faemused | Open To Anyone For Anything RP Post

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It's strange to be back in Ferelden. Hawke's been here a few weeks and still hasn't quite gotten used to it. The constant presence of mud and dogs everywhere had caught her by surprise. It was one thing to half-remember it, another to be so used to all the jokes about Fereldens and their dogs that you take them for granted, and still another to actually see it all and remember first hand.

All the smells are different. The food is different. She's learned not to react when people look at her wide-eyed. The first few times had made her nervous, surreptitiously adjusting her stance so she could move into action if needed--but it was never out of recognition of her, not what she feared. She wears unostentatious armor, her long knives sheathed on her back. Just another sell-sword (sell-dagger, whatever) in a city crawling with them. It's not her that draws attention, but Teo. He isn't just a bloody huge Ferelden dog here, he's a mabari and recognized as such, and that automatically grants him--and his person--respect. It makes her less anonymous and more anonymous at the same time.

Anonymous is the goal. She's searching for answers to questions, niggling unfinished things that feel like they could be trouble. And she's traveling to draw attention away from Kirkwall and the ones she loves who are still there. Bethany refused to leave, chose to stay and help the now-apostate mages there; Aveline, of course, couldn't be pried out of the city with a crowbar. Varric had left for a time but had to go back.

Hawke's never been on her own for this long before, not in her whole life. She doesn't really care for it.

Teo bumps his head against her leg, sensing her moods as always, and she smiles fondly and scratches behind his ears. "I know, old boy," she says quietly, the words lost in the general racket of the crowds. Teo gives her a reproachful glance. No woolgathering or being maudlin today. They're on dangerous ground. This is the largest city they've been in since she left Kirkwall, the most eyes, the ones most likely to have heard descriptions of the missing Champion of Kirkwall.

At least one person here will know very well who she is. Hawke didn't describe herself, just in case; she described Teo instead, brought kaddis to use for decorating him with, a precaution as well as an identifying marker. At least one person will be actively watching for her.

Sairey Amell. The cousin Hawke has never met, but heard of. Sairey is overshadowed by the Hero of Ferelden's greater presence and legened, but she's part of the stories. Sairey, who might have answers.

Sairey, who's in the middle of frikking Amaranthine, during one of the biggest Chantry celebrations there is.

Hawke knows this is a stupid, risky plan. It's just that she's so used to stupid, risky plans.

Sairey isn't hard to find, right where she said she would be. The red hair stands out in the sun. What surprises Hawke is how familiar she looks. The bones in her face are Amell bones, the line of the jaw, her eyebrows, the way she stands. It's not an uncanny resemblance, but it's there. All the other things Sairey planned as identification marks are entirely superfluous.

For one moment Hawke just stands and stares. Then she steps closer, gesturing to Sairey's hands.

"Nice flowers."

As greetings go in exceptionally strange meetings, it's about as nonchalant and innocuous as it can get, which is probably for the best really. Hawke's not entirely sure she trusts her voice more than that, just yet. She's more shaken by the Amell resemblance than she expected.

People, in Sairey's experience, see what they want to see. Different contexts (clothes, stance, location) can trip one up, particularly when all they've heard about this person, place, or thing is from tales. Maybe a woodcut drawing in a pamphlet somewhere, although those rarely capture the truth of anything. Even Eldy can be unnoticed when she puts her mind to it, and she's the Hero of Ferelden and the Arlessa of this arldom. It's why Sairey's willing to gamble her safety, and that of her cousin's, on them meeting here rather than trying to sneak out into a random location in the woods. That all said, she's heard something of the Champion of Kirkwall's appearance. Black hair, blue eyes. Dark hair, green eyes. Tall or middling height. Maybe short, with brown hair and eyes the colour of the sea when the sea decides to be green rather than blue. She has a dog, though, one of those big Fereldan ones, you know the kind.

In Ferelden, it isn't a particularly useful description.

Thank the Maker for dogs and merchant gossip, Sairey thinks as a dark-haired, light-eyed woman wanders her way, trailed by a striking mabari. Gazing at the mabari covers her as the woman - Marian? - stares at her. Yes. Marian Hawke, she's sure; the kaddis is right. So Sairey lifts her gaze up with a genial smile.

She freezes, as if hit by an ice spell. For three heartbeats, she just stares and the world grows a little fuzzy around the edges of her vision.

Marian, for it must, it must be Marian, has piercing eyes of an all too familiar shade. That kind of turquoise blue which Sairey sees in her left eye every time she looks into a mirror. Her face is similar, familiar, down the jaw, and really, that's such a silly thing, isn't it? Except Sairey finds her hand moving unbidden to touch her face, as if touching her own would mean what she sees makes sense.

Cousin, just a cousin, and not even a first cousin at that. And yet... and yet...

And yet, the woman standing before her is the first family Sairey has seen in close to two decades, and she feels faint.

"Thank you," is what she says, and she can feel her vowels sliding around to become even more aristocratic under stress. That won't do at all, so she shakes her head a little and consciously lets her posture relax back into normalcy. She can do this, feign nothing but friendliness until they move somewhere more private. Still, it's easier to look away from Marian to her companion, and Sairey offers him her current garland.

"Would you like to partake of the festivities, sirrah?" There's a flash of dimples as she speaks, and she hopes the mabari takes her comment as playful and genuine rather than mocking. How he would have been treated in the Free Marches simply doesn't stand up to thought.

The different colored eyes are another shock. Not the fact of their being different, Hawke had been warned about that, but one of them looks exactly likes hers. Going by the expression on--it must be Sairey, it couldn't possibly be anyone else--Sairey's face, the stunned way she reaches to her cheek, the feeling is mutual.

It's Teo who breaks the moment, of course, letting out a loud, happy bark. The noise of the crowd deadened for a moment, but now it returns in full force, pressing and loud and very, very much unwanted. Hawke takes what seems like her first real breath for a few minutes as Sairey offers Teo a garland of flowers. Teo, intelligent as any mabari and more irrepressible than most, bows his head and accepts it with canine glee, his tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth. Hawke chuckles, and reaches down to scratch his ears. "Careful, or he'll decide this whole celebration is actually about him."

Teo gives her a baleful, reproachful look, obviously saying Of course it is, as well it should be!, and Hawke laughs despite herself.

The noble hound barks and the fair maiden laughs, and Maker, we offer up thanks unto forever for the creation of dogs, Sairey thinks as she giggles and places the garland solemnly on his head.

"There. Very handsome."

Laughing forces her to breath, and the mabari acting as silly as only dogs can, makes the smile linger on her face.

"Besides, And there's Andraste's mabari, By the Holy Prophet's side.In the fight against Tevinter, That dog would never hide. They say the Maker sent him special..."

Sairey's singing, as sweet and trained as any Chantry chorister, trails off and she gives Teo another smile. "Our Lady was a good Fereldan woman, I'm sure no one here'd think it strange if the celebration is for him."

It's not that she's tipsy, for she's not. But she feels giddy like she is, and there's a faint desperation beating at her heart.

Like me, it whispers. You're family, Marian Hawke who is the daughter of Leandra Amell, first cousin to my mama. You're family. I'm running a risk to meet you.

Please like me. Please let this be worth it.

Inwardly Hawke doubts if Andraste was Ferelden, had a dog, or possibly even ever existed, though she has met more unlikely things. But they're playing a part and saying any of those things out loud here and now would definitely not be smart.

She gives Sairey a friendly smile, both real and part of the role. "You have a nice voice." And continues, as though it's a change in the topic. "Do you live here, or are you just visiting for the festivities? I've never been to Amaranthine before. I didn't think it'd be this crowded, even for Andraste."

Really she just wants to move things along as naturally as possible to getting the two of them out of here, somewhere not public, somewhere private, somewhere where she can ask a hell of a lot of questions. And probably answer even more questions, which is fair enough.

Sairey had been raised by the Chantry as much as by the older mages. Before that, she'd believed with the unthinking wonder of a child. After, well. It's gotten increasingly complicated, hasn't it? But for all that, she believes Andraste a real person, and from the land that became Ferelden, so there'd been no guile in her words to Teo.

The smile her cousin has is nice, and warms Sairey in ways that hurt. Family.

"It's all busy this year," she admits with a rueful sigh. "More than normal, although it's never been much quieter than this. So..." She gets up and walks closer to the woman who is her cousin.

She's a strong woman, is Marian Hawke. Solid in the ways warriors tend to be, unlike her own plumpness. Sairey is admittedly stronger, fitter than she appears, but still. She's always been a plump girl and she enjoys her food, and standing this close to Marion with her strong hands and fighter's balance, she can't help but contrast them. She can't help but hope that Marian won't think less of her for being soft. Some warriors do.

"My lodgings aren't far from here. They have the most divine apple cider, and there's a good view of the street festivities. Innkeeper owes me. So it might all be less overwhelming for an out of towner."

Her whisper in the middle of her statement is true enough. The innkeeper does owe Sairey. She'd helped the woman survive along with her child five years ago, and although Sairey would never ask for payment the Maude had insisted. She'd been true and discreet ever since.

"How could I turn down divine apple cider during Andraste's own celebration?" Hawke drawls, grinning with amusement. She doesn't make even a flicker of a reaction to the aside, though she notes it, and it's a relief to hear. They can both use all the advantages and allies they can get. "Lead the way, please. I'll stand you a few drinks and a meal as thanks, if you like."

"Oh, I never say no to offers of free food," Sairey says with a smile. It's a lie; she has, and frequently. But the sentiment behind it is true enough, accepting an offer when given in good faith as a way of smoothing social niceties. Even now, years out of the circle, she sometimes has to study up on those.

Etiquette books are amazingly helpful.

Sairey leads Marian and Teo without incident to the inn, chattering occasionally about the city they are walking through. Never enough to be truly distracting, but enough to seem the part of someone talking to a friend. Once inside the inn - nice enough, the kind for artisan pilgrims and the lower class of merchant - she pulls aside a dwarven serving girl for her cousin to order from, and then leads her upstairs. The room is small, but not cramped, with an open window and a window seat. As Sairey had said, there's a good view of the street. There is also access to the roof next-door, if one were athletically inclined.

Sairey sits at the window seat, and pauses. Suddenly, she's unsure of what to do with her hands. Instead, she just looks up at Marian with slightly wide-eyes.

"So. Um. Hi."

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Open To Anyone For Anything RP Post

god your pb for her is beautiful though (hello I like redheads)

thank yoooooooou :3

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I'm so sorry, all my notifs for this page got deleted!!! =(

is okay! the slowtime tango continues on

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