The Last Hunter
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Illithid behind the Curtain: Revelations and Secrets
🕑 Added 2024-04-09 06:49:33 +0000 UTCI was somewhat surprised by the reception. Then again, this had been my first time with a large, faunus group and it blew all my expectations out of the water. Not every faunus was White Fang or a sympathizer and mostly they were like anyone else. They wanted no trouble; they came as far out as they could to avoid it, and were well and determined to not be dragged into it.
I sympathized.
That and the children were so, incredibly adorable and in my Esmerelda form I could hug them all I wanted, and it was fine.
We were heroes to them, and as they thanked us, all I could think about was that mind I had sensed earlier, confirmed when I revealed my pointy ears. Taiyang seemed to sense something wrong, and when we finally managed to break away from them, he asked me immediately.
"What's wrong? We did a good job here. Or is it something... With your side of things?" He added lower and I gave a start, looking at him with new eyes. This was a new side of him I had only recently been aware of, though I knew his history intellectually. He was a Hunter and moreover, part of a generation that Ozpin had recruited in his war. Behind that sunny disposition was someone who if the choices had been otherwise, might had been doing what Qrow was doing now.
I nodded, once as I looked him in the eye. "A mind. It felt familiar and then when I did a test, it was all but confirmed. There's a dark elf on Remnant. Or in their tongue, a Drow."
"I was wondering about the ears." He said, one hand reaching up as if to touch before I gave a Look and he smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, forgot. But 'dark elf' doesn't sound so good."
"Neither does 'Mind Flayer' to many." I add dryly before adding. "For all I know, it could just be a lone adventurer, trying to overcome their hatred for their cousins. But it could also be a scout, a slaver, a cultist... I don't know and I can't afford to not check it out."
"Not tonight though. More Grimm might show up." His voice raised as I opened my mouth, becoming stern as he held up a finger. "And I'm not having you go alone. Powerful as you are, it's best we do this together. And these people will also be safer, if we ensure it first before we track them down."
"Don't you mean 'if?'" I ask and he suddenly smiles. With utter confidence, he speaks.
"With you after them? Unlikely." I blinked and observed his emotions, curious now at what I'd find. A light skimming, that revealed nothing but utter faith and confidence, and just a hint of-oh.
Oooooh.
I blame this bodies biology. It's the only reason why I feel my skin grow warmer, my thoughts in a turmoil as I'm blindsided by what had been obvious, to anyone but me apparently. I'm thankful my sword has been sheathed and I'm grateful Taiyang is human. It means he just sees my face, impassive as ever when I'm deep in thought as the rest of me is turning warmer and warmer, before I take those thoughts and smash it somewhere where I can examine it at length later. Finally, I speak when I deem myself calm enough.
"Thank you. Very well. I'll defer to your expertise, mighty Huntsman."
He smiled and mentally, I hit myself with a two-by-four.
=====
I hovered in my quarters. At our request, we ended up with two rooms and as I flipped through my spellbook, my heart wasn't in it. If anything, it was in turmoil and with a muffled scream into a pillow, I took my true form. Flesh melted away into a glistening, purple color. Fingers melded into thicker appendages, my features split as tentacles and a barbed mouth replaced my face and I felt my mind much more clearly now. With a word, I cast Arcane Lock and sealed my door, performing an Alarm ritual as I used the Illithid biology to clarify my new situation.
Whatever I had been before, I was no longer. My Illithid self, as well as Hannibal and Esmerelda were more a state of mind than an identity. Sometimes I felt like Hannibal, sometimes I felt like Esmerelda so I had no problems there regarding sexuality. So that was not an issue for me, I knew that much.
Second, I realized that more and more as I scrutinized my past encounters that I had been spending more time as Esmerelda with Taiyang than I had as Hannibal. I don't know when it began exactly, but it simply felt more comfortable to hang around his family as a female figure, more so when I had helped care for Ruby and Yang. So, I thought nothing of it, up to this point. But I was a psionic and even when I wasn't trying, I'd feel thoughts and impressions, emotions and everything in between.
Could my comfort had been simply a case of Taiyang's mental state? Could I have subconsciously wanted to make him happy and comfortable, becoming something that he'd connect to more? Seen in chilling detail from the outside, it felt incredibly manipulative and more reminiscent of how Hannibal used to be than what I had intended. But the fruits of it spoke for itself, didn't it?
Instead of being home, Taiyang was accompanying me. He was taking a far more active role, supporting my goals and schemes. A perfect thrall, but far worse.
Because he did so with a smile and devotion I didn't know if I wanted to respond to or not. And for a moment, I thought back to the inspiration of my alias names. Terry Pratchett, blessed be his name on a situation exactly like mine.
To be a human, is to eventually think like one. To experience all the ups and downs, all the highs and lows. The entire gauntlet of experience we're capable of and to be amazed by all of them.
"I was one of them." I quoted aloud, my mind echoing to myself as I looked in the mirror, observed the features of one of Dungeons and Dragons most dangerous foes, before it shifted and retracted to the visage of Esmerelda again, with a look on her face like a kicked puppy as I spoke aloud. "Now I think, I'm rather one of me."
Sleep didn't come easy for me that night, but eventually it did as I drifted off, resolving to put this aside for later.
====
I wanted to come down at Hannibal Rincewind, but that would have raised more questions for the faunus settlers. So down as Esmerelda I descended, looking impassive and clean thanks to my cantrips. Down below, Taiyang had already gotten started on breakfast, and there was a spare hot plate waiting for me.
I fought the blush at the thoughtful gesture with every veneer of violent thought I could, unwilling to consider it now. It was nothing new, he had always been thoughtful that way. I was NOT about to swoon at some blonde himbo, who thought to sneak into my heart with... Potatoes, an omlette with mushrooms and bacon bits and offal. The latter of which I knew he had requested special, as the only brains we had were the ones I brought with me.
It was with a grumpier demeanor that I sat down, eating the delicious meal and even Taiyang couldn't ignore it, looking at me with a curious expression and concern in his every pore.
"Didn't sleep well I take it?"
I glared at him and was gratified at how terrified his psionic sense radiated as he leaned back, old instincts from I expect two marriages rearing its head as I looked away and went back to my meal.
By the time we were out, things had settled down more or less to something approaching what we had before as Taiyang headed out to the outskirts and paused as he saw me head over to their town hall.
"Didn't you feel it that way?"
"I did." I said, not slowing down my walk as Taiyang jogged over and asked. "Then why are we going this way? The trail will get colder, the longer we delay."
"It won't matter." I remark as I add. "Drow are subterranean in nature, living beneath the earth in what we call the Underdark. As a result, we won't have to track them. Because if there are surveying records here, then all we really have to do is isolate and find caverns and other places leading out of the sun."
Taiyang looked impressed. I fought the urge to preen like some idiot at the sense I detected from his emotions and said simply. "It just occurred to me because I've dealt with them before."
"It's still pretty cool. Otherwise, I think we'd still be in... The dark?"
If a record scratch had echoed in my head now, it wouldn't be half as discordant as I turn around, giving him a flat look as he winks and flashes finger guns my direction. "Ooh, tough crowd. Well, that really was a shady joke anyway." My glower grew greater, and my treacherous mouth began to twitch as Taiyang, sensing weakness began firing off more rapidly as if he was Ruby at a gun range.
"Don't worry, you'll cave in sooner or later. These are the kind of jokes you shouldn't take for granite. Then again, dark jokes aren't for everyone. They can't see what's so funny about it."
An incredibly undignified snort escaped me as I turned swiftly around and Taiyang, incredibly pleased with himself spoke kindlier. "Feeling better?" I blinked. Surprisingly I was and I nodded, daring not to look. I could sense him just fine as he walked over and spoke.
"Not sure why you were feeling down. But you remember what I said? You're not alone in this. I'm with you all the way, good and bad."
Yes.
That's what I'm afraid of.
====
We find ourselves narrowed down to one location, in the end. A large cavern, wide enough for what feels like a goliath to stride through, and I think it had been a Grimm den at one point before it was cleared out by a hunter team long ago.
And immediately I discover a thin string of odd-looking thread, with a bell connected and Taiyang looks curiously at it, recognizing the components I used for our own camps. "An alarm spell?"
I nod and immediately cross over, resting in the middle of it as I speak. "Yes. And judging from the lack of noise, it's a subtle one too." Taiyang looked at me curiously but trusting my judgement as he limbers up and steps by my side.
"There a reason you announced ourselves like that?"
"I need to know more." I say simply before adding. "They could be anything really and I don't want to make a habit of coming in, guns blazing if I don't have to." Taiyang nodded, accepting before he spoke.
"Well, we don't have to wait long now. They're here."
"I know." I said simply and around us, the air shimmers. Hoods are pushed back, revealing faces masked against the sun, dark goggles over their eyes and hand crossbows pointed in our direction and to my surprise, a few with flintlocks.
So maybe not from Toril? I reserve my inner thoughts and say simply. "I'm here to talk. Nothing more."
"Your staff and spellbook, bladesinger." Says one of the drow harshly in Elvish before he adds. "You will not meet the captain alive otherwise."
"Captain?" I say aloud in English, Taiyang tense but looking at me as I suddenly get an odd feeling. I peer more closely at the Drow around me, a mix of male and female. Their armor is more like uniforms, but at the same time with an individual streak. Not a single house emblem, not one.
And then I realize who I'm talking to and raise my head as I speak, sticking with English.
"You can tell Captain Jarlaxle that unless his reputation for hospitality has degraded in my time here, that till such time we are let in, we're going to squat before his new doorstep till the Grimm come and devour us all."
