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.
acroodawakening: (005)

[personal profile] acroodawakening 2013-12-20 06:13 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm not so much trying not to bother anyone as hiding in abject terror from our mind-invading kidnappers and hoping they don't notice I'm here whenever they do whatever it is they'll probably do to make this go from creepy to creepier," said Guy, taking a bite of his biscuit. Around a full mouth, he said, "I'b nobiced dat's kinda der fing."
sleeplessinalternia: (49 They're cutting off the phone)

[personal profile] sleeplessinalternia 2013-12-21 06:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Karkat groans, but he sits down under the table with them anyway. "Yeah, well, don't say it to their faces, okay? I don't know if you've noticed, but not everybody gets brought back from death."

He gives Signless a Look at that. Sorry, Signless, but since he's talked to Terezi Karkat's been even more insistent that Signless keeps his fucking head down.
69problems: saeto15 (xtra | The black)

[personal profile] 69problems 2013-12-21 10:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Signless's head is down! It is the most down. It's so down it couldn't possibly be any lower unless he was actually face-down on the floor. He leans on Karkat automatically, sliding his free arm around Karkat's shoulders. He's touchier than usual lately, but lately he's been needing more constant reassurance that at least someone still cares about him.

"Let's not talk about that, not right now." He takes another sip of his soda, and gestures toward Guy with it. "I don't know if you've met each other? Karkat, this is Guy. Guy, Karkat."
acroodawakening: (064)

[personal profile] acroodawakening 2013-12-23 03:28 am (UTC)(link)
"I know. I know not to say it to their faces. I'm just kind of keeping it limited to quiet, ineffectual grousing with like-minded people who also don't really want to be repeatedly murdered, either," said Guy.

Now that Karkat had joined them in their sub-tableian hiding spot, Guy got a better look at him, and the resemblance to Signless was uncanny.

"Are you two related?" he asked. He held out what was left of his biscuit - because that was what you did when you met new people who were trying to be sociable. You shared. "Also, do you want some dough morsel? It's really good."