thecapitol | The Crowning of Mindy McReady

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The Crowning of Mindy McReady

Who| Everyone ~~who's anyone.~~
What| The Crowning.
Where| A warehouse on the edge of town.
When| Starting from early evening till late into the night.
Warnings/Notes| Be sure to check the linked thread for plot purposes, even if you don't tag into it.

The party is brightly colored.

The theme, subtly, is super heroes. Boldly paints city scapes are splattered across the walls, and hallways are made to look like dingy, potentially crime ridden alleys. From the upper walkways of the warehouse, party goers can get hooked into harnesses and swing out over the dance floor. Above them, tributes and VIPS can find themselves on a clear plastic dance floor levitated above everything, looking like they're hanging in air.

Masks are passed out in plenty, and capes are easy to find, while brightly colored drinks themed around super powers are plentiful. None of them actually work, but many of the Capitol people are happy to pretend, mocking super strength or invisibility with each new beverage.

Under the dance floor a catacomb of tunnels and rooms full of obstacles is splashed with black light receptive colors. Party goers are given vests and laser guns, marked green for villains and red for heros, and set loose to hunt each other in the laser tags playground. The screens in the dance floor keep a running tally of which side is winning, displaying the players on the screens around the room, along with clips from the arenas.

About half way through the night, everyone is gathered to the main stage for a special announcement.

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"Eh, it might just be me. People say I'm image-conscious, or something." It's the passive-aggressive way other Tributes call her shallow, and Venus tries to either assume people here don't understand how the Game is played or that they're jealous that she's better at cultivating a persona than she is. As such, there is hardly any bitterness in her voice.

"Been doing this for almost a year now. Three Arenas. I guess the higher ups like me." She points a hand up like she's gesturing to God.

Hanji's lips twitch away from the smile she's trying to hold. She's constantly reminded that they're here to fight to the death, not for some weird vacation. Not that she'd want one anyway, considering what she'd been getting ready to do back home. She sets her glass down with a solid 'clunk', expression settling into something more neutral, a little more irritated.

"It seems so wasteful to have us fighting to the death over and over. What's the point of it?"

Entertainment she can understand. Wrapping her head around it is a bit more difficult.

Venus laughs, picking up the slack in Hanji's smile and using for her own. "Don't they have storytelling in your world?"

She grabs another strawberry. "In my opinion, we're giving people something to care about in a world where they don't know how to love right anymore."

"We have storytelling," Hanji replies with a shrug, "We're used to death, as well. But there's a point to it - it's for a purpose. Death can teach, but it's for something, for humanity, for a purpose."

She shakes her head, "This doesn't feel like it actually teaches anyone. But maybe I just haven't been here long enough."

"Nah, people are just really bad at it here. The way I see it, if you're going to die no matter what, you might as well make it the most incredible thing you ever do. But I'm kind of alone in that opinion." She shrugs in turn. She's sure her belated teammate Dead Girl would disagree. "What does death teach you?"

"I'd rather avoid dying if I can... even if they can bring us back," Hanji lifts her glass and takes a larger sip at that rather sobering thought. Death? Death was all around her back home, but she'd managed to survive (against the odds). What about here?

Venus' question distracts her.

"That depends on what you're trying to learn at the moment!"

Her reply is much more upbeat, for some reason.

"Oh?" Venus cocks her head, surprise to see such a sudden change in Hanji's expression - from sullen and professional and vaguely confused to peppy, almost. "What do you usually try to learn, then, I guess?"

She uses this moment to start loading up her skewer with about forty different kinds of fruit because hell yeah fruit.

Hanji actually pauses to chow down on a platter of oranges. After a moment, she napkins the juice off of her chin and then shrugs, "Anything I can about the titans. You don't have them here, though, so I guess I'll have to try and figure out the Capitol and the Arena."

And the people running it. Mostly them.

Venus watches Hanji curiously as she eats, with a little bit of distaste that she manages to hide. Hey, she likes fruit too.

Then she steps on the landmine. "What's a titan?"

"Titans?" Hanji starts to get excited. Her grin slowly widens. At least the people here are curious about her particular obsession.

"They're fascinating creatures - giant humanoid monsters that have an astonishing variety of sub-types! Their chief characteristic is their single-minded dedication to devouring human beings-"

She'll keep going.

Venus does that polite face where it's clear that she has very little idea what Hanji's talking about, but she nods. Do go on, Hanji.

(Honestly, she just feels like Hanji's going to give the Capitol ideas with giant pseudo-cannibalistic people. They could probably do a different subtype for each District.)

Hanji proceeds to go on. And on. And on. In fact, she's fairly determined to make sure that Venus has a solid understanding of the titans and their place in her world, including a mind-numbing breakdown of the various experiments that they've tried on captive titans to try and better understand them.

"-which is why I always attempt to communicate with the ones we capture, just in case. You never know when you might find the one that can actually speak-"

Venus has a remarkably strong ability to feign interest, which is the only thing that keeps her from backing slowly away as Hanji proceeds to become almost manic in her, well, dissertation about these monsters. For a moment, Venus wonders if this is what going to college would feel like, all lectures on things that don't actually matter.

At least, not to her.

"How do you know we don't have them here," she interjects.

"No one here seems to know what I'm talking about when I bring them up," Hanji explains, "But... hmm. It's possible they exist, they've just never been encountered."

Which is a rather disturbing thought.

"I wonder if that's true..."

At least she's not lecturing anymore.

"Maybe they just have a different name." Although Venus isn't certain that she wouldn't know about them if carnivorous giant man-creatures did exist.

"I mean, I've only been outside the Capitol once, there could be anything out there."

"True... But you'd think they'd mention them. They were a huge threat at home, after all!"

She paused to think, "Then again, their technology is much more advanced... Maybe they have ways of dealing with them that we don't!"

Now that was a hell of an idea.

"I wouldn't be surprised. They made a dragon in one of the Arenas, apparently, and had no trouble controlling that." Venus pauses as she sees Cruentus and Mindy approaching the stage. "Oh, I thin it's time for a speech."

"A dragon? Someone told me that, but I didn't think-"

Oh, so there is. She shrugs.

"I guess we have to listen to it, don't we?"

"For better or for worse."

She listens, and to her credit she doesn't show anything on her face but an amiable smile at being selected as the 'favorite' from her District. She turns to Hanji.

"It's been nice to meet you, but as you can see, I've got a lot of planning to do before they throw me back in the ring." She hands a chocolate-covered mango on a toothpick to Hanji. "Have a nice night. Those are my favorite."

Oh. That was... unexpected. Hanji's expression wavers somewhere between cheery and judgmental, but she settles on a smile. Brave face and all that. She plucks the toothpick from Venus with a shrug, "Thanks!"

Because really, fruit's delicious. She offers her free hand for a handshake, "Hey - good luck!"

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The Crowning of Mindy McReady

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