thecapitol | 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

R didn't seem to mind being tugged back from the pit. He was a follower like that, terrible leader material.

"Yeah. Didn't...have to," and didn't want to, but he'd still straight up murdered people to feed to a zombie. R didn't care what planet you came from - that was impressive. "Maybe...talk to him? Ask...tips."

"Ask tips..." About helping Zombie friends, or killing, or both. Shion nodded, "I might... but..." He waved his hand trying to explain, Maximus terrified him, and would probably think Shion weak and not worth talking to.

R didn't seem to pick up on it at first. What? If Maximus could find it in himself to babysit a corpse, he'd probably think a Living guy like Shion would be an upgrade, right? After a long moment staring at Shion and through him, he eventually realized where his District 4 teammate was going with this.

"Selling....self short," R grunted.

Shion blushed and looked down. "He's just... really powerful and I'm not really a fighter, I mean I'm never going to last more than a few days..."

R thought about it, feeling it traveling through his dusty brain folds. He had the mental image of rubbing at them with his fingers, coaxing the thought through. "Not...have to ...fight him?"

Maximus won, right? So that put him out of the running Arena-wise. R thought he had that one down.

"I know... I just mean... if he gave me tips, they'd be wasted." Shion shrugged.

"Room to..." Improve? Nope, that's not the word R's casting around for, blundering in the dark trying to cheer up a human. His face creased over with a slow frown. "...Can't...hurt to...listen."

It sounded lame even in groan-form. Look, even he could tell looking at Shion that he wasn't hardcore survivor material here.

"I guess..." He gave a tiny smile, "I can only try." Even if he ultimately failed. Which he probably would.

R reached out and gave Shion a pat on the shoulder, probably a little harder than he intended to. Zombies weren't known for being the most subtle things out there. "Good. Hope...one day...you win?"

No hard feelings if Shion had to kill him to do it.

Shion shook his head, "I don't want to, but maybe you could. One day."

That dry croaking sound, like he's dying all over again, is R's pathetic attempt at a laugh. "When...pigs...fly!"

(They don't fly, right? R's already unsure about tigers and bouncing, so it can't hurt to double-check).

Shion blinked, the idiom going right over his head. "Pigs flying... I think your world is very different than mine..."

Shion, you're totally not helping here. Shion gives the human a blank stare. "Think...they don't. Do...they?"

Now R's doubting himself all over again.

"Not in my world..." Bouncing tigers, flying pigs. Shion was pretty sure R couldn't read so where was he getting these ideas from.

Good question. R could tell Shion himself if only he remembered - personally, he suspected he couldn't tell what was his memories and what was stuff he might've read in books or watched movies off (back when they had working theaters).

"Maybe...saying. Means..." Over my dead body? Yeah, right. Uh huh. There's a lot of a ways to say the same thing. R shrugs. "Winning not...likely."

"Oh..." Shion nodded, "So pigs can't fly and winning is like waiting for them to..." He thought he had understood that right. He nodded.

R bobbled his head in a nod. "...I think...so."

Unless they really could fly. R was pretty sure he'd remember seeing flying pigs dive-bombing the airport back home, though. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen actual pigs in awhile. Maybe between the survivors and the zombies they went extinct? Funny, he hadn't noticed until now.

Shion frowned, "I don't think it's impossible though, if we got people to help you... you could win..."

Edited 2013-09-09 12:46 (UTC)

R takes a longer pause than before, swaying there with Shion's hand in his.

"Want...Julie and...Ho-ward to win." R actually sounds sure about something for a change.

"I don't know Julie..." He explained, "But Howard... he should win." He nodded, Howard deserved to win Shion thought, and was probably capable of it.

R could wax on and on and get incredibly sappy about Julie if he wasn't reduced to these moans. Shion could die of old age before he finished. R gives his own wobbly nod of approval.

"He's good...people. Friend," R says before he catches himself. Wait, he doesn't know for sure if they're friends still after what happened in that cave - he could be jumping the gun here. Assuming things.

Shion nodded, even if any emotion Howard had ever shown him was pretty far away from friendship.

"We can help him win, since us winning is not likely..."

R would normally be down with that - if Julie hadn't been taken. Still, he has to ask: "How?"

He can't go around biting every single Tribute here.

"I... don't know..." Shion frowned, "But I'll think of something, to help him and Julie." Surely one of them could win.

"Thank...you. For...helping," R groaned. He really was thankful. It was the thought that counted. R guessed maybe they were still friends, zombification or not.

(no subject)

savedbyasong - 2013-09-09 22:16 (UTC) - Expand

shambler - 2013-09-09 22:37 (UTC) - Expand

savedbyasong - 2013-09-10 07:26 (UTC) - Expand