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.
twoklimmen: (Of endless possibility!)

[personal profile] twoklimmen 2013-12-17 05:33 pm (UTC)(link)
The Doctor's hands went through thin air as Ian pulled his drink away and he frowned to himself. At over six feet tall and with muscle to spare, he could easy overpower this kid and force him to stop drinking, but that wasn't what men did. Sigma's cautious optimism dropped into irritation and he folds his arms in front of him.

"Hey! Watch your language, young man! When did you become such a sailor?" In Sigma's young body, this was the pinnacle of condescension, as physically the two of there were almost the same age. "You know drinking too young can cause brain damage, yeah? Just looking out for you."
wantwhatiwant: (no I don't want to talk)

[personal profile] wantwhatiwant 2013-12-17 10:22 pm (UTC)(link)
"Who the fuck are you to lecture me young man>" He glared back, still not recognising him, and getting annoyed.

"I think if it was going to damage my fucking brain it would have happened by now."
twoklimmen: (The sentences that do not rhyme)

[personal profile] twoklimmen 2013-12-18 05:56 pm (UTC)(link)
"Maybe it already did," Sigma mutters irritably. "Ian, what has gotten into you?" Even if he'd told Sigma to fuck off before, he'd almost had it coming, and Ian had been a tolerable person in the Arena at the very least.

At last Sigma clued in that Ian probably did not recognize him. Clearing his throat, he thought to reintroduce himself, but decided that would not help matters much - he'd probably get himself punched in the face. "...You do not recognize me, do you?" He wondered aloud.
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.
twoklimmen: (What have you found?)

[personal profile] twoklimmen 2013-12-20 04:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Sigma watched him for a moment, and then his angry expression cracked into a grin. "Well, you know what? Forget about it. Maybe it's better that way."

Try to change the subject as quickly as possible, Sigma grasped for something else that would turn Ian away from undoubtedly ruining his life. "So, is drinking all you really want to do here? Seems a little boring to me. If this is a dream, why not do all sorts of surreal shit while you can get away with it?" Seeing as he had already come into this world a little altered, there had to be other parts of the dream they could change, as well.
wantwhatiwant: winchesterway (yeah whatever)

[personal profile] wantwhatiwant 2013-12-20 10:57 pm (UTC)(link)
He raised an eyebrow. "Alright..."

He shrugged, "Gabriel already tried that. My brain doesn't seem capable of making stuff." Not that he had tried all that hard. Maybe he should try again, he usually was a firm believer in being able to do anything as long as you worked hard enough at it.

"What do you want to do?"
twoklimmen: (Of endless possibility!)

[personal profile] twoklimmen 2014-01-07 05:18 pm (UTC)(link)
"Already tried that, huh? Well, let's see..." Sigma suspected his inability to broaden his imagination was because the boy was slightly intoxicated. Perhaps he could use that to his advantage somehow.

Sigma put a finger to his chin pensively, trying to think of what most teenaged boys spent their time doing. "...What about a prank? Like that college prank where you let three pigs loose and number them 1, 2, and 4. Then when all three of them are caught, everyone spends the whole evening trying to find pig number 3." He paused. "I guess you're still a bit young for college, huh? Trust me, it's a riot."
wantwhatiwant: winchesterway (yeah whatever)

[personal profile] wantwhatiwant 2014-01-08 11:33 am (UTC)(link)
"Sounds like it." He raised an eyebrow, not really sure how that was supposed to be fun. A good distraction maybe. Surely people wouldn't actually fall for it.


"Aren't people in college meant to be intelligent?"
twoklimmen: (When there's no time)

[personal profile] twoklimmen 2014-01-11 05:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Damn, it didn't sound like Ian was very interested in his prank plan. Ah well. If word got out that Sigma Klim had started it somehow, the Capitol would never let him live it down.

"Uh, no?" he says somewhat condescendingly, as if that answer should be obvious. "That doesn't come until graduate school. People are idiots in college."
wantwhatiwant: winchesterway (smirk)

[personal profile] wantwhatiwant 2014-01-12 10:24 am (UTC)(link)
"My brother will fit in better than I thought then." He smirked, joking of course.
twoklimmen: (You're just playing a part!)

[personal profile] twoklimmen 2014-01-15 02:21 am (UTC)(link)
"See, there you go. First time I've seen a smile out of you," he said with a grin. Though the two didn't get along often, he was thankful they weren't fighting, now, even if it was under false pretenses.

"Older or younger brother?" Sigma wondered curiously.
wantwhatiwant: winchesterway (smirk)

[personal profile] wantwhatiwant 2014-01-15 09:28 am (UTC)(link)
Ian blinked, why the hell was this guy worried about the amount of smiling he did? He smiled plenty and if he didn't smile in front of Sigma it was because the guy had lied to him, and then expected him to trust him.

"Older. He's nineteen."