The Execution of a Traitor

[gamemakers]

Who| Everyone.
What| Ariadne's public execution.
Where| Execution is in the public square, threads in the Districts
When| Mid-morning the day before the new arena.
Warnings/Notes| Within the first cut is an execution with nerve-attacking toxins, as well and gore and gun violence. Everyone is still locked into their districts.

Starting at 9:30, in every bedroom in the training center, an alarm has started. Everyone is to wake up, everyone is to see this, and anyone who hasn't wandered out by 9:45 is awoken by an Avox and escort into the suites common area.

The TV's turn on exactly at 10.


The morning is crisp, cool, even this close to the start of summer. Even being so early there is of course a crowd gathered. A small live audience, all Capitol citizens, all thoroughly checked for security, is shown entering by the cameras, gathering before the empty stage. Peacekeepers can be seen, en mass, around the edges.

Finally Cruentus walks out, barely containing her excitement. She tries to keep on a serious mask, but looks more like a child trying to behave so she isn't take away from the Santa greeting line.

"My father, unfortunately, has business to attend to, and couldn't be here. But as the head of the Tribute program, I am here for you instead. As you all know, on the night of the crowning ceremony, one of our guests tried to assassinate our beloved head Gamemaker, Plutarch Heavensbee." She pauses, giving the crowd time to discuss that, waiting patiently for them to settle.

"Ariadne was one of our guests, one of our victors. She was someone we welcomed here, with open arms. And we will not stand for this disrespect. Her act of rebellion, though sloppy and easy to unwind, was unacceptable!"

Another pause, longer, the crowd working themselves up more.

"We will not stand for this. We will not stand for people we welcome into our city, into our homes, to injure our kin. No more!"

With a quick gesture, she summons the two avoxes, Shepard and Holly, both former mentors themselves, to bring Ariadne out to the center of the stage, bound in chains.

For everything that went wrong, Ariadne is absolutely unapologetic. She knows full well that she got sloppy, and that she shouldn't have trusted Eva as far as she could throw her - that's the only explanation, she thinks; she's blissfully oblivious to Eva's public betrayal, but she knows something went wrong somewhere down the line. She's not sorry that she got caught, nor is she sorry that she's in this position now. She caused a stir; she got things going. That's better than the waiting game that everyone else is playing. She can respect it, but it wasn't for her.

Her back still stings from the shrapnel that hit her during the blast: the way that Shepard and Holly hold her makes it impossible to ignore as she stumbles out to the stage, eyes hardened as she looks up to stare at Cruentus over anyone else. She welcomes whatever punishment she's begotten; she's not afraid.

The crowd goes wild for a long time. Booing, loud, raucous - they seem just barely controlled. Hatred comes off in waves towards Ariadne, the first true target of a growing, seething hatred that still hasn't found its purpose yet.

Cruentus lets it go on, draws it out, encourages it. Then, finally, she holds up another arm.

"For such a vile crime, we have cooked up a special little potion for our traitor. Something any of those feeling a touch rebellious might keep in mind."

Glancing back, she gestures for Penny Hsiang to come forward, flashing the other woman the smile she had been struggling to keep in.

Penny steps forward and pulls a syringe out of her wide sleeves like a magician revealing a rabbit from a hat. She holds it up high, bearing a grin that could make someone queasy if it were aimed in their direction. For a brilliant, brief moment, she is the center of attention, and even the crowd hushes slightly.

"This is a poison fit for a traitor," she announces. "It's rapid-onset, degenerative. It strips away the parts of the brain that take the oomph out of bad memories. Then it disables the part of your brain that dampens pain signals. Then it kills you."

She takes a step towards Ariadne. A Peacekeeper presents Ariadne's vein.

"Special order," Penny says as she leans in and whispers in Ariadne's ear, giggling as if she were a teenager girl discussing cute classmates and not a torturer sinking a needle into Ariadne's arm. "Just for you."

Still, the crowd's response to her makes no difference. Cruentus' words don't make any difference, and Penny's barely concealed venom doesn't either. Ariadne is unflappable in the face of her own execution, for she saw that coming; Cobb's words come back to her in that moment - dying was how you got out of a dream, dying was how he and Mal got out of Limbo - and a strange sort of calm comes to her in waves, counteracting the hatred of the crowd and all of those around her.

Ariadne doesn't even turn when Penny whispers in her ear; she's never been much for gossip or chatting idly about cute classmates. She doesn't blink when the needle sinks into her vein, though it sends a shiver down her spine that she can't control. For a moment, she wonders just how good the Capitol is at capital punishment, and how long it's going to take for this to happen. Ariadne might theoretically have all the time in the world, but that doesn't mean she wants to drag it out.

It hits the moment after her mind goes blank again, after her last thought is fully formed; her mind is forced to go blank, simply because of the level of sheer pain that wracks her body. It comes to her in spasms, in seizing that is only contained by the fact that her hands are still bound, and she's still held by the Avoxes she once knew. She doesn't scream. Instead, Ariadne bites the inside of her cheek, the inside of her lip; her teeth go through the flesh - she tastes blood - and it's still not enough to detract from the poison running through her veins. She seizes violently for all to see, every inch of her body trembling and shaking and contorting in a fashion that would make anyone cringe.

Biology had never been her strong suit, and most of Penny's explanation of it went over her head; still, she can tell when the second part of the poison starts to kick in, when the pain almost fades away, leaving her numb and still shaking where she's held, a trickle of her blood spilling down her chin from where she'd bitten her mouth to shreds. And still, she doesn't scream; still, she doesn't tear her eyes away from Cruentus.

Holly and Shepard hold her high and as still as possible as the toxin causes her to twitch, jerk in their grasp. It looks better on TV, of course, but possibly, somewhere in their reprogramming, it is also a way to give Ariadne her last bit of dignity.

When her body finally stops convulsing, when her head drops to her chest and she goes still, the crowd cheers. And Cruentus smiles, knowing her message was sent loud and clear.

Penny steps back to the corpse. A gun materializes from the wide sleeves into her hands, and she places it straight to Ariadne's cold temple and pulls the trigger. She doesn't flinch when there's a bang, nor when the blood and bits of bone and brain and gunpowder spray over Holly's Avox robes, nor when the crowd celebrates even more uproariously.

"Can never be too sure," she says quietly, then to Holly, "go clean yourself up."

It's the last bit of this particular section of footage in the broadcast.


When the viewing is over, a Peacekeeeper appears to sets a box on a table set up just for this. Opening it, within each box are several wrist cuffs, the names of Tributes carved on the inside, one for each named Tribute, a simple motif relating to the District on the outside. A neat hand-written note from Cruentus sits in the white satin in the middle of the box.

A gift, for those among us who need to remember where they are.

It is clear the Peacekeeper is there for anyone who objects to putting their cuff on. After receiving the cuff, the Tributes are permitted to wander, although those with cuffs are given 'special attention' by their Escorts.

Comments

DISTRICT 1 SUITES

[gamemakers]

There are cuffs for Howard, Hyperion, and Karkat.

Re: DISTRICT 1 SUITES

[sleeplessinalternia]

Anyone in the District One common area who doesn't know what the notes say does now, because Karkat reads his out loud under his breath--he does that, sometimes, sound things out when he knows the words are important.

He stares down at the cuff in the box.

He can tell it's a punishment, probably for biting Jack Atlas--which he still doesn't really regret, because that dickbag tried to punch Terezi's head--but who fucking knows, the Capitol humans are even more cracked in the 'pan than normal humans.

(He'd ended up having to look away from the television at the end, ashamed of his squeamishness, but he couldn't help it, he was imagining Signless there instead. What a fucking thing to watch the night after your moirail informs you he would have been executed for treason if the Capitol hadn't stole him. And might still be now. Fuck.)

Karkat shoves the cuff onto his wrist and as soon as his escort will let him he's on his way up to District Twelve.

Re: DISTRICT 1 SUITES

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard doesn't complain as he puts his on. He doesn't dare to. Once it locks over his wrist, he notes that the lock is something he couldn't possibly hope to pick, despite his considerable skill in the area, but that's probably a good thing, because it means he won't be tempted to try.

But he starts to tug his jacket sleeve over the cuff, and that's when his Escort grabs him and pulls the sleeve back up. "You're wearing this for a reason," she says, "do that again and they'll put the next one around your neck."

Howard stares blankly and doesn't fight it. Instead he goes and sits back on the couch, pulling his sleeve up spitefully high and examining the bracelet. It looks like a medical bracelet, one you wear if you're allergic to penicillin, he thinks. Clunky, though.

He interrupts his reverie with the cuff every few moments to cast scared glances at the other faces in the room, the people who've tried to kill him.

DISTRICT 2 SUITES

[gamemakers]

There are cuffs for Grey, Danny, Sherlock, and Bucky.

Sherlock - Open!

[alldeduction]

Sherlock was surprisingly malleable, that morning. He didn't fight or argue as they were herded into the suite's common room. He didn't speak, and he didn't sit - standing behind the couch with his arms folded as he watched the entire execution impassively.

It was not his first execution, but it was certainly the most inhumane. Not a whisper of emotion crossed his face, cold as stone, as he watched Ariadne die, and nothing as the box was opened before them and he saw his name on the cuff.

Well. He wasn't surprised.

He didn't even fight the branding. He reached out, taking the metal band out, noting the masonic imagery around the outside. He slipped it on his wrist without a word. Half a badge of pride, and half a constant reminder - he would need to be so very careful, from here on out.

He would need to be cowed.

OTA

[mediumdrip]

Blaine is clearly shaken by what he had watched in the morning. It was one thing to face violence and death in the Arena, but the Victors are supposed to be immune.

The execution with the use of Victors who have been turn into Avox just re-enforces the feeling that he's not safe. Not anywhere.

The Psiioniic | OTA

[xanthous]

He doesn't have cuffs.

This doesn't surprise him at all - he doesn't want to rebel, and there's no reason to view him as a threat. He's a scrawny, bitter alien and they've taken away the reason he exists.

He watches the tributes getting cuffed quietly, perched on one of the couches in the suites. His lips twitch into a smirk, and he almost laughs at the cuffing - but whether it's from him being amused or not is a whole other thing.

After a moment longer of sitting and staring, he does laugh, and it's definitely from bitterness.

OTA!

[deadthenred]

Bucky takes his cuff with a grin, the sort of wise-ass grin you push into to push yourself out of being scared. He knew what happened, when you shoot someone that close up. Of course. But it isn't a pleasant thing to be reminded. Bucky tells himself that it's different, in a real war, between what he did and what these scraggy S.O.B.'s are doing now. That must be why they gave him the bracelet, right?

He turns the cuff over and over again, tracing it with his fingers. When Bucky stops, his left hand closes into a fist. He doesn't realize.

OTA

[likewhatilike]

Considering he just watched a public execution and some people get arrested (sort of, there were handcuffs involved at least), Mickey is way too amused by the situation.

On the bright side he isn't bored.

Kevin - OTA

[fire_punk]

Kevin freezes against his seat. No... They can't. She was a Victor. He eyes the Avoxes in the room. He's still not safe. Not here, not anywhere.

DISTRICT 3 SUITES

[gamemakers]

There are cuffs for Diane and Marius.

[gluteus]

Maximus never did get used to the televisions - how crisp and real they felt. How close. A bizarre, disconcerting invention, and one he'd only ever really seen playing death, over and over.

The execution did not surprise him. He himself and sentenced men to their deaths in the army, and Rome harboured more overtly brutal practices than this. Poison was not a kind way to go, but at least it was quick - they could have tied her to a tree and left her there to starve to death. They could have broken her body a hundred times over by rolling down the hill.

He jumped at the gun shot. He'd never seen one, though he'd been told of them, and the massive amount of damage for such a little thing staggered him. He took a breath, and let it out.

Open

[tis_allgood]

Bert was quiet and respectful, no matter how he felt about poisoning. It was clear that they were being watched and speaking his mind on the matter would only get him in trouble. For all that Cuthbert usually ran his mouth, he knew when his own hide was on the line and he was capable of discretion.

However when he saw a gun come out and heard the shot he jumped like the bullet went through his own head and stepped back from the TV, furious.

"To hell with all of them!"

Open

[arachnoble]

Sybille is conflicted. She can't say that Ariadne deserved her execution and that...that worries her. She had worked for this system for so long, and she's just now beginning to realize that maybe, just maybe, the Games are a horrible idea.

But anyone who protests the games will end up dead, and she doesn't want to die just yet.

She stands at the edge of the room, watching the tributes and trying not to look as nervous as she feels. She probably fails, with how she keeps running her hands through her hair and fidgeting with her clothing, and she should know that her new tributes are more observant than not.

open

[pythianjudgment]

For the most part, Terezi observes the proceedings in silence, her elbows on her knees as she sits passively on a sofa. Her only real expression is the pull of a frown at her lips. Even blind, she hears the explanation of the events, and anyone who knows her particular skill set would notice her breathing, deep and even--trying to inhale as much of the moving picture as possible.

She didn't expect humans to be this brutal. Even on Alternia, public executions were fairly common, but pubic torture? A little less so. And just the fact that she was comparing these humans to trolls at all said more than enough to her. There was something very wrong here, and even if she's only been here for a week, she finds herself sympathizing with the woman being executed, not the executioner. It's a weird feeling, to find herself thinking on this side of the law, but it's not her government, so that's ok.

Even when the event finishes, Terezi continues to sit there. There are no cuffs for her, and she is more than okay with that. Though she has to wonder what exactly the others did to get theirs.

ota

[saisamour]

Marius stays rooted to a spot close to the corner the entire time the execution is broadcast, watching with eyes wide and jaw dropped in horror. It's only when the gunshot resounds in the air that he staggers back and hits the wall behind him.

And then he's caught in flashes of gunfire and shouts of men and the heat of a pistol in his hand as he fires at a National Guard member—

He gasps and squeezes his eyes shut, pressing his palms against his lids until the visions and phantom sounds subside. When it's over, he takes a deep breath and pulls himself together, hands curled into fists, shaking visibly but not because of fear.

But that apparently isn't the end. When the Peacekeeper comes in and opens the box, Marius sees his name in one of the cuffs. It doesn't take long for him to understand why. It isn't necessarily a foreign concept to him. Utter even the slightest displeasure against the ruling party and you are branded as a threat. He could have lost his head, at a certain point in history back in France. He could be killed the way Ariadne had in here.

He isn't surprised that the thought is almost welcoming.

As the wrist cuff clicks into place, he runs a finger along the simple design, recalling what Enjolras had told him a mere few days ago, back when he was still confused and uncertain about his role in this world. He raises his eyes to the Peacekeeper, a look of defiance crossing his face, though he says nothing as he crumples the note in his hand and walks towards the glass windows of the suite that overlooks the Capitol still a buzz from the execution.

Today, he definitely knows where he stands.

DISTRICT 4 SUITES

[gamemakers]

There is a cuff for Anna.

OPEN

[whoseesbynight]

Nepeta doesn't know Ariadne. Not on a personal level anyway, even if she knows what has been done. Perhaps that makes it easier. Or perhaps it's the fact that death is common on Alternia, even if she hasn't seen executions in person. She knows they happen, of course. There wouldn't be a need for legislacerators otherwise, but where she'd spent most of her life makes it a little hard for her to actually be at an execution, even if she'd wanted to be.

She isn't expecting the poison. Executions on Alternia are - from what she's heard - neat and clean. Stabbed, or hung, or any of a number of violent ways to bring a life to a close. This is anything but, and even if she understands they're making an example of it, she doesn't like it. She's not really quite certain why, either. She's never been fond of the hemospectrum, but she hasn't had such an immediate reaction to anything highbloods have done - and the woman doing the killing is pretty definitely a highblood even if only in deed.

Maybe it's because she's never been so up close and personal to it like this, even despite the way she's hunted and killed for food most herself. Maybe it's something else. All she knows is that she isn't certain if she should shrug off the death of stranger or if she just wants to try claw things down around the Capitol's eyes. She isn't going to, of course. But the idea's tempting and she can't help but miss Equius all of sudden.

As it is, however, she's unsettled and it shows.

DISTRICT 5 SUITES

[gamemakers]

There are cuffs for Enjolras and GHB.

Lindsey [OPEN]

[hartless_cowboy]

No cuff for him, Lindsey wasn't particularly surprised, especially with the way the Peacekeeper looked as if saying they would be all too happy to do something if Enjolras and GHB didn't put theirs on. Still, for a moment when there was a revealing, he did feel a moment of jealousy that he didn't get one when the others did. It passed quickly though, who wanted to be a captured and tagged dog?

"That was all interesting." He gave the television another look then shook his head. "I'm sure everyone learned their lessons and no more bombs. Now when can we get out of our suites?"

DISTRICT 6 SUITES

[gamemakers]

There are cuffs for Clint, Punchy and Callista. The satin in this box is also red, for Ariadne.

JAY | OTA

[amourtician]

Jay's hiding behind the sofa, shaking a little. He'd squeaked, rather quietly, a few times during the execution, but he seems to have lost his voice right now. He's opening and closing his mouth, like a fish out of water.

DISTRICT 7 SUITES

[gamemakers]

There are no cuffs for District 7. Instead there a small feast laid out, and Creuntus note instead says that everyone's debt is being reduced by half for good behavior.

ota

[marcato]

It's funny because he doesn't care about Ariadne, doesn't care about death, but watching her die traps coldness in his veins and drives the wind out of his chest. When the feed ends, he stands frozen, trembling, his hands curled into fists.

He doesn't want to eat. So he doesn't.

DISTRICT 8 SUITES

[gamemakers]

There are cuffs for Some, Chris, and Dr. Holiday.

Re: DISTRICT 8 SUITES

[riptheseams]

Calico had been sick. She hoped nobody had noticed. But she couldn't help it. Thank goodness she had been stood at the back of the room.

But Ariadne - Eva had done that to her. Eva had as good as signed Ariadne's death warrant.

She had stared at the television for a long time after it went black. The ONLY thing that made her attention snap back to her tributes was the arrival of the cuffs.
Subtle, Capitol, really subtle.

She pursed her lips. She wished she could tell them not to out them on, but that was impossible. She had to play along with the Capitol. So she tried to smile and called out,

"Some? Chris? Holiday. Presents, from the Game Makers. Lucky you."

DISTRICT 9 SUITES

[gamemakers]

There are cuffs for Parker and Harley.

Warning: gore and...someone being triggered

[polyturtle]

The first reaction from any of the Tributes watching is a scream. A short, quick, strangled, horrified scream, from the least (or most?) likeliest of them. He'd been stone cold during most of the proceedings; however, the minute the shot rang out from Penny's gun, there was an abrupt, horrified change in his demeanor.

Don's eyes widened as the blood and gore and bone splattered out, all over Holly, all over Ariadne, everywhere. Just like--

Like a switch turned on, he was back. Not in the suite. He was back in the Arena.

That Arena. And for the first time the memories were no mere haze or confusing cauldron of violence and maggots and death. It was all so clear, so defined in his mind, as if it happened yesterday, or even happening right then. Charging at Dean and ripping his head off. Attacking Draco, Cassie, that large blonde guy, other Tributes, and animals with no mercy. Momoko falling off the cliff with a scream that echoed through the radioactive-seeped valley. His own roar as he fell, Kevin Prentiss watching from above. Then the bodies. The maggots. The warm gore of dying goats and humans. Like melted cheese down his throat--and the heat, the sudden heat--Ariadne--

And then that was all he would remember before everything went black for a good half-hour. Not unconscious. He simply didn't remember from all the overwhelming clearness he'd just experienced, until he found himself in his own bed, a line of drool from his mouth to his pillow. There would be an unpleasant taste ruminating in his throat when he came to and thus, regain his ability to even say anything.

Hopefully someone would clean the lovely trail of vomit than went from near his seat in the common room to the doorway of his bedroom soon.

DISTRICT 10 SUITES

[gamemakers]

There are cuffs for Wyatt, Daniel, and Nikola.

[teethofneedles]

Karis applauds once the metaphorical dust settles. She's got a grin a mile wide on her face and she looks close to bursting out laughing, "You know, the more I see, the more I like these guys. They'd give some apothecaries I know back home a run for their money. That was... impressive."

She flops back onto the couch and glances at the little boxes and the cuffs included in them. She stage whispers in a sing-song tone, "Someone's been naughty...."

DISTRICT 11 SUITES

[gamemakers]

There are cuffs for Peggy and Suze.

[onthedot]

It was either put it on or have it be put on for her and Peggy decided that there had been enough roughness that day and simply slid the damn thing on. Her lips pursed as she fingered the cuff before she turned on heel and say back down on the nearest sofa, resuming her place like nothing had changed. She hadn't known Ariadne, but she knew those who had and that alone was enough to keep her in check, keep her waiting until things had calmed before seeking the other's out.

Tomorrow they would be back in an Arena regardless, as if any of them had a hope in hell to be sleeping tonight in the first place.

DISTRICT 12 SUITES

[gamemakers]

There are cuffs for Tony, Coulson, Sandy, Pruna, and the Signless.

jfc 12. gj.

[setfires]

"Exactly how do they expect me to accessorize those things?" Cinna says with clear distaste. It's nice when he can express a bit of his real emotion by hiding it behind superficiality.