So, here we are then. Chapter 2. Other than the standard things I really have nothing to say. So I'm just going to let you all read, after all, it's why you're here. Leave me a review if you please :)
Divan
Divan was pacing the length of the floor behind the couch, as she often did when she was upset, nervous or confused. She wasn't quite sure which one she was at the moment.
There were three elves standing across the room from Kijo, Suva and herself. Kixi was still huddled in Suva's arms, Rata now sitting on the back of the couch, but Tezo was the oddball. He sat halfway between the two groups, watching both curiously. Part of Divan had half a mind to growl at the dog and ask him what his problem was, granted she wouldn't have received an actual answer. He was a dog, after all, and he didn't have the human capability of speaking. Even still, Divan was highly irritated at the canine.
Suva was the closest to the kitchen, gnawing on her bottom lip like her life depended on it. Divan was honestly surprised she hadn't gnawed it off by now. Kijo was the closet to the door, having went over to flop down in her recliner. She had her head laying in her hands. She was the one that was the most lost, having never actually made it around to watching The Lord of the Rings movies. She hadn't read any of the books, either.
Out of the three elves were standing across from them, two of them looked a mix of shock and curiosity. Haldir, the oddball out, looked more irritated. Divan really didn't care. He had, after all, just dropped into her apartment and threatened Rata. Plus, he'd gotten into a fight with her. A physical fight, though it wasn't like Divan hadn't been in a few of those before.
She had been known as the resident defender of her high school, always getting into fights when she stuck up for the little guy, the nerds and geeks that were always terrorized by the jocks and cheerleaders. She'd put a lot of football players in their place when she'd sent them to the nurse nursing black eyes, bloodied lips, and a seriously bruised ego. She always expected to be suspended, eventually expelled, because of the fights she got into, but she never was. She was never quite sure why, but she had a feeling it had something to do with the teachers, who smiled every time they saw her, and a lot of the students. She'd been very well known and well liked around the high school by everyone but a very select group of people.
That very thing was actually a large reason why she was even friends with Suva and Kijo.
Divan sighed to herself, crossing her left arm under her breasts and bring her right hand up to her face. She bit down on her thumb, another habit she had when she was upset, nervous or confused. She would probably one day chew off her thumb because of it, but until that day she didn't particularly care.
"Would you stand still, woman?" Haldir snapped hotly. Divan's green eyes shot up to Haldir's blue, glaring.
"Ya don't like it? Then quit starin'." Divan snapped back, never pausing in her pacing. Haldir glowered at her. Their interaction earned them curious glances from all parties in the room.
"Uhm…. Are we missing something?" Suva asked, raising an eyebrow. Haldir snapped out a no as Divan growled out yes. They turned to glared at each other again, Divan pausing in her pacing this time. Everyone glanced between them, finding the hostility very confusing.
"What are we missing, exactly?" Suva asked hesitantly, not really sure if she wanted to get into the middle of the conversation.
"Besides the fact that the asshole landed in my apartment and started threatenin' Rata? And 'en had the nerve to attack me?" Divan growled. "Nothin', nothin' at all."
"Perhaps if the creature would not have startled me and would have quit its incessant screeching." Haldir sneered. Divan growled, rounding the corner of the couch and stalking towards the much taller and broader blonde elf.
"Funny thing, comin' from the damned blonde elf 'at landed in my apartment in a damn time he don't even belong in!" Divan exclaimed, throwing her arm out for emphasis. Of course Haldir, immediately assuming that she was trying to attack him again, reached out to grab her arm. Divan fought back, throwing her other hand out in a punch that hit Haldir in the jaw. He let go of her arm, stumbling back in shock and even some pain before his eyes narrowed at her. Divan sneered back, tense and ready for a fight.
Before Haldir could lunge for her, the other two elves were holding him back by the arms, Suva and Kijo were not far behind to do the same to her. Divan struggled lightly, not enough to break their hold, but enough to be of warning to them that she wasn't going to back down from the blonde elf if he came at her again.
The elf that resembled Haldir, the one that was either Rúmil or Orophin, began speaking in elvish, trying to calm his brother. Haldir snapped back in elvish. By the eye-roll that came from his brother, Divan guessed that it was likely a command to let him go. They argued for a few minutes until Haldir had calmed down enough that he wasn't struggling. Divan had long since quit struggling, but was still glaring angrily at the elf in front of her. He sure had a lot of nerve for someone out of his time.
Slowly, the two elves released their companion, eying him as if he'd break at any moment. Divan looked over first to Suva, then to Kijo, silently telling them that it was safe to let her go. They both looked at her skeptically, but Divan rolled her eyes and easily yanked her arms from their grip, one advantage to being a lot stronger than the average female. It was times like these that she was glad she had grown up on a farm.
The two groups stood tensely for a moment, before Suva tugged at Divan's arm. Divan glanced over, raising an eyebrow in question. Suva's head jerked towards the kitchen and Divan understood that she wanted to talk privately, or at least as privately as you could with three elves in the room. Divan nodded, latching onto Kijo's arm and dragging her in the direction of the kitchen, much to her dismay. She protested, trying to pull her arm free, but Divan was stronger and tugged her into the kitchen.
Pausing in the doorway, she turned back to Rata and Kixi who were both now on the couch. "Keep an eye on the boys, will ya?" She asked. She could see the three elves look at her like she was crazy, but she didn't care. She probably had lost her mind. Rata dipped her head in a nod and Kixi let out a meow. Nodding to herself, Divan walked into the kitchen to join her friends.
Suva
Suva wasn't sure the day could get any more confusing, though the mere thought of those words was probably going to be her downfall. Although she really didn't see how it could get much stranger than a group of fictional elves standing in Kijo's living room. She supposed it was possible, but she really didn't want to find out just how possible it might have been. She was more than content to fret about this situation alone.
Kijo had went straight for her cabinets, easily finding a bottle of Advil among the mess. Divan had gone back to pacing, her thumb between her teeth once again. The interaction between her and Haldir was curious, though Suva couldn't say that it was entirely unexpected. Divan wasn't exactly known for her…patience.
After swallowing down more Advil than was probably necessary, Kijo collapsed in one of her kitchen chairs, groaning as she let her head flop to the table. Had Suva not been silently panicking, she might have found it funny. Panic was outweighing amusement though, and Suva was left with a jittery feeling she very rarely dealt with.
"What are we going to do?" Suva found herself voicing before she could stop herself. It was really a stupid question, because what could they do? It wasn't like any of them had magical powers and they could just send them back to Middle Earth, and even if you could find someone that claimed to have said magical powers, the chances of that being real was even less than getting struck by lightning or winning the lottery.
"Hell if I know. Hell, I'm still gettin' over the fact 'at they're 'ere." Divan grumbled around her thumb as she continued to pace. Kijo mumbled something incoherent, and given her track record, Suva didn't bother to ask her to repeat it. Kijo wasn't much help in a situation like this, not that this particular type of situation had ever happened before. Fictional characters were definitely a first.
"We need to find a way to send them back." Suva announced. Divan huffed.
"'Nd 'ow the hell d'ya expect us to do 'at? It ain't like we're fuckin' magicians." Normally, Suva would have chastised Divan on her foul language, but knowing how the woman got when she was frustrated and upset, Suva let it be. She couldn't deny that it was entirely unwarranted.
"I don't know, but we've got to get them back." Suva stated. Kijo mumbled something about evil wizards that might have had something to do with Gandalf and Saruman from the books, but Suva wasn't sure. And Kijo hadn't read the books, or watched the movies, so that probably wasn't it.
"What're we s'posed to do with 'em until we figure 'is out? Keep 'em in our closets like pets?" Divan groused. Suva was pretty sure she heard a growl from the next room, but she couldn't be sure. But the look Divan threw towards the closed kitchen door suggested that maybe she hadn't imagined it. Divan had great hearing, something she claimed was from spending so much time hunting. Her senses, not just hearing but all of them, seemed far more in tune than most peoples'.
"We're not locking anyone in a closet." Suva said, sending Divan a withering look that she just ignored.
"'En what're we s'posed to do, huh?" Divan stopped pacing and turned the full force of her five foot three glowering frame on Suva. "'Ere in a damn world 'ey don't b'long in with no idea what the hell anything is. Ey've got no money, no identity and no place to stay. Hell, I'm pretty damn sure the one can't even speak English!" Divan threw her arms out for emphasis, something she did quite often when she was being particularly expressive.
Suva couldn't deny that she was right, because she was. They had nothing but the very outdated clothes on their backs and their weapons. They were surrounded by technology and a whole ton of other things they couldn't even begin to understand without a major amount of assistance and from what she gathered the one elf couldn't speak English. She was pretty sure he could understand it, but he couldn't speak it.
They had no idea how'd they gotten there, no idea how to send them back, and no idea what to do with them.
As if life wasn't hard enough before.
Suva sighed, bringing up a hand to run it through her hair. There wasn't much of an option on what could be done. Really, there was only one option as to what they could do, and Suva knew Divan definitely wasn't going to agree. She could only imagine the fit that Divan would pitch when Suva suggested it, but what other choice was there?
"They can stay with us."
Divan froze mid-step. Her hand, which had been up by her mouth as she chewed on her thumb, fell to her side as she turned to look at Suva. The look on her face was one of complete disbelief.
"S'cuse me?" Divan asked. "'Cause I don't think I heard ya right. Yer not honestly tryin' to tell me 'at we need to let 'em stay with us. Ya saw what 'ey did! I ain't keepin' any of 'em!"
"Divan!" Suva exclaimed, and this time she knew she heard a growl from the other room. A few musical sounding words, that couldn't have been very nice words, sounded through the walls.
"What?!" Divan snarled. "Is it so bad 'at I'd rather 'em fend for 'emselves than keep 'em 'ere? They're asses!"
Suva was pretty sure that Divan was talking more about Haldir than the other two, but even she couldn't deny that other than keeping Haldir from attacking Divan, there wasn't much that they'd done that could be considered nice. For that matter, dropping unannounced and unwanted in their homes wasn't considered nice. That was considered a lot of things, but definitely not nice.
She had a point. It wasn't a very good point, but it was a point.
"We can't just throw them out into the world." Suva tried to persuade. "They don't know anything, Di. We can't just leave them out there to get eaten by the world. Or worse."
"The hell we can't!" Divan shouted.
"It's not right!" Suva shouted back. She very rarely raised her voice, but this was ridiculous.
"I don't care! 'Ey dropped into our homes, Suva. Our homes! They're damn fictional characters from another damn world. 'Ey came into our world, threatened us, terrified us, and now ya wanna pretend 'at none-a 'at 'appened? I don't think so." Divan snarled. Suva glared at her friend.
"Why are you being so horrible? They're out of their time and they're probably terrified right now! Leaving them to fend for themselves would be like signing their death warrants!"
"So lettin' 'em stay with us is s'posed to fix 'at?" Divan asked.
"Yes!"
"So we're s'posed to ju–"
"Enough!" Suva and Divan both turned in shock to the new voice entering their argument.
Kijo
"Quit arguing and just listen to yourselves! You're arguing about something you don't have a choice about. Di, I understand you're not happy with a particular blonde elf, but come on. You know the last thing we could do would be throw them out on the street to make their own way. You know that. So quit being so difficult!" Kijo exclaimed. "And Suva, you know better than to argue with Divan, especially if she's upset! It never turns out well for anyone involved."
Kijo tried to keep from scowling as she watched her friends. Suva looked down, letting her dirty blonde hair fall around her face to shield her from the look Kijo was giving her. Even Divan had the decency to look slightly sheepish, though that didn't last long. Divan wasn't known for that, after all.
Kijo honestly had no idea what she was doing. Internally, she was still flipping out about the fictional characters standing in her living room, but Suva and Divan fighting was something she just would not handle, no matter the circumstance. They were the smartest people she knew, the most logical, and the ones that could come at a problem from every angle and find the solution. Even now, they knew the solution (or at least, half of it) but they were arguing. Mostly for the sake of arguing and keeping themselves occupied, mind, but they were still arguing. Kijo hated it when they argued. It was like World War III in verbal form.
"We can't 'xactly jus' take in three people. We got our own problems to deal with. S'a struggle to keep ourselves up, and ya want us to jus' take in another?" Divan asked, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned against the wall.
"I know, I know. But what choice do we have? We can't just send them out on their own." Suva answered.
"You know she's right, Di. I know that, and I'm clueless most of the time." Kijo pointed out. Divan sighed.
"Yea, I know, but Damnit all 'is isn't gonna be easy. S'gonna be like havin' a little kid 'round."
"Not necessarily a little kid. Just someone with way more questions than most." Suva tried to appease. She received a stoic look.
"They're staying." Kijo stated firmly, crossing her arms and scowling at her friends as she tried to be intimidating and end the argument. Divan quirked an eyebrow, but remained quiet.
"Yea. 'Ey are. Sadly 'nough." She grumbled. Suva scowled, but walked for the door.
"Let's go tell them the news." She said. Divan let out a half laugh, half scoff.
"As if 'ey ain't 'eard the whole damn conversation." She mumbled as she pushed off the wall and followed after her. The legs of Kijo's chair scraped against the floor loudly as she pushed back the chair and got up to follow her friends.
Divan was right, of course. They had heard the whole conversation. Kijo figured that it was just Suva trying to make the three elves feel like they had some say in the matter. Normally, Kijo would have agreed with her, but today was a day where Kijo wanted nothing more than to go back to bed and forget that anything had even happened.
The glare on the face of the blonde elf that had come in with Divan was hot enough to melt steel. If looks could kill, there was no doubt in Kijo's mind that she and Suva would have been burying Divan.
The hostility between the two was a curiosity. Divan wasn't known for being the nicest person, especially at early hours of the morning when she's been woken up, but there was something different about the hostility between these two than there was with everyone else Divan encountered. Kijo couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something different, and she was going to find out what.
Suva was already talking by the time Kijo tuned into the conversation. Divan was still brooding in a corner, her arms crossed over her chest and the hints of a scowl on her face. Rata, Divan's umbrella cockatoo, had managed to worm her way up onto her owners shoulder and sat watching the scene unfold. Kixi was lying on the back of the couch, right in front of the spot where Suva was standing. Her friends had their animal companions, and yet hers still refused to leave his position in the center of the room. Kijo sighed.
"We can't just let you go out into the city on your own. This isn't Middle Earth."
"We will be fine. We are trained warriors. I believe we are capable of taking care of ourselves." The blonde elf that had come in with Divan answered. Suva's eyes closed and she took a deep breath.
"Ya don't git it, do ya? We can't let ya go out 'ere. It jus' ain't happenin', pretty boy. None-a ya'd make it more 'en an hour." Divan stated, stepping up to the plate. Kijo noted her use of the words 'pretty boy' and wondered if that had anything to do with how the two of them had acted.
"You are not in charge of our well-being. I think you underestimate us. We are more than capable."
"An' I'm more 'en willin' to let ya prove it. But I gotta face the facts, ya ain't leavin'. Ya wouldn't make it out 'ere. Not on yer own. Ya know nothin' 'bout this world. We do. S'much as I hate to admit it, yer best bet is to stay with the three of us."
"You do not –"
"Oh for the love of… Haldir! Ya ain't leavin'! Much as you might hate it, yer stuck with us." Divan shouted. The elf, Haldir, narrowed his eyes but this time remained quiet. He obviously had trouble with authority. 'Or maybe,' Kijo thought as she watched the way the elf examined her friend. 'maybe that's just Divan.'
"You'll each have to stay with one of us." Suva began explaining, still glancing between Divan and Haldir. "I'm sorry you can't stay together, but none of us have enough room to have you all stay. We'll all be in the same building though, so it shouldn't be too bad."
"And who is going to stay with who?" The blonde elf that had been in Suva's apartment when Kijo had arrived asked. What had Suva called him? Ligolas? No, Legolas. That was it.
Suva glanced over her shoulder at Divan before turning to look at Kijo. Kijo shrugged. It really didn't matter, she supposed. Suva turned back to Divan, raising an eyebrow. Divan shrugged, her head tilting as she regarded Suva with a resigned eye. Suva sighed, her shoulders slumping slightly.
"You can stay with the one you ended up with. In other words, Legolas, you'll stay with me. Haldir, you'll stay with Divan." Nobody missed the scowl on his face. "And Rúmil, was it?" The last elf nodded. "You'll stay with Kijo here." Kijo tried not to groan. Of course she'd get the one that didn't even speak English. "Alright. Now that that's settl–"
All three elves jumped as Kijo's landline rang. With a furrowed brow, Kijo wandered over to look at the wireless phone, checking the caller ID. Her eyes went wide and her gaze shot to the nearest clock. "Oh man! I'm late!"
"Late for what?" Suva asked, taking a few steps forward. Kijo picked the wireless up, but didn't answer.
"Work. That's my boss calling. Oh man, what do I do?" Kijo tried not to panic. She couldn't tell them the real reason why she was late, or why she probably should go in today, so what was she supposed to tell them.
"Say yer sick." Divan piped in. "Can't go into work if yer sick."
"I can't tell them I'm sick. I'm not a good enough actor to fake it." Kijo wailed. Rolling her eyes, Divan stalked forward and snatched the phone from Kijo's hand. Without hesitation, she hit the answer button and brought the phone to her ear.
"'Ello?" Divan asked, her voice having taken on a sleepy tone. Kijo gaped, both because of the way she now sounded, as if she was dog tired and had been woken up far too early, and because she had actually answered the phone in the first place.
"Name's Divan. M'a friend of Kijo's…..Can't. She's sick. Got the flu. Been 'ere all night, keepin' an eye on 'er, makin' sure she don't get any worse….. Yea, I'll tell 'er….. Yea, you too." Divan said. She brought the phone down, hitting the end button, and tossing it onto the couch. "Ya got the rest of the week off. She says get better soon."
"I can't believe you." Kijo gaped. Divan raised an eyebrow.
"What? Ya needed an excuse, I gave it to ya. Well, I gave it to 'er. Same diff'rence." Divan shrugged. Kijo wanted to slam her head against a wall. "Now, if ya'll will s'cuse me. Gotta couple-a phone calls of my own to make. C'mon pretty boy. Let's go."
Despite the glare on his face, Haldir followed behind Divan. Rúmil said something in elvish that halted the man. He responded, glancing over his shoulder before disappearing down the hall after Divan. They all listened as the door opened and Haldir made some comment to which Divan answered sarcastically. The door closed after their bickering forms. Kijo could see Suva pursing her lips. Kijo herself was wondering just what was going on between the two. They hadn't even known each other a day and they already wanted to kill each other. That was a record, even for Divan.
With a sigh, Kijo went over to plop back down in her chair. "Anyone know what we're missing between those two?"
