voidtreckerexpress | Waking from a nightmare...

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Waking from a nightmare...

Who: Romeo and Open
Where: Luggage carriage and then dining room
When: Evening of day 18, month of Egret
What: Romeo returns from hiatus, believing his best friend dead. (Note: Both parts are open, but I ask that we allow Joss the "honour" of the reveal.)
Warnings: Very sad, grieving small child. Mentions of death.

Waking- luggage carriage

When Romeo opened his eyes the rage he had felt was all gone. For a moment it was just like any other morning and he sat up, still in his flight suit, pushing upwards when he realised there was a roof to his bed. Not a bed. A suitcase.

He sat up, bleerily eyed and looked around. He was back on the train, in the luggage carriage.

Joss was dead.

The fact hit him hard. Joss was dead. And he was back on the train. He looked at his hands and noticed the blight spotting his skin. He was blighted? Yes. Because he had been bad. Joss had died because he wasn't quick enough or strong enough and then he had gotten really angry and wanted to kill the bad enemy.

Had he hurt Elfnein?

Bad shinki hurt their gods and the idea that he might have hurt her was terrible. But not as terrible as the fact that Joss was dead.

He sat there for a very long time, numb, staring at nothing. Joss... His best friend. It couldn't be true but it had been. It hadn't been a dream. This isn't his bed.

Slowly he clambered out of the suitcase on shaking legs, he held on to the trunks and suitcases. His heart hurt too much for him to be able to walk confidently. But also his body hurt as well, blight and bruises mottled his skin.

One step, then another. He needed to find Elfnein. But he just wanted to curl up and cry forever and ever and ever.

Romeo stumbles into the dressing carriage, pale and bruised. Exhausted and dazed. For those that know him there is none of the perpetually enthusiastic, hopeful child they know. Instead he shuffles his feet, looking lost as he makes his way into the light.

Later: In the dining room

Romeo is sat on one of the benches, he looks exhausted and shell shocked. But a lot less sad. He's confused but can only be grateful that Joss was not dead after all. His best friend was not gone forever.

He had still been bad and he had a lot of big things to think about but he was very tired and very very hungry so he was sat with a plate of food, picking at it. Despite his hunger he seemed to lack his normal appetite.

Maybe it was because he was too exhausted, everything still hurt but it was fine. Because Joss wasn't dead. That was the biggest thing, a thing that made hope in his heart.

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There was a small boy eating alone, or at least picking at his food, in the dining car. He looked dazed and a bit lost, and Glorfindel did not recognize him from the train's inhabitants.

"Hello," he said gently, walking up to where the boy was sitting. "May I join you? Mine name is Glorfindel, and...I'm new here. Are you also new?"

"Hello sir." Romeo looked up at the voice and nodded, there was lots of space and he was always happy to have company. He didn't recognise the man, but it seemed new people had arrived.

"It's nice to meet you mister Glor...findel." The man was an elf, Romeo thought, and the names were a bit tricky! "I'm Romeo. I'm not new but I was... not here for a bit."

Glorfindel sat down across the table from the child. "Thank you. It is nice to meet you, Romeo. You do not have to call me Mister or Sir, though. Just Glorfindel is enough."

"Were you dead?" Glorfindel asked, tucking into his own lunch.

Romeo nodded, lots of grown ups asked him to just call them by their names, he did his best to remember.

He shrugged at the question, suddenly very interested in his food. "I don't think so. Well. Yes. I am dead. But I am dead all the time. I didn't die like Joss though, if that's what you mean. I don't think I did anyways..."

It was all a bit fuzzy, but he remembered getting very mad but he doesn't remember dying.

Glorfindel smiles at him. "I have also died, though I am not currently dead, nor do I believe that I died when I came here. You seem to be corporeal, and you are eating, so being dead doesn't seem to be negatively affecting you. How do you feel?" [Oh, such a loaded question.]

"You were dead but aren't now?" Just like Joss, Joss twice over. It really was confusing. He ate another mouthful.

"That's 'cause I'm a shinki, so I got a name and work for a god. So I got a body and eat a lot of food."

It didn't negatively effect him at all, he didn't think. He couldn't remember being alive so he had nothing to compare it to.

"I'm okay si... Glorfindel. I'm happy that I'm back and really really really glad to see Joss again."

He didn't have enough words to explain how glad and relieved he was that his friend wasn't gone forever. That had been too terrible to even think about.

Glorfindel nodded. "When my kind die, we go to the Halls of Mandos. Due to how I died, I was given an opportunity to be reborn and go back to Middle Earth and help out. So I was given a new body. I've had it awhile now, but it's still holding up well," he said with a grin at the little person.

"What is a shinki, may I ask? I also work for a god, come to think of it." He watched Romeo eat for a moment. "You remind me not a little bit of a hobbit, actually. They too are rather small and eat a lot more than one would suspect."

"It is nice when you can be reunited with friends, isn't it? Especially when you thought them lost." Glorfindel knew that one well.

"Oh like mister Curvo... Curufin!" Romeo smiled, so not only was he an elf but he was from the same world as the others! Maybe he was their family too!

"What's a hobbit?" A small person who eats a lot of food? It might be like a shinki, though not all shinki are small!

Which reminded him the elf had asked him a question first. "A shinki is the name for a person who died and works for a god. We got no memories of our lives before or anything and we turn into weapons when our gods call the special name they gave us!"

Glorfindel grinned at him. "Quite like Curvo, yes. We are old friends, he and I, though we have not seen each other in several millenia."

"Hobbits are smaller than dwarves, but eat more than most humans. They tend not to wear shoes because their feet are so tough, plus they prefer the feel of the land. They are pastoral, farming and herding. They usually live in barrows, but very comfortable ones, not like an animal's den at all. They are also bright, cheerful, for the most part, of course, and have a youthful energy that is quite refreshing," Glorfindel said, thinking of the Hobbits he'd met.

"Hm. Is it uncomfortable having no memories? My kind start out in the Halls of Mandos - that's where we go when we die, with no memories so we can slowly heal. Some of my kind die from trauma, but others fade from grief, and it is in the Halls that you regain yourself." He frowned slightly. "When you say turn into weapons, do you mean that your gods have given you abilities you did not have before? I was reborn that way, but I am that way all the time, not when someone calls me by name."

Millenia meant lots and lots and lots of years, Romeo couldn't imagine not seeing someone in that long!

He nodded, he did sound very similar to a hobbit, he's not sure he would be any good at farmind or herding, but it might be fun. He also likes shoes. Barrows that aren't like animal homes sound interesting though.

"Not really, it can sometimes feel weird because I still know how to do stuff but don't know why." He shook his head. "Sort of like that. I can make borderlines and do spells because I'm a shinki and I can do that all the time. But when our names get called we turn shape into a weapon. I turn into a weasel, but most shinki turn into swords or knives or something like that. It's strange because I am the weasel but I am also sort of floating above it all and can see everything all at once!"

"Oh! A weasel, but also above it?" Glorfindel had heard of those able to transform, such as Beorn, who was a skin changer, and of course Wizards were able to control animals to some extent, or at the least ride-along when they went places, depending on the Wizard, of course. But to do both, that was interesting.

"That would explain why you are so small then. Otherwise there would be issues with your bodymass," he said out loud. "But others turn into swords or knives. How unusual. Your world has a different take on the relationship between animate and inanimate objects than mine."

"Does it bother you that you do not have memories of gaining such skills," Glorfindel asked. "Or is it more as a child does not specifically remember learning to walk and talk, but as an adult has both abilities?"

He's not sure if any of the bigger shinki had such troubles but it sounded like something that might happen. It was easier to be a weasel if he was already small!

"Do people not remember that normally?" He tilted his head. "I guess it's like that then! It doesn't really bother me! I woke up in the heavens almost a year ago now so I got lots of fun memories of that time and made even more fun memories on this train!"

"Some do, some don't," Glorfindel said with a shrug. "Each person is different. Some things fade as you make more memories, I've heard tell. Humans, with their impossibly short lives, seem to forget much of them, which I find odd."

He smiled at the shinki person, Romeo. "That is the best way to spend your time, making fun memories and cherishing them. What are some of your favorites? I am new here, so I don't know any of this place yet."

"Well one day we went down to a world where it was snowing, we didn't stop but the roof in the garden opened and it all froze so we could skate on the pond and play in the snow! That was a really fun day!"

He smiled, remembering.

"And back in the heavens me and Elfnein, she's my god! We had a book party with all our friends! It was so much fun!"

"In small quantities, snow is a great treat," Glorfindel agreed with a smile. After dying and living another four thousand years he no longer had horrible flashbacks to the Helaraxe, but it wasn't his favorite season.

"Elf-nein, eh? What sort of god is she?" he asked. "A book party does sound fun. What did you do?"

Snow was fun, but the snow world had been very cold and lots of cold could be dangerous. Like sweet things snow was best enjoyed in moderation.

"She's a god of learning! So we lived in a library and we invited all our friends, we dressed up as people from our best books and we made bookmarks and had lots and lots of yummy food!"

Glorfindel laughed. "That sounds like my kind of party! Perhaps you could introduce me to her some time? Maybe we could even throw one of those parties, here, on this train? It would be a delightful distraction."

"I will! She's really nice and likes meeting new friends!"

So he was sure she would like Glorfindel as well! He nodded, having a fun book party would be great! It would be nice to do something with all their new freinds!

"Do you need more to eat, first?" Glorfindel asked. He did want to meet her, but there was no rush, not here, not now. First he wanted to make sure this delightful person was taken care of.

"Probably." He grinned, he was still hungry and only half his plate was eaten! He probably needed to eat more as he had been gone for so long!

"If you finish what is on your plate, I'll get you some cake," Glorfindel offered. While not everyone liked cake, it was a fair bet that this delightful young shinki just might.

Romeo smiled at him brightly. He liked cake, cake was really good for keeping your spirits up!

He nodded and determinedly ate another forkfull.

Glorfindel smiled back. He hoped he'd made another friend in this strange place.

He has indeed, Romeo has many friends and kind elves who take the time to talk with him and give him cake are definitely counted among them.

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Waking from a nightmare...

Dining car

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[Wrap or move onto cake?]

wrap is good!