I have the second chapter ready for you guys! Please enjoy, and thank you for the reviews so far!
As the sun began to rise, Piper scowled at the rays of sunshine that were peaking through the leaves. She was usually not a morning person if she had little to no sleep and no coffee in her system. Coffee was the sweet nectar of life in her opinion. With a sigh, the brunette looked around her and frowned; it wasn't all just a dream like she was hoping. She shivered slightly as the morning breeze rustled he leaves, and she took that as her cue to keep on moving. Well, she was about to, but to her it all looked the same. "Well great..." she grumbled, "I guess I just pick another direction..?"
Piper pondered a bit longer before deciding on a direction and continuing her search for a road. While walking, the twenty-three year old tried to keep herself distracted as to not think about the events of yesterday despite how alone she was. 'Maybe I should set everything on fire. I'll be found then,' her thoughts mused. 'Although, the smoke alone would end up killing me...again...'
"Maybe I should try finding a wolf? That would be pretty cool to actually find one out in the wild. At the same time, it is a wild animal and I could get hurt. Be worth it though." The brunette didn't really notice, but she had started talking out loud to herself to try to drown out the mostly quiet forest. "Don't really want to come across a bear, that would not end well. what if I'm over in China or something and there are tigers? Heh, now I'm thinking of Wizard of Oz...Good job, brain; way to be as squirrely as ever. Lions, and tigers, and bears...Oh, my!" she laughed at her train of thought. "It would be amusing if someone found me right now; they'd probably think I'm bat shit crazy. That would be amusing...maybe that should be my next goal after I find a road..."
Piper had finally fallen silent as she really took in her surroundings. Everything seemed like it belonged in one of those nature photography magazines; she had never in her life seen trees as green as they were and it made her feel almost at peace. If her stomach wasn't feeling empty, she probably would have enjoyed everything that much more. The girl rubbed her stomach to try to soothe the growling; she had considered trying to find some form of vegetation to eat, but she didn't know what would be safe to consume and what could potentially kill her. So many things could go very wrong, but that didn't stop her from thinking about risking it. She loved food, so she was very tempted to just see what happened. Hours continued to pass, and Piper was feeling more and more helpless. She chewed on her lip as her nerves continued to mess with her and make her more anxious than she already was. Just as she was about to say 'fuck it' and choose to live in the forest, she finally came across a break in the trees. Needless to say, the confusion only grew as she stared at homes that were built in the sides of hills. That is when she started piecing everything together.
Piper thought back to when she heard the voice before waking up in this strange place and carefully mulled over his words. She had to save the line of Durin. She face-palmed when realization struck; she was in The Hobbit book itself. "You've got to be fucking me..." she growled. "Seriously?!"
With an eye-roll she continued going over facts. First, she finally knew where she was, and a vague idea as to why she was here; she still needed to figure out who it was that spoke to her, but she figured it was either one of the Valar or Iluvatar himself. Second, she wasn't dreaming by any means, and that meant she'd soon be getting weird looks about her outfit. And the last fact that was staring at her face was that she was currently staring at Hobbit homes. She recognized them from Tolkien's descriptions in the book. "At least they're gentle folk..." she muttered making her way to the many homes.
Piper was feeling overwhelmed with helplessness as she knocked on doors; every single Hobbit had either ignored the door entirely, slammed the door in her face shortly after opening it, or giving her a rude look and telling her to leave them be. The only plus to this was something that would be very important: she understood Westron. She sat down on the ground on a hill that wasn't in use for a home and sighed. More questions started to run through her mind, and she needed to figure out more answers before dealing with the Hobbits. They may have been gentle folk, but that didn't mean they were welcoming of anything that was strange or unusual (in her outfit, Piper fit that description).
The brunette closed her eyes and began going over any and all information. She recalled back to (she knew it had to be one of the creators) the voice that had spoken to her before waking up. He had mentioned a few changes would be made; it would seem that this was one of them. Piper then began wondering if she could speak Westron as well. 'One way to find out,' she thought.
She opened her mouth to speak, only to pause; how would she know if she was speaking it for sure? With a shrug, the twenty-three year old made a conscious effort to speak. "I am Piper," she said out loud. The young woman nodded at her results: she could speak Westron. The language rolled off her tongue in a different way than English; it felt heavier. She decided to do an experiment and said the exact same phrase without really thinking. She hummed when it came out in English. Piper had figured that like any language that wasn't a native tongue, a person would have to consciously speak it to be successfully. However, this also meant that it would take her a minute to actually communicate until she became more accustomed to it. This caused further realization that she'd have to find out if she could read or write in the common tongue as well. The brunette dug out her notebook and pen before opening her leather journal to a blank page. Like with her speaking, she paid close attention as she wrote. 'I am Piper'; it came out as the language of Middle-Earth and she could read it perfectly fine.
"At least I have that settled," Piper sighed before putting her items back into her bag.
The brunette chose to sit there for a while to give her aching feet and knee a break; she wasn't wearing shoes built for traveling, and it had resulted in blisters starting to form on her heels, ankles, and the area surrounding her toes. In frustration, she yanked her shoes off before violently throwing them in a random direction. She soon scowled at her actions before going to fetch her sandals; they may have been hurting her, but she may have use for them later.
The twenty-three year old had decided to continue trying to get help, but she did not have luck on her side. She was fixing to throw in the towel when a very nice looking Hobbit hole came into view. 'Please...if you are in fact Bilbo's home, please let him help me...' she thought desperately.
Sure enough, when she walked up to the front door to knock, none other than Bilbo Baggins answered the door. His eyes scrunched up in confusion and distaste at Piper's outfit and was obviously starting to get uncomfortable. "Can I help you?" he asked politely.
The brunette couldn't help but sigh in relief that he didn't close the door in her face. His brown curly hair stood out in many directions despite the obvious attempt to keep it tame. The Hobbit was shorter than Piper despite her height; but then she remembered that they were even shorter than Dwarves. "I'm sorry to bother you, sir, but I am terribly lost. I have no idea where I am (she knew that part wasn't true of her tale, but she needed to appeal to the Hobbit's caring side) and I have nowhere to go. Please, at least for a night, and I'll leave tomorrow," Piper said, wringing her hands in worry that he'd also turn her away.
The brunette knew that Bilbo didn't mind guests so long as he invited them himself, but that was a different matter entirely. The brown haired Hobbit seemed to mull over her words carefully, still unsure if he wanted to deal with a seemingly weird (despite her manners) and unusual person. He knew she wasn't a fellow Halfling, but she didn't seem to be a Dwarf or elf either. "I can help you with cleaning your home and with your garden in return," the brunette offered.
This caught the Hobbit's attention. "You know how to garden?" he inquired.
"Well, to some degree...it was one of the many hobbies I took up. I can knit better than I can garden, crochet better than I can knit, but I'm best with baking or sewing," Piper answered with a small smile.
Bilbo seemed to think for a moment before finally coming to a decision. "I don't see why not. You could probably do with a wash and some food," he stated opening the door more to let the young woman enter.
"Thank you so much," said female bowed (she thought it would be very polite of her to do so). "Piper Williams, at your service."
"Bilbo Baggins, at yours," was her reply.
The young Hobbit showed Piper one of his guest bedrooms and where she could wash up before leaving for the kitchen to make lunch for the two of them. The brunette smiled as she glanced around the home; everything was nice and tidy, and not one thing was out of place. 'May be this won't be so bad,' she thought as she got ready for a much needed bath. When she finished, she got out her clothes from her messenger bag and got dressed in her pajamas (she had brought along a bra and extra underwear with her pajamas for when she was going to stay at Shadow's).
Piper temporarily left her dirty clothes on the bed (until she knew where she could wash them) and headed to the kitchen just in time for lunch to be finished. Bilbo turned around with what looked to be a pan of fish and side of potatoes ; he paused, however, in confusion at the girl's outfit. Piper was wearing her Hayao Miyazaki themed pajamas; her pants were a light gray with black Japanese letters right underneath Totoro, and her tank top had none other than Calcifer from Howl's Moving Castle. The twenty-three year old wrung her hands and fidgeted under his stare. "I apologize, these are the only other clothes I have..." she muttered.
Bilbo blushed for being caught staring at (in his opinion) her very weird outfit. In a hurry to not come off as rude, he quickly took in details. "What language is that, on your pants. I've never seen that writing before," the Halfling wondered.
Piper smiled at his change of subject. "It's Japanese. I personally know it too well, but I know that it reads 'My Neighbor Totoro' on my pants. It's a cute story," Piper tried to explain.
The Hobbit smiled as he served the brunette and the two had a relatively quiet lunch. "So where are you from?" he finally asked.
"I come from a place called America. I doubt you'd ever heard of it; it's very far away," Piper said; she frowned at the sorrow that was creeping in. "Unfortunately, I won't ever be able to return..."
"Why can't you? You seem to miss your home."
The young woman wiped at her face to get rid of a couple tears that threatened to fall. "Because," she started, "Everyone that knew me believes me to be dead... I had a terrible accident... that's how I ended up in the forest not far from here. Wondered around lost for a little over a day before finding you... I don't have anyone, Bilbo... no friends, no family, no one..." Piper finally let all her tears fall; after being through something traumatic, she needed time to recuperate.
Poor Bilbo wasn't sure how to deal with the crying girl in front of him. She seemed to have gone through a lot, and to have no one? He could relate to some extent. He himself didn't have any parents, but he did have friends. After a minute of watching the young woman cry, an idea came to his mind. "How about you wash your face and I can show you how to make smoke rings?" he suggested.
Piper couldn't help but smile and wiped away more of her tears. "I don't have a pipe, and have never smoked before," she answered.
"I have a spare one around here somewhere," he stated.
The two spent a good two hours outdoors; Piper wasn't able to make a single ring though. They both chuckled as they headed indoors. The Hobbit went to his pantry to get himself a snack while the twenty-three year old sat on the floor and began meditating. While she focused on actively breathing, she felt a pull on her soul and soon she found herself standing around in a white space. In confusion, she looked around. "Hello?" she called.
"I was wondering when you'd make your way here," the same voice as before answered.
"Who are you?" Piper questioned.
"I'm amazed you haven't figured it out yet," he mused. "I am none other than Aule, though the Dwarves call me Mahal."
"I guess that explains as to why you'd like the line of Durin save," the brunette sighed. "So other than me being able to speak Westron, what else have you changed about me? And how did you change my lifespan?"
"I gave you the lifespan of a Dwarf, so you can live up to two hundred and fifty years old so long as you don't die. That would make you currently around 83 years of age in Dwarf years," Mahal said. "As for what else I changed, that's for you to find out when the time comes."
"Thank you for being so helpful and making me feel old at the same time," Piper droned before her soul felt like it was being pulled back to her body.
She opened her eyes to see Bilbo watching her curiously. "Ah, sorry, I was meditating. It's something I like to do to center myself. It's relaxing."
Bilbo just nodded and a comfortable silence fell between the two. The Hobbit had informed Piper that it was just the beginning of March, and he surprised her further the following morning when he offered her to stay; turns out that he liked her company despite her quirky personality.
I am hoping to stick with this story more than the others and actually keep it true to the books. The movies were fine and all, however, it's almost night and day difference between the two.
Review from SunnySides: She does have the book, and she has read it. The reason it didn't register is because she had too much going on at that moment. Dying and suddenly going through what she had would put you through a lot mentally I'd assume. I'm hoping to keep Piper as real as possible considering she's a self-insert. Everything she can do is something that I myself have experience with. For example, I really did dislocate my knee in martial arts, and I truly can knit and so on. I don't want to rush into the story too fast, so probably a bit slow to start, and I won't be doing Ones/Soulmates. I was doing research to see if they were mentioned in the books or series in general, and they aren't. It was mentioned that only female dwarves initiate interest because they are so few in the population. This is why so many of the Dwarves have hobbies. I also don't know if I want romance to happen or not or with who if she does get paired up with someone.
Anyways, thank you my lovelies for reading!