squiring ♔ i am bound to live up to what light i have

[wynn]

♬ Troy - James Horner

WHO || Wynn, Matt Byrne, Indra Crestrage, Nyna Dilant, Liam Dunbar, Stefan Salvatore, Rocket, Amy Pond, Sylar, Dean Winchester, Regina Mills,  current Knights attending the ceremony
WHAT || October Squiring Ceremony [backdated]
WHERE || Knights Headquarters, the Great Hall
WHEN || October 1st, 2014, 6:00PM
HOW || Actionspam

The impressively large Great Hall of the castle could easily pass as a royal throne room, with its length and the red carpet leading up to a set of steps. However, there is no throne set at the top of them, and the Hall is wide enough to accommodate hundreds of Knights. And indeed, several hundred Knights stand in ranks on either side of the wide stretch of red, each wearing the traditional set of ceremonial armor in their possession.   

While plenty of Knights try to get out of attendance once and awhile, Wynn personally ordered his Knights on Andres to cease their activities and flew them back for this ceremony, a step towards rebuilding in the wake of more tragedy.

The newest squires have been fitted to his armor after meeting with Wynn as always. It's traditional for them to appear for the first time before the Knighthood wearing it and they are assured that only a very small number of the Knights make use of their armor for other circumstances. It does, however, create an intimidating sense of unity as they stand shoulder to shoulder in rank and file to receive their newest pledges.

They enter together, with a flair of orchestral music that fills the hall with as much pomp as possible. It's a lot like that last scene in A New Hope. Yeah, you thought I was going to get through an entire post being all serious, didn't you.

At the top of the steps, Wynn waits, wearing a sword on his belt that canny eyes† might recognize as familiar.  Mark has, after all, brought it back with him from Andres - the famed sword, Excalibur.

It's one hell of a long walk past all those staring, curious eyes. Luckily, it's a long musical number.

For additional dice rolling fun (optional):

† Roll or randomize a d20. Those who roll a 15 or above can spot the sword for being the exact same sword that was suspended in the statue above the Round Table, when they met with Wynn in the Prologue.
† Roll a d20 dexterity check. If your character rolls a 2 or 3, at some point during their walk they're bound to stumble. A critical fail will lead to an epic faceplant ... or worse.

Comments

The Walk

[wynn]

[Optionally play out your character's WALK OF DESTINY down the red carpet, and people in the crowd can judge them / encourage them / gawk ]

[beatupgrass]

[there's a raccoon in full armor walking down this red carpet. your argument is invalid.

he's not totally bad at it either (dex 13)

he still thinks he looks like a massive tool though. EVERYONE STOP GAWKING OKAY. HAVEN'T YOU EVER SEEN A SMALL WOODLAND CREATURE IN A TIN CAN BEFORE.]

[watchmaker]

[dex 20 total while he ... breathes down dean's shoulder. WHAT IS HIS CHICAGO BFF (read: only ff) ALSO DOING HERE. IT'S NOT LIKE THEY WERE DRUNK AND DECIDED TO GET MATCHING TATTOOS TOGETHER.]

The Ceremony

[wynn]

[ When they have arrived at the far end of the carpet and stand before him beside each other, Wynn addresses both would-be squires solemnly by name. ]

Matt Byrne. Indra Crestrage. Nyna Dilant. Liam Dunbar. Stefan Salvatore. Rocket. Amy Pond. Sylar. Dean Winchester. Regina Mills.

Kneel. And repeat this oath.

The Pledge

[wynn]

[Each line is spoken separately as a call and respond.]

"I swear to defend the Knighthood."

"I swear that I shall protect all weaknesses and shall constitute myself the defender of them."

"I shall not recoil before mine Enemy."

"I shall make war against injustice, without cessation and without mercy."

"I shall never lie, and shall remain faithful to my pledged word."

"I shall be generous, and listen to and respect all."

[And finally, in ringing tones:]

"I shall be everywhere and always the champion of the right and the good against injustice and evil."

[optional rolling; roll a D20 Wisdom check in order to see if your Knight can remember the phrases properly or not so much. Remember that a 10 is an average person's capacity to do so. :) ]

[watchmaker]

[wis 13 so ... he prob doesn't fuck anything up. much. he says all the things. pretend i c/p'd.]

[ex_boning176]

[And with his wisdom check of 5, Liam probably responds with, "What?" a little more often than he should whoops. Look some of that old school phrasing probably went right over his head the kid is fifteen and on the spot cut him some slack. But he gets through it. Eventually.]

[keptbiting]

[ it's okay y'all, amy is here to make you guys look gr8. because she crit failed so she just does... something else. ]

I solemnly promise and swear to govern the Peoples of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon, and of my Possessions and the other Territories to any of them belonging or pertaining, according to their respective laws and customs.

[ and she is now the queen of england. ]

Also all that stuff you said, yeah. On it.

[likedillinger]

[ now this part, dean can do. he repeats the creed back word for word (wis 17), making a point of not scanning the crowd as he does so. ]

[martire]

[True to Stefan form, he recites those words with perfection (wisdom 17), gaze steady and ahead as he does. He means them too, though there's a wave that passes through them that maybe they're a little too outrageous for most to follow. Oh. Well.

There he is, serious and respectful, hardly burdened by those whose words come more difficultly.]

[beatupgrass]

[rocket rolled a 7, so he probably just mumbles his way through it awkwardly. BECAUSE WAS PROBABLY NOT EVEN LISTENING AND ONLY HEARD LIKE EVERY FIFTH WORD.]

[byrned]

[ these words, he says them. well most of them, (wis 10) aside from an odd pause here or there to raise an eyebrow at one or two. nice ideas, he'll give them that ]

[unhappily]

[ regina rolled a 2

which means at some point i think she actually just stopped listening.

she affixes a look of total incredulity on her face as she listens to everyone else (except the other queen over there) repeating them back, and then mutters under her breath: ] You have got to be joking.

[bloodrager]

[ INDRA DOES OK, repeating the words back with an air of pride, simply and slowly (wis 10). trying to regain what dignity she lost back there on the carpet. ]

[silverguardian]

[ with a wisdom 16, nyna makes this part look easy, but she's certainly taking it seriously. an oath is an oath. ]

Dubbing

[wynn]

[With a beautiful sching noise, Wynn draws the oh so shiny sword from its sheath. One by one he lays the flat of the blade upon the squires' right shoulder, then raises it gently above their head to place it upon their left. When he is finished with each of them in turn, he returns to his place at the top of the steps, and announces:]

You may rise: Sir Matt Byrne. Sir Indra Crestrage. Sir Nyna Dilant. Sir Liam Dunbar. Sir Stefan Salvatore. Sir Rocket. Sir Amy Pond. Sir Sylar. Sir Dean Winchester. Sir Regina Mills.


[The moment the squires begin to rise, the entire hall bursts into a frenzy of cheers, applause, hoots and hollering that's practically deafening. It quiets a bit when Wynn speaks again.]

We ask you to join us tonight in celebration of our newest members in the ballroom.

[likedillinger]

[ only now, when he's risen to his feet, does dean drag his gaze across the crowd, looking for rose... and maybe probably sam. he doesn't see either of them though with his shitty spot check, so he forces a tight smile and a half-assed wave, muttering: ] Someone tell me this celebration comes in liquid form.

[martire]

[Stefan looks over the crowd once he's standing again, although he's not remotely thinking he'll see anyone he may recognize. He's curious about who's there, but not enough to be super inspecting.

Always the introvert, he steps off away from the other squires, moving out and into the crowd to try to find somewhere to maybe stand, observe.]

Peanut Gallery

[wynn]

[ ONLOOKERS/GAWKERS/WHATNOT]

[undealt]

[you can't hear it over the music, but

someone in the back may have just awkwardly dropped their cane.]

[familybusiness]

[This Moose is just fucking staring.

Talk about an emotional rollercoaster. He isn't sure whether to be relieved, happy, confused, or offended. What the hell happened in the last week, and why is he always the last person to find out?

He still doesn't know anything, and Sam is not good with patience sometimes.]

[consequence]

[Hayley is there, with baby in arms and glances around at the name 'Stefan Salvatore' being called. Her head cants, scanning the crowd. It's not a very common name -- but considering when everyone else seems to opt to duck out of Mystic Falls and drop through the veil, she wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't know her.]

[bittersweeter]

[ while all y'all having your weird ass drama, lila is just /chinhands at sylar. dat's her man. so proud. ]

[bowtimeandspace]

[ [ The Doctor had heard before he'd got there, but he's having trouble believing it. Trouble that is right up until she hears those dulcet Scottish tones calling his name (listen 19). He carries on watching, mouth slightly agape as she does entirely what she wants to with her oath.

And he smiles. Of course he smiles. It's Amy bloody Pond.

And really, he doesn't care if she's done yet, he'll be shouting just as loud ] ]

Amelia Pond!

[littledhampir]

[Well there's at least one person here who doesn't look even a little bit surprised at this line-up, the brunette having elbowed made her way through the crowd until she can properly watch both Dean and Vamp-Boy Stefan, whom she'd clocked the moment he entered the room. She at least manages to not laugh at either Dean in his ceremonial armor or... Stefan being the first uncoordinated Vampire she's ever seen (WS 23).]