after-party ♔ july

[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 || July 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

[astrae]

[Her first encounter has left her smile a bit dimmer, and her stomach a bit more nervous than it had been when she’d originally arrived – but she’s hopeful that the uncomfortable portion of the evening has gone by. Or well, it’s gone to the other side of the ballroom, at least.]

Really? [Beatific smile time; the man standing next to her looks like he belongs in some sort of romance novel -- something involving swashbuckling or medieval knights. That makes her laugh, considering where she’s standing. And honestly, she’s just relieved that someone seems happy to see her.] I mean, yes. Thank you very much.

[Spot check of 11 means he’ll be able to see the way she’s blushing when she puts her hand over his – she isn’t very good at hiding it.]

[allmydreams]

I'm trying to make a good impression. That way when I absolutely need to snap those rules in two later, the boss man doesn't come down quite as hard.

[bluffcheck]

[Thoster can spot a blush on a lady's cheek from a mile away (spot 22), but all it does it make her more endearing to him, old man that he is. He bows his head to her and starts their walk through the ballroom.]

Introductions are in order, I think. Sir Thoster Chatwyn, at your service. And you, dear lass, are the picture of loveliness.

[bluffcheck]

Smart girl. [He muses with a slight smirk.] Used to skirting the edge of the law, are you?

[spiritualdebris]

[ (Disguise check 10) Anthony consciously chose a suit that is just a little bit too big for him, so rather than enhance the shape of his body it mostly hides it more than anything else. His shoulders are a little hunched and he's generally looking extremely uncomfortable where he's leaning against a wall, one hand tucked into one of the pockets of his trousers and the other holding a glass containing a larger amount of whisky than it should. It doesn't look sophisticated so much as it looks as if he really wants to drown his sorrows, and fast. ]

[spiritualdebris]

[ Yep, there is definitely rather a lot of staring going on here. Staring of the somewhat horrified variety.

No, Anthony will not approach her. He'll just stand over here like a creeper and stare as if he's seen a ghost.

Sorry about this, really. ]

[allmydreams]

I like to think of them as more guidelines than actual rules.

[juststories]

[Chai found a pretty little black and white dress in exactly her size, much to her surprise (24 Disguise check). Unfortunately, no one was really going to get to enjoy her fancy dress, because Chai is still in a huff from the ceremony and picks Tony out of the crowd almost immediately, storming right up to him.]

Hey, you.

[Yep. Enjoy this, Anthony. For the moment she's still mostly confused but we can count on you to piss her off, can't we? Of course we can.]

What was the big deal in there, you didn't have to be like that.

[spiritualdebris]

[ Okay, so she's looking... nice.

No, that's a lie, she's gorgeous. Well isn't that just great. Nothing better than having the girl who stood you up come to a party looking like a dream come true.

For a couple of moments he just... looks at her. It's not quite staring, he's just sort of taking the sight of her in while he waits for his heart to slow down a little because yes, it did start racing just a little when she showed up looking like that.

None of this is of course making him particularly inclined to play nicely because quite frankly it's absolutely terrifying so he needs to just nip this whole thing in the bud. She did him a favor when she stood him up. No, really.

Finally he just downs that whole drink he was holding in one go, his expression turning harsh and unfriendly. ]

Oh, I'm sorry for not being polite enough when you humiliated me in front of absolutely everyone there.

[juststories]

I was surprised to see you. Sorry we can't all be as smooth as you are. Sorry I tried to say Hi when I haven't had the chance to talk to you since the whole freak accident.

[Huff huff. forget about the fact that he thinks she stood him up, She lost her phone and didn't have any other way to reach him. Fuck you too, mr genial.]

[spiritualdebris]

Freak accident? Are you fucking serious right now? Look, you don't have to pretend, okay? I get it.

[ Not like he's a catch or anything. The mystery was always why she was so damned determined to get a date with him. ]

Let's just skip the whole "I lost your number" song and dance and move on, all right?

sydney | ota

[celerystick]

[Sydney has at least relaxed a bit in her time here, so at this party, she doesn't look like she's afraid everything in the room is going to bite her.

Still playing the wallflower, though.]

[juststories]

[HEY you don't get to reject her apologies and explanations before she even starts them. NOT COOL ROCKY.]

I didn't lose your number, I lost my phone, asshole. I was coming over here to apologize.

[You make her so angry Tony. It's a rare talent.]

Why do you always have to be such an antagonist. You act like such a jerk. It's stupid.

What is your damage?

[spiritualdebris]

You call that apologizing? 'Hey, you, you didn't have to be like that', that's apologizing?

[ He's good at turning people against him, he's spent years figuring out all the best ways. Right now he's pulling out all the stops, too. He really wants you to never want to lay eyes on him ever again, Chai. ]

Well, consider it not accepted.

[juststories]

I was getting to it

[Voice level rising. Clearly he hasn't figured out yet that he's doing all the wrong things to convince her to get away. She saw his true colors in there. She's not giving up until she brings them back out again.]

You didn't even give me a chance. You just went right on and made stupid ass assumptions because you know everything don't you?

[spiritualdebris]

[ And he will just keep doing all that he can to convince her that this is his true self and whatever she thought she saw in him before was just a fluke. ]

Oh right, the correct assumption to make when a girl pesters you for a date and then doesn't show up and never calls is of course that she's had a "freak accident".

[ His voice is just going to climb in volume to match hers now, because nothing says "party" like a good shouting match, right? ]

I'm sorry, I promise to tell the next guy you decide to screw over to file a fucking missing persons report.

[juststories]

[This is just going to keep escalating, because every time he raises his voice, she is going to raise hers.]

Yeah actually. It is. If I hadn't wanted to go on a date with you I wouldn't have pestered you. Girls only stand a guy up if they didn't want to go on the date in the first place and obviously I did or I wouldn't have ASKED YOU.

[She throws her arms up with exasperation.]

Maybe you SHOULD HAVE. I could have died. Why the heck do you think I am even here? Obviously they got you too so something freaky had to happen to you. Why is it so hard for you to believe I lost my stupid phone.

[spiritualdebris]

[ Well let's turn up the volume another notch then, shall we? ]

I don't give a shit about your fucking phone, all right? You did the both of us a huge favor because what the fuck did you think was going to happen anyway? Hearts and flowers and happily ever after? You think you were going to fix me? THINK. AGAIN.

[juststories]

God you are such an ass. Why do you do this, huh? You think if you're an asshole I'm just going to go away and cry about it?

[Spoilers, frustrated tears are already beading up around her eyes, hands clenched into fists at her side. and yeah, she's definitely screaming now.]

SCREW YOU, ANTHONY.

I don't know what you're trying to prove with this whole stupid act but it's stupid. You're not doing anyone any favors. Happily ever after is for children's books but you could have at least let a fucking chance of some kind of enjoyable, hell, even happy things happen before you threw in the towel at the first sign of anything possibly not going away.

[spiritualdebris]

[ Yep, all according to plan. This is going splendidly, so of course Anthony is feeling pretty shit about himself right about now. Is that stopping him at all? Nope. ]

And maybe you could learn to take a fucking hint. Not taking no for an answer is not even charming in fiction so you bet your tiny ass it's nothing but obnoxious in reality.

[juststories]

[He had to. He just had to throw tiny in there didn't he. A great big ball of stressed out, upset and desperately confused Chai makes for a dangerous combination and before she even realizes she's doing it she is throwing a punch at him and.... failing spectacularly. Her swing misses his face and hits his shoulder at an odd and ineffective angle, sending her falling shoulder first into his chest.

And of course, she's pissed at him so she struggles away and shoves him to push herself back, landing on her ass because she is the epitome of grace right now.

She just sits there on the floor and glares at him like it's all his fault because at this point IT FUCKING IS.]

And not taking a hint that a girl might actually like you is even dumber. You want me to go, then fucking fine. You get your wish. Enjoy the party, Anthony. Maybe you'll get lucky and fall on your stupid face.

[She struggles to her feet and the glare doesn't go away.]

I hope you're as miserable as you try to make everyone else around you.

[And unless someone says something else stupid she storms off with a shouted Asshole for good measure. Pretty sure a good number of people are staring after the screaming match.]

[spiritualdebris]

[ There is a moment when she falls where Anthony's act just fails completely and you see nothing but concern on his face as he stumbles back a step after being shoved, still sort of reaching for her to maybe stop her from crashing to the floor.

Alas, he doesn't manage to be helpful at all and then she's glaring at him and he just... has to see this whole stupid thing through now so he he glares right back.

He doesn't say anything though, he just lets her storm off since his work seems to be pretty much done, and then he goes to pour himself another drink. He deserves the awkwardness of remaining in the room full of people who have all seen him be a massive prick. ]

[bluffcheck]

[It wasn't like he could avoid seeing that little scene, or at the very least, the tail end of it. He hasn't had too much time with his newest squire (or his last one for that matter. The responsibility has been spread pretty thin on his end, which he doesn't mind).

When the girl walks off, Thoster realizes that this is probably where he's meant to check on her and make sure she's okay. He might have been meant to do that before, but he can't exactly undo it now, can he? He cuts through the crowd to catch her just outside the ballroom.]

Whoa... hold on there, lass!

[juststories]

[There are definitely tears in Chai's eyes that she is trying to wipe away on her wrist when he catches her in the quieter volume of the hallway. She can't stop the slight sniffle.

She looks at him a bit confused and then rubs her eyes again and looks away.]

Guess I kind of made a mess of everything, tonight.

[No really. First the ceremony and then the party.]

[bluffcheck]

[If there's one thing Thoster can stand, it's a pretty girl crying. He reaches out and puts a hand on both of her upper arms.]

Hardly. These stuffy old parties need a bit of livening up from time to time. I think you might've woken some of the older knights from taking their monthly celebratory nap. [He gives her a smile, trying to coax one out of her.] I only wanted to come out and make sure you're alright. I'm not sure what that was back there, but I can only imagine he wasn't exactly exercising his sense of chivalry.

Just say the word and I'll lay the lad out like someone should've years ago.