In Love's service, only wounded soldiers can serve

[so_dark_a_road]

Who: Curufin, Maglor, Yukari, and OTA
What: Curufin gets hurt in the fight with Caedra's demons, ends up in the Clinic, and then goes home to recover.
Where: Coming off the battlefield near Rage's temple; at the Clinic; and later at the Elfhouse (after Curufin sneaks out of the Clinic).
When: Backdated to April 1, and during the next few days.
Warnings: Curufin's awful sense of humor. Before reading or tagging into this log, drink a bottle of Pepto-Bismol!


Limping off the battlefield (for Maglor)
(Following this thread.)

Curufin is hanging onto his brother's shoulder for dear life, his sword still clutched in his hand, swaying dizzily. They are about to cross the bridge to get to the far side of the city where the Clinic is now located, but they still have a long way to go. Curufin glances over the bridge rail and remarks cheerfully, "Nice day for a dip. Want to go swimming?"


The Clinic (Yukari and OTA)

Curufin is lying on one of the cots, his face almost as white as the sheet that covers him and the bandages with which his chest is swathed. His eyes are just barely closed, but he is not really sleeping, just drifting. Every so often he starts into total alertness and gazes around him suspiciously. He's actually thinking about how soon he can abscond, and by what route.

[ OOC: But if you are a healer and you want to be the one who treats him, you can find him in the Clinic Catchall for April, here. ]


At the Elfhouse (OTA)

He's up and around, even though he's not supposed to be. You'll find him sitting on the steps of the front porch, fiddling with the tiny metallic pieces of one of his projects. His tools lie on the step by his side. He is whistling a tune, but when he tries to sing it, he goes into a coughing fit. An incompletely healed lung injury will do that to you.


{{ OOC: The title quote is from Brennan Manning's Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging. }}

Comments

how about the 4th

[hot_mes]

After a visit from Atem, Law is aware that something went down and there were patients he couldn't help because he, too, had been incapacitated for entirely unrelated reasons. He's still in the process of patching himself up, but now's about a good time to check up on anyone who had been injured to see if they're in need of a follow-up.

He knows where Elfhouse is but hasn't been there before, so hey. Hi Curufin. He strolls up in time to catch that cough, his unbuttoned shirt flipping back to show the bandages wrapped around his chest and neck. "Are you taking care of that?" he scolds as he approaches.

hello, old paintball fraand! XDD

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin looks up to see Trafalgar Law coming down the walkway. He thumps on his chest, stops coughing, smiles wryly, and sets his project down. There might be a little guilt in the grin. Law wasn't at the Clinic at the time Curufin came in, but if he's updated himself on what was happening while he was gone, he knows Curufin cleared out after 24 hours without asking leave of the physician who treated him. That would certainly call for a follow-up visit!

But it's obvious that his friend has had problems of his own to deal with.

"Law! It looks like you've taken a few heavy hits since I last saw you? What happened?"

[hot_mes]

"Nothing I can't handle," he assures, dismissing it with a toss of his head. "It happened before this...'demon' thing, whatever it was."

He wasn't telling anyone it was Michael, no matter who they are to him. It was his first real experience with the gods' shenanigans actually turning people against each other, manipulating them into hurting each other, so he blames no one except Fear. At least, he assumes it was Fear.

He comes over and then simply looms, giving the dwelling a quick glance as if to commit it to memory. "I figured the mystery illness had passed by now. What's the matter?"

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin responds with a smile, "Obviously you can handle it. You're tromping around the city taking care of business, so I guess you're all right. I just wondered what had happened."

It would make Curufin angry if he knew. He has met Michael, and although he doesn't know that Michael's life is shadowed by a destructive force, he recognizes him as fully human. He would blame the gods, especially Fear, who must certainly have been responsible for the paranoia-producing flu virus.

"Please sit down, Law," he says, moving over to make room on the front step beside him.

"It wasn't the virus, it was a flock of flying demons. I went to fight them when Nick Valentine called the Guards, and so did a bunch of other people, including my brother Maglor. Damn ugly pteradactyl-looking things. Ouch, they have sharp claws!" But he is smiling. He may look beat up, but as the saying goes, you should have seen the other guy!

continued from https://hadriel-logs.dreamwidth.org/143283.html?thread=34004659#cmt34004659

[bythewaves]

Maglor calls the storm down, the sandstorm that he learnt the tunes of in their desert wanderings, and he flings it at their enemies without care for who else might be caught in it's fury, before turning to his brother.

"Hold on, Curvo, hold on!"

Don't leave me

He shakes his head at him for the joke, grip tightening.

"Don't be an idiot, Curufin."

Oops, I should have stuck a link up in the post description--fixing now

[so_dark_a_road]

Once they have departed the meadow where the fighting is going on, near Rage's temple, the sandstorm affects them less as they are out of the range of its winds.

I won't leave you, Kano. I've promised, and I will keep my promise. But he's leaning heavily on his brother now.

Still, he chuckles when Maglor replies so tartly to Curufin's cheerful remark about the cool enticing water under the bridge. "Sorry, Macalaurë, I'm an idiot by vocation. As you well know." However, the chuckle sends him into another coughing fit, and when he lifts his hand to his lips, he wipes away a froth of red. Uh-oh, not good. But not the worst, either.

And then, as they come to the bridgehead on the east bank of the river, he glances behind them and sees the bloody footprints he's been leaving. Funny, he hadn't even felt the warm fluid seeping down his side, down his hip and his pant-leg, and pooling in his right shoe.

"Oh, hell, I'm going to have to come back here tomorrow and scrub the planks, so as not to scare the tourists away." (Ha ha, very funny, Curufin!)

lol

[bythewaves]

"You're going nowhere but the clinic." Maglor says sharply, the bite of worry in every syllable, as he feels his brother's strength start to wane. "And then I'm calling Nelyo and Finno." So that Curufin can get properly reamed out.

"Walk, don't talk, or do I have to carry you?"

Don't die

XD

[so_dark_a_road]

"Nelyo and Finno??? NO, YOU WOULDN'T!. . . Wait. . . not the Clinic??" He sees they are not going home, as Maglor is now steering him along one of the cross-city roads, not the riverside track they would have taken if they had been going to Delight's Housing, to the Elfhouse.

This is strangely reminding him of certain scenes from Beleriand, the ones Curufin laughed over later, but which weren't funny at the time -- especially not to Maglor.

"Say, remember that time you were visiting at the Castle of Aglon, when I came in from Ard-galen and was dripping blood all over the stairwell, but I insisted it was nothing, and you threatened to carry me to that harridan of a healer?" (Still talking. Has no more sense now than he did then.)

Not going to die, nobody's calling me to the Halls today, I'll tell Námo to go jump in a lake!

at the Elfhouse

[roseofthetyrells]

[Margaery has been spending even more time at the Elfhouse in the wake of her death. it's one of the few places she feels is safe. she's begun to worry that she's making a nuisance of herself with her near constant presence, but that fear pales in comparison to the fear that the creature who killed her is still out there, unpunished and unrepentant.

she arrives at the end of a coughing fit and immediately goes to him, trying to soothe him. she hates that he was wounded as a result of her murder]

I feel as though I must apologize to you.

[so_dark_a_road]

[ Curufin is more than pleased to have Margaery visiting so often. He knows she's safe while she's with the Elves, and so then at least, he doesn't have to worry about whether Caedra might still be a threat to her. Besides, Margaery has been a comfort during his convalescence. There is something about her presence that is settling and reassuring, and this is true even when she is worried herself. It is a gift of hers.

He gives her a warm and grateful glance when she makes an attempt to soothe his coughing fit, which passes quickly. ]

You have nothing to apologize for, Margaery. Nothing that happened was your fault.

[roseofthetyrells]

[and she enjoys the time she spends in his presence. he's shown her nothing but kindness and courtesy which is a balm after her attack, not to mention her years at King's Landing. she would be pleased to know that her presence is not only welcome, but beneficial.

she gives him a concerned look, but one full of its own warmth and care]

I know it in my head, but convincing my heart is another matter.

[so_dark_a_road]

[ And her presence is highly welcome, and most beneficial! ]

Yes, the heart is delayed in this, because it holds such a weight of deep feeling. It cannot move quickly. It's the same for everybody, I think. But listen, anytime you need somebody to remind you that there is no dishonor in being a survivor, I'm here. And so is the rest of the family.

Elfhouse

[castintofire]

Once again, Maedhros had failed his brothers, and they paid the price.

He watched Curufin, and worried, but in the end, his little brother was grown. He just needed help sometimes. So, he brought out a tray with tea and a couple sandwiches and came to sit beside his brother.

"You should be in bed," he reminded, needlessly.

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin moved over a little to make room on the step for his eldest brother and for the tray. He absolutely would not have agreed that Maedhros was in any way to blame for this.

"Thanks, Nelyo!" He gave his brother a grateful glance, and then took a cup of tea and sipped. He gestured for Maedhros to share the snack with him, if he wished.

"I Know I should. I just can't stand to lie there and do nothing. You know me, always restless. But tell me, how are you? We live in the same house but don't often talk. Our lives and our schedules separate us most of the time, it seems." Guard shifts in particular seemed to have that effect, since they frequently ended up on opposite rotations.

Clinic

[fracturedbeauty]

[Yukari had come as soon as he heard. In fact, he can probably be heard tromping his way past the staff and heading to Curufin's room, hardly stopping to pay anyone else any mind. There's only one person that matters, and he'll fight tooth and nail to get to him, if he has to. He busts through the entryway.]

Curufin-san!

[No, he doesn't care that he might be disturbing the peace around here. He has to make sure Curufin is alright!]

[so_dark_a_road]

[ Curufin stirs when he hears the clatter of familiar feet, but he doesn't open his eyes. A dream has taken possession of his fitful sleep, one in which he sits in the shadows of a temple, waiting for. . . who? Someone. Someone dear to him has died, and Curufin must not be absent; it would be unbearable not to be here. Air flows cool and mysteriously flower-scented between the stone columns, and the scant light of the artificial stars falls in rays through the high window embrasures. The marble wall is cold at his back as he leans there, sitting cross-legged on the floor.

And then he hears his name called. But the dream wraps him securely. His eyelids flutter but still don't open. His hands lie on his chest, on top of the sheet, and his wild black partially-braided hair spills around his shoulders. ]

[fracturedbeauty]

[Yukari's breath holds for a moment when Curufin doesn't move. He'd certainly made enough noise getting here. He feels a trace of fear run itself through him. A swallow as he wills himself to step forward. He eyes over Curufin carefully, looking for traces of breathing. He sits down beside his lover with a fretful look.

His voice is low this time as he speaks.]

I suppose it's fair to make me wait, after all the times I put you through the same, hmm?

[Of course he hopes that Curufin will pull through it. That maybe the Elf's eyes will open at any second so that Yukari won't have to wait and worry. But wait he will, regardless.

He reaches out a hand, gently setting it atop one of Curufin's, before gently weaving it under his and gripping it gently.

He'll wait.]

[so_dark_a_road]

[ And Yukari will see Curufin's chest rising softly with each breath. He's alive.

A familiar, deeply loved voice speaks words that only half reach Curufin, like a voice coming from a across a great distance. And then there is the warm sensation of slender fingers that are callused from years of griping the katana, encircling the Elf's hand and squeezing it tightly. Curufin's fingers respond, caressing Yukari's palm lightly, faintly.

His eyes are still closed, but his lips move. ]

Yukari. . .

around the 5th

[puzzlingly]

「He had heard it from Yukari, days ago. But it felt a little more than intruding to simply present himself at Curufin's home to check on him. At least he knew he was alive. But days pass by and Atem is worried about his friend and he decides to pay him a visit anyway.

To Atem's surprise, he doesn't even have to bother anyone in the house to let him in since Curufin is chilling out there at his porch.」

... Shouldn't the good blacksmith be resting?

「He can't hide the smirk, however, blatantly happy to see his friend up and about — even if he probably shouldn't. 」

\o/

[so_dark_a_road]

[ Curufin would not have minded at all if Atem had simply turned up on his doorstep to check up on him. His family would have welcomed Atem and been pleased that he cared.

He looks up to see Atem coming down the spiral walkway, smirking no less, and Curufin grins with delight. ]

Maybe he should, but he is bored out of his skull and came out here to take a break from resting. [ Chuckle. ] Come and sit down beside me, Atem. How are you?

[ He moves over to allow room for one more on the porch. ]

[puzzlingly]

「Atem does as told, peering over whatever Curufin is doing.」

Yeah, resting can be boring, 「He remembers.」 what are you doing?

[so_dark_a_road]

[ He has a couple of projects on the porch, and a tool kit. ]

I've got two projects going right now. [ Holds up a small assemblage of metal parts. ] Working on the action of my shotgun, trying to invent a more efficient mechanism.

And the other is very different.

[ He pulls out a little leather bag, and pours out the contents. A number of ivory dice spill across the boards of the porch. ] I received a request for these -- I don't entirely know whether he's going to use them for magic or for recreation. I carved them from the teeth of varren. Luckily, I didn't have to go out hunting for them, I still had some left over from last year, from a time when the city was far more infested with tunnel creatures than it is now.

[ He chuckles and rolls the dice. ]

My answer is YES. <3 Clinic~

[handofsilver]

He is holding himself together - just barely - realizing he needs to be one of his father's sources of strength. A blanket is tucked against his chest - the only thing he managed to gather before he ran from the house - and he is approaching the cot cautiously. Once he is there, he leans over Curufin and gently lays a hand on his forehead.

"I am here, Atar." his voice is low and soft - the same tone he had once used for his baby daughter.

\o/

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin weathered the doctor's interventions with fortitude, but now he is exhausted, and very pale from blood loss. He lies in a dream, in which the past and the present are confused. He sees the dark forest of Dorthonion, and then the castle of Aglon perched on the west side of the valley, and then Himring high on the eastern height. Smoke drifts upon the mountains, wafted from far out on the plain of Ard-galen, but he hears no cries of battle. Only, the sky is opalescent with the coming of sunset, and the shadows are deepening. Where am I? When is this? Have I lost everything yet, or is there still time? But there is no answer.

No answer until he suddenly hears Celebrimbor's voice. Of all the voices he wishes to hear, that one is most deeply longed for. And his soul responds to the softness in that voice.

He murmurs, "Tyelpe? Is it you?"

[handofsilver]

Middle Earth is beautiful; from the cities of Elves and Men to the deep, seemingly endless caverns of Dwarves to the open plains, mountains and forests, there is so much to remember and love. Celebrimbor will miss all of it and he will build in remembrance of it once he is Reborn. Sauron has not poisoned everything nor will he ever have that pleasure.

But for now...

He hums a soft tune under his breath, looking over Curufin's poor battered body with open concern. Quietly, he whispers the few words of healing he knows under his breath, calling upon his Light to aid his dear Atar.

"Don't strain yourself." but he smiles tearily, "A punctured lung? You know how to get hurt, Atar."