you were a demon to me (open)

[eruit]

WHO: Hanzo Shimada and you!
WHAT: Summary of content
WHEN: Over the week
WHERE: Kirkwall, all over
NOTES: N/A at the moment!

HIGHTOWN

[ At night, the hours dwindling away into the budding dawn, a figure appears to move throughout Kirkwall, his time spent scouting along the top of Kirkwall. It's almost as if he is on guard, somehow. He's silent, stalking along whatever walls and tiles he can manage to get a grip on to make his way across the city. For the most part, he doesn't duck down into the streets or around where people might be able to interact with him; he's trying to plot out escape routes, trying to make sure he knows where he is and what he's doing, making sure he knows the lay of the land.

Sometimes, there is no grip nor a wall for him to clamber up and that's when he drops down to street level, the armour on his legs making his fall silent as he slips through the darkness, ribbon moving behind him. He seems to do his best to keep to the shadows, but anyone watching may well pick him out, especially in the brighter, more populated areas of the towns.

Recognising the strengths of scouting Hightown over Lowtown - with high buildings and places to duck and cover - Hanzo spends some hours moving along, as if learning routes, learning places, discovering things that might be useful to him in the future. There doesn't appear to be any true purpose to his climbing and wandering, but to those with a keen eye or sharp senses his presence is easy enough to note. ]

LOWTOWN

[ When the day ends and Hanzo isn't making his way across the tops of Hightown, he slips away somewhere quieter, through the streets of Lowtown to a back tavern. It's not a hidden place by any means, but it's quieter than the more populated areas. It's more to Hanzo's tastes, slipping away into quieter spaces, moving in plain sight, pretending as though he does not feel the eyes of the populace on him wherever he goes. No matter how much time he spends with the Inquisition or how long he has worked with their forces he still feels somewhat of an outcast; he is not from Ferelden, not of the Marches, not something they can respect.

It would be worse if he admitted his talents in magic, though most assume that, too. It's difficult to remove magic from a man so clearly from Tevinter.

Inside the small tavern he sits in a corner with his eyes on the door; the people staffing the place seem to know him well enough and he has a usual drink that sits in front of him. After half an hour, watching and waiting, he stops and draws out a book, beginning to flick through and start to make notes. ]

(FORMER) MAGES TOWER/WILDCARD

[ When he returns from his walks and his drinking it is usually later at night, but Hanzo is just as stealthy as he goes. It's rare that he returns with a wobble in his step, but he can often be caught travelling from Lowtown to his room or the depths of Hightown away and up to the Gallows. Anyone is free to encouter him along the way, certainly since he usually has one hand on his bow ready at all times. ]

Comments

[eruit]

Greetings.

[ Short, simple and to the point. Hanzo has little love for the people in positions of power - none of them are from his homeland and few of them have done anything to earn his respect so far. He has no desire to play around with language and formalities when there's no reason for it, however, not when he's been called out in the midst of one of his jaunts through Hightown. There's a chance that he might be reprimanded for it, however, and that calls for a little bit of caution, even if he's not particularly keen on the idea.

It doesn't matter how long he spends away from home, some things are difficult to forget.

If he's surprised by the notion that she might clamber around just as he does his face doesn't show it. He's stony and tense, poised to bolt at any moment like a wild animal caught in a bear trap. Clearly, beneath all of his stoic exterior, Hanzo is not quite as comfortable with company as he might like to make it appear. ]

I am a scout. It is what I have been trained to do. [ Not entirely a lie, but not entirely the truth, either. ] Is there something you want from me? Or do you seek to compare all of our talents?

[ipseite]

( she considers him a few moments, thoughtful; she'd be lying if she said the thought hadn't crossed her mind, that she isn't tempted by the opportunity (she does so little, outside of her office in truth), but neither is she one to press herself where she isn't welcome. there's little diplomatic or beneficial in saddling someone with unwanted burdens, and she is not, herself, a scout or trained to do anything besides run—

obliging him to be responsible for her safety of an afternoon is unlikely to be terribly winning. )

They are quite different, I'm sure, ( she demurs. ) But perhaps if the opportunity arose to share them,

( a small, steady smile. )

I'll not keep you from your business.

[eruit]

[ The very idea that some strange noble woman might appear out of nowhere and try to clamber across the tops of houses with him is practically unthinkable, and Hanzo barely lets his eyes flick away from her face. The notion is strange and unusual, but he manages to keep his face settled into a look of bored neutrality. If there are some things that he keeps from Tevinter it is that - the art of looking as if you don't care when, really, you are desperate to learn more.

Some things are impossible to forget, after all. ]

I am certain of it. [ His head tilts for a moment.

What is her intent here? What does she want from him? Hanzo has no idea. ]

I have... [ He frowns. ] If there is a chance. Perhaps.

[ipseite]

( If she were a little bolder—she had been precisely bold enough, once—then this could be a chance, and she could take it. She remembers very well having been young enough and careless enough to think to say, what a brilliant idea, we must make our own chances, and make an impromptu race of it, and rush by him, and laugh, and expect the best of it.

She isn't so much older than she was, then. (She is so much older than she was then.)

It's wistful, her fleeting glimpse past him at where he had been climbing a moment ago; she folds it within a warm smile, refocusing on the man in front of her. She is court-bred and court-honed, this honeyed thing, but something else, too. )

I don't doubt we shall have another. You are lately attached to, I think, Scoutmaster Ashara's division? I'm certain she will make excellent use of you.

( never miss an opportunity to hype ya girl )

Your initiative in acquainting yourself with the city is heartening.

[eruit]

[ Once upon a time, Hanzo would never have been caught like this. Politeness and expectance had been drilled into him since he was a child and he can still hear the whisper of his father's commands, the subtle reminders of how to handle himself around others. Back straight, eyes forward, face matched, tense, ready for anything. Draw upon the Spirits, the family, the heritage, stand stronger for it. The memories thrum through him despite the years between them and Hanzo grits his teeth.

It could be centuries and he would still hear his father's voice. There is no escaping that.

At least she does not seem to be a threat; she is a woman who seeks to free herself from shackles that are invisible to others. Hanzo can empathise even as he says nothing, bowing his head and accepting it for what it is. She is soft and polite and gentle, but there is more - there is always more. He's learned that the hard way as well. ]

I have been. It is where my skills best lie.

[ Not that he spends a great deal of time getting himself involved beyond whatever orders he is given. He's still making a place for himself, as awkwardly done as it is. ]

I must know the city as well as possible. The risk of attack is always present in times of war.

[ipseite]

It is.

( It is a statement that settles, weighted; obvious, of course. they are courteous to one another and speak of simple, plain things, but it is a simple and plain thing that is easily said and by some, less easily known. petrana doesn't have the look of a woman who would be so intimately familiar, and yet that familiarity is there not in what she says but what she doesn't—the absence where a creature very like her might prattle on you certainly seem like a fellow who knows about that, Monsieur Shimada, the way gilded things do, fluttering at the elbows of soldiers who strain in the enclosed spaces of garden parties and afternoon teas.

but he does. because he is. and she doesn't comment on it, because she is, too, and some things do not need to be said. )

Would that we were obliged to fight only one war at a time, ( she says, instead, a thread of humour in it; gallows humour, but nevertheless.

would that they could expect to see the attack coming. )

[eruit]

[ Moments like this bring Hanzo back to his childhood more than most. Speaking riddles with plain words, hiding behind whispers and disguising thoughts with nods of head and tilts of brow - it is what he was raised on. Taught to hone his magic, his spirits, his nature, to hold himself high and pure and righteous because of his bloodline, his heritage, his position in society, Hanzo has learned that he must be a statue. He must be a figure that forces respect rather than earns it.

It has been a long time since he was in Tevinter; he has been unable to go back and pay his respects to Genji, unable to visit his home, what is left of a life he has abandoned. With distance comes clarity and the understanding that respect is not something that can be borne of fear; it must come from proof, from experience.

Here, he is earning his place. People look down on him for his heritage rather than celebrating him for it and it is harder than he had ever imagined... But the challenge is the pleasure of the fight. ]

There would never be such luck. [ He shakes his head. ] But it means that there will be more victories to take.