(Untitled)

[igetthatalot]

Not that the Hanged Man isn't a fine, cozy, positively homey kind of place for a dwarf in Varric's position, but once you've discovered Milliways you're more or less honor-bound to investigate it. What kind of a man would he be if he didn't seek out new opportunities, after all? Consequently, when the door opens this morning it admits a dwarf and

Comments

[justdyedit]

Now that is one heck of a crossbow, Jessica thinks from behind the foam of her cappuchino. She's tempted to make a comment about over compensating but then he might use the thing and then they'd have to fight and then Security would get involved and well, she's enjoying her cappuchino. Still, she can't resist some comment...

"You have to make your own ammo for that catapult? Or is it ballista?"

[igetthatalot]

"Actually, I custom order the bolts from a particularly gifted smith I know in Lowtown," says Varric, unperturbed. "The really specialized ones come all the way from Orzammar, but I like to buy local when I can."

[justdyedit]

"That must get costly. I hope you know how to shot well."

For some reason she just can't resist the quips this morning.

[igetthatalot]

"Nobody knows how to use Bianca better than me," says Varric. "It all works out pretty well, in the end. The good days are when I don't have to use her at all, of course."

[theunsmiling]

Michael's raised eyebrows are as likely to have much to do with the dwarf himself as they are with the crossbow on his back.

She swings around on her barstool, slouching to rest her elbows on the bartop as she watches him approach.

Her T-shirt is gray. Her jeans are ripped, and her dark hair is short and flyaway.

"There's a lot of things it pays to remember. Shockingly."

Her words have a dry twist to them. Her expression is a little more somber. It happens.

[igetthatalot]

"You know? I've noticed that myself," Varric says. "One more for the list, I suppose. Along with the fact that they don't seem to water down the drinks here, which is a refreshing change."

[theunsmiling]

"Maybe you need to change the kind of establishment you frequent. Or change the color of your coin."

She flicks the fingers of her left hand in a swift, dismissive gesture.

It goes well with the briskness of her words.

[igetthatalot]

"Possibly. The Hightown taverns don't generally mess with the drinks too much, at least not according to my brother," says Varric. "Then again, they're all controlled by the Merchants' Guild. I think I'll take my chances with the Hanged Man at home, and the rat things here."

[morethanprops]

Moist doesn't like crossbows, guards tend to carry them but that's the biggest one he's ever seen.

His glance at Varric is utterly neutral and he's glad he has an Ankh-Morpork Times to hide behind if need be since a bolt from that wouldn't leave much of him.

[igetthatalot]

Varric's not a violent man by any stretch of the imagination, but he does like to be sure that when he gets into a fight, he's still around when it's over. He glances back at the human, and-

Huh.

They have printing in Kirkwall- block printing. But the lettering doesn't look like that.

[morethanprops]

Moist nods back, the front page story is about a impressive cart pile up in the center of Ankh-Morpork with a picture accompanying it.

[igetthatalot]

"Interesting reading material," the dwarf* comments. "Looks like some artist's got a lot of time on his hands."

*While of the right size and build, Varric is quite clean-shaven; the closest he has to a beard is an eminently respectable growth of chest hair. Which is notable because he wears a leather duster over an embroidered silk shirt, both of which are open to a point well below the end of his sternum. The lack of chainmail is complemented by the egregious lack of helmet- and we won't go into the hairstyle here. In short, it's even money whether anyone accustomed to the dwarves of the Disc would have a chance at realizing that this is not, in fact, a short and heavily built human. Fair warning.