faderift | Truth or Dare: The Imperial Court

Truth or Dare: The Imperial Court

WHO: Select Orlesian and Fereldan Nobility and the Inquisition
WHAT: Josephine and Vivienne have orchestrated a good-will soiree in response to this dastardly rumor.
WHEN: Drakonis 15, Evening
WHERE: Skyhold Great Hall
NOTES:
- A list of nobles in attendance can be found here. The list was provided by the mods but there will be no npc support for them. Play away.
- A secondary outside party is being held in the valley in the tent town for anyone who couldn't/wouldn't attend and/or behave in the fancy pansty party.
- The goal of the evening is to clear up a spurious rumor about Cassandra and Leliana, with secondary goals of establishing the Inquisition as a respectable presence in Thedas (and fish for more money). Any major disruptions that would Game Over the court approval should probably be brought to the advisors and/or mods.

To say that Josphine has far outdone herself with this little soiree would be the understatement of the year. The Lady Ambassador has pulled out all the stops in providing a festive and yet elegant stage for this political intervention. Because sometimes gossip can be more deadly than a sword.

The Great Hall of Skyhold has been converted into a grand receiving hall, glittering with hundreds of lights around the room, in addition to the repairs accomplished to the original chandeliers. Of course, there has been artful placement arranged so there are a few shadowy corners for rendezvous of the more suggestive nature. Just in case. The majority of the floor has been cleared for dancing, and a fine troupe of musicians have been installed for the bulk of the evening's entertainments. Some members of the Inquisition have plans to entice attendees with their own artistic performances in addition to the group of mages performing illusory tricks to oohs and aahs.

For those who feel their energy flagging, there are chairs set against the walls, with a few tables interspersed between. Servers hired for the evening circulate the crowds with wine, fine Orlesian and Nevarran reds as well as crisp whites from Antiva. Refreshments are set out on buffet tables, tasteful and extravagant nibbles, including imported cheeses, spicy saucisson, dried fruits and nuts, and the highly sought after deep mushroom and anise petits fours that are all the rage in Orlais.

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"Do they? I suppose I was lucky that Korrin was one of the first I'd had a long discussion with, since she'd explained it all to me in-depth." Hermione was about to go on about the differences between the Qunari and the Vashoth, but he just keeps going, and Hermione can do little else but politely listen for a while.

"... what's so nerdy about dungeons and dragons? Unless the study of magical creatures isn't your idea of fun, but it can really be quite interesting! Assuming you don't get close enough to get bitten or eaten by anything, that is." Letting that hang in the air for a moment, she then asks, "I take it you have no knowledge of magic existing in your world, then?"

"...It's a game. It's the name of a nerdy game about pretending to be warriors and shit in fantasy-based times. So uh, no, the only magic we've got is in fiction. Imagine my surprise." Right, that's what he gets for making pop culture references at people from different worlds. Not that it's ever going to stop him.

"I mean science and technology, now that's our jam. I can't imagine how you'd fight a giant space war with magic. ...But I'd totally pay to see a movie like that."

"Oh." Hermione frowns for a moment, thinking about the name of this so-called game before ultimately deciding, "I take it whoever created this game has never been in an actual dungeon or faced a real dragon before. Lucky them, I suppose, but at the same time, I'm not sure how I feel about things I've encountered in real life being thought of as little more than entertaining fiction." Granted, she knows that Muggles think of magic in that exact way, but she's fairly certain they haven't developed anything as strange as a game where they can pretend to be warriors fighting dragons or anything like that. But then, she's a bit out of the loop insofar as entertainment is concerned.

"It's happened," Hermione replies when he mentions a magical space war. "Not in my world, but I did speak to someone here who claims to have fought a battle on a moon. There are even technologically-advanced magical moon people named Lunarians, where he's from."

"...No. Because dragons don't fucking exist where I'm from. Aliens, sure, welcome to a life that like 500 years ago would've been science fiction, and I guess maybe dungeons if you think caves are dungeons? But no dragons."

Church sighs. "Okay, cool, at least someone's had cool moon battles with moon people. Man, this place, I can't wrap my head around sometimes. It's even gotten me doing research. Research! In a library! Me! Like a nerd." Ugh, Simmons would be proud.

"Aliens?" Hermione asks, appearing skeptical. "Unless you mean the fact that many of us seem to come from different worlds, I'm a bit skeptical." The only aliens she'd ever heard of had been those little green men that have been all the rage for years, but that seems too fantastical to be true. Says the witch who's ridden a dragon out of underground, troll-infested vaults.

She doesn't know whether to be insulted or amused by his distaste towards research, but she manages to at least pretend her feathers aren't ruffled. "There's nothing wrong with picking up a book once in a while. Or with being what other people might call a nerd. Those sorts of people end up being invaluable later on down the line."

"Whoa whoa whoa, you're skeptical of the fact that in my universe--spoilers, we've dropped through portals in time and space, as if that wasn't weird enough--in my universe we just ended a long intergalactic alien war? What, you think I'm making that up? My friend birthed an alien prophecy demonspawn, and you think I'm making up aliens. Believe me, that is not something I ever want to think about, let alone make up. He tried to teach an alien how to speak English instead of blargh. One of my bodies got shanked by an alien." Wait maybe he shouldn't phrase it like that. "Look, I'm saying, you think dragons are real, and I'm saying I think aliens are real, and we're both technically right."

Whatever. She's obviously a nerd, too. "Yeah yeah, books and smart, I get it. I've been going over maps to see what kind of planet this is, and did you know, they haven't even explored everywhere yet? And then I'm trying to wrap my head around some of this mage stuff since I seem to be attracting some of them as friends, but...christ, that shit's complicated with a capital C."

.. wait, a friend gave birth to a demon? An alien demon? A prophesied alien demon? A male friend? And...

"... what do you mean, one of your bodies? I mean, it's not that I don't believe you; you have no reason to lie. It's just... hard to believe. Especially if you're trying to claim you have more than one body." She pauses for a moment before adding, "And I don't think dragons are real, no more than you think aliens are real. Both are real, just... not in both of our worlds. Probably."

She's quiet for another little bit before carefully bringing up, "I can't tell if that means you do or don't have biases against mages. It's something of a hot-button topic around here."

"It's really, really complicated. And I'm not just saying that because you look like you're fifteen." He's been super bad at guessing ages of teenage girls. River's eighteen? He almost wants to call bullshit on that. "The whole...everything is complicated. Let's just settle the fact with:" He motions to her. "Magical world with dragons." He motions to himself. "Futuristic intergalactic alien war."

There, see how simple that can be?

"Dude, you're telling me. I don't even really understand what it's all about, like...people are usually afraid of power they don't have, sure. Apparently mages are also bright shiny beacons for demons--so far as anyone can actually tell, actual demons, and I'm not convinced they're not aliens themselves--to take over their bodies and fuck shit up. I don't get to have a say on shit I don't understand, but I do have mage friends, and the fact that we've got glowy hands of pain lasers to close rifts means people in general are also afraid of us. So."

She starts a bit at his very wrong guess at her age, trying not to huff in response. In all fairness, he isn't the first one who seems to think she's much younger than she is, and Hermione's beginning to wonder if she should invest in make-up or high heels or something. "I'm nineteen, thank you. And also happen to be at the top of my class. I think I can handle the idea that you and I happen to be from two different worlds... though I hope you're not calling yours 'futuristic' because you assume we have no technology where I'm from. We have computers and mobiles and aeroplanes, you know."

They just don't have intergalactic alien wars. But it's not as though she goes to market on horseback and fetches water from a well. Some wizards do, but that's more by choice than necessity.

Quiet a moment, Hermione shrugs a shoulder as she brings up, "Imagine how they feel when one of those people with glowy hands can also do magic." Not that she's a demon beacon, as far as she knows, but they haven't completely ruled that out yet.

"Dooooo you have teleporters and titanium polymer full body armor with AI and giant city-sized spaceships capable of intergalactic travel? Oh I'm sorry you don't? Well aren't you cute in your not as futuristic as me time." Look, he's found exactly zero rifters with technology past the early 21st century. He feels like he's allowed to huff and puff about it.

"But yeah. Yeah. I uh. I get the distinct impression that as much as people don't want to trust me, they'd want to trust you even less. We had a mage--she wasn't a rifter, just some poor sap who landed with a shard. In her chest. Like holy shit, that must hurt. And she was playing around with magic, and wham, opens up a rift right in the heart of this place. It wasn't pretty. Now the Inquisition's really living up to its fucking namesake. Well. Namesake in my world. I'm surprised my head's still on my shoulders."

Church those are for reasons other than being a rifter okay.

A little put off by his attitude, Hermione frowns and remarks, "I only meant that it's strange to call your own world futuristic without knowing for sure what someone else's world is like. And for your information, we might well have those sorts of things, though if we do they'd more than likely be a military secret. Except for the city-sized spaceships. Those sound rather inconvenient, unless they're strictly for colonizing other planets."

Hermione winces immediately at the mention of the girl with the shard in her chest. "Ah. Sina, I believe? Several people have told me about her. Considering her circumstances, I'd hope that someone more qualified than I am would make it a priority to discover a safe way to get rid of the shards, at least for those who have them in highly inconvenient places."

Rubbing at the back of her neck, she adds, "I've found myself being questioned more than once. It hasn't exactly been a pleasant experience." At least she just gets questioned because of her magic, not her attitude. Not that she's naming any names.

"Wait." Most important thing first. There are important details afoot. Ignore Sina and her martyrdom, ignore the convenience of city-sized spacecraft. "Has someone other than Seeker Pent-up-anger been grilling you for being from another place? I swear this wasn't happening when I showed up. Just...all of a sudden, here come some soldiers taking me to the angry chick with a sword."

"Well... technically, most people here think of me as a mage," Hermione brings up. "And you don't have to be here very long to know that there are strong opinions about mages around here. The fact that I'm a rifter and so my magic is foreign to everyone doesn't really help matters."

"So your magic works differently? Not all magic is the same across the multiversal board? I mean, guess that makes sense... Hey, listen." He's serious now. For the moment. "Not all of us Rifters are like a huggy hippy get along group," Martel "but some of us are trying to make sure we're looked out for. So. Someone gives you shit? Definitely grab one of us."

Before she can respond to his first bit, Hermione's a little surprised by that offer of camaraderie he throws in at the end there. "O- oh... I appreciate that. I'd say that the same goes for you, but I can't really offer much in the way of safety, not until I figure out how to get my magic working the way it should here. It's been tricky, but...." With a shrug, she offers him a small smile. "Once it sorted, consider the feeling more than mutual."

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Truth or Dare: The Imperial Court

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