The Hours, Part III
Feb. 20th, 2004 08:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I think that this is quite possibly the most disturbing thing I've ever written. Gratitude must be given to my friend Amy, Queen of Angst, for guiding me back to Lobelia Sackville-Baggins to be the hobbit in this particular vignette. It's very short. You wouldn't want it to be longer. I sure don't.
Anybody who ever thought that Middle-earth was some kind of Eden-like playground is horribly wrong. Now I'm fending off a nuzgul about another twin-centric story to do with Amrod and Amras and a storyline that Tolkien ended up ditching in his more finalized version of The Silmarillion when one of them is accidentally killed by Feanor (their father) when he starts setting boats alight during the Kinslaying.
Sext (12:15 p.m.)
The Lockholes, Michel Delving, The Shire
Not-here not-here not-here not-here
With but a little practice, she had become an expert at willing herself away from what was happening to her; at not recognizing the smell of scorched flesh as her “proud” feet were branded with an S and a B by the filthy men who had so humiliatingly hauled her off in broad daylight; at forcing herself to remember every nook and cranny of Bag End and the plans that she had for the space when she began to hallucinate due to starvation and light deprivation.
At first she had fought them, wielding her umbrella as a weapon as best she could, but it only made them laugh, which infuriated her. Then the brutes had decided “the old hag didn’t know her place” after she had yelled once too often that she was a Sackville-Baggins and they would pay. Instead, they tied her hands behind her to the umbrella itself, making her bond to it a permanent one.
Then they found the branding irons and decided to have a little fun.
She had decided a while back that her son could not have known anything about what was happening to her, that this Sharkey monster had corrupted his mind. She was rather unable to contemplate any other alternatives.
The hobbit matron nurtured her indignation and her anger. With every intake of breath of rancid air, filled with the scent of rotting turnips in one direction and her body’s waste in another, she smoldered.
She was Lobelia Sackville-Baggins.
By surviving, she would have her revenge.
Oh, and
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
Oh, and today I've learned a new word, thanks to actually reading one of the new stories up at Henneth-Annun! Susurration- n. a soft murmur; whisper. Sometimes I really adore this fandom.
p.s.
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-02-21 12:46 am (UTC)Today is our perfect weather day. Overcast, not raining, a bit chill.
Lucky. Today it was sunny and 77 degree. I was wearing shorts. Bleck. :-) *dashes off to read your Weasley twins story*
Re:
Date: 2004-02-21 02:08 pm (UTC)Do you by any chance post at HASA? (everyone uses different names, so I sometimes lose track of who is who :-p) Kristi knows about the challenge I have posted there re: The Shire Occupation. The idea is to write about those hobbits who resisted the ruffians (and Lobelia definitely counts!).
I'd love to see your story when it's ready.
BTW your icon is adorable. :-) Is the artwork your own?
Re:
Date: 2004-02-21 05:05 pm (UTC)Over at HASA I'm JMac. I have 2 stories archived there, but I rarely look at the forums. :-) But, you can count me in for a short story. I'll come up with something. I just wrote my first hobbit story the other day and had a lot of fun with it, but it was light-hearted and it's so much more fun to write angst and drama. *evil laugh*
No, I didn't draw the icon. I can't even remember where I found it.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-02-21 03:21 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-02-21 02:17 pm (UTC)Add my shuddering thank-you to Amy. ;-)
Are you going to post this at HASA? Or have you already and I missed it somehow? *a not unknown occurrence these past few days...* It fits The Shire Occupation - still unofficial, but if there are enough takers, Dwim and Marta will make it an official Challenge.
BTW I never quite pictured you as going for the sadistic, but hot irons... *shudder*
Re:
Date: 2004-02-21 10:03 pm (UTC)Are you going to post this at HASA? Or have you already and I missed it somehow?
Yeah, it's in the Beta section, titled "The Hours." It will be a set of 7 vignettes based on the monastic hours. This one was #4. I think you read the third one, with the woman from Rohan going down from the Firienfeld to bury her cousin. Thanks to you, she is now using a shovel, not a trowel! LOL!!
I never quite pictured you as going for the sadistic, but hot irons…
Oh Nessime, I didn't mean to be sadistic. In the book, it is noted that Lobelia "hobbles" out when she is finally freed, and so with that image, I thought perhaps something awful had been done to her feet. The image is certainly not a pleasant one, but when talking with Amy, I really did wonder what might have happened to Lobelia since she is transformed by her imprisoned experience. Surviving even mild torture I think could have done just that. But I didn't mean to be gratuitous, hence why I don't really explain how she felt about it, only that she is determined to live.
Re:
Date: 2004-02-22 02:05 am (UTC)That was worded poorly on my part - I meant it only in the sense that this is depicting such a sadistic act. *bad Ness, no chocolate...* Poor Lobelia. Before I've always focused on what Mr. Cotton said when telling Frodo about Lobelia's being dragged off to the Lockholes - how there were others who would be missed more, but that Lobelia showed a lot more spirit than most in standing up to the ruffians. Then there was the way she broke down and cried at the reception she got when she was freed; having everyone cheer and applaud her, when she had never been particularly well liked before, really got to her. I never gave the other line a lot of thought, but I wouldn't put it past Sharky's lot to indulge in such nastiness.
No, I didn't think it gratuitous at all - I was simply surprised by it. One hates to think about such ugliness touching anyone in the Shire, yet it undoubtedly did. How else do we explain someone like Fatty Bolger finding the courage to lead a band of rebels? Only some kind of outrage would serve to ignite that kind of fire in him.
Which is why it makes me shudder...