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

[armd]

Oh.

Abby nods, and some of the tension goes out of her shoulders. She explains, "The reactions have kind of been a mixed bag." Byerly, for example, asked her: how old are you? like he couldn't believe somebody Abby's age could be capable of violence like that.

"She was here for a couple of months before I showed up. Scared the shit out of us when we ran into each other in Kirkwall, but we ended up calling a truce. That- time at the baths, that was a day or two after we broke it."

[laruetheday]

“I bet they have,” Clarisse says, with a sharp little grin. There are always people who are into thinking things over, or talking things out, who don’t fall to action first. Research, diplomacy, those types. She’s sure they gave Abby and Ellie a hard time about it.

“Well, you know. Peace is a joke.” She says it lightly enough that the line could be a joke itself; she’s not as wholeheartedly into the idea of destruction as she used to be. Still, she’s not totally kidding.

[armd]

"Yeah."

Hang on, actually, Abby doesn't want to talk about this at all. Because she tried really hard to keep the peace with Ellie, but then she hit her down in the cellars, hard enough to break, and she wishes she hadn't. She can't look at Clarisse's little grin either. She feels briefly nauseous, and exhales tightly. "Can we talk about something else?"

It's kinda crazy how many times she's had to ask people to stop talking to her about Ellie, but there you go.

[laruetheday]

The sudden shift in Abby takes her by surprise. It’s like one second they’re having a normal conversation… okay, not normal, but shit, this is the first time Abby’s talked to her about anything real and hasn’t gotten annoyed or wanted to leave. And then she gets that look on her face and she won’t look at Clarisse and she wants to talk about something else.

“Okay. Whatever.” Is she offended? Maybe a little. Abby basically told her to ask about the thing with Ellie, but now she feels like she’s in trouble for doing just that.

“What do you want to talk about then?”

[armd]

Oh Clarisse is gonna make her choose, huh. Well...

She casts around for something, ignoring Clarisse, because it feels like she's trying to make eye contact with her. "I dunno." Not Ellie. How hard could it be, c'mon. Eventually she says, a bit lamely, "Thanks for the Satinalia gift. It's cool."

[laruetheday]

A snort. "Back atcha."

She's not being sarcastic. The polish is gonna come in handy for sure, even if Abby helped herself to it first.

"If you want different gods on your drachmas, you can switch them out," she adds. Because she's not sure which ones Abby would've chosen if it had been up to her.

[armd]

She could have had the sword that went with the polish too, but Abby has long since circulated it back into Riftwatch's stock. Didn't suit her.

"Yeah?" Ooh, she wants to see, "Okay." She understands the god symbol aspect of the coin face, but what she didn't recognise was, "What's the building on the other side of them?"

[laruetheday]

Clarisse finally drops Abby's hand, but only so she can turn and skate backward for a little while, like the showoff she is. Besides, Abby's doing okay now, she won't fall.

"The Empire State Building," she says. Then, because... apocalypse, "In New York City?"

[armd]

Abby wobbles a little bit, right as her hand is let go, adjusting for the absence of Clarisse. She's got the hang of the movement, so she straightens up quick.

"Oh."

She should... probably stick to going forward, and not try to copy Clarisse. "I never got out that far east. What happens in the Empire State Building?"

[laruetheday]

Clarisse sighs. "It's where the gods live. At the top. It's where they moved Olympus to."

She knows how unhinged that sounds, but she's sort of hoping Abby won't call her on it. It's not all that much more unhinged than the Greek gods having American kids, right?

"It's why my demigod camp was on Long Island," she adds. "Close by."

[armd]

Nah, she's gonna. "Why New York?" Why not somewhere more exotic...

The Greek gods having American kids is gonna get its own bewildered comment eventually anyway, so Clarisse may as well accept her fate now. "What's demigod camp like?"

[laruetheday]

"Why not New York?" Clarisse counters. Mostly because she doesn't have a good answer to that question. Finally she manages to come up with something. "They move around with Western Civilization as, like, a concept. So... when they showed up in America, New York City made sense."

It'd be a better explanation if someone like Annabeth was the one giving it, but unfortunately Abby only gets Clarisse.

As for demigod camp, "It's the coolest place ever. We got grouped up by our godly parent, so I lived with all of Ares' other kids. It's... it was a good place to grow up. I learned a lot." She actually sounds kind of emotional about it.

[armd]

But New York City isn't even the capital-

Whatever. Clearly Clarisse doesn't really get it either, so there's little point in nitpicking, and Abby's just been given a whole lot of new information to question her about. Like, "All of Ares' other kids? How many of you are there?"

Like, she knows Zeus kinda got around but...

[laruetheday]

"I don't know," Clarisse says, "like fifteen?"

Ugh, more maybe? Ares cabin used to have about twelve, give or take, but then the gods had sworn to start claiming all of their kids, and ever since then the number's been going up, slow but steady.

[armd]

This information would have stopped Abby in her tracks if she knew how to stop. "You have fifteen siblings?"

This is something an apocalypse baby cannot begin to wrap her head around. "And you met them for the first time at summer camp?"

[laruetheday]

"I have fifteen demigod siblings," Clarisse says. "There are more, but they're immortal. Ares' kids with Aphrodite mostly."

There's a pause, and then she says, "And yeah, we met at summer camp." It's no big deal, okay?

[armd]

It's not, Abby's just trying to imagine what it would be like to go to summer camp for the first time and immediately find out you have fifteen demigod siblings. Seems like that would maybe, like, ruin your summer a little.

But what does she know.

"Back home, most people my age are mistake babies," she says. The thought doesn't appear to bother her. "But these days most settlements are established enough that it's kinda possible to start a family if you really want."

[laruetheday]

Hm. A thing she's never considered before: how fucking inconvenient it would be to lug a screaming baby around some zombie-infested town. Gross.

"Huh. Well, if the gods exist in your world, I'm sure they're still having mistake kids, too." It's meant to be commiserating, honest.

[armd]

"I don't think gods exist in our world," she says sarcastically, "Otherwise they'd fucking do something about it."

Right? Aren't gods supposed to... make the world a better place. Die for people's sins. Shit like that.

[laruetheday]

Clarisse just snorts.

"Yeah," she says, just as sarcastic, "sure they would."

Because no they fucking wouldn't. Not the gods she knows. But that's a nice thought.