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.
onlyimmune: (dreaming)

[personal profile] onlyimmune 2014-02-13 04:06 pm (UTC)(link)
She snorted, wondering just how she would get a sponsor to send her a crap ton of pencils.

She had the same voice in her that told her never to waste food, and outside of this party she hoarded it almost unconsciously. Here, though, she'd somehow managed to complete separate this dream from reality.

"... Do you think anything else will stay up there?" She asked, raising an eyebrow, as she suddenly had what she thought was a brilliant idea.
justgaveup: (Default)

[personal profile] justgaveup 2014-02-16 08:12 am (UTC)(link)
It was fake food, and Perry had to think of it that way. You weren't going to eat a piece of plastic fruit, but you could throw that in the air. Perry looked up at the fruit floating up there, some turning slowly, and then looked back at Ellie.

"I don't see why not. Why, what are you thinking of getting up there?"
onlyimmune: (smug as shit)

[personal profile] onlyimmune 2014-02-17 07:31 pm (UTC)(link)
"Me," She revealed with a grin.

"Why not, right? If I fall and get hurt I'll just wake up, yeah?"

She gestured at him. "Come on. Give me a boost."
justgaveup: (Default)

[personal profile] justgaveup 2014-02-19 01:17 am (UTC)(link)
It's funny that the thought of 'maybe we shouldn't do that...' is squashed quickly by 'oh my god we have to try this'. It made logical sense; if they can get fruit up there on the ceiling, then why not anything, or anyone else?

And like she said, if she falls and get hurt, she should just wake up. That's how dreams worked.

"Sure, okay." Perry looks at the table. "We have to get you up high, so jump onto the table and I'll boost you up from there."
onlyimmune: (hey awesome!)

[personal profile] onlyimmune 2014-02-21 09:56 pm (UTC)(link)
She did as he suggested, grabbing her skirts with one hand so they didn't trip her up, and then glanced up.

"Alright. Ready? One, Two, Three--"
justgaveup: (I give up what is it)

[personal profile] justgaveup 2014-02-25 08:34 pm (UTC)(link)
He hopes that her mom or dad, or uncle or aunt, or whoever is her protective guardian person, doesn't show up here. They might try to kill him if they ever found out about this.

"Go!" His hands were cupped, so when she stepped onto them, he easily threw her into the air. And then debated about whether he should now keep his arms out so he could catch her quickly if this didn't work.
onlyimmune: (smug as shit)

[personal profile] onlyimmune 2014-02-26 05:06 am (UTC)(link)
For a second she knew this was a terrible, terrible idea. Knew she would launch up and then come crashing down, break a hundred bones. It was stupid.

But then she didn't come down.

She didn't exactly go up either. It was like she leapt into the air and then... got stuck. She started to laugh as she slowly came back down.
justgaveup: (Default)

[personal profile] justgaveup 2014-03-02 06:43 am (UTC)(link)
He was laughing when she got stuck. Honest to god, genuine laughing, and it startled him, because he hadn't heard it in a long time. Hadn't heard himself laugh in a long time.

But it was funny. She was floating in the air, because this place was fucked up, and didn't care about any kind of laws. As she comes back down, Perry starts to clap.

"That was a lot cooler then a piece of fruit."
onlyimmune: (hey awesome!)

[personal profile] onlyimmune 2014-03-04 01:45 am (UTC)(link)
"Fuck yeah," She agreed, grinning.

"You wanna give a try? Bet you can jump high enough to get stuck too."
justgaveup: (black coat clap hands)

[personal profile] justgaveup 2014-03-06 07:22 am (UTC)(link)
"Did I forget to mention that I was afraid of heights?" Perry grinned, obviously joking as he looked at the table. He had to consider it. Would it even hold under his weight?

Wait, he was going to jump up in the air and float. Obviously this thing could hold his whole fucking weight.

"Okay. But if I don't come down, you have to come back up and help me get down." Climbing up on the table, he hesitated for a moment, and then jumped.

And hung there.
onlyimmune: (hey awesome!)

[personal profile] onlyimmune 2014-03-06 05:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Ellie let out a surprised laugh, watching him hang in the air.

"Oh my god, that is just too awesome."

She climbed up on the table and reached out to grab his leg and drag him back down.
justgaveup: (Hey dad there you are)

[personal profile] justgaveup 2014-03-11 11:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Once you were up there, it felt inconceivable that you would ever get down. He'd made some motions with his hands like he was doggy paddling in a pool, just to see if that worked.

Thank god she got his leg and pulled him down. Perry floated back down, feet hitting the table as he looked at her and grinned. He grinned.

"Do you think we could fly around the room?"
onlyimmune: (hey awesome!)

[personal profile] onlyimmune 2014-03-15 11:56 pm (UTC)(link)
She grinned, looking up and squinting at the high ceiling above them.

"Worth a try," She decided. "How do we fly, though?"
justgaveup: (You can't dream corpse)

[personal profile] justgaveup 2014-03-16 08:29 am (UTC)(link)
"If we broke a chair and used one of the legs, we could probably push ourselves around the room." Which counted as flying, right? He looked back up at the ceiling.

"Or we flap our arms really hard and see if that works. And if it doesn't, then we look really fucking stupid."
onlyimmune: (smug as shit)

[personal profile] onlyimmune 2014-03-16 05:44 pm (UTC)(link)
She snorted.

"Destruction of property, or looking like two absolute idiots. Awesome. I am so in." She grabbed a chair and held it out.

"Let's do this."
justgaveup: (stadium exit)

[personal profile] justgaveup 2014-03-22 09:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Destruction of property was always preferable to looking like an idiot. Plus, it was in a dream or whatever. Perry took the chair from Ellie, holding it by the legs, and then smashing it on the ground.

What was left was a lot of leftover parts, but more importantly, the legs of the chair. "Here we go. Okay, I'm going to throw you up first, then I'll jump. Grab a hold of me, and pull me up. Sound good?"
onlyimmune: (hey awesome!)

[personal profile] onlyimmune 2014-03-23 12:25 am (UTC)(link)
She grabbed the chair leg with a grin and gripped it like a baseball bat.

"Alright, sounds good," She agreed, preparing herself. "Ready when you are."
justgaveup: (peace was never an option)

[personal profile] justgaveup 2014-03-29 08:45 am (UTC)(link)
Really, they would be lucky if they didn't get the plug turned off on them. Was that how it worked? Wait, if you fall in a dream, don't you wake up before you hit the ground? Oh boy.

Perry did what they did before, having her get on the table again, before tossing her up in the air. He followed quickly, jumping on the table and holding onto his own chair leg as he jumped after her.
onlyimmune: (hey awesome!)

[personal profile] onlyimmune 2014-04-09 09:50 pm (UTC)(link)
She got stuck, again, but didn't seem to come back down. She didn't know how to swim, or tread water, so she just kind of flailed her limbs and laugh.

"Now fucking what?"