Winter Wonderland [Event]

[voidtreckermods]

”Good Morning passengers. Today is day Twenty Four of the month of Catfish. You may wish to look out of the window.”

As passengers wake in their beds they will indeed notice something different about the light. If they look out of the window, instead of the ever changing void they will see white slopes of mountains, flakes of snow alling down around them and frost covered trees zipping past the windows. If they glance at the ICP on the table they will see a message.

Investigating the dressing cart they will find the drawers and cupboards unlocked once again. However, instead of the fantasy-esque clothing of world #25768 they will find thick winter coats, hats, gloves and scarves. There are heavy fur lined boots and even some ice skates.

Entering the garden carriage they will see that the glass dome of the roof has opened, leaving the carriage exposed to a bright blue sky. Any nonsense of the past few weeks has vanished, leaving the carriage pristine. Not that that is easy to notice as it is covered in a thick layer of snow. The paths are clearer, a light dusting of snow but easy to talk through. Around the paths the drifts are high, perfect for snowman building or a snowball fight.

The streams and the pond in the centre are solid ice. Anyone brave enough to try to find the ice holds their weight for ice skating.

And the ICP message was correct. There is hot chocolate in the stores.

Comments

[tinkerheart]

"I'd love to."

Too long. It's not something he'd dare to ask for. He doesn't remember when they stopped. Once they did, hm, that was probably the first sign. Maybe. Maybe he's making it up to make sense of his own behaviour at that time.

But then...

Who is Charlotte, she asks.

Um...damn...

"Well, the spider." Of course. "I think Peter called her that and it stuck."

[marriedanidiot]

"I...would like it, then. If you want to."

She smiles at him, no longer the bright innocent grins of their youth, but still hopeful.

"Oh? She said her name was Amra. I wonder which is her preferred?"

Since multiple names are not exactly unusual to the Noldor.

[tinkerheart]

"I do."

He smiles back. Not that self-assured smile that declared to the world that the Noldor's most prodigal prince has arrived to grace everyone with his presence. Not anymore. He lost the right to that claim long time ago. He probably never had it in the first place. He was genius, none can say he was not, he still is, but not that much a gift to the world as he was allowed to believe.

"She did? I should ask her on the next occasion then."

Not exactly unusual is a serious understatement. Tony has already threatened once he'll make them all wear name tags.

[marriedanidiot]

Quite possibly they would be the longest name-cards in existence! Nerdanel will wait to find out which name Spider likes best.

"Then I would be glad to work with you." She smiles at him again.

"This was...our last parting. But perhaps it should symbolise a new beginning."

[tinkerheart]

Given how many names Spider has acquired until now she could probably rival them on the lenght of her name-card.

He puts his hand on the ice. Same place where her chisel has slipped when he startled her just a moment ago. Rough edges smooth as ice melts from heat of his hand.

They had produced many works of staggering beauty together in the past. He smiles raising his mug.

"To new beginning then."

[marriedanidiot]

She smiles as she watches the ice melt. It was always a marvel (except on hot summer nights) how hot her husband ran (quite literally).

"I used to use you as a blanket." She remembers, teasingly. "I think this is the first time we have tried to use you as a sculpting tool!"

[tinkerheart]

He'd argue he's hot in many senses of that word. Not only literally, which is by the way quite true indeed, but then modesty is not a virtue he has in abundance (or rather at all).

"So you did and I heard not a word of complaint ever so I assume I'm quite a competent blanket."

About that...

"I have many talents," he replies with a grin. Being a sculpting tool is apparently another one. "I'd prefer, however, if you could lend me a chisel." He has his obsidian dagger but they both know that specialized tools just simply work better. "Working with my bare hands seems rather..." he pauses having to repress the chuckle. He was about to say primitive but decides against it. It is not exactly true. He moves his hand down the sculpture following the gentle curves of the figure emerging from the ice. Its surface smoothing under his touch as the thin layer of ice melts and then freezes again.

"It is not completely without merit."

[marriedanidiot]

Well yes, after all, she didn't marry him just for his brains~

(Although his brains are also very attractive, and the only reason she gave him more than one glance, let's be honest here and admit that Noldor are all about aesthetic, and the aesthetic of him in the forge is HIGHLY attractive)

She laughs at that and solemly hands one over.

"One might suspect you trying to seduce your wife, with the way you are fondling the curves of her statue." Nerdanel admits, straight-faced.

[tinkerheart]

"One might be not entirely wrong in that assumption. My wife is a beautiful nís."

He might be a shameless flatterer any other time but in that, he's genuine in his opinion. There were some in the past that dared to disagree with him on that matter. He had many rather unkind, if not directly insulting, words for them.

"What is your plan for this one?" he asks as he takes the chisel from her.

Because there is always one, is it not? Of them both, he's the one to jump into some wild, possibly dangerous, experimentation on little more than a general idea.

[marriedanidiot]

She smiles at him.

"And my husband is terribly biased." She says fondly. He is absolutely sincere, she knows, but equally she knows she is not even close to the ideal of Noldorin beauty. That he finds her beautiful even now is terribly flattering, however.

"Mm, I meant to make myself, looking back at you. You remember. The last time. But perhaps... I think I will put an arm here. Reaching back to you."

Where she had not, the last time.

[tinkerheart]

"I reserve it as my right to be biased in such matters."

Oh, he knows about the ideal of Noldorin beauty. Well, everyone else can keep it if they so choose. He doesn't oppose it entirely. It has its merits. He does, however, have and always had one word for application of said theoretical ideal to every single person, every single time, and that word is: boring.

Her initial plan is not far from what he expected but then she says she changed her mind. It makes him freeze in place, borrowed chisel in hand. Uncertain what to make of it. It feels too dangerous to hope and yet that's exactly what his mind, no, his heart clings to. Hope. The most dangerous of things.

"It sounds likes a good plan," he says when he's finally able to breathe and speak again. If it comes out weak, so be it. At least it's honest.

[marriedanidiot]

Eru forbid Feanor ever be boring!

He wins a brilliant smile for that - it isn't flattery, when he says it - he always says exactly what he means, and Nerdanel loves that about him. Most of the time. Some times it makes her want to gag him.

"I'm glad you like it." She says with a smile, moving to work beside him. The work will go quicker with two, and she enjoys it, working with him.

wrap? unless you wish to continue?

[tinkerheart]

So does he. Working with her is so much different than working alone.

When he works alone, more often than not, it's a semi-conscious haze where he's so focused that he tunes out everything else, the world might cease to exist and he wouldn't notice. When he's done it ends in a masterpiece but he barely remembers what he did and how he did it.

With her, it's more like a conversation. He can take pleasure in the process and not only in the end result. It's joy. He missed that.

I always wish to continue BUT this is a good place to stop yes <3

[marriedanidiot]

They do better when they are together - they always have, it was what drew them together in the first place, long, long ago.

At the end, Nerdanel closes the distance between them to brush a chaste kiss on his cheek - the first time so far she has come so close. A promise of more, maybe.