[ CLOSED ] Pass the cup in and around the nerve and spine

[fleurdesel]

WHO: Members of the Mage Council (Adelaide, Benevenuta, Herian, Korrin, Raylan, Vivienne)
WHAT: Informal meeting of the Mage Council
WHEN: Present
WHERE: Skyhold's Vault
NOTES: Wine and Politics. What can go wrong?

It's a familiar set up in The Vault- the usual chairs and box of requests, proposals, and grievances are present. However instead of the usual tea service there are glasses and bottles of wine, brandy, and port with a distinct absence of tables, instead of parchment and ink for taking the minutes or going through the issues at hand there are trays of light finger foods. Nothing opulent. Simply something to have in the stomach while they went through the wine. They were overdue an informal meeting, an opportunity to touch base with their individual projects and missions.

Comments

[gatheringstorm]

An informal meeting sounds perfectly fine to Korrin, who arrives more or less on time. As often as she's out on the field for various missions, there hasn't been much opportunity to just chat and catch up in a more casual setting with the council at large. Meetings, votes, sure, but she'd hardly call that relaxing. This is a little different and while Korrin doesn't expect politics to be left out of what is a political group, perhaps the atmosphere being less charged will allow for better communication.

Wine, brandy and finger foods go a long way towards putting her in the right mood and she'll soon have a glass of the former in hand. The finger foods aren't ignored, but it will take more than a few glasses of wine for the Vashoth to lose her sobriety. She'll indulge here and there but is really more interested in the company of her fellow mages and what they've been doing lately.

[dashing]

A newer member of the Council, and one more inclined to guard her tongue than let it wag mindlessly. She is there early, word hung at her side, the hilt of her Spirit Blade on the opposite side. She stands, upright and proud, with an unwaveringly perfect posture that might better belong on a statue than a human being. Eyes forward, gaze steady, mouth disinclined to smiles. She is the very figure of a knight; steady, constant. She takes no wine, nods politely to her fellow councillors, and would sooner listen to opinions than offer her own, unless she is asked for them specifically.

For all her silence, she is not awkward when she speaks, though her voice is heavy with the tones and lilt of Starkhaven, and her words remain impressively even - verging on emotionless.

More recently, Herian went on a mission to Fromage where it was necessary to slay a child turned abomination and wade through corpses, acquired a staff after attending prior meetings without one, and has been spending more and more hours training with warrior and practicing her sword technique. Feel free to strike up a conversation, she has a lot of opinions.

Alternatively, it might be that some wine was in danger of spilling, and Herian deftly catches the glass before it teeters over and onto delicates robes and dresses or whatever attire is being worn. It isn't her glass - she doesn't drink. "A treacherous vessel to be sure," she offers, so dryly and evenly as to sound quite serious despite the humour laced behind it.

[apostafuckyou]

Raylan was told in advance that this wasn't a regular meeting, and the only way Adelaide had convinced him to come had been by promising him the good shit -- it wasn't that he didn't care about the mage council, but he was busy, despite all appearances to the contrary. Raylan had recently been called out on making a show of laziness and ignorance, allowing those around him to think he wasn't doing anything of consequence.

But he'd been promised the good brandy, so Raylan was there, sipping and lingering near the edge of the room, wishing there was a window he could be gazing out of contemplatively. Instead, he could only look at his fellow councillors, and, while they were beautiful, it came off a lot less 'enigmatic intellectual' and more 'creepy loner.'

That was probably for the best. Intellectual didn't fit with the image he was going for. Still would have been nice, though.

[fleurdesel]

Adelaide, at the very least, needs this. A bottle of brandy, a moment to remember that her peers are not put here simply to vex her- their differing points of view are what make their input valid, what makes the council a group that truly speaks for the mages of the Inquisition. The weighty question of Gaspard vs Celene is one best done informally. Moreover- with Ruby in the dungeons slowly sweating out whatever had been done to her? The newfound demands of training mages and possibly offering Rifters the same?

She isn't so obvious as to make away with a whole bottle of brandy, but she does keep it near at hand when she slumps in her chair. A new scar arced along her jaw from the fight shines pink where it's healed, skin under her eyes shadowed and bruised, the slope of her shoulders turned inward and exhausted. But she'll manage a thin smile and some good humor to any that approach.

[madame_de_fer]

Ah thank the Maker. At last an informal meeting with the opportunity to catch up with the remainder of the Council and see what they have been up to. Since taking on the task of being the Mage Liaison, in addition to all her other tasks, Vivienne has remained swamped most days. This is a marvelous excuse to block off time and yet not be hard pressed to get things done. It is a matter of balance.

The nibbles are appreciated, though not too many; Madame de Fer still has a figure to maintain. A glass of wine, however, remains firmly in her hand. It is being slowly savored, followed by another, though never enough to send her spiraling towards the lands of tipsy. Some days she wishes she could have the luxury of getting roaring drunk, but knows better than that.

Best of all, this affords her a chance to get to know the newest members of the Mage Council. Their Dalish members have quit, something she actually finds distasteful. There are very few Dalish she's met that aren't angry and aggressive. However, leaving irritates her as a sign of giving up. It also throws a small wrench in her private planning of how to bring all mages back into the fold, under wise and orderly guidance. Eventually.

Regardless of her less than pleased thoughts on their previous members, Vivienne actively takes the time to seek out each member in their turn to inquire after their work and well-being.