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Darkhearts: A Forgotten Realms RP

“Oh, you certainly do not need love to be a lover, but the drow do not know of love at all. There is none even between parent and child,” said Char in a matter-of-fact tone, shaking her head slowly. “The Underdark is a very backwards place indeed.”

She carefully placed her bottle on the floor by the couch. She felt quite pleasantly drunk; it seemed so strange that he had drunk more than she and yet was not falling over. The perks of being a human, and of being so much larger than she was. She might have been annoyed with it had she not been drinking.

“Up here? Unless there is a surface species, it is probably difficult, as like many things of the Underdark, bookworms don’t do well in light. Although if there is a surface species, I imagine there are more than enough petty nobles that would be interested in their purchase.” It was hard to admit that she actually liked the way he seemed to hang on to every word she said; between her upbringing, where people would only listen so closely in order to rip every word apart, and now, when people mostly avoided her, it was a strange and uncomfortable feeling to get used to.

“Well, there isn’t anyone up here whose library I want to destroy. And going back to the Underdark would be a death sentence for me, so…” She offered a shrug before leaning in, her hand reaching out to cradle his face. “You would do well down there, I think,” she said, tracing down from his temple, pausing to define the angle of his jaw. “You’re entertaining… sturdy… dependable,” she continued, feather-light fingers drifting along his chin, neck, and chest in turn. At the same time her eyes narrowed as she looked at him, apprising him like one would an animal gone to market. “Pretty enough for a human.”

And unlike many humans, he had not turn and run on meeting her.

Darkhearts: A Forgotten Realms RP

Char was quiet for a moment, pondering his question as she took a drink, relishing in the pleasant burn. “Is that a common belief? That we can read our bedmate’s minds?” she finally said with a laugh. “No, we can do nothing of the sort. Although… you do know the drow have no word for love? And so lovers as you might think of them don’t really exist for us.”

It had been quite the shock when she discovered the approach of surface-dwellers to interpersonal relationships. She had known they were different from the drow, but the absurd amount of trust that was just freely given boggled the mind.

“Well, seeing as you have already told me a story… up here, I am told a bookworm is an endearing term for someone who is always reading. In the Underdark, it is… well, being called a bookworm would be a source of pride and of fury. You see, just like up here, noble families in the Underdark often keep libraries and treasure their contents. Well, as much as a drow can treasure anything.” Her voice was haughty as ever, the disdain for her own kind dripping from the word.

“So, sometimes you want to *hurt* someone, but you don’t want to deal with any immediate consequences, yes?” she said, nonchalant and yet… gleeful as she described the destructive creatures. “So you could simply obtain a few bookworms, unleash them in the library while on a visit to a rival house, and destroy an entire collection before anyone notices. Not only do they multiply quite quickly once they have a source of food, some varieties excrete acid after ingesting enough ink and result in damage to other fixtures as they seek out more books.”

She took a swig from her bottle and paused for a moment in thought. “You could still be caught, of course, if they were seen before arriving at the target, or if there had been no other visitors in some time, but it was quite easy to get away with. Needless to say, they could be difficult to obtain.”

Happy Holidays from The Team

@POOHEAD189 Did you draw that?

Darkhearts: A Forgotten Realms RP

“Well, certainly, if we actually had something going on, I probably could,” Char said as she slipped off her leggings, revealing the obsidian skin underneath. It was almost unbearably warm to have them on inside. She would boil with them on seated by the fire. They weren’t even particularly warm they were outside, but stacking everything together would only make misery.

Everything she had shed was carefully arranged before she went to settle in across from Amal. She took a drink from her own bottle.

“A moonblade. All right. And later… I… will tell you… all about the bookworms of the Underdark.”

She watched as he wove his story, nodding, gasping, frowning as was appropriate. He was good at entertaining- it was probably good for thieving, she supposed. It seemed the biggest part of thieving was in the distraction.

As he spoke, she was undoing her hair, combing through it with her fingers. She had not been able to be so into it since before the castle. Nothing terrible had happened to it, and she wound it back into a simple braid by the end of his story.

“Memnon. Is that where you were stolen from?”

Darkhearts: A Forgotten Realms RP

Char tried a little bit of everything. She was not impolite. She was partial to the stew and ate most of it, not that Amal seemed to mind- he seemed happy they were fed at all. Which made sense; they had just come from eating next-to-nothing. It was not a thing she had experienced until she had come to the surface; she was of the nobility, and they were always fed.

The fruit pottage Char had been uncertain about turned out to be absolutely divine. She downed the last of her mead, feeling pleasantly vibrant even before Amal’s suggestion of drinking in the room. “Yes, that sounds like a good idea.”

They were led up some stairs to their room, ushered to the last door on the left. There were two beds and while they were not the pinnacle of luxury, they looked like they would be comfortable.

But first things first. Once the door was closed and it was just the two of them, the cloak came off, hung on a stand in the corner. Char stretched her arms high and wide above her head. The spider web that adorned her back, peeking out from under her tunic, shifted as she did. “Oh, this is so much better,” she said, glancing over to Amal as she pulled off her armour.

“Tell me something.”

unconventional, and possibly taboo, idea

I’ve never done it myself, but I’ve seen it done a few times on another site. I think the organization of the other site makes it more conducive to finding a new partner for a dead thread; here you’d first have to draw someone in to your interest check, then hope they have an interest in your proposal, whereas everything is a little more centralized over there. It was by no means common, and people wanting to restart a thread was definitely more common than a thread actually ending up restarted (probably most for the reasons BrokenPromise mentioned).

I personally don’t see an issue with it. I can see why people might find it invasive or distasteful, but I don’t see it as any different than playing canon characters from a fandom you like- it’s not for everyone, but there are people out there who would be down.

If you were to share an RP run in a PM thread, I would find that a little more iffy, because to me private messages do come with some expectation of, well, privacy.

Darkhearts: A Forgotten Realms RP

Charynrae could work with her hands well enough, if the braids weaving through her hair were any indication, but not so well to pull off such sleight-of-hand. She supposed there were benefits to being companion to a thief; she was not quite sure she wanted to call him a friend, and in fact the concept was still strange and foreign to her. There had been people she had tolerated more than others in the Underdark, spent more time with, but friendship was not a concept that existed in the dank caverns buried in the earth. Everyone was equally likely to betray you.

That was not true. Family was the worst- although from what she had heard, that was not necessarily much different than surface families. Surface dwellers were marginally less likely to end up dead in such a situation.

“Well, that sounds far better than sleeping in brush again,” she said in approval. “Although I suppose there are worse places we could have had to camp out.

She murmured something akin to a thank you at the appearance of the tankard full of golden liquid in front of her. “Ironspur it is then,” she said before taking a sip, the sweet liquid welcomingly refreshing, especially after days out of civilization. “Do you know much about this Ironspur?”

The chatter around them was exactly as one would expect from a busy tavern- mostly loud talk from people who had had far too much to drink and showed no sign of stopping. No one was too rowdy, at least, although it wouldn’t have been unexpected. It wasn’t long before the waitress was back, carrying a tray piled with dishes and those dishes with food that smelled positively divine after days scrounging for whatever was available. There was plenty of variety- bread, pickled vegetables, cuts of meat, a hearty stew, cakes, and some kind of fruit pottage that Char eyed with suspicion.

Darkhearts: A Forgotten Realms RP

There was nothing audible or visible, but the waitress felt a buzzing sensation from Char’s hand that travelled up her arm to her core. Just like that she looked a little less tired. “You should be able to get through the evening a little easier,” Char said, keeping her voice at a low, masculine rasp to keep up appearances.

“And yes, we would like food. For me, whatever is filling and costs the least. I’m not particularly picky.”

“Well, sirs, I’m happy to put your meals on the house tonight,” said the waitress. “A thank you for whatever magic that was.”

Char turned her attention back to Amal. "You look like you have something to say."

Darkhearts: A Forgotten Realms RP

“I suppose it is just surprising to me because I have no interest in returning to… my home,” Charynrae said. She did not dare speak the word Underdark out loud. It felt like a bad omen. "In fact, I have a vested interest in not returning."

She looked in Amal’s eyes- they were pretty. He was... not so bad. He was a sturdy man. Dependable, and kind, too. Kindness was not something valued in the Underdark. She valued kindness, of a sort, hence her taking leave of the Underdark.

“I had no plans. I do like you, so you have a travelling companion.”

She sipped at the glass of mead that had been left by the waitress. "I suppose that while we are travelling, we can offer our services to anyone in need.” What services they could provide was a matter of discussion.

The waitress came over. "Would you like food, or are you just drinking tonight?" She looked exhausted, and yet she was on her feet. Char grabbed her wrist when she went to clear out the empty glasses. "Will you take some of my energy? You look like you need some."

"Uh, if you are offering, then, yes," said the waitress.