SATINALIA

[incaenstrix]

WHO: Everybody!!
WHAT: SATINALIA!!
WHEN: Backdated to the first day of Firstfall
WHERE: Gallows courtyard
NOTES: Drunkenness and shenanigans. HALLOWEENMAS!!

This Satinalia is, perhaps, less grand than in years past. Blockades are still limiting access to luxury goods, after all, so the fine liquors and dainty foods that have been featured before are nowhere to be found. And Tertia, the temporary Morale Officer, doesn't have the connections or deft touch of organizers past, so things are rougher than they've been before - the musicians are less polished, the ale a little more watered-down, the decorations somewhat haphazard.

But you know what? It's still Satinalia. Nothing can really screw up Satinalia. Especially because there are some rather lovely touches, the best of which might well be the ice skating rink. A section of the Gallows Courtyard has been roped off and frozen over with magic, leaving a (largely) smooth sheet of ice covering it. Skates are available to borrow if you don't have a pair. Of course, some injuries are definitely going to result (if you skate off the edge, you're smacking into stone instead of a soft snowbank, which can be disastrous), but hey, it's fun.

Other perks are the bonfires, with mulled wine and cider being served out of cauldrons around them, where people might sit and reflect while watching the flame. There's also dancing, of course, with the musicians basically being any band that's been recommended by members of Riftwatch - so there are lots of half-competent cousins-of-friends playing here. What they lack in skill they make up for in enthusiasm; this is the first gig for a lot of them, and they're thrilled to be here.

One thing that's missing is the Satinalia fool being named ruler. Tertia wasn't familiar with this tradition and didn't arrange it - so there's a last-minute campaign being held, in which people can either nominate others or self-nominate to be named Riftwatch's greatest fool to be celebrated.

Enjoy yourself. Exchange presents. Get drunk. Have a blast. Don't lose any teeth.

Comments

i.

[tender]

"I miss your playing," might sound like flattery, but it's sincere.

The beat of hesitation that follows it, however, does resolve into a nod as she puts her hand into his.

"But I don't know the steps to this one."

All these years in Kirkwall, attending Satinalias where southern style of dancing was on full display, and all Derrica's managed was a handful of steps. Not out of time, just unfamiliar.

"You'll have to lead," she tells him, a condition, as her hand tightens in his.

[cozen]

"Lead!" Bastien echoes, even as he pulls her along and starts leading. "So much pressure."

But he's quite good at it in practice, this particular form of leading. He telegraphs steps in advance with little leans and twists of his shoulders so she doesn't have to look at his feet.

The musicians are doing their best. Their best still involves a few stops and starts and unexpected swerves off the beat.

"Do they celebrate Satinalia in Rivain?"

[tender]

"We do."

Present tense. Presumably Rivain is celebrating right now, so many miles to the north.

"Did they dance like this to celebrate in Orlais?"

Bastien is a generous dancer. Derrica has natural ability, quick reflexes, but how quickly she picks up the steps is all due to how clear Bastien makes each incoming movement to her. He leads her with his entire body, without any part of it feeling overbearing.

[cozen]

"Like this?"

He has led her into a particularly peasanty dance, which is further accentuated as he puts his free hand into his pockets—as far a cry possible from the way it is en vogue in Orlais this decade, arms in curves and poses—and makes the next few steps and twists especially foot-shuffling, soles scraping on the stone.

"Only at the fun parties. So there is very little hope of Riftwatch ever seeing it—unless we are invited to some baron's soiree first but get to leave early. Seems unlikely, though. Not least because there would be assassins," as he lets go of her hand for a turn that takes them, ideally, in opposite directions, "or a dragon, and those always take all night."

[tender]

"They do," she agrees, upon their reunion.

Antivan assassins had taken up the entire journey, last time they'd gone anywhere near viable party areas.

"Do you miss it? Orlais?"