video - open to both courts

[kilimanjaro]

[The feed comes on sideways, and gives a good view of a big black nose. Bryndis, loyal to her master, has found some way to turn on Kìli’s dropped locket. There’s a brief snuffle from the pup and she draws back to her master’s side, who is lying on the ground with his eyes closed, looking half-beaten and certainly nowhere near sober. He is apparently completely unaware of the locket being on and is slurring out words in a mixture of English and his own native tongue. There’s a nice cut down his forehead, blood trickling down into a black eye, but he’s too gone to care.]

Thatrulkhud fandùna, bunmel, ulnas... She’s gone, Bryn, she’s gone... [He curls in on himself, giving a small little whimper. His fingers curl into the dirt.] I am makarfûn. Mahal, I...this is...this is... kherkhar.

[The pup whines, sitting down beside him. Kìli reaches for her, one hand stroking her fur before pausing in her scruff and tightening there.] Zusul, Bryndis. I...I thought...I thought she was my sabrel, that I could...ihrêr.

[The direwolf pup shifts, her wagging tail hitting the locket and sending it skidding another direction as she comes closer to comfort her master.]

Comments

action; saying this is after he gets back from Legolas?

[gloinul]

[Only one thing could get his cousin to be so miserable.

Tauriel must be gone.

Gimli sets aside his work and goes to find his cousin. It's not very hard to; he quietly starts to lift him up]

Up you come.

action; sounds good to me!

[kilimanjaro]

[Bryndis greets Gimli with relief and a happy, muffled woof, nosing into his hand as her tail wags. It's good to see she doesn't have to deal with this on her own. Kili, on the other hand, is as limp as a sack of potatoes. He's still conscious, the bleeding's stopped, but he's miserable and drunk and sore, still mumbling and crying to his pup and himself.

He lifts his head to see his cousin, but other than that, he'll neither hinder nor help Gimli get him up.]

Laznith...How many more? H-how many? Nadad next? You?

action;

[gloinul]

Hush. You are not in Erebor, cousin, nor in our rooms. Outsiders have already heard you speak too much of our language. Let's get you inside.

video.

[steeledskin]

[ she knows a direwolf pup when she sees on. how...curious.

but not half so curious as to why someone might be bruised and bloodied so. sansa hums her concern, and gropes for the right words. ]

Are you -- [ a pause. ] What happened?

[ he's half a stranger to her, but it's the pup that keeps her attention and makes her want to speak out. ]

audio

[kilimanjaro]

[The video is turned off, and it's a bit before he responds, settled and a bit more sobered up.]

Fine. Got in a fight. My ah...my direwolf figured out how to turn on my locket to get me help but I'm fine now.

[He's embarrassed now at how much of his native tongue everyone must have heard... Thorin would skin him alive if he knew.]

audio

[steeledskin]

[ soft and sentimental: ] They are very clever creatures in that regard.

video »

[burping]

[ she does not know the language he moves in and out of but only that this man is clearly in pain and injured. her mouth twisting as she speaks.] Are you... do you need help?

audio; aaah mithian :3333

[kilimanjaro]

[It takes time for him to respond, time for his cousin to get him off the streets and calmed down. Embarrassed by how much everyone had seen, by how...vulnerable he had been, Kili's sheepish, his tone a bit short.]

No. [A short pause.] My...my cousin and brother found me. But, thank you for the concern. [He should probably...yeah. thank her.]

audio; :D :D :D

[burping]

[ she understands his embarrassment and why his tone is clipped. she intends on being compassionate and not pushing the subject upon him.] I am sorry for whatever loss you have suffered.

Video

[sculptor_of_aman]

I remember you. You were seeking Tauriel, and that's how you found me.

I... I am sorry. She will be second in my commission, preceded only by my flesh-and-blood child.

Video

[kilimanjaro]

[He allows video if only because Nerdanel makes him feel a little more...comforted and he's not sure why. He's back in his rooms now, Bryndis curled up in his lap and snuggled close. Kili still looks a bit worse for the wear, but that's not something that's going to be fixed right away.]

Lady Nerdanel. [He inclines his head briefly to her.]

Video

[sculptor_of_aman]

[A dismissive gesture.]

My father is a smith. I ask for no titles, Ancalimon Aulion.

She was almost as a daughter to me. I will treasure her memory and her portrait will be one of love and laughter. If you would be kind to share your memories of her with me, I will tint it with your love for her, so all may know what she meant to you, and the price of the loss we feel.

video;

[desperate_times]

Ah.. I'd ask if you're alright but.. well.

audio

[kilimanjaro]

[It takes a while but Kili finally responds, just audio.]

Yeah. I'm fine.

audio

[desperate_times]

Sure you are.

I've said the same thing plenty of times. It's not that convincing, mate.

{Video} - Finally fixed! Sorry for the wait. <3

[rangerandking]

Kili... Who has returned home? {The broken words concern him and he finds a quiet place to focus solely on the Dwarf through the Locket.} Distance has not changed what transpired between you.

video - no worries! I've been crazy busy lately anyway

[kilimanjaro]

[For Isildur's heir, Kili can afford video. He still looks a wreck, though moderately better than before. Less bloody, anyway. His pup is curled up in his lap and he looks more exhausted than anything.]

An elf-maiden, Tauriel. [It must sound strange, a dwarf lamenting an elf.] We were...friends. [To put it mildly.]

video

[silvergift]

Kili...

[It's a familiar sight, his pain. Even with the scattered languages, she recognizes what's happened. Her hand moves to Elrond's shard unconsciously, perfectly aware of how much he's hurting right now.]

video

[kilimanjaro]

[He doesn't respond until later, once he's cleaned up and curled up with Bryndis.]

...I am sorry you had to see that.

video

[silvergift]

There is nothing to apologize for. You are hurting and clearly your pup thought you in need of another friend. [She gives him a little sympathetic smile.]

video;

[liven]

[ Shijima is probably going to break the chain of concern, here. She shouldn't even reply: she's terrible with people and has before told a dying person to prove they're alive, to her. A "rough manner" indeed; Kouichi hadn't been wrong, there. Now, she's just peering at the locket curiously, brow furrowed. ]

More than half of that made no sense, you know. If you plan to make a scene, at least bother to do it in the common human tongue.

[ #tact

that's a lie she has nothing approaching that on a usual day to day basis...cats don't need tact ]

audio

[kilimanjaro]

[Kili replies some time later, voice sounding tired and rather defeated.]

It was unintentional. My direwolf turned it on.

[liven]

[ She'll switch to audio just to match. ]

One of those things. Well, fine. Translate all the things you said, though.

[ He probably won't agree to that, Shijima. ]

video »

[firith]

[ He has no real idea what has transpired, or with whom, until he browses the broadcasts's replies and notices Nerdanel mentioning Kili being Elf-touched and has to wonder where Tauriel has gotten to. The idea of she and Thorin's nephew being involved, as the drunken, miserable dwarf's condition seems to suggest (heartbroken) is an odd one, truth be told, but Thranduil ...

Thranduil feels responsible in some way, though he knew Tauriel but little, the Silvan who claimed he had raised her as his ward for six centuries. She was of Mirkwood, and he is responsible for everything she does, whether their lives in Middle-Earth differed or not. ]

I believe there are different versions of every world, every eventuality, since coming here. Tauriel has never existed for me, I knew nothing of her until she informed me she was the captain of my guard; quite simply, she seemed to hail from an altogether mirror-image of the reality I knew. I concluded that if she knew me and I did not know her, then there must have been another Elvenking to whom she was pledged.

[ He glances up at Kili through the lockets. ]

Perhaps she has simply returned home to the you who awaits her there, to be with him as she was meant to.

[ Which still hurts, but it is a lesser pain. ]

video »

[kilimanjaro]

[the words are...surprisingly, almost comforting. Kili stares down at his hands and takes a deep breath before nodding slowly.

(Though with that in mind, was it another Elvenking that threw the Company in his dungeons? Something to think about later, perhaps. Right now he has other things to mull over.)

He's looking a bit better, the wound on his head cleaned up and he's sobered up enough for conversation. Kili licks his lips before finally looking at the locket.]

I...I hope that is true.