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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

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."

Elle sighs, thinking.

"I think... If we're able to frame it without making ourselves his white knight saviors, we'd have a good chance. Because that's the thing that keeps bothering him, that people keep acting like they're better people when he truly doesn't understand why what he did was so wrong. If we're able to frame it in a practical way, like: 'hey, we don't want you or anyone else getting hurt and think you should be able to defend yourself, and working on yourself would prove the people who don't like you wrong, and honestly you have nothing to lose so why not try' we might have a chance."

It's all about how they frame it.

"It's not even about talking openly, it's about him putting some sort of responsibility on us and listening when we tell him 'hey, that's fucked up and here's why'. Both about the things he's done and things that have been done to him."

They don't need him to buy in right away-- they just need him willing to listen.

"Maybe...maybe that would work!"

When framed like that it doesn't sound half bad! Well, also, CT over here mentioning being kind of manipulative would be the same thing Price had been doing to other people makes Filbo want to avoid the whole thing about subtlety. It'd be pretty hypocritical to be wary of Price and then do the same things at him.

Now that he thinks about it, Price did seem kind of convinced he was no match for almost everyone in the camp, that he was the one who was no threat to anyone. Hearing it might help him solve that could be a good negotiation point. It's worth a try!

"So...who would be the one to say it to him, supposing we go for this kinda pitch? It's not like all of us would be standing there while he's told all this, right?"

Truthfully, in Filbo's head the mental image of someone delivering this pitch while the other three stand nearby feels a lot like an intervention instead of an offer or a proposal of any sort.

Edited 2022-03-31 21:53 (UTC)

Saturday had meant her bald statement of their ethical predicament to evoke a response; it makes her like CT quite a bit that she can see how turnabout isn't fair play, not for something like this. The smile she flashes her is quick, but genuine.

She nods immediately at what Elle says, and Filbo's follow-up.

"That explains some shit. We didn't get super into it when I chatted with him - he was pretty adamant about not discussing the Dan thing, so I didn't push. But yeah, that jives. If we can figure a pitch that doesn't make him out to be a charity case..." She shrugs. "If we workshop what to say, I'm comfortable sayin' it."

CT nods to acknowledge the smile, even if she's too wired right now to actually give a proper one back in return.

"That... seems like the best approach we have, yeah. There's a chance me saying it would actually make him listen, but I— I can't. I just... can't. So..." She gestures vaguely. Whoever feels comfortable trying can have at it. "I can still try and help with wording, though."

It's interesting to see Filbo's reaction to the implication that manipulating Price is equivalent to what he did to CT.

(It's really, really not. Elle's only real objection to using manipulation as that a. it creates a question of consent that she's not comfortable with and b. it could create bigger problems in the future. The morality of it... she's spent a lot of time figuring out how to reconcile her job with her morals. She's kind of surprised Saturday is the one who brought up the ethics of it, out of the three of them, but Saturday's also the person most likely to look at the situation from similar angles as Elle, so she probably shouldn't be.)

"Even if you could, you shouldn't. You don't owe him anything."

Elle's voice is firm. She wants to say 'I wouldn't let you', but that's probably going a bit far. CT is her own person and Elle can't really stop her from doing anything if she doesn't want to resort to violence, which she super doesn't.

"I'd like to proposed what I'm calling a 'strike-out' rule. Basically, in any interaction Price gets one warning for doing or saying something fucked up. If he does something again, I walk away and try again later. He needs strictly held boundaries to keep him from using us to self-sabotage. No compromises.

"And I've already gotten Dan to agree to holding better boundaries, if he decides to continue his friendship with Price."

A pause. "Also, we should probably call him by his first name. Using last names only kind of serves to dehumanize him further, which is the opposite of what we're trying to do."

Elle has been spending a lot of time thinking about what steps she should take to help Price-- Aiden-- out. She's just been waiting for the right time to implement them.

"Better define what sorta mistakes warrant walking away, then. I mean, most of them are obvious, but if we're gonna set boundaries then we better make sure eeryone's on the same page on that"

Feels a little like trying to train an animal, all things considered. Unfortunate, but if it's that's what needs to be done...Filbo is kind of okay with doing something perhaps he shouldn't as long as it's not lawbreaking, until someone else points out perhaps it shouldn't be done, so he's all for this.

Edited 2022-03-31 23:11 (UTC)

"I'm not against using some system like that at some point, but I think we oughta take it slow. Get his permission, then maybe like... not quite so hard as that like, that's sorta disciplinarian?" Saturday frowns. "It'd be better to explain like, hey, that was fucked up, this is why, don't do it again. Then get into strikes an' such if it just keeps happening."

She shakes her head.

"But also, I think the first thing we do is get his permission and bring him onboard. If that's our plan? Then we can just ask him things like, would he rather be Aiden, or Price, or something else? How would he feel about this, what support does he think would be useful - I mean, shit, we're all pretty sure he doesn't even understand that there is anything wrong with him, much less what it is. This is gonna be slow going, an' we might not ever be able to do more'n palliative care." A snort. "Maybe we oughta bring in that Doctor Kent guy. If we think we can trust him."

CT manages to muster enough to give Elle a smile, at least, and a nod; it's true, she shouldn't even if she could handle it.

"I'm definitely not a good judge on that, my inclination to trust any mental health professional is... not high, after Price. He might be perfectly fine, and he answered Stacia's questions well, but..." She shakes her head. She honestly does need proper therapy herself, she knows that, but it'll take her a long, long time to come around to the idea of actually going to one. "So I'll leave that choice up to you guys."

"Here's the thing. The boundaries aren't only for our safety, they're for his. I honestly feel like it should be the other way around, more strict boundaries in the beginning then loosen them later. But that depends on our focus. Is our priority addressing his mental health or the him as a potential threat to himself and others? Because if it's the latter, we establish boundaries and get him performing appropriate behavior before he internalizes it, or the other way around.

"Without clearly set, consistent, and firmly enforced boundaries he's going to continue not to understand why people respond negatively to his behavior. I'm not saying we punish him, I'm saying we give him a tangible, non-destructive and non-judgmental consequence for his actions. Then we can try again later.

"Obviously if circumstances require something different then we can make that call, but I'm pushing for this because I think it's a good idea. He needs structure and boundaries and we need to maintain them."

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