38.) Team Building - by Corli
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The third chapter concerning the Student Council of Elrond weekend retreat - The sophomore class officers are forced to compete in stupid team-building exercises with the other classes.
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"Frodo laddie, try going through here."
After Frodo did as he was told, Arwen observed, "Actually I think that made it worse."
Legolas nodded in agreement, staring into the morass of hands and arms stretched in front of him. This was the fourth in a series of "team-building exercises" that they'd spent the morning doing. Legolas knew that the point of these exercises was for each set of classmates to develop rapport and a sense of camaraderie amongst themselves; yet the sophomores had accomplished the same thing last night by staying up talking until almost 3am.
And that didn't involve getting bruised.
Thinking of bruising, Legolas couldn't help but smile to himself as he stole a glance at his dwarf teammate. Gimli, it seemed, was STILL grumbling over the fact that the elf hadn't caught him during the second exercise.
Luckily, this exercise wasn't likely to cause any physical injury, but that didn't make it any more enjoyable. They'd begun by standing in a circle and reaching their arms into the center of it, each student grabbing the hand of two others across the circle. The object was to now disentangle themselves back into a coherent circle without letting go, yet it seemed they were just tying themselves into a more and more complicated knot.
After staring at the mess of arms, Legolas suggested, "I think Arwen should duck under here." He gestured with his hand that was linked with Boromir's, in the process hitting Frodo on the head.
"Ow."
"Sorry."
"Well, THAT wasn't right," Gimli said grumpily after Arwen had moved. Now, it seemed, the dwarf practically had himself in a headlock, with his uplifted arms crossed and pulled tight across his neck.
"How about THIS?" Boromir asked, attempting to crawl through the middle of the arm labyrinth.
His legs were still straddling Arwen's and Frodo's hands when Haldir's voice rang out across the meadow: "The seniors win."
The sophomores all dropped hands, simultaneously frustrated and relieved, and looked over at the seniors, who were now standing in a perfect circle holding hands.
"Bloody seniors," Gimli grumbled.
"That's the third exercise in a row that they've won," Boromir said, his competitive side showing through.
"Well, their team is composed of four elves," Arwen pointed out.
"Meaning?" Frodo asked accusingly.
Arwen looked the soul of innocence. "Meaning nothing - I was just commenting."
"Bloody elves," Gimli grumbled under his breath, absently rubbing his sore backside.
Legolas simply ignored the dwarf's comment. "How many more of these do you suppose they'll make us do?" he asked the group in general.
"I don't much care," Frodo said, "as long as we get to eat soon. I don't do well when I miss second breakfast."
Legolas walked over to where he'd thrown his backpack on the grass and dug into it. His hobbit friend Pippin often grew faint during choir, so he was familiar with dealing with hungry hobbits. "Here," he said, pulling a piece of lembas out of his pack and handing it to Frodo. "This should tide you over."
"Hey!" Arwen said, suddenly realizing why the lembas looked so familiar. "You STOLE that outta my stuff!"
Legolas turned to Arwen. "Would you rather have Frodo starve?" he asked innocently.
Before Arwen could answer, Professor Halfelven called the students together. "Lunch is almost here..."
"Thank the Valar!" one of the freshman hobbits exclaimed, looking even more hungry than Frodo.
"But first," Elrond continued, glaring at the interruptor, "all of you will participate in one more task."
A general hungry moan went up amongst the crowd as this latest activity was explained.
"We have to CARRY each other across the meadow?" Frodo warily repeated for clarification as the sophomores headed over to the starting line.
"No problem," Gimli said cheerfully. "Since there's five of us, that means four carriers at once - we can each just take a limb."
Arwen glanced at Frodo before suggesting, "I'm not sure all of us could do that."
"And it's not very efficient." Legolas turned to Boromir. "But WE could carry each of them."
Boromir's eyes sparkled as he saw the chance for victory. "That would be MUCH faster than everyone trying to carry all at once."
"I'm not letting the elf carry ME," Gimli protested, and Legolas tried to hide his smile, amused that one week after the firedrill incident Gimli was still so upset.
"I'LL carry you," Boromir said helpfully to Gimli. "And..." He trailed off as his gaze fell on Arwen.
Legolas rolled his eyes - he couldn't believe how Arwen had intimated them all. "I'LL carry Arwen."
Boromir let out a sigh of relief. "And I can take Frodo, and then we'll each carry each other."
"But...," Frodo began to protest. "But don't the rules say that we ALL have to help with the carrying?"
Boromir shook his head excitedly. "No, Professor Halfelven specifically said that each member of the team must be TOUCHING the carried one - he didn't say they had to be actually carrying any weight. So this way Legolas and I can carry each of you, and the rest of you will just have to hold on."
"And try to keep up," Legolas added, thinking of Frodo's short legs.
"All right, teams," Professor Halfelven called out, "get in your places."
The sophomores huddled together around Boromir and Legolas.
"How about if I carry you first?" Boromir suggested to the elf. "Then you can carry me, and then we'll just alternate with the others."
Legolas nodded as the professor called out, "On your marks..."
Boromir bent his knees and hoisted Legolas over his shoulder.
"Get set..."
"Grab on," Boromir instructed, and Legolas suddenly felt three hands upon him, on his leg, back, and wrist.
"Go!"
As Boromir started to run, Legolas turned his head from where it was hanging upside down near Boromir's waist to watch the progress of the other teams, who were all grappling with the task at hand. The freshman hobbits were struggling to carry an unhappy dwarf between them. An orc on the junior team was yelling something in Black Speech at her fellow teammates. And the four senior elves were being hindered by their fifth team member, a hobbit who kept dropping the leg he was supposed to be carrying and causing the others to stumble.
The sophomores, however, were moving swiftly across the meadow. Perhaps TOO swiftly. Legolas could hear Frodo panting hard, and he lifted his head to see the hobbit falling further and further behind. Legolas turned his hand, catching hold of Frodo's wrist.
"You can do it," Legolas said encouragingly as he bumped along atop of Boromir.
Frodo smiled and sped up, his short hobbit legs moving so fast that he practically collided with Boromir when they'd reached the finish line.
Legolas was set back on his feet, and he immediately lifted Boromir into a fireman's carry. "Hold on," he said before starting across the meadow, conscious to keep his speed moderate so that Frodo could keep up.
As they swiftly crossed the meadow, passing the other struggling teams, Legolas noticed that the seniors had caught on to their plan and were now lifting one of the elves into a fireman's carry.
Boromir must've noticed as well for he mumbled shakily, "Looks like we've got competition."
Legolas merely nodded and increased his speed just a little.
Once past the starting line, Legolas set Boromir back on his feet and watched as the man hoisted the heavy dwarf over his shoulder. This being the first time Legolas had had to hold on to someone being carried, he considered the various strategies and realized it would be easiest to run alongside Boromir if his hand was placed high up on the one being carried.
Unfortunately Gimli didn't like this strategy. "Hey! Get your elf hand off my butt!"
Legolas sighed and moved his hand to the dwarf's lower back, placing him at an awkward diagonal behind Boromir.
"Let's go," Boromir said, sprinting off across the field. Legolas noticed Frodo once again struggling to keep up with the fast pace. The elf reached down and took ahold of the hobbit's free hand, and Frodo returned a breathless "Thanks."
Legolas glanced across the field at the other competitors. His team was about to lap the juniors, who could barely stop arguing long enough to run. The freshmen had finally settled on an easy but SLOW system , but they were at least making progress across the field. The seniors, however, were picking up speed, and Legolas wondered how long it would be before they caught up.
He didn't wonder long, though, because his team was crossing the far line, and it was his turn to carry again. As Boromir unceremoniously dropped Gimli to the ground, Legolas hoisted Arwen over his shoulder. He was about to start running when he noticed that no one else was holding on, obviously intimidated to lay a hand on the strong-willed female elf, especially with her father overseeing the race.
Arwen must've noticed the same thing for she barked at her teammates, "The seniors are gonna catch up! Now just grab my ass and let's go!"
The others were too startled to protest, and an instant later the sophomore team was speeding across the meadow.
Halfway across, Legolas heard Frodo panting as he desperately tried to keep up with all the Long Legs. Worried about the hobbit falling behind (and the subsequent disqualification of their team), Legolas immediately slowed his pace without warning, causing Boromir to fly ahead of him and almost lose his grip on Arwen. At this slower pace, Legolas could sense that the seniors were gaining on them and that Boromir was well aware of this fact as well. But Legolas felt he had to do what was best for the TEAM, and Boromir was forced to follow the elf's lead.
The sophomores and the seniors crossed the starting line at the same time. Legolas hastily set Arwen upright whilst Boromir grabbed Frodo. As Legolas put his hand on the hobbit and started running with his team, he glanced over at the seniors, who luckily hadn't planned ahead, for Haldir was the last teammate that they had to carry, and, as far as elves go, he was downright stocky. He was also scolding his own group as they carried him, and Legolas secretly hoped that the senior elf might "accidentally" be dropped by his frustrated teammates.
The sophomores, on the other hand, were traveling swifter than any other crossing they had made. And without Frodo to slow them down, now it was Gimli who was falling behind. Without thinking, Legolas extended a helping hand to the dwarf and then suddenly worried that Gimli might view the gesture as condescending. But surprisingly the dwarf took the proffered hand with a nod and a grunt, and Legolas helped pull him along the last few meters.
"The sophomores win!" Professor Halfelven announced as the team sped past the finish line, and Legolas couldn't help but notice the hint of pride in the professor's voice, obviously pleased that his daughter had been on the winning team.
"We did it!" Boromir cheered excitedly, giving Frodo a celebratory toss into the air before setting him down. But he wasn't the only one enthused by the win for there were high fives (and low fives, for Frodo's sake) all around. Arwen even gave each of the boys a congratulatory hug.
After her friendly embrace, Legolas glanced over at the seniors again. Haldir was once again upright, scolding his fellow teammates about their carrying techniques. But Legolas noted with amusement that the bottom of the bossy elf's pants was now covered in grass, and Legolas regretted not having witnessed the seniors dropping him on the ground.
But the hobbit freshmen weren't concerned with carrying techniques OR congratulatory hugs - they were only concerned about one thing.
"So what's for lunch?"
...