WHO: Sam Gamgee and Legolas WHAT: Legolas Wants Help With His Garden WHEN: Backdated: Sunday, January 5th. Afternoon WHERE: Legolas' House RATING: Family Friendly STATUS: Complete
While Frodo was around and Sam had known the older man for awhile now, it was almost surreal that there was yet another person from their dreams there now. Sure, Frodo had said that both Merry and Gandalf had been in the OC for awhile, but Sam hadn’t met either of them then, With Legolas, he was about to meet the man, who was an elf in his dreams and he was going to have to somehow keep it all to himself. How he was going to do that, he wasn’t entirely sure, but somehow he was going to have to do it.
Arriving at the address that Legolas had given him, Sam parked his truck and headed up to the front door. Unlike in the spring and summer, Sam hadn’t had a job before coming to Legolas’ place so he wasn’t all sweaty and dirty as he might have been otherwise, which he was glad for, because he definitely didn’t want to have that be Legolas’ first impression of him. Reaching the door, Sam rang the bell.
Legolas wasn’t exactly nervous. He didn’t really get nervous about things, but it was the first time since arriving that he was going out of his way to try and make some connections. Curious, maybe, was a better word for it, and regardless of how it turned out, he’d still walk away with some ideas for his garden. At the sound of the bell, he walked to the door and opened it with a small, but not unkind, smile and held out his hand.
“You must be Sam, yes?
When Legolas answered the door, Sam couldn’t help but stare for a fraction of a moment, recalling the man from his dreams. Or more precisely, the elf. In the dreams he’d always looked up at Legolas, considering elves were quite a bit taller than hobbits. Seeing him in regular clothes was also a change opposed to the leathers and tunic he wore along with his bow and knives. Then there was the hair, which was quite a bit longer and blonder and from the looks of it, his ears were extremely normal as well. It was going to take a little longer to get used to Legolas like this than it had getting used to Frodo as he was in the waking world.
Taking Legolas, hand, he shook, smiling, “Yeah. Legolas, right?” He almost commented on how it was an uncommon name, but kept it to himself, because he was sure that it wouldn’t be the first time he’d heard it before, considering, just like his own, it was really a name from another time and place.
He had noticed Sam’s brief moment of hesitation, but continued to smile through it anyway. “Yes. The garden is just around the back.” Legolas stepped outside and started to lead Sam down the walkway around the house. They could have, in theory, gone through the house, but Legolas was still getting used to the idea of wearing shoes inside and couldn’t bring himself to do that.
“Have you been in Orange County very long?” Legolas supposed he should try and make some conversation.
Sam followed Legolas, taking note of the random foliage that was already around the outside of the house. A lot of time, if the client liked what was already there, he would incorporate it into the yard or garden, depending on what it was that the house had. “Since I was young. I was born in Oregon, but my father moved us out here when I was about six.” California was a much better place to start a gardening business than Oregon, after all. “What brought you out here?”
Legolas nodded, listening to Sam even if he didn’t quite seem like he was. “Curiosity, mostly,” he answered. “I’ve spent most of my time with my father or at school, and I’ve been a few places around the world for a few days at a time, but I decided I wanted to venture out. I just seemed to end up here.”
They reached the backyard, which had a decent sized garden and a lot of lawn that Legolas clearly felt was misused space. “I do wish the garden was bigger. Perhaps if I stay here, I’ll buy this home properly and do that, and then plant some trees, as well.” He frowned a bit. “The ocean is nice, but I’ve always been around more wooded areas.”
“I could definitely see a couple trees in this space,” Sam could understand why Legolas wouldn’t want to or be able to plant any trees at the moment if he was only renting the place. “But I think you could actually do a lot with the garden, even if it isn’t huge.” He turned to the other man, “Were you thinking flowers or fruits and vegetables?” He assumed that Legolas wanted a flower garden, but he always asked anyway just to be absolutely certain.
A sort of smile quirked up Legolas’ lips at Sam’s confirmation that trees would be a good addition. He looked up from the garden and to Sam, silently contemplating for a moment. “Flowers. I’ll admit, the thought of planting vegetables seems a bit daunting, though I guess I can’t say why. But certainly flowers, lots of colors would be preferable.”
Sam nodded as he took another look at the garden, mentally making a list of what would need to be done in the garden from start to finish, “Are there any flowers in particular that you want or don’t want?” That was always a good thing to find out, because it was entirely possible that Legolas was allergic to certain flowers and Sam didn’t want to bring in plants that would aggravate an allergy.
“I’d like to take advantage of the Californian climate. I’ve plenty of flowers and plants back home in England that I love, but there are so many I could see here that would never grow there. I think I’d enjoy hibiscus, perhaps.” Legolas paused, looking thoughtful. “Oh, some sort of cactus, too, or maybe several. Nothing plain.”
“Gotcha. I think there are a lot of flowers we can work with then,” Sam took his phone out of his pocket and switched to the camera, “Mind if I take a few pictures of the garden? It helps when I go to the nursery if I have a picture of the area.” He’d done the same thing with Bag End when Frodo had first hired him; before he’d started dreaming. Now of course it was kind of ironic, because when he pictured Bag End from the dreams, it looked almost exactly as he’d made it look it real life. Almost the exact same plants and flowers in almost the exact same spots.
“By all means, do what you must.” Legolas waved a hand in the direction of the garden and stepped away a bit, giving Sam whatever room he needed to take his photos. “I’m glad you see some potential in it.”
Sam snapped a few pictures then after swiping through them, he pocketed his phone and turned back to Legolas, “Personally, I think every space has potential. You just have to have a little imagination.” He smirked, once again thinking about how strange it was to be seeing Legolas like this.
He gave Sam a real smile this time, not his usual amused turn-up of the corners of his lips. Legolas decided that there was a way about Sam that he liked, though he had little reason for that so far. It was likely just Sam’s mannerisms. “I suppose this is the part where we discuss my hiring you.” Because there wasn’t really any question, as far as Legolas was concerned. He didn’t think he could trust his garden to anyone else now. Well, anyone besides himself.
Sam nodded, “I’ve actually got some stuff in the truck, if you want to look it over.” He always came prepared in case he ran into a potential client. Sometimes he’d simply give them some information and the number to get in contact with his father, if they weren’t certain what they wanted, but other times, when they knew right off the bat what they wanted then he’d work things out right then and there and this was one of those times.
“Wonderful.” Legolas nodded. He wasn’t the sort to waste time if his mind was set on something. It wasn’t that he was impatient, he just preferred to get things done rather than procrastinate, and if Sam had some things ready, Legolas wouldn’t say no. “I’d like that.”