TEST DRIVE MEME

[fairyfoes]

TEST DRIVE MEME

Considering apping to EACHDRAIDH? Why not give the setting a test run here! OPTIONAL SCENARIOS 01. ARRIVING IN THE DRABWURLD. The Seelie and Unseelie courts welcome you with mirthful revelry and hearty food. After you have been briefed on your purpose here, you will find an endless feast and a night filled with entertainment to placate your concerns. Mingle with new arrivals, sneak down the castle halls and make sure your eyes are always on your glass; fairies and imps have no bias when it comes to tricks! 02. THE STATION. Looking for a little slice of home? The Station gives you all that and more. Take advantage of the wifi, have a cup of fairy-brewed coffee (the one they didn't spit in) or sit back and relax on the patio. You can even move your things into one of the available rooms! 03. WILDCARD. Your own scenario! Explore the Drabwurld or simply take advantage of your Locket!

Comments

Beleg Cuthalion | Tolkien's Legendarium | OTA

[beleg]

02. [The Station, a little slice of home? No, for Beleg this place was the furthest thing from it. From the odd lights overhead, the furnishings made of materials he had never seen before, the unfamiliar types drinks and food (though from the way most people are partaking of them freely he assumed they were safe to consume), and strange devices emitting light and noise nothing was familiar here. Not even the air was the same. He had been offered a room but as it was a tiny, cramped, and windowless space he had stayed out in the patio where the air was at least fresh and clean.

In his hands was what the locals called a tablet computer. Beleg turned it back and forth in his hands, upwards and downwards, a faintly puzzled expression on his face. A device created to access information and to communicate with others, they told him, but declined to explain how to use it when he asked for more information.]

[pterosaur]

[It may have been more familiar to Janine, but she wasn't in the body she'd had during the human era. Everything here was cramped. All the people were tiny, all the items moreso. Of course, she was rather large.

When she was human she was about fourteen, and so her 'voice' is young. Young, and inclined to sarcasm. Coming out onto the patio, air ruffling her furlike coat, she sees Beleg playing with a tablet and snorts. The hollow chamber in her beak makes it a rather resonant sound.]

:I can't believe that's really a computer. Pieces of glass? Really?:

[beleg]

[Beleg jumped up at the approach of the winged and furred bigger-than-him creature, his hands dropping the tablet onto the patio table and one hand going directly to the hilt of Anglachel sheathed at his side. The other people he'd seen inside the station was mostly his height and smaller but this one towered over him. And more importantly, they were humanoid. Still, Beleg answered carefully in a neutral tone, as Janine made no movement that looked like she was about to attack.]

That is what they tell me it is. I have no previous experience with it...

[Not entirely sure how to address this being in front of him, Beleg's voice trailed off.]

[pterosaur]

[It's not that Janine hasn't noticed the effect she has on people - quite as if they've never talked to psychic pterosaurs! - it's that she chooses to act like she hasn't noticed. All the better for coming off as aloof and casual.]

:The first computers were human, you know. Mostly women. They'd work in teams to solve math problems. Then people started making machines that do that, and a lot more... They used to be the size of rooms.:

[Under the 'sound' of her voice her body makes soft pterosaur noises, easily missed.]

[beleg]

[If asked, Beleg will answer truthfully that he has never talked to psychic ptesoaurs, much less seen one. Beleg's pose relaxes minutely, but his hand remains on the hilt of his sword as Janine continues 'speaking'.]

I have never seen or heard of such a thing. [There was a puzzled look in his eyes at the unfamiliar terms being thrown at him. Beleg also looks a bit distracted, hearing both pterosaur noises and a clear voice coming from the same body at the same time.]

[pterosaur]

:So you haven't. I don't know why that was ever a thing people did - astronomy, maybe. Or logistics.:

[Math was never her favorite topic, but Janine has a ridiculous memory for some things. She walks out farther onto the patio, as if completely unconcerned by his alarm.]

:Man, human things are small. I didn't realize I'd have trouble with doorways. What a shame, huh? It's more comfortable inside.:

[beleg]

[At over 6 foot, Beleg was taller than most humans. So he definitely agreed that human furniture was too small. Or at least, fitted him awkwardly. Janine he could not see fitting into them at all.

He kept a careful eye on her as she moved further out into the patio, and coincidentally closer to hi spot.]

I find I prefer the fresh air out here.

[pterosaur]

[She regards him with an expressionless red eye and resists the temptation to poke the little humanlike thing with the tip of her beak. Janine's not used to being in this body around humans and human things. She's a lot bigger than she'd assumed she was, back in the Cretaceous.]

:You'd sing a different tune if you ended up naked when winter starts. So. Why the station here?:

eeee beleg

[lastoftheline]

[Celebrimbor felt much as Beleg does, interest and curiosity chased right at the heels of his confusion and discomfort, and his fingers itched to pick apart the works that seem to be so commonplace and taken for granted.

He's making his way outside to the patio, wanting a little fresh air when he sees Beleg sitting off to the corner. Celebrimbor paused, then his eyes widened as he recognized the figure as another elf. There's no hesitation as he quickly strides over, a broad grin highlighting his features. Running a hand through his short-cropped hair, he halted in front of Beleg.]

Though your face is not familiar in the traditional sense, surely you are Sindarin. [His eyes travel over Beleg once more.]

hiiiii i hope i live up to your expectations

[beleg]

[Unlike Celebrimbor, he had never been interested in the hows or whys a tool worked. As long as it did what it was made to do, and did it well, that was all that mattered to Beleg. The tablet computer he was told was a useful tool, at least within the station.

Seeing the other elf approach, Beleg rose from his seat and dipped his head in greeting. One of the Noldo, he could tell though it was not one he knew. Not that he knew many in recent times, since King Thingol had refused to have dealings with them.]

I am. Beleg Cuthalion I am called. And you are Noldorin.

im sure you will! I've heard great things c:

[lastoftheline]

Beleg? [Celebrimbor's eyes widened and his head dipped down in a deep nod that was far more respectful than his previous abrupt greeting. Indeed it was a rarity for the Feanorian to show such deference to another. But he had heard of the exploits of Cuthalion, Thingol's greatest marchwarden, and the respect was wholly deserved.] I am honored to meet you.

[The grin faded from his face though and he paused the intial delight of simply seeing another elf draining away in the face of the complicated, bloody history of their two peoples. His voice drew tight, and uncomfortable,] And I'm Celebrimbor. Formerly [His chin jutted out defensively,] Of the House of Feanor.

you probably mixed me up with someone else. But thank you!

[beleg]

[With the name Feanor, Beleg stiffened as well. As with his King Elu Thingol, Beleg has no love for the Kinslayers. And that name... He remembered very well Lady Luthien's tale of her time in Nargothrond. But for a Noldor, especially one who had belonged to the proudest house of the Noldor to greet him with such respect was certainly not what he expected.]

I admit that this is the first I have heard of one who would leave that House. And that they would suffer someone to do so.

<3

[lastoftheline]

[Celebrimor's breath slowly trickled out with those words in a puff of air too harsh or bitter to ever be mistaken for a laugh.] I never said they sent me off with blessings. [The burst of pain as his father's knuckles, hardened by war slammed into his cheek was a memory outlined in fire, and his uncle's curses rang in his ears, echoing the in confines of his skull. Weak-willed ingrate! Spineless coward, useless trash. Traitor.

Traitor

Celebrimbor blinked, and shook his head a little, as if to clear his mind of the memories that on bad days dogged his footsteps. His features hardened.]

But they could hardly stop me without killing me. And even Celegorm couldn't stomach spilling the blood of a nephew. [The hard mask spasmed for a moment before Celebrimbor got himself back under control.]

<3

[beleg]

[And that reaction, the nonverbal cues coming from the other elf and not the words coming out of Celebrimbor's mouth are what convinces Beleg that Celembrimbor might be sincere about repudiating his family.]

I suppose even Kinslayers have their limits. [Beleg dips his head briefly. While he might prefer his own company most of the time, he had never been insensitive to others.] Your pardon for bringing up unpleasant memories.

Re: <3

[lastoftheline]

[Celebrimbor was still stiff, but he nods back, breath easing past his parted lips. Quietly,] It's all in the past now and I can't blame you for asking. [He licks at his lips, a faint bitter taste at the back of his throat that he forces himself to ignore. His eyes cast down on Beleg as the silence stretches, locking on the tablet.] Ah! [Something to break the silence at least. And change the subject.]

Have you figured out how to use it?

[lightcatcher]

[It's a strange place indeed, and Fëanor is no happier to be here than Beleg. But here he is, and for different reasons - his own quarters are spacious enough, but he's also the only one there and he is still hoping to find others from home. Specifically his sons, though he won't say no to knowing that anyone is here. Knowledge of such things is never wrong.

This is also the only reason why he approaches Beleg - he doesn't know him or his affiliations and doesn't think that he cares to, but it is easy enough to tell with a high probability that he would be one of the elder children left behind in Middle Earth, and if anyone is going to be able to reliably tell him if he has seen someone from either side of the ocean, it would be someone who comes from that world as well.

...His entry would be a lot more impressive if he was more used to escalators. Seriously though. But yeah, he'll put his full attention to getting up those moving stairs in one piece before looking around again to see if the Sindar is still where he saw him last.]

[beleg]

[That much he would agree with Feanor; having knowledge of people, of who and what they are likely to do or think is never wrong. Battles have been won or lost with less.

Whether he would share that knowledge with Feanor freely however, is a different story altogether.

Feanor's difficulties with the elevator drew Beleg's attention. Early today he got past the escalators simply by watching someone else go up first, then doing the same. Holding the tablet computer in one hand, Beleg approached the top of the elevators, looked down, and quirked one eyebrow up at the other elf.]

[lightcatcher]

[The look is returned only once Fëanor has unmoving ground under his feet again, because it is a bit like riding a horse for the first time - no matter how many times you have watched someone do it, and no matter how calm and predictable the horse, the movements of how to deal with it just aren't ingrained enough yet to use it with surety.

And the last thing that he wants to do is to stumble and fall.

Plus this way, when he acknowledges the other elf's presence, he has the advantage of height and can return the look from an at least slightly higher vantage point.]

Is it that this place is not as removed from Middle Earth as I would have thought, or are you as foreign to these lands as this place? [Because it's fairly obvious that whatever the "station" is, it's not native to these lands.]

[beleg]

[Being stared down at was nothing new to Beleg; Elu Thingol was taller than him.

His voice was coolly neutral as he answered Feanor. He had a good idea of who this haughty Noldor in front of him was. Angrod's tale of what had befallen the houses of Finarfin and Fingolfin had spread through the court of Menegroth and the House of Feanor had played no small part of those tales.]

I am as much of a native of these lands as you. As for this place, I hear from those who dwell here that this 'Staion' appeared here about a hundred years ago as it is. And those foreigners who found this place familiar they have made it their home. [Beelg could understand that. If he found a forest in this new world that reminded him of Doriath he would have made that place his home as well.]

[rapunzelf]

[She smiles when she sees him, dancing up more than walking - nearly all of her movements as as graceful as dance steps, just as nearly all of her words are as sweet as music. Lúthien lived a fairly sheltered life, surrounded by beauty and bringing it with her wherever she went. And she had wandered before, but never to anywhere that looks remotely like here.]

At last, a familiar face. I began to fear I had been lost in a land of only strangers.

[She hesitates, then.]

Or perhaps that might have been preferred.

[beleg]

[This is visible shock on Beleg's face as he sees Luthien approaching; after she and Beren removed to Tol Galen he'd never seen her again. He hurriedly got up from the chair he'd been gingerly perching on to give her a deep bow.]

My lady Luthien.

[He shook his head at her last sentence.]

Never that, my lady. I am well pleased to meet you again.

[rapunzelf]

[She smiles again, sweetly.]

And I you. I believe you should be more use than I in a war, though, if a war this truly is. I imagine I shall be left out of as much of it as I can manage.

[beleg]

Perhaps. [Beleg looks grim. For all his skill in war and healing he could not Turin any longer.]

But I think it is good for you stay away from this war they speak of, my lady, real or not. As for me, while one side calls me their liegeman, they have yet to earn it.

[rapunzelf]

Believe me, I have no real plans try fighting. I have no experience in combat and battle seems a poor time to make a beginning if it can be avoided. If not I shall do as I may, of course.

[beleg]

[There was relieved look in Beleg's eyes when he hears this.]

It lightens my heart to hear this, my lady. And I ask that should you have any need, that you call on me freely.