bakerstreet | (no subject)

the USERNAME meme

Journal names. They're something we all think about, and that we often try to make as fittingly torturous to our characters as possible. Isn't it nice that our characters never have to know they're wandering around with that horrible label attached to them?

...wouldn't it be fun if they did?

RULES

1 Your character is communicating with others through a journal community, just like how we're using them, and they are perfectly aware of that fact. Whether they think that's normal or not is totally up to you.

2 The also know that when they signed on to this community, they were automatically assigned a name that supposedly has something to do with their personality and/or history. They didn't have any say in what that name was going to be, they're just stuck with it.

3 Make a post with your character's reaction to seeing what their own username is. Do they think it fits? Do they hate it with a passion? Are they downright confused?

4 Comment to other people's posts with your character's reactions to everyone else's usernames. If they know the other character, they might have good reason to laugh at them or feel sorry for them. If they don't, this could lead to some pretty interesting first impressions, don't you think?

5 If you want to use a name that's different from your actual journal name, just mark that in your post. No need to create a whole new journal just to make your character's life worse for one meme. ;)

6 PROFIT!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Father...]

I don't believe it's referring to the carriageway to your residence.

[ Son!!! ]

. . . You don't?

[He's missed you.]

I may be mistaken, but it seems likely to refer to your path through life. Our family's path.

Not that your driveway isn't important, but it's not so well known.

[That was really a safety hazard though, wasn't it?]

[ Curufin has missed you, too! ]

Funny, I didn't think of that. [ Scratching his head. ]

You'd think that if my life was known in detail to this community's administrators, they'd know how many switchbacks there were in the roadway up to my front gate?

[ It totally was a safety hazard! There was a reason for the visitor's custom of blowing a horn down at the bottom of the road to signal the castle to send people out with torches to light the way? ]

You make a fair point. As I said, I could be wrong. It's not that it's not a notorious road.

[Far be it from him to deny his father pride in his difficult roadway. There are worse things to have pride in.]

From a defensive perspective, it was an excellent idea. In spite of the accidents.

[Eregion, in contrast, was not quite so challenging to enter.]

Oh well. I don't really think you're wrong. I was more notorious than the road was.

[ It's true that his father has pride in that difficult ramp of a road. He built the castle with his own hands and dug the roadway largely on his own. ]

[ He chuckles. ] It was, that's true. Nothing and no one could get up there unless we wanted them to. It was just. . . [ He wrinkles his nose. ] . . . the legitimate visitors and emissaries. It's a good thing we hadn't invented lawyers back then. We'd have got sued for negligence, for sure!

[ Curufin longs to visit Eregion as it was when Celebrimbor first established it and made that alliance with the Dwarves. Ah, if only they could turn back the clock! ]

I can't argue with that.

[Not that he means to bring up the issues he and his father had disagreed on.]

Yes, the problem was in letting your allies in. Maybe we could have invented a reliable, noncombustible light source to illuminate the way. The problem is that we'd only want those friendly to us to make use of it. Perhaps we could have given a catalyst to those we wanted to enter freely...

[Don't mind him, he's just thinking out possible solutions. But—there's really no way to fix the problems of the past.]

They would have been hesitant to sue our family, even if there were lawyers.

[Eregion was a fine place to visit, in its prime. If only so many things hadn't happened.]

No, I suppose you couldn't.

[ He wouldn't blame Celebrimbor if he did bring up the issues he and his father had disagreed on. Curufin has had time to think about those years, and being free of the Oath now, he has better ideas than he did then. ]

I like your thought! Maybe if we could have joined our efforts and summoned light from the sun and moon, we could have installed it in glass globes on poles, but used our arts to damp the light except when one of those catalysts was present. Were you thinking of a separate glass to contain a catalyst light?

[ Curufin doesn't mind him. Thinking about possible technical solutions is a smith thing, and certainly a Nolderin thing. They have that in common! ]

Perhaps so. We'd have perceived a lawsuit as a vicious attack and responded with a real attack. Well, you wouldn't have, but then, you were the sane one.

[ Eregion. . . so many things had happened to it, such as being destroyed by Sauron. Curufin desperately wishes he had been there to warn Celebrimbor in time. ]

Edited 2020-07-23 05:42 (UTC)

[It's really that he's not looking to relive arguments they had in the past. He already said his piece, then.]

It comes with being from such a renowned family.

[He had missed talking with his father about smithing, inventions, new innovations... There had been no shortage of smiths and other artisans to talk with in Gondolin and Eregion, but it really hadn't been the same as having his father with him. So he's glad to have this opportunity to talk with him again.]

Yes, that was my thought. Such light would shine without needing to be replenished, and without risk of fire or spark. It would probably have to be housed in a shell that could open and close, as such light would shine steadily. Yes, I was thinking of a separate glass or jewel as the catalyst—it could be activated by a specific spoken word, and that would open the lights.

[He nods at the comment about his sanity, as so many had feared the Sons of Fëanor in those days, many for valid reasons. His father and uncles had done terrible things, but he can understand to an extent, although he had never approved.]

Ah—there was great evil in the world in those days. Forces that could alter your mind and nature.

[The same kind of evil had destroyed Eregion, in the end. It's still difficult to think about.]