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Reinvention (open post)
Mar. 24th, 2026 07:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lettersfrombelBeing back in Toril made Bel realize how much Caldera had affected him — so many things he had taken for granted living on the surface that had been a result of ‘everyone knowing’ about drow, and Bel’s awareness that he had no idea when he would run into a person who would make it Bel’s problem. He returned for Barcus, and for the slim daydream that he might have more chance at a family reunion beyond finding out Ilphyl was alive and well, and for his old friends… but he’s not going to pretend that he wasn’t also choosing everything that went with it.
At least Baldur’s Gate, especially its human population, seemed to see Bel as a curiosity more than a threat, probably correctly figuring that a lone drow was unlikely to be trafficking in slaves to the Underdark, or at least not without a lot of complicit humans. Bel can work with that.
Bel had chosen to start helping at the Ironhands’ foundry as his first job in Baldur’s Gate. Yes, it was obvious to everyone that Barcus was giving his lover a job, but as near as Bel could tell, no one’s nephew was being put out in favor of him, and he was largely given jobs like ‘sweeping the workshops’ or being an extra set of hands — work they could get a random human off the street for.
It was rather like his first job as a caravan guard, oddly enough. There the attitude was drow merchants resenting a son of a Noble House (though one that only called itself that because Elisund was so small and unimportant that no one outside the town cared) dabbling in their business, and the solution was similar: do your job, volunteer for the jobs you can do especially if no one likes doing them, and put up with any shit that doesn’t affect operations.
As a perk, when Barcus made the coffee or brought in lunch, passive-aggressive behavior about drow poisonings meant that he usually had to take the first sip or bite.
But it did mean that if someone stopped by — that wasn’t Barcus or someone else working, who got immediate attention — Bel might wave from his broom and say ‘give me a moment to finish up’.
—
After work, and on his days off, Bel was making an effort to learn the city. He explored markets and taverns and generally was aiming for a sense of the place — where were the dive bars and the places rich kids could feel daring for visiting but not get mugged. So he could be seen in any place where he wasn’t made unwelcome, trying a drink or street food, and happy to share what he learned.
He also discovered that Baldur’s Gate religious life had shrines to a large number of gods. Someone might catch Bel at Stormshore Tabernacle making an offering to Elistraee, and offering a… prayer? after visiting Ilphyl in Waterdeep on his way to Baldur’s Gate.
“Dark Maiden, I have been informed that you have accepted my bro- sibling into your service. I’m told you are the patron of those of us who turn from the Spider Queen. That may be, but you have my sibling’s allegiance. Treasure it, reward their devotion and do not mistreat them or… well, I’ll have to ask Solas or Loki for help.”
Bel also left a dead wasp for Lolth, of a variety that is known for killing spiders. It was not a living one, because he’s not going to be an asshole to the clergy who run this place, but he hoped the symbolism was clear.
—
But at the end of the day, it was nice to return home, which felt like an expansion of his time with Barcus in Caldera, in a nice house where the main bedroom was becoming as much his as Barcus’s, with a basket of Bel’s current books and his knitting project stowed by the bed so he could spend the extra hours of wakefulness by Barcus’s side, usually with Satchel also sleeping nearby if she wasn’t out on feline errands of her own.
Or he might be just… around the house, doing some of the cooking or just being idle.
At least Baldur’s Gate, especially its human population, seemed to see Bel as a curiosity more than a threat, probably correctly figuring that a lone drow was unlikely to be trafficking in slaves to the Underdark, or at least not without a lot of complicit humans. Bel can work with that.
Bel had chosen to start helping at the Ironhands’ foundry as his first job in Baldur’s Gate. Yes, it was obvious to everyone that Barcus was giving his lover a job, but as near as Bel could tell, no one’s nephew was being put out in favor of him, and he was largely given jobs like ‘sweeping the workshops’ or being an extra set of hands — work they could get a random human off the street for.
It was rather like his first job as a caravan guard, oddly enough. There the attitude was drow merchants resenting a son of a Noble House (though one that only called itself that because Elisund was so small and unimportant that no one outside the town cared) dabbling in their business, and the solution was similar: do your job, volunteer for the jobs you can do especially if no one likes doing them, and put up with any shit that doesn’t affect operations.
As a perk, when Barcus made the coffee or brought in lunch, passive-aggressive behavior about drow poisonings meant that he usually had to take the first sip or bite.
But it did mean that if someone stopped by — that wasn’t Barcus or someone else working, who got immediate attention — Bel might wave from his broom and say ‘give me a moment to finish up’.
—
After work, and on his days off, Bel was making an effort to learn the city. He explored markets and taverns and generally was aiming for a sense of the place — where were the dive bars and the places rich kids could feel daring for visiting but not get mugged. So he could be seen in any place where he wasn’t made unwelcome, trying a drink or street food, and happy to share what he learned.
He also discovered that Baldur’s Gate religious life had shrines to a large number of gods. Someone might catch Bel at Stormshore Tabernacle making an offering to Elistraee, and offering a… prayer? after visiting Ilphyl in Waterdeep on his way to Baldur’s Gate.
“Dark Maiden, I have been informed that you have accepted my bro- sibling into your service. I’m told you are the patron of those of us who turn from the Spider Queen. That may be, but you have my sibling’s allegiance. Treasure it, reward their devotion and do not mistreat them or… well, I’ll have to ask Solas or Loki for help.”
Bel also left a dead wasp for Lolth, of a variety that is known for killing spiders. It was not a living one, because he’s not going to be an asshole to the clergy who run this place, but he hoped the symbolism was clear.
—
But at the end of the day, it was nice to return home, which felt like an expansion of his time with Barcus in Caldera, in a nice house where the main bedroom was becoming as much his as Barcus’s, with a basket of Bel’s current books and his knitting project stowed by the bed so he could spend the extra hours of wakefulness by Barcus’s side, usually with Satchel also sleeping nearby if she wasn’t out on feline errands of her own.
Or he might be just… around the house, doing some of the cooking or just being idle.