faderift | Birthday Shenanigans

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Birthday Shenanigans

WHO: Korrin, Open to any positive CR (even if it's 'we met that one time and didn't hate each other')
WHAT: Birthday pub crawl/a quieter gathering for close friends?
WHEN: Drakonis 25 for the dinner. The pub crawl is the next evening.
WHERE: Kirkwall (the docks and Lowtown)/Korrin and Araceli's dockside apartment (inside or on the roof)
NOTES: Consider this your chance to add new and stupid names for various taverns in the city. Threadjacking is a-ok and there's no posting order. Adding CW as needed.

Pub Crawl

The message, given over the sending crystals, is pretty simple. Korrin's birthday has arrived and she wants to celebrate it with good friends and good drinks. Since Kirkwall has a variety of places, why not sample them all, or at least the places that will allow a qunari? It's made clear that presents aren't necessary, so no pressure there. She's more interested in the company and making some good memories than anything else. Meet her at the docks by sunset, and prepare for a wild night.

Dinner with friends

You know who you are. If you're at all close with Korrin or Korrin and Araceli (especially both of them), then you're invited to a calm, relaxing night of good quality cuisine, wine, and maybe some music and card games. The menu? It's Korrin, so there's a distinct prevalence of northern fare; spiced wine, Llomerryn Red with roasted potatoes or fresh oysters, paella, and alfajors, among other things. Every dish -of which there is an abundance- is set up buffet-style, with comfortable seating in a semi-circle not far away.

Make yourself comfortable, and watch your plate or a certain fox might try to sneak off with your dinner.

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"Thanks, kadan." Taking the pepper, Korrin continues assembling what's needed before starting the process of squash-cooking. Once it's in the oven, she'll tend to chopping and dicing the rest.

Able to multitask, she leans in to sample the sauce offered, making an approving noise and nodding. "It's good as is, but if you want to add a little more wine, go for it. And I'm partial to either starting at the Hanged Man or leaving it out entirely. I work there, and I don't want to be roped into being responsible that night. Besides, there are some other pubs nearby that don't get nearly enough credit. The Sea Dragon isn't one of them, but if we start there, everything else will seem better by comparison."

A productive moment's silence, but Korrin's never quiet for long. "I know where some of them are, at least. Maybe it's time to start sending some care packages, let people know they aren't forgotten. And Zevran's little boy deserves to be spoiled."

"Now this is what's better about Kirkwall - you have to admit, we wouldn't have been pulling this off in Skyhold." No kitchen of their own, haggling with merchants to even attempt to get half of this while still paying at least twice as much? It's been a hard year that's gone by so damn fast her head has spun trying to keep up with it all but this is what the future could be like. Being settled. Being safe. Well fed and happy, working but with friends.

Having a life that she becomes accustomed to.

Reaching for the wine that she glugs in generously before the lid goes on, the next pan checked before it's time to take up a mortar and pestle for a garnish so heavy that sliding it about the counter has left marks by now, Araceli nods. "I went for Herian and Saoirse's birthday because that's where the whole thing was - Herian and I had no idea what was even good there, everything just...smells - but you know where I end up most nights." The Blooming Rose. It's not even homesickness now, it's just preference to be among the sort of people she was raised by, to sit and drink a better kind of drink, to laugh, to tell the right sort of jokes, to feel safe tucked away up there before she makes it home before curfew. "I-- don't go out drinking here much. I drink with people I end up knowing. Or in the office. Or in here. And you don't need to take coin since that's on me tonight, you don't buy drinks."

Perks to your Castilean girlfriend, to your health Korrin let her buy you the water of life besides she'll literally climb over you to get to the bar unless she goes home first.

"He'll be walking and talking, less grabby and slobbery by now, yes? I gave Zevran books for Lucci, a whole stack of them, if they're being read to him now he should be on the way to learning all the things he might ever want. I had a compass by his age, a sextant, tools for a life at sea." Her father was a captain, she had those at birth but the first few years of life and a Castilean picks up enough to make them ready for the world.

"Oh, I freely admit that this would never have happened back in Skyhold. I think that's partly why I didn't care to celebrate, before. If I couldn't do it the way I wanted, then it could wait." And what would be the point of a pub crawl limited to one tavern? The Herald's Rest is fine as is, but it doesn't make up for the lack of variety.

She nods at mention of that shared birthday and where it was celebrated, with a fond smile as she knows the atmosphere of the Blooming Rose has meaning for Araceli. Given that Korrin herself didn't know either of them that well, she'd decided not to risk a trip to Hightown. The guards care little for anyone not of the elite, especially when they're non-human, and they make that plain. But her mind shifts quickly from all that as Araceli's generosity earns a brief break from meal preparation to bend down for a kiss. "You know how to spoil me, kadan. Thank you, I'll see that it's put to good use.

And I see no reason why we couldn't include a tool set among treats and stuffed animals. Might as well get him learning about such things while he's young, right? He's bright like Zevran, I'm sure he'll catch on quick."

"I miss the Herald's Rest sometimes though, I had a good spot, I didn't need to walk in through the front door. Do you have any idea how rare that is without having to sneak in, bribe someone or spend the time getting in good so you can slip in through the side or the back? No they just had an upstairs door from the battlements, come on down that way and peek in." Plus that had been cutting her teeth learning how to do her job for the Nightingale back when there had been more support with everything, able to sit back and play cards while she collected rumours to report back. A different life.

Look, if more missions had been like the one in Antiva with Zevran where they'd been able to hide out in a brothel as part of the cover too, life would probably be a little more chilled out at least on her end because it's comforting. Sometimes she does half-expect her mother to appear around a corner proclaiming Araceli Bonaventura y Castell, what have you been up to, what grey hairs have you been wishing on your mother these past months my girl but that passes as quickly as it comes for her now. Catching Korrin's arm with her clean hand, she smiles into the kiss, balancing on her tiptoes. "It's your birthday, it's what's meant to happen on your birthday.

"Oh and you know that Adelaide never returned that catalogue you leant her. Not that I'm annoyed but she never returned it. Because when we packed for Kirkwall it wasn't here."

"I can always get us a new one, you know. Or we can always visit Skyhold, and reclaim it. Then you can reunite with that good spot in the Herald's Rest, and we can enjoy the hot springs once more. If you think it's worth trudging up the mountainside, I'm game." Korrin may not care about living there any longer, but she won't say no to a visit for a few select reasons. And since it's still Inquisition headquarters, they can always come up with some reason for it to be relevant to the cause.

The sound of a pan hissing fills the air as the wine simmers before she stirs it, slides it half off the heat with her mouth pursed. Sometimes it's a thought. Seeing Skyhold again. What's actually going on instead of the news that filters through to everyone when they're an outpost, isolated, on their own, lurching from one crisis to the next attempting to cling to some shreds of respectability with increasingly less dignity about it.

"It's been a year," she says at length. Careful about it. "It's a long journey unless we had a real reason to go back to Skyhold, we've more reason to go to Orlais again. Soon enough we'll have lived here as long as we lived there." It feels like tempting fate to do it. Maybe she shouldn't have brought it up. Someone'll have painted over their door by now, erased any sign that they ever stayed there as long as they did, the tiles on the roof might be fixed on all the old spots she used to run a circuit round mornings and night.

"We could go to Val Royeaux, I still have all your measurements so you don't need to go to the seamstress if you think they'll be rude to you. Get something to eat and drink. Go out on one of the tiny boats." The little travesties. She might ask Madame de Cedoux one day, eventually, if there's a chance to actually leave Kirkwall for a bit just to breathe if she'd like to come too since she's a lady who would appreciate good tailoring and good wine. The wine more than Araceli. "Buy some tiny cakes, there are so few tiny cakes I miss being able to beg sweets from the kitchen the way I used to."

Korrin nods as she listens, checking on the squash automatically but it's going to be a while. She might as well help Araceli, since everything that follows should come shortly after that's done. "It's a long trek for a little nostalgia. Maybe as a stop on the way back, if we've a mission in the south. But I promise you I'll survive not visiting, the nostalgia isn't so great that I'll wither away without one." Straightening, she inhales the scents of the kitchen while wiping her hands with a clean rag. Only then does she drape an arm around Araceli's shoulders for a gentle squeeze.

"I'd go anywhere with you, of course. Feasting and boating sound perfect to me, and we can always cram as many of those tiny cakes as we can take back with us. I haven't even approached a limit to what that bag can hold, you know." Why not use it for a good cause, like sweets? "And I trust your good taste, of course. You always seem to know what will suit me best."

Part of her is inclined to ask what sort of stop it'd be where they'd go up a mountain as high as the one Skyhold sits atop but that might be tempting fate too much. Some freak snowstorm that forces them up there, a crisis where they know they'll be able to get refuge or help. But Korrin's used to mountains enough that she didn't mind going up there to get nuggalopes where Araceli can still take them or leave them. Gathering up what she's not going to need anymore at least means tomorrow morning won't be as much of an adventure in hungover cleaning while the dishes simmer or rest waiting for the guests to arrive.

"And you're sure food keeps in it? I could understand freezing, that was tested with some fish and ice magic but the bag is-- the bag is strange. I know I have the cloak but you have the ring, the bag, the drinking thing; you have a collection of odd things that do things that they shouldn't be able to do. Keeping cakes good isn't a thing a bag should do, a bag should, quite sadly, squash them." Sad facts of life right there as her face scrunches up into a little frown because how does it work? "You'd need to come look at the fabrics unless they have swatches. I can probably borrow the swatch book if they do."

How does it work is a very good question that Korrin still isn't quite able to answer. She shrugs, unable to explain the intricacies of foreign magic even as she's quite happy to take full advantage of it. "I've taken that thing with me on a few missions now. As far as I can tell, no harm comes to whatever's placed inside. If you want to personally test it out before we leave, go right ahead. My bag is your bag...and any of the other oddities I've found or will find." She grins at the rest, knowing her days of accumulating weird things isn't over. The least she can do is be generous with them.

"Eh, it won't kill me to have a look if they don't. I'll ignore any looks, if I can get what I want out of it." Why should she acknowledge any discomfort on their part, anyway? She's not looking to pick a fight and knows better than to be baited into doing so. They can just deal with her presence, if they want to get paid.

"One day I might put something small and live in it. A crab. So if you find a crab in there it's a test." And not Araceli just being weird and putting a single crab in a bag but if she could put a crab in and the crab lives, she could possibly figure out something with Fernando so he could see the world more easily than having to scoop him and his whole giant glass bowl with her to do so. "After...what happened, it makes me wonder. These things come through rifts most of the time, no? And yet they aren't like us. Obviously not made of the same substance but it-- but they were dreamt."

She isn't sure where she's going with that but something somewhere has thought of them, at some point, to have them appear in Thedas. It's strange to think about it now in light of what happened with rifters.

And suddenly, another memory rises that has Araceli attempting to stifle a laugh before she fails entirely. "Do you-- oh no do you remember the man? The man with the damned box?"

Great minds think alike, and Korrin smirks at mention of a crab in her haversack. "Test away. Honestly, I rather expected that to happen for some time now. If Fernando's restless and it works out, I don't mind it being used for him. Just let me know so I can take out whatever else is in there at the time." Besides, it'd be worth it just for the stunned looks when people realize what's lurking within.

She doesn't even try to stifle her own laugh, throwing back her head and probably scaring the pigeons on the roof. "Andraste's ass, that pompous twit and his one-box shop! Mask or not, his look when we actually bought it was priceless. Think he re-opened with another mystery item? We should find out."

Well part of her is tempted to just slide him in there to let him raise hell but he's curious enough that Araceli knows just how poor an idea that is. "I can wrap him up in my cape, keep him a little damp too or so he has something to deal with," and she turns to slide the pot off the heat halfway when it simmers too violently for her liking. "He's only just stopped trying to escape the office but who knows when he's going somewhere new. It might be a challenge."

Or battle since he's a kraken. Just a small one. Who has no real concept of that in his intelligent little kraken brain.

"It's Orlais, he'll have something there even just to have the box you know that. And someone will go buy it now matter what he says. Supply and demand, it's why we always had show stands at the markets." As she sobers, it's probably why the Llomerryn market even manages to exist for n the first place.

"I love how you have a habit of getting the feistiest pets. Asher's no troublemaker; he's content to just eat, ride and poop. Lux and Fernando are far better at keeping me on my toes." Not that she doesn't enjoy Asher, he's majestic, but way less amusing.

"It'd almost be worth it to try and buy him out again...or at least say we will, just to see the look on his face. We lucked out, but who knows what the fuck we'd get next time." Knowing Orlais, it would probably be something grandiose and offensive or incomprehensible.

"The Walrus behaves!" Perhaps that's a little defensive but the nuggalope has never been a cause for concern which considering how big he is compared to Araceli as well as her lack of experience as a rider of anything prior to gaining him is definitely a boon. "And Lux isn't feisty, he's just-- he's…" Her mouth pulls into a line as her hands curl on empty air, attempting to find the right words to possibly explain Lux being the way that he is because a kraken will always be a kraken, but Lux is from home, raised by her from childhood after her father handed him to her as a tiny scrap of fur and huge black eyes. "He's more person than fox, he's smarter than a lot of people. I trained him to do things and if he thinks people are stupid enough for him to take advantage of them, he'll do it in a heartbeat."

Once a thief, always a thief. Best parter-in-crime she could ever ask for, fastest and sharpest lookout.

"Or we could steal it." Because they could. And Araceli has only stolen things for the Inquisition and it's been so rare that she's needed to. And she knows that she couldn't even as she says it because there's a position attached to her name now, there's too much at stake without the things to ease it at home but it's fun to pretend.

That gets a smirk out of Korrin, who's willing to play along. "We could. People would talk for ages afterward about the heist, and the dashing thieves who made off with priceless treasure. And perhaps we'd have something that would either fun our lives forever afterward or at least would the best conversation starter ever, who knows?"

The squash looks about done, so she'll take it out of the oven carefully. "And you know I adore Lux just the way he is, kadan. In fact, I'm certain he could help us pull off that caper with style." A lovely bard, an impressive Vashoth and the bundle of mischief that is one particular fox.

"There's so much you can hide in a bodice, I haven't even shown you a fraction of what I know." It's so easy to sigh wistfully as she walks past Korrin to go work on peeling and crushing the garlic to make toasts since this is Korrin's birthday, she's going to make garlic toasts, and perhaps threaten anyone who gives her away. She's still got the herbs Waver gave to her all that time ago, somehow not dead though no thanks to her. Other hands have tended to them, Araceli just shares them and takes only what she needs as she needs them. "When all this is over I know we have plans but you know there's Llomerryn, right there, just waiting. If things blew up we could always run off to there, I'm a good enough sailor to get us there."

An actual heist. An escape plan. Picture it Korrin. Something to tell the grankids that other people will have all about.

The squash smells incredible from where Araceli's working and she smiles when she glances over at it, white skins piling up next to her busy hands. "If things were going to shit there's nothing like a fox screaming to have people cursing and running, the little fennecs don't make a noise like that."

"Poor things, they really don't. They try, but I'm pretty damn sure they'll never have the frightening range and volume of a certain fox we know. It kills me when he does that in public; the expressions are always priceless." While she rambles, Korrin removes the flesh of the squash -fully cooked, it already resembles noodles- with a fork, then setting it aside so she can get started on heating the butter and frying the garlic with it.

"Is that an invitation to find out later? Because you know I'm game, either way." Araceli's her bodices and what she can do with them are always exciting topics, and she grins, despite not meaning that in a suggestive way. Well, not solely.

"He still misses them you know? His subjects." The one time Lux was substantially larger than anything other than a cat. Mark it down in the book because chances are that it'll never happen again, he hasn't had the chance to go to Zimevur to meet the little golden desert foxes yet. "That pan's still hot," she taps it with her knife, a little garlic hissing when it touches the side where it clings to the blade before she crushes more, up on the balls of her feet to press down with more weight to crush it just right.

And this would be so much better if she weren't surrounded right now by garlic peels, holding a very large knife - well fine, the knife could absolutely be part of it, she usually has at the very least three blades on her at all times - and dirty clothes with splashes of this and that on them that she'll change out of later. But Araceli raises an eyebrow, shaking her hair over her shoulder. "If you're good. Maybe."

"Then I'll be on my very best behavior." Korrin flashes a smile, confident she can manage that with the proper incentive. Not that it's difficult, Araceli always has a way of smoothing her rougher edges, bringing out the best in the Vashoth with just her presence.

Nodding at mention of the pan, she'll also grab some mushrooms and elfroot. Elfroot will take longer than spinach, but if she's going to make a Dalish dish, it might as well be with the most authentic ingredients, halla butter aside. "And I would always trust your sailing skills with my life, of course. Llomerryn is perfect; you can always find -or sell- things you can't anywhere else, after all. They probably wouldn't blink an eye if we arrived with a mystery box and its contents. And afterward, Lux can be rewarded with a trip to visit his subjects. Or we could get one to keep, so he can savor being tall. Though he might like that idea less, since he wouldn't have our undivided attention at home."

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Birthday Shenanigans

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