Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » As If By Chance {1x1}

Holli squeaked as she was pulled from the tree and put on the elf's shoulders. She clung to him, not used to being to high, and moving at such a quick pace! She had never gone so fast, or seen anyone else run so quickly. At least they could get away from the fire...

Well, if the fire hadn't been spreading so quickly, or if there hadn't been more groups of orcs lighting fires in different parts of the forest as well. It wouldn't be long until they would be surrounded by fire. If the elf was paying attention, he would be able to see two or three hobbits darting around, trying to find a way out. They would appear one moment and be gone the next, never to be seen again. But Holli was more focused on the fires quickly spreading around them, and whether or not they would make it out.

He would've lunged out and snagged the hobbits if he could've, but they were already gone. Panting and wheezing against the smoke, the elf looked wildly around for some form of escape.

Where were all the animals going?

He stopped for just a moment to pay attention to the smaller beings all around him, and finally managed to spot a rabbit darting away through the underbrush. This was going to take a little effort, considering he was obviously larger than a rabbit, but if that was where the animals were going then he would be more than happy to follow them.

Tripping and stumbling over the thicker underbrush, he fought his way through, ducking his head to avoid inhaling too much smoke. Flames were flashing in his peripheral vision and he swerved sharply to the left-

His eyes widened as he tumbled down the side of a steep hill, twisting himself around so that he wouldn't land on and crush the hobbit on his back. Bouncing off of things and generally being rather ungraceful, he finally rolled to a stop on a small dirt road, probably the one used to get in and out of the Shire.

He'd realize this later though. For right now he needed to breathe, which was a rather difficult task at the moment.

Holli was clinging to the elf the entire time, fearing that they would get caught in the flames. The path he took was less than satisfactory, but she supposed he would choose the right way to escape. It was bumpy and hard, not to mention rattling, but it ended abruptly as they went tumbling down a steep hill.

The hobbit, being smaller and denser than the elf, rolled to the other side of the road, into a patch of mushrooms. She was jostled from being thrown from his back, and her head was spinning a bit. It took her a little while to regain her bearings, and when she did, all she could smell was smoke and the acidic odor of the substance burning on the trees. Animals were scattering and birds were fleeing, having been forced out of their home. The funny thing, though, was that Holli didn't see any other hobbits... She hoped they had just found another way out.

When Holli was able to sit up properly, she looked across the road, towards the elf that had saved her once again. "Sir...?" She didn't know what to call him. She stood up shakily and began towards him, watching to make sure he had made it alright as well.

His chest finally stopped heaving as he got his breathing back to a steady rate; he coughed a little bit to get the smokey air out of his lungs, inhaling the somewhat cleaner air that was lower to the ground and farther away from the burning trees.

He looked over as the hobbit approached, not yet behooved to get to his feet. Still, he'd probably have to soon enough, so he might as well start making the effort now. He shoved himself into a sitting position, raising an eyebrow at Holli questioningly, once again asking if she was already.

At being called 'sir' he waved her off gently before smoothing the dirt and writing something with a long finger-

Crysor.

He pointed to it before pointing at himself, watching the hobbit as he once more got to his feet and looked around. He had had quite enough of orcs, thank you very much.

Holli breathed a relieved sigh when he sat up. She quickly glanced over him to look for bruises or broken bones, but found none. Then when he wrote the word, she realized it was his name. Was he a mute?

"Crysor? Crysor." Holli nodded, and looked up as he stood. After a few moments, she looked to the burning forest, and sighed. "I..I suppose I can just follow this road east...to Bree-land..."

She knew that Crysor would probably be on his way now, having enough of the Shire and its troubles. She could probably make it on her own, finding food along the way. Maybe a few Big Folk would hear of the attack and give her a place to stay until she could try finding her family...if they were even still alive... Holli shook her head. Of course they were alive. They had to have made it out alright. She would just have to push aside her fears of the Big Folk and their huge buildings and animals. She was a Talson! She could do it.

Crysor just nodded down at her, another faint trace of a smile flicking across his lips. Yep, that was his name alright. He scuffed it out again with his foot after she had finished with it, leaving nothing but smooth dirt once more.

The smile disappeared once she suggested heading to Bree. No way was he going to let her go alone; it was much too dangerous for her to travel by herself. She barely made it out alive! She needed help. The poor little hobbit didn't even have a weapon to defend herself with.

Besides, he had already invested so much in her. There was no point in leaving her now, just to let her get killed later on down the road.

He crossed his arms over his chest in a stubborn manner, tilting his head in the direction of the road, his expression reading Well, lead the way, then.

"You're..." Holli glanced down the road, hen back up at him, smiling. "Oh. Okay." She tucked some hair behind her slightly-pointed ear and began walking. "Thank you, Mister Crysor." She now took the time to straighten out her dress, fluffing the skirt properly (it went to the middle of her shin) and adjusting the apron tied over her shoulders and around her waist. Just a few moments was what she needed in order to straighten herself out.

"So are you heading anywhere in particular, Mister Crysor?" she asked as she used her fingers to pick out any twigs or leaves from her hair and dress. With her smile and her outfit fixed up, she seemed even younger snd more innocent, like a puppy you would want to protect from a thunderstorm. But hopefully no one would call her out on her age; she hated being called young, since she was already the youngest in her family.

Crysor was tapping his foot impatiently, although the smirk on his face told her that he was just teasing. As she straightened herself out he peered around the road once more; it would probably be best for them to travel in the woods next to the road so they wouldn't be entirely out in the open but could still follow its path to Bree.

He looked down at her again when she asked the question, shaking his head no. He had just sort of been wandering, really, trying to stay out of trouble and keep moving. If he stayed in one place too long he started to get twitchy.

But now he had a set destination in mind and that was where he was going to go. Hopefully Bree hadn't been attacked by the orcs, and hopefully it wouldn't be attacked when they were there.

Crysor had had enough of orcs.

{Another day filled with baking and cleaning... I'll be slow //flails// My qpologies. Holidays do not approve of RPing, obviously x3}

Holli nodded, and began walking, trying to ignore the burning forest above them and to their right. It was such a shame that they were so wrecklessly destroying everything! The Shire was beautiful... It made the hobbit lass wonder how long it would tale to purge the land of the orc's evil and restore it to its pure, peaceful state. But for now, she just had to make sure she lived long enough to see the day the Shire was again her home.

"I wonder if we'll meet any others on the way down the road," she thought aloud. The road just so happened to be the Great East Road, the main road towards the land of Men, Bree-land. There, many races mixed, so a hobbit wouldn't be so uncommon, though a giant elf may catch some eyes. No one would question them, most likely. Strange travelling parties were common in Bree-land, and welcomed, for the humans loved exciting stories of adventure and travelling...especially if those tales were a bit ficticious.

(That's alright xD I've got homework I need to do in order to get ahead so I'll probably be a bit slow as well)

Crysor shrugged in response; he wouldn't be surprised if they ran across anyone in the road, since it looked to be well-traveled and worn over time. There were many footprints here, most almost unnoticeable by how old and faded they were. The elf would've been content to just stare at the ground as he walked, but there were other things he needed to watch out for.

A little farther down the road, the two stumbled across a rather strange sight. There were a bunch of orcs and they all seemed to be trying to swat at one particular thing with their axes and maces- so caught up in this one thing that they hadn't noticed the pair and probably wouldn't for a while.

The elf stopped, frowning and raising an eyebrow in confusion. What on earth-

Then he saw the source of the commotion pop out of the middle of the brawl and tumble nimbly behind an orc, causing the foul being to be skewered with a pike by one of his comrades. It was a hobbit, and he seemed to be enjoying himself immensely.

Upon closer inspection, it could be noted that he was moving very quickly, so that the orcs couldn't keep up, and they were accidentally killing each other rather than the hobbit they were trying their best to attack. It was either very clever or very stupid; Crysor couldn't decide which.

Holli was shocked and very confused when she saw the hobbit darted to-and-fro between the large orcs, as if it was a game! Instinctively, though, because there were orcs, Holli somewhat hid behind Crysor's leg (she wished she wasn't so tall... being over three and a half feet made her much too noticeable!), thought she peeked out to see if the hobbit man was doing alright.

First off, hobbits did not willingly go into fights, much less with orcs! Secondly... were the orcs killing one another? How...How did that hobbit know how to move just so, so that an orc would kill his comrade without realizing it? Holli wasn't sure whether to be appalled or amused at the scene, since orcs where the ones who had just destroyed the Shire. But the other hobbit moved so perfectly that it was at least quite interesting to watch.

Holli looked up at Crysor. "Should we do something, Crysor?" she asked, just loud enough for the elf to hear, since she didn't want to be noticed by the orcs. Surely the elf would know what to do; he had killed many orcs in the past hour and saved her life twice. She had sort of just given him the rank of "fearless, wise warrior" in her mind, and thus he would make the best decision for the strange situation.

The elf tore his gaze away from the situation to look down at Holli, looking rather interested at what was going on. He held up a finger to say that they should wait a minute, see how the hobbit would do on his own, and then help him when he needed it. This was fascinating to watch, anyways.

The strange little hobbit was bouncing around like a rabid rabbit, faster than a flicker, a huge and mischievous grin on his face as another two orcs fell, accidentally cleaving each other in two with their large axes. Occasionally a foot would lash out and kick one in the shin or the back of the knee to help them fall and impale themselves on a weapon below; other times a little push was all they needed. Eventually there was only one left, and that was when the hobbit was starting to realize that he couldn't really kill an orc all by himself yet.

He was just getting ready to turn and run when an arrow popped out of the orc's forehead, forcing the hobbit to jump aside so he wouldn't get squashed by a dead orc. He looked at it a moment, then up at the elf that had fired the arrow, who was calmly putting the bow back in its quiver. There was another person too- another hobbit! How lovely!

"Hi!" the small hobbit called, waving to them as if greeting friends he hadn't seen in a long time, the idea of dead orcs seeming just as normal to him as eating an apple.

If he was disturbed or scared by these recent events, he sure didn't show it.

Holli felt her stomach lurch slightly... that was certainly a lot of blood and dead bodies. However, the hobbit seemed to be alright, so she supposed it wasn't too bad. The orcs had to be killed, anyways.

At his greeting, Holli anxiously tugged on the scarf around her neck (her mother had urged her to grab a scarf and cloak before fleeing... how motherly to think of keeping warm at the time of an orc attack!). "Are you alright?" she asked, stepping out from behind Crysor's leg and walking a bit towards the other hobbit. She was debating yelling at him for being so reckless, but he had done quite a bit of good, killing so many orcs. He didn't seem deterred, either. What a strange halfling! He appeared like the sort that Holli's father would warn her not to associate with, lest they get into some serious trouble, with his haphazard hair and cheeky grin. He didn't look malicious so Holli decided that he wasn't the worst sort of hobbit they could meet along the road.

"I'm fine," the hobbit replied, stepping around the orcs and their weapons to approach Holli. "Those ones were easy, they seemed especially stupid."

Crysor followed Holli after a moment of hesitation. He wasn't sure what to make of this odd little hobbit; he certainly didn't seem like a normal halfling, that was for sure. He didn't know of any hobbits that would run into a battle and look like they were getting a lot of fun out of it too.

The hobbit in question seemed to notice Crysor fully when he bent down to retrieve his arrow, his bright hazel eyes widening as he saw just how huge the elf was. "You, sir, are very tall. Don't you ever get vertigo or something up there?"

It was an innocent question, but it earned the hobbit a queer look from the elf. He shook his head, cleaning the arrowhead off and sticking it back in his quiver.

"What about doors, do you ever bump your head on any doors?"

Once more Crysor shook his head, raising an eyebrow at the curious little hobbit. He didn't seem fazed by much, did he?

Holli bit her lip, watching the two males exchange brief conversation (well, the hobbit speak to the elf, who would shake his head silently). It seemed rather rude to immediately question someone on their height! But Holli brushed it off; the hobbit most obviously hadn't been raised properly, and thus it wasn't his fault for being so strange, she decided.

"I'm Hollihock," she introduced after a moment, before gesturing to the elf, "and this is Crysor." She paused before continuing. "We're headed to Bree."

She suddenly wondered whether or not the other hobbit had enough sense to get out of the Shire. He seemed so at ease with orcs that it looked like he didn't need to go anywhere, except for when food ran out. Still, though, she would feel more comfortable to know he was out of danger's way, despite being so comfortable killing off orcs with their own weapons. After all, he'd be in quite a pinch should he come upon a lone orc.

The hobbit was distracted from Crysor's immense height when Holli began to talk to him. "I'm Kori," the hobbit replied proudly, as if the name meant he was the king of all hobbits. In truth, he was hoping they hadn't heard of him before, considering most hobbitfolk and big people alike thought he was much more trouble than he was worth. Come now, was it really his fault that the breeze that day had been strong enough to spread the fire in that one house faster? If he had known that he wouldn't have started the fire at all.

But no matter. They seemed like nice enough people, except maybe for the elf. He was a little strange, not talking and all, but he was fine with that.

"Bree, eh? I've never been. I've heard that everything there is very big," Kori commented, thinking about all the descriptions he had heard of the town.

Crysor took a few steps, looking around Allen's before gently poking Holli's shoulder and jerking his head at the road, telling her they should probably keep moving before another band of orcs came out of the burning forest.

Kori? Wasn't that the name of... no, of course not. It couldn't possibly be the hobbit who burned down half his village! But then again, he did see rather reckless.

Holli glanced up at Crysor when he nudged her, and she nodded slightly. "We need to get going," she told Kori, pausing for a moment. "Would... Would you like to tag along?" Whether or not he had burned down his whole village, he seemed able to defend himself fairly well, and thus would be a fine addition to their group. She didn't consult the elf first, so she hoped he wouldn't get irritated at her sudden invitation.

Kori grinned impishly, glad that he had been invited along and that the two hadn't seemed to know about him. Perfect! He needed some company anyways, he was getting tired of talking to trees.

"Sure! I've always wanted to go to Bree," he stated ecstatically, beginning to walk down the road again. "I want to see if all the tales are true, if giants really do show up there and dwarves and high-elves and-"

Crysor just shook his head at the chatterbox of a hobbit, following along behind again to keep an eye and an ear out for trouble. Kori seemed well-intentioned, if a bit odd. He could've sworn though that he had heard something in a pub once about a pyromaniacal hobbit burning down a village and then pickpocketing everyone he came across.

He'd have to keep an eye on this one.

Hollihock, on the other hand, was glad to have some conversation to reply to as they walked along the road. She would reply to Kori as the need arose, but for the most part she would just listen to him rattle on. It was nice to just have sounds to fill the air during their journey to Bree.

The next few hours were fairly calm, with no more run-ins with orcs or fire. Soon the sun would be setting, and they would need to camp somewhere...especially since Holli's stomach had begun to growl. She hadn't eaten since breakfast! The little hobbit was getting quite hungry, and her stomach made sure the two men around her knew good and well that she was.

The only thing that shut Kori up eventually was the sound of Holli's stomach rumbling. The hobbit would've prattled on for another good couple of hours, but there were more pressing matters to deal with now.

Crysor was smirking at how loud the small hobbit's empty stomach was; for such a tiny little thing she could make a lot of noise if need be. He snapped his fingers to get their attention before pointing at the trees on the side of the road- they'd be foolish to set up camp on the road itself. The tall elf strode into the steadily darkening forest, looking back every now and then to make sure his halfling companions were following. Eventually he stopped when they were out of sight of the road, sitting down with his back against a tree to relax, if just for a few minutes.

Crysor's long fingers drifted to his cheek, tracing the scabbed over cut that was visible there, and then down to wound on his shoulder. It seemed like it was fine; not very deep, it'd heal up nicely in a few days. He just had to make sure to not open it up again.

Kori, in the meantime, had skittered up a tree to take a look around, not sure how far away they were from any sort of civilization. It was hard to see through the branches and he didn't really want to climb any higher, so he stopped where he was and looked down at his two traveling buddies, swinging his legs from the branch he was sitting on.

"So I'm guessing we're staying here for the night?"