Heroes of West Harbor

Idk if you'll look back at Tumblr and see this at any point, but it's the best option I have atm, so. This is what we're going with!

fenny58​:

Scorto watched and listened as Nadia spoke. It sounded like Bishop would be cared for. At least that was a comfort, she said the visit would be supervised by a guard that made sense. He looked at the cell studying it….before Nadia knelt down and spoke more about how Bishop would be safe here.

Scorto nods. It sounded to good honesty….he’s happy Bishop would be cared for but something doesn’t feel right. Nadia believes what she’s saying, he can see that.

He wants to believe her that everything would be alright, that Bishop would be safe here. That no one would hurt him.

Scorto is quiet before asking softly.

"What happens if Bishop tries to escape and is caught? What then?”

Honesty he thinks if that happens Bishop would probably be moved and put under tighter watch…then he’d probably never get to see Bishop again if that happens. But he’s not sure Bishop wouldn’t try to escape….he had after all…tired a lot before he finally made it out. But honestly he’s not sure Bishop would get as much time to try…

Scorto swallows looking away from Nadia, he bit his bottom lip hard.

“I….I know Casavir follows Tyr….and he sounds nice…but I thought Lolth was nice and…she’s not…how do you know everyone won’t say Tyr wouldn’t do something when behind closed doors it’s different?….for drow if Lolth took her favor from you, your whole house and everyone in it was destroyed. Everyone was killed….I…”

Scorto paused for a moment before going on.

“I know good people can follow not nice gods and bad people can follow nice gods…how do you know just because someone follows Tyr they won’t do something he might not agree with?….I know he’s the God of Justice….but who decides what is justice? Him or the lord of Neverwinter?”

Scorto bit his lip nervously, he’s not sure Nadia won’t be upset with him for asking questions he did, but he has to know. For a moment he thought of Illindriel…who is the best Mama ever but who follows a not exactly nice god…just like for years he’d thought Lolth was nice when she wasn’t.

“People can claim to follow a god but just be saying it, but really just doing what they want to.” He whispered quietly…..he wondered for a moment if just maybe Bishop was correct in not following anyone.

The question of Bishop’s hypothetical escape attempt was a fair one - especially given who they were talking about. An attempt, at the very least, was nearly inevitable.

“I suppose, if he tries to escape and is safely caught, then he’ll likely be put under heavier security. More Watch members to supervise, probably no visitors... and I’d imagine he’d face another charge against him for the attempt, when he sees trial.” Not that it would do much, on top of treason.

“If he escapes and isn’t caught, then he’ll be on the run.” She tilted her head a little, taking her time to think things over. “I don’t know if Lord Nasher would ask anyone to hunt him down, specifically... But it would be difficult - if not impossible - for him to return to Neverwinter or the surrounding lands without the risk of recapture.”

The next questions were more difficult - especially coming from the former follower of an especially cruel and capricious goddess. It made sense that he had doubts... but that made it harder to explain why Nadia didn’t.

She sat back on her heel, bringing one hand up to her mouth as she tried to puzzle out her answers.

“Well... Tyr decides what justice is, and-- to my understanding, as the follower of an entirely different god, mind you --guides his followers toward it. If someone truly follows Tyr, they’ll do their best to enact His justice. If they say they follow Tyr, but ignore all of his teachings, then that person will doubtless face His judgement themself, in the end. And that does happen from time to time, to be sure. But by and large, I believe that those who profess faith in a deity generally do have faith in that deity, and follow their tenets. That’s what I’ve seen in the temple of Lathander, in the Chaunteans I grew up with in West Harbor, and in all my dealings with Tyrrans so far.”

“As for Lord Nasher...” She hesitated for another long moment, but finally looked up, doing her best to meet Scorto’s eyes. “I have faith in him, because he had faith in me.”

fenny58​:

Scorto looks at her when she looked at him, and nods again. 

"I know I’m not responsible, but I still want to try and keep him safe as best I can. I’m not sure he’s got anyone else looking out for him, everyone needs someone to help them sometimes.” He’s grateful she’s holding his hand as they walk into the next room. He looked around looking at the cell, and moved to press himself as best he could into Nadia’s side. The cell looks a lot better than the one he’d been in. But….it’s still a cell. At least it’s warm and there’s a blanket in the cell.  Scorto looks at Nadia when she asks if he’d want her to relight the lamps. He nods quickly. And slowly let go of her hand.

“Yes please, they? They won’t leave Bishop in the dark right? He won’t be able to see I don’t think. And if it gets cold will he get another blanket? I don’t want him to be cold or can’t see….the cell I was in, it was always dark unless the surface elves showed up, they would bring lamps with them….plus I didn’t have a bed or a blanket. It was always cold too. Bishop will be warm right? And feed?” He looked around the room again, glancing at the desk. "He won’t be left alone will he? I don’t want him to be all alone..“

He glanced at the cell again and to the chamber pot. He hopes they will change it often. Hopefully. He looks at Nadia again.  "Can I visit him? Will they let me? I don’t want Bishop to think no one cares….that’s just horrible.” He knew he’s asked that question before but standing here looking at the cell, he can’t help but ask again. “Will he get to read books? Or something to do?” He hopes so.

Nadia nodded, and stepped away once Scorto released her hand. She listened closely to his questions, though, even as she pulled a slim taper from a drawer in the desk and lit it from the remains of the fire.

“Well, I don’t have all the answers,” she said slowly as she made her way to each lamp in turn. She had only been a proper member of the Watch for a few months, after all, and dealt more with ferreting out Moire’s gang - and the watchmen working for them - than with the keeping of prisoners...

“But let’s see... I imagine they’d turn the lights out at night so he could sleep - or at least turn them down.” She carefully gestured with the taper towards the other door. “Some of the guards live in the barracks here full-time, and even the room we’re standing in usually has someone working in it, so the Watch have every reason to keep the whole building comfortably warm. Neverwinter doesn’t seem to get properly cold, anyway, not like the rest of the North. Something about the river, I think Duncan said...”

She cast a glance at Scorto, and caught him eyeing the cell. “...No, he won’t be alone.” Mostly for security reasons, of course, not that Bishop would enjoy it much either way. “And I think I said yesterday, they might allow a visit here and there, but I’m sure they’d be under a guard’s supervision...”

She gave a sigh that guttered and nearly blew out the last lamp, before snuffing the taper and returning to kneel before Scorto once more - between him and the cell.

fenny58·:

Scorto blinks looking at Nadia, his shoulder slumped, he looks down.

“I'd….I understand…I…I want to talk to him…I just…I don’t want to stop hoping he gets better…that he could change…that maybe…I’ll try to get him to not be as mean to everyone if I can…but I know I can’t force him to do something…I don’t want to do that….I don’t want to hurt him….but I do want to talk to him about a few things…..I’ll…I’ll see how things go from their…”

Scorto glanced around the room then.

“Could?….could we go see the cell now?”

He asked softly, Scorto looked down.

“Nadia?….even if Bishop….even if he hates me if he learns I came here and didn’t tell him he could get locked up….I still want him to be safe….it would hurt…but I don’t want him hurt by anyone because he hurt or upset me, Casavir already gave him a blank eye…that’s enough…I don’t want my family and friends hurting Bishop because of me.”

He looks at Nadia waiting to see what she will say next.

She wanted to argue, to remind him of how many chances she'd given Bishop already, and how disastrously things had turned out, but her own words rang in her head. You can't always protect people from their own choices. She'd already told him everything she could about Bishop's past. Scorto had all that information for himself, and she couldn't force him to act on it in one way or another.

"Just... be careful," she said finally. "Remember that others have tried, and-- don't make excuses for him out of optimism, Scorto."

She nodded, though, and pushed herself upright to head inside-- until Scorto called her name again, making her pause.

As much as she'd have liked to eviscerate Bishop for his treatment of Scorto just minutes earlier... she could also understand why Scorto might not want such a thing. Still, even the small mercy of forgiving those particular trespasses wouldn't save Bishop.

fenny58·:

Scorto nods at he’d words about his Mother Matron….Nadia is right, she’s not even the only person to tell him that.  He looked at her as she spoke about how she and Casavir had faced worse than his Mother Matron in the past. Instead of arguing he simply nods…..after all that something that hopefully will never happen.  But then she went on, asking him to think about… “Think about everything that you would do to protect Bishop from what happened to you… and then think about what Bishop chose to do, when you actually were in that situation. Does that say anything to you?” Scorto paused, thinking he’d have fault done everything to protect Bishop….but Bishop had left him, left him to be hurt, Duncan had saved him….when Bishop just walked away, he didn’t even try…or go get Duncan…Scorto remembered then, when Bishop had thrown Rabbit out, he’d been afraid for Bishop that he’d be hurt by Rabbit, he’d been too afraid to even get his knives or poison….so he’d screamed for Duncan. He’d screamed for Duncan to help when he was too afraid to help himself…..so….did that mean that everyone was right? Bishop didn’t even get anyone to help, no one…even if he’d been afraid he could have… Scorto looked down, he bit his bottom lip. Finally he looked back up. “He just walked away….even…even if he was scared…he…he could have gotten someone to help…but he just left…when he was throwing Rabbit out, I was to afraid to get my knives or poison out so I screamed for Duncan….because I was scared and didn’t want Bishop hurt, so when I was to afraid to help myself I still called Duncan for help….Bishop….he could have….even if he….if he was to scared…he could have gotten someone else….” Scorto frowned, looking at Nadia.  “Why didn’t he?” He asked in a whisper. The tears came back, and started to fall. “Duncan said if he loved me as much as I convinced myself he does he’d have done something…..did I somehow make him mad is that why he didn’t help…..was it because I asked for a cuddle after sex?….or maybe I stayed in bed too long?…Maybe he didn’t want me wearing his shirt outside his room?..but….he never said he was angry with me..” Scorto blinks reached up to try and rub the tears away. He looks at Nadia, unsure what he did to make Bishop upset….or…why if Bishop really was afraid why he didn’t get anyone for help?…. “I really need to talk to him, alone.” He mumbled, he needs to know from Bishop what happened.  Scorto blinks looking at Nadia as she spoke about how Bishop would be safe. Scorto nods.  “That’s something else I worry a lot about…Bishop he seems to enjoy starting fights he started one with Rabbit that time…I’m afraid he’ll do it one time to many and he’ll be killed by someone, I’m just not sure how to protect him from that…I don’t want him to die…even if he really doesn’t care about me I don’t want him dead….I don’t want him to die.”

She'd expected an argument, or more excuses on Bishop's behalf, so seeing Scorto truly begin to question him was... surprising, to say the least. But at the sight of tears, Nadia squeezed Scorto's shoulder again.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Scorto. This isn't about you, or any mistake you think you might have made, it's-- it's about him. Bishop doesn't... he doesn't seem to care about other people, the way most folk do. He does things because they benefit him, and for no other reason. When he helped us to track down--" She faltered, and swallowed hard against the knot that rose at the memory, but forged on. "--a friend, who'd been kidnapped, it was to clear his debt to Duncan. When he kept travelling with us, it was for his own amusement."

She shook her head, refocusing. "My point is, it's nothing that you've done. It's not that you were too much, or that he was angry with you, he just..." Didn't care. It was on the tip of her tongue, but somehow it felt too harsh, too cruel to Scorto, to say it aloud...

Instead, she shook her head once more, and listened as Scorto went on about his concerns.

"That's... something I've had to learn the hard way," she said after a long moment of silence. Lorne Starling's face - angry, resentful, and so very tired - flashed across her mind, unbidden. "...You can't always protect people from their own choices. Not everyone is willing to accept that help, and it's not something you can force on them... Their decisions are their own."

fenny58·:

Scorto blinks at Nadia’s words.

“Your Mother Matron was wrong. Do you hear me? She was wrong. Whatever she said, whatever the priestesses said, whatever Lolth says– No person is worthless, least of all you, Scorto.”

He blinks more, after a moment Scorto gave a nob

“I…..Mama…I'm….I’m learning….I’m learning…That…that not everything was good are right….Casavir, Mama….everyone is showing and teaching me that..I’m learning…Mama is the best Mama ever and Casavir is the best little brother I could have and I’ve got wonderful friends, and Malice, she's….I know she hates Mother Matron for what she did to us…but….I can’t….she could have killed me…but she didn’t…she…she wasn’t nice but she let me live, she could have killed me…but she didn't….I can’t hate her…not for that.”

He said softly.

Scorto blinks a bit, is it because she doesn’t like Bishop as to why she didn’t say anything when he told her what Bishop said? Instead she went to Casavir. Scorto smiled.

“I hope so, even if he’s older than I first thought I still want to protect him, he’s my little brother, that’s my job.”

He waited for her to answer his question about Darian. He smiled.

“He’s lucky, not everyone gets a good family….or family that wants them back if they mess up….I happy he’s got you, and you’ve got him.”

He thought of Bishop again, did Bishop have siblings? Did he have a Mama somewhere? Or had his mother been cruel to him….just like Mother Matron had…..but no Nadia won’t know….or if she did he’d rather hear it from Bishop. Scorto came out of his thoughts to hear Nadia. He smiled as he reached up and gently pats her cheek.

“I think you’re right, but you’ve never met my Mother Matron……she was very smart and good at magic like Mal was….I’m afraid Casavir would be hurt….Nadia?”

He swallows hard.

“I couldn’t lose him, if…if she somehow came back to life….she’d be angry…she…she saw the races not drow as weak and disgusting….she’d be furious if she knew me and Mal have adopted Casavir, and Mama and everyone in our family….she’d say horrible things I couldn’t bare any of you hearing them…because…I’ve.”

Scorto swallows.

“I’ve probably heard them myself…..I couldn’t have you hear them.”

Scorto moves and hugs Nadia again.

“Nadia?” He said quietly.

“Is it wrong to want Bishop to have a family after all the not good things he’s done?….plus…”

Scorto looked up at her and smiled.

“I told him what I’d have done to those men if they had touched him like they did me, he said he wouldn’t have let them touch him, but if they’d have tried surface rules or not the tavern would have been red in blood and I’d have given Bishop their hearts as gifts. Bishop and Casavir said I was scary….I’m not…Malice is a lot scarier than me. Casavir said I can’t just kill people, I won’t!”

He looked pleadingly at Nadia.

“I won’t but if they had been hurting Bishop like they did me, someone would be dead…..or you sure if Bishop ends up in prison, he won’t be hurt like that? Please Nadia.”

His eyes feel with tears.

"Not as bad as she could have been is still bad, Scorto," Nadia told him carefully. "I won't tell you that you have to hate her, but... you deserved a great deal more than simply being allowed to live."

His words about Darian struck her, though likely not in the way Scorto had meant them to. Not everyone gets a family that wants them back... The thought made her stomach crawl. In all honesty, she was almost glad when the topic drifted back to Casavir and Scorto's Mother Matron.

As fierce as the woman sounded, Nadia couldn't help but measure her against the old days, travelling with Casavir and the others. Orcs and trolls, demons and devils, Shadow Reavers and undead armies and the King of Shadows himself... She smiled, albeit weakly, and gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. "However clever or dangerous or vicious she may have been, I'd wager that Casavir and I have faced worse in our time."

Scorto's next question gave her pause, however, and as he went on about what he'd have done to protect those he loved... Nadia sighed quietly, sat back on her heel, and resigned herself to one more try.

"Scorto, I want you to think about this a moment. Think about everything that you would do to protect Bishop from what happened to you... and then think about what Bishop chose to do, when you actually were in that situation. Does that say anything to you?" She shook her head.

"Regardless, I wouldn't worry too much. To my knowledge, there's only one person in all Faerun who's ever managed to do something to Bishop that he didn't want, and Duncan's certainly not about to go attacking him like that..."

Although, really, Bishop's hypothetical safety brought them back to the whole point of this little trip.

fenny58·:

Scorto just listened as Nadia spoke, at her words about humans not having that kind of tradition… his shoulders slumped. He looks down at the floor, maybe he needs to ask Bishop? But….. then at her other words about how he deserves a partner that shows him respect… and doesn’t treat him like a cook or a maid….or a sexual servant…did Bishop do that? He said he liked his food…and he hadn’t tried to clean Bishop’s room…yet anyway….and he…he wanted to do what Bishop told him. He wanted to make Bishop happy….and….and Bishop said…

Scorto looks up to see Nadia drop to her knee and open her arms and, he really, really needs a hug. Scorto moved and hugged her, wrapping his arms around her neck and for a few seconds hiding his face on her shoulder just taking time to breathe,and remember he’s safe here….that those men are locked up and it’s ok. He pulled back enough to look Nadia in the face but not to completely break the hug. Scorto smiled feeling better and he smiled happy about what he was fixing to say.

“I’ll ask Bishop about that…maybe he meant to claim me? Maybe….but if not it’s ok too…”

He tried to not show how much that would hurt him if it wasn’t true…. Maybe Bishop ment it like that….just Maybe….. he could hope right?

Scorto continues, trying to smile.

Keep reading

Nadia released Scorto from the hug, only to place her large hands firmly on his shoulders. "Your Mother Matron was wrong. Do you hear me? She was wrong. Whatever she said, whatever the priestesses said, whatever Lolth says-- No person is worthless, least of all you, Scorto."

She held very still as Scorto renewed the hug, bouncing in happiness over what Bishop had told him. Despite his joy, her stomach churned, though - again - she did her best to keep her face neutral. That manipulative bastard-- She knew Bishop, and she knew, even without having been there, that he hadn't meant a word of it. He was setting himself up as the good guy, the peacemaker, so that if anyone called him out, they'd look like the aggressor. It was the same thing he'd tried to do when he'd chided Casavir for "not letting Nadia speak for herself"...

But how could she explain that to Scorto, without falling straight into the trap Bishop had laid?

Hells take the scheming, redblooding son of a--

Luckily (or unluckily, perhaps), before Nadia could even begin to piece together a response, Scorto had already moved on to Casavir, and to his own capability as an older brother.

"I'm sure he does, Scorto," she told him slowly, forcing her mind away from Bishop, at least for the moment. "And yes, of the humans in our party, Casavir was the eldest. ...Well, save for Ammon, I suppose."

But then he asked about Darian, and she had to pause again, picking through her own complicated feelings to find the right words. "Darian... he's... he's trying, I think. But I don't know how comparable that is, to tell the truth. He was never the same sort of caretaker to me that you were to Malice."

She'd told Scorto, during their first meeting, that over-protectiveness could feel stifling for the target, or leave them feeling like their protector had no faith in them... And that was especially true when the protector had been entirely absent for years prior. But really, now didn't seem the time to retread that old ground.

Scorto's declaration - that he would willingly stand against his Matron Mother, if it meant protecting Casavir - truly surprised Nadia, and she couldn't resist the small, soft smile that crossed her face at the thought. Given what she knew of Scorto's past, and his Matron Mother, that was quite the step forward.

fenny58·:

Scorto blinks so if was best to not talk about sex up here with those you just met? Well it was just another thing to add to his list of things that are different on the surface than in the underdark. “Oh…ok..I think I understand it’s just another thing that’s different here. Thank you for explaining it to me.” He noticed the angry look on her face and took a step back. Had he done something? She’d just told him, he shouldn’t just talk about sex to people he just met was says angry about that? But no the look was gone and her next words made him more confused. “And what about what you like? Is he learning to make you happy?” He blinks more at the question, what made him happy? He uses to think about it for a few seconds before answering. “Ummm I’m not completely sure…no one cared if I was happy or not… Bishop lets me cum I like that….he doesn’t really give time for me to adjust to him inside me…but I don’t mind I asked for it so it’s ok…ummm Mother Matron trained me to where if I’m touched on certain parts of my body I get hard again really fast…. Bishop accidentally touched me there but he was nice..he let me sit in his lap and he put his hand on my penis….no one’s…no one’s ever touched me there….I got in trouble for touching there except to wash off….he…he was really nice I had to beg to cum but he let me…I…” Scorto stopped looking down. He spoke softly. “ After I came he cleaned himself up…but didn’t clean me up…that would have been nice but it’s ok…I’d have really loved a cuddle after but he was tired and he went to sleep and I left I didn’t want to bother him….I don’t think he wanted me to stay…oh…” Scorto looked up, giving a small smile and pulled his collar down to show the marks on his skin. “ He gave me those it was really nice….in the underdark when a female drow does this to a male it means she’s claiming him as hers…is that the same up here?” Scorto frowns at her words, he blinks at her suddenly being at his eye level. He wanted to step back but he stayed still. “But….but I wasn’t equal to the high priestess or the mother matrons….I wasn’t…they were a lot more important than I’d ever be…I know that…is it just because Bishop is a male? Maybe I should ask him…I’m not used to all the different things up here…it’s all really strange..and confusing to me…just when I think I’ve got it right I get told that’s not how things work here.” Scorto blinks more at her question. “…I’m sorry, I fear I missed something… Bishop did what?” “ He didn’t help when I asked him to… when those men..there was four of them…one of them kissed me… and.. and.. ”

Keep reading

fenny58·:

Scorto looks up when Nadia speaks, he’s quiet as he listens to what she says. Scorto stayed quiet for several seconds before he spoke. It was probably best to explain right?

“I….I don’t completely understand…in the underdark it’s best to talk about sexual things…not that I talked to anyone but my mother matron…”

He stopped, wondering was this going to be another thing that was frowned on up here? Bishop and Nadia both had reacted badly towards his mother Matron when he’d told what she did…but they didn’t know her, that must be it right?

“When I was sixteen that’s when mother matron started training me…on how to please a high priestess…she taught me a lot of things….and she taught me what would happen if I didn’t do a good job….she…she…”

He stopped and looked at Nadia.

“ When I told Bishop what she did he didn’t seem to like her. Mama is a lot nicer though. I love Mama and Mama gives me hugs…but for Drow it can keep you alive if you know how to please a high priestess or Mother Matron. I know a lot of ways to please a female…but I wasn’t sure how to please Bishop..I make him happy though. He told me he likes when I choke on his penis.”

Scorto smiled happily.

“ I’m learning, and I remembered from last time what he likes.”

He stopped then and looked down.

“ Yes the little one punched Bishop, Casavir wants Bishop to respect me….I don’t completely understand why though…isn’t it supposed to be the other way around? Bishop is more a female drow than me….. and Casavir said Bishop was wrong for not giving me care after what we shared… I did give Bishop care though I’m supposed to. I’m happy to do that even if I don’t really like the taste…. And Casavir said Bishop was wrong for not helping me when I asked him to when those men were bothering me… but Duncan saved me and I’m ok…I was afraid for Bishop though… Duncan said Bishop deserved to get hurt for what he did, I think he might have just been scared..or maybe thought I should be able to get out on my own? But I didn’t have my knives. All I had on was his shirt…. Casavir and Duncan got really upset when I said Bishop must have been scared.”

Scorto blinks and looks at Nadia, he shifts from foot to foot.

“ Do you know if, Bishop is scared of getting kissed by men? I know he seems to like women fine. Was it because he was afraid of getting kissed that he didn’t help me? When that man was kissing me and his friends were holding me so I couldn’t get away from them”

Not for the first time, listening to the things Scorto had been through turned Nadia’s stomach. To have been trained for sex as a child-- and by his own mother, no less... The very idea was difficult to wrap her head around.

“Y-yes, well... sex here, good or bad, rarely carries that sort of... threat.” She shook her head. “And I don’t mean to say that it’s bad to talk about sex, just that most folk save those conversations for close friends, rather than those they’ve only just met.”

And then Scorto mentioned Bishop, and for a moment she was pleasantly surprised. At least the man had enough decency to reject the way Scorto’s Mother Matron had treated him-- But when Scorto went on to talk of choking, Nadia’s stomach twisted again, this time into an angry knot. That sick, manipulative son of a-- A flash of that anger slipped onto her face, for just a moment, before she shoved it down. Later.

Instead she asked, with a measure of honest concern, “And what about what you like? Is he learning to make you happy?”

At his description of Casavir’s concerns - and Scorto’s own confusion about them - she sighed, heavily, and crouched down a little to be on eye-level with him. “Scorto, relationships up here - healthy relationships - are between equals. People who respect each other. You deserve respect, just as anyone else does, and you are certainly not lesser than Bishop, of all people.”

So distracted was she, trying to think of how to explain equality to him, that it took a moment to catch what else Scorto had said about Bishop. About not helping him, in relation to questions about Bishop being afraid of being kissed-- in relation to a man kissing Scorto, while the man’s friends held him down--