An Adventure of Hobbit Proportions RPG

[Thinlómien]

As usual, Tansy had been the first one to wake up. She always slept very lightly and seemed to need less sleep than her other family members. She was already up and around, walking in the garden and enjoying the fresh air, when someone finally woke up.

"Tansy! What are you doing here?", Robin Bogsworth asked curiously.
"Oh, good morning, father. I was just having a morning walk."
"In this weather?"
"Yes... A little rain every now and then harms no one."
"When you've done with your problemsolving walk, do come in, I'm hungry and Maylily's not up yet."

The old man closed the backdoor with a slamming sound. He was always too careless with things like that, just like his son, Tansy thought. They both got into accidents on daily basis, but Robin Bogsworth had survived his life with minor injuries, unlike his son.

"Tansy!" a croaking voice called.
"Grandma Daphne, I'm coming", she said and ran to the old woman's window.
"Close the window! Who on earth has opened it! It's so chilly here inside. No, don't close it just yet! What is that expression? I can see you're up to some mischief again." The crone made disapproving sounds with her tongue. "Always doing this and always doing that. Won't you ever settle down and..." The rest of her words were swallowed by a violent cough. Tansy closed the window and hurried inside to see if her grandmother was alright. When she reached the room, her grandmother was snoring loudly. Tansy shook her head. Grandma Daphne knew she was planning something and Dad had seemed to suspect something as well. Better to talk with them as soon as possible, she concluded.

Her mother was already making porridge when she arrived at the kitchen.
"Look at yourself, all wet and brow creased like an old woman's! What have you done and what is troubling you?" Maylily asked.
"Where's dad? And Fred?"
"Robin has gone to fetch Fred to come to have breakfast with us. Even though if you ask me, it should be you, not him, doing it, you're the young one with a strong back..."
"No problem, Maylily!" Robin's voice came from the corridor. "I and Fred are handling this just well. Besides, I will get stiff if I never get exercise."
"Men", Maylily sighed. "But Tansy! What are you idling there! Go to wake up that friend of yours, if she prefers her porridge hot!"

[Gwathagor]

With a sudden rush of feathers and beaten air, a large grouse exploded out of
a low lying bunch of shrubs.

WHAP!

The bird dropped senseless out of the air, struck by a stone from Brown's
sling. As it hit the ground, he dashed over and seized the bird before it
could regain consciousness. He dashed its head sharply against a tree to kill
it, then tied it by its feet to length of cord on his knapsack, where hung
three fattish quail.

He had been hunting opportunistically all that morning, as he walked along the
hedgerows and through the thin woodlands which bordered the fields. Like most hobbits, he was a good shot with a sling, and, as he walked quietly (except for when he whistled, which he did very loud and very well), he would often come upon small hedgerow creatures while they were yet unaware of his presence, or startle them suddenly out of their hiding places.

Presently, he was walking along a low stone wall that, though it now lay in shambles, had probably once marked the boundary of a farmstead. All that remained now was a broad, gently sloping field of green grass.

Hullo! There IS something else left. Ahead, where the wall appeared to make a right turn, was the remains of a small farm cottage. Its thatching had long since disappeared, and the windows were hollow and empty, but the sturdy stone walls still held their mortar.

Brown was well-travelled, and stone buildings did not give him much pause, as they might hobbits who had never passed out of the central regions of the Shire. The stone walls of the cottage and the long, low wall surrounding what had been the farm stood memorial to the battle between the farmer and the earth; the stones used to build the structures had evidently been pulled from the field in an attempt to make it fit for cultivation.

So many rocks...no wonder they left. I would. Give me the woods and the wild any day.

He stepped over a fallen beam through the doorway of the cottage. His foraging instincts, developed by years of rambling, insisted that he at least take a quick look around for anything of use, though the most he expected to find was perhaps an old stove or a rusty tea-kettle. And he proved to be absolutely right. He found both of these things, evidently abandoned in the defeated farmer's hastily beaten retreat.

And this brought up an issue rather dear to his, as to any hobbit's, heart: Speaking of tea...I haven't eaten since breakfast. Thereupon he sat down in the midst of the fallen timbers and broken glass upon an old stool that must have been also overlooked, and removed his knapsack. He did not mind eating second breakfast cold, especially since he was in mid-hike at the moment. Besides, he was eating it rather before the hour this particular morning. It made sense to get in a meal while he could, since there might be some proper leftovers down at Fred and Tansy's, and he would then have the good fortune to have eaten a second second breakfast. This made him smile.

As he ate, he pulled an old book from the rubble, its leather cover warped and cracked. Munching on an apple, he opened the book on his knee and began to read from the first badly damaged and yellowed page.

MERIADOC BRANDYBUCK'S
LETTERS AND SPEECHES
with Elucidations
by
Carl Brandybuck
Vol. I-II

[Valier]

Bunny began the day with a smile. She had had a wonderful dream, where she had frolicked in the grass, hand in hand with a beautiful tree maiden. Her mind was torn from her dream when her nose caught the scent of cooking food. Upon opening her eyes Bunny realized that it must be quite late, she had been tired and had slept longer than usual. She had planned to get up early to have a few minutes alone to talk with Tansy.

Her pack was in ruins and they would need to get supplies. But how? and from whom? Surely Tansy's family could not be expected to supply things for them both. Bunny scolded herself for her clumsiness the day before. Now she would need to have her clothes washed and her pack had to be emptied and cleaned. They would not be off as quickly as Bunny had hoped.
Peeling of the covers Bunny ran her fingers through her unruly hair. She had gone to bed with it wet and she knew she would look an awful sight. She would also need to wear her nightgown to breakfast if she would hope to get any at all.

None of this could put a damper on Bunny's mood, she was determined to have a productive, engaging day. They could get started tomorrow morning if the rain held off and she got her things in order.
She quickly made the bed and straightened herself up a little more and headed to the kitchen. As she crossed the door frame Bunny looked down at her feet, running head long into Tansy who had come to fetch her. "Oi! good morning Tansy, are you having a wonderful day so far? Sorry I slept so late, and please do excuse my appearance, I'm afraid all of my clothes have gotten wet, and night clothes will have to do for breakfast. Bunny rubbed the spot on her forehead where they had collided. " Tansy dear I'm afraid we will need more supplies then I thought, do you have any idea where we could get them? We should leave as soon as possible as long as the weather holds up."

[Boromir88]

“So when can we start?”

Rudy smiled. He knew, Mira knew, he was going to say yes. Maybe he did over react, just a little bit. It just caught him off guard; that's all. She probably shouldn't have asked the Gaffer to do this for her, but if Gaffer Hugo didn't mind, then what's the big deal? In fact, the Gaffer seemed thrilled that Mira asked her to do something. Poor guy, Rudy doesn't see Gaffer Hugo too often. This would be a good oppurtunity to catch up with him.

"Alright Mira, let's go see Tansy." Rudy said, smiling again.

At that moment Mira and Rudy's father, Hugo (not to be confused with Gaffer Hugo), walked into the room. "Wait a minute, now, where are you all running off too?"

"We are going to Brandy Hall, to visit Tansy, father." Rudy tried to sound as commanding as possible.

"Did she put you up to this?" he said, looking sharply at Mira.

Rudy quickly jumped in, before Mira could say anything. He wanted to show Mira he was sorry for being so harsh on her earlier. "No, father. Mira was telling us about her friend Tansy and we all thought it would be good to go see her." Maybe Rudy did just bend the story a little bit, so what?

Hugo grunted. "There are more important things you could be doing other than prancing through the Shire to see some friends." Hugo said 'friends' condescendingly. Rudy gritted his teeth. He knew father was trying to get him, or Mira, to blow up so he would have a reason to keep them at home. Rudy wasn't going to let him win.

"We are going to Brandy Hall, to visit Tansy, father." he said again.

[Thinlómien]

"Tansy dear I'm afraid we will need more supplies then I thought, do you have any idea where we could get them? We should leave as soon as possible as long as the weather holds up."

"I don't know", Tansy replied. She really wasn't very enthusiastic about finding all the necessary things from her home or using all her family's money.

Bunny frowned. "Then is more difficult than I imagined... are you sure you don't have a friend or something who could help us with the supplies?"

Tansy smiled wryly at herself. It never occured to her first to ask for someone's help. "I do have one such friend. Her name is Peony Chubb. She lives quite close. But I must say that if we are to ask her to help us with the supplies, we might have to take her with us." Realising how Bunny might interpret her words, she burst laughing. Bunny cast her a questioning look.

"I maybe should not have said 'have to'", Tansy explained, "Peony is a lovely person, really, I'm sure you'll like her."

Before Bunny could make any reply, Maylily's voice interrupted the discussion: "Oh, there you are, girls. Come to eat breakfast, it's getting cooler all the time."

Girls. Tansy rolled her eyes and Bunny chuckled, but both followed the old woman obediently.

Fred and Robin wanted to tell Bunny about the giant perch they had caught last weekend and she was enjoying the story and telling of her own experiences of perches, so they had almost finished the abundant breakfast before Tansy could get to the topic she wanted to discuss.

"Mum, dad, Fred. There's something I want to talk about with you", she said slowly. Fred smiled at her, their mother's eyes narrowed, but their father asked pleasantly: "What is it, Tansy?"

"I wish to go traveling again. Bunny and I have been talking about looking for the legendary Entwives. I don't know how long I would be away."

A silence fell. "But there is one thing I'm worried about. Will you be able to manage without me?"

Maylily snorted in an offended way. "Now, now, Miss Tansy Bogsworth! I don't deny that you have provided a big deal of our family's income, helped Daphne and Fred a lot and done a big part of the household work in the last decade or so. But it is downright arrogant of you to assume that we wouldn't manage by ourselves for a few days? weeks? months? Ha! I tell you, Tansy, none of us is a helpless child!"

Tansy grinned. "Thank you, mother", she said.

"We'll miss you though, Tansy", Fred said with an affectionate smile, "hope you'll have fun."

"And I'll be missing your teas, darling", Robin said, "and maybe sad not to have the few extra coins in our purse. But I'd be far more sad if you were not where you wanted to be."

Tansy sighed. She had known it would come down to money. "Mum, are you really sure you can manage?"

"Now don't start that again, you arrogant lass!" Maylily exclaimed, "Have you forgotten that I and your father work as well? Besides, I assure you, I do have my own savings and I'm not afraid to use them our expenses became too big for us, which I doubt. And for goodness' sake, don't stare at me that way! Can't a mother offer something to her daughter these days?"

When Tansy still made no reply, Maylily burst laughing. "Tansy, if you're that worried, I can promise to take the extra money from your inheritance."

"Does that mean you're really coming with me?" Bunny asked in a low voice.

Tansy looked at her resolute-looking mother and her simling father and brother. "It seems I couldn't back away now even if I wanted: they seem to have decided that it's time for me to have some time of my own", she grinned.

[littlemanpoet]

"We are going to Brandy Hall, to visit Tansy, father." Rudy said a second time.

Gaffer Hugo watched Rudy standing tall as he was able, his chin sticking out to just a wee bit, and risen up like he was giving orders to his own pa. The awful silence, full of all kinds of bad thing nobody was saying, was getting long. Gaffer Hugo understood; Hugo his son-in-law and accidental namesake, was a bitter man and had been getting that way even before he'd lost Rosemary so many years agone. Hugo number two never mentioned Rosemary anymore, he didn't need to. Everybody knew that it was always aback of what he blamed Mira for. It would do no good to raise that ugly fact where everybody could see it like a dirty stinky rag that needed more than a good washing.

"Good morning to you, Hugo!" Gaffer Hugo said. "I'm takin' Rudy an' Mira over to Brandy Hall to visit some friends and kin. Peony's folk are over thereby. How about you come along too?"

Gaffer Hugo flicked a quick glance over to Mira clapped her hand to her mouth with a cough to cover the grin forming there, for she knew what Gaffer was up to. They all knew that Hugo number two would be too concerned to make sure he wasn't going to bother with keeping Rudy and Mira under roof.

"Oh, fine!" Hugo number two griped with a dismissive wave. "Go on and leave me all alone like always."

Of course they all knew that wasn't true and Gaffer Hugo knew it made Mira feel bad, just like it was intended to, but there wasn't much hope of changing her dad, so no surprise, she smiled and told him thank you.

[Valier]

Bunny was so relieved when Tansy and her family decided she should go with Bunny. She didn't know it was bothering her, but now it felt like a weight was lifted off her shoulders.

Bunny shoved one last morsel of food into her mouth and stood up to help with the clearing up. "That was just a delicious meal Maylily, thank you for having me." Maylily nodded her head towards the pile of mess sitting at the front door, which use to be Bunny's belongings. "I guess you'll be needing your things washed up, I can throw them in with the load I have from Tansy...That lass always has so much laundry... well I guess it's hard to tell which is clean or dirty when it's all over the floor!!" Tansy rolled her eyes at this causing Bunny to hold back a snort. "I will say however while I wash your mess, you my dear must clean up the mud you've left on the floor.

Bunny giggled and apologized profusely as she took the mop from Maylily. Tansy finished up the dishes and came to wait for Bunny to finish. "Since your Mother has been so gracious and kind to me, " Bunny said with a smile. " Shall we go see Peony after I finish up here? Do you think she will be home? I guess we might as well take a walk over, the weather seems like it's picking up and we might just have a sunny day. If she agrees to join us and we can get everything we need, we may just be able to leave tomorrow."