"Not really a detour," she says thoughtfully, "so much as ... a chance to travel. I don't recall if we ever discussed it, but I'd lived my whole life in Whitestone before the Serena Eterna. I don't think I'd ever want to leave there for good, but getting to see new places? I find I enjoy that."
A pause. "Though more, I grant you, when they're places I intended to visit."
"And not ones you find yourself transported to like someone messed up a dimension door and flung you across time and space."
She laughs, though they know how serious it is.
"When this barrier comes down, I hope there's a way for you to visit the mainland before you return to your own home. A trip you can take entirely of your own volition."
"That would be nice," she says, almost wistfully, and sips her tea. "If I'm wishing, I'd wish for a way to go home and come back. And take others with me."
"There are definitely a few who'd be happy to take a vacation in a realm like yours. It'd be...absolutely incredible if it was possible."
The pause there isn't for a falsehood, but rather Fever truly considering the scope of what that would mean. Going and coming back. It's almost too hopeful to bear, considering her own resolutions.
"...this place is far closer to the idea of a home than the place I came from, Cass. If we had the opportunity to go and return, I'd be obligated to go and deal with some unfinished business, but it's not as though I remember enough places to recommend a tour."
Still, even as she says it, she can feel a few things tugging at her. Companions who she might finally be able to save an image of. Getting to stop by the colony in the Underdark. Actually walking the streets of the Gate - provided that the impending threat could be dismantled. Which, if she were to rally her friends to her cause...they might be able to turn the tide far sooner than anyone would anticipate.
"Well." Slowly. "If you do need to deal with unfinished business, and you should need assistance ... I understand that's frequently how adventuring parties get together."
It's enough to make her chuckle, picking up her tea again.
"True enough. There are some I can reunite with, when it's all said and done, and we make up a party, but...frankly, I'd prefer the odds with more allies at my side than less. And what a picture it'd make, me tumbling back into the Sword Coast with any others who volunteer to go with me."
"I can imagine," says Cassandra, a little more lightly. "Largest party ever seen. The introductions alone could take days." A beat. "We might have to wear name tags."
"I may need to desperately insist you work not in the front lines but behind them, for reasons I will explain in full. Not as an insult to your capacity, but because I wouldn't dare put you at risk for a fate worse than outright death."
An eyebrow raised, not a challenge but a measurement of Cassandra's commitment to it.
"I don't necessarily object to a position of greater safety," Cassandra says cautiously, "but regardless, should this become a genuine possibility, I would want to know more details."
A pause. "Or sooner, should you be minded to share them."
As though recalled to their surroundings, Cassandra glances around the teashop, from the spring sunlight filtering through the curtains to the scented steam wafting up from their cups, and gives a small sigh.
"This is pleasant. I don't do this kind of thing nearly often enough."
"Take a bit of time off, or go out to be utterly frivolous with friends?"
The sparkle in her gaze says she's guessing both. Despite the difference in their ages (something Fever can only theorize about) Cassandra sometimes feels older than her for how she takes on the world.
"Both, honestly." She smiles, picking up her teacup. "As you might have guessed. I think the last time I did anything truly frivolous was going shopping with Okie at the casino last autumn."
Cassandra laughs. "Well, there was the dance in spring, but -- I don't know, that sort of thing doesn't feel frivolous exactly. It's an important social responsibility."
A pause. "At least it would be at home. I suppose it doesn't matter that much here."
"It matters some, but not as much. If there wasn't responsibility attached, I wouldn't have gone to that dance myself. But no one would have taken it as a blight on my reputation."
The only person who had really forced her to go, thinking about the Court and how an absence would ruin the procession, was herself.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
not_the_last) wrote2025-01-01 12:51 am
no subject
A pause. "Though more, I grant you, when they're places I intended to visit."
no subject
She laughs, though they know how serious it is.
"When this barrier comes down, I hope there's a way for you to visit the mainland before you return to your own home. A trip you can take entirely of your own volition."
no subject
no subject
The pause there isn't for a falsehood, but rather Fever truly considering the scope of what that would mean. Going and coming back. It's almost too hopeful to bear, considering her own resolutions.
no subject
And it's her turn to pause, looking at Fever, and not asking the next obvious question.
no subject
Still, even as she says it, she can feel a few things tugging at her. Companions who she might finally be able to save an image of. Getting to stop by the colony in the Underdark. Actually walking the streets of the Gate - provided that the impending threat could be dismantled. Which, if she were to rally her friends to her cause...they might be able to turn the tide far sooner than anyone would anticipate.
no subject
no subject
"True enough. There are some I can reunite with, when it's all said and done, and we make up a party, but...frankly, I'd prefer the odds with more allies at my side than less. And what a picture it'd make, me tumbling back into the Sword Coast with any others who volunteer to go with me."
no subject
no subject
Of all the people she expected to agree to this, Cass wasn't on the list. She's grateful, but...
no subject
no subject
An eyebrow raised, not a challenge but a measurement of Cassandra's commitment to it.
no subject
A pause. "Or sooner, should you be minded to share them."
no subject
She shrugs her shoulders - it's Cass's choice in the end, but it's not a good story no matter how many details she cuts out.
no subject
As though recalled to their surroundings, Cassandra glances around the teashop, from the spring sunlight filtering through the curtains to the scented steam wafting up from their cups, and gives a small sigh.
"This is pleasant. I don't do this kind of thing nearly often enough."
no subject
The sparkle in her gaze says she's guessing both. Despite the difference in their ages (something Fever can only theorize about) Cassandra sometimes feels older than her for how she takes on the world.
no subject
no subject
Forget work for an afternoon, they're going to have a bit of fun, for a change of Cassandra's pace.
no subject
A pause. "At least it would be at home. I suppose it doesn't matter that much here."
no subject
The only person who had really forced her to go, thinking about the Court and how an absence would ruin the procession, was herself.
no subject
And adds almost as an afterthought: "It was fun, though, wasn't it?"