Truth or Dare: Side Party for Servants and Scoundrels

[faderifting]

WHO: Anyone!
WHAT: A party for people who might scare the nobility, are deathly afraid of chandeliers, or fled the soiree with cheeses hidden in their clothes and need to make a clean getaway.
WHEN: During (and after) the soiree.
WHERE: The valley beyond Skyhold.
NOTES: Drinking, revelry. People might make out or something. We're not responsible for your actions.

The soiree might be fun, if you're into that sort of thing, but that isn't what it's for. It's for impressing the powerful and opening their pockets—and, necessarily, some people aren't invited. In some cases that's personal. In others, it's just understood. When they're done helping to set up, most of the servants and workers who aren't needed to serve make themselves scarce. The usual trickle of refugees to and from the fortress slows. Some people used to sleeping in the stables may find their "beds" occupied by nobles' horses or the rooms they had been squatting in cleaned and prepared for someone else to stay in.

There's no resentment. (Or at least very little.) That's how these things go. And in the valley outside the fortress' walls, there are foot soldiers and refugees and a number of miscellaneous exiles who welcome the company with large fires, cheap but freely flowing alcohol, and whatever music can be wrung out of instruments exposed to such low temperatures. The crowd thins and dwindles as the night wears on, but even after the last person has left the Great Hall in Skyhold, there's still a sizable gathering near the river with no intention of going to sleep before sunrise.

No masks allowed.

Comments

[justice_is_blond]

Madame. If anything can cast a slight pall over this moment it's Vivienne, but Anders is determined to not let her. She won't take freedom from the mages, she won't take Kalli's life away from her, and she won't have any of Anders' joy.

"But you overcame your fear. That's the point. You conquered it and sounded beautiful." And Bethany was there too, making a positive impression. Another mage who believed in freedom and living, so the odds aren't against Kalli.

Her blush gets him to raise an eyebrow and smile a little, pulling back so he can see her face a little better. "He seems nice. Hung around the tents to see you, I'm fairly certain, so I'm not surprised that he's sought several dances. ...But know that if it's ever too much, you have every right to ask him to step back." That extends to Vivienne, but they'll get there. One step at a time. "Set your boundaries, what you're comfortable with, and make them clear. He seems of good enough character to respect that."

[kallian_endris]

"Well, Hope helped a little there, but... thank you." She smiles, pink-cheeked and not without a little pride.

But then her smile faded into confusion, her head taking an inquisitive tilt.
"I... I'm not sure what you mean. Jamie's my friend. He's a good and caring friend. He just likes to make sure I'm doing okay. Sam hovers too sometimes. I guess... I don't know. It's weird, but they seem OK. I don't think they'd do anything to me."

[justice_is_blond]

He... needs to speak with her about reliance on Hope, one of these days. Today isn't that day, because he doesn't want to take away her joy in her moment going well. Later, though, it's required. He won't let her follow the path he's taken.

The other he apparently does need to talk to her about. Andraste's kneecaps, He can't have kids, and yet this will be the second time in a month's span he has to talk on this topic. Anders takes a breath and wishes he currently had what was needed to take a shot as well.

"They're both caring people. I don't think they'd ever hurt you knowingly, but sometimes there's getting caught up in a moment, and if someone doesn't make clear that they have a line... Mm." He needs to be more clear. Vague won't help.

"Jamie likes you, Kallian. I'm rather sure of it. And when one person likes another, there are often moves made. Kisses, touches, and so on. If you're uncomfortable at any time with what he's doing, tell him to stop and he'll listen." Or Anders will kill him. One of the two. "A good person will never be bothered by being told to stop by someone they care about. Ever. They will not resent it, they will not plead for more or try to bargain. They will stop, and respect you. Is that clear?"

[kallian_endris]

The look she gives him at first is utterly blank. Uncomprehending. As if he were speaking in tongues.

"What? No..." She shakes her head. "No, Jamie's a friend. Of course he likes me, friends are supposed to like you, but he's a friend. He... he can't... I mean..." She blushes again. "He's my friend. That's all."

She frowns a little, under her mask.
"Anyway... no, no... That... You don't talk back. They don't care if they leave you pretty if you talk back. That... that gets you hit, or gagged, or... Well, whatever, it just makes it worse. I've seen it. The girls who talk back or fight back, they always regret it. They learn the lessons that get beat into them. No, it's... it's best to just smile and shut up and just... let them do what they're going to do and hope they get it over with quickly and leave you in one piece when they're done. Try and think of... I don't know. Something else in the meantime. Cry and take care of the bruises on your own time after they let you go. That's the safest way."

[justice_is_blond]

"No. No, Kalli, No."

There's urgency in his voice, and he reaches out to take her hand, striving to look into her eyes. "No. You talk back. If there is something happening you do not want, you talk back. You threaten them with me even if you'd like, you argue, you kick, you scream, you set them on fire if you need to. You... You are a person, not something to be used, and you hold on to that with everything you have because you are."

He's seen the brokenness in the girls and boys the Templars used, the women and men who had lost their will to fight and had no allies because no one else wanted to be next. That will not be Kallian.

"You choose your limits, you set them, and do not allow anyone to cross them. Whomever tries, I will destroy. Utterly."

[kallian_endris]

She still looks at him dubiously.
"That sounds like a good way to end up the next body abandoned in a gutter. Bruises I can fix. Even broken bones. I can't fix dead."

She shrugs.
"I did pretty well back in Denerim. Kept my head down, kept to myself, only talk to people if you have to, hide in plain sight and out of sight, don't attract interest, don't look, don't be seen. When you're nobody, no one notices you, and they leave you alone. That's what worked. And I was lucky. I avoided it. No men, no templars, no marriage, nothing."

[justice_is_blond]

"But did you truly have a life if it's spent in fear? If it's spent hiding? Accepting, and not taking a stand?" Anders stops and shakes his head. That answer is obvious to him, but he needs to approach this differently.

"Two things. First, Jamie is interested in you, clearly so, but he'll not hurt you. You can safely communicate what's all right and what isn't with him, and he'll appreciate that because he's a good person and good people want to know. Second, do you know paralysis glyphs? How to do a mind blast? We'll train your defensive magic, because you will not be harmed, and you will not land in a gutter."

[kallian_endris]

"Oh... Jamie, no..." There's a note of despair in her voice. "Are... are you sure? I don't want to lose a friend, but I... I can't... I don't know if he understands why..."

She hesitates.
"Paralysis yes. Mind blasting... no. I know one attack spell, but... I don't like to use it..."

[justice_is_blond]

Her hands get a squeeze.

"You do not have to lose a friend. You can tell him you're not interested if you are not, that you want to keep his friendship, and he will listen. He is that sort of man. I can even speak with him. And I will take you off to the side for private practice in the healing tents when we're low on patients. I'll teach you defensive magic. Not attack spells. Ways to keep you safe. I care about you, Kallian. You don't have to lose friends or who you are."