( closed ) Immortal Aphrodite, on your intricately brocaded throne,

[champions]

WHO: Marisol and the circus of dreams: Janzik, Jester, Julian, Mal, Petra, Resa & Sarah
WHAT: Party in Privantium - a mission to schmooze and entertain some nobility
WHEN: Bloomingtide (prior to the rifter phylactery discussions)
WHERE: Privantium, Tevinter Imperium
NOTES: Party style it up & have fun! If you have any questions, please feel free to grab me. I’ll be NPCing here and there as best I can.

The Mission.

Go dazzle. The Laseca family—matriarch Didia, patriarch Lar, and an assortment of five young adult and teenage children—have transitioned from the Soporati into the Laetan class within the last decade due to three of their children developing magic. They have money and some power, love attention, and have no interest in the current Tevinter social order.

Lar is throwing a lavish—bordering on garish—party for Didia, and seeking the aforementioned attention, has invited the Inquisition to send representatives. Mindful of appearances, the Inquisition isn't openly accepting this invitation on paper, but it will nonetheless send Marisol and a few others to put on a show and try to see what information or favor there is to be won in the bargain.

The Lasecas will look favorably on flashy magic demonstrations, rifters (how novel!), and drama that will leave their guests talking, as long as it isn't at their expense. They'll look less favorably on any outrage over their use of slaves or open attempts to talk politics or secure promises outright.

Be warned; if Marisol’s assignment should be undermined in any way by a member of the travelling party, the Laseca family and the authorities at the Inquisition will be the very last of their concerns. Have fun. 😊🗡️

I. Travel Recovery & Party Preparation ( A Fancy Bathhouse Adventure. )

The trip from Kirkwall to the Laseca estate is a drawn out and possibly exhausting one - a ship to Cumberland and travelling along the Imperial Highway is, at least, less wearing than journeying over the Vimmark Mountains might have been. Crossing Nevarra becomes more oppressive and warm as they meet the desert of the Silent Plains, and eventually cross east to Privantium. Thankfully, the Lasecas make for excellent hosts, and their first welcoming gestures to the Inquisition are to guide them to their rooms, stable their horses and carriages, and escort the entire party to the estate’s bathhouse.

First there is the room for doing away with their clothes, taken by servants to be washed and placed in their rooms, and gaining towels to proceed with. Next there is the cold room, with a pool of cold water to shock and refresh the body, then the warm room, and the hot room, where the mind and skin can be cleared with steam. The hot room is heated with braziers, and has basins of cool water to splash their faces with. Then there is the opportunity to rub down with oil and exfoliate, and then to return to the warm room to cleanse once more in the baths.
Once they emerge there is the chance to enjoy a message, but guests will all be offered luxurious white and slate grey robes to wear as they return to their rooms and prepare for the party.

Don’t worry if you don’t have anything to wear; rifters can attend in their traditional garb of their home worlds (newly cleaned or refreshed, if necessary) or they have the option of being provided with something rather more formal, ornate, and classically Tevene. Servants are available to make sure everyone is attired and coiffed appropriately.

II. Feasting & Festivities ( A Party of Distinction. )

Ah, the party. What a party it is. Live music, dancing, names being announced, and entertainment abounds. The entire estate is wound into the celebration, and there are servants ready to attend with drinks and food whether one is in the gardens, or the balconies, or in the populated dancehall of the main house.

For entertainment there are contact jugglers rolling glowing glass balls over their skin, there are others who are silent and painted gold, with black and white snakes coiling and slithering over their bodies and arms, and then some dressed only in flowers, gifting crowns of blooms to many guests. Through the evening other entertainments are present, although with that said, any mages and rifters visiting from the Inquisition would be welcome and encouraged to offer their own flair and performances throughout the evening.

The food and drink are lavish and in excess, as one mightexpect. Honeyed wines, elaborate fruit concoctions (no ale, though, that's too utterly Fereldan.) Multiple tables and multiple trays being carried around hold more offerings than cab be listed; various small wildlife roasted and dipped in honey and poppyseed, a vessel of melted cheese, more varieties of olives than could possibly be necessary, candied nuts, entire roast pigs (with signature apple), snails cooked with garlic and parsley, small hot peppers stuffed with cheeses, ostrich stuffed with peacock and dove and marinated in wine, oysters (baked or natural), caviar... And then there's dessert, trifles, many tiered cakes and a chocolate fountain with all manner of things to dip in it. If there's something desired then it's probably here, unless it's not fancy and frivolous enough, and then why ever would you want it?

The gardens are as as ornate as everything else. The scent of jasmine fills the air, but there are countless varieties of flowers, beautiful maintained. Marble statues stand amongst elaborately styled greenery and sculpted hedges. There are fountains big enough to stand in - to dance in, if you really wanted. Be careful, though, not to upset any of the golden pheasants that populate the gardens. They are very beautiful, and very precious.

( ooc: I’m going to do some NPCing of the Lasecas and maybe some guests, if you’d rather no GMing please make a note in your subject line and I’ll make sure to avoid! You’re welcome to include interactions with other guests, as well. )

III. Wildcards for Wildcards.

Have random scenarios you want to do? Maybe some shopping in Privantium? Checking the horses in the stables? Travel to and from? Go for it.

… Just don’t make Marisol keep anyone in line.

Comments

[the_cleric]

i- bathhouse.

[Jester loves baths--which is exactly what she says to anyone who will listen to her.]

Ohhh, man. I love baths.

[Her commentary is delivered while in the bath, so for the modest, it might be a little less welcome. Seven feet tall, she has to sink pretty low into the tub to keep herself under water. Not as difficult as it might seem: she's not afraid to take up space, and she's not afraid to hog the bath to keep herself submerged right up to her chin, with her legs splayed out in front of her.

She likes being pretty, so letting servants make her pretty wasn't super difficult. Her horns are nice and polished, her hair is washed and will look pretty when it is styled, and her skin--all grey and weird to her still--already feels super soft.

In this bath, there are flower petals floating on the surface of the water, and a few whole flowers. Jester cups her hand beneath one and scoops it out. Carefully, she tucks it behind her ear, before she fishes out a second flower for her fellow guest.]

Do you love baths? They are soooooo great. Especially after we were traveling for all that time.

ii- party.

[There's nothing quite like being way taller than almost everyone else to command a room. Jester, dressed like she belongs, clearly does not belong. And she is having a great time.

First, she follows around the guys with the snakes, trying to catch the eye of the snakes and ignoring the guys. She spends almost ten minutes compliment the flower-people, and collects two flower crowns for herself, which she wears doubled up on top of her head. They have to be sort of bent to fit between her horns, and at one point during the party, Jester sits down on the floor and starts picking apart the joined place of each crown, so she can weave them together instead and make herself a bigger crown. This one actually does fit around her horns, and that's how she wears it for the rest of the night, shedding petals here and there.

Anachronistically, Jester is carrying her fantastic haversack with her, bright pink on her back. She has zero shame in stopping off at the dessert table to stuff it full of whatever pastries or cookies catch her eye. Even after it's full, she revisits the table for new pastries, at least twice every hour, and eager offers bites of whatever she's found to anyone standing nearby.

But it's the dancehall that Jester really kicks it into gear. She dances with whoever asks her to dance, with coy looks and giggles, a demure attitude that she sheds the instant the music kicks in. Then she's dancing with a frantic joy. If there's music playing and no one has asked her to dance, then she dances alone. She's neither good nor bad, but her utter lack of self-consciousness has a kind of grace to it.

At some point, she decides to show off. That's what they're supposed to do, right? So she casts Invoke Duplicity, and now there's two Jesters, dancing together, in perfect time. The second Jester is a tiny bit faded, a little less vibrant than the true Jester--but under the dancehall's flickering light, who can really tell? The crowd moves to give them space, with murmurs of excitement.

Once she's tired herself out, Jester retires to the gardens. It's beautiful out there. She picks some of the flowers to make herself a bouquet, then goes to throw some coins into one of the fountains and makes some wishes. When she's tired of that, she settles in on the ground to look at the stars. Only then one of those pheasants catches her eye. That's how she can be found at the end of the party, determinedly crumbling a pastry into the grass and trying to make eye contact with the pheasant.]

Heeeere, pretty bird, bird, bird... please, look at me... hello... I just want to say hi to you, pretty bird....

bath times

[champions]

( That woman is too large. Too horned, too qunari, and too much a rifter on top of all that. A nightmare of combinations, to whom Marisol will be perfectly accommodating, because she is precisely the sort of freak that the Privantium party will enjoy, if she is absurd and whimsical as she appears.

No, despite her own reservations, Marisol smiles warmly. ) I love baths.

( And with that, she leans forward, head tilted so Jester can tuck the flower behind her ear too. ) Do you like the kind with bubbles or flowers better?

[the_cleric]

Oh my gosssssh, I don't know how I would even choose, you know?

[She sighs wistfully as she tucks the flower into place. Marisol's hair is just a little damp, mostly from the steam. Jester gives the side of her head a friendly gentle pat. Fortunately for Marisol's skull, she is used to being really really strong, so the pat remains friendly and gentle and not surprisingly overpowered out of nowhere or anything.]

I guess... if I totally totally had to choose, like if someone was like, Jester, pick a flower bath or a bubble bath or all your friends will be pushed over this cliff! then, maybe... the flowers could be made out of bubbles? And they would float on the water and when they popped, they would smell like flowers, too. That would be so beautiful.

What about you? Which one do you like better?

now with less crime scene

[champions]

( Ugh, qunari hands - and not even normal qunari hands, but unnatural qunari hands. The sacrifices she makes.
Still, she can't fault the rifter her imagination, and her smile is bright and wonderfully sincere (seeming). )

You idea sounds perfect. I think I like the flowers, but I don't know how you could make bubbles out of flowers. It doesn't work so well in reverse.

( Leaning back, she scoops up some flowers in her palm. ) Maybe bubbles. I like making them into shapes.

yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah (CSI voice)

[the_cleric]

Me too!

[Jester beams at Marisol, as pleased as she is surprised by this revelation. Perhaps she shouldn't be. Making bubbles into shapes is not so rare an interest.]

Liiiike... unicorns, and little dogs, dragons... wigs and beards, if the bubbles are really good bubbles. [She scoops up a handful of bubbles and fixes them with a critical frown.] I don't think these are that good.

[Dismissively, she blows on the bubble foam. A puff scatters up and sprinkles against the surface of the water.]

Hey, did you have to ask them to make these great baths for us, or do they do this all the time?

[champions]

We will have to give them feedback on the quality of bubbles. I am sure they wish only the most luxurious of circumstances for their guests.

( Sinking lower in the water, Marisol smiles indulgently. )

This is their private bathhouse. Certainly the size allows for guests, but not all their guests would be afforded the same treatment as us. We are guests from the Inquisition, and the Laseca's wish for goodwill, as much as we do.

( That might be a bit of a gloss coat, but still. ) Are unicorns real in your world? We have dragons here, but unicorns belong to the imagination alone, so far as I know.

[the_cleric]

[Jester makes a noise of closed-lipped interest as she looks around, taking in their surroundings with new eyes. It is super pretty and luxurious.]

Well, they better try hard for our goodwill. Because I am really really stingy with my goodwill. I want beautiful bubbles and big cake that says JESTER, written in blue icing. I would also take cupcakes that had Js on them.

[She lets herself sink down a little lower as well, with narrowed eyes. Totally how a lady would handle herself.]

Oh, yahhh, we have unicorns. They are like, all white, and they look like horses, except they have a horn on their heads and hooves that are like goats and beards like old men... and they can talk... but they don't talk to just anybody... and they live in forests... and if they touch you with their horn then you can be healed... blah, blah, blah... It sucks that you don't have unicorns. They are pretty cool, probably. I have never actually seen one.

i kept writing "bears" instead of "beards," fml

[champions]

( Maker help her, she's dealing with some sort of weird qunari child. Fascinating, and yet she's going to try and ensure they aren't in the same carriage on the return to Kirkwall, because she doesn't want to get a headache. )

I'll make sure they know. ( They might even be indulgent enough. )

What kind of old men?

( That is an easy point to focus on. ) Do you think they're nicely kept beards, or nasty, stringy beards?

i like unicorns with bear chins too

[the_cleric]

I thinkkkk... Gosh, what a good question.

[Jester lets herself sink down a little more into the bath. She puts her mouth under the water and blows some thoughtful bubbles as she considers this--and, when she reaches her conclusion, more or less explodes up, with a rush of water.]

Both. They would be like people, right? And some people are very very careful, to make themselves look really good, they take lots of baths and comb their hair and their beard and wear perfume and have nice clothes and things. And some people are stinky and don't take baths, like, any, they just let the rain wash them, and sometimes they even put mud on their faces. On purpose.

[Or, you know, to make a point.]

So unicorns have to be the same way. They can't all be the same or else they would be very boring. Makes sense, right?

Dance Floor Light Show

[mal_adjusted]

Mal comes up through the crowd, to see the one called Jester dancing with herself. She's impressed, she had no idea the Rifter woman could pull off such a delicate illusion without even breaking a sweat. The crowd seems to like it as well, so Mal decides to help the dancing entertainment by giving Jester some accompanying ... flare.

Lightening lifts from around Mal, and she lifts her hands to make it dance carefully around Jester and Jester, sparking as the couple rises and falls to the music. It's not easy - sweat beads on her forehead - but it gives the desired effect.

[the_cleric]

"Whoaaaaa!" Jester yells, when the lights start sparkling around her. Her yell is echoed and chorused by her double, who is as impressed as Jester is since she is, you know, Jester's double. This reaction maybe probably partially ruins the effect of the lights, but Jester can't help it. She is just that impressed.

Once she has a second to get used to how cool and pretty the lights look, and to remind herself how cool and pretty the lights are making her and her double look, Jester gets right back to dancing. One-two-three! One-two-three! Vogue, high five, high five around the back, jump high five into a chest bump, pas de bourree when they land, and then, pose!

Hopefully the cool lights get the impression that this is the big finish and respond accordingly. Please, cool lights: Jester thinks very hard at them. Pleeeeease, cool lights! Do a big finish!

[mal_adjusted]

To be honest, it does earn a few laughs on what should have been a graceful display, but as far as Mal is concerned? Laughing is fine, as long as they aren't doing anything else. So the lightening bends around the twosome, moving playfully around the two Jester doubles.

The moves, suddenly, get much fancier, and Mal changes the lights accordingly. building them up to a dancing lightening show. The finale is two larger lightening bolts, not touching the ground but scorching the air, lighting up the two Jesters from behind, crossed in an X, before fading from view.

Sweat beads at Mal's forehead, and she lets out a long breath, but she nods approvingly. Well done, Jester.

[the_cleric]

Everyone is laughing and clapping. Jester and her double hold their final pose, breathing just a little hard. Well, Jester is breathing hard, at least. Her double looks like she is breathing hard, so that's close enough. Dancing is hard work when you are good at it.

She beams around at the crowd of people, and takes three or four extra-fancy curtsies. Her double follows suit.

"Oh, thank you, thank you--oh, gosh, oh man, you are all so nice," curtsy, curtsy--and that's when she meets the eye of a pretty sweaty girl with cool purpose hair. That's both pretty and pretty sweaty. Luckily, Jester is not so distracted that she totally misses that nod, and puts two and two together.

"Oh!" It's a happy gasp, and Jester jumps out of her last curtsy to cross over to the girl, grabbing for her hands. Her double is right there as well, grabbing at nothing. If Mal had a double, maybe they would be holding hands. But she doesn't. "It was you? Warrrrrgh, that was so cool!"

[mal_adjusted]

When some of the applause turns towards her, it distracts Mal long enough to jerk her head around while Jester suddenly grabs at her hands and her double .... grabs at air. It keeps her from jerking away from her companion - not that her companion isn't perfectly nice just. Touching has never. Really been something Mal has let happen to her by people she doesn't know.

Her list is now six people. So. Yes.

She offers a smile, before she dips her head down, "Lightning isn't precisely ... 'cool', but, thank you. A good performance deserves a good background."

See, she's not panicking and pushing away at people. If she sweats a little more, who will notice?

[the_cleric]

"Umm, basically, lighting is the coolest," Jester counters, swinging their hands back and forth. Her double mirrors the movement. "Sizzly and pretty and makes everything look all crazy. But it is totally, totally dangerous, too, which makes it even more cool. Like me."

She tucks her chin to her chest and drops her tone to something approaching hard-boiled Crownsguard (or hard-boiled detective, if you're on the Earthly plane).

"Cool... but dangerous."

She both fits that claim and she doesn't. A tall qunari, wearing a pretty dress--and a giant grin, which she puts back on as she drops Mal's hands.

"Oh, yeah. I am Jester. It is good to meet you." Daintily, she picks up her skirts a little and sinks into a curtsy. Her double naturally follows suit. "I saw you while we were coming here and I thought your hair was so pretty. It was all I could think about for like, a whole day."

[mal_adjusted]

"Does 'cool' mean something else where you come from?" Mal has to ask, because here 'cool' means it's, well, colder than normal. Their hands are swinging together, so her smile takes on a tight appearance before Jester starts explanining how lightening is ... cool. One corner of her mouth lifts, green eyes shimmering.

"I see ... so you're cool. And dangerous." She gave a solemn head nod, "A potent combination."

She puts her hands together in front of her so no one else is tempted to grab at them, and doesn't have to hold back a wider smile at the Qunari girl. She was automatically reminded of her dearest girl-friend in the world. Beautiful but always noting the beauty of others.

"Jester, I am Mal. There's a lot of stuff after that but just call me Mal." She is not going into all this noble bs again. That's for the tourists here. She tosses said hair - hey listen when you got it you flaunt it. "Thank you - I make the dye and do it myself. It's really not hard to do - I can make you some pigment if you want to try it yourself."

[the_cleric]

"Aww, you don't know about cool?" It's genuine pity, and honestly not condescending in the least. Or at least, she doesn't mean it that way. In fact, a frown tugs at Jester's lower lip. "But that is so sad. Okay, so 'cool' means... really really great, like awesome, like totally, totally amazing. Liiiiike... it is cool that you have purple hair."

Ta-dah. She holds her hands out at her side in presentation. It's a little showy, but she's not holding Mal's hands anymore, so at least there's that.

"See? So, that's cool." And, now that that's been cleared up, she can dive right into the rest of it: "So do you really think my hair could be dyed too? I have never tried it before. I have worn disguises and things and made myself look different with magic, but I have never dyed my hair before."

[mal_adjusted]

"No, I am totally clueless about 'cool'." Rifters and their strange parlance. One corner of her mouth lifts up into a faint smirk, until she tips her chin down. Listening intently. Understanding lights up her face, and she nods head once, before smirking and tossing out her purple locks.


"Well then I like that my hair is ... cool." She tips her head, eying Jester's own hair. "It depends on the color you want. We may have to strip your hair first. See if it will take."

[the_cleric]

Jester makes a quiet, closed-mouth gasp. She puts one hand on top of her head, as if to make sure her hair stays right there in place.

"Strip my hair?" she repeats, a little shocked. "Oh, man... I don't know about that. What does that mean? What do we do? Does it hurt at all? Because I do not mind being a little hurt, but, like, only a very very little. And only if I have to."

[mal_adjusted]

Mal stares at her for a moment, before her lips twitch at the corners and she shakes her head. "No no, all I mean is ... I put together an alchemical solution that will bleach out your hair. It doesn't hurt at all." She pauses for a moment, then squints, "Is your hair ... naturally that shade of blue? Because if it is, we might just be able to highlight it with purple, if that's what you're looking for."

[the_cleric]

"Oh, yeah. This is how I have looked, ever since I was a little baby. Hey, isn't bleach for laundry and stuff?"

Still not entirely convinced, Jester flattens her palm a little more, pressing her fringe down against her forehead. The edge of it strays into her eyes, partially obscuring her vision. But it's still there, and it's blue.

"I have highlighted before. Not my hair, but in pictures, you know? And with makeup. You can just color over the top of my hair? Without washing it with bleach?"

[mal_adjusted]

"Oh typically - which is why for hair you need to make a special sort of dye." Mal affirmed, as she swept a hand through her own hair, all the way down to the roots. "My hair was already blonde, so this was much easier."

[the_cleric]

"Ohhh, gosssssh--" It's almost a whine. Jester hops eagerly from one foot to the other, as Mal pulls her hand through her hair. "Aaaah, watching you pet your hair like that is making me so jealous! I think I want to try it. For a little bit. Aaaah, man! I bet you were really pretty when you were blonde, too," she adds, an abrupt afterthought. "You should try it again sometime. Just for a little bit."

baths

[lightninginabottle]

This kind? Yeah, I could get used to this.

["This kind" stands in opposition to the kind of bath Janzik has had to learn to make do with in his travels around his homeworld, mostly involving dirty rags and rusty washbasins in cheap inns, or worse, scummy ponds and choppy lakes out in the unpredictable wilderness. The deeper, the more nerve-racking--but he's fairly certain, at least, that he can't drown in the amount of water provided here, even if it is enough to keep a draenei-sized woman decent. He accepts the flower with a rakish little smile.]

Closest I've seen yet to a decent swimming setup, but it needs some of those blow-up pool ponies and foam noodles and whatnot. What's the point otherwise, amirite?

[the_cleric]

Pool ponies?

[Jester's mouth drops open in a gasp. Relieved of the flower, her hand slaps back against the water as she drops her arm, too. Both aghast and excited, her mind flicks through the possibilities. Wow wow wow wow, such possibilities. She is probably better off just asking.]

Wo-ow! What is a pool pony? I want one! Does it swim?