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.
iselldrugstothecommunity: (Basic - For Real?)

[personal profile] iselldrugstothecommunity 2013-12-20 06:10 am (UTC)(link)
"God, I've practically forgot how to taste things. I think I permanently burned my tastebuds off." He raises an eyebrow, wondering why this guy seems to be in a bit more of a uniform than others.

"Are you a real doctor or a pretend doctor?" To Howard, who has little respect for academia, there's a huge difference between being able to treat wounds and being an expert in any other field.
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[personal profile] asklepian 2013-12-21 11:48 pm (UTC)(link)
"Well, considering that this seems to be all in our heads, that shouldn't be too much of an issue." Julian reaches out to snag an interesting-looking piece of fruit, turning it over in his hands and wondering at the sensation. "Very realistic, though."

At Howard's question, he smiles a bit. "A real doctor." Warts and all.
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[personal profile] iselldrugstothecommunity 2013-12-22 05:19 am (UTC)(link)
Howard reaches out and grabs a stick of rock candy that looks as if it's bejeweled in rubies. Everything in the dream is beautiful; the fruits shine like gems, and there are gobstoppers that look like crystal balls. A pitcher of tea pours itself into cups.

"Like a medical doctor?" Howard asks, still skeptical. "Research doesn't count."
asklepian: (pic#7053872)

[personal profile] asklepian 2013-12-22 05:33 am (UTC)(link)
Julian nods. "All the doctors I've been acquainted with do a bit of research here and there, including myself--when you run into some new terrible disease, there's often not time to wait around while the 'research doctors' find a treatment for it. But yes, I am a medical doctor."

Boy, you really do have something against the academics, don't you? Julian is somewhat amused by it--Howard is so very suspicious. And not of Julian's genetics, which is a nice change of pace--though really, it's not like anyone here knows he's an Augment.
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[personal profile] iselldrugstothecommunity 2013-12-23 04:52 am (UTC)(link)
"Do you know first aid?"

Howard grabs a snowflake made of spun sugar off the table. It doesn't even melt in his fingers, though it does in his mouth. He doesn't seem to find this odd at all - in fact, this is the best dream he's had in ages, no matter how weird it is to have the Capitol in his brain, no matter how much he hates the niggling feeling that he's laying supine in a bed with Peacekeepers surrounding him.

"Because I'm learning first aid. Seems like it'll come in handy in the Arena."
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[personal profile] asklepian 2013-12-28 06:52 pm (UTC)(link)
"First aid, field triage, surgery--of course. It is my job to keep people alive after all." And he was, pardoning the fact that it was hardly modest to say so, rather good at it. One of the best Starfleet had to offer.

"It is a good skill to learn--Arena or no. It will do you just as well outside it.

If you like, I could help you with that."
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[personal profile] iselldrugstothecommunity 2013-12-29 01:49 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah. I'd like that." Howard taps the sugar snowflake he's picked up and a piece of it breaks off, floating across the air into a fine, glittering dust. He raises an eyebrow at that.

"So did you do the last Arena at all?"
asklepian: (pic#7155022)

[personal profile] asklepian 2014-01-05 08:24 pm (UTC)(link)
"Alright, then. We'll have to decide on a time to meet--sooner rather than later would probably serve best." It seemed the sort of situation where they couldn't be sure of exactly when something would happen, after all.

"Only a couple of weeks. I seem to have arrived rather late." Lasting to the end probably didn't count for much, when he'd only been there for such a short time.
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[personal profile] iselldrugstothecommunity 2014-01-06 02:38 am (UTC)(link)
"Well, we got lots of time around here, unless they decide to kidnap us to another party. They mostly let us run wild."

As wild as someone can be while in captivity, but Howard doesn't really mind that so much.

"I came in halfway through my first Arena too. It's rough."
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[personal profile] asklepian 2014-01-19 02:15 am (UTC)(link)
"Fantastic, let's hope that they don't, then." Julian Bashir, ever the optimistic one.

"It certainly wasn't pleasant, though it did mean I was somewhat less starving and desperate than everyone else." But also unarmed, with no idea what was going on. Really, the 'not starving to death' was the only benefit there.
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[personal profile] iselldrugstothecommunity 2014-01-20 03:30 am (UTC)(link)
"What are you, like, a perpetual optimist?" Not like Howard can't empathize with feeling glad to be 'less starving' than everyone else, but his first experience with the Games, getting dropped in halfway, was so decidedly negative. He's outright sanctified his excuse for losing being that he didn't get a shot at the Cornucopia.
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[personal profile] asklepian 2014-01-20 03:47 am (UTC)(link)
"Well, if it will ease your mind, I shall endeavor to become more cynical with each passing day, look gift horses squarely in the mouth, and find clouds in every silver lining. But yes, I prefer to not wallow in pessimism."

Sarcasm, however, is completely within the realm of possibility. Garak had been trying for years to ding Julian's optimism--between his efforts and the war, it had been somewhat successful. But he still did prefer to keep at least a cautiously optimistic outlook on life.
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[personal profile] iselldrugstothecommunity 2014-01-20 09:35 pm (UTC)(link)
"Aw, but it's so much fun here in the pessimism pit. The Pitssimism." Howard rolls his eyes and shakes his head. "See you around for those first-aid lessons, Doctimist."