driftfleet | interfaith dinner mingle!!

Who: Interfaith Center regulars & the not-so-regulars (party crashers are welcome too!!)
Broadcast: Nope
Action: Interfaith Center on the Iskaulit
When: Forward-dated to November 4th

[The Interfaith Center sounds far more bustling and busy than usual - and anyone peering inside would quickly figure out that a communal dinner is underway! Take off your shoes and walk in: the lounge has extra tablecloths on the floor as well as buffet tables with non-alcoholic beverages and all sorts of food, including Jordanian cuisine (or the outer space equivalent of Jordanian food).

The board games are out of their hiding nooks; the furniture's arranged for the maximum seating possible; and even the teddy bears donated by Kitty & Winn are out for cuddling, should anyone want them.

The kitchen's bustling with helpers - Stefan's running around at vamp-speed to make sure everything's a) done on time and b) cooked to perfection - but he sure wouldn't mind an extra hand. And if you're still not up for some food? Well, the prayer rooms are open as usual. There's always a quiet moment to be found, even if the laughter's louder and the scent of freshly-baked mansaf's wafting through the long corridors.

Anyone and everyone who's ever been inside the Interfaith Center has been invited (via text message - and Stefan even used the fancy emoji). If you're not particularly faithful or devout? Well, drop by anyways. There's more than enough food to spare.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I thought so too, but the emphasis on black leather is a little strange, I thought. But who of us understands the minds of the viewers, I suppose. Have you gotten strange requests as well?

I've... gotten a few, yeah.

[His expression, and the redness of his cheeks, conveys the message that such requests are those he'd rather leave unspoken.]

Wh... Ah. [ Maglor sees the blush and hurriedly retracts the question ] I see. I suppose we should be grateful that you are popular?

I guess it comes in handy sometimes... it's weird to care about money, though. I grew up never needing any, but here it seems so much more important.

Mm - my early days had little need of it, but later... well. It is hard to run a war without a cash flow, as they say, although my brother Caranthir was the one who managed things best.

...Sorry, I can't really agree on the necessity of things like war.

[He still has a healthy distaste for it. The power and cost of defending oneself from an attacker is a sympathetic issue, for sure, but it so often inflates itself into mutual aggression.]

It is never kind or easy. [ Maglor says softly ]

But they say all evil needs to win is for good folk to do nothing. Wars are not won with blade and bow - but blade and bow will hold back the dark long enough. Mirkwood would never have become once again the Greenwood if not for the courage of King Thranduil and his folk. The Ringbearer would never have made it to Mordor if Elessar had not led his army out to challenge Sauron himself.

[ Softly softly ] A very wise man once said "I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend." Faramir, Faramir! Great heart and noble captain. He was one that Men would - and did - follow into the very shadow of the Wings of death. But blades are still needed, while Shadow walks.

[The references, as usual, are lost on him, but it's food for thought, certainly. Mikleo takes it all in quietly, brows furrowing, and shakes his head.]

That's familiar enough. It's different, though, when the lines between good and evil are distinct enough to be felt. The only war I've experienced is human versus human, armies facing each other for the wealth and resources of their enemy country. They threw aside all efforts of peace out of greed and desperation. Instead of fighting evil, they created more of it.

I do not approve it! Think not that we were all good or kind, Mikleo, for even in such a fight, there is much ugliness. I did many things that were not good. Some might even have been necessary - but it does not make them right.

Mm. ...Sorry, it's hard not to make judgments on such issues when I don't have much experience with it. I'm still too young, I guess, and what I've witnessed didn't leave a good impression.

Where I'm from, wars are a literal poison that can leave the world corrupted for many years after they've ended.

They always do. [ Maglor says sadly ] No war ever leaves those it touches unscathed - not the land, not the people. No war is ever black and white, either - even in ours, when Morgoth himself walked the lands, many of the Men who fought on his side were decieved, not evil themselves.

War should not leave a good impression, Mikleo, and I am glad you have little experience with it. But it is never so easy as to say that it is always wrong, either.

Very rarely is anything so black and white.

[Even the war he has experience with had aspects of that- the leaders of the armies were foolish and cruel to make the choices that led them to conflict, but the soldiers weren't evil. People like Alisha and Sergei still existed, those who believed in seraphim and the legends that would lead them towards peace instead of war. It still wasn't a hopeless scenario.

He can't help feeling discomfort, though, the more they discuss it, an ache in his chest that he hadn't noticed before, so he leans back a little.]

Would it bother you if we stopped talking about this? It's not a pleasant subject.

[ Maglor's eyes instantly fill with concern, the shadows hurridly shoved down, buried deep ]

Forgive me! I forgot - I did not do you harm? Let us talk of other things.

I'm alright. My request is preemptive, more than anything.

[Dying has made him a lot more cautious of such dark topics. Until he's fully processed everything, it's just. Safer this way.]

Maybe you'd like to help me with this? The puzzle's challenge enough for two.

I have a tendency to veer into melancholy. [ Maglor sighs and tugs at his hair fretfully ] I am sorry, Mikleo. Never be worried to tell me to stop, alright?

[ A smile and he nods ]

Of course - what are you trying to achieve?

[Mikleo just shakes his head. It's fine, it's fine. Hardly the end of the world.]

I'm just piecing together this puzzle, that's all. Many hands make light the work, isn't that the saying? Sorey and I often compete over this kind of thing, and it makes the solution come to us twice as fast.

[ Maglor settles down and looks at the puzzle curiously ]

Aye, although it can also be argued the opposite, that too many cooks will spoil the broth! But let us see - is the aim to take the pieces apart or rejoin them?

Rejoin them. Eventually it's meant to form a picture, but only when it all comes together.

Ah I see.

[ He murmurs softly, eyes skimming the pieces ]

Made more difficult by the fact it is not flat, too. Very clever! Let us see how we do.

interfaith dinner mingle!!

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