Wintersend Gifts

[madame_de_fer]

WHO: Vivienne and YOU
WHAT: Giving out Wintersend gifts
WHEN: Wintersend (backdated to Feb 1st)
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: If you have a shred of positive CR with Vivienne, or happen to be someone that would be considered a key political ally to have, gifts are forthcoming.

Shoot me a message and I'll set you up a subthread. Come get your goodies!

Comments

Benevenuta

[madame_de_fer]

Much of the day has been spent delivering gifts to friends and potential allies within the Inquisition, including the other members of the Mage Council. Lady Thevenet is the last remaining Councilor to be seen to and that is for good purpose. Vivienne's extended a dinner invitation so that the ladies might enjoy some quality company for the evening.

[ungovernable]

It has been a busy while, for Benevenuta; her trip to Nevarra, trotting back and forth between Skyhold and Emprise du Lion, the acquisition of the sleek-coated spaniel bitch that keeps pace with her at her heels when she joins Vivienne in the evening. Not without a sense of relief for the opportunity to exchange their gifts pleasantly and privately - to relax, a little bit, for all that neither of them are ever really 'off' - does she accept the invitation, bringing with her two small boxes and her new constant companion ('Husband', who is also the constant companion of the stablehands when she's obliged to leave her behind to travel for the Inquisition).

To dress for dinner without the concern she might suffer a knife between her shoulder blades before the evening ends (or at least, not any more concern than is usual in Skyhold, as opposed to the viper's nest of the Nevarran court) isn't unpleasant, either. In Emprise du Lion, it must be all trousers and smart braids, and the familiar rustle of her own skirts is a sort of comfort in itself.

"Vivienne," she greets her, smiling. "You are too kind to me."

[madame_de_fer]

Benevenuta shows up looking as lovely and graceful as ever, and this is something Vivienne appreciates about her. Someone who understands the importance of looking well, speaking well, the challenges of dancing around words and actions. At least for this one meal, there should be less careful stepping and more genuine interaction. There's a distinction there that will go unremarked, but pleasant nonetheless.

Madame de Fer rises to her feet and smiles warmly. "I'm so pleased you could come, my dear. I've been looking forward to it all day." Which is not a pretty polite fiction. She glances down to her other smaller guest. "I see we have an addition to our dinner party. Who is this charming creature?"

A cute dog which is not a smelly mabari? Thank the Maker.

[ungovernable]

Vivienne seeming like a woman who may well appreciate the joke, the matter of the very lovely little lapdog trotting along at her mistress's heels is an excellent place to begin the matter of genuine interaction:

"Her name is Husband," Benevenuta says, sunny as she almost always is. "She came to me by a rather unusual route, but I must say I am glad of her companionship."

And it is rather like the lady to have kept the only handsome animal of the lot, Husband's puppies having been rather less comely.