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.
drpsychosomatic: (you... what?)

[personal profile] drpsychosomatic 2014-01-08 05:46 am (UTC)(link)
"Holmes--" he started, unable to hide the mild incredulity in his tone- but he cut himself off immediately. "Sherlock said we'd need your help. I overheard them talking about... nano-robots, used to stop Tributes being able to use their powers. They said someone in 3 was planning to upgrade them, rewiring brains, and the other woman warned her about glitches. That was it."
nunpunching: (Some mofo just brained me.)

[personal profile] nunpunching 2014-01-08 06:04 am (UTC)(link)
"Shit." Punchy scratches at the back of his head, then the bag of his neck where this wool waistcoat collar is giving him a rash, he's certain of it. "That's heavy. Ain't much to go on, though, unless we got the tech to wage counteroffensive in the meat, which we don't."
drpsychosomatic: (lip chewin')

[personal profile] drpsychosomatic 2014-01-08 06:13 am (UTC)(link)
"Well, maybe someone else here heard something more useful, but that's all I've got," he said awkwardly. "Sherlock said if they were robots that they could be reprogrammed, and that you were a good bet for that, but to be entirely honest I was surprised he knew what a robot was in the first place. Not exactly useful information for crime solving."
nunpunching: (We cool we cool.)

[personal profile] nunpunching 2014-01-08 06:25 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, I'm aces at the code. I was the one who busted town that shitshow network before this newbie be stomping my turf." Punchy runs his hands over his jaw, thinking. "I'll keep it peeled, but I can't front up getting my stash. They got me tapped."

It's not that he won't risk being Avoxed again, it's that he won't do it for nothing anymore.

"Tell Holmesboy the code he got has a repetitive pattern mutagen factored in-" Punchy stops. He knows that's too esoteric even by his standards. "He's probably got two, maybe three but I ain't laying cash on it, times he can drop the trap with that code before they sniff out how to block all its variables. He gotta make it count. I'll be bustin' my ass on figuring out where their nanotech is. Three, you said?"
drpsychosomatic: (you... what?)

[personal profile] drpsychosomatic 2014-01-10 04:11 am (UTC)(link)
He blinked, wet his lips- it was hard, trying to commit something to memory when you hadn't the faintest idea what the words you were hearing meant, or what they referred to. Yet more secrets Sherlock was keeping from him, probably.

"District 3, yes," he said. "A 'kid'. And you want me to tell Sherlock that the code he's got is only good for two or three attempts at dropping a trap?"
nunpunching: (Default)

[personal profile] nunpunching 2014-01-11 12:26 am (UTC)(link)
"Word. He'll catch the drift." Punchy nods quickly, then reaches forward to envelop John in a bear hug. "He gave you props, man. You're solid with me."
drpsychosomatic: (smug beam)

[personal profile] drpsychosomatic 2014-01-12 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, that was a little more than he was expecting. He wet his lips, patted Punchy on the back (what on earth else were you supposed to do?) and offered him a smile as he pulled back.

"Any friend of Sherlock's is a friend of mine," he echoed. "Got it. Thanks. You've got... a few minutes, probably, if you wanted to talk to anyone else without being overheard- I've got to go catch Joan, sorry, we'll talk later?"
nunpunching: (Default)

[personal profile] nunpunching 2014-01-12 10:16 pm (UTC)(link)
"Peace, dawg. We'll bump ankles sometime." Punchy gives John a mock-salute and heads off into the dream.