er quente || Aragorn || [Video]

[elfstonestrider]

[After having spent a good long while reading and rereading the letter he woke up with and figuring out how to access the network, a bedraggled, scraggly haired human appears. He is muddy, covered in blood splatter, and looks tired.]

I am seeking information on friends.

[Simple, but this magic might not have his best interest in mind. It's still heavy and much too soon to think that he is now alone. A world destroyed? How could they have lost the war so quickly? Was Frodo not just by his side?]

Comments

[true_noir]

Friends? I find the process of making them to be something of a personal journey. What would you like to know about them, that you cannot already learn on your own?

[Yes. She's doing that on purpose.]

[elfstonestrider]

Apologies. I was speaking of specific people, members of the group I was traveling with.

[true_noir]

Ah. So, I see. I am fairly certain we have not met. Here... or elsewhere. I could be mistaken, however. The faces blur after a while.

[Poo, no fun. He wasn't jumping to the bait. Well, she supposed not everyone would.]

[elfstonestrider]

I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn. Pleasure to meet you. I'm rather certain we haven't met. If the document is to be believed... The places we are from have been destroyed. So you are correct. Cultivating additional friendships may be wise.

[true_noir]

heh... whether you have met me does not necessarily mean I have not met you. I could have met some former version of you. Who can say? These things are ... less than clear. All the same, I do not know your name. I am Chloe.

Friendship... however, are you sure you would trust one you have barely met?

[elfstonestrider]

I may call you friend but trust is otherwise earned.

[true_noir]

And we learn about the word friends already. Each... has a different use for the term, do they not?

[Video]

[bow_of_the_galadhrim]

[Have the casual smirk of a certain blonde elf at the library terminal. That he's not rushing to find Aragorn is a miracle.]

What information are you looking for, exactly?

[elfstonestrider]

Legolas!

[A good thing. He has no idea where he is.]

Are you safe? How many others were saved?

[bow_of_the_galadhrim]

As safe as I can be for all the horrors this tower holds. What of you? You look terrible.

[The others, right.]

Gandalf is here. As is Haldir, Idrial and Frodo.

[elfstonestrider]

[Never mind him! Aragorn is having a hard enough time processing that out of their Fellowship, only-- Wait.]

Gandalf lives?

[He'll insist on checking on the Ringbearer shortly. But this news is remarkable.]

[bow_of_the_galadhrim]

[Wait... WAIT!]

You... do not know?

[But Aragorn! He was in Fangorn! And helped us at Helm's Deep!

A sigh escapes the elf after a moment.]

He is Gandalf the White.

[elfstonestrider]

[Insight and training and willingness are all required to help Aragorn untangle this particular mess of conflicting truths and for a moment, he almost clings to the console before his head once more lifts and his eyes, bright despite the rest of his appearance, show that he has caught upon at least a small sliver of the truth.]

Then he survived the battle with the Balrog.

[Or something else, something amazing. He'll need to speak with the wizard about that later.]

And yet, we are all still here. And you, it seems, from further on our journey. You seem well.

[calculatedfire]

What friends do you seek? They may or may not be here.

[elfstonestrider]

I have luckily been in contact with one already, an elf called Legolas. It seems not many were spared from what occurred to my home.

[calculatedfire]

I don't know him, but it's good that you do know someone.

People from your home may appear later. I came to this place two years after another from my world.

[elfstonestrider]

How is that possible if my home was destroyed?

[calculatedfire]

I don't know. They could be lying, or it may be that time has no meaning for those that control the tower..

Death doesn't mean anything here.

[elfstonestrider]

How do you mean?


[He's been told of Gandalf's miraculous return but that hardly means that it was in the realm of this place.]

video;

[ringbearer]

[ there's a long pause, and frodo appears. he might be far more worn, shadowed than aragorn might remember, but it's the same face, now currently stunned into silence.

his friend. he had seen him on the ship, and then he had gone. before he left he gave him hope, that he would succeed in his quest but now -- ..he can only offer a look of wonder, relief in his tired face. ]

Aragorn.

[ that was all that really needed to be said. ]

[elfstonestrider]

Frodo.

[Was he as Legolas is? He'd been told of their success but not of Frodo's role in that success. Aragorn's eyes soften.]

[ringbearer]

[ frodo looked as glass did, when fogged. dimmed and faded, but in some parts, able to be seen clear through. he was not the same hobbit that had gently told aragorn he'd understood what he needed to do, what path he needed to choose above his own.

still, he smiles for him, a small, relieved little smile. beneath the elven cloak there is a glitter of an elven chain. no, the quest is not yet done. was this the aragorn he knew? he was hesitant to ask. ]

Did you just arrive?

[elfstonestrider]

I did.

[Oh Frodo. Has he failed you?]

It is good to see you again. Legolas told me you were here.

[He tries very hard to remain cheerful.]

[ringbearer]

I think the same. What do you remember last? Time works strangely here.
[ this isn't the same one. not the one that was on the ship. there's something in every person who dwells there, a sort of hollowness from being on a place so terrible. this aragorn does not share those eyes. ]

[elfstonestrider]

[It's not that Aragorn doesn't wish to tell Frodo, but those eyes... He wets his lips and looks down.]

I'd sent you off with the ring.

[He doesn't know about Boromir. He doesn't know about Merry and Pippin.]

And I watched you and Sam sail off. I should have never left you.