video;

[draumstafir]

[ for those familiar with reynir by now, he's still got that generally friendly air about him with the video starts, though there's something around his eyes that gives him a slightly weary quality as well, if you're looking for it.

but then, everyone's been a bit stressed lately, which is rather the point of this post. ]

I guess there's a neat little, um, program I think it's called? On these bracelets that people have been using to share music and stuff from their home worlds, and I think that's really nice! Being able to learn about other worlds, other people's lives... it's really important some times to just take a moment and enjoy those things, don't you think?

I don't have any... copies or whatever of music from back home, but I wanted to share something anyway. To show my appreciation for all the new things people have told me about or shown me since I got here. So I thought I'd sing an old lullaby I grew up with!

[ reynir has a pretty average singing voice overall, though there's an androgynous quality to his tone as he sings a song first in icelandic and then in english: ]

Sleep my little love,
Outside the rain is weeping.
Mommy keeps watch over your gold,
Old leg bones and a little treasure chest.*
Let's not stay awake through dark nights.

There is much that darkness knows,
My mind is heavy.
Often I've seen the black sand
Scorching green meadows.
In the glacier rumbles deadly-deep cracks.

Sleep long, sleep tight,
It's best to wake up late.
Hardship will teach you soon,
While the day becomes night,
That the people love, lose, cry and mourn.

Comments

video

[draumstafir]

Oh! Are you a god as well?

video

[hikikomori_king]

Most certainly not! I am Eldar, what you normally term 'Elves'.

video

[draumstafir]

Ah, like in old faerie stories!

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[hikikomori_king]

Do you have tales of us in your world then? I wonder how they differ....

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[draumstafir]

I don't know how much I'd really be able to tell you-- I read those stories when I was quite a bit younger.

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[hikikomori_king]

Ah well... I suppose we may not even be from the same world, so there is no way of knowing how accurate those tales might be!

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[draumstafir]

Probably not, unless you're from a ways before the Illness. We lost a lot of information from that time.

Re: video

[hikikomori_king]

"Illness"? [ He asks curiously ]

It sounds as if there was a plague, or something...

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[draumstafir]

There was. We still haven't found a cure for it, either, just managed to quarantine it enough to get by.

[hikikomori_king]

[ He winces. ]

My condolences. I hope there will come a solution, one day.

[draumstafir]

[ reynir's smile is a touch thin, but still mostly earnest when he nods and replies. ]

We found some interesting things on our expedition of the Silent World, maybe something good will come of it.

[hikikomori_king]

Silent World? Is that the name of your world? I hope that your finds prove fruitful.

[draumstafir]

It's what we call the places outside quarantine.

[hikikomori_king]

[ Turgon visibly considers why a place outside quarantine would be called 'Silent', draws the inevitable conclusion of Vast Amounts of Dead People, and winces ]

I see. Will you reclaim those lands, do you think?

[draumstafir]

[ listen you're not wrong buddy but also you're barely scratching the surface. ]

Maybe if we find a cure that can deal with the trolls and giants too, but that seems like a long way off.

[hikikomori_king]

[ twitch ]

Trolls and Giants? I wonder if they are like ours?

[draumstafir]

Were your trolls and giants humans that got sick and changed form?

[ spoken pretty matter of factly simply because he very much doubts it judging by their previous discussion of the illness in his world. ]

[hikikomori_king]

What? Oh dear. No. Although...

[ He considers ]

No one knows for sure, but... the Orcs were Elves, once. Our Enemy took our people and... broke them. What they are now is not what they were. We are not sure what Trolls or Giants were, but some say the Trolls, at least, were the Lady Yavanna's Tree-herders, once.

[draumstafir]

... broke them?

[ he's pretty sure he doesn't like the sound of that. ]

[hikikomori_king]

Yes. [ Turgon abruptly looks very old, and very tired ]

He... how much he broke them seemed to... well he got... better at it. Later. But they said... in the early days. You would fight a monster, but it would... it would have your mother's eyes, maybe, or your brother's hair, or your daugther's laugh. Now, the orcs are a race of their own, and they hate us most of all, perhaps because we are what they will never be again. They are slaves to the Enemy, tied to his will, but all they seem to care about is killing and despoiling, even when not used in his armies.

Now though... now it's... worse. He, or perhaps his Lieutenant, seems to have worked out how to break us... mentally. While leaving our bodies intact. So you might welcome home a prisoner, escaped beyond all hope, nothing worse than some scars, and that's fine, right? Except one night they will cut your throat, slay the guards, and let the orcs in.

[draumstafir]

That sounds terrible, I so sorry.

[ and sure enough, reynir actually looks close to tears just from his explanation. ]

[hikikomori_king]

Thank you. Although what happened in your world sounds equally terrible, and I am sorry to hear that such things have happened.

[draumstafir]

It seems like it doesn't matter which world we've come from, we all have something difficult to deal with. I hope you have people back home that you can rely on.

[hikikomori_king]

I have been fortunate, in that regard. [ He nods ] Many of my friends came with me when I established my hidden city, and I value their judgement and council greatly. I hope you have also been fortunate?

[draumstafir]

I do! Three of them are even here in Asgard with me right now!