#feystrider

@feystrider asked: 👀 gime the chisme

ACT I - "Has he wandered off again? ...I am not worried in the slightest; I only ask because it would be a waste, wouldn't it? If we lost track of him and could not plunder those pockets should he meet an untimely end? Ha! Strange he may be, but there is something admirable in his manner of dress. I may want a few choice items for myself."

(huhu surprise reverse poetic waxing for you! plz feel free to show him up and wax poetics back, if youd like!)

Selene regales him. Or, well, he supposes he is, anyway. The prose depends on rhymes, little flowing like a brook of bardic genius, but what it lacks in technically, it makes up for in effort. And quite a bit of comedy. Or even a lot a bit. Gale can't help but brighten, lungs loosing a huff to that a(ss)ppraising study. He'd been languishing a little, the summer-time swelter like weights at his legs, and as Selene laughs away as twinkly as rivers, he supposes, even confesses, to feeling better.

Oh, he's not stranger to a roll in the proverbial hay stack. How many times had he fooled around while traveling with the troupe before all of this? Curiosity had lead him to the strangest of places, in the oddest of beds. Sometimes, like now, there was no mattress proper to speak of.

Not that he was complaining, of course.

" That was pretty intense, huh ? " asks @feystrider when Serendipity finally sits up. The lilt in his voice betrays his smile, which gets a bewildered laugh from the tiefling.

" That's one way to describe that, certainly. " Only now is he noticing where all of his clothes have gone -- strewn across the clearing, they are. He'll grab them later, he decides; for now he basks in the cool breeze blowing now, brushing back hair from his face.

It did not take a detective's trunk to sniff out something awry with Selene. The few seconds that passed and then passed more into hours and then into the night without the slightest whiff of mischief may not have drew anyone else's eye, but Halsin could tell within the first few seconds and certainly the next few hours that his sprightly companion was...potentially a hostage of that unnerving shapeshifter that kept following them about the city. Though he supposed he'd smell her if she'd taken the ranger's place. That made it all the more concerning of an observation, if he were being honest.

His own warm and idle jabs at remarks between the rest of the party had slowed to a halt as well, and it took every bit of energy remaining in him until the next long rest to keep from burying his head into the crook of his arm and just resting for a spell on some park bench away from the rest of the city's bustle.

Still, the party had pressed ahead of the park and were on route to the nearest tavern for supper and spirits, and likely a warm bed inside. The thought of lying stiff on the floor or some overly stuffed daybed made him grimace, but still...he pressed on ahead after them only to pause and notice Selene lagging behind further than he should have been. Noting the glazed look in the ranger's gaze, Halsin sighed and shook his head shortly before approaching the glum drow. It was with a considerable gentleness that he slid his palm beneath the other's chin and tilted it back this way and that to observe his condition. After a low murmur of instructions seemed to help Selene stirr to awareness, the druid took the moment of clarify to dig his thumb into the other's cheek, rousing him further.

"...perhaps this is not the best place for you...you who walk often with the fey." He added, unable to deny that he too felt the constraints of the city, though he could not imagine the weight of it all from his fey-found company. Thumb digging turned soft after a moment as he drew the other's face in and leaned down to bump their foreheads briefly. A soft 'Maior et Fortior' left his lips to instill the other with a soft, golden glow.

"...Concept?" Listen friend. She is a whole frickin' COMPANION! But also you're forgiven because everonye has killed her. Your pass only comes from the fact the mun here did the first run ever, but she hated every second of it and wanted to keep her around. SO IMAGINE MY LOVELY SURPRISE WHEN I FOUND OUT I COULD FUCKING RECRUIT HER.

and ever since that day,the Grove was fucked in my playthroughs cause now I never be without Minthara. But yes, GIMME THE DROW! GIVEME THE DROW. Minthara will judge them. Because she is a DROW OF DROWS while also being extremely self aware.

Perhaps it was the title of Archdruid that he carried with him which lulled others into the false narrative that he was, above all else, duty-driven and as stalwart as an oak indifferent to the lively fussing of robins that sought to nest in his boughs. Well, Selene was some sort of lively creature testing its limits along his branches, and lucky for the other that, like the druid's well-built arms, his boughs were sturdy enough to take even the wriggliest tantrum. Of course, that did not mean he would fully endure such shenanigans. Archdruid or not, his roots had stretched beyond such a title before it came to nest in him, and being a ranger- Selene had to know how mischievous trees could be with hidden roots knotting up along paths to catch unsuspecting ankles that brushed too close. Where the fey was openly wild and trouble-seeking, Halsin preferred the long-game when it came to teasing whomever deemed it a clever idea to test the oaken limits of his patience.

Baiting Selene to rest against the trunk of his side with an exhale as simple as as passing breeze, Halsin waited with a knowing smile as his company slowly adjusted to a firmly soft flank. If he slowed his breathing any more, he would have likely re-entered his trance from earlier, but he kept his focus on the more lively heartbeat beside him as he waited for the ranger to pick up on the slower, more controlled pace of his own. He would wear the other's thrumming down eventually out of sheer stubbornness to keep his rigid rhythm, and perhaps a part of him enjoyed the aspect of wearing down prey with their own energy spurts. Such was how the largest living trees patiently awaited nutrients in the soil. Some lively animal would run wild until eventually life left it still enough to commune with ancient roots.

"...and what do you hear?" The druid mused after a moment once he sensed the gradual slowing of his company's heartbeat as it neared his at the center of nature's soundless song. "What do you feel?" His voice lowered, rich and deep - a sliver above a whisper. This all of course was merely the distraction in securing Selene's attention away from where his feet barely grazed the ground over their seat on the log. From the ground, enchanted roots had slowly grown up and had begun to fasten vine-like harnesses around the ranger's feet. It would not tip him over once he stood back up so long as he moved in time with the pace Halsin had guided their breathing towards. Of course, if that wild mismatched energy gave Selene a start, well...a face plant into a patch of blue rocket flowers growing ahead of them was hardly a punishment as much as it was a teasing shove forward.

@feystrider asked: [a kiss accompanying my muse injuring yours.] bites him bites him bites--

It was in his very nature to bite-- but Astarion was hardly ever on the receiving end of one. In this case: several.

He supposed it was deserved. Having a vampire feed on you was not exactly rewarding-- but he could, at the very least, complain and make his displeasure at the situation known.

The first drew a hiss, teeth at his earlobe, and his shoulders immediately rose to guard against the next likely target: his neck. It was not enough to stop the assault altogether, and the next brought an offended scoff stuttering past his lips, as the flesh along his jaw was marked with ferocity.

"Enough." Finally, his hands moved to act, palms tapping along Selene's shoulders until he could give a firm shove. Astarion would know no satisfaction if it all went unpunished, however, and so he followed the momentum until the other was flat on his back in the dirt.

Fingers caught Selene's chin in a hold, angling his head just so as the vampire bent in close. Cold lips latched to the corner of his mouth, soothing only for a moment before he returned the favor, fangs nipping at flesh enough to hurt, but not enough to bleed.

"If you were so dissatisfied with providing me with sustenance, a formal complaint would have worked just as well."