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

[consequence]

[Hey... that's a face she hasn't seen in a while. She's heard murmurs... but in general, Hayley isn't the type to pay attention to rumors -- especially considering how many she probably had to deal with being the mother to the hybrid miracle child.]

I can move - if you want a better sight-line.

[doubletake]

[Elena glances over her, then back at the carpet, then back at Hayley before she shakes her head.]

It's fine, it's just...

[She taps her head.]

Stupid Veil.

[consequence]

[Hayley nods. She knows that burden all too well.]

I'd offer my help to fill in gaps, but I'm pretty sure I only know the things that everyone knows when it comes to the Salvatores and Mystic Falls. My family wasn't even one of the founding ones. They were sort of elsewhere. [Dying. Not doing much else except abandoning her... At least, as far as she remembers.]

[doubletake]

[Okay, so that catches her completely off guard.]

Mystic Falls?

[It sounds familiar, probably because she heard it from Ric at some point.]

You know them, too? The Salvatores?

[To her, they're just names. Vague feelings. Maybe she can get some information before she actually meets either of these people.]

[consequence]

[Hayley's suddenly getting the idea that she should've talked to Elena a lot more at that wedding...]

Kinda? I mean, I was there for a bit. The whole passing through and staying more than a few months sort of thing. I wasn't born and raised or anything. [She wants to say like you were, but with the earlier remark about the Veil - she's certain that Elena doesn't remember.]

[doubletake]

[Elena worries at her bottom lip with her teeth, eyes scanning for a potentially familiar face before she says.]

Did you know Alaric? [A beat.] Did you know me?

[consequence]

I know -- knew you, yeah. Alaric... no. I never met him.

[She pauses, unsure how to proceed.] I met Tyler -- Tyler Lockwood. He was trying to sort through some things. He sold me some bullshit story about being from Florida. I ended up tracking him down to this mansion in Mystic Falls. I stuck around... overstayed my welcome, a bit.

Made some awkward choices [Unprotected sex with a hybrid.] and then ended up in New Orleans. Before here - of course.

[doubletake]

Tyler Lockwood...

[That name also rings a bell, but not as loudly.

Finally she shakes her head.]

I guess it doesn't really matter too much anymore.

[That's not entirely true, but she manages to seem like she doesn't care (bluff 36).]

Do you like it better? Remembering?

[Even if it's just pieces.]

[consequence]

[Hayley shrugs.]

It's lonely... probably either way. Being the only one to know something isn't easy -- Olivia's father -- [Hayley shifts Olivia in her arms.] didn't know me at all when I arrived.

[doubletake]

[She visibly winces.]

Oh, ouch. That...sucks.

[She looks at the two of them curiously.]

It's better than him not being here at all though, right?

[consequence]

Yeah, yeah... of course. [She's thinking it's also better that she knows who he is, though. Otherwise they'd both have simply overlooked the other.]

He gets to see a child that he didn't even know about.

[doubletake]

At least he knows about them at all.

[If she hadn't shown up, he wouldn't have. He'd been clueless forever.

She shrugs, though, and looks away.]

You'd know better than me, though. The whole Veil situation sucks no matter how the chips seem to fall.

[consequence]

[She nods.]

If you ever want to know something, I can try to help. [She shrugs, not sure if it's something Elena would want or not.]

[doubletake]

Yeah, thanks. I...wouldn't really know where to start, though.

[Plus, she's not sure it would help her at this point.]

I'll keep it in mind, though.

[consequence]

Yeah, of course.

[Hayley will just nod and then walk away to mingle with the rest of the people now that the ceremony part seems over.]