I’m
going out tonight
I’m
feeling all right
Gonna
let it all hang out
Wanna
make some noise
Really
raise my voice
Yeah,
I wanna scream and shout
-
Shania Twain
The bustling, boisterous midway was their
after-dark activity that night; carnival rides, bright flashing lights, and
random games of chance. Katie had
allowed Jason to pick out clothing for her, knowing fully well that her
well-meaning cousin was trying to truss her up in order to get Legolas to trip
on his tongue. It was an event that she
would’ve paid money to see.
A pair of form-fitting blue jeans, a black
tank top, and a pair of black riding boots later, Jason was satisfied, kissing
his fingers like an Italian chef who had just created a masterpiece. She drew the line at make-up, swaying him
only when she mentioned that the heat would only melt the colors away in an
hour or so. He grumbled over her
hair-do of choice, which was a high ponytail… but allowed her to leave the room
at last.
The midway was alive with fireworks that
night, the evening of Independence Day, and Katie was eager to explore the
pier. Her excitement must have been
infectious, for the rest of the company smiled and laughed and seemed to truly
be enjoying themselves in their strange surroundings. Merry had developed an uncanny knack for the basketball
free-throws and was winning tickets like there was no tomorrow. Jason and Pippin somehow talked Boromir into
riding a roller coaster and the poor Gondorian came back grumbling obscenities
at the “fool of a Took”.
“Kate… what is that?” Legolas asked, pointing
at a large building purposely decorated with brightly-colored graffiti.
“That… is the skate park. Hey Jay!” she flagged down her cousin. “What say we show these Middle Earthlings
how we get around?”
Jay took on look at the skate park and broke
into a wide, very evil grin. “What’s
your poison, cuz? Blades? Bike? Or board?”
“I’ll take blades… you?”
“Board.”
“Let’s lock and load, little girl.”
Needless to say, these were sports that
completely threw the Fellowship for a loop. People swooping up and down over a
sharply curved floor, weaving in and out between pillars and each other, using
stair rails and edges to perform various tricks. Jason and Katie were not acrobats by any means and did not do
aerial stunts, but just being able to stay upright while on wheels seemed to
impress them. Katie sped all over the
place on her rented roller blades, teasing Legolas with each pass.
It was some time before they gave up trying to
convince anyone onto the skate floor, but they did spend a good hour showing
off for them, Jason in particular.
Katie figured he was desperately trying to impress Boromir regardless of
the fact that they were already lovers.
Boromir was discreet in watching her cousin… but watch he did, his eyes
warm as they followed Jason up, over, and across the entire place.
She smiled… even if it seemed just a little
doomed… it was good to see Jason with someone like the Gondorian. Boromir did not seem to be a player… his
interests were genuine. And he wasn’t
bad on the eyes either.
Of course… Legolas took the cake where being
nice on the eyes was concerned. A fact
she was heavily reminded of when she sat next to him to remove her blades.
“Not bad, huh? Bet you don’t see that in Mirkwood… or anywhere else in Middle
Earth for that matter.” She smiled at him.
He shook his head. “You would be quite correct on that account, Kate.”
“Hey, I know what to do next!” she suddenly
thought. “Jay! Is that recreation place
still around the one with Hood’s in it?”
“That it is.” Jason nodded. “You want to play paint ball tag now? Or are you just itching to show off some
more?”
“Oh stuff it, Phantom. You guys will like this.” She scolded him as
they walked out onto the midway once more.
Jason leaned down and whispered to her. “Oh I get it… you want him to show
off for you! You little vixen… I
knew I liked you for a reason!”
“Ix-nay on the owing-off-shay.” She mumbled.
Hood’s was revealed to be a structure devoted
to two activities paintball for one… and archery for the other. It wasn’t nearly as crowded as the rest of
the midway and Katie grinned when she noticed everyone’s faces light up.
“I little taste of the familiar… although I
don’t think our bows will be quite as good.” She announced, striding over to an
empty lane and picking up a bow that was clearly too big for her. She with a humph, she put it on a rack and
retrieved a much smaller one along with several arrows.
“Katie?” Jason asked. “What are you doing?”
Katie looked up from strapping on the leather
guards. “I’m going to shoot… what’s it
look like?”
“But you don’t know how to use that thing.”
Jason pointed out.
“Says you.
Remember camp? While you were
off sneaking away to neck with Janice behind the mess hall, I actually
attended archery class.” She smiled.
“It’s been a while… but I bet I can still hit the target… or at least
get close to it.”
“Seagulls are running in fear, Katie.” Jason
teased.
“You know… as close as you are to me right
now… even a blind person could shoot you.
Now get out of my aiming space.” She demanded sweetly.
Jason took a few steps away as Katie notched
an arrow in place and slowly took aim.
The arrow sang through the air and hit the target with a thud. Not on the bull’s-eye… but not far from it
either. Her next arrow was maybe
slightly closer, but it was clear that this was from being out-of-practice.
“Katrina Marie… you little Robin Hood!” Jason
grinned.
She shrugged.
“A little off-mark and woefully slow… but not bad for someone who hasn’t
so much as held a bow for about ten years, eh?
You want to show us how it’s done, elf?”
A smile from Legolas as he strode over,
selecting a different bow, his brow furrowing as he picked it up. “What is this
made out of?”
“Plastic and synthetic wood most likely… so
they don’t break as easily.” She explained.
“Like I said, not as good as your bow is… but we don’t have to use them
to defend ourselves either.”
He nodded and lined himself up in the line,
taking aim at the target. Without so
much as a pause between arrows, he shoot off three, each one striking the
center of the target with surgical precision.
Every head on the gallery turned his way, jaws agape.
“Damn…” the owner of the center commented from
his counter. “You one of them SCA
people or something, kid?”
“Excuse me?” Legolas turned.
Katie stepped in. “Shows doesn’t it? You
should see him do that at moving targets. How much for a paintball session?”
The owner smiled. “Just cause it’s slow and that was damn impressive… twenty
bucks.”
“Cool.” Katie grinned forking over the
money. “Let’s suit up, gentlemen.”
Late that night, it was a very tired, but very
happy set of Middle Earthlings that returned to the shore house… weary, a
little bruised and a lot paint-splattered, but pleased. The Battle of Ocean City (as Jason had
dubbed it) had finally given the Fellowship a chance to play around and fight
with each other without the nagging feeling of orcs or Ringwraiths nearby. They had divided into two teams; Aragorn,
Jason, Legolas, Merry, and Pippin on one side and Katie, Boromir, Frodo, Sam,
and Gimli on the other… Gandalf had opted to “referee” the skirmish. No one knew who exactly won the battle since
everyone had paint on them by the end.
Katie had managed to hit Legolas on the back of the head with a
particularly bright shade of blue… in turn he had pelted her with yellow paint
balls until she looked like Big Bird.
Gimli complained only marginally that he had purple paint drying in his
beard. Jason looked like he’d shot his
eye out what with all of the red paint on his face. The hobbits were a rather colorful foursome with multicolored
streaks every where. Aragorn and
Boromir both had green splats on their backs from Jason’s gun. Gandalf had to be the most colorful, since
everyone had turned on him by the end, a splendid array of rainbow colors
bloomed all over his clothes and beard.
Now, everyone was starting to settle down, the
activities of the day catching up with them at last. Most everyone had already gone to bed except for Katie, Jason,
Legolas, and Boromir. The four of them
sat in the parlor sharing a bottle of Arbor Mist and telling stories. Jason recounted the time that he and Katie
had gotten lost in New York City once and were rescued by a cab driver. Katie told of how, when they were children,
Jason had figured out how to draw on the ceiling, much to his mother’s
chagrin. Boromir described Minas Tirith
and the brighter points of Gondor’s history.
Legolas imparted tales of his childhood in Mirkwood, of grand festivals
and serene ceremonies common only to the Elves.
“It is late.” Boromir said at last, standing
up and stretching. “I think I shall
take myself off to bed.”
“Night.” Katie smiled, noting that Jason bit
his lip in an anxious fashion.
The Gondorian headed up the stairs quickly and
an easy silence settled over the remaining three, broken only by Jason sighing.
“Oh go on, Jay…” Katie punched his arm
teasingly. “Don’t keep him waiting.”
Jay flushed but got up anyway, throwing her a
grin over his shoulder as he followed Boromir’s path. “Goodnight, Katie… Legolas.”
Legolas’ brow furrowed. “He and… Boromir..?”
“Mm-hmm.” Kate nodded around a sip of
wine. “Jason’s gay… apparently Boromir
is as well, or at least bi.”
He gave her a strange look. “Gay?
Bi? I do not understand.”
“Gay means you’re a homosexual… you’re
attracted to those who are the same sex as you. Bi is just short for bisexual, meaning that both sexes hold equal
appeal to you. According to Jason, they
don’t carry the same stigma in your world as they do here sometimes.” She
explained.
“I cannot speak for the other races of Middle
Earth. But the Elves have never put
such restrictions on themselves.” Legolas shrugged gracefully. “I have known both males and females and
never thought that out of the ordinary.”
She nodded.
“Humans are generally a little bit more rigid in their supposed
normalcy. And it’s worse for men than
it is for women… girl on girl is acceptable, hell, it’s downright tempting to
some… man on man? Tends to scare people
for some reason. I never understood it
myself.”
“Have you known both?” he asked.
A slight cough. “Well…yes… I was with a girl once, in college. But I find men to be my main attraction.”
“Ah.” Legolas nodded, completely un-phased by
her confession. “Is this another reason
why your family seems to dislike Jason to such a degree?”
Katie nodded.
“Yeah. Jason likes to rub it in
how different he is from everyone else… he revels in it. Gives his mom conniptions every time he
mentions a boyfriend to her.”
“So he is… playing?”
“Not with Boromir…he already told me. Those two seem to really… be in love. It’s rather sweet I think… bad timing, but
rather sweet.”
“There is no such thing as a bad time for
love.” Legolas said softly, staring into his empty wine glass.
“What was that?”
“Something my mother once told me, more or
less.” He breathed. “She and my father
fell in love right when he was fighting of the worst orc invasion of the time. He was concerned that he might fall in
battle and told her that she must not love him… needless to say, she did not
heed his warnings.”
“All the better for me… if she had, you
wouldn’t be sitting here.” She smiled.
He graced her with a smile of his own. “Very true.
Are you trying to tell me that you enjoy my company, Kate?”
“Course.” She replied. “You all are a very interesting bunch… and
how often do I get a chance to talk to someone who’s 2931 years old… hell,
that’s longer than most of our recorded history.”
“I am still young in the Elvish scheme of
things. There are elders who are tens
of thousands of years old. I have spent
so much time keeping the forests of Mirkwood safe that I am afraid that I have
not traveled so much as Aragorn has.” He admitted.
“I’m not that well-traveled either… up and
down the East Coast mostly… took one trip across the ocean to England during
college, best time I ever had. One of
these days I’ll travel more… actually use those languages I studied in school.”
She mused aloud.
“You are skilled with languages then?” he
asked.
“I took French in high school, continued it
and added Italian and Japanese in college.
I just like the sounds of different languages…they all sound so much
prettier than English.” She shrugged.
“Unfamiliarity with a tongue can make it sound
exotic no matter what is being said.” He nodded, looking up as he thought.
Katie looked up at him in shock when he spoke
next, a flow of words completely unfamiliar but lilting and musical in their
cadence and turns of vowel.
“What was that?” she asked.
“My language… Elvish.”
“What did you say?”
“Goodnight… literally ‘may the stars shine
kindly upon your rest’.” He smiled, rising.
“Beautiful.
I take it Elvish is a far more poetic language than English.” She
complimented, rising as well and taking both wine glasses to the kitchen.
“Customarily.
We Elves take pride in our exquisite speech.”
“In other words, you like to show of.”
“Yes.” He answered without missing a beat.