Lord of the Rings Fanatics Plaza

Eh, I haven’t gotten a marketplace post up either. The week leading up to Christmas was just busy all around and left me with very little downtime.

A friend and my former boss from a university job died of COVID last week and it’s hit me hard. Trying to deal with all the emotions has left me with little to no creative energy. I know I owe posts in quite a few areas, and will try my best to get to them soon. If anything is urgent, feel free to tag me and I will get to it as soon as my creativity in lets me. I’m still popping my head in here on a more or less daily basis, but I may be more of a lurker than a poster for the next few weeks.

@Dimcairien Luiniel I'm so sorry. :( Don't worry about posts, I'll be glad to see you whenever you have energy for it again. <3 If you ever want to talk about it, please feel free to reach out. I hope you were able to still find some joy at the holidays with loved ones.

Sorry for your loss, Dim <3

Sorry for the absence, I plan get a post up as soon as I can, the holidays have been busy with the family and doing nothing.

@Dimcairien Luiniel I am so sorry for your loss! Sending lots of hugs to you

@Amadhrill, no apologies necessary! It sounds like you spent your holidays like you should!
Your posts in the Cav Courtyard have been lovely and I'm enjoying this quiet story with you! I am mindful that it started as a simple honey drop off but to me the fun of RP is seeing where it leads. That said, please let me know if it gets too serious and I'd be happy to tone it down or move things along. It's safe to say Lailyn has some issues I'm trying to tread carefully with as I never want to upset or offend anyone.

@Dimcairien Luiniel - your Éomund post at the Mettarë feast is just so lovely and melancholic and it fits Éomund. He needs a hug. BTW I don't remember if I mentioned this before, but I enjoy reading how you write and develop him. His personality and everything just shines through your writing!

Eeek! Sorry @Nessa Saelind I will get to your market post tonight, promise! <3

It's ok, no rush @Winddancer *hugs* Whenever you get to it, I'm still going through my (neverending ) list of posts I have to respond to

Just a heads up to people, especially those I'm RPing with in a couple threads. Work is kind of exploding so I'm gonna be a bit scarce until things settle. I work in a school as an Educational Assistant. We've been remote for the last week but apparently high needs kids and special education staff are going back to school tomorrow while everyone else stays remote. It's not clear how this is working and there is a lot of uncertainty around it, a lot of meetings and craziness, so I'll be a bit scarce until things are sorted out. Should be the end of the month. I will do my best to post and keep up, and I'll check into the plaza every day, so I will be around. Just might not post as often as I want.

Welcome back into the fold (:P ) Aodh!! Good to have you back! <3

@Lailyn Oh, keep it going! I love that slow exploration into Lailyn and Ama's souls *g* So for my part, keep it coming. But I agree about the need for us to thread carefully and not end up traumatizing (or re-traumatizing) anyone, that is not my intention either. I know this is only play, but I think it is very interesting to explore that side of the cavalry experience, I know that when I started on the old plaza I didn't think about that part of joining the cavalry, but now that I am older (and with my work with refugee and immigration interviews) I find that part of the cavalry experience even more important. I can't manage to keep me and Ama totally separte, though she has a mind I can't totally control either... Don't know if this made sense or if it ended up being totally rambling, but yeah... I'll stop now.

@Aodh Hammerhelm - great to see you again!
@Amadhrill, gladly will do. You are right, it is play and meant to be fun but I do really like the serious stories. Don't worry, you are making 100% perfect sense - I understand feeling a connection to your character, I'm certain you are not alone in that. It is safe to say that Lail is pretty detached from me. If I were in her shoes, I would have run away already claiming I'm absolutely completely fine because I'm stubborn like that.
The offer stands if at any point you want to wrap up or tone down, just say the word and thanks for wandering into this story with me!

@Lailyn I think Ama is dealing with that sort of stuff better then I am! And likewise! If one of us figure it's too much, we'll just have an NPC come running in an claim an emergency for Ama to deal with :D For now, I am very much enjoying it!

Always glad to read your stories, Aodh, looking forward to your next installments whenever they come.
@Amadhrill If you ask me, both you and Ama are lovely. That sounds perfect - Lail would never stand in the way of an emergency. A haelend's duty is to her patients first and foremost after all, not crusty old retirees!

@Lailyn & @Amadhrill I love you two and the interaction between your characters in the Cavalry thread <3 You're both amazing writers and I really enjoy how you're handling this situation Looking forward to reading how this develops.

@Nessa Saelind Thank you!

Aw thank you, Nessa. <3

I am overjoyed to hear you got a vaccine, Aodh!

Why I disappeared again (and am not back yet.) The short answer is Covid. I didn't have it, but it made my job precarious. For a few months I feverishly tried to add skills in the museum where I worked, adding a second online job, while balancing less therapists for my youngest son with autism and trying to help my husband get enough hours in for his full time job as a professor while said youngest son also went through a regression (normal, it's always two steps forward, one step backward) which in his case included sleeping less and less.. and less... oh yes, and in the middle of it all we have to overhaul some things in our house.. like four or five rooms because.. things happen all together.

For the museum, I can now play planetarium shows and even laser shows, have upped my video editing skills, started working on moving graphics, wrote a script to translate an on site program into a downloadable lesson etc. In the middle of all that, I started to drop balls (which happens when there are two many to juggle).
In the end Covid, and the museum income dropping, meant that they had to cut opening hours and cut personnel. I love my boss, my co workers and my job but it was almost a relief. One day I hope to maybe go back. At the moment things are just.. barely.. leveling out a bit (though not the sleep deprivation thing. To give you an idea tonight he was up from 1.30 am to 5.30 am while we need to wake up at six am.. and unfortunately he can't be left unsupervised.)

I am fully intending to come back. Please bear with me. But I don't want to get back into a false start.
@Allacan ob Burzum Maybe we can later retcon our scene... I don't want to hold you up. Miss you all, and I miss this place!

Yikes! Hope things pick up for you, real quick! We will be here when you are able to come back <3

Eldrith, that sounds exhausting and stressful. Hang in there. I'll be glad to see you back whenever you can and I hope things calm down a bit soon.. *hugs*

So sorta disappeared for a month there. If you're on Discord, you will have been enjoying my ongoing adventures in finding a job and a flat and moving in the middle of a pandemic. I am now moved in and settled, but I start a new job on Monday and have yet to learn what my schedule is going to be like. So....if I should be posting somewhere, it might be a while until I'm really 100% settled and know what I'm doing with my time

Welcome back Aeth! Grats on the move, hope it went smooth <3

@Amadhrill, I am placing this here so as not to detract from the Cav OOC discussion. You have my unending gratitude for helping Lailyn with her PTSD. I opted to move things along a bit in my post as she has made some small progress and as I said before I don't want to go too far (and she also wouldn't want to talk only about herself ).
She requested to come back and talk to Ama again sometime - if you agree and are ok with it, I'd happy to say they have had ongoing talks "off-screen" with no need for us to write every conversation that happens but can refer to it in other posts if it comes up. Let me know what you think!

@Lailfileg first of all, look at that pretty bird! Congratulations!

I am quite relieved to not go any further, partly because I have nothing further to add medically, I would need some research time for that, also I felt we were threading a fine line here and I don't want to overstep it and go too deep into something I don't really know how to "fix". I think you know what I mean, even if I can't write it properly. So I am relieved to lighten the mood and move things along!

That being said, I am so happy you said yes to letting Lailyn have that cup of tea, it has really been an excellent adventure down the mind of Ama and Lail! I have really enjoyed exploring that side that I never thought about on the Old Plaza! Thank you! I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have!

I am all for your suggestion of having the two of them continue with "off-screen" sessions and they can refer to that if it comes up (though Ama is professional and will not bring it up unless Lail does :grins:). Thank you, it has really been a pleasure writing this story out with you! I will make a reply IC when I have time.

Yes I whole-heartedly agree with you and think I know what you mean, @Amadhrill. I am feeling ready to move on myself to lighter stuff myself and look forward to it whenever you get there.

I wouldn't expect anything less than professionalism from Ama, she is a most respectable haelend! and I assure you Lail will have nothing but good things to say about her. I'm also glad Ama invited Lailyn, its been a pleasure to RP with you!

@Amadhrill, @Lailfileg I was quietly reading along and thoroughly enjoyed your story. :)

oh gosh, thanks, Pele.

@Pele Alarion thank you! It really has been a pleasure to write, and that someone else enjoyed it too means a lot!:D

It is?? Not down here! Still frigid in the south UK! :(

I just wanted to pop in and offer my apologies, once again, to anyone waiting on posts or anything from me! I've been in isolation twice in the last six weeks thanks to cases at the school I work at. I'm still healthy, but going a bit looney stuck unable to leave my house. Thank heaven for delivery apps, so I can at least get my Tim Horton's in! I've been working from home since they had to close my school due to the cases, so I'm staring at a computer for more than 8 hours a day and by the end of the day I just can't bring myself to do anything else online. I have been checking in and keeping up and school is going back in-person this coming week, so I'll get caught up and post where needed in case anyone is stuck waiting for me!

@Winddancer
It's still pretty nippy up in Shropshire, but the days are at least bright and dry. Oh, and the crocus and daffs are making their appearance at last...

@Aodh Hammerhelm Happy to see you about for a bit! Sorry the world won't stop going mad so you can at least catch a break. Hopefully it does soon though, I think I speak for everyone when I say we're a better place with you hanging with us.

@Shivased That sounds nightmarish! Take your time and recoup your sanity. We miss you!

Raining down here today! Send some sunshine my way! :(

@Winddancer
Too late! The rain has found us too & the winds are rising

Yea gonna be windy tonight *ha I made a pun*

I'm now also in the same boat with spending all day on a work computer and finding it hard to then to turn on my personal computer at the end of the day. I'm in the middle of training for my new job and it's a lot of information to process. I'm starting to find my work life balance so hopefully soon I will be able to get my creative brain back online. Anyway, I should be paying attention to a Teams call but it's very dull soooo

@Lailyn That is a beautiful ending, sad and hopeful at the same time. I don't want to spoil it by continuing any more, so I will just leave it there (we both know that Ama took the embrace and will probably call in the offer at one point or another and all that). But I find it better to not write any more, because your last post had me tearing up and I don't want to ruin that. I just love the feel it ended with. I've said it before and will again, thank you for taking the offer and making this into one of my best RPs!

NPF edit: Sprinkled some points your and Lails way for staying active in the Cavalry <3