[ open: hello again, riftwatch ]

[vorbratta]

WHO: Sonia Barra and you!
WHAT: Celebrating her glorious return to the Riftwatch by puttering around the Gallows, doing a bit of work, making new friends. Won’t you sit for a drink?
WHEN: this week ish
WHERE: the Gallows, mostly
NOTES: Sonia’s info page is here!

It's been a long year since Sonia last saw Kirkwall, and all too much change to her little world. To the wider world, too, though in the months of tending to her dying grandfather, the world had seemed to shrink down to the halls of Wildcrest manor. There was a whole microcosm in that house, and it had undergone such violent change in the last year, twisted and bent and broken into new shapes that filled every corner with tension. If her uncle had been difficult and unpleasant as heir, he had become intolerable as bann. He had made perfectly clear how he felt about how she spent her time: that it was a waste, that she ought to be better serving her family, that with so few of them left, she was an embarrassment to the family name. No matter how much she insists to herself that she does not care all that much what her uncle thinks of her, she had burned with indignation. He thinks she is useless, and she hates to be thought of as useless; more than that, she hates the thought that someone might press her into some usefulness she wants no part of.

So she has come back to Kirkwall. She found herself missing it more often than she expected in the last year, and not just for the company of her cousin. There's something fresh and bracing in the air to her here, a feeling full of potential; a touch too romantic, perhaps, but it keeps the light in her. There's nothing she could really do at home, with her father and uncle waging their private political struggle, but here, she can do something useful. Here, she feels like there is room for her to grow.

...Or at least that’s how she would feel if it weren’t for the very grim mood that’s settled over everything. This is not how she remembers Kirkwall, but then, a world of change has happened here, too. She is also realizing just how much she had taken for granted the cleanliness of her childhood home. Misery, thy name is grime.

The mood may be low, but she had been looking forward to coming back, and she refuses to let her buoyant spirit be completely drowned. After all, she has brought with her a cellar’s worth of wine—some of the very latest vintages from Wildcrest’s vineyards—and she is never too dispirited to make new friends. Riftwatch, here she comes.

gallows
She spends her free time in various idle pursuits: most frequently, those pursuits are excellently paired with wine, and when possible, good company. Talking is one of Sonia’s favorite ways to pass the time, and if someone catches her interest, she’s not above coaxing them into a drink or two and some interesting conversation. Doubly so if they’re an old acquaintance she hasn’t seen since she was last here. Please, do, come sit—there’s always something to talk about.

Painting has always been a retreat for her, but in this weather, the scenery here is so glum that more often than not she finds herself frustrated with her subjects. Maybe she’ll find something a little more dynamic to paint than the water if she wanders around a bit. If she’s given up on artistic pursuits for the day, she could be found in the library, struggling through what looks like a spectacularly boring collection of political histories. Never in her life until now has Sonia tried to read something for any other reason than fun, and it’s so boring it might kill her.

The constant grime in this weather makes a long soak in the baths all too appealing, too. When everything else seems cold and gray, the warm embrace of the water is a deep comfort. Hauling water up for a private bath is hardly worth it; instead, Sonia can be found with almost exacting predictability at the communal baths every night when there’s hot water. She’s found it to be a pleasant venue for conversation, as well. She isn’t particularly shy.

work (of a sort)
Sonia is here to help, and help she shall. Granted, she had pictured herself doing something a little more glamorous than gruelingly tiresome patrols and dusting off shelves in abandoned towers. Right, that’s the work that needs to be done, and she’s not too proud to do it—but she is not above a little complaining when it’s particularly dull, and perhaps does not engage in the best of behaviors when the trip promises to be especially boring. A little flask of wine tucked away for a very dull patrol in unfriendly weather, for instance. That’s never hurt anyone, has it? It could even liven things up after a long day of chasing vermin out of dark corners and inhaling more dust than is probably medically advisable.

Comments

BATH TIME!

[sulahnan]

Athessa is soaking, submerged to her chin in the hot water when Sonia arrives for her nightly ablutions. She's only just recently been clued-in to the fact that baths can be for relaxing and not just perfunctory cleaning.

She cracks an eye open at the sound of footfalls.

"Lady Sonia the Painter," she says dreamily, "How nice of you to drop by. Please, step into my office. The water is fine."

Sure, Sonia could have been looking to bathe in silence and solitude, but where's the fun in that?

[vorbratta]

Absolutely nowhere, that's where. Some might be shy, but Sonia loves a conversation partner for a good soak. Her face lights up with a smile of recognition at Athessa as she wades into the hot water, one of the few newly-familiar faces she's met since her arrival.

"Ah, so this is your domain," Sonia says lightly, pulling her long hair over one shoulder. "Not the lady of the sea, but the lady of the underground lake."

The unique acoustics give their voices a softly echoed quality, as though spirits resonated within them. The way bits of light reflect from the water to the stone overhead seems to add to the atmosphere, too.

[sulahnan]

"Much nicer-sounding than lady of the bath water," she says, her eyes doing a pretty good job of imitating the light bouncing off the water. Her own hair is piled haphazardly on top of her head to keep it dry, since the weather being as it is lately will make it that much more uncomfortable to have a wet head after the bath.

"But this is only one of my domains. I've been known to haunt the gardens sometimes, too."

[vorbratta]

"So you're a force of nature then," Sonia says, grinning. Alas, her hair is in desperate need of a washing, so as soon as she's in deep enough she settles in against the rock and begins working the water through her long mass of curls. "I haven't spent much time in the gardens myself. How are they this time of year?"

gallows, in a room overlooking a courtyard

[bouchonne]

"Shall I pose?"

Byerly approaches as she sits (and frowns) with easel and brushes. Naturally, he immediately strikes an obnoxious pose - propping himself up against the doorway, hip cocked out, elbow raised above his head - because he is, naturally, deeply obnoxious by nature, and he cannot help himself. (Besides, she looks grim. She obviously needs someone to brighten up her day.)

"You clearly need something more beautiful to paint."

CLAPS HANDS

[vorbratta]

Oh, dear cousin. Sonia positively lights up at his voice -- she always does -- and she turns in her seat, no longer looking so grim. There are many reasons she came back to the Gallows, but all those aside, she's been keenly looking forward to seeing Byerly again. The atmosphere at home is so dull and oppressive these days; she could really use a good dose of levity and irreverence to clear it all out of her system.

"Ah, yes, I was just considering a self-portrait," Sonia says with an arch grin, "but I suppose you'd do, too."

She sets her paints and brushes aside and rises to embrace Byerly in a tight hug, kissing his cheek. "You're a sight for tired eyes, dear cousin. You'll have to forgive me for not hunting you down sooner -- I've actually been a bit busy since I arrived."

[bouchonne]

"Forgiveness not granted," he pouts right back at her - but his petulance is belied, somewhat, by the tightness of his hug in return. It's quick, but it's sincere. "I cannot possibly fathom anyone or anything that could be more important than me."

He arranges the hair around her shoulders, then steps back to regard her at arm's length. "So what's kept you so engaged, hm?"

[vorbratta]

That pout only earns a broad grin from Sonia, her tongue poking through her teeth. "With work, if you'll believe it," she declares with an extra dramatic little toss of her head. "There's no shortage of it to be done around here, certainly. And I've been making new friends."

As is her way. Sonia is pathologically incapable of going somewhere full of new people and not making friends. With, for instance, your beautiful new wife, Byerly.

work

[indissection]

Sidony does not quite enter with a flourish, but it is something quite close. Her skirts are around her, a little more formal than she might have worn before, given her marriage, but enough that she appears herself despite the new tether hovering on her finger. She is a familiar face along the walkways of towers to and from the library, slinking around as she seeks to find answers for questions that no one else asks.

She is a surgeon and an anatomist first, wife second. She is quite lucky that her husband is more of an enabler than she had ever dared to hope for.

A new face does catch her attention, however, and she slips forward, head tilted and expression serene, ladylike, as she moves close to peer at her, not quite judging but something close.

"Madame. I have not seen you before."

steeples fingers

[vorbratta]

The fact that Sonia has taken up any work -- especially the menial kind -- so soon after her arrival speaks to the smidge of personal development achieved in the last year back at home. But she won't give anyone here reason to call her lazy at first blush. First impressions are the most important, after all. What comes after...ah, she'll settle in comfortably, she's sure.

Sonia can almost feel Sidony's grace and ladylikeness before she turns to see her. It's like a noble sixth sense acquired only from many long and occasionally tiresome hours at court. And isn't she a pretty one, Sonia thinks as soon as her eyes alight on Sidony's face. Sonia smiles with slightly crinkled eyes and inclines her head.

"Likewise. I've only just returned to the Gallows, so I still have quite a few introductions to make." She favors Sidony with a slightly flourishing bow and a swirl of her skirts, her eyes bright. "Lady Sonia Barra of Wildcrest, madame. Might you grant me the favor of your name in return?"

eyes.png

[indissection]

Sidony has always always been the kind to enjoy her work - not the menial side, of course, but the one that allows her to work with the body, with anatomy, to sink her fingers into blood and corpses. It's hardly a job fit for a woman, or so her parents might say, nor for anyone, according to the Chantry, but she adores it. The knowledge, the information, the wisdom... It thrills her. That is what she works for, and that is why she is here, wandering dusty corridors and showing herself as being idle - though deep in thought.

The knowledge that this other woman is a lady has Sidony dropping into some form of a curtsey, if nothing else, bowing her head just a little. She is married now, even if her husband is a rogue, and that grants her some status, no matter what her family might think or say about the union.

"A pleasure, my lady." She offers a hand, for a kiss or a shake, whatever Sonia prefers. "Lady Sidony Venaras Rutyer, lately of Nevarra City and most recently of the Riftwatch infirmary."

[vorbratta]

Sonia will always kiss the proffered hand of a new acquaintance, unless it is one she is not particularly pleased to make. And as she goes to do so, the lovely lady's name falls on her ears, and her eyes go delightedly wide. She presses a fleeting kiss to Sidony's wrist and raises her head with a smile.

"Are you now?" she says brightly. So this is Byerly's pretty little scandal. She is...well, she's not not what Sonia had expected. Really, she hadn't known quite what to expect. She could read between the lines in Byerly's letters, guess at the true intentions lying underneath all the drama, because she knows Byerly just a little too well to buy completely into everyone else's appallment. Byerly is a rogue, yes, but of a very particular type.

"Delighted to meet you, Lady Rutyer." Sonia's enthusiasm is genuine, even if saying the words is just a little strange. Byerly, married. So strange. She wonders how long he's planning to keep this up. It's impossible to tell, with him. "I would be even more delighted if you might join me for a drink sometime. Perhaps as a reward for all this hard work."

Her smile is impish. Oh, yes, all this hard work you've done already, Sonia.

Sort of Work

[okayimin]

Sawbones hasn't the faintest clue who this bit of silk and fluff is, but apparently what she is currently is Sawbones' assistant. She needs the height and the extra hands bad enough for this particular task that she doesn't poke the woman too much for the flask.

"You get drunk and I'll leave you out here," she says, dryly. They're in the forest not far off from Kirkwall. It's a miserably dreary day with the kind of cold that seeps into your bones.

[vorbratta]

Sonia makes an indignant noise in the back of her throat, frowning at Sawbones. Yes, okay, she's here to help the good Sister, and Sonia will be perfectly respectful. (She thinks so, anyway.) But goodness, what an accusation.

"Drunk?" she repeats, eyebrows raised, and gently shakes her flask. "On this little sip? Please, I'm not a child. This is just to ward off the cold."

[okayimin]

Sawbones tips her head to eye the woman and her flask. She didn't look like the enterprising sort to slip lyrium dust or deep road mushrooms in with her drink. So.

"Go on then." More importantly: "How familiar are you with plants, Miss Barra?"

[vorbratta]

“Lady Barra," Sonia says automatically, but then has the decency to look embarrassed immediately after, and she quickly adds, "but -- just Sonia is fine." For good measure, a little bit like a chastised child, she caps her flask and tucks it back into the inner pocket of her cloak. "Ah. Well, I know which ones not to try to eat."

Mostly. She is not, how you say...an outdoors person.

y helo ther

[coquettish_trees]

It is on one of these wanderings that Alexandrie, previously on her way to the market, spots the light intrepid movement of Sonia through the largely more grudgingly paced masses, engaged in what looks to be the all-too familiar occupation of surveying for something, anything, in the grey winter drabness of Kirkwall that might be worth putting to canvas.

Market errand summarily dismissed from mind, she turns her trajectory to intercept the returned lady with a bright smile on her ever-immaculate lips.

“Lady Barra!” A pleased exclamation, once she is near enough to not be committing the terrible vulgarity of calling through a crowd, “What an unexpected delight! I thought you had successfully forever escaped from this dire city.” Her eyes sparkle with mirth as she withdraws a hand from the fur of her muff to offer a friendly clasp of reunion. “But I see you have been drawn back by its unmatched beauty—“ appalling architecture, “—that pleads to be immortalized with brushstroke.”

;D

[vorbratta]

“Lady De La Fontaine!” Sonia’s voice is equal parts surprise and delight, a smile unfolding on her face at the sight of a familiar face. She’d been here so briefly before, she’d hardly had the time to put down roots, and it’s nice to know some of her few acquaintances are still here. Beyond that, Sonia was finds herself simply pleased that Lexie remembers her so well. She clasps Lexie’s hand in her own with bright eyes. “An unexpected delight indeed. Although I’m afraid this is the escape—I’d have gone mad if I stayed back home a day longer—though at least Wildcrest is much more pleasant scenery.” One corner of her mouth quirks up. “Perhaps I ought to give up on this whole landscape and start painting human subjects instead.”

[coquettish_trees]

“Human subjects? Perish the thought!” is the aggrieved reply. Her other hand flies to her chest in exaggerated alarm, the gesture made ridiculous by the fact that it is still ensconced in the muff. Alexandrie leans in conspiratorially. “Never. The land is our true love,” her smile turns impish, “Which you must promise not to tell my lord husband.” She straightens, and the terrible fondness that softens her affect is real. “It is Lady Asgard now, although I insist upon simply Alexandrie from you.”

[vorbratta]

“Oh, congratulations!” Sonia exclaims in mixed surprise and genuine glee, clapping her hands together. “At least, that delighted look on your face calls for congratulations. A little twinge of the lip and I’d be offering my condolences instead.”

Her smile brightens. “Of course, Alexandrie—but only if you’ll call me Sonia. Please, sometime you must regale me about the singular man worthy of your hand.”

dusting off shelves

[wythersake]

He sweeps the cloth aside —

Sunlight flashes into the air, a thousand golden particles. Dust drifts to walls, and lungs, and faded velvet (balled in hand). Isaac coughs, doubles over before a ball of clouded crystal.

"Now," He manages, works a smear of grime only further into stubble. "This is just cliche."

[vorbratta]

Sonia shields her face with a hand as soon as he sends dust scattering everywhere, one corner turned up in a suppressed laugh, but she only manages, “And not even a particularly dirty one—” before the dust catches up with her and she lets out a sudden, powerful sneeze that takes her so by surprise she actually staggers back into the wall. A whole shelf full of long-abandoned curios rattles precariously next to her.

Absolutely nailing this first impression.

work / crash lands in here aT LAST

[heorte]

Being here to help means Ellis is game for whatever is asked of him. Today it isn't dusting, but it is toting a rather large crate up and into the room Sonia has been clearing out. The next step is unpacking it all. By the rattle of it, Ellis assumes these are gifts or artifacts no one wants but cannot discard just yet.

They likely aren't valuable, but he still eases the crate down carefully before flashing a quick smile at Sonia and her flask.

"Restoration efforts going well?"

No signs of haunting, that feels like a win.

[vorbratta]

Yes, the setting is fortunately benign, and Sonia, while not exactly in her element, looks a good deal more comfortable here than she had down in the Deep Roads. She is still acquiring her taste for more rigorous adventure—although it hadn’t left a bitter taste in her mouth, either.

“Ah, good, they said someone else would be along to do the lifting—Ser Ellis! Hello!” Sonia says just as she turns, her eyes brightening with a prelude to a laugh. “Fancy seeing you here. I’ve got a bottle of wine with your name on it somewhere, you know.”

It is so nice to see him. It’s especially nice to see him when this was otherwise fixing to be an incredibly boring day, and Sonia does not associate Ellis with anything in the realm of boring. Their last—well, first—meeting had been entirely thrilling, even. Once the taste of fear and danger had sunk away from the back of her throat, looking back on it was mostly very exciting. It’s not as though Sonia had ever explicitly dreamed about a handsome young Grey Warden saving her from near-certain death, but maybe she ought to have. It does have a certain romance novel sort of ring to it.

“Restoration efforts—if you can call it that.” She does laugh then, waving a dusty rag at the still-very-dusty room around here. “I don’t think there’s enough dusting in the world that will restore this room. I mean, all the furniture’s absolutely got to go.” She seems to come back to herself, centered, and her smile shrinks to something a little more sheepish. “You’ll have to forgive me for not coming to thank you sooner. I’ve been kept surprisingly busy.”

[heorte]

It takes Ellis a moment to consider why she might be seeking him out specifically to thank him, and then he shakes his head, dismissing the idea. She doesn't owe him even such a minor thing as a "thank you." He certainly didn't feel as if he'd done something extraordinary, though that might say more about the life he'd led prior to landing in Riftwatch.

"You don't have to apologize. I wasn't expecting anything," he tells her, settling on the edge of the crate he'd just set down. "I'm sorry you had such a mess of a first outing."

Clearly the true injustice here.

"But I wouldn't call this much of a follow up. Did they tell you there was a need for this room, or is it just in case?"

Ellis suspects that latter. He's aware of visiting dignitaries and other people who might need a separate, well appointed room, but Sonia's point stands. Ellis might be politely not saying either way whether her efforts have been for nothing, but the musty scent of this room hasn't abated even with the opened window, and the furniture looks unfortunately woebegone.