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

[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."

[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?"

[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.

[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."

[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?"

[gatheringstorm]

Feeling the girl nod her head against her own, Korrin grins. "Would you really get in trouble if you didn't start it, though? If we just walk and happen to find one, that's different. But fine, I guess all my talk about how Inquisition people need to behave themselves doesn't have to be entirely hypocritical."

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

"Oh well if I didn't start it, I assume I'd be off the hook. So if at some point, some human sop just happens to wander in here and just happens to start throwing around some garbage, we might so happen to start our own litte bar brawl right here." He grinned up at Lil, "And your friend here can toss bottles at his head."

[gatheringstorm]

There's an eager 'yeah' in response to that, but Korrin shakes her head. "She can do that from a distance, out of sight. I'm not going to use my magic on civilians unless it's life-or-death, so otherwise I'd have to be up close. Endangering a kid isn't going to happen on my watch." She pauses. "...does that happen a lot around here? The humans starting shit?"

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

"Sorry Lil, you heard the nice lady. No rumbling for you." He tweaked her toes, giving her a wink, before he looked more seriously at Korrin. "Not as much as they used to ... but they still come by. Thinking they can take what they want. We soon dissuade them of that."

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin nods, taking a sip as she ignores the 'aww' from above. "Glad to hear it, they always seem to need being taken down a notch." She'd offer to help, but realizes that might sound condescending. The city elves are capable of taking care of their own, that she's seen.

"From what I've seen, they've redirected some of that attention to the Inquisition and the rifters. A scapegoat is a scapegoat, right? Ugh."

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

"They usually do. Humans, am I right? Total entitled bastards." Adasse shook his head, knowing that a Vashoth would know exactly how a city elf would feel.

A roll of his eyes, "Which is why I'll gladly let any Rifter come down here with me. Bunch of hypocrites - taking our help and then spitting in our face. Typical human arrogance."

[gatheringstorm]

"That and typical Chantry brainwashing. If people weren't taught to see everything on the other side of the Veil as a demon, I'd bet you anything there'd be a lot less in the way of issues. Not that demons aren't dangerous, but I'm a fucking mage. I know what is one and what isn't, and I'll loudly repeat that knowledge as many times as need be." She huffs. "My kadan is a rifter, so...it's personal, as you might've guessed."

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

"... I really don't know much of a difference, but I know what mages are pushed to." He looked pensive for a moment, before he too another swig. "And I know - what it is - to feel like you don't belong anywhere. So ... you let your Kadan know. He, or she ever just wants to drink in peace? They're welcome down here in the alienage with you."

[gatheringstorm]

That meets with a warm smile as Korrin nods, pausing to take a last, long swig to drain it. "Thanks, I appreciate it. She would, too. If you ever see an Antivan-looking woman with a black fox, that's her. Araceli, leader of the naval project."

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

"Araceli ... got it. And welcome to the 'Lovers Of The Same Parts' club." Adasse held out his hand, with a mock serious look that made Lil giggle. "I'm Adasse and I like pretty men."

[gatheringstorm]

That gets an amused snort out of Korrin, who takes care to shake that hand gently. Anyone not qunari is potentially fragile. "I like both, though I'm happier with those that are my height or shorter. The big, bulky qunari guys? Not really my thing."