thecapitol | The shocking and thrilling adventures!

Oh look, it was her friend with the revolutionary ideas, but who spoke so passionately about them that she didn't care too much that what they talked about could be considered bad here in the Capitol. She found the whole interview thing pretty hilarious, actually. Cindy wasn't really in the interview part as much, which made sense, given she was pretty new, but she did get her own mini commercial there. At least she looked good during it?

She took a seat near him, giving him a grin. "So, I was definitely not responsible for the car accident I was in, and I'm looking for a lawyer to fight for my rights..."

It took him a minute to make sense of the joke. The use of the word car in this context was still of some vague and ill-defined notion to him, and lawyers fighting for rights in relation to them was something he couldn't quite parse. Then he recalled the imagery featured in his... Well, that was another thing the word for which he didn't quite know, but he recalled it all the same and her teasing abruptly made sense.

"How fortunate it is, then, that I have made an extensive study of the law under Charles X and His Majesty Louis Philippe, King of the French." He did nothing to hide the sarcasm in his tone. His intimate understanding of French law regarding the rights of citizens, businesses, and the government would serve no purpose here. As a point of fact, Enjolras questioned whether or not Panem had laws for such things at all, or whether perhaps justice was rendered on an entirely arbitrary basis. Either scenario seemed equally likely to him.

They probably didn't have laws like that. Or maybe they did; it wasn't like any of that was part of Cindy's expertise. If pressed, she could probably give a vague list of all of the Fabletown compact laws, but since some of her dealings went against a few of the laws (but in a way that helped them, if that at all made sense), she didn't think too much about them. Most places, she'd found, had laws in place, if only because lawyers needed jobs, too.

But he was right: none of the laws he knew would have any bearing here. "Looks like I'm saved, then! Glad to know you've got the law on your side, here." Cindy didn't think she could go for sarcasm because she was having a hard enough time not laughing out loud.

"But hey, at least you looked good while they took away whatever it was that you said. That's what this place is about, right? All talk and no substance."

Raising a hand to his chest, he gave her a small, curt bow, nodding his head in a gesture that probably would have been more flamboyant and complimented her tone better were he not in such dour spirits. "Appearances seem to take priority here over many things. Intent being the least of them, I suppose."

It was tempting to ask her what on God's Earth a Burger King was, and why it gave away toys along with meals, but Enjolras checked the impulse. It was possible, after all, given the way they'd manipulated him into talking about car accidents, which he certainly had no first hand experience with, that she had no idea what the so-called Burger King was either.

"Have you been well in the Capitol?" He settled on finally. A politely innocuous question from which he could shift the conversation away from the fiasco that was this latest development.

"Well, as just from an appearance stand point, you did look good while giving a speech about whatever it was you were really talking about," Cindy smiled. She was tempted to do a curtsey in response, but she was a sophisticated New York woman. Not a fairytale princess. Technically, not anymore, but still. Day and age. She had to keep them all separate.

"I have, actually." She would have been fine talking about all this, but she was happy with not talking about it as well. "I've met most of the other guests in my district, got in a few workouts. Been a little bored, though, with all the parties. I can't pull off that party girl thing much longer." She paused.

"How about you?"

"I was never much for social gatherings." It was a noncommittal response, but it was true enough all the same. There'd be a law making the gathering of more than twenty persons illegal, so as to avoid political clubs from cropping up. It had been an extraordinarily ineffective law, but all the same, Enjolras felt odd in groups much larger than that. To say nothing of the lack of cohesion and utter superfluousness to be found within the parties of the Capitol.

"Their library is quite extensive," though there had been the matter of the government's blatant censorship and seeing Aunamee stabbed. She didn't need to hear about either of those things. "And there's a park not far from our lodgings that I'm becoming quite fond of."

"You must really hate it here, then," Cindy paused and grinned. "Besides everything else, of course." Really, the parties were the least problematic. Sure, you got tired of it all, like Cindy was feeling right about now. But otherwise, it wasn't that bad. It was funny, though. Enjolras seemed like the guy who gave big speeches in front of crowds, but maybe he didn't actually like being in the crowd.

She tapped a manicured finger against her lips. "I haven't had a chance to get to the library yet. But I've heard about the park. Maybe you could show me around there sometime. I'd love to see it with a guide."

"It's probably the only site to which I can speak with any familiarity." Other than the wine bar Valeria had dragged him to, of course, but he'd been a delicately contained mess by the end of the night and honestly probably wouldn't be able to find it again. Moreover, given the ways they were being observed, Enjolras didn't want to imagine how the Capitol would spin two Tributes at such a venue. Everyday there were new considerations to existing in Panem.

"I would be happy to show it to you, though the quality of the collection leaves something to be desired, if I'm to be honest." He frowned, though the expression had an air of consideration rather than displeasure. "They censor their books as well."

She'd love to get dragged around to places by someone else other then her Escort. She barely got to see anything; apparently she arrived here at the 'perfect perfect time!', which meant it was party after party.

But, she was told about that bar. Cinna had suggested it, and he seemed like a good guy, for someone from the Capitol. She'll have to try finding that soon.

"What do you mean they censor their books? How do they do that?" This was asked with concern. She'd heard of banning books, but how could you know what book was banned in a world that wasn't your own?

"They have a loose relationship with history, selectively remembering certain pieces and omitting others. The Greek and Roman republics survived but are depicted as little more than interesting fairy tales. Absolute monarchies are described with an air of righteousness, and their injustices are forgotten." He shook his head, the motion denoting a resigned sort of frustration that was becoming entirely typical of his overall experiences with the Capitol. As the Library had been one of his first explorations following the last Arena, the knowledge wasn't exactly new, but he couldn't help the feelings from reaching his expression and posture all the same.

"Revolutions are hardly mentioned, of course." The comment is more of an afterthought as if such would have to be entirely obvious from the rest of his description, but it's not without its own note of bitterness. "Nevertheless, the structure itself is impressive and the events they choose to highlight are... Informative, to say the least."

"So the books here here, they're about global, world history? Were there any books about...I mean, we're supposed to be in North America, I'd expect to find a book of U.S. history, but who knows how long ago that was for them..." Cindy made a face. She hated history. Hated it so much. She preferred living in the present.

"Of course they aren't. Honestly, I wouldn't have even expected a place like this to have books anymore. They have plenty of entertainment that it's like. Who needs books anymore? People can read books on their computers now." Cindy shrugged. "So long as they don't start any book burning parties, it's not too bad."

"Pieces of it." He nodded in confirmation.

"America is a very new country in my time, so perhaps I am not the best fit to comment on its history, or lack of inclusion. However, the French republic seems to be missing as well." It was impossible to stop the bitterness from slipping into his tone again. Robespierre, Saint-Just, Marat, Danton, Condorcet, Desmoulins. The men he'd so studied and admired were missing altogether, but given their bloody ties to the people and their fierce regard for equality, he couldn't find himself surprised. "Perhaps it has something to do with their distaste for representative government and the fact that more modern examples wouldn't be so easily dismissed as myths."

He pointedly declined responding to her comment about book burning. While he personally had his reservations regarding it, those men whom he'd so admired had certainly burned their share of counter-Revolutionary materials and he couldn't actually argue with the symbolic effect the action could have. But perhaps that was a debate for another time. "The complexities of computers continue to elude me, I'm afraid."

"So anything... oh, those fuckers." Cindy was pretty impressed. Of course the first thing you get rid of is anything from history that would give it's citizens hope, or knowledge, of something better then what they have now. She wouldn't be surprised if she couldn't find the classics of her time, mostly because they were usually about rising up against whatever was holding them back from making their own choices and decisions.

"That probably goes for anything that has that, wouldn't it? Not just in the history books. They probably don't have many fiction novels that they have back in my time. A lot of the good ones deal with... well, revolution." They were smart people, here. The ones in charge, anyway, they did know what they were doing.

"Oh, right, sorry. It's like a library you can carry around with you in your pocket. Everything at your fingertips, and not much searching for anything."

"That would seem an incredibly useful device." His reply was passive and noncommittal but only because he had trouble envisioning such a thing. Would it look like the communication device they'd given him? That in and of itself was impressive enough, but to put a library onto something like that? If only the books that he would choose to read existed here.

"I have not doubt that if such stories exist they are altered to the point where any suggestion of revolt is made so dangerous, or unlikely, that it almost serves to frighten the reader into submission." The Revolution had, at times, been in danger of consuming itself. How simple might it be to change a few lines in a work of fiction, add in bloodier details, and make the entire affair seem like too much trouble or the act of a selfish minority. They were very smart and Enjolras could see only how well their efforts had been rewarded.

"To think I was about to give my life for something so easily erased from history." He smiled, but there was and acrimonious, almost cynical quality to it which until recently he would have been disinclined to display openly. Nevertheless, the events of the barricade and his knowledge of what was to follow it, and everything unfolding in Panem were playing at him, making him consider think as they were and as they could be. His fierce desire for change wasn't diminishing at all, he thought, but perhaps sharpening and adapting itself toward their situation.

"Oh yeah, it is. You have a library, and a way to connect it to people all over the world with a simple press of a button." Cindy nodded. They were pretty cool, but. "Mostly we use them to look at pictures of cats, though."

Cindy leaned over, touching his arm gently. "History books are written by the winners. And here, it's pretty damn obvious that the Capitol won. So, not only do they get to write the books, but they get to decide what to keep and what not. Maybe they have all of those books in storage somewhere, waiting for someone who'll bring them to light if they win."

It took a certain amount of effort not to give into instinct and shrink away from her touch. It was companionable enough, not the veiled threat that contact with Valeria seemed to be, but the familiarity, particularly with a woman, still threw him. Perhaps Venus was right and that attitude was old fashioned. Still it was trained into him, ingrained. It was courtesy for men and women to maintain a polite distance. Courtesy which people here (from the Capitol or otherwise) seemed to find quaint more than anything else.

"They would be wiser to destroy them." The reply was bitter still, but not as uncertain as his momentary reaction might have indicated. To illustrate, if only to himself, just how much it didn't bother him, Enjolras clasped his opposite hand over hers resolutely, turning back to meet her eyes with an expression that was equal parts disappointment and sincerity. "Then only people like you and I, who have incomplete memories of the past, would ever be able to question it even after their reign ends. In essence, they would remain the winners of that particular battle for eternity."

It was old fashioned, but Cindy respected it. She'd lived through it herself, and while she had the time to evolve into how she was now, the older people got thrown into this lifestyle and it wasn't good. She's keep as much distance as she could, but she couldn't stop being herself. And she liked to touch people.

She wasn't a huge fan of people touching her, though. Hypocrite, much? She was surprised when he put his hand over hers, looking down, eyes widening. That was unexpected.

"Maybe they did already destroy them. Who knows?" She looked up, eyes sad. "Maybe we should start writing our own books."

Fortunately for Cindy, his bravado regarding the closeness is fleeting and as soon as Enjolras is sure that he hasn't appeared frightened or overly concerned for her honor, he removes the hand, letting it rest again atop his knee. Her own discomfort at the touch went more or less unnoticed between his efforts at appearing nonchalant.

"Do you believe we would have any hope of them being published without revision?" He smiled sadly and turned away. Of course, his esteemed Rousseau had thought similarly and had his work preserved. Perhaps there was hope, even in the most unlikely of situations.

She's going to need awhile to figure this guy out. She knows his viewpoints, his beliefs, but those were not only what made a man, no matter what anyone else might say.

A child-like phrase, the need to turn that frown upside down. But he was right, wasn't he. How could they write a book and then go about getting published without someone going through it and crossing everything out? This place wasn't going to let that happen.

Or. Or. Cindy's hand shot out, grabbing Enjolras' arm. "This isn't the place to talk about any of this in depth, but back home, do you have pamphlets?"

The smile turns from sad to conspiratory and almost devious in no time flat. Of course they had pamphlets, and while he was no Desmoulins, Enjolras had contributed to enough of them to consider himself something of an old hand regarding the subject. Pamphlets had come about because of censorship, in his time. Of course, they could be used to oppose censorship and revisionism here. Presuming, of course, that they could pry the people away from their computers long enough to read them.

"We do. I have written a few, though they were never my particular medium." Which was true enough. He knew the mechanics, but Enjolras also knew that his style of rhetoric was generally more oratory in nature. Still, he could learn and refine that particular skill if it meant actually doing something here.

She was going with the impression (a hopeful impression) that if people rarely read books here, then maybe they'd never heard of the idea of pamphlets. So if they just talked around the subject more then directly on the subject, they could talk about it a little, here.

"I've read plenty of them over the years-- in books, back home," Cindy added the second part quickly. She'd actually read them as they came out, back when she was stationed in Europe during the time period, but couldn't say that.

"But they seem like a fairly easy thing to read. They're not that long, after all. Each page is about the length of a letter you would write to a loved one, back home. Or one of one's many fans, here."

[ooc: OKAY OBVIOUSLY this would need mod approval, but this idea came to me suddenly as we were doing this thread. And basically, those pamphlets with revolutionary ideas in them like "Common Sense" and the like. But they don't have to especially long, I mean, they could be ten pages, so long as they get the idea across. And they can be written by "anonymous" or with a pseudonym, since they can't really give their name to this thing. But say, if it's ten pages long, and each page is about the length of a letter, they could take one page to 10 different printer/copy places and say something along the lines of "I need a hundred copies of this letter to my fans, so I can sign my name to it and I don't need to write a specific letter to each one" and well. Things like this always start small, right? So that's sort of the idea I've got going which can obviously be changed at any part, but I thought, well, I can't do this by myslef, my character wouldn't do this if she was by herself, and. Yeah!]

It didn’t take much effort to devise her meaning from there. With the restriction of the presses and anti-Orleanist sentiment, Enjolras was more than familiar with sneaking around to take care of would-be Revolutionary business. This, really, would just be an extension. Tributes were more closely monitored, of course, and the Capitol itself had far more sophisticated ways of tracking anyone, but he was confident. Or hopeful, at the very least.

And besides, wouldn’t his Escorts be thrilled that he’d finally decided to acquiesce to their wishes? Perhaps pretending to do so would make it even easier.

“I have read both shorter and longer, but yes, a page is an entirely reasonable length for a pamphlet.” Desmoulins were longer, generally, Robespierre’s shorter. Condorcet and Rousseau’s letters both could hold the tone of a lecture or pamphlet and would be useful material to which he could refer, if only from memory. “But, Mademoiselle Cindy, do you really think people here would take the time to read something like that?”

[This is awesome. :) Maybe as the Arena winds down we can talk to the mods about working this in? It might be reasonable for them to spring it out of the Date Auction plot? Like “I want to send thank you letters to the people who bid on me”, or something like that.]

Ordinarily, Cindy wouldn't think about doing this. She might have revolutionary thoughts, but it was always the way she did it, going through the back channels. She wasn't a writer, beyond emails and letters. What she did was always whatever would help Fabletown. That's what she did, that's what her job was.

But maybe this was something she could do. She'd never be the one in the front of a group of people, making speeches, inspiring everyone. But hiding in the shadows, making sure people saw something they wouldn't ordinarily see? This she could do. Fabletown wasn't here, so now she needed to put her allegiance, and her talents, somewhere else. And it sure as hell wasn't going to be the Capitol.

Cindy paused, just for a moment, before smiling mysteriously. "I think, if someone finds something left on a park bench, and nobody claims it, well. Why not take a look? I've picked up plenty of harlequin romance novels that way. People love free things."

[ooc: I think this could be really cool. Oh, man, I think if we were able to get this started from the date auction, that would be perfect, it would fit in really well. Do you have AIM or plurk or something? Might make it easier, since if we have it figured out a little bit more, we could go to them and... yeah. But if you have AIM, I'm on liljewishgoy, like, all the time!]

He didn't know exactly what she meant by a harlequin romance, other than a quite literal interpretation of the two terms --quite honestly, they didn't seem to fit very well to Enjolras, his lack of regard for such things notwithstanding, but he could definitely agree with her on the point about free things. How many times had he set about reading something merely because it was readily available? It would take effort effort to create an environment like that in Panem, but, given diligence and maybe a good cover story, it certainly wasn't an impossible goal.

An educated people would eventually realize the shortcomings of their government. They would seek to improve their circumstances, to deliver themselves and their fellows. Despite his, well, lack of understanding of much of her terminology, Enjorlas found himself nodding along enthusiastically. This he could do, projects, he could do. "I suppose, then, we should set about finding the addresses of our fans. So that we might be all the more convincing."

"Maybe something will come up in the future, that we can use to help us," Cindy smiled slightly, giving a small shrug. "Probably best if we ask our Escorts for them. They love it when you do something that's along the lines of taking their advice."

They just needed the right opportunity to make this happen. Soon, they would be going into the arena, and all thoughts of rebellion and doing something like this would have to be set aside. Then, once they were out, they could continue.

But they needed a catalyst. A jumping off point. If one of them won the games, that would be the perfect way! Cindy would try to win, to get this started. "Better brush up on your writing skills," She have Enjolras a wink.

The shocking and thrilling adventures!

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holy shit I had an amazing idea/plot regarding this

oh I think I see where this is going and I like it, tell me more.

Basically I've rewatched the movie Casanova a few dozen times

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And you already know how I talked to a mod about this and yeah xD

Oh? Now that we're connected on plurk we'll have to pow-wow. c:

Yessss :D Yes yes yes

c:

:>

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