[ .001 | accidental video ]

[potaytoes]

[A video feed pops up, but there isn't much visible besides a wall. Whoever is holding the phone doesn't realize they've initiated a call as they inspect the object.]

Something tells me this is more'n just a river stone...

[The speaker turns the "stone" over in their hands and suddenly a surprised face is visible, but only for a moment before the

Comments

[Video]

[nihao_ojiisan]

[He wants to have fun.]

Hey! Watch it, that hurt!

[Video]

[potaytoes]

[In a world where wizards are commonplace and tales of moving, talking trees are the norm, perhaps a light-up talking rock shouldn't be so shocking.

But it is. And Sam's just going to peer down at it with an expression that's a strange mix of frightened and apologetic.]

S-sorry! I didn't mean no harm. You startled me, is all. [Pause.] What are you, exactly, if you don't mind my asking?

[Video]

[nihao_ojiisan]

[Why, do you have to be somewhat adorable Sam? He almost feels bad about being an ass. Almost.]

I'm a person stuck inside this thing.

[Video]

[potaytoes]

[ :c He will make you feel bad by the end of it, Jung Tsu. Just wait.

Anyway, Sam feels awful now and he's picking up the phone and holding it veeeeery carefully. ]

What? But how? Is it a curse of some kind?

video;

[forsakeimmortal]

[Oh, it's a halfling. Arwen switches her device on and smiles.] No, Master Hobbit. It isn't. We're unsure of it's origins and use, but it is how we've cone to communicate.

Welcome, Samwise.

video;

[potaytoes]

Lady Arwen!

[Bypassing all that stuff she said about this not-stone because there are some other pretty crazy things going on and maybe she can explain.]

Where are we? This can't be Rivendell.

[Not only because it looks nothing like anywhere an Elf would dwell but also because Sam has no clue how he would've gotten back there in the first place.]

Re: video;

[forsakeimmortal]

I have been told the city is called Abax. Not much else is known. This is not Rivendell. It's landscape is foreign to me and the other elves here.

video;

[potaytoes]

There are others? How? It's dark magic, isn't it? We were too late with the ring.

[Oh, this is all that stupid Gollum's fault for leading them astray!]

[Video]

[ifishouldreturn]

It is no stone, Master Gamgee. I have heard it called a 'phone'.

[Faramir was both glad to see him and disappointed that he had been captured as well. Despite that juxtaposition, he greeted the hobbit immediately.]

[Video]

[potaytoes]

[Sam isn't quite sure whether he ought to be comforted or frightened by Faramir's appearance on the strange object. It's decidedly unnerving but Sam picks up the "phone" anyway and frowns at it, at Faramir.]

A phone? How have I come by such a strange thing? [And it's taken a moment but now as the shock of waking up here is beginning to wear off, Sam remembers what happened just before he was brought here. A spark of panic ignites in his chest.] And where's Frodo? Have you seen him?

[Video]

[ifishouldreturn]

Each of us was granted one when we were brought to the city.

I am sorry. Frodo is not here.

[Video]

[potaytoes]

[Quietly:]

Not here... Oh, Frodo!

[And to Faramir:]

The Orcs took him. I feared they'd taken me too when I woke up in that strange room but now I'm starting to think otherwise. Where is this place?

video;

[abominable]

I think it's more a... magic mirror of some sort rather than a stone. Communicative magic I've never seen before.

video;

[potaytoes]

[Okay, so a magic mirror is actually a fairly plausible explanation for this thing. But how the heck did Sam wake up with one in his hand? Too bad the guy speaking to him from it seems just as confused by it as he is.

For now, Sam opts to ask the simplest of questions.]

But why do I have it? Where did it come from?

video;

[abominable]

That's a good question. [Boy is it. Anders wished he knew.] I'm afraid many people woke up here with one the way you did, and none of us really understand why or how.

[potaytoes]

[A disappointing answer, but not a surprising one.]

Oh. [Pause.] It's by no accident, anyhow; we can be sure of that. I wonder if it's dark forces at work or something else? Either way, it gives me a bad feeling.

video;

[betweentheribs]

I was told it's called a cell phone.

video;

[potaytoes]

A cell phone? What manner of magic is it? [Obviously you'd know, girl speaking from the alleged cell phone.]

video;

[betweentheribs]

[No. She just gives him a flat look.] Advanced magic I have never come into contact with.

[potaytoes]

Oh.

Well there's not much comfort in that at all. [He sighs, a tad disappointed. Then: ] Are there other enchanted things? These cell phones can't be all there is.