video. open to both courts.

[orcsurfing]

[ Legolas has waited several hours to make this announcement. Grieving, weeping with quiet tears for the half of it, gathering composure and thoughts for the other. He still hardly feels the strength needed to say what he has to say, hardly feels himself having the competence, yet it must be said and he makes a good show for it.

His shoulders squared, head held high no matter the shame he still carries with his hair cut short as it is, his face seems carved out of stone into an expression of firm neutrality, yet not without the soft edges of gentleness. What suffering there is is hidden deeply and out of view. The light in his eyes has dimmed, and with the usual cheer and laughter missing from the picture he makes, his presence seems hollow.

A shadow of his usual self, yet he holds himself together all the same. The Prince he should be, his father's son though not once in his life has he been truly prepared to take over his father's role.

He never wanted to either and especially not like this. ]

Elvenking Thranduil has vanished from this world, leaving behind his shard.

[ His lip doesn't tremble, there is no pause, his voice is even. ]

What he has set out to do, I will carry out in time. 'tis a promise to the shard-holders and the natives of the Drabwurld alike. What begs to be repeat now, with my own voice, with my own words, is that I have forsworn all allegiance with either Court and I will build a home for all who wish not to be drawn into the madness of this foolish war.

[ Time for play is over, time for growing up at last has just begun. He takes no title, names himself no Prince nor King nor anything much really. ]

Those who had unfinished business with him are welcome to bring it to me, his son Legolas Thranduilion.

[ A beat of a pause then in a tone far gentler, yet at the same time tired, he adds. ]

And to those who are to partake in the upcoming battle, I wish you luck.

[ Be safe, he wishes he could say, but the words get stuck in his throat. Then mimicking his father's attitude, he shuts the locket without another word.

In what little time he was speaking the sharp edges of the shard in his hand cut through skin with the force of his hold on it, blood trickles down, painting red flowers on the floor, but he barely feels it. Body numbed to pain with the agony of the soul, he feels himself cracking and crumbling and shattering all over again. What strength that returned over the weeks spent at the Station, seems to be now fizzling out with every quiet breath.

He feels more alone than he has felt in all his life, not knowing if he'll ever see his father ever again. Not even knowing what has happened, in truth, just that today he was simply gone and on bed there lay a shard.

This isn't Arda, this is Drabwurld, will they ever see each other at Aman again? Or has he lost his father for all the rest of his life? ]

( ooc: there'll be a delay before he begins responding and all responses to this post will be in voice only. Thrandaddy is gone, babyleaf's gotta grow up asap and pull his act together. :c )

Comments

video.

[brainiest]

Are you at the Station?

voice.

[orcsurfing]

Yes. For a time still, I will remain.

[ This was too sudden. He knows what his father's plans were, they were not intending to stay much longer at the Station, but he's too shaken to really decide much of anything for now. ]

voice.

[brainiest]

I'm coming to see you, okay? I mean, if you really don't want me to then I won't, but -- I'd like to.

Video.

[amplified]

Where are you? ( Lydia doesn't like seeing him distraught, and he smacks of it even if he doesn't intend to. ) I'll come find you.

voice.

[orcsurfing]

[ It's hard to muster humour when he feels more like lying down never to rise again than laughing, but he tries. ]

I am in a place of thunder and rain, you do not want to be by my side right now, Lydia.

[ Though his act apparently convinces no one. ]

But I am in my room, if you wish to find me.

Locked voice

[avisionofwar]

Uicalan!

[ It has the ring of a pet-name, but the cry overflows with grief and empathy. The voice that speaks it is rough and harshened by weariness. ]

Hold fast to your light and your spirit, Prince! The loss of a beloved father is far from unknown to me. Recall well all he wished for you, and though the weight is great and the way seems dark and full of trouble and pain, know that the stars shine ever on! And you may shine on with them, a token to your father's memory, an honour to him in all things.

Locked voice

[orcsurfing]

[ If there is one message that surprises him most of them all, it's this. That it comes in the first place, the content of it and the raw feeling behind it. Why, he wants to ask first and foremost, the first drop before an avalanche of more questions spills through to crush all uncertainties, wipe all confusion off his mind.

What he says in the end is different. He has but barely recovered, barely has the pieces been brought together, the cracks filled and the gold set, if you will, when another grief struck and threatened to shatter him. ]

I will not disappoint him, I never could bear that. This much you may be certain of.

[ With more conviction that he felt while addressing all the Seelie and Unseelie alike. Odd how strength comes from the most unexpected sources. And yet there is still a worry to confess and it slips past his lips before he may think better on it, before he realises who it is he's confessing this fear to. ]

Yet I fear... I may not see him again. He was ever the single one constant in all of my life.

[ Unchanging, unwavering, a pillar he could always count on, regardless of the time that passed between one time and another that they have seen each other or the space even as vast as the sea between Middle Earth and Aman that separated them. Knowing that Thranduil was out there was a comfort. This is different now.

Ah, but it catches on quickly enough what he said and to whom. Legolas says no more, all silent but for the sharp inhale of realisation. ]

voice

[kingsdaughter]

I'm sorry he's gone. He carried me to safety in his own arms, once. I wish there was something I could do, but if you need someone to listen, I'm very good at it.

[orcsurfing]

[ It surprises him none to hear that, in the end he was the one who knew his father best. He knew how deeply his kindness ran, no matter what many may have thought Thranduil was everything but that. ]

Father was kind and wise, and I hope that is what you will remember him by.

[ Calm and composed, all a feign with the greatest hope it'll become real. ]

There is no need for any others to bear my burdens, though it is kind of you to offer and I thank you all the same.

video

[walkingarsenal]

[What does it mean when people brought here disappear without warning? When a shard is left behind?

But it seems clear despite his manner, or perhaps because of it, what this particular disappearance means for Legolas.]

We've had thoughts not unlike yours and your father's. [Legolas has allies here, Fíli tries to remind, friends -- no doubt many.]

voice.

[orcsurfing]

[ It means death to him, it means punishment. (And he is wary, so wary to be tempting fate just so, or perhaps it's all on purpose.) He doesn't know what to think, but such reminders - that he is not alone - are precious, though not ever will anything replace his father to him. Not after all that they have lived through together. ]

It gladdens my heart to know that you will not throw yourselves into this war.

[ Because he wants them to live, though this world is not their home. ]

[Voice | Private]

[fell_to_hell]

[Nico has only spoken briefly to Legolas once before, but his heart does go out to him. He knows what it's like to have family abruptly torn away from his life. He doesn't plan on talking to anyone, though...he thinks that he can make an exception. His voice is hesitant, like he's not sure this is going to help at all or just make matters worse.]

I, uh...I don't know how souls work for elves, but I think I can sense them if they...leave their bodies.

[So awkward, but he pushes through.]

I didn't feel anything like that, and neither did I get that feeling when a human from my world left.

[The demigod hesitates again.]

...I'm sorry for your loss, anyway. It's...never easy.

[Voice | Private]

[orcsurfing]

[ In truth, Legolas himself is not the most knowledgeable in the matter, especially not here in Drabwurld. Their souls were bound to Arda, the bodies may die, their souls may remain in the Halls of Waiting, but they can return and take up a physical body all over again after a time.

Still, these are reassuring words for an elven soul does leave the physical body when it cannot sustain it or heal it anymore. ]

Thank you, for to hear that is a great relief.

[ And oh is his voice ripe with gratitude, that with the next question slowly morphs into concern. ]

Do... you feel all those who pass, no matter the distance?

video; private

[boutant]

I'm sorry.

[ She is, too -- Thranduil had seemed to be a good man (well, elf), when they'd spoken. ]

When you're ready, if you haven't already spoken to him, you should talk to Waver Velvet.

voice; private

[orcsurfing]

[ He knows he'll be hearing that phrase a lot in the upcoming days and it's tiring, but at the same time he knows all too well why they say it, he understands so he cannot really be impatient with it. ]

I will seek him out then. Is there anything I ought to know before I do?

video;

[chromosomes]

Shit.

[ that just about sums it up ]

voice. private.

[orcsurfing]

[ It... really does. And this conversation Legolas locks to private and his voice cracks, just a little, the composure breaking along the lines where it has been but barely put together. ]

He was gone this morning, where I had last seen him the shard. No blood, no message. Perhaps this is the punishment for refusing allegiance to the Seelie Court.

[ And perhaps he had done it himself to... follow. ]

video;

[digophelia]

[ He has the same features of him, from the little memory Alice remembers of him. He has to be his son, surely? She knows that the elves here are very, very old. ]

I am sorry to hear that, sir, but take solace he is where he should be.

voice.

[orcsurfing]

[ Where he should be, the thought makes him uncomfortable, because there is no certainty. ]

What certainty do we have, though?

video

[inafadingcrown]

I offered your father my aid in whatever manner he should require it. My pledge to you is no different.

voice.

[orcsurfing]

Thank you, my Lady. Your aid will be most valuable, as it has always been, and to know that I have it is a great relief.

video;

[goldsickness]

[ There is not much Thorin can say to this announcement. He'll not spare condolences, neither any comfort or even a kind word. The most he can offer is a softer tone, quieter when he asks, though still just as solid as usual. ]

This world is large enough. Yet, you are certain he is gone?

voice.

[orcsurfing]

[ There are many different ideas about what may have happened, most say he has gone home, Legolas himself... he will cling to that hope, that this is exactly what has happened, yet... it's faint and barely there. ]

Why else would I find a shard in our room? When the last we have spoken this morning he was right there and content to remain at the Station for a time still. He would not... leave [ me behind ] of his own will.

action.

[illuminating]

[ A lot surprises her, even her guard can be knocked down, but little does much to shock her. Hearing of this does just that. She hasn't the shard, and she can still smell the Elvenking, so nothing had felt particularly amiss to her. If she still had a better view, or grasp, or sense of things, she wonders if she would have been able to predict it. Prepared both of them for it to happen.

It's not her place, is it? Sometimes, oftentimes, she can't help wanting to soften blows.

Not before much longer, twenty-minutes or so, he'll hear her descending the steps to the lower section of the Station to come seeking him. Or, she assumes he'll be down here. Weren't father and son resting below before? If she does find him here, without any sort of projection, she'll merely approach to place her weight against his side, or drop her heavy head onto his shoulder.

If she can't, then back up the stairs she'll go, quickly, and she'll be trotting with keen determination all over the Station until she's finally found him. ]

[orcsurfing]

[ Easily she will find him, because he is right there where she first seeks him out. The dryads posed as guards easily let her in by now as well, cooing and ever glad for someone to come to cheer up the one they consider a brother. They too tried, and in some extent they too succeeded, yet there's still a long way to come from the lingering thought he has lost his father to punishment from the Courts and to accepting the fact.

If it's something he'd be able to accept at all. The locket as it chimes and chimes time and again he ignores, but the white wolf that comes and presses into him with great familiarity now, he cannot and would not ever ignore.

Without a word he buries his face in Amaterasu's coat, though no more tears fall, his face is scrunched up, mouth crimping, eyebrows drawing together in a frown. There are others here, of course there are, and friends good and dear to him by now, yet this is different. When he came he never expected matters to be quite this complex, this uncertain, this random. Legolas doesn't know when he will return, or if he ever will, in truth. He can be strong and hold on to the hope, because dying is the last thing on his mind now, not after the promise he's made.

He has been touched by war and cruelty in many ways, yet in this, with this, his father has ever treated him with great gentleness and care, spoiled him nearly with his constant presence much like a safe haven for Legolas at all times. ]

Thank you.

[ For coming, for being here. ]