[Open] Training Montage!

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

WHO: Adasse Agassi and YOU
WHAT: Adasse making himself useful, or not.
WHEN: Most of Firstfall
WHERE: The Gallows
NOTES: Warnings for cursing, possible mentions of darker things (will update), and crime.

1. Training Montage - Part One

It starts with Adasse taking Beleth's words to heart - to helping someone else because she helped him. He saw some of the scouts trying to work on trying to sneak, and after swallowing a lot of laughter, he walked them through the basics of keeping out of sight.

From there, he graduated to expanding Ellana's lessons to others - how to pickpocket from an important mark without getting caught. Light fingers in pockets, off belts, how to snip off a purse with a dagger without being noticed. It was all about moving your fingers in the right way, and like Ellana, he had them do finger strengthening exercises.

The final step, lock-picking. He was sitting on the ground, with a half a dozen Scouts around him, showing them what he was doing, step by step. "See - you don't want to tweak it too hard - if you do you snap off the pick and the lock's jammed. Permanent. Locking mechanisms are delicate things."

There's plenty of room for someone to sneak and observe, or at least snark from the background.

Training Montage - Part Deux!

There's something - someone - moving very rapidly over the roofs the gallows. Along the high stone walls, high above the courtyard, over the top of the slopes that lead down to the kitchens, along the edges of the towers and then down to the cobblestones of the Gallows. Adasse, without a shirt, running up the side of staircases, dark eyes intent and sweat beading over his body as he moves as rapidly as he can. Up, down, sideways, leaping off and rolling. A few times - he goes to climb up to a second story window -- but instead of climbing, he holds himself there. Muscles straining, and for the first time, something that had just looked like a colorful blur comes into focus.

A vhenadal tree, done in a rainbow of colors, down his entire back. If one looks closely enough ...

Either way, he's not paying attention to anyone below him. He's focusing on gripping the windowsill, and pulling himself up slowly, then lowering himself down again.


And ...Rest.

Above the Gallows courtyard, if you're just one of those people who happens to look up, you might see a young elf sitting atop one of the walls. He's dressed lightly, and a sack of apples is sitting next to him. A small brown nug is sleeping in his lap, whom he is petting with one hand. The other is holding open a book that he is, by all accounts, reading with complete absorption.

He'll probably hear you if you call out. A few times, at best.

Comments

rest

[serannas]

Ellana may not have been raised to scale the walls of a city and race across rooftops, but Araceli has given her parkour lessons before and she continues to practice whenever she finds herself at liberty. Today she climbs up the wall, knowing that Adasse is up there and knowing that he'll hear her too. She hasn't yet gotten the hang of regulating her breathing as she climbs, and it's not worth using her specialization and casting a silence field in the hopes of catching him off guard for once. Maybe someday she can get him to look surprised.

"Hey," she calls in a slightly winded tone, walking over to him once she's up atop the wall. "I won't stay long if you're reading. I just wanted to practice climbing and saw you were here."

Re: rest

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

Adasse doesn't even look up from his book, stroking Coco's ears as he shifted slightly on his perch to face Ellena. Amusement splashes over his expression as he lifts one finger to flip the page, and drawls over to her.

"Hey yourself. We really need to work on your stamina." He closes the book, pats the spot next to him, along with the sack of apples. "I can take a break from my break. How's the practice going?"

[serannas]

Taking a seat, she checks quickly with a "Yeah?" before taking an apple. "Pretty well. I'm building more strength in my wrists so I can push off a wall and grab hold of it higher up. First time I did it like my teacher, I screamed because I pulled everything in my wrists." She adds a shrug. "But I think your instructions about training my fingers has had a side effect of helping my wrists too."

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

"Yeah." Coco stirs from his lap, looking up at Ellana with wide, curious eyes, before nestling into his lap once again. Adasse rubbed his ears fondly, putting his attention back on Ellana.

"Yeah, and it's really going to help you with holding into place if you need to hang out a window." He offered out a free hand to her. "Here, squeeze these."

[serannas]

Her eyebrows lift, but she doesn't question him. Obviously he knows about hanging outside windows. Ellana is more likely to transform into a bird and flutter around out the window than hide by hanging from it, but that's not something she needs to bring up now. Instead, she firmly takes his hand and squeezes.

"Any better?"

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

He 'hmms' quietly, then nods his head, "Better. Not perfect yet, but better. You're definitely getting there." He cracks a smile at her, "And clearly your parkour is almost up to thieving snuff."

[serannas]

"Yeah?" she asks, eyes lighting up at the compliment. "I've been practicing so hard lately. I'm behind everybody else who's been doing this for years." Because here she is a mage, but a mage who has found the fight coming to her in the back line far too often to want to deal with that anymore.

"I used to just be an Inquisition soldier, but I took too many hits out there, so I've been training to better evade all that stuff, the way rogues do."

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

"Oh yeah. I wouldn't take you on a job yet, mind, but I think you could probably outclimb most of the City Guard." He gave her a lopsided smile, before he took out an apple for himself and for her.

"Smart. Best way to not get hit is to not be there. I'm learning a bit about that myself, these days."

[serannas]

"I think we don't tend to find that out until we've found ourselves on the wrong end of a weapon," she answers, taking a bite of the apple. "I wasn't built for being in the fray, but there's no way I'm not going to help if I can. I just need to fall back without being seen. Then I can cast spells without being everyone's main target."

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

He tips up his chin, his thoughtful dark eyes tipping to the side. "So you're a mage too? Look at you, triple threat."

A smile came over his face then, giving her a gentle elbow. "So how are you doing magic?"

[serannas]

"Doing?" she asks, a touch confused. "Do you mean with a staff? Because that's what I use. Unless I'm missing something and you mean something else."

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

"Oh, I thought you Dalish did magic without staffs ..." He blinked a little, before he beamed, "Just like other mages, then!"

[serannas]

That makes Ellana laugh softly and she nods as well to confirm it.

"We're not so different from other mages. I don't even know Keeper magic like other Dalish mages do. Then again, I don't know what was taught in Circles either. I guess my education is sort of in between."

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

"Yeah ... best of both worlds, I guess? Interesting neeeew powers and ... y'know. Control." He takes a bite of his apple then offers a bite to Coco.

[serannas]

"Mm hmm," she agrees. "That's a cute little nug you have there. What's its name?"

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

"This adorable little fellow here is named Coco." He held him over to Ellana, so she could pet him. "Cutie-patooie,

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

"This adorable little fellow here is named Coco." He held him over to Ellana, so she could pet him. "Cutie-patooie, yeah?"

[serannas]

With a giggle, she reaches out a hand strokes the top of Coco's head.

"Cutie-patooie! I've never heard that one before. But yes, he is. These darker ones are more rare, aren't they?"

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

"Oh yeah, you don't find many of the dark ones in caves. They usually live in the Dales and such." He stroked Coco's ears. "This poor little fellow was almost someone's lunch until I saved him."

[serannas]

"Really? How did you do it? I'd imagine the person was angry to be deprived of a meal." One the one hand, Ellana can understand it, because living in the clan meant there were thin times where they didn't get much to eat and anything would do, but on the other hand, if a nug was firmly established in your mind as a pet and not food, you'd be horrified to see someone about to kill and cook one.

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

"Well let us just say that there is stealing from a dwarven merchant ..." He cleared his throat, his dark eyes sparkling with amusement. "Or you could call it the greatest sleight of hand you might have ever seen."

[serannas]

Ellana laughs behind her apple before taking a bite. Moving the piece to one side so her cheek is full, she says, "I wouldn't call you a thief for that, but a liberator."

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

"Oh there's a new one I'm going to put on my cards - Adasse Agassi - liberator!" He grinned from ear to ear, picking up Coco to kiss his whiskered nose.

[serannas]

Another laugh and Ellana reaches out to give Coco a pet along his back. "And I could say I knew you when you were only the liberator of one nug. Surely in the future you'll free dozens."

[gottakeeponejumpahead]

"I'll be happy to liberate all the nugs -- but we could get some rather angry dwarves if I'm taking everyone's dinner." Adasse grinned wider, his eyes glinting with the trouble.