Giants and Clowns

Sigrid is here, in front of the Temple of Daeus, moving through the line where people are standing, waiting for the free lunches.

Yelrona is one of several performers in front of the Temple of Tarien. She has attracted a small crowd with a relatively simple routine combining acrobatics, juggling, and stage magic. Right now she is passing colored silks from one hand to another, palming a silk with each pass so the silk appears to change color, miming astonishment when the silks seem to vanish altogether. She makes a whole production of looking for them in various places until her eyes latch on Sigrid, and she crosses over to where the giantborn is walking. "Excuse me ma'am... can I trouble you with a question?" she asks, politely but loud enough for the small audience to hear.

Sigrid watches the stageshow with some interest. It's not that she's not here to help people, but they're not that exciting. When Yelrona approaches, she smiles and says, "Yes, by all means, ask any questions you like."

"Well, you see," Yelrona begins, "I was doing a little show for these nice people -- perhaps you saw some of it? -- when I somehow misplaced the silks I was using. I've been looking for them _everywhere_, but I can't seem to find them. But I thought perhaps you might have seen something? You are, after all, _extremely_ tall." As she explains, she makes a production out of searching the ground, moving around Sigrid and eventually crouching down to knee-height on the giantborn and walking between her legs.

Sigrid chuckles as Yelrona searches around her, and says, "Well, I haven't seen anything, but maybe you'd better check my pockets just in case." She grins to the crowd, and says, "I'm not so tall as all that. My brothers are all taller than me. And my dad."

Yelrona backs up a few steps at that, looking wide-eyed at Sigrid, turning around and mugging for the audience before looking back to Sigrid. The crowd laughs, and more people join it. "You know, in that case I think I might have met your dad! I was visiting a halfling community you may know... it was in one of his pockets. Speaking of which..." With great apparent effort, she leaps a few inches off the ground and reaches towards one of Sigrid's pockets...

GAME: Yelrona rolls acrobatics: (4)+10: 14

...and attempts a complicated flip that flops, dumping her on her back. She gets up, rubbing her butt in pain, and pulls a rope out of her pack. "Would you mind holding this?"

Sigrid isn't so tall as all that. Yelrona comes up past her belt buckle, anyhow. A little. She looks confused at Yelrona's tumble, chuckling along with the others who assume it's part of the act. She peers at the rope, but nods slowly and reaches out to take it in her hand.

You say, "Thanks!" She holds tightly onto the rope and leans backwards, bring her legs off the ground and trusting Sigrid to take her weight. She then pretends to walk up the side of Sigrid's body like a mountaineer, making a production of how laborious her trek is, before swinging off the rope and onto her feet, this time extended to her full height. "Hm, now, let me see," she says, miming an exploration of Sigrid's pockets without actually reaching into them, "no, no silks... but what is this?" She pulls her hand back to reveal a brightly colored pocket handkerchief she'd earlier lifted from a human teenager in the audience. "Ma'am, I think this is yours, isn't it?" she asks, tumbling over to join her. At her astonished confirmation, she hands it back to her and says "But then... what is in _your_ pocket?!?" She reaches up and mimes removing something from the girl's pocket. "Ah! My silks!!!" she exults, thanking the girl and returning to Sigrid, juggling the silks as she goes. "A big hand for my big-handed friend here, everyone! And have a good afternoon."

She pockets the silks as the crowd applauds and tosses coppers in Tarien's donation box, and approaches Sigrid, talking more normally. "Thanks for being a good sport," she says. "I'm Yelrona.""

Sigrid has no problem holding the rope as Yelrona scales her. She's nearly twice as tall, and it looks very much like a child next to an adult. She's clearly surprised to see the thing pulled from her pocket. So to speak, then laughs as Yelrona reverses the joke. "Hah, that's good," she says with a chuckle.

Yelrona chuckles. "Thanks! I'd intended to do the pocket-searching riff with her, but then I saw you in the crowd and I just couldn't resist. If you're out here often, we could totally work up a routine. I wonder how high you could 'toss' me?" she muses, looking around at the buildings for a convenient target.

Sigrid ahems, "I suppose I should say thank you. And there's no harm in entertaining people, though I don't know if I could make a regular thing of it. As to how high I could toss you .... not as high as my father the halfling," she says with a wink, referencing the earlier joke. "But a good ways, anyhow."

Yelrona chuckles. "Well, if you change your mind, let me know... I've been hunting high and low for a good partner," she adds, completely straight-faced. "Most of the take goes to support Temple operations, of course, but the performers do get a share. It's less than I'd pull in at the market square, but it's in a good cause, and the crowds are nicer."

Sigrid nods about the crowds being nicer anyhow. "It's amazing how many cutpurses and muggers don't work out in front of the temple of Daeus," she says with a wry grin. "And I can help out. I just don't think I could do it regularly. We have fairly strict rules about things. Not against Tarien or his folk, but busking isn't really appropriate."

Yelrona nods. "No offense taken," she assures the Sunblade. "Daeus' followers are good people who do good work. And I suppose _someone_ has to go for 'strict rules' and such. Not really my thing, which is I suppose why I never did take vows in the Temple of Eluna back home. And besides, not everyone is cut out for comedy," she adds musingly. "It's a serious business, after all."

Sigrid nods quickly about it being a serious business. "Not that we're not allowed fun and all. But a Sunblade joking around and acting silly would ... you know, set the wrong tone." She shrugs helplessly. "It's best for all, is the thing."

Yelrona nods. "I'm sorry," she says hastily, "I really don't intend to challenge your practice. I do understand that when danger threatens, people look to you and your order for protection and leadership, not mine, and the way you comport yourselves in public is part of that. As you say, if they saw you as clowns it would set the wrong tone. Still," she adds with a wink, then leaps into the air and falls flat, either being caught by Sigrid or landing mostly harmlessly on the ground before continuing "the occasional bout of silliness is good for the soul, don't you think?"

Sigrid wactes stoically as Yelrona leaps up and falls flat. She makes no move to catch the woman, assuming she has her own plans. She wouldn't want to interfere. "Oh, yes," she agrees. "I enjoy levity and mirth as much as the next person. But a fair amount of levity and mirth is laughing at the misfortune of others, and that makes me a little sad, rather than happy."

Yelrona nods agreement from the floor, glancing at a couple of passersby who laugh at her pratfall. "I know what you mean," she says, remaining flat on the pavement she does so. "Though... well, one of the Luckbringers was talking about this the other day, and he made a point worth considering. So much of the nasty laughter, the mockery, the abuse in the name of humor that we see all around us, he said... so much of that is born out of fear. We're afraid of ending up in the same position, so when we see people suffer, rather than approach that with empathy, we separate ourselves. We laugh when the silly elf falls on her ass. But what he said was, if we do our jobs right, we can transmute that fear into something else." She rolls backward, pushing herself off the ground with her arms and tucking her knees under her chest, ending up cross-legged on the pavement, staring intently at Sigrid's kneecap. "Laughter. Joy." She shrugs and rises to her feet smoothly. "Honestly, I'm not sure if that's true. It seems a lot of weight to put on a simple pratfall. But the Luckbringers are pretty wise people, I've found, so I've been thinking about it a lot."

Sigrid agrees, "Oh, I'm sure some of the laughter at the pain of others is for joy that the pain isn't ours. But /some/ is a dangerous word. Some of a lot of things are something else entirely. The world is a complicated place," she summarizes. "I prefer the acrobatics in any event." She shrugs.

Yelrona shrugs. "Well, that's easy enough to provide," she replies, jumping up and twisting in mid-air before landing on her feet again. "And agreed about the complexity of the world. But that's more than enough about me, I think... what do you do, when you aren't being an agreeable stage partner?"

Sigrid smiles at the leap back to vertical. "That was good," she praises. "Me? I am a Sunblade. But I am newly appointed, so mostly I guard the Temple while others go out and do great deeds. I train a lot."

Yelrona nods. "Those strict rules, again?" she asks, her eyes twinkling. "Well. The adventurers guild could certainly use your help, if you find yourself at loose ends between guard shifts."

Sigrid smiles about the Guild. "Yes, I have worked with them before. My skill is not so great, though, and I don't think it'd be entirely fair to compromise a mission just to line my pockets with gold. But I go when I am able."

Yelrona laughs. "I assure you, your skills in combat are undoubtedly greater than mine, and every sword counts in these chaotic times. And you can always donate the gold, if keeping it makes you uncomfortable. Or, you know, help subsidize the eating and sleeping habits of street performers," she adds with a grin.

Sigrid smirks about the skill in combat, but says, "I have seen an agile person put a sword in and cause much more consternation than ever I could. And mostly I do donate the gold. I have no use for it, after all. The Temple provides all my needs and wants."

"...which are few enough, I suppose," 'rona finishes for her. "It seems to be that way for a lot of Temple warriors. Was it always, with you?" she asks curiously. "What made you decide to be a Sunblade?"

"Well....." Sigrid hedges, "I wouldn't say my needs are modest, exactly. But neither am I a lucht living for comfort and food and good times." She shrugs. "As to why I joined, my parents sent me off to our local Temple to try to break me of my unruliness. It didn't work out quite how they'd intended. They were expecting a docile daughter back. But what I learned was there were more challenges and they could be faced and fought. And of course it's helping people, which is important."

Yelrona nods solemnly. "It was the complete reverse for me... Mother led the local Temple, and expected me to take my vows there when the time came, much as she had. I suppose my unruliness proved incorrigible," she observes with a grin, then turns around to greet a Temple runner, who whispers a message to her. "Ah... delightful as your company has been, my own has been requested elsewhere. Thanks again for your help, and for the talk!" She waves before following the runner back into the Temple of Tarien.