OM NOM NOM (or: The Hadriel Community Kitchen Initiative)

[utulien_aure]

Who: OPEN
What: With the gods out of commission, Hadriel attempts to feed itself
Where: A makeshift firepit, set up on the southwest bank of the river
When: Roughly December 13-26, after Fingon's Network post
Warnings: The threat of starvation, dubious food, possibly slight fire burns.



The Null may begone, but the damage they inflicted remains: to the city's infrastructure, to it's citizens, to the gods themselves. With Sorrow dead and Hope out of commission, one problem in particular is critical: Hadriel's food supply is dwindling, and many lack the skills to catch and cook their own meals.

That's where the fire pit comes in: a great hole dug into the earth for a cooking fire, topped by a metal grate. Use of the pit is open to all in the city: anyone who hunts or gathers food can bring it here to be prepared, and anyone who shows up hungry will be fed.

The pit also serves as a place to find interested hunting partners; in an unfamiliar and extremely harsh environment, it's best not to wander off on your own for too long. Anyone interested in hunting can take a look at a slate set up near the pit: on it is a list of volunteers looking for an expedition to join.


[OOC: This is an open log, so feel free to top-level to your heart's content.]

Comments

[hot_mes]

"Is it...endless?" Law's tone is still casual enough but he actually has a deep and personal reason to wonder. He holds within him the power to make someone just as long-lived, but he's never even been remotely tempted to use it. Still, he can't help but be curious about what it's like for someone to actually experience that kind of life.

"...I mean. Is it simply a lifespan of thousands of years but eventually you'll die, or is it actually eternal?"

[bythewaves]

Maglor shakes his head.

"No - when Arda dies, so will we, and what comes after not even the Powers know, bound as they are to the world that they chose to build and defend. And we can be slain - by blade, or poison or grief. But our fea - soul, or spirit, so long as Arda remains, it does also, and so we go to the Halls of Waiting, and once healed enough return again to Life. At least, until the End of Days."

[hot_mes]

To Law, that sounds an awful lot like eternal life. There till the world ends, huh? But then, he has a fairly negative view of gods and creation myths, so...

He's good about not griping about that openly. He simply goes about scraping scales off his fish, murmuring quietly as he works. "I've always wondered about that," he says, focusing on how that information relates to his own curiosities. "If living for what seems like forever precludes getting yourself killed. I suppose there can be a difference between immortal and invulnerable."

[bythewaves]

Maglor used to sit at the feet of his gods and chat with them, so his view is a little skewed

"Oh very much so." Maglor nods. "I'm sure there are worlds out there where both are true, but even the Powers can be harmed, especially if they take a physical form as our Enemy was fool enough to do. Even the spirit can be damaged, if one knows how."

[hot_mes]

"I take it you don't mean metaphorically, like breaking someone's spirit."

Law considers it while he works, since that's at odds with his abilities. The spirit of a person is immutable, he can move it from body to body but it outlasts the physical. It would be curious to know how damaging one would be possible, if for no other reason than he wouldn't want to accidentally make that mistake.

But then, there's the "gods" here. "The alien creatures here can take forms that look like us," he notes. "But I'm not sure if those are their real bodies."

[bythewaves]

"Aye, you have the right of it, although such wounds are beyond what we Incarnates are usually capable of. But my uncle Fingolfin is held as our greatest warrior, and he lamed our foe seven times, and those wounds went past the flesh he wore into his spirit, and he bears them still."

Maglor shrugs in agreement. "True - although I suspect they are bound to them, if what happened when Delight turned on us is true."

[hot_mes]

Being as he hasn't met a Fingolfin around here, Law takes that in stride and shelves it for later. Something to contemplate. That'd be a hell of a power, wouldn't it?

He gives Maglor a shifty look. "You mean, injuring Hope and killing Sorrow? There were special weapons involved - I haven't seen one. Have you heard anything about the aftermath?"

[bythewaves]

You betcha

"I have not. But one thing I have learnt - what has been done once can be done again, and more - it gives hope to those who have reason to try."

[hot_mes]

That sounds an awful lot like the Null and their god-killers could be back. Greeeaaaaaat. Law plops a finished fish fillet into the clean bucket with a little more force than necessary.

"Then we'd better do more than just survive. It's on us to prepare so that if anyone tries again, they'll be met with more than panic and fumbling."

[bythewaves]

"That would be my suggestion." Maglor shrugs. "Of course, I could just be being pessimistic, I suppose. But I have seen this pattern before, and I do not hold much hope that someone, somehow, will try again."

[hot_mes]

"Someone always does." Life never really does settle, does it? Now, if you'll excuse him, he'd like to wash fish guts off his hands before touching the food.

"If you're hungry, I'll grill a couple more. At least this is the one thing I really can't screw up." Grilled fish is one of his favorites, and luckily, the one thing Law has known how to cook since childhood. Spear it on a stick and hold it over the fire, what else do you need?

[bythewaves]

Maglor smiles at him wryly.

"People are in some ways, very predictable, no? I would not mind - I think we have both earned ourselves a meal after that work."

[hot_mes]

Law busies himself for a moment preparing, using whatever tools have been gathered and are on hand to benefit the whole community. It's a nice fire pit, with the grate already set up, all he has to do is keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn. Thanks, elves, you're all bros.

"That's the one thing I've learned here," he admits, stepping back and removing his hat for a moment to mop his brow. As convenient as the fire is, it's also hot. "It doesn't matter what world they're from, people are all pretty much the same."

[bythewaves]

Maglor seasons the fish with salt - they really don't have much, but salt, at least, they do have - and doesn't seem to mind the flames.

"Aye - it is, on one hand, rather comforting. And extremely frustrating, on the other!"

[hot_mes]

Mmm good old salt. This right here? This is how Law wouldn't mind living for a while. Nothing fancy, just basic survival with real food and fire, and magical water that makes you feel funny...

Ahem.

"It's hard enough dealing with people," he says, completely commiserating with Maglor's feelings, "I don't know if I want to throw unpredictability into the mix."

[bythewaves]

At least no one has hurt anyone yet? Probably?

"Exactly!" Maglor laughs softly. "Besides, I am too old for unpredictability. It is enough to know that people will do as people will. I've enough of politicking to last me several lifetimes."

[hot_mes]

There's a little roll of his eyes and toss of his head as he supervises the grill. "That also doesn't really change no matter what world you're in."

Unlike some pirates, though, Law is far better with the machinations of politics and justice, and how to manipulate them. Most of the others would rather just blunder straight into fights. "What do you think, then," he asks as casually and subtly as he can, "of a place like this? With people from all walks of life. I get that some of them are dead, and don't have anywhere to go, but the rest of us...home is still a goal. Even if we weren't going to reach it through Delight."

[bythewaves]

"I hate it - a cage is still a cage, no matter how gilded. I love it - it has given me back my dead and gone, the heroes and villains of long ago and far away, my beloved dead."

[hot_mes]

That's actually something Law's been wondering about ever since a certain dream. Beloved dead, huh? "Is it worth it? Seeing them again. Even though you know this is a life they weren't supposed to have."

[bythewaves]

"Always."

Maglor nods. "I have missed them all so! It has been so very long, and I did not think to see any of them again."

[hot_mes]

"But...what happens when we get our chance to go home?"

If pressed he would admit that he wouldn't mind Rosinante seeing him all grown up, but how could he pull him from the peace of death and then watch him go back to it? It's a hard thing for Law to understand.

[bythewaves]

"Nelyo promised he'd try to find me. Elrond, too. We will be parted again, but we always were. I can hope, perhaps, it won't be too long."

[hot_mes]

"Ah." Rather than ask outright if any of them are dead, Law works out that information through other questions. He thinks he's got the full picture, though he probably doesn't. "I suppose, if you live that long...everybody's somewhere."

[bythewaves]

"Mm. And ... well. Part of us being bound to the world means our dead can return, eventually. So... perhaps one day, if they heal enough, I will see even those of my kinsmen again."

[hot_mes]

"Makes sense." Law goes quiet after that, focusing on the fish, lifting the makeshift skewers to keep the tender flesh from getting stuck to the grill and occasionally flipping them. He's lost in his thoughts, eyes shadowed by his hat. What could he say to that?