thecapitol | 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Jessica took the glass from the stranger and drank it, not bothering to wonder who he was or where it came from. She was safe in a room full of murderers. If he tried anything, at the very least Maximus and Barbie would break his neck.

"Neither." She smiled mischievously. "Or maybe both. I dunno. What do you like better?"

In reality, she wanted to laugh in his face over his terrible outfit, but she was curious about him and wanted to know who he was before dismissing him completely.

That was, well, more female attention than he was used to. Topher took a drink and looked out over the crowd to try and stop any inappropriate image from popping into his head. "Not much into comic books these days, not that there's an over abundance to choose from here. Don't they get tired of the same old Tribute tropes?"

Yeah, he'd seen some story about him and Punchy going on some adventure together. Not exactly the sort of superheroes he thought about when he was a kid.

"You're a, a Victor, right? This is like old hat to you."

"I am," she said. It would never really be old hat to her, but if she could fake it, she would. That was part of the Victor game, unfortunately. "I've been to a few of these parties. They've all got the same agenda. Except before it used to be more about the Districts. Now it's about the Tributes themselves." Thus the gaudy theme. Her own crowning had had an electrical theme, with lots of strobe lights and neon colors. In comparison, it almost seemed quaint.

"You're a Tribute. I don't know your district though. You should tell me."

"The, uh, dirty one." He was never going to respect a district that made their 'living' through manual labor. Manual labor that was underground. Hadn't those people heard of technology? "12 or whatever. I was in a different one before. Wherever they make the clothes." He glances down at his costume and frowns. "I'm undecided on which District likes to embarrass us more."

Jessica's laugh was short and cutting. She didn't really dislike any of the Districts, but she felt a special attachment to her own and a pride in seeing Three rise while the others fell. "They're probably really glad to have you representing their interests."

"Sorry, I missed the sob story, but from what I hear they had their time to shine, so I don't really feel obligated to represent anyone's interests but my own." Topher didn't hate his District, but he did feel a little frustration towards them as he wondered if he would have ended up here if they didn't even exist. Clearly, in a strange way, this was their fault.

"That attitude'll get you places around here. Who the hell is mentoring you and why the hell haven't they explained the whole, 'you piss people off, you die' thing yet?" She felt sorry for the people in Twelve suddenly, realizing that they were down yet another decent Tribute. It sucked having ones who didn't give a damn about the people they were supposed to feed.

"Oh yes, because I'm just dying from the lack of attention people out there should give me." He didn't really mean to be rude, he just didn't care what people with little to no power or ability to better his life thought of him. Topher had priorities and those priorities were all about himself.

He waved a hand in the direction of Katniss and Peeta, "I haven't officially spoken to them, not that we have much to talk about."

"You'll end up dying over and over again if you bite the hand that feeds you." But she shrugged, not exactly giving giving a damn either. She felt vague pity toward Katniss and Peeta though. They had enough trouble without this guy acting up.

"Look," he sighed. "I don't hate them or anything, but the reality is we're here because of them. Whatever happened in the past put us here now."

"You're here because the folks in charge of this place have gone off the deep end," she corrected, hissing out the words, just in case someone was listening in. "Those kids were given a chance to save their lives and they took it. Don't you dare blame them for what's happened to you."

"Ah, so sacrificing a few strangers is okay because, hey, they already went through the horror, now it's someone else's turn." His voice stayed pleasant even though there was a lot of resentment at everyone, including the Districts. "Next time they decide to have a little hoo-rah they need to make sure to finish it, unless they're into bringing outsiders into their mess."

"If you're so gung-ho to spare yourself, you'd better figure a way out of this, honey. The people in the Districts don't exactly see the downside to saving their own children from the bloodshed, you know." Her expression went cold as she slinked around him in a wide circle. "But you'll learn your place, eventually. And if you don't... Well, at least it's not my neck on the line when they come down on you."

"Believe me, I'm already figuring that out." Because like Hell he was going to be stuck in that place forever. "My place? Aren't we high and mighty because we managed to off some kid with school supplies." He wasn't going to mention her other survival strategy. "People do what they need to to survive and if that means tossing the generous people of the Districts under the proverbial bus, then so be it."

"I've earned my place, pumpkin. Like you said, I did what I needed to to survive. And I'd toss any of you Tributes under the bus if that meant the people in my district would live another day. That's what you don't seem to get. Your life belongs to your district. You're property of Panem now. Get used to it."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Good luck next arena. You're going to need it."

And with that, she sauntered away.

The Crowning of Mindy McReady

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