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

[instinct]

It spills a little, but none on either of them, and not enough to make a serious mess. None goes on his flashy outfit. He could almost be grateful, since he wasn't going to drink it anyway.

Still. He lifts his eyebrows a little, somewhere between bemused and amused. Nervous and clumsy. (Making a great first impression here, Buffy.)

"Thanks," he tells her, a little wry. He puts his drink back down, shakes off his hand in case there were any stray drops, but it's dry so he's mostly just being an asshole. "Is it traditional to stop new squires drinking?"

[slay]

“Actually, traditionally we lock them in closets around the castle and hide in the ballroom with the lights out until they show up. But, considering the swarm of teenagers, we thought it might be a little cruel.”

That sounded much funnier in her head. And it’s obvious in how she blinks after the babble is out and grimaces, jaw tight. Maybe she should just stop. With the humor, and the … everything.

Gulp.

“I’m Buffy. Uh. Sir Buffy. Technically. I—I’m gonna be your mentor. Or, I guess I am. Already. What with you being all post-squiring and all.” The babbling continues. She clears her throat, abruptly cutting herself off and raising her eyebrows as she sets her cup aside. Moving right along. “Derek, right?”

[instinct]

It's hard to know if she's serious or joking, so he doesn't laugh. It's not until she pulls the face, the one that clearly expresses I recognize that wasn't actually funny that he realizes it was a joke, but it's probably too late to be amused by it, even if the dark humor does kind of tickle his funnybone.

Besides, there's more important things. Like the fact that this is supposed to be his mentor.

Derek's brows draw together slightly. "Yeah," he says, since he can't deny that, well, that's his name. And he's a squire, which, he may not remember his parents' named, but he remembers his medieval reading, and a squire traditionally learns at the side of a fully-fledged knight. Which is, apparently, this tiny blonde girl.

"Have you been a knight long?" he asks, trying to keep the skepticism out of his tone. Maybe she wasn't human, or trained from a young age.

[slay]

“Pushing three years.”

She sounds proud of it. Or, rather, she sounds like she would be proud of it if she couldn’t feel the oppressive amounts of doubt radiating from him (sense motive 22). Taking a deep breath, she raises her chin and squares her shoulders. Get with the program, Summers.

“I’ll be showing you around the castle, making sure you understand everything about equipment and training orientation. If you want, we can train together to get you ready for your first mission.” She holds up her hands in a surrendering gesture. “But, full disclosure, I’m kind of on call for the follow-up for a mission I’m currently assigned. If you need something and I’m gone? Fred’s your best bet.”

[instinct]

Three years is longer than he expected, but it quells him a little. Regardless of her skill set, she knows more than he does about this place, so he may as well defer to her in matters of orientation. Even if he fully intends to scope the place out on his own.

Still, the news that she's probably only here temporarily gives him the twin emotions of relief (that he's not going to have to spend long navigating this forced new relationship) and resentment (because she's blowing him off and she doesn't even know him. Maybe he should have laughed at her joke after all.)

"Fine." In a whatever tone of voice. Sorry about the eternal needs-a-sense-motive-roll asshole that is Derek Hale. But he does make one, brief attempt at not just settling to being passed off to... Fred, whoever that is: "I can't come with you?"

[slay]

“Well, you could, but … The psychopathic dictator of the Andres Isle would murder our kidnapped colleague, so … We’re kinda trying to avoid that.”

Her nose crinkles. Over the past couple months, she’s gotten better at casually describing Thomas’ pressing situation at least. There’s no awkward, distant looks of guilt and misery. She’s actually aggressively trying not to put thought into the reality of it.

As long as they’re still here, it’s abstract. Thomas is gone, but he’ll be fine when they get there.

“It’s this whole big thing. And once we’re back, I am more than happy to ask Wynn to throw you into danger on this mission with me if that’s really what you want. But, to review, psychopathic dictator, torture, Shadowkind mind control, and Burt Becksworth.” She says it like Burt is honestly the worst part of all of this.

[instinct]

Shadowkind mind control. Derek tries to keep his face carefully neutral (Bluff 17) but there's definitely an internal flinch. He knows that's him, from the little reading he'd done before his trip to the castle. But does she know as well? Maybe it's better if he doesn't accompany her on that mission.

"What's a Burt Becksworth?" he asks, deciding to focus on the clearly important question.

[slay]

Her sense motive was an 18 on the die so I’m not bothering to add mods. #Laziness.

Buffy catches a flicker in his eyes, interpreting it as discomfort—which she can’t really blame him for. There’s nobody in the world that wouldn’t be a little uncomfortable about what happened in the Hudson River. Actually, mostly, uncomfortable ranks as an understatement. Horrific hardly covers it.

“Big-time record label guy. He owns NOVA records, and his brother got mixed up in some really ugly stuff.” The less complicated version of the story, with doppelgängers omitted, seems like the better version to share with newbies.

[instinct]

"And you don't like him," Derek guesses, because lets be real the context clues are kick to the balls level of obvious. Like listing him as a mission downside. But he seems to relax a little, like he thinks maybe they can bond over misanthropy.

[slay]

“No one who’s heard him open his mouth likes him.”

Well. Someone liked him enough to get pregnant with his child and actually have it, so maybe that’s not entirely true. But she hasn’t quite forgotten the fact that he’s holding her not-boyfriend effectively hostage and also named his club after the dead girl they’re all still mourning. Dick.

“Stick around, I’m sure you’ll meet him sooner or later.”

[instinct]

"Looking forward to it," he says in intense deadpan. Derek sighs, scrubs at his face for a moment. "Besides, I don't really have much choice. I get the impression I'm supposed to live and learn here a while."

[slay]

“More or less,” she admits with a smile that crinkles her nose and creases the corners of her eyes. “The idea is that you’ll be supported and supervised until you know how it all works. Think of me like a safety net.”

Which evokes a strange mental image that Buffy distantly considers for a moment, squinting off into the distance. Whatever. Anyway.

“If you do go on missions without me, I’ll get reports from your Team Leader. They’ll be the one to talk to if you need anything that I’m not there to help with.”

[instinct]

"All right," Derek agrees. That all sounds pretty straight-forward, though something headstrong in him says he doesn't need support or supervision. But, ultimately, that won't matter if she's going off on another mission anyway.

Unfortunately, Derek is a man of little words, while it's becoming rapidly obvious that Buffy is a woman of many words, often awkward or strange words. He doesn't have any more questions, and seems to consider the case closed. But then he doesn't know what to do. Make small talk? Take his leave? Tell her, god forbid, about himself?

[slay]

Buffy will take column number three, thanks. Now that she’s got him talking, she’s wholly interested in getting him talking more. After Jaina’s ‘graduation,’ so to speak, they’d grown considerably closer in terms of what they shared with one another.

Maybe if Buffy works harder, she can get that out of the gate. Or maybe that would only be true if she had a squire who wasn’t Derek Hale.

“I know you’re probably feeling overwhelmed right now—it’s normal. Either you remember enough about your old life that this all feels crazy, or you don’t remember much about it at all and you’re even worse off 'cause it's a new place and a new you to get to know.”

Gentle nudging like hey which category are you in, Derek ???