after-party ♔ august

[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 || August 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

[bittersweeter]

Lila flounces over near silently (move silently 34) because in her spare time she is a cat. She doesn't seem at all affected by his glowering, but it's pretty hard to intimidate someone who is used to being considered a sociopath when the moment calls for it. (will save 31) Besides -- new guy is tall, dark, vaguely handsome and he resembles the most oblivious of Sharpes, dear, pathetic Barron, of course Lila is going to be all up in his grill.

"Hey there, starshine." Lila fixes him with a radiant smile, gloved fingers drumming against her glass of pink lemonade and vodka. She gave up hiding her scar for other people's delicate sensibilities, so Derek gets to enjoy the whole length of it.

[instinct]

Derek doesn't hear her approach until she's close (Listen 26) but he also doesn't startle, just blinks once, slowly, a little catlike himself.

"Hi," he responds, still a little prickly, though he unfolds his arms. She's pretty, and she looks friendly (Sense Motive 2) so she gets more warmth than, say, Lydia managed: it's not quite a smile, but it's a total lessening of the scowl, which has to count for something.

"I'm Derek," he says, even though literally everyone heard Wynn do the whole Sir Derek Hale thing.

[bittersweeter]

"Lila. If I'd've known you were being squired, I might have bothered showing up for the ceremony." She sure did not. For... months and months now. Fuck that noise basically, she could better use that time to play with Pizza (the cat, not the food) and watch paint dry. Her hand reaches out to adjust his tie/collar just so, personal space be damned.

She can be very friendly.

Only when she wants to be.

Now is one of those times. "What brings you into our island of misfit toys?"

[instinct]

That sure is her hand right near his neck. Fortunately he's currently without the years of being raised in a werewolf family that would have registered her tugging at his tie as somewhere in between a threat and a demand of submission. His mother had adjusted his collar the way a real wolf might nip the scruff of her cub's neck — but he doesn't remember his mother.

There's still an instinctual response to it, his pupils blowing and posture stiffening, but she's only trying to be friendly, right? So he doesn't violently slap her hand away.

"Information," is his answer to that question, far more succinct than the faltering answer he'd given Wynn. He's still not ready to tell people about his amnesia, isn't even sure how to, and maybe part of being super extra don't-fuck-with-me intimidating is to avoid anything that cracks that particular facade. He lifts his eyebrows, sardonic. "Also the parties."

Yeah, obviously.

[bittersweeter]

"Mmm, I can tell. Veritable social butterfly. Definitely not giving off the lone wolf vibe at all." Oh if she only knew. Whatever, he's adorable. Doesn't remind her of a charming sociopath either, which is really a nice change from Barron. He was always the most inoffensive of the Sharpes because she knew most of what he did was because the memory loss made him so pliable. He was a scumbag, yes, but a nearly helpless one.

Fortunately, she's not thinking of Barron anymore so she is free to casually flirt with no urge to break anything.

Her head tips to the side, wooly blonde curls brushing her nearly bare shoulders, mismatch eyes regarding him with an innocent curiosity. "What kind of information? Maybe I can help." She is bringing her A game with Derek Hale, but she's always been good at getting what she wants and right now what she wants is all the deets on Mr Grumpyface. (diplomacy... 40 & gather information 25 yep yep.)

[instinct]

"Can you help to restore memories?" Derek asks her, a little bitter. He'll give up information, but that doesn't mean he has to like it. "I don't know much more about my life other than who I am."

So maybe he's not that different from Barron after all. Though he probably wouldn't approve of turning people into cats and keeping them in tiny cages.

Derek lifts a shoulder, discontent with his own answer. "Maybe I won't like what I find out. Maybe this is supposed to be a second chance. I know I could do good here, even if my memories never return."

[bittersweeter]

Oh. He's like Faye and Sylar, no memory to speak of. Which means, naturally, as all her memories are decidedly abhorrent, an instant shot of jealousy shoots thorough her veins like espresso. It's immediate and completely unbidden, if only because she's seen the both of her best friends struggle with not remembering anything for the past year and a half. While she is great at picking birthdays, she doubts it what Derek wants right now.

She can be perceptive on occasion.

If she feels like it. It's only the mental comparison to Faye and Sylar that makes her feel like it. It's the Zacharov code: family first, fuck everyone else. It's wasn't as exclusive as they made it out to be, all workers counted as their "people" and Faye definitely counts as Lila's people. She is Lila's person. Someone like Faye equals the generalized version of family. The "us" versus the "them".

"My best friend is like that. Doesn't remember a thing. I'd say it gets easier, but I'm not in the habit of lying." Liar. "The only thing that gets easier, probably, is fighting off the urge to punch people who call it a gift." She went to a seminar on how that shit is bullshit. Adopted a Spanish Harlem Angel named Donny, though he knows not a thing about it. BRB kidnapping. "Memory loss is pretty common though. If anyone tells you they came through the veil and didn't lose anything they're deluding themselves."

She shrugs passively, shifting her glass between her hands to tug her gloves tighter. She still has a memory charm on her necklace though it's little to no use. Old habits sure do die hard.