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

[laruetheday]

'Everybody' seems like a safe bet to her.

"Yeah, but it's the best place we have. Anyway, I think the risk just makes it more fun." If there isn't the looming threat of injury and/or death, is it really a good time?

[favoriteanalyst]

"I know the sea's too rough around here to do much of anything with it...probably," he says with thoughtfulness. Because he's not sure. He really doesn't know much of shit for shit about the ocean. "Though if we got a couple of mages on it, I wonder if they could freeze some of it, down by the docks maybe. Or further along the coast where there's actual beach." Instead of Sheer Cliff Face, you know.

"Guess then the real risk is sliding right into the sea in damn near wintertime, so better to get people bashing their faces to rock where they can be treated rather than lose them to the waves and cold." But like. Put a pin in that idea for summertime, maybe.

[laruetheday]

"Huh," Clarisse says, thoughtful. Then, "Do people ever do stuff like swim or cliff dive when the weather gets warm?"

She was here over the summer, but toward the tail end of it, and to be honest, she hasn't really been thinking about socializing or doing anything but sulk and work out until... recently. Like the last month or so.

[favoriteanalyst]

"Swim, definitely." Ellie's promised/threatened to teach him to swim after the whole nearly drowned by an assassin in Antiva thing, so he knows people do it for fun! "Can't say I recommend diving off cliffs unless you want a very crunchy end on the rocks below." The cliffs around are impressive and dangerous. And in general, the premise of diving off a cliff for fun sounds insane to him so why would you even???

"Someone explained the idea of..." He has to pause and search for the word. It feels like it's on the tip of his tongue. "Eh...starts with an s, too. But balancing on a wave on a piece of waxed wood, as fun and not a method of dying. I gotta say, it's inventive, the things people get up to on the water."

[laruetheday]

"Well, you're supposed to jump far enough out so you don't land on the rocks." But noted. Swimming, okay. Cliff diving, probably not.

"Oh," she says, "surfing? I've never done it. It looks cool, though." But she's having a hard time picturing most of the people here doing it. Not that they physically couldn't, but it seems like the kind of shit they'd think of as frivolous.

[favoriteanalyst]

"Probably supposed to find a much nicer section of beach and ocean that getting pounding against rocks is less of a risk." Fair. Still sounds crazy, no thank you.

He snaps his fingers, or, he makes the motion, but the gloves muffle the sound. "Surfing, that's what it was. You've seen it done before? Is it as dangerous as it sounds?"

[laruetheday]

"Probably," she admits. But what's the fun in that?

"I've seen it. It can be dangerous, but most people stick to, like, baby waves. It's only the people who are really good who go for the hardcore ones."

[favoriteanalyst]

"So what is it that you do for fun, in or out of the water?" Or...hm, maybe that's not the right question, specifically. "Or what did you do. Before."

[laruetheday]

"I played basketball, rock climbed, stuff like that. Capture the flag, chariot racing..." She's counting off on her fingers. "Sometimes volleyball, swimming..."

Basically, if it involves moving her body, competing against someone, or both, she's into it.

"What about you?" Sue her, she's curious.

[favoriteanalyst]

He doesn't know what some of those even are, but it feels a little safer not to ask immediately. "Sounds like you're a very active young lady." Which, frankly, given the muscles on her, that's something he could've guessed even without the list.

"Me, I'm a bookworm." He looks solid enough that he clearly hasn't been just a bookworm his whole life. "Always want to be reading if I've got the free time to do it. And talking to people. Learning about them. Especially the Rifters." Hence this conversation, frankly. "I'm nosy like that."

[laruetheday]

Why does everyone she meets here love books so much? Damn. Even the fighters. (Is there something she's missing? No... surely not.)

"I'm not a big reader," Clarisse admits with a shrug. "But I'll tell you whatever you wanna know." She looks at him for several moments, hesitating, then adds, "And you don't really look like a bookworm. No offense."