Lucidious
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The wind carried the creature though the night sky to the quiet town of Norwick. It circled the Boarshead several times, getting closer with each pass, then gently gliding and settling on the sill of an open window. It slinked inside the dark room and made a soft hissing to alert the elf.
Lucidious sat in a chair, his head down on a small table in the room. His ears twitched as the creature slipped into the room. Slowly he raised his head from the table and let out a long weak sigh. His fingers explored his right shoulder, now bandaged and blotched with red…his fingers followed the wrappings down his side and he winced in pain. He let out another sigh as he slowly turned his head enough to look at the thing. He slowly spoke to it in dragon tongue
“What news?”
“No sign of Arcome. Nothing of the hin woman. Vescar says they are nowhere to be found.”
Lucidious frowned and turned away, staring down at the table. A moment later he glanced to his pack on the floor by his chair.
The creature moved closer into view, getting a better look at the elf and his wounds. Its green eyes flickered back and forth: the elf, his pack, the empty bottles by the bedroll and the nearby coin purse. The creature fixed its gaze at the coin purse. It was full. It turned back to the elf and cocked its head sideways. It narrowed its eyes and hissed:
“what have you done?”
Lucidious lifted his head and looked into the pseudodragon’s eyes.
“I took the gold. I work for Norwick now.”
“Norwick?” its head swayed back and forth considering him “you mean Rando.”
Lucidious growled back “No. I work for Norwick…” his eyes moved off, fixing on a spot on the wall where he had left a scratch earlier with his blade. “…Rando just happens to be the Lord Protector at the moment…”
Drear turned and trotted toward the window, scoffing as it did “Its as if you beg for death. If you toy with this one, he will not hesitate to kill you.”
Lucidious reached out to the spot on the wall exploring it with his finger very carefully, a lost look on his face. “…yes, I know” he finally replied. Drear looked back a moment “Boy, you had best find your place here. You would do well to follow that Oreth, or even that other Penny character. Those you can make sense of. With them you would be safe. But rando…”
Lucidious barked back “Know your place Drear!”. The pseudodragon went quiet and watched him there in the dark a moment. It seemed their more meaningful conversations always ended this way. Drear hissed and leapt out the window, disappearing into the night sky.
Lucidious glanced back, then turned to the mark on the wall. He was thinking of Raisa again. She had heard him out before and given him good advice. He felt more lost now than ever before. The elf rubbed his face with both hands and looked to his pack.
“Not sensible enough to know when to shut your damn mouth Lucid.”
He chuckled and pulled back his silvery hair before slowly making his way to his pack.
“You can’t talk to her. She’ll tell wolf, then Oreth…”
He shivered at the thought of what Oreth might do and hastily pulled a bottle of Romani wine from his pack. He quickly popped the cork and took a deep drink from the bottle, backpedaling toward the chair. He slumped down into it with a moan and kicked his feet out onto the table. He shook his head and let his mind wander to more happy thoughts.
“I should have danced with her” he looked back to the scratch on the wall and chuckled “If only I had a bottle of wine that day.” He held up the wine and watched it swirl as he shook the bottle gently.
“Then I could have been someone else. Not an investigator. Not a wizard studding someone else’s theory on this or that. I could have been like everyone else.” He paused to take another drink. He nodded to himself and questioned the mark on the wall. “What if she had said yes? Even with everyone standing about watching…I think I would have enjoyed that moment.”
Lucidious went quiet staring at that spot on the wall, considering what he had said. Slowly a smile spread across his face. He could see himself with her, holding her in his arms, simply watching her as they moved in the firelight. He could hear penny’s song perfectly in his mind. He could see himself with her…but not Elredrith. His smile faded and he looked back to his bottle.
“You're a damn fool lucid.”
He shook his head and took another drink. He sat quietly the rest of the night thinking only of what could have been.
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@39dab7b15d=Masume:
-Please keep all story posts to background, or pre played stories only. They can exist in Narfell but have not been played out in game. Once posted do not continue them unless it is to continue past events untold in game-
Reviewed, XP pending from March.
