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.
gluteus: (wait)

[personal profile] gluteus 2013-12-18 03:06 pm (UTC)(link)
"You should have come down to play," Maximus said, still smiling though it could have cut glass.

"Wouldn't want retirement to slow you down."

president_evil: (weskerSmile)

[personal profile] president_evil 2013-12-18 03:25 pm (UTC)(link)
"Who said anything about retirement?"

The blonde head tipped a fraction, a pale eyebrow lifting toward the hairline.

"Just because we don't all make such fine pawns as you, doesn't mean we're left with nothing to do."

Some were busy being kings.
gluteus: (over shoudler)

[personal profile] gluteus 2013-12-20 01:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Having never played Chess, the metaphor was completely lost on Maximus. The best thing he could think of was prawns and he really had no idea why Wesker would call him a shrimp. (It wasn't something that came up in his diet, often.)

But he could get the gist of the jibe anyway.

"Who ever said retirement would keep you from aimless, ineffective plots?" Maximus said in a low, calm voice.
president_evil: (weskerSneer)

[personal profile] president_evil 2013-12-20 03:20 pm (UTC)(link)
"Tell me, Maximus, what's like to be so short-sighted?" Wesker purred, the insult rolling over his shoulders. "I imagine it must be rather liberating: never worrying about anything more than what's directly ahead of you."

His lip curled, a sharp sneer.

"Undoubtedly it's what makes you so successful in the arena."
gluteus: (Default)

sob i am so bad at banter i am so so sorry

[personal profile] gluteus 2013-12-21 05:31 pm (UTC)(link)
"You should have seen me at War," Maximus said, taking half a step closer, still smiling sharply. Wesker could say what he wanted about long-term thinking, Maximus wasn't a man that needed validation from the outside to do what he knew he needed to.

"Perhaps you'll still have a chance."
president_evil: (weskerSmirk2)

[personal profile] president_evil 2013-12-22 05:13 pm (UTC)(link)
""And perhaps someday you might still, but Maximus--" the curl pulled into a smile, a shark's toothy leer, "--be careful what you wish for. You have made Rome proud once, but a lot has changed since then."

The blond head dipped, one red and gold eye flashing over the rim of the dark lenses.

Gods didn't hide atop the mountain anymore.

gluteus: (bloody neck)

[personal profile] gluteus 2013-12-23 10:57 pm (UTC)(link)
"There are still men who lust for power. There is still the arena." He raised an eyebrow. "It does not appear that much of importance has changed, to me.

It took everything in him not to react to the inhuman glow of Wesker's eye. He'd seen it before, and he was not keen to see it again.

"There are men and monsters, as there always have been."
president_evil: (weskerSmile)

[personal profile] president_evil 2013-12-24 10:31 am (UTC)(link)
"Indeed."

His head lifted again, eye disappearing back behind the black glass.

"Be sure you don't forget which you are."
gluteus: (you're next)

[personal profile] gluteus 2013-12-25 08:54 pm (UTC)(link)
As stony as he'd managed to keep his face, his muscled still relaxed slightly from their tense and ready state as the glow disappeared.

Who knew what happened in dreams.

He let out a breath and then gave Wesker the shallowest of bows - never breaking eye contact.

"Enjoy the party. Victor."