CLOSED ♔ knighting ceremony

[eldritchweaver]

WHO || Wynn, Emma, Gold, Faye, Hasmed,  Lila, Hook, Thoster, Kat, Ella,  Tia, Alainn, Nessa, Zero, Zatanna, various other unnamed members of the Dragon's Fire [closed]
WHAT || Emma's full Knighting ceremony; induction into the Dragon's Fire
WHERE || Knight's Headquarters, the Great Hall
WHEN || April 30th, 2014 evening [Super backdated]
HOW || Actionspam

Unlike the grandiose nature of the squiring ceremony each Knight undergoes upon their initial entrance into the Knighthood, the graduation to Full Knight status takes place in a much more intimate affair, between the Knight, their mentor, invited friends, and the members of the sect to which they will be inducted. There's no pompous music, no stolid rank and file, no elaborate march.

Emma's invitees are given seats of honor at the front of the ranks of the Dragon's Fire members and Gold, Wynn, and Hasmed wait up at the front of the room for Emma to approach them, but the attitude of the ceremony is much more relaxed, full of smiles and light conversation on all sides from the other sect members.

Wynn finally gets things rolling, by saying in his loud listen-to-me voice: "Approach and kneel, Sir Emma Swan."

Comments

i'm like a month late / haters gonna hate

[uncurse]

Hey.

[ emma gets between him in the door, smiling with some trepidation. ]

Look, I know things ended up pretty ... tense back in Scotland. I'm not gonna drag this out, I just—I wanted to thank you, for not letting that get in the way of evaluating how ready I was for this.

you're a sorcerer now. sorcerers are never late.

[undealt]

[Gold stares at her for a second, wondering if there's a catch. One he's concluded she's probably genuine and he should ACCEPT THE GRATITUDE, he deflates a bit.]

You proved yourself more capable than me there at the end. [he's blaming stress on that fuck-up.] I was burdened by how the entire thing had been pointless from the start, and lost my head a bit. But you, Ms. Swan? You were capable of maintaining as much control over the situation as you could. And that is one of the best qualities a knight can have. Any squire can be honorable, dedicated, or courageous. But a knight knows how to handle any given situation without faltering.

[ even without full memories, he's still emma swan's number one fan. ]

true dat y'all just early

[uncurse]

[ oh man compliments this is so uncomfortable. the stony edge comes off emma's expression and she's left looking more or less like a little girl, dwarfed in the presence of an authority figure. she swallows her surprise and soldiers on. ]

It wasn't pointless. That druid had been kidnapping and enslaving people; we stopped him. Just because we didn't save Amara doesn't mean we didn't do exactly what we're here to be doing. [ as much as it had felt like a waste of time in the moment, time has offered her perspective. they did the right thing, even if it wasn't right for their particular goal. ]

[undealt]

The fact that you can see that, as well, means I made the right choice. [Even if he's still bitter. He's a goal-oriented bastard.]

Why did you end up choosing the Dragon's Fire? [THERE'S A QUESTION. He's not even trying to be a dick. He's curious.]

[uncurse]

Well, I thought about joining the Dragon's Tongue, but diplomacy doesn't afford as many chances to kick doors in. [ he gets a wry smile for that. after a beat, she drops the sarcasm and gives him a more honest answer. simple, but honest: ] Faye. Running from my magic isn't going to help her embrace that hers can be used for good.

[undealt]

[Oh. Faye. Of course. Bless that girl. He looks down, thoughtfully.] She has had a certain lack of a decent role models in her life.

[And he's probably not the best one in Emma's book, but SHH.]

[uncurse]

I feel like the Veil did some of us a favor.

[ not her, but faye? gold? hook? whatever had made them the way they were is gone, or at least forgotten. they're probably better off without those memories, even as hesitant as emma is to accept the change in two of the three. ]

[undealt]

Aside from the nagging suspicion that we'll never be entirely complete?

[He has FEELINGS on Veilnesia.]

[uncurse]

Some people are better off that way.

[undealt]

And I take I'm meant to be one of them.

[/haunted by that conversation on the plane like a million years ago.]

[uncurse]

Don't take it personally. You, Hook, Faye—I've got the feeling you're all better off. Lila probably wishes she was so lucky.

[undealt]

I don't think her nightmares would abate simply because she doesn't remember why. [He glances across the room, searching the girl out.] That isn't how the Veil works. At least not to my understanding.

[uncurse]

It’s not the nightmares that worry me most.

[ it’s the girl, and the way that damage plays out in how she interacts with others. emma knows what that kind of abandonment and damage can make a teenager reach out for, and she knows how it ends. thanks, gold. your son is trash. ]

[undealt]

How do you mean? [Look, Gold hasn't been paying that much attention to Lila beyond the obvious. She's a troubled girl, but he had his hands full with Faye.]

[uncurse]

She's been hurt—a lot. Has a hard time letting people close, and a harder time trusting them. A lot of people have let that girl down.

[undealt]

Sounds familiar. [Well, he doesn't claim to know Emma's hard life, but you can gather a lot about a person by the way they carry themselves. And the look he's giving Emma says he's kind of known that much ever since she came to Storybrooke.]

[uncurse]

[ if you expected emma to do anything but deflect, you don't know emma swan. she turns it back on him. ]

I didn't realize you had such a tragic past.

[undealt]

I wasn't referring to me.

[Pointed look. guuurl he can do this all day.]

[uncurse]

Look, can we—Let's not. We're done with the bonding thing. I'm not your problem anymore.

[undealt]

Of course. [And since she wants to disengage, he'll let her... for now. He just smiles knowingly to remind her he is actually a douchebag.] Enjoy your evening, Ms. Swan.