Truth or Dare: The Imperial Court

[madame_de_fer]

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.

Comments

[foxsays]

"One should never gaze openly at a the decolletage unless invited, and even a corset like mine isn't always an invitation, sometimes it's simply a private one or a tool. It's incredible what men can miss when they're distracted." Also incredible what sort of things a girl can hide in there if she has a need to although here she doesn't have a tiny pistol to tuck in there so she can't really do any fun party tricks.

"You do look very dashing, and...after everything? We need to not be seen as a possible liability. There are those newly arrived and interrogations were their introductions, I wouldn't have that happen again if it can be helped, so proving that we can be an asset will improve our standing. Rich people like to be agreed with, they like a little hint of saucy scandal or say, they want a boring plain meal instead of something stuff with a deep mushroom, whatever that is, you help them get it and say it'll be your little secret." Amazingly, this isn't even the royal guard part of her talking, or the thief. This is the courtesan mother and the pirate father who taught her the ways of reading people and making them happy. "Christine told me about her plans at our dress fittings, come on, there's this man that wants to know all about the wild beasts people have fought, wouldn't two rifters be able to make up something grand?"

[motherfucking_ghost]

"Hey, I don't mind missing much. Kind of par for the course anyway. Soooo, is this an invitation for me, or should I keep my eyes front and center?"

It's light and a joke, he (probably) won't stare at her. That would be unprofessional. Her talk of interrogations makes him frown. "You mean that crazy Seeker chick is still interrogating people? Like, first thing getting here? No, shit, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Except my enemies. So. We talk things up and make it sound spectacular, maybe that gets to stop? I can make up stories. Hell, I have stories that sound super fake, and they totally happened."

[foxsays]

"I didn't spend the time getting measured and fitted for a dress like this just for the good of my health," she says with a smirk because you know what, she looks good tonight, drawing the eye is flattering.

With a quiet sigh, she nods. Not that she thinks Cassandra is crazy, not exactly, but to go from the level of freedom they all had to this then something happened that they've not been made aware of. "Yes, he arrived not long ago in Emprise du Lion, although I at least got an apology after I was questioned. Tonight is about making the Inquisition look good; the nobles have money, power, influence, those are things that the Inquisition needs in order to make it easier to get supplies and to gain a foothold so it can help people. Impress the nobles? Life should get easier, maybe a few less things for those in power to worry about." Whoever happens to be in power because having the advisors is all well and good if they can actually agree on something together.

[motherfucking_ghost]

"I can't say," he adds, quietly, because he knows these aren't opinions to shout across a room, "that I'm having a good feeling about all this interrogation bullshit. We were doing just fine before. Sure, given dirty looks by every other person, but doing good. So something happened to spook this lady. It wasn't me! I want to make it very clear that this is not my fault." What happened at his didn't help in any way, but it didn't start because of him.

[foxsays]

"I know," she says carefully, setting a hand on his arm as she gives a glance about. "She seemed fair enough that I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt after the interrogation when she apologised to me, but the second time we spoke? I don't know if she actually has any idea what she's doing, or how she's supposed to function without whatever this was before their Herald died."

After all, Araceli had watched the arrest and she had seemed sure Cassandra would want to know that he prisoner had the ability to threaten people in their own minds, but now? Now she doesn't trust her at all, the guard parts of herself sneering. She'll stick with the Nightingale though Galadriel isn't someone she's ever going to trust, not someone who crawl inside her like a monster from a story.

"The Nightingale is fairer, for all that she seems very remote. If I had to guess, it would have been something that Galadriel did. The Seeker was fair to us so far. Not even Sina faced reprisals for opening a rift within Skyhold, even by accident, for Galadriel to be arrested by the Seeker, she must have done something, and either we were all of us assumed guilty simply by being rifters, or because the rifts can open as well as close."

[motherfucking_ghost]

"It's not like the Seeker chick can't be reasoned with. Kind of. But she's very, uh, demanding. And it's easy to say the wrong thing around her." He shakes his head, sighing. "And I dunno what it is this elfy magicaly chick did. I don't know her. Like, I might've met her like once? But I don't know. So yeah, she must've done some wicked awful shit if this is happening and even Sina didn't get locked up for her...accident."

He says. With a sneer. Way to paint them all like demon-happy portal-hopping fade-openers, Sina. "So, I don't really care if they keep her locked up forever or whatever. It's not my business. What is my business is being made to swear, like, allegiance, or whatever? I gotta follow orders if they're given so I don't, y'know, get my head cut off or something. And if those are the kinds of threats being made to the rest of us by association? Uncool. Is there any, like...response, from us, as a group, this loosely associated group? Or would that just get us all locked up?"

[foxsays]

"I know the type. She wishes only to hear exactly what she wants to hear, the moment she does not, she bites your head off and resumes the accusations once again. I find it very tiring, it sometimes makes me wonder how she came to be so high within the ranks if that is the attitude she has in life." Certainly none of the guards, not even the normal rank and file would ever get away with such behaviour in Castileos, they'd be made to publicly apologise before all their fellow guards for such behaviour and to those they treated as such. It only makes her more suspicious of the Chantry, of the way it ties to Orlesian politics and the Game, of the power it holds. "An accident is an accident, Sina's shard sits in her chest and she had been upset - do we know that we couldn't do the same? What I know about Galadriel is that she can speak to you within your own head, and alter your perception of what is around you."

Sina she will protect, as a sister, as a dear friend. Galadriel she will gladly put out of the picture as much as she can although truth be told she knows now what the path before her feet is.

"I have not worked so hard to gather information on Thedas for all of us, and worked with Marcel to keep a good reputation to have it ruined by two women on differing crusades because they believe that their wills are above all, and Galadriel does not care for us so we cut our losses with her entirely, or those who believe she should be grouped in. There is nothing to be gained but guilt by association. At the moment, we let the dust settle. I speak with the Lady Nightingale regularly, and she has a far cooler head, and she sees much further and without the blinkers of the Seeker. We wait for the moment to present itself, after all, while there are native shardbearers now, I still believe we outnumber them. Leverage is important, and the Inquisition has a very large house to get in order."