Open To Anyone For Anything RP Post

[questionablewit]

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Leave a starter, or leave a prompt and I'll start.
Brilliant ideas and clueless flailing all welcome.
AUs and cross-canon, drama and comedy and shipping.
Just throw stuff at me. It's all good.

Comments

[grumpycatanthir]

He throws his head back and laughs.

"Hah! I will remember that, for the next time. Thank you, milady."

[takesnoshit]

The laugh surprises Haleth. She cannot remember hearing the like. Certainly there has been no laughter for the past few weeks--few lifetimes. "I am no lady,"she says, as an afterthought to this realization. "But you are welcome."

[grumpycatanthir]

"You are now." He points out, not unkindly.

"You are the Chieftain of your people now."

[takesnoshit]

She shrugs, uncaring. "That makes me Chieftain, not lady."

[grumpycatanthir]

"It makes you both." He corrects, not ungently.

"To be Chieftain of your people is to be their Lady also, and so you will be seen."

[takesnoshit]

She frowns, considering this for some time, staring off into space. After some minutes, she shrugs again. "It matters not. I am as I am, however I am called."

[grumpycatanthir]

"True." He agrees. "But you are in the lands of the Eldar now. At some point, you'll need to learn how people talk here, to negotiate from a position of strength."

The fact that she's admitting a weakness aloud means he's making a really good impression, actually.

[takesnoshit]

She grimaces, but seems to take his point. "But is such possible?" Haleth asks, clearly dubious. "We Men are not in a position of strength, compared to the Eldar. To speak as though we are is foolish, especially now."

dawwww

[grumpycatanthir]

"Comparatively, yes." Caranthir nods.

"But there are ways you can boost your standing, and you should take any and every advantage you can. Not all of us are friendly to your people."

Seriously I was setting out to be SO antagonistic. She still half is.

[takesnoshit]

What other way is there but comparatively? But she ignores that, for his words still make sense to her, little though she likes them. Haleth fixes him abruptly with a gaze that pins. "And would you teach me in this?"

lol and now you know why I ship them

[grumpycatanthir]

"I can teach you what I know." He shrugs.

"Mind, I am hardly considered the most diplomatic of my brothers. Rather the opposite, really."

They're growing on me. ;)

[takesnoshit]

"But you are straightforward." She sounds approving, for the first time. "That is more useful, particularly when teaching. Thank you; I would be grateful for whatever knowledge you can give me."

She needs an edge. She needs all the edges.

mwahahaha

[grumpycatanthir]

He blinks, startled, and then flashes her a quick smile.

"I try to be." He says practically. "No point in wasting time, with things like that. I'm no bard."

He deals in numbers and facts, does Caranthir. Much more reliable.

Damn. They are well suited. Oh dear. Also, timeskip a bit?

[takesnoshit]

A smile becomes his face well. She smiles back, though hers is quick and sharp as a blade. "Neither am I a bard. And I need instruction, not flowery phrases. If you will teach me, I will learn."

lol and yes~

[grumpycatanthir]

"Then I will teach you what I can." He agrees.

The next few days are busy for both - Haleth must tend to her people, and Caranthir's men are sent out scouting, checking for safe passage and hunting for game - the injured must have meat, after all.

They have little enough time to do any teaching, but he tries to spend at least a few hours a day teaching her Sindarin and Quenya both, as well as who the lords in the lands she will pass through are, and what she might expect of them.

"Of my brothers, you will do best with Maedhros and Maglor - both are cunning politicians, but Maglor has a gentle heart, and Maedhros too shrewd to throw away allies - both will be fair, but you must keep your wits about you. Have a care for Curufin and Celegorm, they are grown wild, since we came to Beleriand, and think little of humans at all. Ambarussa won't care much, one way or another."

She'll still make it difficult. If not in one way, then another.

[takesnoshit]

The days are busy. Haleth was half-taught Sindarin by her father, who had some knowledge of the Eldar; but her knowledge was old and incomplete. She remembers what she had forgotten quickly, and picks up more knowledge as quickly, learning with a thoroughness and speed born less of innate intelligence and more of an adamantine will.

Still, she is sharp--not just in her wits but in all things. Even her kindnesses are brusque and practical. She is even-handed with criticism and praise, never cruel, often generous in a brisk, impatient way. She is often impatient. But she and her people have no choice but to wait and accept, so she does.

She is soft only with her young nephew and his mother. To her, Haleth is kind; to him she is almost gentle, and with him she sometimes even laughs, a little. Nowhere else.

She smiles rarely, frowns often, thinks hard, works harder. At whatever task is before her.

Which right now seems to be a family tree, and a map. "I thought your people had few children. How have you so many siblings, and all brothers?" It is more idle musing than a true question, for she is more occupied with the map before them, learning who controls which lands. They are speaking in Sindarin; she does so now whenever speaking to any of Caranthir's people, for practice.

She points at a place on the map, several weeks' journey away. "Here. Who controls these lands?"

he wouldn't want it any other way~

[grumpycatanthir]

Caranthir spends as much time with his own people as he does with hers - more, once the healers no longer need his skills. They have injured to guard, and Haleth's people are not yet at the point where they are healed enough to stand alone, not here, so close to Angband's shadows.

But the evenings are for teaching, and he can admit that he enjoys them, for Haleth is quick and sharp, and she grasps his meanings easily.

He can see why Finrod loves them.

"In times of war we do, but Aman was safe, and my grandfather wanted many children, a wish my own father shared." He answers her anyway and nods at her finger. "Those are Felagund's lands, although there is also the border to the Ambarussa's lands."

Masochist.

[takesnoshit]

It is an interesting pattern they are developing, meeting each night after dinner for lessons of various sorts. Caranthir is a good teacher, in Haleth's opinion. His explanations are clear, he answers questions, and he wastes no time. It suits her. She can even admit she finds the evenings satisfying. Caranthir knows a great deal, and does not condescend, nor seem to resent the time spent.

He also never seems to find her abruptness offensive or off-putting. Haleth's people are used to her, and they respect her. But she knows they do not consider her... comfortable.

Well, she does not need to be. She needs to be capable. And she needs a safe place for her people to live. She frowns at the map. Felagund would likely welcome her folk, going by his description, and yet...she sounds frustrated. "Are there no lands not already claimed, in the whole of Arda?"

/le shrug XD

[grumpycatanthir]

For his part, Caranthir finds these times quite enjoyable. Haleth is quick and keen, and has a refreshing bluntness that reminds him of the Khazad.

"Not on this side of the mountains." He shakes his head. "You might have better luck on the other side, but of course that is unsafe. But unfortunately, you are late come to this side."

I swear masochism runs in the family. Look at his brothers ffs.

[takesnoshit]

"Not by any choice of ours." She glowers at the map, then shakes her head. "This will take further thought. How soon do we depart?"

For they have stayed in this makeshift camp only to tend the injured until they were fit to move, and to equip themselves with food and supplies. Perhaps she will see her way more clearly once they are on the move. She dislikes waiting.

loooooooooool

[grumpycatanthir]

"No." He agrees. "But it changes it not, now."

He considers the request. "I think within the next two days - I am still a little concerned over the amputation, but the next two days will tell. I will tell my people, and you can tell yours."

[takesnoshit]

"No."

She frowns at the map, though she is clearly no longer seeing it. "You have been extremely generous with your time and skills, to myself and my people," she says finally, fixing him with a sudden look. "To say nothing of your supplies and protection. I find it a matter of concern that there is no way we may repay you."

They share a common Enemy, but that is all.

[grumpycatanthir]

"It is to my advantage to see you and yours properly set up." Caranthir points out in return. "If you agree to stay, it is even more to my advantage - and I cannot hold these lands by myself. You've already seen that we sometimes come too late. And I owe you a weregild as well, for that."

[takesnoshit]

"You owe us nothing," Haleth returns shortly, in a tone that brooks no argument. "We are not your vassals. We have been residing on your land, yes, and tolerated as such. But there are no vows of fealty in either direction. So if there is debt, it is on our side."

[grumpycatanthir]

"You are not." He agrees, equally stubborn. "But these are my lands, and I did not reach you swift enough. Your father and your brother, your lost people - those deaths are on me. My task it to keep the roads clear. I failed."