The Crowning of Cullen Rutherford

[etcircenses]

Who| Everyone who's anyone.
What| The Crowning of Cullen Rutherford.
Where| The new Rutherford Castle.
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| Please warn appropriately in headers.

The crowning ceremony takes place in an approximation of Skyhold, a large fortress with a castle with a sweeping main hall, gardens, and two levels of courtyard. Flags and banners hang everywhere, some with heraldry of the Inquisition, some with the heraldry of the Templar Order, a nod to Cullen's old days as a Templar. And of course, just as prominent everywhere you look is the seal of the Capitol. Just in case anyone forgot where they were.

The medieval fashion (or as close of approximation to medieval as the Capitol as gotten) that had come in with the 13th arena is back in full swing. There's plenty of fake armor to be seen, and foam swords resting on Capitolite hips. Sweeping ballgowns can be spotted as well, and a few more savvy people seem to have come dressed in a strange red and gold uniform. The avoxes do their best to blend in to the environment with drab brown peasant outfits.

In the main hall, tables filled with medieval food have been set up on both sides of the walls, filled with approximations of medieval food--As far as the Capitolites are concerned, that means normal food, but with a tendency for venison and large turkey legs. There are even dainty little cakes for dessert. Along the walls, above the food tables, hang multiple pictures. Featuring in this galley are every native of Thedas that had come to Panem at one point or another, all of them dressed in dour blacks of funeral wear, save the four remaining Thedasians. But of course, there are plenty of pictures of the Victor, starting with Cullen has a chubby blond child, going into him as an awkward young Templar (there's even a picture of him talking to a woman that the title identifies as Warden Amell), going through unfortunate hair cuts, and of course, various pictures of him in Panem, capturing a variety of touching and painful moments.

It all culminates when you get to the end of the hall, where there rests a massive throne just for Cullen. And behind it, the largest picture of them all, a massive portrait of Cullen. Adella stands next to him, holding an infant in her arms. Maxwell and Tabris are, for some reason, also featured in this family portrait, and you have to wonder if the artist in question didn't perhaps ship the ever popular Maxullen, because Maxwell's hand was looking awfully chummy on Cullen's shoulder.

The bottom courtyard has been set up with stalls, where you can buy foam swords and shields, little mabari plushes, and even a lion helmet. There's also little wedding toppers, shaped just like Cullen and Adella, and framed pictures of most of the art that hangs in the main hall. The nearby stables have been stocked with a variety of mounts, from the standard horses to more exotic harts, a strange dragon-like creature, and...no one is really sure what this is, but it...looks interesting?

In the upper courtyard, there's the Herald's Rest, a real, rustic tavern, with a woman playing a guitar and singing various songs. All the songs seem to revolve around how great the Capitol is, which kind of offsets the mood, but it's the thought that counts, right? It doesn't help that the bar has been outfitted to serve all kinds of modern drinks, but who wants plain ale, anyway? Outside of the tavern is a practice ring, where people can put to use their fake swords and shields, either trying to maul each other, or a target. Several peacekeepers offset the aesthetic feel in uncompromising white, carefully watching all participants to make sure that everyone is playing nicely.

If everything is just a little too busy for you, the garden is left in quiet peace. A woman dressed in red and white robes will occasionally begin speaking, extolling the virtues of the Capitol, and President Snow in a lengthy monologue.

There are a few actors wandering around, appearing as various people who have made an impact on Cullen's life. There's the mysterious Warden Amell, a man in full armor, and a woman dressed similarly. These two will wander around, swords in hand, ready to smack anyone with foam swords and accuse them of being blood mages. One actress is dressed like a certain Marian Hawke who had at one time been a tribute. She darts around the fortress, stopping people and regaling them with highly exaggerated tales of things that Cullen has supposedly done. There's even a few creatures running around that people may recognize from the last arena, such as the tastefully almost-nude desire demon that will occasionally try to sidle up to people--usually to be driven off by one of the people in armor.

There's one more addition to the party--dogs! A very specific kind of dog. Several dogs simply wander around Skyhold, trying to steal people's food and begging for attention. Next to the throne are four particularly handsome ones, each one with a collar baring the name of one of the four Thedasians left.

If wandering around Skyhold and competing with swords leaves you dry-mouthed, you're in luck! Dotted around the area are fountains that all pour a strange, bright blue punch. Listen closely, because the fountain seems to be humming a strange tune. If you have a careful eye, you might even find the one that has red punch pouring out if it, humming an oddly sinister tune.

Well, what harm could there be in going ahead and trying it out anyway?

Comments

[futilecycle]

The wings catch the Gamemaker's attention before he realize who they belong to, and by then it is too late to look away. Sigma knows what Sandy thinks of him and it is nothing pleasant. But when he finds the girl has surrounded herself with the hallmarks of childhood taste, he is drawn to her immediately. After all of this, she was still a girl. It broke his heart.

Sigma cannot know that they are poised at the brink, that he had met Sandy at the beginning of his life here and will now meet her at the end. Still, knowing nothing good will come of their reunion, the old man strides up to Sandy as though no time at all has passed since they met in the frigid cold and takes his seat. He had offered to make things right, once. He can- at the very least- keep his word. "Sandy Marko," he greets tentatively, "it has been awhile."

[justoutrunyou]

Her eyes meet his and she feels her frown soften, unsure. Confused. She should be angry at him...but for the first time in weeks she feels pity for someone else other then herself.

He may have betrayed them and started kissing Capitol ass but he probably had paid a price of his own hadn't he?

"Hello, it really has. What months?" She couldn't even remember the last time. Had it been over the comms?

[futilecycle]

"Over a year, now, I believe," he reflects. He had certainly taken his sweet time keeping his promise. "...And another still since the Arena when Eva sent us both supplies. Do you remember? She made a point of sending the youngest and eldest Tributes food..." Now Eva was a dead traitor. He was sure if he and Sandy counted out their ghosts, it would make a sizable pile.

"What a long time ago that was. We must be the only Tributes left from that Arena." He had purposefully excluded the victors. "Well, I suppose I cannot be counted," he laughs humourlessly. "...Are you taking care of yourself?"

[justoutrunyou]

Over a year, and over two years since he'd helped her catch and eat a bird so she wouldn't starve to death in her first arena. She suddenly felt much older then she looked. She managed a nostalgic smile when he brought up Eva.

"I never did understand why she was nice to me. She was nicer to me then she was to her own tributes." Which wasn't saying much given Eva's capacity for compassion being as low as it was. Sometimes Sandy still liked to go out to the garden area where she had met Eva and just sit and be alone with her thoughts.

At his question she looked at the empty plates in front of her suddenly ashamed of how childish her indulgence seemed. "Not exactly." She confessed with a shrug. She had been so mad at him when he joined the Capitol...why wasn't she mad now? Maybe time had healed that particular wound.

[futilecycle]

Sigma, too, was at a loss. Eva was a volatile, destructive person who razed everything in her path... and yet she had been kind to him. She had left their daughter behind to fall apart and yet she had given him hope he when had none left. She had turned in an innocent woman and yet had given the Rebellion a fighting chance. Had the Eva Salazar he had cared for been the real one? There was no way to know.

"And to my children." There was no reason for her to spend valuable food rations on a Tribute who was none of her concern, but she had extended her hand to Kyle. Now his entire family slept in Panem's soil. "I like to believe she was a good person. Misled, perhaps, by her own anger..." And was that wrong? She had thrown away her life as though she had not been a vital piece in their lives. Or had she simply done what he was too much of a coward to do?

As for Sandy's condition, he knows with whom the blame lies. "...I'm sorry." This was the chance he had been waiting for the apologize - if not for being a Gamemaker, for leaving her alone when she needed him. For leaving things to Eva and her ghost. "At least know I wish you nothing but the best." This was all he could do. How she took his confession was out of his hands.

[justoutrunyou]

Children? Oh that's right! Sandy thought back to the girl Eponine...she'd never spoken with her directly but the girl seemed...selfish. Petty. A perfect little capitolite in the making. Still Sandy may be a child but she knew enough not to bad mouth peoples children in front of them.

"I guess she was complicated. More complicated then some people around here." At that she cast a wary gaze across the crowd. It had become almost second nature to pick out the faces in the crowd of people who were so insipidly capitolite that they probably couldn't feed themselves without help. Then there were the functional capitolites who were dangerous, scheming, adapted to the world. And finally the distracters who had assimilated as best they could. Or the ones who had given up entirely.

But last but not least, the off worlders. Like her. Like Sigma. Even embracing this world such as he did, he stood out.

"You're just...doing your job." She offered him not so much accepting the apology as letting it sit between them for a moment trying to decide if it even mattered to her anymore.

"And what you do...what the games does to me and everyone else, it's still helping people right?" There was a tension in her tone, like a string on a guitar slowly being tightened as she her dark eyes searched his face for signs of humanity. Obviously he couldn't just say the truth as she knew it but...there had to be something in there right?

[futilecycle]

Sigma smirks at her dig at the crowd, knowing she is right. These people knew nothing of what he and Sandy would have experienced in their worlds and 'uncomplicated' was the perfect descriptor. Some may use the word 'expendable.' Sigma would have to disagree on that front.

But he's visibly shocked when Sandy forgives him - and even more so when she justifies his work. "I..." He can tell that isn't easy for her to say, but it shows a remarkable maturity for her age, ones that makes Sigma feel like crying. Oh, Sandy. He hoped to make things right by her soon. Wiping the shock from his face, he nods sagely. "That is what I believe." For the first time since the Initiate's capture, he is being honest and upfront with someone. His work in the Games would save lives, in the long run, if not in the way he made people think. If not in the way that was right. "That does not mean I consider the Tributes'- your- sacrifice trivial in any way. I was a victor twice before these games. It never, once, was easy." He taps the looking-glass of his cybernetic eye and grimaces. "I am very proud of all of you."

[justoutrunyou]

It didn't feel as good hearing him express pride in her the way it felt when Phil or Shepard or Signless were proud of her, but it was still nice of him to say. He had to have seen so many kids come and go if he was a game maker in his own world right? For her to measure up through all that had to count for something.

"Thank you. I don't know if the other tributes feel...anything for the districts sometimes. But I've always tried to remember District Twelve. Being part of the Youth Program meant I could write to them and get some feedback on what people there thought...more or less."

She didn't continue down that line of thoughts though because they both knew that the Youth Program, for whatever good it had done was over. And so was her contact with the District at least until the next tour.

"At least the way the games are now it's not all kids."