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.
hit_girl_mindy: (Hoodie (Mindy))

[personal profile] hit_girl_mindy 2013-12-18 12:31 pm (UTC)(link)
"The fun just never stops," Mindy muttered darkly, taking another drink. "Wonder if this whole dream thing is being televised too. That just seems like something they'd do."
wantwhatiwant: winchesterway (yeah whatever)

[personal profile] wantwhatiwant 2013-12-19 02:44 pm (UTC)(link)
"Think they can do that?" Probably, they wouldn't like to give them any privacy.

Which meant they could effectively see inside their heads, "Guess we don't even get to think in peace anymore."
hit_girl_mindy: (LEATHER (Mindy))

[personal profile] hit_girl_mindy 2013-12-19 03:17 pm (UTC)(link)
"Why wouldn't they? It's the crowning, right? Wouldn't make any sense if they kept it to themselves."

She shrugged. "No, I don't think they can go that far, or a lot of us would probably be dead by now."
wantwhatiwant: winchesterway (yeah whatever)

[personal profile] wantwhatiwant 2013-12-19 08:32 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, most of us I'd say." He looked around, "How are they filming it though." It was creepy.
hit_girl_mindy: (Disgust (Mindy))

[personal profile] hit_girl_mindy 2013-12-20 06:33 am (UTC)(link)
"Secret cameras? How exactly do they film us in the Arena's? I figure they just have ways around these kinda things as a given. They shouldn't even be able to do this yet here we are."
wantwhatiwant: (no I don't want to talk)

[personal profile] wantwhatiwant 2013-12-20 10:01 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah but, it wouldn't be that easy." He waved a hand, "They'd have to dunno, analyse our brain waves or some shit, try and make a picture out of it." Lip would probably know a theory of how it could be done, but he knew they would have to have some scary ass future technology to manage it.
hit_girl_mindy: (Eyes wide open (Mindy))

[personal profile] hit_girl_mindy 2013-12-20 03:25 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, but think about it: somehow, they were able to access tech that could get us here. We supposedly live in different universes somehow, so how were they able to even do that? If they can, how hard is it to believe they can tap into our brain waves and algorithms and shit?"
wantwhatiwant: clasticons (glare)

[personal profile] wantwhatiwant 2013-12-20 10:49 pm (UTC)(link)
"We really are screwed then." That was like one step away from complete mind control. Ian had seen sci-fi he knew how that went.

hit_girl_mindy: (Disgust (Mindy))

[personal profile] hit_girl_mindy 2013-12-21 05:43 am (UTC)(link)
"Well no shit," Mindy said. "They took me from another world and put me here. You have any idea how David Lynch this shit is right now?"
wantwhatiwant: clasticon (smiling)

[personal profile] wantwhatiwant 2013-12-21 10:11 am (UTC)(link)
He grinned, "Yeah." He couldn't quite remember who David Lynch was but he nodded. "So did you get anywhere with my advice? Make any important friends?"
hit_girl_mindy: (Laughing)

I was going over my CR and saw this unfinished, SO sorry

[personal profile] hit_girl_mindy 2014-01-20 03:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Mindy nodded. "Yeah, I met a few. Harley Quinn is a real fucking hoot. Also got to hang with this one girl I clicked with, Ellie. She looks like she could use a few laughs. What about you?"
Edited 2014-01-20 15:13 (UTC)
wantwhatiwant: winchesterway (smirk)

tis okay!

[personal profile] wantwhatiwant 2014-01-21 10:08 pm (UTC)(link)
"I know of Harley, never spoke to her yet though." He nodded, "Can't say I've met anyone new since we spoke." He shrugged, it had been her who needed sponsors, not him.
hit_girl_mindy: (Amused (Mindy))

Re: tis okay!

[personal profile] hit_girl_mindy 2014-01-22 12:31 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh, she's batshit," Mindy said casually, "But she's also pretty fun. I met a few people though: Ellie, Katniss, Pruna, that bitch Azula, that Venus chick..."
wantwhatiwant: winchesterway (yeah whatever)

[personal profile] wantwhatiwant 2014-01-22 06:43 am (UTC)(link)
He knew a few of those, especially Venus but he tried to not think about her. At least she didn't feature in his nightmares as much as Don did, it seemed being killed by a childhood hero had been more damaging than being killed by some random girl. Good to know.

"See I knew you could socialise if you tried. Anyone I should watch out for?"
hit_girl_mindy: (Hoodie (Mindy))

[personal profile] hit_girl_mindy 2014-01-22 07:01 am (UTC)(link)
Too bad Donatello was in her District, likely she was sure that he and Mindy would meet eventually.

"I could, but what matters is how I let of affect me. If I were you, I would watch out for the 'too nice' people."
wantwhatiwant: winchesterway (smirk)

[personal profile] wantwhatiwant 2014-01-22 07:10 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, it's always the nice ones that crack the hardest." He nodded, "I'll take that advice."
hit_girl_mindy: (Disgust (Mindy))

[personal profile] hit_girl_mindy 2014-01-22 04:14 pm (UTC)(link)
"Nah, that's not what I mean. I mean if you come across someone that's super helpful, sorta almost TOO nice, they might have a plan to stab you in the back. Meeting Azula let me know something: just because some of us are decent people warped by the system doesn't mean we're all like that. Some people want the comforts and the privileges the Capitol offers. Human nature I guess, to want to stab your ally in the back for your own comfort."

It HAD happened to her before, albeit indirectly.
wantwhatiwant: clasticon (Right then.)

[personal profile] wantwhatiwant 2014-01-22 08:55 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh. Yeah." he nodded, "Goes without saying." Taking nothing for nothing, give nothing for nothing, trust no one.

"I'll be careful."
hit_girl_mindy: (Melted effect)

[personal profile] hit_girl_mindy 2014-01-23 06:07 am (UTC)(link)
"Good," Mindy said, and had this been in New York, he might be seeing a hint of Hit Girl here. "New recruits are coming, you never now who's biding their time."

She was, but it certainly wasn't for the Capitol.
wantwhatiwant: winchesterway (yeah whatever)

[personal profile] wantwhatiwant 2014-01-23 06:26 am (UTC)(link)
He nodded, it was true. Plenty of people here would stab you in the back without a second thought. It was a hard task to differentiate between those and those who actually were decent people, because arenas were difficult to survive alone.

"I'll be careful, I'm a Gallagher, I'm good at careful." Well good at the lack of trust, not so good at the not self destructing kind of careful.
hit_girl_mindy: (Civil clothing (Mindy))

[personal profile] hit_girl_mindy 2014-01-23 06:40 am (UTC)(link)
Mindy smirked. "Remembering your last name. Good on you. Means you still have honor."

There was a lot to read in that.
wantwhatiwant: winchesterway (smirk)

[personal profile] wantwhatiwant 2014-01-23 06:48 am (UTC)(link)
Ian laughed, "Yeah, last name, honour. Right." He smirked at her. "You enjoy the party alright, even if it is in creepy dream world."
hit_girl_mindy: (Laughing)

[personal profile] hit_girl_mindy 2014-01-23 01:23 pm (UTC)(link)
"I don't make any promises. But maybe I'll enjoy the wine."
wantwhatiwant: winchesterway (yeah whatever)

[personal profile] wantwhatiwant 2014-01-23 05:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Ian grinned and nodded, it was the least they could hope for really.