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

[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.

[bythewaves]

[ Maglor laughs again at that, softly still but more steadily ]

Ah well, never let the Lady Varda hear you say that, for I imagine the Star Queen would be most offended to hear you compare her darling stars to garbage!

[neversets]

Not comparing to! Just saying, everything is born of stars. From sunsets and forests and people to sewerage and other such not great smelling things.

[bythewaves]

A poet's heart, I see! [ Maglor smiles ]

If all things come from stardust, and to them all things return?

[neversets]

Me? Nah. Not really.

[ He shrugs slightly. ]

By the time I get done with them, they're usually ash.

[bythewaves]

Ash? [ Maglor tips his head curiously ]

You are a child of fire, then? You did feel warm.

[neversets]

Of sunlight. Apollo was the Greek god of the sun. I was named for him.

[ He floats up into the air a little, his eyes bright with sunlight and a halo forming around his white hair. ]

[bythewaves]

Oh! [ Maglor startles, backing up in surprise, eyes wide ]

That is... truly amazing.

[neversets]

[ Apollo is staying floating, because it always feels good to just let gravity go for a while. ]

Thank you. I can take none of the credit.

[bythewaves]

[ Shyly ]

It is a wonderful thing, all the same, eve if the winning of it came at cost. I have seen no such ability outside of sorcery before.

[neversets]

[ He lets himself spin lazily in the air before touching down again, bare feet silent as they press back to the cold floor. The halo fades away once more. ]

I love my abilities. I always have. Who hasn't wanted to fly?

[bythewaves]

[ Maglor smiles wryly ]

As a young child I certainly would not have minded. These days tis the Sea that calls to me.

[neversets]

I like the thermals over the ocean. They feel good, the way they twist and rise.

[ He holds out an arm in an invitation to come in close. ]

Want to try flying, even if it won't help your Sea longing thing?

[bythewaves]

[ Maglor eyes him shyly and then nods, reaching out to accept the hand ]

I... if you do not mind? Are you strong enough to lift two?