synopsychic | [OTA] Announcing another drow (w/ human); tic tac toe three in a row for Forgotten Realms

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[OTA] Announcing another drow (w/ human); tic tac toe three in a row for Forgotten Realms

[About an hour after this whole mess, Drizzt addresses the network with some sort of dazed amusement.]

For those of you who have been warned what to do if another drow shows, I do not believe there will be further threats. It seems the Arcana have decided to only pull drow that are not particular threats to other Travelers.

If you meet our newest drow, Jarlaxle, you will... simply know it is him, I assure you. Do not attack him, even if he says something to make you want to do so.

His human companion, Artemis Entreri, is also from my world. Please do not attack him either.

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[Allies at best, and even that is disconcerting to think about. He watches Drizzt pass with a critical eye, noting every movement, waiting-]

[His hands clench useless at his sides before he nods and follows, a good few steps behind. That the other man would turn his back on him is... He could kill him. Right here. The thought sticks in his mind, runs through every possible outcome if he drew his blade on the drow right here. Drizzt is inviting it, showing none of the caution Artemis has seen in him before.]

[It's hard to push the thought away, but he has to.]

What is this about?

[And yet, Drizzt knows he will not stab him. That he will not kill him. Jarlaxle has shown his affection towards Drizzt, and Entreri is not the man he once was. He is safe enough.

They are close enough to a nook that seems empty that he answers that question.]

Why Jarlaxle kept the truth of my so-called death from you.

[...oh.]

[This time, when Artemis looks away, it's to hide the scowl that almost forms before he schools his features carefully back to neutrality. He...might know what is coming. Now that he's had time to dwell on it. But that doesn't mean he wants to hear it.]

[Especially not from a godsdamned ghost.]

There's nothing to talk about there. [Bitter? Well.] And if he's the one that put you up to this, you can tell him that.

He seemed to thoroughly enjoy letting me think you dead.

[Drizzt reaches the door and stops, turning to Entreri and saying simply, without malice but with the entire story pouring out at once.]

My father and Jarlaxle go back to the academy—four centuries of friendship. Friendships do not happen in Menzoberranzan. Jarlaxle saved me as a favor to him, even though Zaknafein is dead at home, such is the depths of his loyalty and love to him. Do you really think he would let you risk a self-destructive obsession over killing his dead friend's son if he could stop it?

[That-]

[Artemis stops, head snapping up to meet Drizzt's gaze. That's...another unexpected surprise, to hear of Jarlaxle, of all people. And for a long moment, he doesn't speak, searching the other man's eyes for any sign of deception, even though he knows he won't find it.]

[And for some reason, that makes the whole story even worse to hear.]

He certainly had no qualms about letting you suffer through that self-destructive obsession.

[No, the anger is still there, and explosively so, but. He knows even as the words leave his mouth that at the time, none of them had much choice in that matter. Least of all Jarlaxle. But hearing Drizzt defend him sparks that fire again, from where it'd been burning under that strained surface of calm, and he can't stop.]

Or me, for that matter. Jarlaxle is loyal to no one but himself. Anyone else is merely there for his own entertainment.

[Drizzt meets that gaze, refusing to look away.]

Nothing beyond what I could handle. And your suffering was your own choice—as is now your choice to have finally ended it.

[Drizzt's eyes narrow, but he forces his hands to not go to his scimitar hilts at the tone in Entreri's voice. The anger is not at him. Entreri seems to have enough control of it.]

When he told me of his purpose in finding me—to give you closure—and of my father after I was healed—he was nothing but serious. No smile, no tricks, no clever plan. Simply the truth.

Which brings to you another choice—will you believe me, will you consider my truths to be lies, or will you find the truth from Jarlaxle himself?

I want nothing to do with him.

[Which isn't entirely a lie. Right now, everything feels too raw, feels too much. Facing Jarlaxle right now, while this angry fire still burns through him, he's not sure he could refrain from lashing out. Drizzt, for the moment, is a safer target. Because even now, no matter how his palms itch for a blade, Artemis knows he won't raise a hand against the drow.]

[As much as he wants to. The logic behind his words stings, made even worse by the fact that Artemis knows, without a shadow of a doubt, that Drizzt means them. That honesty, that infuriating righteousness, had always been the most miserable part of dealing with the man, and death has apparently done very little to change it.]

That was not closure. [Every word is viciously bitter, and he can't even meet Drizzt's eye anymore as he continues.] That wasn't what I wanted. And he left me believe you dead, this entire time, because...why? I couldn't be trusted to not seek you out the moment I learned otherwise?

[Although, even as he says this...he knows, deep down, he's not sure he would have trusted himself, either, had he known the truth.]

[Coming here was a mistake.]

[Except he's not a man—perhaps a young one, but not fully an adult. It's the secret that so few know back home. Drizzt is a child in an adult's world.

He listens closely to every word. There isn't room to marvel that they're having this conversation at all, that Entreri is telling Drizzt exactly how he felt. It's surreal.

Especially surreal because Entreri, very clearly, was not happy with thinking Drizzt dead. That it had caused him great pain to think he had murdered Drizzt. While the ranger still is not sure how to feel about Entreri, he can tell truly that none of this is an act. Entreri has truly had a change of heart.

And speaking of the heart—the way he speaks of the moment brings the memories back. Drizzt remembers. The memories are hazy, but he remembers the fall as Entreri's hand sunk into his chest. He remembered the screams, Entreri's hands trying to stop the flow of blood. The terror as his life drained out of his body, not being able to move, not being able to scream that he was still alive while Jarlaxle and Rai'gy spoke. And then suddenly, there was nothing. Nothing at all. Until there was suddenly life in him again.

It's all so very recent. No more than since the beginning of the last Jaunt, when he suddenly found himself with new memories and more. Drizzt's expression falters, clouds over, the hazy moments seeming clearer.]

The fight itself was the goal. [His voice is quiet but clear, slightly monotone. But there's an element of fear in his eyes, wider than usual.] I... know you did not want my death. I heard your screams. You tried to stop the blood. You did not want me to die, and I know the truth of it.

But you still gave me this.

[Drizzt reaches up and pulls at the collar of his Mithral shirt and the shirt underneath, bringing it down just enough to show the top edge of a new scar made of fingers tips spread wide. His voice is a whisper.]

And moreso, he knew me, knew it was given to a child over three decades in age less than the century it takes for a drow's mind to mature.

[A moment more and he covers it. Drizzt is not cruel enough to show Entreri more than just a hint of the full thing.]

You were not yet the man that stands before me now. Would you have trusted yourself back then, Artemis Entreri? Do you really think Jarlaxle would risk the child of his former friend after seeing how it all ended?

[Well, let no one accuse Drizzt of pulling his punches in this moment.]

Edited (I made it worse.) 2017-02-11 01:23 (UTC)

[He knows what it is even before Drizzt begins to reach for the collar of his shirt. How could he not, when it's a memory he relieved for so many long days after it had happened? Artemis steeled himself as Drizzt continued speaking, but...even without seeing the entirety of it, the sight was enough to bring a sharp, vicious rush of guilt.]

[He hadn't wanted Drizzt to die. That's the truth of it. Because Drizzt had won. Drizzt had won every part of that empty, selfish little feud that Artemis had started, had proven himself to be so much more than just the better fighter. Everything that the assassin thought he'd known, about the way of the world, about himself - Drizzt had shattered all of it.]

[Artemis wasn't supposed to have been the one that walked out of that tower alive.]

[More than that, though...more than that, to hear the drow call himself a child. Artemis' eyes snapped to his, to the visible fear in them that seemed so terribly, uncomfortably familiar...and he's forced just as quickly to look away, mind a flurry of emotions he thought he buried more than three decades ago. No, Drizzt doesn't pull his punches - once upon a time, Artemis may have even commended him for that. But now, it only sends pang of something miserably cold through his chest.]

[The first time he finally tries to speak again, the words stick somewhere in the back of his throat. So he takes a slow breath, exhales, and asks the only thing he can trust himself to say with a level voice.]

Why are you telling me this?

[Drizzt pauses for a long moment, then says simply.]

So that you understand why Jarlaxle did what he did. What I have heard from my father showed me they were closer than Jarlaxle had told me. It is why I wanted to give them some peace while they were reunited.

[And there's that word again. Father. And while it's far from the first time that Drizzt has mentioned that he wasn't alone here, it only really seems to stick now, in the wake of every new realization the other man is dropping on him. And if he were honest...the knowledge brings a certain dread with it.]

[But Artemis shakes his head and turns away, unable to look at him while he tries to sort out his thoughts and the warring emotions behind them. It's frustration that wins out in the end, though, the familiar heat of it preferable over everything else he still feels. He pounds a fist against the wall with a soft curse before he turns back to Drizzt, disbelief in his voice as he briefly gestures to him.]

I wanted to kill you. I hounded you for years. Tortured your friends. My understanding of anything should be the least of your concerns.

[And to be honest, if he wasn't already aware that this was the only drow in the world entirely incapable of it, he would almost think that Drizzt was attempting to manipulate him in some way. But no, he never was that smart, and that clearly hasn't changed now.]

[Zaknafein is a very scary drow if he's your enemy. Dread is to be expected. After all, he's the greatest Weapons Master that Menzoberranzan has ever known.

Drizzt lets him work through his emotions, not disturbing them until he is done.

Also--his father is particularly bad at manipulating others as well. But Entreri does not know that yet.]

But you are alike, you and I. There was potential in you to be a greater man. It seems that you've begun to realize that. Who am I to hinder that growth if it exists? Judgment is not within my power.

[That gets a vicious look from him.]

We are not alike. [Because Drizzt is a far, far better man than he'll ever be. And he's accepted that, however bitterly. But he reigns himself back in quickly, even though the scowl never really leaves, and irritably runs a hand over his hair as he thinks.]

...you said that your father is here.

[It's time to change the subject before his thoughts take him down a road he's not entirely sure he can come back from. But there...might be some hesitation in that non-question.]

[For the love of all that's holy if he has to be surrounded by your kind again-]

[There is truth to both of their words. But Drizzt isn't going to fight about it. He nods at the non-question, although his expression lightens somewhat. It's fairly obvious that Drizzt loves his father dearly.]

He is. Zaknafein is the one that gave me the knowledge, love, and strength to run from Menzoberranzan. My father is the strongest warrior I have ever known.

[Aka: he's just saying it because he loves his father dearly, but also dear dad is stronger than Drizzt. Have fun with that, Entreri.]

[Drizzt. Please don't tell him that. He almost killed you. And as far as he knows dear dad might know that too. The thought is enough to earn a grimace as he looks away again, turning that information over in his mind.]

I'll make a note to avoid him. I don't want any quarrel with you while I'm here. Or with him.

Travelers do not kill fellow Travelers—or fight them for that matter. It's a rule we have here.

[He pauses for a moment.]

He does not know of our past, and I have no intention of telling him now. It would help no one. As much pain as you may have caused me in the past, I do not wish for your death.

You say that as if people have ever given any regard to rules when they don't suit their wants and motives, let alone drow.

[In his defense, he's including Jarlaxle in there as well, and...well, honestly, all drow but the one currently standing in front of him. But he reigns that nervous irritation back in quickly, forces it back down.]

[Okay. He's trying to be civil, and take Drizzt's words to heart. He is. It's just. Hard.]

But I suppose it's nice to hear that you haven't changed one bit.

[What sarcasm?]

[Drizzt tries hard not to smile a bit at that back-handed sarcastic comment.]

I am afraid I have changed little, as you say.

[As for Entreri's other concerns....]

Drow are pragmatic; being utterly destroyed for disobeying the rule once will cure them of harming other Travelers at the least. And you needn't worry about Zaknafein; he's mostly concerned with learning how to be a father. A father who has more than once obsessively worried over his son and has a protective streak a mile wide when he feels it necessary.

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[OTA] Announcing another drow (w/ human); tic tac toe three in a row for Forgotten Realms

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kill me now ;n; nooooo my bb

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