faderift | OPEN: this will be a better year

OPEN: this will be a better year

WHO: Everyone
WHAT: First Day
WHEN: Wintermarch 1 (forward-dated)
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Scouts from both the Western Approach and Emprise du Lion are welcome (but not required) to have returned to Skyhold in time for this event.

There have been better First Day feasts, and less crowded ones, and cheerier ones. It isn't a good year for many to look back on, and this one isn't starting any better. Reports from both Eastern and Western Orlais are grim. Many in the Inquisition can't afford to take more than a few hours away from their work, if that.

But for those who can, the ambassador does her best. At lunchtime some tables, hot food, and finery are reserved for visiting nobility and wealthy pilgrims--cause for grumbling in some quarters, perhaps, but they're the people filling the Inquisition's coffers, and allowances must be made--but there's plenty of stew, bread, and ale for everyone, even with the soldiers and refugees who stay outside the fortress invited inside for the holiday. The recently repaired garden and its carefully tended plants aren't off limits, but anyone noisy and holding a drink will be stopped at the door; the battlements, with their potential for deadly falls, are blocked by Inquisition guards. But the courtyards brim with people, most of them happy despite the possibility that the world might end before another First Day arrives.

If the courtyards are too full of tipsy visitors for comfort, there's also the valley beyond the fortress, expansive, barren, and covered in snow. By the river the soldiers help the refugees make a bonfire larger than would ever be allowed inside Skyhold's walls, and some lend their shields to use as sleds down the embankments. A group of scouts start the most intense game of hide and seek Thedas has ever seen, with snowballs to the face for whoever is found first. In the camp, a refugee girl with her hand wrapped in a green scarf chases other children around the tents, shouting raaar, I'm from the rifts!

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"No... I'm not, I'm just another elf," she said, shaking her head. The woman was touching her. How... strange.

"Not by a Circle, if that's what you mean. I was always in the alienage. But, after my mother was taken, I was taken in by a mentor. She had been in the Circle, but escaped years before I was born. She taught me for twelve years. She was old and very recently passed. After she was taken care of, I left for the Inquisition."

"Oh." Well, the disappointment is rather clear in his voice, now isn't it? After a moment, he looked at the roots and stated, "Is this the Lady Sina, then?"

Because Pel said there was one other who was a superior at this sort of plant magic.

"Ah, morena de mi corazón!" Zevran calls in Rivaini rather than Antivan, it seemed a touch similar to what she was used to- and he'd just finished that song after all. It is only appropriate! He finishes the song with a flourish and offers a hand, grin wide and warmed with joy and wine.

"My lady, I won't say what they've been ... but let's just stay with handsy." He stated dryly, before he quirked an eyebrow at her. Then with a completely straight face he stated, "How do I know you are not a spy, sent to get my guard down?"

Metaphorically speaking, he is willing to let his own hair down. If for only a little bit of the dry humor he enjoys.

When he halts abruptly, Kain breathes a sigh of relief. He’d been on a course that would surely have ended up in a truly awful collision from the look of it. He smirks a little at the templar who’s saved him. At this hour and stage of tipsiness, anything seems possible.

“If I were to take a lance in hand, it might actually work… we can sled dramatically at Corypheus.”

Kain takes his face out of the snow and looks over at her, spitting out some that’s gotten into his mouth. “But did you see that? I went farther and faster than I ever have before! None can defeat me.” Yep, he even sees this as a huge challenge, something to be the best at.

Though owww, he’s in a lot of pain and if he doesn’t take that potion it’ll only get worse. Kain reaches out for it, even if a little grudging. “I’ll take you up on your offer, though. You have me curious.”

"He'll just be glad because he doesn't have to play the 'giant' anymore for the boys." He's teasing of course. Though there are other mages around his age, Roul had taken a liking to him pretty quickly, more than likely because of their similar temperaments. That and the man enjoyed that Sam often asked him for help.

"I've missed you all, too. Is everything... everyone alright?" He's not going to say it, but hopefully Adelaide will pick up that he's talking about that time - dealing with the abomination - last month.

It's a scout she's friendly with in passing that tells her that she has to go into the valley, that there's something to see and so grumbling and complaining, she makes the journey, bundled up and clutching her mug of mulled wine like her life depends on it.

What she sees is certainly worth it. More than worth it.

It takes her breath away, like the stories she was told of Albas by Brunilda and she smiles just like the children, laughing as she speaks.

"Someone made this," she says quietly, unable to keep it to herself. "Someone. Made this."

Peeking out from behind a bunch of barrels with a tiny elf girl and a little boy, teaching them the tricks of the trade, when the snowball catches her in the face.

"Hold the fort, I'll go deal with this," she whispers to her brave companions, creeping around and keeping low as she looks for the red robe with a steely glint in her eye. Again she finds cover and whistles sharply, jerking her head.

"Hey, hey señor, tsst, here!"

Sina gave a small snort at the honorific, but smiled a little. "It's Sina, anyway," she said easily. Lady? Probably not, at least not by human standards.

It takes him a moment to pinpoint just who was yelling his name, smiling when he finally spots Araceli making her way through the crowd. At seeing the awkward almost hug, watching as she considered the plate in her hands, he chuckles, reaching out to rest a hand on one of her shoulders.

"I'm glad to be back and, yes, thankfully in one piece. It's good to see you as well."

Cade pursed his lips and glanced at her sidelong, knowing she meant to communicate something but not knowing quite what. He understood that she was human, and could glean from their interactions that she was very perceptive, but disjointed. Her thoughts and words didn't always make sense, at least not to anyone but her.
He was also coming to understand that the girl didn't mean him any harm, even if she was uniquely capable of setting off the worst parts of his consciousness. Having paid more attention to her lately, there was something in her bearing that he recognized on a deep and almost unconscious level. They were similar, in a way.

"I'm not sure I understand," he said, quietly, almost gently.

Salvatore laughs, taking that as a yes. He doesn't get a chance to return the first embrace because Alayre is suddenly pulling away and looking at him. But then there's another embrace - and that he returns.

He didn't expect a kiss - even one so innocent. His grin is crooked and he catches his bottom lip between his teeth. "If this is how you are when I go away, perhaps I should leave more often. Though ... I missed you as well."

He shakes his head. "I mostly wandered around dying of thirst and discovering new places sand could get tucked into. We've got reports with all the ugly details. Let's not reunite with something so grim."

The surprise is not because he's never seen a Qunari - he's seen too many actually - but rather because he had been making a point of staying clear of any them. So much for that seeing as one had literally sat down next to him. The only reason he doesn't up and just leave is because he's noticed a number of them in Skyhold, though this is the first time he's seeing her.

The way she says the introduction makes it obvious that this isn't the first she's had to give it. Hearing that she isn't part of the Qun helps settle him a bit, but it doesn't stop him from keeping up his guard. Last time he had done that he had been nearly run through.

Slowly, Garris grabs one of the extra blankets and slides it towards her. It's not exactly what he was been offering before he realized what she was, but their current distance was close enough.

"What's the difference?"

Her nose wrinkled faintly, but it was hardly the first time miscommunication had been an issue. "It doesn't fit the way it used to," she explained after a moment. "It's harder to keep the strings separate. The ends get lost. It's...not actually that easy."

But she was working around it as best she could, if only to communicate to him somehow, someway, that he wasn't alone. That he didn't need to be. Maker knew she'd wondered if she was ever going to escape the nightmare that Tevinter had been. How could she not want to reach out to someone similarly trapped?

Even if it wasn't his body stuck back there.

Sal steps back from a conversation - not one he was invested in - and turns and takes two steps before he's suddenly face to ... shoulder? with another man. He shields his drink as he moves back. "No, not at all, um..."

You? He looks up, frowning. Recognition dawns. "You!"

Sal isn't trying to hide - no point really - but he keeps low behind a mound to pack his snowballs, only popping up to find his targets and attack. He's rolling a fresh pile of snowballs when he hears something. Someone. He looks around, and spots the source.

He looks around, then back to her, then points to himself questioningly.

"Who? Me?"

Alayre is beyond ecstatic to have Salvatore back at long last. He honestly missed the witty necromancer and for good reason. Ill rumors about the journey beyond made Alayre a tad nervous. He feared that Salvatore would return in a coffin rather than alive and well. That's why he's so grateful to have him back. Alayre was worried.

"Don't you dare make a sport of this!" He grumbles as he embraces Salvatore again for good measure. It feels so good to hold him like this. "If you do, I'll punish you." Of course Alayre is merely joking.

"Was it truly that bad? Honestly, I do believe we should leave that out of discussion since I have good news to share." A cheerful grin lingers upon Alayre's face as he grins at Salvatore.

" I'm officially the Head Chairman of the New Order."

Edited 2016-01-01 03:46 (UTC)

"Sure, I haven't seen the garden since I left. Speaking of which, here." Korrin hands the bag to Sina, shrugging. "It's just seed packets. Some herbs and the like, but a trader we passed had some various flower types as well. They should all be labeled."

Ah, so not the same thing. Though if Korrin had been less preoccupied, she would have realized what else might be bothering him. Her expression is a little sheepish as she nods, slipping an arm around him companionably.

"If he can get here before it ends, I know he will. Whatever he had to do, I'm sure it's important, but it won't keep him away any longer than need be." She can't help but wonder what took him away, but if Krem needs her to know, he'll tell her.

Edited 2016-01-01 01:10 (UTC)

"Yes, I did see. You proved yourself a 'real man'." She can't help but smirk a little, remembering their drunken conversation or more accurately, his drunken side of it. "Well, you don't seem to be jumpy about magic, so I figure you're the perfect person to test this with. That shield ought to hold the both of us, I believe."

Korrin takes the blanket, not about to push the implied earlier offer given his discomfort and wanting something to take off the chill. Trekking all over Emprise du Lion didn't give her an immunity to the cold, but it did wear down her desire to put up with it when she doesn't have to do so.

"It's simple; Tal-Vashoth are those who leave the Qun, and when they have children those are the Vashoth, who are born completely outside it. We have our own names and can choose our own path in life without it being dictated to us. Though more often than not, we're mercenaries."

"Araceli?" Korrin perks up the moment she hears Araceli's voice, turning toward it but not able to spot her immediately thanks to people in the way. But thankfully, Araceli breaks free before the Vashoth woman loses patience. Her own shoves are likely to be a lot less gentle, after all.

A wide grin forms as she has a clear path to Araceli at last, and Korrin meets her halfway. She indeed is ready to catch her and upon doing so can't help but pick her up and spin her around. The tiny human weighs nothing to her, and she's been aching to do that all day.

That it's slower in forming is just fine with Korrin, who observes the process intently. If she could to that herself...but right now, there were so many other things higher on the priority list. Artistry, much as she enjoyed the result, has to fall behind. Her smile grows again upon seeing the finished fox in all its wintery glory.

"Oh, it's beautiful. Thank you, Adelaide. She'll love it, I'm sure."

Freshly back from the frigid Emprise, Maxwell's thoughts had been more on thawing the ice from his bones and sleep (so much sleep) than partying, but when he realized the occasion, he managed to find the energy to join in the fun. First Day only came once a year after all.

Gardens:

After filling his belly with something warm and filling, Maxwell took the gardens, wanting to see how things had gone while he'd been away. Quietly he walked around, smiling gently to those he passed.

It looked better. Not what it had been, but better.

Still though, he thought perhaps he should find somewhere else to sleep and call his own corner.

Bonfire:

The last two great fires he'd been attendance for had been somber and terrifying events, respectively. How wonderful it was to have one to mark a good occasion.

When he was approached for a dance, he went with a laugh, turning from partner to partner until finally he had to put up his hands and beg a break. Just a small one, to catch his breath.

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OPEN: this will be a better year

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valley;

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Maxwell Trevean