towerofanimus | Two (slightly forward-dated)

Characters: Legolas (

sageprincess)
Setting: Tuesday July 3rd, Legolas’ room
Format: Starting with prose, will match
Summary: A couple days after returning to the tower, Legolas is having trouble keeping his hold on life and he ends up meeting with Zelda and Gimli and Gandalf. Then he dies.
Warnings: Death of a broken heart. Literally.

It was hard to even climb out of bed, the days following his return to the tower. He had hoped that being in the tower he might recover, knowing that those that had died were here and that they were alive and safe but no. He still felt that dreadful weakness in his body and felt his heart beating painfully against his chest.

Even the grand looking garment he’d found in his room had done little to lift his spirits. Clothing his father had custom made. A piece of home. Something familiar but it only served to remind him of where he wasn’t and where he wanted to be more than anything.

To die among his own people.

The elf did manage to drag himself out of bed and into a comfortable seat to wait for the three. His fathers clothes remained laying out on the bed, he didn’t want to put it away just yet and the young prince wore simple traveling gear like he did during the War of the Ring and he was wiping down his swords and checking his bow after they had gone a month without any type of care or use.

To his credit, at least, he didn’t look too tired. And he didn’t look like he was dying.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Gandalf would be the first one to enter, and he had not changed at all. By now he knew mostly what had happened this last month, and it was with worry he headed to the dorm housing his old friend. When he arrived of course, he knocked on the door first- You don't enter someone's room without making yourself known. He opened the door though to save Legolas the pain to stand and open it if he was as tired as he looked on the network.

He spotted Thranduil clothes.but said nothing of it- He'd question that latter, if only he could. Instead he looked worriedly at the Elven prince.

"It is good to see you." he simply said with a small smile, keeping the 'how are you feeling' for latter.

Zelda follows in not too long after Gandalf, carrying a tray and several cups of tea from the cafeteria. She knew Legolas wasn't feeling well, and upon hearing that they would be holding their discussion in his room, her concern only grew.

She bows her head to both men in greeting, though her gaze lingers on Legolas.

"They are serving tea in the cafeteria," she offers, nodding slightly to her tray. "I did not know which kind you two prefer, so I brought a some of both."

She just... wants to help somehow, after feeling so useless in the pods.

Gimli comes last, hiding his tumultuous thoughts behind a relaxed face and simple clothes. He has foregone the armor today, if only for this meeting. The axes are gone too, everything neatly folded in the trunk in his room. He would want nothing more than to keep their comfort by his side, but he worries about the image it presents.

One look at the elf, and Gimli decides against any kind of teasing. Humor is his usual response to these kind of thing, but it doesn't seem like the moment for it. Instead, he tilts his head as he steps into the room, offering a simple smile.

"Friend," he settles for, smile turning wry as he meets the elf's eyes, then he nods in turn to the other two, "Gandalf, lass. I do hope you didn't go and start before I got here."

"It is good to see you as well, Mithrandir." Legolas said, smiling warmly as the wizard entered his room. He set his weapons aside, sheathing his twin swords carefully and sliding them under his seat. He only looked a bit tired at this point.

When Zelda entered, he bowed slightly in his seat. He was certainly grateful that she had brought tea but he was a bit upset that she had felt the need to do so. He didn't voice it before Gimli arrived, however.

"Friends, I am glad to see you. Please, make yourselves comfortable. Feel free to move the Elvenkings clothing if necessary. I hope that your month was better than that of the Lady Zelda's and my own." Was his first offer to them all, since his roommates weren't there right now. And they were technically his guests now, his father had instilled quite the set of manners in him.

"Thank you for the tea, Lady Zelda. It's very thoughtful of you. It's been some time since I've indulged in drinking tea."

Gandalf accepted the cup of tea with a smile and a nod. The kind didn't matter much to him at this point, especially after one entire month without food of any kind.

"Thank you."

He smiled to Gimli as well when he entered. Everyone was here. Nevertheless, he stood still when Legolas offered them to sit down, holding onto his staff. He didn't need to sit, he'd leave the sitting spots for Zelda and Gimli if they wanted them.

"I have heard but rumors, words about what happened in the tower." Gandalf replied to Legolas "But I believe everyone suffered a lot this month."

He wasn't going to talk about his part on Middle-Earth just yet, he'd speak about it later, at the end if they have the time. It was by far the less interesting topic, and in retrospective Gandalf's fate had been the less painful.

You speak of it as though you were not here, she wants to say, but this is not an atmosphere for prying and interrogation. If something needs to be said, it will be said.

She smiles slightly as Gandalf and Legolas express their gratitude, though it's more out of simple politeness than anything else. It does grows a bit wry at Legolas' comment, however, because, well. "You will get to indulge quite a bit this month, I believe. Tea is the only beverage being served aside from water."

She doesn't offer much in the way of commentary aside from that, however, opting instead to bustle around and make sure everyone has been served before primly taking her seat on one of the beds. Maybe through simple observance she can figure out why everything about this situation feels just a little bit off...

Gimli takes a seat and takes a cup with another nod and smile to Zelda, before snorting rather loudly.

"Pray for the day they do that with mead," he grumbles half-heartedly, saying nothing about suffering because...

Well, he knows he ought to talk about it at some point, but it's still rather unnerving, dying. He's not sure how to go about it, though he inevitably will. That he died is not important, but what they learned in their attempt... And in itself, that said attempt failed...

"Perhaps you can make a suggestion of it, Gimli. Or we can make mead of our own. There's sure to be something in the tower we can use."

He poured himself some black tea, knowing full well that green would relax him too much and he might not last long among them if he did. This would keep him from falling asleep and he needed that.

"I know not the rumors that have circulated but I can tell you who will be in charge of the tower for the next month. It is Riki." He felt a pang in his heart and it took nearly every ounce of his self-control not to flinch and clutch at his chest. He did turn to Zelda at that reminder though, since she had been a part of this contest and had been more active since returning than he.

"The dead? Were they safely returned?" Please say that they were, he needed to know that they were. For his own peace of mind.

"Riki... He and the one in charge of their group are the administrators I know the less about."

Not that he knew all that much about the three others. At the very least, Jason's Q&A session had been very informative about the character, while the discussion he had had with Zo made the child more or less for a victim. As for Dax, the month he had been in charge of the tower had been relatively calm.

The dead...? He was not sure what Legolas was talking about here, but that was probably part of what had happened last month.

"I cannot answer that, but I have to assume they did. The Tower looks very much as it did before power ran out a month ago."

And as Legolas looks to her for solace, she smiles that quiet, aching smile again, nodding once. She understands the need for peace of mind after such a terrible experience, after all.

"They have. Tara, for one, looks healthier than she ever did in the pods."

With that hopefully reassuring piece of information settled, Zelda returns to business. Even with the somber and solemn atmosphere, she knows that what happened in June needs to be discussed, and duty has always been her defense mechanism.

"Riki was the most unpredictable of the three competing administrators, from my perspective - disregarding the woman "hosting" the competition, Ruana," she says remarkably objectively. It's so easy, to fall back into old habits of locking away her emotional responses for the sake of conveying information. "He seems to enjoy being showy in his actions even if it means apparently forfeiting his chances of winning such a game. He won largely due to influences outside of his direct control."

Sayaka's rebellion forcing Jason to be disqualified, and something on the outside forcing the competition to end early. Those were the main reasons he was able to succeed, in the end.

Two (slightly forward-dated)

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