faderift | closed | a casual stroll y'know

WHO: Yngvi and Ellana
WHAT: Then a couple of guys who were up to no good started making trouble in my neighbourhood
WHEN: mid-August
WHERE: Lowtown/Darktown/Docks; they're going for a stealth stroll
NOTES: Please see the above link for context, Yngvi and Ellana have previously discussed Yngvi's observations. Will update for any uncomfortable subject matter.

When the word comes, the word comes and Yngvi goes looking for Ellana. Not like it's hard to go find a Dalish elf even in Kirkwall where a few of them where a clan had pitched up for a long stretch and a few lived in the alienage anyway but he knows the face he's looking for. His sending crystal has to be removed from the drawer he left it in first after not trusting himself with it in the Gallows and he's assuming he'll find Ellana there. And his notes. Because he's still got all of those.

Why wouldn't he have notes.

Not like he doesn't mind walking to go find her wherever she happens to be but whenever he does happen to find her, he picks up as if they're still talking about the last thing they talked about, which is the first thing he really remembers actually ever talking to her about. "Oi, 'member how you said you wanted to know what I found out from my casual look 'round? How d'you fancy seein' it instead?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Used to having to spot bodies taller than him in a crowd from little more to go on than the backs of their legs depending on the view, it doesn't take Yngvi long to nod, a careful elbow nudging Ellana's side. Kirkwall's a mess of stairways and alleys, tunnels and dead-ends but this particular set of stairs he's going down is steep enough that it leads only one way and that's--

"The hell's he going to the dock for?" Yngvi mutters aloud, more irritated than anything because life right now is boat rides if you're living in the Gallows or needing to go there, smalltalk with the ferryman, and now they're going to the docks? And they were in Lowtown. Looks weird. He pulls a face but does what he can to get lost in the crowd which works pretty well since he's a dwarf and most of the crowd is bigger than he is. At least this is the quickest way to the docks, doesn't go unnoticed by him either.

Ellana follows along, trying her best to both not lose Yngvi and not look like she's tailing some guy. It's not the easiest look to pull off, but she does her best. She just needs to look like she belongs here and has better shit to do than care what the people around her think. That's what everyone else does.

"Maybe something to do with why the warehouse is empty? They brought whatever was in there down to the docks earlier and now they're sending it out?"

"Yeah but--" Someone walks into Yngvi so at least he's as invisible as ever, good to know, "why was he that shifty about seeing you."

If it's just Ellana looking Dalish he'll owe her three sovereigns but he glanced back with a sceptical little scowl that says no, no it's not just being Dalish that got him all spooked. Hardened cons got superstitions but wanting to flee from someone they could punch without anyone saying a word? That sits wrong with him.

"Might catch a glimpse of we'll double back." Ah, smell that salt air? Almost there now. Ellana might want to cast now while the shadows favour them before they turn and duck through a narrow passage into the light.

"I really don't know," she admits, and not knowing the answer to that irks her. She just knows that this guy is shifty, elves are going missing, and she's an elf, and maybe there's a connection there somehow?

Recognizing that they're close, she moves her hand subtly to cast Silence Field and then says, "Okay, we're good for about half a minute now."

The Kirkwall docks are always busy since it's a port and it not being busy is a bad thing, usually when the Qunari were doing something or maybe after the Chantry blew up. Yngvi wasn't around for that one.

With the spell in place it means that Yngvi can be bolder about really getting a good look for their--

"Hey there scumbag, it's me, your dwarf," he says because he can when he spots their good friend Shifty McFuck weaving his way towards a mid-sized ship with several dwarves guarding it. "Ah fuck."

It looks like Yngvi is enjoying this bit of magic, since it gives him the opportunity to say what he really wants. She spots the man not long after Yngvi, and her eyes follow him to the ship.

"Um, not to assume all dwarves know each other, but it sounds like you know those guys? Or at least know what we're in for?"

Look. Look this is a whole new world of possibilities for him because getting to be all silent and hidden opens up a new world of possibilities for him? The amount of things he'd say just to get them out of his head even if other people weren't hearing him? Amazing. Absolutely amazing.

"It's Kirkwall, I probably do know every dwarf from here," he replies and he'd grin if this were any other sort of situation but he can't bring himself to as he nods at the dwarves in question. Sighing, he chews his lip before he continues, glancing between Ellana and the ship. "See them? Locals. Nasty brutes and we - being you and me - aren't going to be able to get too close. We might get the name of the ship but get too close and it'll be more harm than good, they're not good people."

If he's really into this silence field thing, she should start charging him for it to make a little bit of coin on the side.

"All right, we go about this the stealthy way. I can go invisible again. I should have enough time to run out close enough to see the name and at least get to cover to make my way back when I appear again. If the name's visible, I mean." There's no telling if the sea waves have stripped the paint off by now. "But beyond that, I won't have enough time to eavesdrop on them and get out unseen. What do you think?"

"Go for it. Don't risk listening in on them, they'll not talk shop out here and trying anything ends up with us knocked out or dead and this isn't, y'know, all sanctioned or anything." Who knows where you are right now Ellana, who you're with, what you're doing, when you should be back? Who'd think that it's not some secret assignment you had to fib about because you're a mage who knows weird stealth spells mages generally don't know? (He's paranoid, he doesn't like this, why are there people he knows here?)

So he counts whenever Ellana goes, keeps an eye out for anyone who might react and tries to just look like a dwarf who has a reason to hang out by the docks all casual like, just sorting through the contents of his pockets. If anyone bothers to come ask what he thinks he's up to mate then he's waiting for a lass, smell of the salt air overwhelmed her, you know how it is with some of them. Land ships and sailing ships, two different things and they'll both laugh, he'll feel bad but when does he not these days?
FOLLOW UP: who does the ship belong to, who does the captain work for, who owns that building, if they pursue the docks do they go back to the building and investigate it?

Off Ellana goes, casting when she's ducked behind a load of crates higher than her head. She jogs towards the ship until she's close enough, but still far enough away from the dwarves guarding it. The letters on the old wood are faint yet legible, and once she reads it off she heads back, having just enough time to duck back behind those same crates as before so it looks like she hasn't moved.

Returning to Yngvi as someone laughs and walks away from him, eyeing her up with surprise (What's she see in this scrappy bit of nothing? Oh well, everyone has a fetish.), she nods towards the direction they came.

"All done," she says in a normal tone, since the silence field has dissipated by now. Then under her breath, she murmurs, "Golden Arrow." Now they have a name. Time to do some research.

Rummaging through his pockets lends Yngvi something of the air of bored (right, fine, let's say harried) dwarf waits around, passing little gears, nails, and pins through his fingers to count the length of time she's been gone since tapping is too obvious here.

"There you are, don't have all day!" He says loudly for the benefit of selling this little pantomime when she returns, "There's plenty left on the tour, don't you want to sit where the great storied arse of the Champion sat?" Moving, moving, away from these shady people getting on the ship until they're not going to be something worth watching, he finally feels like he can talk. Chantry folk peddling about for coin are more note-worthy here. "A name's good, better than good. Back to the warehouse, see if there's more lurking there that's about the ship then I think we go somewhere we can actually talk."

Which means back to Darktown then back to the Gallows but at least they've got something to be working on for a while and that sits damned well with Yngvi who can crack the most sincere and genuine smile he's managed all day.

closed | a casual stroll y'know

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