A bottle of white, a bottle of red

[fleurdesel]

WHO: Open to anyone that wants wine and warmth and a little company.
WHAT: Wine and no whining.
WHEN: After the mage meeting wraps up.
WHERE: Close to the healing tents, specifically the Orlesian section.
NOTES: There will be wine, drinking, unwinding, and nibbles.

The meeting had been stressful for just about everyone involved. Tempers had flared, opinions made known, a few rounds of confetti and arguing before some manner of accord. Whether it would last or however long it might? No one could truly say. In the interest of being quite done with the stress and headaches such debate brought on the Orlesian healing tents clearing out the potions, bandages, and poultices in favor of what cushions and braziers they had on hand for light and for heat. The space was open, warm, and inviting with an odd assortment of tin mugs or clay glasses set around flat side tables propped up with stones to keep them from wobbling and tipping the whole mass onto the ground. There are some dried fruits and hard cheeses, dried meat and hard crusted bread- whatever scraps they could scavenge or spare and a few bottles of wine or brandy. Across the entrance to the tents there was a sign:

Bring a bottle or food to share for entry.

Tacked below was a list of rules:

• Everyone is welcome, don't make a fuss
• Don't hog the wine
• Don't hog the food
• Don't fight or argue
• If you finish a bottle open a new one, don't recork it for someone else to find
• Clean up after yourselves

Comments

[mythalenaste]

Pel arrives with some good, dry cider and pours herself a tall cup of it before joining the crowd. She needs a couple drinks, after that meeting. She sits on the ground, letting others take the proper seats. Pansy shems afraid of dirt.

Since she's not used to being idle and didn't bring any work with her, she starts to take down and rebraid her hair. It is long hair, and she can braid it intricately without paying too much attention while she talks with people. It's something for the hands to do.

[fleurdesel]

"You-" Adelaide has had enough to warrant wandering, braid a loose tail down her back. "You I owe a drink."

It hadn't been terribly elegant, the way she finished her point, but it was decisive enough to warrant a drink or five. Adelaide offers a mulled red, spiced and heated through. "For a point eloquently made."

[mythalenaste]

"Wh...?" She's not going to complain, but Pel does smile as she takes the mulled wine. Ooh, warm and it smells wonderful! She warms her hands on it briefly, grinning up at the cool Orlesian mage who was sensible and awesome the entire meeting.

"What point did I make?"

[fleurdesel]

"One that no one else there rightly could, as it was not our place. 'The last of the Elvhan, never again shall you submit.'" She dips down to pick a seat across from Pel, sweeping her skirts out of the way of passers by. "It was most emphatically made."

[mythalenaste]

Pel bites down on her own smile. "Didn't help that I ended it with bitch."

[serannas]

Ellana waits until it appears that plenty of people have arrived before she comes in, carrying a basket with some apples nestled inside. She lays them out on the table, making sure they don't roll before carrying her empty basket over to Pel and taking a seat.

"How did it go?" she asks. It would have been easy enough to attend herself, but she felt she'd have had nothing worth saying.

[mythalenaste]

"Better than I expected." Pel smiles. Drinking has relaxed her, and it's about to relax her a lot more. "Pretty well, actually. There's going to be a mages' council, and the Dalish can elect their own representative. You interested?"

[serannas]

For half a second, Ellana's face lights up on hearing they'll have a Dalish mage on the council. But then the rest of the sentence hits her and immediately her mouth drops open.

"Me? But I didn't even attend. Surely they'll want someone who knows what's going on."

[mythalenaste]

Pel nudges Ellana with her shoulder. "You can learn what's going on. You charm people."

[samahl]

"Everything all right?" he asks when he sees Pel. The whole thing about mages has made him a little worried for her, and Ellana, and even Sam (though that last one he's not likely to admit to anyone). He's curious how it went but he addresses her well being first.

Her sanity is much more important to him, after all.

[mythalenaste]

Pel nods.

"Fine. Though I've still got some bullshit to drink away, everything turned out well."

She hooks arms with him.

[samahl]

He leans a bit into her. "Good," he says.

"Though be careful. If we drank away all of the bullshit in our lives we'd float away."

[mythalenaste]

"We can try." Pel drains the last of her cider and goes to fill her cup with something else. "There's going to be an elected council. The Dalish are going to have a representative."

[arlathvhen]

Beleth will slip over to Pel, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. "Here, lethallan--Let me." And if Pel will allow, Beleth will move behind her, and before even beginning to braid, will begin to attempt to surreptitiously pick bits of the hastily made confetti out of her hair. And a few cloth scraps that were too small to bother keeping. She doesn't know how any of this got here Pel. How could you even think of such a thing.

"You did a good job at the meeting." Beleth told her, as deft fingers worked through her hair. "The Keeper would be proud." Of course, making the Keeper proud seemed to come naturally to Pel, but this is neither the place, nor the time to mention that. "You'll do a good job of representing us, lethallan. Or, the Dalish mages, I guess."

[mythalenaste]

Mmmmmm, someone playing with her hair is so relaxing. She might go to sleep. Although her eyes open at those last couple of sentences.

"We haven't elected a representative yet," she reminds her clanmate. "But thank you. I'm surprised I didn't have all the humans trying to tear me open, though."

[arlathvhen]

"Well, they have to have a Dalish mage on there, and you're a First." Beleth replied reasonably, flicking a shred of paper off to float to the ground. Once she was sure there was no more confetti, and Pel's hair was untangled, she'd begin twist the hair into the proper braid. "Of course they'd vote you. Who else? That mercenary with the Chargers? Sina? Sina is a nice woman, but...I don't think it'd be good for her health." The poor thing had looked like she was contemplating a heart attack half the meeting.

"I'm glad they didn't try. Shooting a bow at that angle is a pain, and if there were multiple, I'd have to make each shot count." Her voice was almost cheerful, though her voice was lowered, just in case a human might find her calmly discussing sticking arrows into other humans to be some kind of taboo.

[mythalenaste]

"I'm not a First here. Ellana would make the shems happier."

She drinks from her cup.

"Sina's a girl." Her voice lowers a bit. "She's got enough on her plate, I imagine. She just needs to be heard."

[gatheringstorm]

Having just finished off a glass of brandy, Korrin notices the addition of dry cider and decides to try out some for the sake of something different. The drinks and the lack of pomposity is definitely helping her mood, and the tired but now-mellow Vashoth bears little resemblance to the loud, fiery woman of earlier. That attitude will resurface at some point, but for now she's taking it easy.

And she has people to find. During the meeting, she made mental notes of who said something worth supporting, and more often than not, the silver-haired Dalish woman was the source. Finding her some time later and taking note of a now-drained cup while the rebraiding is taking place, she returns to the table. After a moment, she approaches and settles on the ground as well, flashing her a weary but genuine smile as she offers an additional glass.

"Here, a refill. You deserve it, after all that. Thanks for having my back there."

[mythalenaste]

"You!"

Pel already had one drink, and she's very relaxed now and okay with meeting new people. She grins and lets the unbraided hair go so she can get to her feet and accept the cup.

"You were amazing. Thank you for having my back."

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin's smile widens as Pel's grin is infectious. After offering the cup, she takes a sip from her own.

"You were, too. I went in there worried that non-Circle mages weren't going to get heard, but we fixed that, didn't we? I don't think they'll overlook us again."

[mythalenaste]

"Never." Arrrgh why is this lady so perfect. Pel wants to have adventures with her already. "Why don't we get smashed and celebrate our victory?"

[eolasemah]

Sina had built herself up and then balked and built and balked until she finally decided, long after everyone else, to make her way towards the din by the healing tents. She had seen Pel go that way after the meeting, and she trailed innocuously in the direction of the only elves she could find. She could see that Pel was sitting with several others, including a few whom she'd already met.

Taking a deep breath, she approached, giving the most awkward and timid wave imaginable. "aneth ara," she said, so quietly as to be almost a whisper, and looked between those gathered.

[I'm assuming that anyone who posted to you previously is still here, is that okay? Is consolidation a thing?]

[mythalenaste]

"Aneth ara," Pel answers with a grin, beckoning her over. "Come on. You had good ideas, there."

[serannas]

"Sina," Ellana greets with a gentle smile, drawing up her legs so there is more room to sit with them. It's a surprise, seeing the shy elf here, since Ellana had assumed a party wouldn't be the type of thing Sina would attend. She's happy to be proven wrong.

[fleurdesel]

"Mm? Ah, Sina. I want to apologize for what happened with the fabric on behalf of the person that tossed down the confetti. He did not intend to frighten you." It'd been foolish, to be certain, but harmless.