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A man grumbles at the cold. He always grumbles at the cold, here. Everyone does. There's no escaping it. You can wear the warmest clothing possible, sit by a roaring fire, and still the cold bites. It doesn't numb, either, you'd think that after a while you'd just go numb - no. It's not that kind of cold. The victim shivers and curses and bundles up with a thousand layers and still it's so cold that it hurts. Almost everyone here travels from tiny insufficient fire to tiny insufficient fire to insufficient and drafty bar run by a terrifying dragon, trying to stave off the cold. It never works, but it makes it slightly less torturous. And cursing and grumbling at it always helps.
He is not staying here any longer than he has to. He is not going to fucking stay here, no way. He's been through too much to languish as a sacrificial lamb in the eighth circle of hell while an archdevil goes on a rampage. Cania's for traitors. And he's not one. He was loyal until the day he - well, not died. Was banished. And he doesn't deserve to be here.
He'll find a way out. Eventually. And then someone's going to have a very bad day.
But he's not thinking about that right now. He's thinking that he's pretty sure some vital parts are going to turn blue and fall off from the cold, so he's picked the warmest of his available frigid options to try and plan his next move. He'll take the bar with the dragon. He opens the door -
...
And this is not the bar with the dragon. It's much, much warmer.
His head screams trap, but he can't bring himself to close the door and walk away. Inside he goes, shivering. Warmth.
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furtive_heroics
subtly_artistic
"Hello? I'm not still reading you, if you want to have a telepathic conversation we can do that but I prefer more explicit ongoing agreement."
furtive_heroics
Blink.
"Oh, that - makes sense. And is very reasonable. Yes, thanks, I had actually just thought 'please stop reading me.'" (Shield back up, because practice and like. He will not just be coasting on friendly feelings anymore, he will actually be thinking.) "Sorry about that. I sort of am? It didn't exactly happen on purpose. My teacher took me in because I had nowhere to go, and he sort of taught a school for adventurers. And then some kobolds broke into the school and stole some things and since I was the, uh, most competent student there," and most able to steal something back without getting caught, "and my teacher was gravely injured, I got asked to try and fetch them. And it uh. All kind of spiralled from there and the next thing I know I'm talking to a dragon."
"Oh, that - makes sense. And is very reasonable. Yes, thanks, I had actually just thought 'please stop reading me.'" (Shield back up, because practice and like. He will not just be coasting on friendly feelings anymore, he will actually be thinking.) "Sorry about that. I sort of am? It didn't exactly happen on purpose. My teacher took me in because I had nowhere to go, and he sort of taught a school for adventurers. And then some kobolds broke into the school and stole some things and since I was the, uh, most competent student there," and most able to steal something back without getting caught, "and my teacher was gravely injured, I got asked to try and fetch them. And it uh. All kind of spiralled from there and the next thing I know I'm talking to a dragon."
furtive_heroics
"I mean he was actually quite a cordial dragon, if completely terrifying. But yeah. Turned out one of the stolen things was the key to, uh, turning on a flying magic city and that a medusa wanted it to take over the world, I - think. She wouldn't have managed it, probably, but would have broken lots of things. And adventures happened and I ended up as the only person in the flying city that wasn't, well, terrible. So um. Yeah. I stopped her, and got trapped in the plane of shadow for my trouble for - I'm not sure how long. When I got out and back in Toril I sort of landed in a warzone where I got guilted into helping with a dungeon that was spitting out terrible things at the people above, because everyone else that was supposed to help with that problem stupidly ran in unprepared like idiots and got themselves killed. And then I was put under a geas and had to help with a slightly hopeless if very well motivated war effort and kill a magic queen and I think you see the pattern to my life."
furtive_heroics
"Yeah. Apparently time's paused outside while I'm in here, so I'm kind of taking advantage. I'm hoping I can find a helpful person to help me swat the, uh, latest problem that's occurred in my life." Pause. "Also just. Not. Doing things. Not doing things is pretty great."
subtly_artistic
"I don't even approach epic, so I don't think I'll be much good. I'm not even planning on it if I can possibly avoid it. I'm going to get my degree and my master's and do a nice quiet life of therapy practice and charity work and dabbling in arcana."
furtive_heroics
"Yeah, no problem. It's kind of the sort of thing I wouldn't want to drag random bystanders into anyway. ... Smart move on getting into therapy. It's - yeah, therapists. The world really needs more of them. Or mine does, anyway."
subtly_artistic
"It's the obvious thing to do with enough subtle arts oomph. Nice and safe too."
furtive_heroics
"I wish you a nice, safe, long happy life," says Veron, sincerely. "No dragons. Or medusas. Or dracoliches."
furtive_heroics
"I've probably become biased by now on the subject of medusas, I should work on that," he agrees. "Sorry."
subtly_artistic
"Nah, I get it, it's hard not to flinch when somebody new matches whatever seemed most important about somebody who hurt you."
subtly_artistic
"Hey, I haven't had actual therapy classes per se yet but I can try."
furtive_heroics
"I think the mindset's probably more important than a lot of the specifics. Often I find that people just need someone to talk to."
subtly_artistic
"Or explain things. I somehow wound up Designated Humans Explainer at school. People come up to me at lunch and ask what doilies are for and why the human sex drive is so low and stuff."
furtive_heroics
Snrk.
"That," he says, "is a noble endeavor, and I wish you the best of luck with it."
"That," he says, "is a noble endeavor, and I wish you the best of luck with it."
subtly_artistic
"It's kind of fun? Figuring out ways to put it in plain language."
furtive_heroics
"Yeah - I have a kobold friend that occasionally wants things explained. Though sometimes I think he asks certain things on purpose to get an interesting reaction he can write down for his book."
subtly_artistic
"Ha. I bet that has either already happened to me or will soon enough."
furtive_heroics
"Only a matter of time. The only way to win is to get the author to like you so they write your praises."
subtly_artistic
"I don't think I've offput too many of my querents... I'm also not sure any of them have been writing books, I may just have bad luck when an authorial one comes up."