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

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He looks up at his companion and smirks at how she dips her food. No one is telling her to stop because it gives them an excuse to talk in hushed whispers behind their hands about the savage, and it's too late now to hand her a skewer. The damage has been done. However, the night is young and by the end of it, he doubts many will remember, should some other social faux pas occur to shock them all the more.

"Very astute," he replies, pleased she can recognize that the Vints here aren't being sincere. He would have felt sorry for her had she thought the people here to be truly kind and welcoming. "I am. Very much so. They've set out to impress and have not come close to failing in that regard. And I enjoy navigating these waters." He gestures around them with his chocolate covered strawberry skewer, just managing not to flick the chocolate off. He's had chocolate fondue before, and knows how people squeal if they get chocolate drips on their latest fashions.

"It's all invented stories and looking for offense. Like children playing pretend but with much more at stake. Exciting, that."

Jester is, by turns, more observant and more naive than she might originally appear. She chomps a bite of trifle as she considers their surroundings, and the party at large. There is much to consider.

Then she snorts. "So you like playing pretend and getting your feelings hurt? Man, you should find some better hobbies. I gu-ess the dress-up part is pretty fun. It's like wearing a costume! We are basically like spies. I should give you a spy name," she decides, abruptly, almost in the same breath. "You can be... the Pretty Pigeon. That's a good one, right?"

"No, that's the brilliant part about me: I don't get offended." Which is mostly the truth. He's grown up in an environment where any sign of weakness is leapt upon. Being carefree and not falling prey to bait not only frustrates his detractors, it makes them nervous, because if they can't make him respond how they wish, they can't control him either. "But it's exciting to see people try."

He then eats his strawberry and hums at her suggestion. "Do you find pigeons pretty? I find them a bit dull, and you have seen this genuine Antivan leather, haven't you?" He gestures to his leather pants which are about what you'd expect a dashing rogue in his prime to wear. "What about an animal with a bit more bite, hm? The Pretty part is fine, though, and I thank you for it."

"Oh, I love pigeons. They are very smart. Well, kind of smart. You can train them to do things, you know? Li-ike carry messages, and... things." Jester comes to a stop there, with a little frown. Hmm. "Maybe not that many things, now that I am thinking about it. But they are very pretty, like little kitties, or if you had a rat and you gave it a really good bath and brushed it up so it was shiny. But then it also had wings and a cu-ute voice."

Obediently, she tips her head so she can get a look at the genuine Antivan leather. Takes another bite of trifle to chew as she examines them.

"Wow, but they are pretty cool pants. You must be really into leather. Oh," and she claps a hand over her mouth as the thought occurs to her, "I know. You can be Pretty Panther!"

Pants, panther. It sort of works as a joke.

"That is such a good name, right?"

He has to chuckle at how she words things. It's a bit juvenile, but coupled with the fact she's taller than he is and sporting horns, he finds it an interesting dichotomy. Perhaps a ploy to make herself look less threatening? Or maybe she really is this way. Whatever the case, it's a refreshing change from the arrogant know-it-alls that litter the upper class. He's quite familiar, being one himself.

"Oh, I am. My family business is all about leather." Hence why he's advertising it.

Raising in eyebrow, he asks, "Is it because I am on the prowl, stalking my prey before I... pounce?" He tops it off with a hand held in a claw shape reaching out towards her, but in a slow, exaggerated fashion. Like a lazy house cat and not a true panther.

Jester bursts into giggles at that. She claps a hand over her own mouth to muffle the sound, at least a little bit--but it's still loud enough and strange enough that a few people glance in her direction. She can't help it, okay! It was funny.

"Yes," she says, with a grin around her hand, "that is exactly why I picked it. You look like you could be very sneaky, unless your pants creaked. Do they creak? Do this," she commands, and she starts jogging in place a little. Her skirts rustle. They definitely don't creak.

That is certainly a unique laugh. And knowing that it'll ruffle the feathers of the Vints in attendance means he's all for it.

"They don't creak," he says, and though he doesn't start jogging, he does bend his knee back and forth a few times. "The leather is soft and supple. Is that not a great word? Supple. It's so suggestive."

Jester tips her head so she can listen more closely for the squeaking or creaking. Nothing. Jogging would have been better, but this is pretty good. Confirms his point, anyways: not a sound.

"Supple," she agrees. Her eyes flash a little as she smirks, mischievous and appreciative of this risqué entendre. "That is very, very good. No wonder you were allowed to come with. Pretty Panther."

Julian chuckles at her observation. "I tend to know what to say in these sort of circles. It's helpful for an occasion like this." Any faux pas another might make should be easily smoothed over with his charm. He may not be a mage, but he's still a wealthy and powerful individual, and the Vints would be stupid not to play this game of being courteous to his face.

[ ooc: i'm trying to wrap up some of my older threads. would it be all right if we handwaved the rest? ]

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

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