It Spreads Like Wildfire | a LOTR roleplay | open

[Rivkah]

ooc: for the record I swear I'm literate and capable, I just a] suck at first posts and b] am very new to the LOTR fandom lD sorry for the late arrival that was hardly fashionable.

haldir ;; marchwarden
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tagged: all??

To say the least, Haldir was not used to these conditions. His home was naturally the forest, but he had served a great deal of his life at the Lady of Light's side; though it was his willing volunteering that brought him from the area he knew best, to serve and protect Mirkwood. Haldir did not break pacts, agreements, or promises. As a result, he was bound by the words he had spoken to Tharanduil man moons ago: "I will always run to assist you." It seemed like such a trivial thing, but Haldir took these matters seriously.

The normally composed, fluid Marchwarden was exhausted; something that did not often happen, as his tasks normally weren't exceptionally hard. He, admittedly, had underestimated the spiders, but he had still managed to exterminate a few nests and isolate a couple more. The troop he was leading back flooded into the gates just before they closed, the last ones for the day, and he listened for voices, before following the sound and entering the room Tharanduil was in.

The very first thing he did was stoop into a quick, fluid bow, before moving over to the group that was talking. He looked at all of the younger elves with a detached expression, not here to make friends. He was here to serve by the vow he took; Haldir meant no offense, but he could not relate to these younger beings and it was not relevant to his promise regardless. Once there was silence, he murmured, "We managed to take down three nests, give or take, m'lord. Another one was isolated, but knowing the spiders, it will only delay their efforts' they've been moving fast." He might seem old-fashioned, or whatever the young ones were calling it now, but when addressing Tharanduil, even as they were old friends, he still knew to address him with the respect that his position deserved.

He stayed silent, blue eyes assessing everyone, waiting to either be clued in or or told by his old comrade what exactly he would like them to do next. He had caught things as he entered, including "reevaluating." That sent a wave of apprehension over him; they wouldn't need to calculate differently unless their efforts were turning out to be in vain, or if the enemy was getting stronger. He repositioned the bow and quiver on his back, silent and listening.

[Keriae]

ＴＡＵＲＩＥＬ
ＣＡＰＴＡＩＮ ＯＦ ＴＨＥ ＧＵＡＲＤ

Tauriel heard Legolas' footsteps echo through the wooden chambers as he appeared behind her, and turned her head in order to greet him with a nod and a warm smile. The older, blonde elf she saw as an older brother, albeit sometimes too over-protective and, on one occasion, perhaps a little jealous. She had tried her best to tell the Prince of Mirkwood that she did not see him as anything else other than a brother, without telling him frankly (and brutally), yet he continued to pursue her in his own unique, over-protective way. She still remembered Thranduil's words forty years ago when he had warned her to squash those affections, for he would not allow his son, the heir to a Kingdom, pledge himself to her. But the red-haired elf just couldn't break his heart.

Thranduil spoke to her after she had finished, starting much as he always had. A cold gaze and a cold tone, every single time. Then he chided her on her boldness (which she was not ashamed of). Yet upon the Elvenking's words, she let her lips drift open in her surprise, eyebrows arching as she processed the information. Quickly, she shut her mouth and gave a small nod as she accepted vocal material, the movement accompanied with the shutting of her eyes. "Yes, m'lord."

Before they would continue and discuss what the re-evaluation would entail, another set of footsteps, escorted by many more, swept into the room and the captain rested her gaze on the Marchwarden. Her eyes narrowed slightly as he gave them all a look that clearly read "I'm-older-and-therefore-better-than-you". He gave another report about killing off three more nests and isolating another. Tauriel had learnt long ago that isolating a nest had not effect. In fact, it only seemed to rile the children of Ungoliant and make them evermore daring.

[acacia.]

T H R A N D U I L
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Thranduil had opened his mouth to speak his mind, but immediately shut it again as the sound of approaching footsteps met his pointed ears. Haldir. He knew that the Marchwarden had already heard enough to know something was going on, so any efforts made to try to change the subject were futile. Although, he didn't mind at all the presence of Haldir in their discussion - the more input the better. He would, however, like to keep the rest of the realm from knowing until he had reached a final decision.

His eyes frosted over once more with a chilling gaze as he made eye contact, expecting news on the Great Spiders just by the way the elf held himself. Fighting the urge to sigh at yet another bad report, he let his eyes flutter closed. "Follow me," he finally said quietly and turned back the way he had came, gaze locked on the entrance to his Halls.

He lingered just outside the door and glanced over his shoulder to make sure the four were following him before continuing, dismissing guards with a wave of his hand as he went. After crossing the last bridge to get to his destination, he sent away the last two guards. They hesitated for a moment, since rarely did the Elvenking have his Halls entirely vacated, but as Thranduil raised his eyebrows at them expectantly, they left hastily. He circled the small space as he waited for the last two unwanted audience members to be far enough away as to be out of earshot. If it weren't for the elves that mingled about, maybe he would have discussed this in the conference hall. He always gave lectures in his throne room, and he would rather the guards be gossiping about the elves in front of him being reprimanded instead of them having an important talk with him without his advisors knowledge.

"Now," he said, scanning their faces, "tell me everything."

{sorry it was so late. real life caught up with me :C }

[acacia.]

{bump}

[Keriae]

(I was waiting for someone else to post but if no one else does I'll post in the morning ^.^)

[Rivkah]

ooc: same here; I'll post soon if no one else will ^-^

[judar.]

{i'll post soon.

[Greenleaf]

(I hope no one minds me posting this ^-^ if it clashes with anybody else's post I'll edit this immediately!!)

Ｌｅｇｏｌａｓ Ｇｒｅｅｎｌｅａｆ

For the most part, Legolas hung out of the conversations yet still kept his ears open and mind awake as he took in the various reports, pausing his trains of thought only to greet Tauriel back with a brief nod and a smile and to silently acknowledge his father with a glance; he wished to say more, but politic formality refrained him from doing so, and therefore he was rather startled when footsteps of an entering being suddenly resounded from behind.

He half turned swiftly, instincts turned on sharply, but he exhaled silently when he saw that it was only Haldir, the marchwarden of Lórien who had come to assist in the affairs of Greenwood. He briefly cursed himself for his inattentiveness at getting caught off-guard by just another elf, but his self-resentment died instantly when Haldir turned a haughty gaze at Tauriel, Celaírin and himself, a shunning look that Legolas recognized well. He hoped he wasn't bristling overmuch on the outside, but he was inwardly seething; he was really not in the mood of having to deal with both his useless frustration at Greenwood's current plight and now this.

He was rather relieved as well as mildly surprised when Thranduil suddenly called off the guards and started to lead the four of them away from the throne room, towards the palace's more secluded quarters; what called for the sudden change of area? But it seemed to Legolas, at least, that the presence of listening, attentive guards was probably starting to grate on everyone's nerves. They stopped a few fleeting minutes later, and here was when the king turned back to them and demanded to be told everything.

"The spiders persist in fighting, my lord," Legolas stated quietly, holding the state of formality. "They grow in numbers day by day and keep driving us inwards. We keep demolishing nests, but it has little effect on the spiders; they grow bolder and bolder each day."

I fear this may be a losing battle, the elf added silently, but he daren't speak aloud; though Legolas was very weary, even my elven standards, he feared that his father, being the king, would be one hundred times more stressed than what he felt, and Legolas had no desire to repress the king with his own negative thoughts.

[Rivkah]

haldir ;; marchwarden
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tagged: all

Haldir managed a half-smile to Legolas. He was not familiar with the ladies and did not want to become close, though he did deliver them proper respect. Tharanduil was who he knew best, the one he had made the oath for. They were old friends and Haldir would sacrifice anything to fulfill his vows. Legolas was the only other of the group whom he was familiar with, though barely. He had seen Legolas throughout stages of his childhood and believed Tharanduil had raised him to be a strong and honorable man. They were still distant, of course, but he had a will to stand by his side to, having been raised by the elven king.

Relieved but restless as they retreated to a more secluded place, he said nothing for the time being, eyes on who was speaking or on his own feet. He was never one to speak unless he had something to say, and he would wait his turn. "I concur," he said quietly and evenly once Legolas was finished his input. "I must report the same. I am not bold enough to claim I have a solution, but I believe we need to gather more elves of the magical talent; simple eradication isn't effective with how quickly they breed. A different strategy might aid us as well, though I confess I have none besides calling in some favors."

He glanced at the younger without judgement, his ideas over and waiting patiently for anyone remaining to give their opinions. He was worried about the outcome of this, though never would he desert.

The Lady of Light, whom he normally served, had not yet arrived; she had been vague about whether she would assist or not. He trusted her, though he was bitter that she would not assist a friend stressed from the grief of battle that seemed to be in vain. He spared a glance over at the king, head tipped in respect. He hoped desperately that others would come as he had asked; Tharanduil was a friend of all of them. Surely they would not leave him defenseless? He was grateful for the help of the younger, but there were only four of them, as Tharanduil was not out in the heat of the battle, but calculating.

[Keriae]

ＴＡＵＲＩＥＬ
ＣＡＰＴＡＩＮ ＯＦ ＴＨＥ ＧＵＡＲＤ

Legolas and the Marchwarden has stated what she herself had been stating for decades: no matter how hard they tried to eradicate the nests, the spiders always came back, bolder and braver and closer than before. A long battle had been waging for too many years against the evil that was slowly invading but now, with Thranduil rethinking their strategy and re-evaluating their plan of action, she could only hope that he would listen to what she had also said over the decades, that they had to go to the source, to where the spiders were coming from. Evidence was building, and it had built so much that the captain of the guard was certain that they had to head to Dol Goldur. This was her chance, while there was silence between their small group.

"My lord, I will restate what I have always been saying," she began slowly, well aware that she was just about throwing tradition and respect aside, "we need to kill these beasts at their source, and that simply has to be Dol Goldur. There is no other place such ugly spawn can be birthed." Her fingers itched and the pads of the digits brushed across the smooth edge of her longbow, drifting over to the pummel of one of her daggers. Her dark gaze was set on the Elvenking as she ignored the three others around her. She did not care what they thought of her frankness, of her brutal honesty, for this was no time to skirt around the bush nervously. Things were getting too dangerous for Tauriel's liking, and she rather thought the older male should have listened to her in the first place. Maybe that way they would not have to be dealing with this now and they could live in peace.