WHO: Sam Gamgee and Kili WHAT: Meeting in Person WHEN: Backdated: Mid April. Afternoon WHERE: Urdnot Ranch RATING: Family Friendly STATUS: Complete
Sam had seen lots of people talking about Urdnot Ranch on Valarnet, but he’d never actually been there; not until now anyway. The Ranch was now a potential client and Sam’s father had sent him over to check it out and talk to the people in charge about what they were expecting to be done there. It was a large area and chances were, they would probably send two of their other gardeners over if they got the job.
Sam was currently wandering around on his own, looking around at the various buildings and the current foliage. This gave him time to think about the various things that had happened lately such as the trip to the island in Japan to rescue Frodo and the Darkspawn that had shown up after that. He could only imagine what would happen next.
Kili had just been finishing up with a group of kids on the archery field, so he was still out in plain view, and had finished yelling as loudly as the rest of them were. It hadn't been bad yelling, or angry yelling, but the boisterous type of loud that came from having fun. That was even if he was calling out names that sounded like Snow White's Seven Dwarfs. It was easier that way to remember who they each were, so they got names like Lazy, Sassy, Angry, Punchy, Throwy, Spitty, Cursey McCurseTons and so on and so forth. He was Sir Yells A Lot, and everyone involved seemed perfectly fine with that.
Pew pew went Kili and his angry teenaged proteges, until time was up and he got a break to recover his vocal cords. He sat down under a tree and looked ready to chug a lug some water, which is much more acceptable than chug a lugging beer while at work.
People frown down on that, unfortunately.
Sam had heard someone yelling as well as a number of teenagers as he’d walked past the archery range and it had caused him to stop for a moment to watch. The guy leading the class or practice or whatever it was that they were called there seemed familiar somehow, but Sam couldn’t quite figure out why. There was no doubt that this guy was energetic and and the fact that he was loud helped him to command the course. Watching them, Sam was reminded of Legolas in the dreams. Of course the Elf Prince was a hundred times more skilled than these kids, but then again Sam didn’t think that anyone could be on par with Legolas in the dreams.
He watched for a few more minutes then resumed his walk. He was coming back around when he spotted the man sitting under a tree and decided to stop for a moment, "Hey. I caught part of your archery class. You're pretty good with those kids."
Kili was keeping an eye on the kids in case he needed to holler at them. At first, he eyed the person drawing close with some amount of scrutiny - he wasn't sure if it was a bad touch instigator or what - but they didn't seem to register as a threat when they walked up and started speaking. In fact, Kili grinned without any hesitation at all.
"Thank you! They're loud, but at least we can be constructively obnoxious toward one another, and they seem like they're having a good time. I know I am! It’s good practice,” he said. “I'm Kili. I haven't seen you about, before now. Are you new?"
“Sort of. My dad’s gardening business might be taking over the gardening.” Sam said, not realizing that Kili was the same guy he’d spoken to recently about Bilbo and the dreams, because neither of them had actually introduced themselves then, “Sam. Nice to meet you. Been working here long?”
Kili wasn't sure about gardening, not past 'MOW THE DAMN LAWN' and even that was taken care of when they decided to put in a ton of stones, concrete, and a patio and porch in the back yard. So, in Kili's mind, anyone who did gardening for a living? They were welcome to it!
"Nice meeting you as well, since you'll be around! More the merrier," Kili said, quite jovially. "I've only recently been hired on and they haven't fired me yet, which is great! I've had enough of the great job hunt, after being let go for burning things down or, you know, gaping head wounds or the likes? Others are welcome to it!"
As Kili spoke about his past job experience, Sam’s brows rose slightly, “Gaping head wounds? Like, you had them or gave them to someone else?” The burning things down part was pretty self explanatory, other at least it didn’t catch Sam’s interest the way the latter had. Sam could completely understand injuries on the job; he’d had plenty of them while gardening, his most recent one being the previous summer when that damned bees nest had fallen out of that one tree he’d been pruning. He never wanted to relive that experience again.
"Me? Only three times," Kili replied, pleasantly enough. "It really wasn't a big deal. Head wounds always bleed a lot worse than they actually are, and it's not as though it went through the skull or the likes! Others? I've been told that I shouldn't say, for legal reasons."
Sam couldn’t help but chuckle at the second part and nodded, “Probably a good idea. I wouldn’t want you to get sued or anything cause of a slip of the tongue.” He ran a hand through his hair and glanced around at their surroundings, “So I’ve heard a lot of really good things about this place and what it does for lots of kids. It must make you feel good to be a part of that.”
"It's a nice place, and Dani was nice enough to hire me on," Kili said, grinning the whole while. He did feel at ease here and at least archery kept his attention focused on that, so the destruction was kept at minimum levels.
"There I was, a few years ago, think I'd be in construction or the likes, to keep myself busy. Huge mistake!" Kili laughed and took a moment to look around as well, before saying, "It is rather nice, actually! I like the kids, even if we're all loud and yelly at one another. They aren't a bad lot? And if you're here, then I suppose you'll have them yelling at you as well and can feel good about it!"
His voice lowered down to a conspiratorial whisper, "That's how they accept you, by being loud and obnoxious."
At least that's how Kili viewed it and it seemed like the most natural thing to do, to razz them right back as much as they were razzing him. The scamps.
Sam laughed in response, “Well, if we get the job, I don’t know if it’ll be me around or one of our other gardeners. Depends on schedules.” With the spring and summer coming they would be going back to their summer schedules with a lot of their customers and of course Sam personally did the gardening at Frodo’s house. So whether or not Sam was the one who showed up at the ranch was yet to be seen, “Either way, I think I can withstand a little yelling.”
"That's the spirit! Yelling's good! Although, maybe not so much on the vocal cords," conceeded Kili, with a firm nod of his head in the affirmative. "Hopefully you and yours do get the job. You seem nice enough, and it seems like there would be lots to do here. While weathering being yelled at."
“So, where did you learn archery?” People who did archery always seemed to do it so easily, but the one time Sam had tried it, he’d barely been able to pull the bow back and it wasn’t as if Sam were weak or anything; after all, he lifted bags of dirt and fertilizer and did other forms of heavy lifting while gardening.
"Oh! I didn't start fooling about with it, until after we moved here. My brother and I were still teenagers, but we were hiking around on weekends to stay out of our mother's hair. And we quite like that survivalist type prepper books and television programmes, so we took to it like an Irishman would to whiskey." Kili paused to take in a much needed breath, in mid chit-chat. He had been talking while keeping an eye on the kids to make sure no one lost an eye or shot each other in the chest or the likes. "Fili, my older brother, doesn't much prefer it? He likes his knives and sharp pointy things. I like to think it helps me focus a bit better, otherwise I'm going to run off a cliff and go splat."
After an almost contemplative pause (and not so, because it was so brief), Kili glanced at Sam and asked, "Do you know any self defense type things? It's dead useful to know. Highly recommended!"
Sam listened, smirking a little as he pictured Merry and Pippin while Kili talked about himself and his brother. He wasn’t really sure what had brought that up, but he could certainly picture the two younger Hobbits running around the Shire with bows and arrows and if that had ever happened, he hoped that no one had gotten hurt. At Kili’s question, Sam was silent for a moment, “Kind of. I have a sword, but I’ve never actually used it. And I….I had to use a gun recently.” He’d only shot the gun once, when they were rescuing Frodo and he hadn’t actually hit anything.
There had been arrows in each other's feet before, so Sam's vision wasn't too far off. Only Kili was the more happy spastic one and Fili was...he was more majestic, like their uncle Thorin, and had a lot of swagger. Kili couldn't be too overly jealous though, because it was his older brother. And if Kili had ever met Pippin, those two would probably be in all sorts of trouble and causing a racket, so the entire county is probably thankful that that cataclysm hasn't happened.
Kili wasn't smiling anymore, not when he noted aloud, "I'm guessing it wasn't a welcome situation, like mere target practice, to have to do that."
Sam ran a hand through his hair, stopping at the back of his neck for a moment as he recalled the rescue of Frodo, “No. It’s kind of a long story, but it was to save a friend.” If Sam never picked up another gun in his life, it’d be too soon. “Extenuating circumstances and all that.” He didn’t regret going with Merrill and Kitty and Obi-Wan to rescue Frodo, but knew that if his parents had known, they would have throttled him for putting himself in that sort of dangerous situation. Not that they were aware of the things he dreamt or things he did sometimes of course, “But I would like to learn to use the sword properly.”
Kili could fully understand those extenuating circumstances, because it might pertain to legal matters. So he didn't push the issue, only raised his eyebrows a little and profusely nodded.
"I'm not half bad," he admitted to Sam, "but I wish Fili was around and about more often? He's been busy. Sure, my brother's much quieter than I am, but he's really good with the sharp pointy things. I was always better at hit it from range, since up close and personal with me tends to result in injuries and visits to doctors."
“I know where I could probably ask for sword training lessons, but I don’t know if I really have the time,” Sam knew that a lot of people on Valarnet had gotten swords from their dreams and either instinctively knew how to use them or had gotten lessons from others, “Do you use anything besides a bow and arrow?” He asked, curiously.
"Well? I've had knives and swords before, but no formal training," confessed Kili, a little sheepishly. He stood up to his not so significant height of five-foot-five and brushed his hands off on his knees. "I haven't even had formal training in archery! I've only gotten this job by scraping by on sheer luck. Oh! You know, there's that valar net business? If you're on there, then there's bound to be a lot of people who've had..." He can't really say dreams without sounding crazy or implicating himself. Ahh! Dwarvish secrecy. "...previous experience with all sorts of things, like people often dooooo."
Kili tried really hard not to eyedart. Trying. Trying. And there it goes, Captain Eyedart sets sail on the fail boat.
Sam’s brows rose slightly and a small smirk crossed his lips, “Like previous experience in other worlds?” It was obvious that Kili was talking about the dreams and knowing that he was aware of them suddenly made Sam extremely curious about what the other man dreamt of. “So, did you get your archery skills from these….previous experiences?”
"Actually, I might know a thing or two about those previous experiences, but I don't really need it leaked all over hill and dale, if you get my meaning," Kili said, in a confidential tone, very shifty-eyed all the while. "People will think I've gone mental. I mean, more than usual. And I took to bows and crossbows on my own, after we moved here from England. More as a hobby and nothing at all serious! Simply for the enjoyment factor."
Kili lobbed an unwavering and intense STARE at Sam, before asking, "What is it that you know about...previous experience?"
“Yeah, I know what you mean. Can’t let just anyone in on those previous experiences.” The fact that he couldn’t tell his family about the dreams meant that he’d had to come up with an excuse as to why he’d been unreachable for over a day when he and Frodo had gone off to the volcano to destroy the Ring, “I’ve been having dreams about those past experiences for a couple of months now. You?”
"Only recently. Nothing horrible. Tromping about, here and there, bow in hand," Kili admitted, albeit with some reluctance. Sam didn't seem like a bad sort at all, and that was the only reason why he was telling him. If it was someone like his uncle, or extended family, they might only give a glare-down and refuse to talk about it, thus all the caution on his part. "Not quite wandering vagabond? But more like...actively seeking adventures. What about you?"
“I’m on an a quest in mine. Or I was.” Sam had a feeling that his dreams were nearing an end, because him and Frodo had reached Mount Doom, so how long his dreams continued was based on whether or not they destroyed the Ring, “We reached our destination. Now we just have to fulfil our goal.” Frodo didn’t talk much about the dreams, so Sam had no idea what was going to happen next.
"Oh yes, it would be all about quests and adventure, wouldn't it? I mean, there's not really that much one can do with swords and bows with arrows, is there?" He didn't volunteer much more, since he felt bad about any slip ups. His uncle Thorin in his dreams would disapprove of too much information flying, because pointy ears might hear. Silly, but true. And Kili was still trying to work out how to talk to people, face to face about it all. That included becoming vertically challenged. "I'd imagine you go out on quests and pwn things in the face. Like those mmos and rpgs games on the xbox and playstation. At least you're on an adventure, eh? What did you have to do, with that goal of yours?"
Depending on who Sam talked to, he was usually pretty open about the dreams, but every so often he did have to be cautious. He didn’t want anyone to think he was crazy after all. “We had to destroy a ring. The One Ring.” He was glad that the Ring had been destroyed in real life and hoped that they managed to destroy it in the dream as well and that Frodo didn’t get lost in the end of that like in real life, “What happened in yours?”
Kili knew all about not wanting to be viewed as crazy pants. He was already getting shorter and considering wearing platform boots to get a couple inches back, that he had lost. Trying to explain crazy dreams where he had been a DWARF of all things? It was bad enough hearing someone he didn't know face-to-face saying it, and he further felt it ruined any faint glimmer of a chance he might have had with a certain tall Elf maiden...stunt lady. Plus it was crazy pants. Pure crazy pants.
"I don't know anything about a ring, but I hate to inform you that there's lots of rings about? I don't think there's only one! That's a bit silly if you think on it, isn't it?" He eyedarted a little, and then said, like it was a huge conspiracy (and to Thorin, it was), "As for me, it was a secret mission. Very important, but still hush hush. It was like a twelve man raid, but with more people, with the possibility of side quests for experience points!"
And that's basically what it was, when he thought about it. But, truth told? He didn't really want to think about it.
Sam laughed and nodded, “True, but this one was The One Ring. The One Ring to rule them all.” He hated thinking about the way the Ring would take hold of Frodo and cause him to forget himself for a time, “Do yours take place in this world or another one? Mine are in a place called Middle Earth.” If there was one place Sam wished was real, from his dreams, it was The Shire.
"Why would a piece of bloody jewelry be ruling all of anything? It's a ring! That doesn't even make sense," Kili protested, looking very much as though his brain was going to escape out of his ears and run off screaming, having lit itself on fire. Part of his expression was also due to the mention of Middle-earth, and he wasn't sure how to respond to that. If the uncle Thorin he dreamed about ever popped up, Kili was sure he'd be strangled just for mentioning a twelve man raid with side-quests.
He supposed he had to say something, and so he thought for a moment, and it seemed as though he was thinking very hard because the Dwarven wheels and cogs of his mind were churning away. Clunk clunk clunk!
"Oh yes, I’ve dreamed that I’m from there too," Kili blurted out in mid-clunk, and then his eyes went wide. Really wide. Size of saucers wide, in that 'I can't believe I said that out loud, AGAIN' sort of way. He hastily added, "But let's not make a big deal over it! Ha ha! No big deals are to be had this day!"
PAT PAT went one of his hands on Sam's shoulder.
"Oh no! Look!" He suddenly stopped patting and pointed off to the archery range. It was as though he had only now noticed it all. "I have children to watch over, lest they shoot one another's eyes out with arrows! .....aahhhhhh. How horrifying."
And it was also as though they couldn't have already done that in the time he was talking. Seriously.
Sam was about to try and explain the Ring a little more when Kili mentioned also dreaming about Middle Earth and as he watched the mini freak out the other guy started having, something suddenly clicked and his brows rose slightly, “Wait, you were the guy talking about Bilbo before, right? You know Legolas.” He suddenly recalled the post talking about Bilbo and where they’d talked about the fact that although they both dreamt about Middle Earth, they dreamt about two different times periods. Kili was one of the dwarves who had gone with Bilbo on the quest that he’d heard about multiple times as a child in the dreams.
Kili stopped and stared, in a fiercely Dwarvish sort of way. Then he pointed, accusingly, at Samwise Gamgee, in...what was also a fiercely Dwarvish sort of way. They are not graceful critters, and really were about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the face. And that is why, quite loudly, Kili opened his mouth and said, "YOU'RE THE ONE WHO KNOWS MISTER BOGGINS!"
And every head of every kid on the archery range at the ranch, turned to look. Right in their direction.
Of course, Kili slapped a hand over his mouth like he hadn't meant to announce it like that. And so - after the stinging of the hand slap had passed - he cracked his fingers apart, and said in a whisper-hiss, "If my uncle ever shows up here for a visit to my mother, his sister, and he has any dreams? He would have my head if I was talking to anyone outside of the burglar or the wizard about this. My head. Probably paraded on a pike. A pike. So shhhh! It's bad enough that that Legolas chap was all ’You're a dwarf’ and I got rather offended, because I don’t know him face to face really, and this is all making it all worse, somehow."
He had even lowered that hand just enough to put one finger against his lips, while whisper-hissing. Loudly. If whisper hissing could be loud, he was managing it. And really, he was the one who was supposed to be shhh, but oh well. That’s not going to happen.
Sam couldn’t help but smirk a little as he listened to Kili, amused at the other man’s reactions, “Yeah. I’m friends with his nephew, Frodo.” Sam explained, figuring it probably wasn’t worth it to correct Kili again on Bilbo’s name, “And you didn’t really tell me anything I didn’t already know from the dreams. Like I said before, I’d heard the story of Bilbo and the dragon quite a lot when I was younger, in the dreams.” Of course, now that he thought about it, having heard the story before meant that Sam knew the outcome of the quest, but he kept his mouth shut. “But, if he ever does show up, I won’t let on that I know.”
Kili looked like someone just ran over an entire basket of puppies in front of him and kept right on rolling down the road.
"Tchtchtch! Dragon!" Kili eyedarted a lot and waved both hands around like OH NOES YUH DINNIT DONE SAY THAT UP IN HEYUH, SUH. Of course, he blurted right out after that, "Thanks for that, because my uncle's a good man, but he's always so serious face about everything and then he's in my dreams, being very serious yet majestic face about it all. It's a bit daunting being under that much pressure, and then having to go get the whole...thing from the thing in the thing that I'm not supposed to mention at all. You know how it is."
He crossed his arms and looked around, like he was playing it cool.
"So, you know Mister Boggins' nephew? Maybe he know where the actual Mister Boggins is, or if he's as uppity as Mister Boggins, who flailed a lot because he forgot a handkerchief when we set out on our Dwarf raid, plus a Hobbit, plus a Wizard, and...SHITE. I was trying not to talk about things!"
At this point, Kili looked as though he was ready to rage quit his own life. Which he also doesn’t need to know yet. Good gravy.
As amused as Sam was, he could tell that Kili wasn’t exactly happy with the fact that he was letting information slip that he thought should still be kept secret, so Sam figured it was probably time for him to take his leave. Besides, he still had more of the ranch to see and other people to meet with to talk to about taking over the gardening there, “Well, hey, I’m gonna let you get back to the kids so no one kills anyone and I’ve gotta get back to my solo tour of the grounds.” He was sure that he’d see Kili around again, whether it was at the ranch or on Valarnet and maybe next time he wouldn’t be quite so high strung about the dreams.
"Yes, of course, and it was a pleasure to meet you as well! Maybe someday when I dream that the whole thing hasn't gone into a big pit of arguing like most raids do, I can tell you more? If you swear a vow of secrecy. And if yelly teenagers aren't staring and..." He stopped and stared at the kids, followed by a stern finger point. "Sassy! Stop aiming your drawn bow at Cursey McCurseTons! Mind where the arrows are pointing, you! I'm the only one allowed to get injured!"
Kili still had a long way to go with the dreams and dealing with shrinking, so it might be a while! Even so, he nodded at Sam and even bowed to him, shook his hand, patted him on the shoulders a little too much, and then bounded off back to the kids who were probably still staring at him like he's a weird ass.