10th Contraption: Mawwiage

[pineapplesalmon]

Who: John Watson, Johnny Summer, and César Salazar with Rich Goranski, Fio, and Honoria Crabb AND YOU Oh god why are weddings like this
What: The throuple getting married by... the Captain?!
When: December 11th at 7pm
Where: John's
Warnings: I believe in us! But for now, nothing.


SEATING

John's has been transformed, the seating up front rearranged in rows towards the center dias with an aisle down the middle, the piano moved off to one side. The buffet for later can be seen off to the other. Decorations taken from Spirit Halloween appear here and there–flowers taken from cavalera flower crowns, sun and moon candlestick holders from the tarot collection, festively colored tablecloths draped down the walls like curtains or banners. A sign near the entrance says "seat yourself", although the front row on one side is reserved with a ribbon across the backs.

What can't be seen is who is officiating. Or the husbands, but at least that part makes sense. The dais is empty.


THE CEREMONY

As one of the few traditions in this wedding, music announces the start of the ceremony. Rich strolls in first, trying to look professional even if he’s clearly shaking a bit as he holds the small pillow with the rings laid on it. At least he’s dressed quite smartly, Johnny ensuring his red suit is wrinkle free and his cuff links are set in place. Fio, in a winged black dress and flowery headdress, follows after the ring bearer, adorning the path with paper petals as she moves along.

The first husband to be down the aisle is none other than Johnny, in a smart charcoal grey suit with a goldenrod pocketsquare, gold jewelry, and a wreath of orange blossoms on his head; and accompanied by Honoria Crabb in her perfectly tailored black tuxedo, worn with black gloves and a white bow tie. Watson and César take up the rear, arms linked together. César is wearing an equally fancy suitcoat with his tie held in place with a ruby and silver tie pin, and Watson is wearing an officer’s dress uniform, with the sword and without the helmet, and also his good cane. All three husbands-to-be are wearing green carnation boutonnières.


AFTER PARTY

It's time to eat, dance, and party!

The seating has been rearranged for sitting at tables around the "dance" floor. Food from Windjammer has been placed on some tables for a buffet. There’s a selection of fancy cheeses and crackers, sushi, premade sandwiches, and salad with dressings on the side. For dessert, to one side there’s a table with cupcakes, cookies, and chocolates arranged in a heart. On the bar are a couple bowls of punch (including one explicitly labeled as non-alcoholic) made by Johnny ahead of time, because he's been forbidden to bartend his own wedding, much to his deep chagrin.

There’s a space set just off the dancefloor for musicians who wish to perform, the usual John’s piano (bribed into behaving with a whole pan of beef brisket from the buffet) off to one side.

Comments

[busball]

That earns him a bright smile. "Hi. I mean, I wouldn't miss a wedding for my bff. That goes against the rules of bffs. For sure." He laughs a little at the words of it all. "And uh...nice to meet you, too. You can probably just go with Klaus, though. I'm the least formal person I know. And that's probably not saying something, but...I'll pretend it is for now."

He does feel a little awkward, but that's more of a him thing than anything else. "I like your uniform. Never got to the fancy dress uniforms part of things, but you always see them in the movies and shit. Especially those weird Hallmark movies about falling for a prince or whatever."

[lightconductor]

"Klaus, then."

Watson gives a little bark of laughter at being compared, even obliquely, to a prince. "I am but a lowly half-pay army surgeon, and I can count the times I wore a formal uniform when I was in active service on one hand and have fingers left over. But it is the most formal thing I seem to have at my disposal. I think that's a long way from being a prince though."

[busball]

Oh good. The rambling aspect of this moment has helped him. "Ah. Well, that's okay. I wasn't really high ranking either." He doesn't feel like it's an obvious thing that he was in the military at all. It was an accident. "But not a Medic or anything. Just there." There's a shrug. "I dunno, buddy. You could manage the role of the hot but emotionally compromised Prince in a Hallmark movie. I'd say I know someone, but my sister's not really in the movie business anymore these days."

They laugh at themselves this time. "Also we're stuck on a ship. So...Sorry to destroy your potential dreams before they could become dreams." This is teetering toward rambling again. "Anyway. Congrats on your wedding. I'm happy for you guys."

[lightconductor]

"It's just as well. I have it on good authority that I'm a terrible actor."

He really only understands most of what Klaus is telling him, but he's in far too good of a mood to complain about it to any degree. "I'm much happier not being the starring role. I'd rather be the faithful sidekick type than the lead. But thank you. I'm... I'm glad everyone is enjoying themselves tonight."

[busball]

Klaus laughs. "Me too, buddy. Not that Allison's great but don't tell her I said that if she ever shows up. She might actually kill me with the mood she's been in lately." That's probably awkward for a wedding.

"I would prefer to star, but not in a romcom. Or I guess I could be the weird, but zany side character that gets up to wacky hijinks and makes the movie a lot funnier." They shrug here, smiling a little. "I mean, kind of hard not to enjoy a party, I guess. And this one seems to be going pretty smooth. So like...it's looking up for you guys so far."

[lightconductor]

"It's... turning out to be rather a good beginning, isn't it? We can take nothing for granted here, but... for now, this is a good evening. Whatever else is happening... this is a good evening, here."

Watson smiles. "Forgive me my rambling. If a man can't be a lovesick fool on his wedding day, I don't know when he can be."

[busball]

Klaus smiles. “Don’t worry about it, buddy. All good here.” They look down at their feet. “I’d be the same way. Never did the marriage thing myself, but never thought…” There’s a shrug here. “Figured I was never cut out for it.” Never thought he’d find someone that made him consider it or be worth marrying, but he doesn’t want to be sad at a wedding.

“It’s really nice to see how happy you all are. And to hear all the cute stories and feelings. I always like to hear that stuff.”

[lightconductor]

Watson's expression softens a little.

"I've thought the same," he says. "Many times, for many reasons. And yet this is my second marriage. The first, admittedly, was a little more traditional, but still. If it's something you want, then I'm sure there's someone for you."

[busball]

“Don’t tell Nobunaga I got weird cause he’ll start planning our candy-themed wedding right now.” And even if they’re realizing a little more that they might actually want that more than they let on, more than they realized…it’s still daunting.

“I mean, I’m not a good judge of what counts as too short of a time. My brother Luther got married like not even a full month into knowing Sloane and they seem happy.” If you ignore their dad murdering Luther the next day and forcing them to play his game while also leaving Klaus to die. “It was kinda the end of the world, so I guess you do what you gotta do.”

[lightconductor]

"Your secrets are safe with me," Watson promises.

But he listens, and laughs a little. "I can hardly cast judgement for speed of courtship. I proposed to Mary within days of meeting her. If I took a little longer here to make my intentions clear, well, the situation has been more complicated here."

Both in the number of people involved and in his own sense of caution.

[busball]

"Thanks. I appreciate it."

Somehow this doesn't actually surprise Klaus. Probably because he just said courtship to his face. "Well...I guess that's fair. I can't say anything about it either. Like...I guess everyone does things at their own pace. Supposedly when you know, you know." And who is he to say otherwise. "I just overthink myself too much, so you know." They just don't think they're worth the marriage half the time and that just sort of gets in their head. "As for the complications...There are more people involved. Probably good to know if everyone feels the same first."

They are definitely not about to be in a multi-person relationship. Nobunaga would probably stab someone and that would be a mess. "It seems to have worked out, though."

[lightconductor]

Hey, now, courtship is a perfectly good word.

"Well, do try not to write yourself off as a lost cause," Watson says, mildly. "There is a difference between not wanting something and convincing yourself you cannot have it so you should not want it. I've done the latter, and it's a terrible way to torture yourself."

His voice is kind, at least. "And it may not be true."

And yes, no stabbing, because Watson might have to be the one to fix that.

[busball]

It might be said mildly, but it feels pretty spicy to him. Good thing they have long hair because their ears feel really hot right now. "Mm." Wow. How is he supposed to even respond to this without being mildly depressing? "Guess that's a fair thing to say." Yeah. That probably works.

"Working on the self love thing. It is very slow and really annoying." They laugh because they don't know what else to do.

"You're like...a doctor, right?"

[lightconductor]

Self-love is indeed difficult, and he knows it, so he'll let that thread drop.

"I am a doctor, yes." Watson nods. "An army surgeon once, though I was a general practitioner before I came here. I seem to be... a little bit of both, on this ship."

[busball]

"Right. Army surgeon." They remember that. They just talked about that. "Good to know. Good...to...know." He looks down. "I'm hopefully not gonna need your medical doctor services, but...I guess it's good to know there's someone other than Tendi to annoy with...everything." A beat. "Like after you're done like...being married as fuck for a few days."

[lightconductor]

He chuckles. "Yes, that is almost certainly going to happen. Likely no one will see much of the three of us for a little while. Newlyweds' privilege, of course."

Would Watson emerge for a medical emergency? Of course he would.

[busball]

“That’s fair. Just know I love you all.” Did they just meet this man? Yes, they did. Does this matter? Absolutely not. “If you need me to fight anyone off, send uhhhh…do you guys know emojis? Probably like I dunno. I guess you can use words.”