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

skating

[armd]

Nah. No, she's no good at skating, and isn't about to get out there while Clarisse is zooming around, doing tight, 90 degree angle corners. But she will be an unruly spectator- this involves gathering snow up into her mittened hands, and packing it tight, before she chucks it hard at Clarisse as she whizzes by.

Missing, obviously. It spatters across the ice.

But this gives her a heads up for the next one, which is being hurriedly made-

She's grinning when she calls out, "Show off!"

[laruetheday]

"Abby!"

Grinning, Clarisse skates over to her, seeming not to care about the fact that Abby's packing another snowball together. She's happy to see someone she knows, likes, and who isn't dressed like a fuckin' mermaid or something (jokes. kind of). She grabs Abby by the arm and tries pulling her out onto the ice.

"Come on, play hockey with me."

[armd]

It's true that Abby is not dressed like a fuckin' mermaid, but she did try to look nice, which really means she's wearing the clothes with the least amount of wear to them. Of note is her beautifully tailored jacket, a navy-blue hooded coat that a good friend gave her last Satinalia. She's done her hair differently for once.

Clarisse comes close enough that Abby would feel like an asshole for sniping her point blank, so she tosses the snowball to the ground, where it breaks up at her feet.

"I'm not very fast," is her protest, pulling back. She doesn't even have skates on!

[laruetheday]

Maybe Abby should've just sniped her point blank. Then at least she'd be having a snowball fight and not arguing about whether or not she needs to play hockey. Just saying.

"You don't need to be fast when you can body check someone into their next life," Clarisse argues, but she stops yanking on Abby's arm anyway. "Come on, Abby, you need to at least put skates on and come out here."

[armd]

Yeah, maybe she should have! She kicks snow at Clarisse's leg for no reason, and says, "Gimme a second," while she goes to get some skates. As much as she loves to bitch and complain, she's secretly glad she's getting included, that Clarisse wants her to join in.

Sitting at the edge of the ice with her butt in the dirt to lace them up, she says, "You know if I body check anybody into the stratosphere I'm going along with them, right." Not like she knows how to stop!

[laruetheday]

"Worth it," Clarisse crows, skating back and forth while Abby ties on her skates. Worth it as long as she isn't the one Abby's body checking, perhaps.

"You ever go skating as a kid?" she asks, just out of curiosity. "I did once or twice. They always played the dumbest music on the rink."

[armd]

"Sorta."

Not skating so much as... standing around on the ice. And trying not to fall over? And sliding around, and laughing about it, and holding really tight onto somebody's hands. She has a sense memory of that, and can't remember whose hands they were. It was probably in Salt Lake. "What kind of music did they play?"

She's been on a rink before, long-since abandoned, but she's never worn skates. Could never find a whole pair, or any that fit. People took them for the blades.

[laruetheday]

"Lame 80s pop shit, usually."

Clarisse's memories of skating are pretty fuzzy, too, to be honest. She went to someone's birthday party once (and did not get an invite the following year). Her mom took her another time (and they did not go back).

She was never one of those little girls who dreamed of being a figure skater. Clarisse, even as a kid in the single digits, dreamed of playing bloody games of ice hockey.

"You ready?" She reaches a hand down to haul Abby to her feet.

[armd]

"Ugh," Abby says, "No." But she allows Clarisse to haul her up, and guide her out onto the ice anyway, her other arm stuck straight out from her side for balance. This is going to go so well. It already feels a little off cuz she's so tall. She steps out awkwardly, and does not let go of Clarisse's hand.

"Now what."

girl help

[laruetheday]

"Put your arm down," Clarisse says, "you're embarrassing."

But she keeps hold of Abby's other hand and tugs her further out onto the ice, going slow. "Keep your center of balance forward, or you'll fall on your ass. And push out with your feet, one at a time, but keep 'em at an angle. Like this." She's demonstrating, see?

[armd]

"Fuck you," Abby shoots back, but she lowers her arm.

She sees. Kinda impossible not too considering all of her attention is on her skates. "Gimme a sec." She's holding tight and testing out the little pushes, skates at an angle. She's not that worried about getting started, it's the stopping and turning that's gonna be tough. "How's this." She's sorta doing it.

[laruetheday]

"You look like my grandma," is Clarisse's answer, but she still doesn't drop Abby's hand from hers.

"Just relax," she adds. Easier said than done, maybe. "If you're all stiff, you'll fall."

[armd]

"You're a horrible teacher." Where encouragement is concerned anyways, but she does try to loosen up, bending her knees a bit instead of staying intensely upright. She can go around like that, very slowly, essentially taking steps with ice skates on.

Despite everything, the progress makes her grin. Quick, breathless. "This is so cool."

[laruetheday]

Clarisse shrugs, totally unbothered by Abby’s assessment of her teaching ability. “You’ll figure it out on your own.” Sink or swim, the Ares method.

She’s smiling too. It’s kind of cute, because Abby looks so intimidating most of the time, to see her wobbling around on ice skates.

“Ready to go faster?”

[armd]

"Wait," Abby replies instantly, swatting at Clarisse, "Teach me how to stop first!"

Then she'll go faster. Yeesh!

[laruetheday]

Clarisse waits for nobody. She grips Abby's hand more tightly, starts pulling her along faster.

"Just, like, cut your skates to one side." She's confident that when the time comes to stop, Abby will, like a fledgling being pushed out of the nest, intuitively know what to do.

[armd]

Oh fuck, okay! There isn't even any uneven slopes or breaks in the ice where she can slow herself down, it's completely smooth. But Clarisse hasn't let go of her hand yet.

Abby, having a vision of what could come, half-laughs, "If you whip me around the corner I'll kill you-"

[laruetheday]

Clarisse is already whipping Abby around the corner before she can finish her sentence, because of course she is. And right at the worst possible moment to do so, she lets go of Abby's hand.

Fly free, my friend.

She's also laughing her ass off, in case there was any doubt over the whole thing being accidental.

[armd]

Abby shrieks. She goes hurtling off toward the edge of the rink; cutting her skates to one side doesn't work, because she doesn't do it hard enough. Predictably, she ends up wobble-smacking into the stone, and then she's down in a heap on the ice, panting. Fuck that knocked the breath out of her!

"Ow!"

She's groping at the wall, trying to haul herself up. "Clarisse! What the fuck!"

[laruetheday]

"Oh, shit—"

But she's still laughing even as she skates over to make sure Abby's okay. What? It was funny.

"Are you good?" Clarisse reaches down to try and help Abby up.

[armd]

That it was actually pretty funny is the worst part.

She's a bit red in the face because she's trying not to laugh with her; sat up, she looks at her hands critically. They're only a bit scraped from where she hit the wall, but tomorrow she's definitely gonna have a massive bruise on her ass.

"Ow," she says again, as Clarisse gets her back on her feet. She gives her a shove, but quickly grabs her hand again before she can glide away, jerking her back. "Don't let go!"

[laruetheday]

"Abby—" Clarisse is still catching her breath, still laughing a little bit, but she grips Abby's hand and tugs her closer. "You should have seen your face. Holy shit, that was funny."

She slings an arm around Abby's shoulder, just to be extra annoying. "You'll get me back." Which is as close to an I'm sorry as she's going to get, and also true, if she knows anything about Abby.

[armd]

"The face I made when I fell on my ass, you mean??" But she's mollified by Clarisse's hooting laughter, and the warm, strong arm that she slings around Abby as they start to go around again. The joke is on you cuz she kinda likes it actually even though she's pretending to grumble.

"I will. You'd better sleep with one eye open tonight, La Rue."

[laruetheday]

"Maybe I just won't sleep, then." But she sounds agreeable enough to the thought of Abby getting revenge on her.

This whole dumb thing reminds her of the shitty pranks everybody used to pull back at camp, but in the best way. Suddenly she's really glad that she ended up moving in with Abby, even if it means she's going to get beat up later. Worth it.

"Are you gonna dance later?" she asks, nodding in the direction of the bonfire and the music coming from across the courtyard.

[armd]

"I'm gonna sleep," Abby says, which ruins the whole sleep with one eye open threat but whatever, "Wine makes me sleepy. So you may as well."

She is definitely drinking tonight. Fuck it. She's tired of being so uptight and miserable! She's going to ice skate and sip mulled wine and sit by the fire and have a good goddamn time, just like everybody else.

To the tune of that, "Yeah, probably." She likes dancing, even if she's not very good. "You?"