn't the one to have smashed that little foundation of existence and cause him to topple over into a rubble pile of anxiety. The Capitol had done it already by reviving him, by bringing Guy himself back after he'd died, by ripping him away from his world, by watching him constantly with little buggy eyes.

There was a lot to fear about someone who'd been eating someone's liver just a few minutes before, but R was also talking and could clearly think and didn't actually seem to be that bad of a person. Joan had even said that about him, that it was only when he was hungry that he tried to eat people.

So even though R's mere existence was tugging at every little string at the base of his brain, causing Guy to want to flee in terror just because of looking at him, the other parts of his brain won out - like the parts that did that whole logic thing and took care of that whole messy business of empathy.

"You wound up this way because - because you got sick?" he said slowly, and then his expression made a little melty transition from fear to sympathy. His words were stilted because he wasn't sure how to talk about something like this. "I'm sorry. Then. That you - that you got sick."

Then he started babbling a little bit.

"To be honest, I really have no idea what to say here because I'm not sure 'I'm sorry for your loss' applies when you're talking to someone about themselves, but I guess I'm sorry you can't - that you can't get better."
splendid_roman: (Raising an eyebrow)

[personal profile] splendid_roman 2013-12-19 12:29 pm (UTC)(link)
He raised an eyebrow. "I take it you haven't been in the arena yet."
president_evil: (weskerKnife)

[personal profile] president_evil 2013-12-19 01:05 pm (UTC)(link)
His skin rolled with movement, something pressing against the surface, barely contained. His face, his neck were a web of black, distended veins, the virus in his blood turned to poison.

He didn't speak. Didn't even seem to really see Shion - or at least, didn't see him as a person. Not as someone to be recognized.

Shion was meat. Fresh, untainted DNA.

The only thing that would cool the fire burning in his flesh.

The eyes flashed, a glowing ruby, and the blond head dropped-- and Wesker moved. A streak. A flash of dark clothes and pale skin, a smear of red....

He went from yards away, a pillar in the broken street, to a foot. Striking out at Shion with one gloved fist.
paidinbeer: (Default)

Re: Orc

[personal profile] paidinbeer 2013-12-19 01:54 pm (UTC)(link)
"Does it matter?" Orc countered looking puzzled. He held a half empty goblet of wine and looked like it was the first time he'd considered it.

"This is a dream isn't it?"
revvinguptheharley: (Default)

[personal profile] revvinguptheharley 2013-12-19 02:00 pm (UTC)(link)
"Better you then me!" Harley countered and while she let the hug slip away her smile was bright enough to let Holiday know she was always welcome for another.

"At least you'd be more useful on the outside looking in. You and your big brain." She teased.
revvinguptheharley: (Default)

[personal profile] revvinguptheharley 2013-12-19 02:02 pm (UTC)(link)
[Harley perks up hearing her name and whirls about]

It's my little sugar plum!

[A cheer and she glides over, graceful and in her element, drawing him into a gentle hug, more gentle then usual since she's afraid of scaring him away like a baby deer]
fire_punk: (Default)

[personal profile] fire_punk 2013-12-19 02:05 pm (UTC)(link)
He smiled back at her.

"Does everyone where you're from talk like that?" It was mere curiosity. He'd never heard anyone else talk the way she did.
asklepian: (pic#7053869)

[personal profile] asklepian 2013-12-19 02:25 pm (UTC)(link)
"I suppose we're meant to enjoy the taste and sensation--though you're right, it isn't going to fulfill any biological need." Julian cast his eyes over the table, half expecting to spot a platter of gagh. There was always gagh.

It seemed he got off easy, with the stiff silk and wool coat. Pink would not have been a good color on him--at least the whites, grays, and blacks were neutral. Julian smiles slightly, the look half sympathy and half friendliness.

"Doctor Julian Bashir." He doesn't volunteer his district--as far as he's concerned, it's not a part of his identity, not like his profession or even his posting on DS9. He doesn't want to think about the possibility that it might become so.
wantwhatiwant: winchesterway (yeah whatever)

[personal profile] wantwhatiwant 2013-12-19 02:44 pm (UTC)(link)
"Think they can do that?" Probably, they wouldn't like to give them any privacy.

Which meant they could effectively see inside their heads, "Guess we don't even get to think in peace anymore."
wantwhatiwant: (no I don't want to talk)

[personal profile] wantwhatiwant 2013-12-19 02:47 pm (UTC)(link)
He smirked at that, and then frowned at the glass. Know it was full. Even when it was empty. He stared for a little longer.

Nothing.
hit_girl_mindy: (LEATHER (Mindy))

[personal profile] hit_girl_mindy 2013-12-19 03:17 pm (UTC)(link)
"Why wouldn't they? It's the crowning, right? Wouldn't make any sense if they kept it to themselves."

She shrugged. "No, I don't think they can go that far, or a lot of us would probably be dead by now."
wantwhatiwant: winchesterway (yeah whatever)

[personal profile] wantwhatiwant 2013-12-19 04:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Ian raised his eyebrow, not knowing who this was at all. He shrugged, "Can't say I do." Maybe he had met him in a club... He had met a lot of people over the last few weeks.
wantwhatiwant: winchesterway (yeah whatever)

[personal profile] wantwhatiwant 2013-12-19 04:13 pm (UTC)(link)
He winced a bit at that, but he was glad that everyone had came back for Wyatt. "He did, Kurt too. I saw him the other day."

He looked down, he felt guilty that he had been mostly avoiding his friend since the arena, it wasn't exactly like he had friends to spare.