Tragedy beckons... yet another Arthurian

[tricky_bowman]

He comes walking, limping, rather, covered in rags, tattered. His face is dark with soot and filth.   His walking stick hits the ground with a thud, for every step he takes. Yet there is, in the eye of the leper, something cunning and melancholy that belies his apparently morbid state. He walks slowly, though he has no need to.  His back is bent,

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[scoffandjest]

Dinadan, for once in his life, doesn't say anything at all. He just sort of... stares. Then again, he's never been terribly concerned with being polite.

[tricky_bowman]

A beggar, a leper would hardly expect people to be polite with him, and so Tristan doesn't find this to be particularly insulting, though he wonders if he is the first beggar this knight has seen.

Wary of who this may be, he curves his back a little more, coughs, seemingly ill beyond repair.

[scoffandjest]

"--Tristan?" he says.

[tricky_bowman]

Tristan, inwardly, feels a great sense of dread and awe at being thus recognized, with an ease which surpasses that of his own uncle, and of King Arthur himself. He decides to attempt the preservation of the charade, making a pained sound at the appelation.

"Pity, for the love of all that is holy, good Sir, for a beggar without a name," is his plaintive reply.

[scoffandjest]

"Come off it, I know it's you. Don't you know me?"

[tricky_bowman]

"On all that is holly, My Lord, I've never known a knight such as you," the leper replies, still in character. "Pray forgive a poor fool, smitten by the fury of God."

He is, however, very earnest in the first part of his declaration.

[scoffandjest]

"Don't you? I know you. You're Sir Tristan, or I've gone mad. Which is possible, frankly, but I should hope it would manifest as something a bit more interesting than hallucinating you."

[tricky_bowman]

Tristan is tempted to hope, but he needs to be certain that this is not a trick....

"And so you've lost a dear friend, and think me for him? Who be this man, pray tell, that I may tell you that I am not him? What did he do, then?"

[scoffandjest]

"He was a knight, and I his companion. He loved Iseult of Ireland, his uncle's wife."

[tricky_bowman]

We're so sorry, Dinadan.

"Such a terrible friend to have, who commits adultery and incest in one crime!"

The cry is dramatic, yet heartfelt, in a way. "But I am no one's nephew, and thus cannot be the man you think I am."

[scoffandjest]

"Oh, yes, bloody terrible. If the incest, adultery, and criminal stupidity weren't enough, he also was thick enough to think I wouldn't recognize the man I've spent the last God knows how long following up and down Britain."

[tricky_bowman]

"Clearly, then, he would not be I, for I would do no such insult to a dear friend, had I even one to trust," the beggar replies, but it is no lie, only the truth, spoken earnestly and plainly.

And well. Tristan doesn't think himself to be criminally stupid. Criminal, yes. Stupid, no. Iseult is a mistress of trickery, and he is her match. Except perhaps for that incident with the blood stains and the flour trap. Damn Frocin.

[scoffandjest]

Well, Dinadan doesn't really think that Tristan is either. But you wouldn't know it to hear him talk.

"--you really don't know me?"

[tricky_bowman]

Dinadan does have an actor's talents!

"Pray forgive me, my lord. I am but a leper, and unlearned in the art of courtly manners. Truly, I know not to lie on such a matter." He pauses, and adds, "But do tell me, if you would, of this friend whom you so direly miss."

[scoffandjest]

"What more would you have me say?"

[tricky_bowman]

"I enjoy many a tale, My Lord, and so if you would tell me of those adventures you had with such a controversial friend, mayhap they would serve me a dime."