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.
formersurgeon: (i live here)

[personal profile] formersurgeon 2013-09-09 09:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Joan isn't really one for meat in general, even though she's not technically a vegetarian.

"Honestly, I don't think waste is something they ever worry about here."

She answers the woman's wink with a smile. "I'm Joan. It's nice to meet you."
and_my_pickaxe: (Why don't they call a truce?)

[personal profile] and_my_pickaxe 2013-09-11 04:42 pm (UTC)(link)
"They're not very considerate about much at all, really." They probably even found it funny, the concept of saving something for later rather than using up a resource that could go to someone else. "...Yeah, you too," Lin said honestly, fidgeting with her dress. It was the first time in a long time she'd spoken openly, even if it was merely small talk. She cut to the thought that seemed to burn a hole in her mind with every Tribute she encountered. "How long have you been here, Joan?"
formersurgeon: (concerned)

[personal profile] formersurgeon 2013-09-12 12:22 am (UTC)(link)
It was such a common question, and it made sense. How long someone had been here told you how many Arenas they'd been through, how may times they'd died, how many times they'd watched their friends die. How long they'd been in the Capitol, how long the realities of survival and surveillance had been wearing on them.

"I came in the middle of the last Arena. How about you?"
and_my_pickaxe: (Whatever they are trying to do)

[personal profile] and_my_pickaxe 2013-09-14 03:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Lin's smile wavers when she remembers she would have been dead by then. "Ah... about the same," she admits. "The very beginning of the last Arena, myself. So we're in the same boat..."

The lawyer returns to nervously fixing her hair, twirling a loose piece in her fingers. The joking and confident attitude she'd had when Joan sat down is starting to give way. "It's reassuring to meet a Tribute in a similar situation," she sighs, "everyone else seems to have this so under control already. It's hard to keep up, you know?" She puts on a smile to ease the tension she's brought to the conversation, but still watches Joan for a sign of agreement.
formersurgeon: (elegant)

[personal profile] formersurgeon 2013-09-14 08:24 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's a lot to get used to," she agrees. "I don't know what your world is like, but all this is very different from my world."

Way more decadent, gluttonous, bloodthirsty. She's not about to say that out loud at the moment, though.

"It's a game. I'm sure we'll learn to play it."