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Neither Callitao nor Karlach had any idea how to dress for a first date. In Callitao’s case, she felt that her usual scavenger-chic would not really suit a restaurant date, and she went tearing through her various packs of scavenged clothes for something that would fit the occasion. Most of her clothing had rips in it - she liked to layer clothes that were torn or patched together, liked the way the loose and worn fabric hung on her.
She settled on an olive-drab halter top with matching corset, and a long black boho skirt with gold embroidery. At some point, she’d sewn a few flattened silver coins onto the neck so that they dangled down onto her bust. Following her typical rule of “add one accessory before you leave the house,” she rummaged through her collection of cursed artefacts, and picked out a chain choker with a cameo relief of a brain.
She looked in the magic mirror, and saw a short, skinny Githyanki woman with a mass of curly red-brown hair exploding into a cloud around her head. She rubbed under her eyes, suddenly self-conscious of the spreading black veins which had resulted from her illithid transformation. She was a warlock - she’d jumped at the chance to gain more power and to escape the chains of her humanity. But she had some mixed feelings about the way it made her look. She’d always moved through life on the basis of her ability to command attention and loyalty, and she was smart enough to know how much one’s charisma depended on one’s appearance.
“What do you think?” she asked Wyll. She trusted his opinion - he understood her flair for the dramatic.
“I think you look like a beautiful baroness,” Wyll said, with a bow. Although Callitao was officially going steady with Karlach, she maintained a playful flirtation with Wyll. “Although, don’t you think the choker might be a bit on the nose?”
“Nonsense, it’s perfect,” Callitao said. “I didn’t spend my life delving into esoteric mysteries just to hide it. It’s not simply about the parasite. It’s a cohesive aesthetic representing my dealings with things man was not meant to do.”
“I can see you’ve thought this through,” Wyll said, with amusement.
“But what about the black veins?” Callitao said. “Maybe I should cast a spell to hide them . . .”
“No,” Wyll said, immediately. He smiled at her slightly. “You know I have no desire to follow you into partial ceremorphosis. Only time will tell if your choice to deal with the Emperor will end as well for you as your pact has. But it is your choice, Callitao. Karlach doesn’t want a pretty picture. She wants the real you.”
Callitao wiped a hand over her face one more time, and then nodded. “You’re right.” A pause, and then, “You’re right to counsel me to accept my appearance - I think that that was the subtext, yes? But I wish that you could take your own advice.” She shot him a little smile. “After all, you’re still more handsome than I am. The horns suit you.”
Wyll looked away, his shoulders stiffening. “This wasn’t my choice,” he said.
“No,” Callitao said. “But it is who you are now. You should wear your scars - literal and metaphorical - proudly. Don’t you think your friends want the real you too?”
Wyll ducked his head. “I will think on your words, my friend. But don’t you have a date to get to?”
It looked to Callitao like Karlach had agonized as much about what to wear as Callitao had - Callitao had never seen Karlach’s current outfit before, and rather suspected that she had bought a new one for the occasion.
Karlach was wearing a sleeveless, high-collared, double-breasted shirt with a buckled front. In black and gold, it resembled a military dress uniform. She had paired this with black leather boots with gold embroidery, and with the flames licking her hair she looked very dashing and devilish.
“Hi,” Karlach said, eagerly. “Hi. You made it! You look nice.”
“So do you,” Callitao said, smiling.
They ordered, and then settled down to try to figure out what a first date was.
“So,” Karlach said. “You’re an adventurer, right? How’s that going?”
“Oh, excellent,” Callitao said. “Excellent. You wouldn’t believe the women I’ve met. One of them - she’s a tiefling - she’s the whole package, muscles, ass, tits - and she’s a romantic too.”
Karlach almost spat out her beer laughing. “Callitao! You’re not supposed to talk about me. This is a first date. Tonight, I’m a mystery to you, and you’re a mystery to me.”
Callitao laughed. “Does mysteriousness suit me?”
“Oh, totally. You’ve got this whole dark spooky warlock thing going on. Very femme fatale,” Karlach said, and then immediately laughed at herself. "Gods, I'm terrible at this. Trying to have a first date, but I feel like I've known you all my life."
Callitao grinned. “All right, then. What should we be doing?”
“Hmmm. Ask me a question, maybe? A getting-to-know-you question?” Karlach suggested.
“All right. All right,” Callitao said. She settled back into her chair. “Okay. Where did you grow up?”
"Right here in Baldur's Gate, more or less,” Karlach said, readily. “My folks are long gone now, but they raised me in the Outer City. Dad was a porter in town, mum did laundry. Still think of her when I smell clean sheets. We were poorer than dirt, but my gods we had fun. What about you?" She hesitated, her face darkening. “I saw what those githyanki kids at that monastery were going through. Doesn’t seem like much fun.”
Callitao worked her jaw, thinking. It wasn’t something she was used to talking about - didn’t have a glib answer ready. “No,” she said, at last. “Not much fun. They teach you how to be strong, but they also teach you how to be - fungible. There is only one correct way to be a githyanki, and it never changes.”
“Yeah,” Karlach said, nodding. “Back when we first met, I, um, well, I was still trying to figure you out, and I was talking to Gale about it. And he pointed out that whenever Lae’zel got on her high-and-mighty githyanki-are-superior all-hail-queen-vlaakith shtick, you always got real quiet. Never agreed, never disagreed. And then when Vlaakith tried to kill you - Lae’zel had this whole crisis of faith, but you were right on board.”
“I parted ways from Vlaakith a long time ago,” Callitao said. “Like I said. There is only one correct way to be a githyanki. I was never one to stick to the well-travelled road.” She took a sip of her beer. “I was a kithrak,” she said, at last.
Karlach’s eyes went wide. “What, really? That means you got to ride one of those dragons, right?”
Callitao nodded. “And who wouldn’t want to be a kithrak? Well, me, as it turned out. There were parts I liked - the dragon, of course, but more than that, I liked being in charge. I liked giving commands. But there is a certain type of person you have to be, to be a kithrak. Remember when we first met, and you called me ‘soldier’, and I told you not to do that?” She smiled wryly.
Karlach ducked her head, her cheeks darkening with a blush. “Yeah. Properly stuck my foot in my mouth, there. Felt like a right idiot.”
“In the creche, there are two kinds of people - soldiers, and slaves,” Callitao said. “And a kithrak has to be the most soldier of them all. Disciplined, obedient, ready with a blade or a blow. There is no room there for scholars. No room for dressing nicely, no room for playful dalliances, no room for exploring new ideas. No room to change who you are.”
“You mean they thought you were a man?” Karlach said. “I knew a gal who had that problem - she knew she was a girl but her parents were convinced it couldn’t be true. I guess they wanted a male heir for some kind of convoluted noble inheritance bullshit.”
“Something like that,” Callitao said. “You’re not supposed to have a private identity in the creche. In a sense, you could say that no one in the creche is a man or a woman; we are just soldiers. We are whatever benefits Vlaakith. If Vlaakith had declared me to be a woman, it would have been no problem. The problem was not my transition; it was that I decided on it myself.”
“Bloody hell,” Karlach said. “Not even Avernus was that bad. I mean - it was pretty bad - but they left you alone half the time, if they didn’t feel like torturing you. I mean, they tortured you, but they didn’t ask you to like it. You got to deal with it however you managed to deal with it, you know?”
Callitao nodded. “Well, they didn’t torture us for fun in the creche, so I guess it’s a trade-off.”
“I’m so fucking glad you’re out of there,” Karlach said. “I’m so fucking glad I’m out of there, for that matter. God! Look at us. There’s so many things I want to show you in Baldur’s Gate. I mean, you didn’t even know what a cat was. And no, that thing you keep at camp doesn’t count as a cat. Let’s see, we’ve gone to the circus. Maybe we should go to the theater. I wonder if Danili Gold-dragon is still writing plays. He always got a laugh. No, no, no. I have other plans for tonight. No audience - just you and me.”
Callitao smiled. “I’m looking forward to it,” she said.