feast & after-party ♔ empty my heart | i've got to make room for this feeling

[wynn]

♬ Can't Take It In - Imogen Heap

WHO || Wynn, the new Squires, any and all Knights
WHAT || Squiring Ceremony Feast & Afterparty
WHERE || Knights Headquarters, the Dining Hall & Ballroom
WHEN || February 9th, 2012, 7:00PM / 9:00 PM
HOW || Prose OR Actionspam

While every dinner served in the Knights' exceptionally large Dining Hall manages to have a sense of occasion, given the sheer quantity of food necessary to serve the hundreds who take their meals there, the 'feast' Wynn's ordered for after this squiring party outdoes the norm. It's not a problem to produce so much food at the drop of the hat when mages can magically summon up entire banquets, and so the room teems over with the smells and spices of hundreds of unique dishes. Centerpieces built with peacock feathers and sweet smelling flowers dot the table at intervals. A silver cage in the very middle of the table includes several live birds, their feet and tufts each appearing to be silver as well. A banner hangs from the top of the cage, with the Knight's symbol of a black dragon on a silver field.

The food has a distinctly medieval flair to it today, which several of the older Shadowkind Knights express their boisterous appreciation for as they dive in. The first course consists of a civet of hare, a quarter of salted stag, a stuffed chicken and a loin of veal, the latter two covered with a German sauce with gilt sugar-plums and pomegranate seeds. At each end of the table is an enormous pie, surmounted with smaller pies, which form a crown. The crust of the large ones is silvered all round and gilt at the top; each contains a whole roe-deer, a gosling, three capons, six chickens, ten pigeons, and one young rabbit. Serving as seasoning or stuffing, a minced loin of veal, two pounds of fat, and twenty-six hard-boiled eggs, covered with saffron and flavoured with cloves.

A second course follows: aroe-deer, a pig, a sturgeon cooked in parsley and vinegar, and covered with powdered ginger; a kid, two goslings, twelve chickens, as many pigeons, six young rabbits, two herons, a leveret, a fat capon stuffed, four chickens covered with yolks of eggs and sprinkled with spiced powder de Duc, and even a wild boar.

Next came wafers and stars; a jelly, part white and part blue. A fourth course of cream with Duc powder, covered with fennel seeds preserved in sugar; a white cream, cheese in slices, and strawberries; and, lastly, plums stewed in rose-water.

Besides these four courses, there's a fifth, entirely composed of wines, and of preserves, which consist of fruits and various sweet pastries in the shapes of dragons.

---------------------------

Following this, assuming anyone is still capable of moving at all is the after-party: a black-tie affair in the lavish, opulent ballroom, every new Knight's chance to mingle and meet some of their new brothers in arms. Per usual, a couple hours are provided following the feast 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 none of you are shy. They're all here to meet you. 

All open feast threads should be made under the FEAST heading below. Any other threads below will be for the after-party. Feel free to make your own open threads for people to come congratulate your newly pledged knight.

Comments

[militarized]

You can take advantage without making yourself sick. Eating too much isn't a great deal better than eating too little, you know. [ He tries to make it not sound like an after school special but he has kindly old man voice, so he doesn't really pull it off as well as he wants to. ]

[befree]

I can figure it out on my own.

[Stay out of it, strange man. Still holding onto her place, she turns a look of disapproval in his direction. Enough about her, it's time to turn the tables.]

How long have you been here?

[militarized]

Just around a week. Whole mess of squires got their assignments at a party a lot like this one.

[befree]

Only a week? [She smirks a little. He's very confident here, for being someone basically as new to the setting as she is.]

What have you managed to accomplish here in a week? [She's trying to find out what might come next for her, okay. It's just that all of her questions sound judging or spiteful.]

[militarized]

Training. You'll meet up with your knight in the next few days, get oriented--should be the one who brought you in. Hopefully, you got off easy and wound up with a good one.

[befree]

Christos.

[He's good enough as far as she's concerned.]

He found me on my first day here. [And really, he's all that she feels that she has in this place.]

[militarized]

Christos, which one's that? [ He glances around. ]

[befree]

[She points down the table to...wherever Christos is. She supposes she could get up and pull Ethan over in order to make a proper introduction, but that would take effort and being more social than she already is.]

I'm sure you'll meet him eventually.

[Yep, no introductions happening here.]

[militarized]

[ Ethan glances down to follow the point of her finger, but since it's a general direction, it's hard to narrow it down to which exactly he might be. So it could be Dovan, Lan or Christos. He really hopes it's not Lan. ]

Castle this big, you can't really guarantee it. It's a wonder how Wynn keeps track of 'em all.

[befree]

He might issue collars with tags, and we just aren't aware of it yet.

[She's joking, but her tone isn't necessarily clear that it's meant to be humorous. Katniss fails at humor.]

[militarized]

Careful when you're getting your shots up to date. Could be something radioactive floating inside. [ I.e., a tag. He's also joking, mostly because as far as he knows they ... do not make people get shots in this Knighthood to begin with. ]

[befree]

[Shots? What in the hell would she needs shots for?

She takes him entirely seriously, okay. And just looks almost horrified.]

They'd shoot us?

[Look, things like booster shots don't exist where she comes from. This is a learning process for her.]

[militarized]

Vaccines. Immunizations?

[befree]

[Vaccines, she can work with. It's a familiar enough word. And if only she could remember how many times she's been poked with a needle back home.]

Medicine.

[She nods, understanding.]

I'll make a point to avoid anything with needles while I'm here.

[militarized]

Might be tough to do. Could be any number of Shadowkind diseases we'll wind up exposed to.

[befree]

[And now she has the most disgusted and worried look on her face. She hadn't configured disease into her plan of staying here. And she clearly doesn't remember being vaccinated for any Shadowkind diseases.

Or any diseases, really.

She crosses her arms over her chest and frowns.]

It's better that a disease kills me off than another person. I'd prefer to go that way.

[militarized]

Slow and ugly? You're one of the few who'd choose that. People make it quick. Disease drains you dry slowly.

[befree]

At least it would be my own body's weakness killing me, and not the strength of someone else.

[militarized]

That kind of pride will get you killed.

[befree]

I don't think I'd mind if it did. [She's not trying to be a smartass, just blunt and honest.]

[militarized]

Then, I just hope you're not sent on any missions with me. Last thing a knight needs is someone who doesn't give a damn if she lives or dies around to endanger the whole operation.

[befree]

The last thing someone fighting for others should do is assume that their life is valuable at all, or more valuable than the person next to them.

[Oh, and now she's pissy and feeling offended, and she pushes herself to stand up, her chair scraping loudly across the floor.]

As long as the job gets done, I don't see the difference in what happens to any of us.

[militarized]

Be a little hard to help others when we're dead, wouldn't it? [ what is this bitch doing why is she standing up. ]

[befree]

There's a difference in knowing you're expendable and seeking out death. I'm not doing the second. I'm just well aware of my place.

[Her hands grip at the back of her chair and she holds herself in place. The temptation to leave him and the conversation is almost overwhelming.]

[militarized]

If you're not doing everything to make sure you keep surviving, then you're doing the second. You even think death is an option, you might as well ask it to step right up. If it happens, it happens. But don't you go embracing the idea.