Bor’assan was beginning to worry this party was getting out of hand.
Big Bo, as they called him, hated parties to begin with. Too much noise and pointless chatter. He’d only offered to host it, because ‘Din Junior had asked him in front of everyone, and as a nerd and the only Qunari kid in school, he couldn’t afford to say no to the popular guys.
He knew he’d made a huge mistake as soon as ‘Din Junior brought some deep mushroom for everyone, and Al set off to spike the punch. Now the floor was covered in empty solo cups, and the air was thick with deep mushroom smoke. It made his eyes tear up and his horns itch. On top of that, Lyria had chosen this very party for the debut concert of her Gremlin Rock band “The Mighty Fade Butts”, and the loud Dalish music was giving him a headache.
At least he was lucky that mom Ghilly was travelling for a biology conference, otherwise she’d be livid about the ruined carpet. Mom Andruil, on the other hand, had been more than happy to help him set things up. Like all the parents, except for Fen’Harel, of course, she somewhat liked Gremlin Rock.
He watched as everyone gathered and cheered loudly for Lyria’s final guitar solo. To his surprise, she was mostly on key, even if she didn’t sync up with the drums very well. Everyone else was probably too drunk to notice. Instead, their gazes were drawn to her shiny kneefaces, which had the Gremlin Rock logo painted on them as a vallaslin design, and moved in rhythm with the drums.
“Quite the statement, aren’t they?” he heard a hollow voice and felt a shadow creep up behind him. “One of my boldest ideas.”
“Oh, hi there, Art,” he greeted. He was glad to finally be in the company of at least one other person who wasn’t drinking. “They’re… colorful.”
“I took a bit of a risk with the extra glitter, but I think it paid off.”
“She seemed very happy with it.”
“Hey, listen, Big Bo, you and Lyria are pretty tight, correct?”
“We’re good friends,” replied Bo. Lyria was crazy, but as Fen’Harel’s daughter, she knew what it was like to struggle to be popular.
“Do you know if she’s been with a lot of guys?”
“I wouldn’t say a lot. But she’s experienced”
“What’s her type?”
Big Bo turned and looked at the shadow, surprised. “You want to tap that?” Why was he always last to notice these things?
“Yes, but I’m really not cool with being summoned. Mom’s got some horrible stories from her past life. Dad made these contraptions, but Lyr doesn’t seem very much into the idea. So I asked her dad, since he’s a Dreamer, and he showed me how to take the shape of an elf in the Fade. But now I don’t know the kind of looks she would like.”
“Why don’t you ask her?”
“I want it to be a surprise.”
The solo ended on a final screeching note, the sound of which drowned in the drunken ovations of the audience. The vocalist all but hugged the mic with his lips as he said in a raspy voice. “Thank you, falons. May the Dread Wolf never catch your scent.”
Lyria looked at the shadow, grinning, and Bo sensed a hollow clap, which resonated in his mind instead of his ears.
It was hard to tell her preferences. From Dalish guys to Al, her taste seemed fairly random and not very selective.
Except for one thing.
“I think you should have long, thick hair. She really digs that.”