squiring ♔ delay in justice is injustice

[wynn]

♬ Troy - James Horner

WHO || Wynn, Thea Queen, Alec McDowell, Felicity Smoak, Oliver Queen, Paige Lyons, current Knights attending the ceremony
WHAT || November Squiring Ceremony [backdated]
WHERE || Knights Headquarters, the Great Hall
WHEN || November 1st, 2014, 6:00PM
HOW || Actionspam

The impressively large Great Hall of the castle could easily pass as a royal throne room, with its length and the red carpet leading up to a set of steps. However, there is no throne set at the top of them, and the Hall is wide enough to accommodate hundreds of Knights. And indeed, several hundred Knights stand in ranks on either side of the wide stretch of red, each wearing the traditional set of ceremonial armor in their possession.

The newest squires have been fitted to his armor after meeting with Wynn as always. It's traditional for them to appear for the first time before the Knighthood wearing it and they are assured that only a very small number of the Knights make use of their armor for other circumstances. It does, however, create an intimidating sense of unity as they stand shoulder to shoulder in rank and file to receive their newest pledges.

They enter together, with a flair of orchestral music that fills the hall with as much pomp as possible. It's a lot like that last scene in A New Hope. Yeah, you thought I was going to get through an entire post being all serious, didn't you.

At the top of the steps, Wynn waits, wearing a sword on his belt that canny eyes† might recognize as familiar. Mark has, after all, brought it back with him from Andres - the famed sword, Excalibur.

It's one hell of a long walk past all those staring, curious eyes. Luckily, it's a long musical number.

For additional dice rolling fun (optional):

† Roll or randomize a d20. Those who roll a 15 or above can spot the sword for being the exact same sword that was suspended in the statue above the Round Table, when they met with Wynn in the Prologue.
† Roll a d20 dexterity check. If your character rolls a 2 or 3, at some point during their walk they're bound to stumble. A critical fail will lead to an epic faceplant ... or worse.

Comments

The Walk

[wynn]

[Optionally play out your character's WALK OF DESTINY down the red carpet, and people in the crowd can judge them / encourage them / gawk ]

[ourhero]

[Oliver has no trouble traversing the red carpet like he is accustomed to navigating that thing like a boss even when on some dumb shit and paparazzi flashin' all up in his grill. Not that either of those things applied right now, but he has had plenty of practice is my point. Dexterity ain't even an issue (dex 16), even decked out in armor which may or may not have him super line-facey (he has resting line face the way many people have resting bitch face). He's also pretty observant so dat sword doesn't go unnoticed either (spot 15).

Has he met up with Thea prior to this? Because if not he will probably just break protocol and give her hugs like reunited with little sister and it feels so good. Potentially sorry if this is something that goes down in the middle of y'all's ceremony but I will leave it up to Emma to decide yolo.]

[withasouvenir]

[ OOF. ukw oliver queen... nah, thea isn't going to fight being hugged. they're queens, they do what they want. and please, who here even gives a shit about them. but it is kind of hard to hug in armor. ]

God, Ollie, you're so clingy.

[ IM NOT CRYING UR CRYING. jk she's crying it's been like a million years ok. ]

[somepagesturn]

[Paige, I guess wasn't expecting hugs RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF HER WALK, so when Oliver breaks ranks, she gets confused about what she's supposed to do and stumbles a bit (dex 8), turning a ridiculous shade of red as she corrects herself. Thanks, Oliver Queen. This is all your fault.]

[ourhero]

[The party don't start 'till the Queens walk in tbh. To the left to the left and keep it moving basically.

Also sorry but not sorry for any bruising that may result from the sudden bear hug while all parties involved are wearing armor. But he's glad he found you gurl and now he's never lettin' go, Jack Speedy.

Just to clarify, it's been four long two plus years ok so this isn't like sudden hugs out of nowhere even though it feels like it kinda.]

Embarrassing you in front of your friends comes with the territory. [But I guess he will let go and settle for kisu @ the side of her head so he can escort her the rest of the way.]

[withasouvenir]

[ no one ever expects random family declarations of affection in the middle of serious seriousness. ]

Mhmm. [ she lets it all happen, leaning into oliver when he lets her go to wipe her eyes with the heel of her hand. just going to keep talking while they walk though. ] How did you get here? When did you get here?

[ourhero]

[That awkward moment when you have to debate whether or not you still plan on lying to your sister even under less than normal circumstances.

Unfortunately Oliver is hella dumb when it comes to asking himself this question, but the whole knighting ceremony means he can at least stall and have it still seem reasonable,]

I've been wondering the same thing about you. Felicity was able to track you down when your name popped up here.

[Which was a big part of the reason Oliver has agreed to this at all. She may or may not already know that The Arrow is here too I should make an ooc post about that goes to do that rn.

In the meantime, look at these two strutting their shit like it's your typical Friday night at some random ass club tho.]

[withasouvenir]

[ well, lmao, she crit failed so she is HAPPILY OBLIVIOUS TO ANY SHENANIGANS THE ARROW HAS BEEN GETTING UP TO FOR THE PAST COUPLE YEARS lmao. thea queen consistently knows literally nothing. ]

I was here first.

[ yes, she really just countered with that. ]

The Ceremony

[wynn]

[ When they have arrived at the far end of the carpet and stand before him beside each other, Wynn addresses both would-be squires solemnly by name. ]

Thea Queen. Alec McDowell. Felicity Smoak. Oliver Queen. Paige Lyons.

Kneel. And repeat this oath.

The Pledge

[wynn]

[Each line is spoken separately as a call and respond.]

"I swear to defend the Knighthood."

"I swear that I shall protect all weaknesses and shall constitute myself the defender of them."

"I shall not recoil before mine Enemy."

"I shall make war against injustice, without cessation and without mercy."

"I shall never lie, and shall remain faithful to my pledged word."

"I shall be generous, and listen to and respect all."

[And finally, in ringing tones:]

"I shall be everywhere and always the champion of the right and the good against injustice and evil."

[optional rolling; roll a D20 Wisdom check in order to see if your Knight can remember the phrases properly or not so much. Remember that a 10 is an average person's capacity to do so. :) ]

[ourhero]

[With his ballin' wisdom check of 6, Oliver is not exactly the most eloquent when echoing back the oath. Fortunately (??), Stephen Amell is not the best actor so this can be explained away easily enough. When it's his turn to recite the pledge, Oliver is scanning the crowd like he knows somebody (read: not paying attention to this shit basically). So when Wynn like clears his throat or whatever to get his attention, Oliver proceeds to repeat a similar rendition of said oath, but he definitely stands there looking like he's trying to remember his next line if he left the pilot light on back in the apartment overseas or not in between every three or four words.]

[withasouvenir]

[ she'd had time to practice, but she still sucks. :D at least she is better than ollie with her 9. :D she mostly makes it the fuck up. it sounds vaguely as it should. there is some stuff dropped, it's probably converted to early twenties modern person speak. ]

[somepagesturn]

[Paige takes this shit s-so seriously and recites it with pride and dignity, despite her stumble earlier. (wis 19)]

[monticora]

[ Who's that bro with the wisdom check of 12? That would be Alec. Luckily he's not a complete embarrassment for his Transgenic brothers and sisters. There's a few things flubbed, but it's not a disaster. He takes comfort in the fact that he's hardly the worst one reciting. ]

[fistpump]

[Felicity probably studied this the day before, worried she's accidentally say the wrong thing or something inappropriate. That's something she expects to happen today. However, her wis check of 23 enures that she manages this just fine.]

Dubbing

[wynn]

[With a beautiful sching noise, Wynn draws the oh so shiny sword from its sheath. One by one he lays the flat of the blade upon the squires' right shoulder, then raises it gently above their head to place it upon their left. When he is finished with each of them in turn, he returns to his place at the top of the steps, and announces:]

You may rise: Sir Thea Queen. Sir Alec McDowell. Sir Felicity Smoak. Sir Oliver Queen. Sir Paige Lyons.

[The moment the squires begin to rise, the entire hall bursts into a frenzy of cheers, applause, hoots and hollering that's practically deafening. It quiets a bit when Wynn speaks again.]

We ask you to join us tonight in celebration of our newest members in the ballroom.

Peanut Gallery

[wynn]

[ ONLOOKERS/GAWKERS/WHATNOT]