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

[didnothing]

Technically everyone involved in Luna's concerns but Sigma himself is a woman, but there's only one "her" Sigma can really mean here. Luna's grip tightens on her cup without her quite realizing it, and she has to take a moment to steel herself before she can answer. Her words are careful, controlled so as to prevent her emotions from getting out of hand before they've even begun. "No, I don't. Please, if you would...I'd like to know all you can tell me."

She doesn't necessarily ask for everything, because Luna's never expected that Sigma will tell her everything. For all she knows, maybe he has another mysterious plan in which her ignorance is a necessary part. But when it comes to something as personal as who or what she is, in relation to the mysterious Diana - well, anything that's going to stop her from pursuing that better well have a very good reason behind it.

[futilecycle]

Sigma takes a long sip of his drink as he writhes under the spotlight. It was one thing to be a passionate young man in love - and another entirely to reflect on the mistakes that dragged someone into the fallout of his volatile life. Another to know that he loved without giving back. If he has known Luna's anger before, he can only wonder if she has seen him at such a loss.

This Luna wouldn't remember a memory card with a message on it so he begins with the obvious. "You must have heard the name Diana used in relation to yourself, by now. She was my lover, for a time, in my youth." 'Girlfriend' was too juvenile a word and she was not his wife. He is especially careful to choose his vocabulary going forward: "She was a survivor of a horrific experiment that gave her abilities not dissimilar to my own. Eventually she was employed by a leading power, and as a person of considerable status she had privileges which allowed her to settle on the moon. We met many times while I was preparing for the project."

There are no words for those days, nor for how it tore him up to know that they had ended. "...I cannot tell you what she meant to me. We were-" Here he hesitates. It is suffocating to lie to Luna. "...I was happy," he corrects weakly. "Should the world have gone down another path it would have been an easy thing for me to have given her the life she wanted."

In the end, he had used a woman he knew from the start he could never be with.

[didnothing]

"I...see." Luna's firm on her resolve to get what truth she can, but the tense tightness to her posture starts to leak away a little as Sigma goes on. She stares into her cup once he's finished, trying to imagine what both his and Diana's lives must have been like. She doesn't know exactly what she was expecting - the magazines had told her nothing of the woman herself, and all she has to go on now is Sigma's account. But she can tell that he means it when he says that he, at least, was happy...she wants to think that Diana was too. There's no way to tell for sure, but she can hope at least.

It hasn't escaped her notice that Sigma hasn't mentioned what happened to Diana, but Luna assumes it wasn't good: it would have been an easy thing for me to have given her the life she wanted, he'd said, but clearly he hadn't. Whether things didn't work out between them or whether something tragic happened she doesn't know, and Luna's quiet for a moment as she wavers on whether to ask. Is it something she ought to know? Or is it poking at wounds she doesn't need to open? Sigma's told her about his family's fate already, probably because she's cared for them for so long even if she's not family herself. But Luna only knew Diana by name and by parallel until a moment ago, and while she wants Sigma's honesty she doesn't want his suffering. Is the answer she'd get from asking worth dredging up painful memories?

She tries for something related, to give Sigma room if he needs while satisfying her own need to understand who she is in light of all this. "And me? Where do I fit in?" That's the other half of the mystery, after all. She has a better picture of who Diana is now, just a little bit, but that doesn't explain why Luna supposedly looks so much like her.

[futilecycle]

He is thankful Luna does not press him, but now that he's began his tale he finds that he must finish it. This resolve does not prevent Luna's question from feeling like an accusation. "That is..." If he is going to make excuses, he may as well acknowledge it. "Something that I may not be able to justify to you."

The alcohol is beginning to burn in his stomach. He thinks it is too early for it to start loosening his tongue, but he was old and either way, the placebo effect was one hell of a drug. "Diana and I separated after she discovered the details of the AB project. Considering what she had been through, I cannot fault her for that decision... But there was no reconciling from there. I could not cease my work." Akane had warned him of the consequences of a paradox - if he did stop, Diana would have never lived with him to begin with. He had no choice but to refuse her ultimatum.

"I came to regret the way our relationship had ended, but the project forbid me from seeking her out and asking forgiveness.” He lowers his voice to almost a whisper. It was an unbelievable loss, to mourn someone who is not dead, whose life continued on without him in it. Until... "I came to hear of her passing some time later." He laughs bitterly. Phi's adage was painfully true. "I left things unresolved between us, and the opportunity for change vanished forever... I thought I might go mad. When Kyle asked for a mother, I could not take the thought of her from my head. I thought seeing her face again may soothe how I felt in her absence." His expression is heavy with regret. Clearly, things had not gone the way he'd anticipated. He grimaces, apologetic: "Before I realized it, I was even incorporating elements of her personality into you."

[didnothing]

There's a strange feeling in Luna's gut as she listens, and it's not because of the alcohol. Her eyes widen, and she can't help but recoil slightly when she realizes what he's said. "Did you..." She bites her lip, averts her eyes and pretends to examine her drink instead as she puzzles out how to express her feelings. Sadness, for what both Sigma and Diana had lost; longing, to know what drove Sigma the way the project did; and...fear for herself. For what that means for her, and for what she believes about herself.

Luna closes her eyes for just a second, knowing that any way she puts her next question it will feel like an accusation - and a confession of sorts, maybe. "Did you ever mean for me to be her? Did you create me to lo--to be your, um..." She can't say the rest, but the flush in Luna's cheeks should communicate enough. She's able to meet his eyes just for a half second before she runs out of courage and studies the wooden grain on their table instead. Mothering Kyle she understands, and has understood for years. It had been the first mission she'd ever had, regardless of whether it had worked out. But the rest is new, and at its worst it could change everything she's felt for her entire life.

She'd never considered that her feelings for Sigma could be an intentional part of her design. He almost certainly would have treated her differently if he wanted that kind of relationship with her, and Luna had never seen any sign that he wanted one. But if he programmed her to love him in Diana's place and regretted it later, it doesn't seem impossible. And Luna does love him, yes, and she is a thing that he created for a purpose - but the thought that all this time her feelings were never her own scares her.

[futilecycle]

This is torturing Luna, he knows - if not to the same extent as compliance in murder, then somewhere close. Sigma is not ignorant of her feelings. To be lead to believe that she was programmed to love him, that she does not act or emote of her own free will... it would make one think they were more of an instrument than a living creature.

"No." He is insistent, though he must look to the empty stool beside him rather than deal with doubt in those warm, blue eyes. Would he even believe himself? "There are a swaths of human beings who are selfless, compassionate, empathetic. Though they may bear similar traits, they cannot be considered the same. I knew that Diana was gone, and I made a mistake in believing that the sight of her face, that a comparable kindness, could help me grieve." He was hurt deeply by Luna's resemblance to his lover in a way he finds difficult to explain, in a way that turned out to be cruel to them both. Would it have been better if he had designed Luna from scratch, without any external inspiration? Or was a 'human soul' too complex to be imagined out of thin air?

"Forgive me, Luna. If you can still believe in me at all, believe that I only intended for you to be yourself." But what weight did his word carry anymore? He wonders if they would come away from this conversation with the bridge burned down rather than patched. "Whatever you might be, whatever you might feel was your choice. I had considered..." He shakes his head painfully- he had thought he would not oppose her partnership had she offered it freely. But he had not been kind to her and she had not been given any reason to ask for something more. Now he was a Gamemaker, poised to ignite and to turn everything he touched to glass. Preserving the status quo was best for the both of them. "No... I mean to say that I am proud of who you have become on your own, Luna."

[didnothing]

Luna's quiet as she listens to Sigma and remains so after he's finished speaking, taking a moment to digest what he's said as she fixates on a particular section of the table. She doesn't know exactly what she expected when Sigma began telling her the truth about Diana, but all this is certainly more than whatever she did think she'd hear. The fact that he can't look at her as he reassures her stings, and it makes Luna wonder. Is Sigma telling the truth? Or is he covering up a mistake he regrets, for his sake or for hers? She thinks he is telling the truth, maybe. He could lie just as convincingly without going so far as to say he's proud of her. Certainly without trying to say whatever he'd almost said, about considering something. But she doesn't know for certain, and the implications if she's wrong are terrifying. But then again...

It's a matter of trust, in the end. There's no way to know for sure whether Sigma means what he says short of reading his mind, but that's as true now as it was in the Nonary Game. Choosing to ally with him each round had been the morally right thing to do as a GAULEM, of course, but every choice had been a leap of faith as well. She'd chosen to believe in Sigma's honesty over and over again when there was at least a small possibility he would betray her trust, and he'd lived up to that every time - until recently, because hearing that he'd announced what she was to a room full of sponsors still stings no matter his motivation. Now the leap of faith she has to make to believe him is larger than ever and the question is, does she still trust him enough to make it?

She lifts her head again and looks at Sigma. If nothing else she can be sure that he's miserable with regret right now, whether for her or for Diana or for the both of them. Whatever his feelings for her, she doesn't doubt that he loves Diana deeply. That he's telling her about her now is - well, not quite deserved but the closest she can get, but at this level it's also a deep confidence. A sign of trust. An answer to the question she's been seeking since her talk with Phil weeks ago.

Luna takes the leap, and hopes Sigma will catch her on the other side. "I...I believe you." She sounds as tentative as she feels, but she is giving him the chance. "Thank you for telling me about her. And...thank you, for everything else as well." For telling her he was proud. For giving her the ability to have her own feelings, instead of trying to make her a mechanical doll to love. For letting her be herself, for better or worse. As much as Luna yearns for the humanity she doesn't have, she is glad for whatever kind of life she does.