hobbit ficlet for slightlytookish

[sophinisba]

Happy birthday to slightlytookish! I'm really glad we started getting to know each other this year and have been encouraging each other's mutual corruption (you with slash, me with Pippinfic).

I started a more substantial fic based on the prompts you gave me last month, but it isn't close to finished, so I did a pair of dribble-drabbles. Thanks to danachan for looking them over. I hope you like them and that you have a wonderful day!



Crickhollow, September

September
at Crickhollow,
a house waiting
to be left alone
by an owner in exile
and three friends following him lost.
But on the evening of the twenty-fifth
there's fire in the hearth and water hot;
meat, drink, and mushrooms to satisfy one and all;
and after night and silence fall, a conspiracy is unmasked.
Five hobbits tired of lying, afraid of saying goodbye,
at last speak the words friends and beloved
and feel the burden of secrecy lifted.
Morning will bring its own fears,
but right now they're happy
The house at Crickhollow,
for one night,
feels like
home.

September
at Crickhollow,
four years on,
Merry and Pippin drink
to Frodo's health and Bilbo's
and believe the words they say:
Last year's harvest was a fine one,
but this year will be better, and sweeter still,
in the Shire, the south, and across the sea,
for those who've left and those who stayed behind.
It's too much of everything for Merry to bear,
and he chokes on that wine of blessedness.
Pippin holds him and says, "My Merry,
You weren't going to cry, remember?
This never was Frodo's home,
but it's ours now,"
for another night,
two hobbits
together.

Comments

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

Oh, these are fabulous!!!! Heart-breaking and heart-lifting and all! Very very nice!!

[sophinisba]

Wow, you are fast! Thank you, Claudia!

The conspiracy is the best thing ever. I got all emotional rereading it yesterday. ♥

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

I just read it recently, too. It's wonderful!! It really is my favorite of the earlier chapters of LOTR... :-)

[sophinisba]

They love each other so much!!

[shirebound]

How utterly lovely, Sophie. You paint such beautiful and emotional pictures here.

[sophinisba]

Thank you! I get all emotional thinking about these parts of the story. I'm going to read your ficlet too.

[danachan.livejournal.com]

The second half of the second one of these still is absolutely beautiful, you know. ♥ I love all of it, but especially that. (Oh Merry. *sigh*)

[sophinisba]

Thank you for reassuring me about that part. You are great, Dana. ((Merry))

[gentlehobbit.livejournal.com]

Ohhh... these are good. I especially like the first one:

Five hobbits tired of lying, afraid of saying goodbye,
at last speak the words friends and beloved
and feel the burden of secrecy lifted.

Yes... yes. Marvellous. You have really brought to the fore emotions that Tolkien didn't elaborate on (except in Frodo to some degree) and it feels *right*. Thank you for this, although I know it wasn't for me but for slightlytookish. :)

[sophinisba]

Thank you! The conspiracy fascinates me because they all have to be dishonest with each other (for *years* omg!) out of friendship, and then the reveal of it is just so wonderful! I wish there could be another version of the movie where we'd get to see that. ♥

[slightlytookish]

Oh wow. These are just beautiful, Sophie. You have quite a talent for this writing style! I love them these dribble-drabbles much - the first with all the sense of worry but also of hope and friendship, and the second with Merry, poor darling Merry, and Pippin there to comfort him.

Thanks very much! And here's to another year of mutual corruption - it's so fun! :D

[sophinisba]

I am so glad you like them! You've done a lot to encourage me to write about Pippin and I really appreciate that!

I was telling Dana yesterday that dribbles are my favorite form to write. I think they work really well for subjects like this.

Happy birthday!

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

What a beautiful, heart-warming creation. There's sadness, and that last few lines just brings a lump to my throat, but there's hope and happiness too. A lovely birthday present.

[sophinisba]

I love that there is so much joy and sadness together in the key moments of the story. It's part of what makes it so rich for going back and exploring again and again in reading and in fanfic.

[aprilkat.livejournal.com]

I totally understand Merry choking "on that wine of blessedness," because that's how I felt myself reading this.

Beautiful.

[sophinisba]

I was choking up last night rereading what Merry said to Frodo at Crickhollow. It gets to me more and more the more times I read it. I'm really glad some of the emotion came through in this. *hugs*

[dreamflower]

Five hobbits tired of lying, afraid of saying goodbye,
at last speak the words friends and beloved
and feel the burden of secrecy lifted.
Morning will bring its own fears,
but right now they're happy
The house at Crickhollow,
for one night,
feels like
home.

Oh. *wibbles* That's perfect, that is. I love the Conspiracy, and this is a fitting tribute to it. Why couldn't PJ have put it in the movie?

[layne67.livejournal.com]

This is so good, Sophi. Love it :)

but this year will be better, and sweeter still,
in the Shire, the south, and across the sea,
for those who've left and those who stayed behind.

*sighs*