I had to write a short story for school about someone with a stuffed animal that he could record a message onto. What would he record? Who would he be sending the message to? Etc. So this evolved and became more of a long story than a short story. XD I wrote the outline and the first chapter in one day, then waited about a month and wrote the rest of it all at once, so there will be mistakes and perhaps incongruities. Please tell me if you notice any really bad so I can fix it.

Chapter 1.

Lindir was a little nervous. His cousin Feren's birthday was coming up, and he had gotten him a gift; but was it the right one? He looked dubiously at the pink and purple butterfly plushie and sighed. He hoped Feren would like it.

He had seen it at Imladris Dollar and it had instantly grabbed his attention. Not only was it a butterfly, but it had a large sticker on it that said: 'RECORD YOUR SPECIAL MESSAGE'. He grabbed it up and read the directions.

'Hold down button. Speak into plushie. You have a special, personal, recorded message for your loved one! Warning: Not for elflings under 30 years of age. Do not leave in hot sunlight. Do not drown. Do not-'

Since Lindir was not Galdor, he didn't feel as if it would be detrimental to the earth if he didn't read all the warnings, so he didn't. He quickly bought it and ran home.

But now he wasn't sure what to record.

'I love you, Feren?' he mused. 'No, too sappy. You light up my life? Nah.' After thinking about it for a long time, he finally decided on writing a special song.

Haaaaaappy biiiiiiiiirthday, Fer-en,

You're my special friend,

Haaaaaappy biiiiiiiiiirthday, Fer-en,

To my message please attend.

Haaaaaappy biiiiiiiiiiiirthday, Fer-en,

I can never love you more,

Haaaaaappy biiiiiiiiiiiirthday, Fer-en,

Say goodbye to One Thousand and Four.

Lindir pushed the button and was about to sing his message when Legolas burst in, yelling something very loud. Lindir dropped the plushie and jumped up.

'What are you doing in my chamber, Legolas?' he asked, frowning. He was excessively annoyed.

'I was just quoting this line from this dumb thing dad had that I wanted you to hear,' Legolas rambled. 'What are you doing? Man, your room is a mess.'

'Look who's talking,' Lindir said snarkily. 'Would you mind removing yourself from my chamber? I'm rather busy.'

'Lindir, what on earth were you doing? I thought I heard you singing a weird song- What's this?' Legolas snatched up the paper whereon Lindir had been writing his song. 'Happy birthday Feren, You're my special friend,' he read aloud. 'This doesn't fit in!'

'Yes it does,' said Lindir, sticking his nose in the air. 'You have to accent Happy and Birthday.'

'It still doesn't fit in!' said Legolas.

'Give it back,' said Lindir. 'Let me demonstrate. Haaaaaappy biiiiiiiiirthday Fer-en-'

'No, no, that's fine,' said Legolas hurriedly. 'I think I get the point.'

'Why did you come here again?' asked Lindir.

'I don't remember now,' said Legolas. 'Oh! Elrond wanted to see you in his study.'

'Oh,' said Lindir, and left, closely followed by Legolas who was a snoop and wanted to know why Elrond wanted to see the minstrel.

'Lindir,' said Elrond, 'I want you to keep a closer eye on the twins. They keep running off to hunt orcs without my permission.'

'With all due respect, my lord,' said Lindir, 'they are much more mature than they used to be. I think they can take care of themselves, don't you?'

'That's not all, though,' said Elrond. 'They keep losing limbs. It's not the easiest thing to sew them back together again. They're good at staying alive, but not at staying intact. Could you perhaps try to get them to stay here in Rivendell and not wander off?'

'Yes, milord,' Lindir sighed, and walked out, bumping into Legolas on the way. 'What are you doing?' he asked.

'Just eavesdropping. I mean, just familiarizing myself… with the… books and such...' Legolas said, pretending to rifle through the bookshelves.

Lindir was not fooled, but it was too much trouble to bother with Legolas' annoyingness. He began to make his way back to his chamber when he bumped into Glorfindel.

'Lindir!' said that elf in a sickly-sweet voice. Lindir cringed.

'Yes, Glorfindel?' he asked nervously.

'You know that song you've written recently?'

'Oh, yes,' said Lindir, brightening. 'The one about Luthien? Do you like it?'

'I hate it,' said Glorfindel between his teeth. 'And Gildor has been singing it constantly.'

Lindir smiled wanly. 'It does have a rather catchy tune, doesn't it?' he said with a nervous laugh.

'I'll let you by this time,' hissed Glorfindel, backing Lindir up against a wall, 'but if you so much as write one note of another horrible song, I will beat you to a jelly.'

Lindir nodded vigorously, meanwhile hoping that Glorfindel wouldn't come across that song he'd written for Feren…

Meanwhile, Elladan and Elrohir were trying to obey their father. They were no longer the flippant, silly children they used to be, at least they didn't like to think they were; but an order to keep from orc hunting was very hard to obey. They shared a hate for orcs and a wish to avenge their mother, and the more orcs they killed the better they felt. But they did wish to obey their father, and so they tried their best to resist the temptation.

'What should we do?' asked Elrohir, who was bored.

'I don't know,' said Elladan, who was also bored. 'Dad said to let Lindir keep an eye on us. Maybe we should go find him.'

The twins hurried to Lindir's chamber, but found it empty. 'Well, that's that,' said Elrohir.

'What is this?' Elladan asked, picking up the butterfly plushie.

'Hehe,' said Elrohir. 'Lindir is such a butterfly fanatic.'

Elladan tossed it onto the bed. 'Well, what should we do?'

'I want to play football,' said Elrohir, 'but I lost mine the last time we went to Mirkwood.'

Elladan frowned, then brightened. The twins looked at each other and smiled. They both had the same thought.

Lindir, once he managed to shake off the creeps Glorfindel had given him, made it back to his chamber without bumping into any more annoying individuals. There he sat and began playing one of his old compositions to calm his nerves.

He didn't notice the distance roar of the name 'Legolas' being shouted from somewhere in the direction of Elrond's study…

Do you like it so far? Is it crazy? Insane? Weird? Constructive criticism is appreciated also! :)

-Lil