nerdanel_the_wise | (no subject)

[OOC: This piece is being used, but it is part of Path Not Taken. As Mary Anne absorbs the power of the tarot in small ways, she sees the paths, can see the various outcomes. This is NOT Millicanon. It is a VISION, and ONLY a VISION. It is a WHAT IF only thing. Nothing more. Námo and Nerdanel IC have no knowledge of these events. They weren't there for them, technically.]

The library is large, bright, full of windows and books. There are comfortable, worn chairs and sofas scattered around the room, and half-finished books left on the tables.

Nerdanel closes the door, taking Gabriel from Mary Anne, and looks beyond her to the tall, gangly youth that looked very much like her.

"Nelyo, please take Gabriel outside? Play with him?"

Maedhros smiles, accepting his brother into his arms, and after casting an interested look at the human, slips from the room while Gabriel yammers at him about the Bar.

Nerdanel sighs, leaning against a nearby table, and looks at Mary Anne. "Welcome to my home."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

song_tra_bong

She opens the door just wide enough to slip inside, then closes it behind her.

"You underestimated her, then."

She stands with her back leaning against the door, not coming any closer just yet.

From:

namo

He's in the bed, hair still as neat as ever, skin as white and clean as ever. You wouldn't know from looking at him that he hadn't left the bed for days. All the window are open, three walls of them, creating a soft crossbreeze in the room.

"As everyone tells me so often, I underestimate all those around me."

From:

song_tra_bong

She comes over and sits at the foot of the bed, worrying her lower lip with her teeth.

"I know you saw him the other night."

From:

namo

"Was it only the other night?" he says faintly, closing his eyes. "Did he go to gloat at you?" Námo smiles ruefully, opening his dark eyes to stare at her. "It is not as if he came to me pretending to be him. It was so much worse than that."

From:

song_tra_bong

"He didn't gloat," she murmurs.

"He probably wouldn't even have mentioned it had I not asked."

She's quiet for a moment. "What was it, then?"

From:

namo

He rolls onto his back, hand laced on his stomach.

"I invited him, of course."

From:

song_tra_bong

She doesn't ask why, just scoots a little closer so she can look at his face.

"You gonna be okay?"

From:

namo

His eyes shimmer, but there are no tears. He's spent days shedding those.

"He will not forgive me when he discovers what I have done," he murmurs.

From:

song_tra_bong

"I think he will."

He forgave her, after all.

From:

namo

He raises a brow and finally looks at her.

"You are not promised to him, Mary Anne. I swore. I swore an oath he wrote, and now I have broken it with--" Námo shakes his head. "Why did he come to me? Why did he not stay away?"

From:

song_tra_bong

The necklace chain burns cold at her throat.

"It's not his nature to stay away. He always ends up...involved."

From:

namo

"He should not have been," he almost snarls. "Offering to be him. And, in the heat of it, did I not allow myself the illusion?"

Námo throws back the covers, standing from the bed nude, and pulls on loose trousers the colour of his eyes.

"All illusions! Even the real thing is an illusion!"

From:

song_tra_bong

Her eyes slide away.

She bites her tongue to keep from asking the first question that comes to mind.

"What do you mean the real thing is an illusion?"

From:

namo

He leans against the wall.

"I might as well be clinging to a ghost. What I loved died. What remains is different."

From:

song_tra_bong

She folds her hands in her lap.

"And you can't love what lives?"

From:

namo

"What lives does not bother to even check to see if it is missed," he points out angrily. "He is too busy living to remember those that loved him when dead."

From:

song_tra_bong

She hasn't seen much of Gorlim herself lately, but that won't help her argument.

Her fingers curl.

"Don't say 'it,'" she replies, voice low but hard.

From:

namo

Now he looks away.

"It is easier that way."

From:

song_tra_bong

She gets up and walks over to him. Fingers crooked against his jaw turn him back to face her.

"Maybe. But it's not smart."

From:

namo

He meets her gaze steadily.

"It should not have happened. Any of it. From beginning to end. I never should have followed my brother."

From:

song_tra_bong

"Maybe," she repeats.

"But it did happen and you can't undo it."

please God tell me you can't

From:

namo

There is flicker of...

...of something in his eyes.

"No. I cannot."

From:

song_tra_bong

She releases a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding.

Slowly she draws her hand away from his face.

"Then...you'll just have to learn to live with it."