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HOME SWEET HOME

Elrond let the gang decide when to leave, providing hospitality and medical care until they're ready. When the quest calls to them and they know it'll tug them along soon, he makes sure each is fully supplied and armed with weapons of their choosing, some custom made. They each have a pack, food supplies, and extra clothing. All of them get offered sturdy boots, even those who have stranger body types like Filbo.

He gives the group four copies of a book transcribed with the prophecies that had been brought to Rivendell, to be studied and interpreted on their journey.

Those who mentioned knowledge of the One Ring are briefly pulled aside away from the guests at Elrond's Council. They're implored to keep it secret, for the knowledge of Frodo's task could lead to people trying to steal the Ring when he's on a journey to destroy it.

Crowley is also released from the dungeon, with Elrond apologizing for the Elves' caution. It's at least clear he's been shown some of the same hospitality. He's healed up, well fed, and clothed in replacement clothes just like they all are.

Elrond's final goodbye to the whole group is warm and genuine.

"Namárië. It is a word we use for greetings and goodbyes. It means 'be well.' Whether you seek to help this world or try to find a way home, it is our hope that whatever paths you tread fly beneath your feet, and whatever obstacles you face are quickly overcome."

A pause.

"It would be easy to try to make you feel that the hopes of those in this new world go with you; but such burdens should only be carried by those who choose it. The Green will not admit it, but they have done you a great wrong. If you try to only find your way home, it's justified, and I hope you do find it."

Yes, there are prophecies, but making people do something by force is wrong, and all weary travelers deserve to find their way home. After a brief time of saying any goodbyes, they get to make their way to the other side of the valley. On the other side of the pass is the castle the Green spoke about.

The castle is a Frankenstein monstrosity that seems cobbled together from many buildings and machines. The second the last of the gang piles inside, it starts moving, massive legs clanking along. But where it's going is unknown. At least that means they have time to explore, rest, and get settled.

There are many mystical objects and mysteries within. One half of the castle seems to be a strange frozen realm of faerie, with strange sights to explore. But even the warmer side of the castle has its oddities. Magic waterfalls that show memories, and a scrying pool that shows frozen images of home, locked to the times each member of the squad left theirs. There are magical doors that lead to sights beyond the imagination, strange collections and even entire small realms, some beautiful, some dangerous.

The three magical creatures, Jonald, Ronald, and Rolkien constantly get underfoot trying to get the group settled, but refuse to talk about their former master, seemingly hurt at his leaving the castle.

The castle also seems to like assigning roommates for some of the group, making it so doors only open to their assigned room anytime they try to go to a place to sleep, even teleporting to them to the room if they fall asleep elsewhere.

It's a strange place, sometimes dangerous, sometimes annoying, but at least they have even more time to rest, train, plan, and prepare. They will have a few weeks to adjust to their new normal.

Then...who knows where the road will take them.
OOC DETAILS
❧ Prompts. The mods aren't doing prompts, but players can check out the page on the Moving castle for inspiration. The castle has many mysteries and oddities and absolutely anything can be behind the magical doors.

❧ Food and water. The castle seems to have an internal pressurized water supply and food is plentiful...for now. The food supply will not last forever but some food was left behind by the castle's previous occupants. There there's enough for a long break without hunting. There is some fresh food that's rotten and needs to be thrown away but whoever lived here clearly knew how to keep food prepared. There are cooking oils, flour, and sugar for bread and baked goods. There is jerky of various types of meats, dried fruit, sun-dried tomatoes, stores of nuts, jars of preserved fruit and jams (and empty jars to make more), and hard cheeses that need only a little mold cut off them to still be edible. Some of the jars have confit, meat cooked and preserved in lard, or garlic preserved in oil. A small root cellar has a few barrels of potatoes, parsnips, and onions.

It also has some barrels of beer and bottles of wine.

There are also dried herbs hanging in bundles from the kitchen ceiling, jarred pickled vegetables, and vinegar for pickling more. There are also fresh veggies the group can harvest together. The gardens will not be infinite in supplying the group but luck has it that many vegetables are ripe for harvest right now. The squad can pick juicy tomatoes, green beans, peppers, carrots, radishes, blackberries from a small thicket, squash, and plenty of zucchini. The garden does need tending to stay healthy. Aside from harvesting from it, weeds need to be pulled, beans and tomatoes need to be trellised, spoiled veggies on the ground need to be tossed away.

❧ Bathing. There is no soap other than what the Elves may have given them but there are hot baths. The water has to be heated on a fire down the hall and carried to the tubs.

❧ Weather/Atmosphere: The air outside and inside is on the warmer side. Even though the stone is cool, the cooking fires warm the air to something comfortable. The air outside in the gardens is warm and sunny, with the occasional cool breeze due to the altitude.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

CT’s posture does relax a little, with that assurance. Not all the way, because she hasn’t fully relaxed since she was back with her partner in the world she passed through before here, but part way.

“…yeah, that helps. Thanks.”

It is nice to be able to drop the uppermost level of paranoid alertness, at least.

“He did, most of it anyway.” She chews her lip in thought. This time when she braids, she starts from higher up and goes for a more complicated, tighter to the skull style braid. “Control and access is definitely where things are most different, here. He had our histories, from family to military. He had those psyche profiles on us that he built up over months, then years. He had regular one-on-one access to us, because he was in charge of our ‘psychological wellbeing.’”

She couldn’t stop the disgusted scoff she makes at that if she tried. Ugh.

“We barely ever left the ship we were on, and there was constant surveillance in everything but the most private spaces and some blind spots—sneaking around like I did was hard, it’s a miracle I wasn’t caught sooner.” A miracle, and them underestimating her. “So, here? He’s without most of his tools, he’s just not without his skill and knowledge. Give him enough to work with, and if he feels so inclined he can mess with most people’s heads without them realising.

“But I don’t doubt that the lack of power, the lack of guaranteed access, the lack of enabling structure makes him less effective. I just don’t think it makes him much less dangerous, especially if he’s going to start physically assaulting and threatening people instead.”

Edited 2022-03-29 03:50 (UTC)

"Less effective is less dangerous," Saturday says absently, gnawing on her thumbnail as she thinks. "At least, if we can keep him that way... OpSec'll be a problem. Too many civilians in this crowd."

She stares into space for a second, not thinking so much as running mental hands through what she knows so far, feeling for the places where they might connect.

If she'd been planning evil, and she'd managed to get Dan feeling sorry for her... oh, if you've got Dan, you've got inroads to all sorts of places. Strategically, burning the relationship doesn't make sense, and CT is describing a planner, not a loose cannon.

"Does he have any enhancements? Like augments, or cyberware, or magic?"

"Not that I know of, not unless the Green gave him magic too. They certainly did me," and as if to demonstrate, she closes her eyes to focus and a perfect duplicate of her splits off from her body, waves a hand, "I was mundane as they come before here. Couldn't do that without a full suit of power armour and my unit. Which really doesn't bode well for any magic he might have gotten, if they're being thematic about it, but I've seen no evidence he has any."

The duplicate bows, then vanishes.

"I'm most worried about individuals who give him the one-on-one time of their own accord, with or without knowing what he can do. Some of you I believe can handle that sort of interaction without being at much risk, but others... I worry that he could be less effective overall, but still dangerous to some, you know?"

"Yeah, that's about the size of it, isn't it?" She rubs her chin. "Like I said, too many people who share shit they shouldn't oughta, not to a stranger. Dunno how to guard against that except for this gossip shit."

Which he seems fully aware is happening, and doesn't seem to be doing wonders for his state of mind.

"But that's how he gets people, as far as you know? Pure mindfuck shit?"

"Pure mindfuck shit," CT confirms. "If he had anything else back home, we would have be even more fucked than we already were. Luckily for us, we don't have magic or accessible augments of any kind. He's just... an ordinary, human psychologist who just so happens to have no morals qualms about abusing his patients. I'm not sure he even realises that the abuse is objectively a bad thing? It's hard to tell. He doesn't seem to understand why 'his agents'," ugh, "don't see him as family like he sees us."

Uggggh. It makes her shudder just thinking about it.

"So if people know... then they might have some protection, yeah. It is just the problem of letting people know without also having it backfire on us. I have to agree with some of the others that total social isolation is only going to make him lash out more."

"Oh, he's a fucked-up little monkey for sure," Saturday agrees. "I think he just like, never got to the point where he figured out that other people are actually real? Like in his mind he apologized, so what's the big deal?"

It's a familiar type. Common among the criminals she knew growing up.

"Well, so far, Price isn't anything I haven't seen before. Not to downplay or anything," she says, hurriedly. "I come from one of the shittier situations, is all. I've also got some experience with the parole officer gig. I've been nosing around, think I'm going to commit to attempting to mitigate this problem."

If she can babysit a fragment of something worse-than-a-demon, she can babysit one clever human narcissist.

"That... sounds right, yeah. I've always felt like he saw the agents more like dolls, puppets, playthings, so in his head, he's done nothing wrong, doesn't see why he should apologise, and doesn't understand why the apology wasn't accepted when he did give it."

Stacia telling her about the apology video on the rig almost made her laugh, because it's just so absurd. He's usually smarter than that, but again: remove the power structure, destabilise the man behind it.

"But yeah, don't worry, I know what you mean. If you can handle him... I mean, I'm sure I don't need to tell you to be careful, but go for it. I really wish I could do more than just give people like you information, he still feels somehow like my responsibility to deal with, but anytime he comes near me I just..." She full-body shudders. "He can get back under my skin far more easily than I'd like."

"He ain't your responsibility." Saturday is firm on this. "You're someone he's hurt. Even if you wanted it, I wouldn't let you within twenty feet of this. His management an' rehabilitation, if possible, ain't your job."

It's not just a question of fairness to CT, it's simply an extremely bad fucking idea to have an unrepentant offender interacting with their victims. Nothing useful or good can come of it.

"I might have more questions as things go on, though, if that's okay?"

"See, logically I know that, and I'm staying well away, but trying to do something about the Project's mess was something I took on my shoulders alone for so long it's... hard to shake."

She's a traumatised mess, but a largely self-aware traumatised mess.

"Anyway, yeah, anytime you have questions, go for it. I still want to help, just... from a distance. Information's always been my area, anyway."

They're talking about Price.

As usual, Elle doesn't mean to eavesdrop. She was just exploring. And has stupid good hearing.

But she does overhear their conversation, and since she's still planning on working with Price, she decides to try and join their conversation.

She announces her presence with audible footsteps.

"You're talking about Price, right?"

Edited 2022-03-31 01:33 (UTC)

He...hadn't meant to eavesdrop either. At first, at least. Filbo doesn't like drama -- or so he says. Truthfully speaking, it's hard for him not to stare in fascination when it happens, until it's on the verge of exploding, then he tries to do something about it. The whole Price thing...it's an ugly mess and, perhaps unfortunately for him, his good nature got him entangled into it. Received warnings, and he kept them in mind because he's not an idiot, but it sure didn't stop him from talking to Price. That's how he is, for better or for worse.

Probably for worse, with a situation like this one.

He hadn't intended to announce his presence, finding that awkward, but Elle's arrival forces him to because she does have great hearing, she'd know if someone else is hanging around. Taking a deep breath, he walks up to the balcony.

"...uh, that so? Sorry for intruding, I thought that if it's about him maybe I should stick around. He's my roommate, you know"

Which he's fine with, generally, but still, he got warnings of 'don't give him power over you' and few moments are more vulnerable than when you're sleeping. Better to, at least, make sure others are aware he's within Price's reach for extended periods of time.

Saturday grins a little when Elle shows up, and when Filbo reveals himself it becomes a full-blown snicker.

"Sorry," she manages to say, getting herself under control. "Okay, four makes a kaffeklatsh - sorry I don't have any refreshments. Were we being that loud?"

CT drops her head into her hands the second she hears the word 'roommate', though from what she's overheard about the castle's rooming habits she's also quietly grateful that hopefully rules out Price being shoved in with her.

"I guess we weren't exactly being quiet." Really doing this in Saturday's room would have been subtler, but hey, the fresh air is actually nice, so. "Yeah, it's about Price. Saturday had some questions, I've filled her in on about as much as I told you, Elle."

"Cat hearing," Elle shrugs.

"Just so everyone's aware, before we got Rivendell, Price shoved Dan into a river while his leg was still fucked up. In the middle of the night. That's why the infection got so bad."

The situation is a bit more complicated than that, but that's a the gist of it.

"He's in constant fight-or-flight mode, scared out of his mind because he's pretty sure that someone's going to hurt him, and doesn't know how to think of himself or other people as, you know, people. He's swinging between extremes and needs some kind of outlet if he's ever going to have any emotional regulation. I was thinking of starting to train with him. Simple stuff, but things that let you get your aggression out and those endorphins pumping."

CT already knows most of this, but if Saturday's on 'Team Help Price' she should be updated too. She watches Filbo out of the corner of her eye to see how he reacts to the information.

"...seriously, Price? Seriously?"

He couldn't help it, he mumbled that, scratching the back of his head. Given he likes Dan and Filbo himself saw how pained he was from that gash on his leg back in Agrabah, that Price made things even worse is pretty upsetting.

At least Filbo manages to keep his calm, but still, he doe take a curt tone that hints he's not happy in the slightest.

"What was he even thinking? I know what he did is indefensible, but did he ever say why he did something so dangerous?"

Apparently being upset on Dan's behalf seems to rank far higher in Filbo's scale of importance than the thought that Price could cause him harm if he says a wrong word. The conversation they had went pretty okay, all things considered, but given the proximity to a balcony back in Rivendell, yeah, he's aware the result could have been disastrous if he had slighted Price.

Edited 2022-03-31 02:32 (UTC)

"I've been thinking of doing some morning classes, but it wouldn't be just Price there. Dunno if he or the other student's'd be comfortable." She cocks her head to one side, eyes distant, thinking. "We gotta be subtle about it, whatever happens. His world was manipulation, which means he's gonna be hypervigilant for it. Anything he can construe as insincere or a guilt-trip or anything like that is gonna set his back up, might even sink the whole endeavor."

And it is a manipulation that they're planning. For the greater good and with his own health in mind, but they're still trying to massage his autonomy and sense of self down paths they find more pleasing. It's not the ideal way to handle things, but it's also probably the best way - at least until he's calmed down enough to establish a baseline.

(assuming what she and Elle had picked up is true; she doesn't doubt that Elle's accurately reported her impressions or that CT has honestly given her assessment, but the whole point of a manipulative narcissist is that you can never be sure)

As for Filbo's question, she shrugs. "Probably he wasn't thinkin'? I mean, shoving someone in a river because you're mad at them? That's kindergarten shit. Thoughtless, reflexive, lashing out. Just wanting to hurt, without a thought for what they want the hurt to accomplish."

"Which says everything about where he is mentally, because he would never have been that rash when I knew him. Physical attacks were never his field of play, going there now shows how backed into a corner he feels."

She sighs, ties off the more complicated braid she'd started a little bit ago. Crosses her arms under her chest.

"Which, I won't lie, does make me nervous about the idea of training him up in anything, because right now he's relatively physically incapable and so the damage of any more lashing out is limited, but... I realise that it's not a bad idea, in practice. He needs to be able to keep himself alive, out here, as well as the other benefits. I don't actually want him to die if it can be avoided."

Despite everything.

"Price told Dan to stop being nice to him. Dan said no," Elle answers Filbo. "We're working with a severely traumatized individual here."

Not that he's the only one.

"I don't think he ever truly matured, emotionally. My guess would be that he was an antisocial, outcast kid who never learned any of the skills that help someone function, then realized he's good at manipulating people, and has used that as a stand-in since. It is kindergarten shit and he did it because he doesn't know any other way to express things."

Elle doesn't want to get too deep into psychoanalyzing him, though.

"People like him don't look at themselves directly. He doesn't need to change his behavior if he can get the people around him to instead. That's what abuse is. So we need to find a way to get Price to focus solely on himself, not other people. That's what this is going to take."

Edited 2022-03-31 03:03 (UTC)

That's what got Price so upset? Filbo really hopes Price didn't tell the entire truth or lied or something, because if Price got so angry he pushed Dan into a river because of this, Filbo is absolutely certain his future includes injuries too.

"...good thing I'm hard to kill, eheh...eh"

Filbo has literally fallen from a mountain before. He can probably handle most things Price can do...he hopes.

"I'm not gonna mince words here? Price is dangerous. I mean, obviously, I could tell just from talking to him, it's no secret he's dangerous. But despite that...I dunno, I feel pretty bad for him. I know he's unstable and associating with him further is most likely gonna lead to trouble, but...it probably is for the best to at least try to be there for him. So I'm willing to try"

Filbo shakes his head.

"Maybe I could test the waters and see if he'd be willing to come with me to classes. I was already trying to get him to come to me for meals and stuff, so that probably would be believable enough. Not gonna lie, manipulating him seems like a pretty drastic move, but if that's what needs to be done then yeah, let's do it"

Well, it'd also help that even though he calls this manipulation, he probably would earnestly invite Price to come along. 'I feel bad for him' isn't exactly the truth: he's not doing this out of pity, he does want to be Price's friend. It takes something very egregious for Filbo to turn his back on someone.

Edited 2022-03-31 03:34 (UTC)

"When you're fucked up enough, someone tryin' to be nice can look like pity. There's a lot of people who'd rather be dead than be pitied." She's one of them. "If he thought Dan was propping up his own ego by playing the benevolent saint - not that I think he was, mind you - yeah, I'd shove someone in a river, too."

She nods at CT.

"I can see your point about not wantin' to make him more dangerous. My counter's this: he's vanilla human. Most of the people here aren't. And without enhancements, it will be a long time before he's really even that much of a physical threat - especially if we focus mostly on his conditioning. Even the most basic boot camp takes two months, an' that's training sunup to sundown, with everything designed to support it, an' still just barely manages to consistently turn out someone who'll remember to shoot the enemy insteada' pissing their pants. We don't have the luxury of that kind of focus. And I think knowing that he's not totally reliant on the kindness of people he knows think he's a monster and a threat can only help stabilize him - even if the confidence is mostly illusion."

If she was surrounded by enemies, she'd want a weapon, too. Whether or not he actually is, is besides the point. That's what he perceives.

"As for his happy little fuck-fuck mindgames - that's unfortunately not something we can dismiss. Best solve I got for that is making sure we know where he is and who he's talking to at all times, without ever letting him know that we're watching. Because he finds out we're spying on him, it's all over bar the shouting."

"Right, you're right. I know these things, I'm a soldier, I did boot camp, I should've..." She gestures vaguely, just indicating she gets the point. Her head's scrambled by all of this, she doesn't always think of things she should have. It's frustrating, really. "Anyway, point taken. The benefits outweigh the risks."

She chews her lip, thinking.

"I've been watching him, as safely as I can. Stealth work's another of my main skills, and I snuck around without Price or the Director finding out about what I was doing for over a year and that was with cameras. I can probably actually help on that front, at least in reporting back who I've seen him interact with."

Elle purses her lips.

"Sneaking around is possible, but it would be pretty inefficient," a pause.

"What if there was a way to pitch it to him? To be transparent about it? That way we don't have to go through the whole 'what if he finds out and backslides' song and dance, and we don't have to make more work for ourselves. Trying to hide that we're putting effort into helping him sounds like a time bomb just waiting to go off."

This is the reason Elle hasn't actually approached Price yet. She hasn't figured out the best way to get the outcome she wants. But with a larger group it would be more difficult for him to accuse the entire groups motivations of being selfish or pitying. This angle might just work.

"And that way he feels like he has some autonomy in the process. He'll trust us more."

Elle has missed good old-fashioned scheming.

"I dunno...that kinda gives him the option to say no, and then he'd be guarded against anything that could come later. We'd be back on square one"

As he sees it, that's putting faith on Price responding positively. If he's so defensive he's lashing out, maybe he'd try to get some control over his own life by rejecting that pitching.

"M-Maybe if both can be done somehow it could work. Trying to be subtle being some sorta plan B, I guess. If pitching it transparently doesn't work, maybe he wouldn't be as guarded if people uninvolved in that first try use the subtle plan"

There are problems with this, though, an important one being that it'd be dividing forces between two plans and that's just not all that great when their numbers are limited. Only two people in each seem like so few for this difficult task!

"I can see pros and cons to both approaches. With the right pitch, being open about our intent tells him he's not actually alone and there are people who will take his side if he's chucked under the bus, if only on principle. With the wrong pitch, we basically lose any inroads we've individually made, and probably wind him up even further. One the other hand, if we keep things discreet and he find out at the wrong time, or in the wrong way - and nothin' stays a secret forever - the situation is gonna go rapidly nuclear."

Saturday rests her elbows on her knees, steepling her fingers under her chin.

"And you know, if we do stick with sneaky, I wouldn't really be able to fault him for blowing up after finding out. We're dancin' on some thin ethical lines, here; for starters, none of us are actually fucking doctors, and for finishers, trying to make sure someone doesn't say no is just a fancy word for coercion. Pitching it honestly would be my preference, except for there's an actual danger here."

The rights of the one vs the safety of the many. Isn't that always the bastard at the center of the maze? Where do your rights end and mine begin? What exactly is the social contract, and to whom does it apply, and can it even be applied equally, or is something just fucking broken about people?

This shit is why Saturday was finally forced to concede it might be a good idea to go back and finish high school.

"CT, you know him best. What do you think?"

CT has her face in her hands again, breathing evenly, taking a moment to process everything they're each saying. Saturday's right, there's pros and cons to both, but it's the explanation of why it'd be understandable for him to blow up if he found out they were doing this behind his back that gets to her. Almost bothers her. Because she's also specifically not wrong that there's some thin ethical lines here.

"...I— I don't know. I'm not sure if he'd agree if talked to openly. He has every reason to doubt people's motives and even if he didn't, he might not want to change at all. But I don't..."

She makes a frustrated noise, drags her hands down her face and folds her arms again.

"When you put it like that, I don't like the idea of basically doing a lesser version to him of what he did to me and my friends. Coercing him into something he wouldn't agree to. Trying to nudge him the way we want him to go without him really knowing. I know it's not the same, and that sometimes you have to turn someone's own tools against them, but that does feel... wrong."

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