after-party ♔ january

[wynn]

♬ Jeux d'eau - Ravel

WHO || Wynn, any and all Knights not currently on missions (if you are uncertain if your character would be at the castle for this, ask!)
WHAT || Squiring Ceremony Afterparty
WHERE || Knights Headquarters, the Ballroom
WHEN || January 22, 2016, 6:00PM [backdated]
HOW || Prose OR Actionspam

The "afterparty" is rumored to be the real main event of the night. A black-tie affair in the lavish, opulent ballroom, it is every new Knight's chance to mingle and meet some of their new brothers in arms. Of course, a couple hours are provided following the ceremony for everyone to change, do hair and makeup, and choose from the vast array of formal attire in the closets of the balcony "dressing rooms" located at the top of spiraled staircases on either side of the ballroom. A separate dressing room exists for men and women, and they include full bathrooms (with, thankfully, very modern plumbing).

The squires are usually among the last to arrive, and the ballroom is full to the brim with a fancy array of people, of all shapes, sizes and species.

Hope you aren't shy. They're all here to meet you.

Feel free to make your own open threads for people to come congratulate your newly pledged knight.

ooc; also if your Knight wants to get all gussied up, you can make a Disguise (Cha) check for how good they were at hair/makeup/stylin', etc! This goes for... any time.

Comments

[forcevisions]

Jaina's been a great help to me. I suppose that's a start. And Poe, though I'm not always sure what to do about how little he remembers.

[withasouvenir]

Speaking from experience, start with what he knows and build from there. You can't give him the memories you have, no matter how hard you try, so make new ones instead. You're both new here, there will be a lot of new experiences you can share.

[ a beat. ] And maybe don't tell him if he's dead.

TFA SPOILERS

[forcevisions]

[ that snaps her attention up. ]

... Excuse me?

[ How does she ? ? ? know ? ? ?Han ? ? ?]

[withasouvenir]

I have a friend from home here. She died, but obviously she's not dead here. [ she shrugs, aiming for nonchalant, but it's not quite there. ]

[forcevisions]

... I thought I must be insane. [ She sputters the words out, relief draining the color from her face oddly. ] The same happened to me. But it's more than that. He's younger, and General Organa as well. I can't explain it. I can hardly believe it.

[withasouvenir]

It doesn't make sense and, honestly? [ her hands spread, helpless to help rey and feeling rather defeated because of it. ] I don't think it's ever going to. You can try to rationalize the veil, but... people who are dead aren't dead and that's kind of impossible. [ but it's still happening. ]

[forcevisions]

[ She nods, clearly the choir over here in Thea's sermon. ]

None of it makes sense. But this is ... [ She shudders somewhat. Unnatural. Some kind of mistake of the Force? ] But you told her? And she reacted poorly, I assume. But what if it's more than that? More than just death, but something else even more terrible. Isn't it right to warn them?

[withasouvenir]

Actually Sara took it in stride, I'm the one with the issues. [ she huffs a sigh before tackling the second part. she's had months to deal with sara's death and she still can't figure it out. ] The veil is one way, whatever life they were going to have, whatever life they did have... that's not happening anymore. You'd be warning them about something they can't begin to try to combat or change.

[forcevisions]

But if that were true, how could I have ever met him?

[withasouvenir]

Hell if I know. People say it's stuff like parallel universes, but I don't really like the idea of a parallel me.

[forcevisions]

[ Accepting this as fact despite Thea's disputes, ] Then the Han Solo that I met ... He's really still dead.

[withasouvenir]

[ she nods, however unwilling. she doesn't want to admit the same about sara. ]

I'm sorry, Rey. [ reaching out, she squeezes the other woman's arm, eyes full of compassion that only comes from feeling loss over and over again. ]

[forcevisions]

[ She doesn't shrug her arm away, but she doesn't step closer either, shaking her head and looking thoroughly miserable with the sudden fresh reminder of Han's death, that gut-wrenching moment of Kylo Ren's lightsaber igniting seared into her memory to replay over and over. ]

I hardly knew him. [ Spoken like an effort to dismiss her own sentiment, as though she hadn't properly earned the right to be so upset. ] I never even knew he had a daughter. [ That Kylo Ren had a sister. She wondered what he might have done to her that Rey never even heard her name, given what he'd done to Han Solo. ]

[withasouvenir]

I didn't know my brother was my brother when he died. There isn't a set amount of stuff you have to know about someone or some timeline that determines whether or not you're allowed to be upset over losing them.

[forcevisions]

Your brother too? [ Caught up by this, Rey grimaces. She can't imagine that. Han had been loss enough. Believing Finn was gone too nearly broke her. ] You've seen so much loss.

[withasouvenir]

[ thea could elaborate, but she doesn't feel the need to immediately detail her life of being constantly abandoned, especially when oliver has done it fresh all over again so recently. ]

It's... [ she waffles on what to say, drawing her hand back to curl her arm around her middle. she settles, finally, on ] Yeah.

[forcevisions]

It's a terrible thing, to lose your family.

[ She doesn't quite know what it's like in the same way, but Han Solo felt like the closest she'd ever come to a father. ]

I'm sorry.

[withasouvenir]

Thanks. [ how many times has she accepted condolences now, it never gets less awkward to thank someone for giving a shit about her dead family.

she tries to drum up a smile, but it's clumsy at best. ] Sorry, that got... not very celebratory.

[forcevisions]

That's alright. Hearing that someone else has been through the same, seeing someone they never thought they'd see again, it's much more helpful than drinks and dancing.

[withasouvenir]

It's a huge knighthood, I doubt we're the only ones, but I'm glad I could help. [ there is a little bit of a dip in her tension because of the kinship, but much of her tension is still because of oliver so that remains. ]

[forcevisions]

[ sense motive 21 got her like ummmm. ]

Did I say something wrong?

[withasouvenir]

[ jumping to reassure: ] No, no, definitely not. I'm... Just thinking about family.

[forcevisions]

Would it help if you talked about them? You could tell me what they're like, if you'd like.

[withasouvenir]

It's... [ maybe it would, honestly. she feels bad for pouring out her anger on barry and as much as she doesn't want to think felicity lied to her, even after ollie ditched them, she also doesn't want to talk to her about her family. and, call her touchy, but talking about her brother with her brother's ex-secret-girlfriend is just... odd.

god, she has like four friends and one of them has to love her because they're effectively family and none of them she can actually talk to. ]

It's complicated.

[forcevisions]

I've never known a family that isn't.

[ Which isn't to say she specifies her family, since she'd never known then, but to be fair, it's pretty complicated to abandon your child on a desert planet with no explanation, leaving her to hope they'll be back one day... Not nearly as complicated as the Skywalkers tho. ]