11 ❂ Accidental Video

[elvenking]

[The video comes on at a weird angle and distorted by water droplets, but the view is clearly of the gardens during a rain cycle. A tall man (probably--his golden hair is very long) in exceptionally Medieval clothing has his back turned to the camera, occupied with tying the corner of a tarpaulin to a sturdy tree branch. It seems to serve as a canopy over the makeshift bed he has spread out over the grass. One corner of the bed is clearly wet, and the perceptive will discern that this is, in fact, the second time he has tied this corner of the tarpaulin to its branch. The camera becomes too obscured by water to see more than a blur for a moment, until a pink tongue clears it off and the audience is treated to a close-up of a deer's nose. Ethuil considers the camera, then ambles over to where his caretaker is nearly finished with his work. Impatient, he nudges the person against his leg. The man starts and the knot slips from his hands. The corner of the tarp comes free and water pours down upon the bed.

The man turns at last, nudging the deer away with a gentle, chronically shaking hand. Those who have never seen an elf usually know one when they see one nonetheless. He does not look entirely human, especially in the way he moves, like a tendril of smoke in the air as though his feet only just touch the ground. He does not seem to mind the rain on himself, but he pats the deer with an impatient look toward his soaking bed.]

[OOC: action or network replies are both fine]

Comments

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[disfavour]

[ That shaking hand says a lot. Nuada holds his tongue and thinks to the spare supplies he's seen in the depths of the ship, a pang of a memory flitting through his mind's eye of a derelict building and his father on a throne of old rusted pipes.

And, well. Loki's sword is finished at last. Nuada has more than enough time to set aside for this. ]

My Lord. I've a proposition for you.

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[elvenking]

[Thranduil hears, turns, and picks up the communicator. The picture is unsteady, since his hands shake.]

This may not be the best time for a proposition, Nuada.

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[disfavour]

It would save you the rain-soaked bedding, sir.

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[elvenking]

I am listening.

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[loyalpup]

It's the smell that he notices first. While there are a number of creatures that lurk in the gardens, the familiar scent of deer calls to the wolf in Tom. Luckily, it's the human part that stalks the scent. As a human Tom has a fondness for the swift creature that has nothing to do with how tasty they can be during a full moon. Finding a man, elf, tending a bed with said deer at his side is a sight Tom isn't quite used to seeing.

"Need help?"

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[elvenking]

"I do not."

He's not being stubborn. He's actually being honest. He can re-tie the loose corner without help if the deer quits startling him. It's just harder with his hands shaking. They appear to be having serious difficulty with the knot, exacerbated by the fact that he has an audience. If he can't even do this...

He is soaked to the bone by this point, hair clinging to his face.

"I do not need help," he repeats, and he still can't make the knot.

[loyalpup]

He notices the shaking and the trouble with the knots. Tom had promised to leave the elves alone, and though his curiosity sometimes has him watching them from afar, so far he's been very good at staying away. He didn't expect to find an elf that so obviously needed help and so desperately didn't want to admit the need for that help. His friends didn't have to know.

"Here." He's slow to step towards the elf, not wanting to frighten the deer (ones back home always smelled the wolf) or the elf. "The get hard when they're all wet. Dad showed me how ta get the knot out real good."

locked.

[leaps]

Thranduil?

locked.

[elvenking]

[He turns at the sound of the voice and walks to the communicator, shielding it with his cloak as he stoops and peers at the screen.]

Yes, Hikaru?

locked.

[leaps]

[ there's a pause, sulu taking a deep breath, steeling himself. ]

I can't find Jaye. I was hoping you'd seen her since the jump.

action;

[longestnose]

[Fili is a right bit miserable in the rain. He's under at tree, but it isn't doing much good. He really should have just left during the cycle...but the birds needed to stay dry, and he currently had them under his tunic.

Staying with Thranduil...it hasn't been easy, but nothing would be, now. There was a bit of soothing to it all, despite that. What he would do without his elvenfriend, he could not say.]

action;

[elvenking]

[Thranduil eventually gets the thing up and comes for Fili. He doesn't blame his roommate for being too short to help, but it would be nice if Jaye was still here.]

Nuada has intentions to build us a flet. What do you think of that?

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[longestnose]

[Fili lets the birds out, watching them settle in the boughs of the tree, before glancing at Thranduil, a slight hesitation in his eyes.]

You mean, up in the tree?

[He's a dwarf. He might like being above ground than inside of it, but above it? That makes him nervous.]

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[woodlander]

[ Tauriel likes not that her King would struggle so. She likes even less that it is available here, for all to see.

At present she is at the far edge of the garden, patrolling. ]

My Lord? Do you need assistance?

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[elvenking]

[Both of them--the king and the deer--turn to the camera to give her the exact same expression.

o.o

huh.]

It would be helpful, yes, thank you, Tauriel.

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[woodlander]

[ She’s looking at him in a manner that is clearly uncertain, but she nods, once. ]

Of course. I shall come at once.

[ She’ll do that, after hiding her device away and going to find him on foot. When she does, she comes up softly from behind, her eyebrows raised, to see what he’s doing. ]

[thebreakingwave]

Harry is a ways off when he spots the deer and startles for a moment. He's sure that both James and Lily have gone home and he's not used to seeing actual, non-wizarding deer. It's enough to pique his interest and he makes his way through the gardens towards the animal.

Once he's a little closer, the ever vigilant wizard finally notices Thranduil. "Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. Do you need a hand?"

[elvenking]

"Two," Thranduil corrects him softly, looking the boy up and down. His hand goes to the deer's back. "Tie the corner up higher so that it slopes the other way, and I will distract the distraction."

Ethuil does not seem to take this personally. But he is sniffing at Harry.

[thebreakingwave]

Tie the corner up higher. Sure, he can do that. Harry takes the rope in his hand and looks up at the branch and shrugs. At least it's not too high a branch and he does know enough about camping to make sure the knot will hold.

"If you want, I can dry your mattress once I've got this done?"

[doesntdohumble]

[Eric sees the video post and decides to come a-wandering to where he knows Thranduil will be, still struggling with the tarp and the deer and the bed itself in the rain. He enjoys this rainy time, in the oxygen gardens, even if it is soaking his clothes. He didn't get to experience that many morning showers in the last thousand years, after all, and there's no danger of lightning - it's only water. He sidles up to the other, his hands in his pockets, watching him at his work, watching his unsteady hands and how much he has to fight with himself to get his fingers to work in the neat and careful way that he needs them to.

He steps forward, making sure that his presence is known before he lays a hand on Thranduil's shoulder. He knows that because of the bond, his touch will calm and comfort. This is the support he will give. Thranduil will ask for actual help if he feels he needs it. What Eric offers is the freedom to do the work himself. And he understands what that means, to be able to do things for oneself. Even if he can tell that his patience is wearing thin.]

This is generally why the majority of the passengers make use of the quarters provided them.

[elvenking]

Because of rain? [Thranduil snorts as much as he can while preoccupied with his task and his overwhelming sense of relief and gratitude at Eric's tactful aid.] That is a poor reason. The gardens are more wholesome than those small dark rooms. I have managed very well during rain cycles thus far.

[Just not this time. But he does manage to get the task done now, the shaking in his hands easing from Eric's touch.]

[doesntdohumble]

[Eric is pleased that the shaking eases at his touch. He had been counting on it, after all. And counting on Thranduil feeling a lot more accomplished for having finished the task himself, rather than accepting direct assistance. He hopes that too was correct.]

Because they are secure. From intruders, the elements... [A quirk of his lips. Thranduil is discussing the security of a dwelling with a guy who would sleep in a coffin at home. Then again, he very rarely spent much time there, besides the necessary. It can certainly be said that they have differing opinions on what is necessary in a living space.]

[darkart]

[ Thranduil is probably realllly sick of party crashers by the time Severus takes his leave of another visit with Princess Nuala, but alas, there's another human picking through the gardens. Maybe he's here later in the ship's day cycle. Maybe the cycle after.

Whenever: Severus is as usual sort-of-quiet for a person but very, terribly inelegant by elven standards; he is not made for navigating the outdoors, he is made for books and laboratories and dark corridors. He's gotten used to traversing the gardens a little, and the fact that the temperature has settled down makes it less miserable, but he's still not the best at this. When he sees the makeshift encampment and glimpses its occupants, he decides to give it a wide berth. He's not sure if Thranduil is well, and unlike other wizards from his particular corner of the world, the sight of deer just make him feel slightly bitter. It's best not to bother him.

That in mind, he heads around, attempting not to interrupt anyone. He doesn't imagine he'll be completely unnoticed, but he doesn't think he poses much of a threat to the inhabitants of this place. Everything seems to be going according to plan but then Severus's foot gets into a brief but pointed argument with a tree root or a rock or some other damn thing. Balance is lost. So is vertical stability. To his credit he doesn't really flail, but he does go down rather harshly, ending up halfway down a small slope covered in ivy.

Super.

Severus stays where he is, staring up at the tree canopy, counting backwards from thirty in his head. ]

[elvenking]

[Elves can approach with utter silence when they wish, sometimes without even thinking about it. Severus may not hear Thranduil's feet over the leaves, but he will see him when he drops to one knee beside him and peers into his face, eyes like two bright lights.]

Are you hurt?

[darkart]

[ Ohforfuck's-- it's a good thing Severus is already in the process of trying to reel in his temper when Thranduil pops up from the bloody ether above him, because the impulses ingrained in him are tempered back to him startling badly and not firing off a curse in self defense. (Those spy-during-guerrilla-wartime nerves haven't quite settled yet, woops.) For a moment his black eyes are nearly panicked, torn between expectation of being hit and coiled anger of reciprocation. But only a moment. His face shutters and Severus freezes, forcing himself not to flinch back again.

Calmly, ] No. [ A beat, in which he's still lying there like a moron. ] ... I did not mean to infringe.