thecapitol | The Crowning of Maximus Decimus Meridius

Entry tags:

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.

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It was stupid. He knew it was stupid. Peeta knew it was very, very stupid.

But when she gave him that smile, his heart started to beat faster. As a kid, it always beat faster, whenever he saw her. True, he rarely saw her ever look at him (he was sure that the few times was her staring vacantly off into space), because he was the one who was always watching. And he never thought she would ever look at him in any way, least of all this way.

Except it wasn't real Maybe not one hundred percent fake, but not one hundred percent true. And he knew that, which was why it was stupid, because they were friends. Pretend lovers, real friends.

Still, everything else seemed to melt away, which was what he needed. "Come on. I remember seeing a couple of backdoors, maybe we can slip through. Otherwise we're going to have to scale down the building, and I'm not sure I could do that without some stairs." He tugged her hand to follow him.

"What, you can't scale tall buildings on your own?" She made a scoffing noise as she let him lead her, squeezing his warm, calloused hand. She wondered briefly how it would feel if the Capitol had never scrubbed them clean and fresh after their games, with years of build up.

"You clearly aren't devoted enough."

It was a joke, slightly forced, but only slightly. Peeta could take out the edge in her nerves so easily, and the idea of escaping this party with him had the tension seeping out already. Even knowing they'd face Effie's wrath.

He had to laugh at that, leading her back inside. He looked around, trying to find the best way to get out of here. Time to go sneak along the wall, making sure they didn't hit anyone.

"How about this, when I learn how to scale tall buildings, I'll show you by coming to your room first." It'd be fun, right? Like that... oh, what was the name of the other people? It'd be like that.

"Just make sure to leave the window open, because otherwise I'm going to dangle by my fingertips for hours." One door was blocked, so they bypassed that one, Peeta acting like they were never going for that one anyway.

"I'm pretty sure you can just use the door. Less chance for death." She said, squeezing his hand and smiling at a party patron passing down the hall way in the other direction, who called out their names. She lift a hand in greeting, but nudged Peeta forward, making them look just a little desperate for some alone time.

"Just knock. I'll let you in, you know."

Oh Katniss, that's not loaded at all.

But where's the fun in that? Any time there was a little death involved, everything just got so much better. Or more exciting, maybe. Not that they needed any of that. He gave a smile to the passerby, but continued on.

"Will you?" He looked at her, eyes searching for something, before he smiled slightly. "Good to know." He looked back around, coming to the door; waiting a second, to hear if there was anyone there, he pushed it open. There was some air there, and with no one else in sight (for now), it seemed like they were in the free and clear.

The tension she hadn't realize she'd injected caught on, and she was deeply grateful for Peeta cutting off the lingering moment before she had to come up with any response.

"Beautiful."

We're they really about to sneak out, without anyone catching them? This was wonderful. She grinned at Peeta, squeezing his hand.

((OOC- This reply almost started with 'MAYBE IF THEY JUST WATCHED SAILOR MOON.' which I feel is very valid advice for these two.))

"Only one of us." Peeta said, looking at her and turning away. The door opened, not giving her a chance to respond to what he said. Because then they were outside. Not sure where outside, but outside, and definitely away from the whole ceremony. All they had to do was walk down some stairs.

Super easy, right?

She started to...what? Protest? Something? But then they were outside, the air was cool, and they had just completed their first Capitol escape.

A real thing. A somewhat fun and frisky, and daring thing.

It was a strange feeling, and she had to cover her mouth to keep a surprised laugh from coming out, whether she wanted it to, or not. She grabbed Peeta's hand, pulling him down. Away. Not sure where they should go.

Even if they just went back to the District tower, they were doing it on their own.

They had done it. Peeta paused for a moment to take it in, before running down after her, her hand in his. They'd escaped the Capitol. Just a party, but it was still an escape, and they had one it together.

"Come on. Let's go somewhere, let's find a park, or something. Everyone is busy with their parties, no one will be out there." It was this rush, this feeling of freedom that he felt right now. It made him want the night not to end.

"Let's just go somewhere."

"A park. We should find a park."

She was tempted to push them toward the edge of town, where nature started to fringe the edge of the city. But it was too far, and the risk was too high on several levels.

Still, even a small park, late at night. Grass, and trees and no one to bug them. There had to be one somewhere.

And luckily, there was, just the block over. A lovely little rolling thing. The weather had stripped most of the leaves from the trees, but there were plenty of tall pines, and some grass still clung to it's green. Katniss kicked off her heels as soon as they were on the grass, letting herself feel the plants under her.

A park was the perfect place to go. It wasn't the woods, not by a long shot, and Peeta knew that Katniss missed them. Her woods, not the woods in an arena. They weren't the same kind of forests, not by a long shot.

But this park was something, which was better then nothing. He just stood back, watching her for a moment. She looked so happy. She was always beautiful, but being somewhere that she liked, that just made her look so much better.

He'd take his shoes off, but he kept them on, slowly walking over. "I can't believe it's starting to get colder. I thought it was a hundred degrees yesterday."

"The weather is ridiculous here. It goes from summer to winter and back again in hours." She said with a scoff, letting her feet sink into the ground. It was chilly, but worth while to feel actual nature under her feet.

"At home, we know when it's winter and when it's not."

Walking over towards him, she grabbed his hand, leading him deeper into the park. Maybe if they got deep enough in, they could forget where they were.

"You know, I don't know if I've seen real snow since being here. Plenty of the fake stuff, you know in the parties and all that." He had to agree; this place was ridiculous when it came to weather. Among other things.

"And it was sort of snowing, but it never sticks. Not that I want a blizzard!" Just to clarify that, as she dragged him deeper into the park. It was getting darker, the further away from street lamps, and he could barely make out her face.

"But some snow would be nice." He finally added.

"It would be."

Finally they were as away from the city lights as they could get, and Katniss felt her shoulders relax. It wasn't the same as being in the woods, it wasn't even close. But it was far better than being in some stuffy party, far better than alcohol and fake snow.

"I think I just miss home." She said, slowing down now to meander along the dark path next to him.

He wasn't the guy who spent his time out in the woods. Peeta wasn't Gale, and he never could be. And he knew it. So he didn't try, because there was enough lying going around, enough pretending, and he just wanted to be himself.

But even twelve had more wildlife near the edges of the fence then this place, and he walked slowly with her at his side. "You only think you miss home?" Peeta smiled, absolutely teasing. "I know I miss home. We've been here for such a long time..."

He sighed. "I don't know what I thought it was going to be, but being a mentor is not what I thought it would be."

There was a brief flicker of guilt. She hadn't meant to imply that only she was homesick, but sometimes she got far too caught up in her own thoughts.

Luckily, as always, Peeta soothed right over it.

"Me neither. I..." She paused, looking at the ground. "I actually tried not to think about it, as much as possible."

Because these was really nothing good about it.

"At least we don't lose them."

He was good at making sure things didn't become something that could be a problem. A joke here, a remark here, and it was something he was good at. But it was only one thing, and he wasn't sure how good he was doing in the face of all of this.

"Yup, that's the main idea, not thinking about it." Peeta looked over to the side, studying the trees. I could blend in here, he thought, wondering why it was a thought that even crossed his mind. Maybe he was just tired.

"No, we don't. Is that really better, though?" He paused; shit. "They really helped us out in our first year of mentoring." It was tiring, to do whatever you had to do for things.

"I wonder if the time will ever run out." Would the Capitol get bored? You never knew.

She knew that opinion was swayed on wether this was better or worse. Needless to say, most of those they lived with felt it was worse. But any time Katniss did, she thought about the fact that Prim likely would have been reaped in the upcoming years. She couldn't have volunteered again. And she deeply doubted she could have saved her.

Prim could kill a rabbit, killing another child was out of line.

She closed her eyes briefly, trying to imagine she was somewhere else, before her words finally came.

"I keep having dreams that they just...stop. And some people go home. And some stay. And we all go home, and everything...everything is right." She opened her eyes, looking up at his bright blue ones. "And I realize, I can't even visualize what 'right' is?"

There was just no previous comparison for them to work off of. There were the games, there was whatever the rebellion had been, and now there was this. You looked at it, and you had to think, right off the bat, that this was better.

No more kids dying. No more worrying about families and how you failed them. Even with so many more arenas happening, one right after the other, you could still think it was good; at least kids weren't dying anymore.

Peeta looked back at her. "I don't know, either." He says it softly. "Right isn't... how do we go back to before, knowing what we know now?"

"Exactly." She said softly. It was all they had, really. And it wasn't much.

But it was something. And when you had little, you clung to what you had.

"Do you...think a lot about the way things could be? Should be?" It was never something Katniss had spent too much time on before coming to the Capitol. And nothing she would have spoken to anyone about, before now.

Peeta hadn't thought about it too much back home. Life was what it was, and you couldn't change it. So why bother to think about it beyond the occasional thought of 'I wish this didn't happen'?

"Yes." He nodded, because yes. Ever since coming here, he'd thought about it more and more each day.

"I think about it all the time. And it's not this. It's not even close to this."

The joy of escaping the party, of having time to themselves...it was starting to loose the appeal. Right now she just wanted to go back to her room and take a long shower. Or curl up in bed. She sagged against Peeta's side, feeling her energy drain right out.

"We should get back." She finally said softly.

She knew this was sorta putting a big damper on the evening.

Giving a nod, he put an arm around her shoulders, holding her close. "Let's go back to the tribute tower. I'm not in the mood to go back there, how about you?" There being there. He didn't want to go back. Maybe there will be more gossip, he didn't care.

But he pressed his face into her hair for a moment. Stupid, doing something like smelling someone's hair, but beneath all the perfume and whatever else they did with it... it just felt good. It felt nice.

Nodding, she leaned into his arms, letting her head fall against his shoulder. She didn't care about rumors, there was no way in hell she was going back to that party.

It's not like there weren't going to be rumors anyway.

Without thinking, her hand found his again, squeezing, before moving forward. It was going to be a long night.

((OOC-good end?))

Beautiful end!

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The Crowning of Maximus Decimus Meridius

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Sailor Moon dsjhgfhdf

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Still Te <3

<333

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ooc