Kindred Spirits update!

[linndechir]

I just posted chapter twelve of Kindred Spirits. As I said, it's very short. Also it is hardly beta read at all, since my beta reader is extremely busy. But she assured me that there were no horrible mistakes. I hope she's right, and I apologise if there are any weird sentences and such things. As always, feedback is the easiest way to buy my affection. ;) Here's the link to the chapter .

Also I went to see some computer repair guy today. He told me that my computer probably could be repaired, but it would cost a small fortune, and chances are it will break down again in a couple of months. However, he was able to save my hard drive, and fortunately all my files are still there and in perfect order. I'm so relieved. I've decided to buy a new, big, beautiful computer monitor in order to make using my small laptop a bit more pleasant (it's really no fun watching movies on a 10 inch screen). That will give me some more time to save money and to think about what kind of a new desktop pc I am going to get. Gah, holidays and a new computer ... I'll be broke by the end of the year.

Comments

[putana.livejournal.com]

Is it sad that 15 minutes after you've posted it I have read the chapter; reviewed and am poking you for more?

[linndechir.livejournal.com]

Actually it's very flattering. ^^ I'll try to make the next update quicker ... but I say that every time.

[zigsternenstaub.livejournal.com]

I just read the next chapter of KS and I think you did a really great job with it. This chapter was very advantageous to the PLOT! More thoughts to come tonight. :)

[linndechir.livejournal.com]

Plot? Iek, I hate plot. Plot is so boring. But I suppose it's a necessary evil right now. ;) Anyway, I'm glad you liked the chapter, and I'm looking forward to getting a biiiig review from you tonight. Yes, I just tried to mind-whammy you. ;)

[zigsternenstaub.livejournal.com]

No mind-meld necessary. I shall break free of my lethargy long enough to give you a rewarding review for your efforts:)

[evoe.livejournal.com]

Hm, I still have a flat screen monitor standing around uselessly... have you gone and bought one already? If not, do you want to have a look?

Oh and squeeeeee again for the new KS chapter *g* I actually like some plot every now and then.

[linndechir.livejournal.com]

Oh, that sounds great. But how big is it? I really wanted to get myself a nice big screen for video nights. ;)

[evoe.livejournal.com]

Uuuhhh... probably something around 17-19 inches? Not entirely sure to be honest.

[linndechir.livejournal.com]

Oh, okay. I wanted to get something bigger, honestly, more like 22-24 inches. But thanks anyway. :D
And thanks for the KS-review. Can't reply right now, I'm in a hurry, but I will later, of course. ^^

[evoe.livejournal.com]

When I bought it about 4 years ago they didn't have so many affordable big screens yet. Anyway, 24 inches is definitely better for watching movies *g*

[linndechir.livejournal.com]

I bought one now, 23 inches. ^^ It's wonderful. But thanks again. ^^ And I now what you mean - last time I bought a screen, several years ago, even small flat screens were expensive, unaffordable thingies you only dreamt about. ;)

[droaerion.livejournal.com]

Heh, wow. Not completely unslashable indeed. Saw, read, enjoyed. I liked your characterizations in this, the transition from control to insanity in Zak is just noticeable enough. He's pretty spot on in my opinion, for what it's worth.

Entreri... was very good but I spotted a few points that were a bit inconsistent. Nothing major, just views that contradicted what was previously said / known. At the start you mentioned that Entreri had had dalliances with bar wenches, but a few chapters later he's stoutly gay. There are a few other minor moments, but they're not really popping in my head as important.

There was a minor mistake in names: in the beginning chapters you had written down "Rai-Guy" while in this one it's spelt "Rai-Gy." Just something you might want to check and change.

One thing that I really liked and laughed over was this: you made Drizzt so childish! When he was speaking with Zaknafein, he was fluctuating his emotions like a harpy, happy one moment and baring his teeth the next. Eyes wide and disbelieving. What took the cake though was the combination of his judgments of Entreri, spoken and unspoken, and his petty plots. It reminded me when he was using the mask to appear a light elf and was being stubborn and willful about it. Why shouldn't he use it! People don't judge him like this! It's that kind of thinking that you portrayed there, and, "sad" to say, is accurate of at least half his character.

But hah! I liked how Entreri pinned his reactions spot on. That Drizzt would badmouth Entreri and speak of his "experiences" with the vile assassin. And there was Zaknafein, listening to his son ramble like a surface dweller, not understanding half the things he spoke of because their lines of thinking are so perpendicular.

Idle question: are you going to at all use the short "That Curious Sword"? Granted, Passage to Dawn takes place 1364 and "That Curious Sword" takes place in 1367, but still. (Actually, that timeline is very screwy. It says that Seige of Darkness takes place in 1358...)

[linndechir.livejournal.com]

Wow, it's great to hear that. :D Thanks for reading the story, and for commenting. You made my day. I'm glad you enjoyed my characterisation of Zak - he wasn't an easy character to get into, but I think by now I have him figured out. More or less. ;)

About Entreri ... there must have been a little misunderstandig there. I never said that Entreri had dalliances with bar maids ... I said, in the first chapter I believe, that the bar maids were interested in him and that he ignored them. I think I mentioned at some point that, when he wanted sex in the past, he usually went to high-class prostitutes, but I never said, nor meant, that they were female. The only one who actually slept with a bar maid was Zaknafein. Maybe I wasn't always very clear, but I'm fairly sure that I never even implied that Artemis might be bisexual. Simply because I have always seen him as completely gay - unlike Zaknafein, whom I see as bisexual (with a preference for men, though). If you remember the other inconsistencies you noticed, please let me know. ^^

Ah, Rai'gy ... RAS himself writes the name differently all the time, and apparently I couldn't decide which one to use. Shame on me. One of these days I will go through the whole story and correct the spelling. ^^ Thanks for pointing it out to me.

I'm relieved you liked my Drizzt. I'm not a particular fan of him, and I really was worried that I wouldn't manage to write him properly. It just bothered me that, in the later novels at least, Drizzt is always shown as rather wise and experienced. By drow standards he is still very young, and personally I think that he often acts in a very childish way. I wanted to show that. Especially since Zaknafein definitely sees his son as a child, not as an adult. I will try to emphasise that a bit more in the next chapters. Drizzt might seem experienced and grown-up compared to (some) humans (especially the idiots he hangs around with). But he will have to realise, when he has to deal with real drow again, that he is really very young compared to them.

Hehe. I have to admit that I hate what RAS does with his characters most of the time, which is probably why I write so much FR-fanfic. In the novels Drizzt is always the one analysing Artemis and writing/saying complete bullshit about him, while he talks about his father as if Zaknafein had been a saint. Well, I really think that Artemis understands Drizzt much better than Drizzt understands him (also because Artemis is a much complexer character than Drizzt ...). And it was also very important to me to show in this story that Zaknafein is NOTHING like the man Drizzt remembers.

I know the timeline is weird, but I can definitely say that I won't include "That cuirous sword". It's set after Servant of the Shard, and my fic is set several years before that. Although I have to admit that I am seriously considering stealing the whole idea of "That Curious Sword" to solve the problem that Artemis will age much more quickly than Zaknafein ... Lame, I know.

[droaerion.livejournal.com]

Ha! Found it: "and during his time in Silverymoon, he had been so depressed that he simply hadn't felt like spending his nights with some barmaids." Chapter six, near the end. The only other mention before this was in chapter one, which was that he had no interest in them, but it was put in such a way that they kind of fit together, until you mention that he's gay.

Out of order, but, I always thought it was odd that he never drained a powerful magical being before then, gaining immortality through them. What was so special about the Shade, besides the obvious odd existence they have, that it wasn't until then that he gained their attributes?

You're right, Drizzt is only wise in the eyes of humans and such. Most likely, however, is that Drizzt was just putting his learned skills to use. Menzoberranzan is totally different than the world above, but it was there that Drizzt learned to observe the way he does. It doesn't take away how young he is, as a Drow, though. The only thing is that the more time he's on the surface, among humans, the more he begins to think like a human and pretty soon, the ingrained observations he was making, would probably go away.

Hah hah, talks as if Zaknafein was a saint. My main image of Zaknafein is in the start, where he cuts off the tongue of a Matron with his whip. That's probably why I like your Zaknafein so much, the half insanity you portray matches my mental image of him going out of his way with his enemies.

[linndechir.livejournal.com]

Whatever was I thinking when I wrote that? oO You're right, and I'm stupid. I'll have to change that. I assure you that it wasn't on purpose, but simply a lack of attention. As I said, Artemis is so completely gay in my head, I couldn't possibly imagine him with a woman. Thanks for telling me about this.

I don't think Artemis fought powerful magical beings very often before. I suppose he killed mostly humans as an assassin. But still, you're right, the same thing could, and probably should, have happened much earlier. But that's RAS for you. He makes ME look consistent. ;)

I think I loved Zaknafein from that moment on. He was so ... cool. And I kept that image of Zaknafein, including his insane fits, his yelling at Drizzt, his arrogance ... That's why I was so annoyed by how Drizzt always remembered Zaknafein in his journal. This whole "good guy stuck in a bad place"-thing. Zaknafein might have been a good guy in a better place, but as it was, he was a slightly less bad guy in a bad place who had adapted to the world he lived in. That's one of the many things I really want to show in this fic (and in all my other stories about Zaknafein).

[droaerion.livejournal.com]

I'll readily admit that I felt more about Zaknafein's death because it was Zaknafein than what it did to Drizzt. No matter the wandering and hopelessness and blah that came afterward. But at the same time, Drizzt's last image of Zak was him fighting for him. Whether it was true, contrived, or, a convenient suicide on a battlefield of pride, didn't really register to Drizzt. Granted, that doesn't excuse practically every plot hole after... and before... the escape from Menzoberranzan, but in the Icewind Dale trilogy, and the Prequel Dark Elf trilogy, he was more consistent on that view. Thus, I tend to think of Drizzt's remembrance of Zaknafein as a bit twofold; on the one hand, there was the harsh trainer that was the embodiment of what it was to be a Drow. Then there was the one that Drizzt "got to know" as a father, who "died for him." Drizzt likes happy memories, so they're what sticks with him more. Heck, I'm sure Drizzt would kneel down to a promising child on the street and have extremely fond memories of Zaknafein when making the kid do the same coin toss... one Zak saw it more akin to eyeing a cattle and pissing off Lolth than Drizzt as a bright future.

You know, I suppose so too, about Entreri, except for the fact that he's seen as one of the most widly known and successful assassins on Faerun. Of course, then I like to point out that he's from Calimsham, and that's just a port on the west side of the world, and there's the humongoids of land to the east... More like, Calimsham to the Evermoors, and thus Silverymoon, with every coastal human town in between, but not further east than the very start of Cormyr, with their own politics. Higher beings that he passed probably knew he was little compared to them, but well... at the same time, that rings wrong. So that's up in the air a bit, until Jarlaxle. Then it get's even more unpredictable.

As for Entreri's sex life... well I'm tempted to agree with you, but I also think that Entreri has such a bucket load of trust issues and that at the lower points of his life, he would probably stick to women. And certainly in the Pasha Palace, he'd only "bed" women, or risk his reputation going sour. Because the choices there would be to stick to women, who people have an image of as a bit lesser (although, that IS Calimport...) or, if it were to even be hinted at that he enjoyed the company of men, it would all become a power play. Artemis needs trust to let himself go, sure, even if it's money. But to be Entreri, it would be expected of him to probably either be in it for the breaking of a masculine individual, thus showing off that his position is not in jeopardy, or have someone so stereotypically "sub" that it would be sickening... practically a woman anyway, would be the view for that. And both are against Entreri's strict code.

But I guess this must've crossed your mind, otherwise you wouldn't have thought to put that his previous relations were mostly well paid, secretive whores to wick off the edge.

[linndechir.livejournal.com]

bwahaha, pissing off Lolth, that's such a Zaknafein thing to do. ;) Of course Drizzt kept the memory of a father who died for him, twice even. And while I know that Zaknafein did indeed love Drizzt, it bothers me that Drizzt is ignoring the other, darker side of his father. Now I can understand why he does it, but since we only see Zak through Drizzt's eyes in the later books it feels like RAS himself has forgotten who Zaknafein really was. That's mainly why I don't want him to write a prequel series about zaknafein and jarlaxle. I'm afraid that RAS will write Zak as some sort of older, more bitter Drizzt. And that's simply not who he is. Drizzt has no idea just how much of a drow Zaknafein was. I really want to bring that out in Kindred Spirits.

Hehe, yes, it's easy to forget that Artemis rarely got away from "his" area, the Sword Coast and surroundings. Send the poor guy into one of the real high-level-regions of Faerun and things will look different. That was one of the few things I liked about the Sellswords Trilogy - Artemis and Jarlaxle meeting epic characters who made them look very weak indeed. ;)

That's why I definitely see Artemis as somebody to go to courtisans, because he'd never trust anyone enough to have some sort of relationship, even if it's only for one night. He'd have to separate his sex life COMPLETELY from his professional life, because - like you said - it would be rather damaging to his reputation if his true preferences came out. But if he really doesn't like women, and I don't think he does, he'd rather have no sex at all than sex he doesn't enjoy.
So, yes, all of this crossed my mind, and this was the only version that made any sense to me. I don't know/can't remember if you've read "Coming to Terms" - it's a one-shot I've written about precisely this whole "young, successful and paranoid assassin looking for a safe way to get what he wants"-issue. ;) And it's better than that just sounded. ;)