118. Gala

The Grand Bes Din's new wing is opened!

***"Recently, board game players have had a chance to solve long-term goals, but roleplaying games have always had that feature."***

Today is the unveiling of Patches' new wing at the Grand Bes Din in Halifax! Before heading over to get their VIP tour, the motley check into their accommodations and prepare. The invited guests from Montreal include Braum, Sophia, Kyoko, Sir Xaeron, Fala, Zistor, and Cog. As Patches is preparing for her speech later that evening, she's interrupted by Bootstrap, a worker at the Grand Bes Din. She tells Patches that there's a problem: the new lights have overloaded the circuits, and now she's not sure how to fix it. Patches is, unsurprisingly, direct in her solution: hire a boggan to take care of it and it'll get done, quickly. When Bootstrap protests, Patches quells the dissent by noting that the new wing is all about cooperation between the kith, and that Bootstrap can give very clear directions if she feels it's necessary.

The motley prepares for their tour and gala: Sophia is wearing a beautiful steampunk-inspired tulle dress with a leather corset; Patches is wearing black chiffon coveralls with a piston bracelet; Braum is in his usual formal Golden Braid attire, but with a Winter-crafted ice clasp; and Kyoko is keen to show off her vantablack jumpsuit. Seven arrives at Sophia's room with a small gift for Mab. He also takes the opportunity to explain to Sophia his "PR problem"… Several times now, the Golden Braid has dealt with issues in Concordia only with the aid of Sophia and Patches, and without them joining the Braid, he's not sure how to "spin" the fact. When Sophia bemusedly asks him what the problem is with friends assisting each other, he tells her that he doesn't want the Braid to have an "image problem"; Sophia just shrugs it off, noting that they're "part of the narrative now"… get used to it! Seven also brings the concern forward to Patches and Braum, seperately: the former is steadfast in refusing any noble titles, while the latter promises to think on the issue.

Patches provides her motley, Seven, and High Queen Lenore with a tour of the new wing, along with one more dignitary: a boggan representative from the Parliament of Dreams, Theodore. He's overly excited, melodramatic, can't keep his hands off anything, and is eventually both shut down by the High Queen and guided away by Bootstrap. Having got rid of the problematic boggan for now, the gala can begin!

Sophia knows there is a representative of House Liam at the event, and is delighted to see it's Count Spencer! The Count hopes Sophia can replicate her success from Tara Nar and make a good impression on other high-ranking members of the Seelie Houses in order to grow Liam's influence. Sophia is on top of the world… until a face from the past appears, bowing obsequiously before her. Reggie is, as ever, smarmy quick to deal out backhanded compliments to "the Lady Sophia", and manages to insult her whole motley at once.

The opening speeches of the gala, given by Fuse Terwilliger and Patches, are characteristically short: the Dayan admits that the nockers "furked up", and Patches hopes her creation represents a new future of cooperation between all Kithain. High Queen Lenore offers a few words of thanks, as well, and presents Patches with a Mk. III Magic Motion Box as a gift.

The afterparty is in full swing when Reggie approaches Braum: he hopes that the troll can be his "champion" in a duel against "someone who did me much wrong". When Braum humours the boggan by asking who he needs to challenge, Reggie admits it's the Lady Sophia. Braum's raucous laughter attracts the attention of Kyoko, Sophia, and Spencer, who all arrive to take turns taking him down a peg, ending with Spencer asking his Senechal to go and "check on the car".

Later, Patches dances with Seven, who asks her to reconsider her membership in the Golden Braid, but Patches is once again adamant that she didn't "do it out of fealty to Lenore". Sophia finds Lanta looking forlorn, but turns ecstatic when the sidhe asks to visit her workshop the next day. Sophia is quickly horrified when Lanta seems to fall head over heels for Reggie when he drops by. Meanwhile, Patches tries to boost up Cog, who is afraid Lenore may not remember him. And Braum is asked to dance by a mysterious masked figure, who asks him to get her entrance to see Lenore. "I'm an old friend of the High King's," she intones, before revealing herself to be … Claire?