They tell me I could be set free. [OPEN]

[darer]

Who: Thorin and anyone!
Where: Around Union/the library/his workshop etc
When: Early May
What: open catchall log for downtime. training? also music.
Warnings: None so far!

1. Just outside the city.

[ just outside the walls of union, far enough away not to be in plain sight but easy enough to stumble upon, thorin is training. this, here, means that he's brought a sword of his own and is sparring with adlan the doublade across a small clearing. neither of them are holding back much, yet somehow there hasn't been blood so far. how long he can keep this up is another question...

a shuppet hovers nearby, observing the two. possibly also standing (?) guard?
this isn't the kind of sparring that versus tends to condone, after all. ]


2. At the library.

[ on a quieter day, a better day, really, thorin can often be found at the roar of time library. he's most commonly buried in history books, accumulating as much knowledge as he can. of course there is only so much to be learned, with all the things that have been lost.

it might be rude to interrupt? you could always wait until he's looking for something else. ]


3. Home.

[ it's not every night that thorin brings out his harp. but tonight is one such, and he's brought the leather case downstairs to the living room. there's little of its initially golden coat of paint left, but it's well-cared for, and the instrument takes little time to tune.

he plays for himself, or for his pokémon that quickly settle next to him, and certainly won't mind more human company either. ]


4. Elsewhere?

[ find him at his workshop? run into him on the street? anything else you'd like to do? go for it! ]

Comments

2 because where else would we be

[roadsprings]

[ if you'd told Bilbo a few months ago that Thorin would become almost a fixture in the library, he probably would have raised an eyebrow at you and politely asked you if you'd spent too long out in the sun that day.

if you'd then told him he wouldn't find that objectionable, he might have been forced to flat-out disagree.

and yet, here we are; Thorin steadily devouring the history section, Bilbo's bemusement giving way to being accustomed to seeing him there when he goes to restock the shelves in that particular section. such as he's doing now, for instance.

he gives the Calderan a friendly nod as he nears the desk, not wanting to throw him off his place in the middle of a sentence, and then sets to busying himself with rolling one of the library ladders along the bookshelf to the spot he needs, as quietly as he can. ]

[darer]

[ thorin would likewise have considered the idea preposterous that he might begin to grow fond of a stodgy unionite librarian. and yet, he glances up and nods right back as bilbo passes him by. it's not until a few minutes later that he actually speaks to him, while he's placing the book he was reading back precisely where he got it. he speaks as quietly as the library calls for. ]

I see the earthquake didn't do too much harm here, at least.

[roadsprings]

[ Bilbo is nearly all the way down the ladder by this point, and pauses on the last rung to nod. ]

Yes, we were rather lucky really. [ he steps neatly back down onto the floor before he adds: ] Most of the shelves are actually bolted to the floor - that is, if they're not already part of the building itself - so the worst we had to weather was books falling from the shelves and the odd smaller display case taking a topple.

[darer]

I'm glad.

[ back home, earthquakes mean cave-ins, sometimes sinkholes, sometimes fires. with as tall as they build in union, thorin's half surprised all the buildings kept standing. instead of bringing that up, there's just a pause. ]

I take it you did not go to investigate the tunnels.

[roadsprings]

No, as a matter of fact. [ something he's still torn about, given what he's heard from the people who did go. ] You... did, I'm guessing?

[darer]

I did. [ he nods. there's a weight to it, dragging his shoulders down, and he only glances at the librarian briefly. ]

For what it's worth, I am glad that you did not.

[roadsprings]

[ he catches the weight, and though he's not surprised by it - the scraps he has heard rise to the forefront of his mind once again - it does trip a sort of unexpected, low-level anxiousness. anything that can put such a visible sign of weight onto a person like Thorin must be heavy indeed. ]

I did hear - from several people, you know - that it was a terrible business all round. And what few details I have heard makes me rather glad that you all made it back safely.

[ as much as the historian (and the Took) in him can't help feeling like it was an opportunity missed, his sense is firmly glad he opted for staying behind. history, he imagines, is far different when you see it playing out in front of you. ]

[darer]

The Seekers are making records of the different things that we were shown, if you're curious. I'm not sure why it was... necessary, [ there is some contempt in that word, ] to push these memories upon people who could have gone without seeing such bloodshed.

[ yeah there's no two ways about it, he's pretty angry about that. ]

[roadsprings]

I'm not sure there's anyone alive who could say why the gods decide that anything they do is necessary.

[ certainly not Bilbo Baggins. being from Union and certainly with a healthy respect for the gods and the Saviour, even if he's not particularly devout, makes him wary of speaking against them.

but even so. even so. with a sigh and a shake of his head, he says plainly: ] Some of those that went down the tunnels were far too young for what they must have seen, whatever the reasoning.

[darer]

[ sometimes he forgets how much the people of union like to place faith in the gods and in their precious saviour, but never for long. he can't quite keep back the scoff, then shakes his head. ]

There's no right or wrong age to witness slaughter.

[ there isn't. at least he certainly wouldn't know where to draw the line. what he wants is for people to have the chance to not subject themselves to it. ]

Here, at least, I thought people would be safe from needing to.

[roadsprings]

[ he sucks in a breath almost as if being forced to, then nods, completely sober. ]

No. No, you're absolutely right, of course. [ you just... hope more with the younger ones, that it doesn't have to be them. that it shouldn't be them. that's all. and when it is... ]

About a year or so ago, you would've been right, you know. [ it's an abrupt utterance, this time, accompanied by a frown that's almost offended. naturally, this being Bilbo, the clarifying comment that follows is more faltering. ] About - about being safe, here. But these days I feel almost if we spend our time - waiting for the next crisis, if you know what I mean. Not consciously, obviously, no one says that of course, but the only people who are under the impression anything's going to blow over eventually and go back to the way it was are people like my relatives.

[darer]

[ it isn't what he expects to hear. or more correctly: it's far more than he expects to hear. in Caldera, there are soldiers, there are veterans, and there are those who've never served in the Battalion or otherwise, but even then... everyone has lost someone, or known someone who's lost someone, or known someone who is or was a soldier.

Union people had no knowledge of war, but he's found he was wrong to assume that they have no knowledge of tragedy or loss. it's more humbling than he expected. ]

So we can expect this to grow worse.

[ only partway to being a question - bad things rarely stay the same - but it's with less of that heavy bitterness from before. ]

[roadsprings]

[ he sucks in a breath, considering this. can they? ]

I don't know. [ it's an honest answer, more so for how uncharacteristically unadorned and quiet it is. ] I should like to hope not, but perhaps that's foolish.

[darer]

[ hope. such an odd thing, so easily snuffed out and yet so easily rekindled. sometimes so very painful to even hold on to. Thorin lowers his eyes, pensive. ]

Perhaps. But even foolish hope is better than none at all.

[ and that's probably saying too much, but there it is. he inclines his head to the librarian, wordlessly excusing himself, and turns to go without another word. ]