gamemakers: (Default)
The Gamemakers ([personal profile] gamemakers) wrote in [community profile] thecapitol2013-09-02 11:22 am

The Crowning of Maximus Decimus Meridius

Who| Everyone
What| Maximus' crowning
Where| Victory Hall
When| Today
Warnings| Violence.


Prior to the Crowning, the Stylists and Escorts were given information: the color scheme for the Crowning is brown and gold, the theme is fire, and for Tributes, Games Staff and Victors in the Capitol alike, attendance is mandatory. No exceptions.

The Victory Hall has been completely refitted to the theme. Great brownstone pillars reach up from the floor, now made of polished marble. Rose petals and dying embers flutter from the ceiling like confetti, and long panels of fabrics embroidered with Maximus' kills pour down the walls. Rather than tables, Tributes are given wooden chairs to sit around fire pits in groups of four, where pigs and sheep are roasting whole, tended by attentive Avoxes. The smell of charring flesh and rosemary wafts through the hall.

In the center of the hall is a pit, fifteen feet deep, ringed with brick and filled with sand. Torches line the inside wall, casting light in every direction. A circular screen up above lets those not close to the edge view the contents of the pit in real-time video.

Maximus' private table has a theme of anachronisms; Tributes from 'less-developed' timelines and worlds are seated around a long table, facing the gladiatorial ring where, at the moment, a full-grown, well-fed Bengal tiger paces. Compared to the muttations of the Arena, it may seem positively demure, up until it bares its fangs and reveals that it's been modified to have saber teeth gilded in gold. Occasionally an Avox will dangle something into the pit and jerk it away if the tiger looks bored and lays down.

Occasionally, with fanfare of music pumped in to announce it, a challenger enters the tiger ring - a hologram of one of the Tributes who were cuffed and marked by the Capitol. The hologram must be affixed with smell, too, as the tiger takes note and attacks like a kitten following a laser pointer, making dramatic roars as it does. The holograms put up valiant fights, and their deaths are brutal, illusory blood flying and the sounds of death rattles and bones cracking coming from speakers embedded in every table.

"A speech," Maximus' Escort says to Maximus. "The General must give a speech."

Tributes who attended Wesker's Crowning ceremony should notice a remarkable increase in security. Visibly armed Peacekeepers lurk behind the panels of fabric, and bulbous, obvious cameras dot the ceiling. Even the Avoxes seem shiftier than usual, and are equipped with discrete tape recorders pinned to their rough-hewn tunics.
gardienne: (do you hear the people sing?)

[personal profile] gardienne 2013-09-04 11:15 pm (UTC)(link)
"There are ways other than fighting that will keep you alive. You cannot tell me that is the only reason we are here, that people such as I are here."

She shrugged. Her tone, though confrontational, wasn't particularly aggressive. She recognised the resignation in Don; it was something she felt herself a lot of the time. Resigned to being unloved. Resigned to her own mortality. Resigned to the idea that she would have to do things she hated to get through a day. It was her own morality which prevented her from killing. It was the only 'virtue' left to her, as far as she could see.

"People like me - you cannot believe that I was brought in to fight. Against men, and - are you a monster? well, against people like you, how am I to win? In Paris, I had things to threaten to stop them killing me - but here, no. People like me, they bring us in to be killed so they can laugh at me. Well, I shan't have them laugh at me any more. I think THAT is a delusion."

She glared again at the President. "He has brought in my brother, Gavroche. Only a child, as big as Mademoiselle Pruna. Only he is gone now. And my... well, the Monsieurs Enjolras and Marius are from my home. But what can they do? I do not care for them and they certainly do not care for me."

That was a lie. She blatantly cared for Marius. There he was, a few seats down, and she gazed longingly at his profile.

"I am not afraid of torture. I have been hurt before. And I am not afraid of death. I will take my chances. But you know,"

She turned back to Don, her expression resolute. "You will NOT come near me in the next arena. You will NOT. And you will not go near Monsieur Enjolras, or Monsieur Marius or Sigma or Howard. Do you understand? You do not touch Madame Mona or Madame Parker. Not even a nudge. Because if you do, I will make sure that you are upset as well. Do we understand each other, Monsieur?"

She was trying her best to sound official, to sound as if she had a plan in her mind. It was a technique she used often with the Patron Minette, and a threat that often worked. Did it work now? Probably not. But perhaps it would make him at least think, to worry a little, to avoid them for a little while.
polyturtle: (go to your room)

[personal profile] polyturtle 2013-09-07 06:12 pm (UTC)(link)
He stared back at her, uncowed.

"We will see."

He was not attached. Maybe, a little, to Marius. But all those he had truly cared for were gone. There was little to hold him back. And whether Eponine believed he did it to win, well. He didn't know. He didn't care. It wasn't the winning that mattered either.

With that, he turned to leave.