The Pub Series

Title: The Pub Series ~ Story 1 Politics
Author: Rachel Stonebreaker
Email: redirect@beckyswebdesign.com
Rating: G
Characters: Frodo, Pippin, Sam, Fatty, Lotho, and Merry.
Date: 3 June 2002
Summary: see previous chapters
Disclaimer: see previous chapters
Story Notes: see previous chapters
Review notes: Hi there Mainframe! I appreciate the notes, I'd given up writing on this story until you kicked my arse about it. Welcome to my stories Baylor (you're such an inpiration for my Merry stories you know). And thanks again Marion, I'm glad you're liking it enough to keep reviewing it.

Story 1 ~ Politics
Chapter 7 ~ Prologue
(yeah it's cheating, it's not really integrated into the story, but it's a nice interlude)

Story 1 is about boring old politics. It tells the tale of how our favorite hobbits are starting to come into their own as young adults. Hobbits LOVE comfort, dislike drastic changes, and go in for pomp and ceremony as long as it doesn't get too out of hand; meaning the food and drink don't run out and the speaker doesn't run on. We know from the books that the dark hand of Sauron has already effected Mirkwood (hence the name change) and has moved on into the woods outside of Buckland. It only stands to reason (in my puny mind at least) that the weather in and around the Shire is beginning to be effected also. Two years of sever springtime flooding have upset enough hobbits that some have actually started talking about taking some action to prevent further ruin in the upcoming spring.

Frodo has quietly taken up the task of inspiring the younger members of some of the more important families into a sort of posse or "focus group" in today's terms. Their job is to convince the voting age members of their families to swing into action and support a Shire wide proposal to levy a tax to pay someone to organize a series of bulwarks, washes, burms and levees to divert the expected flooding come springtime. Though Frodo detests politics and never considered himself very good at it, he actually is a natural for the job. His compatriots respect him, his friends love him and his cousins support him. He is probably the most knowledgeable hobbit in the Shire when it comes to geography and geology as he has spent the better portion of his tweens and 30's and now 40's exploring and remapping what his uncle Bilbo had started a little less than a century before. He is an idealist and truly wants to believe in the best in people, that everyone else has the high morals he has and sometimes can't understand why others don't see the future possibilities that he knows are out there (if they'd just look beyond the noses on their faces!). Because he wants the best for everyone, he often can not find it in himself to finalize a decision for fear of making a grave mistake.

To his rescue come his cousin Meriadoc and his servant turned friend, Samwise. Merry and Sam are very close in age and together they are 180 degrees out in personalities from Frodo. Merry has been Frodo's best friend since he could remember up until Frodo was adopted out of Brandyhall. Though they remained close, distance forced them both to find other friends. Frodo turned to another closer young hobbit, Sam, the gardener's son, to mentor and befriend. Merry turned to a younger cousin, his father's sister's son, Peregrin. While Merry is a natural born leader, not shy about voicing his opinion, and can be resolute (bull headed) when demanding that certain things be done certain ways, until he gets a few years over his majority (and with that more confidence in his leadership abilities) he gives into Frodo's wishes and then works full force to see that the job is finished "correctly". Sam on the other hand loves solitary situations, is terribly shy, and would rather serve than lead. But like Merry, he wants to see the job done right and will not sleep until the task at hand is finished. Though he doesn't realize it, Frodo relies heavily on Merry and Sam to work as a team to finish what he never seems to be able to get around to doing.

And then there is Peregrin. If Frodo is the Lion, Merry the Beaver, Sam the Labrador, then Pippin is the Otter. Or in terms of a Team Building seminar I once took, Frodo is the CEO, Merry is Logistics, Sam is the Worker and Pip is the Cheerleader. You need all four to keep an office going but you've got to reign in all of them when they get extreme or you've got trouble. Oh, and Pip can be trouble. Aren't you glad that only 3% of personalities are really Pip's? Because his is the personality type to most likely go over the top. Could you imagine if there were more of him??!!!?!!! But like I said, it takes all of them to make a good team.

I've added Fredegar, Lotho and a couple of others to mix it up a bit and to hopefully add some interest.

End Chapter 7 ~ Prolouge (which should have been in chapter one, but nooooo, I got toooo excited, posted the first chapters without an outline and then fretted for weeks over just how to finish it up because it didn't seem there was any interest in it).