ataraxion | ◎third journey

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◎third journey | video;

[ he's sitting in the oxygen gardens, a wooden pipe in his mouth and large white smoke-rings curling from the end of the pipe. there's an open book in his lap and there's a lingering weariness in his posture, despite how relaxed he seems.

still, when frodo speaks up, his voice is fond, light, moving his pipe away from his lips. ]

Where I come from, smoking pipeweed is considered an art. Making good smoke-rings like this--there's nothing quite like it.

[ frodo pauses; glances at his book then. ]

My dearest friend told me that he wondered if anything we've done would ever be put into 'great stories.'
"The stories that really mattered, that stayed with you." As a lad I spent most of my life reading about stories, learning them and I'd always had my favorites with my Uncle. He went on a many great adventures.

[ he smiles quietly ]
Sometimes stories can be..quite different than we imagine them to be when we begin them. The same could be said of adventures.

Do you have a story like that? One that's stayed with you. Perhaps something you knew as a child, or one you found in a book. Perhaps it isn't a story but a moment that you've shared and relived with others over and over again. I'd be glad to hear them.

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My best friend had one he liked when we were kids: Peter Pan, about some kid who never grew up. We used to argue all the time about whether we'd wanna be like that or not.

[The story came back to haunt Firo in the whole 1930 incident and its aftermath, but there's no way he's bringing that up to a total stranger.]

A boy who never grew up!
[ he chuckles a little at that ]
I imagine many lads and lasses feel the same. Do you agree with him? Never wanting to grow up.

Claire sure did.

[He half-smiles at the memory of his friend. Personality-wise you could say the guy hasn't grown up at all.]

I don't exactly get the appeal. Why stay a kid when you can grow up and get stronger?

[ hobbits grow, but not in the same way as a human might. there's the raising of families, the responsibility of their lands and housing--and what every hobbit assumes to be a peaceful, uninterfered with existence. or if you were a baggins, a life of adventure that would end in peaceful days. ]

One never truly knows what waits for them when they are older. When a hobbit goes past their tweens into adulthood--there are more expectations. Usually hobbits had little need of worrying over anything--our home was always peaceful.
[ quietly ]
As it stands now, the world is not so peaceful. There are dangers that extend even to the peaceful folk--concerns everyone. I would rather there be more who wished to be a child with such days.

Sometimes--I think I'd like to go back to those days, myself.

Edited 2012-10-21 03:57 (UTC)

Kid or not, there's always somebody who wants to make trouble. Besides, your problems don't go away just because you're a kid. There's less you can do about anything; at least when you're older you can try and fight back and it might actually do somethin'.

[Not that he didn't try and fight anyway when he was a kid. It just resulted in more pain but he had to try.]

There's truth in that. Still, I'd rather those children stay young, for now. For those of us grown..it will be us who decides what to do with the coming days.

Makin' the big decisions isn't too fun, huh?

[He's lucky that he can leave a lot of it up to his boss.

In an effort to keep away from getting into any big issues--it sounds like this guy has a lot going on back home--Firo asks:]

So you said you like stories about adventures? Have you ever heard a' the Oz books?

[ that's such an understatement, and it can't be helped. frodo has no choice but to be silent. how do you tell another person the weight of your world lies on your small shoulders? how do you even begin to bear it? he barely manages a ghost of a smile before he nods, voice quiet. ]

No, it is no small thing to make any decisions, as I've learned.

[ however that subject-change really does the trick ]
I can't say I have. What are they about?

Well, it's been a while since I actually read 'em.

[He runs a hand through his hair as he tries to recall.]

They're mostly about this girl and her dog travelin' around this magical place called "Oz." They meet a scarecrow, a tin woodsman, a lion, some wizard guy...

[He laughs.]

...It's kinda silly, but what kid's books aren't?

I don't think it sounds silly at all.
[ he sounds amused if anything ]
I'll have you know that my Uncle and myself have both traveled with a very powerful wizard.

What?

[He laughs. As neat as that would be, he can't imagine wizards actually existing.]

You're just kiddin' me, right?

Kidding?
[ what does that mean ]
I can assure you I'm being entirely honest.

But... no way. Stuff like that doesn't actually exist...

[Just like people actually don't suddenly find themselves on spaceships.]

Perhaps where you come from, but in my world, Arda, there is an order of wizards, or so Gandalf tells me. Though I think him to be the greatest of them. Gandalf the Grey--
[ gandalf the white, aragorn tells him, and for a minute he furrows his brows before he says: ]

No..he goes now by Gandalf the White.

Wow...

[The details make Firo less inclined to doubt Frodo's story, strange as it sounds.]

He does magic and everything? What's he like?

He does, yet Gandalf has never flaunted his power. However when angered..it's as if there's a storm in the room, he seems to..well, his presence grows if you understand my meaning.

[ there's a pause, a bit more somber: ]
Gandalf fought a terrible creature during our travels together. He used his staff to sever a bridge in half..if that is not proof enough of his power, then I know little of it.

A bridge..?

[Claire's the strongest person Firo's ever met, but he's not sure if even Claire could do that.]

I bet you're glad he's on your side and not anybody else's.

I was glad to have him while I could.
[ if anything his expression doesn't change. ]
Wisest of counselors..that was what Gandalf was to me. A dear, dear friend.

[Frodo's expression may not change, but his use of past tense is impossible to miss. Firo furrows his brow.]

...Was..? Is he still alive?

[Even as the words are coming out of his mouth he knows he shouldn't be asking but, like usual, he can't stop himself in time.]

He is alive, or so I'm told.
[ his smile is a bit sad ]
Yet I don't believe I shall be seeing him again.

Alive? Well that's-

[He blinks as he processes the rest of what Frodo's saying.]

What? How come?

There is a place I must go yet, and it is no safe place for anyone to be.
[ there's an unspoken tone in that. a chance of not returning from it at all. ]

...And what kinda place is that?

[Firo knows very few places that are actually safe, but he gets the feeling Frodo's talking about some pretty incredible danger. He can't help but pry.]

A place full of darkness, shadow. A place no one should have to walk unless they carry a grave purpose.
[ he won't really describe mordor to someone. that's his way alone. but not truly. sam is there. sam will be there, he tells himself fiercely, though with guilt. he'd rather sam not suffer with him. ]

Doesn't sound like a picnic, that's for sure.

[It almost sounds like descriptions of the underworld or the afterlife he's heard in fiction. Which would make for a very nice pun in Frodo's last sentence.]

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