[ video ] open to both courts (backdated a week or so)

[knightspirit]

[ A video clicks on of a teenage boy. He looks a little worn out, almost making him appear older than he really is. When he speaks, his tone is brusque. ]

... Hey. If we haven't met, my name is Tsurugi Kyousuke. [ not one to spare words, he jumps straight into business: ] I recently learned something everyone should know.

You might know that people seem to disappear on occasion. Sometimes they leave their Shard behind. Sometimes we just can't seem to contact them. [ he pauses, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. ] Apparently, those people die. Or worse, they either get trapped between worlds, or forget everything and lose their forms. I'm told that while we're here we a thin connection to our worlds, and that connection can be lost forever.

[ It's probably clear enough why he looks so tired now. He's talked to a few people he can't seem to find anymore, and thinking that may have happened to them is ... unpleasant, to say the least. ]

I can't tell anyone what to do with all that, but I think that makes it clear enough that we need to find a solution instead of dragging out this war. We don't need to lose more people.

.... That's all I had to say.

[ the video cuts off abruptly. ]

Comments

[bythewaves]

You have a greater heart than I. [ Maglor sounds tired ]

Too much I have seen and too little I have found cause for hope or trust. Perhaps, perhaps... but I no longer have the strength to hope for it.

[knightspirit]

[ his tone grows a little sharper. ]

... So you're going to give up because it's hard?

[bythewaves]

Not quite. Say rather, I stand aside to let the young ones take their place on the road. I fade, I think Tsurugi. I do not know how much time I have left.

[knightspirit]

[ That.. gives the boy some pause. He isn't sure how to respond at first. After a while, he offers quietly yet firmly, ]

I knew a man who still kept trying to protect what he believed in even though he was sick and dying. ... It's never too late.

[bythewaves]

'To evil end shall all things turn that they begin well' [ Maglor quotes, the words echoing with the memory of the Doomsman's voice, the curse engraved on his very soul ]

So it was said of us, and so it has proven, even here. Better that I simply go, I think Tsurugi. To involve myself in any thing, it seems, is only to bring more grief.

[knightspirit]

And letting yourself be ruled by that isn't?

[ normally he wouldn't press so hard on something that's none of his business, but pressing on in the face of despair is both a complicated and sore subject for him. ]

[bythewaves]

Think you I have not tried, Tsurugi? Near one thousand years of the sun I have fought, and all that I have done has come to dust and ashes - my family slain, our kingdoms overthrown. Even our very Oath torments me. I cannot do this again.

[knightspirit]

[ all that comes out is a frustrated noise. he knows that feeling, of thinking sparing any effort on yourself will only be a fruitless effort, and that's why he also know there's nothing he can really say. ]

... Fine. I won't say anything more. But that doesn't mean I'm conceding.

[ in this case, he'll just have to show him he's wrong through the right results. that's all. ]

[bythewaves]

[ Over on his side a tired smile crosses Maglor's face but all he says is ]

I did not expect you too, Master Tsurugi. But I thank you all the same. May you have better fortune here than I.