( open ) Arrival

[khiluz]

Who| Fíli and anyone!
What| Fíli arrives, and he is still quite lost despite whatever information has been given to him.
Where| Anywhere around the Training Center (also District 6 Suites), let me know in the subject line!
When| Now & during the next couple of days (ICly)
Warnings/Notes| None that I can think of.


FOR KÍLI;

Things happen entirely outside of him, beyond himself. Fíli feels as though he is nowhere at all, words spoken that he does not hear, things placed on his hands that he cannot touch. He demands then he asks, he all but begs, where his brother is, where Lake-town is, but the people around him only seem to answer questions that he is not making. Vague mentions of some games and a battle to the death hover at the back of his mind, but by the time he thinks to ask about those, he finds himself being taken to someplace else.

He does not stay for one second once he is left at the apartment, and makes off to find a way back, or at least someone he knows. He walks and runs, for however long he does not know, screaming and shouting for Kíli, for Bofur or Óin, but there is no one, he recognizes no one or nothing in this place.

It is a fear that coils at the pit of his stomach, settling heavier with each step he takes. How did he find himself here, and why? How is he to return? Panic surrounds him until it is too great for him to keep going and he all but collapses against a wall, sliding down until he is sitting on the ground, legs folded, head resting against his knees.

He can't breathe, and he realizes now that he is also lost.


FOR ANYONE;

All of this may be explained a thousand times over, still Fíli remains just as lost. He has found his brother, but that is as much familiarity as this place brings. He walks the halls and the rooms, everything strange and entirely foreign, and therefore all too intimidating to him, but he does not show it. He makes his best effort to keep his step sure as he peeks into each corner, watches each person that passes him attentively, and opens every door that he does not find locked - including doors to other people's rooms, but it is not as if he knows that.

Comments

[emptytrousers]

Honestly, Kili won't mind needing to rebraid his brother's hair in the morning. In fact, he's almost looking forward to it, despite the lingering fear of what his brother's continued presence would mean. Instead, he allows himself to take comfort in the motions of brushing out the tangles in Fili's hair, wincing every time the brush gets caught on a snarl. It's slow work, but he does eventually get through it all and sets himself to plaiting. The simple act of folding one strand over the other fills Kili with a terrible homesickness that makes his fingers shake. It's been far too long since he's been allowed this.

"And have my hair look like yours?" Kili cajoles back weakly, his voice a notch too hollow to be truly amused. "Not a chance, brother."

But he would never truly deny his brother the task of braiding his hair. The stylists would teach him how to bend and pull the black hair away from his face, how to fit the two braids on the side of his head, and then they would never touch his hair again.

[khiluz]

Despite his unease and the many doubts and questions lingering still, he allows himself a huff of amusement, finding the touch so comforting to him as well. Because it has been long to him too, perhaps not as long as it has been for Kíli but enough that his brother's touch relaxes him almost fully, for the first time since he arrived here - in fact, probably for the first time since they left Beorn's house.

"Those were rushed, you fool," he waves a hand behind him, only lightly tapping his brother's side. "I will do a much better job of it when I have the time to do so, you will see."

All the while he ignores the hollow in his brother's voice, the way it never truly reaches the amusement Fíli is so used to. Then again Kíli had hardly shown any of it since he got shot by that arrow, but to see him now, safe and unharmed and so worried still, so quiet and obviously scared, it is not something Fíli can easily let go.

[emptytrousers]

Despite his brother's warm presence, Kili can't seem to find the will to smile in with the fear still pounding through him. Still, he tries to sass Fili back as he continues to braid, "Is this the same rush that made you smell so terrible?"

Still, Kili remembers what his brother said, about Bard, about Kili not being well enough to braid his brother's hair, and none of it yet makes any sense. How could Fili speak of something that had not happened while Kili had seemingly not been missing from it? His silent musings do not interrupt the plaits even as he reaches the end of the first of four and looks around for something to tie it off with before settling on one of the beads in his own hair. Carefully, he pulls it free and clasps it over the end of the braid before starting the second one in front of his brother's ear, which requires much more leaning over his brother but he's never minded before.

[khiluz]

Fíli says nothing to the teasing at first, only pursing his lips and sighing as silence settles for a few seconds. Not as uncomfortable as before, but still strained, and he has the distinct feeling they are both trying for some kind of normalcy that cannot be had right now.

"Keep talking, little brother," he speaks finally, as Kíli moves on to the second braid. He does not notice that Kíli is using his own beads, undoing his own braids in the process, though even if he said anything it would matter little. Kíli had insisted on braiding his hair right this instant, after all. "And I will force you into those clothes, so that you will be the one bearing that wonderful scent in the morning."