Frodo Baggins (theseabell) wrote in canonwarslogs, @ 2014-07-27 18:03:00 |
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Entry tags: | frodo baggins, melora baggins, merrill |
Who: Frodo, Merrill, and Melora
What: Frodo turns up in New Zealand and finds his family already there
When: This week
Where: New Zealand Hobbiton Set
Warnings: Hmmm G
The smells were altogether new to Frodo Baggins, although he recognized them as dirt, dew, and grass. How could something so familiar also seem to foreign? His unconscious mind seemed to be hard at work, while Frodo himself was only truly aware that he was in the process waking up. If he had been dreaming, those memories were quickly fading, and part of his brain was chasing them like a dog after a fox. But the fox seemingly had found his den. Frodo opened his eyes and spat out a tuft of downy grass.
Where was he? He was certainly not in his bed and, from the look of it, he was nowhere near the beachside villa he called home. This was a rolling field, some sort of meadow. Beautiful, but… wrong! All wrong! He sat up with a start and looked around. Set in the hills about him were wooden doors, round and...hobbitish! Frodo’s already wide eyes widened still, like like might fall out. He jumped to his feet.
He could not focus on one thing alone, so he spun in a circle. Hobbiton. This was Hobbiton! But he was not dreaming. In fact, he was so wide awake that he could hear his pulse in his ears--which he reached to touch. Yes, they were still pointed.
Merrill was inside, lying down with the baby. She’d forgotten how exhausting the first month was, and it was even more difficult without Frodo. Melora was as helpful as a teenage girl could be, but there was only so much Merrill felt comfortable asking her to do. She was still adjusting to the idea of her being so grownup. What a very strange world!
Melora was out with little Samwise playing in one of the empty hobbitholes. She had to bend down some to get inside, but once she was seated on the floor in the middle of all his toys, they were having fun, and the noise wouldn’t bother Merrill.
Frodo leapt forward toward one of the round doors, though it did not happen to be the one that Merrill was behind. He stumbled forward into the empty space. The interior was nothing more than a few wooden beams and a plywood floor. His heart sank. The dream that had been forgotten before began its return: it was a vast, lifeless void. He had been searching for his family. He had been so alone. Frodo clutched his chest as it was suddenly more difficult to breathe. Where was he and how had he gotten here?
Taking a step backward led him outside, for that was how small the hobbiton shell truly was. Perhaps Frodo had been inside for quite a while, because he was greeted by a cluster of people who had entered the scene. They pulled out their cell phones and iPads and began snapping pictures.
Frodo’s pulse was was now pounding like a hammer.
Melora heard the crowd outside as they got especially noisy. She bolted upright and looked at her watch. She didn’t think there was going to be a tour coming through today! She must have gotten her days confused. She usually tried to stay in the farmhouse and avoid the groups of fans--they were weird, and they seemed to think she and her family were part of some sort of show. She scooped up Samwise and grabbed his favorite toy from the rug she’d laid out. Maybe they could sneak out without them noticing. It probably wasn’t very likely, considering how open the hills were. Not enough trees for her taste. She peeked outside the hobbit hole, seeing the group at one of the houses on a nearby hill. What were they all excited about this time?
Then she saw...what looked like Frodo! No wonder they were so excited. Melora must have resembled a fangirl herself as she ran toward the crowd instead of away from it like she’d planned.
There was confusion among the crowd. Some people were attempting to come forward to shake Frodo’s hand, or get a picture beside him, while others offered a funny rolling of the eyes. The excitement was like a wave crashing on him. There were questions being asked, but none of them made much sense. Something about a film. One woman handed Frodo her baby and then asked for an autograph. He was so flustered that when he decided to run away instead, he nearly took the infant with him.
He raced up the rolling hill, away from the cluster of hobbit holes.
"No!" Melora grumbled in frustration. Thankfully the crowd hadn't decided her ears and general elfiness were worth harassing her, so she pulled away, running after Frodo.
She was fast; faster than her father, probably, but a squirming toddler slowed her down a bit. Holding baby Samwise close to her chest, she called out, "Dad, wait!" That would be a whole other heart attack, though, wouldn't it? She quickly 'corrected' herself, "Frodo, please!"
The voice, though it was also unfamiliar, had a curious effect on him, perhaps because it was not entirely unfamiliar. Vaguely familiar was enough to catch his attention after so much strangeness. Why a grown woman would call him her father was beyond him, but his legs began to slow their pace anyway. His unconscious mind still appeared to be hard at work, because although he didn’t understand it, Frodo knew he ought to pay attention to this woman.
And when he turned, he realized she was holding his son Samwise in her arms.
When he turned and saw how similar she was to Merrill, it was another shock. He blinked and drew his brows together. “You know who I am?”
Melora nodded, slowing to a stop in front of him. "We've been waiting for you." She handed Samwise to him, knowing how Frodo tended to be comforted by his little ones. "M--Merrill will be really happy to see you." Her accent was mostly Americanized, but she had a subtle touch of that Dalish lilt that Frodo had only heard from Merrill.
"The house is down this way," she said, guiding him down the hill toward the little farm house.
For a moment, nothing else mattered as he scooped the baby up and held him close. At last, something that was his. Whatever had happened to him, he was not alone. “Merrill’s here, too? Where?” He paused and swallowed. This young woman sounded and looked so much like his wife. “Who are you?”
"I think she's napping," Melora said, pointing toward the house when it came into view. She looked a bit sheepish when he asked who she was. "It's complicated.." She wasn't sure she should tell him. She hated this part!
"Something weird this world does.. Sometimes it yanks people out of different timelines. I'm Melora. Your daughter."
If Frodo had not been responsible for the safety of the infant in his arms, he might have fallen over. “My daughter--daughters--they have not even been born, yet.” His heart knew that she was telling the truth, but his heart was also still doing a spazzy little dance.
Melora immediately regretted telling him, but she knew he had to know eventually. Hopefully Merrill could help. "I know. Well, we have. My sister is still just a few weeks old," she said, hoping he would find that comforting.
Whether or not Merrill was waiting for him, Frodo felt as though he could not take another step. For a few moments, he stood in silence. Samwise did what he could to make the moment less serious by pulling at his father’s face.
“I am sorry, but you will have to explain yourself and what exactly is going on. Before now, I thought I had seen it all. I do not know how long I was floating in the void, but Samwise is still a baby. Why should I believe you are who you say you are?”
Melora bit her lip. She didn't really know how to explain it! It defied explanation. She wished-- not for the first time--that Mari was here. Well, here and old enough to explain things. She would've been better at making things make sense. And she wouldn't have been so easily crushed by what felt like their father's disapproval.
"It sounds crazy, you're right," she said, fighting the urge to run or cry. She'd been so happy to see him after weeks without him! She'd wanted to give him the biggest hug, but now she wanted to hide. Maybe she should just go over her friend's house until things smoothed over. "I don't know what to say... I should just...go."
Samwise paused in his babbling to arch and look up at Frodo. "Dada?" The boy twisted in his father's arms to look at the elf girl. "Lora?"
Frodo was at a loss as to what to say about what was unfolding before him. Since the dreams began, he had thought nothing could surprise him. Was there room in this universe for a teenage daughter who had only just been born? What did it mean that Samwise seemed to know and trust her?
“Lora!” he called, finding his voice, and his gait, again. He walked forward.
When Melora turned back around, there were tears running down her face, but she was smiling. "Daddy!" She ran back and went to throw her arms around her father's shoulders, sandwiching Samwise in the middle. She gave her 'older' brother a kiss on the cheek when he giggled.
"I know it's weird. It's super weird for me, too." She was talking quickly, now. "And you're tall!"
Frodo stood stiffly for a moment before folding his free arm around her. His mind was boggled, but like any father would, he knew when he was holding his own daughter. He had always wanted a large family, but he had not expected it to grow so quickly.
“Tall?” he asked, leaning back to get a better look at her. Goodness, she looked so much like Merrill.
Melora grinned, nodding. “You're taller than me! You haven't been taller than me since I was, like, eight." She giggled.
Frodo smiled in return, but he was still confused and it was very evident on his face. “I think you ought to take me to see Merrill. Er, your mother. She always has a way of setting my head straight.”
"She does," Melora agreed as they finished the rest of the walk to the farmhouse. Merrill opened the door and led Frodo inside.
It was much smaller than the beachside estate, but there were still plenty of large windows to let in the sunlight. The kitchen was much like Merrill's old kitchen, all yellow and sunflowers. A hallway led back to the master bedroom and bath, and a staircase led to the children's rooms upstairs. Melora showed Frodo down the hall and gently nudged open the bedroom door where Merrill and baby Marian were sleeping.
Melora wanted to run in and scream 'Daddy's here!' while jumping on the bed next to them, but that seemed unwise, given how little sleep Merrill had been getting. Besides, this seemed like it should be a more private moment for her parents.
The only farmhouse Frodo had ever seen up close before had been Farmer Maggot’s, and that had only been in his dreams. Although he was within the confines of Hobbiton, or a faux Hobbiton at any rate, this is much different. It was also very real. There were no empty spaces or plywood floors. Why this should be real and everything else a facade, Frodo could not make sense of...but truly, he did not care. At the sight of Merrill, her reality was all the mattered. And just as Melora had said, there was a baby girl in her arms.
He took a step forward, wavering with the same hesitance to wake the sleeping pair. “Do you think she would mind?” he asked his newfound daughter.
Melora shook her head, taking Samwise from Frodo. "Go," she whispered.
Merrill stirred, turning toward the sound of her husband's voice. Her eyelids fluttered and she smiled dreamily at him, not fully awake. "Frodo?" she murmured.
He was relieved to see that she looked entirely unharmed. Nor had eighteen-odd years been added to her age, although since he was considerably older than his wife, Frodo would not have been much troubled by it. “Merrill!” he exclaimed in a whisper. Or maybe his voice was just choking from the joy of seeing her.
Merrill shifted in bed to make room for him, pulling the baby onto her chest. "Come here," she said, still not entirely sure she was awake. It seemed like a long time since she'd seen him.
Melora made herself and Samwise scarce, heading upstairs to their rooms.
Frodo’s hand found the top of the baby’s head as he climbed into bed. Although he had made peace with the fact of being awake through all of this, he suddenly felt like he was back in a dream. Or maybe this was heaven. “We are both still alive, aren’t we?” he asked, half-joking, but also half-serious.
"Mm?" Merrill asked, her eyes half-closed as she nestled into him. "We're alive," she said, mostly sure of that. As sure as anyone could be, anyway. "Welcome home, dear. We missed you."
“How long have you been here?” he asked. “The twins are born… Melora appears to be all grown up.” He paused. “What in the world is going on? Where are we?” He kept his voice low, so as not to disturb the baby.
"We've been here a few weeks. Melora was like that when we got here. I don't know how, but I've decided every baby should come with a teenager. She's been so helpful." Merrill didn't really understand either, but she had accepted it. "We're in New Zealand. It's lovely."
"New Zealand?" Frodo repeated. Once again, he was dumbstruck, and as the seconds ticked by, he could not think of anything to say that did not make him feel either like an idiot or close to insanity. Instead he elected to play with his infant daughter's curly hair. While Melora looked like Merrill, it was clear that this little one took after her father.
Merrill nodded. "It's quiet, if you don't count the tour groups." After running into her first group, she'd made sure to get a copy of the schedule. The company that ran the tours was very accommodating. "We have sheep."
“Is that what that was?” asked Frodo, meaning the tour group. He looked over his shoulder as if he could still see them through the wall. “But, Merrill, everything outside looked just like Hobbiton. It was exactly as it is in my dreams.”
Lines creased Merrill's forehead as she tried to figure out how to explain this. Better coming from his wife than a fan, she supposed. "Do you remember that videogame that had all my friends? Well.. There's a movie about Middle-Earth. Several of them, I think. And this is where they filmed it. Those people were fans of your movie. This is sort of like their Disneyland."
Using the Disneyland comparison had been wise on Merrill’s part. It had distracted Frodo for just long enough for her words to sink in. “You mean…” he said slowly. “I am fictional, after all? I had suspected for such a long time…”
She nodded. "I suppose it doesn't make much sense for a non-fictional person to be married to a fictional one." It was a little joke. "I don't really think of us that way, though." She shrugged, not sure how to explain it. "People know about our lives, but we're still real."
As if to prove it to himself, Frodo touched his hand to his chest to find his heartbeat, which was still beating quite rapidly. Was everything he knew gone? His home, his friends? Everything except his little family--although it was not so little anymore. He sighed deeply.
Merrill shifted to rest her head against his shoulder. It may take some time to adjust. The fact that her parents and siblings weren't here hadn't really sunk in, yet. She'd been too overwhelmed by everything going on with the children to have an existential crisis. "I'm glad you're here, dear."
Frodo lifted a hand to touch her hair. It was instinctual when he needed comfort. His fingertip grazed the top of her ear. As long as Merrill was here, he was not alone. “I am glad you are here, too.”