IC INBOX ( KENOS ).

[twohand]

█ To Commune with Drizzt Do'urden is to step out of extreme darkness, blindly scrabbling below a burning sun. To feel pain and hope filling the heart, amidst the bitterness of exceptional loss. It is the wind sweeping across permafrost, cascading down towering mountains rising like the arched spine of a great entity; the fumbling descent to a forested encampment, filled with hundreds of unique seats arranged around a warming fire. Every seat bears a core warmth, as if the person who had once inhabited it had only just clambered to their feet, and walked away into the darkness beyond the fires. It is a sweet loneliness, and a lingering terror of being alone. COMPATIBLE WITH: Stargazer, Harbinger REPELLED BY: Savant

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[twohand]

[ THIS DEVIL IS A FREAK

Anyways, there is an impression that Drizzt shares of himself politely informing Guenhwyvar that "Sebastian Michaelis bids you a hello", because it is a harmless bit of courier work and Guenhwyvar has no Shard with which to join into their Communion. She resonates with Drizzt, though; draws on his connection to Zenith, which flows through her as well — there is no Astral Plane, he's found, but Guenhwyvar goes somewhere when she must rest. Somewhere irrevocably tied to this world at the end of all worlds.

Her response is the most regal of throaty chuffs, her whiskers fanning forward as she seizes at Drizzt's leg. Half-rolls on her side and tugs, as if to tell him "stop talking to strange men", in an oddly motherly way. ( To be fair to her, when Drizzt speaks with strange men, it never ends well. ) ]

Do you hold it against us, then? I did have a few reasons for dissipating you, one of which was that my information was a little behind the times.

[cutlery]

[ Oh, be still, his heart. She’s perfect. Drizzt is so very lucky, he thinks! He loves his two cats dearly, but to have one the size of Sveinn… Ah, that would be bliss. Heaven, even, but that may be too on the nose. ]

Oh, not particularly, no. Dissipation is unpleasant, certainly, but at least this time it managed to skip the process of having to come back. I dislike the latter a bit more, actually…

[ It’s best not to ask why, though. That is a rationale that is definitively in the realm of the fiends, regardless of term… Even if he’s the one receiving it, he simply viscerally enjoys violence. m ]

Though I am curious what your reasons were, admittedly. I listened in on your discussion with Hayame, naturally, so I know she set you after me, but that is presumably part of the outdated information, as I had removed myself from Zenith first… But if there were others, I am interested.

[twohand]

Well. Hayame is not someone I view as a bastion of good intentions, nor is she very honorable. [ That would imply she treated her enemies with less vitriol and naked disrespect. ] However, upon my own research — those she named were found to be of greater threat to Zenith's cause and goal than they were asset.

[ Drizzt's smile falls away, exposing something a little more severe, a little more grim. He's grown used to wearing a personable expression, using shy warmth to support and elevate his allies and others having a hard time — the truth is that he can be deeply harsh, devoted to the blade, devoted to a justice beyond the pale.

And that justice does not welcome the machinations of demons and devils; for they are always conniving for their own sake and ends. He simply cannot trust them, though he juggles his preconceptions of them with the new reality as best he can. ]

I could not find much on you, beyond what you are. While in my world, that would be enough to condemn you... it could not be what led my blade now. I looked into your alliance with Silco, though. What changes happened to Kowloon from the time you both took up residence there suggested a proclivity for corruption. You destroyed their freedom and independence by encouraging xenophobia and resentment towards a given target. It was Springstar, and handily, that benefitted Zenith.

[ An image might spring within Sebastian's mind — that of a bored, yawning goddess, putting her fingers into the metaphoric wounds of generations of drow. Coaxing them to hate and hate and hate; hate one another, hate outsiders, hate and hate and hate. He sees that in Kowloon, it seems — the cruel whimsy of Lolth, in Sebastian and Silco's actions. ]

I don't like cruelty. I abhor it.

[cutlery]

[ When talking about Guen (or, really, cats in general), Sebastian’s Communion is a little warmer and more whimsical. It’s a rare spot of what might be real, pure affection. So, it makes all the odder and starker as the conversation slips back to more familiar territory. It’s as if a light were being dimmed, and the calm, easy dark fills the space again.

Though some pleasure remains, or rather, shifts in quality. Drizzt’s words might as well be praise, and he feels no reason to hide that feeling now. Perhaps if he were still Zenith and still actively pushing Kowloon in that direction, he might be more subtle, but now? There’s no need. That little effort was one to serve his master, but more importantly, it was to steep him in the delicious sort of hypocrisy that he favored as a flavor of the soul.

The goddess pulls a little curiosity at first, but then a gentle laugh at the statement. He thinks that it’s such a shame that Drizzt hadn’t arrived earlier. Perhaps Kowloon might have been more satisfyingly challenging to manipulate. At least someone noticed eventually, he supposes. ]

Oh, I am not surprised to hear that you could not find much. I pride myself on being very well-behaved, so far as my brethren go.

[ Of course, there’s layers to his seemingly casual statement. It’s more that he doesn’t pick violence as his first recourse, or perhaps even his fifth, though he adores it the same as any of his kind. It’s extremely indirect confirmation that Drizzt’s concern is well-founded. He’s dangerous and formidable, and there are tales to prove it from Meri like D and Hayame, but his deft ability to wield a softer power is far more dangerous to people. ]

…Normally, I would argue that I destroyed nothing. Merely gave a little more confidence for feelings already within their hearts. But I see that this would not exactly be a convincing one, hm?

[ Drizzt already sees the trick for what it is thanks to Lolth. Yet rather than be disappointed at having his tricks exposed, he’s lightly intrigued. So, he’s honest as a result. ]

I adore seeing mortals’ cruelty. It is exceptionally interesting.