Logs-Sticky Beards

West Gate
A large hedge fences Bree in to the west. Running to and from the hedge is the
Great East Road. Set off on the north side of the Road is a small lodge.
Where the Road meets the hedge a great gate has been set. The gate is open,
allowing travelers and residents alike to pass through the hedge with ease.
To the east, Bree-hill looms large at hand.

Contents:
Megan

Obvious exits:
West Gate leads to Bree, Outside the West-gate.
Gatekeepers Lodge leads to Gatekeeper's Lodge.
East leads to Great East Road.

================================== Bree Time ==================================
Real time: Mon Nov 10 03:18:02 2003
Bree time: Mid Afternoon <about 3 PM> on Mersday of Autumn - September 1,1430
Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous Moon

Breelands Weather
The mid afternoon autumn air is cool but pleasant around you. The day sky is
cloud-filled and gloomy.
===============================================================================

Only mid-afternoon, and already there's a chill in the air ... the first hint
of coming autumn. The green of the hedge is speckled here and there with
patches of lighter yellow as the leaves begin to turn, a second hint. And the
harvest-wagon rolling in from the field just down the road might be a third
one.

It's the latter that has drawn old Hugh Bramblefleece's attention. He stands by
the side of the open gate, leaning his chin on his staff as he watches the
wagon creak past and sneezing as the air fills with chaff and straw-dust.
"Jist as well ye got that in when ye did," he informs the driver. "Looks like
rain."

Coming from somewhere near the encampment outside the west side of town comes
Megan Tasselberry- a spring in her step and a mischevious look in her eyes
that could suggest she's just caused some kind of trouble. Another give away
that she may have just caused trouble is the presence of her brother at her
side (which brother it is exactly is unknown- after all, they both look the
same unless standing side-by-side). Together they approach the gate into the
town, laughing and chatting and elbowing each other as they go, perhaps in
some kind of a rush to escape the scene of the crime, or to get back home
before it rains.

Hugh points up at the cloud-darkened sky, nods sagely then takes a step back
from the harvest-wagon, halting in the middle of the road. The sound of
laughter catches his ear, and he turns slowly, a frown naturally creasing his
features - until, that is another tremendous sneeze overtakes him.
*Atchoo!*
He fumbles blindly for a handkerchief.

At the sound of the sneeze, Megan casts a warning look to her older sibling,
then, a sweet smile graces her face as they approach the wagon and the gate.
"Good afternoon Mr. Thistlefleece!" she calls, her pace slowing. That
mischevious look doesn't disappear from the face of her brother- suggesting
that already he's plotting some way of causing trouble as he casts those
sharp eyes on the man. "Good afternoon!" he says, by way of his own greeting,
"And bless you!"- although somewhat delayed, there is no trace of mocking in
his voice- it appears genuine.. though this is nothing much to go on.

"Huh? Thistle-who-?" mumbles Hugh as he wipes his eyes with a large
red-and-white chequered piece of cloth. "Why, if it isn't young Miss
Tasselberry!" he exclaims heartily (seems he at least has remembered the
correct name - though 'Tasselberry' is probably graven into his memory by
now). "Bramblefleece, the name's Hugh Bramblefleece," he corrects her
genially, blowing his nose again. "Good afternoon ... and to you." This last
as his eyes fall on Megan's brother, and a scowl flits across his face -
quickly masked though as he asks in attempt to be polite, "Been helping with
the harvest then, have you?" He even manages a grandfatherly smile.

Apparently, Megan quickly realises her mistake (if mistake it was), and she
flicks her eyes to the road. "Oh! I'm sorry, Mr. Bramblefleece! I've never
been good with names!" she says, however malodramatically. "This is my
brother Adrian, I don't know if you've met..." she says, though there is a
hint of nervousness in her voice, as if afraid of how he'd act. It was well
known that Adrian was more troublesome than his twin- who tended to plot an
plan more than actually causing trouble...

Adrian nods his head politely, holding out a hand to shake. "Well, no- we were
out visitin' the dwarves. Their camp's just round th' corner there!" he now
points out past the west gate, with a wide beam, though says no more- what
ever else they were doing there is hidden behind his charming smile.

Hugh regards Adrian's outstretched hand suspiciously for a moment, then takes a
deep breath and offers his own gnarled hand in return. "I believe I've ...
seen ye around," he temporizes. "That were a while back, though."

As Dwarves are mentioned his gaze flicks from the youth to the gate, as though
he expected to see a Dwarven head peering round it. "Visitin them Dwarves,
eh? Outlandish creatures they are. Don't know how to behave like decent folks
sometimes! Though I won't deny 'ey make some fine metalwork," he adds as an
afterthought. "Were ye buyung somethin'?"

Adian's hand is somewhat sticky, and dirty- probably not all that pleasent to
shake, yet he takes Hugh's hand and moves it up and down with gusto as if he
were to pull the limb off. "Ah! Yes- but of course- I moved to Combe a while
ago, so yeh probably saw me afore then..." and now, perhaps seeing some look
on her brother's face, Megan quickly interupts; "Yes, well no- we weren't
buying anything! Just visiting you know, saying hello, having lunch.. and I
think dwarves can be perfectly.. darling.. once you see past their rough
appearance..." though there isn't conviction in her voice, she shrugs, then
smiles innocently.

Hugh looks down at his hand, grimacing, and jerks it back, wiping it thoroughly
against the side of his trousers. "Ye've yet ta convince me of that, Miss
Tasselberry. Though if you want ta try - maybe ye can introduce me to some of
yer new friends? Not doin' too much right now ..." He motions towards the
gate, as though he expects the pair of young folk to precede him back through
it towards the Dwarven camp right this instant.

Adrian's face looks delighted to see Hugh's reaction to the hand shake, though
he remains silent. Megan's eyes slide toward the west gate, and she grimaces
for the briefest of moments, before looking back and giving an appologetic
look and a tiny shake of her head. "Well, I think they went out... though I'm
sure you can always meet them later! Besides that, Adrian and I have to get
home soon, so we wouldn't have enough time to walk over, find them, introduce
you then get home again.. But certainly on another occasion!"

Hugh's hand comes up thoughtfully to rub his beard at this pronouncement -
leaving a smear of something sticky there, apparently he'd not managed to
clean his hand as thoroughly as he might have liked. "Eh, that's a pity," he
responds to Megan, oblivious of his condition. "Suppose the afternoon's
gettin' on though - and there's rain to come, mark my words!" Once again he
gesticulates at the sky. "Tell ye what, I'll walk back with ye both an' ye
can tell me about what ye've been up to. I know young Betsy'd love to hear,
she's always askin'." He directs a big smile to the girl and a rather weaker
one to her brother.

For a while, it seems that Adrian too doesn't notice the smudge of something
sticky, but as his eyes drift again to the man- he sees it, and promptly
bursts out laughing. Quickly he snaps his hand over his mouth and directs his
eyes elsewhere, getting a sharp look from Megan. "Personally I'm looking
forward to autumn- everything is so pretty.." at his offer, Megan glances to
her brother, who has now managed to stiffle his laughter. "What do you
think?" he nods his head, and Megan in turn nods to Hugh with another
dazzling smile. "Alright then- I should like to see Betsy again..." she
motions to the road, suggesting they should begin moving.

Hugh does indeed start moving, beaming indulgently at Megan. "Aye, but in
autumn me old joints ache- what? What are ye laughin' at?" he demands
suddenly of Adrian, halting in the middle of the road to stare at the young
man with suspicion rising to the surface in his brown eyes.

The siblings follow along beside Hugh, careful not to go too fast- especially
after the meantion of aching joints. Adrian goes on a few paces before
turning to look back with a puzzled look. It's only now that Megan too can
clearly see what he was laughing about, and now sniggers quietly. "Oh! It
was.. a funny story I was thinking about is all.. something you said brought
back a memory is all..." there is an uncertain pause as if Adrian is
considering whether to go on with the story or not. Apparently he decides
against it, and smiles innocently.

Hugh isn't fooled one bit by that innocent look, it seems. "Care to repeat it?"
he asks Adrian, scowling now, and giving the sniggering Megan an uncertain
glance ... if even /she/ is laughing, there must be some reason. But the
wheels in his elderly brain move as sluggishly as his feet are right now, and
he hasn't worked it out yet. "Could do with somethin' to cheer me up. There's
little enough to smile about, what with the dull weather, and all 'em
foreigners runnin' around ... an' I heard there'd been trouble with trolls up
Chetwood way, gettin' worried about the flocks too." Maybe he just loves to
be grumpy?

Adrian seems to study the man for a long time, before nodding once. "Well
certainly! It mightn't make much sense though, since it's probably one of
those stories that you have to be there to find funny... but we was talkin'
of dwarves right? Well, I was sittin' in the Prancing Pony with Jacob and a
few of our friends one mornin' and in comes these Dwarves and they sits down
and talks with us, and they're talking there about their.. beards...and..
sticky.. beards..." it seems Adrian's attention has wandered and he can't
focus on the story any more, trying to keep his eyes averted from the Hugh's
cheek. "Yes- I heard some stories about trolls, though I don't know if all
these foreigners are such a bad thing and whether they should be put in the
same category as trolls. Surely you can't compare trolls and hobbits!" Megan
questions, tilting her head to the side, laughing quietly at her brother's
story.

Hugh regards Adrian quizzically, clearly not seeing the point in all this.
"Sticky ... beards?" he repeats after the Combe youth, his hand going
automatically to his own beard again - and freezing there. "Eh, no," he
responds to Megan distractedly, "I wasn't countin' the Shire visitors in with
the rest of 'em, the Dwarves and them outlandish southerners - Dunlendin,
that's what they called 'emselves. Barbarians, can't even behave decent in
public! No, Shire folk are upright and well-behaved fer the most, I'm happy
to see 'em around. They're just a bit prov- provi- now what was that word?
Backward-looking, I meant - eh, 'scuse me a minute." He turns away, seamed
face suddenly reddened as he at last works out that his beard is looking a
little worse for wear.

"Yes... well.. we were talking about beards.. and sticky.. and.." Adrian trails
off, now noticing that Hugh has found the sticky patch on his own beard, and
the Tasselberry boy shrugs and looks away, suddenly becoming interested in
looking about at the side of the road. "I met several decent Dunlending
myself... perhaps you just didn't take the time to get to know them
properly.... but the Shire hobbits are lovely- save for a few.. that doctor
fellow..." and here, her eyes darken briefly, though Hugh has turned away
just as that cold look sweeps across her freckled face. Perhaps Adrian has
seen or sensed this change in moods, and so places a hand on her shoulder,
snapping her back to reality.

Hugh looks indignant at Megan's words. "Don't want to know 'em better!" he
protests. "Settin' such a bad example to our young folk - good riddance to
'em all, I say!" And he's turned round again in his agitation, revealing that
all he's achieved is to spread the messy, sticky patch even further across
his formerly snow-white beard. He glances down at the damage, coughs
embarrassedly and mutters, "I've - eh, I've got somethin' ta attend to. Can't
walk ye back after all. Maybe some other time I'll catch up on that story o'
yers, young feller." He gives Adrian quite the glare - does he suspect the
source of the stickiness after all, then? - ducks his head to Megan without
quite looking at her, and hobbles off at top speed - probably back in the
direction of the nearest washing-place. Dignity, after all, must be restored
...

"Bad example?! Well I think it's quite exciting, after all, you get to learn
about their homes and their culture..." Megan trails off, now seeing the
spread of stickiness, and Adrian bursts out laughing again, shaking his head
as he does. "Yes! Yes, I have to tell you the story! One of the funniest
ever!" he seems hardly able to speak, waving a cheerful hand to wave as Hugh
excuses himself. "Good afternoon, Mr. Brambleweed!" Megan cries after him,
before the twins again continue about their way- laughing together about the
recent series of events, while something about Sticky beards can be heard for
some time as they go.