savetheearth | Far Over The Misty Mountains Cold [closed]

Entry tags:

Far Over The Misty Mountains Cold [closed]

Who: Killian and Fil, later to be joined by Thorir
What: So after a very odd and crazy family dinner, Killian and Fil head off to talk about what Killian remembers about Middle-earth to see if it rings any bells for Fil. Did we mention that Thorir doesn't know Fil is on the Network?
When: 2/15, evening (forward dated)
Where: Thorir's apartment

So.

That had been a Thing. It had been a good thing, but wow, Killian had not expected that. (Though really, he should have. The Ryans were just as crazy.) He still doesn't know who all had been at the table beyond the twins, Mardis, and obviously Fil and Thorir but they were a good family.

He thinks he could eventually get used to being related to them. Even if the twins were calling him "uncle".

But dinner's done now and he follows Fil into the other's bedroom. He feels a bit bad, talking about this right under Thorir's nose when their uncle doesn't even know about Fil's numbers but, well, that's Fil's place. Once the door's shut, Killian flops down on the floor.

"So, where do you want me to start?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

...Now that is a thought. His hand raises almost instinctively from Killian's back to touch the top of his ear, as if to check that it is still round (which really, he is doing).

"Or I'll do the same as Gabriel and turn into an elf." He'd rather not, really, and it shows in his voice. Sure, if getting younger is a normal side effect of that that would... not be wholly negative, sure a change but probably one of the kinder ones. But. Yes, he used to be a model, but he's fairly sure that elves are supposed to be the kind of androgynous deal that Gabriel was and is, and he never came even close to that and certainly doesn't want to start now. "Though there were probably other races, too, besides elves and dwarfs and, if we are from the same world, orcs."

"Haha, maybe? Not that having all those weapons helped when I was getting chased by those monsters riding on hyenas on steroids. Probably weighed me down more."

And Oops. The idea of shrinking hasn't even occurred to him. He liked his current height, thank you very much, even if he wasn't as tall as Uncle Thorir. "Humans too? And you mentioned giant eagles earlier, Uncle."

"Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, wizards, and obviously plain old humans--those are the ones Doc Strider mentioned before he went off Network, or at least he mentioned everyone but Hobbits," Killian explains. "That one I figured out myself. Possibly giant eagles, if Thorir's from the same place--and I'm just gonna assume you are because giant talking eagles and orcs are totally a fantasy thing." And now he starts counting off. "Gandalf aka Tharkûn, Bilbo Baggins, Dwalin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Fíli and Kíli are all people there, and I was Kíli. Rivendell, Bag End, and the Misty Mountains were places. That right, so far?"

"Wizards as a race of their own?" That is... weird. He doesn't really believe it. "Usually they would just be a part of another race that is able to administer magic. And, Killian," he doesn't want to discourage his nephew, but doesn't want him to go too quickly, either, "there are a lot of fantasy worlds. Though our shires seems to be the same place."

But that's not the main point here. He thinks it over. "You are sure that "Misty Mountains" is the name of a place, not just unlocalized mountains that are described as misty?"

"Sounds about right to me. You obviously have more names than either of us." Fil said to Killian. "Pretty sure you've figured it out now that I was Fili. And why couldn't the mountains be both misty and have that for a name?"

Killian hadn't, actually, figured that out but it was nice to know anyway. Maybe Fíli hadn't been his brother, then, just a cousin.

"I mean, they're in that song of mine," he points out. "Fog on mountains isn't that unusual, I don't think, or at least not enough that you'd call the mountains misty just because of it. I'd guess they're noticeably misty?"

"So Fil to Fíli, and Killian to Kíli." He falls quiet for a moment. "And Þórir to Thorin, Þráinn to Thráin and Þór to Thrór." It's ridiculous. Why would their names be so similar in both of those lives?

"Alos, if Misty Mountains is a name, Lonely Mountain might be one as well." He doesn't sound entirely convinced - isn't even sure if they were from the same world, still, though it seems likely.

"Names in that place are quite literal, aren't they?" Fil said follow as he put the last finishing touches on his quick sketch. "Rivendell which I assume to have a river running through it. Misty Mountains with lots of fog or mist up high. Lonely Mountain I'd assume is a lone mountain on a large plain."

He held up his sketch of the shire. "How's this?"

Killian sits up at the sketch. "That's it," he says. "That's it exactly! Funny round doors and hills and honestly kind of what I imagine Ireland to look like, in the country."

Thorir nods as well. He wouldn't have been able to describe it well enough for a picture himself, but he's fairly sure that what he remembers is like this. "I think the former me knew that place as well." Which would mean that he's really from the same world as his nephews. "...I wonder if we knew each other."

"I don't think any of us can conclusively say right now. But I'd like if it were. I can't imagine you'd be too different from your past self. You're a good man and a great uncle." Fil said matter of factly. It would also be am extremely hilarious coincidence if they were all related, which he didn't say.

"I can." Killian glances over to Thorir, blinking off the rush of the Echo. "Thorin was my--was Kíli's uncle. And the Lonely Mountain was called Erebor." To Killian, that confirmed it. They were all from the same world and related somehow. It's freaky as hell, but Killian's not sure how to argue against it.

He finally has to agree with Killian here. They really... "So not only from the same world, but even related." And uncle and nephew - it would not be a direct relation, but close, and suddenly he has to wonder about that battlefield memory that Killian told them about. But surely there were a lot of older relatives in the boy's former-self's life.

An echo hits him, then, and he falls quiet for a moment, but he pushes the new information aside because this just seems so much more important. There are a hundred thousand implications buried in the memory that just hit his brain (and also in him and Killian being that closely related in their past lives, really, because unless one of them was a half-blood that would make Thorin a dwarf, too), but no matter what importance those implications hold, they hardly can be more crucial than family. And while this past self of his seems to have been different in a lot of ways that he does not approve of, he hopes that that man felt the same way. "Fil, do you know if you were related to either of us as well?" From what he has been told so far, they seem to at least have known, or known about, each other - Killian knew his past name - but that says little about relation or not.

Edited 2014-02-19 09:57 (UTC)

Fil frowned as a new memory slide into his head. "I..." He frowned and gave a quick shake of his head as he tried to process the new information. "You were Thorin yes. And..." He met his Uncle's eyes. "Remember when I talked about earlier about getting a memory of being taught the basics of forging in a smithy? I just remembered more now. The person who was teaching me was my uncle. His name was Thorin." He let out a half incredulous, half relieved laugh. "So yes...I was your nephew then. And I am still your nephew in this current life."

"So we were all family." Killian grins (though part of him is amazed that apparently, Owen was right about fate and shit). "Well, at least I know he had a decent family. Should we start teaching Thorir Dwarvish, Fil?"

He very politely doesn't point out that them being related means that sooner or later, they might shrink.

All of this is overwhelming - getting so many pulses in such a short time, and more than that learning the information that he has that evening, it's a lot. But at the same time, he cannot help the smile that appears on his lips. If they all have to be in this, and no matter how bad the memories of their pasts are - at least they will truly be in it together, on all accounts. With all up-and downsides that that has. "And we seem to have been on good terms both there and here, if your memory is any indication." So whatever will happen to one of them, might likely also happen to the others. ...He really needs to talk to his wife.

But not now. "I'll learn Dwarvish if you learn Icelandic, Killian." It's not a serious condition, but he's been wanting to bring that up eventually anyway, so why not now. The longer the boy waits, the harder starting his first foreign language will become. And the sooner he starts, the easier it will be for him to not drown in the family.

Fil has been actively not thinking about turning into a dwarf. He LIKED his current height and the memories were more than enough to deal with. Shrinking will just complicate things.

"I suggest getting started on that sooner than later." Fil reminded himself that he really should brush on on Icelandic too. A trip back there sooner or later was looking more and more likely. Icelandic was not an easy language and he'd grown up with it, at least in the summer time.

Killian makes a face at his uncle's requirement, but he supposes he can't judge the man for being proud of his heritage. "Fine, I'll learn Icelandic, though no promises on how good I'll be. I have trouble with English sometimes," he jokes. "At least the letters are more or less the same, yeah?"

Please say yes.

"They are similar - more than dwarven runes and those that I usually work with." He thinks. He's not entirely sure simply because he is no expert on runes, he only started being interested on the side a while after they restored the smithy and the children were moving out or at least in school. Time. And even today he lets a cousin look over the things that he writes before they go on any project because while he feels confident reading them, writing is another thing.

"There is one more thing, though. Regarding dwarves." And yes, let's just not think about the whole shrinking business here. Even if there were no obvious repercussions with the public involved, he knows at least one person who will have a lot of fun with it. He can practically see Gabriel using his head as an armrest, and for a moment his displeased sentiments with the whole thing show in his voice. But then it changes at his next words. "I just pulsed back a description of the place that, according to to that pulse, was our homeland." There's an echo induced wistfulness (but also ...hope and pride? He needs to sort through this later) in his voice now, even as he tries to not think of the other echo that he had of that place. He must have been much older in the second memory, there must have been two decades between them at the least. Which just makes him wonder what happened between the two - the hunger, most likely, and the nephews being born and growing up. Fil's memory of teaching him smithing. Did the eagles happen before or after? "Someone said about it, I think while we were looking at it form afar... 'Erebor—The Lonely Mountain. The last of the great dwarf kingdoms of Middle-earth.'"

The words 'dwarf kingdoms' struck a chord in Fil. It was something he'd gotten back earlier but hadn't said anything about because he didn't have the context for him. He might have been a prince, but he didn't know if it was prince of an anthill or an actual kingdom with people and land or even something in between. Even now he was a bit hesitant to bring it up. His current life was one of someone completely middle-class and normal, and this was something he was perfectly happy with. He couldn't imagine having duty and responsibility beyond that.

"I...I got this earlier too, along with my past-self's name. Apparently my past-self was a prince of some sort?"

Wait, what?

Killian frowns, trying to piece this all together. "So we're your nephews twice over," he says, gesturing to Thorir, "and I know Fíli and Kíli were close and that he had an older brother but I'm not sure if that's Fíli or someone else. The home in my song might be Erebor, which is a mountain, which is a kingdom where Fíli and therefore Thorin and Kíli were royalty." He looks up at his uncle and cousin. "I get that right?"

Thorir nods slowly. All of this is... Really, royalty? At least Fil. "I wouldn't have had to been the king's or queen's brother, I could have only been their brother-in-law." Which still points to nobility, most likely. Or at least marrying into it.

It still leaves the question of where Kíli stood there, but... "Fíli and Kíli sounds similar. Maybe their parents had a similar approach to their naming as Eydís with your sisters, Fil..." Which would support the idea of them being brothers, as that would hardly have been done for cousins, and even less for cousins once-removed. And it would be mean that Killian was a prince as well in that other life.

"That...makes sense." Fil said slowly, thinking it over. "And Malia and Thalia are twins; that's why Ma named them that way, I think. She has some firm ideas about naming things that not everyone has." Unlike his father, who's bee banned from naming anything in their house. He wondered what his name would have been if his father hadn't named him. It was something to ask the next time he called home.

"I'm trying very hard not to think about the prince part actually...but.." Fil glanced over at Kililan. "Being brothers sounds cool."

"I was thinking Fíli was Kíli's brother," Killian admits. "I've heard the names twice now and each time it's 'FíliandKíli', like we're a unit or something." He glances back at his cousin--brother? Whichever. "Well, you already nag like an older sibling so..." He grins. This is all a bit much, really, but he's good at hiding it.

Still, he is going to have such a headache later.

"You'd make good brothers for sure." Even though nobody would mistake them for ones right now, most likely - people tend to go by the most obvious things first, and they differ significantly in height and coloration - they already give off a feeling of familiarity that goes far beyond that of people who have only recently become friends. Instant chemistry.

"And we know little about what being a prince of a dwarven kingdom would entail yet. It might not be what one would think of when looking at human kingdoms." He wonders how his own memories of hunger figure in here. If they correspond even roughly with Filbert's of them having been close... But he shoves the thought aside, because it doesn't really help with the question of how dwarven nobility or royalty would have worked. Former-times European nobility with all the things that he dislikes about it could starve to death as well while remaining nobility (he just has to remember the poor Prussian princess who was granted no allowances by her Swedish husband, a tale that one of his great-aunts-in-law who had Danish ancestry liked to tell) so it wouldn't have to mean much. Maybe there is something to be gained in that he apparently taught "Fíli" smithing, but... They simply don't know yet. They could have been nobility in exile, too, if he goes off of the memory of there having been fire and death inside that mountain (he's thinking of a family in exile here, not a people, because really. There are historical instances of a people being exiled, but it's just way more frequent that it happened to individuals and their (extended) families. Which still might not impact what said nobility thought of itself and how they acted, and how others regarded them.

In the end there are too many points that they simply don't know yet to say anything. But nobility. Really? He hopes that it worked different for dwarves in that world than it does for humans in their own world. He'd not want to be nobility.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject