The Crowning of Mindy McReady

[etcircenses]

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.

Comments

[revvinguptheharley]

She couldn't help but eye him suspiciously for that.

"Yeah I imagine you don't do much you don't wanna, do ya bright eyes?" She pondered. "I mean except for being a "Guest" of the Capitol. None of us wanted that but boy were we surprised to see how super fun it was!"

She offered an unstable grin with wide eyes, tilting her head just slightly to unnerve everyone except Wesker. She knew he was too solid to be bothered in the slightest by her antics. This show was now primarily to amuse herself and unsettle the sponsors.

[president_evil]

He snorted, an inelegant sound somehow made so coming from him.

"Oh, yes," he agreed, teeth flashing in his shark's grin. "It's been a regular festival."

Not that there weren't things he appreciated about the Capitol, there were, in fact, many. He just hadn't enjoyed being bumped back down the food chain after so long at the top.

Albert Wesker gave the orders.

He wasn't some beast on a chain.

He was no one's puppet.

[revvinguptheharley]

"I find it hard to imagine you at any kind of a festival. A carnival maybe but only so far as carnivals can be scary."

She was a prime example of that.

"Did you EVER have a normal life? Or were you this solid brick of low voice and sunglasses even when you were a kid?"

[president_evil]

Wesker wasn't one to linger on the past. Especially something so very far back in it. Especially something that meant so little to him.

His childhood, as everything, had merely been a function of a company. His parents employees. He'd been groomed from the beginning -- his future never a question.

He had always been meant for great things.

"That would depend on your definition of normal," he replied simply. "I found nothing unusual about it."

[revvinguptheharley]

She arched an eyebrow, not entirely satisfied with the answer. "Well go on then, what was it like? Did you grow up in suburbia? Did you have any pets? Were you sent to juvie after choking our your baby sitter?"

Because what harm could come from antagonizing someone who'd already killed her once?

[president_evil]

"I might ask you the same, Mrs. Quinzel," he said, without missing a beat. (Wesker was a firm believer in turnabout being fair play.) "Just how does one go from doctor to..."

He gestured to her getup, all skin-tight two-tone leather and painted face.

"Clowns."

[revvinguptheharley]

She smirked delightedly. As if she hadn't told the story a million times.

"Oh we all do crazy things when we're in love. You do know what love is right?"

You never knew with guys like him.

"It's the timeless tale of a beautiful up and coming young doctor falling madly...and I do mean madly, in love with her patient. And once I put together my first costume my life was changed forever. I broke my puddin' out of the nut house and we had our first crime spree."

[president_evil]

"Oh, yes," he murmured dryly. "That old chestnut."

Which was a bit unfair really. Wesker had, in fact, enjoyed many a similar tale himself. Only, he'd been on the side of Harley's - puddin'. Watching with amusement as someone ruined their life in an effort to please him, to impress him.

The best part was, when those with enough self-preservation left, near the end, when they realized the mistake they had made, and, how there was nothing they could do to change it.

"I'm sure it was quite the sight to behold."

[revvinguptheharley]

"Oh it was! We did everything from jay-walking to grand theft wrecking ball. We blew things up, set them on fire, and before I knew it I was in my very first cell!" She sighed wrapping her arms around herself like a hug.

"The first of many nights of chaos and madness. It was like the end of one life and the beginning of another that was much more fun! Who could resist?"

[president_evil]

"Your first cell?" he asked, amused. "Meaning, one assumes, you had more than one?"

Another out there as gifted as Project Alice when it came to the art of escape? He wouldn't have believed it possible.

[revvinguptheharley]

"Oh for sure." She chuckled as if he had just asked her about her daily commute or something mundane.

"I've been in and out of that Asylum more times and different ways then I can count. And that's not including all the times it's been blown up, rebuilt and refurbished."

"I mean Valentine's day alone they should just know not to lock my cell. I've sent more guards on paid medical leave after breaking them to get out on Valentines day then any other day of the year."

[president_evil]

"Valentine's Day?" His head tipped, strong teeth flashing again. "And here I was expecting April Fool's."

It seemed to Wesker that there was an opportunity missed there.

[revvinguptheharley]

She smirked, mildly amused "that was always Mister J's special day. I couldn't step on his toes in planning the party for THAT day. But Valentines day was my special day for a special date with him~"

She sighed clearly lovesick from the memories alone.

"You ever been in love before?" Because she's heard of stranger romantic obsessions.

[president_evil]

"Well, they say the key to any good relationship is compromise," he replied, increasingly amused.

As she reminisced, he gestured to a passing Avox, calling the woman over to exchange his empty glass for a full one.

"I can't say I have," he said, giving the new, violently orange brew a curious swirl in the glass, peering above his lenses to watch the color as it lapped. "I'm afraid I've never found the time."

Or found much purpose in it. Devoting oneself to another. Loyalty.

Highly overrated.

[revvinguptheharley]

"Well that's just tragic!" Harley looked affronted but not surprised.

"I mean come on meat! You've got al the time in the world now as a Mentor. You must have time to find some poor desperate soul to twist to your whims and in return receive affection."

Which was as close to love as Harley thought Wesker would handle.

"Surely you have some foolish fangirls writing you letters of adoration? Even the weakest most boring tributes get those!"

[president_evil]

"I believe the word you're looking for there is 'obsession,'" he mused, head tipping. "That, I assure you, I am acquainted with, though I'm afraid I haven't had time to indulge that either. Minding one's tributes is a full time affair."

Never mind gutting and toppling a government with his own hands.

Yes, he kept busy.

[revvinguptheharley]

"You say obsession, I say classical romance!" She purred with a lovelorn look on her face.

"Seriously? Full time? You can't possibly be spending every waking minute tending to them. I mean come on! How many actually spend time training with you? I'd figure they'd be afraid to."

He just seemed to radiate danger.

[president_evil]

"If only it were that simple, perhaps," Wesker sighed, sounding hard done-by indeed. "Teaching someone the how's of killing another being is quite simple." many tributes, after all, shared all the same weakness; all the same soft, vulnerable organs and arteries. "It's the mentality, so many lack. The drive and the determination to do whatever it takes to be more than what they are. It's a constant struggle."

In more ways than one.

How could he ever trust in a soldier to break an enemy here, where the rules of life and death were so much less fluid, when they couldn't find it in themselves when their opponents were popping back up like daises.

[revvinguptheharley]

"Really?" Harley tilted her head with a curious look and the tails on her hat bounced accordingly.

"I never have a problem trying to get the kids in my district to fight. Or my friends. Maybe you just lack the empathy to draw it out of them?"

Or maybe he wasn't as irritating as she was.

[president_evil]

"District Nine has been one of the most decorated, since these new games began," Wesker said, head turning enough to be able to find the newest victor amongst her court. "The very first arena was one by a tribute from Nine, though her reign was short. Now, the district takes another crown."

He turned back, that small, decisive movement of his head, lights flashing strangely off his pale hair.

"They say it's random, who goes where, but sometimes, I can't help but wonder."

[revvinguptheharley]

"You too? Yeah I was thinkin' about that."

Well might as well seeing as he was so opposed to talking about himself.

"I mean it's not like District Nine was one of the most popular Districts BEFORE the Never Ending Quell. And now look at us! It can't just be because of me and Donnie."

[president_evil]

"Districts of lions; districts of lambs," Wesker mused, a soft, handsome purr.

His mouth pulled.

"With a few outliers to throw off the curve, of course, to keep it interesting for the betters."

[revvinguptheharley]

"It's all one big lesson in communications and entertainment. The psychologist in me is thrilled." She twirled a finger half heartedly.

"Could use some more lions around here though." She winked "Too many lambs doesn't make for fun watching in my opinion."

[president_evil]

"Well we wouldn't want all that hard work on that degree to go all to waste now, would we?"

It was as close to teasing as Wesker ever got. Playful, really, for him.

(A cat with a mouse, tormenting it. Taking pleasure before the kill.)

He sipped from his glass, the drink glowing on his lips - as if he were made of the fire that occasionally flashed in his eyes.

"Another arena, another victor, I've no doubt a new crop of fresh tributes aren't far from hand. Perhaps we'll get lucky."

[revvinguptheharley]

"Maybe." Harley realized he had to be right. It had been some time since she'd seen a pile of tributes coming in at once and some of the districts were feeling kinda thin.

"Of course that's all relative to what we're tryin' to get done around here. Playing the game or playing other games." Because it all had to be games.