Re: The lone hunter- (Colin's thread)
Amelia nods at the plan and the next couple of days are spent traveling to Alexandria. Amelia begins your training along the way, telling you which silverware is for which courses, how best to perform introductions, and an alarming amount of picky little rules you had no idea even existed. Needless to say it's overwhelming and she has to drill it into you over and over again before you even have some semblance of remembrance.
At last you reach Alexandria and she finds you accommodation for the next few days at a very nice hotel. When you hear the price you're a bit strangled but she plunks it down easily, informing you later that should the Stynes find out where you're staying you'll need to keep up appearances. Immediately she sets to finding you a nice evening suit, which doesn't take long, though it takes a day or so for tailoring to be finished. You've never worn anything like it in your life. It's tight, restrictive and the bow tie feels like it's going to strangle you. She ends up having to tie it of course since you don't know how. She also finds you a barber for a shave and a cut and by the time you're ready to head out to this wretched dinner party, you feel like a proper fop, though admittedly you look nicer than you ever thought you could. When Amelia sees your finished product she laughs to your surprise. You look like a completely different man! Where did Colin go? she pretends to look around. Even if it's at your expense, it is nice to hear her laugh again. I am impressed though. You look very well, she adds with a smile. She looks more than well herself, wearing a wine colored velvet evening gown that shows more of her shoulders and bosom than you ever thought you'd see from such a tight laced woman. Don't forget your gloves, she tosses you a white pair, pulling on long cream gloves of her own. High society is obsessed with gloves for some reason. Never understood it at all. Now, my colleague got us an invitation so they are in fact expecting us. Since most of the people there are not in any way affiliated with hunting, we have a cover story in place. All we really need to do is to have a conversation with the matron of the family. I believe we can convince her to lend us help, but I'll have to be subtle about it. Your name is your own and my Christian name is the same but my surname will be Odell. We are supposedly in the tobacco business, fitting for you I suppose, she makes a face in reference to your usual habit, and we're awaiting my father's arrival in the city to start expanding his company. You are his junior assistant, here to start making inquiries on his behalf. None of it really matters anyway I suppose, but you should probably know what it is you are pretending to be. Any questions?
ooc: Ok, so if you decide to hire newsies go ahead and roll a gather information check for them so we see what they can do for you. Also, I'll need a bluff and diplomacy check for the party so we see how well you do. Lastly, I thought it would be fun to show you the etiquette crap from the time. Below are just some of the things one would expect at a dinner party for the upper crust of the time. Sheesh!
I copied this from an article:
Once sated at the table. gloves are drawn off and laid in the lap under the napkin, which is spread lightly, not tucked in.
Soup is always served for the first course, and it should be eaten with dessert spoons, and taken from the sides, not the tips of them, without any sounds of the lips, and not sucked into the mouth audibly from the ends of the spoon. Bread should not be broken into soup or gravy. Never ask to be helped to soup a second time. Fish chowder, which is served in soup plates, is said to be the exception which proves this rule, and when eating of that it is correct to take a second plateful, if desired.
Another generally neglected obligation is that of spreading butter on one's bread as it lies in one's plate, or but slightly lifted at one end of the plate; it is very frequently buttered in the air, bitten in gouges, and still held in the face and eyes of the table with the marks of the teeth on it. This is certainly not altogether pleasant, and it is better to cut it, a bit at the time, after buttering it, and put it into the mouth with one's finger and thumb. Never help yourself to butter, or any other food with your own knife or fork. It is not considered good taste to mix food on the same plate.
Drink sparingly while eating, as it is far better for digestion, but when you do drink, do it gently and easily and do not pour the liquid down your throat.
Do not talk loud or boisterously at the table, but aim to be cheerful and companionable and join in the conversation, but do not monopolize it. Do not twirl your goblet, nor soil the tablecloth by placing bones or fragments on it. Never turn tea or coffee into your saucer to cool it, nor blow your soup. If you do not like any dish which you are served, allow it to remain untouched until the servant removes it.
Sit upright at the table, without bending over or lowering your head to partake of your food. Do not sit too far away or too near the table, and do not sit with one arm lying on the table with your back half-turned to your left hand neighbor.
Then one who serves at the table should not help too abundantly, or flood the food with gravies, as many do not like them, and it is better to allow each guest to help himself. Water should be poured to the right of a person - everything else is passed to the left. Do not watch the dishes while being uncovered or talk with your mouth full. If you discover anything objectionable in the food, do not attract the attention of others to it, but quietly deposit it under the edge of your plate.
If boiled eggs are brought on in the shell, egg cups should be provided, the small end of the egg should be placed in the cup, and an opening made at the top of the egg sufficiently large to admit a teaspoon.
Spoons are sometimes used with firm puddings, but forks are better style. A spoon should never be turned over in the mouth.
One's teeth are never picked at the table; but if it is impossible to hinder it, it should be done behind the napkin.
Let us mention a few things concerning the eating of which there is sometime doubt. A cream-cake and anything of similar nature should be eaten with a knife and fork, never bitten. Asparagus may be taken from the finger and thumb. Pasty should be broken and eaten with a fork, never cut with a knife. Raw oysters should be eaten with a fork, also fish. However, food cannot be held with a fork should be eaten with a spoon. Potatoes, if mashed, should be mashed with a fork. Green corn should be eaten from the cob, held with a single hand only.
Oranges are peeled and either cut or separated, or they may be cut crosswise and eaten with a spoon.
Celery, cresses, olives, radishes, and relishes of that kind, are, of course, to be eaten with the fingers; the salt should be laid upon the plate, not upon the cloth. Cut with the knife, but never put it in the mouth; the fork must always convey the food.
Let the food be taken to the mouth, and not the mouth to the food.
Fish is to be eaten with the fork, without the assistance of the knife; a bit of bread in the left hand sometimes helps one to master a refractory morsel. Fresh fruit should be eaten with a silver bladed knife, especially pears, apples, etc.
At the conclusion of a course, where they have been used, a knife and fork should be laid side by side across the middle of the plate - never crossed - with handles to the right. The servant should offer everything at the left of the guest, that the guest may be at liberty to use the right hand, except water, which is poured at the right side.
When you rise from your chair, leave it where it stands.
"Don'ts" For The Dining Room
Don't keep other people waiting; be there in time.
Don't lie back in your chair or place your elbows on the table.
Don't sit sideways, but straight to the table.
Don't seat yourself until all the ladies at the table are seated.
Don't bend your head for each mouthful. Sit erect.
Don't cut your bread. Break if off.
Don't use your knife to carry food to your mouth.
Don't use your fork as if it were a pitchfork.
Don't make any noise with your mouth when eating.
Don't speak with your mouth full or even half full.
Don't begin a sentence before you have finished swallowing.
Don't drink a glassful at a gulp.
Don't have your elbows away from your body when eating or drinking.
Don't ever spit a bone or seed upon your plate or the floor.
Don't wipe your face with your napkin. It is for the lips and beard only.
Don't forget to see that all the ladies are served before you.
Don't neglect the ladies to your left or right.
Don't look worried if a small accident should happen.
Don't leave your knife and fork on your plate when sent for a second supply.
Don't pile up all the dishes upon your plate when it is to be removed.
Don't come to the table half dressed, half washed, half combed.
Don't over eat.
Don't leave the table before the others unless unavoidable and then always asked to be excused.