OPEN: Satinalia

[faderifting]

WHO: Everyone
WHAT: SATINALIA
WHEN: Firstfall 1
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: Party hard, use content warnings, move explicit content to inboxes.

Named for Satina, the smaller of Thedas' two moons, Satinalia is a celebration of freedom, marked by wild celebration, pranks, the donning of costumes and masks -- not the fine, delicate masks of Orlais, but animals and caricatures and playful horrors -- and the exchange of gifts both sincere and satirical.

There is no party at the Gallows, but those who can be spared on Satinalia may be given the night off to join Kirkwall's celebration, which spans the entire city and will take several days to peter out. Hightown plays host to lavish balls—but you'll need an invitation, and the unlucky guards posted at the stairs leading into the nobles' district are especially on guard for mischief-makers. There's no such crackdown in Lowtown, where masked revelers spill out of taverns and into the streets, often bringing barrels of ale along with them. Even Darktown gets involved, in its own way: anyone who can afford a celebration goes to Lowtown, but some of the roving bands of thieves in the tunnels don animal masks for the occasion.

And near the docks, enterprising children draped in white cloth are selling admission to a "haunted" warehouse for one copper. Adorable—except that some of the partiers exiting seem genuinely terrified, with one unfortunate man even having wet himself. Taking the children up on their offer will reveal that they have a genuine haunting on their hands. Doors slam, objects fly, footsteps appear in the dirt floor. There's laughter at the edge of hearing and movement on the edge of vision, and brief snatches of a sea shanty sung in a monotone. Make a hasty exit, or try to find the source.

Comments

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

He grins up at the little girl, as he twirled around them both gracefully. A laugh emerged from his lips, as he started a lively step around her. "Tonight is a night of celebration -- and every year we are all here to celebrate it is a blessing. So I'll put all my passion and play into it, to show how much I appreciate the gift."

[arlathvhen]

The first thought that occurs to her is that even disguised, she manages to fuck this up. How can she possibly hope to actually succeed in getting anywhere as herself, if she can't even manage it when he has no idea who she is?

Her second thought involves cursing stupid mabari that are not actually stupid, and are in fact too smart for their own good. When James attempts to free himself, she allows it, and then uses her hands to try to gently fan Interceptor away from her. It's almost distracting enough for her to miss James' query--but not quite.

What can she even say to that? It's one thing to feign a different identity, but it's another to outright lie to someone that she...is fond of. "Perhaps I have. Whyever would you be looking for her?" The mask hides her surprise, but she can't quite take the tone of incredulity out of her voice. Why would James be wasting the festival hunting through the streets for her, of all people?

[gatheringstorm]

"Good answer, I like your spirit." Korrin picks up the pace a little, but she's very careful not to dislodge her rider, so it's not exactly the true extent of her dance capabilities. "There's almost always something worth celebrating, if you look hard enough." And sometimes there isn't, but she's not about to talk at a city elf about his experiences when he's lived them and she hasn't.

[judgemewhole]

Interceptor whines, but clearly Beleth is up to something, so he just sits and wags his tail expectantly.

For his part, James is peering around once more, so he doesn't see her fanning away Interceptor, not Interceptor sitting patiently by to see what the 'trick' of this is.

He looks back at her for a moment, and his ears flush red, before he clears his throat. "I ... rather wanted to ask her to dance, as you have asked me." He rubbed his the back of his neck, clearing his throat. "Perhaps get a drink. I am ... not entirely sure what after that." He shook his head, "At any rate - I mean - Uh. I am looking for the pleasure of her company tonight, so if you could tell me where you might have seen her?"

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

"And I like your open-mindedness!" He grinned back at her, as he spins around for the little rider, making her hands clap together as he stamped his feet to the beat.

"I could not agree mor - every day you're on this side of the grave is one living to the fullest. No matter what the fullest is."

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin claps as well, her grin appreciative. "Why wouldn't I be open-minded? I'm not one of those Qun-following weirdos, that can only live their life a certain way. Way too rigid for me; I prefer adaptability in mine."

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

"You know what? You ... are an awesome lady." He grins, as he spins around, before he gestures up to the little girl. "We should get her some of the good brew, eh?"

[gatheringstorm]

Hearing an enthusiastic 'yes' in response, Korrin reaches up to ruffle the girl's hair. "I also go by 'Korrin', though 'Awesome Lady' is also acceptable. Especially if that means good brew; the pub crawl only started my quest to find something decent."

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

"Oh, you'll find it here. We brew our own, through recipes passed down through the ages. The Dalish might know our history -- but we know our ales." He grins, stopping the dance to pour Korrin a full flaggon, and pass up a lemonade to the girl.

"The name's Adasse. Pleasure to meet you, Korrin."

Fingon

[utulien_aure]

Lowtown

Fingon acquires a bird mask sometime during the celebrations, but throughout the festival it's his new harp that he takes wherever he goes. At first it's just to learn, to hear the songs of Thedas and begin to pick them up, but soon he's improvising on his own and sure enough in his repertoire to busk in Lowtown's crowded streets.

But late into the nights, when many of the revelers have sought their beds and the rest are too hungover to care, the songs he turns to are the ones he knows best. He fills those last hours with the music of Arda, and of Elvenhome in the West, and for a few moments lets himself miss home.

late evening

[aforethought]

"Play that one again,"

Croaked from the corner, by a figure slumped between building and stoop. Melys holds place with the dull, stubborn resolve of drunks everywhere.

Cheap paper curls about the edges of her eyes, peels up from her nose: Her mask bent at a strange angle to free the mouth (the pipe, the smoke) beneath. Once, it must have been something with teeth — difficult now to say, crumpled as it is; eaten by water, by wind, by incautious hands.

"Don't know that one none," A mumble, thickly-accented. "Sounds a storm."

What she means by this isn't any clearer than the rest.

[gatheringstorm]

Now Korrin will be even more careful with the little girl; she doesn't want lemonade spilled in her hair, after all. She takes the flagon and downs a swig, an appreciative noise heard afterward. "Not bad, not bad at all. Definitely better than that watered-down shit in some places. Is this what you do, then? Are you a brewer?"

[aestivation]

"The place." To Kit, a short dragging gesture in direction of the fallen crockery. His palm pauses to press against the stubble of his throat — catching itself from investigating the scales. "The impression upon it."

"I didn't speak with them either," Theys blend, but children and spirit alike have evaded that much. The former seems an oversight now, but he doubts it would have gotten very far. "The visitors left afraid. We saw, and we came,"

More of us. It doesn't mean that whatever's here wants fear; it does mean it probably isn't friendly.

(Are there friendly ways to pitch pots at skulls?)

"What are those measuring?"

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

He slows the dance to a stop, so they can all enjoy their drinks without worrying about spilling. He grinned as she asked about the brew, then shook his head. "Nah. I get the supplies but I do not get brewing bits."

[gatheringstorm]

Finishing the drinks is a welcome thing; there can always be more dancing later, right? Right. "Still a valuable role. Nothing would ever get done without someone to help move things around. For my part, I do what the Inquisition needs of me, which mostly means blasting vint bastards." She smirks as the little girl parrots that phrase. Hopefully her parents won't mind.

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

"So you're Inquisition too, huh?" He tapped his mug against hers. "Sneaky thieving division myself. Nice to meet you, blasting member of the Inquisition." He quirked up a grin.

[ragweed]

They talk and converse with more literacy in the arcane than Kit could ever hope (or desire) to achieve himself. He busies himself by crouching next to the broken crockery to poke at it with a small blade often worn at his hip. Nothing especially unusual about it that he can tell--

--that's when he hears it, so faint at first that he's sure he must be imagining it, hearing as bad as his:

...my clothes are all in pawn,
go down you blood red roses, go down...

He rises up from his crouch and fixes the doorway leading into the rest of the house with an intense, scrutinizing stare. "Either of you hear that?"

[gatheringstorm]

"Likewise!" She raises her flagon, flashing a grin before taking another sip. "I'm not one for stealth, as you might have guessed, but who knows. There's always a chance we'll share a mission somehow."

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

He grinned up at her, offering up a salute. "Well hey, either way, we work together, right? All part of the same crew, one way or another."

[motherfucking_ghost]

He's a likeable guy, he just gets moreso when you're drunk! "Oof, lotta questions, okay, so. Cars, don't worry about cars, they're like technologically better wagons, like way better, but don't mind it, uhhhhhh, TP! Toilet paper, but you guys don't have shit like indoor plumbing, you wipe with leaves out in the woods, it's like...it's like a mix between a towel and parchment? Like it's like actual paper but softer, and it comes in these rolls, so they're perfect for chuckin' up and around trees, covering houses, good clean fun."

But he waves a hand like none of that is important, because none of it's important. "I haven't really lived in bad neighborhood kinda areas, figure parents know where to avoid sending their kids. Like. Jesus. No, don't send kids into darktown for candy, they'll be dead at worst or like...get rats in their bags at best."

[gatheringstorm]

She just nods, trying to follow along as best she can because even if she's unlikely to see all this for herself, it's still interesting. And hey, she likes learning more about the homelands of rifters. "...you have special paper for shitting." She snorts. "I don't know why that amuses me so much, but...Maker. Please tell me you don't use it first before throwing it up trees and such. Ew."

Still snickering, she takes another sip. "Murder is what Darktown does best. And Hightown just has those stuffy balls with all their stupid rules and backstabbing...nah, we have it best here. Good drinks, good music and a dartboard."

[gatheringstorm]

"That's the spirit! Some people need reminders of that, but...eh, this isn't the time to focus on them. Tonight is only about the good stuff." She smiles as the girl rests her head against Korrin's, pleasantly relaxed. "Thanks for the welcome. I know I'm not a city elf, but...sometimes it's nice to just take a break from humans for a bit."

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

"Yes, tomorrow we can set up buckets of horrible things to fall on their heads." Adasse stated with a completely straight face, before he grins and taps his mug against hers again. "Eh, no worries. Your people have never done mine any wrong. The Qun fellows were pokey mad bastards, but the Vashoth mind their manners, work hard, and are great people to have with you in a bar brawl."

[gatheringstorm]

"Is that a hint? Because I'm positive we can find a bar brawl without looking very hard tonight. I should let this one off if that's going to happen, though." She points to the little girl, who doesn't seem willing to give up her prize spot juuust yet.

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

"Oi now, are you trying to get me in trouble with my boss, and we've only known each other ten minutes?" His dark eyes sparked mischief, and humor. "Besides, Lil'iba will give me a right proper thonking if I don't let her have her perch, isn't that right, Lil?"