[ 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

[exequy]

His eyes narrow, and he looks at the room for a moment, with a distinct air of that can't be right. The result of whatever mental equations he drunkenly attempts is:

"Fuck them." He looks back at her. "Are you still avoiding the bartenders at the Blue Dragon?"

The ones she slept with, like, three years ago.

[galvanising]

Nell rolls her eyes, expression instantly rearranging into exaggerated disgust. "I went back a couple months ago figuring it was probably fine by now. You think they would've forgotten me, maybe they didn't even still work there anymore. But no. I walk in and they're there and they're in the middle of a shouting match that'd clearly been going on a while because the place has half cleared out already. So they had a nice clear view of me as soon as I walked in the door, they both turn and start screaming at me instead of each other--" she throws up a hand and sighs.

"I think the Blue Dragon's done for good. Why?"

[exequy]

The story makes him almost laugh—one of those silent snorts, a little twitch of a smile—but why makes his face go flat and impatient. Don't make him say it.

[galvanising]

It takes Nell a minute—she's drunk and it's been a year—and then she smiles, but quickly squints up at the ceiling like she didn't and shrugs, casually. Super casually.

"Have you been to the new place west of there, the Half-Slaughtered Goat?"

[exequy]

Kostos doesn't smile, but some of the tension does bleed out of his shoulders and jaw. Not all of it, obviously. He'd be unrecognizable. But enough to qualify as friendly, for him, while he folds his hands on his stomach and contemplates the middle distance and the concept of half-slaughtered.

"Do they serve goat?"

[galvanising]

"Of course, they've got a whole one spinning on a spit in the hearth. But it's just up there all day for show til it's gone, so if you order too early it's raw and too late it's like it's been mummified for months."

[exequy]

"That's disgusting."

His pause is not actually for comedic timing. It's because his brain is a little sludgy, and because this feels very close to apologizing to someone, which he tries to avoid.

"Let's go tomorrow."