Although this was originally intended to be a one-shot, several people asked me to continue it, so I shall. Send in your favorite ice breakers and maybe I'll write a chapter!
In spite of the ridiculousness of the game, Truth or Dare had indeed succeeded in breaking some of the ice between the members of the Fellowship. At least, it succeeded in building a bond between the hobbits, dwarf, and man of Gondor in laughter at Legolas and Aragorn, who did not appreciate this "step forward."
Due to Elrond's instructions, the group found itself once again in the same clearing the next day. They sat around, chatting for a bit, when with a suddenness that startled everyone except for Aragorn and Legolas, who were used to it, Elrond's twin sons, Elladan and Elrohir, leapt from the trees into the clearing.
"What the—"Gimli began.
"Forgive us for startling you," Elladan said, bowing to hide his unapologetic grin.
"We merely came to continue Ada's ice breakers," Elrohir said innocently. [A/N: Ada = Elvish for Father]
This time, Aragorn and Legolas were not the only ones who groaned.
"Haven't we already done that?" Merry asked, shooting a glance towards Pippin, who half-heartedly agreed. Pippin was growing very tired of yesterday's dare.
"Not this game," Elladan corrected.
"Truth or dare is lame," Elrohir agreed.
"Except when the dares are really, really funny," they said together. Everyone looked at the blushing pair and laughed. Aragorn was less than amused. Legolas was annoyed.
"But this game is much better," Elladan said.
"Much more interesting," his twin added.
"We get to get down and dirty!" Elladan enthused.
The group exchanged uneasy glances. "What is this game, pray tell?" Boromir asked.
"Sock wrestling!" the twins said together excitedly.
Aragorn groaned loudly. Legolas brightened. The hobbits looked utterly bewildered, Boromir and Gimli mildly confused, and Gandalf resigned.
"Um…what's that?" Pippin asked.
"It's quite simple," Elladan said.
"The goal of the game is to take the other person's socks off," Elrohir explained.
"Two people get on their knees in socks," Elladan elaborated. "The goal is to get the other person's sock off. Any questions?"
The hobbits all looked at each other and silently elected Merry to speak. "Hobbits don't wear socks," he proclaimed. The others, even Pippin, nodded emphatically.
"It's okay, we have extra," Elladan assured him, holding up a bag of clean, cotton socks.
"You don't understand," Merry said. "Hobbits don't wear socks."
Everyone looked at the hobbits' bare, hairy feet.
"Put them on for the sake of the game," Elrohir pleaded.
Sam looked shocked, the others simply disbelieving. "We just don't," Pippin said again.
Elladan and Elrohir looked at each other and shrugged. "Your loss," Elladan said. "You just won't play, then."
"Any volunteers for first?" Elrohir asked.
Absolute silence greeted this statement. Pippin quickly put one finger on his nose, followed by Merry, Sam and Frodo in quick succession. Gandalf, sitting across from the hobbits, caught on too and copied the gesture. Aragorn, on his left, followed the trend, and Legolas came soon after.
"Boromir! Gimli! You lose!" Pippin exclaimed.
The man and dwarf stared blankly at the small hobbit. "We played noses," Pippin said.
This did not enlighten the losers in the slightest.
"You know," Sam added, "everyone puts their finger on their nose and the last person to notice has to do whatever it is."
"Exactly," Frodo said, smiling.
"Soldiers of Gondor," Boromir said with as much dignity as possible, "do not get on their knees in the dusty ground for a game."
"Neither do dwarves!" Gimli put in.
"Why not?" Legolas asked, hiding a smile. "It's not like the ground is that far away, even when you're standing."
Gimli awarded the elf a dirty look, before turning back to argue some more. The pair's arguments were utterly useless however, and they soon found themselves forced to the center.
"You can push us here, but you can't force us to play!" Gimli declared.
"Just as well," Legolas said with a wink to Aragorn.
"What do you mean?" the dwarf demanded.
"Oh, just that it's as well for you that you don't play, since it's clear that Boromir will win," Legolas said coolly.
"He will not!" Gimli insisted.
"In any case, I refuse to play," Boromir repeated.
"Are you afraid Gimli will beat you?" Aragorn asked, hiding a smile.
"Certainly not!" Boromir exclaimed.
"So play," Frodo said simply. "Prove it."
Boromir looked at him helplessly, trying to figure out a way of backing out to the game without sounding like a coward. He couldn't, so he agreed to play, hoping that Gimli would have better luck backing out than he himself had had.
Naturally, Gimli fared no better.
"I still will not submit myself to the indignity of this game," Gimli announced.
"It's just as I said," Legolas told Aragorn. "The dwarf knows he has no chance against a man of superior strength and skill, not to mention courage."
That was all it took to get Gimli to play.
Two minutes later, the two combatants were kneeling on the ground, facing each other, each wearing a pair of socks from Elladan's bag. The odor of their feet was subject to much comment, none of it complimentary. Finally, the game was ready to begin.
"Once again, the rules are very simple. Players must remain on their knees at all times, or at least they are never allowed to stand or put any weight on their socks. The goal is to pull both of the other person's socks off. No hurting the other person. Understood?" Elrohir said excitedly.
Both nodded, facing each other grimly as though this were an actual battle and not an amusing game. All the spectators, on the other hand, were highly amused.
"Three. Two. One. GO!"
Immediately, the two were at each other. Boromir elected to go for the crawling approach and scampered towards Gimli's feet. The dwarf, on the other hand, simply turned round and round avoiding Boromir's grasping hands.
"Go Gimli! Boo Boromir!!" Merry cheered, echoed reluctantly by Pippin, who really was heartily tired of always agreeing with his cousin.
"What did I do?" Boromir called, diving for Gimli's foot just as it was jerked away.
"Two reasons," Merry called back.
"Oh?" Boromir panted, rolling away as Gimli reached for his sock.
"Yeah," Merry elaborated. "First, it's great alliteration."
"Good word," Gandalf noted, his eyes never leaving the game.
"Thank you."
"And the other reason?" Boromir asked, his own eyes leaving Gimli to glance at the hobbit.
"Easy," Merry replied, smirking as he watched Gimli reach quietly for the distracted man's sock.
"Yeah?" Boromir asked, pulling away.
"Short people work together," Merry said with a grin. Gimli had succeeded in getting a good hold on Boromir's sock, so when the man pulled away, the sock slipped right off. Everyone cheered.
"One sock down, one to go," Gimli grinned, giving Merry a thumbs up. This time, Boromir's dive succeeded in removing a sock. Everyone cheered again.
"One down, one to go," Boromir echoed, grinning back.
Gimli feinted towards the left. Boromir immediately moved right, just as Gimli reached right for his sock, grasping it tightly.
"I win," Gimli announced, beginning to pull.
"Not so fast," Boromir gasped, and twisted himself around several times out of Gimli's grasp.
"Wow!" Sam exclaimed.
Gandalf shook his head in amusement. Legolas, Aragorn, Elladan, Elrohir, and Pippin all cracked up at the look of shock on Gimli's face, while Merry said nothing, trying to come up with a positive adjective beginning with a B. His face brightened.
"Brilliant, Boromir!" Merry called. "Bloody brilliant," he added a moment later.
Without taking his eyes off Gimli, Boromir saluted in the general direction of the hobbits.
By now, though, Boromir's remaining sock was half off (he wasn't allowed to pull it back up) and Gimli was slowing down. The sight of the two hopping around on their knees was terribly funny.
Suddenly, without anyone quite seeing how it happened, Boromir sat up with Gimli's second sock in his hand. "I win," he announced.
Everyone stared for a second, then cheered. Gimli shook his head in defeat, but offered his hand to Boromir like the good sport he was.
"Good game," Boromir said.
"Indeed," Gimli agreed, and the two left the circle better friends than when they had entered it.
"Who's next?" Elladan asked.
"I'll go," Merry volunteered excitedly.
"What happened to not wearing socks?" Gandalf asked, amused.
Merry shrugged, glancing at his fellow hobbits, who also looked quite shocked.
"Very well, who wants to oppose him?" Elrohir asked.
"I will," Aragorn said quickly, muttering to Legolas, "at least this one I should be able to beat."
"Don't be so cocky," Legolas teased. "Or should I say…socky?"
"Ugh," Aragorn moaned. "Your puns are terrible."
A simultaneous moan of disgust came from the remaining hobbits as Merry pulled on socks over the hairy feet that are the pride of most self-respecting hobbits. Meriadoc Brandybuck had a great deal of self-respect, but more of it was for his tumbling skills than his feet.
"Contestants, enter the ring." Elladan said solemnly, adding in a whisper, "Valar, do I love being Master of Ceremonies."
"That's because you're master of so little else," Elrohir grinned back.
"Ahem." Elladan continued, pointedly ignoring his twin. "All rules are identical to the ones stated previously. Are there any questions?"
Merry asked, "I know we're not allowed to stand, but are we allowed to do anything other than be on our knees?"
"What did you have in mind?"
"Oh, flips, jumps, summersaults, the works…"
Aragorn winced, meeting Legolas' eyes as the elf mouthed, "I told you so."
Almost before Elladan had finished saying, "Game commences now" Aragorn's hand darted out and pulled one of Merry's socks off. After that, though, Merry was not still enough for Aragorn to get a firm enough grip on his sock again. With skill born of years of fighting, Aragorn could capably block most of Merry's attempts, but not being on his feet severely crippled his speed. Merry leaped and flipped, getting behind Aragorn faster than the Ranger could turn around. But Aragorn could still avoid the hobbit's grasps, rolling to the side and reaching for a foot.
This pattern repeated over and over, with slight variation. Once, the hobbit succeeded in grabbing a sock, to loud cheers from all, especially Legolas.
"One to one!" Elladan cheered. "Two silver pennies on Merry, anyone?"
"I'll take it," Frodo said, not forgetting the skill with which the Ranger had driven back the Ringwraiths on Weathertop.
"Traitor," Merry called, glancing at his cousin. As in the previous game, this momentary distraction allowed his opponent to reach for his sock.
"Looks like you won your bet," Aragorn called, pulling. He hardly noticed a similar tugging at his own foot. Both contestants sat up with their opponent's sock in hand, and the game ended in confusion.
"Pay up," Frodo called to Elladan.
"What are you talking about?! Merry won!" the elf exclaimed.
"Not true, Aragorn had the sock first!" Frodo asserted, immediately backed up by Sam.
"I won," Merry hollered, hurt by his relatives' betrayal and looking to Pippin for support. Pippin wavered—he did support Merry, he always did, but now, when he was forced to…
"Yeah, Merry won," Pippin said.
"So he did," Elladan agreed.
"You only think that because you have money on it," Aragorn accused.
"So what if I do? I'm the MC, I decide!"
This was met with instant uproar from Frodo, who also had money on it, Sam, who always supported Frodo, Aragorn, who believed (or wanted to believe) that he had won, Gimli, on the principle that no elf should have the power to referee, Legolas and Elrohir on the principle that Elladan should never have the power to referee, and Gandalf because it was blatantly unfair and Gandalf always disagreed with blatant unfairness (except when it was in his favor).
"It was tie," Gandalf said.
This was, of course, met with uproar from the contestants and those who had money on it. Everyone else agreed.
"It's a shame we don't have a way to replay what happened so we can really see which sock came off first," Sam said regretfully.
"It was his," Aragorn and Merry said instantly, pointing at each other, to universal laughs.
"Tie, tie," Gimli called.
"No one wins the bet," Boromir said, satisfied that he had succeeded where the Ranger had failed.
"Told you so," Legolas said again.
Aragorn slowly got up, dusted off his trousers and went over to the bench to pick up his water canteen. He took a long, satisfying sip, and proceeded to dump the rest on Legolas' head, saving a bit for an additional splash on his foster brother.
Naturally, this sparked a water fight. Elladan responded by splashing on Aragorn and "accidentally" got some on Elrohir, who responded in similar fashion and got Merry wet, who got Frodo soaked and got some on Gandalf and soon everyone was involved. At first it was every man (or dwarf, hobbit, or elf) for himself, but when the limited canteen water was gone, they agreed to teams as they went to refill. Aragorn, Elrohir, Frodo, Sam, and Gandalf against Elladan, Merry, Pippin, Gimli, Boromir and Legolas.
Each team having one twin who knew where to find additional buckets as well as another person who knew the terrain, the groups spilt up to plan strategy and the rest of the day was spent in raids, battles, sieges, duels and other military tactics.
Elrond looked out of his window at the chaos below with satisfaction. "I'm glad they're working so well together," he remarked to Erestor, upending a large bucket water on his twins' heads.
Once again, feel free to send in your favorite ice breakers and I may write a chapter! Reviews make me very, very happy.