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

Lowtown

[gatheringstorm]

"Fenris! Come join me!" Korrin raises her tankard to him as he enters, her voice booming from across the room. No one really pays attention to that, though, since they're busy making their own noise. She has one table claimed or semi-claimed; there's a passed-out revel-goer in one of the seats that she hasn't bothered to move away, but the rest aren't taken at the moment.

[lyriumcarved]

Oddly enough, Fenris with his peculiar lyrium markings... still kind of fits right in among the masked celebrators. Which is good in its way, because for once people aren't really pestering him with questions. When he hears Korrin, though, he's glad there's someone familiar to spend the time with.

So he heads over, moving easily around the busy, crowded tavern. He raises his half-finished drink as he approaches her. "It seems this is the place to be tonight." It's definitely a lively bunch of folks who've come here to enjoy the festivities.

[gatheringstorm]

"Exactly, so I'm glad you're here and not in that dusty mansion of yours. I tried to go to Hightown to get you, but they wouldn't let me past. 'Troublemaker', hmph. I mean, sure, I am, but you know it's because I'm not one of their human nobles or a hero of the city." She gestures to Fenris, figuring his fame grants him the ability to live there unharassed.

"So what are you in the mood for tonight? Darts, cards, drinking games?"

[lyriumcarved]

"I doubt they'd tolerate my presence there were it not for the past," he remarks. "It's been a long time since I took over from the original owner. They may talk sometimes, but I doubt most of them necessarily want a return of who used to live there. They're used to it, by now. " And indeed, when he'd left town for a while, slavers had come right back in, so all in all, it's for the better that he just keeps hold of the manor these days. "Well, if you're ever in that area and in need of quick sanctuary, you know where to go."

Really, overall, that's what he'd figured was for the best. He won't let just anyone into his home, but those he trusts have that standing invitation.

"Are there any drinking games we haven't played yet?" Sure, he may have gotten quite a few of them from his companions those couple of years ago, but Korrin always manages to come up with something he's never heard of before.

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin's brow furrows at that, fairly certain they've exhausted known drinking games in each other's presence by now. Which isn't any reason not to do it again, but still. Then she smirks, and gestures to the dart board. "We could combine a drinking game and darts. I'd say cards, but you know it's more fun when you get to throw something."

For anyone else, this might be a shockingly terrible idea. Korrin, however, has high alcohol tolerance and excellent aim, so it's only a mildly alarming one to those who know her. The suggestion does give them more space, as no one wants to be in the way of drunks with darts.

[lyriumcarved]

"Yes, I'm always up for that." A brief bit of a smile even crosses his lips. "I just envision certain people's heads as the target. It's very uplifting in that way." And he has so very many targets to choose from, both among the living and the dead. That's probably the main reason why he'd always been pretty good at it.

"Then it's settled, let's drink and throw things."