voidtreckerexpress | Finding a Routine (June Catch-All for Drizzt)

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Finding a Routine (June Catch-All for Drizzt)

Who; Drizzt and OTA
Where; Various places throughout the train throughout the second half of Fiddlesticks
When; Anytime in the second half of Fiddlesticks
What; Drizzt is taking time to ruminate over the last mission and life as a Voidtrecker.
Warnings; Most likely none, but I'll update as needed

- STANDARD COACH -

It's been a strange two weeks, and now that they have returned to their travel, he finds himself missing more and more the freedom of the out of doors. He can be found, at times, at one of the table booths in the standard coach, his standard issue journal with him. A small onyx statuette of a couching panther rests on the table beside the journal whenever he's here, and he alternates between watching the flashing colors of light through the window and jotting down thoughts as they occur to him.

If anyone happens to join him, or pause, he takes no pains to shield the book from them, and they might glimpse any of the journal entries here if they happen to look. He even nods in greeting even if he doesn't speak, looking toward another of the chairs in invitation if they seem as though they'd like to talk. He chose the standard coach because it wasn't secluded, after all.

- Training Gym -

All lessons taking part in the latter half of Fiddlesticks will take place here, in the training gym. It's much better equipped to handle the acrobatics and gives more room for a workout, which people can find him at periodically through each day. Drizzt does not take his training lightly, and takes the most comfort in physical exertion. He can be found going through training regimens on his own, with various training weapons, but most often with a set of very real scimitars made graciously for him by Piccolo.

He can also be found plotting out an obstacle course with the provided equipment, or racing over the climbing frame as spry as any tree squirrel. Feel free to join him!

(OOC: If you would like to train with the use of blades, pole-arms, and the like, or you'd like to spar and would like your own prompt, shoot me a message on discord at vikael#0221 or on plurk at

vikael! We can do a meetup anywhere!)

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Is Nita a climber by trade? No.

But she can appreciate a challenge, and right now that climbing frame is her focus. She's not doing badly, but there are definitely a slew of Voidtreckers that could handle the course faster than her.

"Well aren't you a showoff," she huffs from her newly-designated pull-ups spot, three-quarters of a way through another-

(/Fourth,/ the peridexis duly reminds her)

Through her fourth set.

"Just don't step on my fingers, okay? I can get down in a hurry..."

Drizzt made quick work of the set, moving across the bars deftly, sometimes skipping across the top ones, other times swinging and climbing. He was breathing heavy as he stilled astride the crossbars, grinning for all his effort.

"Certainly not," at least that he wouldn't trod upon her fingers. Instead, he dropped between the bars, catching himself and then swinging to her position, pulling himself up next to her with a grin. "Though perhaps I was showing off."

Nita finished her fourth set, then pulled herself up above the bars with some effort.

"Can't say- Can't say I haven't had moments like that," she panted, tilting her head with a wry expression before shaking it slowly.

"This is definitely a place to show off in, anyway, compared to what we- already had."

Competitions... sometimes, there was no avoiding them.

It was difficult, at times, not to find pride in one's abilities, it was true. He chuckles. "You have had your chance to show off, Nida Callahan, with that display on the platform. I thank you for affording me mine."

He dropped to a crouch before moving beside her, and she would feel the heat coming off of him, but also hear his quickened breathing. He puts on a good show, but he is working out. "How fair you this day?"

"No problem," Nita replied, smiling.

Letting herself cool off before starting another round - or moving to another piece of equipment - seemed to be what her body needed this time. She stretched, before answering easily,

"It's been going."

Before giving what was probably the more honest answer of, "Been feeling like my mind's all over the place. Good and bad things all mixed in, y'know?"

He frowned at her response, concerned. He knew how painful it was, at times, to keep one's own counsel. Many times he opened his heart to Guenhwyvar only because hers were the only ears around to hear.

"I do. If you have need of a friendly ear, I have two."

Nita exhaled, swinging her legs absently.

"Well, for good things, someone from home showed up at the platform. Did you happen to see a whale? Though she's a lot smaller than usual..."

"I did not, but I admit, the crowd on the platform intimidated me, and I came only to watch the duel between yourself and Sven." He smiled, though. "A train is a strange place for a whale who is a whale always."

Nita nodded, a wry smile coming to her face at Drizzt's turn of phrase.

"You could put it that way. The train gave her a tub to sleep in, of all things! We'll have to see what we can do about that..."

Not the biggest issue at present, but Nita was all for making her friend more comfortable.

"Her name's S'reee, and she's a wizard like I am if you want to talk to her."

The smile faded away then as her mind drifted to other things.

"We've got a lot of newcomers in general, this week - and lost a lot, as well."

Including some who were last time's newcomers.

He had noticed several name changes along the sleeper cars, but he hadn't been aboard the train long enough to know many of them. Nita, though, he assumed was different. He often saw her speaking with others. In all, she was much more sociable than he. He wondered if all whales in the sea were intelligent enough to be wizards, but it wasn't an appropriate time to ask such questions.

Instead, he frowned at Nita's observation. "You've lost friends? I am sorry."

Nita settled a little; her legs stopped swaying.

"I hate to say I've gotten used to it, but... it doesn't surprise me."

Then she chuckled drily.

"Can't even say 'anymore'; Nautilus - the last time I was out of range of the Powers - had people come and go all the time. It happened back home too. It was usually more final there, though."

Even if there was always Timeheart.

Loss was a part of life, that much was true and he nodded. "Before I arrived here, I had also recently lost a dear friend. He was old, for a human, and his days were closing even as he met, but it does nothing to deaden the sting, does it?"

Nita shook her head, leaning back a little to place her hands on the bars.

"No, I can't say it ever does. Be kind of worrying if it did, really."

To be that jaded. Depression was a beast all its own; one Nita knew, and had mostly clawed her way out of in the wake of her mother's death.

She'd rather have emotion, with all its highs and lows.

"Want to talk about them? Or-" she added, rapping the bars with her knuckles.

"Should we get back to our exercise first?" Or instead; that was fine too.

He smiled at her question. He was capable of speaking while exercising, but he also enjoyed losing himself in it. "I've never had anyone with whom I could speak of Mooshie and his animal companions. He taught the ways of the Ranger."

"Mooshie?"

It's one of those names you can't help smile while saying, but Nita's not pronouncing it to make fun.

"I'd like to hear about him, then. Well, them; what animal companions did he have?"

Nita dropped through the bars, sensing she'd probably given herself enough time to start one more set before switching exercises.

If his skin tone afforded it, he would have blushed at her repeating of the nickname. "Montolio DeBrouchee." Even now his accent butchered the name. "When we first met, my tongue was incapable of forming the name, so Mooshie, he was." He smiled fondly at the memory. "They were many, all the animals of his grove were his companions, but the closest were Bluster, a grizzly bear, and Hooter, a screech owl. They became his eyes and ears after he lost his vision to a dragon."

Edited 2020-06-22 00:55 (UTC)

Nita nodded, still amused but understanding.

"Montolio, then."

She'd had her own history when it came to nicknaming people anyhow; she'd let Drizzt have his own.

Her expression dipped, however, at the mention of the man's loss of sight.

"I'm glad they were able to be there for him, after something like that. Could he sense-share, or was it something else he could do with them?"

"You writing down the ways you've killed me, or new ways you wanna kill me?"

Because that's a way of saying hello, isn't it? With a feigned affronted tone, a hand on hip where Tidus has stopped before the table where Drizzt can see him. But his smile betrays any real insult, the true humour in his voice, and should Drizzt nod to him, he'll slip into the seat opposite him; asking, if the answer isn't already (truly) answered--

"Whatcha doin'?"

At the question, so like Tidus, Drizzt smiled as he looked up, giving the younger man a shake if his head, his white hair falling into his eyes.

"I do not plot ways to kill a man, Tidus. He reveals them to me." He looked down at the journal before him on the table before looking back over to Tidus as he joined him.

"Reflecting, I suppose."

"Bah," is all Tidus gives that smart response, sour but fun despite what it says about him.

(One day, Drizzt. One day!)

He eyes Drizzt's notebook, turned away from him, but not with any real attempt to peek at what's been written than a simple glance. Humming curiously, then looking back at Drizzt and asking, politely before eagerly:

"What about?"

He leans up an arm to rest his head against, his other elbow tucking near his body. Getting comfortable, so to speak.

"One day you will best me, I know." When he was Tidus' age, he'd had the same sentiment, and had felt the same frustration. As long as Tidus didn't lose his desire, he would triumph.

He looked back down at his journal at Tidus' question, a warmth rising from his neckline as he did so. Thank the Goddess his skin was black and the blush not apparent.

"Our last mission." He looked over to Tidus, then, eyebrows raised. "How did it leave you feeling?"

"Feeling?" The question is a curious one, not what Tidus was expecting, but he hums, looking up off as he thinks back on that entire span of time. Fighting and resting, having to keep up hope as the swarms never ended...

"Tired?" Gaze flitting back down on Drizzt, the answer comes with a short laugh on a smile before he continues. "Glad that we made a difference. Glad that I went with Blue Team too," he adds. "Them and Red Team really needed the help. I heard it got rough with the Reds."

Which leads away from the initial question, but he's been having his own thoughts about missions and the sorts. Nevertheless, Tidus regards Drizzt curiously again, what prompted the question to begin with.

"What did it get you feelin'?"

He had heard similar and he nodded, admitting as much. He, too, was glad to have stayed with Blue, and with the defenseless villagers. He shuddered to think what would have become of them had they not had adequate protection.

"I heard the same. I had my doubts, but I believe the Void Treckers to be a force of Good, and I believe, in time, I can be proud to represent them, and honored they've chosen me, whoever it is they are."

"Wow, you're committing yourself to it so soon?" So Tidus says, asks, but he doesn't doubt it, Drizzt a guy who jokes freely, but then he reminded you of his grace of speech. He brings his arm down, folding them together on the table. "So you think this is what you were looking for, when you went above ground? A responsibility like this?"

Tidus remembered Drizzt went out in search for a new life, and back when he'd told him, it sounded like Drizzt was facing an open world of opportunities. But was a task of this nature--to protect others--what he'd hope to use his talents for, always? Or just by luck that this particular opportunity had shown itself, and revealed to him this passion?

"I am committed to helping others, as I have always been. If that is the purpose of the Void Treckers, then they will have my swords." Had Tidus not seen the gratitude in the eyes of the villagers? He was used to scorn and fear, but they held neither for their protectors. "I don't know if this is what I was looking for, but it feels...warm. Good."

He worked his jaw slightly, his gaze distant and he turned to the window, watching the multicolored lights as they passed. "My people dwell beneath the earth, only coming up for raids. Those of the surface fear us, and with reason. I'd yet to meet any surface dweller of the kind races to who looked upon my face and did not cower or raise arms against me. My mentor would have as well, had he not been blind. Admittedly, it is a lonely existence."

As Drizzt speaks, Tidus's expression softens sympathetically to hear it, his understanding of what the guy experienced only minimum, second-hand. It made him wonder about the Guado--a secluded group of people, and he didn't know how their lives were going now after what Seymour attempted.

The thought is brief though, staying in the present. The draw of his mouth becoming long.

"That sucks," he says, an obvious understatement. But it does, and there's none of Tidus's usual humour attached, this not the time for it. But his voice does lighten some as he goes on. "I don't know if all the worlds we go to will be like that--I've seen how people can get about judging others," he shares with a nod, "even with people who look human by other humans. But considering all the different races we have here, and what we're doing? I know you'll be appreciated. By the people on board and whoever we help!"

Maybe there'll be times where prejudice will get in the way, but Tidus doesn't want to focus on that, the thin-lipped half frown he wears brightening.

"And on a train with this many people, you won't have time to be lonely."

There's that humour.

"That much is plain." He shares a smile with Tidus, motioning toward the other man as he does so. Tidus did join him, after all. Drizzt, though, knows he could have chosen someone slightly more secluded for his reflection, and recognizes he'd wanted the company in the first place.

"And I believe we make a good team. There is little we cannot face, would you agree?"

"Now that's the kind of talk I like!" Tidus beams, a fist clenched and held confidently in a show of comaderie. Maybe a guy like Drizzt would be better suited with someone closer to his skill level with a sword, but when did being the lower level guy stop him from working with others? And Tidus liked him--even if he was constantly killing him.

But while Tidus's hand may loosen, his energy doesn't as he admits: "Actually, to be honest, I wouldn't mind sticking around either. I've been trying to think of ways I can help anyway, but," and maybe his energy does die some, as his head shrugs with his shoulders, his tone weary in a sulky manner, "my best idea is figuring out what people can do and what they have in their worlds that'd be useful for helping and protecting people, and getting everyone to stick their heads together. But I dunno if I should really be butting in."

He sits the edge of his chin on a hand, his steam for his recent efforts getting weaker. But at the end of the day, he knew there was actually little he could do contribute with anything actually meaningful. Compared to some the others with more the brains for these types of operations.

Still, it was a bummer.

"There are those who lead our teams, yes, but they are not absolute rulers. We are one group, and our goals are all the same. Do not discredit your ideas because you feel them inadequate before you've submitted them."

He closes his journal and motions toward the younger man. "You must have an idea, if you're so concerned about mentioning it."

"Well, that's half of the idea there," he says with a raise of his free hand. "Everyone's been talking about weapons, right? But I was thinking that since not all of us are fighters or we don't use magic, we should talk about more defensive items. Stuff we can make here or get from our own worlds. A girl I used to travel with could make something out of nothing -- she could heal you or make a barrier as quick as she could a bomb for whatever we were up against. What about worlds that have those items more available?"

But Tidus leans back some, or brings his shoulders in, a more grumpier look starting to set in. "I thought the same thing listening to that council--you know, letting more people in to give their ideas. They were talking about 'speaking to the train' and putting together party planners, and I didn't really get why you'd want just a couple of people to talk about that. And the one running it acted like I was a moron."

He scrunches his nose at that, frowning. Yeah, it wasn't that long ago and maybe he's still bitter.

He nodded. "Something to protect those who do not wish to fight." There was no dishonor in not wanting to fight, after all. They were drawn here against their will. None of them had volunteered for the assignment. "That is a useful trick your friend has." He doesn't know anyone capable of producing something from nothing, after all.

"You are not." For starters. Tidus had a simple way of viewing the world, and worlds, more to the point, but he was not stupid. Far from it. "There are many of us. The council should be larger."

There's a fond smile for the comment on Rikku, and brief pang for old days gone; keeping as Drizzt continues on, appreciative at least to speak to someone about this.

"Maybe not everyone needs to be involved, but if they're gonna ask about attempts on talking to the train or putting together social events, I think those're good discussions to have with more of us." Tidus shrugs however, sighing into his next words. "But Tony seems pleased enough sharing the meetings over the ICP and making everyone wait 'til the end to get to say anything. I dunno; there isn't a real good reason for me to care."

It's not like he'd be able to contribute much to the actual discussions, but it rubbed him the wrong way anyway.

"It just feels like we could be doing more."

Or is that impatience (or boredom) talking?

"Perhaps we could, and perhaps there are enough of us that so few representatives isn't sufficient." Such dialogs were useful, after all. There was always room for improvement. "If you were able to suggest a change, what would you like to see?"

"With the train, or the meetings?" Tidus asks before going forward, though either would likely take a good moment to unscramble his thoughts.

Glorfindel glided silently through the standard car, but stopped when he spotted Drizzt. He cleared his throat and smiled down at him. "Can I interest you in a pastry?" he asked, holding up the covered basket he was holding.

The light cast across his journal paper and table was unmistakable, but not unwelcome. He smiled up at the elf and nodded.

"Thank you," and, after a pause, added, "you're welcome to join me if you wish."

"Thank you," Glorfindel said. He smiled back as he sat down opposite Drizzt at the table. He placed the basket there as well, neatly avoiding the statue and the journal.

"Getting your thoughts in order?" he asked. Not prying, just commenting, unless Drzzt wanted to talk. "My lady," he said, acknowledging the statue as well. Just because she wasn't there physically, was no reason to exclude her from the conversation.

He smiles slightly at Glorfindel's address to the statuette. Guenhwyvar could near hear them from here, but the thought was touching nonetheless.

"I am. I had my doubts about this task we've been given, but if the last mission was typical, I believe I can find peace in it."

Glorfindel shrugged. "It was my first real mission as well, as the first was...aborted. Others tell me that was not typical."

"It was a good mission though. How did your team do on the island? I hear there were much the same monsters as we had, but with a Giant Sand Creature at the end?"

"Aborted? What happened?" Anything would be helpful in allowing him to better understand the nature of their unwilling employers.

He nodded. "I allowed others to face the creature. Guenhwyvar and I kept the others at bay. How fared you?"

"We were there for mere hours. Then suddenly, ominous clous filled with fire rolled in...there were shapes...it was like a scene from the ending of the Time of Two Trees or the Fall of Gondolin. The Train recalled us via the SCA without even a warning and...for lack of a better way to put it, ran like a frightened dog, tail between its legs," Glorfindel said.

He nodded. "Always good to have a good team in place so you don't get hit from behind while fighting the one in front of you." He had deeply appreciated what was left of his House protecting his back when he was fighting the balrog. "We mostly fought crabs, a giant squid, and some sharkbear things. They were tough, but mostly it was just slogging through. We have a team of excellent fighters though, so there weren't any issues."

"Clouds filled with fire...?" Demonic powers? If it were demons, it made sense why they would run. There were precious few here equipped to deal with the Greater Lords of the Hells. "And we've heard nothing else of this? That seems...troubling."

He blinks at the tale. "Sharkbears?"

"The Train has been completely silent on the subject," Glorfindel said. "Webmind and Nita have been requesting books to find out more, but have had little luck." He might have read a few at night, as he did not require as much sleep. "It is quite troubling."

"That's what I called them. Others called them less polite things," he said with a grin. "They were basically a shark, but with the limbs of a bear. They could hit quite hard, too," he added, rubbing his side where one had gotten him, knocking him into a stalagmite.

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Finding a Routine (June Catch-All for Drizzt)

Training Gym! Assuming this makes sense. |D

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coach

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Standard Car

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