knightsoflegend | after-party ♔ june

after-party ♔ june

♬ 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 || June 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.

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[Wow. That's not an elephant! That's your flesh and blood, Klaus. Get used to it.]

And... you don't remember me. [The tone from him had been enough of a clue-in for her. She might not know how to use Ancestry.com, but she can at the very least put together his questioning tone and the staring.]

I can say that this is still less awkward than the first time you found out about me. [The first time they met, that's a bit more confrontational and her being in his face about how she didn't want to be a hybrid sired to him. The surprise the baby is yours moment was a lot more accusations and death threats.]

[To be fair, he's not even certain how he feels about this just yet. It's one of those things that, because it was so squarely planted outside of the realm of possibility, he'd never really considered before.

The fact that she was standing before him made it feel much more real than simply hearing about it via Rebekah--who, up until this moment, he was half-convinced had been making things up. Even now, that reservation had not entirely subsided.

Which is why, when he does finally lock his gaze with hers, he seems to regard her with suspicion.]

I suppose there's no need for formalities, all things considered. [He really doesn't like being at such a disadvantage, be it with Rebekah, Hayley--anyone, really.] You certainly seem to have Rebekah convinced.

[Oh, this is definitely more amusing the second time around. Yes, let's just randomly choose to have witches and werewolves and humans alike all trying to kill her baby. Because that's the easy thing.]

Trust me, if I could've had any other magic miracle baby... [She huffs out her response.]

I didn't need to convince anyone. [The witches did their spell and Elijah... was Elijah.]

It wasn't candlelight and romance. It was one night and then eight months of everything in New Orleans trying to kill me or the baby. Including you at one point.

No one would pick that.

[Klaus doesn't exactly seem surprised by this. He may not be in a place where he feels the need to murder her or his child (assuming it was his child), but that didn't mean he was in a place where he was willing to accept it on her word alone either. Well, her word and Rebekah's--who was known for being easily influenced, let's be real.]

Perhaps not. [Which is to say, perhaps they would. There was the flip side of this argument, after all. Yes, they had their enemies, but Klaus and his family could offer a hell of a lot to anyone who managed to gain their favor.]

[She didn't gain favor though, she gained a pain in the ass. She gained people keeping her locked up and followed by security teams. She gained death threats and violence.]

It's fine if you don't want to deal. You didn't want to before and since you don't even know who I am, really, I'm not about to make you help me pick out a name.

[At least she's perceptive. For whatever that's worth.]

As I'm quite certain you understand, this isn't your typical situation as reflected on any number of daytime talk shows. So you'll forgive me if I appear skeptical.

[Hayley can understand that it's not the typical situation. She knows that he's definitely not even from a time that he would recall having sex with her, let alone a child to come from that one night. It still puts her on defense a bit stronger than usual, since she's had to fight for her life and the life of her child since day one because of who the father is and having him deny that very claim of hers, makes it feel like all of her struggle isn't worth anything except to say that she survived. From where she came from she'd been in the bayou. She'd been staying there with all the other werewolves that wanted to see her, to see the baby that was some sort of miracle. They weren't her family anymore than Klaus was - but having to start from the very beginning is a long uphill process for her to take on when she only has a month or so until the baby is born.]

You can be skeptical all you want. [She just won't be tossing you any forgiveness for it.] I just know that it's better to be up front with you than to just hope you hear the news from the right person at the right time.

[Her tone softens, from the directness that she'd adopted in her moment of defense.]

For what it's worth, she'll be born in a month or so. I haven't quite figured out if passing through the veil from one timeline to another does anything with my due date. You're welcome to be there. If you're curious.

[He may not express as much, but he appreciates her willingness to be open with him. It sets a good precedent, because he is not quick to trust. Of course, if she knows him as she claims, then she'd have also learned that about him--which lends some weight to her claim. As does the fact that Rebekah seems entirely convinced. Really, Klaus just hasn't wrapped his head around the whole situation yet. It would have been one thing to be told this could be a possibility, but to have Hayley standing before him one month from delivery? It was definitely a lot to take in.]

She? [He derails the conversation entirely for the simple fact that she'd assigned a gender. Klaus was not aware that this was something they knew.]

[Hayley smiles at the interest he shows. She nods for the moment, her hand moving to her belly.] I've known for a while, now.

If you want, you can see if she'll move. You might be able to feel it. She's strong.

[That was perhaps a little more invested than he'd planned on getting, but after a brief moment's hesitation he decides to take her up on the offer. None of this is real to him yet. Hayley was clearly pregnant, but the idea that it was his was not something he could grasp.]

Of course she is. [His daughter would be, at any rate. Klaus reaches out to rest his hand against her stomach with her permission. He's not sure why he bothers. An unborn child kicking would not magically alleviate his concerns. Yet here he was, humoring the situation...]

[Truthfully, she wasn't sure if he'd do it or not. Back home he had distanced himself a lot from the pregnancy. With her in the bayou she could understand the difficulty of trying to manage what he had been with the addition of worrying about her. Things are definitely different here. Still, when he makes the effort she smiles and steps in closer.

Hayley's hand rests over the top of his, waiting until she can feel the odd flutter of movement beginning. Her hand moves his to the side of her abdomen, allowing his fingertips to press right over the spot where her foot drags for a moment. She smiles at him, eyebrows raised in question.]

Did you feel that?

[Yeah, he felt it. And if what she and Rebekah claimed were true then this might be touching. But he still can't be sure. There is no startling revelation in his reaction, if she'd been looking for one. And afterward, he just draws his hand away from hers.]

You and I were ... what, exactly? [She made it clear that this was the result of a one night stand but what the hell was he doing boning werewolves was the real question.]

Lonely? [It's an honest answer and considering everything else that's gone on, she figures that's the easiest way to explain it. Still, she takes a deep breath and shrugs, slightly.]

Your hybrids... I don't know what you know about them or if you've made them or are still trying, but they're Sired to you. [She frowns when she says it, because it's something she doesn't approve of, at all.] I guess, it makes for a good army, but it makes for a shitty life.

Tyler had broken his Sire bond, with my help, and so he ... we were helping the last remaining hybrids break their Sire bonds, too. It's just, we were doing that for different reasons. I made a mistake and trusted the wrong person. I offered him the twelve unsired hybrids he needed for his spell and he was going to give me information on my family.

When I realized that everything was falling apart and that my end of the deal wasn't going to happen, I told you what we had done. You went and killed them, which paid up my end of the deal. The information was nothing, though. A document telling me where they had died. Eventually, Katherine found me and she wanted to make another deal. More information about my family in exchange for how everyone had been progressing on the search for the cure to vampirism.

I gave her that and then I was considered a loose end. Because, that's how Katherine operates. She sent vampires to kill me and seeing as I'd rather live -- I called the only person that I thought would actually be willing to save me. Since I had told you of the betrayal of Tyler and your hybrids.

You came, I stayed at your big house, drank your expensive scotch, looked at your paintings... [She shrugs again. She doesn't want to really explain the parts that lead up to the sex. It's mostly just her making more deals in exchange for information.]

You saw this... [She moves to turn her shoulder to him, tugging at the corner of her sweater to show the birthmark.] It's from the Crescent pack. You knew them, when you lived in New Orleans. I'm the last of their line.

We have a lot in common, Klaus.

I understand being overwhelmed and I'm not trying to make this any more difficult than it probably already is, but this baby's coming and I can tell you whatever you need to know before that happens, but it's going to be your choice if you want to accept that or not.

[He listens to her without reacting throughout, not until she's finished. Does he like everything he hears? No. But he isn't going to kill her for any of it. Not while she was supposedly pregnant with his child, at least (lmfao).

It's not all bad, though. The fact that he was successful in creating hybrids at all was something she'd verified. The fact that these hybrids were automatically sire bonded to him afterward was also a nice little perk.

Apparently, Rebekah had neglected to fill him in on everything after all. Perhaps she'd forgotten but Klaus doubted as much. He wouldn't be forgetting anytime soon, that much was certain.]

I appreciate your willingness to share this much so openly with me.

There was a time when I wouldn't have. [Her hand moves to rest to her belly, feeling that movement again. It's not uncomfortable, but it is weird.]

You didn't exactly make me feel like I had much of a choice in anything that happened to me. Over time, though, living with your family, I have seen other sides of you. Not all of them entirely bad either.

[Okay, so she can stroke his ego with the best of them. She wins points there.]

Yes, well, you might try informing them of as much. [Or just Rebekah, since she was the only family currently present and accounted for. Really, some people could be so ungrateful. ]

[Hayley offers him a glance that says: That's not my job.]

I'd been staying in the bayou, before here. There was a bombing, though. I'm sure I would've ended up back at the compound in the French Quarter once the dust settled and we found out who was behind it.

I can't say for certain what would possess me to permit you to give birth in a swamp to begin with, but you're right. [Because a bombing sounded like the perfect reason to make him reconsider that shit. At least he was keeping it real with her.]

I'm pretty sure that it wasn't really up to you.

[Making her almost a prisoner in that compound didn't exactly endear her to him and his mood swings.]

That makes a bit more sense then.

[He's gonna want deets on all of this shit eventually but we can say they talk and get caught up over the course of her first month idk.]

Edited 2014-08-17 03:12 (UTC)

[She might give him details... One day.]

There are wolves that still live in the bayou. They've been cured of the curse, so I have people there. [Hayley doesn't remember Jackson or Oliver, though. Or that it was her family that had been cursed.]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that is no longer the case.

You have people here. Myself, and Rebekah.

[She hadn't meant that she had them here, but that was why she'd been in the bayou.]

That's a bit on the small side for people, Klaus.

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after-party ♔ june

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