Truth or Dare: The Imperial Court

[madame_de_fer]

WHO: Select Orlesian and Fereldan Nobility and the Inquisition
WHAT: Josephine and Vivienne have orchestrated a good-will soiree in response to this dastardly rumor.
WHEN: Drakonis 15, Evening
WHERE: Skyhold Great Hall
NOTES:
- A list of nobles in attendance can be found here. The list was provided by the mods but there will be no npc support for them. Play away.
- A secondary outside party is being held in the valley in the tent town for anyone who couldn't/wouldn't attend and/or behave in the fancy pansty party.
- The goal of the evening is to clear up a spurious rumor about Cassandra and Leliana, with secondary goals of establishing the Inquisition as a respectable presence in Thedas (and fish for more money). Any major disruptions that would Game Over the court approval should probably be brought to the advisors and/or mods.



To say that Josphine has far outdone herself with this little soiree would be the understatement of the year. The Lady Ambassador has pulled out all the stops in providing a festive and yet elegant stage for this political intervention. Because sometimes gossip can be more deadly than a sword.

The Great Hall of Skyhold has been converted into a grand receiving hall, glittering with hundreds of lights around the room, in addition to the repairs accomplished to the original chandeliers. Of course, there has been artful placement arranged so there are a few shadowy corners for rendezvous of the more suggestive nature. Just in case. The majority of the floor has been cleared for dancing, and a fine troupe of musicians have been installed for the bulk of the evening's entertainments. Some members of the Inquisition have plans to entice attendees with their own artistic performances in addition to the group of mages performing illusory tricks to oohs and aahs.

For those who feel their energy flagging, there are chairs set against the walls, with a few tables interspersed between. Servers hired for the evening circulate the crowds with wine, fine Orlesian and Nevarran reds as well as crisp whites from Antiva. Refreshments are set out on buffet tables, tasteful and extravagant nibbles, including imported cheeses, spicy saucisson, dried fruits and nuts, and the highly sought after deep mushroom and anise petits fours that are all the rage in Orlais.

Comments

[foxsays]

They certainly make an eye-catching pair when Araceli finally gets the chance to approach Mia, blue gown and pearls in her hair, smiling more than she has in some time. It's easy to be happy at a party, to let yourself get swept up in it all, but she waits until there's a moment where she isn't interrupting anything. Plenty of people are still working tonight, Mia perhaps more than most.

At last there's a moment where she can slip back from outside the hall, setting a hand gently on Mia's arm.

"Señora, look at you, you must put more than half the guests to shame."

[lettersfromhome]

"Araceli!"

Mia smiles broadly, hand clasping the top of the other women's in a gentle squeeze. "I was wondering when I'd see you...ah. And you should talk. How many hearts have you stolen already, looking like that?" she added, eyes flashing with amusement.

They do make quite the pair, though who is the noble and who is the commoner should be telling enough.

"Have you tried what they're serving? It's a rather dangerous guessing game, from what I've heard."

[foxsays]

"Only six, I'm tied with Zevran so clearly I will have to do better." But that's just all talk, because she likes to win even if it's something so silly as who can put up with the nobles for longest without wanting to escape. That some of the nobles here grate on her nerves worse than back home? Quite the accomplishment. "You have surely stolen some yourself, I cannot believe that you have not."

Not when she's dressed like that, and when she's so charming and lovely.

"Is it true there's a cake they call the exquisite misery? I didn't know people put mushrooms in cakes but no one told me how to avoid it." There's a certain amount of morbid fascination in her tone regarding the idea, though she'd rather see someone else try one first.

[lettersfromhome]

"Well, that's Zevran for you, isn't it?" She clucks her tongue. "And I've done no such thing. Indeed, I'm fairly certain I frighted one young man unintentionally by glancing at him askew."

Of course, she has no interest in charming the room, but it's not as dire as all that. She's had a number of pleasant conversations, if some a bit more stilted than others. This really isn't her element, but she can conduct herself well enough in polite society to pass.

Even if she refuses to wear one of those ridiculous masks.

"And it's true. Deep mushroom and anise. I believe they're the darkly colored ones sprinkled with gold. So pretentious I might have avoided them on principle, really," she adds with a soft scoffing noise.

Orlesians.

[foxsays]

"But that is the province of women, or it is in my country. One word, one glance and we can crush their every hope and dream as surely as we can raise them to the heavens and then kick them out from under them, or that's how some of them like to carry on." A significant roll of her eyes is sent in the direction of a few individuals, though she hasn't spotted Scipio or Rafael either, and after the reaction to her Vashoth heating pad revelation then she'd definitely include the pair of them under that banner. But she smiles, to soften it, because it's just teasing even if the Game is waking up parts of her that she's tried to ignore since she came to Thedas.

It's something she'll need to talk to Leliana about later, now that she realises fully how very like these things are, that even donning a mask will only mean limiting her vision since she's already known how to turn her face into one.

With Mia she doesn't need to do that and she wrinkles her nose, mouth pursing. "Mushrooms shouldn't be in a cake in the first place, that should be a rule, they taste like old damp things. I know what the Deep Roads are now." It's enough to make her want to gag but she knows that if pressed, she could eat one with a smile, able to say all the right sorts of things about it because that's what you do at parties. Hopefully she can avoid that. "Extravagant too, even for this. I wonder how one could be for the price of one of those little cakes."

For such tiny things, a normal cake is hellishly expensive, it's why it's a treat. Deep mushrooms, anise and gold? Likely the finest flour, the best sugar, the richest butter, the freshest eggs too? You could do so much more with the basics, she tries not to let that show in her face.