Forty Eighth Sip

[mal_addict]

So, is there any point to this scavenger hunt? Because from where I'm standing, we're just gathering up useless crap and being told it has some sort of deep mystical significance without actually seeing any of it for ourselves.

So you'll have to excuse me if I'm having doubts this is anything more than a really bloody stupid runaround to distract us while they do...whatever it is they're doing to the idiots we're supposed to be rescuing.

...Why do they call them 'fairy tales' anyway? Fairies have nothing to do with stories. Unless it's about violence. Or taking teeth. Or both.

[Nikola]
This probably isn't going to work, but at least I can say I've tried. Can you hear me?

Comments

[inafadingcrown]

Do you have experience in such things? [This week on "everyone is a warrior except Galadriel"...]

[mal_addict]

Oh yes. I'm a soldier, back home.

[inafadingcrown]

It seems a common calling here.

[mal_addict]

I have noticed. Interesting if you think about it.

[inafadingcrown]

It is. Whether the castle means it as a kindness- to bring those prepared to brave hardships- or as a cruelty- to encourage the spilling of blood, I cannot say.

[mal_addict]

I'd go for the last one, to be honest. Nothing Paradisa does comes across as a kindness.

[inafadingcrown]

Very few things, certainly. I am inclined to agree.

[mal_addict]

Still. Better than being stuck in this place alone. At least we all have each other.

[inafadingcrown]

That is certainly true. Whatever I may think of this place, there are many here I am both pleased and honored to have met.

[mal_addict]

It's nothing like home to me, but...I think if I had the choice, I'd probably stay.

[inafadingcrown]

Would you? I would not. [Her duties aside, she has several important people waiting for her at home.]

[mal_addict]

Don't get me wrong. I miss home, I miss the people I have there and the work I do. But...

[She was stupid. She fell in love]

I have something like a family here.

[inafadingcrown]

That I understand. [If that makes you stupid, Galadriel is an idiot. She's been in love for thousands of years.]

There are some I care for most deeply here. Yet my family remains elsewhere.

[mal_addict]

You ever think they might show up here?

[inafadingcrown]

My granddaughter has twice graced these halls with her presence. Her father was also here for a time.

The possibility remains that they will return or that others will follow, yes. Yet I begin to think it unlikely. [No one from her world seems to stick around. Except for her.]

[mal_addict]

...I'm guessing they didn't stick around.

[inafadingcrown]

They did not.

[mal_addict]

Oh. Then I'm sorry, it's hard losing people, I'm told.

[inafadingcrown]

It is. But it is better, in a way. This place may be cruel and I would not have them subjected to such things for my sake.

[mal_addict]

I suppose not. I doubt any of my lot would like it here.

[inafadingcrown]

Have any of your world spent time here?

[mal_addict]

Once, but he only lasted a month, and I didn't really know him all that well.

[inafadingcrown]

It is curious, is it not, how some worlds are favored so strongly while others are neglected?

[mal_addict]

It is a bit weird, it almost makes me wonder why Paradisa bothers with the rest of us at all. Maybe it just wants variety.

[inafadingcrown]

[An amused hum] That, it certainly has.