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

[marriedanidiot]

"Not like that!" She laughs. "But I think you would do well with a wife of your own, and I hope you will have that blessing one day."

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Well, despite the absolute tragedy of some of the most beautiful and charming women being taken..." He winked at her, quite shameless. "You needn't worry about me! The only struggle I have is choosing!"

[marriedanidiot]

She laughs. "Well, you might be caught by surprise, one day. People often are, I think."

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Those days are behind me."

After all, he had already had his heart stolen entirely by surprise. Only now was he starting to get it back.

"Speaking from experience?"

[marriedanidiot]

"It was how my Feanaro and I met." She says fondly. "Neither of us was looking for love. But it found us anyway."

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"I imagine, being so long-lived, that anything like that has to be a real surprise. And yet also that you'd basically guarantee finding the one for you in time..." He could barely put his mind into that position, really. Even as a human, Edge lived fierce and hot and swift.

[marriedanidiot]

She laughs. "Well, you'd think so. But even for our people, we were considered scandalously young."

Perhaps they were right, considering what happened later. But. Nerdanel can't bring herself to regret it.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Wait, really? You live twenty centuries and that's way too little time to properly find a partner?"

Was that really stupid, or really depressing? Considering how much luck he hadn't had, boasts or no, he kind of felt the latter more...

[marriedanidiot]

She giggles.

"Oh, we don't come of Age until our first century, although we're considered adults at fifty. To wed before you are even truly of Age was considered terribly rushed. Although we did technically wait just long enough."

But only just.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Oh, I guess that's a little more normal..." In very broad and VERY relative term anyway. "So you've been married something over two thousand years?"

[marriedanidiot]

She tips her head, calculating.

"Something like that, I think. Maybe more? But ... he has been dead now... two Ages of the Sun."

So. Yes.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Yes, but clearly you still count it." The perception of 'married' vs. 'widowed' was a pretty significant one, after all.

[marriedanidiot]

"Aye." She nods. "I swore to him forever, and I meant it."

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"I can... imagine it. Sort of." Some loves lasted all one's life. Edge's mind initially balked at thinking of centuries upon centuries of living still bound to someone passed, never moving on, but then he had to consider that to someone who lived so long, the weight of each day or year couldn't possibly be what it was to a human. In the end it was a lifetime that counted, not the span of that life.

[marriedanidiot]

Nerdanel's home is very empty, with all her sons and husband gone. But she is patient, and she loves them, and so she waits.

"I imagine it might be different, for you humans." She smiles and shrugs a little wryly. "But since death to us is not an ending..."

One day, she prays, her sons will return to her, walking out of the doors of Mandos or off a boat on the eastern shores. One day, perhaps Feanor himself will do the same.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"I hope there's something worth having after death, myself." Thanks. Now he couldn't stop thinking about his parents again. "Even if there's no coming back."

[marriedanidiot]

"I think there must be." She says thoughtfully.

"How it is in your world, of course, I do not know. But in ours we say that Elves and Men alike are Eruhini - the Children of the One, and our fates are set not by the Powers, but by the One Himself. And if we are beloved children, then surely, there must be something more. So we call Men the Strangers, sometimes, for you come and go out beyond the world."

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"I missed my chance to become familiar." Irrepressible, Edge winked at her. "Couldn't tell you anything about my world though. There's life, there's death, and who knows?"

[marriedanidiot]

"We all find out, one day." She says with a wry smile. "It will come only slower for me, that's all."

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"It's a lifetime either way, right?" And there were... other unpleasant alternatives to it being slow, but let's not go there.

[marriedanidiot]

Sooooo many unpleasant alternatives.

"Even so." She smiles. "Thank you for understanding."

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Well, I tried anyway!" He wasn't sure he'd really understood, but he felt like he'd made progress at least. And that was something. "Whatever the case, your husband is lucky to have you."

[marriedanidiot]

"He agrees." She says wryly - indeed, Feanor has told her so, which is good.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Well, thank you for tolerating my questions and gracing me with your presence." Edge bowed grandly, though lacking a cape really hurt the elegance of the gesture.

[marriedanidiot]

She curtsies back.

"Thank you for your time. Until the next time!"