[ open: all arise! ]

[vorbratta]

WHO: you. yes, you there. you're invited
WHAT: Sonia is throwing a big party, because everyone needs an excuse to get good and drunk together right now. And dancing. There is always dancing.
WHEN: Justinian, shortly after the return of the jungle crew
WHERE: The suite at the top of the mage tower
NOTES: ♫ have some party jams ♫

The month in the jungle was a long one, made longer by the total lack of any alcohol to mitigate the experience. Utterly unthinkable. Sonia is addressing a public need by throwing a grand party -- a public service, even. Besides, it's what she does. When was the last time she got to plan a party, anyway? Granted, this is not a Denerim soiree for the young nobility, but the venue doesn't matter. Only the people and the drinks, and Sonia is assuredly rich in both. It is also a fantastic excuse not to think about any of the bad things that have happened since she was last in Kirkwall.

The decoration in the residential suite at the top of the mage tower would be best classified as improvisational -- one of those drapes tacked along the wall for ambience may be a bedsheet -- but it's the spirit of the thing that counts. One makes do with what one has. In one corner are a few tables laden with spirits, some provided by Sonia, others by generous partygoers. There are a few Barra vineyard vintages in the mix, highlights of her personal collection, a testament to the celebration she considers tonight to be. There's a small selection of food nearby, mostly for snacking to go with the drinks, though guests are free to bring whatever they like to share.

And there is, of course, music. Someone here has brought a fiddle or a flute or a bunch of pots masquerading as a drum set. Maybe you've brought your very own a capella choir. Whatever the accompaniment, there's something to dance to. Sonia makes sure there is dancing.

Tonight is not for licking wounds or swapping grisly stories of terror and survival. Tonight is for feeling alive, getting properly and delightfully drunk, and having a good god damn time.

Comments

[vorbratta]

The furnishings in this room make it such an ideal party space, for precisely Bastien's needs. One must have ample floor space for dancing and socializing, of course -- but if there are no soft chairs or pillows to fall on afterward, then one has orchestrated a terrible party indeed. Sonia, drunk but still upright for the time being, leans along the edge of the chaise with her chin cupped in one hand.

"I daresay you perform quite gallantly without either," Sonia offers, then, in meandering drunken form, adds, "I used to have a violin. Long, long time ago. Only played for a short time, though. I was told that my performances were an affront to the very idea of music."

[cozen]

"No," Bastien says, hushed but with real, albeit mild, affront on behalf of young Sonia. "What horrible thing to say to—a child, I assume, if it was so long ago. Or to anyone who is trying to learn."

He straightens up to look at her, because he's barely drunk himself, and certainly not drunk enough to be sloppy in front of a noblewoman without first reaching a certain level of familiarity. But he's not getting up off the floor. That's asking too much, and he's pretty sure she doesn't mind.

"Did you enjoy it, before that?"

[vorbratta]

Sonia does not mind at all. This is fairly comfortable territory for her, and she doesn't stand on ceremony much past a certain point of drunkenness. This late into a party, if you're leaning on cushions and lamenting your musical past, there is a certain assumed familiarity.

"Everyone was so mean," she says with an outrageous pout. "Well, alright, my brother tried to be nice about it sometimes, but my cousin simply would not let me finish a piece. He'd always find a way to interrupt me -- and then pick up the bow himself once it was safely out of his hands. He is such a showoff."

She finds Byerly out in the crowd, fiddling away, and casts him a dirty look he cannot see, just for fun. Sonia blows out her breath, her eyes crinkling. "I think I liked the idea of it. It was partly out of stubbornness, I suppose. But my older sister plays the harp beautifully, and everyone always praised her for her poise and dignity..." Saith the party child. "I wanted to be a little more like her, I guess. I envied all that grace."

[cozen]

Bastien follows the trajectory of her dirty look and gives the child-bullying show-off at issue a fond smile, which he also cannot see, and which has receded into into curious interest by the time his attention pivots back to Sonia.

"You do not seem lacking to me," he says, for what his opinion is worth. "And the violin is finicky. Everything must be just so—" He does a lazy pantomime of fingers trying to find their correct places and a bow sliding wildly off-track. "—or it screeches. Like the late Comte d'Argent. Completely unreasonable."

Maker rest him, etc. Bastien props his mostly-empty bottle on his knee.

"Did you ever a try a woodwind?"

[vorbratta]

Sonia sighs, dramatically and fondly. "Where were you when I was twelve, Bastien?" She lets out another breath, this one on a laugh, and hitches one ankle over the other. "No, I gave up after the violin. Is the flute any less temperamental?"

[cozen]

Bastien—who was probably in the middle of a blackmail scheme or heist or murder plot when she was twelve, for the record—nods with more authority than he can honestly claim, having noodled around on someone's flute out of boredom maybe five times in his entire life.

"It takes work to master, of course, but in the beginning it is much more willing to compromise, as long as you can, ah—"

He lifts his wine bottle to blow over the mouth of it until it hums lowly in his hand, then holds it toward her to try.

[vorbratta]

Sonia takes the bottle, frowns at it in thought for a moment, then gives it a shot herself. It takes a few tries (she feels like all she's doing is spitting over the bottle at first, which, eugh) but then a low note wavers under her breath, and she sits up with a blink, looking for all the world like she's done some magic trick.

"Well, that doesn't seem nearly as hard!"

[cozen]

“Exactement,” Bastien says, smiling wide at her expression. A delightful young woman. “You should try it. Or a flageolet, if you do not want to spend too much money—and then the next time you host something like this, you can play with us.”