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.
polyturtle: (go to your room)

[personal profile] polyturtle 2013-09-11 12:39 pm (UTC)(link)
"Not exactly."

Don's voice was quiet as he responded. Of course, he didn't enjoy the parties, but he wasn't exactly one to judge them anymore, was he? Not with the blood he'd spilled throughout his Arenas - blood he would undoubtedly continue to spill in the future.

He was pretty sure he knew how to feel about himself. But even then, once in awhile, he'd question it. Only to quash it because he knew better than to question the truth about himself now.

"I wouldn't be surprised if I became a target for some of the other Tributes." Which he already technically was, given Eponine's warning. And yet he seemed completely unafraid of the prospect. "I guess we'll find out next time around."
earthborn: (warfare is based on deception)

[personal profile] earthborn 2013-09-11 02:24 pm (UTC)(link)
"Sarcasm," she replied, with her head tilted back and eyes closed. Shepard really did hate these kinda of parties; they were fake, full of people who weren't here to have fun or dance or spend time together, but to be seen. And then there was the extra veneer of trying to make the tributes feel like shit that came from the Powers That Be looming over them all.

Ostentatious was the word, all around. She never was in favor.

"I'm in the same boat," Nothing like Don's frantic killing spree, but there it was, "Not that I didn't earn it. You look like shit."
polyturtle: (go to your room)

[personal profile] polyturtle 2013-09-11 03:27 pm (UTC)(link)
"Mm." A sign he knew Shepard was being sarcastic. He had simply just been completely apathetic towards it. Actually, he was apathetic to quite a bit of things now, and it was probably obvious to anyone who cared to look. "I've been training since I got back to the Capitol. It certainly fills the time more than I thought possible."