And We Danced (Masquerade Overflow!)

[thespaceopera]

The Captcha is upon us, but the party isn't over! Feel free to continue your threads here, start new ones, and continue the dance party!

- Original Mingle
- OOC Post

[[OOC: Wait for Sections! Sections are up! Feel free to use the section prompts or make your own! We'd also advise against just linking back to your original mingle post for the sake of players with slower computers.]]

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[mistyday]

"Misty! Misty Day." She smiles. "Do you know you sound just like a prince out of a fairy tale or something? Are you?"

[bythewaves]

"Well met, Misty Day." He smiles, but it falters, briefly, at her next words.

A prince, yes - he was that once, wasn't he? A prince, a king, a captain.

Oath-sworn, Thrice-damned, Dispossessed.

Not long. Just the barest flicker, the tiniest crack in the mask.

"Not I! I am but a simple bard, nothing more than that."

[mistyday]

If she notices the flicker, she doesn't mention it. "Oh. Well, bards are good too! Maybe even better than princes! Will you sing some more?

[bythewaves]

He chuckles lowly at that.

"I do believe this is the first time any have told me that." He says dryly.

"I can - is there anything in particular you wish to hear?"

[mistyday]

"I doubt you know my music so... why don't you sing me your favorite song?"

[bythewaves]

"Ah now." He wags a finger at her. "No bard worth his salt admits to a favourite song! But let me see now, how about this one?"

He pauses and then his voice rings in one of the oldest hymns of his people.

"A! Elbereth Gilthoniel!
silivren penna míriel
o menel aglar elenath,
Gilthoniel, A! Elbereth!
We still remember, we who dwell
In this far land beneath the trees
The starlight on the Western Seas!"

The song conjures images for her, if Misty lets them, a Lady who is the very night sky herself, with stars in her hands, glittering jewels that she casts out into the night in brilliant patterns.

[mistyday]

When those images come, Misty welcomes them with open, eager arms. As powerful as Stevie is, she never conjured anything like this and this, this is... quite simply, enthralling in its beauty. Without even realizing she's doing it, she's moved closer and closer to Maglor until she's sitting right next to him, any lingering sense of shyness gone.

When he finishes his song, it takes a moment for her to come out of her dreamlike state and fix her gaze on him, her smile big and full of wonder.

"Oh! That was amazing! Can you... is that something I can learn how to do?"

[bythewaves]

"Thank you." He smiles at her, an artists pleasure in his art being well recieved.

"I do not know - I suppose the theory is straight forward enough? I am... weaving my memory into the music, and offering it to those who would listen."

[mistyday]

"You mean you knew that lady? The one carryin' the stars in her hand?"

[bythewaves]

"I did, yes. That was Elbereth herself, the Lady Varda, the Queen of the Stars. I performed for her once, when I was younger."

[mistyday]

"Wow. She's beautiful! Can I see her again?"

[bythewaves]

He chuckles softly and obligingly begins another one verse.

"A Elbereth Gilthoniel
silivren penna míriel
o menel aglar elenath!
Na-chaered palan-díriel
o galadhremmin ennorath,
Fanuilos, le linnathon
nef aear, sí nef aearon!

A Elbereth Gilthoniel
o menel palan-diriel,
le nallon sí di'nguruthos!
A tiro nin, Fanuilos!"

Before he translates it for her. "And in the common tongue that might be rendered, 'O! Elbereth who lit the stars, from glittering crystal slanting falls with light like jewels from heaven on high the glory of the starry host. To lands remote I have looked afar, and now to thee, Fanuilos, bright spirit clothed in ever-white, I here will sing beyond the Sea, beyond the wide and sundering Sea. O! Queen who kindled star on star, white-robed from heaven gazing far, here overwhelmed in dread of Death I cry: O guard me, Elbereth!'"

[mistyday]

This verse reverberates with her even more than the first did. Every fiber of her being works against Death, resists its inevitable pull, yet she finds comfort in words like these, in the knowledge that even when Death comes for her, once and for all, there'll be somebody watching, ready to guide her.

Still, there's that prickle of doubt there, now that she's seen Hell. Stubbornly, she pushes it down, tears in her eyes. "She's one of the ang-- one of the Valar, ain't she?"

[bythewaves]

"She is - their Queen, in fact, the Highest of the Seven Valier. That hymn was rendered in Sindarin - Grey Elven, the language of Middle-earth, and in it you can hear many of the names we give her, the Star Queen, whose power and joy is in Light."

[mistyday]

God, she sounds like what the Supreme should be, like what Misty always imagined a leader of her people would be like. "Did she teach you your magic? Your song magic?"

[bythewaves]

"No." Maglor shakes his head. "At least, not quite the way I think you mean. I am a little unusual, in that I have been able to hear the Song of the world for as long as I can remember - what I do with music is...almost as instinctive as breathing. But it was the Valar who taught us as a people to cultivate that skill of not just talking to the world but also to listen to it. For when youxan hear it, you can shape it. My cousin Finrod learnt much of the powers, and though I am the better singer, he can do far more than I."

[mistyday]

"What sorta things can he do?"

[bythewaves]

"Well, he once used Song to disguise himself and his companions, so that they seemed to be orcs. His sister Galadriel once threw down a tower."

[mistyday]

Misty looks suitably impressed. "Wow! I wish I could hide myself like that - would of come in useful."

[bythewaves]

He chuckles softly. "Hm, I can imagine so. But there - I suppose you could say, their control is much finer, mine more instinctive. I cannot change what you see, but I can convince you that what you see is unimportant and forgettable."

[mistyday]

"Oh yeah. I used to could do something like that but Atroma took that power away from me." She pauses. "I was mad at first but now I think maybe it's better this way."

[bythewaves]

"I am sorry." He murmurs softly in concern. "I did not realise... they could alter you in such a way."

[mistyday]

"Aww, it's okay. I got my healin' and that's the most important thing anyway."

[bythewaves]

"You are a healer? That is a precious gift indeed!"

[mistyday]

She ducks her head and smiles. "Well, I still got a lot to learn. I'm not as good as Miss Cordelia - she was my teacher, back home."