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?]

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[bow_of_the_galadhrim]

[Watch as they make no attempt to stop confusing him? Time for the next exciting game of: "Which Legolas is your Legolas?"]

He will, he is still ringbearer. The ship took him from Middle Earth and from the ship he came here.

[elfstonestrider]

[His brow creases slightly. He can't help but feel as if he's a failure in some small way. But that's a feeling he's sure comes from Boromir's very recent death. He's trying to keep it to himself, though he feels as if worthier people ought to have been rescued from his world.]

If there are multiples of people we care for, there must be multiple worlds. It is not a revelation that I can say I appreciate.

[bow_of_the_galadhrim]

[Legolas places a hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. He will not allow the other to despair so soon, when the tower and its residents are mostly still hopeful.]

That is what the administrators have claimed in the past. That none of us are from the same instance of a world, that only one of us have survived. I would advice we do not entirely trust their words.

[elfstonestrider]

I would rather not believe it, for that means that I would not be the same man you once knew and you would not be mine.

Tell me of this cafeteria instead. Is it like a market?

[bow_of_the_galadhrim]

The exact reason I would choose not to believe it either. I can find no proof of what they say but their words alone. And the things they do given cause to distrust anything they say.

[He shakes his head.]

No, they serve food regularly but the food they give is fixed. They serve the same things for each meal. The restaurant has more options but it is not worth it unless the cafeteria's food truly turns your stomach.

[elfstonestrider]

I've eaten quite a lot of questionable things in my time.

[He has to laugh, Legolas is certainly doing his best to keep it light and he ought to try himself.]

It has been much too long that I have had guaranteed meals at the proper times of day.

[bow_of_the_galadhrim]

Then you'll not find a need to make use of the restaurant. It demands payment in the form of something that can be found in the tower.

[At least, not until Jason took charge again and started serving nutrition bars again.]

You'll be able to eat your fill here. I think that even our insatiable hobbit companions, were they here, would find they could eat their fill and still there would be food to spare.

[elfstonestrider]

[It's still hard to hear about his charges, all of which are gone save for Frodo who was taken from Middle Earth. It's a difficult concept to wrap his head around.]

I look forward to it.

[The rest of the way is silence, though Aragorn touches the walls and pauses here and there to make mental notes to come back later. He's never been faced with a room like the cafeteria before and it astounds him.]

[bow_of_the_galadhrim]

[He leads him down several flights of stairs, going slowly so that the ranger can familiarize himself with the tower. Perhaps later he might ask someone for a map to give to Aragorn, until he grew accustomed to the tower. Finally though, they reach the cafeteria and Legolas gets food for them both. Unfortunately, that includes a bowl of oatmeal for Aragorn. can't be any worse than Eowyn's cooking]

Many scorn it but I've already witnessed several attempts to eat something else first. And I'm sure you'd prefer to avoid that indignity.

[elfstonestrider]

This is meant to acclimate one's stomach to the food here?

[He's by no means slow. He'd never have gotten to where he is, or where he's meant to be, without the insight his birth and his rearer provided.]

It smells... Well.

[He's really got nothing to say about that, but he'll eat anything when he's hungry.]

[bow_of_the_galadhrim]

It is, yes. The smell and taste leave much to be desired but nothing stops you from eating something else once you finish it. When I arrived, there was one person who brought me an apple for right after finishing it.

[He's not surprised, at all, that Aragorn caught on so quickly. The ranger was smart, raised among elves and survived many things in his life. Legolas would have been disappointed if he hadn't.]

[elfstonestrider]

An apple?

[You'll need to forgive him. Small pleasures and all that. He stirs that thick paste around in his bowl and sighs softly under his breath. Better to simply eat and be done with it.]

The food must be nutritious enough. You aren't unhealthy. Thank you.

[He can't see having to eat this every day though. Perhaps one just becomes use to it.]

[bow_of_the_galadhrim]

An apple, yes.

[He can't help but smile. Legolas had a couple small pleasures stashed in his room, in the form of Dorwinian wine and a bottle of wine that Tohko had given him for Christmas.]

Of course. They'd not 'rescue' us and then keep us in poor health. [Only torture and kill them on occasion.]

[elfstonestrider]

[Even without an apple, the meal is still filling and he can't complain. And yet--]

Has Arwen ever arrived--

[He's waited this long to ask and he can wait no longer.]

[bow_of_the_galadhrim]

[He doesn't know if this will be a comfort or not but he hasn't the heart to lie to Aragorn.]

She has never set foot in this tower. Gimli, Boromir and Faramir have but they have long since disappeared.

[elfstonestrider]

Boromir.

[There is only agony in Aragorn's voice and he stands, food forgotten.]

I was there when--

Forgive me, my friend. I'm not sure the food settles in well. I will call on you soon.

[bow_of_the_galadhrim]

[His expression hadn't been happy but it does fall at the sudden change in his companion. He stands with him and places a hand lightly upon his shoulder, almost prepared to embrace him. A moment later though, the elf lets his hand fall back to his side.]

Know that whatever you see here, it is false.

[He's sure that, sooner or later, he will come across the graveyard. Better to save him that pain that to let him do as Legolas had.]