faderift | Open: Party Preparations

Open: Party Preparations

WHO: Josephine, Vivienne, OPEN
WHAT: Preparing the Inquisition for the Soiree
WHEN: 15 Guardian to 14 Drakonis (about a month's span before the event)
WHERE: Skyhold, varies
NOTES: * Josephine is the hostess of the shindig. Matters regarding invitations, guest lists, admittance, entertainment, food, or general complaints/suggestions should be directed to her.
* Vivienne has personally invited three tailors from Val Royeaux to assist with clothes making for the attendees. She is available to assist with design selections and/or advice on how to behave.
* YOU are open and invited to grab your nearest and dearest CR to complain about the party, ask for a date to he event, complain you have nothing to wear.
* Belinda Darrow has donated from her own private purse to the cost of clothing which people could otherwise not afford.

The Orlesian tailors arrived in great state, bringing with them a cadre of servants, workers, and snotty attitudes. They hate everything. It is cold in Skyhold. It is damp. Everything smells of wet dog. The working conditions are abysmal. The food is criminal. There's not a damned thing they don't complain about, except for the piles of coin they stand to make from this soiree. Yes, they are more than content to build a fortune with exclusive work that will be seen by some of the aristocracy's finest.

Harritt apparently doesn't much like them either. They've taken over his Undercroft with their fabrics and threads, designs and opinions. Oh they have opinions. He stays to one corner, attending his work, and grumbling under his breath about the poncy cheesesniffers.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Red," Ariadne told one of the tailors, as politely as possible. "For my mother. She was sometimes called Rosaline."

And she realized, in that moment, that she'd never really talked about her parents with Katniss before. A funny thing, considering the fact that they were sisters now.

Hardly the funniest though.

"Oh, I doubt he's prettier than you," Ariadne said, turning back to Katniss.

"Red. You heard the lady." Katniss said, with a little more force than Ariande. She had her hands on her hips, grey eyes narrowed.

She paused, giving Ariadne a curious look. "What was she called, the rest of the time?"

Pursuing her lips, she smirked, "I'm sure that's an argument he and I will have."

Ariadne squirmed a little. Matter of instinct, more than anything else. Really, she had no reason to hide certain truths about her family from Katniss. Katniss would never know. She lacked the context to...well...to judge. To think less of Ariadne.

At least, she hoped so.

"Her name was Rotspine," Ariadne said evenly. "But they sometimes couldn't pronounce that, so they called her Rosaline. In the cities. A long time before I was born, I think."

Considering where Katniss's family came from, how she was judged on her own bloodlines on both sides of her cultural heritage? Katniss might be less judgmental than she thought.

"Rotspine... yes, I can see why she might want to go with Rosaline instead." She thought about that for a long moment, giving Ariande a quiet look. "You miss her? Your mother?"

It was, honestly, a question she'd never been asked before. Airy had to think about it for a moment, trying to choose her words carefully. Not so much to hide a lie as to find an appropriate way to express her feelings.

Language was some complicated without a physical component, sometimes.

"Yes," she said. "Sometimes. She died when I was ten." At least, she was pretty sure Rotspine was dead. Then again, if anyone of her family could have made it through that fire...

Besides Ariadne herself, of course.

"I think I miss my father more," she admitted. "I know that sounds horrible but... I probably took after my mother more than any of my brothers and sisters. Which is why I always felt closer to my father."

Katniss listened thoughtfully, while the tailor returned to the fittings, neatly tucking the green and gold material where it belonged, and not where it didn't.

She nodded her head slowly, before she sighed, "My father died when I was ten -- my mother wasn't around after I turned sixteen. Creators, she was barely around as it was. I definitely miss my father more than my mother. I don't really miss her at all."

She looked thoughtful then, "How large was your family? How many brothers and sisters? Were you the oldest?"

Ariadne let out something of a nervous laugh, turning her eyes down to the ground. Briefly, she glanced up at Katniss, under her long lashes, but a flush in her cheeks broke the eye contact again.

She was thankful that Alastrians weren't a known entity in this place. Her answer would give her away, almost immediately. Not even polygamous Daruc families had quite as many children as Alastrian families.

"I had nine sisters," she mumbled to the floor. "And ten brothers. I was in the middle."

Katniss ... blinked.

Then blinked again, her mouth dropping open a little.

Before she finally said weakly, "Were there a lot of twins in your family?" Because good grief, that meant Adelaide's poor mother had been pregnant every year that Ariadne had her in her life.

No. But litters were...well. The only way things were done.

Ariadne smiled weakly, glancing up at her newest sister. Her tenth sister. The only one left to her. "A lot of people make the same face you're making now when I tell them that," she said. Of course, she'd only told a handful of people. "And yes, multiple births are...common. In my family. Actually, in the whole realm."

If only Katniss knew that among the Alastrians, it was the male who had to bear the offspring.

"Mostly because pregnancy is so hard on a woman's body." She stated, with a faint smile. "I'm surprised your mother agreed to so many children -- but I suppose if multiple births are common then it makes more sense." She paused, then blinked, "Oh, does this mean you're a twin? Or maybe even a triplet?"

She suppressed a gentle laugh. It wasn't too easy on a man's body either.

"I was born about sixty seconds after my sister Phaedra," she said. Which was completely the truth. And if Katniss took it to mean she was a twin, that was just fine.

They'd been as close as twins at one point, anyway.

"The oldest was Galen," she continued. "And the youngest was my little sister Ravenica. It was hard to go from having so many other children around to being the only one. Too quiet."

That is precisely how she was going to take it, and she smiled at that. Then the last part of the statement came out, and she frowned a little.

"Wait, you mean, all your brothers and sisters are dead? Besides, well, me?"

Ariadne knew the probabilities that they had survived the fire. Not insurmountable, especially for Alastrians. But she also knew the probabilities that they would have found her in the last nine years. Even if they'd survived, they weren't entirely alive.

No surprise, given the Red Dragon's feelings about Alastrians.

"I was the only survivor from my family," she said. "When the fire came, I was in a tree, over the canopy. They were all down below."

She looked down at the distant hem of her dress, with a deep sigh. Then she looked up, giving Airy a quiet glance.

"I'm sorry, Airy. I shouldn't have brought it up. It must be incredibly painful for you."

"It is," Ariadne replied. "But don't be sorry about it. It's...good to talk about it. I think it's important. Because...if I talk about them, then they're not really gone."

At least, that was what the sisters at her missionary school used to say.

She gave Katniss a small smile. "You look like us, you know. With those eyes. You'd fit right in."

...if she had green skin.

Her mouth twists faintly, but she nods her head in understanding, "Yes ... I feel that way about Prim, and my father, as well."

If she kept their memories alive, they were with her.

She laughed quietly, "That's me. Half human, half elf, half ... whatever your people are. I'm half of everything."

She wasn't too excited by the 'whatever your people are.' Especially not in public. But Ariadne decided it was best to avoid the whole thing altogether.

It helped that Katniss had opened the door for her.

"That's three halves," she pointed out gently.

Well, Katniss figured that Ariande's people must be some sort of human, but what kind of human she had no idea. Airy had never - well. Airy had never told her at all.

She pressed her lips together, before arching a wry eyebrow, "I wasn't taken into the Inquisition for my brains."

Ariadne gave her a teasing look. "That was foolish," she replied. "They'd be unwise to underestimate your mind."

And she meant it. Every single word. Both because she believed that Katniss was terribly clever. And because she knew that Katniss was terribly clever.

She stood up from her little perch, walking over to Katniss with a look of reverence. "I won't," she said, looking her right in the eyes. Katniss was smart. Smart enough to deduce that Ariadne had secrets. Ariadne knew she knew. And wanted Katniss to know.

Between the two of them, they were quite knowledgeable.

One corner of Katniss's mouth lifts up, before she tilts her head a little, "Who says I'm not looking for them to underestimate me?"

Better to be thought the lesser, sometimes. Strength could make you a target, after all. Especially when they knew you were smart.

She gave her a long, piercing look, before smiling a little bit more. "Well, that's because you're smart"

The tension eased out of Ariadne's shoulders. She knew right there and then that she would tell Katniss the truth.

In time.

But not here and not now. Especially with the nosy tailors and all of the people milling around.

She bowed her head, smiling brightly and trying to hide it a little. "I try to be smart," she said. "Sometimes I even manage it. But not always."

"Well, you're in the same boat as a lot of us then." Is Katniss's wry reply, before she smiled at her sister and then stood up straighter.

"For now. I'll try to be smart and hold my tongue. Most of the time. Not always." Grey eyes flash amusement at the very thought.

She nodded once. "Always is so boring, anyway," she replied. "Sometimes, it's better to keep them guessing."

No need to elaborate on who the 'them' meant.

There was always a 'them.'

"We do like to keep things interesting."

She smiled in return, her eyes bright.

Ariadne bobbed a little curtsy. "And speaking of interesting," she said, "I look forward to seeing whatever it is they get you wearing to the ball."

The meaning being clear. She would be there.

Anything to support her big sister's big debut.

Open: Party Preparations

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