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.
orestes: (07;)

Re: Zoidberg OTA!

[personal profile] orestes 2013-12-19 03:40 am (UTC)(link)
Demons, it seemed, were common to Panem. In fact, Enjolras half-suspected they attracted them on purpose.

He could do nothing to hide the look of disgust which worked its way across his face. The creature was like a tornado, devouring all that fell into its hideous and ill-fated path. The display was uncouth and traumatic, and he hazarded to avert his eyes as he spoke: "Have you no manners, sir?"
crabulous: (a phone call for me?)

[personal profile] crabulous 2013-12-19 03:46 am (UTC)(link)
Unaware at first that he was being addressed, the great crab turned to look behind him, where surely there was something horrendous on display. At seeing nothing out of the ordinary, his face fell momentarily as he promptly shoved another chunk of food into his gaping mouth.

"Some people, eh?" Bits flew everywhere as he spoke. "Say, this is quite a party! What's the special occasion? A baptism? A bar mitzvah?"
orestes: (09;)

[personal profile] orestes 2013-12-20 06:11 am (UTC)(link)
Enjolras dodged, tilting his head to narrowly avoid the fragments that flew from what he could only describe as tendrils extending from the creature's mouth.

"A crowing." His tone was hoarse and flat, a carryover from the Arena. Other than to answer the question, he made no reference to the crown of laurels circling his head. "I would hardly call it special."
crabulous: (good listening)

[personal profile] crabulous 2013-12-20 06:18 am (UTC)(link)
"A crowning?" Zoidberg looked utterly stupefied, even more so than he usually did. "Who is being crowned? Is there a new Space Pope?"

Clearly that was the only logical explanation. After all, Earth was united by a singular president, Richard M. Nixon's head, and thus there were no kings or queens anymore.
orestes: (12;)

[personal profile] orestes 2013-12-25 10:57 pm (UTC)(link)
"No," he paused, mulling over how much information to share with the wretched creature. He would, of course, find out eventually. "I am. Though as a point of fact, the Pope is elected and I do not know if a coronation is involved."

Which didn't address what this... Thing meant by Space Pope, but it hardly mattered. Enjolras was anxious just to move on with his life away from Zoidberg and his stench.
crabulous: (derp)

[personal profile] crabulous 2013-12-31 03:21 am (UTC)(link)
At this revelation, the crustacean dropped to his knees, groveling dramatically at the other man's feet. "Oh, your majesty! What an honor to be in the presence of your illustriousness! I am but a humble lobster and a proud, registered voter! I never dreamed that I, Doctor Zoidberg, would be granted the opportunity to live under your capable reign! Oh, what an honor! What an honor!"
orestes: (pic#7217250)

[personal profile] orestes 2014-01-02 02:56 am (UTC)(link)
At that, Enjolras frowned, pulling himself back from the spectacle with scorn. "To your feet, monsieur!"

He hadn't expected the creature to bow before him. It was logical, perhaps, when removed from the concept of the Games, but the reaction filled him with a purely egalitarian horror. "I am no despot. If anything, I am a puppet, the same as you."
crabulous: (sigh)

[personal profile] crabulous 2014-01-02 04:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Zoidberg did not understand why the man was taking such a firm and harsh tone with him, but he complied, wiping his tentacles with a claw. "Oh, no, friend. I am not a puppet. I'm a Decapodian."