The annual Festival of the Liberal Arts is a bit of a showy event in Oxenfurt. The streets are festooned with fabric pennants and streamers, there are bundles of flowers and ribbons tied around every awning and freestanding lamp, and the University is an absolute madhouse. Students run to and fro, old alumni gather and snipe in every conceivable pub, inn, and tavern Oxenfurt has to offer, and the conservatory is all but filled to the brim with musically inclined nobility and dilettantes from across the continent.
There are other competitions going on, Jaskier knows, but he can wander the galleries and statuary at any time, and he's no interest in the theatrical performances this year. No, this year, his whole attention is on the musical patronage. He hasn't competed in many, many years and already he's considered a contender. It's delightful but also excruciatingly stressful and he finds himself periodically gripped with the manic need to laugh.
He arrives two days early, as one does for events like this, and sees his fine clothing pressed, visits a luthier to have Filavandrel's lute tuned and the bridge adjusted, and registers himself with the conservatory and the university just as the rest of his peers start showing up. He barely sleeps the first night, despite having accommodations in a truly fine establishment. When he meets Yennefer the next day, he is almost vibrating in time with the energy around the city.
He had originally planned to compete for show only, his attendance was exclusively for the joy of watching her take Valdo down a few pegs...but the idea of actually winning has crept into the back of his mind. Try as he might, he cannot let the fantasy of University Patronage go. He is popular, certainly, but academic and social validation is a powerful lure and he is weak and wanting.
"My dearest Yennefer, welcome to Oxenfurt!" Jaskier crows brightly as he spies her. The bard is dressed in salmon and gold silk with crimson detailing. The color would have been off-putting had there not been such a riot of streamers and floral decorations already up across the city.
Bardchella
There are other competitions going on, Jaskier knows, but he can wander the galleries and statuary at any time, and he's no interest in the theatrical performances this year. No, this year, his whole attention is on the musical patronage. He hasn't competed in many, many years and already he's considered a contender. It's delightful but also excruciatingly stressful and he finds himself periodically gripped with the manic need to laugh.
He arrives two days early, as one does for events like this, and sees his fine clothing pressed, visits a luthier to have Filavandrel's lute tuned and the bridge adjusted, and registers himself with the conservatory and the university just as the rest of his peers start showing up. He barely sleeps the first night, despite having accommodations in a truly fine establishment. When he meets Yennefer the next day, he is almost vibrating in time with the energy around the city.
He had originally planned to compete for show only, his attendance was exclusively for the joy of watching her take Valdo down a few pegs...but the idea of actually winning has crept into the back of his mind. Try as he might, he cannot let the fantasy of University Patronage go. He is popular, certainly, but academic and social validation is a powerful lure and he is weak and wanting.
"My dearest Yennefer, welcome to Oxenfurt!" Jaskier crows brightly as he spies her. The bard is dressed in salmon and gold silk with crimson detailing. The color would have been off-putting had there not been such a riot of streamers and floral decorations already up across the city.