thecapitol | (no subject)

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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.

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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.

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).

Edited 2012-10-07 19:17 (UTC)

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.

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.

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."

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.

"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!"

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.

"Right here!" And indeed, he was right there, quickly going for Ariadne. "There's an exit over here, no one's rushing for it."

At least not right now. On the other hand,most people were too busy panicking to realize anything.

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.

She reached out, hand brushing against his arm, and she was immediately reassured that nothing was going to happen. After all, he had sacrificed himself so she could win, or so it had seemed - that certainly hadn't gone over her head, even as she lay there dazed and confused. He had been protecting her the whole way through.

That wasn't to say that she'd let anything happen to him now, when the likelihood of being brought back was severely lower. "Where does it lead?" She asked, dropping her voice once they were close enough that she could without fear of him not hearing her. "The blackout probably doesn't affect just us."

"I'm not sure." Don's eyes narrowed. "At the least, we need to get out of the panic zone. There might be other rooms this way. If so, we can get some the other Tributes and such over here safely, at least until the power comes back on."

It was a big complex, but there had to be other rooms that were safe from the pandemonium. Even a bathroom would be an improvement over the banquet hall right now.

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.

"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.

"Let's go," Ariadne stated without hesitation, hand firmly on his arm to keep them from losing each other. It would be too hard to find everyone else, even though her eyes were now adjusting. Casting a glance over her shoulder, she couldn't see anyone else she knew in the panic, but she didn't think they'd left yet.

"We'll find something."

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.

With a nod, Don led the way. It was kind of funny - even so far away from home, in this new, horrible world, it was almost like it was just another training session with Master Splinter. He can almost imagine his father figure watching in seiza as Don and his brothers were adjusting their bandanas, turning them into blindfolds.

Do not use your eyes. You must now use your other senses to discern your surroundings. The rat's voice echoed through Don's mind. In place of your sight, hone everything else.

And it was still quite dark, and almost impossible to see, but Donatello could almost feel his surroundings. There were doors. And quietly Donatello opened the first one he found.

"Wait, don't!" Don might as well have been a wall to Draco. Instantly he recognized the voice as one of the Tributes. "You're going to go into a cesspool if you go this way. If you want to keep safe, stay with me."

"A cesspool?" Draco demanded, pausing briefly in his attempts to shove by. "Leave me alone, I'm finding my room again. I think I can manage that simple little task."

Ariadne, on the other hand, wasn't used to this sort of thing; she doesn't know the first thing about using different senses, but she knows how to follow people and get out of danger. Cobb taught her that much.

Her free hand was held out as they hurried, brushing against walls, gently moving other people aside when she ran into them. She found that even past that first door, everything was still dark; the Peacekeepers hadn't noticed their escape, and she wondered if they would mind. She was, after all, the Victor, but at this point, she wasn't sure if that mattered any more.

"Do you really think that Peacekeepers will just let you leave this building?" Don frowned. "If anything trying to get past them will only make it worse."

Did he really need to remind this kid about what happened five minutes ago on stage?

"So what makes you so perfect?" He spat, already on the defensive, wishing the wand in his pocket was better for something than it was, rather than remaining a useless stick, good for nothing more than sentiment. "What makes you so sure you can get out past them?" Certainly, he remembered exactly what happened on that stage - it was vivid in his mind, but Malfoys were always on the winning side of things.

"Never said I was perfect." Shrug. Even as panicked people jumped past him. "And getting past them wouldn't be conducive to our overall health. The better alternative is to find a place far enough away to avoid the stampede, and close enough to ensure the Peacekeepers don't think we ran off."

Draco glanced over his shoulder, swallowing to contain and bite back his own growing panic and uncertainty, before staring back at Don, part of him unwilling to believe that he was talking to a bloody turtle, of all fucking things. "What should they even care if we run off? What are we going to do, revolt?" He snorted, a derisive sort of sound that hid his wavering voice.

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.

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Right when the blackout starts

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OTA - shortly after blackout

Re: OTA - shortly after blackout

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Oh why not

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hell yeah

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yup

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During the blackout