Nickname: Dono
Age: 31
Nameday: 32nd Sun of the 5th Umbral Moon
Height: 3 fulms, 7 ilms
Gender: Cis Male
Sexuality: Gay ♂♂
Status: In a Relationship
Occupation: Musician, Tailor, Tattoo Artist
Chapter 1I walked through the bustling market, dodging legs that swung about me as I squeezed between the small gaps the patrons left while they browsed the market stalls. Every once in a while I deftly reached up with a hop and snagged a piece of fruit or a small bag of warm, roasted nuts, while the talls paid all their attention to themselves and none to me. As usual.As I made my way to the dark alleys behind the markets I snuck past various shanty houses made of cardboard or blankets and found my way to a small alley covered with scrap wood. A doorway and a window was even built into it that made it look almost like a real house. Like everything else about that house, it was just pretending to be genuine.When I walked into the shack I was immediately met with the smell of stale rum and piss, along with the sound of Da yelling at Ma in the kitchen. I filtered it out as I snuck through the hearth room. At ten years of age, I’d had enough of life at home, which consisted of my parents fighting, Da getting drunk and beating me and my Ma, and living in absolute filth.I tiptoed into my room and shut the thin, plywood door behind me to muffle the noise a bit. I gave the room one last look, the floor neat and clean, the bed made up, all my things put away. It was nothing like the rest of this hell-hole. I collected a few of my prized possessions, like a harp and a few pieces of decent clothing I had found over the years, packing it all into a small bag I nicked from the market earlier. I set the fruit and the nuts on top for easy access later. I threw the bag over my shoulder and began to sneak my way back to the front of the shack when I came chest-to-face with my old man in the hearth room doorway.“And where do ye think yer goin’ there lad,” he spat as much as said, the smell of liquor on his breath. “Yer ma just left fer work and ye got some chores ta do round here, ye do!”“What chores?,” I replied. “I could clean for weeks and this place would still be disgusting. Besides that you make all of the mess around here. Clean it up your–”I saw stars as the back of Da’s hand struck my left temple and knocked my head against the door frame. I stumbled back a few steps and tried to focus as Da’s yelling filled my head.“Ye’ve got a mouth on ya boy, ye’d think bein’ smacked er’time ye talk back would’a taught ya. Guess ye don’t learn so well, do ye,” he said with a chuckle. “Hows about I give ya a lesson til yer ma gets home. Maybe that’ll give ye enough time to learn some respect.”—Sometime in the middle of the night I woke up on the floor of my bedroom. There was a blanket over me. “Where did that come from,” I thought.Dried blood stuck my face to the cold cobble stone as I started to move. As I did, a sore pain shot through my body. I ached head to toe. “But mostly head,” I thought between the beats pulsating drums pounding to the rhythm of my heart.I took a few minutes to let my mind clear and try to make sense of the situation. The last thing I remembered was getting my bag, leaving and…running into Da. I’d mouthed off and…oh, right. That’s why I was here.I had taken beatings pretty regularly in my life. In a weird, messed up way I was actually pretty conditioned to take a few hits, so they didn’t do as much damage as they used to. I wasn’t big enough or strong enough to overtake my old man yet, but I could hunker down into a defensive position and weather a storm pretty well these days.The drunk knew it too, which is why he got in his cheap shot while he could. The rest of the day after that was him taking turns kicking me while I was on the floor and drinking more shots until he eventually passed out on the couch. The nice thing about that was he got weaker as he got drunker so near the end I barely felt it.I looked around for my bag, which I’d tossed aside a bit before the proper beatings started. A bruised apple or two and some scattered, cold nuts were at the top but at least they were accounted for. I grabbed my bag by the straps and held it to my side as I listened for a moment. The sound of Da’s snoring filled the rooms, so it was safe to go. Strangely I thought I caught a whiff of some herbal tea.I nearly jumped out of my shoes when I felt a hand gently touch my shoulder. I turned to find my Ma standing behind me. I hadn’t heard her coming at all.“I know you’re goin’ out to find somethin’ better than this. I’m sorry I can’t do more for you,” she whispered, handing me a warm cup. “This’ll help with the pain a bit. I put some salve on your bruises so they’ll heal up a bit faster as well.”“Thanks Ma, “ I said after taking a big sip. The soothing tea steeped the pain from my body, making me feel awake and rejuvenated. “It’s ok, I know you do your best. Someday I’ll come back and take you away from here too,” I replied with a shaky voice.She handed me a large pack wrapped in cloth. “I bought some supplies with my wages this week. Enough for you to live on for a couple of fortnights. Take it and be safe, son. It shames me to see you go, but you deserve more than what we can provide…”I wrapped my arms around her. We weren’t a hugging family, but I owed her that much at least. She tried, twelve bless her. She really did.“Thank you,” I whispered before pulling back and putting the foodstuffs in my bag. “Take care Ma.”“You too, my wee Donovan. You too.”—Chapter 2I woke up with the sun on my face, creeping along my body as it rose up and hit that perfect angle that hit the underside of the bridge I slept under every morning. It was my favorite part of the day. The way the cold, damp underside of the street was filled with light and warmth every day as if the stars themselves were telling me that even here, there was hope.I found this spot about half a year after I left home and joined with my fellow alley urchins properly. I’d been thieving and running with the gang since I was eight but until recently it was only my day job, so to speak. In those days I was fully into life on the streets.In Ul’dah, everything was run by the Syndicate council, a collection of the richest people in the city making all the laws and calling all the shots. Sure, we were all ruled by the Sultana but the true power was in the Syndicate. They ran the businesses, the inns, taverns, markets, and most importantly–the guilds. Every guild in Ul’dah was tied to Syndicate members in some way. I gravitated toward the rogues of Ul’dah, given my stature and natural stealthiness, learning to pick pockets and cut purses.One day I was waltzing through the marketplace as I did every day, when I saw a new vendor opening up shop. It was a jeweler, and he had some shiny wares he was busy unpacking.I watched him out of the corner of my eye for a few minutes, taking some notes on his motions and mannerisms. He had a bag of cut gems in one hand, and was taking them out one at a time very carefully setting them onto displays. I made my way through the crowd, pulling out my small belt knife. As I walked by I slit the bottom of his bag with a quick swipe, spilling the gemstones onto the ground. The man turned with a shocked yelp, and began frantically grabbing them from the floor.I stayed out of his line of sight as I walked around him, deftly snagged one of the display gems behind the distracted jeweler, and turned to walk away.A shrill whistle filled the air and a booming voice yelled “Halt, thief!” I turned to see the big face of a Roegadyn under an even bigger blue hat.The guards were onto me and I had seconds to make my escape. I bolted behind the market stands and headed towards the exit. They didn’t let up either. The guards chased me all the way to the Alchemist’s guild. I thought to make a sharp turn and lose them in the alleyways.When I turned the corner I was met with a huge cart being pulled by two horses. They jolted to the left at the reaction of the driver to my approach, pulling the cart to the left so fast it overturned. I skidded to a stop before the cart hit me, but something I didn’t see hit me in the side of my face. I felt the bottle break, the glass fly, and more than anything else, the liquid fire that enveloped my left eye as I fell to the ground. I didn’t even have time to scream before everything went black.—I felt flashes of pain, followed by long periods of blackness.“The kid’s lucky. A flask that size could have taken the skin off his entire body if there weren’t healers nearby.”Every once in a while I woke up for a few moments before one of the healers recast their sleep spell and continued their work, chatting amongst themselves.“After that jeweler saw the state he was in, he refused to press charges. Said the twelve had already judged the boy.”A few days after the incident, or so I was told, I woke up with bandages covering my head and left shoulder. I looked around and realized I was in a city hospital! My first thought was that I could never afford this. My second one was how unfathomably hungry I was.A few moments after I woke a woman came in dressed in white, and smiled at me. “Good to see that you’re awake! Take it slow, you’ve had a rough time of it. Some food will be here in a few minutes, I bet you’re famished!”I nodded my head slowly, taking a few moments to verbalize my thoughts.“Who’s paying for this,” I asked her as I got a whiff of the approaching lunch tray and felt my stomach growl.“You have friends in some high places my dear, that’s all I’m able to say. Don’t you worry your sweet head about it. Here you go hon,” she said as she took the tray from the lunch cart passing by and set it on a table attached to my bed. She swung the arm around to place the table in front of me, and took the lid off of the tray. What I saw flat out amazed me.It was a roast! A huge slice of roast with potatoes, carrots, onions, a huge pile of green peas and a roll almost as big as my head! I’d never seen a feast like this in my life.“This is all for me,” I somehow heard myself asking the woman, who grinned at me and almost giggled at my astonishment.“Sure is, and there’s plenty more where that came from. Now eat up while it’s hot!”She didn’t have to ask me twice.Two trays later, I was laying back on my bed feeling more full than I could ever remember. I felt like I’d eaten my weight in meat and rolls.The rest of the day was spent relaxing in bed as I listened to the table orchestrion. I cycled through the collection, repeating the ones I liked the most, and tried to enjoy this luxury while it lasted. I knew it wouldn’t.Sure enough after another day I was told to take my clean bill of health and check out. Oh and by the way, you’ll never see out of your left eye again. Oh and we forgot to mention that your left eye was drained of color by the acid. All in all I was amazingly lucky, especially to walk out with minimal injury.That taste of the high life stuck with me though. I wanted that for myself and my Ma. The thought of the two of us living in a fancy suite while Da was stuck in his filthy heap of shite put a smile on my face as I left the hospital and made my way back to my little home under the bridge.
—Chapter 3I spent the next few weeks at home strumming my harp and learning to play some of the songs I memorized from the orchestrion. I discovered that I had an ear for music, something I had never taken the time to bother with when I lived at home…mostly because Da hated the racket I made trying to teach myself. I had become very thankful that I never bothered fencing the thing. Something in the back of my mind always told me not to.I noticed that my hearing in general started to get a bit better over that time as well, almost as if they were trying to make up for me seeing half as much as before. That was something I was having a very hard time getting used to. I’d bumped the side of my head and slammed my left shoulder into so many things I was starting to hate that side of my body just for existing. It didn’t help that my body was still tender from the accident either. It really was easier to just sit in bed and play. Every once in a while one of the urchins would drop by with some food and news of goings on. A few of them hung around and chatted for a bit, but mostly they just did their errand and carried on. I still wasn’t entirely sure who was sending them.About six weeks after the accident I had fully recovered. I was pretty used to seeing with one eye, and had started to wear a scarf over the left side of my face to cover my whited-out eye. It still bothered me when I caught my image in a reflection, and I thought the scarf made me look cool. I had also spent the time practicing my musical instruments, which had expanded to include a violin and a small horn, both of which I’d managed to get a hold of once I was well enough to start sneaking around town again.Once I felt like I had learned enough songs to a degree that they sounded pleasing to the ears, I spent my days in the markets or outside of the Quicksand playing for gil. I never made as much as I did cutting purses, but I was starting to feel pretty good about myself. I was approached one day by my old running mate, Rodrick. He was one of the first urchins I met once I left home, and he taught me a lot of what I knew about pickpocketing.“Oy Dono, y’alright?” he said as he waved to me once he was within earshot. I waved back and smiled, happy to see a familiar face.“Ya mate, I’m doin’ well enough. How’s things with you,” I asked, setting my harp down. It’d been a while since I took a break anyway.“Good good, can’t complain yeah? Boss man sent me over, wanted me to tell you a few things and ask you another,” he told me.“That right? I ain’t in trouble am I? I know I haven’t been running with the crew lately…I’m just quite ready to get back to that yet,” I replied with more than a little worry in my voice. I’d never been on the boss’s bad side before.“Nah it’s not like that mate,” he said smiling. “It’s good actually. Boss wants to meet with you, says he’s got a big opportunity that he thinks you’d be good for, what with your barding and all.”“B..barding,” I said to myself, testing the word out for the first time. “He thinks I’m a…a bard?”“Sure does! Ya play music dontcha? Sure you can’t shoot a bow but that’ll be taken care of. He just needs yer musical skills for now,” Rodrick said. “He wanted me t’ask ya if yer willin’, to meet’em inside the Quicksand tomorrow ‘round noontime.”“I can’t believe it…the boss wants me as a bard? Oh Twelve…oh shit….I need to go, I need to practice,” I said in a panic, gathering my things and almost forgetting my gil jar, not to mention saying goodbye. “Thanks Roddy,” I finally told him. “I’m glad he sent ya. It was nice seein’ ya, I just gotta jet. Wanna make sure I’m ready.”“No worries pal, that’s a smart move. This could be big for ya, who knows,” he said with a shrug and a warm smile. “Take care, Dono!”“You too,” I said with a wave, before turning and running all the way back to the Goblet bridge I called home.–The next day I woke up a little bit before sunrise. The air was still chilly, but I fought off the will to stay wrapped up warm in my blanket pile. I got up, did some stretches, then immediately picked my lute up and started practicing songs I had heard a few nights prior while listening to other street bards play. I played until my fingers hurt up until an hour or so before noon, just enough time to make it to the Qucksand a bit early.I made my way through the city, cutting through the usual back alleys to get there more directly. Once I arrived I tediously walked inside. The Quicksand served as the main hub for the Adventurer’s guild, the one guild in Ul’dah that was probably uncorrupt. I say probably because nobody could ever be sure in this city. I walked up to the innkeeper’s desk and told them my name, and I was handed a key and told a room number.Once I arrived I knocked on the door, and the doorway was suddenly a dark shadow where a rough looking Hrothgar stood in the doorway. He had a huge brass ring through his septum, and part of his left ear looked like it had been torn off. He looked down and grunted.“I…i’m here to see–” I started, before a growling voice interrupted me.
“You Donovan,” he asked. The sound of his gruff voice caused me to nearly jump out of my skin. I nodded in reply, and he moved aside to let me in. The room was filled with a smoky haze, with several men in nice suits sitting around and conversing amongst themselves. At the far end of the room behind a large desk sat a small, quite innocent looking Miqo'te man with short, jet black hair and fur and dark, square-rimmed glasses. He stood up and smiled warmly, waving his hand to beckon me over.“Ah, Donovan Adovan,” he called out to me in a surprisingly cheerful voice. “Just the man I’ve been waiting to meet. I trust you’ve recovered well from your accident, yes? As soon as I heard I sent word to ensure you had the finest care.” I walked up to his desk as he spoke and was surprised to hear the last part.“Th..that was you? Thank you sir,” I said with the most gratitude in my voice that I could muster. “I was…really stupid and reckless that day.”“Ah, but ambitious too,” the man added. “It takes quite an ambitious soul to attempt what you did. Why if not for your mishap, you very well would have escaped with this lovely prize.” As he said that, he pulled out a sapphire gemstone from his coat pocket, winked at me, then tossed it my way. I barely registered what was happening before I snatched it out of the air a split second before it knocked me in the forehead. I held it in my hands and just stared at it for a moment, the memories of that day flooding back into my mind. Subconsciously I reached up and touched the scarf over my eye with my left hand.“I thought you should have that, given what you sacrificed in the attempt to get it,” he said. “Ah, but where are my manners? My name is Daxa’zi Tiren. I run the day to day operations of Ul’dah’s chapter of the Rogue’s guild. I’ve been watching you for some time now, and I believe you to be a very talented individual. Someone who could be a great asset to our organization if provided the right tools and the appropriate motivation. Would you say that my assessment is accurate, Donovan Adovan?”He let the question hang in the air for a moment, before looking me in the eyes and smiling. For some reason that gave me the confidence to answer, and I straightened my back a bit before returning the smile.“Yes, I think it is,” I replied as I nodded my head. His smile widened.“Good, that confidence will serve you well my boy. I have a job for you that will put your musical skills to work, but you’ll have to grab the position yourself before another bard has the opportunity to take it from you. That will be the first test. The matron of an establishment by the name of The Aurum Tavern will be seeking the services of a bard in the Ul’dah town square tomorrow night. Ensure you are the first to answer her, and the job is yours henceforth. Do you understand me so far,” he asked. I nodded and he continued.“You will provide the tavern with musical ambience, but at the same time you will be listening and watching. I need you to hone in your sharp ears to any and all conversations, particularly those that the matron of the tavern is having. I want descriptions of those she speaks with, names if you can get them as well, and any details of any conversations you happen to overhear.” Daxa’zi paused for a moment to take a sip from his mug, giving me a moment to absorb the information.“For this, you’ll be paid handsomely,” he said. “Enough to move out of your home under the bridge and into something more befitting of your new role. I have personal quarters set up for you at the Mist apartments. Ah yes, I failed to mention that if anyone asks you are from Limsa Lominsa, son of a fisherman or something. You can figure out the details, just ensure you settle on them and remain consistent. Do you have any questions?”“Yes sir, just one,” I said in reply. “Roddy mentioned something about me learning to use a bow. What did he mean by that?”“That’s right,” Daxa’zi said with bemusement. “I see your attention to detail is sharper than I had hoped. I have set aside one of our archers and instructed him to train you every day for two hours, except on days you are performing at Aurum. I need you to be a full Bard for this ruse to work. I know you have a…disability. But I am confident that even with one functional eye you can become a skilled archer,” he said with a reassuring tone.I just nodded my head. It was a lot to process. A job? An apartment?? Before I could become too overwhelmed with it all, Daxa’zi spoke again.“If you have no other questions, I will send you on your way. Come see me again next week at this time, Donovan Adovan. I’d like to check in with you weekly, if that’s alright with you. Go on now, your first lesson will be this evening. He will meet you at the Aetherite Crystal outside of this building.”“Thank you, Mr. Tiren. You’ve been so kind to me and I barely know you…but I won’t let you down,” I said, smiling at him confidently.“Please, call me Daxa. I see potential in you, and I never squander potential. I invest in it, and I am highly invested in you and your future now. See to it that investment is not wasted.”He dismissed me by way of sitting back down at his desk and flipping through some paperwork. I turned to leave out the way I came through the haze of cigar smoke and conversation, lost in thought about what had just happened to me.-Chapter 4 Coming Soon-