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[bagginsofbagend]

It's a somewhat flustered and exasperated Bilbo Baggins that strides into the bar today.

You see, it's Bilbo's birthday. And while for many people this means cake and ice cream and games with the people you like best, lately Bilbo had found it means trying to placate every branch of his vast family by inviting them all round for tea and then bobbing up and down to serve while they wish him many happy returns and get crumbs in the rugs.

He's almost rather ignore his birthday than continue to put up with this nonsense. Almost.

Fortunately, one of his pantry doors opened to Milliways.

Bilbo now has different plans for his birthday, and they largely involve staying off his feet.

He climbs up onto a stool. "Ale, please," he says and gets out his pipe.


[tiny tag: Gilderoy Lockhart]

Comments

[mostcharmingsmile]

"Hello," beams Gilderoy.

This fellow looks like the friendly sort! Gilderoy likes talking to friendly people.

[bagginsofbagend]

Big People still put Bilbo a bit on edge, but he manages a friendly-ish smile in response. "Hello. Lovely evening, isn't it?"

[mostcharmingsmile]

"I should say so. You're very small, but you're not a child."

Gilderoy notices these things!

"I'm Gilderoy Lockhart. What are you called?"

[bagginsofbagend]

"I'm called Bilbo Baggins," says Bilbo. "I'm a Hobbit."

[mostcharmingsmile]

Bilbo Baggins sounds like a perfectly reasonable name. Of course it should; they're both at the tavern within St. Mungo's, after all.

"I don't know what that means," he says cheerfully. "I had an accident, you see, and my memory's not what it once was."

[bagginsofbagend]

"I'm very sorry," Bilbo says politely.

"Mostly, it means I'm not from around here."

[mostcharmingsmile]

"Oh, I

see

. Visiting, eh?"

He wishes he got more visitors, but at least he can come here and find his own himself.

[bagginsofbagend]

"Aren't we all visiting here?"

[mostcharmingsmile]

"I suppose you're right, at that!"

Technically!

"How clever. I

like

you, Bilbo Baggins."

[shreveport_wolf]

There is a very, very tall Big Person down the bar giving him a somewhat disbelieving look.

And here was Alcide thinking he knew all the different kinds of supernatural creatures.

[bagginsofbagend]

Bilbo, in the way of hobbits, notices when he's being watched.

As he is now.

By...

Oh dear.

A Man-Mountain.

[shreveport_wolf]

Alcide at least has the decency to look a bit sheepish about being caught staring.

His mama raised him right.

"Sorry," he says, nodding in Bilbo's direction. "I...ain't seen someone like you here before."

[bagginsofbagend]

"I've never seen someone like you at all," counters Bilbo.

[shreveport_wolf]

Alcide laughs softly.

"Yeah, that's kinda what I meant."

He slides down the bar, then, and offers his (very large) hand. "Alcide Herveaux."

[bagginsofbagend]

Bilbo eyes the hand, then offers his (considerably smaller) own. "Bilbo Baggins."

[shreveport_wolf]

Alcide is still a bit wary of the little man, but he's loathe to have it said that he's prejudiced on no account.

"Nice to meet you, Bilbo," he says, giving the hand a warm shake. "I'm gonna guess you ain't from the same place as me. At least not the same time," he adds, taking in Bilbo's apparel.

[bagginsofbagend]

"I'm sure you're right. I don't suppose you're from Middle Earth? One of the Kingdoms of Men--Rohan, Dale?"

[sunbaked_baker]

There are baking-type smells coming from the kitchen, this evening. Cinnamon and spices, and good yeast dough rising in the warmth of the ovens.

Some time after Bilbo arrives, a red-headed woman with her hair tied up in a sunflower-spotted handkerchief emerges from the nearby kitchen door. She's carrying a tray of cinnamon rolls that are gooey and fragrant with melted cinnamon-sugar and vanilla icing.

Each is somewhat bigger than Bilbo's head.

[bagginsofbagend]

Bilbo's eyes nearly cross at the heavenly smell.

"Oh," he says, "oh, my."

[sunbaked_baker]

At first glance, she thought it was a child sitting there on the bar stool - it wouldn't be the first time she'd had a kid react like that to Sudden Cinnamon Rolls.

But... he certainly isn't dressed like a kid - and that hadn't been a child's voice. And he's smoking a pipe. So. Not a kid.

Sunshine can roll with this.

"Hello there," she says with a smile. "Care for a cinnamon roll?"

[bagginsofbagend]

"I would love one. How much?"

Hobbits. Food. Ecstasy.

[sunbaked_baker]

"I seriously doubt your world's currency is my world's currency," she grins wryly as she sets down the tray and serves up one of the still-warm cinnamon rolls onto a plate for the hobbit. "And life is too short to worry with exchange rates between worlds. I tend to just ask people to pay what they feel they'd pay for similar in their own world, and it saves both parties from too much hassle."

[bagginsofbagend]

"The price, say, of a good-sized cake at my local pub?"

He gives her a half-dozen silver coins.

[sunbaked_baker]

"Thanks, that'll do nicely," she says with a smile, setting the plate with its precious cargo onto the bar in front of Bilbo.

With a fork and napkin, too.

Then, after a moment of inspected in the coinage with natural curiosity, she sets the coins on the bar and lets them disappear, to be added to her tab.

[bagginsofbagend]

Bilbo smiles--convenient! He loves that about the bar--and picks up the fork.

"I'm Bilbo Baggins," he says, out of good manners, and has his first bite. "And this is delicious."