Grey grinned in that way he didn't when he wasn't working. Dave's question apparently raising his spirits.

"So while I didn't become a dentist. I technically became a doctor." Grey considered in a way that suggested even he didn't know how that really worked out. "But originally, per my previous story, yes, I trained to be an assassin."

"To kill the man whose... Skull is sitting on the bookshelf."

"I mean, somebody comes to your patch of middle earth, kills your parents, burns your village, and enslaves the few survivors." Grey casually admitted. "A bit cliche. But you'd probably be a little raw about it too."

Dave agrees with a simple balling of his fists. It was a cue that Grey himself had came to notice over the years. Perhaps it was a nervous tic? A way to keep the monster at bay when emotions are high?

"I'm sorry you had to live like that."

"Don't be." Grey assured. "I got my revenge. And my current therapist gets to put his kids through college."

"-Is the therapist an elf too?"

"No. But what he doesn't know won't kill him."

Grey had a rather wry sense of humor. Being around so long would do that to anybody. Technology may press things forward, but a lot of things barely change if at all. He continued drinking coffee absently as he went over some folders he'd brought along.

"So how did it start? The assassin thing?"

"Well, after I did the whole grieving-process thing. It turns out there are a lot of people who want a lot of other people to disappear."

"Heh." Dave paused. Now it was his turn to smile in a similar sense. He had his own habits in that regard. Maybe the fist balling wasn't restraint, but anticipation?

"Unlike you, I couldn't just lay waste to a small army by myself. So I fell in with any coven, brotherhood, or bandits willing to take me in."

He went over to the counter and pressed the button on the air pot and let the cup refill. "I learned whatever they could teach me. Sure my family were potent magic users. But you can only learn so much on short notice."

It was rather simple. Elves had better tendency and experience at blending in. At least in more humanity dense areas of the old world. He always figured himself to be a bit unusual. An elf willing to tackle the outside world. But without the excess narcissism that seemed to come with that background.

"Really quick, and I don't mean any offense." Dave asked. "What's the deal with elves and wanting to rule the entire world."

Grey sat back and ignored his story for a moment. "I think it's the living for thousands of years part? You can't be a shut-in and not go crazy. You spend 2000 years teaching yourself spells, you haven't seen the sun in half that. You'll go crazy. Get delusions of grandeur."

It was funny how catch all his statement proved to be. Many of the other elves Dave had been introduced too carried this feeling of royalty. That there was so much superiority on general principal. Amal turned one to stone at the last function. That changed the dynamic a lot more than expected.

"I have a friend who still is getting past that. He didn't leave his house between The Sack of Rome and the Industrial Revolution."

"How is he now?"

"I mailed him a smartphone for his birthday, told him they landed on the moon." Grey remembered. "He's taking it kind of hard."

"So, your hitman years."

He went over the finer details of being careless at first. He took any deal that came his way. It didn't matter that he hadn't left his adolescence. If anything, he believed it gave him an advantage. Everyone expects some arduous warrior to show up to claim their lives. Most still don't expect a teen who can't drive; let alone ride horseback.

"I wasn't successful entirely." Grey explained. "Some escaped. Some just beat me half to death."

And some asked if he wanted better work. Of course nothing is ever that easy. And so many of Grey's years were spent training in ways he himself wasn't even prepared for.

"And that's when I learned you should never insult a sun troll's mother. My jaw still clicks to this day."

"They hit really hard." Dave confirmed.

"Everybody keeps making fun of living under a bridge, until they have to fight someone that lives under a bridge."

Eventually between all the pitfalls and bonuses of his lifestyle, he eventually had a realization. Not a fresh one. Just one he learned long before everything else. It was more peaceful to prolong life instead of taking it.

"That's... actually a very nice sentiment." Dave respected. "After what happened earlier."

"If it makes you feel better, I'm fairly certain all my previous contract targets were assholes to begin with."

Grey however switched things up at this point.

"Enough about me. You fought one of the Sons of Hikan to a draw" He mused. "How does that work?"

Dave shrunk up a little bit in his jacket, not that it made him seem any smaller. "So I used to have... Anger issues. You know?"

r/Jamaican_Dynamite