[video] Open to all (backdated to the 26th)

[tawarwaith]

[Tauriel's locket was off and propped up on something so that she could look and talk while she worked. Except she was not currently working, despite having a number of tools and materials arrayed out in front of her and a half finished arrow resting on the table before her. Her attention was off to one side where she was busily chiding something out of sight.]

--No! That is not a toy to play with! Come, give it to me.

[Off screen, there is a playful bark followed by a soft whine. I causes her to laugh softly as the whining continues. We will go soon, I promise. She then leans down then, retrieving a wooden dowel that may or may not have been very recently clamped in the teeth of a puppy and sets it off to one side with the rest of the unfinished materials. Successful, she turns her attention back to the arrow she is currently working on, still smiling and clearly amused.]

Hesitant as I am of the courts, especially that of the Unseelie, I currently cannot fault them for the gift they gave me in the form of my companion. Even if he was not quite what I was expecting.

[There is another bark, To which Tauriel chuckles again, once again setting the arrow aside so that she could pick up the locket in order to show off her companion: a puppy that was somewhere in between nine to ten weeks old which resembled in many ways a wolf cub.]

His name is Braig.

[Having shown him off, she changes the angle of the locket to once more show her face.]

The point of all this is that I have never before raised a hound and would appreciate it greatly if anyone could provide me with advice. As you can see he is spirited and already likes to get into trouble!

Comments

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[notavirtue]

[Javik just waited for her spit it out, assuming she was boggling at him like everyone else did. Not for the first time, he thought of switching to voice to talk to people, but he disliked hiding.]

An apt name, if you intend to tame it. By your people, you mean elves.

[These lockets weren't the best, but he was fairly certain he'd seen the ears.]

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[tawarwaith]

[Her ears are not exactly small, so it is very likely.]

Thank you, and yes to both. It is my desire to raise him and I am indeed an elf.

[By now, Tauriel is a touch more composed as she turns her attention away from Braig and back to him. Given the number of elves that were currently here in the Draubworld, she was not at all surprised that he recognized what she was.]

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[notavirtue]

Your kind has a connection with such beasts, I have seen. [Horses, mostly, but dogs counted, right?] I would not think you needed advice in raising them.

[He may or may not be snooping to see what that advice might be. The monarchs had fulfilled his request for a boon, but it turned out he didn't know the first thing about taking care of the things. The horse seemed easier.]

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[tawarwaith]

Yes we can speak with animals and share a bond with them, but that does not mean I know how to raise one! It is much like caring for a child. Even a parent asks for advice on how to best raise their offspring.

[And it was confession time for her.]

Perhaps when Mirkwood was younger I might have had more opportunity to create lasting bonds with creatures. But as I was growing up, things were steadily becoming less peaceful and so my skills naturally were more survival oriented.

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[notavirtue]

[He might argue about asking for advice, but held his tongue. Elves looked human, and had certain prothean traits, but the similarities didn't extend that far. Sharing knowledge wasn't as easy among other species as it was with his own.]

My people had no such bonds, save for consuming the wildlife we found. War was all we knew for many centuries. [He leaned over to mess with something out of sight, but was back a moment later.] The reliance on animals here is foreign to me.

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[tawarwaith]

We are no strangers to war ourselves, but we also have periods of prolonged peace as well. And our bond with animals and nature is something that was there with us from our earliest days, as far as I can recall. That does not mean that we do not hunt, for my people, the Silvan Elves enjoy greatly the hunt. We just respect the animal that is hunted and do not prolong it's suffering.

[She is used to his appearance by now, as much as she can be at least. He was strange, but civil and spoke well. That is enough for her.]

What did your people do then to move around vast distances or to hunt prey faster than yourself?

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[notavirtue]

[Maybe a long, long time ago his people had had that sort of connection, but he hadn't seen it even with his access to the memory shard. It probably predated that sort of technology, before they moved to consuming what they needed as an evolutionary prerogative.]

We evolved as hunters and predators, and cultivated our ability to sense even the smallest details in the environment through touch. [The four eyes, six nostrils and assorted sensory pits were certainly part of that. Thankfully, he had an impressive poker face, so Tauriel wouldn't have to worry about him suddenly licking an eyeball.] Eventually we utilized technology to enhance our talents, and found our place among the stars.

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[tawarwaith]

[Tauriel would be very grateful, to the very end of her long days even, if she never had to witness that. She however might be fascinated to learn that his people were apex predators more or less, even if that was not a term she was familiar with.]

What is it like among the stars? I can only ever imagine I am walking among them, sharing in their beauty. Oh, but to actually go there and walk among the creations of Elbereth Gilthoniel... that is a dream worthy of any Eldar!

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[notavirtue]

Cold and dark, with little and less between stars. Uninhabitable planets outnumber the garden worlds, and even there you will find plants and animals too dangerous to consider taming. In dark space there are nightmares you cannot imagine, until they are upon you.

[Dreams were best left to the young and the foolish. Maybe in another lifetime he could have admired the beauty the galaxy had to offer. Instead, he had known only war, and there was nothing to admire about it in the least.]

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[tawarwaith]

[That... sounded not at all like the stars the Eldar loved. Those stars served to instill hope and served as a memory of the past...]

Perhaps where you are from... I cannot think that true of the sky above me.

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[notavirtue]

Not so long ago monsters and shadows fell from the night sky. I do not think such things are exclusive to my place of origin.

[As far as he was concerned, this could still be a planet in someone unknown nebula in a tiny corner of the galaxy he knew. Being told the world was flat still didn't jive with him.]

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[tawarwaith]

I have yet to hear of a world that does not have monsters or other such dangers. Still that does not detract from the beauty of a place. It only means that you must vigilant.

[She really is beginning to think he doesn't know how to see the beauty in the stars.]

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[notavirtue]

Vigilance is a given. Admire what you wish at your own risk, though it is a waste of time.

[He really doesn't it, and no amount of elvish poetry was going to sway him otherwise. A tree almost ate him several months ago, so the scenery groundside wasn't any better.]

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[tawarwaith]

[Most elves would kindly ask the tree not to eat them.]

Is there anything then that you take joy in or find beautiful? Surely there must be something that inspire your people.

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[notavirtue]

[Thankfully Maglor was around to help, but fire solved the problem entirely.]

Nothing inspires the dead. [And he didn't like talking about himself, so this topic was going nowhere fast.] It does not matter, anyways. We cannot reach the stars here, and can only react to what comes out of them. What they look like is irrelevant.

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[tawarwaith]

Not true. [She did after all still have in her possession a star that she had quite literally plucked from the night sky. That had been a surreal moment.] We can touch the stars here... thought it was only once.

[Thinking of that star causes her to caress the pouch where it is currently hidden.]

I do not fear what comes from the stars, not when there are enough dangers here as is. Not when the very shadows themselves can become an enemy.

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[notavirtue]

That is not... [He shut his mouth, shaking his head instead of continuing. Reaching meant travelling between stars again, but he didn't think it worth correcting. He'd taken a star for himself, after all, so it wasn't like she was wrong.] Nevermind. My point is only that just because it is aesthetically pleasing does not mean it is safe. The stars are no different from the shadows.

[There was a noise, difficult to hear over the locket, that sounded like a low, rumbling growl. Javik shot a dark look towards something out of view, and it stopped. His boon might not be a puppy, but it was still going to make noise.]

[tawarwaith]

It was my hope that the stars would be safe, removed as they were from Morgoth's taint. However if I were to ever travel the stars, I will follow your advice and walk with caution in my step.

[ She tilted her head trying to identify the sound. ]

Do you have a pup given to you as well?

[notavirtue]

[He had no idea who or what Morgoth was, but made a mental note of it all the same. Species that were still planetbound came up with odd theories for invading alien life.]

No. They are full grown. [He probably should have specified a number, though at the time he didn't think the request would be fulfilled. Now, he had two adult varren to train.] They are... not like your beast.

[tawarwaith]

Did you receive a boon for a companion as well then? Or did you find creatures of your own?

[notavirtue]

My request was granted, yes. They are not native to this world.

[They were probably going to be an invasive species soon, though. He wasn't sure what the monarchs were thinking when they gifted him a breeding pair. Javik picked up the locket from wherever it was sitting, though he didn't aim the feed anywhere else.]

They are called varren, from the krogan homeworld of Tuchanka.

[tawarwaith]

I am impressed the Monarch thought to award you with two. What sort of creature are they-- that is what purpose do they serve?

[ She was curious now to know more about different animals and if she could possibly understand an animal not from Arda. Her guess was no, but it was still a fun concept to think of. ]

[notavirtue]

I have asked for very little, but they reward me beyond what I could have possibly earned. [He didn't sound happy about that, actually.] If they think it will make me think more favorably of them, they are wrong.

[He hesitated a moment, then turned the locket towards the floor. Both beasts turned their heads in unison when they realized someone was paying attention to them, and they were most definitely alien. Like dogs, they had four legs, a tail and hunting instincts, but that's where the similarities ended. They were more reptilian, with scales and large, pupil-less amber eyes. One was dark grey with a silver underbelly, the other red with copper. Even with their mouths closed, their large canines were visible.]

They serve many purposes. Companionship, war beasts, food. Here, they will serve me, as your... Braig should serve you.

[tawarwaith]

[ Wait they rewarded him more than what he was expecting, and he was grumpy about it?

And then she saw the alien dogs and suddenly understood why he might be less than grateful for their gifting. There is an audible gasp from her as she leans back from the locket. ]

They are like nothing I have ever seen before. Have you cared for such creatures before?

[ Where did you even begin? ]

[notavirtue]

[His default cruise control was grumpy, but he was more angry about the apparent attempt to woo him, rather than boon itself. He had asked specifically for varren. The locket was set back in front of him, but one of the varren stood up and stuck its face in his. He pushed it down with a grimace.]

I admit I have not. It seemed... simpler in theory.