[ PERMANENT. ] a (k)atch-all log for kenos

[dawnlord]

WHO: Set ( redsoil ), Bondrewd ( dawnlord ), Drizzt ( twohand ), et. al
WHAT: i actually can't stand month-by-month logs so i'm gonna crush my boys into one perma-log for anything outside of events
WHERE & WHEN: Listed in comment headers, or under the cut.
WARNINGS: General warnings for violence, vulgarity and unethical science. Will update/comment with warnings!


I struggle so hard w/ month-by-month logs, so y'all have to deal with my weird organization...

— [MARCH | SET] GOT NO SHAME, GOT NO PRIDE

Comments

[sterngaze]

[Even if this man with him is not Meridian, Liem permits himself some relief that no one in the Last Dance seems interested in waylaying them as they make their way through it on their way to the maze of abandoned tunnels between here and the surface. He’d rather return the man to the surface unscathed and unharassed, especially because he seems such a gentle, thoughtful person.]

Well, it is that for many of us, I’d agree.

[He thinks of Hayame, fighting to return home so she can cleanse her dishonour, and Set, intent on fulfilling his promise to his son. He knows others, like Link and Yuri, have wars to fight when they return home as well. Then there are those, like D, who just think the people in the world they hail from deserve better than oblivion.]

To me, it seems too important a thing to give up on without at least trying first.

[He has not learned as much as he would have liked to in the year he’s been here, but at least he has not been idle.]

I am Liem Talbott, by the way: servant of the Wealthy Father, Abadar. And presently, shard-bearer of Meridian.

[twohand]

Our worlds are important. They are full of our histories, familiar haunts, streets we know intimately, friends left behind dreaming of tomorrow and tomorrow.

[ Even when he comes to choose Zenith, he will never downplay that. However painful his life had been, it had brought him friends and love, companionship and splendor. It had been difficult, at times impossible to survive, but he could never wish to change a thing about it. To know it gone would, at one time, inspired him to reach back into the past and be like the Meridian — to give it another chance, to revitalize it from the ashes and see every unique star burning again.

One more round at the Yawning Portal would be wonderful.

But, there is a dark thing that has snuffed them all out and he cannot bear the thought of the here-and-now threatened by it. Cannot bring himself to sacrifice the people who live in Kenos to its hunger. Even Liem, though they have just met, is worth so much more than to be a sacrifice on the off-chance that his success revives the world... only to have to see it crumble ( to see him devoured ) by Oblivion waiting for them. Going back will hurt the Meridian. It will hurt anyone and everyone, really. ]

Well met, Liem Talbott. I'm Drizzt Do'urden — a ranger, and Unharmonized. I agree that our worlds are important, no matter our experience with them. Other people live there than we do, after all. Yet, I also believe in your importance. Are you taken care of, here?

[sterngaze]

[The way this man speaks, Liem is a little surprised he isn’t one of Meridian’s already. The shard on his forehead would have made it clear that this isn’t the case, even if Drizzt didn’t explicitly say so, but even so, the fondness and deep respect with which he speaks of his world, of all worlds, seems strange to imagine on one of Zenith’s number.

He recalls, though, that this is Yima’s position also. Loving something does not mean being unable to leave it behind.]

I am, [he assures the man, without needing to pause more than a moment to consider his question. Yes, he is taken care of: exceptionally well, even. He is recognized and respected for his service, perhaps more even than he ever was in his own country. Even if the princess and the people of Stachys came to appreciate him, his face and deeds remained relatively obscure to most. Here, this was not so.]

But I do not need so much taking care of. It is simply a pleasure to be of service.

[twohand]

Perhaps you do not think you need it, but you deserve to be cared for.

[ In that, he truly believes. Not simply because Liem is helping him in a difficult, confusing time, but because he is alive and worthy of being treated with compassion and care. He steps up, noting no immediate danger, to enter the man's eyeline again and finds the strangeness of his eyes soothing. Drizzt's own eyes were alien among his people, pale and stained with a blue sheen that had left the natural red a sweet, soft lavender instead.

With the brush of his fingers, he seeks to halt Liem in a quiet gap within the cavernous maze, close to the surface. The warmth of Springstar's suns can be felt here, heating the stones in a way that feels so very much like coming home after so long. ]

You were very kind to me, and I will always remember that.

[ The words of a man who has not known kindness save for in small, rare patches among faithful, loyal friends. ]

I do not think of what you did as a service, but if you must — I will definitely seek to show you the same consideration that you have shown me.

[sterngaze]

[Liem becomes more at ease as they leave the activity of the Last Dance behind them and traverse the quiet maze of abandoned tunnels beneath Springstar’s surface. Away from the glowing mushrooms of Kowloon and the dim lamps illuminating the tunnels just outside it, the complex of twisting passages is almost completely dark, but the blackness and the silence are a welcome reprive after the press and crowds of earlier. Liem does not miss the ease with which his companion navigates, either, as the dark of that maze swallows them up.

He stops when Drizzt does, turning to look at the smaller man directly, pale eyes flashing, animal-like, in the low light barely filtering from down the passage behind them.]

You are deserving of care also, is that not so?

[This man’s philosophy is a kinder one than his own, Liem feels. He cannot recall ever meeting a stranger and, knowing almost nothing about them, deciding that they deserved to be cared for. By whom? Whose responsibility should that be? It is a charitable notion, he thinks, and would be more appropriate within the churches of the Dawnflower or the Eternal Rose than in his own patron’s. But Drizzt Do’urden seems to believe in it.]

Consideration is not meant to just be paid back, but rather paid forward. I hope you find the people you are looking for.