after-party ♔ april

[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 || April 1st, 2014, 6:00PM [backdated]
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

[silvermaid]

Something happened to you? Or someone you cared for? [ there's not really a third option granted in her tone. ]

[nothingsodivine]

A few different times. [He can't remember them, but he knows it happened. He still has nightmares about it.] I don't remember a whole lot about it, but I know that feeling. That I'm never gonna forget.

[He grips the railing.] Nothing of you belongs to you. You belong to someone else and they can do whatever they want and you just take it, because there's no other option. I was always too stubborn to buy that. I never broke. I fought. And even after it stopped and I went on and forgot the details, all I could ever think was how badly I never wanted to feel like something owned me and might wreck me if I gave it half a chance. I couldn't bow to anyone- wouldn't bow to anyone. If I thought it might leash me, I ran from it, as far and as fast as I could go. Nothing scares me more than that.

[silvermaid]

[ she looks out over the garden and tranquil waters of the pond behind the castle, but there are tears in the corners of her eyes as she nods. ]

I know all about running. Believe me. Sometimes ... I truly never thought I'd stop.

It's... more than just a result of what I've been through. For me, it's also in my blood. That wanderlust.

That need to be free.

[nothingsodivine]

That's why I never joined up here. I don't care what Wynn says about freelancing or not doing the whole squire thing. There's a loyalty to it. It's binding. Maybe it's not a big fancy, gilded cage like I wanna believe it is, but I'd never be able to stomach it. I don't belong.

[silvermaid]

[ she double takes for a small second, in which it's clear that she didn't realize he WASN'T one of them, but she accepts it with a small smile, eyes still a little watery. she shakes her head warmly. ] I can't say it would be the same for anyone else, but in my experience...

Family, loyalty, a place to belong, all those things I ran from for so long - when I finally decided to give in to them completely, that was the first and only time I've ever really felt free.

[nothingsodivine]

[Des swallows and balls his hand into a fist so tightly, he can almost swear he hears the knuckles crack. He's holding back something and he's doing a spectacularly awful job at it.]

I know. But I can't get that here.

[silvermaid]

[ she doesn't look disappointed by the admission, just nods, understanding. ] Then you should go wherever you can. It wasn't even here that I found it. It was with when I met my husband, in New York. Life's just... taken us here, but now? My heart's with him, and our children, and wherever those things are, I don't feel a need to run anymore.

[nothingsodivine]

It's not always that easy.

[He unclenches his fingers one by one until he's staring at his open palm.] The only thing more confining than cages and chains is unfinished business. And I've got a ton of it.

[silvermaid]

Then I hope you have the opportunity to finish it. [ she reaches out to lay a hand on his arm again gently, as if to pull him back from his thoughts. ] I'm sorry, I haven't even caught your name.

[nothingsodivine]

[He closes his fist again, blinking away his daydream.] Yeah, sorry. Descant. Desmond Descant.

[silvermaid]

[ her tears are all gone now, as she replaces them with a blindingly beautiful, easy smile. ] Nice to meet you, Desmond Descant. Anastacia O'Keefe.

[nothingsodivine]

[.......

Well this is a stupefied look.]

You're Anastacia O'Keefe?

[silvermaid]

You sound as if you've heard of me.

[nothingsodivine]

I came here looking for you. [Fate is weird.] Courtesy of a family member I take it you've never met- Eterna Jade?

[silvermaid]

[ she looks just as dumbstruck by the coincidence ok. and then a little sad again. ] ... We've never met, no. But I learned only a few months ago that she was my aunt.

You knew her?

[nothingsodivine]

I loved her.

[That's... really all there is to say about that, and he says it without looking at her. Hi, Anastacia, we could have been family. What a crazy random happenstance.] She gave me a task to do- call it more unfinished business.

[He looks up.] You said you were from Manhattan?

[silvermaid]

I said New York, but Manhattan... specifically, yes. [ JUST GONNA STARE IN AWE, but also just sorta take this for what it is, because this is how her life works ok ] What was it she asked of you?

[nothingsodivine]

I was wishful thinking, I guess. [And just happened to be right- where the fuck do people from New York live if not Manhattan. What is the point???]

There's a girl here- Violet Fiore. She's in a bad way. Nightmares, drow god- ask her about it. You'll realize what's wrong ten seconds after talking to her. Jade thinks you and your daughter can pull her out of it.

[As he's talking, he's pulled out his wallet and a pen and is scribbling the same address and name he gave Violet.] This is an apartment building in Manhattan. You're looking for Nick Starkweather. Might wanna give it a week or two- he's got a kindergarten class in the middle of standardized test prep and he's about to have a conniption. Don't think too hard on it.

[silvermaid]

[ she nods along, keeping up with the swell of information ] My daughter Faith, she's a Dreamwalker. It's a-- a gift from her connection to Sehanine.

She can travel inside a person's mind - inside their dreams. I'm not certain I understand it completely myself, but... perhaps that's what Jade meant?

[nothingsodivine]

No doubt about it. Any idea why she'd need a unicorn? [He hands off the card.]

[silvermaid]

A-- [ nope now this is just crazy ] Well... yes, actually. My father was a son of Sehanine Moonbow, but my mother was a daughter of another goddess. Lurue, Queen of the Talking Beasts.

She's a unicorn.

I've only ever seen one in two places in my life - on a farm in Kansas, where it told me to go back to New York after that mess with the Stuarts. And... in New York again, when it appeared to set me on the path to fulfilling the destiny my grandmother sent me to this world for. Though I don't remember any of it, it seems I spent my youth on Lurue's plane, not in the Shadow World. Our family has always held a strong bond to the magic of unicorns.

If you know how to find one...

[nothingsodivine]

[He waves the card.] That would be Nick, yeah. Real nice guy if you can get past the neuroses. Definitely not farm material.

[He would be a lot more weirded out by this if his life weren't so completely and utterly insane. As it is, he's just going with it. He'll go into hysterics later. Sunshine, you knew this would happen, didn't you?]

[silvermaid]

[ she reaches out to take the card, handling it almost reverentially ] You... know him?

[nothingsodivine]

He's been my downstairs neighbor for about twenty years.

[Des doesn't understand why this is strange at all. Nick is the least majestic creature on the planet. He could be THE LAST UNICORN EVER and it wouldn't mean much to him, because it's Nick.]

[silvermaid]

Do you know I spent years searching for the Unicorn? And all that time he was living right below someone who-- [ how do you even qualify this relationship. WAS HER POTENTIAL UNCLE?? yeah she'll let that slip for now. ] Amazing. Absolutely amazing. [ she folds her hand securely over the card, as if to impress upon him that she won't lose it. ] Now I know we'll save Violet. Everything's lined up just so, so that we might.