(no subject)

[gamemakers]

WHO| Everyone
WHAT| Ariadne's crowning does not go as expected
WHEN| After the arena
WHERE| The Banquet hall in the bottom of the Victor's complex
WARNING/NOTES| The black out lasts about 10-15 minutes. Feel free to start a thread during any part of the proceedings, just clarify in the subject bar.

The celebration this time was private. Of course it was broadcast live to all of Panem, but the victors, the tributes, and a collection of those working closely with them were the only ones in the extravagant banquet hall. Behind them was a carefully selected audience-those known to not cause trouble.

And Peacekeepers. Many, many Peacekeepers.

Snow stood before them, giving a speech geared towards Ariadne’s winning. A mellow girl, a bright girl who found her place in the Games and bloomed.

“Not all of those who come here, unfortunately, choose to be welcomed into our circle.”

Lifting his hand, he gestured for Tate to be brought in from back stage.

“This is bullshit!-” Tate doesn’t remain quiet like he probably should. “You people can just bring people back from the dead in the arena- what’s it matter if anyone else gets hurt? Huh?” His eyes are glaring at every face that looks at him.

He struggles with his hands bound behind his back, two Peacekeepers holding his chicken-winged arms as they bring him onto the stage.

Tate is forced to stand facing the crowd. He doesn’t care how they see him, what they think of him and this shows in the disgust on his face. “So what-”

Before he can say another word the zip sound is heard by those within a few feet of him and he collapses. The small hole on his forehead, bleeding, the only sign of what happened.

“Those who do not appreciate what we do for them...will not be tolerated. If we offer you our gracious hospitality, and you attack those who help you...” He pauses as the crowds shocked silence descends into rabble, waiting for silence again.

However, when the silence came, it wasn't due to anyone waiting for him. The televisions flanking the stage and all across Panem suddenly flickered, before turning to static.

There was a moment, before the screen turned black. And then another before a voice started speaking. It was clearly computer generated, a soothing female tone with no inflections, no Capitol accent. Immediately, across the city, those in control of the Panem broadcast began to scramble, rushing to shut things off.

“This bloodshed proves nothing, this is all just a new game for the Capitol, this is all an attempt to draw your eye away from the power you have, this is-”

And then the power cut out entirely, sending the whole city into Darkness.

In the darkness, Snow was rushed out under protection. The peacekeepers rushed in, trying to hold down peace and order.

Comments

[knottherapy]

The public execution shocks even Finnick. Sure it had been a 'private' event, but all of Panem saw it. This is certainly a turn of unexpected events if the President is willing to kill tributes and put it on display like he is being made an example of. No, that was the point. To make an example of anyone who crossed the Capitol even if in the smallest of ways.

The darkness seems to have everyone in a panic, although once his eyes adjust he is only focused on one thing- making sure Annie is safe.

Right when the blackout starts

[polyturtle]

Well. He wasn't expecting that. Well, either thing, actually. He couldn't bring himself to feel too sorry for Tate was he dead for real, though?, but when the lights went out, Donatello slipped into ninja mode easily, ready to find his allies.

This must have been the reason so many Peacekeepers had suddenly cropped up. It was an act of terrorism, or at least sabotage. Still, whoever was responsible, Donatello had to give them credit. This was something he'd have done in their shoes. Well, whoever "they" were. He had his suspicions. He could analyze it later.

For now, he looked for his comrades. Well, maybe not literally "looked". It was what his master called "ninja sense", but what science called "blindsight" - the ability to neurologically process sight perception even when one's ability to use their ocular cortex to see was done away with.

In that sense, Donatello could see perfectly fine. It was everyone else that was too busy panicking to allow their senses to adjust to the blackness. So he bobbed and weaved his way around, looking for those like Ariadne (she was getting ready to stand up from the table) or Lottie (she was getting ready to get under the table).

[fire_punk]

Kevin froze in his seat, his hand going to his neck. No... No, he'd been brought back after the Arena. And before that Jonathan had been supposed to take him somewhere safe. He'd thought he was at least safe here while he was out of the Arena. "Jonathan?!" he called, knowing that the Djinn wouldn't come but instinctively calling for the one person he could trust to protect him.

[mudbloodhater]

In his attempt to get out of that place as soon as he possibly could, Draco chose that moment to shove past Kevin's seat. He had been pushed that way by someone else in a shrieking panic, hurling a muttered insult their way as he caught himself on the back of the chair, barely even realising there was someone there until he accidentally tripped over him.

[fire_punk]

Kevin jumped as someone tripped over him. He shoved the person off of him, not wanting anyone to touch him. Touch was... It was bad. Always. Well, except the time Joanne held him. He stood about to run from the room when he realized it was the blond boy from the Arena. "You again?"

OTA - shortly after blackout

[hartless_cowboy]

Lindsey, seated with some of the other Tributes, strangers, had watched the proceedings with adept attention. No signs of either approval or disapproval displayed on his face as none of the people meant anything to him yet. Even the public execution didn't draw a reaction from him besides giving a sense of familiarity and understanding to the sort of world Panem was.

The black out and the hacker message though, that was considerably more interesting.

"Trouble in the seeming paradise," Lindsey commented in the darkness and waited to see if anything else would happen.

Re: OTA - shortly after blackout

[retrieverchef]

Eliot couldn't say he was sorry to see that Tribute die. The kid was a sadist. But the timing, the spectacle, and the message the president surrounded the death with set the blood in his veins boiling with rage. Hospitality? What the Capital had done for them? Kidnap them, force them to kill each other, and force him and who knew how many others into prostitution.

He caught himself before he accidentally broke his glass. He had to keep that mask of contentment in place or his brother and friends would pay the price. He took a deep breath and walked quickly over to his brother, arriving just in time to hear his comment. "Why do you think they brought us here?" He shook his head. "We need to get back to the Training Center."

[hartless_cowboy]

Lindsey didn't need to mask anything, he didn't contain any of the anger Eliot had. He did look up bemused when Eliot came around though. "Thought they needed an audience," he said, glancing around at the chaos happening.

"You sure it's a good idea to get going right now?" Given that the highest authority was having rebel and hacker problems, Lindsey would hazard a guess that they wanted to keep things controlled. Having their audience all scattered might be dangerous, especially with all those armed guards around.

[buildingreality]

She still couldn't believe that she had won. That she wouldn't have to go back into the Arenas and try to kill her way out of things. She all but ignored most of Snow's speech.

Something was going on here, Ariadne knew that much - she could tell by the security detail, intended probably to not keep them safe, but to keep them sober, secure, and less likely to riot. Or whatever else there was to do at the Crowning Ceremony with so few of them there. She wouldn't be surprised if something happened, not after the last few ceremonies.

And then Tate was shot.

It wasn't like she liked him any, but it was still unexpected. Her eyes went wide, and she began to rise from the table, everything in seeming slow motion as the new broadcast interrupted Snow; she was frozen in place, her heart pounding in her ears. But she needed to move, she needed to do something, get out of there, get everyone else out of there. Who knew what might happen under the cover of darkness, with those Peacekeepers trying to 'keep the peace'. Or whatever it was they called it nowadays.

[polyturtle]

"Ariadne!"

And then suddenly Don was right there. It was as if the crowds had barely bothered him, and they probably didn't. It also helped that he managed to leap from table to table.

"Here, this way! Follow my voice!"

[buildingreality]

She couldn't see much of anything, really - she still needed a few moments for her eyes to adjust - but she certainly recognised Don's voice through the din. She was still used to hearing it often and always, as she had for the last little while, and it was easy for her to slip away from the table, pushing past people towards Don as best she could. Keeping low to the ground, just as she had in the Games, trying to keep herself alive.

She stumbled a bit, tripping over someone else trying to get by her, and merely shoved them aside - if anyone asked, it was residual reactions slipping in from the Arena. It hadn't been that long, after all.

"Don-" Ariadne started to call back, cutting herself off before someone else found her.

[mudbloodhater]

So far, Draco had liked the parties that had he had attended. Granted, so far, those parties hadn't involved public execution.

He didn't do well with this sort of thing at the best of times, and right then, he didn't trust anyone not to try and stab him in the back while they could. Opting to get the hell out of dodge while he could, while he was still all but completely defenceless, the blond was off like a shot, shoving people aside as he ran for where he thought he remembered the doors to be. He didn't have much respect for anyone there, and it clearly showed.

Oh why not

[polyturtle]

"Hey!" Suddenly Draco was in Don's sights as he continued looking for people to take out of the insanity. "Wait-"

Oh, he's not listening. Well, there was always a solution for that. And for Donatello that was to simply leap right into the way of the kid who was, what, a year younger? so that the kid would bump right into him.

Which was fine - Donatello wasn't very easily shoved away.

hell yeah

[mudbloodhater]

He certainly heard the comments, but without anything to suggest whom it was Don was talking to, Draco wasn't about to stop. Not that he had much of a choice at that point, as he found himself very nearly hurrying into a wall. At least, he'd thought it a wall until it didn't feel very much like a wall under his hands - he'd tried to catch himself before he accidentally broke his nose or something, and found very quickly that this was not one.

"What the hell-?" Draco demanded immediately, starting to push off, trying to dodge around Don.

During the blackout

[tailforbrains]

Being part demon, Neeshka actually hasd pretty good night vision. It helped when actually casting "darkness"-- the one spell she knew and had the ability to work-- and for the whole sneaking around to backstab people thing. So when the lights went out, she adjusted quickly, and ducked out of her chair.

The shot had rattled her, she had to admit. Would they bring that Tribute back? Could they, in the non-magical (as she assumed it) non-arena space? But there was nothing to help rattled nerves than the familiar, so she sidled away from the Tributes' tables and back to the guests' tables, a piece of fried mozzarella sticking out of her mouth in the darkness.

She was sneaking through the panic lifting the purses of those compliant and now terrified guests.

Re: During the blackout

[the_marshal]

Wyatt had no desire to be crushed beneath the paniced stampede and he certainly wouldn't be in any position to help if he were dead, so as soon as the lights had gone out, he'd found his way to a wall (which he wasn't sure) and had put his back to it.

Blood-boiling - no, he wasn't any sort of stranger to public execution, but that had had nothing to do with justice - he waited, the screams and yelps just making him feel more helpless, more useless, and deeping his anger....

It wasn't so much the attempt at his pocket that he felt, but more the sense that someone - something - was far too close, far too still to be appropriate. Instinctively, he reached out, hand striking like a snake, and grabbed a hold of the first soft thing it encountered.

"Whatever it is yer thinkin' about doin', I'd reconsider," he growled.

[tailforbrains]

What he grabbed was a tail, one that tugged against his grip and tried to wriggle free. Neeshka, after all, wasn't dumb enough to try and rob a Tribute when not in the Arena. None of them had anything to take, after all!

"Let me go!" Neeshka hissed at him, recognizing the voice and the angles of his face in the darkness. "I don't mean to be doing anything to you, geez!"

[gruesome]

The darkness is a relief to Some, and he was on top of a table in an instant, standing to his full height as he looked for trouble beyond the sudden panic. His vision clearer than ever, he watched the peacekeepers warily, ready to intercede if he saw any of them moving against a fellow tribute.

[tailforbrains]

Night-sighted at least in part, Neeshka could hardly miss the multi-legged monster hopping up onto the table. She had accepted his appearance by now, at least, and wasn't about to attack him on reflex. She sidled away from the banquet guest she'd just snitched a gold bracelet off of, and up to crouch beside his perch.

"What're you watching for?" she hissed at him curiously, tucking the pretty bit away in a pocket for later fencing. If she could find a fence, anyway.

[greymatter]

Grey was where he usually was when he found himself ushered to a Capitol 'party'. At a food table. He had no interest in interacting with anyone nor with whatever was going on with the Capitol's 'president' and his crowning speech.

It isn't until an angrily shouting Tate is dragged on stage that Grey's interest finally turns towards it. And then, just as quickly as he's been brought out, the unruly teen has crumpled to the stage floor, eyes staring blankly. Oh. Well. Now he's listening.

The scientist blinks and turns to look at a nearby screen as static and then darkness invades it, an unfamiliar voice filling the room. Oh. Now this is interesting. He's just begun to grin as the power cuts out.

Panic inevitably descends upon the room, and he struggles to remain in place rather than be swept along with those stampeding for the exits. As his eyes adjust to the darkness, he spots an odd silhouette on a nearby table that slowly becomes familiar. "Some!" He greets cheerfully. He has to shout to be heard above everyone else.

[cowardfacinghappiness]

Momoko couldn't help but flinch as Tate was dragged onstage, just the sight of him inspiring terrible memories. It made their living arrangements rather uncomfortable. Which might not be a problem any longer, she thought absently, watching Tate fall to the floor with an odd detached feeling. She'd watched so many people die, including Tate though only on film in his case, she didn't eve register it as odd until she remembered they weren't in the Arena.

Before she had time to process this, to decide if she believed Tate was going to stay dead, to even decided if she would be relieved or horrified or disappointed at not pulling the trigger herself, the message started.

"How stupid," she whispered just before the lights went out, a knee-jerk reaction to what she considered a ridiculous display that only brought unneeded attention, and then she was letting Arena instincts take over, slipping under the table to hide until the panic was over.

[electriccandlelight]

Valeria was paying little attention to the speeches. She'd been hearing them all her life and recently nearly every other month or so and she'd long lost interest. She was therefore even more shocked at the execution than she might have been had she been tracking what was being said and she didn't have time to truly process what it could mean before the screens flickered and the power soon after went out.

She was a longtime follower of the 'do before you think' way of life so she was moving before she realized it, shoving her way to the wall as best she could remember it. She took a moment to huddle in a nice, relatively safe corner, the darkness overwhelming her, until she suddenly remembered something.

Her dress was laced with lights. She'd been saving turning them on for later in the evening, when things were slower and it would be better appreciated, but this was an even better time and without even thinking of possible repercussions she flicked them on, becoming a tiny, faint beacon in the darkness. Now let's hope the batteries lasted until she found a way out.

[tailforbrains]

Valeria was one of those people Neeshka had marked out in the darkness as someone worthy of stealing from. She had a job, obviously, since she'd seen her around the building, and was dressed nice, and wasn't one of the tributes. Then she was terrified and huddling by the wall.

So, once she escaped Wyatt and his kind-of-cute-kind-of-annoying officiousness, she found the girl again. And was just about to dip a hand into what she hoped was a pocket when the whole area suddenly lit up. She jumped back with a little squeak.

Pre-Ceremony/Blackout

[the_marshal]

It was officially Wyatt's first crowning. Yes, there had been a winner last time 'round, but there hadn't been all... this. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to be doing, or even what he was supposed to be feeling.

No, he didn't have any particular ill will toward Ariadne despite their history, and he was glad to see a decent sort get out..., but he was still going back.

But that wasn't her fault. And wasn't it better it was him, rather than her?

It left him all wrong-footed. All guilt, and confusion, frustration, and an impotent anger as he stood by himself, nursing a drink and eyeing the distant stage like he didn't trust it.

[cowardfacinghappiness]

Momoko was dealing with much the same emotional turmoil as Wyatt, with the added bonus that she was a petulant teenager unused to someone she cares about--relatively speaking--receiving good fortune that Momoko wanted for herself. It was a confusing mess and only made more confusing when she spotted Wyatt in his own little circle of solitude across the room.

She stared speculatively for a long moment before she made her way over to him. Sure he brought up bad memories, but who didn't around here? Maybe he could at least extend that circle to include her, since whatever he was doing to keep people away wasn't working for her. Momoko had already 'accidentally' tripped two particularly social people with her parasol and she didn't think she could get away with it for much longer.

And if she was lucky, he'd also keep quiet and they could stew in negative emotions together in silence.