stormaktstiden | [meme] The everyone survived AU

Due to recent events in the movie world, it seemed like we needed one of these again...

THE ARDA AU MEME

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All the AUs! With classics as the obligatory and all important

> EVERYONE LIVED AU. Maybe you're at Thorin's festive coronation or a drinking game between Boromir and Haldir after the end of the War, or Fëanor and Thingol finally talk to each other. Maybe Belladonna comes with her son on adventures, or Maedhros spends some very awkward hours at Elrond's wedding. U know the drill.
> but let's not forget the staple COFFEESHOP AU either
> or the no less important WHAT IF AU: What if the Silmarils were glowing bunnies? What if Bard hadn't managed to take down Smaug? What if Maeglin had not betrayed Gondolin, what if Galadriel had accepted the One Ring? What if Sam had a giant afro?
> and really any other AUs that you can think of.

As a note, since not everyone has seen BOFA yet and some people care about not being spoiled, please make a note in your top level comment/the subject line of a comment if you might bring up spoilers in threads or don't want to be spoiled, something like "bofa spoilers yes" or "bofa spoilers no".

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He is just come of age.

[He should not have been in this position for many years, nor should his brother have become a king this early - yet that seems to become a tradition, considering how young her own brother was when he took up leadership of their people.]

And he is learning quickly. [And she has to wonder if the dwarf that Tauriel remembers is the same as the one that will receive the letter - it certainly wasn't the same one that she gave the runestone to.]

I am not surprised. [The elf Kíli remembers is not the same as the one who wrote the letter, after all, so perhaps it is not such a bad thing that Kíli is also different now. They can be different together.

She stands, finally, and inclines her head in a small bow.]

Thank you, Lady Dìs. For seeking me out and speaking to me. Few of your kindsmen have.

I am aware.

[It is a simple statement, neutral and politically bare of any judgement or condoning tones.

She inclines her head as well in farewell, barely only - the smallest of gestures, befitting of a royal bidding one without house and home farewell. They are not alone, so protocol must be followed if it is wished for or not.]

I am glad to have made your acquaintance. We will meet again once you have returned; be safe on you way.

[And with that she leaves, the handmaid trailing after her.]

[Spring is a treacherous season in which to travel, as the rains are unpredictable and heavy, turning once-reliable roads into a mire of sucking mud. It makes what is already a long journey into a painfully lengthy, treacherous one, and it takes Tauriel most of a month to arrive in Rivendell with the package she was given. She's wet, and muddy, and so beyond tired when she arrives, that she doesn't even have the energy to care that she's drawing pitying stares from everyone else gathered around. She delivers the package to Elrond, passes along Dìs' greetings, and collects a token to pass along in return.

She only stays one night before pushing off again, unwilling to subject herself to any more of those pitying glances she's been collecting. At least among Men, they are used enough to women with short hair, or strange-looking travelers, that any surprise tends to be short-lived, or at least, well-hidden. She brushes off any protests Elrond might make — he can't offer her succor forever, or else he'll risk Thranduil's wrath, but he can at least give her a week or so among her own people in the name of hospitality — and gets on a new horse, heading back to Dale.

It takes her nearly as long to reach the city as it did to leave it, but eventually, she reaches the same inn she stayed at some two months ago, even going so far as to park herself in the same corner she sat in last time. She sits there for three days, waiting for the inkeeper to send word to the mountain, her heart in her throat and dread sitting heavy in her stomach.

What if Dìs never passed along her letter? What if Kíli didn't write back? What if he doesn't want to see her ever again?]

[On the second day, the messenger returns with a small bundle for her. In it, there is not only a letter, written by someone who has clearly tried to write as neat and good as possible but more than ones just got too excited for that so that the letters turned larger and messier. Kíli writes about many things; answering to everything in her letter, telling tales about life in the mountain and about his family, enquiring about things in her letter that weren't quite clear to him, at one point dedicating a whole page to his plans about building a shooting range inside or on the mountain - he also writes about missing her, but what is suspiciously absent are any mentions of and plans for his personal future, and he doesn't ask about hers, either.

With the letter, she receives a finely done tunic with small semi-precious stones, all of them engraved with runes, set into the collar and front. It is clearly made by a dwarf, but just as clearly for an elf, in style and size. Kíli writes that he hopes that she will like it, and that the stones were crafted by him but the tunic not because he really isn't good with fabric, and that he hopes that she likes it.

Dís arrives two days later than the letter, and this time walks over to her table. If all goes well, there will be no reason to mind word about their meeting getting out to others - it will rather be desirable that the deal was done in public; and Dís will just gamble on that chance.]

Greetings, Tauriel.

[The letter that returns for her brings so many different emotions crashing down upon her, Tauriel has to retire to the room she's bartered so that she can break down in peace and quiet, without causing a scene. It's so Kíli, starting out neat and tidy, then slowly growing larger and messier, his sentences running into another as if he's practically tripping over himself to tell her everything he wants to. The tunic is beautiful, a deep, rich blue color that Tauriel is unused to wearing, with fine embroidery and even finer jewels sewn into the front. She's almost afraid to wear it, it's so beautiful, and so out of place with the rest of her wardrobe.

Still, she puts it on, slowly doing up the laces and smoothing her hands over the fine material, something fond and almost cloying gumming up her throat as she looks at herself in the spotty little mirror provided for her.

She doesn't wear it anywhere except in her room, carefully putting it down at the bottom of her pack under all the rest of her worldly possessions, just to keep it safe.

Still, she lingers in the inn, somehow convinced that something might happen that she needs to be here for. And eventually, her patience pays off, for she's just cutting into an apple and some cheese when a commotion at the door heralds a new arrival. Obviously, it's hard to see who it is, what with all these people between her and the door, but Tauriel has a gut feeling that it is the same dwarf who set her on her quest.

Her hunch is correct.]

Lady Dìs. [She stands, sketching a bow to the dwarf.] I trust you are well.

[She bows her head in reply to Tauriel's greeting, enough to show great respect from one of her standing to one of no standing at all, and takes a seat opposite Tauriel's place.]

I trust that you are as well. [She won't ask about the letter and parcel that came with it in public, but hopes that they have arrived well and safe as well. At least she won't mention it yet.] How has your travel been?

[Pleasantries, expected questions, but things that she wishes to know as well. This conversation is done as much for themselves as for the people around them; and there are heads turned towards them, an she knows that word of their conversation will get around soon.]

[meme] The everyone survived AU

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ugh i'm sorry this feels sucky my brain is so bleh tonight

It's awesome shush

/)_(\

sorry for the long wait!