(Untitled)

[ringwinner]

The terrible thing about getting ready to die, Bilbo thought, is that there is really no good way to go about it on short notice. It was all very well to prepare for it in old age, tucked up snug and safe in one's own hobbit hole, but it was quite another to be faced with death on a battlefield where even a magic ring is of little practical use

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[howmanylives]

"Hi," said a voice from a few feet to the left.

In terms of island discoveries, Jamie Madrox had thought upon almost stumbling over the prone form a few moments earlier, an unconscious hobbit sure as hell beat a dead dupe floating in the water, though it took him a few seconds to realize that that was what -- or who, rather, since hobbits were people, too, after a fashion, weren't they? -- he'd nearly run into as opposed to a child. The curly hair, pointy ears, and Robin Williams-hairy feet were all dead giveaways to anyone who'd read a fantasy novel in the past sixty years -- or, for that matter, been to a movie theater in the last ten.

Believe me, as someone who's seen things they'd have a hell of a time recreating over at Weta, there's a difference in seeing something on the big screen and seeing it person... No amount of forced perspective and face replacement CGI and prosthetic makeup can ever compare to seeing the real thing in the original 3D

[ringwinner]

"Pity. I was rather hoping I was," Bilbo remarked, still gingerly rubbing his head. It still hurt quite a bit, though he was beginning to suspect that part of that was due to his puzzlement over the predicament he now found himself in. At least the man next to him was being friendly enough. In fact, Bilbo was so pleased to find someone so calm after the chaos and confusion of the battle, that he almost didn't notice that he was very obviously visible.

"You can see me, can't you? Not my shadow or anything like that, but actually, truly see me?" He looked down at his ring suspiciously. Granted, it was still new to him, and there were most likely dozens of things he did not yet know about it and its ways, but it had never stopped working before.

[howmanylives]

I don't blame him. It's been over two years since I showed up here, and there are times still I wish I couldn't trust my eyes. This isn't necessarily one of them.

Like I said... It's a trip.

"'Fraid so," said Jamie, shoving his hands into the pockets of his favored trenchcoat -- he'd introduced some color into his wardrobe since his arrival, a little variety in the cuts he chose, but the coat was a mainstay, regardless of the weather -- and kicking up a little dirt as he scuffed the ground with his shoe. "Nice bit of jewelry you've got yourself there."

[ringwinner]

"I... Thank you. I won it from someone in a game." Bilbo quickly removed his ring and put it safely in his pocket. He had no reason to believe the man could have known anything about its true powers, but a part of still didn't entirely like the way that he had looked at it. And besides, if he was already visible than what was the purpose of wearing it at all?

"I beg your pardon, but do you know where we are?" Ring safely stowed he was now free to get down to more important matters, and his voice took on a more businesslike tone.

[howmanylives]

Talk about 'my precious'-ing, jeez.

Very casually, Jamie took a step to the side, and leaned sideways against a tree, his shoulder digging uncomfortably into the bark. He didn't care, if only because it sold the sort of nonchalance he was trying to sell; he was, at heart, a performer, creating his own narrative as he lived, checking off tropes and subverting them as he deemed fit. He was talking to a hobbit in the middle of a magical island; a level head, he thought, was required to complete the absurdity of the tableau.

"I do, as matter of fact." A pause, then more cryptically: "Or as much as anyone else does, at least."

[ringwinner]

"I don't suppose you would mind telling me, would you?" Bilbo watched the other man uncomfortably. After so much time spent with Gandalf, he had had more than enough of cryptic answers to his questions.

"Just a straight answer, if you please, no riddles."

[howmanylives]

It's maybe a good thing he got me instead of Layla. Not that she can't be frank when she wants to be -- hell, she can be downright unnerving with her candor if it suits her purposes -- but an opening like that... Well, who knows with her, sometimes?

Who knows with me sometimes? Without the physical manifestations of different facets of my personality running around, I guess I'm easier to predict than I used to be, but there's still that part of me that wants to be contrary with a request like that. I tamp it down.

"Right, no riddles," Jamie murmured to himself, fiddling with a bit of lint in his one of his pockets, and he nodded once, mulling over the answer in his head for a moment, because the hobbit -- or was it The Hobbit, he wondered, as in the titular hobbit -- was obviously from a world where any of Jamie's usual references were meaningless

[ringwinner]

There was no telling the way that the hobbit Bilbo had been before the quest would have taken that piece of news. He might have gotten flustered and flummoxed and frightened and possibly even worked himself up to a nice, long shriek like the one at that unexpected party so long ago. This Bilbo was just as uncertain and confused, but he had grown over the course of his adventure. He had faced trolls, goblins, Gollum, spiders, a dragon, and the rivalries between other races. If he could only manage to keep his head a magical island surely would be no more difficult to handle.

He frowned thoughtfully, then nodded. "Thank you. But you are quite certain there is no way at all to get back? You see, I left in the middle of a rather tricky spot and I would very much like to see it through to the end, if I can."

[howmanylives]

Asking Jamie whether he was certain about something could often be an invitation to a long, circular monologue in which the man delved into all sorts of matters metaphysical, but he had the decency to bite his tongue, giving the circumstances.

"I'm as certain as it's possible to be," he said, frowning a little. "But it's believed that you're not missed at home, so, if it's any consolation, you're still in the middle of that same tricky spot. You're just here, as well."

[ringwinner]

Bilbo had to think about that for a moment or two before it would fully sink into his brain in any way that made sense to him. Even so, when he spoke he still did not sound as if he entirely grasped what was going on. Parts of it, perhaps, but definitely not the whole.

"So I've been split? Oh, I don't think I quite like that. What if the me I can't see goes off and has something horrid happen to him? I won't even know, will I?"

[howmanylives]

It's considered something of a Tabula Rasan faux pas to tell people they're fictional in some universes. You never really know how someone's going to react to that. Then again, given who I suspect this is, I could probably just tell him I read his book, and he might not be too fazed.... But the safer option seems preferable.

"Someone from your future might show up," offered Jamie. He'd had personal experience with the advantages of that happening; had Layla not arrived, he might have assumed he went through with his suicide attempt. "If they're not already here."