Blood from Stone [AU]

[Bethany]

"...can be there when you explain to Aveline she's submitted to you?" Beth' tone is bright and eager.

[Jassinth]

"Then I doubt this Miyacks deserves his title. Wolves pair off, often for life. Domestic canies are less loyal to their mates but that is because they are... Their nature and instincts are muted by their dependency on us." He glances at the mabari in the corner. "Mabari are, as is often the case, nontypical."

[Carver Amell]

Carver reddens. "I uh. In all honesty, I promised Aveline a talk about what our relationship will be like. I uh.... I think... well, to be honest, I don't think I'd be the superior in that relationship."

[Jassinth]

Jass considers that, then nods. "Understandable. She is... very intense."

[Bethany]

Snorting with disgust, Beth taps her foot. "Or maybe, just maybe, you could be... Partners? You know, equal levels like Don and I are?"

[Carver Amell]

"...with Captain Vallen?" he asks, bewildered. "She's always been my... my mentor."

[Bethany]

"Yesssss... But that sort of thing doesn't work very well in a romantic partnership." She pauses. Well... "Okay, sometimes, but it requires a certain type of person on all sides and unless I have drastically misread the two of you, neither of you are that sort. Besides, you won't be with Captain Vallen, you'll be with Aveline."

[Carver Amell]

"Which is why we have to talk. I... I adore Aveline, but I don't... I'm not sure I know her all that well. I'd like to. But it will... it will be weird."

[Bethany]

Huh. Will wonders never cease. Beth! That's mean. "Good for you, thinking of it that way. I suspect you knew her better than you give yourself credit for, but it's good to go into this not thinking you know all you need to about her. Or yourself, for that matter. But... try and consider what I said? About... well, you should always consider anything I say." She smirks playful and winks. "Seriously though. Women can have sex and not be made lesser. So can men. Try?"

[Carver Amell]

"I will," he promises. 

[GamesMaster]

Carver and Jass spend the rest of his time at the inn, which the Vangalite insists on paying for at least half of himself; they head to the Oak next, not wanting to be parted, not wanting to be part of what's going on in Nyra.

And what's going on in Nyra is, to be honest, life. Liz enrolls in a few classes, picks up a job. There are good days; there are bad days. There are days the whole office is full of ice and snow and Varric is called; there are days she does a week's worth of work and starts re-organizing things out of sheer boredom.

Cindy slowly begins working on restoring faith between her and her family. One of the major ways she does this is by throwing herself into her day job: organizing Varric's social calendar, and arranging for this ball he's throwing. Two months into the so-called "devil's wager", the ball is Varric's chance to redeem his image after Helene's last disastrous attempt to throw a proper noble party. Cindy pulls out all the stops, organizing everything herself, even getting Vig involved in running errands for her.

(She doesn't tell her mother how often she lays awake crying into her pillow, letting Vig's purring comfort her. She does tell her mother when she's injured on her night shift, even if she healed the wound. She lets Aveline heal her, more and more often, in place of going without sleep or waiting until her finicky wand stops acting up to get things taken care of.)

Two days before the big event, Carver surprises everyone by coming home early -- sending Cindy into a panic, and making her drag him to a vastly overpriced magical tailor, then straight into a last-minute haircut that costs more than he's spent on an hour in his life, including whores. As such, he's presenting a very fine figure in time for the ball, despite his "best efforts to ruin this party!"

(Cindy, it seems, can get a little... intense at times.)

The ball is held at the new zi'Tethras Estate, a house called The Crystalwing Estate; houses in Aurora are often old enough to bear their own names, rather than the names of their occupants, and he's tired of being the only Light in the Lantern with a mailing address in Meadows. The miniature palace features an extensive basement-level library, with ballrooms and parlors on the ground floor, making it ideal for hosting; Cindy pushes him into making several art purchases, which she has installed in the libraries along with a plaque explaining each piece, as a sort of scavenger hunt to lure people down to the catacombs. (Helene wonders why the smell of dusty books won't be enough. Cindy quietly crosses "replace books with newer volumes" off the to-do list and says nothing of her former plans).

As the ball is as much housewarming as political sortee, Cindy's dressed them up with a crystalline theme to their outfits to match the name of the estate. Her gown is a shimmering wonder, seemingly made of thousands of glittering facets of diamond -- a colorless wonder to make the slight color to her silver hair stand out all the more, and her violet eyes seem shocking and unnatural. She cuts the neckline of her backless gown in a risquee plunge, highlighting her flat chest by showing more skin than a busty woman could get away with and be considered decent. A tiara of diamond completes the outfit, as do the earrings and necklace her mother buys her -- only seed diamond, but the gesture is worth enough that she wears them anyway in place of the showy, dangling pieces she'd bought for herself.

The more modest Marian wears a gown that accentuates her figure similarly: this one, a soft cream gown, bears a sweetheart neckline with lace forming small cut-off sleeves, showing more skin than she's honestly comfortable with but far, far less than Cindy's. Her gown contains extensive lacework down the front, with dozens of rubies worked in, making it seem that flames lick their way up the pale gown. The cream coloration contracts well with her nut-brown skin, and she's grown her hair out once more so it can be braided behind the tiara of roses she wears to complete the ensemble. If Cindy is a glittering diamond, she's the girl next door, finally benefitting from her own fairy godmother.

Cindy had suggested a more modern, trendy gown for Beth, but upon seeing how quickly she was showing, they revised the plan. Instead, she wears a more Glalian gown, complete with a borrowed corset -- after consulting with several healers who assured her it wouldn't harm the babe one bit. Her gown is high-waisted, with a full skirt to help conceal the bump, and is made of soft pink, glittering with inlaid, understated sequins. When she stands still, she appears like a perfect pink confection, but as she moves, the gown sparkles and throws the light around her, bringing out a more subtle beauty. Her skin is paler than Marian's, on whom the gown would be too saccharine and sweet, but her dark hair sports a matching tiara, this one of pale pink roses, to indicate how close the sisters are.

Merrill had taken Cindy up on the more modern style. Her gown is jet black, covered in beads and sequins that rustle when she shifts; the style is intended to make a show as one walks, but it's been altered to cover her legs entire, and her chair is glamored for the evening to match, complete with a bead-fringed shawl for her shoulders and matching capelet for her chair. Glimmerwing is given a small, familiar-cut suitcoat, covered in the same sequins that adorn the top half of Merrill's gown.

Carver, as a result of coming late, has been given a tailcoat, waistcoat, and top hat. He balked at pink to match Beth, instead being given a deep violet waistcoat and matching hatband. They have elaborate designs embroidered into them, a shape very like cut diamonds, but that's the only nod to the theme Cindy can get on short notice. A fact she hasn't stopped upbraiding Carver for since they all got dressed.

Helene posed the more complicated puzzle. Every sketch Cindy brought the Seeker was politely declined; too feminine, too masculine, too feminine again. Finally, they came up with an outfit that pleases Helene. On the top, there is a trim little coat in place of a shawl: a brown coat, the color of rich earth, as befits the spouse of a dwarf. Underneath is a gown, flaring out right as the coat cuts back. And this gown... in this gown is every color of red, yellow, orange, shimmering in an ever-changing, endless display. With their blue skin, it's clearly a fire opal, hidden inside a geode as represented by their coat. An actual opal is pinned to their chest as a brooch, completing the outfit.

Varric, as befits the host, looks the best. He wears a long, perfectly tailored leather coat, one that gives him the illusion of a few extra inches (an illusion helped by his thick-soled boots). It's blacker than leather has a right to be; it looks like the depths of the underdark, the night sky itself.

And with every step he takes, a lick of flame shoots up it, filling the portions that bend and crease with a moment of brilliant orange, red, yellow, green. Black Opals are beyond rare, even compared to the fire opal his spouse is dressed as, but they've procured a large one to display on his hat, a fortune in cut gemstone worn as casually as one might a peacock feather. The band it's set into is flecked with glittering white stars, representing Alydra in a subtle, tasteful way.

[Smith Family]

Of course, the Tethras family proper aren't the only people attending, no few of them friends of the family. Cindy's parents and brother were in attendance, on Varric's insistence (and coin). Not feeling up for some of the more... elaborate outfits most are wearing, they are nevertheless wearing by far the richest and most lavish clothing they've ever worn. Jaina is clad in a shimmering silver-white silk dress with a band of crystalline threading around the hem and waistline. It covers more skin by far than Cindy's dress but the style and coloring are clearly similar. 

She's deeply worried about her daughter, and so very, very proud of her. Sometimes, at night, she could swear she hears Cindy crying. But she never says a word and if she knocks, Cindy always looks fine when she answers, if tired. 

Kyle is awkward and handsome both in his black trousers and suit jacket. His vest is a deep, rich emerald, the color worked in patches to mimic the planes of a cut gem. And much to Cindy's shock, her father has had his ears pierced in the dwarven style: two studs on the upper curve of each ear, tipped with emerald. Rounding out the Smith family, Will has gone with a very Nyrian option- slacks, dress shirt and vest but no jacket. His vest and slacks are deep black, illusioned to show random glimpses of various gems still embedded in rough stone.

The Smith men were both thrilled to be at the party- if only because Jaina's excitement and nerves were such that she finally forgave the two of them for keeping the secret of Silver from her for years. Years. 

[Tethras Clan]

The za'Franes also attend, Seli in a traditionally cut Ciren robe that, instead of simply be a rich blue, is woven from sapphire colored silk, then lightly glamoured to both glow faintly and make a shimmering ring when she moves rapidly. Such as when she dances with her spouses, something she plans to do a lot of tonight. Lovan has followed the theme but made sure to include a nod to his elven heritage. His robes are a pale blue that fades to a grassy green, with scores of flowers whose petals are made from various gem chips. Aveline... Well, Seli tried, she really did. But Aveline is attending in her dress uniform- shining mithril fullplate, guard captain tabard and shield. She did consent to wearing a long strand of garnets in her hair, which blend in until they catch the light and set her hair to gleaming, and to use the glamour on her armour to stud it with rivets of hematite to at least add some flair.

Lovan is having a somewhat off day with his health and soon enough finds himself sitting with Merrill, the two rapidly getting into their year-long debate over modernization of buildings over letting them keep their character as much as possible even to the point of inconvenience. Seli makes a beeline for the Smith family, intent on getting a dance with all of them as Lovan isn't up for such and Aveline refuses to dance in public. Ever. As for Aveline herself... she's methodically hunting down Carver.

[Carver Amell]

Carver, spying Aveline from across the room, slips into a side hall, making his way to find the restrooms. Yes. Clearly that's the urgent part. He's not nervous, no, why would you say such a thing? He just suddenly has to pee. 

[Tethras Clan]

Shortly after the only other person in the restroom steps out, someone with a very heavy tread steps in. A second later, the sound of the lock echoes in the restroom. Unusual in a home but common in Nyra noble manors, having a multi-person restroom near the ballroom for parties. A moment later, someone clears their throat, then Aveline calls out, "Carver. Tell me to go or wash your hands and talk. Please don't hide from me."