"No, just...no" Aarien picked up the skirt of the elaborate Orlesian dress that Josephine was struggling to hold up. "I am not wearing that. How does anyone move in these things?"
"Inquisitor, this is the height of Orlesian noble fashion, to be seen in this will make you the talk of the evening"
"Not for the right reasons" she sighed, and let go of the fabric. Josephine man-handled the dress onto the bed, then carefully smoothed it out. "Ok, you don't like it, but being a dignitary means certain sacrifices. It's just a dress"
Aarien crossed her arms and looked pointedly at her advisor. "Just a dress? So you'll be wearing one too then?" She went to stand by Josephine beside the bed, examining the mess of ruffles and silk.
Josephine smirked a little "Of course not Inquisitor, I would not want to upstage your...magnificence"
Aarien glared at her, huffed, then went and sat in a chair by the fireplace, arms still crossed. The idea of a ball held at Skyhold had seemed wonderful – wine, cream cakes, Cullen in finery again – but instead there was lists, endless lists; people wanting decisions on the colour of napkins (napkins, for Maker's sake); and now here was Josephine in her room, telling her to wear a monstrosity of a dress to please some pompous Orlesians. Why couldn't she wear the tunic she wore at Halamshiral? Or at this point she would be happy with a potato sack. Josephine sat in the chair next to her, trying hard to keep the look of amusement off of her face.
"Look, you will make even that dress look beautiful, so don't -"
"Don't try and butter this up, it's hideous. Will wearing that really help any sort of diplomatic relations? Because I'm pretty sure my mood from wearing it will end up causing some wars instead"
Josephine was failing at keeping a straight face "Here you are, the Inquisitor that killed Corypheus, and you're having a tantrum about a dress"
Aarien gripped the arms of her chair and leaned forward with a defiant glare. "It's orange" She grabbed Josie's hand "Please, please let me have some dignity, I beg of you" Aarien slid off of the chair onto her knees to mock-grovel at Josephine's feet. Her advisor couldn't hold it in any more and burst into giggles.
"Aarien, stop it! Alright alright, I'll find something else for you to wear – though with only three days left until the ball it may not be possible"
The Inquisitor stopped bowing and sat back on her haunches, giving Josephine a big grin "I have faith in you Josie, though if you don't find anything, and I have to wear that -" She pointed towards the bed "I may have a murder you in your sleep"
"Who's murdering who, and why don't I know about it?" The two women turned to see Leliana enter the room from the stairs, a questioning look on her face. Aarien stood up and brushed off her trousers.
"I'll be murdering Josie if I have to wear that." She jerked her head towards the bed.
Leliana walked across the room and round to the bed. She let out a gasp and began running her hands over the copious ruffles "This is gorgeous, how can you not want to wear it?" She looked up, her eyes glistening. "Please tell me there are shoes"
Josephine twisted in her seat and pointed to the desk in the corner "There's a box on the -" Leliana let out a little squeak and hurried over to the desk, tearing the lid off of the box. She gently lifted out a gold court shoe, that had orange ruffles, bows, lace, embroidery – so much that shouldn't be on one shoe. Holding it to her chest with her eyes closed, she squeezed it gently, willing it to merge with her into one glorious, golden ruffled being.
A snort brought her back to reality, and she opened her eyes to see the Inquisitor staring at her incredulously, and Josephine holding a hand over her mouth to contain the giggles.
"I knew you liked shoes, but...not that much" Aarien walked over to Leliana, gently prised the shoe out of her hands and held it up to examine it. "Gold and orange, seriously?"
Leliana snatched the shoe back, and placed it lovingly back into the box. "I wouldn't expect you to understand the finer details of Orlesian culture"
"I agree, they are certainly wasted on me"
Josie rose from her chair and joined them by the desk. "I have told the Inquisitor that I will try to find her something else to wear. Although I haven't promised what..." She smiled cheekily as Aarien glared at her.
"Hmm, there are ambassadors and nobles from all over Thedas attending, maybe wearing Orlesian attire would seem like we hold them in favour" Leliana looked thoughtful, while one hand unconsciously stroked the box with the shoes. Her eyes lit up "Maybe we should have something completely new made, start our own trend?"
Aarien crossed her arms "Hold on-"
"Yes!" Josephine grabbed Leliana's arm in excitement. "We can go to the seamstress now and get started. What shall we do?" Leliana linked her arm through Josephine's and they started walking towards the stairs. "Well, I was thinking - "
"Er, excuse me?" Aarien was still stood by the desk, feeling bemused and more than slightly concerned about what was happening. The other two stopped and turned towards her "Yes?"
"Don't I get to decide what I'm wearing?" She heard their laughter all the way down the tower until they went through the door. Uncrossing her arms, she rubbed the back of her neck while looking at the dress on the bed. "Well at least it won't be as bad as that...will it?" Aarien turned back to the desk, resolving to leave it in the Maker's hands and to get on with some paperwork. The box with the golden shoes was missing. Chuckling to herself, she sat down to start some more lists.