3 ❂ Video

[elvenking]

[The feed turns on to show the Elvenking sitting in the gardens in a chair, a blanket over his lap and one leg propped up. Most notable about this picture is the cat-sized fawn sitting on his good leg, sucking and lapping milk from a rag. The little critter has been freshly bathed and it shows.]

This little one turned up in my locker. I have enough of his mother's milk to feed him twice, but no more. [And if you ask where that came from, prepare to be depressed and probably grossed out.] I understand some of you know how to make blood. If any of you might do the same with a doe's milk, you will save his life.

Merlin, I would speak with you in the gardens.

[The fawn's lapping tongue ventures past the rag and starts licking the Elf's hand. It stops a moment later and lifts its head to sniff at Thranduil's face. It gets a thumb stroking over the top of its head in return. The other hand moves to cut the feed.]

Comments

voice;

[wolfchild]

[ here's a rare non-private, non-voice from paranoid child. ]

What happened to its mother?

voice;

[elvenking]

She also arrived in the locker. In pieces. [He knows she can handle it. Maybe better than he did at the very beginning. Killing a doe with a fawn is a hunter's taboo and kind of disturbing when the fawn is keening...]

voice;

[wolfchild]

[ what. ]

What? How'd she—?

[ and where the pieces at carnivores want to know ]

video;

[cons]

[ this place is, 98%, seriously awful. but then there are things like this and Wichita's insides turn to goo and- ]

-- You have a pet fawn?

[ her tone: OH MY GOD THAT IS PRETTY MUCH THE CUTEST THING AND I'M TRYING REALLY HARD TO BE COOL ABOUT THIS BUT TINY LITTLE FAWN ]

video;

[elvenking]

[Thranduil doesn't really like the word pet. It implies restriction, imprisonment, control, and for no useful reason. That's not quite the relationship that's being formed here, anyway.]

It would be better to think of me as his... [he considers if there's a better word for it, and there really isn't] ...mother.

[bloodplay]

[ that... sure is a baby deer in space. that is definitely what he's looking at. ]

It's not so much make as duplicate. We'll need a sample of what you've already got to start -- doesn't have to be a lot -- but after that's in the system the synthesizers should do the rest.

[elvenking]

And it will nourish him the same as if it came from his mother? [The thing is now squirming to sneak a lick at Thranduil's chin. He needs to set it down and let it play after this.]

voice;

[leaps]

Good thing it wasn't any bigger.

[ there's a pause, then. ]

Can he survive without his mother?

voice;

[elvenking]

It is not what is best for him, but he can very much survive without her. This will not be the first fawn I have raised.

video

[inafadingcrown]

[Oh my goodness, that is the cutest thing. There was a question she was going to ask, but don't mind if she stares adoringly at the fawn for a few seconds first.]

Are such... [she searches for a word for it.] arrivals common here?

video

[elvenking]

They seem to be. [The fawn sneezes, spattering milk. Thranduil pays no heed.]

[culver]

He is cute.

Video 5eva

[elvenking]

Have you ever seen a fawn, little one?

video;

[therangerking]

[ Aragorn is obviously trying to not laugh. ]

This role well-suits you, my lord. [ Okay, he's chuckling slightly. ]

Does he have any injuries? [ Since it arrived here without his mother, Aragorn has an inkling about what happened.

Man, seriously. ]

video;

[elvenking]

Hush, you. I've been tending birds and beasts far longer than I've been tending to my own people. Or do you think bread and wine put themselves on the table when I lived in Lindon?

[The fawn grabs on to one of his fingers and nibbles. No, not nibbles. Sucks. Like he thinks he's found a nipple. Thranduil clicks his tongue at him and delicately extracts his finger.]

No food for you there. [He guides the fawn back to the milk-soaked cloth.] He is whole and unhurt and has quite the appetite.

[A glance.] His mother is a different matter.

action

[servant]

[With each new face and voice, he remembers a little more about this ship. But even though it had let Merlin go for awhile, returned him home and snatched him back again, the dragon Aithusa is still a mystery to him.

He's assuming that that's what Thranduil needs to see him about, so he wastes no time seeking him out in the gardens.]

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[elvenking]

[It may have been a while for Merlin, but Thranduil's still got a hole in his leg. He's sitting with his foot propped up. The fawn is curled up asleep and motionless in the grass. The Elvenking glances up as Merlin arrives.]

Thank you for coming.

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[tumbleweeds]

Oh. [ Excuse her little squeal, Thranduil.

... yeah that's it that's her whole response. ]

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[elvenking]

[It's remarkable how many responses do not answer his question.

He doesn't say that, of course. This is the one that went craycray, and he has more compassion than that.

Also it's hard to be cranky when a baby deer is starting to suck on your finger like it's going to get more milk from it.

Hard, not impossible. But he keeps the vitriol out of his tone, at least.]

I should say so!

action;

[unbraided]

[Kili shows up not too long after the video shuts off, freshly filled waterskin in hand and a bird upon his shoulder. Perhaps it's a bad habit to have trained the little thing in, but Kili hadn't done it on purpose, and nowadays the feel of feathers against his neck is a comfort. Perhaps he's becoming more elf than dwarf here among the stars, and isn't that a bit of irony?

Still, once he edges into the clearing the bird flits off into the treeline once more and Kili watches it's flight as he wanders over to Thranduil's side. He offers the water over with a quirk of a brow, lips trembling with a repressed smile as the fawn licks at Thranduil's hands and jaw.]

You've fed him?

action;

[elvenking]

You'll feed him next. The medbay can make more milk for him, so long as we have a little for them to sample.

[Hoping to pre-empt any look of disappointment on that boyish face. He takes the water and moves to pass the fawn off to the dwarf so he can make use of it.]

[thoughts]

You're hurt.

[ at this point, river's full-on sulking. the people she adores are painting the hallways. ]

This is how she keeps you. In the metal and the air.

[elvenking]

Don't you fret, Síreth. Your brother took most excellent care of me.

[Maybe her pride in her brother will distract her from her sulking.]

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[bemerry]

[ Merry finds he likes the gardens, even if he wishes they were, well, a little more aged. It is peaceful, and familiar, in a way the rest of the ship is not, so he tends to spend all the more time there. His current project is a small plot of Old Toby, or as near as he can get it to be, at any rate. Merry does have a full bag of pipeweed, but he knows at the rate he smokes and shares, it won't last too long, and it's likely some of the others on this ship may like some recreational greens as well.

He's taking a bit of a break now, and has wandered over towards a figure seated in a chair with a little something on his lap.

It doesn't take but a moment for Merry to recognize him, the resemblance between Legolas and his father is a rather notable one. He gives a small bow and a bright smile. ]

'S a pleasure to meet you at last, Lord Thranduil.

[ Wait.... is that how you say hello to and Elven-king? It shouldn't be too horrible, right? ]

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[elvenking]

[A blink.

Hobbit.

Clearly from Bilbo's circle, to have heard of him.

Thranduil gives a warm smile.]

And an honor to meet you, hobbit-kin, as any of your remarkable and valiant race. But I am styled Elvenking, not Lord Thranduil.

[The fawn sneezes.]