middleofsomewhere | Day 5 Domino: Let it Snow: Preperations

Day 5 Domino: Let it Snow: Preperations

Early Evening

Due to some of the passengers having strange dreams those on the Voidtrecker Express should be expecting something soon and so it is around dinner time on the evening of the fifth day of Domino that everyone's SCA glows with the colour of the void, a holographic message appears with their next mission.

Those going to the dressing car will find the drawers and wardrobes open. Inside are a variety of warm weather clothes, all in team colours. Thick padded winter jackets, waterproof trousers. Hats, gloves, scarves. Thick boots and also a variety of ice skates. There are waterproof covers for a variety of sizes of bags and even some coils of rope.

It seems they are not arriving until the next morning and so they have time to plan as best they can.

Morning: Day Six

No matter if they stayed up late preparing or went to bed early to get some rest before the mission they will wake up the next morning to the morning announcement. "Good morning passengers. Today is day six of the month of Domino. A moment later the voice speaks again. "Our next stop is world#58291. Drop order: Purple, Blue, Red, Orange. Conditions are adverse and so all passengers must be ready to alite swiftly."

There is time for some final preparation.

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Preparations

Curufin is rummaging around in the Dressing Carriage, finding whatever he thinks might be useful on the morrow. He's collecting one of everything, warm jacket, waterproof pants, boots, skates, scarf, gloves, a couple of those waterproof covers, and some rope. He's in high energy mode already, after having seen the SCA message announcing the mission and team tasks. It's going to be hard to sleep tonight. Anybody who is in the carriage with him will practically be inundated with the busy, highly-competent-but-slightly-anxious energy he's radiating. That's if they're sensitive to such things. Otherwise, they'll just notice he's running around like a maniac.

Morning

Curufn is dressed in his blazing Team Orange jacket and warm clothing and carrying his rucksack with everything in it that he thinks he might need, including that coil of rope. He's got his satchel of tools as well. He's busy arranging his belongings so that all the gear is easy to carry.

When he hears the train announcement of the world number and drop order, he goes to the kitchen carriage to grab a cup of coffee and a plate of whatever they are serving, and gobbles it down like a wolf.

"Going to a search a labyrinth, need my calories!" he remarks jokingly to whoever is nearby.

"Good luck," Evie says, dressed in her purple winter attire and serving out breakfast tarts. If he wants calories, this is absolutely the thing to eat. There are eggs, chicken, bacon, cheeses, potatoes. It's amazing. She cooks when she's anxious, okay?

"Stay safe. And warm."

He smiles. "Thank you, Evie! This is delicious."

It's true, she's an amazing cook, nervous or not.

"I'll do my best to stay safe. You too! I saw in the SCA message that you're going to fight ice creatures?"

"My own recipe," Evie states, taking a bit of it for herself and sitting across from Curufin. When he reminds her of what she and her team are facing, she sighs. She doesn't look too fond of it, to be honest, but she'll get through it. Just like she always does.

"There are stories back home about a queen in a neighboring kingdom who had the ability to control ice. She could create living beings from it. One of them was a giant ice monster. Again, I don't know if this is true? But I wouldn't be surprised. It's nothing I've ever seen." She thinks about this for a second, looking briefly concerned before shaking her head and smiling.

"I still have two of the swords from those goblins a while back. They're packed in my bag. That should help some, I hope."

"You do have a gift for making tasty food. Anybody who comes in looking for a meal this morning is going to appreciate that." He's not too fond of the idea of his friends, acquaintances, and family fighting monsters without him, but he thinks his assignment is a good one for a mechanical and electrical engineer such as he is.

"I guess we have no way of knowing how the creatures were created, or whether they are natural to the world we're about to visit. But I've heard of powerful sorcerers who have ice powers, and so I believe it might be possible to create ice monsters deliberately."

He smiles when she does.

"Oh, you have swords, good! I certainly wouldn't go down into that valley without at least one."

"There are two more in the oven, just in case," Evie says. She knows how many people there are on the train, and how many people are going to want to eat before leaving, so she made a lot of these things.

There is even stuff left-over to throw together, should anything run out.

"I do. I have mine and Harry's. Apparently, he didn't take it with him when he left. So that works. Dual-wielding isn't exactly one of my skills, but I can either share it with someone or do my best."

He's impressed with her concern for others, and he's sure that everyone will appreciate the delicious breakfast foods.

"You had a friend who is gone? But it's good he left you his goblin sword. I've got a couple of those swords, too. I wish there were time to practice before we are summoned to the door for mission drop, but for the future, if you'd like some dual wield practice, I'll be available."

"Atarinke." Nerdanel arrests his dashing to tidy his hair and check his clothes.

"I'm going to look after your father and brothers." She says quietly. "I wish I could be with you, as well, but I worry for your brothers. Will you be alright? You need but say, and I would stay with you instead."

He smiles at her when she reaches up to fix his hair. He looks down at his clothes and gives her a humorous look. "I'm wearing all the warm clothes I could possibly fit into, so you don't have to worry."

The humor fades out of his face when he hears that she will not be going with Orange Team. But he understands. "I think you'd better go with Father, Maedhros, and Maglor. Red Team is going to be tracking this mysterious Professor Chill and his team, and it sounds as though they'll be fighting the ice monsters on the way. I worry for Fingon, since he's going to be with Purple Team and they're staying in the valley to guard anybody who couldn't get out of that valley and they'll be fighting monsters as well. I think I'm the last person you should worry about. Team Orange just has to find that weather machine in the sky-labyrinth and shut it down. This doesn't sound like a very dangerous task."

He gives her a brief hug. "You take care of yourself, and don't let any of those ice creatures get the drop on you!"

"Tis a mother's place to worry." She smiles at him and tucks the scarf in more securely.

"I would offer to go with Fingon." She sighs. "But it is not my place. Your eldest brother might, I think. I do not think any of us should be alone. And... I think you are right, that your father and Makalaure need me there. I will be careful, and you had best do the same."

He smiles back. "I know. You would not be you if you did not worry." How familiar was that scarf-adjusting gesture, from when he was a little Elf with a gigantic desire for adventures, and the snowy ravine below the city of Tiron was magical and irresistible to him.

"I don't think Fingon would mind your company at all. But I think he'd prefer Maitimo to anyone, so it's best if Maitimo goes with him, and I hope he will. I'm sure that Father and Makalaurë would appreciate your company and your support." And he knows that she is no helpless woman, if it comes to a fight. Any ice monsters should be worried if a sculptor comes at them!

"But Mother, do you have a weapon? If not, you can have my sword. Unfortunately, it's not my own sword; for some reason that one didn't come with me to the VoidTrekker. But I do have a couple of swords and a knife that I picked up on my first mission. They belonged to the goblins we fought, and they are not Elvish steel, but they are perfectly serviceable weapons. Do you want one of these?"

"Yes." She sighs. "I worry for all of you, but..." But Makalaure is fragile in a way that desperately worries his mother, and Maitimo not much better. In contrast, Curufin seems almost healthy.

She smiles and shakes her head.

"I do not. I do not plan to fight, my Atarinke. And besides, it will give your father and brothers something to focus on."

Curufin is aware that Makalaurë is not himself. He probably hasn't been himself since Maedhros died, and maybe even before that, when Celegorm, Caranthir, and Curufin met their end in Menegroth. And Maitimo died an absolutely terrible death, in a state of despair. He too is greatly in need of his mother's love and care.

"All right, if you are not going to fight, just be careful. I want all of us to celebrate in the garden carriage when we return from this mission." And to do that, they all have to return! And not in the luggage car, the way those who die usually do.

Nerdanel cups his cheek fondly, and then checks him over one last time.

"I will be, my dear. But I will have our family beside me, and you will be alone. So you had best not do anything reckless!"

Curufin touches her face with equal fondness and lets her fuss over his clothes and gear.

"You'll have our family, and I'm glad of that. But I won't be alone. I'll have the rest of our Orange Teammates with me." He smiles. "I'm sure they'll stop me if I'm going to do anything stupid."

Curufin's mother raises a disbelieving eyebrow - she sincerely doubts that Curufin would listen to anyone outside his father or older brothers.

"Kindly see to it that you do not! I have only just found you again, my Atarinke. Come back to me."

He might not listen to his father or brothers either! Not if he thought that what he was doing was essential and there was no one else to do it.

"I have no intention of getting myself killed. Already tried that, and it's no fun. I will return to you, my dear Mother. I will not fail you."

"See to it that you do!" She kisses his cheek fondly. "It would break my heart to lose any of you, Atarinke. Again. "

He kisses her cheek in return, and hugs her one more time.

"I will not break your heart again, Mother. And I don't think Father or your two eldest sons are planning on getting themselves killed again either, nor do I think my cousin will. Have faith in us."

"I don't think your father planned it the FIRST time." She points out wryly. "But I will do my best."

He smiles with the same wry humor as she is displaying. "No, I don't suppose Father planned to get killed on the battlefield. Nor did any of the rest of us, not the battlefield nor any other dire situation. Hopefully, we've learned from our mistakes. I think we have."

He gives her yet another smile, this time with adoration. He loves her dearly.

Edited 2020-01-17 10:05 (UTC)

"I would hope so! Never let it be said that the Noldor cannot learn from their mistakes!"

She kisses his cheek fondly.

"My dear one. How glad I am to see you again."

He smiles. "Many have said it. But it isn't true. We do learn from our mistakes, even if we have to demonstrate this in a world other than our own."

He can't help hugging her again.

"You are dear to me, Mother. I am likewise very glad to see you again. When I left you in Tirion, I was eager to be gone, to dare a new adventure and a new land. But I thought of you often, and missed you terribly, and wondered if you were all right."

"I expect nothing less from you, my clever one." Nerdanel smoothes his hair down and hugs him back.

"I... I survived." She murmurs, thinking back to long empty days filled with rage and weeping and the sharp sword that cut her heart every time one of them died.

"And I shall live up to your expectations," he answers with a smile.

He senses the pain in her heart that is left over from those lonely days, and the pain she must have felt then. It hurts to think of her sorrow. "I know. You are every bit as strong as the rest of us, probably more so. But if I could go back and change everything, I would. I wish I could." His eyes glow with unshed tears.

Day 5 Domino: Let it Snow: Preperations

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Morning

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Good place to end this one?

yes!