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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There is a beat of silence while Cassandra stares.

"You want me to talk to you in front of Duke Pelletier." The man has been sneaking glances her all night, blatantly enough for even Cassandra to notice. Every time she looks his way, he turns pink and looks as if he might faint.

The prospect of planting herself in front of him to torment him so is not an appealing one, but now she is curious.

"What is this building project?"

Katniss wondered if this should be one of those moments where she tests out Zevran's smile through it theories, but no. The Seeker didn't seem like the type. So she folded her hands behind her, wishing she could stick them in her pockets, and nodded at her statement.

"Yes."

A pause, before she looks more intent.

"Well, I spoke to the Lady Josephine some months ago, about building more permanent housing structures outside of Skyhold proper. We're getting more and more refugees every day, as you know, and they're all living out of tents. Not particularly safe, for one, and it risks the start of plagues from exposure and the like, for the second. I also thought we could also build barracks for the soldiers, for the same reasons."

She sucked in a breath, and continued, "Lady Josephine thought it was a fine idea ... but she told me there wasn't enough funding for such a large project. I asked if I could drum up the support on my own, and she agreed." Her mouth twisted, "The Duke is something of a fan of yours, and I am ... not really important enough to just go up and talk to him without a reason. I think he could be a really valuable ally, especially when it comes to sheltering the followers of the Herald of Andraste."

"Housing?"

Cassandra blinks. Housing is not something she has given much thought to. She sleeps on a bedroll in an open room above the forge, the same bedroll she takes with her when traveling and sleeping in the wild. She has lived out of tents for months on end and thought nothing of it. But...as a permanent residence...she can see how tents might be less than ideal. For some people.

But - there had been something. Something about wanting to build outside of Skyhold? Across the river? She had been distracted with other matters, allowing Cullen to make the arrangements and ensure that everything planned was being done properly, and she strains to remember the details, with little success.

"Are not the mages building...something?"

"Yes. Really more just like four walls and roof, but better than a tent."

Katniss herself lives in a shack on the Skyhold grounds, where a tree is growing out of the roof, but she at least has a roof and a door that locks. These people have nothing to protect them, and that should change.

Casssandra's comment catches Katniss completely off-guard, and both of her eyebrows raise together. "I ... hadn't heard that they were building anything. At least Lady Josephine didn't let me know that they were."

Something in her expression lightened, "However, if they're talking about doing the same thing, all the more reason to get funding in order. The mages can help build much faster, after all."

"I suppose," Cassandra says reluctantly, finding herself regrettably unable to argue with the girl's logic. And if Josephine had said there were no funds...

She sighs, glancing around the room. The duke is not in sight, but doubtlessly he is not far. He never is. "You wish me only to speak to you in front of him? Not speak to him directly?" She wonders whether it will even work, but then, that is not her responsibility. If she only has to hold a conversation where he can see her...well, she has been doing that half the night as it is. Once more could not hurt.

"Think of it as the right thing, for all the right reasons." Katniss stated, before she smirked faintly.

"I'm not much for this Game ... but I've seen the Duke come to talk to every single person who has spoken to you first. So, I want to talk to him? I talk to you where he can see me."

Cassandra frowns, both at the girl's smirk and at the mention of the Game. She dislikes having anything to do with the Game, even indirectly. But if it is for the Inquisition...and besides, she is not so naive as to not be aware that her very presence here carries weight, is important to Vivienne's machinations as she attempts to gain support among the nobles.

Vivienne would probably encourage her to do this. No, not probably - she certainly would.

"...All right." She nods, short and decisive. If she is to do this, she can at least get it over with quickly. "I will do this for you. For the good of the Inquisition."

Katniss exhaled, letting out a breath she did not know she had been holding in, before she nods and gestures for Cassandra to walk with her so they can go to the side of the ballroom where the Duke is currently trying to hold up a wall.

"Thank you, Seeker. You're saving a lot of lives at a personal inconvenience, and I'm grateful." She stated quietly, folding her hands in front of her, trying to look demure and knowing that at most she looked ... less threatening. "Our people have suffered enough, let them have something to rebuild and perhaps they can begin to hope again."

"Think nothing of it." She avoids eye contact with the Duke as they approach, her own bearing as brash and intimidating as ever. She will hold a conversation where he can see her; she will not attempt to look approachable. "If it helps the Inquisition, I will do what I can."

Katniss looked at the other woman, a quiet smile on her face as she stated softly under her breath, "Well then we're on the same page, Seeker."

She too, ignores the Duke, because she's speaking to Cassandra now, and for what it was worth, she wanted to take her time so the Duke had more reason to talk to her, "Now, since I have your ear for a moment, Seeker ... and you've been in the military longer than I, the barracks. What should I look to include?"

Cassandra stares blankly for a moment, and then shakes her head in confusion and denial.

"I - I do not know," she says, surprised to be asked. "The Seekers - we are not military as you consider it. I have never lived in a barracks." She thinks for a moment, then nods once, short and decisive. "You would be better off to ask Commander Cullen. He could tell you all you need to know."

"Oh." She frowned for a moment, as she looked around, "But ... don't you lead the Templars? Aren't they military?" She paused, then cleared her throat. "I will be delighted to talk to him about it, once he is free again."

Finally, a question she can answer. "The Seekers are a separate order from the Templars. We do not lead them. We step in when we are needed - when there is an apostate too powerful for the Templars to handle, or to stop corruption within the ranks of the Templars themselves."

She nods, satisfied and pleased with herself for determining the appropriate person to answer Katniss' questions. "Good. He is the leader of the Inquisition's forces. I am sure he will be best suited to tell you exactly what is needed."

"Ah-hah ... so you're like their guardians - the mages and the templars. Helping them out, keeping them in line. Like an older sibling." That was the best analogy she could come up with.

Let Katniss just bite her lip here and smile. "I'm sure he will be. I'll take the time to seek him out, or have someone else who is helping me with this ask him."

She wanted to keep this as separate as she could from Cullen, and with good reason. So, time to shift back.

"I know there are only three Seekers here -- will you want your own, ah ... house? I was thinking of asking some of the Templars if they wanted their own barracks."

"An...an older sibling?" The comparison throws her, and she stares for a moment before shaking her head, a jerky movement. "I do not think anyone would describe it that way, no." The relationship between the Templars and the Seekers has never been so close, so comfortable.

She takes a breath, forcing her mind away from the dark paths it wants to stray down, and furrows her brow as she contemplates Katniss' offer.

"I doubt that will be necessary," she says. The floor of the room above the forge suits her as well as it ever has, and Malcolm and Aleron...well, they have not complained about the accommodations so far, and she does not expect them to. She gives Katniss what is hopefully a kind smile as she explains. "Seekers are used to making do with what we have." A pause, just a second too long, before she remembers her manners. "But the offer is appreciated."

"Mmm, yes. Making sure they do the right thing, that they are protected if they need to be." Katniss stated simply, because that was how she understood most authority to be. Then she frowns herself, before she tilts her head, "Ah ... so more ... uhm, professional oversight?"

She's fairly murky on that one.

"Oh, all right. Well ... then, we would welcome your help if you would like to help us build, instead." A smile, slightly unsure, but still there. Then a pause. "Er, but not if you have other duties, of course. I know you're all busy."

"Professional, yes." She frowns. That does not quite cover it, and she feels the need to explain further. "Templars are rarely pleased to meet Seekers in the course of their duties. If we arrive at their Circle, interfere with their work, it is because they have failed in some way. We go where we are needed, and we are needed most often when templars are unable or unwilling to protect their charges and fulfil their duties to the mages under their care."

Things are slightly different in Skyhold, of course. There is still some lingering wariness between Templars and Seekers, but the Templars here do not fear and hate the Seekers as they might had they met in different circumstances - at least, so Cassandra hopes.

She raises an eyebrow at the invitation. "I...will consider it." She grimaces, thinking of being surrounded by mages, while Galadriel lingers in the dungeon. "I am not certain I would be welcome."

Katniss matches her frown, before comprehension comes through. She is, alas, not book learned, but she does catch on. "I see ... you're like the Templars for the Templars. You're protecting them from themselves, and from others." She tilted her head a little, "... So there aren't a lot of you, then?"

If there were more of them, Katniss would imagine that the mages would have been treated better and not locked in cells, or raped or beaten or anything else that she had heard of. Or that the templars who stood up for better things wouldn't have been ... well, ousted or 'found dead' somewhere.

Katniss lifted her chin a little, before she stated firmly, "Seeker Pentaghast, everyone will be welcome to help. This is the Inquisition -- and if I've learned anything at all, the Inquisition is where you go when you want a second chance." She met the other woman's gaze, "Charity is not given by those who think they are worthy to give it, but those who are willing to give of themselves. You've proven you're more than capable in that department."

Cassandra shakes her head. "Not anymore," she says tersely. And there had not been enough of late, even before Lord Seeker Lucius' betrayal - not enough to ease the tensions that had led to the mage rebellion.

It is not a subject she relishes thinking about, and she is happy to put it to rest. She looks at Katniss, a little surprised by the determination behind her words - and then her face softens, and she nods.

"Thank you," she says, and hesitates. "I will - consider it."

She risks a glance to the side. Sure enough, the Duke is there, a few yards away, staring with an unnerving intensity at Cassandra herself. He goes red and looks away when her eyes find him, and she mutters a quiet ugh before turning back to Katniss.

"Will that suffice, do you think?"

Katniss bit her tongue, but she didn't smile. This did not seem like a moment to smile a fake smile. There was loss there, but it was a loss like hers. It hurt too much to think about.

So she moves onto the next topic, with a simple nod of her head, "You are welcome, and please ... do."

She follows Cassandra's gaze, smirks at the 'Ugh' at the sight of the Duke flushing, before she nodded again. "I think that will do quite nicely. Thank you, Seeker Pentaghast. I'll let you escape."

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Truth or Dare: The Imperial Court

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