[Kalandrin]

The drider, having stopped sweating for quite a bit, once again felt a wave of heat hitting her forehead, together with a shiver across her entire spine. The words the drow had selected had touched her soul - be that her aura or whatever else it was, if it even existed - as the child within her finally got the recognition it had been striving for, for twenty-six long years. 'Sweet?' He had called her - of all things of the underworld, a drider - 'sweet?' Instinctively, she raised her eyebrows, lowering the level of her eyes without amending the position of her head. Thoughts had quickly flushed her mind, as though they were a biological reaction to an infected wound.

Suddenly and without a warning, an ironic smirk was drawn on Kalandrin's face, as though she had not taken Dee's remark seriously. "Nah, go away" she muttered, the expression soon developing into a grin that could possibly scare off the average biped due to the fangs it revealed. Her eyes remained fixed on the ground, as the grin faded and got replaced by thoughts. Was he serious? Was he playing with her? Did he happen to have any motives to do this? Was it manipulation, what he was doing, or was it genuine expression of thoughts? Whatever it was, it was hard to believe he was honest, if only because she was so stubborn.

"Then again, Dee could have meant it" thought the Ne'kalsaider, biting her lower lip out of instinct; a sign she was feeling uncertain. Whatever the truth was, it did manage to make her feel special - for once, not in the manner giving her the impression she was an aberration of nature, but in a good way. It was G'eldyl the last person that made her feel that way with her comments - or was it Masendriea? Whoever of the two, she had not seen either for long ages, and as such, her soft heart, surrounded by a shell of adamantium, opened up and welcomed the comment, secretly hoping not for something hurting to follow soon.

As the two waited in the edge of the room, away from the inferno but still technically inside it, Kalandrin felt utter incapability to move the slightest portion of her body. Was it a weakness? Was it an emotion? Was it a person? This forge was cursed by demons, she thought jokingly, and people seemed to play with her. For a reason, she loved this situation, even though she failed to admit it; being touched, being complimented, feeling special whatsoever. And all that, with a person she barely knew yet, even though they had met several days ago. Simply... amazing?

[kembaru]

On Kalandrin's reply, Dee just leaned against the wall and smiled, giving another of those little laughs, he had indeed meant it, what she had said was sweet, but the way that could have been taken was anyone's guess. The armor would take a while, and so they waited, it was more labour intensive to forge the weapons, but it was less draining than shaping it with magic, which wasn't to say sorcery wasn't useful in a forge, it was used to fit the armor for minor alterations.

Dee was busy examining his newly modified family staff and he took a practice swipe with it before leaning back once more, hardly noticing his company's paralysis he closed his eyes and focused, slicing away at his demon and sealing it away in the gems concealed in the stave's hollow adamantium haft, the gem now set in the blade would glow a very faint red, and there was silence for a while, at least, as quiet as you could get with the noise in the forge. When he stopped the impromptu sealing he was sweating again, he took a deep breath and stepped forward.

"I think I might just have them deliver my armor straight to my house quarter. Not like I'm in any particular hurry, the gems work just as well in a pocket..." he said, stepping towards the stairs. "All the same. Thank you for your help, feel free to stop by Til'naum house any time, I owe you a drink or... something along those lines."

[Kalandrin]

With all eight eyes of hers looking at the noble's staff curiously, Kalandrin examined it along with its holder, still unable to bring the compliment out of her mind. It felt so warm to know that there were people out there so different from you, yet not considering you a monster; that 'breed' was rare, thought the drider, having met only a few couples or so in her twenty six years of stay in the City of Light. As the faint red glow inspired her the expected terror - one not so visible, but the awe it came with at least was - Kalandrin let herself dive in a world of emotions and thoughts she was previously barring herself from.

Lowering her head and gaze towards the ground as she heard that her companion would go, Kalandrin Fre'ana Val'Beldrobbaen quickly considered her options and the offer the ver'drowendar had made; had she allowed herself to respond instinctively she would outright deny the statement he owed her a drink, however something within her motivated her to somehow accept. A second later, the ne'kalsaider raised her head again, as she felt her body trembling like that of a fish that had been taken outside its water. Should she speak out? Would it be appropriate for both the situation as well as the 'bully' image she typically created around her?

The few moments the drider remained thoughtful like that made the shivering noticeable by anyone who would pay the required effort to see her, though she quickly swallowed her made-up taboos and spoke out. "Well... Would you mind giving it now? If I am no weight or something..." she asked, courageously to tell the truth but also in a manner implying fear towards rejection to anyone experienced enough in the tones of one's voice. The words Kalandrin had chosen were not exactly the best, and she knew it; but, after endless effort, she had grown the belief that she would learn through the experience she would go through. After all, she had never been someone of words; typically, she was one of actions, and when she couldn't act she felt utterly helpless. Such as now.

[kembaru]

"If you don't mind me making a brief stop at the messengers I'm sure I can bear with you seeing my house quarter in whatever state of disrepair my mother had it in..." Dee says simply, waving a hand to say 'this way' and walking up the first few stairs. For the first leg of the trip he was rather silent, and he stopped once and took a deep breath before continuing, self exorcism was tiring after all.

Three flights of stairs later and Dee stopped off to the messengers, the woman at the front desk was greeted with a kiss on the cheek and some small talk, general stuff to which many questions were answered carefully so as to not give away much information concerning his recent whereabouts, but what would possibly stand out more was that Dee was sending a message to a very specific order of the Kyorl'solenurn; The Order of the Vigilant Eye. The exact reasons why a nether summoner no less would be contacting the Kyorl'solenurn was left unsaid before the journey continued.

From there they took a slightly longer way around for Kalandrin to stop off at her room and pick up a package, Dee didn't question it and by the time they reached the four great statues (golems) that guarded the entrance to Til'naum house quarter he was leaning on his staff in a manner that suggested he might collapse when he stopped to deactivate the defenses Traps and golems that would attack foreign auras.

"Home sweet home..." He said walking along the corridor and taking the first left to a room filled with furniture covered in white cloth and with the distinct smell of stagnant air. He walked behind the bar and indicated a seat of the sort used by driders, "With the recent deaths, about a fifth of our number has been wiped out, the house to house niceties were always hosted elsewhere, as such this place hasn't been used in a while. Good thing most of the drinks merely get better as they sit."

"What's your poison?" Dee asked, blissfully anaware of any possible bad puns that might be taken as.

[Kalandrin]

What was she doing, really? Kalandrin's mind processed the situation carefully, quickly and efficiently, bringing in her mind whatever she doing currently. Years - no, days ago she would not even imagine getting close friends, nobody beyond her pet spider and Gosser, but now she had quickly made a close and warm acquaintance with the bizzare drider named E'apoe, and was crafting bonds that appeared to becoming even stronger with the Beldrobbaen summoner she was dreaming of killing not one or two weeks before present.

The first, quick part of their small 'venture' to the Til'naum Quarters was rather silent, with the drider mysteriously enjoying the whole nature of the way they had come there. Admittedly, Kalandrin felt an itch of some jealousy as Dee'nias was greeted with a kiss; why, she was not certain, though she could speculate it could have something to do with her past isolationist nature. Why would Dee contact the Kyorl'solen'urn, she did not even think of it; the Ne'kalsaider was too busy considering other things.

Taking the long walk to the male's quarters, the pair made a short stop in Kalandrin's nest to grab a small package she had prepared for a day such as this one, and namely concerning her armour, however without saying a word about it and being too reluctant to let Dee'nias inside, fearing possible reactions. Chel'el'sussoloth was not a city full of persons accustomed to the idea of converting a room into a hole of spider silk; as such, she kept an almost cool distance, even if she hesitated doing so. Finally, with a little chit-chat, they found themselves at their destination.

Although the female did not show it, she felt surprised by the magnificence of the Til'naum Quarters, enjoying its full nature and present idea. Her nostrils almost made her feel drunk from the sweet scent of the stagnant air, whereas the dust and the preparedness for her kin almost made her feel as though she was entering some ancient chamber dedicated to the very existence for her race. She could not help but smile to the man's comment concerning drinks; "sort of like us" she thought out loud in response, amusingly uncertain what exactly she meant by that.

"What's your poison?"

It took a little while for Kalandrin to realize the true meaning of Dee's question, which in turn ended up in her grinning in response to it. Admittedly, no matter how much over-sensitive she could get, she took this one as a raw joke, no matter how accurate the guess was. "I have enough of that, thank you" she said, waving her hands in order to enhance her statement as she went to take the seat indicated by the drow. "But alcohol, that'd be a change. Although I generally only drink beer, I am pretty sure you can pleasantly surprise me once again, no?" With the grin giving its place to a gentle smile, the Ne'kalsaider patiently waited for the summoner's response, her heart beating like mad.

[kembaru]

Dee gave a small laugh and turned around, sliding open one of the large oak cabinets to reveal a rack of glass bottles, and another to show a few shelves of heavy liquors, dusty bottles that probably hadn't been touched in a decade, but when you're underground your whole home is a wine cellar.

"The servants... are around somewhere. Though I think I can play barkeep for old times sake..." Dee said, pausing to tie his hair back once more and bending down to take out a pair of glasses that he polished, humming some tune from the Beldrobbaen glory days, it didn't sound like a funeral march as opposed to most music the clan produced of late.

placing the glasses on the bar in front of him, the summoner selected and subsequently dusted off a bottle of brownish liquor that he slowly poured and chuckled a little at some memory of this place, it was strange but he was enjoying the company, doing the simple things with someone who wasn't likely to stab him in the back for personal gain. He took a small silvered object, sort of like a knife from a drawer and filled a small basin behind the bar with water, touching the thing to the waters surface it froze over almost instantly, and a few surgical strikes and Dee was putting ice in the glasses.

"Last time I tried this I was... ten years old maybe. Knocked me flat." he took up a glass, raising it in a timeless toast of "cheers"

[Kalandrin]

Kalandrin never had the chance to know more about the world of drinking, if you exclude the occasional beer here and there, that she would drink under varying circumstances. The current moment had, as such, acquired her full attention, seeking not to appear utterly clueless before the male. Having let the small package next to her, made up exclusively from silken products, she guided her eyes to find and examine the bottle pulled by Dee'nias. "Now now, what's that?" she thought herself, playing with the previous characterization of Dee for alcohol; poison.

"That would be a good thing" she smiled to the noble, albeit somewhat late in response to his comment. "Too many servants around does not make me feel comfortable in the first place." As the drider's eyes kept examining the process, she found it 'amazing' concerning 'the creation of ice' in such a place without the obvious use of any ice sorcery. "Nice trick" she observed, sounding taken by the whole process. A smile appeared on her lips soon afterwards, as her eyes were now guided on the male ver'drowendar.

Taking the glass offered by Dee, Kalandrin raised it in a similar manner, not saying a word but letting the moment speak by itself. To the clan? To our health? Who knew - it all was fair game, but silence was always something more mystical, more wide-spread in terms of meanings. "Sounds promising enough" the drider grinned soon afterwards, taking a daring sip from her glass and sure feeling the, admittedly, excessive pleasure of having her throat and lungs burning for a few seconds. Opening her eyes more widely from the surprise in a comical manner, the ne'kalsaider then frowned with a smile of pleasure.

[kembaru]

It was customary to drink after a toast, and Dee was all about customs, supposedly bad luck not to, and in his position one bit of bad luck was all it took for things to turn nasty... he couldn't taste it... Hard to be sure if he even drank it, but all the same his glass was at a lower level of drink so it must have happened, his robe wasn't wet after all.

The silvered knife was set by the frosted basin, a small gem set in the pommel it was a magic item used to create ice, admittedly they weren't very frequently seen anywhere, but the Beldrobbaen were noble and wealthy, they could afford rare trinkets.

Observing reactions to the drink, Dee dove back in time to when he worked serving drinks as a boy, and he smiled. "Take it easy, I can pour you a chaser if you like?"

[Kalandrin]

If Kalandrin could dance, she would probably do it on the spot; though, admittedly, having eight legs did not help a lot with this. To tell the truth she knew some tricks in order to get over of her 'problem' and achieve a goal she would set, but this was another case. Not realizing her face had adopted a slightly reddish tone, she looked at the glass once again, taking one more sip before she paid attention to Dee'nias' words. Looking and listening at him, she could not resist giggling, finding herself in an utterly amusing and somewhat embarrassing moment; and yet, the wonders of alcohol had loosened the bonds she had set on her mind, and made the cracks of the adamantine shell she was within grow.

"I am fine, I am fine" the Ne'kalsaider insisted, raising her free hand and waving it in a dismissing manner. The truth was that it was not just as bad as it seemed, and it was early for a chaser in her opinion. Looking at the ver'drowendar, she smiled warmly, unable to control her feelings and motions for a reason other than the alcohol, and lowered her gaze towards the floor in an almost melancholic manner before she raised it again, several seconds later. Her thoughts were many and varying, well-hidden within the maze she called a mind. Nobody had heard them, and perhaps nobody would, taking into account several factors, such as how was she generally being treated.

Kalandrin's eyes were slowly directed back on the drow male, this time gradually as though she was examining him, from his nails to his hair. "No need for you to be standing and all in your own home" she said, prompting Dee to take a seat near or far from her, anything would be fair game. She felt uncertain, vulnerable, being in a place she had never been at before, with a person she had yet to learn much about. Her tongue seemed tied, as she could think of no subject to discuss about; in an attempt to be inspired, she took another, more careful sip from her glass, further lowering it.

[kembaru]

"You're my guest, I serve you. The entire bar is available." Dee said simply, leaning forward on the bar, it wasn't as if his legs would get tired anyway. Or, if they did he wouldn't feel them. He took another pull on his glass and made note how much he'd drunk, otherwise he could empty the cabinets and not notice. And then he walked around.

It wasn't the offer of a seat that made him, it was the sound of large amounts of steel slicing something at something and missing (there would have been a meaty thud or two afterwards) and a slave shouting, apparently the armorers hadn't instructed their delivery boy to get a keystone first.

"That'd be our armor..." Dee said, opening the door for a slave to come and deposit two large crates on a small trolley into the lounge. Not giving a second glance Dee waved his hand dismissively and took the offered seat. "no one died at least..."

[Kalandrin]

What Dee had said was, apparently, all that Kalandrin needed to feel comfortable, special for one more time by that person. The other one - which she had yet to forget, and she doubted she ever would - was that smart remark he had made not too long ago, before they arrived here. "I never would have guessed that you were sweet" - for a moment, the drow's own voice echoed in her mind, with the meaningful comment being analysed again and again. The Beldrobbaen nether summoner might have initially given her a bunch of bad impression, but with his politeness - and, hopefully, honesty - coming to the surface, he made her feel very special and welcomed. Just like when another Beldrobbaen had set her free, totally unexpectedly, after one more bloody arena fight.

As the drider was thinking all that, her face was betraying that she was in some sort of a nirvana, even though she seemed to be looking at Dee'nias in a near mystical manner. Her features were neutral - as though she was feeling some guilt but was happy for something - whereas her gaze, if looked at carefully, showed she was lost in an endless vortex of thoughts, memories, and imaginations. But as the slave arrived and brought the objects they had ordered, this state was changed as she returned to full conscience, though the neutral features did not truly see some amendment. Only this slightest hint of a hysterical outburst coming to the surface. Why, admittedly? Realizing there would logically be no danger, Kalandrin relaxed.

"I take it these are the exoskeletons" Kalandrin said with a smile, partly mocking her own features to characterize the purpose of an armour accurately. Logically, it had to be them; what else would make such sounds and be in crates, delivered shortly after their encounter with the half-nak... erm... the blacksmiths of the Beldrobbaen clan? As all of her eight eyes got fixed on the wooden boxes, she waited for a motion, a word, anything; something that would not come as quickly as she hoped. Managing to break the silence and ask a question that could possibly help shatter the ice as well, Kalandrin spoke. "I wonder what exactly did you have in mind" she asked, making an obvious reference to the armour Dee had ordered; it made her feel irrepairably dumb, for a reason. Yet, her body resisted the urge to blush this easily.

[kembaru]

At the utterance of the word 'exoskeletons' Dee merely stared at his gracious company and cocked an eyebrow, a small smile revealing slightly pointed teeth, seemed the drink might have been getting to him too. But then it was hard to tell.

"Never quite heard it put that way, but yes that's the armor..." He stood once more, walking over to the crates taking only a short detour to pick up his staff, which he used to pry open the crates, the first he closed again, hammering the lid back on with the butt of his staff and neatly sliding it over to Kalandrin, her order complete and fitted. The second, Dee stopped to remove his robes, the heavy outer spider silk robe and the thinner closer fitting one underneath which he draped over the bar leaving him wearing only his boots trousers and a sleeveless tunic.

Exactly why he wore such heavy robes was simply because he was very thin now, nothing but skin muscle and bone, what was now visible of his arms and back as he bent over to take up the crate was a mass of scars, his left arm displaying a whole host of what appeared to be ritual scarifications done in all the wrong ways, his shoulders and back covered in an assortment of what appeared to be from whips, wild animal bites and generic abuse and torment. On top of this the bite marks on his (now very much exposed) neck were next to nothing.

"Nothing spectacular, rather similar to what you see the guards around here wearing, just for someone with two legs."

[Kalandrin]

As the crate with her armour, weapons and helmet was rolled over to her position, Kalandrin stood up slowly - almost ceremonially - and took a careful look inside the previously shut wooden box, seeing not metal and leather as she expected, but a lifetime's memories. The acquisition of armour was going against an old promise she had given to herself - one that disregarded her life and bodily security in favour of fighting and dying for a clan that had liberated her but often showed no compassion, in ten years of stay. But, suddenly, all was changing; together with Kalandrin's mind-set, her fighting style and favoured tactics.

The drider set her weapons aside - two finely crafted yatagans, twin ones among other - and began taking the metallic and leather pieces out of the box, ordering them in a manner she could locate and access easily. As this was done, the small package she had taken with her was also opened and likewise ordered, revealing a silken surcoat and silken armour undergarments among a few other, less important things. Her whole armour was here; undergarments, maille, studded leather, lamellar, splint, an axe and a dagger, her two yatagans, a bizzare barbute helmet with six additional eyeholes, and even an impossible number of... greaves.

As Dee was removing his clothing and prepared to put on his armour, the curious female's eyes were fixed on his body, much to her shock. Was it the fact that he was getting undressed, giving her an example to do the same? Normally, she would be reluctant; but the instant shock was more owed to what she had seen, something oddly familiar. Aside to her infamous bite on his neck, animal bites, signs of torture, as well as rituals - much like her own. She could not resist but smiling and lower her gaze on the 'exoskeleton' she had purchased not long later. Possibly with the help of all the alcohol she had consumed, it would go well.

"So, you'll go for a little-bit of sealing?" Kalandrin asked Dee as she slowly removed her belt and prepared to open the 'jacket' she wore to undress herself and replace clothing with the new set of armour. Only she couldn't do it just like that - but the fact that it was her back that exposed more than her front made her capable of doing the move. Piece by piece, she removed everything she wore, except a set of bandages restricting her breast in a manner slightly reminding a bra - only keeping it suppressed as well, better suit for the dances of warfare. Her body, or at least the visible parts of the fleshed half of it, had their own sets of scars; mainly of torture and other forms of abuses, as well as endless scars revealing her gladiator past to whoever could solve the puzzle.

She could admit it did not feel as comfortable to actually be like that, not because of a sexual reason - she could care the least, like back then in the pits - but because of the fear of rejection as a 'aberrant slave.' Kalandrin's logical side, however, could tell her something like that would not come to the surface; Dee'nias had been... sweet and friendly with her in a manner nobody else had been in her twenty-six years in Chel'el'sussoloth. Her eyes - all eight of them - could not be removed from that person, one with two legs and crimson eyes - the breed of aura-possessing races she hated the most - but being an incarnation of kindness to her. Why would he, of all the denizens of Chel'el'sussoloth, respect her hated kin so much? Other people like him - such as those of the Sharen and the Vloz'ress - had been impressively hostile.

Kalandrin Fre'ana Val'Beldrobbaen slowly raised the undergarments she had brought to put them on, wanting to get over with this before she caught a cold. If anybody came in, they could perhaps even misunderstand the scene; as such, she sought to quickly put them on, although she had yet to make an actual move to complete that. The odd emotions that were running in her mind restrained her movements, but made her feel an exceptional warmth she had not felt for a decade or so. What was it, why was she feeling like that now? The drider hanged her head with a smile before raising it again and speaking. "Interesting collection of gifts we have" she spoke gently, not wishing to be misunderstood. Then, she looked the summoner in the eyes, and put on the first pieces of the undergarments.

[kembaru]

Admittedly, any removing of clothes by Kalandrin went for the most part unnoticed by the summoner, who had taken a seat to slot in the sealing gems on his armor, he didn't really get the relevance of sealing armor himself, but really it was all he could do short of negotiating with the Sharen, at least he had some metal to put between himself if the Beldrobbaen were dragged into the looming war between the Sharen and Sarghress.

All that was obvious about his armor for the moment was the chest protection and one of the legs, it appeared to be more ornate plate and scale armor for the chest, as seen on most beldrobbaen guards, the leg appeared to be a two -thirds plate to protect the thigh to just below the knee, really it wasn't as much meant to be protective, as it was to provide some protection as well as seal his seed and look stately with the right robes to be worn with it.

"It's why I bought the armor..." He said vaguely, meeting her eyes, but really with more questioning than anything else, Dee had accepted that she was strange, she called armor exoskeletons, he didn't even know what she was talking about when she spoke of gifts. He was sure of himself, however he didn't actually know what he felt about this moment, he wasn't stupid, and he knew body language...

"Gifts?" He also knew how to diffuse what might be considered a 'moment'.

[Kalandrin]

Kalandrin lowered her gaze to the floor of the room in an almost disappointed, certainly melancholic manner, as she put on the silken undergarments over her drow and spider body alike, with a proficiency that betrayed it was a very long time since she was created in this form - in her case, her being a Ne'kalsaider, for her entire life.

Even so, however, the almost 'spider-woven' clothing which offered a good deal of protection from infections in the event of wounding, could not hide her body perfectly, with scars visible if you looked closely. But even this minimal body covering was better than nothing - sufficient for Kalandrin to feel more secure.

"I mean, the scars" the drider said, her phrase cut short and having almost said 'wounds' instead of scars. As she raised her head again, she proudly met the noble's gaze and smiled in an almost ironic manner, as though she could feel long-gone sensations in the atmosphere and the very irony of the markings they carried.

Kalandrin carefully took the pieces of maille she had just bought - a sleeveless haubergeon and a similar sheet for her spider abdomen - putting them on with proficiency and care - albeit some rustiness, realizing she had not put on any 'real' sort of armour for a particularly long while, in time measures in decades. Soon, the splint-mail rerebraces, vambraces and pauldrons, and the lamellar gloves and corset followed shortly.

All this while, while her gaze seemed immovable from Dee's face, Kalandrin was lost in deep thinking, with her talkative side eventually beating her kindness. "It appears that either your family was harsh in terms of punishment, or you began from the same level as I" she spoke gently, a faint smile slipping on the surface in the end of her sentence.

It was not as though she enjoyed knowing someone else had suffered torments - it was the fact that she felt warmer, knowing she was not the only one who could have once been a 'loser' by her present-day 'ratings' and characterisations. Her emotions were getting blurred, as her senses appeared to get extraordinarily cunning; for a second, she had this feeling, that reminded her the excitement 'hunting' of helpless prey in the middle of the Black dragon's pits.

And yet, despite the feeling of adrenaline, she stood there helpless. Realizing that, she hastily sought to distract herself, quickly trying to put on the last pieces of her armour - a studded leather sheet over her animal-like abdomen, a black surcoat with a small Beldrobbaen clan symbol over her heart, a studded leather bishop's mantle, and, finally, the endless sets of studded leather greaves for her eight legs, that allowed all of her sixty-four knees to function perfectly, and her weapons. The helmet was left with her old clothing, as she looked back at Dee, feeling vulnerable to his slightest look.

Standing there, Kalandrin crossed her hands below her belly and smiled warmly, as though she waited for a response. Her eight purple eyes were again instinctively fixed on Dee'nias' counterparts, and an observer could perhaps irrationally claim (s)he could see a young child in every single one of them, pleading for recognition. Alcohol had, admittedly, worked its wonders, and had dealt one more, perhaps fatal, blow to Kalandrin's imaginary adamantine shell of protection.