The End of World (Open - tag his siblings, Artemis)

[call_him_joe]

He hid what he was better than most; an endless' lifetime of actively embracing the passion and heat and ruin that was his legacy had taught him to remain impassive in the face of things that made men quake. Hundreds of years abdicating control of his realm had added a serenity that he hadn't had before

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[faramir_hurin]

The man in the park is Joe, the art teacher. I beat him in the first round of mock-combat at the village tournament during the fair.

I shouldn't have. Joe is Tabitha's brother and he should have been able to defeat me easily but he chose not to for some reason. I've wanted to speak with him about it but as I approach and see what he has been working on...

I write poetry but there's no writing anything like that looks. And his hands.

"Lord of Destruction." I speak very quietly, and it's not a name or title, just words. He likely already knew I was here.

[call_him_joe]

"I prefer Joe," he didn't look up from the canvas he was working on.

[faramir_hurin]

"Please excuse me. That was more of a simple exclamation than a name." It just happens to be his name. "I've never seen such passionate work."

Not finished, and certainly not being made. Was it being made or destroyed or both?

[call_him_joe]

"You have not looked closely enough," he looked this time, just a glance but long enough to take in the other man before removing the canvas from the easel and twisted it to pieces between his hands.

[faramir_hurin]

"Perhaps I have not." And it is gone. Well, it is there but no longer as a painting.

"Do you wish that I leave you? I have a question, but it can certainly wait until some other time."

[call_him_joe]

"No," he wiped his hands on his jeans and looked. really looked, at Faramir.

"I have forgotten my manners, what may I do for you?"

[faramir_hurin]

"There are times when manners fall away from us all." I do not know if there is something wrong or if that is the way he is. Now might not be the best time but I've no way to know and he is allowing me to speak, has prompted it.

"Generally, I would be irritated to be allowed to win a contest. It says to me that the person so allowing believes that I could not win any other way." Well... "In the case of your letting me defeat you when we met in the contest at the fair I was certain that I would not win. I could not against you, knowing who you are, unless you allowed it."

Which he did.

"Why did you? I'm not angry about it, but very curious." He must have had a reason. It was certainly not important that I win by any means.

[call_him_joe]

"The village chose to place me in the tournament. I wished to enjoy it, not win it." That would have held little purpose for him, he could have defeated them all easily.

[faramir_hurin]

"You did not enter of your own choosing?" I am very surprised. That is not right.

How irritating it must be for the more powerful beings to be manipulated by the village. Men are used to it, being forced to do things for hunger, warmth, and many other reasons.

[call_him_joe]

"I did not," he had assumed it was one of his sibling's doings, and had been annoyed but not the way Faramir assumed.

[faramir_hurin]

"What a strange thing." I have the answer to my question.

"Thank you for telling me. I had no idea how I managed to win that first round. It was odd to win and not understand quite how it happened." Then again, so many things in the village I'm never sure quite how they happened.

[call_him_joe]

"You fought well, had your opponent been anyone else, you would have beaten them easily."

[faramir_hurin]

"Thank you. But I would have lost had my brother been here. Or Xena." Or any number of others. "It was a good tournament, clean. They all were."

It had been well done and there might have been some confusion, but considering the diversity of people here...

"I really never have seen art done that way. Not that I have seen many artists working." I've written poetry but not painted or anything like that.

[call_him_joe]

"Look your fill while it lasts," he didn't argue about the other man's abilities, if he wanted to undervalue himself so be it.

"They won't be here tomorrow."

[faramir_hurin]

I meant that I hadn't seen that kind of art.

"Do you have any paintings in the museum here? It mostly seemed a history kind of museum, from what I've seen." Perhaps he makes them and destroys them always, like I write poetry because I enjoy it but do not share it.

[call_him_joe]

"My art isn't about hanging in a museum, it is about expression. And in the end it rarely has the spark needed for people to want to gaze on it." The genius that true artists had he did not. Except perhaps right now.