Jail Bird

[slipshot]

WHO: Gavin, Open
WHAT: Gavin has finally been released from prison, and is out wandering about. With supervision.
WHEN: Catch all for bloomingtide.
WHERE: All over skyhold
NOTES: He was in jail before, now he's not.

There's something strange about Gavin, lately. He'd been released from jail, but he came out slightly different. Quieter. Smaller. Nervous. He tries to keep a brave face and he still grins, but the grins don't reach his eyes and the laughs sound a little more hollow and he's taken to avoiding people far more often than he once did.

He no longer even tries to be the life of the party.

He is always with another scout - his babysitter, or his guard, either way is misery. Often, it is Dax. Sometimes, it is just a random scout that happened to draw the short straw.

He has a room, now, that he's meant to sleep in, because it got annoying to watch him when he fell asleep in random places. But it is small, and cold, and he dislikes it. It doesn't have a window.

It reminds him of the dungeon.

He still offers a smile and a wave to his friends when he sees them. Most of the time. But no more treats, no stolen cookies or pieces of fabric or little wooden carvings. The gifts are gone.

Comments

[gatheringstorm]

Ah, Gavin. Korrin knows more or less what's happened, of course. News like that gets around, though she noticed the lack of a friendly and silly presence in her life regardless. It's a relief to see him out and about again...or it would be, but the obvious change in his demeanor has her worried. She doesn't care about the lack of gifts, not when he seems almost fragile, worn. The contrast is marked, and she doesn't like it one bit.

But that's not going to keep her from him, not at all. Ignoring the scout (unless they get too close, upon which she'll loom over them until they back away), Korrin intercepts them in the courtyard. Maybe he isn't in the mood for smiling, but she can still try. "Tsk, you're losing your touch Gavin. I haven't almost impaled you in some time now. Next thing you know, I won't be afraid to look up."

[mythalenaste]

When she sees him, she immediately goes to him to wrap her arms around him tightly, wordlessly.

[amygdalae]

Gavin may no longer have gifts to give to people, but that doesn't mean people can't give him things.

Case in point: Bruce coming over with two bowls of stew, one of which he passes to the guard who's currently watching over Gavin to thank him for his/her hard work. The other bowl is passed to the elf himself.

"Here, I got this from the kitchens. You could use a little perking up."

[kallian_endris]

Kallian brightens a little to see Gavin out again--she's missed seeing him popping into the healing tents to visit. She herself still looks a little pale and drawn in the wake of the prior month, and where she was shy and skittish before, there are times now when she is very literally looking over her shoulder. But she smiles gently for Gavin.

"I'm glad to see you again," she says kindly. "How are you feeling? Might I offer you some tea?"

[glandival]

"Dalish," she calls out, when she sees him. And she whistles, to get his attention.

Sabine is one level up, leaning against stone edge, enjoying or, at least, experiencing a view of the courtyard, where Gavin had just happened to wander by. She hasn't changed, since he last saw her, although she had spent the first week after getting marked with a shard particularly tense-jawed and quiet, and now she is not. If she sees any changes in him, even from here and after only a second, she isn't inclined to call attention to to it immediately.

It's a nice day, tucked in the midst of all the rain that had been. Her hair is out, a cloud of red curls sitting on shoulders, dressed more like servant than rogue archer. She flicks a glance to the obvious escort trailing him, and flashes them a toothy smile.

omg my first gavin cr

[eolasemah]

Sina is once again on the mend, but that means she's able to do some of her quieter errands, and in this case that involves carrying some herbal packets to the healing tents. She's on her way across the courtyard when she spots Gavin, whom she's seen around but never actually spoken to; despite that, she spoke up for him, and is delighted to see him out again.

She makes her careful way over to him, grinning her sympathetic welcome. "Aneth ara," she says quietly, in a tone that his chaperone won't hear, "I know we haven't formally met. But I'm so glad to see you."

[justice_is_blond]

Anders had hoped the cat would adopt Gavin. She'd been chosen for her affection, after all, and had seemingly been looking for someone to take on. When he sees the elf again, and the cat trotting nearby, Anders smiles faintly.

For a short time, Anders stays off to the side. There's a guard present. Gavin having contact with Anders might not go well for him. But after a few sightings of Gavin with the scout not glaring, Anders joins him.

"She didn't have a name in the barn, so you'd be free to give her one. And she's been a favorite of the kitchens, which means you'll have them willing to give you meat scraps for her meals." It's the most casual admission of guilt ever, and likely the guard won't catch on. Hopefully won't.

[el_tybs]

He had heard news that Gavin had been released, but for some time he had suspected that it had only been rumor since he had not seen hide or hair of the elf. At least until now that is. Despite everything that had happened, Sam is still glad to see Gavin out and about, immediately taking a break from his exercises to come greet him.

"It's good to see you."

[arlathvhen]

When Beleth hears that Gavin's been released, she searches for him immediately. It had been long--too long. Too long for any Dalish, but especially for Gavin. So it's with worry in her heart that she finally locates Gavin. All the warning he gets is his name shouted once, before Beleth runs at him, all but tackling him as she wrapped her arms tightly around him. She stays like that for a few moments, just holding onto him, before she turns to actually look at him.

Scolding words rest on the tip of her tongue, but one look at Gavin's face, and she swallows them. She can nag him over his stupid decisions later, she's pretty sure that he's heard it enough for now. That does not save him from her fussing, however. As soon as she lets go of him, she starts fixing his hair, frowning up at him. "Look at you, you're a mess. Don't you have a comb? Didn't they give you one--"

But even that proved to be too much, and she stops, staring at him with a suspiciously glassy shine to her eyes, before she pulls him into another hug. Face buried in his chest, she mumbles at him. "I was so worried about you."

[laurenande]

Gavin's room was a depressing affair, not unlike the one that had been forced upon her, and Galadriel couldn't help but frown at the state of it as she strode through. There wasn't much to stride through and, all too soon, her steps were penned in. She was left with room only to turn and survey it all from the far wall. Had her own rooms been so confining? It hardly seemed larger than her cell.

But, of course, this was also a cell.

It was a punishment, however passive, and she recognized that. But what they wished to accomplish with feats such as this? She couldn't even being to imagine. She had more than enough anger within her that, at a word from him, she would throw down the walls and be done with it...but Gavin was a gentle soul.

She thought on his face, eager and flushed, recalled his urgent expression while she stumbled in the winter cold, the same look he wore as he offered to carry her down the mountain, and all she felt was sorrow.

Her gift could not have been more appropriate and, as she stood alone and without her own guard, she was glad she'd taken the care to keep it secret. She drew the cloak off her shoulders and shook it out as she moved to drape it across his bed. The grey wool fell like a whisper, smooth and perfect as anything she'd ever woven, and somehow it still seemed insufficient.

It was a pity she lacked a clasp for it, but she would not withhold the promise of freedom for so small and vain a thing.