thecapitol | (no subject)

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WHO| Everyone
WHAT| Backstage for a round of interviews with the one and only Caesar Flickerman
WHEN| The closing ceremonies of Arena 02.
WHERE| A stage set up in one of the ballrooms of the Training Center
WARNINGS/NOTES| Find a setting in the threads below to tag into! A post will be made later for the actual interviews themselves.

It was clear the Capitol was nervous.

After the accidental trigger of the pod last celebration, this round the Capitol was "treating" the audience to one on one interviews with all the Tributes. A treat meant to keep everyone tucked at home for viewing parties.

The south wing of the Training Center had been made into a high security studio, light flooding one of the large ballrooms, while the tributes themselves were shuffled into dressing rooms and primped by their stylists, prepared to go on stage by their mentors, and generally left to wait their turn.

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Loki had little time to adjust to being in an unfamiliar place when he found himself being ushered down halls, through walkways toward a room where people were being changed. Something Loki did not seem pleased with. Considering he was quite fond of his Asgardian formal wear, designed just for him and worth more than he could imagine their trinkets and baubles were. He watched people move to and fro but little answers were offered to the Prince who was growing more and more irritated as time passed by.

"I know not what you seek of me--" He begins, his voice raising slightly, and while he may not have all of himself together, Loki still was an imposing figure. "--But kidnapping a Prince of Asgard is most unwise."

After her victory in the first arena of these new games, the other mentors of District 9 seemed all at once thrilled to have her in their midst and also, at a complete loss as to what to do with her. They also had a horrible habit of thrusting the newest tributes on her; leaving them in what they called her 'more than capable hands' to explain things in a way that 'only another outsider could explain.'

Personally, she thought it was all a bunch of bullshit. There was no one suited for a task like that. But no one seemed to care what she thought, and so she was shoved towards District 9's newest tribute like a child on a dare, or someone who just drew the short straw.

They were already scared of him.

Shepard however, was less impressed.

Just another lost soul like the rest of them.

"You can tell them that till you're blue in the face," she tells the tall dark haired man honestly as she approaches him and those who have been shuffling him about. "They won't listen. Trust me. I know. I've been there."

It's not an expression he's familiar with, and the words have a counter productive effect of irritating him farther. Blue in the face? A sneer crosses his lips and while he may no longer have access to the deep wells of magic-- he knows this as he cannot feel it pulsing around him, the steady thrum that moves most of his being, that offers him some light. It is not completely absent, but he cannot access it which is as troubling as it being gone entirely.

"Tell me what is the meaning of this?" He turns his attention to the female who speaks of understanding. He doubts it, but Loki is not one to step out into the unfamiliar unprepared. If she has words to offer he will take them into account because he is not the brash fool his brother is; even without power he still has words for what good they will do here.

"I care not to give them my clothes nor my time."

She comes to pause before the man and tries to size him up the best she can without making it so obvious that that's what she's doing. Humans are fragile things, but she has a tendency to forget that fact about herself on occasion; she's gone head to head with dozens of beings twice her size and this tall, slender, out-of-place man has given her no reason to be intimidated.

"You called yourself a prince earlier. Of Asgard?" the only Asgard she's familiar with is an colonized star system in the Exodius cluster and she's met enough people in this place by now to know that's probably not what he's talking about. "Wherever and whenever that is... whatever that place means to you, it isn't here. Has anyone told you what they want from you?"

"Prince of Asgard?"

And then, suddenly. There was Don. Its pretty clear that the stylists hadn't figured out what exactly to do with him, as he is still mostly undressed.

"Well, I guess considering I've visited Atlantis...not so far-fetched, really." At this Don looked up at Loki. "But, I'm also gonna guess no one's explained anything about the Games to you."

Edited 2012-07-21 23:07 (UTC)

"Yes, of Asgard." Though, it was debatable at the moment considering past events, but considering he has yet to be stripped of his title then he shall retain it. In a place like this it could be to his advantage he supposes, all things considered. He could easily figure he was not in Asgard, however, this place looked nothing like it. Asgard is of light and gold, it resides in space, this place reminded him of Midgard were the colors all skewed.

And. Oh. A turtle-man. Loki should probably be a bit more startled but he has seen his share of things and this creature is no more odd to him than Sleipnir. He focuses on the odd creature for a moment, lips pursed curiously, but he stills his tongue. Loki is no fool, he knows not what the people are naturally like here and has no desire to bring more trouble than he seems to have already.

"No, I do not know of these 'Games', but I assure you I am not in a gaming mood."

"That seems to be the general consensus of those that they force to play it," Shepard says with a shrug. Maybe she should try a more sympathetic approach? But the reality of it was, she didn't want to play their goddamn games either, and he was no special snow flake. Not here. Not in the end.

"My name is Shepard," she introduces herself finally. "I came here, much like yourself. I played. And I won. Now they ask that I advise you on how to do the same." She adjusts her stance slightly to make way for Don. She may be one of the only people in this world that doesn't find the sight of him odd or alarming. She's seen weirder, and Donatello is actually a pretty respectable guy, she thinks.

"This is Donatello. He's a tribute like you. A player. If you work with us... " she shrugs as she crosses her arms over her chest. "Well, maybe you won't have to play very long."

Well, that is always a good thing. Donatello < Sleipnir on Loki's scale of odd. Still, keeping this guy in the dark would be a complete disservice to him.

"Its nice to meet you," Don nodded. "Yeah, unfortunately...I've been informed that its mandatory for us to participate in the Games. Basically, its a big gladiator game hosted by the Capitol. A bit like ancient Rome back home, but in the future. With us as the, er, lucky chosen tributes representing the various districts of the country."

Of course, they were no such thing. None of them were, as far as he knew. The or else part didn't even need to be said.

And the more he read into the history of the whole thing...

"More specifically, its...a celebration of the Capitol beating the outer districts of this country in a civil war some decades ago. Apparently its held to commemorate this victory and to...prevent another war." Again, though, he didn't believe it. At least in his experience, it wouldn't prevent war indefinitely. Not that he'd say that here. "They used to have kids that were just around my age from the districts as the tributes. Ages 12-18. But now they're bringing people from other worlds to participate, like us. Not sure how, though, but..."

At this, Donatello looks a bit sheepish. On this point he could help letting his geek out because, really, the part of traveling dimensions and universes in ways that probably involved technology?

"Personally? I'd honestly love to know! And not just to go home, something like that must have fascinating technology behind it. To be able to manipulate the spatial continuum like that to bring people from other universes, and not rely on magical talismans, that must have taken years to-"

"So there is no magic?" And yes he's interrupting but this is a very important point to him. He doesn't bother to elaborate that time, like anything else, is a gateway that can be opened with the proper tools. Though he does wonder if the tesseract at some point has fallen into the hands of more idiots-- it would come as no surprise. Using it to gather from other spaces in time or distance wasn't beyond reason, even if he did see the chosen purpose entirely idiotic. He seems to pause, to take in all the information offered before he continues,

"The goal, I assume if this is gladiatorial combat, would be to kill all the others residing upon the battlefield?" Which made the current communication odd, if they were to be competitors he saw no reason for assistance to be offered. At least from Don, as the other has claimed victory before and offered up that it was all one needed to be excused of such things. The entire situation made him think of a few beings he had encountered in his many years, but if any of them were involved he was sure they would not be visible about it.

"What is the purpose of what we're doing now?" They don't have television or anything like it upon Asgard and he has no idea why these beings had interest in his armor, or even the purpose of interviewing the gladiators would be new to him. Why did one care who was fighting if said person was not a victor?

"Magic. Technology. Whatever you call it, it's gone here. Or, suppressed, somehow," Shepard explains to the best of her knowledge. She's not been told how it works, but she's seen first hand the suppression of Kaidan's biotic abilities so it's not a hard to assume that it's something they've done to everyone across the board, somehow.

"Whatever tricks you have up your sleeve back home are going to be of little use to you here. You have your skin and bones and whatever clothes they give to you. It's a bitch and a half. But yeah. Good old gladiatorial combat is basically what it comes down to."

The uniformed men that led Loki in are still lingering about, and Shepard shoes them away, insisting that she can take care of things from here. She doesn't like them around much more than he probably does.

"As for what this is?" she gestures to the fiasco that is the dressing rooms around them, with a dozen or so other tributes about getting shoved into their various interview ensembles. She wishes she weren't in this stupid golden dress and that her hair was cropped short again; that she didn't have to try and come across as someone to be taken seriously even though there are a dozen sunflowers in her vivid red curls.

"It's just another part of the game. Inside the arena, you have nothing but your own skin and whatever else you can get your hands on. But the people watching.... if they like you. If you entertain them. If you make them believe that you can win. They will send you items to help. Food. Water. Weapons. The interviews are to give the world a glimpse of you; start getting their attention focused on you."

"Pretty much what Shepard said. All you can hope is that you picked up practical skills on the way before you got here that don't rely on magic or tech." Don closed his eyes and nodded. "Of course, even if and when we do die - since there can only be one winner each round - it appears they bring us back for the next round to fight."

Edited 2012-07-30 14:40 (UTC)

He didn't like the idea of being forced to fight for entertainment, but he was also aware he could not access the pulse of magic running under his skin and would have to bide his time. Which was fine, he was more than able to do that, if nothing else he had quite a bit of training to fall back on. There were advantages to being trained in hunting and combat even if neither were his strongest trait. He would have to pander to the humans for now, but he doubted it would last long. There was no need to be fool hearty at this stage-- however tempting it would be to simply step out and remove the man's tongue with both hands, even if he had a distaste for getting blood on him-- he would not end up killed by whatever technology they possessed. He had not thought it possible but he would not have thought mortals capable of capturing his magic.

"I do not care for this, as I am sure you do not, but I understand the need to play along." Rational, for the moment. "Though this seems quite fruitless to prove a point to one's own people."

"Not my people," Shepard almost argues, but there is a hint of a smile on her lips. She feels like she's having to defend them here, the Capitol and their ridiculous games. But it's play along or die. Inside the arena and out. There are half a dozen things she would like to say to him. But not there in the middle of everything and everyone, so instead she settles on something mundane. Something more expected.

"Do you have any skills in combat or survival?" as a mentor, she was expected to know things like that about him. Might as well start now.

They must truly not know of Asgard or his presence upon Midgard if she asks him something like that, a smirk pulls at the corner of his mouth and he gives a nod. "I have been fighting and hunting since I was a child, I am not worried about combat so much as the restriction of my sorcery." Might as well question it, since she seemed keen on being informative and it was becoming rather irritating that he couldn't access that part of his very being. It was unnatural, unsettling and he wanted it amended as soon as possible.

"Sorcery?" she thought on that a moment. "I've heard of similar instance where abilities were repressed in others. As far as I know, it seems to be across the board. A way to even the playing field I would imagine."

And that was true as far as she could tell. Kaidan's biotic abilities were practically non existent in the Capitol. And inside the Arena they had been spotty at best. How they were managing it, she was less certain on. But it was certainly on her list of things she planned to find out.

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District 9

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adovuaodu i am sorry this is such a delayed reply. life has been...hectic. <3

Man I am forever late how did I not know this was heeeere D:

LOL :D

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