I had very little to do with the soup! Do not blame me for soup incidents, that is quite unfair!
[ no!!!!!! also he's made this fucking kitchen a huge ass mess. someone is used to cooking with an unseen servant or at least a mage hand to pick up. ]
[ muttering `Thank you, Gale, for all of your hard work despite threat of constant death and dismemberment.` ]
There's bouillabaisse and a cassoulet if that does not appeal. Or both. I don't know that I'll be able to keep fresh them much longer than today and tomorrow. You know where the silverware is.
[ oh!!!!!!!! okay!!!! raising both eyebrows but he’s very clearly amused. ]
Fair enough! [ bribery works. he’ll go get bowls and start setting them out, making a little show of it. ] I never actually hosted myself all that much— I mean, my mother of course, but I did try to limit those visits …
I adore her very much, but it doesn't mean I want her in my house all the time.
[ he's a grown man? anyway, he will sit and then reach over for the wine bottle. is there corkscrew in this refectory. but right as he does so i guess get fucking mem'd.]
the thing is, while gale was attempting to fudge with the wine, war was debating how this is going to go for them in their current predicament. at the party, in front of everyone, it was better to take food and go.
here, it is... not quite so dangerous in the moment.
so, of course, they were halfway into removing their mask when the shadows jump them along with the memory. no, not just ONE memory, but TWO memories to chat about over dinner.
gale does not see anything except the occasional brief glimpses of a pause in menial task work, usually over a book or two, maybe the slivers of glimpses of a tower - it looks different each time, sometimes. two towers? three. three towers.
what gale hears, though, is a voice. a bubbly, loud, cheerfully playful voice of a young woman, each short almost twenty-five word surprise coming into his brain at various times: ]
Essek! We'rebackwereallyneedtotalktoyou if you have... the time. Because it's super important... Also! You're.......... super cool, we miss you, ANNNND! You. Float. Really. Good
Oh! Hey! Guess what! We're gonna come here in a little bit! We're gonna be here in this tower in a little bit! Ummm! Just let us know if it's good to come in...
Guess who's baaaaaack?! Um, we're back at the Xhorhouse. WE MISS YOU SO MUCH! We need to talk to the Bright Queen, are you around? OH MY GOSH, YOU HAVE TO - hear. About. Everything. That-
Essek. We don't know anything about you, I just realized! We should really hang out more! Are you single? Do you have kids? Swipe right? ALSO! Mom's name?
[ they lower the mask the rest of the way, expression caught between the blinking surprise of curiosity from gale's memory and the resigned fatigued of their own.
it's a drow! it is an extremely handsome, dark purple-skinned drow with both long ears capped and adorned by elegant silver jewelry; he even has a loop through the septum. the shockingly white eyelashes and brows match the neatly styled, short white hair. the eyes leveling gale down are brilliant violet. ]
[ a tight smile. dumping the onus directly into gale's lap. he will take the bottle right out of gale's hand so he can use magic to pop the cork out easily. ]
[ great. thanks! i feel like the reveal that essek is very hot instantly explains so much about him to gale. a real jon hamm in 30 rock situation. the same applies to famine - if you're very pretty, people just kind of let you say fucking whatever sometimes even though it's rude as shit.
he barely seems to notice the bottle is gone, pondering over where to fucking start with this one. ]
quietly, he sucks his teeth, then sighs. slowly, he descends like a feather down to the floor completely onto his feet. my man is maybe five-foot-six tops. ]
I meant you go first in explaining yours. Nevermind, maybe you shouldn't go first.
[ GOD. he pours himself a bit of wine and seriously considers not giving gale any for asking such a thing. but he ends up pouring another glass anyway. he should have made gale do this instead. ]
[ it's unrelated to his standards it's just a fact!!!!! anyway, he watches him sink to the floor and seems just sort of gently amused. look, he's known a lot of wizards, and there's archmages with worse habits than floating. it's just a very funny little fact to get from an extremely bizarre memory.
taking the glass, going to sit down and swirling it around. ]
I knew what you meant, I just thought it was obvious I was avoiding the topic because it's much less fun. Very well. [ he doesn't sound THAT upset about it. ] Well, you know of my mistake in obtaining the orb in the first place, and of my predicament with my current position between life and death.
I suppose this is the portion in between those two events. The part where after more than a year of perfect silence, Mystra's sole contact with me was to impart the order to use the orb to end the Absolute, through my mentor. A bit petty, but here we are.
It was obvious, but the attempt was still bothersome.
[ he now has wine in a glass, but he doesn't do much more than take the tiniest sip of it in an almost idle way. ]
Well, I can't say I would personally get caught up in sleeping with the divine much less courting them, but unfortunately, if it were me, I probably would have told her to screw herself except in less kinder words.
anyway he keeps being real fuckin' surprised when people say this to him, like it's somehow a shocker that when he memshares "hey my ex told me to KYS" then people are like oh thats kinda fucked up. don't do that. ]
Between you and me the thought crossed my mind.
[ he'll just. admit that. ]
Not to be put in the unenviable position of defending my own sacrifice, I didn't do it for her. I wanted to ... be something. Remembered, I suppose.
also, gale does strike essek as the type of person who would be surprised when they are told they are being mistreated. you stupid fruit. ]
You wanted to be remembered for being dead? [ the martyrdom. ] I thought you were a great wizard. Surely you could find something productive to do which is worthy of being remembered while also being alive?
Granted, I'm sure you will remind me of all the nuances of what was happening to you. The orb, et cetera. I do understand.
[ so he likes to relax with a bit wine, sue him!!!!!
he sometimes has a hard time explaining that some of it was just. a terrible snap decision made during a bad depressive state. a lot of the talk of justifying self-sacrifice and memory is trying to put that in a place he can touch it without having to fully acknowledge that portion of it. ]
I know, I know. I'll spare you the counter-arguments, I imagine you've heard them all at this point. Laudna said much the same. A cold plaque being the only reward and such, but I suppose I rather think I'd deserve at least a statue ...
[ at least he's starting to accept some of it without pushback at this point. ]
Yes, in a sense. Though I believe the term someone misappropriates divine origin to what is ultimately a mortal endeavor. It is something beyond a spell. Ur-magic. It is the workings that Mystra has forbidden mortal mages from even attempting after the fall of Netheril. The ones she forbade to me specifically, despite my pleading. You can ... move mountains, control the heavens, steal the power of a god. The spell that Karsus attempted in his usurping of Mystryl was one of these. Though I suppose that simply is an example of the point that a vast majority of attempts would simply kill the caster - or worse.
That was what I wanted to be remembered for. There was a time I could have I could have been more than a great wizard. I could have been the greatest wizard who had lived in over a millennia.
[ pushing the grandiosity button on the difficult person chart 4000 times. the wizard rat race really does things to your fucking brain. anyway, he half-shrugs and then taps his mark. ]
Not now, of course. Now the memory is of a bit of a fuck up.
[ honestly it's a bit harder to admit some of these things to an actual person who is staring you in the face rather than an emotionless mask. he does sort of do a snort of laughter at the admission in turn.
wizard brain problems. ]
Quite the pair we are then, both stuck here in this rotting swamp instead of trotting about the Outer Planes.
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[ no!!!!!! also he's made this fucking kitchen a huge ass mess. someone is used to cooking with an unseen servant or at least a mage hand to pick up. ]
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Should I be concerned it's poisoned?
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smacking them on the chest with the flat side of the spoon for this comment. get thwaped. ]
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[ OW?? they jolt in surprised offense, reaching up to rub the spot hit. ]
Fine. What am I supposed to be eating?
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There's bouillabaisse and a cassoulet if that does not appeal. Or both. I don't know that I'll be able to keep fresh them much longer than today and tomorrow. You know where the silverware is.
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[ just saying.
from within their robe, they take out a little bottle of of wine. they don't offer it to gale yet, but hold it in plain, pointed view. ]
I'm sure the great wizard of Waterdeep wouldn't allow himself to be up-shown by seven messy rogues.
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Fair enough! [ bribery works. he’ll go get bowls and start setting them out, making a little show of it. ] I never actually hosted myself all that much— I mean, my mother of course, but I did try to limit those visits …
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I thought you were very attached to your mother?
[ straightening their bowl and such very idly while politely waiting for gale to join. ]
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[ he's a grown man? anyway, he will sit and then reach over for the wine bottle. is there corkscrew in this refectory. but right as he does so i guess get fucking mem'd.]
1/2
the thing is, while gale was attempting to fudge with the wine, war was debating how this is going to go for them in their current predicament. at the party, in front of everyone, it was better to take food and go.
here, it is... not quite so dangerous in the moment.
so, of course, they were halfway into removing their mask when the shadows jump them along with the memory. no, not just ONE memory, but TWO memories to chat about over dinner.
gale does not see anything except the occasional brief glimpses of a pause in menial task work, usually over a book or two, maybe the slivers of glimpses of a tower - it looks different each time, sometimes. two towers? three. three towers.
what gale hears, though, is a voice. a bubbly, loud, cheerfully playful voice of a young woman, each short almost twenty-five word surprise coming into his brain at various times: ]
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[ they lower the mask the rest of the way, expression caught between the blinking surprise of curiosity from gale's memory and the resigned fatigued of their own.
it's a drow! it is an extremely handsome, dark purple-skinned drow with both long ears capped and adorned by elegant silver jewelry; he even has a loop through the septum. the shockingly white eyelashes and brows match the neatly styled, short white hair. the eyes leveling gale down are brilliant violet. ]
Well.
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[ okay well that's a hell of a lot to happen in like 2 minutes. he's not even finished processing the messages before the face card reveal. ]
Well.
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[ a tight smile. dumping the onus directly into gale's lap. he will take the bottle right out of gale's hand so he can use magic to pop the cork out easily. ]
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he barely seems to notice the bottle is gone, pondering over where to fucking start with this one. ]
... Are you really floating under there?
[ wow. ]
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quietly, he sucks his teeth, then sighs. slowly, he descends like a feather down to the floor completely onto his feet. my man is maybe five-foot-six tops. ]
I meant you go first in explaining yours. Nevermind, maybe you shouldn't go first.
[ GOD. he pours himself a bit of wine and seriously considers not giving gale any for asking such a thing. but he ends up pouring another glass anyway. he should have made gale do this instead. ]
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taking the glass, going to sit down and swirling it around. ]
I knew what you meant, I just thought it was obvious I was avoiding the topic because it's much less fun. Very well. [ he doesn't sound THAT upset about it. ] Well, you know of my mistake in obtaining the orb in the first place, and of my predicament with my current position between life and death.
I suppose this is the portion in between those two events. The part where after more than a year of perfect silence, Mystra's sole contact with me was to impart the order to use the orb to end the Absolute, through my mentor. A bit petty, but here we are.
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[ he now has wine in a glass, but he doesn't do much more than take the tiniest sip of it in an almost idle way. ]
Well, I can't say I would personally get caught up in sleeping with the divine much less courting them, but unfortunately, if it were me, I probably would have told her to screw herself except in less kinder words.
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anyway he keeps being real fuckin' surprised when people say this to him, like it's somehow a shocker that when he memshares "hey my ex told me to KYS" then people are like oh thats kinda fucked up. don't do that. ]
Between you and me the thought crossed my mind.
[ he'll just. admit that. ]
Not to be put in the unenviable position of defending my own sacrifice, I didn't do it for her. I wanted to ... be something. Remembered, I suppose.
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also, gale does strike essek as the type of person who would be surprised when they are told they are being mistreated. you stupid fruit. ]
You wanted to be remembered for being dead? [ the martyrdom. ] I thought you were a great wizard. Surely you could find something productive to do which is worthy of being remembered while also being alive?
Granted, I'm sure you will remind me of all the nuances of what was happening to you. The orb, et cetera. I do understand.
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he sometimes has a hard time explaining that some of it was just. a terrible snap decision made during a bad depressive state. a lot of the talk of justifying self-sacrifice and memory is trying to put that in a place he can touch it without having to fully acknowledge that portion of it. ]
I know, I know. I'll spare you the counter-arguments, I imagine you've heard them all at this point. Laudna said much the same. A cold plaque being the only reward and such, but I suppose I rather think I'd deserve at least a statue ...
[ at least he's starting to accept some of it without pushback at this point. ]
Have you heard of a True Dweomer?
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[ he allows gale to have this without argument. it's fine. at least gale is now self-aware. ]
Not really. A miracle...?
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That was what I wanted to be remembered for. There was a time I could have I could have been more than a great wizard. I could have been the greatest wizard who had lived in over a millennia.
[ pushing the grandiosity button on the difficult person chart 4000 times. the wizard rat race really does things to your fucking brain. anyway, he half-shrugs and then taps his mark. ]
Not now, of course. Now the memory is of a bit of a fuck up.
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You wanted to be a god. I see. [ there isn't really much judgement here even if there should be, mostly because gale apparently died, so. ] Well.
That makes two of us then.
[ fuck ups. ]
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wizard brain problems. ]
Quite the pair we are then, both stuck here in this rotting swamp instead of trotting about the Outer Planes.
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But I am interested in perhaps leaving a legacy of some kind. Through research.
[ he leans back a bit so he can take up a bowl, then gestures at what gale has made. ]
Should I just look at it, or will you serve me some?
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