thecapitol | The Crowning of Albert Wesker

The Crowning of Albert Wesker

Who| Everyone in the Capitol.
What| The Crowning Ceremony
Where| The Victor's Complex
When| Day of the Crowning
Warnings/Notes| None yet.

The theme of the ceremony is clearly black and red. A crimson carpet stretches out across the room. The long table for feasting seems to be made of a single slab of dark obsidian, something that couldn't possibly be found in this size naturally. The chairs are wrought iron with red cushions, and embers burn under personal barbecues at each seat. Red wine, red juice, slabs of red meat to be cooked (or eaten raw) - the details are all perfected. Even some of the Avoxes have received black tattoos for the occasion, the number '11' permanently marking under their eyes like grotesque twin tears.

For a crowning, the ceremony is rather intimate. Only a handful of guests have been invited: the usual Capitol VIPs, the Mentors of each District, and a few of the stars of the last few Games. Karis Needleteeth, Aunamee, Dr. Alastor Grey, Alpha, Lindsey McDonald and Hyperion Crius each have a seat at the table. A few Peacekeepers sit off to the side, sipping wine. A few of the Mentors are conspicuously missing.

And Wesker's throne sits at the head of the table; it's made of the head of the dragon that destroyed so much of Disneyland and slaughtered so many Tributes. The head has been dried, the tongue replaced with a plush velvet seat and back the color of blood. The eyes have been replaced with glass that stares at each side of the room. The fangs, however, remain intact.

Downstairs, the rest of the Tributes and their Escorts and Stylists can partake in a more Disney-themed affair. Everything is still sleek, and tends to veer more towards Maleficent and Jafar then Cinderella and Ariel, but the punch bowl is Mickey Mouse-shaped. There's a dance floor, and a string quartet, and all sorts of lavish foods on tables with red cloth. It's a night for mingling, at least.

[OOC Note: Part one of this is going up tonight in the first two subthreads. Part two will be edited into the last two subthreads tomorrow evening; you'll see why. Go forth and mingle! Tributes from downstairs can go say hello to the Victor, although they won't get long before the Peacekeepers escort them back down.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well, jolly good thing that her partner in crime is back. Eponine, unlike Parker, is still in an ornate dress, still illuminated by the fairy lights woven into the fabric and on her head piece. So not the most subtle of outfits - but perhaps they were trying to keep an eye on the French girl.

Still, when she spots Parker, Eponine heads over, smiling shyly.

"Madame! I am glad to see you again!"

"Good." Wait for it, in Parker-speak, this is a great compliment. "Someone who gets it."

Parker's expression says it all when it comes to Eponine's dress. "Can't have my dress this time." She shrugs.

"Still like doorknobs?" Parker smirks.

"I like my dress..." Eponine looks down at herself in confusion. Her dress isn't so bad. It is better than what Parker wears, at any rate. And besides, no more trouble for Eponine. Nope.

"Doorknobs..." She tries to laugh a little. "Only when they are gold, Madame. And mine to have. And you? Do you still collect your treasure?"

Parker shrugs again. To each their own. "Treasures--" she pauses looking rather amused with herself.

Of course she's been stealing. Stealing is like breathing, "Could call them that."

"Nothing as good as the doorknob."

"It was a good find, Madame. Mine had gone from my room though. I fear Timaeus had found it missing and they found it on me. Probably they suspect I have flogged the one you took. But that is no bother."

She smiles a tired sort of smile at Parker.

"They found it?" Parker's horrified.

"Mine has a face on it now."

She drew it on with a marker. It doesn't damage gold.

"Don't be so calm about your stash. Learn from it. Have to be better places to hide it."

"They must have searched my room, Madame - when I ran. Everything I had has gone. It is just clothes now, clothes and the bits of jewellery they give me. It does not matter, Madame. There is nothing to be done with it here, no need to steal. Except in the arena, Madame."

She shrugs. Eponine is nonplussed. It was not like she does not have food and clothes here, and that was the only reason why she stole before anyway.

"No," Parker had been a desperation thief ones. It served a purpose then, but Archie taught her something different. She learned how to make it a career, and when a stash is taken, that is that is one's livelihood.

"Learn. Find a better place. Don't just take what they give you. Have your own. Keep it safe. What if you need something again, and they find it? No. Stashes keep you alive."

If she learned anything from Eva: "Everything's about them, not me, not you. Got to protect yourself. Take what you need, so that they can't take you."

Take her? Oh, they have Eponine. She is well and truly under the thumb of - well, she's been threatened with her death, with the death of Marius and Howard - anyone she is close to - if she does not play the game. Although, her loyalty to Marius will even now override the threat of death from the Capitol. She will do whatever it takes for that man.

So she nods at Parker's words. "That is clever, Madame. Perhaps we must start to look for things here? I do not think we shall find many golden doorknobs though."

If Parker knew the powers that be had gotten to Eponine, she wouldn't be speaking so freely.

Sure, they could threaten Eliot, but that would make her laugh. Threatening Eliot usually wound up with severe injuries: none of them his.

"Golden doorknobs are fun, but we need information. Schematics. We need who's in power." Like Timmy. Perhaps finding out things about Timmy would be good.

"How do we do that though, Madame?"

She isn't comfortable with the real citizens - especially not now.
But she had one thing she could offer - a secret language. She shifted, trying to decide if she could trust Parker.

"Perhaps I can help, Madame?"

"Measure, count, draw." Parker's got an innate ability to measure and pace things out. It's why she can find secret passages.

Parker's ability to keep secrets is as legendary as measuring things.

"They'll give us paper, pens." Even after her little caricature incident.

Maybe, just maybe she should send one of her drawings to Timmy: see how he reacts.

"I know some numbers, Madame..." Eponine is definitely uncertain now. She can just about read and write and spell properly, but she didn't know how to write numbers down and add them up properly and do all the fancy tricks that Marius could do with them.

"I can write - and read - and spell, no mistakes, I promise."

Parker's not one to judge education.

"Can you draw?" Sometimes, such skills are as important as the measurements. "Sew?" equipment, Parker style, may be needed.

"I know you can steal," which is definitely a plus.

She feels a little like Nate: find a crew and use the skills.

"I have never learned to draw, Madame. But I can sew a bit."

She turned her old cape into a skirt for herself if that counts? And she can patch a bit - and darn a little. Nothing fancy, not very neat, but functional, yes.

"I do not like to steal much though, Madame."

"Hmmmm," Dramatically, she taps her cheek with her finger, to indicate thought, when her eyes go wide.

She'd had such hope for this one. "Don't like to steal? If it gets you out of the arena, would you steal then?"

Everyone should be in touch with their inner thief.

"That is different, Madame. I do not like to steal. But I will steal to stay alive. That is different - the arena is like Paris, but in a strange place, you know?"

She shrugs. "You have seen me take things. I am a bad girl sometimes, but in the arena, perhaps, it is good to be bad."

"I love Paris. Once stole stuff from the Louvre, and put it back. I was bored. Kept some stuff." I love diamonds."

Totally different timelines of Paris there, Parker.

"Sometimes, bad guys are the only good guys you get." It's a mantra she lives by, that, and doing the right thing. She's working harder on that last part.

"What is a Louvre? DIAMONDS? Madame -" Eponine stares, unabashedly open mouthed at Parker. She's never seen a diamond even from a distance, let alone touched one.

"I do not mind the bad people, Madame. The only good person I know is -"

She looks off to see where Marius stands with Enjolras. "Monsieur Marius." She sighs. "He is very, very good, Madame."

"Museum. Lots of paintings. Lots of diamonds, and gold," and Eponine knows what gold does to Parker.

"Good people are dangerous here." Good people follow the rules. Good people would do what they're told. Good people would kill, because that's the rule, that's what they're told.

Parker blinks twice, considering Eponine. It's hard for Parker to put herself in the place of another, so she's uncertain when she says, "I'm sorry?"

"There is no such place in Paris, Madame. Not when I have been there... but then, people are here from a long time after I was alive... it is a strange thought."

It makes her feel a little bit strange, truth be told, to think about it. She knows, that had she stayed in Paris, she would have died within six mmonths anyway from murder or starvation or cold. But it's still strange to think of being dead at least one hundred years before most people in the Capitol were born.

Her gaze, meanwhile, hasn't shifted from Marius. "He is a very good man - but I think he was still to fight against the King. He is lovely..." She sighs again.

Parker nods. She might not have accepted this a few months ago, but now, the least strange thing is from someone before the existence of the Louvre.

"Too bad. It's awesome. So much stuff."

Parker looks towards Marius, not that she knows the difference between Marius and Enjolras, "Tell him he has the capital here."

"No. I will not have him in danger."

Shame he already knew. He was clever like that, Marius. And with Enjolras here - well, Marius had had to stand by his friend. He already knew.

"He's already in danger."

Parker's surprised by the reaction for the most obvious reason.

"He's here."

"But if he does not fight - if, even, he does not try to run away, then they cannot kill him. He will die in the arena - but he will come back to life as well. He will be safe of a sort."

She shrugged. Eponine couldn't prevent him from dying in the arena. But she could - and would - prevent him from getting into trouble with the Capitol.

The Crowning of Albert Wesker

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Re: Parker|OTA

Sorry - I was on holiday

Re: Sorry - I was on holiday

Re: Sorry - I was on holiday

Re: Sorry - I was on holiday