bloom

[bronwe]

Who: Frodo and YOU!
What: fail gardening
When: morning of April 4
Where: by the orchard
Rating: PG

It is warm enough now that Frodo can walk about barefooted without worrying that he might lose both legs to the frost. He remembers how Sam would start his planting at around this time of the year, just when the seasons turn and the sweet smell of spring is almost here. But not quite.

There is a tin bucket of flower bulbs some ways from the apple tree, set beside the small crouched figure digging little holes into the ground with his hands. He has a pile of pulled weeds and rocks on his other side, having cleared a small patch there for his makeshift garden. Planting the bulbs confuses him though. Which way is up and how deep should it go?

Times like these, more than ever, makes him wish Sam were here to give him all sorts of wise advice, and not only for gardening. He can already imagine one hundred and one quips from the hobbit. But his friend isn't here, yet, so Frodo just keeps squinting at the bulb, hoping some revelation will miraculously come to him eventually.

Comments

[bronwe]

Daffodils! No vegetables here unfortunately. He would try to grow mushrooms if he only knows how, but the only gardening book he found that he could understand were about flowers. He notices the rabbit only a moment after, watching it quietly so as not to scare it away.

"Hullo, little rabbit," no matter that it must seem silly to be talking to one. "Are you here to help me dig little holes?"

[the_marli_tharn]

She figuresd she'll never get used to talking to men. Her first instinct is to freeze, cursory to bolt, but when he speaks and she understands him, she forces herself to calm. Hardly a muscle twitches.

"Only if you let me help you eat what comes up from them."

[bronwe]

Frodo is startled to hear the rabbit speak, even now after a few months in the castle. Some things he will just never get used to. He regains himself with an apologetic smile however.

"Do you eat daffodils? I can try and grow cabbages too. And taters."

[the_marli_tharn]

They can learn together! Rabbits are Friends not Food!

"I've never tried a daffodil, or ... taters? But I know cabbage. I should not say no to any treats you manage to grow here."

[bronwe]

Tell that to Smeagol now, little rabbit.

"Then you are welcome to any treats that might grow, though I'm not sure any will grow at all..." He shows her the bulb. "Do you know which way is up?"

[the_marli_tharn]

She stretches forward to sniff at it, still trying to keep a careful distance back, and then give her head a little shake and settles down against the dirt.

"I'm afraid not. I just eat things out of the ground, it's you men that put it there in the first place."

[bronwe]

He chuckles a little, more at himself for talking to a rabbit! What would Sam say or the Old Gaffer for that matter.

"I will plant half of them this way up and the rest the other way," he plops that one into the hole. "At least half of them will grow then, hopefully."

[the_marli_tharn]

They probably wouldn't believe him.

"That sounds like the best way to go about it, I should think."

[bronwe]

Until he introduces her to them, of course, the most polite rabbit he has met so far.

"Do you eat bulbs not in the ground? You are welcome to take them as you wish."

[the_marli_tharn]

It is only fair, he has been a very polite human in return!

"I have never tried one! I would not mind the chance, if you are willing to part with it."

[bronwe]

He grins, he can go without one bulb to make a new friend. A rare one at that. He takes another bulb from the bucket, a cleaner one, before resting it on the ground near her. It seems awfully forward to ask for her to eat it from his palm.

"You are welcome to two or more as well!"

[the_marli_tharn]

She does approach with hesitance, hop by hop, sniffing at the bulb before starting to nibble on it.

"Oh, this is very good! Thank you." She glances up at him, swiveling her ears one by one toward him. "I am called Hyzenthlay."

[bronwe]

Frodo chuckles, resting his arms on his thighs so he can just watch her eat. It is quite adorable, but he keeps the thought to himself in case it offends.

"Hyzenthlay," he is still learning to pronounce that right, but he does try to mimic her. "You can call me Frodo. Frodo Baggins."

[the_marli_tharn]

She gives a little ndod. "Frodobaggins. I've never heard a name like that,does it mean anything?"

[bronwe]

"I think it means 'wisdom' of sort, and Baggins is from where we live," he draws a crude map of Bag End, with the main roads and then marks his house with a deeper circle. "See, at a dead end, sort of like a bag. Bag End. Baggins."

[the_marli_tharn]

She looks at his map, cocking her ears, but she doesn't really understand the concept of pictures. She has no idea what he's doing, but she politely doesn't mention it. "So Baggins is your warren?"

[bronwe]

Frodo assumes that since it is talking like a human that it must know other human things, but he is trying, a little too hard. "If warren is like a home, yes! We even live in holes under the ground too, but we cover the earth with walls and wood and have little round windows too."

[the_marli_tharn]

She perks up, hearing they have some similarities she never would have guessed. "Menliving underground? I've never heard of such a thing!"

[bronwe]

"No, not men. Hobbits! We are about half as tall as men are," he gestures to his own hips as if that would help her...