after-party ♔

[wynn]

♬ Jeux d'eau - Ravel

WHO || Wynn, any and all Knights not currently on missions (Slovechnia group will be returned by this point!)
WHAT || Squiring Ceremony Afterparty
WHERE || Knights Headquarters, the Ballroom
WHEN || Feb 1st, 2013, 6:00PM
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

[uncurse]

Which I notice for all your melodrama that you survived to complain about. He wasn't gonna kill you. Hell, he deserves to be here more than you do.

[unhand]

Aren't I lucky no one consulted you? [She's so... challenging. He can't decide if he hates it or loves it. Maybe both.]

Haven't seen you in a dress before. It looks good on you.

[uncurse]

Don't count on seeing me in one again. What are you playing at?

[unhand]

Playing at? What do you mean?

[uncurse]

Don't play dumb, you know that doesn't work with me. You've got an angle, I want to know what it is. If it didn't get you closer to Gold, you wouldn't be here. So what is it?

[unhand]

[Now he looks really confused.] The crocodile bastard? Why would I want to get anywhere near him?

[uncurse]

[ emma's starting to figure the veil thing out at this point. lost memories, for some. david had forgotten his family. she was almost distressed enough about that to not give a damn about hook - to brutally break the news of his hand and his love to him. but maybe it was better this way. ]

... I guess you wouldn't.

[unhand]

There's something about him... [He scowls a bit, then shakes his head.] Definitely staying away if I can help it. I don't like his creature much either.

[uncurse]

Not a bad instinct to follow. [ her expression softened to look more honest as she encouraged him away. it didn't hurt that avoiding gold seemed to mean avoiding her, as well, from what she understood of this squiring process. ] I don't get the luxury.

[unhand]

You don't mean... [Is she his squire of all people?]

[uncurse]

Actually, I do. I'm having all kinds of luck with this castle.

[unhand]

Sorry to hear it. [Because Hook'll probably have to get near Gold now to be near Emma, which he wants to do more than he wants to avoid Gold.]

[uncurse]

I'm starting to see a bright side. [ spoiler: it's that you'll avoid him and therefoer avoid her. ]

[unhand]

[Spoiler: ain't happening.] How'd you get stuck with him anyway?

[uncurse]

Luck of the draw? Wynn being psychic and knowing we're from the same place? Hell, for all I know, he might have picked my name out of the list of newbies. Wouldn't put it past him. [ nothing makes you feel like a pawn quite like winding up in a new land and becoming the underling of the person you were JUST FEELING was chessmastering your actions. ]

[unhand]

He's from your land?

[uncurse]

Yep. Think sketchy pawnbroker, and you'll get somewhere in the ballpark. Haven't figured out why he's here yet, either.

[unhand]

"Seems to be going around." He'd met that girl from Regina's cell here too. "Surprised you're not trying harder to get back."

[uncurse]

"There's not much point. I mean, we're hardly the only ones this has happened to. People have been living out their lives for generations after coming through the Veil. It's a one-way trip." She glanced across the room.

"Besides, David's here apparently not under a sleeping curse anymore, and Mary-Margaret came through the portal with me, so there's a good chance she's out there somewhere too. The knights are my best chance of finding her again." She looked back at Hook, shaking her head. "I didn't have much else tying me to Storybrooke." Or any other part of that world, for that matter. That's how it worked with orphans who'd grown up into loners.

[unhand]

"And the child?" She'd been so eager before, so desperate not to let anything get in her way. It seemed odd that she'd give up now.

[uncurse]

That caught Emma off guard, and it showed in her face in a way she didn't mean to let it. Her brow furrowed, her jaw tightened, and the shock was apparent. She hadn't thought about that in … God. Since the election for Sheriff, when the prison records had come out. So, how the hell did Hook know?

"Excuse me?"

[unhand]

That was unexpected. "Your child. The one you climbed the beanstalk for." He looked at her, tilting his head. There was a hole in his memory, he knew. He could feel it whenever he tugged for strands of the story that didn't quite add up. Why had he spent so long in Neverland? What was he looking for in Storybrooke? Who was this Milah whose name he'd tattooed on his arm? "Something's missing, isn't it?"

[uncurse]

She only bristled further as he persisted. No, the Veil hadn't taken her kid from her - she'd given him up. Declined her rights to inquire after him, to know anything about him. It was better that way, she'd been telling herself as much for years.

"I don't have a kid. I don't know where you got the impression that I did, but it's wrong." Her tone was serious and cool in a way that made it clear she wasn't going to humor any of his attempts to push this.

[unhand]

So she didn't remember. And he didn't know enough about the kid to fill her in, if he even should. Maybe she was better off not knowing. She was right about how unlikely escape seemed.

"Right. My mistake."

[uncurse]

For a moment, a brief moment, Emma's mind raced. They were both holding things back. They were alike enough that it was hard to miss that - particularly when she'd started it. For her, though, it couldn't be memories. Nothing was out of place, there were no gaps. No people she should know, but didn't. No space for a child she didn't remember.

And it genuinely occurred to her that maybe he did mean that kid. The one she'd given up. That maybe she was passing up on her chance to ever find it and get to know it by not fighting like hell to get back. But, she couldn't conceive a situation where she might have gotten to meet that child. It was a closed adoption, she didn't even have a name - of him, or his parents. He wasn't her kid - he was theirs.

More than that, she couldn't imagine a single reason why she should be able to do what hundreds, thousands, had already failed to. They'd been forced to live out their lives here. It was time she accepted it and set about finding her mother, who'd had to have come through with her somewhere.

"I need some air." She said it quickly and decisively after only a short beat to let all of this pass through her head lightning-fast, more feeling than actual sorted thought, and she turned to move past him to head for the doors out into the courtyard.