ringbearer: (◎i'm looking in)
frodo baggins,  ringbearer ([personal profile] ringbearer) wrote in [community profile] towerofanimus2012-11-08 05:18 am

the road goes ever on and on

Characters: Frodo Baggins
Setting: DORM 1-08 > CAFETERIA > > ART ROOM
Format: Prose or Action however you'd like!
Summary: Frodo arrives straight from a spaceship and begins roaming the floors. It's easy to get lost when you're a hobbit.
Warnings: SPACESHIPPPPPPPS and lots of words for an intro!!!



DORM ROOM 1-08 |

Frodo assumes when he wakes that he'll be in the pods, covered in liquid that is supposed to secure his wellbeing on a flying ship. When he opens his eyes he learns that to be another story. Instead of the familiar appearance of his room aboard the Tranquility, he finds himself in one entirely unknown to him. He sits up, hand immediately going to his neck, only to find that around it is some sort of strange collar. Try as he might, he can't seem to remove it, and his hands fall lower until they close around a ring, feeling a pulse as if it were a living thing.

It's only when the hobbit begins to move around, glance at what is very clearly not his room does he see the notes. Nothing looks familiar, and the more I see the less I believe I'm where I ought to be. He holds the letters, begins to read them.

What he finds makes him drop the papers entirely.

Arda is gone. Middle-earth is no more. The Shire is lost.

He couldn't accept it. He had been on the Tranquility for five months but was told time did not pass. It would seem it was a lie. I had dwelled there too long, and now home suffers for it. The hobbit sat on the floor in the middle of his room, eyes blankly staring at the cieling as he began to truly feel the weight of despair, despair with little hope. For so long he had kept the belief alive in his heart that the Shire would be safe if he finished the Quest, that the world would not be dark forever. That as heavy as his burden grew, he might yet return from it it all--he might return and mend with Sam, his cousins.

Was he to believe that all the suffering and loss had been for nothing? If all was lost why did the Ring continue to pain him, to burden him the more and more he despaired? Try as he might to wrap his head around the news, Frodo found he couldn't. All rested on him destroying the Ring but with no world to do this, what had been the point of it all? What more could he have done differently?

For a time he said nothing, simply put his head in his hands, too stunned to even weep, to mourn. Tears pricked his eyes but did not fall. What had been the point of any of it? Have I failed the Quest? Are we to blame, for staying too long?

Could he truly believe any of it? And where had Legolas gone? It was the thoughts of his companion that roused him on his feet, desperate to find him alive, safe and unharmed. That it was all a dream and there was still hope left.

He opened the door.

--
CAFETERIA

Frodo quickly found the Tower to be larger than the Tranquility. The number of rooms, the winding halls and levels quickly made work of an already exhausted mind. By the time he reached the Cafeteria it was with weary feet; made wearier by a heavy heart. As he observed the surroundings, he found it similar to the cafeteria of the spaceship.

Yet it isn't the same, He thought helplessly, finding that despite the food arranged before him, he had no appetite. He could barely stomach the news, he doubted he could stomach a meal. It was with one more glance that he began to make his way out of the area, hand absentmindedly closing around what his necklace carried. He could see no signs yet of his elven friend, and the longer he could not find him, the more dread began to fill his heart.

ART ROOM

By the time he arrived in the twelth room, Frodo had begun to lose hope of finding Legolas. No matter where he looked in this maze of rooms, he could not find his friend. They had been together only moments before, what had changed? Moving inside the room he began to look around. The numerous pictures on the wall were not unknown to Frodo, and some of them had him sucking in a breath at what they were.

In one frame he saw a beautifully painted image of The Shire. For a moment Frodo could do nothing but stare, heart in his throat at the sight of the rolling grass, real or not. It was an image of home and one that written words would have him believe he had failed. There is still a Shire, it cannot be lost. Had he not said before that he could keep going as long as the Shire was safe? Yet how would this place know of it's beauty? The paintings did it justice but it was not the real thing. A frame did not capture the touch of grass, the feeling of a warm sun shining on your face with no fear of darkness near. No, this was not his Shire. It was with a hard swallow that he turned his head away, finding it too painful to look at.

A few more pictures struck him as familiar. Places he'd traveled, a painting depicting the Council of Elrond. Ahead he saw an image of the snowy mountains of Caradhras, the bright golden woods of Lothlorien. Beautiful images from his journey, yet not all were like it. The further down the wall he walked, he began to see things he'd rather not remember or look upon. Images of orcs and goblins in the Mines of Moria, the Balrog of Morgoth..

Yet perhaps what was worst of all was the image of a great eye , staring at Frodo unblinkingly. It was enough to send him staggering back a few steps, hand clenched tight over the gold chain he never removed from his neck. Only a painting, he reminded himself, yet his heart was still painfully tight in his chest, breath still strained. He moved past the portrait, finding even a depiction of the great eye to be dangerous enough. He would have no more things adding to his fears.

Who had painted them all? Were they on the walls as if to remind him of what he'd lost? Things he'd experienced and seen that had not been enough? The hobbit swallowed hard, not removing his clasp over the Ring. He could not believe the letters. It couldn't be true. Sam had said things were worth fighting for, and Frodo believed him in that. Because there were. Good things, good people from all sorts of worlds. So it couldn't have been for nothing. Yet what could he do? He was more lost and far from home than before, and now they would have him believe there was no home to fight for.

And above all Frodo was weary. He had wandered so far the moment he'd left the Shire, and had never stopped. Now here, surrounded by paintings he wondered what it all had been for.

]
tofindthesun: (ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴍᴇ.)

hyuk hyuk hyuk ////

[personal profile] tofindthesun 2012-11-11 08:37 am (UTC)(link)
Nor I. [he chimes in, assuming that they are speaking of the letter received; what else, after all, could they all three not believe to be true?

his dips his head towards his other self.]
Legolas. [a mild greeting, coupled with a twitch of his lip. if this were anyone but frodo.. well. he won't even think of the things he would do.

speaking of frodo. he turns back to the hobbit and gives him a small, somewhat saddened smile at first.]
Perhaps I am, if what we remember last is similar to the other.

[a glance to the other legolas, shifting his feet slightly, and focuses on frodo again. after his first experience with.. interuniversal travel.. he's reluctant to repeat those misunderstandings. but he is also unwilling to speak in specifics, for reasons he does not know.

so instead, he kneels down to frodo's height and continues softly, ready to either be confirmed as that shipmate or denied.]


I closed my eyes with memories of fog and nightmares behind them, expecting to wake to the sight of blue liquid.
bow_of_the_galadhrim: (Concern)

Re: hyuk hyuk hyuk ////

[personal profile] bow_of_the_galadhrim 2012-11-12 03:18 am (UTC)(link)
It must be for I have seen the end of your journey and the crowning of King Elessar.

[This Legolas then took a step back from the two for a moment, allowing them space though he could not help but hear what was being said. He would give them privacy if they so wished. Frodo was obviously different from the Hobbit he'd known, whether through trials to destroy the ring or otherwise.]

Perhaps it best I leave you both.

[To give them time to talk with each other with no other ears to invade upon them. There were few elves here and other races he'd encountered didn't have the strength of hearing to understand their words unless they came close.]
tofindthesun: (ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ sᴜʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴘᴀɴᴛs ᴀʀᴇ ᴏɴ ʀɪɢʜᴛ.)

[personal profile] tofindthesun 2012-11-14 08:46 am (UTC)(link)
[those few words are all he needs of reassurance, confirming what he both feared and appreciated. for now, though, he will simply appreciate another kindred spirit, and one whom he has known more than one simply fresh from the fellowship. a simple nod and the drop of not-so-tense shoulders is his only response to the hobbit.]

Nay, it is but a small matter to confirm. I am satisfied, at least. [he straightens, stands, and looks towards the other elf with a flash of apology.]

Even should I know this Tower I would rather be with such company than without... But I suppose we have simply become accustomed to following a Hobbit around.
bow_of_the_galadhrim: (All will come to an end)

[personal profile] bow_of_the_galadhrim 2012-11-14 10:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Indeed.

[He gives the slightest of smiles to the Hobbit and to himself, nodding in understanding at his twins silent apology. They were better acquainted, it seemed, than he had been with Frodo back in Middle Earth. There was nothing about it that did or should bother him.]

We have, indeed.

If you should like me to remain, I will. It can become very dangerous here, particularly after nightfall but there are many here who will give you aid if you only ask for it.