Open | What is a bored clown to do

[maladgogo]

WHO: Guy and whoever happens upon him
WHAT: Guy's trying to distract himself from the situation he's found himself in, and would enjoy some company.
WHEN: Some time in the middle of Drakonis
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Every one of the threads with Guy should just be considered to have a CW for profuse swearing by default.

Skyhold is a remarkable place. People from all over Thedas call it home, an army calls it base of operations, and now for one young rifter now bereft of his classes, and indeed any way to get the information he needs from those classes, a place to waste time until he's needed elsewhere.

He's found the training ring. He's also found the weapons. He's not swinging them or sparring with anyone, shadows or otherwise. Instead, what he's doing with his commandeered pair of hand hammers is...juggling.

Guy is, undoubtedly, a born performer. He's got stage presence without needing a stage, and a little flair in every move that builds as he walks around the ring. Occasionally he turns in place, sometimes he stops and walks backward, but no matter what he does, his hands never stop moving, the hammers flipping end over end and occasionally dropping back over his shoulder.

He adds another blunt weapon as soon as he can find it, a blunted handaxe, and soon it joins the rest.

Someone can watch, or someone can interrupt him, and all they'll see is the most welcoming expression on someone wearing peasant clothes, like he's delighted to see them, and more likely than not, he really is.

Comments

[samahl]

Cyril ends up perched somewhere nearby watching Guy as he wows everyone around.

When he's at a place where he can speak without being worried about something falling on his head, "How did you learn to do that? Did you cast some sort of spell to make them do what you wanted?"

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin's often at the training ring these days, either to watch or participate. Now that she has a melee weapon of her own, it can't hurt to spar with others, after all. When she's had her fill of solo drill time, the Vashoth mage wanders over and pauses nearby, mesmerized by Guy's juggling.

Interrupting him? She'd never dream of it, but does flash him a warm grin in response to his welcoming expression, crossing her arms as she watches him at work. "You should have told me that the festival was coming to town, I'd have grabbed a seat sooner."

[maladgogo]

Catching his makeshift clubs, Guy turns to see Cyril there at the edge of the ring, his hands falling to his sides with the handles of the weapons held loosely.

"Just practice, n' maybe some inborn talent for it," he replies with a small shrug. "Learned it when I was real young. Know how to do it wit' chains, balls, n' most kinds'a light things small enough to fit in ya hands, but definitely prefer clubs. The weight's easy to work wit'. Can't find none here though."

[maladgogo]

Guy catches his makeshift clubs, shaking his head with a soft chuckle.

"Ain't much of a festival, just one motherfucker with a couple'a hammers," he points out, then stops and leans back against the nearest fence post. "How you doin', miss Korrin? Ain't seen you since Emprise."

[salvatore_underfoot]

Sal is going to watch, plopping down somewhere nearby with a good view. He would hate to interrupt and disrupt the performance and be responsible for an accident. As someone who is rather graceless, he finds the whole thing pretty remarkable.

He'll wait until Guy is finished before clapping. "You're good. I've never seen anything like it."

[maladgogo]

The applause makes him blink. That normally didn't happen unless he'd set up on a streetcorner to keep himself occupied and entertain a few pedestrians on the weekend. He grinned more widely when he realized it was Sal, and headed over to him with one hammer over his shoulder, the other weapons held in his free hand hanging at his side.

"'s just lots'a practice n' some good hand-eye coordination. Just like fightin', but with less blood involved unless I done fucked up."

[gatheringstorm]

"Aw, you didn't have to stop. I was enjoying the show." Though admittedly talking and juggling are probably harder to do simultaneously. She pouts briefly anyway, but her current good mood can't make that last. And she'll pick another fence post to lean against, because she can. "I've only just been back in the last couple of days. It's absolutely glorious to have decent beds and decent drinks again, after weeks of all that shit we had to put up with in that frozen hell. Of course, I say that now and they'll find another dragon nest that needs killing. What about you, settling in alright?"

[el_tybs]

Originally he been interested in getting some training done himself, but seeing something else using it currently has him stopping. He's seen a lot of people practice there so that isn't unusual, but exactly what the man is doing is what makes Sam raise his brows.

Finding a seat on the fence nearby, Sam waits and watches until the Rifter - judging by the hand - is done. "I've seen a lot of people swing a hammer, but I don't think I've anyone do so quite like that."

[maladgogo]

"Honestly? Gettin' kinda restless, sis. Wanted to come back, see about gettin' some kinda established, maybe talkin' at miss Leliana or maybe Lady Josephine. Get some clothes what's mine. Head back out when I ain't quite as lost here." But he hasn't been able to talk to anyone at all and he's getting antsy. It doesn't help that he's spent the last few weeks disgustingly sober. All this clear-headedness can't be good for him.

As he talked, he'd picked his juggling back up, slower, more casual than what he'd been doing. He needs a heavy sphere for contact juggling, but nothing he'd found so far would do for that.

[maladgogo]

Guy's looking around for somewhere to sit when Sam appears. He looks up at the mage, then laughs a bit.

"Well I reckon most'a who you get seein' swingin' hammers is usin' 'em for fightin' n' fixin' shit."

[gatheringstorm]

Giving him room, Korrin's content to watch his renewed juggling. The pace doesn't matter, it's still entertaining. "I completely understand. Watch me get sick of this place in a few days, after I've had my fill of kitchen-raiding and quality tavern time. When you've spent a life on the road, it never takes too long for those feet to start itching again. Besides, we've made great strides but the area's still a mess. I don't think the Inquisition will run out of things for us to do anytime soon."

She tilts her head at him, thoughtful. "Either of the advisors would find a place for you, though I guess it depends on what role you'd prefer to have. Leliana deals with the scouts and bards and the like, whereas Josephine's people are mostly diplomats."

[el_tybs]

Sam blinks, unfamiliar with the the stranger's specific accent and way of talking. It takes a little bit of repeating it in his mind, and some questions from Fortitude before he speaks up.

"I suppose so. There isn't much other use we have for hammers besides those after all."

[maladgogo]

He can't help but snort at the idea of himself in any kind of diplomatic position. "Can you even fuckin' imagine me gettin' all up in some fancy shit bein' all beurocratic with them motherfuckers like what's all up in that great hall fuckin' shit? They all givin' me funny looks when I got lost earlier, pretended not to speak english when I asked what was where. Nevermind I fuckin' heard 'em talkin' 'fore I got close to 'em."

Shaking his head, Guy just flips one of the hammers in his hand and looks down at the ground underfoot. "Maybe the scoutin' thing. Can be helpin' people find the fuckin' rifts. Ain't told them what's in charge about bein' able to feel this shit, 'fraid they gonna chain me up, use me as a bloodhound or somethin'. Silly, you all tellin' me how good people is here, but...kinda anxious, y'know?"

[maladgogo]

This isn't the first time he's felt another's Spirit speaking to them, but he's learned not to react to such things by now. People didn't exactly react well to the information that he could do so, himself, without being a mage. It's disheartening, really.

"Wouldn't be usin' a hammer, I had proper clubs to be tossin' in the air," he added, though it was mostly a point of interest. He'd leave the hammers alone once he had something more catered to juggling at hand.

[el_tybs]

"I take it that this is a thing that you do in your world?" he asks, crosses his arms as he settles his weight more firmly on the back of his thighs on the fence. He hadn't missed the mark in the middle of the Rifter's hand, which in turn had Fortitude 'chatting' a bit more excitedly.

[maladgogo]

"It ain't a thing you do here? Or just where you's from. Miss Korrin seemed to know what was up." Odd. Maybe only one race had figured out juggling here in Thedas. "We got special shit for jugglin', spinnin', shit like that. If I had some weighted chains, could be practicin' with those instead.

"So I ain't met you yet. What's ya name, bro?"

[el_tybs]

"Juggling hammers? Typically no, though I do hear they do torches from time to time. Can't say I've seen it myself, haven't been in places that folks did such acts. I didn't mean we don't have juggling, I was just curious if juggling was your 'thing'... hobby? Part of the job?" Guess that question before had been a bit vague. Weighted chains?

"Technically we just did. I'm Samouel. And you are?" What was a bro?

[issala]

Of course he has to stop and look at that, it's amazing! Climbing up to sit on the fence around the training ring, Kas watches the juggling with a big grin. Nothing like a bit of entertainment to take his mind off things for a while, right?

"You're really good!"

[gatheringstorm]

His snort is echoed by Korrin's own, as she was trying to keep a straight face at the thought but his rambling ruined it. But that concern about being imprisoned and used gets a more serious and sympathetic expression out of her, and she nods, not about to dismiss his feelings.

"Hey, you were tossed into a completely different land with a magical shard in your hand. I think you're entitled to feel anxious about it all. And I'm not about to say that shardbearers are well-loved everywhere; one of them inadvertently opened a rift, somehow, and that makes people nervous. But from what I know of Leliana, she's always been a firm advocate of people retaining their freedoms. I can't see her allowing that kind of mistreatment--and you know I wouldn't stand for it myself. The Qun treat their mages that way, and I'm not about to see the same thing happen down south."

[maladgogo]

That was another terms that Guy hadn't learned until now, the Qun. He continues to flip his hammer in hand, fidgeting with it, as he walks over to stand nearer to Korrin.

"I wanted to be learnin' about all this shit when I got here, but pretty lil' elven lady I was talkin' at didn't seem to know much outside'a the Dalish pantheon. Never mentioned Qun. Didn't wanna step on no toes askin' the wrong shit'a the wrong people, myself, but I do wanna know what else I been dropped into. So's I ain't about to get my skull caved in for disrespectin' some motherfucker's god without realizin'."

[maladgogo]

Guy laughs. It's a bright, full thing, genuine amusement rather than mockery.

"Well, we do juggle all sorts'a shit, but it's mostly done by motherfuckers what learned how to do it n' know how not to get theyselves hurt by flippin', say, knives or fire like what you sayin'. Ain't a job, just a hobby, at least for me. Learned it young, from m' big brother. He a damn sight more skilled at it than me but he was always teachin' me shit."

His grin never fades as he reaches his hand out to shake. Hopefully this was a familiar gesture to this guy. "Most just get callin' me Gam, on account'a funny pronunciation otherwise. Mighty fuckin' fine pleasure to be meetin' you, Samouel."

[maladgogo]

"Thank ya kindly, lil' brother," Guy replies and turns to take in Kas, slowing his display down a bit to allow for mild distraction. This must be the very small Vashoth he'd heard about. Cute kid. Couldn't have been any older than sixteen, from the look of him, at least by human standards.

[gatheringstorm]

"Fair enough, and that's a sound plan. The Inquisition takes whoever they can get, and practicality tends to be more important than backgrounds and creeds, but Skyhold isn't the rest of Thedas. Andrastianism is huge, mages are feared, and spirits are almost always seen as demons, whether they are or not." That's not a subject Korrin has much expertise on, though, so she'd just direct him to a Spirit Healer. Anyway....

"The Qun is a rigid lifestyle practiced by others of my race, who came to this continent a few hundred years ago. It's not a peaceable one, by any means; they attempted to conquer Thedas to enforce it, and only several Exalted Marches managed to drive them back. It's not a done deal, though, and a lot of people believe there's every chance they'll invade again someday.

The Qun itself basically decides your life for you; they pick your role, who you breed with, everything. You don't even have a name, just whatever title you're given. No freedom to speak of, and if you voice disagreement, you're 'reeducated'...brainwashed, basically. My parents were born to that life, but they escaped with a mutual friend who came into his magic. They'd seen how mages are shackled and treated as nothing more than dangerous weapons, and they didn't want that life for him. Later, that man became my mentor when I zapped my way out of a wolf ambush. What goes around comes around."

[el_tybs]

The gesture is definitely familiar - seemed there were plenty of similarities between worlds - and Sam reaches up to grasp the offered hand, giving it a firm shake. He's still getting used to the way Gam? talks, but it's easy enough to understand. "Pleasures all mine. You're more than welcome to just call me Sam. Simpler and easier to be saying when trying to get my attention.

So where are you from, Gam?" Not that he's going to understand it much, but it was good to know where their Rifters were coming from. Mainly in case any of them might know each other.

[issala]

The tiniest Vashoth, indeed. Kas smiles, watching Guy's hands move as the flipped the hammers. He had pretty good hand-eye coordination himself, with all the pickpocketing, archery and daggerwork, but this guy was impressive!

"Where did you learn that?"