002 // from ten in the morning, we are honest til nine

[serpentis]

Who: Dorian Pavus
Broadcast: Fleet-wide
Action: If needed, Adsum
When: TONIGHT!

[Dorian smiles a bit, secretively, and leans back in his chair, kicking his ankle onto his opposite knee.

He looks relaxed, and...his mustache is waxed. And he's wearing eyeliner with wings sharp enough to kill a man.]

I have a business proposition, for anyone interested. It's simple work, but I cannot offer payment in money. I can, however, offer use of my services.

[And...yep, gonna leave that there and smirk into the camera.]

Comments

[serpentis]

Bless my blushing buttcheeks! Do you think I ought to practice my fainting and wait for a handsome Templar to ride in and rescue me?

[He laughs.]

[wolfuncaged]

[He's just going to carry on, regardless of Varric's interruption. It's ok, Dorian, this is a thing.]

Do not forget to gasp dramatically.

[serpentis]

I ought to get a fan, for effect, flutter it while I'm swooning. I can smile coyly from behind it, terribly useful thing in this scenario.

[It's good to see Fenris joking, though, and Dorian is always one to encourage and enable that in anyone. He laughs.]

And then we'll ride off into the sunset, me and this Templar. How delightful!

[wolfuncaged]

You spin quite the yarn yourself. The dwarf might get jealous.

[serpentis]

Ah, yes, if ever I tire of thaumaturgy, I can turn to writing romance novels. The true legacy of house Pavus! Imagine the scandal, nannies reading them secretively late at night.

[He chuckles.]

You could strong-arm shopkeeps into selling them for me. Give them that glower you're good at. See? A beneficial relationship to us both.

[wolfuncaged]

There would be book burnings across the country.

[He makes a soft 'heh' sound, not quite the chuckles Varric can get out of him, but a sound of amusement, all the same. ]

I was not aware my glower could change the minds of merchants. Perhaps I shall put it to good use sometime.

[Not a yes, not a no.]

[serpentis]

You get this look in your eyes, it's unlike anything I've seen before. I would absolutely consider it a skill, a talent, even!

[He almost says something else, but he doesn't. Something about how Fenris is cold, a bit sour, and he knows that glower that he's praising is also a wall of sorts. It's a colder wall than Dorian's own facade- his is warm, deceptive, made of harmless flirting and banter, designed to make people feel like they're closer than they are.

He doesn't want to revisit his night of drunken confessions, and so this is what he has. Perhaps they understand each other better, now. Curious, that Fenris would still speak to him, he thinks.]

[wolfuncaged]

I shall bear that in mind, for the future.

[Dorian wouldn't be wrong. He keeps the wall up to keep people from getting close, to reduce the risk of him being hurt ever, ever again. It's a terrible way to go about things, but he can't change it, either. He's been running for far too long.

Dorian has earned something for that confession. Not trust, no, certainly not friendship, either. But he has a sort of grudging respect for the other Tevinter, now. Their experience are so different and yet so similar. It's strange.]

[serpentis]

Do let me know if there is anything you need of me, Fenris. And please consider that I can help before you go hacking off your own hair with a knife.

[Fenris and Sera are so different, but the thought of her causes him to smile a bit. For all their childish arguing, he was fond of the girl.]

[wolfuncaged]

Vanity means little to me. I do not plan on impressing anyone.

[Plus knife-hacking your hair is convenient. Or something.]

[serpentis]

I assure you, you're a far more impressive man than you think. For better or worse.

At any rate, what would it say about me if I didn't at least offer? "Ah, there is Dorian, the fleet's barber, who didn't even offer his friend a trim", dreadful.

[He rambles a bit, because there's something comfortable in the lie that a vain dandy is all he is. It's certainly a part, but there's far more to him than that. There's more love in him than he knows what to do with, and more sadness than he knows how to drink away.

And in the end, all he was doing was trying to reach out the only way he knew how, in small amounts.]

[wolfuncaged]

More for worse. I was not made this way to be anything less than intimidating. That was the whole...point.

[So Danarius could walk the streets of Minrathous without fear. No one would challenge him with someone like Fenris by his side. Most never even considered it. Fenris neither confirms nor denies that friend comment. Which is at least something. He's more...ambivalent towards Dorian since their talk. He hasn't decided if he considers the mage a friend yet (or indeed, if he could call any mage such) but at least he will tolerate being called so. It's a start.]

I doubt they would think any less of you.

[serpentis]

Disregarding how you were made- what is it that you want? To be impressive, or to be nondescript? Would you rather be noticed, or unremarkable? I'm curious.

[Dorian is curious. Tevinter is like that. People are never born there, they are made, crafted, bred. Dorian is the latter, and he knows that Fenris was somewhere in the middle of that list.]

[wolfuncaged]

[Fenris actually takes a moment to consider this.]

I am still getting used to understanding what I want.

[Ten years of freedom and he still doesn't know what to do with it. He had no more clue how to live as a free man now, as he did when he first ran, blind, away from Danarius. Flemmeth was right, the chains were broken, but he'd never be truly free.]

[serpentis]

[Dorian smiles a little, almost knowingly.]

When you do figure it out, let me know. It is in my nature to remark on people that I find remarkable. But if you'd rather I desist with flirting in your case, I will be mindful of that.

[He was a flirt, with men and women. Women were safe, for Dorian. He could tease them and not have to worry about exposing his heart. With men, it was playfulness. But in either case, he never wished to make anyone uncomfortable.]

[wolfuncaged]

That was flirting?

[At least he sounds vaguely amused.]

I have suffered worse. Isabella was at it constantly. At least you have not asked what colour my underclothes are. At least three times a day.

[serpentis]

It is not my wish that anyone suffer my attentions at all. I can tell you're disinterested in me, to be completely honest.

[And then he chuckles.]

But if you're in a sharing mood and wish me to know about your undergarments, by all means, I will listen with bated breath.

[wolfuncaged]

I am disinterested in mages as a whole.

[Maybe if you weren't, you know, TAINTED WITH MAGIC, buddy. ]

Afraid not. Isabella would be very upset if I just shared such information.

[Ugh, he misses her. What they had was simple, easy. It didn't require them to bear their souls to one another, just be. ]

[serpentis]

In that, I'm afraid I cannot blame you. It seems to be a common point of view outside of Tevinter, and in your case...understandable.

[Dorian doesn't share the feeling. Other mages are curious to him, peers to study with, to work with toward a common goal. But he knows better than to force the point with Fenris. It's a shame, he thinks, but not one he can fault him for.

And he smiles a bit.]

What was she like, Isabella? She must have been a remarkable woman.

[wolfuncaged]

Yes, it is.

[He is thankful, though, that Dorian understands. It's his own hangup, a different time, a different world...maybe. He smiles softly at the question.]

She is a rogue, a thief and a pirate, and she never lets you forget any of those things. Still, she is a good friend, even if she would never admit it.

...Also I would discourage playing cards against her.

[serpentis]

[Dorian laughs, a bit more like a barking scoff, and smiles.]

I will keep that in mind if ever I meet her, to not invite her to play Wicked Grace with us. I am curious to see how she would fare against Josephine, though.

She sounds like a fine woman, Fenris. I suspect she must be, for you to be so fond.

[And he means it, though there's a touch of jealousy that though he walked away from his life for it, he has remained alone. Dorian stood for his principles and, in return, has still yet to get the life he wanted. Funny, how things work out. You think that if you stand for something, you'll get it. But that's not always the case.]

[wolfuncaged]

She is a friend of yours? Josephine?

[He chuckles a little. ]

She is...an experience.

[serpentis]

Josephine Montilyet, a good woman, with a mind for diplomacy and politics. Antivan, but I try not to hold that against her. We all do have our faults, after all.

She makes the Magisters of Tevinter look like clumsy children, with how adept she is with it all. It's remarkable to see.

[Dorian smiles. Josephine was not a true friend, no, but that didn't mean he couldn't admire her political prowess.]

[wolfuncaged]

I have heard it is never wise to bet against an Antivan in anything. It is almost comforting to know that is true.

[The only Antivan he's met is Zevran, and that didn't exactly go well. ]

[serpentis]

You would be a fool to.

[His smile is a touch bittersweet, though.]

Odd, to think that I would miss them. We were barely in Skyhold for too long before I arrived here, but I suppose I had grown used to them. Even the spymaster's noisy crows, I miss.