CLOSED ♔ knighting ceremony

[koraith]

WHO || Wynn, Elena Gilbert, Koraith, Myri, Colin Banks, Dumage, Andie, Finnick, Buffy, Spike, Vi, Luthir, Francesca, Archer, Des, Mark, Kat, Gar, Rose, Alaric, Klaus, Dawn, various other members of the Dragon's Tongue [closed]
WHAT || Elena's full Knighting ceremony; induction into the Dragon's Tongue
WHERE || Knight's Headquarters, the Great Hall
WHEN || Tues May 27th, evening FORWARD DATED
HOW || Actionspam

Unlike the grandiose nature of the squiring ceremony each Knight undergoes upon their initial entrance into the Knighthood, the graduation to Full Knight status takes place in a much more intimate affair, between the Knight, their mentor, invited friends, and the members of the sect to which they will be inducted. There's no pompous music, no stolid rank and file, no elaborate march.

Myri, Wynn, and Koraith wait up at the front of the room for Elena to approach them, but the attitude of the ceremony is much more relaxed, full of smiles and light conversation on all sides. Of course, when Wynn speaks, people still hush. It's just how he rolls.

"Sir Elena Gilbert, please kneel."

Comments

SUDDENLY... 1/3

[dragonsclaw]

[ Shortly after Spike has finally made it to the party and drawn the girl of the hour out onto the dance floor...

the doors abruptly are thrown open and a figure staggers inside.

♬ trance awake - lacuna coil

it may take a moment to recognize who they're looking at. the normally extremely well-put-together dragon's claw, sir jack chessing, looks nearly unrecognizable. his clothes and skin are caked in dried blood, and his coat looks as if it's been singed by fire, almost entirely burnt away in some places. he leans on the door that he throws open and anyone who takes a good look can tell from his posture and his staggered breathing that he's severely injured, a shoddy bandage around his midsection beneath his coat. he drags a terribly ponderous gaze across the floor and the crowd to land on wynn first, who straightens up with a furrowed brow to stare at jack across the floor. ]

[witchwoman]

[Just behind Jack, Myri enters looking nothing as the party goers would remember her from earlier in the night. The pretty braid that Violet had plaited earler is undone, hair hanging loose and limp around her shoulders. Her earlier outfit is gone, replaced by rags that look like they havent been washed in weeks.

But it's her face that really shows a marked difference. The brightness in her eyes is gone, like a shadow has been cast over her entire expression. There's a hollow in her cheeks, like she hasn't eaten a good warm meal in a very long time. Even her walk seems changed, like she's smaller now, somehow. One hand raises to her mouth as she catches sight of each of them, like she's doing her best not to cry.]

[bigbad]

[Spike enters right behind Myri, and he looks just as awful. His hair is badly in need of dyeing. The tips may still be bleached white, but it’s curly and brown the rest of the way through. Add to that bruises, a horrible Frankenstein’s monster-esque scar across his forehead, and an expression like it’s taking every bit of his self control not to bite all the people that annoy him, and really, it’s amazing anyone lets him out in public. He’s got a hand protectively on Myri’s shoulder as he glares around the room.]

[notaroundme]

[Elena turns her head as the doors open, alarm quickly transforming her features. Her movement stills as she lets go of Spike, not even saying anything before she starts toward the familiar figures coming inside.]

Oh my god...

[What the actual fuck is happening.

She turns back toward who she happened to be dancing with, her heart beating really fucking hard in her chest.]

[nothingsodivine]

[From over here at the buffet table, Des nearly chokes on something with a toothpick. That would be a hell of a way to go.] You've got to be fuckin' kidding me.

[slay]

[ Top three most important people to Buffy come walking in looking like hell warmed over? She's running for them. She drops the glass in her hand as she watches them enter, punctuating the startled remark from Elena that breaks the silence.

Without another thought, she books it over, tearing through the crowd of Dragon's Tongue members to reach their sides. Myri and Spike get a once-over, a confirmation that they're not falling apart, and then she's in front of Jack, resting a hand on his shoulder and searching his eyes. ]

What happened to you?

[isisagent]

. . . [Historic moment: Archer sets his Martini down, unfinished. He stares, slack-jawed at the mess.]


I... Am I taking crazy-pills? [He stares warily at the drink, wondering if it's laced with some hallucinogen.]

[wynn]

[ very few people in this room have seen wynn drop his composure even a millimeter so when he actually looks SHOCKED upon staring at the group entering, well, that's a bit unnerving in and of itself. his eyes move from the obvious absence of thomas (???) across the floor to where spike was just abandoned by elena on the dance floor. ]

[shootfirst]

[ kat doesn't even have time to be angry. she looks up from where she and gar are talking and just stares in horror at the broken appearance of her ex-squire. ]

... Myri?

[bigbad]

[What the fuck. Spike turns to stare in confusion himself at the door and his disheveled Franken-twin over there, and takes a couple steps forward extending one hand after Elena before stopping.] Wait, love...

[asuma]

[Klaus has no idea wtf is going on but he's just like popcorn.gif with his drink because shit is getting good.]

[notaroundme]

[She doesn't know what to think or feel, beyond the fact that she is pretty sure that she might very well get sick.

She takes another step or two back, her expression confused and horrified.]

Don't touch me.

[They're barely more than a whisper, because her voice doesn't seem to want to work right, and then she's turning and running because Myri is over there and she has to get to her.]

[65]

[NOOOOO. MYRI????? everything was going so well and then ... what the fuck. remember the time he was concerned about spike being a liability? THAT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO COME TRUE WHAT THE FUCK.]

Myri? [he'd move to get a better look, but he's paralyzed with ... heartbreak. his entire body just shut down.]

[graveflowers]

[ oh no they did not hurt her baby.

because she exists in a default state of everything is spiders she manages not to fall down crying as her brain tries to process. where is amaranth? (look, people, in times of stress the brain is known to fixate on particular things. don't judge.) her wherewithal to not cry turns into the opposite of what elena is doing. instead of rushing toward myri, or even finnick, she starts to move from her table toward spike.

clean spike. fake spike. gonna kill spike for daring to touch elena spike. ]

[littledhampir]

[It takes Rose a moment to realize how very wrong this situation is but it's the familiar looking guy with the really bad hair that makes her stomach twist because not even a minute ago, she'd been watching somebody that looked a hell of a lot like him, dancing with Elena.

She doesn't think so much as moves, heading straight for Elena and be damned whoever gets in her way because Rose is in hit first, ask questions later mode and the only person in this room, not at risk of being punched in the face is the brunette she's now standing near, inserting herself as a wall between Elena and... whoever the hell that guy was.]

[dragonsclaw]

[ jack manages to catch his breath to respond to buffy. he looks at her grimly and says one words, mired in many grim meaning. ]

Dimitris.

[ that said, his eyes search out the spike in the middle of the of hallway and he raises one hand to point at him, eyes hard. ]

Don't let him get away.

[bigbad]

[Spike's more than happy to comply. He squeezes Myri's shoulder a last time and crosses the room at a dead run. When he reaches the doppelganger, he slams his fist into the face that looks so much like his (atk 25, dmg 10).]

Hi there, mate. Miss me?

[bigbad]

[His head snaps to the side slightly, and he raises a hand to his cheek as he looks back up at the other Spike, before beseeching those around him, stepping backwards.] Don't tell me you're all gonna fall for this again. How many times does this git have to steal my face?

[nosdacariad]

[ mark moves with vi, coming up behind the cleaner of the two spikes and making an attempt to grab him from behind, but he jerks away and mark's hand grabs air. ] Who the hell are you?

[rationalizes]

[ gar has been staring in horror for the few brief moments since they walked in, but all it takes to unfreeze her is jack's order. she snaps to life, her eyes moving to the table she's standing by and she grabs a small heavy centerpiece in the shape of a silver dragon and chucks it, hard. (nat 20, I guess I should add the crit damage)

it thunks against the back of clean spike's head (14 dmg), distracting him for a moment as his head swivels around. ]

[bigbad]

[Spike ruefully rubs his head, gritting his teeth as he shouts:] I'm me, you bloody morons.

[notaroundme]

[Elena looks between Myri and Jack, turning her head back toward clean!Spike as the beatings begin, trying to figure out what's even real when he claims to still be the real Spike. (Sense Motive 28)

Also, Rose? She's reached out and taken her best friends hand, squeezing it to stop herself from shaking. Because even then, she can't tell, and that hurts so much she's not sure she can stand it.

Fighting isn't happening. Functioning is barely happening. So she's going to go with her gut...and keep moving toward Myri. She can't even...look over there right now.]

[meta]

[Deadpool's brought popcorn. He sits down next to Klaus and offers him some.]

This is so intense. Why do I never get a secret log?

[Maybe because you can't keep a secret to save your life?]

Oh yeah, that. Thanks, helpful brackets!

[graveflowers]

[ well, jack said "don't let him get away" and vi doesn't have her bow to shoot him to the wall so she grabs mark's arm to pull him back towards her and casts entangle at spike and... spike. the plants in the room cheerfully shoot out to twist and wrap themselves around the spikes and whomever happens to be in the immediate area of said spikes. sorry? (it'll take a reflex save of 18 to remain free of the slithering plants, but you still move half speed. if entangled, it takes a full round strength or escape artist check of 18 to break free.) ]

[littledhampir]

[Rose squeeze's Elena's hand back, a frown touching her lips as she looks at her out of the corner of her eye, pretty sure from Elena's reaction to all this that she's about to make this night worse for her best friend but somebody has to clear this up.]

Spike is a Vampire, right? [Speaking up for the first time since shit got real, Bad Boys style.] Cause the one who came in looking like a Hobo? Vampire. Peroxide guy, not so much...