thecapitol | The Crowning of Enjolras

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"That's part of the 'charm,'" Mindy said, rolling her eyes. "It's like the trope where some bitch wants to 'fix' the guy. They just thin I could be turned into a really nice, sweet girl if I could just find the right person to give me back my childhood."

Fuck that. Her childhood died the same night her father did. If people were too shocked by her behavior to consider she had her own backstory, fuck them too.

"I wish I could say it was just the citizens."

Azula gave her a look of mock sympathy.

"If the Capitol really wanted to make you sweet? You'd be sweet already. Look at everything they've managed to accomplish with your brain already." She gestured to the world around them.

"All it would take is a few tweaks, maybe a chemical or a blade to melt or cut into you. And before you know it you'd be anything they wanted."

She sipped a glass of wine gently letting the words settle.

"So the fact that you are as you are, means they like you as you are for now."

"I wasn't saying the Capital wanted it," Mindy said. "Any asshole with a brain can see why I was picked for this. They don't need an attack of the warm and fuzzies. They don't mind a girl that looks the part, but at the end of the day, they need a good show, don't they? So I deliver. Everybody wins."

Any idiot could also tell Azula got some sort of perverted pleasure telling her what the capitol cold do to her to make her compliant. If she expected shock and awe though, she wouldn't get it from Mindy. She had already figured out, especially now, how easily the Capitol could meddle with her mind.

"Except you." Azula corrected her. "At least not this round. But if you need something to look forward to, you can begin planning your eventual victory party. That's a popular pass time."

Azula must have been in a good mood if she was entertaining the idea that Mindy would win eventually.

"I didn't mean literally everyone," Mindy said, who did NOT feel like a winner, the games or otherwise, being here. She felt more like she earned the world's biggest fail situation. Cue The Price is Right loser music.

Oh right, that would be a hoot. Planning her winning.

"If I want something feasible to look forward to, I'll stick to wacky shenanigans in the capitol. That happens several times a day."

Azula nodded in agreement, her face of familiarity and friendship never slipping.

"Oh? What have you found so far that you like?"

Her skin crawled. There was so much wrong with exchanging pleasantries to someone who wanted you to suffer until you died. But Mindy knew she was warped just enough to not shy away. She could play the game, she knew how by now.

"What, besides crazy cave men and partying raves and being around the fops of the Capitol? You never really know, right? Hell, you can get a daily dose of crazy just from hanging with the Tributes."

"If that's what you consider crazy." Azula chuckled "It's all pretty normal for those of us who actually belong here. But in time I'm sure you'll be just as jaded and bored as the rest of us." Though she was never without something to do. But the constant high energy of the capitol only interested her for so long.

It was gross, even thinking an trivializing all the shit everyone went through as some stupid inconvenient thing. This was exactly what the Capitol wanted, if they ever had the stones to admit it: blind compliance. Azula love enforcing, after all. She could see that clearly.

"I don't get jaded. Just find a new way to have fun."

After all, she was jaded long ago.

"I've heard that before."

Everyone became jaded. Every survivor of the games, every hero no matter where they came from became a member of the Capitol.

there was no way to stop it.

"At least you're enjoying yourself, it wouldn't kill you to smile."

"Don't care," Mindy said. "I'm not like people here. I have better ways of doing the things I like."

Again, already there.

"Fuck that," Mindy said. "I'm being forced into this. I'm not giving them a smile."

That in turn just made her smile more.

"The more you struggle the harder you'll break. You'd be doing yourself a favor."

And the more Azula would enjoy watching it happen. That went without saying.

Mindy blew a raspberry.

"This place is fucked up a million ways to Sunday, but that doesn't mean its going to break me. You can stop with that student smile of yours. Like I'd give you the satisfaction."

Azula chuckled in that self assured way she had.

"You already have child, you already have. And watching you struggle will bring me more satisfaction then hearing you scream till your vocal cords tear."

And she'd been enjoying these struggles from the comfort of the Captiol as Mindy was starving and bleeding in whatever fresh hell the Capitol could muse up.

Mindy chuckled. Good. About time she dropped the whole "concerned mentor" bullshit. It was getting on her nerves.

"What, did you go and read the handbook on how to sound intimidating and scary? You need work. Stay as overconfident as you want though. I'll be counting on that."

"It's not overconfidence if you can back it up." She argued, warm smooth smile in place.

"You know how it is. People underestimate you all the time and you take complete advantage of it." she pointed out "So when you are cocky, self assured, and you go charging into danger because you have faith in your abilities? Others will say you're overconfident as well."

"The difference between us, is not only do I have the ability to back up my confidence, but the world is in my favor. And it is much too big for any single girl to change. No matter how talented you are."

"You assume I think you can back it," Mindy said shrugging. "But you were waiting in the trees for a trap to do your work and then tried to finish me off and you couldn't still. All that let me know is that you're too concerned with an easy win, and now that its over you don't ever have to lift a finger in the games again."

An easy win. Pfft.

"But that's not how I work, and I wouldn't want to anyway. Training my body to do the shit I want it to do isn't easy, and I don't expect it to be. So you go ahead, stay privileged in your world and brag about it. Might help you to remember, though, once upon a time a girl did shake up the games a little. Hell, its why I'm here now, best I can figure. So I wouldn't discount what one person can do."

She rolled her eyes.

"Did you watch ANY of my tapes after you saw how you died? Or did your bruised pride keep you from potentially learning anything about what I've accomplished?"

Her skills were well documented. She'd made sure of it.

"Besides, it's foolish to discount the importance of fighting smart rather then burning energy uselessly. But I'm sure if you didn't already know that you'd figure it out."

Her eyes settled on Mindy's with a gleam of delight.

"I don't know who trained you before you came here, but either they left some wide gaps in your education, or you're just a fool who lets her opinions get in the way of her duty. Not to mention logic."

"You really like to hear yourself talk," Mindy said, fidgeting with her dress. "That's cool though. I mean, I'm sure if you insulted anyone else's mentor, you probably would have touched a nerve. It's really funny, though, hearing you talk about boastful opinions of your own abilities, especially from you."

It had touched a nerve, of course, but Mindy handled this quietly. This was the game the bitch played, talking, figuring out what she could use and exploit.

"As for the tapes? I watched them, with you in them too. They were very informative. Very."

"And yet you continue to act as though you're underestimating me." She chuckled "What a waste of time. It's like you don't even want to be successful."

"I just thought it was shitty thing to do," Mindy said. "You have all this strength and agility, and you pussed out with a fucking bear trap. Then you go justifying it by saying its smart instead of lazy. Could you even be in another arena and actually win?"

"Perhaps." Azula was not going to lie to herself about it. "Sometimes despite all the skill you have, the odds simply aren't in your favor."

But her voice was thoughtful and coy "I think I see the real problem here. You're upset because in your first showing you were thwarted, not by lack of talent or skill, not because you were weak...but simply unlucky."

And was that sympathy? It almost sounded genuine.

"That's simply the nature of the beast, and life. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Each battle can't always be about who's more worthy of victory."

A pause, then...

"Because if it was I would have won this arena as well."

Mindy didn't like being read by a sadist: it made her all too aware that they were like minded. Being one step away from that was not at all a comforting thought.

"No, I'm annoyed that happened. Who wouldn't be? Sure, you're fearing for your life the first few days, but after that you adjust. The starving hardens your stomach, you're dirty, and then? All you can think about is outlasting. Two weeks of having little to nothing, only to have a trap get me was bullshit."

Here, Mindy smiled. "I'd love to know the reason you think that."

"Why bother? There's no reasoning I could give you that would convince you that I deserved to win. You're too stubborn for that." She purred coyly.

"There's no sense in dwelling on your misfortune. Turn that anger into something positive and stop letting it get in the way of seeing the truth of things." She admonished as if she were Mindy's mentor instead.

"I will never understand why so many of you Tributes waste so much energy on personal problems when there's such a bigger picture to be had."

"If you don't wanna answer the question you could just say that," Mindy said, looking amused. "Even if I don't believe you, you have a reason to think it, right?"

Mindy chuckled. Man, she liked hearing herself talk. "The truth of things? I've got to hear this. If we shouldn't be concentrating on personal problems, what SHOULD we be thinking about?"

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