savetheearth | First Flower

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First Flower | Video

[Although Gabriel’s been aware of the network since november and posting on it since the new year, he's been weary of showing his face to those that he doesn't know off it up to now. Sometimes a little bit of anonymity is needed, but unfortunately it seems he no longer has a choice.

Some people might recognise him as the c list celebrity always shoving his charities in people’s faces, others might recognise him from the university, and a few might recognise from the peak of his modelling days. Those who do will notice that he doesn’t look as old as he did (or for those who recognise him from when he was younger that he looks much younger than he should). Assuming that most people won’t know it, though, he opens his post by explaining his problem with a wry smile.]

I appear to be growing young again and it’s a problem. [He’s aware that most people would be pretty happy with the cards he’s been dealt but when there’s recent photographic evidence of how old you looked last month and you’re trying to stay under cover it’s a pain in the arse.] I think this has gone beyond the point where I can claim I’ve had surgery now, especially with these. [He tucks his hair behind his ears, revealing that like his friends', his are now also elongated into elegant points.] As long as I stop before I become a teenager again! Dealing with that once was bad enough. [He laughs. It’s a serious problem, but that doesn’t mean that he has to deal with it seriously.]

I had been hoping to stay in work a while longer, but it’s not going to be possible to work and stay under cover like this. I have the choice of revealing myself and doing what I can to direct the media to paint us with a more positive light or retiring. And I'm not sure that I'm ready to retire! But talking about this openly - or as openly as is safe - affects more than just me, which is why I wanted to ask if anyone had any objections.

I was also wondering, for those of you who also have echoes that mean that you can’t be out and about, what do you do to keep yourself busy and amused?

[Private to the known Tolkiens and Julien]

[He's come prepared! Once he has all of their numbers put in and a private line set up, he holds up a piece of paper with twelve crests on, each named underneath. One of them is recognisable as the crest on Thorir's sword, labeled as 'Fountain'.]

I remembered these. Does anyone else recognise them?

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[Julien disappeared after sending his last bit there. It's a few minutes before the next snippet of video, where it can be seen that he got a newspaper out on the floor - classifieds, looks like - and moved some chairs to pin down the edges, and drew a rough approximation of the Tree of Gondor, rather large, in black marker. Possibly with a foot. It's not entirely accurate, he's working from memory. The stars are circles. Still, he managed the sharp curves.]

There we go.

[Gabriel hadn't even thought about how difficult it would be for Julien. He'll have to be more aware in the future of Julien's limitations.

But it is intriguing to see the tree, and he tilts his head, taking it in. But there's no hollow ache in his chest this time, which he's half pleased by, half disappointed.] Thanks for drawing it out for me. I didn't mean to be a nuisance.

I don't want to forget it. Might never see it again.

[Julien is not talking entirely about the symbol.]

So, not something your guy was intimately familiar with, huh? A pity! I don't think my bad future people have much design sense, I've only seen one symbol so far, and it's on a phone. So, corporate, probably.

I suppose not. Never mind!

Based on what we know, the world seems to be a classical fantasy world, without technology and with a feudal class system. It's not that surprising that there seems to be plenty of crests and emblems from that. Especially if family was important.

Yeah, the people with power always want to look specialler than each other and particularly better than the working class. Whether that's got to do with breeding or money.

[Julien likes swords and some fantasy-adventure stuff, but he's not a fan of all the trappings.]

[Gabriel laughs.] Not a fan of the old class systems then?

Bigger fan of the downtrodden masses, yearning to be free. Though of course put anyone from there on top and they're more likely to let it go to their heads than lead with responsibility and so on.

Since it seems that my friends were kings and lords and princes before I might be a little biased in their favour. Time will tell if the world we remember had a fairer set up than our own.

Power corrupts, though, that much I'm sure of.

Oh yeah? I hadn't heard of that. I mean, Aragorn had some kind of poem about him involving crowns, but I hadn't heard about others.

The other me - I call him the Apostle, but I know he had my last name, which is creepy - he fought some kind of king of the dead. Who everyone just called "the King", apparently.

Everyone aside from me, it seems. Although I can't say as I know much about Puck yet.

You know his last name but not his first name? Do you think the King was actually a king, or if that was just what he was called? The King of the Dead is a bit of a mouthful.

Just wait, I'm sure he'll have this ridiculous title...

When the Blood Keys attacked the clinic, I got shot and had a pulse of his first... mission, I guess. In which he got shot. Came out of that thinking I was still him, and I wouldn't answer to Julien, but... I remember I was surprised when someone used Sakazaki, I wondered how they could know. -and then later I got this locker with "Sakazaki" on it in Japanese, so.

Mmm, well. [Considering the King always makes Julien uneasy.] He called himself The King. Third person.

[Not being able to separate himself from whoever it is that he's remembering is one of Gabriel's nightmares so he tries not to let his expression change to hear that Julien had to experience something like that. It was part of the reason Gabriel had to name the person that he's remembering, to give himself that degree of separation. But he nods none the less to show he's heard, thinking it though.] A locker? That's an odd thing to get.

[That got a reaction, Julien thinks, but he's not sure what it was or how serious. Well, he'll let it rest.]

Yeah, it was full of candy and like seeds in packets - like this.

[This time Julien's only off-camera for a moment before he's back, holding a little packet in two long feathers. To human eyes it looks like it's white and subdued pink, with hearts everywhere. Some are clear and the contents, which look like tic-tacs, can be seen.]

More than full, overflowing. The door wouldn't close. Guess someone was popular.

[Gabriel laughs, even though he no longer needs to lean in to try and see better.] Oh dear. Please tell me you got that back in February? Do they taste good?

December, actually! Around the same time lots of people were getting random items. So either this is because Christmas in Japan is a romantic holiday, or it was a little early.

Some are good, some less so. [Julien raises his head in exaggerated self-importance.] I claimed all the chocolate-covered coffee beans for myself, they're almost gone but if you ask nicely I'll share.

Ah, I remember seeing that. It was before I started posting on the network. I'm rather glad I didn't get anything myself.

Love, I have not been here long enough to want to share in coffee, bean form or liquid. [He says, stiffly, but can't hold it, breaking down into chuckles.] Keep your beans, I have tea. [He waves a hand.] I don't have that much of a sweet tooth but thank you.

C'mon, you could've gotten a magic hockey stick or something!

Ohhhh? [Julien's got an unflappable playfulness to him sometimes.] Does coffee-sharing have a special meaning in Britland or do you just really prefer boiled leaves to bean dust soup?

Truth be told I don't like too much sweet either. These are my favorites since the beans are so bitter.

A magic hockey stick? I'm not so sure about that, Elves are probably too highbrow for sports.

Who wouldn't prefer boiled leaves? It's what marks all the sensible nationalities apart. [He makes a note of that, though, in case he ever needs to buy Julien treats in the future.]

I don't know! Lots of sports have super serious origins if you look back far enough. Who knows what pleases the star-goddess? [Aaron sang to Julien in Quenyen once. Elbereth came up.] Weird rituals with sticks and balls just might be it.

That's not even really *your* thing, you stole it from the East. Coffee is American. [yeah this is totally convincing machismo] Central-to-South American.

I believe that weird rituals with sticks and balls - or bells - are also known as morris dancing, and I don't believe that pleases anyone.

As though anything "British" started off there. Even our language is a mishmash of every other language that got too close.

[I could always bring up bits of the Lay of Leithan~]

Who can know the minds of gods? Perhaps the groans and general displeasures rise up and are manna to them.

I'm sure you've got something. -Nettles. Those are British.

[Gabe is 100% not ready for the 'stories of old turned into song' echoes yet.]

I hope not! You'd hope that they're a little nicer than that.

Nettles? They're not British at all. You get them everywhere, everywhere except Australia perhaps. There's a European subspecies but - but I'd imagine that you don't want a lecture on the traditional use of it.

[Some day! It's waiting in the wings somewhere with "Gandalf got killed by a balrog in Moria".]

They're not? I'd read all kinds of Britfic as a kid and was always confused. If there was a garden or a ditch or whatever, there'd be nettles. We either don't have those or don't call them that and they don't sting, here.

[Let's not open the do-balrogs-have-wings box.]

...Britfic? British fiction?

I suppose they're not as common here. They like wet conditions. [Gabriel looks at Julien, daring him to say something about the British weather.]

I'm trying to be witty here, but I guess it's not working. Britlit, maybe - that'd be clever if there weren't a zillion classes on it.

[Julien grins.] Damn you, that's too easy. Hey, are they actually soft if you grab them hard or was that just bullshit?

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Damn you I had literally just put in a request for star things from the poem

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