#I was like is this IC for gortash usually he does a lot more talking

[truly-sincerely]

Dark Star Falling (part 5 of ?)

“You can’t even be cross with me. My brain’s a wreck and it’s not like you know where Bhaal’s temple is either,” Darling’s voice cuts thru the silence without warning. He turns in his chair to look at them but they’re already on the other side of the table from him, pulling a different chair out. The guards all stand stock still, waiting for his command.

“You look–”

“Yeah, I know,” they wipe at the blood spatter on their face with an equally bloody glove, but it’s already dry. “We just got back from Avernus. Anyway, I actually did find the temple, I just don’t know how to get inside yet. I know where to go to get inside, but then something came up and one thing led to another…”

“Where’s your friend?,” he asks.

“Rifling thru the pockets of the dead patriars in your throne room,” they reply. Astarion is at the Elfsong, complaining about getting briefly killed by a devil to anyone who will listen, but Gortash doesn’t need to know that.

“I seem to recall you saying you wouldn’t return empty-handed.” Darling tosses a helmet onto the table. Gortash raises an eyebrow, “That’s not a netherstone.”

“It’s a souvenir,” they say with a smirk. He picks it up and turns it over in his hands. Darling swings their feet up onto his desk, heels crumpling a map of Baldur’s Gate. They are wearing different boots than their first late night visit. Some other fashionable changes, as well, but it’s clear that they want him to notice the boots.

The helmet and the boots are from a matching set. He knows, because the boots were in his footlocker until recently, and the helmet was, as far as he knew, still where the boots should’ve been before he’d stolen them a long time ago. In fact, those exact boots had been indispensable in his original escape from that place. Did Darling know? They hadn’t known before they lost their memory, so how could they now? But watching them, he can tell from their demeanor that they do. It hangs in the air for a moment.

“You went to the House of Hope. Impressive, of course, but not what you ought to be spending your limited time on.” He tosses the helmet back. “Wouldn’t your immense talents be better spent saving the sword coast from the impending rampage of our naughty elder brain?”

“I’m on a journey of self-discovery. What’s the point of saving the sword coast if I lose myself in the process.”

“Since when are you a poet?”

“I’m a bard, Enver.” For a moment he can’t breathe, hearing his name from their lips. He manages to smother the feeling as they continue, “There was this sweet girl in the druids’ grove. A tiefling like me. She played the lute and we played together and I tapped into the weave and I’ve been doing psychic damage to everyone I meet ever since. Don’t give me that look. I’m still a killer. My talents are still immense.”

“You were a paladin of Bhaal,” he offers.

“No kidding,” they flare their nostrils and laugh. A different laugh, or, has he ever even heard them laugh before? “I get the impression I was a hammer and all of my problems were nails.”

“You were magnificent.”

“I still am,” they say, their mouth pulling to the side. Their gaze drifts to the arbalest on the table. His stays on them. “I was scared at first, and angry. I had to learn how to talk to people. I needed different skills. After the lobotomy. After the worm. With a different… partner. Partners. So now I’m a poet.”

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#dark star falling #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 spoilers #durgetash #durge #gortash #probably gonna continue this scene #I had to restart the house of hope cuz Raphael was kicking my ass too hard and I need Gale #but then I started writing during a break #and here we are #I was like is this IC for gortash usually he does a lot more talking #but then I remembered that in game I am a blankslate protagonist who can't have real opinions about things #so in private #Darling kind of rolls over Gortash and I'm okay with that #did some edits on feb1