hadriel | Video 2

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Video 2

[the video opens on Jane in the same overstuffed armchair she was sitting in during her first video, only this time instead of sprawled out on it, she's sitting up, legs crossed at the knee, foot pumping in the air, and a notebook in her lap with a pen poised over it for taking notes]

So, I've gotta know what you think of the gods? Which ones are your favorites, which ones do you hate, and why? It's for research.

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I, like many, don't really think they're gods, I suppose, to start! I've known folk of similar power - greater, in many ways, but the Valar never called themselves gods - they were teachers and guardians, but the only one who ever demanded worship was the Enemy. But... I don't think these ones are Fallen, as He was. Desperate, lonely, foolish. With a poor understanding of what they are doing, or the forces they meddle with. But desperate people will do that. I pity them, I think? I think, for all there is one of them named Hope, that they have forgotten how to Hope.

[she listens with an expression she hopes is solemn enough]

Okay. What makes you say that they've forgotten how to hope?

[ He shrugs ]

Desperation. [ He says succinctly ] Every action they have taken reeks of it, the frantic grasping of a drowning sailor for a life raft. Hope endures. Hope knows, the sun will rise tomorrow, even if you never see it yourself, and so can look forwards without flinching.

I cannot blame them for their fear - can anyone blame a drowning man for seizing upon any source of help? But I do pity them, yes, I think I do.

[she blinks and looks vaguely surprised]

That's very deep. I've gotta say, I never thought of it that way. I always figured they were kind of, y'know, very secure in the fact that they've got us all over a barrel.

If they were so secure, they wouldn't react the way the do, I think. [ He shrugs ]

Oh, they posture and preen, but there's an edge to it. Only a few of them don't have that edge - and with Tranquility, I suspect it's because he simply doesn't care.

You've been here longer than me, I'm guessing. How do they usually react to things?

[her pen is poised over her notebook] What kind of edge?

[ The bard frowns ]

Tis not something so clearly identified, I think. But... just the way they react to us. It reminds me of the politicians in Tirion, long ago, jockeying for power. Or... no. More like the Lords in Beleriand, when we stared at the Enemy across our seige lines and knew we were Doomed but had to keep fighting anyway. There's something in their voices, in the way they answer us. So much condescension, yes, but there's something to it. As if it's a shield, as much as truth. "We could squash you like bugs" they imply, but to do so would be to starve themselves, and the fact that they brought us here at all means they really don't want to die.

[she's been taking notes all through his statement]

...yeah. That makes a lot of sense. After all, who wants to die? Especially if you're something that claims to be something as powerful as a god. It's gotta scare the shit out of 'em, that something out there wants to kill them and can pull it off.

[ He did not think he was that interesting! ]

Well, some folk might argue that first point... [ Himself included, on a bad day, but today isn't a bad day so! ]

But - they are very powerful, yes. Not used to being challenged, I should think. It's always worse for those who are not used to it.

[he's giving her deets when almost no one else is, of course she's interested]

I wonder what they'd do if they were challenged. Just, like, if all of us refused to feel whatever emotion of the month they were trying to foist on us. They'd probably flip out.

Probably. And then redouble their efforts. [ Maglor shrugs ] Starvation is a hard way to go.

[ Said with a sort of terrifying knowledge ]

[which throws her a bit]

...yeah. I'd figure it would be. [but not a word about the times she spent when her paycheck and tips would barely cover rent, so she'd go dumpster diving for other people's half-eaten Chinese food takeout]

[ Some things hit a little too close to home, and he skims over that point ]

Either way - desperate people do desperate things, even - or perhaps especially, when they're used to getting their own way or being able to do what they want. I am actually inclined to feed them, if only because they'd be less desperate and hopefully more reasonable, at that point. One never knows.

[she takes more notes at what he's said]

No, that makes sense. I mean, I always wind up feeding 'em anyway. Might as well hope that gets them to lay off a little.

What's the worst thing you've been through here? And what's the best?

Worst... well, I would preface this by qualifying that I am very old, and have lived through many things such that things that other may say are terrible are to me only unpleasantness to be lived through. In many ways, the loss of my eldest brother and young nephew when the Door took them away is the worst thing that has happened here, as their presence here was the best. I am the last survivor of my family you see, baring only a cousin, who is not here. The things that our hungry hosts impose... they aren't particularly nice, nor pleasant, but to not be alone any more... that is a blessing unlooked for.

[Jane looks decidedly awkward at that]

Oh. I'm, uh. I'm sorry for your loss?

It's alright. [ he smiles at her a little sadly ] You didn't know, eh? I don't mind, I promise.

[she still looks awkward]

I guess, but I mean it still must suck to have someone here and then they're gone.

It does rather, as you say, 'suck'. [ He agrees ] But you meant no harm by the question - I would not have answered, if I minded!

[ Change the subject ]

You've asked us, what we thought - what are yours?

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