The Crowning of Enjolras

[etcircenses]

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.

Comments

Ellie

[onlyimmune]

She had fought.

She had fought, and screamed, and kicked, and flailed, and the peacekeepers had shoved her down and held her hard and she had fought and fought and then fighting seemed like way too much work and then--

And then she was here.

She was absolutely, completely, and utterly confused but for some reason it didn't exactly seem to matter. She was wearing a long, poofy-sleeved dress, in a rich reddish-purple, completely embroidered with little swirling birds and butterflies and a couple giraffes prancing with a horse or two. The scene embroidered on her seemed to shift and change as she moved, and a velociraptor seemed to stalk around her skirts and peer out to the crowd, ready to snap and bite.

She was seated beside Venus, way at the front, and had absolutely no idea why she was here, beyond Caesar booming about Enjolras and her head turning to see him just off to her left. She recognized him, of course, it was impossible not to, but it made her gut twist weirdly.

Venus, though. It was nice to see Venus. She slipped a hand under the table to grab for hers, and squeezed it tightly.

Re: Ellie

[celebrityskinned]

Of everyone here, Venus just might be the least fazed by all this. It's not that it isn't a little bit creepy, but any X-heroine should be familiar with having their brains picked through by all manner of unsavory people (usually supervillains, sometimes just shady government organization). By all accounts, the Capitol only ranks a four on the one-to-ten "freak out about your mental privacy" meter.

She stretches her leg out on the dinosaur rug and plush bean-baggish velvet chair. She's wearing a long gown with a low back and the softest fabric she could imagine as a train (it's a bit anachronistic, but Venus lacks the knowledge to notice). Her hair is in small braids in the dream, creating a classy ridge up her head.

She looks up at Enjolras, at the tension around his eyes as he tries not to freak out. Very real concern turns in her gut. He looks worse and worse every time she sees him, like the face of some Egyptian statue being worn away by sandstorms. She turns away and looks at Ellie.

She knows she shouldn't get attached to people in this line of work - whatever this line of work has become - but she can't deny that at least back in the X-Statix she had a team. There were people she fought both with and alongside, came home with, and died with. Maybe her team was no different than her comrades here.

"Hey, kid." She gives Ellie's hand a squeeze back and shoots the girl an encouraging smile. Venus' nails are painted pearly white. "You look terrified. Here's a hint, when you're snacking no one can tell you don't have a good party face."

[onlyimmune]

She relaxes a fraction as Venus squeezes back, but she doesn't let go of her hand yet. (It's probably silly, but Ellie doesn't care.)

"I'd be a lot less terrified if I had any fucking clue where I was," She murmured in an undertone while she looked out over the party. "A dream. They can even get into my dreams." She turned her head to meet Venus' eye and looked a little sheepish.

"Only it can't really be my dreams, because I only ever dream of home. This is just... really fucking weird. At least I get to sit with you. You alright? I was looking for you at that party but I couldn't find you."

[celebrityskinned]

Venus smiles back, equally sheepish. "I have to sleep sometime, you know. But don't worry, I'll send Timaeus an apology note with like, I don't know. A singing tribble or something."

Right. Privacy. Venus forgets that some people still value that.

"You're a star now. Until they forget about you, they can get anywhere you can imagine. But just think, this is their dream. You're just a tourist." She reaches forward and grabs some little pastry treats. "Come on, let's put some imaginary meat on those bones."

[onlyimmune]

"Yeah, you're right," She said, looking around and wondering about the fucked up dreams of the Capitol before she turned her attention to the food.

"God, they just never stop eating, do they?" She asked as she leaned over and poked a towering castle of jello. "What the fuck is this?"

[celebrityskinned]

"Um, a good time?" Venus giggles and reaches over to poke it, making the entire thing wiggle. "At least they aren't making us wrestle in it."

[onlyimmune]

"Oh gross," Ellie says, making an exaggerated face as she sticks her finger into it and it trembles with anticipation.

"That's just dis--" But she stops, abruptly, as the little jello castle doors open and a little troop of jello castle guards march out onto the jello parapet.

One blows a tiny jello horn.

"What the fuck--"

[acroodawakening]

He was a creeping little thing right now. Creeping creeping everywhere. This was all a little too strange for him in a multitude of ways and that meant he'd been hiding, rightfully afraid of what strange thing might be tossed at him next.

So to get around the party, every time he felt like his hiding place was getting too crowded by people's legs, he scooted from underneath a table to another table. Scoot scoot scoot. That was how he wound up under the table nearest Ellie.

The fact that he was reaching up to the table without looking to grab a snack was why the pear he was trying to grab wound up falling off the table and bouncing towards her, leaving him awkwardly reaching out for it in her direction and looking slightly embarrassed he was acting so ridiculous when he came into her line of sight.

"I just...wanted that," he said awkwardly of the pear now on the floor. "And I dropped it."

[onlyimmune]

Ellie blinked as the pear hit her hem of her dress and she leaned down and picked it up while she raised an eyebrow.

"Uh... Okay. Why not just... walk around like a normal person?" She asked as she held it out for him.

"It's not like you need to steal the stuff."

[acroodawakening]

He took the pear and scooted backwards, still on his rear end until he was hidden under the table again. Scoot scoot Scoot. At most, she'd see the whites of his eyes maybe.

"Because they're probably going to do something horrible to us any minute and I'd rather be hiding when that happens," he said. His mouth was slightly full when he spoke again. "Is no one else terrified by the fact they're in our heads right now? I'm terrified by this. You should be terrified by this. Everyone should be terrified by this. And now I'm rambling, sorry - it's just that I'm kind of terrified by this."

[onlyimmune]

"Of course I'm fucking terrified by this," Ellie said, ducking her head under the table to see him better.

"But if they're in our heads I don't really see how running around under non-existent tables is going to help. Do you?"

[acroodawakening]

"Um. Not really," Guy admitted. "It mostly just makes me feel better and I'm really bad at pretending things are okay so hopefully it means they won't think I'm making a scene doing that if I'm only doing it under here."

[onlyimmune]

"Well fuck them," Ellie said soundly, with the full certainty and wisdom of a fourteen year old who had all right to hate on the authority.

"I don't see why we have to pretend it's okay when they fuck us over." She paused, glancing down the length of the table, looking at everyone's feet under the table cloth. "... Though it's pretty swank down here, I gotta admit. You want anything else? I can lift it for you."

Re: Ellie

[knifewithnoname]

Pruna was still looking for Sandy, she had to be here somewhere. It would help if she knew what she was wearing, these costumes weren't the ones they had been fitted into, because this was some kind of dream. Except it felt real.

"Sandy?" There was someone who looked about the right age, Pruna moved towards them but paused when she realised it wasn't Sandy at all.

[onlyimmune]

She didn't immediately turn to the voice (as it obviously wasn't her name), but when she saw the girl approach a smile split over her lips.

She still couldn't quite get over how many children were here.

"Oh! Hi! Sorry, not Sandy. My name's Ellie. What's yours?"

[knifewithnoname]

"You can be calling me Pruna." She frowned and looked around, "Hi." She remembered her manners. "Did you be seeing a girl who do be being your age with blonde brown hair?"

[onlyimmune]

Ellie thought about it for a second. "Blonde brown... Do you mean Mindy?" She asked. Mindy was the only other girl she knew her age and she guessed she kind of fit the description.

"I saw her in the training room the other day but I haven't seen her here,' she said, gesturing around the strange room.

[knifewithnoname]

"No, no Mindy." She knew Mindy too and guessed she sort of fit the description she sighed. "Sandy, I can no be finding her anywhere."

[onlyimmune]

"Sorry. I don't know her," She said really apologetically. "I'll keep an eye out for her, though. Is she your friend?"

Re: Ellie

[justgaveup]

Of course he'd fought them. Who the hell wouldn't fight someone who wanted to stick something in your arm, and tell you to lie down on a bed and fall asleep while a group of people were watching? Training had helped him fight a few, bu then they just kept on coming in, grabbing him and holding him down...

That scared him more then dying. This scared him more then dying. There were people in his head. Or he was in theirs. Somehow, mind space was being shared, and Perry was more then a little freaked out by it.

And he didn't know many people here. There was a big problem, when you got somewhere, just to die, and then be brought back, but you didn't know anyone except a few. Maybe three or four, at most. He'd been keeping himself to the sidelines, but when he saw a chance to see this girl, and maybe talk to her, he had to take that chance. He gets a little closer, hesitating for a second.

"It's been a long time since I went to a party. And back home, we never had any like this." He gave a slight, grim smile. "None in our heads, either. This is more of a nightmare, then a dream."

She looked like people he knew back home.

[onlyimmune]

Ellie looked up at the voice, but it wasn't anyone she recognized. That wasn't that surprising, though, this room was full of people she didn't recognize, and he was obviously a tribute.

Most of the tributes were okay, in her books.

"Yeah, me neither," She agreed. "But I dunno if I'd call this a nightmare. Did you see the little jelly soldiers yet? They'll salute you even if you're about to eat their head off."

[justgaveup]

It was funny, he was finding out, how people were in the arena and out of it. Just because you could be killed by someone in there, didn't make them a bad person out here.

You couldn't trust them with anything, but they weren't that terrible of a person. "Seriously?" Perry glanced over at the table. "I didn't even think about seeing if the food move. Do you think that would go for anything in here?"

Maybe this wasn't too bad after all.

[onlyimmune]

"No idea. But I mean it's a dream, right? It makes sense that stuff would be crazy and fucked up." She reached over and grabbed a peach, taking a bite out of it before throwing it high up into the air.

It didn't come back down.

"See?"

[justgaveup]

"Shit." Perry was actually impressed on that, and he took a moment to look at it up there. "It's not just messing with the laws of gravity right there, they're really fucking around with us."

He picked up an apple, looking it over with the barest of smiles. "You ever play that game where you throw pencils at the ceiling, and try to make them stick? And then you keep going, to see which one falls down first?"

Perry took a bite of the apple before throwing it in the air.

[onlyimmune]

"We didn't have a lot of pencils to throw around," Ellie says mildly, but she's grinning as she watches the apple go up. When it doesn't come back, she grabs a pear and throws it up again.

"Just watch, we'll make this whole place rain fruit."