otherwordly meme.

[sockerball]

Otherwordly Meme

Sometimes all you need is a word to spark off an idea.

1. Post a comment with your character's name, canon, and any preferences you may have (no shipping, no smut, etc.)

2. Leave the comment blank or post a word or two in the body.

It may also help if you list scenarios you would like to play.

3. Reply to other people, either with words you picked out, or words they posted as prompts for a thread.

( A cleanup of the previous Otherwordly Meme. )

Comments

[malur]

{ ooc: I figured Thorin would have more a reason for this than Vali would, so however you want to take it is fine with me!

[goldsickness]

[ It has been decades since then, and Thorin still wakes in the night, when he sleeps at all, with the smell of blood and death filling his nose, with the image of the head of his grandfather rolling down to his feet, the voice of his brother in the last choked cry he let out, in panic and horror that is due to a dwarf not yet grown, ringing in his ears still. He should hardly cling to memories of Azanulbizar, but it is beyond his control. People look to him for any hint of leadership, yet he has days that wherever he looks, all he sees is fear, doubt, questions, not as much in others as he does in himself.

Perhaps there is something wrong in wanting solitude, in wishing to be away from one's family and people. Thorin wonders if he ought to reprimand himself for it, yet he seeks the quiet despite of that hindering feeling that he should not keep apart for so long, that he has duties and matters to tend to, that he has the people to look after. Dís has a child now, and she expects another, and still Thorin seeks hours away from Fíli, who before he could even talk properly already ran around yielding a branch like a shield.

He has not gone too far; he never does. It is only over the mountain that he rests, his pony some good feet away from him, munching idly on grass, as Thorin overlooks the mountainside and the forest and plains that follow, a small village just at the end of the road that cuts through the trees. He does not expect company, yet he would not be surprised if someone came to look for him. It would not be the first time.]

[malur]

[Tonight had been his turn to see Fíli to bed, to let Dís to bed early because it was only fair; it was the first night he himself had been home early to see his son before bed. And yet the lad had difficulty sleeping, waking up in worry that his father would be away again. So Váli stayed propped up against his son's headboard, running a hand over the short blond locks and lowly singing songs until he was sure his boy had drifted off. In truth, he's sure now that everyone in this house is asleep except for him.

Except for as he's heading for his own bed, he hears someone wake and it has him pausing. Váli's heard from Dís and a few others that sometimes Thorin sneaks off in the middle of the night but he's never seen it. And given all his family had been through, even if he only is a brother through marriage, it's easy for him to justify missing more sleep to make sure everything is well. Váli doesn't bother taking a pony—too noisy for tailing—and follows behind Thorin on foot just far enough where he wouldn't be heard.

And as soon as Thorin stopped he stopped, taking cover behind a tree to observe for a few minutes. In that short time he's come to realize why Thorin's here and that he's most likely, albeit unknown to one of them, intruding. Váli can't imagine being in his brother-in-law's shoes, can't imagine the weight on his shoulders, the stares of people looking for guidance. He doesn't imagine the elder would want attention at the moment, nor company for that matter, but he can't help but think he shouldn't be enjoying the night's quiet without a drink—something even Mahal knows he deserves.

It takes time to head back home to get what he needs, shooing away some of the other dwarves who sought Thorin out on the way, though when he returns to that spot on the mountain he has with him a leather canteen. Although he's not intentionally quiet on his approach, Váli clears his throat lightly when he's not but a few steps from the other, offering up the sloshing pouch.] Thought you might like some ale to relax with, keep you company.

[goldsickness]

[The sounds of the mountain and the forest are known to Thorin as the back of his own hand by now. Often times he can tell when the sound of twigs breaking is not a wild animal but the deliberate stepping of someone as they come closer. He would know if someone were to try to sneak up on him, at least if they were dwarves. Which, in this area, were the only ones that roamed the grounds.

The first time he does not hear Váli. He is never close enough for Thorin to notice anything, and not even the pony reacts to the approach as he normally would. In the quiet, he lets himself slip into his own thoughts, quiet but to him, wafting up into the night air like the curling smoke of a pipe, distant but also all around like every minute hoot of an owl, or the faint swooshing sound of breeze gracing the grass.

He is in such a state of absentmindedness that when a throat is cleared behind him, he all but jumps to his feet in surprise, a hand reaching for a dagger to his side before he even thinks better of it. Only when he turns, already halfway up to a standing position, does he notice who it is, and he relaxes once again, sitting back down on the broken tree log.]

Mahal's name, Váli. [There is a sigh of relief, accompanied with half a smile that is entirely unintended, but not fought to be kept hidden.] How did you even find me?

[malur]

[They've had their differences. They came from two different classes, they have slightly differing beliefs and they've certainly overcome mountains since Váli's innocent bumping into with Dís became an attempt at courting her. All in all, what with a marriage, a cross-country journey and soon to be two children between then and now, he'd thought they'd gotten past the pulling daggers on each other part of their relationship.

The surprise that plays across the blond's face disagrees with that impression. Hands raised quickly to prove he was of no harm, even if the panic of seeing the eldest Durin spin and reach for a weapon only lasted for a moment. He's thankful the pouch has a strap on it and even more so for Thorin's sigh and part smile, which has his own grin forming with some airy laughter.]

Never that difficult to track someone's pony. Easier still to find them when they make no attempt to move. [His tone, like most times, is teasing. Though there's a softness to his voice as if to respect the quiet of the night—the reason Thorin sought this place out.] Then again, following someone out of your house usually does the trick.

[goldsickness]

[ It is clear that Thorin was not expecting it to be Váli approaching. Though frankly he should have known it would have been one of his folk, and therefore he had no reason to draw his weapon, but he was not entirely aware of his surroundings and acted on instinct when he heard the steps. It is better to be safe than sorry, after all, if it should be a wild animal trying its luck in making dinner out of the dwarf.

Thorin knows he is hardly the most pleasant of people, and he remembers still how his relationship with Váli had been strained in the beginning, to put it very mildly. The fact they were from entirely different classes had not bothered him as much as the other dwarf perhaps thinks. It would have made little difference even if Váli had been from noble line or even a prince, because Dís was his precious little sister and as far as Thorin was concerned, there was no dwarf worthy of her.

But he does not think so now, as many years have passed, and many things have changed. Thorin muses sometimes, how so stubbornly he had opposed it at first, then decided to never even trust him to begin with, but now he considers him as more than a friend - he sees him as family.]

Have you no better things to do than follow me in the dead of night? [ He arches an eyebrow but there is no annoyance to his voice, just a mere hint of amusement. He gestures to a spot on the log next to him, his word a command but with the lightness of an invitation. ] Sit.

[malur]

[Of course Váli knows they're much better than they were when they started off. He's honestly grateful because as much as he loved Dís he adored her brothers just as much. His own family was always smaller in comparison. He never knew his mother, she passed away after giving birth to him. His sister, who was thirteen years his elder, died when he was ten. Just a few years later Erebor was taken from them and his father, worn and tired from it all, died in battle when they tried taking back Moria. Váli had no uncles or aunts—he the was last of his line.

So to interact with the family of the darling dwarf he fell in love with had always made him happy because he missed his own family, because he had long since envied the Durins for the strong sense of honor and kin they had. Not a day passes him where he doesn't count his stars that he can call Thorin his brother—his family. And he would have been lying if he said he didn't entertain the absurd idea of being his brother long before he even married Dís.

Váli also knows the other was just startled, that he didn't mean it as something personal. He was being quiet after all. And for all his years of knowing Thorin, he can pick out that amusement and muster up a grin of his own at it. He doesn't need to be asked twice to have a seat, though there is a small hesitating hitch in his step as he starts to walk.] Well, I had the faint idea that maybe tonight I would sleep, [The blond admits with a heavy sigh as he eases himself on the log, looking out over the ridge.]

But after I finally managed to get Fíli to sleep and saw you leaving in the dead of night, I thought maybe I should check to see if all was well with my brother. [The nod is light as he gives a gentle roll of his wrist before continuing.] When I saw you came to sit and relax I felt like a fool—went back to the house and brought you this. [For a second time Váli offers Thorin the canteen of ale, untwisting the strap from his wrist.]

[goldsickness]

[ Thorin had never quite imagined his own family to be enough to serve as surrogate for anyone else's. It is a line considered cursed by many, even now, grandfather dying as consequence of the sickness that loomed upon their name, his father disappearing to Mahal knows where, most likely driven mad by the very same thing. Sometimes Thorin remembers nothing but suffering and loss, the overwhelming pain of having seen his brother's body cold and bloodied at his feet, feeling smaller than ever when Thorin fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around him.

He remembers it now still, how the battlefield was such a pile of corpses that by the time Frerin had been found, days had gone past, and he carried in him the smell Thorin recalled no longer, his scent only of death and rotting flesh, goblin blood and sweat. He would like to say that other memories of Frerin - alive, happy, smiling - are the ones he falls back to most often, but he would be lying.

But he can recognize that many others have felt loss like he has, and if anything knowing Váli better had taught him just that. Neither of them could have offered all they had lost in the past, but it is clear now that in each other they had found pieces to at least fill some of the voids. ]

You ought to have gone to bed. [ He arches his eyebrows but his tone is far from commanding, instead light and warm. He takes the canteen, opening it as he adds before taking a gulp from it. ] Any moment you have to rest you should take it. Not many chances will present themselves while Fíli is awake.

[malur]

[Váli doesn't doubt like most. He believes in others, believes in family and love and above all believes those two things can save someone from even the most cursed sickness. The way he saw it Thorin was not like his father, not like his grandfather. He recalls nights he spent with Dís after battles, when she tended his wounds, how she told him about the strain her remaining brother carried with him. It was then he decided Thorin was not like his predecessors.

Equally, he knows he is no replacement for Frerin; he would be a fool to think such. But a little brother he is still, and in his once small family Váli had learned support didn't just trickle down. Even when it felt like Thorin wouldn't let him get more than a foot in the door in regards to that, never once did he falter on giving the elder his support. Because no matter the pain they felt from loss they needed more than that--needed to believe they could go on.

But support just wasn't for devastating times like war and loss, it was just as well for times like these when things were quiet and still. Váli sees the stress Thorin is put through, and he mediates the best he can so that his brother can be as efficient as he can. So he understands how essential this time to his brother is, so that he might actually relax, and to be allowed into that space isn't wasted on him.]

Ah, what is a little longer without sleep? [Nothing he couldn't handle. He felt a lot like when Fíli was first born, which meant he was just preparing for the little one on the way.] For as young as he is, he knows how to read someone. And he likes naps, bless him; I doubt he will mind my being tired much.