THE GALA ON ADSUM (Mingle Log)

[serpentis]

Who: Anyone and Everyone!
Broadcast: Nope!
Action: A ballroom on Adsum
When: 2/21, Evening-Night



[And the night has arrived! Dorian put out an open invitation, and anyone who is interested is welcome to dress up and meet up for a night of dancing and fawning over each other. Make sure to wear your best, everyone! It's a very special episode of Drift Fleet!]

((OOC: There was an open invitiation, but even if your character never replied or has had personal contact with Dorian, feel free to assume he's let them come along or be dragged along by someone else! I'll be tagging some threads, but if you want a thread to be closed, please just say so in the header.))

Comments

STEPHANIE AMELL; OPEN

[howcanihelp]

[ Stephanie is not really sure how she managed, but like many things in her life, getting a dress and her hair done managed to just happen. So she is feeling quite beautiful, if a bit out of place.

She's petite, but while she once would've been more skinny than slender, back at the Circle the last time she wore anything that wasn't layered and covering most of her build, she has filled out a bit more (and put on more muscle) in the past two years. Which means that she feels like she actually looks really good in this dress, even with how... low that neckline is.

Still, she's more often to be found hanging hesitantly near the edges of the room than dancing or socializing. She really doesn't know how she's supposed to behave at an event this fancy... ]

[detectivewonder]

Stephanie. Have you met Stephanie?

[Tim glides up, graceful and well-dressed in a sleek suit, nodding across the dance floor at another out of place athletic blonde, lips twitching in a smile. The evening is going well, so far, if strangely, and it's left him in an unusually expansive mood.]

[howcanihelp]

I have, I spoke to her not long after her arrival.

[ She glances at him, then at Steph on the other side of the room with Cassandra, and smiles ]

She's someone you know from home, then? Oh, I am glad, she was... very distraught, when I spoke to her. Its good she has friends here.

[detectivewonder]

Things were... rough for her. But they'll get better. Cass and I will make sure of it.

[It's oversharing, by his standards, but he says it on impulse, still buoyed or beguiled by the evening.]

Anyway. I, uh, came to ask if you'd like to dance.

[howcanihelp]

I'm sure you will.

[ He and Cass both seemed like the sort of person who would look after their friends. ]

Oh! [ Right, dancing! And... boys asking her to dance! That is a thing that happens at... things like this.

She's not blushing, but it does get her a little pleasantly flustered even as she lights up a bit. She wouldn't honestly have expected to be asked. ]

Yes, of course! As long as you don't mind that my dancing skills are a bit... minimal.

[detectivewonder]

I've had alligators step on my feet. I'm sure you'll do fine.

[He offers a hand, understated and courtly. It's a friendly gesture, going through the motions of polite society, the way he's used to doing at balls. All spinal reflex, none of it deeply meant... all the same, it isn't an accident that she's one of the first he asked. And he would absolutely decline to analyze why.]

[howcanihelp]

[ As much as she might be growing a tiny bit smitten by Tim, she's thankfully under no illusions that he feels the same. Okay, maybe she basically thinks she lucked out once really hard with Morrigan and that most of the time people weren't going to be interested, but the effect is the same.

She smiles and takes his hand - for all that she's not comfortable with her dancing skills, she can still be delicate and ladylike when she wants to. ...The pretty dress probably doesn't hurt her confidence, either. ]

Alligators? On your feet, really? Are these creatures large?

[unconfines]

Commander!

[Guess who's already drunk on spiked punch and it isn't even midnight yet. He gives her a low, exaggerated salute, fist flat over his heart, and then lifts his hand out to her. He intends to crack her shell of awkwardness by being an incredible fool in her general direction.]

Dance with me. Perhaps it will go better with two people who have no idea what they're doing. That is how these things work, isn't it?

[howcanihelp]

[ It works enough, at least, to make her laugh as she takes his hand. ]

Anders!

You've been drinking quite a lot of that punch, I see. Please try not to get arrested for it, I doubt I have enough influence here to bail you out.

[unconfines]

Are you suggesting that I would break the law, Commander? [He plays at horror, one hand set primly against his chest. He maintains the ruse for a solid two or three seconds before the crooked grin creeps back onto his face.] I'm certain I have no idea what you mean.

[It's a simplistic, swaying dance, if it can be called a dance at all, with plenty of room left for Andraste in between. There are enough skirts he'd like to get under tonight, but hers is not one of them. Too weird.]

Unrelated: the punch is magnificent, you should try it.

[howcanihelp]

I'm sure you don't, of course not.

[ She meets his crooked grin with her own fond one. They may not be the most elegant of dancers, but it's a dance of sorts, and it does make her feel better about feeling so awkward and out-of-place.

She would not necessarily be opposed to someone getting under her skirts tonight, if they played their cards right, but Anders would just get swatted if he tried. Good thing he won't, because she agrees - too weird. ]

I had a glass, it seemed to taste shockingly like something I was not expecting to find here.

[unconfines]

Oh, well, in that case. [He spins her, because he can, and because it looks fun.] I suppose that makes us outlaws together! Funny how that works.

I'll give you a tip: if they ask you how you're feeling, say you're "drunk on the atmosphere." It works for me.

[howcanihelp]

[ She does not squeal when he does that, because she is an adult and a Warden-Commander and the Hero of Ferelden.

There is, however, a split-second stifled high-pitched noise of surprise. Luckily, neither of them fall over. It's a Christmas miracle! ]

"Drunk on the atmosphere", really? Has anyone actually bought that excuse?

[mysunnydisposition]

[ Steph's hanging around the edge of the gala too, not much in the mood for socializing with people she doesn't really know... but she notices the other Stephanie as a fellow corner-lurker, and can't help but approach her to make sure she's okay. ]

I really like your dress. I didn't really have time to... [ She gestures at her Spoiler costume. God, what she wouldn't give to get out of this thing right now. ]

[howcanihelp]

[ Stephanie brightens a little when she realizes who's approached her, and laughs quietly ]

Well, mine was barely done, so don't feel badly. You look--

[ don't say something embarrassing, Amell... ]

You look well fit, so that's something, yeah?

[ Yeah, great job not embarrassing yourself, Amell. ]

[mysunnydisposition]

[ She laughs a little, glancing down at her costume and then up to Steffa again, a little bemused. ]

I... Thank you? I mean, I made it myself, so... kinda had to do my best.

It seemed a little better than the jumpsuits from the ships, you know?

[howcanihelp]

Well, I think you did a fine job.

[ right, getting off THAT subject... ]

Agreed. Those are serviceable enough, I suppose, but they're very... drab.

[mysunnydisposition]

I guess the Atroma aren't really that worried about looks. Or... comfort... I don't know about you, but the beds on my ship are not great.

[ She pauses a moment, looking down awkwardly. Come on, Steph, just say the words. Thank you's not hard - you're not Batman. ]

Anyway, uh... I just wanted to say thanks. For being so nice to me when I first got here. You didn't have to, but it... helped.

[ And she is fine now. Totally fine. Because that's how trauma works, right? ]

[howcanihelp]

[ Well, it's how people like them really really wish trauma worked, so... ]

You're welcome. It was the least I could do, really. [ She's her own kind of awkward right now ] I've-- well, I wouldn't presume to know what you've been through, but I've been through... a lot. And it's hard, sometimes, to deal with that... alone.

[ Aaaaaand now she's going to get off this topic because she's been doing just that even before she arrived at the Fleet, and it's slowly taking its toll and that's depressing. ]

But I see you found friends! I'm so glad.

[faithfulwisdom]

You seem nervous, my lady.

[A very tall, very well-dressed elf approaches Stephanie with a slight smile. There are far too many people lingering on the edges of this party, he's decided. Best see what he can do to coax a few out of their hiding places.]

[howcanihelp]

Oh!

[ Hello... rather tall person... elf? Wow, that's a super tall elf... ]

Well, not nervous exactly? Just... unused to all of this. Fancy clothes and dancing and so forth.

[faithfulwisdom]

All the more reason that you should not linger on the outskirts, then! Do you dance at all?

[howcanihelp]

I know the basics, sort of. More in theory than in practice.

We didn't dance, much, in the Circle, and when we did it was generally not the sort of dancing you'd do at a fine ball such as this.

[faithfulwisdom]

The Circle? [A slight tilt of his head. From context, it sounds like where she's from. But if it is, it's the oddest name for a town that he's ever heard.] I am afraid that I have not heard of it. Is that your home?

[howcanihelp]

It's all right, we all seem to be from... very different places. The Circle of Magi in Ferelden, the country I'm from, is where I grew up. It's where mages train and live.

[ okay so technically she's discovered she's originally from Kirkwall, but it's not like this gentleman would know that. ]