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.
doc_holi: (back off)

oh boy

[personal profile] doc_holi 2013-12-16 02:03 am (UTC)(link)
Feeling a new presence beside, Holiday slowly turned her head and... saw someone she had been avoiding. It didn't go very well that time she punched Calico. She ended up cuffed for it. Then there was the whole celebratory atmosphere of the place.

On the other hand, it was also a dream, so Holiday definitely contemplated punching his lights one good time. If it were anyone else, she probably wouldn't consider doing the same, but he was her Mentor and saw how she protected and coddled Punchy.

"Hello, Jack." All fear was gone from her mind, at least.
akingalways: (:|)

Re: oh boy

[personal profile] akingalways 2013-12-16 02:59 am (UTC)(link)
Despite the celebration all around him, Jack hardly looked enthusiastic. It anything, he game an exasperated sigh, his hand through his hair.

"Hnn." Well. At least his voice was back to normal in La La Land. "Look, about what happened..."
doc_holi: (back off)

[personal profile] doc_holi 2013-12-16 03:56 am (UTC)(link)
"I should rip your spleen out."

That's basically what she thought about what happened. While life did in some ways matter to her, the lives of the people she loved was priceless.
akingalways: (..................................)

[personal profile] akingalways 2013-12-16 04:09 am (UTC)(link)
At that, Jack's body tensed.

"Of course, I shouldn't be surprised." he murmured darkly as he started to excuse himself from the table. "I probably should have figured you wouldn't care to understand."
doc_holi: (seriously explaining)

[personal profile] doc_holi 2013-12-16 04:13 am (UTC)(link)
"Understand what, Jack? You didn't have to kill him. You didn't have to kill anyone. I lasted until the last three weeks without killing a soul and we both know that winning doesn't hold nearly as much weight as it once did."

He had wanted to talk calmly about it and there's a part of her that does feel bad about ruining that so quickly, but she just couldn't get over something like that.
akingalways: (fewfueowhfeuwfiino)

[personal profile] akingalways 2013-12-16 04:26 am (UTC)(link)
"Like I said." Jack's fist clenched, his voice raising. "You don't understand. You didn't kill anyone, well, that's fine for you. But not everyone has the advantage you Tributes have-"

He stopped, finding his voice getting a little too loud, and he shook his head.

"You're not a Mentor, nor a native from Panem. You don't know how easy you have it. They can bring you all back just fine. You don't have to fight for your comrades' lives, because you know they'll come back too!"

She probably didn't notice the empty chair next to Jack. But Jack had. He knew what that likely meant.

Calico hadn't been there when he'd been transferred back to the tower. She wasn't coming back.
Edited 2013-12-16 04:27 (UTC)
doc_holi: (fine then)

[personal profile] doc_holi 2013-12-16 05:46 am (UTC)(link)
"Just because they can bring us back does not mean that they always will. I'm not that much of a simpleton."

She had noticed Calico's vanishing act, but had yet to put two and two together. Either way, it was just another drop in the bucket to these people. Like Ariadne. Like Chris.

"Don't think we have it easy. We don't always come back."

Holiday found that she no longer wanted to fight. Blaming everything on the Capitol seemed so... She didn't like it.
akingalways: (fewfueowhfeuwfiino)

[personal profile] akingalways 2013-12-16 11:02 pm (UTC)(link)
"No, but your chances are far better than ours." Jack looked away, gritting his teeth. "You and your loved ones and friends. That's why I did what I did. Because unlike you, I had no guarantee at all they would even bring me back. None of the Victors did. So we needed to give them a reason to bring us back. Us, and our loved ones and friends."

At this, he disconsolately swept his hand over the scenery.

"I doubt you'll find half of the Mentors they sent at this Crowning as a result."
Edited 2013-12-16 23:06 (UTC)
doc_holi: (tired)

[personal profile] doc_holi 2013-12-16 11:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Their loved ones. That bit did get her. Of course, she didn't put it above the Capitol to do such a thing, but... still.

Her anger didn't fade. Understanding was not the same as forgiveness, whatever the circumstances.

However, she did relax and lean back in her seat again. "I'm sorry, Jack." And she was, marginally. The longer this went on, the more and more she did not want to fight about it.