MINGLE LOG: WEEK ONE

[asgardmods]

Who: Everyone!
What: The MINGLE LOG for Week One of the Asgard Eventide Reunion!
When: March 1-7
Where: Anywhere in town!
Rating: PG-13 tops! Anything higher than that should be taken to a private log, please.

[ OOC NOTES: Whether you're making a return to the city or this is your first time setting foot into Asgard, the gods and Natives alike sure are happy to see you. This is a catch-all mingle log for Week One! Please check HERE for a run-down on what's cookin' this week. You can feel free to make your own headers, create your own events, or post your own logs elsewhere as you please. Please put [OPEN/CLOSED] along with the time/location of your character in the title of your comment.

As a note: we were super fortunate to have a few of our old NPC handlers volunteer to pick up their old Gods for the reunion! We currently have Hel, Heimdall, Baldr, Thor, Freyr, Mimir, Honir, Asgard!Loki, and also Frigg available for threading. If you'd like to request an appearance from one of these kids, please say so in the title of your comment. Some of us may make our own top-level as well, so be on the lookout for that! A million thanks to our NPC team for being so fantastic, we love and appreciate you so much.

Don't forget to check out the IC Inbox Mingle and the Network Post Mingle in the network comm! Let us know if you have any questions! ]

Comments

[bythewaves]

"I know." Maglor reaches across the table to tug fondly on his brother's hair.

"I have loved you since I heard your Song, and I always will."

[castintoflames]

He grins and there is more life in the expression.

"You mean the songs I used to sing you to get you to sleep?"

[bythewaves]

"Those were very good songs!" Maglor defends with a low laugh.

"But I meant your Song - how else do you think I always could find you?"

The sound of the Music that is uniquely his brothers he has always known, it seems.

[castintoflames]

"They caused more laughter than slumber." which might have been the point. Who could blame him for wanting to hear his little brother's laughter?

"Your ears are special. I wondered what you heard as a babe. You would listen so intently when I was in the room."

[bythewaves]

"Because they were good songs." Maglor agrees smugly.

"I liked your Song - always so strong and full of love."

It hurt when it stopped and there was nothing but silence.

[castintoflames]

"I get the feeling your Song is stronger than mine, Kano." Maedhros brushes his thumb over his knuckles, "To carry on without kith or kin..."

The silence had to be staggering. But Asgard has lessened it and, for that, he is grateful to this world.

[bythewaves]

"I don't think so. But I cannot hear it, so I do not know." Everyone's Song, but never his own. "It surely cannot be that good without it's other parts though."

Maglor curls his hand into his brother's hold.

[castintoflames]

"That seems cruel to me." to have such a talent and have no enjoyment of one's own Song, "If I could hear it, I would tell you. However it must be a strong melody on its own considering all you have endured."

Perhaps not ideal - perhaps not perfect - but strong. Resilient.

Maedhros frowns and touches the scars on Maglor's palm.

"Where did you get these?"

[bythewaves]

Maglor shrugs at him - he has never wondered why, it is simply the way it always has been.

"Maybe - but I will never know."

He pales a little when his brother discovers the scars and slowly turns his hands so they can be seen.

"I...think you can guess."

Crisscrossing lines run in contractures across his palms and fingers, and right in the centre of his right they run almost straight...as if the facet of a great gem once pressed there.

[castintoflames]

"Do not say never." there could be one in this world with the ability to hear his Song. Maedhros wants to look for them - carefully, of course. He knows he can look intimidating.

And for good reason. The Oath... The Silmarils... They have made him hard and scarred.

He also understands - now - why he likely succumbed to the fire.

"..." the words won't form and he stares at the scars, paling. Rejection? After all they had done, they are...unworthy?

[bythewaves]

Maglor comes to sit next to him, reaching for him and squeezing his hand tight, to give his brother touch to focus on.

"Ssh Nelyo, breathe. Breathe, brother, I'm here. I know. I am sorry Nelyo. We got them back , but ultimately failed. Ssh. I'm so sorry Nelyo."

[castintoflames]

Failure, failure failure... The word repeats over and over in his head, except it is not his voice saying it. He hears Fëanor, their lost brothers, their mother...

A family torn asunder by one goal, all declaring that it had all been for naught.

Belatedly, he gasps for air, leaning closer to Maglor.

"...no..." Maedhros sounds hoarse and ragged, "...I'm sorry. I must have led us astray."

[bythewaves]

"Ssh." Maglor croons to him and wishes again for his previous powers. "I do not blame you, Maedhros, I promise. You led us the very best you could - it is not your fault, Maedhros. We were doomed to failure from the beginning - so it was prophesised, so it was. Breathe, Maedhros, I am here. Ssh, I do not blame you."

[castintoflames]

He tries to hear Maglor. His brother is making sense and, deep down, he knows it. But the guilt - the blame - is always present; always ready to rear its head and strike. Family is so dear to him and he pushes himself to never fail them.

Yet he has. Time and time again.

Eyes burning, he presses his face to Maglor's shoulder and lets himself sob.

[bythewaves]

"Ssh." Maglor rocks him and croons to him, letting his brother weep and repeating his reassurances.

"It's alright, Nelyo, truly, I promise. It is not your fault, never your fault."

[castintoflames]

He weeps until he has no more tears. Then he slowly relaxes, pulling away so that he can see Maglor's face.

"It's not our fault." he changes the words, touching his brother's cheek, "I'm sorry they hurt you."

[bythewaves]

Maglor leans into the hand and wipes the tears from his brother's face. His own eyes are bright with tears but his voice is steady and sure.

(Maglor has always been able to be strong, so long as Maedhros needs him to be)

"You could no more help that than anything else. It's alright, Nelyo, truly. It was inevitable, yes? Obviously, when you think about it, you can see why."

[castintoflames]

It feels like an arrow is piercing his heart. He can't agree that it is inevitable, but he knows the truth. Maglor isn't lying and he has seen...

"You are the last." the absolute last connection he has to their once thriving family, "I was the last for you."

And he had died rather than -

Now he sees. He wraps his arms around Maglor and holds them close.

[bythewaves]

"Yes." Maglor also doesn't lie. Bend the truth and leave things out, spin things just so, yes. But never outright lie, not to his brother.

"Ssh. It's alright Nelyo. I understand. Truly, I do. It's alright."

Maglor clings back as if drowning, for all his comforting words. He has missed his brother, he will always miss his brother.

[castintoflames]

"Understanding changes nothing. The pain is the same." Maedhros feels the clinging and strokes over Maglor's hair, "I'm here with you now. Promises are not mine to make or keep, but this is real."

He needs to be strong too. Even if Maglor is happier, that doesn't mean the past has faded or been forgotten.

[bythewaves]

Maglor all but melts into the stroking, humming softly back to his brother.

"It is. But I do not wish you to blame yourself for what could not be helped. I want you to be happy, Nelyo. Please."

[castintoflames]

His brother has such soft, lovely hair. Some might scoff, but one of the things Maedhros misses the most is having the ability to braid the dark hair - and his own.

"I am happy with you. How could I be otherwise?"

[bythewaves]

Maglor misses that too, but this, this he dreams of sometimes still, those quiet times when they could simply sit, and Maedhros ran fingers through his hair to lull him to sleep.

"I want you to be happy without me too, Nelyo. I want you to be able to smile again, to sing again, to laugh again. I want you to heal. Please Nelyo, promise me. When you go home, take the chances offered to you - I am sure there will be, for you who gave up so much."

[castintoflames]

Maedhros is touched by the plea. His lips find the crown of Maglor's head and he kisses the soft hair and skin.

"I cannot see chances, but I have not looked for them." he draws out the hair from behind Maglor's ear, smoothing over it too, "I will look this time." and maybe he can find...contentment.

Surely happiness is beyond him.

[bythewaves]

Maglor leans into him and all but purrs, content to be babied a little.

"There must be. I must believe that it is so. I want you to be happy, Nelyo."