The Crowning of Maximus Decimus Meridius

[gamemakers]

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.

Comments

[pythianjudgment]

There's a pang of guilt in Terezi's chest as she listens to him talk. She knows well enough that she taunted him pretty relentlessly about his supposed future self. She's still not sure how much she believes the truth of that. But at the very least she knows how sore of a spot that is for him now. In a way, she can relate to that insecurity.

"It's not foolish." She rests a hand lightly over his arm where he was tracing scars, trying to break his attention. "I think... that is a pretty reasonable concern. But everyone starts out as wigglers at some point, even if it's not easy to imagine. Even the Empress, believe it or not! She was especially embarrassing. Fish puns everywhere, and it's really difficult to have respect for someone who gets decked in the face by a really dorky human."

[carnagecarnival]

It does get him too look up at her, the touch to his arm. He's surprised to hear reassurance over mockery. But not as surprised for what he hears further. A smirk forms and he's just about to comment on her turning his words back on him, when she tells him she knew the empress. Knew the empress young.

"WAIT. Motherfucking what? YOU KNEW HER?" He asks in disbelief. His lips twitch just slightly higher, even through the shock and confusion. "The fish bitch really got for a human rearranging her unfortunate lineaments?"

[pythianjudgment]

"I met her, yes. In a sense." Terezi waggles her brows at him and at his surprise in that. She's not sure how reassuring that was, but at least it got him to stop brooding on the subject. "Just before I ended up here, as complicated as that sounds. She was... nine, I think?"

The particulars probably don't matter that much, so she skips to the part that he actually seems amused by. "But yeah, someone told this derpy human boy what she would end up doing. He totally flipped out--tackled her, punched her, the whole shebang! There was blood everywhere, she didn't even fight back. It was pretty embarrassing for participants and spectators alike. I was embarrassed, and I didn't even know either of them."

[carnagecarnival]

"IN A SENSE?" He repeats with a raised brow. He laughs at the story she gives. It's a amusing. It serves her right. But he's distracted by the rest now, even if he knows that wasn't her intent.

She couldn't meet him because of the abandoning of Alternia to a new world, but she could meet the empress at nine? Why? Because of the great miracles. How? Because Messiahs willed it. But he can't help but wonder what had given this opportunity, this meeting at their times, a chance to come about. Messiahs forgive his sin, forgive his transgression for what is all to be a questioning of the holy power, for it is not without faith for the ways of thy wills. "Was she brought with she to her new beginning? A CLAIM FOR TWELVE, DIFFERENT TIMES AS SO WE ARE NOW HERE?"

[pythianjudgment]

"Not...quite, no." Terezi seems hesitant to give an explanation on that part. She frowns uneasily, silence falling between the two of them as she tries to work out just how much she feels comfortable revealing. It's probably not anything to worry about, just so long as she words it right.

"She wasn't part of the twelve that went with me. There was another group of twelve from a different universe. Sort of like a past life. The same thing happened to them, like it happened to us. She was the Empress, but not exactly our Empress. Not yet, anyway."

[carnagecarnival]

He stares. He doesn't want to say she's lost him. But she has almost certainly lost him.

A different universe. Like a past life. With a nine sweep old empress who was to become the current empress? No that...

"What kind of different universe does she all speak for of?" He asks slowly, hoping it might illuminate instead of merely confuse him more.

[pythianjudgment]

A frown pulls at Terezi's lips as she tries to figure out how to simplify this without revealing too much. She doesn't want to say too much, but as it stands, he doesn't seem to be getting it.

"There was a universe before ours. Everyone who exists in our universe also existed there. When the meteors came for them, they failed to complete the process. Instead, the universe was wiped out, restarted, and became the one that we know now. The Empress was part of that original twelve who failed. And because of their failure, new trolls were chosen to finish what they couldn't. That is, us."

[carnagecarnival]

"A LIFE BEFORE? I've read no such word or scripture. NO PROPHESY TOLD OF A MOTHERFUCKING PLACE WHAT ALL WAS BEING BEFORE," He says, eyeing her. He's sceptical. How could he not be? But if she was Messiah chosen, if what all she said was true, even that, then so too had been the Empress. Messiah chosen and she had failed; a sinner. A sinner what had touched his moirail. She had no right, no motherfucking right to live and walk.

But he knows the scripture. He knows it near better that any troll he's ever met. He's never heard of this, nothing like this. No befores only ever afters.

"How am I to know this is true? HOW COULD YOU HAVE UP AND MET FOR HER IF SHE WAS TO BE WIPED THE FUCK OUT."

And then if that was to be true... "Even I? AND YOU? From this spoken of motherfucking place?" He shakes his head. "HOW DO YOU MOTHERFUCKING KNOW THIS TO BE TRUE? What up and gave voice to pan that it was?"

[pythianjudgment]

"Maybe not everything is in your scripture," she mutters flatly, though she doesn't press more than that. It's not her intent to start a fight.

"I met her because she cheated the system. She killed herself and all of her companions just before the universe could be wiped. So they continued to exist as ghosts, which we were able to converse with in whatever fucked up medium we were in. And before you ask! No, I don't know how that worked. There were certain places out there where living space and dead space would merge for a while. It got pretty weird, actually."

[carnagecarnival]

"SISTER, YOU AIN'T GOT INKLING AT FOR WHAT GOES INTO THE MOTHERFUCKING SCRIPTURE, nor do you seem intent on hearing it. SO THINK IT WOULD BE I MORE THAN YOU WHAT WOULD KNOW THAT WHICH MY SCRIPTURE PREACHES. So don't imply that it to be common that such things outside it get occurrence OR THAT YOU DIDN'T JUST IMPLY EXACTLY THAT," He snaps. He'd like not to fight now as well, but he would not let derision of his faith pass without comment.

He frowns, tapping his knee as he tries to sort it all out, work out what fits where into which parts of what he knows to be true. He purses his lips. He would need the pause anyway to ease his agitation before he speaks. He's not sure how much he actually believes but for now he goes with it.

"So she is dead," He muses, partly to himself. "IN WAIT OF HER MOTHERFUCKING JUDGEMENT. That one at least." He shakes his head again. "YOU ARE GOD DAMN LUCKY WE AIN'T ALTERNIA FOR THIS IS SURELY TO BE EMPIRICAL HERESY OF MOST SEVERE DEGREE. You realise that?"

[pythianjudgment]

"And you ain't got inkling at for what I've been through. So don't imply that I'm a liar just because something isn't in your scripture, and I won't have to imply anything in return." All in all, she thinks that's being more than fair. She's not eager to step on his beliefs, not after everything they've talked about, but she's not going to just let him imply that she's making anything up just because it's not in scripture.

"Anyway, I stopped caring about anything relating to Alternia quite a while ago! It is surprisingly liberating not having to worry about what might and might not get me culled if I were still back home. Granted, if I were still back home, I wouldn't have gotten a chance to experience any of this anyway, so it's pretty much a moot point."

[carnagecarnival]

He huffs, glaring, but he stays silent. Mostly because he knows any words he has on his faith are lost on her. Refrains from rolling his eyes but only just.

He pauses, the reluctantly says, "POINT MOTHERFUCKING TAKEN." Because, well, he wasn't about to protest any harshness on the empress, not anymore. And the empire's running was partly hers. But then, it was partly his too. And before then, in his most current time, he'd be servent to that empire. "But... you do up and motherfucking comprehend for it, do you motherfucking not?"

If she couldn't realise what that might've cost her back then, he'd have to mind it in future for things unrelated to Alternia. He moves on quickly though. Maybe he doesn't really want to hear an answer to that.

"YOU SAY AT EVERYONE FROM ALTERNIA WAS OF THIS PLACE OF WHICH YOU SPEAK. Was this told to you too? OR A MOTHERFUCKING GUESS WHAT'S BEING DEEMED CLOSE CORRECT."

[pythianjudgment]

Terezi doesn't get a chance to respond verbally to his first question, but considering she's giving him that same flat look as before, he can probably infer that she would have confirmed that she does comprehend.

However, he does move on and she doesn't linger on the topic. "It was explained to me, and it follows the rules that I already knew existed. It was an option that we could have taken as well, but we didn't for obvious reasons. The most obvious being that we were actually competent!"

[carnagecarnival]

She seems to think she does. But he wonders if she really understands. He wonders if she knew what side he would've stood on. He doesn't say more to that topic.

"So you have succeeded that which you were deemed chosen to do? OR ARE ON THE PATH TOWARDS ITS FRUITION? Wouldn't have thought her Imperious' motherfucking self a failure." A sinner witch, yes, but not a failure. "HE MISJUDGED."

[pythianjudgment]

"Different circumstances, but I think that was the point that I was trying to make. No one should be expecting you to be exactly like a person you haven't been yet. If they are, that's really dumb of them."

She bumps his shoulder again and gives him a not so subtle wink. "Besides, if someone messes with you, just give me a call. I'll help you mess them up right back."

[carnagecarnival]

If someone messes with him. He rolls his eyes, barely containing a snort. But he smirks at her and it's not all unkindly. "He'll be sure to keep it in pan," He chuckles.

He bumps her back, pondering it. Different circumstances; He doesn't really see why that should matter so much. He doubts it would matter to anyone else. He asks "DO YOU THINK CIRCUMSTANCE WOULD REALLY HAVE SO MUCH DIFFERENCE?" Time obviously, knowledge and experience. But how much could it really change a person?

[pythianjudgment]

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it would," she says, though honestly, she doesn't know. Was the other Makara like this? She didn't get the chance to find out. They would have been about the same age...

Terezi finds herself cocking her head at the other troll, studying him in silence. When she realizes the peculiarity of that, she averts her attention elsewhere.

"Their universe had some fundamental differences that changed when it was reset. Not that I think it changed them all that much. They were still pretty elated about the people they became."

[carnagecarnival]

He's about to asking her what it is she's thinking, the way she's looking at him, analzing him over. Just a simple 'what', and his lips move to form the word just as she moves on.

Funny enough, the watched feeling doesn't go away after she turns. It's nothing to do with capitol, all the cameras and recordings everywhere, and all to do with her words. Why was it that he could ignore capitols eyes on him but the thought of the dead following his life felt so much more like he was under scrutiny. But then, he realises, that would've meant he was one of the twelve she spoke of. She would've have told him as much, he's sure, if that were the case. A failed product of his Messiahs. They were an exception to the rule, the rest erased, as they were ghosts in wait of the carnival curtains.

He hums. "I can't give remembrance to any such motherfucking thing. I REMEMBER MY SWEEPS, NONE MORE. Would they remember this? THE MOTHERFUCKERS WHAT WERE ALL TO BE CHOSEN?" Perhaps it was strange to ask about a life erased, one he's not really sure was real, but it's too late to take it back.

[pythianjudgment]

Terezi pauses at that question, gnawing her lip gently between her teeth. There was at least one person who remembered. She not sure how, since she's pretty sure that their memories were supposed to be wiped. But that at least proves it's not impossible.

"They shouldn't. No one should. That was the whole point, to start fresh with a clean slate." There's moments sometimes, where Terezi wonders what her life on Beforus was like. She wonders if she was as cool there as Redglare is here. Some part of her doesn't think so.

"I don't remember mine, either. I just know that I was older. I lived my full life there. Sweeps and sweeps and sweeps, and I don't remember one second of it."

[carnagecarnival]

He nods to that. But then she tells of a life lived. It surprises him. His own reaction to it even surprises him.

"Doesn't seem fair," slips out from between his teeth before he can even think about it. The Messiahs chose this, the Messiahs deemed it correct. But maybe they wouldn't have had to if the empress and the rest hadn't failed? It doesn't matter. Perhaps just as motherfucking well.

"A WHOLE LIFE THOUGH. Seems motherfucking long as all it is, does it not? PERHAPS ITS ALL TO BE JUST AS WELL. If Mes- If she is intended for a full life as it is to be." He can't help looking at her differently, thinking that at one time she may have been an adult. He pictures it and sees the Neophyte, but they weren't the same in his head, if both with infuriating similarities. "STILL GIVE WONDERING HOW A MOTHERFUCKER COULD DO SO FUCKING POORLY THY WILL, THAT NONE ELSE COULD LIVE AS THEY WERE."

[pythianjudgment]

"...It's complicated." She's tired of trying to explain and dodging around things that she doesn't want to reveal and trying to cover up the fact that she's omitted information. She sighs, resting her head back against the pillar again.

"Stuff like this doesn't have to be fair, though. It is what it is. It probably wasn't a very interesting life, anyway. Not like the ones on Alternia proper."

[carnagecarnival]

He nods in agreement. He wouldn't trade it. He gets to be Highblood. He gets to serve his Messiahs. What more could he want? Mituna comes to mind. But he's here now, he has him here. And if he returned, he could save him there. Somehow.

"A better life. FAR MOTHERFUCKING SUPERIOR. If it ain't worth remembrance then a past can't be that useful. THAT FUCKING SIGNIFICANT. You can surpass your former, YOU HAVE ALL THE MOTHERFUCKING TOOLS TO YOU."

[pythianjudgment]

Terezi knows he's trying to encourage her, but for some reason, she's just not feeling it. It would have been nice to believe at another time that she had been something cool or amazing. At least she would have known that she could do it once, that this awkward feeling of not being right somehow would pass if she just gives it some time.

She forces a bit of a smile anyway. He's trying, and that's what matters. "...Would you want to know about your life back then, if you could?"

[carnagecarnival]

"If I could?" He repeats, quiet. He frowns. What would it mean? A different body? A different life? Would it be just the same thing over, or would it be so different? Who would he know, if anyone? He gives the most honest answer.

"I DON'T KNOW. I don't what all my future is to be. DIDN'T UP AND MOTHERFUCKING KNOW FOR IT UNTIL I CAME HERE. A brother could remember... and want for things what can't be touched. COULD FIND MOTHERFUCKING REGRET. Could find means to be better or too motherfucking much. THERE'S MUCH WHAT CAN BE FOUND IN A LIFE. As there is that can be found in death and ends." He stares unseeing, trying to imagine that which he can't. "I DON'T KNOW."

[pythianjudgment]

"Fair enough. You've got a pretty sweet deal already." Though technically... he probably doesn't anymore. Not with the way that timelines work. Being pulled here probably disrupted the Alpha timeline and made a branch. If he goes back, he would probably just be doomed.

For a moment, that thought crosses to her own circumstances, too, but she shoves it out of her mind. She doesn't need to think about that right now. One thing at a time.

"It doesn't matter, either way. All that was lost a long time ago. It's just wishful thinking at this point." She smirks a little. "I mean for all you know, you were really lame back then, too. That would be super embarrassing."