[OPEN] Throw some glitter;

[faithstarved]

WHO: Andra, the Surviving Sparrows, and anyone who wants to PARTAY
WHAT: That party that was supposed to happen a month ago let's just pretend the fliers said beginning of this month shhhh
WHEN: Solace 10
WHERE: the Sparrow encampment in the valley
NOTES: post is a little image and text heavy. Feel free to NPC refugees helping out or Sparrows, or if you want me to NPC a Sparrow let me know and I will but they're mostly just moving around here to enhance everyone else's experience. There are only 13 of them altogether, but they move around a lot, and there are refugees helping. Otherwise this is open, have fun with it and party until the booze is gone!

Since the notice went up in early Justinian, the colorful encampment belonging to the troupe of bards and mercenaries has been a flurry of activity, bringing in casks of wine and ale, clearing the open land, and erecting tents even more elaborate than the ones they live in. The week before large fire pits are built up around the area, and merchants stop by regularly and leave with less goods but looking particularly satisfied. Any curious on-lookers attempting to get a look into what the Sparrows are putting together will either be put to work or shooed away and told to come back later.

On the day of, any who turn up are welcomed.

Tents

Two large tents are erected to offer additional shelter from the elements, as well as a place to relax and enjoy conversation or anything else. They are lit dimly with lanterns and candles, and warmed with carefully contained fires. There is seating in both, as many pillows as the Sparrows could beg, borrow, or steal as well as logs stripped and polished to cut down on splinters. A few musicians rotate throughout the day playing music within the tents, and others mill about, offering conversation or drink to any who look lonely or too sober.

Fires

There are several fires built around the area the Sparrows have claimed as their own, flames kept high to stave off cold and offer additional lighting in the evening. People are welcome to congregate around them, and they are regularly tended by one Sparrow or another.

Food

Some may consider the food the main event, anything that can be cooked over a fire pit welcome game, as well as anything the kitchen was willing to pitch in. The Sparrows are a multicultural group, and that is evident in the food being offered. There's a little something for anyone, from Ferelden to Par Vollen. Those doing most of the cooking, oddly enough, are a qunari with broken horns and a dwarf with tattoos on her face.

Music

Throughout the encampment music can be heard. A space has been cleared and stamped down for dancing, and a regular stream of musicians, both from the troupe and not, are featured. If someone wasn't approached or didn't approach the Sparrows prior to this event but feel compelled to join in, they are not turned away.

Dance

During both day and night throughout the clearing if there's music, there are dancers. Several are professional, trained to dance and that is the purpose they serve within the troupe. Those offering performances rather than just dancing to the music as they see fit keep away from what has been designated as general dancing space, although there are a few who will be seen dancing in the crowd as well. If anyone were to ask for instruction, they'd be all to happy to accommodate those people.

Fire Dancers

As night falls a different sort of dancer emerges, with fans and sticks and poi, wreathed in flame and dangerous if it weren't for the grace with which they perform. These performers keep away from anything flammable, and other Sparrows will be quick to drag back anyone who gets too close, as it could be dangerous for the dancer and onlooker both.

Comments

[fightingdirty]

"Like I count you important enough to be worth my time," she answers with an eye roll. But that's just Lena being Lena. And Asher is Asher so this is the kind of shit she says to him.

She gives him a surprised look as he coughs, before she starts laughing at him. She's never known him not to be adventurous with food, so to see him not be able to handle it is a new thing for her.

"That's what you get for eating Qunari food. You get throat-punched from the inside."

[hlif]

"I'm hurt Lena," look at him, staggering back and nearly taking out some poor arsehole behind him when they're reaching for something that looks like deep-fried ram balls on a stick.

Look this is a man who seriously contemplated the possibility of how he'd wrangle a threesome with an actual Qunari and a Tal-Vashoth when talking with a former Antivan Crow. He dreams big.

"Look none of the crew let me try to eat Qunari when we were in Kirkwall so I'm making up for lost time when I missed my chance trying the Par Vollen kielbasa." What a shame Korrin and co aren't here to take bets on how long before Lena decks him.

[fightingdirty]

"Let you?" she scoffs, before scooping a big hunk of something into her mouth. It's all gravy and meat with a piece of baked crust on top. Probably bland as fuck to those from other nations, but for Lena -- who grew up in Ferelden until she was sixteen and set off to be a mercenary -- it's savory and perfect.

"What, did they all tackle you and hogtie you? Wimp."

[hlif]

"Melisende's known me longer than anyone outside my family and knows me better than any of them," Asher replies with a shrug, going for his drink and chugging until he's sure the cough won't bother him again since Lena doesn't really know about any of the shit going on with him so she doesn't need to.

"I know your lot are all big and loud but she's from Halamshiral, she had a whole life before she left growing up knowing how to be quiet and sneaky. Plus the two shits. It's less hogtie and more just...really weird shit. Even for me. They went to visit a friend here to deliver a pelt dressed in the pelt. One on top of the other." Carta dwarves is the only explanation Asher got.

[fightingdirty]

Lena rolls her eyes. "Why aren't they dead yet? They do enough stupid shit that someone probably should have made them pay for it by now." Not that showing up dressed as a bear or whatever is reason enough for death, but the other shit they do might be.

"What do they all think of being here?"

[hlif]

"Because they're mine and no one wants to deal with a part-Avvar Reaver if they did anything to either of them?" Really Lena, do you actually have to ask why those two are alive when they've been rolling with Asher since Kirkwall, besides, there was something to be said for them being Carta. Enough that Asher had worked hard to poach them and keep them ever since.

"Nasir hates the cold but Nasir hates anywhere cold, and it means Amalia'll abscond with him into their tent and keep everyone awake. She likes to stare down everyone and talk about setting things on fire. Yngvi and Gunnar like causing problems and running errands, everything is carta business, folk are too scared or confused to ask questions. Melisende and Liadan don't mind since we can still take jobs and earn money, and Melisende's always been terrifying any Orlesian that finds out she came from Halamshiral. I missed them before. Before your time too, when I was up here and we just wrote to each other, didn't realise how miserable I was."

[fightingdirty]

He has a point... but she doesn't say so. Instead she just lets him go on as she continues eating, because Asher is good at the talking thing and Lena is good at the eating thing. But she has to admit: hearing about his crew makes her miss some the antics the Valo-kas would get up to. She isn't sure that Skyhold would really be for them, though. Truth be told, it's not really for her either, and she's contemplated taking off a few times already. She's here for revenge. She wants Corypheus dead and everyone is pissing around with Wardens and Orlesians. Who the fuck cares? She wants the guy in charge of this opposing army to be a smear on the ground when she's done with him, but the Inquisition is taking all these side trips.

"Yeah, you've got to have your crew around, or things feel like shit." Eloquent words of wisdom from Lena, as always. "You find a good group, you wanna stick with them. Having to fight alongside all these strangers hasn't been all daisies and roses. I've had to learn my way around them."