(Continued from Mood Lighting {Seasonal Event} )
Jigano
"I can carry the ca-candles. It's alright." Sam didn't comment on Jigano mentioning the volume of the tavern being 'overwhelming' - he appreciated the concern, but he could handle it. Despite his appearances, he wasn't quite the cotton swaddled baby he seemed. He followed Jigano to the tavern through the temple, turning to look at the shrine there while they passed - he never knew how to feel about the Old Gods, whom he had never met. Would they like him?
He didn't have long to consider theological matters when the Rathskeller was suddenly upon them, the smell of food and drink immediately punching through even his dulled nostrils. A small, sad smile crossed his face as he watched people eat; it had been so long since he'd had that simple pleasure.
Finding an empty table and letting Jigano get drinks (he knew the place, it seemed, and the people at the bar. It was better than Sam stammering his way through it) he placed his bag down and watched the people around him. As much as his mind wanted to convince him they were all staring and whispering about him, they seemed mostly preoccupied with their own things. Romances, arguments, songs...all the things of life he missed in the confines of his house.
As Jigano approached, Sam smiled and gestured to the chair opposite. "Th-thank you. Do you like playing here? It's...I think...you seem like you come from n-nobler places."
Jigano returned with tea - not as good as Sam brewed, but less painful going down than the more usual whiskey and moonshine behind the bar. He wasn't sure how the Ascended would take to alcohol, but since he knew that his friend like tea, it seemed the safest bet. He set the battered tin pot with its steaming liquid and two chipped, glazed clay cups down, pouring for both of them as he grinned at his friend's compliment.
"It's the best place in town to play," he quipped easily, letting his eyes roam the regulars and his coworkers with a wry smile. "Vervain has been kind to me, and Edy is a friend, as far as she'll let me be. Most of the people here are just trying to get by. Live a little, love a little, and eke out a little happiness in this strange, twisted snowglobe we're trapped in."
Blue eyes flicked back to Sam with an arched brow, lips twitching into more of a grin. "I'm no more regal than anyone else here - less than some, considering the Northaven bunch. I learned young that if you can speak with confidence and hold yourself with dignity, that others will listen. Even if that confidence and dignity are just an act." He raised his cup, warming his fingers idly as he sniffed the strong black blend. "But no, I've played more places like this than I have noble palaces or opulent manors. Those sorts want... oh, pets, I suppose. Permanent retainers who will swear loyalty and take orders. I have too much wandering in my bones now... and too much truth, to obey such commands." He raised a brow over his cup, smile returning as he watched his friend through the steam.
Jigano returned with tea - Sam wasn't sure if he was happy about that or not. On the one hand it hardly mattered anyway, the tiniest scrap of taste only ever reaching him from any drink, but he had wanted to test alcohol. While he knew it wouldn't work, Sam was desperate to try anything that promised a change in feeling.
But his train of thought was interrupted by Jigano's explanation of the place. As much as Sam understood the sentiment...this was the best place to play? He doubted it. There were too many people, too many voices to drown out Jigano's beautiful music. To him the perfect place to play would be a quiet orchard somewhere with a maximum of five attendants.
"Oh..." Sam had never really considered what it would be like to be treated by nobles; after all there weren't really any here. Kings and Queens, Barons...they were characters from fairy stories. He had assumed Jigano would be one of them because, well...
"I thought...b-because of your hair. You were posh." He admitted, with a little laugh. "And your story about the lady was all about...ruling and things. So...what did your family do? Did you live with them long? Were they poor?" The questions came tumbling out once he began, Sam discovering he was far more curious about Jigano than he had previously realised.
Jigano blinked at Sam's admission, then laughed softly along with his friend. His laughter almost turned to a choke at the tumble of questions that quickly followed, but he recovered gracefully and turned it into a sip of his hot tea instead. "I admit, keeping my hair long is an affectation. Looking, ah, 'posh' gets you into a lot of doors, even if you're only faking it." He chuckled, reaching up to tuck a white tress back behind his ear in a practiced gesture. "But no, as I told you when we met, my father was a smith of silver and starmetal. We weren't rich by any means, but we lived comfortably enough. My mother was a... I suppose you'd call her a 'wisewoman' here, perhaps. She healed minor hurts and could do a little augury. I..." he hesitated, then sighed, sitting back and watching Sam over over the rim of his cup.
"Sam... I appreciate that you want to know more about me but..." the bard sipped his tea, finding the words he was a little unsure of. "Slow down a little. And... think about your questions. How would you feel if I asked if your family were poor? If any of them were dead? You didn't seem eager to talk about them before... but I would like to know more about you, too. So how about this: I will gladly answer your questions about my life and family, but in return you have to answer any question that you ask me, as it relates to yourself. Does that sound fair?"
Jigano seemed to choke on his drink; Sam leaned forward to help but he recovered quickly enough that it seemed unnecessary, so he sat back again and held his own teacup up to his lips, wishing waiting for it to cool had any point for him. As it were, it didn't, so he took a sip. There was the faintest of tastes in his mouth then nothing.
He didn't recall Jigano mentioning his parents before. Sam wondered if it would be inappropriate for him to keep notes on his friends so that he didn't commit the social sin of asking repeat questions. But before he could really consider it, Jigano sighed and put down his cup.
"O-oh. Um. Oh. I'm sorry. I-I didn't think." He felt a blooming horror in his chest at having offended his friend, nightmarish visions of the end of their relationship immediately coming to him. But Jigano seemed to be content with the compromise he suggested, so Sam desperately nodded.
"Yes! Yes. That's f-f-fine. My family...um...we weren't poor. As...rich as anyone can be here, actually. A-and they're not dead. But we avoid each other." Occasionally he would see a flash of his sisters red hair in a crowd or the stern lines of his mothers face (it was too small a place to fully avoid someone) but never for long. "Do...can you do any of the wise...things? The omens?"
"It's alright," the bard spoke gently, just loud enough for Sam to hear him over the sounds of other conversations in the room. "The road might be a little bumpy, but you've got friends to help you along it now. With practice, some of this will start coming easier." He hoped. Samuel was, well, awkward at the best of times, but Jigano hadn't forgotten how the other man had given up a firebird's feather to save him when they had only just met, with no surety that they weren't in real danger. The Ascended had a good heart, whether or not it was still beating, and the lorekeeper found himself with more patience than usual for the pale man.
He nodded at the information Sam gave so nervously, though he already knew most of it. The portrait had painted a family that was indeed well-off compared to most others he'd seen in the settlement, and the Ascended had briefly sketched the story of his unwilling Ascension and subsequent abandonment by his family when it had failed to 'cure' him of his nervousness.
"Augury and healing? I..." he hesitated, sipping his tea and trying not to make a face at how strong it was. "Augury was never one of my skills, no. My mother's talents as an oracle lay in a different direction than mine. I was better at... I suppose you might say 'reading the past' and putting theory into practice." His lips quirked at the little joke. "Though I shared her affinity for healing minor injuries. But the gods of knowledge smiled on me in my world. In this one..." He frowned, slanting a glance up in the direction of the Temple shrine a level above them. "The only god I've met has been... less than kind."
Sam nodded, more to just move past his faux pas than out of much attention, but he did understand what Jigano meant. He had spent the last few years either mumbling his way through interactions at his stall or silent at home. Suddenly, speaking to so many people...it was hard, in a way a lot of people didn't have sympathy for.
He didn't know much of telling the future. Something about tea leaves...? But it seemed like Jigano wasn't going to be weaving him stories of the far flung to-be any time soon.
"You met a God?" He felt both interest and a fear. Hoping desperately it wouldn't be The Voice (Jigano couldn't turn, not like Isla, please no-) he tried to keep a passive, calm smile on his face but couldn't help his slightly manic stare. "What happened? Were you alright? I can't..imagine any Gods being kind or good. The one I know pretends to be, but she did this to me."
"I met one of them, yes," Jigano said slowly, his usual wry humor fading and a shadow falling over his blue eyes. He turned his gaze to his tea, frowning as he turned his cup in a precise manner, a nervous gesture designed to help calm his mind. Samuel's odd eagerness seemed to go unnoticed for once as he took a deep breath, then released it with a sigh. "I had thought to play a song at the shrine upstairs. I... didn't really have a desire in mind. It was simply a whim. I thought that, perhaps, a gift of music might be appreciated. Or... no, I did pray while I played, I suppose. For my friends to be safe this season and through the Long Night."
He took a sip of his tea, but his gaze remained unfocused, not really seeing Sam or the tavern beyond him. "It was Ludo who came. She... he... is not particularly kind or good, I think. Something more primal than that. Less... civilized than 'goodness.'" He fell silent again, jaw tightening grimly. "Suffice to say, my song was... insufficient." He exhaled sharply, blinking away the memory with difficulty, but at last his gaze focused on Sam once more.
"I'm sorry, Sam," he said quietly, barely audible over the sounds of the tavern around them. "It... isn't something I'm ready to speak of yet. Is there something else you'd like to ask instead?"
Jigano didn't seem to want to tell the story, his face immediately falling and his voice taking on a sombre tone. Sam felt more panic rise in his chest at offending his friend again, at causing yet another roadblock in the conversation. The feeling only got more intense as Jigano continued.
"O-oh. Oh. I'm sorry, again. I didn't know..." He didn't ask anything else right away, taking a drink and watching the bar move about behind them. Sam tried to think of a guaranteed safe question, one that wouldn't land them in awkward waters again.
"So...Jigano...ah.." There really was nothing coming to his mind. If he mentioned work, maybe it would turn out Jigano had had a terrible experience the night before. The season? Could be horribly depressing to him and the cold could have seized up his joints. Each conversation path was suddenly a minefield.
"..Do...do you have anything you want to know..about m-me?" He asked, hoping to both pay Jigano back in a way for his invasive questions earlier and to pivot the topic towards himself.
Jigano blinked as Sam stumbled over his words, somehow more upset over the story the bard had related then Attuned was. "Well, no, that's why you asked," Jigano agreed, slightly puzzled as to what had upset his friend so much. "How else could you have found out? Or at least, found out that I'm not ready to discuss it yet." He tilted his head in concern, waiting to see what else the bookmaker would ask, but what eventually tumbled out was not what he had expected.
To give himself time to think, the bard sipped his tea, glancing over the slowly-filling tavern before returning his gaze to Sam. "Well," he said slowly, mind racing. Family was off-limits, and Sam didn't like to speak of being Ascended. Remi was also an uncomfortable topic for them, so... "There are many things. But... do you have a favorite song? Or instrument to hear music on? I had assumed your favorite color was dark red, but even that I realize was only a guess. I suppose I would like to know: what things bring you joy, Samuel Wordsworth?" Surely there was more to his life than just reading and writing... wasn't there?
When it seemed Jigano wasn't too offended Sam took a deep breath and calmed his nerves. He was having a nice cup of tea with a friend, not going into war, so why was he so anxious?
There was a pause where he sipped at the tea and tried to make sense of how it tasted. He remembered tea as a child, but then he hadn't liked it; the bitterness had made him twist up his nose. Evie had laughed and then she had tried it and did exactly the same - the memory sat oddly with him, one of the few warm familial things he could recall. He was lost in this thought until Jigano's flurry of questions came.
"Oh....I...I don't think I know enough songs to have a favourite. Maybe you could play something I'd like?" He was sure anything Jigano made would be a good tune, even though he knew little about music he had confidence in his friend's abilities. "My favourite colour is green, actually. D-dark red reminds me too much of blood."
What things brought him joy? At first his instinct was to say nothing, but he knew that wasn't true. "...Seeing parents be ni-nice to children. Stories. Friends." At this he smiled at Jigano. "Noticing...li-little things about people. Like how you move gracefully, starting with your head so you can move your hair. Or...or how some people speak so easily, but they falter at simple questions. ...I falter at...ha. Everything, though. So maybe I can't t-talk."
Jigano arched a brow at hearing that Sam didn't know many songs. "Well... I think we can certainly explore that," he murmured, a little smile playing at the corners of his mouth. "Perhaps you can start coming here a bit more often, hear some of the different things I play?" Some of them would likely make the bookmkaer blush to his toes, but perhaps he wasn't as likely to retreat now as he had been even a few weeks before.
The bard dipped his head, acknowledging his mistake and making a mental note about the color green. And the reason to avoid gifts in dark red. His smile bloomed again as Sam began to speak of what made him happy - and widened at the kind compliments. He managed a little half-bow over his tea, and when he rose again his eyes were sparkling. "Perhaps as you practice it will come more easily?" he suggested. "And it sounds like you have more and more people to practice with." He tilted his head to the side, letting his hair slide over his shoulder in a pale waterfall, his smile fond. "What things do you see in your other friends?"
"Oh. Maybe. Um..if that'd be alright." Sam wasn't sure if he'd be able to come every night (he needed at least a days buffer of alone time between each social event or he was sure he'd go mad) but he thought he could try and come at least once a week to listen to Jigano play.
He had spoken in his way for so long he couldn't imagine what his voice would sound like without the pauses and stammers. "..Perhaps. But...I don't know how to change it even if I talk to a l-lot of people." And actually, despite his worst nightmares of being mocked and ridiculed, his company so far had seemed to not mind his voice.
"I see a lot. Um...Isla. Well, she t-tends to smile before she talks. S-some people do it after. And um, R-Ronin...I don't know if he's a friend but I could tell...he was being nice to me. But he's a b-bounty hunter, so he has to be violent sometimes, right? And...and R-Remi...he has an odd accent and it gets stronger sometimes when he's upset or distracted..." Mentioning Remi brought a sigh from him, but Sam just shrugged. "I think everyone notices all of that, though. I-I'm not special."
A question for Jigano came to mind as he was trailing off, trying to think of anything else he had noticed. "Have you noticed that everyone here, even the Outlanders, gets a ab-ability that people here have? Magic, or can turn into animals, or...even Ascend. Did you get any g-gifts?"
"It would be more than 'alright'," the bard agreed cheerfully. "I play Tuesdays and Fridays right now, but I'll probably be adding in Sunday nights soon, too. Come by any of those days an hour after sunset and I should be setting up.
He tilted his head at Samuel's stammering, a brow raising through the expression on his face stayed kind. "Well... do you want to change it?" he asked gently. "If it changes, then it does, and if it doesn't... well, that's just the way it is. As you said, it might be something people like about you." He smiled before he turned to his tea, listening curiously to the people Sam named. He nodded fond agreement at Isla's smile, but raised a brow in confusion at Ronin's name, tilting his head to let the bookmaker know he was unfamiliar with the man.
At Remi's name his expression faded to neutrality, though he nodded agreement with that as well, at least until the end. "No," he mused, watching Sam over his teacup. "I don't think everyone does notice those things. You have an eye for people... an understanding... that is rare and, yes, quite special, Sam. Whether you believe it yet or not." Humming softly, he sipped his tea in comfortable contentment with both the venue and the company, taking a moment to be grateful that he was safe and warm and among friends for a moment.
The unexpected question had him blinking in surprise, then grinning ruefully as he reached for the pot to pour himself some more tea. "Isla didn't, when I first met her," he said thoughtfully. "That was something she chose after arriving. So I assume others have come through without. But... no, I'm afraid I didn't gain anything new." The answer was truthful, though his smile took on a regretful tinge. "I lost my magic, though... most of what I've seen here seems elemental in nature. My spells were more along the lines of sound and illusion, so perhaps that is why this world didn't recognize them."
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