A Broken One

[lastest_ringbearer]

 Today's new arrival (and there have been an awful lot of them lately, yes?) does not so much walk in as fall burning from the 'sky' of the Nexus, never to see his miserable home again. This is almost certainly for the best.

He lands with a bone-jarring thud, hand almost fused shut from holding--or wearing?--a mostly-melted lump of gold. Runes wrap around his fingers, fading in and out desolately.

Comments

[museicalmarty]

"Holy SHIT!" And here Marty was just planning on taking a quick walk around the Nexus, see if anyone he knew was around. He starts looking around wildly, hoping that maybe the Nexus will magically provide him with a bucket of water or -- or something to help out. What do you DO with people who fall burning from the sky with something magical apparently melted all over their hand?

[lastest_ringbearer]

Well, there's bound to be a hospital here somewhere . . . for now, though, the worst of the damage is definitely to that hand.

And if Marty is at all a fantasy fan, the dark creature wrapped desperately around its melted Precious will be impossible not to recognize.

[museicalmarty]

Oh, Marty knows there is -- the trouble is, he's not sure where, exactly. And he doesn't want to just leave the newcomer to go looking. He whips out his PINpoint, typing a hurried message to Doc. Hey just arrived in Nexus somebody fell BURNING out of sky need some help here

He looks up to see how the newcomer is, hoping desperately he's not going to die in front of him -- and then -- well. The McFly household was always more into sci-fi than fantasy, thanks to George, but Lord of the Rings isn't unknown to its members. Marty's never read the full saga, but he does know the Cliffnotes version. And the frail figure in front of him. . . He dashes off a quick addendum: I -- think it might be Gollum??

[lastest_ringbearer]

The thing opens its eyes a bit, spots him blurrily and whimpers. "Mine, my love! No more Black Hand to take it from usss! We hasss won."

[museicalmarty]

"Trust me, I don't want it," Marty says, eyeing the melted lump of gold and the runes still visible around it. Oh, he really hopes that the Nexus is damping down the One Ring like it does with Eaten. . .

A revving engine catches his attention, and he looks up to see Dee -- in DeLorean form -- pull up beside him. The door pops open, revealing Doc, who stares out the newcomer with wide eyes. "Great Scott. . ."

"Yeah, this is heavy," Marty nods -- he knows his lines. "So -- what do we do?"

"Determine the extent of his injuries, for starters," Doc says, getting out of Dee and cautiously approaching the curled figure.

[lastest_ringbearer]

Less of that, more that the ugly lump of gold melded to the pathetic creature's hand can no longer be called a ring at all, much less the One. The quest is over, the quest has succeeded, and not least because the broken-looking thing in front of them was stronger than all the great heroes of the world. (Whether some part of Smeagol let himself fall into the fires is perhaps best left as an exercise for the reader.)

The Nexus has done much of the work for them, it seems, for he died ere he came here. But to heal that hand would mean fixing the Ring, and that would never do.

[museicalmarty]

Doc grimaces as he looks at the mangled limb. "Well, he's certainly looking pretty good for someone who, if I recall the end of the book correctly, fell into a volcano," he says. "But that hand, at least, is going to need tending."

"Yeah, but -- uh--" Marty waves at the gold coating it. "Might not be a good idea to touch that? For -- multiple reasons?" Even if the evil of the Ring has been broken, Gollum's clearly still pretty protective of it. He's not keen on getting attacked by the guy he's trying to help.

"I'm aware. But I don't want to just leave him here. . ." Doc pinches his nose. "Dee, go see if you can find the hospital and bring one of the staff here." Dee honks her horn in acknowledgement and zooms off.

[lastest_ringbearer]

He blinks and whimpers at them. "Not nasssty orcses, Precious? Not wanting the Precious? But everyone wantses to, yesss . . ."

He uncurls a bit, too tired to keep up the protective stance. Not in from of people who only seem concerned.

[museicalmarty]

"We're humans," Doc tells him, sitting down beside him. "And we've no interest in taking your Precious."

"Yeah -- don't think we could if we wanted to," Marty adds, biting his lip. "Looks like it's pretty well stuck to ya." He flexes his fingers, trying not to think of himself in Gollum's position. If his hand had been messed up like that. . .even if his guitar skills got him into that whole mess with the Fae, he still doesn't know what he'd do without them. Music, still, is one of his great passions.

[lastest_ringbearer]

"Men? We knowses Men. Men tie usss and drag usss, and let usss eat dussst!"

But then he actually looks at his hand for the first time, and tears well up. "It hurts usss, my love."

[museicalmarty]

"No rope," Doc says, holding up his hands to show they're empty. "And we're hoping to find some help soon enough."

"I can imagine," Marty says with a shiver. "Cripes, I hope they don't have to. . ." He'll just let that trail off -- he doesn't want to think about it, and he doesn't think Gollum will react well to the idea of amputation.

"This is the Nexus," Doc reminds him. "Probably the hospital has LOLs available that can be repurposed for medical use."

[lastest_ringbearer]

'No rope' is enough reassurance to get him to a clinic, if only with much muttering about what is to be done to liars and thieveses and nasssty stupid Bagginses. Bilbo for taking it in the first place and Frodo for damn well putting it on at the very Cracks of Doom, even Gollum didn't do that, the Lidless Eye could see that!

It's lucky they find the clinic at this point, or he may well have started all over again.

[museicalmarty]

Dee returns as Gollum starts grumbling, honking her horn and flipping open her doors. "Found it!" crackles over the radio. "Though I couldn't grab anybody to come with -- but I can get you guys there super fast!"

"Great!" Doc carefully bundles the muttering Gollum -- the fires of Mt. Doom are no match for his hatred of Bagginses, it seems -- into the passenger seat, then slips into the driver's side. "Er -- Marty, we can drop him off and--"

"Better idea," Marty replies. One quick PINpoint out and back, and he's got his skateboard. He hops on and grabs onto one of the vents sticking out the back. "Go for it, Dee!" Dee honks confirmation and speeds off, toward the clinic.

[lastest_ringbearer]

Well, the fires of Mt. Doom certainly hasn't improved his temper. Plus he thinks that the car must be some chariot of orc-make, etc.

[mosaic_archive]

(I put up a new clinic post here, or you can just add your own npc medic if you rather:
https://wilywars-archive.dreamwidth.org/312200.html
)

[lastest_ringbearer]

(Bit of both, maybe? Three-person threads tend to fall apart faster in my experience, but we can continue there.)

[museicalmarty]

(I've noticed that too, but I've no objections to taking the thread over there. I sent Dee off earlier in the thread to find it -- I can have her come back and cart the three of them off, and then we can move to the clinic post? Free ride in a DeLorean, Gollum!)

[lastest_ringbearer]

(Sounds good. Not that he'll appreciate it much LOL)

[museicalmarty]

(Heh, didn't think he would. . .)

[terrorsaur]

It's not just that something just dropped past him while he was out flying, it's that whoever or whatever it was was accompanied by a smell of heat and lava that instantly flips every single 'oh slag no, RUN' switch in Terrorsaur's mind.

He's just a red dot fading into the distance almost before poor Gollum hits the ground. (Or more likely a helpfully spawning Nexus Couch, the place being as it is.)

[lastest_ringbearer]

Gollum would be very confused if he had the energy to notice or care.