faderift | I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Open)

WHO: Cosima Niehaus, any Riftwatch personnel who have not been banished from the Gallows
WHAT: A chill birthday/dance party
WHEN: ~~March~~ Drakonis 9, evening
WHERE: Fourth floor of the former mage tower

If they weren't hosting company, there probably would have been a sign or two. Cosima is not, however, entirely clear what the Chantry thinks of dancing. As it is, Cosima makes a point to tell those she's friendly with, as well as the entirety of the Research Division; she also makes it clear they should feel free to spread the word, that any Riftwatch agents who want to stop in are more than welcome. That word is: A quiet party with dancing, Drakonis 9, a couple hours after dinner.

Arrival

As Cosima currently has the fourth floor to herself, she hasn't set up in her own room, but rather the one across the way. She's pushed the furniture toward the edges of the room to make a larger dance floor and requisitioned some plates and cups (that she has promised very seriously to return all of). She has placed her approximation of an iPod shuffle in a bowl to attempt to amplify its sound a bit, and it's jauntily playing whatever random song it has decided to play at the moment. There are no real decorations to speak of, but she's thrown some extra cushions on the beds to encourage their use as makeshift couches.

For refreshments, she encouraged people to bring anything they wanted, but she's provided a good quantity of wine and one unfancy but large lemon cake. These she's purchased with her own funds, rather than begged from the kitchen.

The party is late enough that anyone other than those on particular assignments (or guard duty) should be done with work. The music is unlikely to get especially loud under the circumstances, and Cosima isn't looking to throw a rager anyway. She mainly wants to rope some people into dancing with her, and she's not going to be put off by claims of being bad at it. Those who arrive early are especially vulnerable to being grabbed by the hand and given a good-natured tug.

Later

For those who stay late (or arrive late), things chill out in the early hours. In addition to the wine, there's some smoking, and Cosima is inclined to conversation, curled up on one of the beds pushed against the wall. The music is still playing, but someone needed the bowl for something else, so it's necessarily even softer; the candles have burned down, giving the room a warmer glow.

If someone seems hesitant to come join her, Cosima's quick to wave them over with a languid loop of her arm, unwilling to see anyone left out even as things get mellow.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Wow, the Research people sure do belong to the Research division, don't they. Gela finds herself tickled by it, fascinated by the ease with which Cosima tells her these things like they don't sound truly difficult; imagine your head of division telling you to 'figure out' more about red lyrium! Just like that!

Gela shakes her head, smile widening. "No, what you're doin' sounds a little unbelievable; I couldn't do it." Conversationally, curiously, "Does the Fade affect the flora and fauna? Does it affect us?"

"It definitely can, yeah, for sure." She tucks her legs up, shifting to sit a bit more comfortably. "So there seems to be some element of randomness to the effects, but we've observed a few. Sometimes they give plants or animals more durability; that's why Fade-touched materials are valuable for making armor or weapons, from what I understand. Sometimes they can make animals bigger than they'd normally be, sometimes more aggressive. We got a chance to study a few Fade-touched nugs here in the Gallows a couple years back, their behavior didn't seem to change at all as far as we could tell. Oh," clearly just thinking of it, "there's also this Antivan amateur zoologist who's, like, obsessed with the topic. I keep meaning to ask if I can write him, I know he was mainly a diplomatic contact, but it seems like he may have made some useful observations."

She smiles, ruefully, and adds, "Sorry, sidetracked for a minute there." She realizes she may have the tendency to ramble a bit.

"No, no." She's interested, it's interesting. Both because of the subject matter and the way Cosima talks about it, illustrating with her hands as she goes. That makes Gela like it all the more, really.

"If you need any help hedgin' your way with the diplomat, we could look at a collaboration. I could talk with Byerly, on your behalf, if you want to draft up something in the meantime."

Cross-divisional friendship: helpful, perhaps!

"If you would, that'd be great," she says, smiling. "I don't know if the guy has any useful observations, but look, if he wants to collect all these Fade-touched animals, I assume he's at least looking at them a lot, what's the point otherwise?"

She seems pleased with the prospect, whether or not Gela secures Byerly's permission. On that note, she adds, "What do you do, mostly, for Diplomacy?"

She jokes, "We could tell him we have our very own Fade-touched wolf," because Jude has been in the Fade of course, from that time they were all traversing the Crossroads. "Bet he'd love that."

Anyway, "I talk to people. I'm good at talkin' to people.

I think?" She smiles, suddenly. "You tell me."

"Look, I'm not a diplomat, but you're doing great talking to me." She takes a drink of her wine. "You know, it's ... I think people sometimes think I'll be good at that kind of stuff because I'm not randomly rude to people in real life. But being friendly and being diplomatic are different, you know? Related, but I admire the skill that goes into the latter. I say what I think too much, really."

She'd wondered, at home, if she'd ever get tenure, but she's not sure whether that joke will translate — do they have tenure at the university in Orlais? — so she skips it.

"Luckily for me, Provost Stark seems to like that."

Gela hums, finger coasting the edge of her own glass, "You can still say what you think! But you have to be careful about it. Sometimes you can be rude right to somebody's face without them realisin' it."

Which is always fun. She's grinning toothily now. "If you say anythin' with a big enough smile, you can confuse most people into thinkin' whatever you're sayin' is positive."

Is she doing that right now? Hmm.

"What's workin' with the Provost like?"

Gela's observation about smiling gets a warm one from Cosima, but she answers the question.

"Stark's a good guy. I mean, pretty full of himself, which is obnoxious sometimes, but it would be way more obnoxious if he didn't care about his work. And he's pretty brilliant, though he doesn't need to hear that from me. He wants to take good care of his people in Research, and I respect that." A small shrug, and she adds, "And even though we're from different worlds, we overlap a lot on culture, which can be nice, you know? Even after five years in Thedas, it feels like I'm still tripping over all the stuff I don't know, and it's nice to be able to make a joke about a story or a famous person and know he'll probably get it."

I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Open)

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dw cosima i was sidetracked for four weeks

what is time even

fake

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