[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

III

[muckspout]

Edgard straightens up from a sprawled out position the second the dog approaches him. He is positively beaming. A dog! He holds out his hand to him, allowing him to sniff, and then pats him on the head.

“There’s a good boy,” He whispers in Orlesian.

[lumelume]

Since Edgard is on the ground and being friendly, all the more reason for the dog to come even farther forward and boop its nose against his, tail wagging. They're friends now.

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."

[muckspout]

Edgard laughs. "Easy!", he pushes the dog back gently. He pets him with one hand and then pulls a chicken leg out from somewhere under his shirt with the other. Where did it come from? How long has it been there? Who's to say?

[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.

[lumelume]

Whatever the case, the dog doesn't seem to care. It sits back on its haunches with its front legs tucked up prettily in front of him, clearly trained to beg in such a way that it's just as cute as possible.

[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?"

i

[deceivingly]

"Okay," Doki says, and she stops walking. She folds her arms over her chest and looks at him, this silly man with his tambourine. Expectant, patient, she remains, waiting for her song.

[muckspout]

Edgard is in public, so he doesn't completely lose his mind, but the dog is so completely adorable that an uncharacteristic delighted smile spreads over his face. There is nothing he loves quite so much as animals.

He holds the chicken leg up and then drops it to the dog. Edgard is radiant with happiness.

[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."

[lumelume]

[lumelume]

He launches into a ballad about the beautiful strong lady with the painted face, a song which definitely didn't exist in this form longer than a few minutes ago, but he is selling it with everything he's got.

She fights a bear, defeats it, and then becomes the new bear in its stead.

[lumelume]

Nimbly popping up to catch the chicken leg in his jaws, the dog snaps it down with several delighted crunches.
And then he starts choking, bracing all four legs to lurch his head back and forth with a hacking sound.

never give a dog chicken bones Edgard

[muckspout]

Eyes widening in horror, Edgard lunges towards the dog and straddles him holding him in place with his legs. He sticks his hand into the dog's mouth trying to clear the airway and gives him some hard thumps on the back.

"Come on, buddy!" He says to the dog. Edgard's eyes burn a little, but he blinks them away.

[sulahnan]

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

[deceivingly]

She listens through the whole song and when it comes to its close, she even gives him a round of applause.

"You are very good. This is a tattoo," as she points at her face, "but I paint it sometimes too. You are almost too good. Where did you learn?"

[lumelume]

A litany of horrible noises later, the bone is finally hocked up, along with half the meat and ... what appears to be part of a pastry, as the dog's gag reflex becomes a full vomit.

With a whine of dismay, it pauses to pant for a moment, mouth foaming.

[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."

[lumelume]

"Tattoos! Even better! Surely not vallaslin, where are you from?" He squints unabashedly at her face.

"I learned in the streets of Rialto!"