"What the heretic are we even supposed to wear to this feast, anyway?" Emma grumbled. The three girls were in their room, preparing for the event as any teenage girls do.
"Well, it'll basically just be a bunch of guys getting hopelessly drunk as they attempt to celebrate and forget the battle." Rachael told them. She was sat in front of a mirror, deciding how she should wear her hair. Her hands played with the strands, experimentally pulling them into a loose bun.
"So why are we even getting ready for it?" Olivia asked. "After all, this isn't exactly the formal feast I expected."
"True." Emma said. "But, no girl should turn down a chance to show more cleavage." She wiggled her eyebrows, horrifying Rachael.
"Baka!" Rachael yelled, awfully embarrassed at her friend's vulgar attitude. Emma and Olivia just laughed at her expression, glad to have her truly back.
"Hey Aragorn!" Olivia yelled, sticking her head out the doorway to yell down the hallway.
"Yes, Lady Olivia?" Aragorn stuck his head out a doorway further down.
"What are we supposed to wear?" Olivia asked.
"Dresses." Aragorn called back. "You are ladies, despite your behavior." Olivia threw a shoe at him which managed to collide with a poor familiar face who happened to exit the room between the two at the wrong moment.
"Ow!" Boromir said, rubbing the spot and glaring at Olivia. It wasn't hard enough to form bruising, but shockingly enough most people don't enjoy being hit in the head with Olivia's shoe.
"Aragorn's fault!" Olivia quickly ducked her head back in and closed the door.
Soon the girls had changed into dresses from Middle Earth, as they were previously told to by Aragorn and Boromir. After emerging again to ask why Boromir wasn't changing into a dress as well, of course. (They were given no answer, so Olivia was still hopeful). Rachael eventually decided to wear her hair down, but helped Emma and Olivia braid their hair to be out of their faces.
"Now remember." Rachael said, finishing with Olivia's hair. "Even if we're in Middle Earth, we shouldn't drink." The girls as a collective group didn't drink on Earth due to a pact they had made when they were younger- a pact that had always annoyed Emma.
"I do believe we can make an exception." Emma rolled her eyes. After all, when else would she get to break their sacred pact?
"Emma, do you realize how badly that will go?" Rachael lectured. "We already have done a ton of mistakes, but now imagine us when we get drunk."
"That kind of sounds amazing." Emma said, picturing it. Olivia seemed a little giddy as well. If they caused so much trouble sober, what could they cause intoxicated? The possibilities were close to endless.
"Guys, please." Rachael pleaded, looking into their eyes. "I don't want anything to happen. So will you please promise? For me?" Both girls stared back, and knew they couldn't refuse her. Who in their right mind would refuse a friend who had just mentally rejoined them after being threatened by an all-powerful being and experiencing amnesia?
"Alright." Emma caved. "But only because you nearly became a shadow puppet." The three of them all raised their hands in promise, before giving an excited cheer and rushing out to join the others.
The party was in full swing when they arrived. Gimli was trying to coax Legolas into a drinking contest, while Aragorn stood to the side amused. Boromir was nowhere in sight yet, probably still icing his bump to the head courtesy of Olivia. He really was too sensitive sometimes.
"Hey guys!" Eowyn said, greeting them with enthusiasm. "So glad you showed up!" She gave them welcome hugs, which Rachael tactfully ducked out of to join Legolas' side. She had told the other girls her suspicions, and while they agreed that Eowyn was a suspect they didn't seem as convinced. Maybe Rachael would have been more trusting of Eowyn if she hadn't lost the last couple days, but then again she might have lost them due to Eowyn. Either way, she decided it was best to avoid contact.
"Hello, Legolas." Rachael greeted, standing next to him. The elvish prince looked as fabulous as ever, wearing shades of green that just so happened to match those present in her own attire.
"Ah, it is a pleasure as always, Lady Rachael." Legolas bowed to her.
"The pleasure is mine." Rachael replied, curtseying. He gave her a gentle smile- clearly she was doing something right.
"Greetings, lassie!" Gimli roared, looking like he had already had a drink. "Mind helping me gets this elf into a drinking contest?" A crowd of men was gathering around the three of them.
"You should do it." Rachael said when Legolas gave her a questioning look. After all, she didn't want to get drunk, but a drunken Legolas- now THAT would be fun.
"Alright, I accept your challenge dwarf." Legolas agreed, smirking. The crowd of men roared in delight as the two sat across from each other, tankards of mead set between.
"Ready, set, go!" Olivia yelled, coming over to see the action. Gimli began chugging them down, while Legolas seemed more cautious and dignified.
"The young prince seems to be faltering already!" Gimli trash talked. "Even dwarven children drink faster." Legolas looked him in the eye before beginning to gulp them down, still fairly slowly.
"You got this, Gimli!" Olivia cheered him on. Rachael's eyebrows rose, suddenly realizing it wasn't just about Legolas and Gimli. Olivia had just made it team Olivia versus Team Rachael.
"You can do it, Legolas!" Rachael yelled, startling him with her energy. "Elves are far more tolerant to alcohol!"
"Well, dwarves drink more than elves." Olivia shouted back, the two of them leaning across the table.
"Not true." Rachael replied. "You just drink bad liquor."
"Yes, because pansy elvish wine is better." Olivia argued, the two of them now ignoring the contest.
"That pansy elvish wine can kick a drunken dwarves butt!" Rachael smirked.
"I'd like to see it try." Olivia challenged.
"Oh yeah?" Rachael raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah! And for another thing-"
"Legolas wins!" Emma roared, cutting off Olivia and holding Legolas' arm up as best she could (what with being as short as she is) as Gimli had collapsed to the ground. The crowd was bursting with laughter.
"HA!" Rachael yelled in her friends' face, rushing over to give Legolas a victory hug. "You did it!" He twirled her around slightly as the surprise hug threw him off balance.
"I won." Legolas said, sounding slightly confused. "Fantastic."
"We must have a victory toast." Eowyn shouted in the crowd. Many shouts of approval were given by the men, most of whom were already head over heels drunk.
"Three cheers for the elf!" A random guy near the back of the crowd shouted as tankards of mead were passed about, one somehow ending in Rachael's hands. She was going to pass it along, but then Legolas gently clinked his mug with her own.
"And one cheer for Lady Rachael." He said kindly, sipping from it. Legolas looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to drink up. She sighed- how was she supposed to say no to puppy eyes? And the celebratory atmosphere was getting to her. One drink or two wouldn't do any harm.
"I SAW THAT, RACHAEL!" Emma pointed at her accusingly from across the room before proceeding to down the nearest mug (which happened to belong to Boromir). "ALL BETS ARE OFF, NOW!"
"I'm in!" Olivia said, drinking from the tankard she had ended up with. Her face cringed at the taste, but she continued anyway. Once she reached the bottom, the taste had grown on her. As had a light-headed feeling.
"I like this stuff." Olivia told Eowyn, the two of them quickly becoming drinking buddies. "I feel like I could do anything. Like dance on that table."
"Don't do that." Eowyn smiled, holding her back as she began to climb.
"I'm sure you won't be saying that after a few more drinks!" Olivia replied. "You'll probably be right up there with me. And it'll be awesome until Aragorn comes to force us down and be ladies. Man we'll have fun."
"He'll be coming for you." Eowyn suddenly looked sad, staring dramatically off into the distance.
"Wait, what are you talking about?" Olivia questioned, confused by this strange mood swing.
"Lord Aragorn barely glances my way." Eowyn sighed like a forgotten love interest to the story. "Besides, didn't you tell me when we first met that the two of you are courting?" Olivia spit out her drink, spilling some onto her clothes as well as the ground in front of the two of them.
"Me and Aragorn?!" Olivia was appalled. "God, no! We're just bros. Man, I cannot believe you would think that. He's old enough to easily be my grandpa! A cool grandpa, but just…no." Olivia shook her head in disbelief. "I told you to stay away because he digs this elvish chick Arwen. Besides, you're gonna get together with someone awesome later. I'm psychic." She leaned forward to invade Eowyn's space, making the girls laugh. Meanwhile, Boromir and Emma were arguing as usual.
"You owe me a drink." Boromir stated after being handed the empty mug. He sighed as if this was something he often put up with as he tipped it upside-down and only three drops came out.
"I owe you nothing." Emma retorted, going off in search of more ale. Boromir followed her to fill up his as well, until he and Legolas were flagged down by Aragorn.
"What is it?" Boromir asked, looking at their leader.
"I do believe this is the first time the ladies have drank." Aragorn admitted. "I want each of us to watch one to make sure nothing goes horribly wrong. Legolas, stay with Lady Rachael. Boromir would be best putting up with Emma, leaving me with Olivia."
"Miss Emma only uses me as a target to mess with or a human shield." Boromir argued.
"Well, so does Olivia." Aragorn reminded him. "And I doubt Legolas would want to switch duties." Legolas quickly shook his head no. "Then that settles things. Boromir, watch over Emma and try your best to keep her out of trouble."
After this brief meeting, Legolas went back to check on Rachael.
"How is it?" He pointed to her mug, noticing how cute she was looking this evening in her dress.
"This is pretty good, actually." Rachael admitted, already having finished off one. She was beginning to feel tingly. Her second was gone before she recalled drinking it. Soon, she lost track completely.
***several drinks later***
"Hey Everyone!" Emma shouted. "Get ready for a real show. Let's do this, people!" She began dancing on one of the tables while singing "Single Ladies" at the top of her lungs. Several guys put their hands up in the song, not seeming to understand the lyrics. A few cat calls were heard throughout the male audience.
"Now it's a party!" Eowyn yelled, pulling Olivia up onto the table with her. By this point Eowyn had far more mead in her system and was ready to be spontaneous with the others.
"I told you so." Olivia said, kicking over several drinks on her table. She grabbed one before it spilled and poured it in her mouth, although she ended up missing quite a bit and getting it on her clothing. Aragorn rushed over to stop all three girls.
"Olivia, you should know better." Aragorn hissed, helping her off the table. Olivia groaned at such a quick end to such a fun activity, but allowed him to get her off.
"I guess we really are physic." Eowyn said, ignored just like she predicted. Olivia gasped as she too realized everything they had said happened exactly how it was told.
"Dude!" Olivia's eyes were wide open. "We should totally open a fortune place and sell crystal balls and see the future and become creepy old ladies and forget to pay rent and get kicked to the sword and become lab rats for a company and get experimented on and get better physic powers and become superheroes except one of us will become a villain and we'll both see the future and we both see us winning and then we talk about our feeling and then we pause for ice cream and beer and-" Olivia paused to gulp in some air, having forgotten to breathe throughout her rant that seemed to have no direction or purpose anymore.
"I don't think that is quite as appealing as it seems to you now in your drunken state." Aragorn muttered. "Speaking of which, you really should have known better."
"Speaking of which, you're not my dad." Olivia mumbled. "If you are my dad, you're not good at dad-ing. You let me get drunk, dad!"
"Yes, and I thoroughly regret it." Aragorn half carried, half led her down the hall back to her rooms. "I think you're all done with ale for tonight."
"I do think this was their first taste of it." Gandalf said, amused at the chaos seeing as Aragorn was in charge this evening. Gandalf had insisted he had 'important matters' that needed attending to, so Aragorn must be the responsible one for the evening. Whatever was so important clearly didn't take long, because he had been here almost the entire evening.
"NO!" Olivia argued, realizing she was being pulled away from the scene. "I want to dance. I want to. Please, want dance." Her sentences were turning to gibberish as they went. "Dance trance, make amends. Lollipop guild March fest begins."
"How about, you dance in your room?" Aragorn suggested, bringing her into her room in the same hall as Emma and Rachael's rooms. The girls had been moved closer together on the account of Gandalf insisting they needed to be this close in case anything ever happened. "You stay here and dance."
"Okay, mister attractive face!" Olivia saluted him. Aragorn chuckled lightly to himself when as he shut the door she could be heard trying to teach herself to dance ballroom out loud whilst doing the steps of a jazz dance. That poor, confused girl. Thank goodness Boromir and Legolas had agreed to watch the other two once they realized how drunk they were.
However, when returning to the hall, Aragorn spotted Legolas and Rachael. It was not a very good scene to return to- they both clearly had been drinking.
"Lady Rachael, I do think you've had enough."
"You've had enough." Rachael muttered bitterly as Legolas gently removed the drink from her hand.
"Yes, I do believe so." He was quite unsteady on his feet.
"Legolas!" Aragorn scolded, coming up to take the drink away. "You were supposed to keep her from drinking, not drink more yourself!"
"Hey, I forced it on him!" Rachael defended, feeling cocky. Aragorn let out a frustrated sigh. Somehow, this night was far from relaxing for him. Next time they celebrated a battle, he would request either no mead or a good night's sleep instead.
"Please escort Lady Rachael to her chambers." Aragorn said quietly, going off in search of Boromir and hoping Boromir hadn't failed Aragorn. If Emma was being anywhere near as difficult as Olivia, it would not be a good end to the evening.
"Do I have to?" Rachael whined as Legolas began to pull her out of the great hall.
"I think we've burdened Aragorn long enough this evening." The drunken elf admitted. "Here, allow me to carry you." However, due to their combined lack of balance they only managed a system of both leaning against the other and occasionally stumbling into walls. Rachael tried to cling to him, but every so often this just led to the two of them tumbling to the ground and having to figure out how to undo the jigsaw puzzle that was their legs.
"You know what, Legolas?" Rachael spoke up once they reached her doorway, after several failed attempts and an uncounted amount of wrong turns that Rachael insisted were 3 and Legolas insisted were 5 (In truth, they took 5 wrong turns). "I feel so confident right now. Like I could say anything."
"Oh?" Legolas asked, genuinely curious. He did his best to steady himself as the room slightly swayed. "Like what?"
"Like that I like you." Rachael responded, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I really like you. Like, what most people call love? You are so chivalrous and freakin amazing. Also you are really hot." She laughed at her own words, finding them funny at such a late hour of the night.
"You really mean that?" Legolas stumbled at her words and almost fell down. His heart was pounding and his mind was swirling. Intimately he could feel every inch of Rachael's arms on the back of his neck, making him love her possibly more than before.
"Yeah, you can obviously trust drunken speech." Rachael giggled, twirling strands of his blonde hair. "But seriously, it's serious crush stuff. I've liked you for ages, even before coming here. Which is kind of stalkerish, looking at it from this realm. But you are an amazing immortal and I've never been happier in anyone's presence."
"I feel the same way." Legolas could scarcely believe what was happening, and was thrown off by how sudden it all was. Who knew alcohol was the solution they had needed all along. Moral of this story: throwing alcohol at your problems is often the solution you were looking for. "Lady Rachael, I have been smitten since when we met. Your kindness, beauty and loyalty never cease to amaze me."
"I'm so glad to hear you say that for two reasons." Rachael said, taking her hands from his neck to grip the front of his shirt. She looked up into those bright blue eyes she adored so much, focused only on her. She had been longing for a moment like this for ages, and now she had Legolas all to herself. "One, now we know the feelings are mutual and we can totally be a thing together. Oh my flipping cheeseballs this is going to be the cutest, best thing to ever happen to both of us- I just know it! And two, it makes it a lot less awkward for me to do this." Before Legolas had time to ponder what 'this' was, Rachael pulled him down into a kiss.
Shocked was not a strong enough word for Legolas, nor was Joy. In his jubilant intoxicated state, he didn't think- he acted. Closing his eyes, kissing her back and pulling her close into a tender embrace. Sparks seemed to fly as the couple shared their first kiss, creating a moment that could last forever and would live on in their hearts. Rachael's hands released their grip on his shirt and moved their way back to the previous position of resting around the elf's neck.
Said delicate moment ended with the two pulling apart, still embracing and gently smiling at each other. Rachael felt she could get lost staring into eyes as bright and brilliantly blue as the young elf princes', and perhaps she already had gotten lost in them. Legolas felt exactly the same about Rachael's eyes- the color of a lush forest in the middle of summer.
"You're a good kisser." Rachael whispered as if it was an important secret. Her breath tickled his ear as it blew past.
"You are as well." Legolas whispered back, causing the golden blonde maiden to laugh. His breath smelled of the ale they had both consumed, and Rachael only guessed hers was the same. Strangely enough, it didn't matter if her breath was positively awful or not, because Legolas had kissed her anyways.
"Get a room!" Olivia shouted at them, having exited her room and now watching them from her end of the hallway. She seemed to be doing some sort of dance on her own, causing Rachael to snort at the sheer ridiculousness. The two who had previously kissed -and-don't- you-forget- it released each other, only to continue to hold hands. Rachael was practically glowing with happiness.
"C'mon." Rachael said playfully, tugging Legolas into her room. Olivia expected the lovebirds to say goodnight. Olivia expected one or the other to exit the room in moments, only to totter down to the other room.
Rachael's door remained closed the rest of the evening.
While Olivia hypothesized what the elf was doing, Aragorn found Boromir dealing with Emma. Unfortunately, Emma was being difficult.
"I'm going to throw this." Emma said, picking up a cracked wooden chair.
"No." Boromir replied, putting the chair back in its proper place at the table.
"I'm going to drink this." Emma said, grabbing another ale from a man she didn't know who just happened to still in the great hall.
"No." Boromir put the drink back on the table and apologizing to the still unknown man.
"I'm going to lick this." Emma ran up to a hanging hide that looked to be a dark beige color.
"No." Boromir gently pulled her away, her tongue still sticking out of her mouth.
This was how Boromir had been spending the entire evening. Following her a step behind and putting several objects down or tugging her away before she did something stupid. He now called it the 'watch me touch this' game. Except it wasn't a game, because there were no winners. Only an exasperated Boromir pulling objects out of her reach or out of her hand.
At one point this pulling of objects out of the hand had resulted in them holding hands for a brief moment before Emma decided the only proper response to that was to sniff Boromir's hand and inform him he smelled like worm dirt. Not classy worm dirt, mind you, the regular worm dirt found under rocks (she made sure to clarify for him in case he thought he was higher quality worm dirt than he truly was) she was quite the charmer.
"Hi Aragorn the awesome!" Emma waved at him as she stood next to a rotting bench that looked about ready to fall apart. "Watch me jump on this."
"No." Boromir and Aragorn spoke in unison as Boromir grabbed her mid-jump and Aragorn shook his head in disappointment and disbelief combined. While this was certainly a tedious chore all evening for Boromir, at least Emma seemed far quieter than the other drunken girls. Aragorn made sure to thank Boromir several times for his commitment to keeping Emma out of trouble.
"Perhaps we should get her to bed now." Aragorn commented. The feast was winding down, and everyone who was still present was quiet. A few stragglers remained standing around the giant containers of mead, looking like the sad group of drunken men you would find in an alleyway of most large cities. Only small talk remained of the once roaring crowd.
"That's probably wise." Boromir said, pulling her back from petting an old man's head. He once again apologized to the man before rushing over to stop Emma from throwing a pot across the room, insisting it was filled with rubies.
"NO!" A familiar voice protested. "We gotta have an after party filled with more mead and chocolate and dancing and friends and Kentucky fried chicken and stuffed animal dodgeball fights!"
"Oh Valar I thought I already put you in your room!" Aragorn groaned at the reappearance of Olivia. Olivia grinned at him, prancing around the room and generally acting worse than sleep deprived Abbi back in Lothlórien.
"You did, but then I got bored of dancing and was really craving chocolate bars and I can't find my satchel anywhere and QUICK WHILE HE'S NOT LOOKING LICK IT!" This last part was yelled at Emma, who was trying to lick the dark beige hide yet again.
"You are wearing your satchel." Aragorn sighed, putting his hand on her elbow while Boromir pried Emma off the hide before any licking was done.
"Oh." She stared at it like it just appeared. "How many chocolate bars can I pull out then? Two? Seven? Seven hundred?"
"Please don't-" Aragorn's words were ignored, as you might expect.
"I am the chocolate god!" Olivia said, throwing large amounts of chocolate in all directions as she was led to the door at a quicker pace. Chocolate bars, chocolate kisses, chocolate candies, chocolate covered treats… you name it. If it contained chocolate, Olivia scattered it somewhere. "Come Charlie to my chocolate factory. Fun murder time for all the other children. Yay morals! Good boys get rich. "
Aragorn ignored her and practically ran her to her room down the hallway, leaving a trail of chocolate goods for the children behind them. This time Aragorn shoved her in as she still insisted on her chocolate powers, remembering to lock the door this time to prevent Olivia from returning to make other poor choices he would have to clean up.
He stood outside and listened whilst she sang herself some made up tune. The tune seemed to go on for ages until it abruptly ended. When all finally went quiet, he realized she must have passed out. It took a while, but she had at last worn herself down enough to no longer be able to stay awake. Finally giving a sigh of relief, he headed back to try and clean up what were hopefully not seven hundred chocolate bars. New rule: Olivia was never again allowed ale.
(However, despite her annoying behavior, Aragorn did return later in the evening to make sure she was in bed instead of passed out on the floor.)
"I believe it is time for bed." Boromir said whilst the chocolate god left with Aragorn. He gently pulled Emma towards the door; having to put down every single item they passed along the way due to her insistence to touch them all.
"You know Boromir," Emma said once they were out of earshot of others, fingering a clay pot with horses painted on it that she found, "I'm not all that drunk."
"Oh?" Boromir asked disbelievingly, putting the pot back in what he hoped was its proper place. He found it hard to believe someone acting like her currently was not drunk. It simply seemed impossible.
"Well, maybe now I am after all those tankards." Emma admitted truthfully, running her hands along a crack in the wall. It felt rough and nice against the skin of her fingers. "Kind of fuzzy feeling in the head now, you know? But before that I just touched things to annoy you."
"Of course you did." Boromir sighed. He should have expected no less- Emma would be difficult to him sober or not. It was just the way things went. He protected her and kept her out of trouble, and he spent his nights cleaning cheerios out of his clothes and carefully watching over her while she was drunk.
"You're fun to annoy." Emma cradled a boot that seemed to have been left by Olivia outside her door, which Boromir recognized as the one that had hit his head so long ago. "But we don't give you enough credit for not getting that mad. So thanks I guess for not annoying us back."
"You're welcome." Boromir said. "Please put down the boot." Emma obliged.
"You're chill, Boromir." Emma admitted. "I really expected you to be a monkey butt all the time, but you're pretty cool to be around. But you can't be around all the time, because the fellowship of maidens is exclusive to girls. Olivia did want you to wear a dress though, so she'd vouch for you."
"I still think I will not be able to join your fellowship of maidens." Boromir stated, making Emma laugh.
"You make me happy, Boromir." Emma said as they reached her doorway, and they could see Aragorn returning to the great hall.
"That is very kind of you, drunken Emma." Boromir replied, not taking any of this conversation seriously. He had learned a long time ago not to put weight on things people said under the influence of a good drink.
"I'm not drunk!" Emma retorted. "I just am non-sober." Boromir chortled at this as he opened her bedroom door and proceeded to push her in before entering himself.
"Of course you're just non-sober, Emma." He replied. After a quick session of 'watch me touch this' with all the objects in the room, Boromir finally got her to settle down in the bed as she was supposed to an hour ago before 'watch me touch this' had occurred.
"There." He said, carefully covering her with blankets and making sure her head was propped up with pillows. He checked to make sure everything was comfortable, and that there were no objects within the room that she could use to do something incredibly stupid with within the next hour or so before she passed out ."Sleep tight."
"Wait!" Emma called out to Boromir before he left her room. She gave what was her best flirty face while tired and drunk, which in truth was very ineffective. "You forgot a good-night kiss."
"No." Boromir said immediately, shaking his head. "I won't kiss you when you're drunk. It would be taking advantage of you." Emma considered his answer.
"Fair enough." Emma nodded in agreement. "Not to mention, I'd probably regret it in the morning anyway."
"You really are a charmer." Boromir rolled his eyes, leaving her in the room. He went over a checklist in his head: Finished 'watch me touch this', Got her in bed, left the room. Everything seemed in order.
Unfortunately, just like Aragorn the first time, he forgot to lock the door.
READERS: I have been planning this chapter from day one and augh it was so exciting finally writing it! ONTO REVIEWS! Multirandomfandom good, because this new plot is going to veer off. Writingmiracles imagine this- a third chapter in three days! Yay battle of the ents! PLEASE REVIEW!
