CLOSED ♔ knighting ceremony

[koraith]

WHO || Wynn, Elena Gilbert, Koraith, Myri, Colin Banks, Dumage, Andie, Finnick, Buffy, Spike, Vi, Luthir, Francesca, Archer, Des, Mark, Kat, Gar, Rose, Alaric, Klaus, Dawn, various other members of the Dragon's Tongue [closed]
WHAT || Elena's full Knighting ceremony; induction into the Dragon's Tongue
WHERE || Knight's Headquarters, the Great Hall
WHEN || Tues May 27th, evening FORWARD DATED
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.

Myri, Wynn, and Koraith wait up at the front of the room for Elena to approach them, but the attitude of the ceremony is much more relaxed, full of smiles and light conversation on all sides. Of course, when Wynn speaks, people still hush. It's just how he rolls.

"Sir Elena Gilbert, please kneel."

Comments

[bigbad]

[His head snaps to the side slightly, and he raises a hand to his cheek as he looks back up at the other Spike, before beseeching those around him, stepping backwards.] Don't tell me you're all gonna fall for this again. How many times does this git have to steal my face?

[nosdacariad]

[ mark moves with vi, coming up behind the cleaner of the two spikes and making an attempt to grab him from behind, but he jerks away and mark's hand grabs air. ] Who the hell are you?

[rationalizes]

[ gar has been staring in horror for the few brief moments since they walked in, but all it takes to unfreeze her is jack's order. she snaps to life, her eyes moving to the table she's standing by and she grabs a small heavy centerpiece in the shape of a silver dragon and chucks it, hard. (nat 20, I guess I should add the crit damage)

it thunks against the back of clean spike's head (14 dmg), distracting him for a moment as his head swivels around. ]

[bigbad]

[Spike ruefully rubs his head, gritting his teeth as he shouts:] I'm me, you bloody morons.

[notaroundme]

[Elena looks between Myri and Jack, turning her head back toward clean!Spike as the beatings begin, trying to figure out what's even real when he claims to still be the real Spike. (Sense Motive 28)

Also, Rose? She's reached out and taken her best friends hand, squeezing it to stop herself from shaking. Because even then, she can't tell, and that hurts so much she's not sure she can stand it.

Fighting isn't happening. Functioning is barely happening. So she's going to go with her gut...and keep moving toward Myri. She can't even...look over there right now.]

[meta]

[Deadpool's brought popcorn. He sits down next to Klaus and offers him some.]

This is so intense. Why do I never get a secret log?

[Maybe because you can't keep a secret to save your life?]

Oh yeah, that. Thanks, helpful brackets!

[graveflowers]

[ well, jack said "don't let him get away" and vi doesn't have her bow to shoot him to the wall so she grabs mark's arm to pull him back towards her and casts entangle at spike and... spike. the plants in the room cheerfully shoot out to twist and wrap themselves around the spikes and whomever happens to be in the immediate area of said spikes. sorry? (it'll take a reflex save of 18 to remain free of the slithering plants, but you still move half speed. if entangled, it takes a full round strength or escape artist check of 18 to break free.) ]

[littledhampir]

[Rose squeeze's Elena's hand back, a frown touching her lips as she looks at her out of the corner of her eye, pretty sure from Elena's reaction to all this that she's about to make this night worse for her best friend but somebody has to clear this up.]

Spike is a Vampire, right? [Speaking up for the first time since shit got real, Bad Boys style.] Cause the one who came in looking like a Hobo? Vampire. Peroxide guy, not so much...

[witchwoman]

[Everything happens so fast, too fast for Myri to hope to keep up with. Her gaze shifts amongst each face, a mixture of relief, terror, and concern. She's got her gaze locked on Finnick through most of it, staring back, just as unmoving as he is.

Elena approaching seems to pull her out of her own thoughts long enough, though. She steps towards the girl, meeting her halfway and doesn't say a word before pulling the girl in for a hug. Perhaps then it would be easier to tell that what little strength Myri had before has been drained away. She all but sags against Elena with a quiet sob.]

We can't let him live.

[Compassion wasn't something she had the luxury for any longer. Jack had asked them to stop the doppelganger but Myri wanted the bastard dead.]

[ex_ric243]

[Of all the nights to start drinking responsibly. Alaric has no idea what's going on, but like Rose his main concern is Elena. He might look like more of a wall when he moves over to stand beside her but in truth he is really a less effective wall. Whatever, y'all gonna have to go through papa bear too.]

[socialgraces]

[ francesca can't hide her horror at seeing spike and myri - and jack - in such a terrible state. she's ready to act, though, and she looks to wynn for further orders, despite myri's fervid request. ]

[imposturing]

[ ♬ black sheep - metric

the plants wind their way up his legs, and then up to his arms, because he FUCKING CRIT FAILED. bitch can't even move, he's strung up by plants. "spike" looks offended for a moment, but then he hears rose's remark...

and he starts chuckling.

it's a horrible hideous sound coming from spike, and it slowly morphs into a totally different voice as before them his features begin to shift, his blonde hair turning completely black, his features darkly handsome and smug as fuck. and familiar - oh so familiar - to elena and spike. ]

Alright, alright. You finally got me.

Uncle. [ now is the most appropriate time ever to cry 'uncle' clearly. ]

[nothingsodivine]

[Des has been dumbstruck for most of this, but when Myri, of all people, demands no mercy, Des's naturally merciless nature goes on overdrive. He moves through the crowd with a sense of purpose (dex 16), pulling his gun out of his pocket when he reaches the two entangled Spikes.

He fires one shot (atk 28, dmg 8) IN THE GENERAL KNEECAP AREA of... uncle jesse.

Have mercy, my ass.] Now assuming he don't bleed out, will someone tell me what the hell just happened?

[slay]

[ It's not the shock at the sudden, violent reveal that leaves Buffy paralyzed. Normally, she's quick to act on these things. It's Myri--the real Myri--and the comment Buffy hears her make. Slowly, she turns, wide-eyed to the hollowed out shell of a woman. Horror colors her expression at the cruelty of it--no matter how much bitterness and betrayal Buffy is feeling right now, none of it comes close to the sick feeling at hearing Myri cry out for someone's death with such steady certainty.

She breaks away then and moves for Wynn, shouting over the confrontation with the one that Vi has safely secured. ]

There's another one! [ Myri--or, more accurately, "Myri." She'd slipped out the door. Buffy replaces their encounter on fast forward, ad nauseum. She'd gotten upset and wanted to leave. Wanted to leave. How long had it been since then? In the wake of the chaos, her sense of time feels skewed. ] Lock down the castle, don't let any cars out. Myri was already here, we need to find her--[ A reflexive glance back at the real Myri. ] It.

[65]

[look at finnick having his nancy drew moment. (wis 17) because that was his immediate thought, too. he was going to high tail it out of there and storm the castle until he found dopplemyri , when a singular thought occurred to him. no matter how hard he racked his brain, he couldn't think of seeing myri and spike together in recent memory.]

No, there's not. It's all ... that. [he motions at kyp with disgust. HE MADE OUT WITH THAT. 8( ] How many times have you seen Myri and Spike together recently? This is all just his game.

[wynn]

[ wynn takes just one single step forward and raises a hand in a swift sharp motion as if to cut off all this speculation. he also casts zone of truth meaning all bitches in the middle of the room need to make a will save (DC 20) or they are no longer able to speak any lies for the next 10 minutes. his tone is bitterly terrifying as he says: ] He'll tell us everything. [ he cuts des a single look that dares him to try shooting that gun again before they get the information they need. in fact, his sudden aura of INTIMIDATING BADASS is unlike anything they've ever seen from him as if all that power usually lurking below the surface is visible now in his eyes. it's a dc ... 32 to not be intimidated within 270 feet of him. ]

[notaroundme]

[It's clear as the doppelganger shifts that Elena's mental capacity is starting to deteriorate even more than before.

Everyone was right.

She should never have even kind of trusted him.

This was her fault.

And she's SLEPT with him.

Everything is awful and will never be right again.

So she's just going to. Cry. Silently.]

[bigbad]

[With Kyp nicely strung up, Spike starts struggling out of the vines to get towards Myri and Elena. He sees those tears (spot 37) and as much as he'd like to murder the hell out of Kyp right now.... Wynn's fucking terrifying. But he talks as he moves.]

Wanker took Myri's place forever ago... when she left us. He fooled me a little while after that. Took us back to Andres Isle be Dimitris' bloody lab monkeys.

[He's here to help get the exposition started. You're welcome, Kyp.]

[imposturing]

[ ♬ the pretender - foo fighters

kyp is requisitely terrified of wynn yep. it does not, however, stop his gaze from seeking out elena as he says: ]

You hear them, don't you, Elena? "That"? "It"?

This is what they think of us.

You don't belong with them. You know what's always felt right. As a matter of fact, you said it yourself.

[graveflowers]

[ vi is appropriately intimidated by wynn, but she always has been, so. regardless, her fingers clench into fists at kyp's words and the vines and roots may tighten in response to her general upset. he made elena cry. he broke myri. he upset finnick. three for three on her favorite people. fuck no, this is why you don't make flower power angry. ]

Excuse you, dickhead, that isn't a team sponsored opinion. Elena is a person. A good person. And, might I add, fuck you.

[notaroundme]

[Of course he hits all the points that she's caught herself, the words she's flinched against in the last few moments.

But it's what he says after that that makes her stomach twist over inside her, and it's only a large effort of will that keeps her from screaming, or throwing up.

But no matter how much courage she's trying to muster up from nowhere, her voice is cracked and shaking.]

You don't know anything about me.

[nothingsodivine]

[Des rolled a nat 20 to not be intimidated by Wynn, but as he was not planning on shooting Kyp anymore, it doesn't matter. His finger is off the trigger in compliance with the order, but the gun is still up.]

Less posturing, more talking. Or the only shape you're gonna shift into is a bloodsplatter on the floor.

[(intimidate 34) Wynn is not the only person in this room who is terrifying as shit, boys and girls.] What was your boss doing to them and why?

[imposturing]

[ yeah y'all have his attention now. he's afraid to not answer so instead the TRUTH COMES BURBLING OUT ]

They don't tell me everything. Why do you think they would? I'd be a helluva liability if you ever learned to look past your noses.

They were after the thing in Spike's head that keeps him from hurting humans. And Myri, well...

She was getting too close to Nadia, from what I heard. And they were both ideal marks. Who wouldn't trust them?

[witchwoman]

What you are doesn't determine who you are. [She says it quietly, privately. Myri's hand goes to Elena's back, protective of her even through all of this. Something terrible happened while she was gone, that much is certain. But she won't stand for Kyp to make Elena think that they put her in the same category as him. It's important to her to say, even in the middle of everything.

Kyp talking at all makes her eyes flash with anger.]

They wanted to learn about my empathy, how it was that I felt other's pain. They wanted to replicate it, make it into a weapon. That's all they want- to control Shadowkind, find ways to hurt them. But it's not over. We have to go back. [Her eyes lift to Wynn.] They have Thomas. [And then her gaze drops, her voice going quieter.] And Amaranth. [She had to leave him behind. There hadn't been time.]

[littledhampir]

[If Elena's tears weren't enough to enrage Rose to the point of being immune to Wynn's scary as fuck presence (Nat 20), Kyp's words sealed the deal, the brunette spinning on the imposter with one hand clenched at her side, the other gripping Elena's a little too tightly.]

You so much as look at her again and I will stab you through the eye. [(Intimidation 29.) When Rose grows up she wants to be as scary as Wynn okay.

Lets just say that the only reason Rose wasn't crossing the room to introduce her three inch heels to Uncle Jesse's face was Elena. (Will Save 21).

For now.

In the meantime she's going to let the Exposition Fairies do their magic cause boy does she have no idea who any of these people are.]