[ 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

i

[exsecutus]

"What's the order?"

Nikos' gesture encompasses the whole of the table, the bottles that run the gamut from cheap ales to mediocre wines and fine rums.

Obviously Nikos is here for the drinks. That means he's had the opportunity to notice the scoutmaster's particular ordering of her selections. Not at first, but slowly, over the course of the night, as the lack of repetition became more plain. Insignificant, probably, and if he'd not been conducting his own sampling, Nikos might not have said anything at all.

[hassaran]

Yseult lifts her head and one eyebrow in unison, and then drops both with a shrug and a little shake. "No order."

She is hovering presently over a trio of bottles, two red wines and an amber spirit with a label too torn to read. She gives up dithering with a dismissive flick of the wrist and picks up one of the wines. "Old habit," she explains, sort of, as she pours.

[exsecutus]

"No order is an order."

The wine looks good. Nikos looks down into his half-full cup of a different wine and considers how quickly he will need to drink it in order to refill it again.

"When do we post the notices that Riftwatch is no longer leaderless? A party is a good first welcome. But there must also be enemies who were hoping you were all gone for good. And who weren't invited."

[hassaran]

"They've been kind enough not to show up uninvited thus far," Yseult replies, "Perhaps we might simply let matters lie. Presumably they'll learn of our return the same way they learned of our absence."

[exsecutus]

"Gossip? Effective enough."

He drains a quarter of his cup and gives its contents a disconsolate swirl.

"It would be nice to strike a real blow. Something definitive." The word comes out only a little mushmouthed. He's practiced at this.

[hassaran]

"Yes," says Yseult, taking a testing sip from her glass, "That would be nice. It would be nice, too, if the Venatori just gave up. And to have a horse that can run ten miles in a minute, and to change my hair color with a snap of my fingers. Bottles that refill themselves. So many things."

[exsecutus]

Nikos actually huffs a laugh before he takes another big sip from his cup. Over half gone now. Only a mild reaction on his part, softening him for at least this moment. It could go the other way any second.

"Can we ask the mages about the bottles. If we can get that one, I'll find some inspiration to deal with the Venatori."

[hassaran]

"There are enough of them about, you may as well." Having apparently not hated the sip she tried, Yseult pours a fuller measure of wine into her cup. "There may be work in Perendale soon, if that would suit. I recall how strongly you felt about it the first time."

[exsecutus]

Perendale.

Nikos' mood sours almost instantly. He scowls into his cup before he drains its contents, and reaches for the wine she's poured out for herself.

"Am I allowed to feel strongly again?" The itch in his palms gets suddenly worse as he fills his own cup. More helpfully: "What's the work?"