squiring ♔ character is doing what you don't want to do but know you should do

[wynn]

♬ Troy - James Horner

WHO || Wynn,  Jimmy Novak, Anthony Hudson, Lissa Dragomir, Diana Meade, Chai Faelan, current Knights attending the ceremony
WHAT || July Squiring Ceremony
WHERE || Knights Headquarters, the Great Hall
WHEN || July 1st, 2013, 6:00PM
HOW || Actionspam

The impressively large Great Hall of the castle could easily pass as a royal throne room, with its length and the red carpet leading up to a set of steps. However, there is no throne set at the top of them, and the Hall is wide enough to accommodate hundreds of Knights. And indeed, several hundred Knights stand in ranks on either side of the wide stretch of red, each wearing the traditional set of ceremonial armor in their possession.

The new squires are fitted to their armor after meeting with Wynn, and it's traditional for each to appear for the first time before the Knighthood wearing it. Each new member is assured that only a very small number of the Knights make use of their armor for other circumstances, but it does create an intimidating sense of unity as they stand shoulder to shoulder in rank and file to receive their newest pledges.

The squires are ushered in together, with a flair of orchestral music that fills the hall with as much pomp as possible. It's a lot like that last scene in A New Hope. Yeah, you thought I was going to get through an entire post being all serious, didn't you.

At the top of the steps, Wynn waits, wearing a sword on his belt that canny eyes† might recognize as familiar.

It's one hell of a long walk past all those staring, curious eyes. Luckily, it's a long musical number.

For additional dice rolling fun (optional):

† Roll or randomize a d20. Those who roll a 15 or above can spot the sword for being the exact same sword that was suspended in the statue above the Round Table, when they met with Wynn in the Prologue.
† Roll a d20 dexterity check. If your character rolls a 2 or 3, at some point during their walk they're bound to stumble. A critical fail will lead to an epic faceplant ... or worse.

Comments

The Walk

[wynn]

[Optionally play out your character's WALK OF DESTINY down the red carpet, and people in the crowd can judge them / encourage them / gawk ]

[spiritualdebris]

[ A dex roll of 17+2 means that Tony is somehow managing to look fine as he makes his way down that carpet. His armor fits like a glove and somehow the fact that he is absolutely terrified manages to come off as a sort of quiet dignity rather than him just being stiff as a board because he wants to run far, far away.

Anxiety has never looked this good, people. ]

[necessaryevil]

[ a young guy with a scruffy mop of unkempt 70s hair watches from a few rows in, so it'll take a good spot check (18+) to notice him in particular. he looks really out of sorts in his armor, though with a casual air of not giving a fuck about it. ]

[spiritualdebris]

[ (Spot check 11) Anthony is a little too wrapped up in himself to notice anyone in particular so he definitely doesn't manage to spot someone who is hard to see. He's just happy he's managing to not turn around and march out of the room to go have himself a nice little anxiety attack in some secluded corner, in all honesty. ]

[juststories]

[Chai is a tiny little lady to be wearing armor, seriously, did they give her dwarf armor? She thinks they might have, but somehow she manages to get down the walkway without any mishaps. She doesn't even stumble and it makes her a bit more proud than is strictly necessary for a 14 Dex roll, but it's Chai. What do you really expect?]

[lastdragomir]

[Lissa's walk goes normally (dex 14), but she at least looks like she is fine (cha 18, aw yeah). It is nerve wracking, but she knows Rose is there so that lessens it some. After all, that is why she is there and she won't even deny it.]

[silvermaid]

[ it's really hard to miss the remarkably striking tall woman in the front, watching her with a very wide, joyful smile that seems reserved just for her. as she passes by, she claps her hands together and clasps them under her chin, looking on proudly ]

[littledhampir]

[There's at least two familiar faces among the crowd and thanks to some emotional bleed, Rose is looking more nervous than she'd like to be right now. Still, if Lissa does look out there's an encouraging, albeit tight smile waiting for her.]

[astrae]

[Diana has been struggling in her armor since it was fit to her earlier. It's heavier than anything she can remember wearing, and she struggles a bit as she walks down the carpet to join the rest of the new squires.

Something about the chest plate doesn't fit quite right (cha 9) and she's busy adjusting it, so she doesn't notice the small air pocket at the carpet's edge until she's already tripped over it (dex 4).]

[wildmind]

[ it's hard to explain what happens: one moment she's stumbling and feeling like she's going to eat carpet, and the next she feels herself almost pushed back up to standing by an invisible force that holds her in place. a spot check of 14 or higher can notice the blonde woman across the way, innocently twirling her finger in a circle in diana's direction and smirking to herself. ]

[thesleeper]

[Phineas scowls as he sees the squire recover from what he was sure would be an entertaining fall. Half the fun of coming to these things is seeing people screw up... damn...]

The Ceremony

[wynn]

[ When they have arrived at the far end of the carpet and stand before him beside each other, Wynn addresses both would-be squires solemnly by name. ]

Jimmy Novak. Anthony Hudson. Vasilisa Dragomir. Diana Meade. Chai Faelan.

Kneel. And repeat this oath.

The Pledge

[wynn]

[Each line is spoken separately as a call and respond.]

"I swear to defend the Knighthood."

"I swear that I shall protect all weaknesses and shall constitute myself the defender of them."

"I shall not recoil before mine Enemy."

"I shall make war against injustice, without cessation and without mercy."

"I shall never lie, and shall remain faithful to my pledged word."

"I shall be generous, and listen to and respect all."

[And finally, in ringing tones:]

"I shall be everywhere and always the champion of the right and the good against injustice and evil."

[optional rolling; roll a D20 Wisdom check in order to see if your Knight can remember the phrases properly or not so much.]

[spiritualdebris]

[ This, however, would be where the anxiety shows because while he usually has an excellent memory Anthony is struggling with his vows (wis roll 2+3). He is, at this point, close to panicking and can't actually pay that much attention to what the hell Wynn is saying and ends up just mumbling unintelligibly for most of the vows, preferring to not be heard at all rather than people hearing him getting it wrong. ]

This is what I get for Ty and Ruvaen's pledge rolls being so fantastic.

[juststories]

[S-sob. Chai Crit Failed her Wisdom Check.

So the problem with occasionally dragging attractive strays home to patch them up is that sometimes things happen. unplanned things. Not the sort of unplanned things involved in heavy drinking, thank god, because the last thing Chai needs right now is to accidentally get knocked up by a stranger-

But no, the kind where she hounded and then made plans to meet a certain writer at a certain carnival and then LIFE happened and she never managed to catch up again. That and her general lack of luck with keeping her phone, meant she hadn't spoken to said stray since she stood him up (UNINTENTIONALLY. Stop looking at her like that) means that when said writer-house dog stray shows up at the secret almost shady initiation into full scale fairytale level knighthood - well - I hope you all had on seat belts, the ceremony is about to end in a brutal crash. THERE MAY BE CASUALTIES.

Chai gets as far as 'I swear' while she's glancing at the other knights because she catches sight of Anthony and her words just... fizzle out and disappear. She stares with wide-eyed and blatant surprise. The whole nine yards. Oblivious to everything and her mouth hanging open. Lower jaw function has ceased, and with it, most of her primary cortex seems to have gone on strike.

Not only is Anthony there, but he's looking fully the role of the knight in that shining armor to the point that Chai is starting to suspect she fell asleep reading one of her father's fairytales. Seriously, he is more than a little unfair and she was neither equipped or prepared to deal with this right now.

She doesn't even notice he's mumble-fucked his own pledge. Who is she to judge? She hasn't even managed to attempt her own. What even are the odds of both of them ending up there at the same time, in the same squiring ceremony? No really. She wants some frickin statistics. Pretty sure it's 1 in a number with 5 digits minimum.]

Anthony?

[Yep. Sure did just interrupt the serious business squiring ceremony/pledge. She hasn't even noticed. Guess who has all but forgotten Wynn and the other knights exist at all?

If you guessed Chai, you get a cookie.

[lastdragomir]

[Wis 20 total, crying, she is such a princess. idk what I was expecting.

She gives her oath with barely any stumbling with all the correct gravitas because this is the would be queen of the Moroi people, she gives good speech.

It doesn't hurt that those two over there are having a... discussion. She looks good by default.]

[astrae]

[Her face is still flaming from her near-spill on the carpet, but she curls her hands into fists, and slows her breathing. Concentrating on Wynn and the words she's supposed to repeat helps, and she regains her composure (wis 19 +3, aww yeah) repeating her oath perfectly, chin held high and her voice ringing out into the chamber.

There are more important things than tripping on a carpet, after all.]

[beseeched]

[Despite the fresh sheen of sweat on his brow Jimmy is doing just fine with his pledge (rolled an 18) but his focus is purposefully away from the crowd and solely and wholly on Wynn. He trusts him, he's not sure why, but something about him is easier to come to terms with than everything happening around him.]

Dubbing

[wynn]

[With a beautiful sching noise, Wynn draws the oh so shiny sword from its sheath. One by one he lays the flat of the blade upon the squires' right shoulder, then raises it gently above their head to place it upon their left. When he is finished with each of them in turn, he returns to his place at the top of the steps, and announces:]

You may rise: Sir Jimmy Novak. Sir Anthony Hudson. Sir Vasilisa Dragomir. Sir Diana Meade. Sir Chai Faelan.

[The moment the squires begin to rise, the entire hall bursts into a frenzy of cheers, applause, hoots and hollering that's practically deafening. It quiets a bit when Wynn speaks again.]

We ask you to join us tonight in celebration of our newest members in the ballroom.

[spiritualdebris]

[ Looking for something, anything to focus his racing mind on, Anthony's eyes fix very intently on the sword (rolled a 19) and recognizes that he's seen it before.

He also fervently wishes that it'll swoosh down to sever his head from his body and end his misery because this was beyond all doubt one of the most humiliating experiences he's ever had in his entire life.

As he gets to his feet, the cheering of the croud feels like a pressure against his skull and he desperatly just wants to be somewhere else, but apparently there's a party he's supposed to be going to.

Hopefully there will be alcohol.

Lots and lots of alcohol. ]

[beseeched]

[The whole things a lot for Jimmy to take in. It reminds him of the old televised black and white movies he watched as a kid. About Arthur and his round table of knights. He never thought he'd be in the same situation.

When he rises his first thought is to keep himself balanced so he doesn't fall (rolled an 18) but that's the only thing on his mind. He barely notices the sword (rolled a 4) he stays still, strain on his face as the validity of what taking the oath means hits him.]

The Peanut Gallery

[wynn]

[ALL THE GOSSIP. Anyone in the crowd can make threads here to talk amongst yourselves.]

[thesleeper]

Oh the oaths are always so woefully regretful! I can't wait until next month!

[Phineas already seems to have forgotten his own horrible oath... but schadenfreude is so, so sweet...]

Rose Hathaway | OTA

[littledhampir]

[It was a good thing this bond thing only went one way because Lissa would probably have a hard time getting her pledge right with Rose's irritated thoughts being broadcast in her head.

With an arm folded across her chest Rose watches the new intake of squires, her features contorted as she continues to struggle separating her own thoughts and feelings from the blonde taking her oath.

For any more interested in the peanut gallery than what's actually happening, a spot check of 10 or higher will draw their attention to the fact that Rose's feature's have slackened, eyes glazing over as the glass in Rose's hand threatens to fall to the floor with a spectacular crash.]

[beseeched]

[After his squiring Jimmy wanders aimlessly around the room, his armor clanking as he makes careful steps. He almost runs into Rose, and for a moment he thinks that it's the cause of the change in her features. (Rolled an 11) he's careful to keep a fair amount of space between them, but the look on his face is one of clear concern.]

Are you okay?