they're not all winners

[barded]

FORM: Sending Crystal
SENDER: Chance
RECIPIENT: anyone with a crystal
WHAT: Bards doing what bards do- or trying.
WHEN: now
WHERE: The Gallows
NOTES: CW for some language - also open to action

( The audio starts with some light strumming of a lute as Chance tunes it a little back into place. He starts talking as he works on this process, stopping every so often to test a note out. )

I've been listening to some local music, which is really nice I might add. ( The note he strums here is sharp, making him pause as he cringes before he continues. ) I'm a bit used to learning my audience where I go, but you know I have a little more to work with since I knew my world enough. I knew the way to frame our worldly themes to fit day to day life.

It's not vastly different here, but it's different enough- ah! ( He sounds a bit cheerful as the sharp note goes back to being proper. ) And some things are universal I'm sure.

Like I know a local favorite that killed no matter the tavern at home...

( The strumming picks up from the leisurely pace he was testing at to a quick and light tune. song referenced found here. )

Jackass, jackass, royal ass
Obedient as a dog
The first to fail his only class
With charm that rivals a hog!

A noble ass with noble hide
Oh you can see it in his stride
And for a copper penny
He will take you for a ride!

( He stops shortly, laughing slightly as he clears his throat and goes back to the leisurely strumming. ) Maybe not always so appropriate. Kids get a laugh out of it, though.

Anyway, I was curious about what kind of music most people tend to like? I need to get working on some new material for a new world.

And I'm not sure about this... but if this world has any bards with any tricks of the trade they're willing to share? I'd be willing to trade a few of my own, if anyone's interested.

Comments

[the_cleric]

Ooh...

[It's the ooh of oooh, I'm tellllling, thick with amused accusation and a little bit of scandal. The kind of oooh you would hear from any collection of children in any world or plane of existence. But Jester is also giggling, so it's probably not that scandalized. The other thing Jester's voice is thick with, is accent. Vaguely fantasy Eastern European, definitely foreign.]

You are so bad, singing songs like that. Especially about royalty. You know, if the royal guy does not have a good sense of humor, then he starts getting really really mean when he hears songs like that. Does the part about taking you for a ride mean sex? Or does he give piggyback rides?

[barded]

( that was... a lot of questions at once.

and Chance leads off with a low tsking sound. )

Sex? Someone's got a dirty mind. ( completely teasing. ) Of course it's just piggyback rides. Or jackass-back rides in this case.

Anyway, which royal guy are we talking about? Because I may have to play extra loud so he hears.

[the_cleric]

Ohhh-- [More scandalized giggling.] I do not! Sex would totally have been a possibility. Because in some songs, you think they are about one thing? But they are really all about another thing. And the other thing is usually pre-tty dirty. But it is funny, because they use words that mean two things, so it confuses people.

Anyways. I like piggyback rides. But the real ones. Not sex meaning ones. I do not know any royal guys here, but I bet we could find some and ask if they want to hear a song. It would be really easy. You can ask any questions on these crystals and everyone hears them and answers them.

[Oh wait. Jester gasps, struck by an idea.]

Heyyyy! If I asked to talk to royal guys, then you could ambush them. They would never even see it coming.

[barded]

( there's so much there to try to unwrap, and it leaves Chance laughing through most of it until the end. )

I don't know about you, but I have the strangest mental image in my head of this. I'd be game.

Or I could always distract them and you could ambush them for piggyback rides? ( he's not really sure how far he's willing to go with this, but he's having fun just imagining it first. )

[the_cleric]

Heyyyy, good idea! Although I am very very big. I might crush them. And then we would be in trouble-- [She drops her tone, grim and serious.] --for murder.

[Way more cheerfully:] So we would have to be careful that didn't happen, okay? Hey, is the lute the only instrument that you know?

[barded]

We'll pick other very very big targets. No one so scrawny they'd just collapse under you, right?

I know others, it's just the only one that followed me from my home. I know how to play a good pan flute and then viol is my second love after my lute. But she got left behind.

[the_cleric]

Right!

[What a good idea. Big bulky nobles to give surprise piggyback rides, after they hear kind-of-mean songs about themselves. Not quite the same as tricks or pranks but close enough that the Traveler will probably be pretty happy about it.]

Okay, so there is a market in Kirkwall where you could get new instruments, if you wanted. And if we went up to the fancy Hightown market, I bet they would be really fancy instruments too. But we would have to be careful.

Don't worry. I would be your bodyguard.