a/n: well, here i am, trying to start things up again. wish me luck, i'll need it! ^o^ !! love, sarah.

After sitting for a while, Legolas felt someone nudge his shoulder. He looked up, into the face of a stranger. "Hey, bud, you mind if I sit down?" the man said.

Legolas looked around the porch, and quickly counted six unused tables, and ten unused chairs. He stared back at the man. "Hey, why not?" he said bleakly, doing what he felt justice to the colloquial that he had picked up.

"'Kay," the other said, and scooted a chair up to him. "I'm Brian."

Legolas sighed deeply. When will I no longer be forced to meet new humans! his mind screamed. Brian seemed a little younger than Rita, Jane, Bear and the others... maybe about 17 years old. He had a mess of curly black hair, and was scrawny, even for a young man. He was dressed nicely though, much simliar to Legolas (though the sweater seemed a little more worn), and Legolas recognized his shoes--Chucks, Bear had called them. "I'm Legolas."

"Cool name, bud. You into Tolkien?" Brian laughed, and nudged Legolas' shin with his foot in a jesting fashion.

Legolas decided he was going to have to do some investigating into the this Tolkien character. But some other time. He liked Brian's lightheartedness. "I suppose you could say that. You into Chucks?" he asked nonsensically, using the same ill grammar that Brian had used.

Nonetheless, Brian seemed pleased with this. "Yeah, bud, I am!" He laughed heartily, and folded up in his chair in such a way that seemed highly uncomfortable. However, it seemed to him at ease. "I'm also into chicks, but I can't seem to buy those at the store for $26.99!" Brian found his own statement highly amusing, and threw back his head in laughter.

Legolas didn't understand what Brian was saying, but appreciated the humour in the tone of his voice, and laughed along with Brian. He figured Brian would be an alright person to be inquisitive with, and therefore asked as Brian's laughter diminished: "What do you mean by chicks?" He conscienciously hid his nervousness with a big goofy grin worthy of a hobbit. I wonder how he will take that! Legolas thought anxiously.

Brian chuckled and threw up his hands in such a way that reminded Legolas of Bear. "I know, right?" Brian then sat back, put his legs down, laced his fingers and looked up at the sky. "Well," he began, as though he were ready to tell Legolas the story of how Melcore fell from grace, "I kind of used to dig emo girls, but you know, you get all into this crap with the obsession with the pop culture, and the trendy "MTV EMO" fashion, and la di frickin da, I mean, how many pairs of baseball socks can a girl own? One day Lola comes into the bedroom in a shirt and her baseball socks, and I didn't know whether to jump her or ask her what her batting average was, you know?" he ended, shaking his head, arms outstretched, and his eyes wide, focused on Legolas. "You know?"

Legolas looked back at him, totally lost. "I know, right?" he quickly substituted, stealing the phrase from across the table. He floundered for a sentence or two to back it up. "I have a friend who tells me I am this fabled "emo," just for the garb I am in," he indicated the Chucks, to which Brian smiled, and indicated his own, "and these," at which he motioned to the glasses.

Brian turned his head sideways a bit and squinted at Legolas. "Those look like some fake glasses that my sister has." He smiled. "Are those really for your poor vision, bud?"

Legolas sniffed. "I have perfect vision. I am only wearing these as part of a disguise for my friend's sister." Brian's grin widened and he raised his eyebrows. "But," Legolas felt alarmed at the prospect of looking foolish, "she was going to think I was a KKK-er if I didn't do something quick!" Legolas stopped suddenly, and felt taken aback by his own use of the Common Tongue. I have to get away from this place before I began to speak the tongue too well, he thought decrepidly.

"Workin' it for the ladies huh?" Brian jested.

"I do not know," Legolas said honestly. He had no clue what Brian was talking about.

"I guess so. You would kinda look like an Aryan poster boy without the feel of scream-o runnin' through your veins, via Chuck Taylor's of course, of course... You aren't a triple K are ya?" he asked a little nervously.

Legolas sensed a slight rise of fear in the boy, and marveled now at Bear's desparation to move his image away from that of these people. Is this how people would have reacted to me, had I not made the transformation to "emo"? he wondered. He shook his head slightly, and said truthfully, "I have no ideas about what you speak of." Legolas figured the best way to let these folk know he was not of them was to be very honest with them in his ... he supposed ... ignorance of their society and culture. Perhaps then they would understand that he really was who he said he was.

Brian looked taken aback, and pasted a very odd expression on his face, but still maintained his happy-go-lucky smile. "Whatever, bud." He looked off into the distance. "I wish I didn't have any ideas about that... or anything to do with neo-nazism." He waved a hand at Legolas. "How do you feel about Hitler and all the rest?" he asked openly.

"I acutally do not know anything about Hitler. But I would be indebted to you if you would tell me a story worth listening to," Legolas laughed. "I am quite tired of hearing nonsense all day long."

Brian lost his smile momentarily, and looked at Legolas with a serious face. "Well," he began, "I'm Jewish." He paused to study Legolas' face, who nodded (Legolas understood that this must be a race.) "And as you probably know, the holocaust was a nice little idea of Hitler's..." Brian's voice faded a little, and he looked away. Legolas was suprised to see how forlorn he looked. "Six million Jews..." He shook his head sadly.

Legolas listened intently as Brian told the tale of the Holocaust, and the millions of his race that were lost only 60 years ago. Hitler was a cruel man who believed in superiority of race, and who invented many revolting ways to kill the "Semetic" people (as they were also called.) Legolas felt himself developing a hate for this resentful Adolf Hitler.

"And he was a real pansy, you know?" Brian was saying. "If you ever read anything about him... dude, he's twisted. He's all girly, and wanted his women to like, kick him and stuff."

Now it was Legolas' turn to be taken aback. "You say he wanted females to -- kick him?"

"That's what I say... and what the books say, and what the women say." Brian looked pleased, and nodded. "Faggot!" he sang obnoxiously, then looked a little guilty. "I mean..." he covered quickly and very ineptly. Crap, he thought, That guy could be gay! Brian put his head in his hands and winced.

Legolas looked at him curiously. "What is the matter?" he asked, a little distracted by the mention of a log. What would a fag of wood have to do with anything?

Brian felt very relieved. "Uh, nothing." He shrugged, and the smile came back. He couldn't quite remember what he'd been talking about. "Umm.. so anyways, there's this girl at school that I like, named Rosalind, you know, like Romeo's Rosalind?" he leaned forward and rapped the back of his hand against Legolas' knee and winked, to which Legolas accompanyingly (but tightly) smiled. "Yeah... she's a hottie. I discovered her today, cos I saw her sitting at lunch all by herself, reading a poetry book, I think she said it was something Corso? Yeah, Gregory Corso, that was it! Anyways, I sat with her at lunch, and we're both seniors, she likes to read, play the cello, and work on cars," Brian paused here to throw out his arms, "and tell me that's not the most awesome thing you've ever heard! And also!" he looked very excited about this, "she's not dating anybody, and said she's never had a boyfriend! I was really suprised, cos she's pretty cute."

Legolas was sorry to have parted from interesting tales of war and heritage only to rearrive at inane babble. But he felt obliged to Brian, since he had told such a sorrowful but intriguing story, so he tried to maintain a look of interest. "What does she look like?" he asked politely.

"Well," Brian began with a flourish, "She's got long blonde hair that's real wavy, and she has big brown eyes, and real pale skin..." Brian squinted off into the distance, as though seeing her in the waves of cars that were raging behind the porch on "Kuykendahl" (Legolas was becoming quite annoyed with this seemingly universal characteristic of men, squinting off into nothing). "She's kinda Gothic, you know," Brian confided, his eyebrows raised in such a fashion to lead Legolas to believe that he was in false remorse, and had a dash of morbid curiousity. Legolas wondered what was so fascinating about being Gothic, and became truly interested in the description of this culture.

"How so do you mean by Gothic, Brian?" Legolas inquired.

Brian sat back and acquired a very proud look on his face. "Oh well, not the damn teeni-goth you see all over the place these days. It's like, the real thing, you know? You know?" he once more rapped a hand against Legolas' knee, as though to include him in a joke. Legolas smiled, hoping he would continue. He did, quite obligingly. "Anyways, she's into wearing layers of skirts, like lacey white ones that make her look like she's from like 1895 or somethin' and-"

Legolas took this opportunity to ask about the year. "You mean, from a different age?" he interrupted, to try to clarify for himself what year it might be.

Brian was undaunted. "Yeah, somethin' like that. Anyways," he continued obliviously, "and dude, you should see her waist! She does that corsetting thing, like even when she's at school, she always has it on, and her waist is like twenty-one inches around!! It's wild!" Brian insisted.

From the sounds of it, (whatever it was), Legolas believed that it must be truly wild, and accommodated the wildness of the event by looking alarmed.

"But hey, bud, ain't nothing wrong with that, I mean, it's her body, and if she wants to squish it all up, that's her business," Brian shrugged, but didn't look all that upset. Instead, he made a small oval with his hands, with fingers not quite touching. Legolas stared. Brian waited. Legolas stared. "I'm talking waist size like this big, bud," Brian emphasized, shaking the imaginary waistline in front of Legolas.

Legolas feigned a look of amazement satisfying enough for Brian to banish the hand-waist from him. It is though an interesting feat of this Gothic culture to all desire to have inhumanely small waists, Legolas thoughtfully turned over in his head as Brian charged on with his description of Rosalind.

"I mean, she's not all that large anyways, she's a pretty small girl, but woooo," Brian sighed and stared off into space. "She's a pretty girl." He smiled and Legolas sighed. Waves of boredom were ready to carry him into the ocean of apathy. Brian suddenly snapped back into himself. "Anyways, we talked about eating lunch together from now on."

Out of curiosity, Legolas felt to compelled to ask: "What school of thought is it that you attend?"

Brian chuckled. "I wonder sometimes... Well we go to Klein, if that's what you mean."

Legolas wondered what was familiar about that name, and remembered that Sandy had mentioned she was from Klein. "Are you acquainted with someone named Sandy?"

A look of warmth came over Brian's face. "Yeah, I got a sister named Sandy, what's your Sandy look like?" he asked, quite jolly, even off the topic of his beloved Rosalind. He then interrupted Legolas and suggested, "Blonde hair, about yea high, works at the Ren Fest?"

Legolas smiled. "Yes, that would be Sandy."

"Cool, then, bud!" Brian exclaimed. "You know my big sister!"

Legolas smiled again, warmly. It was quite interesting to see the difference between brother and sister. In fact, the more he thought of it, he could not imagine Sandy, so full of laughter, having anything to do with the hardships of the Jewish culture's past. Perhaps they are not fully blood related, Legolas thought, but knew it impolite to ask such a thing.

Instead, Brian went ahead and succeeded himself from the rules of etiquette by guessing what Legolas was thinking. "Yeah, she doe'n't exactly look like my twin, does she..." Legolas nodded meekly, shamed that Brian had been able to read his face so well. "Well, I'm not gonna lie to ya, she's not my blood sister, of course, I mean, it seems like it, I love'r like a sister, and we definitely fight like brother and sister," Brian paused here to laugh, and Legolas accommodatingly smiled. "But actually, her mom died when she was pretty little I think, and her dad married my mom, since my mom and dad got divorced when I was little. Anyways, so then her dad died, too, which is pretty unfortunate, since I remember him vaguely, but I remember him as a really cool guy. But, my mom adopted her and her sister Stella, so they lived with us, mom and me and my sister, Suzy."

"Suzy."

Brian looked at him a little defensively. "Yeah, Suzy."

Legolas felt a strange pit forming in his stomach, and something was clinging to the tip of tongue, as though he were trying to remember something. Suzy? he thought, feeling embarrassed. I am trying to remember something about a woman called Suzy? Legolas mentally brushed the idea away, and floundered for an excuse as to his repetition of the name.

"I like that name," he said blandly, adding in a persuasive grin.

Brian let down his guard. "Yeah, s'cute, i'n't it?" He rolled his eyes in mock anger. "Oh and she'll be sure you know she knows she's the cutest thing ever, too." Brian shook his head, playfully, smiling. Suddenly, he turned around to see who had opened the door to the porch. It was as though the girl in his earlier description of Rosalind had walked out of his imagery and onto the porch with them. "Hey, girl!" Brian called to her, and she smiled tightly, but simultaneously, genuinely.

She approached them in small quick steps, and Legolas found himself standing and gesturing to his chair. Rosalind gave him the same sweet, tight smile, and sat down. Legolas tried not to stare, but he felt his heart jump a little with hope. Now here is someone who looks like they would understand me, Legolas thought. Her face was young and beautiful, but ageless, like that of an elven maiden. Her pale blonde hair was very long, and cascaded down her in waves. She was wearing a long white skirt, and a long sleeved white shirt, with a black lace up corset over it, and it was then that Legolas realized the extensiveness of her "corsetting" endeavors, that had shocked Brian; her waist was indeed the smallest Legolas had ever seen on a human woman. In perfect accordance with Brian's description, she had large brown eyes, not too big for her face, like Luthien's had been (Legolas felt a strange shiver work it's way down his spine at the mental reminder of her), but soft, and knowing--wise. Her skin, also as Brian had alluded to, was indeed very pale, and quite flawless.

"Hello, Brian, and hello," she said, to Brian and Legolas. "I'm called Rosalind," she said to Legolas, and held out her hand out for him to kiss, which he did. This seemed to be a scene of hilarity to Brian, and he spent the next several seconds slapping his knee and laughing. Rosalind simply smiled at them both, and indicated a nearby chair. Legolas pulled it up to the table, and sat down.

"My name is Legolas," he told her, entirely sure of himself, for once this week.

She smiled at him. "That's lovely," she said genuinely. She turned to Brian. "Fancy seeing you here," she said, with a small and joking grin.

"Don't I know it, girl?" Brian laughed. "Thought I'd never see you again." They both laughed, with Rosalind, very lady-like, covering her mouth with her hand.

Rosalind waited for the laughter to end, then turned again to Brian. "I cannot stay too long; I have my lessons to attend to. And besides, I would not have you abandon your former company," she said, indicating Legolas with a smile.

Brian looked as though he wanted to protest, but held back. "Yeah," he finally decided.

Rosalind smiled at him, then Legolas. "You don't go to our school," she stated matter-of-factly.

Legolas shook his head.

"You're not even from around here," she said, to which Legolas readily agreed. "And you do wish more people knew that," she added, eyeing him, but still smiling her small smile.

Legolas assumed that Goths must have a certain degree of mind powers.

As though to confirm this, yet deny it, Rosalind put forth the statement, "Ah yes, I wish I could see what people were thinking," she said, stealing a nearly unseen glance at Brian, "but no, I cannot." She looked around her, and sighed. "I'm just very observative, and I take what people say and express in their paralinguistics and nonverbals to heart." She giggled behind her hand again, and admitted somewhat guiltily, "I'm sorry, that is a little of my love of psychology shining through."

Brian nodded excitedly to Legolas. "She knows how to hypnotize people!" He touched her arm and cried, "Tell, him Rosalind!"

Rosalind shook her head, as though embarrassed. "Oh, I'm still learning, and I'm not that great. But yes," she directed her words back at Legolas, "I am being instructed in the art of hypnosis. It is very interesting, as one might guess, but harder than it looks."

Legolas thought carefully about how to word his inquiry. "What is hypnosis?" he asked.

Rosalind looked happy to have an avid listener. "Well," she began, "mainly it is the undercovering of the being's subconscience while they are themselves in an altered state of conscience." Legolas nodded, soaking in the information. "But it's not all staged, like it used to be. It's actually still banned in some places you know..." she stated wisely. "The fakers got rather rampant, and had to be, ahem, canned." At this, Rosalind sniffed and looked away.

"Canned," Brian giggled, and nudged her knee with his. "That's a good one, girl."

Rosalind looked a little guilty, having used such a slang term, but a sideways smile crept onto her lips. Legolas recognized the exchange between the two young humans, and cast a gentle look at them. At least in this world, falling in love is still an ever-constant, he thought to himself.

"You oughta hypnotize somebody for us sometime, Rosalind!" Brian still couldn't understand why not everyone was as excited about the prospect as he was. Didn't they get it?

"Yes, perhaps one day," Rosalind said to him, patting his hand. Legolas smiled again. Rosalind then stood. "But at the present moment, I must be on my way," she announced.

"Awww," Brian lamented. "Where do you gotta rush off to so fast?"

"Remember?" she said, walking away, and ruffling his curly hair as she went. "Cello lessons." She then waved and hurried back inside.

"Bye, girl!" Brian hollered over his shoulder, his obnoxious farewell missing her entirely. Legolas was once more reminded of Bear. "Great, i'n't she?" Brian exclaimed to Legolas, crossing his legs and leaning forward enthusiastically, as though he was expecting a great answer.

Legolas looked into his happy young face, and gained some hope for his own. "Sure," he assured Brian. "Just great."

a/n: i suppose that ought to do it. i know it gets annoying with all the new characters, but i promise -- all will have a bearing on the ending!