First song

[bythewaves]

Who: Maglor
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Marsiva
When: Now until shuffle

Broadcast

He comes awake in a gasp, hands flying immediately to weapons that are not there as he rolls into a wary crouch. The man is slender, almost beautiful, long dark hair and clear grey eyes that seem to glow from within. He is dressed in what are best described as robes - once fine but now faded and worn, if clean due to the efforts of whoever put him there. Almost innocuously compared to the shabby state of him, there is a silver eight pointed star pinned to his clothes that looks impossibly untarnished and is obviously of very high quality.

"Who is there?"

Action

Maglor moves silently through the halls, no sound of his footfalls. He is wary, anxious - this is something totally outside his experience. But then he passes a window looking out and he stops, a cry of wonder breaking from his lips as he falls to his knees. A hand comes up to his mouth, the other gripping the harp that seems to have been the only thing that came with him, as silent tears run down his face.

"A! Elbereth!"

Comments

[neversets]

... Excuse me?!

[ It takes a lot to actually offend Apollo, but the implication that because he and Midnighter were both men, it somehow made their relationship less permanent burns hard across him.

His eyes have brightened. Literally. There's tiny pin pricks of burn stars in his pupils. ]

Not so binding?!

[bythewaves]

Not that I have seen - Men may marry again, but for my folk we have but one that we give our heart to for all time.

[ Maglor blinks, startled, rearing back, wary - it has been a long time, but the movement is that of a warrior going for weapons before settling into a defensive stance, coiled and still ]

Is that not so? Amongst my folk only once has any taken another and... well, it was rather exceptional circumstances.

[neversets]

[ It takes another moment for the words to percolate, but when they do, the light in his eyes dims and he straightens from his posture of anger. ]

You... don't mean male when you say men, do you? You mean 'human'.

[bythewaves]

[ Maglor on the other hand, does not straighten, although his voice never leaves its quiet, polite lilt, watching Apollo warily for long moments - obviously, he's been hurt before ]

Aye?

[neversets]

Not men as in, people who are male.

You're another species. Who probably have life mates.

[ He finally relaxes again and offers a sheepish smile. ]

I'm so sorry, I thought you were, like, slagging off gay people. Homosexuals.

[bythewaves]

[ Still very wary, although he relaxes when Apollo smiles ]

I did not think that we were so forgotten as to be unknown. Although I suppose if I am understanding this whole thing aright, we may not even come from the same worlds.

[neversets]

Almost certainly don't, to be honest.

... are you an actual elf?

[ He had noticed the ears, but frankly, they didn't mean anything. He knew people who were blue, women with wings, pointed ears didn't make anyone not human in his book. ]

[bythewaves]

[ And that wins Apollo a small smile ]

So Men have always called us. The Firstborn, the Quendi, or Eldar, we call ourselves, but elf will do.

[neversets]

Huh.

[ He thinks about this briefly. ]

Sorry about the... menacing there. I thought you were saying something very different. And pretty insulting.

[bythewaves]

[ Maglor shakes his head ]

No - I did not realise you would take insult, the fault is mine.

[neversets]

Maybe... use human instead of 'men'. Men usually just means male human and I'm pretty sure you're more inclusive than that.

Most humans, if you use men, will make the assumption I did.

[bythewaves]

Ah... [ He nods ] I will try and do so - I am old and rather set in my ways. [ He adds wryly ]

How things have changed! Or never been, I suppose. You have heard of us, so I assume at the least there are tales of us?

[neversets]

Oh boy, elves... yeah, in my world elves can be a lot of things. Looking like you, they're called the Fae, or Fair Folk. You never deal with them, they'll cheat you blind given half a chance. An actual 'elf' is like, a small, fairy creature and they're all cultural constructs of folklore.

So elves, like, never actually existed in my world. Sorry.

[bythewaves]

Oh I would not be too sure of that - they say that every story has some basis in truth, if one can but seek it. If there are that many tales, even conflicting, there must be a reason.

[ Maglor says almost wistfully ] Ah but I am a bard still at heart, in love with tales both true and not. Even in my world, we are leaving. We will soon be nothing but a story.

[neversets]

Lots of things don't have basis in truth. The ancient Greeks thought the sun was a chariot that was driven from horizon to horizon. Lots of European cultures think women who haven't been penetrated by a penis have healing powers of purity.

[ He gives a helpless shrug. ]

[bythewaves]

Well they are not that far off, although the Lady Arien drives a ship, I was told. A very lovely one, by all accounts, although I was not close enough to see.

[ Hi yes his cosmology is weird ]

[neversets]

Yeah... no. Not the case in our world. I know, because I routinely fly out to the sun, far off in space, charge up and come back to Earth.

The sun is a star. We're just really close to it, in space terms.

Also, most people don't fly out to it, because of many, many reasons. Like the vacuum of space is deadly to most people.

[bythewaves]

Oh, the Lady is not one of the Eruhini, as we, but one of the Ainur, the Holy Ones - specifically she is a Maiar, a being of spirit. She used to serve the Lady Vana, I believe, although now that she guides the sun she serves Lady Varda. For them, I imagine space would be of little consequence.

[ Hello yes and we speak to angels and gods ]

[neversets]

[ Lady not a thing, she's another thing, which is maybe a ghost? And she used to serve some other woman, but now she serves a different one?

Right. Nailed it. ]

I hope you realises none of those names mean anything to me.

[bythewaves]

My apologies. [ Maglor winces a little ]

I forget - but mm... Eruhin means "Child of the One" - those beings created directly by Eru, not by the Valar who would be... I suppose, the Powers of the World? The Valar and Maiar are Ainur, who are... I suppose the best word would be spirits - you can consider the Maiar to be lesser than the Valar, in terms of power. Flesh is as clothing, to them. They were created in the time before Time, and are bound to Arda, the World That Is, and by it are sustained as they sustain it. The Lady Varda is the Queen of the Stars, and the highest of their Queens, the Lady Vana is the Lady of Spring.

It feels strange to hear of a world without them.

[neversets]

Okay, a lot of those words sounded basically the same and he was never going to remember all that.

Right... I'm still just as lost, but it's probably not worth explaining to me because I think I just lack the basic context to understand.

Here? We're in space. There's no air. Stars are giant balls of fiery gas that burn for billions of years and the sun on earth is one of those spheres. I'm not saying there aren't spirits in them, but on a straight out physical level, that's what they are in my world and seem to be here.

[bythewaves]

It sounds so dry when you describe them that way. [ Maglor sighs softly ]

They must have spirits here too, I think - I can hear them, after all. Perhaps you describe what they are made of, but not what they are.

[neversets]

Nah, not dry. It's amazing. These giant masses of fire and plasma create everything there is. All the bits that make life are born in the hearts of dying stars and cast across the universe to make all the love and life and culture and everything. How is that not amazing?

[bythewaves]

[ Maglor laughs softly, a soft rusty sound that obviously surprises him ]

Well when you put it that way, it certainly does!

[neversets]

We are all made of the stuff of stars...

[ He gives a cheeky grin. ]

Mind you, so's sewerage.