Virtual Birthday Party, Day 2
Oct. 2nd, 2013 11:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wiseheartDear all,
Day 1 of the party has been a great success: 170 comments on 2 pages so far. As agreed, I hereby kick off the second day, so that we won't lose everything like last year, should LJ crash our party again.
Threads of interest can still be commented on, but I ask you to start any new threads here from now on
And now: on with the party!!!
Day 1 of the party has been a great success: 170 comments on 2 pages so far. As agreed, I hereby kick off the second day, so that we won't lose everything like last year, should LJ crash our party again.
Threads of interest can still be commented on, but I ask you to start any new threads here from now on
And now: on with the party!!!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2013-10-04 05:03 pm (UTC)This doesn't need any further comment, I think.
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Date: 2013-10-04 05:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2013-10-04 05:07 pm (UTC)Several Swiss chocolate manufactures were invited, too. This old guy with his oversized Alpenhorn was one of the highlights. The horn was so long that it didn't fit into the picture, as I couldn't find the right vantage point in the crowd.
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Date: 2013-10-04 05:10 pm (UTC)This picture, as you can see on the signature, isn't my own. But a report from the Chocolate Festival wouldn't be right without a pic of the amazing variety of Szamos Marzipan creatures, of which I couldn't make a good photo. The different pralines are filled with different sorts of spirits, matching the flavour of the marzipan they are made of, and you can get your personal selection in original boxes, packed on the spot.
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Date: 2013-10-04 06:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2013-10-04 11:33 pm (UTC)Which actor(s) do you think are the most overhyped? I'm going to be very controversial and start with Benedict Cumberbatch. I think he makes a passable Holmes in Sherlock (though personally I think that show is anchored with Freeman's solid & understated performance, and no-one has come close to Jeremy Brett as Holmes) and he has a pleasant voice for voice acting, but I've rarely encountered him being particularly great in anything else. I particularly don't understand why he's considered sexy -- outside of the Sherlock role I find his appearance positively creepy. [Lights blue touch paper and stands well back]
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Date: 2013-10-05 02:33 am (UTC)As for over-hyped actors - the entire cast of The Twilight Series - I just don't get it.
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From: (Anonymous) - Date: 2013-10-08 10:04 am (UTC) - Expand(no subject)
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Date: 2013-10-05 03:04 am (UTC)The last birthday cake I made - thought I would bring some by
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Date: 2013-10-05 03:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2013-10-05 05:12 pm (UTC)We went to a small restaurant called "The Four Seasons", which is only 3 stops by tram from where we live. They have good food, reasonable prices and a warm, family-like environment; we had a good time. We always have when we go there.
If you're interested, I had a special sort of chicken soup: thick, with lots of veggies in it and flavoured with estragon; then grilled chicken breast with potato krokettes and fragrant fruits, and a dessert that is called Somlóer, which is biscuit with walnut cream and dark chocolate sauce. Mmm.
Do you have a favourite place to eat?
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Date: 2013-10-08 02:17 pm (UTC)One of my favourite places it eat out is a teppanyaki restaurant (Japanese food, cooked at the table on huge hot plates). The tables are big (about 10 people) and they fill each one up, then a chef comes to the table and cooks the food there - so it is done a bit at a time and very hot (and delicious).
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Date: 2013-10-06 11:17 am (UTC)* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Aragorn left the betrothal feast as soon as it was possible without insulting his hosts. The wanton debauchery displayed by the Khimmer jarls at any feasts was something he had learned to endure while serving Ragnar’s father, but he did not indulge if he could help it. Fortunately, now that Elfhelm and Imogen were the centre of attention – until everyone got too drunk to care – no-one really gave him any of that attention.
Or so he thought… but he was apparently mistaken. For barely had he left the Mead Hall, heading towards his guest chamber, when someone intercepted him in the empty corridor.
It was a woman if indeterminate age, wearing a long leather skirt and a fur-lined tunic of rough, homespun wool. Her long, greying black hair was braided away from her face, ands he looked at him in a manner no Khimmer woman save the shieldmaidens ever did: directly and calmly, from equal to equal.
And yet this woman was not – and had likely never been – a shieldmaiden. Her strong, white hands were roughened by hard work and not by weapons training, and her body was too lean and angular for a female warrior, even for a former one. She walked with a slight limp yet carried herself proudly, and her dark grey eyes seemed unnaturally large in her hawkish face. Clearly, she was of the old, now almost extinct people of Rhovanion; perhaps a kinswoman of one of the druids.
“Lord Aðalbrandr,” she said with a slight bow. “I am Sigga, tirewoman of Mistress Tanfana. My mistress would speak with you if you were amenable.”
Her voice was low and soft, almost gentle, and she spoke in a more refined manner than Easterlings usually did; also with a faint northern accent, just like the head druid.
“I thought men were not allowed in the deep halls of the norna,” said Aragorn in surprise.
In all the years he had spent in Rhûn, he had never caught a glimpse of the norna before this very day, and he had been warned repeatedly to stay away from her halls.
“They are not,” the woman whose name was Sigga replied. “But my mistress has not yet returned to her halls. And as you are both here for a short while yet, she would make good use of that time.”
Refusing the norna’s invitation would have been a mortal insult not only towards her but towards the entire Tribe. And admittedly, Aragorn was curious. Curious at the most powerful person seconded only by Ragnar himself (if indeed that was true) whom even the Khimmer nobles hardly got to see once in a lifetime.
Besides, if she had asked to see a stranger in private, she must have had her reasons. Important reasons.
Therefore Aragorn agreed to accept the invitation and followed the woman to the chambers assigned to the norna for the time of her stay in Ragnar’s court, knowing that he would be probably the first man for many years to see her face to face. Sigga led him to the women’s wing of Ragnar’s family, for the old priestess was Imogen’s guest.
Then she halted before the heavy wooden door and knocked with the brass knocker shaped like a bear’s paw… and entered without waiting for an answer.
“Lord Aðalbrandr is come, Mistress,” she said with a bow and melded with the shadows in the back of the chamber.
“Come closer, son of the Sea-kings,” said a deep, hollow voice, and Aragorn obeyed.
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Date: 2013-10-06 11:19 am (UTC)* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A small crystal lamp was lit, although he could not tell what did keep it burning, as he could not see any actual flame, but it was enough to illuminate the chamber, and he looked with interest at the blue-clad figure that was sitting in a low stone chair in the middle of the room, solid and unmovable as if made of stone herself.
As he went obediently closer, the norna stood and looked him directly in the eyes, as if she were looking straight into his thoughts, indeed, into his very heart. She was taller than he had originally thought, albeit still a head shorter than him – and very obviously not a Khimmer woman. Her oval face was pale – understandably, as she spent her entire life in the deep halls under the mountains – and while she seemed ageless, there were depths in her gold-flecked, grey-blue eyes that spoke of high age and wisdom Aragorn had only seen by Elves before - and yet she was not an Elf, either.
In any case wariness and proper courtesy seemed the right way when dealing with her.
“My lady,” he said with a respectful bow. “You asked to see me. To what do I owe the honour?”
“To your own deeds,” she replied promptly. “You have forged a bond here – you and that young warrior from the Mark – that will have a great effect on the future and needs to be discussed between people who understand the ramifications… and you and I are the only people here who do.”
“Do you mean the marriage between Elfhelm and Ragnar’s daughter?”
It was fairly obvious that she meant it, but Aragorn found I better to clarify. She nodded.
“I do. The alliance you have forged may give both sides a few more years of peace, at least with each other; but the great war, long planned by the Dark Lord of Mordor, will come sooner or later. Within your lifetime, I fear. And Rohan is in greater peril than ever before; for the Mark is not threatened by the forces of the Dark Lord and the other Khimmer tribes alone.”
Aragorn nodded in understanding; these facts had been known to him for a long time.
“The Dunlendings,” he said.
‘Twas nothing new. Rohan and the Dunland had been enemies since the coming of Eorl the Young; the Dunlendings, understandably enough when one considered that they lived in harsh and ungrateful lands, were still angered by the fact that Steward Cirion had gifted the fertile land of Calenardhon to his new northern allies.
“The Dunlendings,” she agreed. “But this is growing worse than the usual skirmishes along the borders or the occasional raid; bad enough those might be. Dunland is preparing for an all-out war with the Mark; they have even tried to forge an alliance with the Lord of Nimwarkinh. Fortunately, Ragnar Jarl has not trust in their promises of friendship and chose to seek an alliance with the Mark instead of helping Dunland to rise as a new rival realm on the West. Yet they are growing in strength and will soon become a serious danger. Théoden-king must be warned.”
“I cannot turn to the South right now,” said Aragorn. “I have got other obligations that have already been dangerously delayed by my coming here. Elfhelm will have to do it… if Théoden is willing to listen. He seems to have become oddly dependent on his counsellor lately, or so Elfhelm says.”
“Then he must go to the King’s son and heir,” warned the norna. “The rising of a strong Dunlending realm could upset the balance of power in Middle-earth to the disadvantage of all free peoples.”
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Date: 2013-10-06 06:31 pm (UTC)Title: The Linden Tree (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9680857/1/The-Linden-Tree)
Author: DownliftedAndUnderwhelmed (http://www.fanfiction.net/u/5058882/DownliftedAndUnderwhelmed)
Fandom:The Hobbit
Genre: Drama/Romance
Rating: Teens
Short summary: After the battle of Azanulbizar, the remnants of Durin's Folk settled in Ered Luin, and laboured hard to build a new life there. But one day, Riders from the south came looking for skilled stonemasons. The Orcs, driven from the Misty Mountains, were now raiding Rohan; and the Hornburg, the refuge of the Eorlingas, was crumbling. Thorin and his companions set out with the Riders...
Story linked to the story title. Posted to FanFiction.Net.
Why do I recommend it?
Well, firstly because it's about the Rohirrim, aside from being about Dwarves. Secondly, because it takes place in the times of King Brytta (otherwise known as Léofa) of Rohan, only two generations after Helm Hammerhand, and stories from that era are practically nonexistent. Thirdly, because it's well-written and as canonical as possible, despite the few movie elements. Enjoy!
One minor comment: I didn't have the time to check the timeline, so I'm not sure it actually works, but the story is a very good one, even if it does not.
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Date: 2013-10-06 07:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-10-06 07:55 pm (UTC)It's good to see you, too. It has been too long.
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Date: 2013-10-07 03:41 pm (UTC)Here are some birthday greetings from Germany:
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