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wildestlogs2022-02-14 01:51 am
wildestmods) wrote in wildestlogs2022-02-14 01:51 am
IMLADRIS
IMLADRIS
The group is told to take a week of rest in the Last Homely House as the injured and sick among them heal. The Elves promise them that after the injured are healed, there will be a great Council, with representatives of several peoples in attendance. There Lord Elrond will meet and assist them with speaking with the Green.
Until then, they can wander the peaceful halls of Rivendell, which are filled with travelers from all over the Wilderlands who are making a rest stop while they travel through the lands of Middle-Earth.
There are many halls in Rivendell, but the most notable part of Rivendell is the Hall of Fire, a great feast hall where people can eat, drink, and be merry. Alongside chairs, cushions line the floors in much of the hall. This is the great social hall of Rivendell, where the Elves and their visitors share news of lands far beyond, tell stories, or perform music. The music here almost sounds divine, especially when the Elves sing and play instruments, but they're just as eager to hear songs from other lands, so if any of the squad decide to share, they'll be glad to listen.
Some of the hall's guests are a touch more lively than the others, like a party of dwarves staying at Rivendell. Their stories are a mite more adventurous and if you get in their good graces, they might be willing to share some of the beer they brought with them. Listening to their stories or their talk about their craftmanship is a way to get into their good graces. They have news of the lands beyond.
The Elves love learning, so there are libraries the group is allowed to browse, though they mostly only contain tales of Middle-Earth (for now), though the Elves seem to be collecting what books about other lands they can. These libraries often have viewing stations with telescopes pointing at the sky. Though concerned about what it portents, Elves have been almost delighted by the changing skies, enjoying the challenge of trying to understand how the sky has been knitting itself together with the addition of new worlds.
There are also beautiful balconies here, overlooking the gorge and the waters below, and terraced gardens filled with flowers, bushes, and flowering trees. Their rooms are open to the outdoors and have beds that seem grown into the shape of bed-frames instead of carved. The bathrooms actually have running water. The Elves have figured out how to direct the clean running waters of the gorge in primitive indoor plumbing. Water for hot baths has to be heated first in brass cauldrons over coal braziers before getting dumped into the bath, but are at least located right next to the tubs.
Different flowing slides and fountains can also be used as waterslides for the adventurous, though this will make the Elves tut in disapproval. (X cw: warning for mild nudity from a distance.)
It's time for the squad to rest, eat, and regroup. If a great Council is going to be called involving them, it might be a good idea to make sure they go into it as a united front, because the Green is clearly fine with trying to make decisions for them.
❧ Cursed Weapons/Powers: So they know about how they'll be treated: those with cursed weapons and dark powers will be tolerated by the Elves after entry. While they'll get the same general treatment, the Elves around them may at times seem uncomfortable. Those with cursed weapons will only be distrusted a little, as the weapons themselves will seem more suspicious than their bearers. Those with dark powers or some kind of dark nature (such as being a vampire, Necromancer mage, werewolf, etc.) will be treated with the greatest distrust. But they'll be allowed to wander freely.
❧ Communication: The Elves will make it clear a Council will be called when the injured have time enough to heal and that the group can stay in Rivendell until they're all healed and refreshed. They'll be told they'll be equipped with weapons, clothes, and supplies when they eventually leave. The characters can move freely and characters can stay at the bedside of injured friends.
❧ Injuries: Characters with morgul-blade wounds will be find that any areas or limbs where the shard was will no longer hurt but will be numb at first, with feeling returning over several days. They'll be physically weak for several days at well, winded when walking a short distance. Within a week or two, depending on their constitution and the severity of where the wound was, they'll be able to walk on their own and start to rebuild stamina. Other non-Morgul-blade injuries will heal fully within a few days of treatment.
❧ Clothes: The group will not yet be fully equipped for their travels (that will happen upon leaving) but everyone will at least be given new clothes in Elven styles since theirs are dirty or torn. These are in many different colors but most commonly colors found in nature, like green and blue. Characters without appropriate footwear will also be given light and sturdy boots that will somehow be in their size without their size being asked. They'll also be given basic toiletries like scissors that can be used to cut hair and beards. There are no razors, however, because the Elves don't need to shave so they don't keep them on hand.
❧ Food: Food and drink are plentiful. The food leans towards fruits and veggies but there's enough game for any meat-eaters, cooked well in unknown spices. Wine is abundant, some vintages more inebriating than others. The restorative cordial miruvor is available to help weary travelers get their energy up and revive their strength. It doesn't get characters drunk but helps them revive their strength. It has a light, pleasant floral taste and smell. Beer can also be provided, though that of the traveling dwarves is superior to what Rivendell has to offer.
❧ Weather/Atmosphere: Rivendell is open to the outside air but the temperature is always perfectly temperate and pleasant. The sun shines frequently and is only lost behind shimmering mist. Sunsets and sunrises paint the sky in sections of the valley in every color imaginable. The valley is safe to travel in as long as they don't go back past the Ford of Bruinen or through the gap in the mountains past Rivendell on the valley's opposite end. The air is filled with the smell of green things and delicate perfume of flowers.
❧ Archivist Spells: Around the valley, Archivists can bank up to (4) iterations of a water spells that blasts a brief torrent at an enemy, with the force of a fire hose.
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"Do you think it's too late for me?"
Although for different reasons, he definitely agrees with that hypothetical thought.
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He shrugs, a little unsure of what he's saying, but he keeps going.
"Just saying that if everything is terrible and you're trying to get back to how you were before then maybe something a little more middle of the road will be more...uh, f-feasible for now? And then when you get to that point you see if you're ready to try something closer to your original goal, and so and so. It's...just what I'd do"
Filbo narrows his eyes, unsure if this is really the right way to tackle things. It's what he does, yes, but...
"But also I'm no rolemodel. I don't have my own life under control"
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After a moment of silence, he reaches for Filbo's paw, gives it a squeeze.
"I think you are doing good."
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...
Probably not, right? Fine then.
"I sure would hope so, Price, hyahahaha! You'll do good too someday, you'll see"
He even squeezes back, as if trying to give back some of that reassurance. Curious thing, there aren't even any claws on these paws. It's as if a long evolutive process worked for hundreds of thousands of years to turn what probably was a sizable and predatory species into something far softer, and Filbo is the end result of it all. At least he has a good grip.
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Price's voice breaking a little is enough to get Filbo alarmed, and he squeezes Price's hand harder as if that'll keep him together. He feels he should say something else, but his head went blank. Everything that does come to mind sounds very hollow and useless.
It takes several seconds for him to think of something that doesn't sound like some random platitude.
"Is it...because of something out of your control?"
That's definitely the most harmless way he could think of asking how hopeless it is without remarking it's hopeless.
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But that's not an option. He's here and he'll have to do all he can, even though he's beginning to be deathly afraid he'll make the situation far worse for Price by saying something careless.
"K-Keep going. Keep talking. I'm listening"
Encouraging to let it all out, pretty much. If knowing what to respond doesn't come easily, then maybe listening will help? It's the best he thought to offer in the face of the despair that's more notable with every word Price says.
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He knows Bunny has, and Dan has at least lied by omission. Elle is too busy being arrogant in thinking she has the answers. As for CT...Well, she is right in her concerns, but if only she gave him a chance she would see that he does care about her.
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Now that was a question he didn't see coming at all, so unexpected he blurted that out immediately. Twist his words?! Wait, no, the important part maybe is the 'too'. Maybe it has happened in the past?
"No, I--of course not!"
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Price sighs.
"Usually, only bad things happen when I try to speak up...Does that happen to you too?"
He figures from Filbo's anxious demeanour that he too has trouble asserting boundaries.
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Thankfully not often nowadays, but mere months ago every time he tried to speak up and attempt to help more often than not it made everything worse, getting him yelled at and dismissed as useless. Sometimes unfairly, sometimes deserved, but yes, bad things tended to happen whenever he did.
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He huffs.
"Besides, the crimes I committed during Project Freelancer were a sacrifice that was made in order to save the galaxy. I believe it would have been worth it, if it worked out."
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Filbo swallows. This man is dangerous, that's his immediate thought.
...
Price did all that in his world, away from this place. Circumstances, the exact events, there's a whole story here, one he's not aware of and...isn't sure he'd like to find out. Also, this is not the first time he has associated with somewhat shady individuals, right? But...while during the expedition to Snaktooth Island he met several grumpuses with varying levels of shadiness in their past and present, and his only lifelong friend had a tainted reputation as a fraud, and his current assistant probably got into libel lawsuits at least once before, Price is very obviously on another level.
But, but, but also Price's despair seems genuine. Perhaps it's his own nature wanting to reach out to Price what makes him believe it, but he does. It'd be wrong to turn his back on someone having a hard time, wouldn't it?
Filbo is well aware all this are justifications he's making for himself to not feel nervous, but...
...he took a deep breath.
2/2
"I see. Right, I see why that'd make you so upset"
Filbo isn't sure if something is a manipulation technique or not, but it probably isn't on purpose. Few people out there are manipulating others on purpose, he thinks. There's such a thing as hurting others by mistake, especially when you think you're on the right. Maybe that's what's going on.
"When you put it like that it almost sounds like you versus them"
But it probably isn't that, is it? Right, it probably isn't!
Stacia coming to warn in private like that, and commenting that others are trying to help Price...yes, if you look at it unkindly it definitely is as if everyone is against Price. Stacia specifically named Elle, now that he thinks about it, but Filbo has a hard time seeing the likes of Elle being deceitful like that. It probably is people not knowing how to approach the matter and getting things twisted the wrong way. Better talk to Elle at some point, Filbo decides.
Filbo really underestimates how underhanded certain actions are, even if the reasons are not bad.
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He would say assertive, but he can't be assertive to safe his life, and that's exactly his problem. At least, he knows it.
"They don't care about me, they just want me to let them walk all over me without saying anything."
And Price thinks that someone has to be special to have the right to walk all over him, which they are not. Only one person is, and that person isn't here.
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But Price sees that as them coming to try to contain a latent danger, that's why he was saying all that about Filbo earlier, he realizes. Tough stuff, this one.
With growing unease at the immensity of this convoluted matter in which he can already see nobody will come out of it smelling like a rose, Filbo dares to ask:
"Hey, Price, what do you mean with being more...convincing, e-exactly?"
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"I am sure you know what I mean."
The one thing he feels 'guilty' for is not being perfect anymore, if the Director saw him like this he'd throw him away
again, but that's more something he's mad about because it was not supposed to change.no subject
Well, the details probably are worse than the many scenarios he came up with, he thinks.
"I dunno if it will do much but I'd be willing to see what I can do about this all. Not that I can make any promises, though"
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He is not going to mention threatening Bunny, it was obviously an empty threat, after an almost neverending torture of Bunny showing no mercy at all and kicking him while he was down only to act like he was offering a fresh start? He deserves so much worse than a stabbing, especially for broadcasting only one thing completely out of context, deliberately leaving out the part where Price tried to have an actual conversation, explain his reasons, only to be met with scorn and a harshness that no one who claims to be reasonable would display to someone in the state he was in. What a piece of shit, they should all be grateful for Price being too weak to actually hurt anyone.
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Filbo is so glad he's not in charge here. In general everyone in this camp gets along far better than the expedition to Snaktooth did. There's no looting in the middle of the night, there's nobody stealing other people's stuff for profit, there's no marital trouble, there's nobody performing dubious experiments in plain sight. Instead in here it's as if Price's situation absorbed most of the antagonism that could exist in a group in the wilderness and concentrated it into this big ball of trouble. Having to deal with it as a leader would be a total nightmare.
"Nobody's gonna kill anyone!"
He lets go of Price's hand.
"Look, no matter what anyone feels you're part of the group here. If they don't want to get along with you, fine, that's alright. But there are enough problems going on without us hurting each other. I admit I'm a little bit at a loss of what to do in general, but if they try to attack you I'll get in the way"
Filbo sighs. It goes unsaid, but of course, that goes the other way too. If Price does try to turn to violence, he'll try to stop that too.
"Price, let's not escalate anything, please. I know that it's frustrating they're not listening, and I'm not trying to blame you, but the moment things get physical it all just will get stuck with no improvement for anyone. Surely you can see that!" he passes a paw over his head, trying to come up with the words to both sympathize and be firm. "I agree you shouldn't shut up and take it. But I'm..."
Pause.
"...you probably shouldn't face anyone alone, if there's a need for some sorta confrontation. Someone else should be able to intervene if it's starting to seem like a side isn't listening" And also stop things in case they begin escalating. "Is there anyone you think could be impartial at those times?"
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"I am not sure. I think I am just going to hide until everything stops being so...Overwhelming."
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"I guess that's fine..." he says but grins. "As long as you remember you promised you'd come to see me often! Gotta make sure you'll be okay! Looking out for each other's wellbeing is what's what friends do, you know?"
Okay, no, he knows very well Price didn't promise that at all. If anything could be construed as a promise it was on Filbo's part and he knows it -- and despite everything Price said, in his opinion there was nothing that could warrant take his offer back.
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Price absolutely wouldn't know about it. His friendship never seem to be...Real, or genuine. There is always something not quite right. He doesn't know what to say.