a/n: i am so jealous of all the little short stories i read that have like 9 chapters and 600 reviews. hm. well anyways, in the personal department, i am now going completely mad over austin and eric. i like them both, in different ways, i wish i were two different people. christ alive. well anyways, i guess we can't have everything. i will have to pick. austin makes me feel better about myself, and i'm more sure of eric liking me for an extended period of time. who knows. i'm NOT A HO. i am just confused. i will figure things out.

ANYWAYS...let's drop the voting thing, i know nobody likes it, and we all know bear won anyway. (and there was much rejoicing, "yay.") (i've seen monty python and the quest for the holy grail way too many times.) but do leave me reviews. so here goes. ooooookay.

From then on out, the "gathering" (as Marie so affectionatly called it) went smoothly. Legolas mostly kept to himself, refusing to touch the drink they were all partaking of, this, "Miller Lite." For a while he discussed the, to him, incredibly absurd idea of the role playing game of Phil and Rita known as "Dungeons and Dragons," or as they called it, "D&D." Legolas could not make himself understand the idea of why it would appeal to a group of already fascinating people to leave behind their already strange identities and take upon new ones, usually of a different species of themselves, and pretend to go on an adventure. At one point Legolas could hold back his curiousity no longer.

"If you would like to see the world and have an 'adventure' so badly, why do not you just go out and look for one?" Legolas had burst in a way very unlike himself. (In the last few days, due to the nearly complete lack of understanding between him and the mass population of humans, he had become rather jumpy and could feel his normally omnipatient attitude slowly disappearing.)

Rita and Phil both looked at each other and laughed (or rather, Rita giggled.)

At around midnight, they left, (Rita and Phil), taking Jane and Marie home, too. Shortly thereafter, Shawn, Everlease, and Gusto left. Actually, no one even saw Shawn leave, just all of the sudden he wasn't there any longer. The general assumption was that he left with Gusto and Everlease. Slowly the crowd diminished to just a drunken Bear, a smoking Sandy, and a very hungry Legolas. He had not eaten much in the last few days, mainly just the big ass turkey legs from very early this morning. In his lessened state of patience, he asked, "Might there be anything in the cupboard I can eat?"

"Certainly, cowboy!" Bear bellowed. He lumbered into the kitchen, with Legolas and Sandy behind him. Sandy was laughing, Legolas was hoping he wasn't as drunk as he was letting on. He yanked open the refrigerater, and rummaged around ruthlessly. "Cabbage, cabbage, beer, Coke, rancid eggs, potato salad, and..." he opened the top portion of the refrigerator, "Blue Bell ice cream! It's vanilla!" He clapped and Sandy squealed. Bear got a little tub out of the freezer and set it on the bar. Turning to Legolas he said, "Do you like vanilla?" Legolas shrugged.

"Quite honestly, I have never had 'ice cream' before."

Sandy and Bear paused, looked at each other, then laughed. "Yeah, right!" Sandy laughed, poking him in the side. Legolas recoiled slightly. What is it with these people and disbelieving my ignorance of their trite enjoyances? He shook his head, and the expression on his face must have conveyed confusion, on account of Bear's next comment.

"Yeah, you're confused? Dude, I'd like to know who the hell doesn't eat ice cream?" He threw up his hands and looked at Sandy. She played along by giggling and throwing up her own hands. "Who the fuck doesn't eat Blue Bell ice cream?" he yelled. Drawing scoops of the stuff out of the tub, Bear gooped it into small ceramic bowls. "Here you go, cowboy!" he hollered, thrusting a bowl at Legolas. Legolas took it somewhat reluctantly, then the small spoon that followed, then wandered away into the living room.

He flopped down on the couch, and began to pick at the 'ice cream.' Finally, curiosity and hunger combined got the best of him, and he took a meager bite. This is not all that bad! he thought in disbelief. Aside from the fact that it was too rich and sweet, the texture was perplexingly delicious, and it was quite filling. Legolas ate the 'ice cream' hungrily and quickly. But as soon as he did, he felt a splitting headache rise in the centers of his temples. "Mmm!" he lamented aloud, setting his bowl on the table next to the glass try of ashes and cigarette butts. In the following moment of silence while he massaged his temples, he heard Bear and Sandy talking in the kitchen.

"...yeah, I still need to get another T.V. And fuck, man! She tried to get the microwave, but I didn't let her."

"Wow, was the T.V. and stuff her's?" Sandy asked.

"Yeah..." Bear trailed off for a moment. "Shit, I don't know."

"Yeah," Sandy said, agreeing with his lack of words. They were silent for a moment, and Legolas wondered if he should be listening to them. But after all, he told himself, they are not really saying anything anyhow. But once again, as if on cue, they were.

"Bear, I should probably go," Sandy said, with a bit of conviction.

Legolas heard the stomp of Bear's combat boot clad foot connecting with the linoleum of the kitchen floor. "Dammit, Sandy! Please don't go!" he whined like an infant.

"Awww," Sandy cooed. "I know, I gotta go, though." There was a drawn out silence. Legolas got up and started out the front door. His conscience had gotten the better of him. But just as he shut the door and walked away from it, he bumped into someone. Lithely, he stood his ground, but the other fell flat on his back. Legolas was suprised by the lack of comment, where a word like 'fuck' or 'shit' would have been substituted had it been a Bear-ish character. But there was nothing. The small figure got up, and dusted himself off.

Just then, Legolas recognized him as the 'Deedee Ramone' character who had been in the apartment earlier. "My deep apologies, friend that I was not attending to where I was-" he stopped as hands were thrown out as if to say, 'Don't worry about it.'

Legolas stepped aside to let him go in. The little man proceeded past him, but then came up around in front of him, circling him, looking him up and down. He finally stopped in front of Legolas with his hands on his hips. He cocked the unlit cigarette in his mouth up by smiling wider. Legolas was not sure what to do. He then remembered why he was outside. "I do not mean to be rude, but I would not recommend simply walking in there, as Bear and Sandy are..." he paused, searching for a polite phrase to get across that he didn't quite know what was going on by now. But the other just waved it away as if the right phrase wouldn't matter, and that he could guess. Legolas shrugged.

They stared at each other for a moment. Legolas didn't know what to do; nor did he know what to do when he was handed a dollar bill dug out of a pocket, and then watched the shadow slink across the building. Legolas blinked and looked down at the dollar in his hands. He shoved it in his pocket. He wondered what he was going to do now. He figured he could just sleep on the grass again.

He walked around the apartments and down the road aways, to Burrough's Park. Glancing down at the cold grass, and then out at the trees, he made an easy decision, and started for the woods. There was one oak in particular, large and welcoming. Legolas lept lightly up onto the lowest branch, and then a few branches higher. There was a slight breeze here, but he did not mind. He leaned against the trunk of the tree, and slept.

a/n: i know this is short, but i am trying to branch out and do some other stories, a horror story in particular. it's called 'whispering elegantly to no one,' won't you please read it and put in your two cents! i love you! well anyways, i don't know what to do to this story. make some suggestions, please. and thank you for your reviews, they are each and everyone of them appreciated. la la la. kisses and hugs, sarah.