The Crowning of Tony Stark

[etcircenses]

Who| Everyone.
What| The Crowning of Tony Stark.
Where| The New Capitol Stark Expo!
When| Friday, late afternoon into the evening.
Notes| This event is mandatory for all Tributes to attend. Even if you do not tag in, your character will attend this party.  Peacekeepers will be on high alert, so no funny business.
WARNINGS| Alcoholism / References to Alcoholism.  

The Capitol might be known for its extravagance, but Stark Expos have never skimped on a show. Combining the two together could only be a recipe for the most wild indulgences. The center theater takes styling after a arc reactor, with glass ceiling and glowing blue lights set right within the metal and putting a glow to the sky. Lightshows go off on the main stage, the stark logo overhead and a massive screen displaying the Panem flag and Tony Stark's image just behind the dancing Ironettes. A circle plattform going off from the stage, clearly reserved for the guest of honor, features a design Panem's bird in red, gold, and glowing blue.

A globe is featured in the outside gardens, showing off a map of Panem, and the park is filled with artistic statues of destroyed Iron Man amror. But there's no quiet here, not with the fireworks going off all night and the consistent playing of music that is not but sounds an awful lot like that of Daft Punk, Eifel 65, ACDC, and one other song that breaks them up.

Various shows can be found about the gardens, including display models of some of Tony Stark's old weapons and Iron Man suits. Further along guests may find the Avengers display, featuring large portraits of the Avengers and their allies, large red x's going over greyed out portraits of those deemed dead, including Phill Coulson, Natasha Romanoff, and Thor. Along with these portraits can be found the Stark family tree, featuring the Victor Tony Stark and all his relations including apparent son Dave Strider, and Arya Stark, Ancestor of the Stark family, not to mention the great Howard Stark who's accomplishments (and tragic lack of care for Anthony) are lovingly illustrated. One such accomplishment being a "flying car" just a short walk over.

There's plenty for guests to do besides just ogle the brilliant sights however! A bar has been set up with a whole variety of drinking games available from Sink The Battleship and Drink Roulette to an extravagent variation of the classic game, Beer Pong, and an ongoing run of the Games with rules of drinking for each emotional scene, funny incident, or death. Those under the age of eighteen will be served fizzing juice or soda instead and can participate in junior versions of the very same games. All the cups are made from the finest glass with Tony Stark images over them. Avoxes are on scene to clean every spill and break of glass that might come.

A cave has been crafted of artificial and real material, designed to look like the Cave in which Tony Stark became a real hero, but with a twist; it's been made into a fun-for-all maze! Guests can attempt to navigate their way to the labyrinth and reach the core, avoiding those nasty pop-out rebels along the way. Those who make it to the fire-lit center may receive a limited edition "Tony Stark Heart" miniature arc reactor in a beautiful glass case.

An indoor sky diving station is also available, large enough that many guests may enter at once and still find it spacious. Here, guests can don Iron Man themed sky-diving suits and experience the sensation of flight, just as Tony Stark once did. Of course, the party doesn't start until the Victor comes in; he'll be appearing by Capitol-controlled suit to make his entrance at center stage. It is here that his Throne shall be raised up through the stage and his crown gifted to him. Following the official Crowning Ceremony will also come a speech from the Capitol's very own, Cyrus Reagan.

Tributes are dressed in formal wear with robotic accents. Such as a full mask or metal armor. Capitolites can be seen with Tony stark styled hair, bearing tattoos in his image, and even with surgically implanted lights, in honor of the new Victor. Available for purchase are handcrafted Tony Stark dolls, Iron Man action figures, and models of beloved robot-pet "Dum-E" in both small and life-sized. The Iron Man light gloves come completely free for all guests.

The Crowning ends off with a bang, as in the center of the sky, a massive "wormhole" opens up showing a vast darkness full of sinister creatures just on the other side, sure to inspire some screams from fans. Guests near to the Iron Man suit displays are asked by peacekeepers to step back-- far back-- but may be the first to witness the incredible scene of all those suits launching into the sky and exploding around and "in" the wormhole. The wormhole shifts to a message stating the show to have been brought to you by the Hunger Game's skilled Sky-Display Designers before going into advertising for the rest of the night as the party dies down.

Comments

[cigne]

"It's so much fun, they have all the animals!" she calls from inside the closet before emerging dressed, in a skirt that's appropriately silk-screened with the image of a koi pond. The fish seem to move a bit as she walks, as the petticoats underneath shift with her movements. "And the dolphins do tricks and you can buy a ticket to pet some of the whales and they have penguins, too!"

Animals in general excite Swann. Animals are nice. Animals don't say mean things about people.

[whatisay]

"If it makes you happy," he says ambivalently. He has no great fondness for animals, though his main interactions with them have been the horses on the Compson land that require feeding, care, servants dedicated to knifing refuse out of their hooves and brushing them. They're a suck on the budget he gingerly tends to.

But he'll do just about anything with Swann if it makes her happy. Except take her home.

[cigne]

She beams at him, reaches for him to wrap her arms around his waist, rising on her toes to kiss him quickly before she goes to get shoes and finish her hair and makeup.

"I think there's a whole exhibit about sharks right now, even big dangerous ones. But even their normal little sharks live in the same tanks as fish! I asked once, and they said that the sharks don't eat the fish because they're already well-fed, I thought that was interesting, that they only hunt for hunger, but a lot of less dangerous animals will hunt for entertainment."

Jason should be so happy to be with a woman who has such a wealth of animal trivia. Surely it will never get tiring.

[whatisay]

"Sharks are alright. My tattoo was almost of a shark before I decided on the lock and key." The shape of the birthmark it covers lent itself to either, and Jason had decided that there was no need to choose the more masculine and aggressive of the options given that it's on his hip, somewhere no one will see it. These days it's just Swann, and theoretically Lorraine but he hasn't been to District Eleven in a while.

"But that makes sense. They're efficient animals, at least, that's what I've always heard. I never did much looking it up myself." He grabs his jacket out of the hallway, slips on the shoes he kicked off by the couch last night, which Eta has relocated to the front door.

[cigne]

"What's the lock and key for?"

She's never been terribly clear on the meaning behind it -- Swann's tattoos are mostly various quotes that she had inked onto herself when she was young, in an effort to strengthen herself, and then just never bothered to have removed. She hasn't had a new one in years, though she's been recently playing with the idea of another small one.

She trots behind him, gathering her purse and belongings, then reaches for him, catching his back belt loops in her fingers as she follows.

[whatisay]

"I liked the sentiment. Secrecy and safety, I suppose. You have something, you want to keep it, you lock it up. What are yours about?"

He nearly trips at the sudden tension from her hands at his belt loop, but that's just his klutziness. If Quentin always seemed to have his mind in a different world, Jason always feels like he has his mind in a different body, one with slightly shorter legs and smaller feet than the one he has.

[cigne]

"Nothing special. Things I thought would help me feel stronger or something, if I had to see them every day. I was younger and I thought I could... I don't know, fix myself or change myself, if I just tried hard enough. I haven't gotten a new one in probably seven or eight years, except a little bit of work to cover a bad one, my oldest. It was just some ugly flower I did when I was mad at my parents, I had to get it fixed. It's the Honeymead crest now."

She holds up her arm, where there's a mid-sized crest on the delicate skin of her forearm. The flower is invisible under it.

Grabbing him by the belt loops lets her catch up enough to be at his side instead of behind him, and she reaches for his hand. "So yeah, nothing that important."

[whatisay]

Jason half-smiles, looking at the crest, thinking about how if he had the Compson crest on his skin it would feel more like a brand than a tattoo, thinking maybe instead of a stallion and a spray of honeysuckle they should have a straightjacket and rust.

"Did they actually help you any?" He takes her hand and wraps his thumb over the back of hers. "I'm guessing not."

[cigne]

A lamb and a lion hold up the Honeymead crest, which bears an acorn and a thistle underneath the flaming crown with wings. Her tattoo is in black and white, though she knows the real one is red and blue on gold -- she grew up seeing that crest every day, hung on the wall of the sitting room.

"They're just words." She shrugs. "They couldn't change me any more than anything else could. I got used to them, forgot that they're supposed to mean something, and now they don't, really."

Swann leans her head on his shoulder, lowering her arm back to her side. "Sometimes I think that I should have them taken off, but then I never want to bother with it."

[whatisay]

"Might as well not bother. Maybe they'll mean something again someday, if they ever did. I never got much out of words."

He never got much out of anything. He thinks, sometimes, that there's a wall up between him and the things that people say are beautiful and inspiring and comforting, and out of an almost proud spite he keeps that barrier well-maintained.

They head down to the lot, side-by-side, walking as one. "Besides, it costs money to take them off, and they look fine."

[cigne]

Her smile is a little rueful. "These are the only ones that never stopped meaning anything," she says, and holds her hand up, to the two fingers that bear the words namaste and shanti, tiny letters to match her bone structure.

"Honestly, I always liked my implant best. It never really stopped making me happy." The small diamond bow on her hip, the way it catches light and sparkles, it still makes her smile after years with it. "My dad would murder me, though. He thinks implants are gaudy."

[whatisay]

"You're a grown woman. What does he care if you have an implant?" Jason evidently doesn't see the hypocrisy in this, even aware as he is that he's a childless bachelor living at home, afraid of his mother, obsequious to her whims, hating her.

He opens the car door for her as he always does.

[cigne]

She shrugs as she sits down, thinking about it. "I don't know, I guess he thinks it'll reflect badly on him maybe, if I'm doing something he thinks is kind of trashy?" Smoothing her skirt out over her thighs, she looks toward the driver's side before she finishes her thought. "Besides, it's different for women. Like... I'll always be his little girl, even if I'm an adult. And I don't want to upset him."

Swann reaches out her hand for his, though she's frowning a bit at the thought of her father being unhappy with her.

[whatisay]

"I forget what it's like to have a reputable enough family that an implant could be considered trashy. My siblings set the bar so high for scandal," he says, chuffing from his nose. "When did you say we were going to have dinner with him?"

He takes her hand. There's a smudge of humanity on the center console of the car, where they always rest their entwined hands.

[cigne]

"He's old-fashioned." She squeezes his hand, entwining their fingers as she draws her legs up to curl into the seat. "Next weekend. It'll be nice. But please don't snap at him if he offers you drinks over and over again? It's sort of just what he does, he always wants to share, so he'll try to give you wine at dinner and brandy after and scotch in his office. He won't be offended or push it if you just say no thank you."

She's quiet, almost plaintive, because both Jason and her father are set in their own ways -- she's already had the opposite side of this conversation with her father, and though he placated her with endless "of course, of courses", she knows he'll forget when they're in the Manor, when his inclination to keep things pleasant and fun outweigh anything he said to his daughter.

[whatisay]

"I won't snap. I promise. So long as he respects my decision. I'd be so much less liable to snap at people about it if they did just that." Other people turn it into a matter of pride, trying to get Jason to drink something, and as such it sets him more firmly against them as a whole. Gravity pulls them against each other with increasing force until there's an impasse.

He turns on the seatwarmer for her. "I vaguely remember him from some things as a kid."

[cigne]

Swann knows her father, knows it's not his way to push unless he thinks that whatever he's pushing will make the other person happy. So a polite refusal, that would never trigger in Ilar the same instinct that Swann has, to give and give until it's better.

She sighs when the seatwarmer kicks in, rests her head on the back of the seat and turns to look at Jason with a smile. "He's pretty much the same. Probably won't try to give you candy, though. I figure I should dash your hopes now."

[whatisay]

"Damn. I'll have to buy my own candy." He smiles at her, making sure she's buckled in. "I'm sure I'll survive, but it's going to be hard."

It's strange, to look at her through that distorted lens, remembering her as a child and yet seeing her now as an adult, so different and yet still Swann. He hadn't been able to stand her back then.

[cigne]

Well, she had been enough years younger that it made sense for him to hate her then -- few children want to be bothered with anyone that far behind them. It was only as adults that they ever could have closed that gap.

Squeezing his hand, she giggles at him. "If you behave yourself and promise not to tell, I'll give you some of my candy. Promise."