THE LAST HOMELY HOUSE ※ RIVENDELL ※ LOG 2

[wildermods]

THE LAST HOMELY HOUSE
OOC POST
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 at the end of that week, there will be a great Council, with representatives of several peoples in attendance.

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.

The most notable part of Rivendell is the Hall of Fire, a great feast hall where people can eat, drink, and be merry. 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, 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.

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. The 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.

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, lest decisions about their fate be made for them.

---

NOTES
✦ Joint log: Since this camp period won't be particularly long, everything will take place in a joint log. Players can post starters with prompts for others and tag into other players' prompts.

✦ Post in actionspam format. Plots and mod-run events in the game are meant to be in actionspam format to keep a brisk pace.

✦ 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.

✦ Fairy Swaps: The Elves may be slightly alarmed by the Brugh fairy swaps but get over it easily. However, if the character swapped in is one of the "dark" characters, the swap might be extra cause for alarm. (A potential prompt idea).

✦ Npcing: There will be two npc threads. The "Random Encounters" thread is for characters to have a totally random encounter with an npc. These npcs will be fellow travelers from lands beyond. While they can't give much information about the group's status as Chosen Ones (that will happen during the Council) they can provide info about events in the Wilderlands beyond that may come to affect the squad in their travels. The "Specific Requests" thread will be for more specific issues your character might want to discuss with the Elves. While they'll push any Chosen Ones discussion off to the Council, they're willing to discuss issues with the characters, like if they have questions about having received magic, about being bound to their weapons, etc. The Rivendell Elves have heard a lot of gossip from all over and can potentially provide info based on things they've heard.

✦ 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 since theirs are dirty and sometimes torn. Characters without appropriate travel 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.

Comments

[theincredibleherc]

[Herc's grip is strong, his hand heavily calloused from years of hard work. There's nothing for that, honestly. He's always been one to toil, and never cared much for skin care.]

It's nice to meet you Revan.

[And while he has her hand, he definitely stoops down to kiss it. Sorry, that's just how he rolls.]

Glad to know there are others here with combat training.

[greyerrant]

I meant no insult to your pride. I just wouldn't want you to be hurt or fall behind. Though I have learned something from Revan, recently. Anyone too far behind will be teleported back to us. So conceivably if you need to rest you could sit and wait until... ugh, you are magically pulled back.

[ He considers the statement about going off, and says. ]


Anger is hard to control. But I'll just say one thing, something that I've learned from hard experience. The angry swordsman is the one who loses the fight. Learn how to channel it into something better. Transcend it, if you can.

[ Loken is quiet after that, just happy to observe Dixon's creative endeavors, even if they aren't the best. }

[therevanchist]

[Jedi repression offers up a brief, doomed resistance to Revan's ego, and her smile starts to look more like a smirk as she lets Hercules kiss her hand.]

There aren't as many of us as I'd like, but the others will learn.

[That's not optimism. It's grim certainty. After the battle at Weathertop, she's sure anyone who doesn't take to combat is going to wind up dead.]

[theincredibleherc]

That they will.

[Herc lets her hand go, rolling his shoulders in a lazily arrogant way.]

I intend to try and teach. They would not be the first I've instructed, and that feels like a necessity to give them a fighting chance should they be separated.

[unsealthecatbox]

Ange Ushiromiya.

[She has grown more comfortable about introducing herself]

Nice to meet you, I guess. I don't think I have heard your name yet.

[unsealthecatbox]

I can tackle enemies, if that helps.

[That was just once and on Weathertop, Ange, don't act like you're an expert at that already]

[greyerrant]

It's a good ploy, but tends to be an all-in maneuver. If you close to grappling range, you're going for the complete victory, or possibly getting defeated as well. I myself tend to test an opponents defenses with a few jabs first.

[ He demonstrates with a little shadowboxing. ]

[unsealthecatbox]

Right...

[Imitation could be rather effective when it's about learning, Ange thinks. She has never thrown a punch in her life, so instead she squares herself in what she hopes is a sturdy enough position -- she looks like she's going to spring up at any moment to run away. Force of habit -- and throws the punches like Loken had done. Punch the air!]

It's going to be jabs alright.

[These punches aren't going to stun anyone, that's for sure. She lacks strength]

[greyerrant]

[ Well, maybe someone her own size. ]

You're holding yourself as though you're ready to retreat. It's one thing to be light on your feet when you are fighting, but make sure you have enough firmness in your stance to follow through with your body when you punch. It isn't just the arms, it's your whole body striking someone.

[ He demonstrates again, slowly. ]

[awfulcer]

[Dixon's about to make some comment about "oh, you know Revan?", except then what Loken says sinks in. Really sinks in.

Dixon throws his hands up hard enough that his pen flips out of his grip, claps against the wall behind him, and falls to the ground.]

Are you fucking kidding me. [It's not a question, just an expression of extreme exasperation. All those days of painful, humiliating dragging himself behind the others was completely unnecessary, and in a way that really, they all should have thought of before. Or at least told him. He makes another exasperated noise and recovers his pen, shooting Loken a little glare as if somehow this is his fault.

Loken goes on to give him advice that's very similar to what Revan told him, but unlike then, he does't want to hear it. Or maybe he just doesn't want to hear it from Loken.]

Good thing I ain't a swordsman, then. [Deflection, one of Dixon's like, three skills, up there with drinking and derailing perfectly good conversations.]

[awfulcer]

Yeah, it's got to be magic. I've never used one of these in my life and once I wake up here and put it on I know karate. [It is not karate.]

Yeah, I've considered that. [He gives Alacruun an annoyed look.] I just don't know if I'm going to get separated from it in a firefight. The last one was kind of chaotic. [Anita's fingers just straight-up disappeared, what the hell.]

[greyerrant]

No. I very rarely tell jokes. [ Loken of course assumed it was a question. ]

Good thing, yes. So what do you want to be, now that you're here?

[awfulcer]

That wasn't a- you know what, nevermind. [Fifty fucking miles of throwing his back out, sweating through his clothes, stopping to puke into bushes, wearing his boots into scraps and nearly losing his toenails, for fuck's sake.

Then Loken asks a question that Dixon doesn't have a quick answer to, but has a sincerely-held answer to. Dixon taps his pen against his lower lip, digging around inside for something to say, retrieving ideas and then discarding them as dishonest or incomplete, pausing way too long. He keeps coming back to the spaces between the words in his Chief's posthumous letter to him (he wishes he'd saved that letter from the fire instead of the case file). Chief Willoughby thought he saw something deep down and Dixon hopes it's actually there.]

I want to be a good man.

[awfulcer]

[It is straight-up disturbing to watch Phos move; the lizard part of Dixon's brain is put on high-alert because humans are supposed to move like that, and Phos is close enough to a human that it's an impossible image to shake. Close enough visually, anyway.]

Give me that, [Dixon snarls, calling the shield back, hoping it hurts as yanks away. It darts back to his hand; the way he jerks it back and flinches makes it clear that he still didn't catch it right and that it smarts like a bitch.] Don't think I won't try and get it to break you. It won't listen to you anyway.

[He sneers at the tendril.] Can you put those away?

[invisibleheir]

[ Arturia wants to help--she's the definition of uptight, though. Always standing straight (or sitting). Rarely slouches, always poised. She cocks an eyebrow at Dixon. ]

Not an entirely ineffective way of fighting I'm sure. It just seems to me that there may be more efficient methods.

[awfulcer]

Probably, but you work with what you got. And I don't really want both hands occupied. [It seems like it'd be a problem to have to keep holstering a sword or throwing the shield onto his back.] And I know it takes ages to really learn how to use a sword. I already know how to throw a punch.

[greyerrant]

Good answer. I'll do what I can to help. In the end... It's what I want too.

[ loken grins at Dixon. []

[easy_as_cake]

[Owing someone an apology and being upset with them are hardly mutually exclusive. She totally agrees apologies are owed, although maybe not all on his end. She's still a little upset, herself, honestly, but most of that is protectiveness over Harper. She's found herself a lot more protective over Harper since everything with the Magog, even if she won't tell him that. His ego might never go down.

Except that's not fair, but sometimes even Trance doesn't feel like being very fair.

As for Dixon... well, she doesn't know him quite well enough yet to be properly unfair, and he doesn't know her well enough to know she'd have stepped in no matter who Harper was arguing with, so. So yes, maybe it still hurts a little, but she'd rather move on than dwell on it.]

Maybe. If you want to. Apologies don't mean much unless you want to.

[She looks at the pictures more closely. As long as her tail is there, that's really the most important thing. Who doesn't wear multiple faces when it suits them? Although... maybe not so literally.]

I don't think it's that bad.

[easy_as_cake]

[Trance is halfway to sitting before the words make her pause, head tilted to one side, smile confused. Between the purple skin and the tail, she's been called a lot of things before, but...]

I don't think anyone's ever confused me for a sir before.

[unsealthecatbox]

Right.

[Someone who's always on the run is always ready to retreat, she hadn't even noticed she had such stance. Somewhat self-conscious, Ange tried to be firmer]

Here I go.

[Punch! She's firmer now. Someone like Loken could easily move her, but at least she's standing better now]

[easy_as_cake]

[It's a good white lie! All of Trance's white lies are good. She's just not prepared for what she's up against this time. It's not her fault. They don't exactly have Jedi where she's from.]

Isn't that for, like, hitting people and stuff? [Implied: there are no people here for hitting. Well, except Trance. Please don't hit her.]

[easy_as_cake]

[It certainly looks as risky as it sounds. It's a good thing life in space doesn't tend to lead to a fear of heights because Trance is leaning far enough over the balcony railing to be taking a few risks herself.

But it's also okay, because her tail is securely wrapped around the railing next to her. It won't let her fall, good tail that it is.

She has to lean over that far to be able to watch the person scaling the walls, which is honestly probably the most interesting thing that's happened today outside of the dwarven singing contest over breakfast. Rivendell is nice but it's not very interesting.

Once he gets close enough that she's pretty sure she won't startle him by talking, she goes up on her tip toes to lean just that little bit farther. To make sure he sees her, of course.]

Did you drop something?

[awfulcer]

I wouldn't offer it if I didn't mean it. [He chews his tongue a little, trying to tease through a few different strains of thought about how to explain things without flailing around for justification. He knows that's a losing battle. Aside from the initial snap at Harper, it's a losing battle with himself, because going off at the whole squad isn't something he's proud of or feels he can excuse.] It wasn't about you, for the record. I just...I had a temper since I was a kid and you were in the way.

[It still feels like an excuse. I have a temper like it's an immutable fact, but the truth is he feels like it is: a defect he can feel ashamed and responsible for but completely at the whim of.]

It's pretty bad. [He doesn't sound upset about it; this is one of those things he's very aware of. His art is shitty. It's not for anyone but him, so he doesn't really care. Trance does have a tail, though, so at least he got that. He gestures to another sheet of paper with various 'not quite stick figures but that's not necessarily an improvement' sketches.] I did one over there and it's a little better, but still not good.

[awfulcer]

[Dixon gives a tight nod. There's not quite a smile; it's almost like the idea has tired him out too much for that.]

Well, at least we got each other's backs in that.

[awfulcer]

[He wasn't expecting her to sit there in thought, and after a moment the silence becomes uncomfortable, and to do something he hucks the shield again. But he doesn't call it back yet. He hears it thunk into something in the trees.

Trust isn't something he has in people generally, but it's instinct for him to put it into the group. Police academy drilled a sense of following cohesion into him. If he can't trust the group here, he can't trust anyone.]

Hopefully I won't need you to. Wouldn't that be nice, none of us having to worry about ending up in a bodybag.