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

[sprent]

Gela beams but shuts up, waiting. She is being extremely good by not teasing Ellie, just so you know, she is holding back to the best of her ability right now. It's just so refreshing to have a friend to talk to about these things, to link arms with and gossip, heads touching (not literally... but spiritually they're there). To Gela, this is so normal. God, she has missed normal.

Her eyes light up at the news. "Ooh," she says, intrigued, "Sounds like a bit of fun for the both of you! Are there rules?"

[notathreat]

"Uh, we didn't actually discuss it?" Should there be rules? Are there normally rules? Fuck, she doesn't know how this is supposed to go.

"Should there be?"

[sprent]

"If you're going to keep doing it there probably should be," she hedges, "Don't you think? So you know where the both of you stand."

Only smart?

[notathreat]

"I mean... I guess."

Ellie thinks back on the rooftop. The shotgunning that had most definitely turned into a kiss. That hadn't been planned. Could they have done that, if they'd decided to draw lines in the sand?

Ellie's stomach flips uncomfortably.

She hadn't drawn lines with Derrica- or at least, she thought she had. They turned out to be the wrong ones.

She doesn't want to fuck up her friendship with Clarisse.

"What are the rules normally? For this?"

[sprent]

"Well," she says, sensing some disturbance, "it changes dependin' on what you're doin', so there aren't really any set rules. Mostly you just sit down with the other person and talk about what you're both after out of the thing."

She adds, "I didn't mean to make it sound so serious! It doesn't have to be. It can be fun, discussin' what you want."

[notathreat]

It's a weird conversation she's having with Gela right now, so. Hell. Maybe it's worth having with Clarisse. It's something she can manage, if they wanna treat each other right.

But:

"What if I don't know what I want?"

[sprent]

"Well of course you don't know what you want," Gela says breezily, not looking back, "You're just a baby."

She is failing to hide a grin.

[notathreat]

Ellie roughly smacks her shoulder into Gela's, checking her on the ice -- if she hadn't just shown off her skill, she wouldn't have tried it, but really.

"For all you know I'm 200-something."

Which is a very mature and adult response.

[sprent]

Gela shrieks when Ellie shoves into her, and allows the momentum to push her further away so that she can safely call, "Two hundred what, days? Sounds right!!"

[notathreat]

"You're talking a lot of shit for somebody still in range," Ellie calls playfully, lifting both her eyebrows and sticking both hands into her pockets.

[sprent]

"You wouldn't."

Also: you can't! Because she is getting away... there she goes...