i will be brutal / .

"What does it entail?" Even as she asks, awareness settles on her shoulders with the truth. No matter what is asked of her, she will do it. No more will she hide on hopes of outliving her enemies, no more will she hide to remain unchained. The future that had not passed had taught her far too much, and amidst the lessons of despair she had learned that she needed to cradle hope before any other sentiment. And how could she not attempt to share it with her fellow drows? Her Lady had protected her, the palpable touch of divinity that protected those who worshipped her, and now it was her turn to return the favor, to ensure her worship spread and her fellow dark elves where saved. "This chance to become more than I am?"

What would it entail? That would be a question that Aegnor wasn't certain he had the full answer to. This change had been gifted to him after a challenge, the chance to severe the ties to Lloth and Ayi'ig. To become another heir to another crown. For him, he knew what it would mean. Another life of being a champion, a sword to be used by those who he had sworn his new allegiance to. For her? It could mean something that Aegnor could not promise, it could mean something that he had not yet discovered for himself. So he held his tongue, as his thoughts spiraled within his own mind. Until he knew that he needed to offer her something, "It's a chance to become your own self again. To not be tethered to the Underdark. To help those that remain as such."

@aegnorx location: Lupercal notes: kiss kiss

There were too many creatures that dipped their hands into the pools of fate, that toyed with the strings of lives unknown to them. Yet those same hands had seemed to favor Aegnor and Dareth, who continued to find themselves through the changes that continued to happen. From eladrin to drows to what they were now, their lives had continued to intertwine with each other. A fact that perhaps Aegnor would have to give many thanks for. "For now," he advised, an almost playful grin caught upon the edge of his lips. "Perhaps we're already dead, and this is what we are stuck with. Some in-between." How awful would that be.

"You're still you." He can tell even through the slight hesitance that still seems to sit there between them. There's years of lost time between not just them, but between the two of them and Mery. Time they'd had together that their little brother wasn't privy to, hadn't been around for. The three of them were all they had now with Titania gone. "She did this to me, you know. Mother." Hands in his pockets, Farenduil gives a slight nod towards himself, his present human status. "I thought even then that it would be the last time I'd ever see her."

You're still you. There's that sentiment once more, a blanket of reassurance that had been draped upon his shoulders. How Aegnor hoped that the words were true, yet understood how wrong they were. Blood had stained his hands, those of innocent creatures whose only fault had been to get in the way of Ayi'ig. To present as a minor inconvenience, and worthy of being struck down. Memories of what he had been forced to do in the name of his once Queen had stained him for eternity. Had morphed him into something different, something unlike who he had once been. But he supposed, that somewhere deep within, buried under the remaining shadows of the Underdark, was the prince he had once been. "A necessary step, I'm sure," to save his life, Aegnor imagined. Though, he hadn't known the extent of it, nor if any such option had been left upon the table. "I cannot even remember the last time that I saw her," as if memories were once more withheld from him, trapped under the spillage of the Underdark.

She'd killed tons of fey, both common and noble. Would elves be any different? Dark elves? Could she really kill her father? Physically - probably not, well, not unless she was reallllly clever about it. Emotionally? She figured yes. Rhiannon kept her emotions about him at arms length, even now she tried to build a wall against the part of her longing to forge connections. The thoughts bounced around in her busy head but Rhiannon only considered Aegnor with an empty smile.

Dareth would likely have found this encounter amusing. It had not been often, read rarely, that Aegnor ever met one of his offspring. That isn't to say that he shunned those of his bloodline, or turned his back on them. It was simply put that Aegnor hadn't realized the amount of children that he had fathered in his Eladrin life. The title of prince had bestowed a certain level of carelessness upon him, a reckless streak that had him flitting between realms, batting his eye at any who should issue a double take upon him. Her mother had been no different, and the idea that she had been his had not originally carved out a space within his thoughts. Perhaps he had been foolish, perhaps he had simply not cared. "If you insist," because who was Aegnor to argue with her choice upon the conversation. How many centuries had already come to pass? How long had she survived without him? "How is it that you became a vampire?"

who?: @aegnorx where?: dawn court

The inability to lie had been a hinderance, once upon a time. Now, it served as a necessary tool in circumstances that Aegnor knew no proper way out of. Such as the one he had seemingly found himself within, yet again. A prospect of a child was once more upon the table, a union between himself and another. It had been no secret the children that Aegnor had fathered, from halfblooded to Gods knows what else that had roamed the earth. Even though it seemed some still did. Any child that had been fathered by him once upon a time had been done so out of carelessness, unfortunately for those children. What Zahrya wished of him would be done so out of proper consideration, out of the concept of a bridge between the other's court and those that now followed Aegnor. "It is quite the tempting offer," words spoken easily now that his tongue was not held, "and I will perhaps give it the proper consideration once I have done my duties." For he would need to focus upon liberating the drow from the shadows, and not upon which noble Zahrya found as the best fit for such an offspring.

There is a familiarity felt within her words, for Aegnor had been long separated from the carefree days. From having a singular goal that derived no real effort from him. The Underdark had pushed him towards a goal that was not his own, set him upon a path that had him restless during any moment of leisure. If he had not been fighting, then he had been planning. And if he had not been planning, then an agitation had grown within him. A restlessness that found him butting heads with any who had found themselves within his path. Though the agitation had been dulled, that restlessness had remained. "That is a choice I will leave to you. If an oath is all you wish to swear, then so be it. Or... if you wish to become something more than you are, then I can offer that to you, as well."

"I thought you would share my morbid amusement with how different things are now." There's still a lilt of humor to it but it's somewhat contemplative, a thought a loud. They used to talk about everything and nothing at all in the gardens and while there were no sunflowers in the forest, this might as well be that. "All three of us have changed in ways that have rocked the very foundations of who we are and yet I feel like we're very much the same at our core." Even Aegnor, it's not even something Farenduil can put a finger on, not really. But he's standing there with his brother this time, he has been for quite a while now.

There was a hopeful feeling towards Farenduil's words, though it was minor. For Aegnor knew that much of himself had been lost. To his death, to the Underdark, to the path that still stretched out before him. Once upon a time, he had treated the realms as his personal playgrounds. He had known that eventually he would become king, and the days of a carefree attitude would be placed behind him. His death had only seemed to expedite such a thing. Perhaps, though, it was not lost forever. "It's a sentiment that I hope you're right about," for it seemed that they all would very much need it.

There was much that Aegnor was still learning, about himself and about the Lorendrow. And what it meant to lead them. He had been schooled by his mother on what it would have meant to lead the Eladrin, as had he known what it was to lead the drow under Ayi'ig's instruction. Something told him that his new leadership would be unlike either of those moments within his dual lives. "I wonder whether I even had a choice in the matter," an easy joke as he eyed his brother, before he nodded his head.

"You do not need to do this," he mocked, in some really deep lilted drow accent. "Please, I wouldn't if I didn't want to. It's like you don't even know me." Meryasek hardly did anything he didn't want, that was the whole problem, most of the time. Dareth told him no once, everything in the Spring Court had probably died for a few seconds. "It's because we're the largest. Beneath all four." The stars masked the fact that there was no sky, but who needed an illusion when he had the real thing within? "Anyway, what do you say?"

who: @aegnorx where: Christmas Market, Gladiator Ring

Once upon a time, Rhiannon's eyes might have shimmered with awe and glee, maybe even apprehension as her own father proclaimed that he remembered her and her mother. That little girl was long dead - not when her heart seized to beat and she turned into something else entirely but somewhere down the line in the few thousands years it took to see Aegnor for the first time. Or at least the first time she could remember. Etaine had told her that her esteemed father had seen her, maybe even held her, but Morrigan's faiman empathy felt her mother's sadness and resentment all her life. What was her own father worth if he didn't stick around to give her mother some hope? Hope that would have been Morrigan's too? He'd given them nothing but misery so she'd returned the favor to the people that he would have ruled if he'd been strong enough to survive.

"Don't you think we've done enough fighting?" A dark elf once more, Faerinaal felt like his power had finally returned to him. The light of what he used to be, the fall of Hyperborea still within his memory, it was nothing compared to the shadow of what he'd felt. Ayi'ig was dead; both of Aegnor's apparent mothers were dead. Faerinaal did not wish to see the queen of fey dead, but Ayi'ig had held his allegiance. There was no war, there was no need to bring the head of the prophet to a people that didn't need them.

It was a comical question to ask, given how much fighting the pair of them had done over the years. For in the Underdark, it had once been all that Aegnor had done. From the days in which Faerinaal taught him all that he had known, to the necessary steps he had needed to take. To ensure that he would be Ayi'ig's chosen heir, that he would snatch that title from his sister. An almost melancholy of a smile turned up the edges of his lips, as his gaze focused once more on the spot that he had died. "I would like to believe that," he stated, for he knew that the fighting would never cease. Perhaps for he and Faerinaal, it had come to an end; but for Aegnor and the duties that now rested upon his shoulders?

Time: Things have settled down Location: Streets near the Fey Forest Characters: @aegnorx & @bloodyrhiannon Notes: putting some daddy issues away today

Person: @aegnorx Location: the forest but like there's the blue twilight filter "You know, I keep wondering if you'll accuse me of avoiding you." It's been a long time coming, far too long when technically he doesn't have nearly as much time left as he did before. It's not like he'd outright ignored Aegnor, he was polite when needed but he had perhaps indeed been avoiding any sort of heart to heart. It was less out of awkwardness, Farenduil thinks timing hasn't quite been on their side amongst other things. But there's something that tells him he can't ignore either brother right now and maybe that means it's finally time for things to mend between the two of them for good. "You'd be right to a fair extent. In my defense, I had buried you once and thought you were hellbent on putting our baby brother in the ground." There's the faintest lilt of humor to it as he calls after the back of his brother further up the path.

A long list had formed, of the mistakes that Aegnor had made. From the one in which had seen him leaving Farenduil alone, to those that were made under the compulsion of false servitude. His loyalty had been to Ayi'ig, to the wants and whims of a queen that had named him her heir. She had wanted the Otherworld, Farenduil and Meryasek had stood in the way. In the end, he was not sure he would ever cease to repay his youngest brother for restoring the memories long lost. To reminding him of who he was, of who he could still be. Despite the blood that no longer linked the brothers together. "I would never find cause to accuse you of such a thing," he stated, as he came to a halt. Farenduil had every right to avoid him, to proceed with caution around him. Aegnor had indeed made it his mission to kill Meryasek. A thought that made him shudder whenever he was reminded of it. "I can only hope that you will forgive me for the pain I've caused."