[ 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

[cozen]

When Ellis reaches for the bottle, Bastien tosses it neatly across his legs into his other hand. He’s not that drunk.

But after a moment of consideration and a sidelong look, he transfers it to up onto his fingertips—all five of them, because he is too drunk to try balancing it on just one of them, given his odds of success sober would be even at best—and offers it up. Perhaps the Warden wants his drink, and who would Bastien be to deny him one, after all that fear and danger?

"I am surprised there is not a lot of singing, in that case," he says. "If I were a Warden singing whenever I was either afraid or relieved to be alive, I would never stop."

[heorte]

"Well, sometimes we must be very quiet," Ellis answers. "Because of the darkspawn, you understand."

Once in possession of the bottle, Ellis makes a show of examining the label. Or pretending to examine the label. He's not going to drink it, and now that he has it, he'll have to do something with it.

"Do you know the song about the crow and the three maidens?"

[cozen]

For a moment Bastien frowns and nods his head, not to indicate he knows it, but in the way of someone rapidly flipping through a mental catalog. Once he’s reached the end he says, “I don’t know. I don’t think so. How does it start?”

If this is a ploy to get Ellis singing—he’ll never confess.

[heorte]

"It's a Ferelden song," Ellis says, as if that explains Bastien's unfamiliarity. But it doesn't answer Bastien's question in return, which Ellis is clearly considering how to approach as he walks around Bastien to take the seat beside him and place the bottle on the floor.

"The truth of it? The song's always better when you've someone who can sing high enough for the maiden's parts."

And then, smoothly: "If you were to do one last go of it before we all went to bed, what song would you choose?"