[open]

[lumelume]

WHO: Mado and you!
WHAT: Just a weird asshole causing disturbances in the Gallows and surrounding area, explicitly here to make friends!!
WHEN: Kingsway!
WHERE: Around and about!
NOTES: Possible NSFW depending on who shows up and what their intentions are!

I. The Gallows Courtyard

He hasn't been kicked out yet, so Mado has to make the most of the time he has left. He's not overtly panhandling, but he is busking, with a floppy old hat put out to collect coins while he alternates between doing acrobatic feats and magic tricks, taking breaks to simply shake a tambourine and sing beautiful, plaintive Antivan love songs.
He plays to passersby, strolling alongside them and, at times, offering them opportunities to join.

"A song for you, ser!" he calls, and Maker have mercy on the victim.

II. Lowtown

Hightown being far out of his budget when it comes to entertainment, Mado can be found in some of the slummier taverns, offering services similar to his street busking but with hope of receiving drinks rather than money.

He sits on a table, crooning a drinking song while several of the local boozehounds sway and slosh their mugs around, at least one of them weeping with passion.

His eye is easily caught by a face either familiar or interesting, and it isn't long before he slips over with a bow and a brilliant smile.

III. The Ferry

Periodically, a little brown-and-white spotted dog will hop onto the ferry right behind someone, sitting close and casually looking around as if it belongs to them.
It's the very same dog that been seen wandering around the Gallows, begging and doing tricks for scraps, but the owner, if it has one, has not yet been identified.

Comments

I. hey now busker

[sulahnan]

"You know working for Riftwatch earns you regular wages, right?"

She's not the ser he was trying to charm, but she's there, sitting off to one side and trying (key word, that) to scribble notes down in a journal. Usually, but for the regular sounds of people talking and hurrying from one place to the other, the courtyard is quiet. Usually.

But her point is: you probably shouldn't be busking here.

[lumelume]

Now's a good enough time for a break, and, recognizing Athessa, Mado saunters over to plop down next to her. He wipes the arm of his jacket across his forehead, then pushes his hair back out of his face, grinning at her.

"What use would I be to Riftwatch? Do they need acrobats?"

[sulahnan]

"Maybe. I was a dancer before I was a mercenary," She shrugs. There are plenty of ways to utilize that skillset. "Depends on what you can do with what you...can do."

[lumelume]

"Really!"

How exciting.

"Well," he muses, looking out at the bustling courtyard, "it's a military organization, isn't it? So there's fighting?"

[sulahnan]

Athessa nods, jotting down something else in her little journal.

"Yeah, there's fighting. There's also talking, and research, and sneaking around."

[lumelume]

"Well," Mado says, after a long pause,

"...I can talk!" He seems uncertain. He's not very smart, nobody knows it better than him-- and he definitely can't do any of those other things, on account of being an illiterate weakling with all the subtlety of a druffalo draped in bells.

[sulahnan]

"Good," She pauses in writing to look at him sidelong when he doesn't continue. "Oh, are you done? I thought you were gonna list what you can do."

[lumelume]

He pauses as well, and looks surprised that she's prompted him onward.

"...I can walk on my hands," he adds helpfully.

[sulahnan]

Athessa raises her eyebrows and nods, once again waiting for him to keep going and when he doesn't, taking a stab at translating the feat into something useful: "Physically dexterous, then? What else?"

[lumelume]

The question makes him squirm even more, an uncomfortable shrug accompanying a helpless smile.

"Lethallan, you must understand," he says weakly, "my given name is Felasil, and it follows me always."

[sulahnan]

"Well, mine's a combination of athim and assan but I'm hardly humble, now am I?"

[lumelume]

"Then it doesn't follow you," he says, but doesn't argue otherwise, shaking his head glumly.

"I don't know if I could do any of those things-- they all sound rather more suited to someone brave and intelligent, who can do things like fight and read and earn respect. I can play the tambourine! I understand my strengths."

[sulahnan]

"It doesn't follow me because I carry it," she says, though the thought occurs that maybe she'd better not argue such concepts. At least not with this man.

Perhaps instead of arguing about names and the weight of their meanings, she should be trying harder to convince him to join up. All you need is the proper training, she could say. If you take up with us, you could learn how to wield your strengths in ways you never thought to before. She can already tell he'd make for a fine distraction in a pinch.

"Well, even if you don't join Riftwatch, I don't think you playing for coin here will go over well. You'd be better off in Kirkwall. Market district, maybe, or Hightown if you can get nice enough clothes first."

[lumelume]

"Maybe not." Mado looks, a bit dejectedly, toward his makeshift stage.

"In truth, I wanted to be nearby to my family, though..." His smile has completely dwindled, though he makes a valiant effort to twitch it back on. "...though I think you may have been wrong about at least Nikos. He didn't seem to like being embraced at all."

[sulahnan]

At the visible, valiant effort, Athessa holds up a hand with her pencil hanging loose between her fingers. It's a surrendering gesture, though she means it to be somewhat reassuring in its complete lack of formality.

"You don't have to smile if you don't feel like smiling, it won't make me uncomfortable or dislike you." Take it from a former master of performative happiness.

"But yeaaaah, sorry about putting you in the middle of my stupid rivalry with him. Wasn't a very nice thing to do."

[lumelume]

"Oh." Well, there's that.
"It's all right. Neither he nor Kostos is quite as friendly as I'd hoped, but perhaps that was foolish of me!" The strained smile remains, but it comes so naturally to put it on that taking her advice is out of the question.

"I did come a long way, so it seems right to make myself useful, or at least entertaining."

[sulahnan]

"It's not foolish to hope for the best," she assures with a shrug. "But I wouldn't hold my breath on either of them being friendly. Kostos is my friend but I happen to be kind of drawn to arsehole personalities."

Which is very true, looking at her track record. Chalk it up to the curse of being a disaster bi.

"Can't hurt to talk to the division heads and see where you might fit. More often than not, distractions are useful for keeping eyes off other agents."

[lumelume]

Balmed by her words, Mado nods. "You and I may have that in common," he admits, "though I had no idea how much. Something about them!" He waves his hands, theatrically flustered, "you just want to make them smile."
He himself is looking a little happier in turn.

"Where do I find the division heads?"

[sulahnan]

Athessa points up, up, up at the tower looming over the courtyard.

"Eight floors up. Forces, Research, Diplomacy, and Scouting. I'd suggest talking to the Scoutmaster, Yseult, since you're not a fighter and not a scholar, and because you're likely not equipped with words sharp enough for Diplomacy."

Why do they have that in common, anyway? Is it a Dalish outcast thing, or just a soft fool thing? Things to think about later, if he sticks around. She reaches out to put a forestalling hand on his arm, in case he was planning to rush off immediately.

"This might be a weird question, but how much of Dalish funerary rites do you remember?"

[lumelume]

Probably just a soft fool thing, but Mado wouldn't know if asked. He nods as she lists each department in turn, looking up at the tallest tower with an expression that's tricky to read. Either he's thinking very hard, or pointedly forgetting everything as soon as he hears it.

But then, the topic changes, and his face softens.
"Not a lot, I'm afraid," he admits, "I wasn't allowed near things like that."

[sulahnan]

"Figures," She closes her pocket journal and tucks it away. "If you want, I'll take you up to see the Scoutmaster. I have something I gotta talk to her about anyway."

[lumelume]

"Really?" He perks right back up again, but then stops dead.

"She won't think I'm a spy, will she?"

He is, after all, extremely subtle and secretive in everything he does.

[sulahnan]

Athessa gives him a flat look.

"I don't think you need to worry."

[lumelume]

"Oh. Good." This is enough to satisfy him, and he hops to his feet, hands slipping into the pockets of his coat.

"Are we going now?"

[sulahnan]

"Sure," she gives him a lopsided smile and nods for him to follow, setting off across the courtyard to the main tower.

"But pace yourself; it's a looooong way up."