Author's note: I know its Mary-sue to pick on Arwen, but it's just so much fun. Please forgive me for this one little slip into Mary-sueisness. *Folds hands with a pleading look*
Chapter six:
It was getting late and the feast had been over for sometime, but Arwen didn't want to leave the terrace. No one else was their; they had all turned in for the night. The night was warm and peaceful. Arwen just couldn't bring herself to leave. She sat where she was for a while longer, sighed, and got up to leave. She took one last look at the clear sky, and headed for her room.
Adam was fighting to keep awake. Queen of the sugar plum lily drum fairies thingies. How long is she gonna stay on that terrace? Everyone else's gone to bed! His sleepy mind complained. He was just about to dose off when; he saw something that was glowing come down the hall. Can it be? Please say it's my beautiful Arwen! He thought as he shook all vestiges of sleep from his body. Adam crouched down in his hiding place and made ready. He waited with baited breath as the figure emerged.
Adam nearly shouted for joy as Arwen came into sight. She walked down the hallway, and Adam waited 'till she was in the center of his camera circle. When Arwen reached the center of the circle, she froze, and a look of utter terror crossed her face.
"Nooooooooooo!" She wailed as Adam hit the buttons to start the cameras.
There were too many of them. She couldn't get away. She turned around and round, but the cameras were everywhere. When what seemed like an eternity to Arwen had passed, the cameras stopped. Now was her chance, and she took it. Arwen ran as fast as she could to her room. She rushed in and locked the door. She was never coming out again.
Adam felt sorry for Arwen, but he figured she'd recover. Besides, it looked like he would finally get a picture of her. Adam was forced to turn off the cameras because all, except the video camera, were out of film. Therefore, he stopped the cameras and let Arwen get away. Once she had left, he came out of hiding and recovered his cameras.
He carried every thing to his room, and sat down to examine them. He tried watching what the camcorder had got on film, but there was just this constantly moving, glowing blur in the center of the picture. "Mother of sugar cane and caffeine dolphins." He sighed, deleted what was on the tape, and set it aside. Next, he looked at the snapshots. The first five pictures from each camera had an indistinguishable blur in the center. The others had clear pictures of Arwen trying to hide her face. In one of them, she had failed miserably. "It's not the best picture in the world, but it's better than nothing." He remarked. He gathered all the equipment together, and snuck into Jessica's room.
He located the backpack, and tried to stuff everything back into it, but failed. Adam was too tired and he was a guy so, it was hopeless. He just wanted to get to bed and he hoped that Jessica wouldn't say anything about the pack. He left Jessica's room and entered his own. He stuffed the pictures in his journal, and went to sleep.
The next day dawned bright and promising. Some of the elves stayed in their rooms a little longer that usual, but that was because they were taking thirty minutes to recover from hangovers. Jessica awoke to the beautiful song of elves greeting the morning. She opened her eyes and thought, "This is better than waking up to bird songs." She smiled and sat up. As soon as she did this, she knew something was wrong. She could tell by the feel of the air in the room. She turned her head and saw it. The backpack was in total disarray. She narrowed her eyes. "Why…who…what? I know I didn't leave it like that, so who could have? If it had been Liz, she would have put everything back properly, so it wasn't her. Adam? Nah, he wouldn't sneak into a girl's room in the middle of the night." She dismissed with a wave of her hand. She sighed and climbed out of bed.
Jessica got dressed, made her bed, and folded her nightgown. She then repacked the bag, grabbed a camera, and headed to Liz's room. She opened her door to find Legolas in mid knock.
He blinked for a second, then quickly recovered. "Good morning." He greeted with a smile.
"Good morning." Jessica returned. Now that she had recovered from her heart racing surprise, she saw that there was quite a gathering outside her door. Liz, Glorfindel, Thranduil, and a concerned looking Elrond were standing at her door. "Is something wrong?" She asked.
"It's Arwen. She said she was attacked by your magic of camera, and won't come out of her room." Elrond answered.
"Do you know anything about this?" Thranduil inquired.
Jessica thought for a moment, messed up backpack plus camera attacked Arwen equals…equals…Adam?
Liz looked at Jessica's thoughtful expression, and began to worry a bit. Sure, she didn't like Arwen, but she wasn't worth being kicked out of Rivendell for. "You know something, don't you?" Liz suspiciously asked.
"I think I do." Jessica answered as she walked to Adam's door. She knocked hard on the door and yelled, "Wake up!"
A few minutes later, the door opened, and a sleepy a
Adam poked out his head. "Wha?'
"Get dressed and come out here. I have some questions for you." Jessica ordered.
"Why? Can't it wait?" He asked.
"No, get dressed." Jessica replied with steel in her voice.
Adam shut the door, got dressed, and re-emerged. "What? I was sleeping."
This is unusual; he's usually a morning person. Jessica thought as suspicion grew in her mind. The elves and Liz wondered what Jessica was doing, and watched curiously. "Why were you in my room last night?'
"I wasn't." Adam quickly denied. She knows! He panicked.
"Why did you get the cameras out of my pack?" Jessica mercilessly continued.
Adam knew he was beat, so he did the only thing a true man could do in this situation. He got down on his knees, folded his hands, and wailed, "Please don't hurt me! I didn't mean anything by it. Honest! I just wanted a picture of the lovely Arwen."
Jessica looked at the pathetic creature at her feet. "You are confined to your room until further notice." She turned to Elrond. "Sorry about all this. We could try talking to Arwen if you want."
"Yes, please do." Elrond gratefully accepted the offer.
Elrond lead the way to Arwen's room. Liz and Jessica were in the forefront, and Liz whispered to Jessica, "Why do you care about Arwen?"
"I don't. I want to see if we can stay out of trouble, and we might be able to get in some good veiled tormenting." Jessica whispered back. "I mean, she has to go to the bathroom sometime, and if she's in her room the whole time, we won't have to go looking for her. It'll make playing pranks easier."
"Gotcha. What about Adam? Will Elrond punish him? We do need someone for a pack mule." Liz worried.
"We can deal with him. I'm sure Elrond won't mind." Jessica assured Liz as they reached the door to Arwen's room.
Elrond knocked on the door and soothingly said, "Arwen? It's me, will you please come out?"
"No! I won't until those, those people are gone." She sobbed with obvious terror in her voice. Jessica and Liz looked at each other and were hard pressed to contain a fit of giggles. Arwen was acting like a four year old who had been denied their ice cream, and the two girls found this amusing.
"Arwen be reasonable. You can't stay in your room the entire time we are here." Jessica reasoned.
"Yes, I can!" Arwen defied.
"Look let's pretend we're both adults and not four year old children wailing 'cause they didn't get a cookie." Jessica sighed. Arwen caught the insult, but held her tongue. She wouldn't let a human be prove that she was acting like a child. "First," Jessica continued, "What are you going to do about food?"
"I can go without food for a day."
"And, if we are here for more than a day?"
"I'll have someone bring the food to my room."
"Okay, what about the bathroom?"
"Huh?" This question took Arwen by surprise.
"There aren't any bathrooms in your bed room. I know because I asked about that when we were searching for you. Since there isn't a bathroom in there, you'll have to come out to use it."
"Shut up! That's none of your business!"
"True, but we are concerned about you."
"Really?" Arwen asked with all traces of anger gone.
"Yeah, we wouldn't want your bladder to explode now would we?" Liz asked innocently. She wasn't going to let Jessica have all of the fun.
"Go away!" Arwen shouted.
Elrond sighed and led them away from Arwen's room. "What? Did I say something offensive?" Jessica feigned with concern.
"I thought those were perfectly legitimate and logical questions." Legolas said and Glorfindel nodded.
Elrond shrugged, "She's upset. I have some things to attend to. Liz, Jessica, could I trust you to deal with Adam?" Liz and Jessica nodded. "Good. I give you girls permission to go where you please." He said as he walked off.
"Legolas," Thraduil sternly said to his son. "Don't do anything to Arwen. Just because she's holed up in her room, doesn't give you free invitation to harass her."
"Father! I'm ashamed you would think such a thing." Legolas said with mock innocence. The girls covered their mouths to hide their smiles. If Legolas liked to pick on Arwen, things could get fun.