faderift | ( OPEN ) | something borrowed, something blue

WHO: Byerly, Sidony and guests (everyone is invited)
WHAT: The best sham of a wedding Thedas has ever seen
WHEN: Now
WHERE: the Toad and Flagon
NOTES: The Best Wedding Ever ft. a kidnapping

You are hereby invited to the wedding of Byerly Rutyer and Sidony Celogera Allegra Venaras.
The venue is not quiet nor is it beautiful; the gambling hall is loud and intense, with all kinds of smells and dirtiness to carry along with the strangeness of their wedding. There’s some attempt at draping, some attempt at making it look as though some kind of party is taking place here, but it certainly doesn’t look like there’s going to be a wedding at all. It’s hastily done, hastily put together, but at least it’s something, which is better than nothing.

There’s about an hour until the wedding is due to start and both the bride and groom are getting ready - whatever that means to the two of them.

Food is not provided. There are no drinks bought. There's a table for gifts to one side, with a little plaque with their names on. Prostitutes and gamblers wander between the aisles and chairs, laughing and making jokes with one another, completely avoiding setting the scene of a proper wedding.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She'd come, she said, to prove Byerly Rutyer was being nothing more than an oafish card tricking people into putting money in her pocket. And if she's honest, Wysteria isn't yet completely certain that isn't the case. Would this be an elaborate arrangement for the sake of earning a little coin? Certainly. But where her confidence in the man might fail in nearly every other respect, she is certain of his mind and its propensity toward cultivating needlessly elaborate nonsense.

She was at Saturnalia. She saw that costume. This is hardly more complex than any of that. What's truly bewildering is--

Baffled, Wysteria turns to the Riftwatch member nearest to her. "You don't seriously believe any of this, do you?"

"No," John answers easily, possibly the worst person to put the question to.

John's presence here is some uneven mix of being vaguely fond of Sidony and the need to be at least adjacent to whatever's happening in Kirkwall to keep an eye on it. This is in some respects a more trying event than others. There isn't even wine provided for them.

"But I assume I'm thinking that for different reasons you are."

The setting and lack of any particular type of formality doesn't necessarily bother John. (In truth, he's thinking too much of Madi, about what any kind of vow he could ever give her would look like.) Simple weddings and bored Chantry brothers are fairly standard, in John's experience. But Sidony had never struck him as impulsive, and he still isn't sure what to make of this entire affair.

"Well. Nevermind the reasons, Captain. I'm comforted in the knowledge that there is at least one another sensible person along to witness this whole charade from a similar perspective."

Wysteria takes a sip from her cup - paid for with her own meager pocket money -, the contents of which are decent enough to be a relief. "Trust Mr Rutyer to find a pit with something drinkable on tap," she grumbles, evidently entirely to herself as she follows much more clearly with:

"What I don't fully grasp is how Miss Venaras is involved."

"Your guess is as good as mine."

Wysteria's disgruntled reactions to all of this are diverting in and of themselves. So at the very least, this whole evening hasn't been a loss. John folds his hands over the smooth-worn wood of his crutch, eyeing the other attendees.

"I don't pretend to believe that our miserable trek in the deep roads means we know each other, but she didn't seem the type for a spontaneous marriage."

Or a simple wedding, but maybe that's just a failing of John's assessment. If Sidony were truly, urgently in love, perhaps it wouldn't matter to her.

Though that theory hinges on the if. Which sets them right back at the start of all their questioning.

"No, I doubt spontaneity has much to do with it. Their association, I mean. The marriage itself is questionable, but I'm certain they've been--" How to say this without casting aspersions on the allegedly soon to be Mistress Rutyer without implying something untoward? "They have been familiar with one another since Saturnalia at least. I recognized Miss Venaras' dark hair and fashion sense then despite the mask.

"But no. I rather think this whole arrangement must have some ulterior motive driving it. And it must be one which benefits the lady as well, as I cannot imagine she would simply humor him either. She seems rather humorless." A pause. Wysteria clears her throat. "I say so in the sense that she is quite graceful and I believe one sometimes usurps the other."

"Do you suppose it was the botched kidnapping that did it?"

John does not think it was that entire, blasted ordeal that motivated Sidony. But he thinks Wysteria will find it interesting to consider, and it diverts them from the obvious bit of speculation.

While John continually traffics in gossip, he can't bring himself to put his entire weight behind the rumor that Sidony might be pregnant. Forming attachments to people. It's continually an inconvenience.

"People do strange things after they've escaped death, I hear."

Says John Silver, who gave up a fortune and went all in piracy after nearly being killed defending his crew.

This she pauses over, giving it some prolonged beat of consideration in which she hums near the edge of her cup and studies the pair of would-be lovers as they greet their guests and accept their hastily scraped together wedding gifts.

"I suppose it's possible." Though she doesn't sound very convinced. It's not as if either of them are running off to get married to the nearest reprobate, now are they?

"Do you also suppose they'll be happy?"

Which is extremely weird for John to contemplate. Both that he cares whether or not Sidony is happy, but also that anyone could actually be happy in a marriage full stop. Feelings, how does that work?

"They hardly gave anyone enough time to get them satisfactory gifts."

Why get married if not for really cool stuff!!

"I don't suppose anything, except that Miss Venaras' family will be horrified when they discover what their daughter has done."

(Later, in some passing moment when Sidony has been recovered from her would-be kidnappers and Byerly is not bleeding all over anything, they may cross paths and Wysteria will say 'I said so, didn't I?')

"But I believe you may be on to something regarding the gifts, sir. There must be some profit to be made of this - some benefit they are both expecting -, and if it were truly monetary as Mr Rutyer suggested in his announcement, then I would have expected a little more advance warning than what we had." Someone over there is getting kissed performatively on their cheek. Wysteria wrinkles her nose. "I just hope they're both aware it's a ruse."

What a foreign thing to contemplate. John lets the strangeness of semi-normal family dynamics wash over him as he turns his gaze towards the gift table.

"She expects to be happy," John says, though he's still baffled by Sidony's assurances on that subject. "Only time will tell on that front."

There's a pause, in which John sips from his cup, leans in and asks conspiratorially, "Would it be crass for us to begins bets on the longevity of the marriage?"

"Oh Captain! That would be very crass."

And she does sound just slightly appalled by the suggestion. Ever so slightly, really. To the point that after a small sip from her cup, Wysteria allows in very careful and conspiratorial tones: "But lets say for the sake of argument only that it wasn't. If that were so, I might be willing to bet five gold pieces on it being over before winter. Theoretically."

That gets a laugh out of John. He had expected to scandalize her and then move on with the conversation, but the exceedingly delicate return of an offer is delightful.

"That seems generous," John observes. "I personally wouldn't have given it a month. If we were actually considering a little light gambling."

Bold words from a man who hasn't seen his love interest in over a year.

( OPEN ) | something borrowed, something blue

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