Disclaimer: We own ourselves; Nick owns his sick little mind; Carolyn owns hers (and her priude in being a Gimli fangirl...*shudder*); John owns his; Willie Nelson and Allison Krauss (did I spell that right?) own themselves; we don't own any songs here; Tolkien owns everything else *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* -----*-----Lothlorien-----*----- Caran yawned and streched. He blinked and looked at where he'd managed to roll himself during the night...on to the floor. He yawned again, mumbling about caffiene. He grabbed a blanket and rolled himself in it, falling back asleep. Tom woke up and looked toward Caran. He shook his head, looking around. He grabbed his pack, checking in it for any food (and to make sure the trombone was still in there...YES it did go in there). He threw out a book, making it hit Caran on the head. Caran opened and eye and growled slightly, edging towards the unsuspecting Hobbit. "Aha! Told ya so, Hugo!" Tom yelled as he pulled out a light blue circle and placed it on a tree. "What's that?" Caran asked. Tom smiled. "A hole. Two uses only, sadly. Connects to Earth," Tom said, still smiling. Caran jumped up. "Can ya bring Carolyn in here?" Tom nodded. "Do! Do!" Tom nodded and reached in the hole. He pulled out a very disgruntled looking girl with brown-blonde hair, glasses, and blue eyes. "Carolyn!" Caran said as he launched himself towards her. She ran from her (slightly crazy, long-haired, blonde) friend, allowing him to hit the ground. He stood up and dusted himself off. "Good to see you too," Caran said, slightly growling. Carolyn smiled. "Okay, so why am I here?" she said, not noticing much yet. Tom grinned. "Welcome to Middle-'Arth," he said. Carolyn's eye grew wide and her mouth fell open. "Lothlorien to be exact. Now, I am not Nick for I am Tom. He is Caran, not John." Carolyn nodded. "Then I shall be Brass," she said. Tom smiled. He pointed to the sleeping Dwarf. "And there's Gimli." Brass shook her head. "But...but...hold on, buddy. So, Ni--er, Tom, you've become a Hobbit it seems." Tom nodded, smiling. "But Caran, he looks no different." Caran pushed back the hair around his ears, revealing his ears. Brass gasped. "An Elf. Therefore...I must be a..Dwarf." She looked at her feet and found heavy boots instead of her normal mountian boots. She smiled and nodded. "Good, good." She shot a looking at the sleeping form of Gimli. "Real?" Her friends nodded. She pointed to the others and asked, "Real?" as well, getting the same response. She grabbed the blanket from Caran and curled up in it, soon falling asleep on the floor. Caran groaned. "What have you gotten us into, Tom?" he said. Tom shrugged and closed his eyes, humming the tune to "Seven Deadly Virtues". Caran looked around for a blanket and, finding none, curled up on the floor and fell asleep quickly. --*--MORNING!! *alarm clock rings*--*-- Tom streched, rubbing a kink in his neck. He got out of bed, still rubbing the kink. He yelped as someone bit his foot. "Oh, sorry Car--Brass. Kinda forgot you were there," he said groggily. Brass growled. Caran's head appeared at the ladder of the flet. "Wakies! Time to GIT YER RUDY 'IDES OUTTA BED!" he said. Tom blinked. "Too much time with the tuba, eh?" he whispered toward the floor, where Brass sat. Caran turned to him, glaring. "I 'EARD THAT!" Tom shrunk away. Caran took a deep breath and shook his head. "Let's go find some food!" Tom and Brass nodded. On the ground, Caran turned to them. "Nick, let me ask something." "Shoot," Tom said casually. "Do we have...powers?" "Yep. Author Powers." "Duuuuude!" He snapped his fingers, instantly trimming his hair short. "Um...John...buddy...what in the name of all things good are you doing?" "You'll see." He snapped his fingers again, making his hair return to its former length. "Don't give the poor Elves a heartattack, John! Or Gimli! Or Pippin!" Brass said. Caran cast her a look and snapped his finger once more. Brass's old Dwarf clothes were replaced by a blue dress. She growled and snapped her fingers, changing them back to the way they were before. Caran continued playing with his powers, causing many things to change and a platypus to appear. He never did get rid of that platypus. "If you guys are done playing, I'd like to find food." Caran laughed and led his friends up a ladder to a large flet. Tom's eyes grew wide at the sight of so much food. Forgetting his fear of heights, he launched himself at the food. Brass shook her head, sighing heavily. As Tom paused to breath, Brass grabbed a few apples and stuffed them in random pockets. Caran drug a chair to a corner and sat, watching the Hobbit. Tom eventually finished, smiling happily and brushing bits of food off his sleeves. "Well, we should find 'em, eh?" Tom said. Brass nodded and climbed down the aldder without a single word. "See ya tonight!" Caran called as he also climbed down. Looking around, Tom saw an Elf sitting in the shadows. Smiling, he whispered something to himself. --*--THAT NIGHT, whee--*-- Tom streched, taking off his glasses and setting them beside the bed. He looked to Caran, who was yawning widely. "Where d'ya get the clothes?" Tom asked, noting Caran's new shiny, clean, white bedclothes. "Elves here. Also gave some to Legolas," he explained. Tom nodded and pulled a dook from under his pillow. --*--WHEN THEY LEAVE (whoo dee doo)--*-- Galadriel handed everyone their gifts, except Tom and Caran (Brass's gift was Gimli). She turned to them with empty hands. "Don't we get anything?" Caran asked. "Well, there were a couple of humans that have been here a while," Galadriel said. "We'll take 'em!" Tom shouted. Galadriel disappeared for a second them came back dragging an unhappy Willie Nelson. Tom's jaw fell open. "Willie Nelson," he gasped. He ran towards him. "Mr. Nelson! Mr. Nelson! Hey, hey, I'm Tom Took." Galadriel left and soon reappeared with an equally unhappy Allison Krauss. Caran ran up to her. "Hullo, Miss Krauss. Good day, eh?" Eventually, they managed to leave Lothlorien. Somehow they managed to fit the expanded Fellowship of thirteen in four boats. Aragorn, Frodo, and Sam were in the first; Boromir, Merry, and Pippin in the second; Legolas, Gimli, and Brass in the third, along with the supplies; and Caran, Tom, Willie, and Allison in the last boat. --*--GOIN' DOWN THE RIVER (row, row, row your boat...)--*-- "Hey, Mr. Nelson, can you sing a song?" Tom asked, rowing in the bow (N/n: my favorite place ^_^). Willie and Allison were sitting in the middle, trying to ignore both Caran and Tom. Tom splashed water on the red-haired man. "Can you please sing a song, Mr. Nelson?" "No," Willie said definately. Caran groaned. "He's gonna sing," he said. And indeed, Tom did sing. He sang every bit of every Johnny Cash song he knew. It went something like this:

I fell in to a burnin' ring of fire, I went down, down, down and the flames rose higher, Now it burns, burns, burns, the ring of fire, the ring of fire.[1] Well, my daddy left home when I was three, An' he didn't leave much to Ma 'n' me, Just this ol' guitar and an empty bottle o' booze. Now, I don't blame him 'cause he ran an' hid, But the meanest thing he ever did, Was right before he left, he named me 'Sue.'[2] My Name is Sue! How do you do? Now you're gonna die![3] Daddy sang bass, mama sang tenor, me 'n' little brother joined in, Oh the circle, won't be broken.[4] And because you are mine, I walk the line [5] Flesh and blood needs flesh and blood and you're the one I need.[6]

Willie looked at the Hobbit. "You sounded like Cash there." Caran looked up at the sky, hoping that Tom would not show off his amazing vocal talents. "Thanks, sir. I can do most any other voice." Unluckily for Caran, Tom did in fact show off his vocal talents. His range went from Toby Keith to Merle Haggard to Willie Nelson (much to Willie's amazement) to Vince Gill and beyond. By the time he shut up, they had reached the bank near Amon Hen. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* [1]: from "Ring Of Fire" [2]: from "A Boy Named Sue" [3]: from "A Boy Named Sue" [4]: from "Daddy Sang Bass" [5]: from "I Walk The Line" [6]: from "Flesh And Blood" *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Hehehe, we're baaaaaack!