[ 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

[sulahnan]

[ She scoffs lightly, tch, no. ]

He's only like... ten years older than me.

[ Comparable to the age difference between herself and Matty. ]

[inkindled]

[He clicks his tongue against his teeth, incredulous.]

Get out.

[sulahnan]

No, really! Well...

[ She tips her head back and forth. ]

So probably like, eleven years older, then, 'cos I turned twenty-nine last month, but still. That's nothin'.

[inkindled]

Are you mental, that's loads of, [of....?] not nothing. Like, think of it this way. When you were a baby, he was eleven years of age. At least. Maybe more 'cause we don't actually know his age, do we.

[sulahnan]

Sure, but I'm not a baby now, am I?

[inkindled]

Obviously-- [Though it comes out lazily, more like obvsly.] --but that's still the distance, innit. Age distance. And that doesn't go away, that's forever.

[sulahnan]

[ She blinks at him, slowly, like there's something else she'd like to say, but then a furrow knits between her brows and she holds a hand up behind her ear. ]

Sorry, what was that? Are there maggots in my ears? No? I must not be able to hear you over this age distance between us.

[inkindled]

Wha, that's-- [He shakes his head, to clear it.] Hang on, that's not on. That's not what I meant. We're different, you and I. We're all right. We're like-- Well, and it doesn't matter, 'cause I'm not bloody flirting with you, am I, so even if that is true, s'not the same, and we're friends, anyways, have been, and I'm not--

And maybe there are maggots in your ears, besides!

[sulahnan]

You're so easy!

[ She guffaws, far too delighted about being able to rile him up. A real knee-slapper. ]

Anyway, he turned me down so it double-doesn't matter.

[inkindled]

[...oh.]

Shut up.

[--Mumbled, as a flush starts to color Matthias' cheeks. He scowls, just a little--but it quickly gives way to a grudging acceptance--and she is his friend, so if anyone is allowed to take the piss out of him, it's her.

And there's more important things. Like--]

If he turned you down then he's an idiot as well as old. So.

[sulahnan]

Eh, getting turned down doesn't bother me.

[ She's got...well, some shortage of options of late, actually. But she understands Tony's hang-ups well enough and can't blame him for being reticent. ]

...What were we talkin' about?

[inkindled]

Er.

[How, is what he wanted to say, all emotions and pride and secret sensitivities, but her question derails that thought.

Oh, right. Well, here, first: he reaches to try to get the joint back from her again.]

Dunno.

[sulahnan]

[ She relinquishes it, content that he isn't about to have a panic attack or a bad trip or something. He'd be sweaty and nauseous by now if he were. ]

Hmm. Well, it'll come to us or it won't.

[inkindled]

[Pleased that he's evaded his own guilt for a moment longer, and with the joint recovered, Matthias tries to do as she'd instructed. He does better at it this time. Barely has a cough to suppress, and when he does suppress it, he doesn't choke on it.

In the room, the music changes. Someone else is playing; the pace is slower. It reminds of something. Butter, maybe. A new thought comes to him, elbowing in. He looks over at Athessa again.]

Hey. D'you believe in love? Like--actual love. Real. And all.

[sulahnan]

[ Okay. Unexpected, and... weird. ]

Uhm. Yeah? What do you...Like whaddya mean?

[inkindled]

Like-- love?

[Erm. He scratches at his cheek.]

I dunno how else to say it, like-- like can you be in love, forever?

[sulahnan]

Phoar...when you put it like that... I kinda hope not.

[ You mean she has to be in love with Ciara and Derrica and know that they can't love her back... FOREVER?! ]

But I mean like, when you think about love, is it real people love, or storybook love?

[inkindled]

Didn't read a lot of storybooks.

[Or, like, any.]

Real, I s'ppose. Real people. People can fall in love, yeah? And it can last ages. Actual Ages, maybe even. What'd be wrong with forever?

[sulahnan]

[ Yeah she didn’t read any storybooks either but they had street plays for kids based on them. ]

Forever’s a long time, and love isn’t always mutual.

[inkindled]

Well, no. 'Course it isn't. But that's how you know that wasn't it, right? If it wasn't mutual and it didn't last then that wasn't the big sort of love. 'Cause like, there are different sorts, aren't there. There's love like friends and there's love like that people feel for relations--sisters and brothers, and parents, and all--and there's smaller sorts for just--smaller times, and I reckon you can even be in love with someone for a bit, a year or less, even, everyone's felt a bit of that--but that's not love-love. That's-- bigger.

Or I think it is, anyways. I dunno. I think it's out there.

[sulahnan]

[ Athessa listens, silently, then thinks about what Matty's saying for a long time. Eventually, she heaves a sigh and shifts her weight slightly as if she might find a position that makes telling this story more comfortable. ]

I fell in love for the first time when I was...oh, fifteen, sixteen? Her name was Ciara. I mean, it might still be, I dunno what happened to her, if she's still alive or what. We--she kind of...picked me up and put me back together when I was in pieces and she made hell almost bearable.

[ Whenever she thinks of Ciara, Athessa sees the face, feels the warmth and the care, the love she felt and was once so sure was real. What she doesn't see is the location, the pain, the discomfort or the money changing hands. Until recently, she didn't even think about what brought her to Ciara in the first place. About Devigny, and what he did. What he was still doing until Deimos killed him.

Is killing for someone love? ]

But I couldn't take it. I needed to leave Kirkwall, distance myself from...everything, ya know? I thought maybe I could get a fresh start if I left, and I wanted her to come with me. But when I asked--begged her to come to Rivain with me, she...wouldn't. She said what we had wasn't real, and that she didn't and couldn't love me. It's been fourteen years and I don't know what I'd do if I saw her again, but I know that when I think about her...it hurts. Even now.

[inkindled]

[Aware that he was about to be told a tale, Matthias had begun to settle in, as is customary when you're pissed (or something equal to being pissed) and someone is launching in to a tale. All of those preparations had very quickly stilled, as Athessa's story takes shape.

This is new information, new bits of Athessa that fit into place. Come up as he did, Matthias knows to stay still. To listen, only, especially when you haven't got anything to say. The urge is there--because Athessa is his friend, because you don't sit by while a friend is hurt, because he always has got something to say--but he suppresses it, blearily navigating the paths of what she's telling him about herself. And about love, which--]

That doesn't make sense.

[He blurts it out before he can stop himself.]

You're, that's-- That doesn't make sense. If you had something with her, then she would've-- I mean, you're you. She-- What, she'd been lying, is what she meant? For all that time before?

[sulahnan]

[ She shrugs, a rueful little smile finding its way onto her face because Matty's asking the same questions she's asked herself ever since. ]

I guess so. She was either lying while we were together, or lying to get me to leave, I dunno. She didn't ask me to stay, I reckon because she knew why I wanted out so bad.

[ Another sigh, and Athessa tips her head back to let it rest against the wall. ]

I dunno what point I'm trying to make other than love isn't simple, or ideal, or always nice. Sometimes it just hurts, and hurts for a long fucking time.

[inkindled]

Well--yeah. Yeah, I know that. I didn't mean...

[Or did he? It was a stupid question. A child's question. Why is he an idiot. Matthias hunches forward, pulls his knees up to his chest. But he still can't leave well enough alone, so after only a moment, he shakes his head.]

Really doesn't make any sense. Why would she lie for--what, how long? Months and months, at the least. What'd be the purpose of that? And, but then-- [Oh, here's a thread to hold to; he straightens up a little.] --that wasn't it, then. It's yet out there. Someone else, something else, 'cause you've not given up, have you? Even if it hurts--might be over with one person, at one time, but it's not the end.

[sulahnan]

You're asking the questions I've been asking for years, mate.

[ And she almost laughs, because she had given up, and then Derrica happened, and she's not sure what to do or think or feel anymore. ]

I really wanted it to be the end. 'S why I never really get too deep with people, ya know? Just casual. Fun. Not complicated. Or...that's how it was supposed to be.