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

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

♬ 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.

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[He allows her to take the lead, watching as she runs ahead like a child and he can't help but to feel the slightest swelling of protectiveness rising up in his chest. When she smiles back at him he can't keep a smirk from his lips as well. He easily keeps pace with her shorter stride, and when she asks if he minds running, instead of answering he takes off in a faster lope.]

Never mind a little running. Think you can keep up?

I always like a challenge. You better not hold back, just because I'm in a dress.

[The grin remains intact, and she feels for the first time that she can remember like she's actually enjoying herself. It's a strange feeling, one that's entirely foreign and actually makes her feel guilty. But she tries to not let that guilt get to her, and just chases along after him, determined to at least keep up.]

[Oh, he is totally not holding back ~~and with a Dex check of 18 he is going very fast indeed.~~ He grins back at her as they whip around a corner, his longer legs carrying him to the stairs leading to the roof just before her.]

I'd never go easy on someone just because they're in a dress. That's sexist, and I'm nothing if not all for the survival of the fittest!

[Ah, she likes him. He's fair, and honest. And treats her like an equal. She chases along after him, unable to pull ahead, but still manages to bound up the stairs to the rooftop at a run. As soon as they hit the open air, she feels a great weight lifted up and off of her, and she lets out a contented sigh as she walks over toward the edge of the roof.]

They don't know what they're missing.

[She's glad that it's just the two of them and not a whole herd of others, and finds a nice place to plop down and sit. Her legs are pulled in close to her chest and she tips her head to look up at the sky.]

Do you remember where you're from?

[He slows to a walk when they hit the roof, striding over to the spot near the wall she chose and sitting on the ledge, one leg still planted on the stone beneath them. His goggles dangle from his fingers as he looks around at the sky, the star-system so familiar to him and at the same time such a distant memory.

He looks down at her question, noting again just how young she was, how fragile looking. She'd probably try shanking him if she knew how suddenly protective he felt about her. That thought made him grin as he looked back to the stars.]

Yep. I remember every damnable bit, though I suppose some of my memories a much fuzzier than they used to be.

[He pauses a moment, not really knowing where... to even start, then decides to just come right out with it.]

I'm originally from Earth. Only about five hundred years in the future. Pretty fucked up, right?

[Five hundred years? Color her impressed. Even if her eyes are a little wide, she shakes her head in response to his question.]

I don't think it is. At least you can remember. Everything I've managed to recall only happens when I'm sleeping. I can't even be sure it's the truth.

[A large part of her is jealous that he remembers, even if some of his details are fuzzy. At least he has a time and a place to hold onto, and some sort of idea as to who he is. For her, going through this without a firm idea of her own identity is tiresome and unnerving.

She looks from the sky and over to him, focusing on his dangling goggles rather than his face. She doesn't want to look at him while she's feeling sorry for herself.]

From what I can remember of my dreams, I don't think I'm a good person. I shouldn't complain about not remembering, it might be better than I don't.

[He listens quietly to her words and the feelings bleeding behind them, understanding dawning. Here this kid reminded him so much of himself when he was her age, she had all of these glaring issues coming out of her from every angle just like he did.

And she had to deal with all of this purely off instinct not because for her it was better, but because she had nothing else fueling her. No memories.

Well damn.

His protective instincts just kicked up so many notches he has no idea what the hell to think. He levels his gaze back over the wall, giving her the emotional space she wanted, but his rumbling voice carried back to her clearly enough.]

It's not a matter of whether or not you're a good person. You feel guilty, or bad enough about it to have nightmares, then that guarantees you're a good person. Maybe it is better that you don't remember your life because it means that you can eventually grow to trust, to have a better chance here.

This place isn't about survival of the fittest, not like what we're used to. It isn't necessary to fight every second here, to grasp at everything so desperately like someone is going to try and rip it away from us. That's what's so fucked up for me with all this shit.

I've never known what it's like to not be on the run. I remember every single goddamned Merc that's come after me for whatever bounty was on my head. I remember every single evil thing I've ever done, all for my own survival. And until recently I've never valued another life over my own.

But now... now I think I could. But I'll always have to live with the things I've done, waiting there for me to remember them again.

It doesn't have to be that way for you. I'm not saying go and be happy and try to forget all your instincts, all of your feelings. I'm just saying that maybe you not remembering will give you a better chance at living.

[His words offer a degree of comfort that visibly puts her at ease. Her posture relaxes, shoulders slumping forward a little, and she rests her chin on her knees. She isn't quite sure if his assessment is correct, at least not in her case, but she sympathizes with the fact that he's had a hard life, and she's grateful that he understands her better than most here would.

His presence is a comfort to her, knowing that he respects her boundaries and won't try to pull anything out of her, and she realizes that she's told him more in the past ten minutes or so than she's told anyone else since she woke up in the strange place in a panic.]

I think I've killed before. Last night, all I could dream about was blood.

[She grimaces, and curls her legs in tighter to her body, taking up a defensive pose once again.]

Even if it's not necessary to constantly run or fight here, it's my instinct to do it. I'd almost rather be out in the woods right now, fighting against whatever is out there to survive. It's ridiculous to want that, I know, but it feels...

[She pauses, trying to figure out the right word. It takes her a moment, but when she finally realizes what she wants to say, she seems at ease once again.]

Like home. It feels like I belong there. But you're right, I should take the chance I have here to live. It would be wasteful not to.

[He's shared more with her in this one conversation than he had with anyone else as well, which was unsettling to him. Not that he wasn't an open book for anyone who cared to ask, but he also usually only gave smart-ass remarks that scared them away from prying. He hadn't done that with her and it surprises him how liberating he finds it.

He props himself up on the wall fully, dangling one leg over the side and the other still on the stone of the roof, his hands shoved casually into his pockets. He blows out a breath, the steam of it rising above their heads.]

Well, if you have killed, then I'll tell you the dreams won't go away. They'll fade eventually, blend together with other things, sure. [His gaze runs over the woods, noting the animals wandering around both on the ground and in the trees, the moon providing enough light for his eyes to catch their movements. He'd rather be out there too, where he knew what the rules of living were.]

Living with those kinds of instincts is what has kept me alive this long, same as you. The rules never change when it's you versus nature and whatever it can throw at you. It's kill or be killed, nothing else.

No emotions, no people to try and talk to or understand. No demands made of you but to provide for yourself and what you want and need. It's... a much more freeing kind of living.

But, that kind of isolation, that kind of cut-off from other people...

It makes you more animal than human. It makes you scare even yourself.

[His words strike a deep understanding in her, and she almost looks fearful as she stares up at him. He knows her well, too well, and sounds so much like her own thoughts and fears that it startles her. ]

We're more alike than any two people have the right to be.

[She's honest and freely admits that, but chuckles softly, a hoarse and throaty noise.]

I don't mind the isolation, I generally prefer it. But your company is hardly terrible.

[It's a large admission for her, when she usually prefers to keep distant from others and keep an emotional detachment from them. But in this moment, the conversation that they're sharing makes her realize that she's very small and insignificant here, and that maybe letting someone befriend her wouldn't be so terrible after all. It might even do her some good.]

[He snorts at her first statement, giving a wry grin. Maybe it was the fact that they were so alike, maybe it was how young she was, but how comfortable he was with her was astounding him more as their conversation wore on.

He wasn't trying to bullshit her, in fact if he didn't know any better, he might think he was even trying to share some of his wisdom with her to help her, more than to scare and discourage her. The similarities between them and just how damn vulnerable she really was, not physically but emotionally, made him think for the first time that he would actually like to help someone heal.

He had no fucking clue how to do that, or where to even begin, but so far being honest with her seemed to be working just fine, so he'd stick to that.]

Yeah, your charming nature does remind me of my own. [He says this very dryly, crossing his arms as he smiles down at her.]

Isolation is a helluva lot better most of the time than oh say staying in an entire castle full of people. But it is kinda nice to have someone else around that I don't gotta worry about entertaining.

[There's a note of something else behind his words, like he can't really get himself to just come out and say it. The way he chooses his words, how he says them all seem to speak of a kind of gratefulness that a man like him wouldn't normally possess, much less express. He falls silent, letting the words hang there almost as though he's making sure the meaning is able to sink in.

Or maybe he just doesn't know what else to say. ~~He's emotionally stunted like that.~~]

[They can be emotionally stunted together, because Katniss is currently at a loss for how to respond beyond what she's already said. She nods, feeling a sense of contentment, but doesn't want to ruin the moment by saying more than what's needed.

They have a sense of appreciation for the other, and it's nice to feel something like that, when she had convinced herself that this place was going to be nothing but filled with people she has to put up with.

But the actual realization that she now has someone she can rely on doesn't sit entirely well with her, and she pushes herself to stand up, glancing briefly over in his direction.]

As nice as it is, we should head back. I'm sure Christos has noticed I'm missing by now, and he's likely to assume I'm off destroying something.

[Riddick also sits in silence for the span of time before she gets up, enjoying the quiet and being outside once more where he felt the most comfortable.

Strange that it also came by being with someone else.

When she suggests they go back in his inner beast nudges him to stay out for a bit longer, but at the same time... He wanted to present her with a solid front. He had no reason to say no, and wanted her to know they could and would do things together and not have to fight tooth and nail for it. ~~Compromise is so new to him~~]

We could always destroy something just to prove him right. [This is said dryly as he heads back the way they came, holding the door open for her and ducking through after she clears it.]

[She stops mid step, and actually thinks that one over.]

It would be easy to do.

[It almost sounds as if she's seriously considering the option, but then she gives a light lift of her shoulders and shakes her head.]

But I wouldn't want to prove him right in his thinking I'm more trouble than I'm worth.

[And if she's thrown out of this place, she isn't sure where she would go. She knows she'd be able to survive, she'd find a way to, but she doesn't want to entirely ruin a good thing so soon.

So she hurries her way back the way they came, hoping that it would be easy to slide back into the party unnoticed.]

Yeah, you're probably right. [He follows after her, unhurried but still keeping up due to his longer strides. As they pass along the hallway and get closer to the ballroom, he just can't help himself.

The set of antique armor tips forward with a loud protesting groan. The clanging metallic screech as it hits the stone under their feet is ear-splitting, and by the time Katniss looks back, he is already striding past it, a smirky smile on his lips.]

Oops.

[A surprisingly loud laugh escapes her, and she reaches up to put a hand over her mouth. She didn't know that she could make a sound so...happy. ]

You're going to get us in trouble.

[The words are hardly scolding, and it's with great amusement that she glances back at the fallen armor.]

But at least we'll make a grand re-entrance.

[He can't help the chuckle that goes along with her laugh, happy to have brought that out in her. She needed to laugh more often, it was a good sound on her.

He shrugs his shoulders negligently at the idea of someone scolding them for a suit of armor falling over. He sure didn't value all the clutter in this castle, plus it was entertaining.

They arrive back to the doorway of the dance, hovering in the darkness for a moment more.]

I'd like someone to try finding us to blame that on.

But I don't think I'm going back in, and I really don't think anyone would miss you if you skipped out on the rest of the evening too. [He lets that escape hang there for her, letting her know that she didn't have to do something that made her uncomfortable.]

I was told a few times we don't have to stay, so I'm taking up that offer to go and catch some sleep.

[She nods in understanding, but still peeks around the doorway and back into the room where everyone else is gathered.]

I don't do well with sleep, but -

[She pauses, unsure if she should say it. The gesture seems like something more personal than she would do with anyone else, so the word stumbles out of her mouth awkwardly.]

Goodnight.

[He looks at her a moment, noticing her hesitation. As the word stumbles out of her mouth he lets it hang there a moment before nodding very briefly in acknowledgement.]

Night, Katniss.

[He turns to go, walking a few steps before pausing and turning his face the barest amount back in her direction.]

If you need anything... just lemme know. [He waves a hand casually in the air beside himself, turning to walk again, not waiting for a response. That was awkward enough to get out, no sense in waiting for a response that would probably be just as awkward for her.]

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

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