A Cruel Twist of Fate [closed]

[wickedchase]

WHO: Twisted Fate, Nerva, Korrin, Zevran, Beleth, Cyril, Ruby, Sera, Katniss, and special sending crystal guest star, Sina!
WHAT: A companion quest and elven relations all wrapped up in one.
WHEN: Post-Illness plot. The band of merry travelers will be gone from Clouch 23 to Clouchreach 28.
WHERE: Traveling to and from the Serpentine River.
NOTES: The plotting post.

Comments

[wickedchase]

[If Fate notices, he doesn't deem to call it out.]

Ah, but you remain ever curious or ever nosy. Hard to say is which, isn't it?

But you needn't remain so, and I'm sure Madame Seeker will satisfy her little romantic heart knowing that I've confessed. Where it goes after that is entirely up to Nerva.

[arlathvhen]

I don't know Nerva's mind, obviously, but I would like to think that I have some ability with reading other people. And if I were to judge from the way that she looks at you when she thinks no one is watching--You shouldn't worry.

[ That may be an exaggeration, but Nerva also spent the entire trip breathing down his neck, which probably means something. She glances over at him, and her tone takes genuine warmth. ]

I wish you two good luck and happiness.

[wickedchase]

I figure in the worst case scenario, we have a fleeting moment and she tells me I'm incredibly handsome but the mage-liness is too much for her. But we'll see.

[That... actually surprises him. He figured that Beleth was going to be irritable that he was ignoring the potential to rejoin the Dalish.]

Thank you, Beleth. I appreciate it.

[arlathvhen]

[ She's not done with you yet, Fate. ]

If nothing else, your ego will sustain you. But you know, Fate--

[ She turns to glance at him. ]

You left the clan when you were ten. Now that you've been back--I mean. You know that you don't have to rejoin this clan? If you don't want to. There are other clans that would happily accept you. Even Clan Ashara. You said yourself that we're more, ah. Forward-thinking than usual. You might enjoy it.

Even if this clan had some...questionable decisions. Not all clans are like that. They give you...a sense of belonging. They give you a family. It's not a bad thing to have, Fate.

[wickedchase]

Beleth, even after they-- after I left. There was a time in which I tried to rejoin with another clan. Honestly, I didn't fit in. I don't know by now that I ever will. There are things outside of a clan that I love, that I could never give up for the sake of anything else.

[He offers a crooked smile.] But if I ever lose my mind and ask to join a clan, suppose yours is the first I'd ever ask. For what it's worth.

[arlathvhen]

...Are you really happy? Not having a clan? Being out here, with the humans and the city elves?

[ It could sound accusatory, but Twisted Fate is probably skilled enough at reading people that he can tell there's something else behind it. Her expression is genuine curiosity, tone probing. As if, perhaps, she wants to know if it's really possible to be separated from your clan. ]

[wickedchase]

[For a moment, he wondered if it was accusatory, as it had been in the past. But there is a different tone, and he looks in her eyes.

This isn't her judging him. This is her asking, with sincerity.]

For all that I have experienced, I would not change my lifestyle. Humans, city elves, Vashoth, the occasional dwarf -- I am as happy as I could be.

I understand that having a clan can give you a sense of knowing you always have a place to belong, a place to go home to. Not that I've necessarily had the experience myself, but I can comprehend what others feel regarding that. But for me, there's too much of the outside world to see for myself to really consider joining a clan again.

[arlathvhen]

[ She listens quietly, and doesn't nod, because that would be too much like agreeing, and she can't agree, not yet. But she doesn't frown, or huff, or do anything negative, either. She is as deliberately neutral as she can be. But then she glances at him, and tilts her head. ]

Don't you get lonely?