MoME 2013 - with all the usual mayhem...

[rowanberry]

The roof of the Ball Room of the Celestial Dome looked like a starlit sky, with small lights on a dark background. It was quite nice.

Rowanberry entered the stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to once again open the Male of Middle-earth pageant! And, once again, we have a great list of contestants:

Aragorn - sponsored by Tooks
Bilbo Baggins - sponsored by NL
Faramir - sponsored by Melwa
Gwaihir - sponsored by Cock-Robin
Pippin - sponsored by BagginsGirl
Sauron - sponsored by Sidd

And, the esteemed judges this year are

Calma and Sable!

Here's the schedule for this year:

Week 1 (Oct 1 - 7): Red carpet and opening banquet.

Week 2 (Oct 8 - 14): Task 1: The Master Chef! Plan and prepare a festive three course dinner good enough for a king - or, even better, good enough for Calma. Remember to dress accordingly to the task!

Week 3 (Oct 15 - 21): Task 2: Architect of the Future! Design and decorate your dream house! Dress code: Casual.

Week 4 (Oct 22 - 28): Easy Living. Visit the luxurious spa and present yourself in swimwear, and at the end of the week, let us see you at your finest at the closing ball!

Oct 29 - 31: The ball continues, votes are counted, and the winners declared. Awards ceremonies.

So, let the best male win!"

[Tookish_Traveler]

Tooks woke up with a start. She had been having one of those weird dreams, where she’s wandering in the darkness, knowing that she is supposed to be somewhere, but not remembering where or….


HOLY MACARONI!!! MoME! She was late for MoME! Where was Aragorn???


“ARAGORN!!”


Tooks rushed off in a panic…

[Lembas_Junkie]

*puts on Frodo walking through farmer's field voice* "What's all this?!"

I am *so* happy to see this thread! *turns to Frodo, Fell Beast, and Círdan* Well boys, you've had your time in the spotlight - now watch as these guys SHINE!"

[siddharth]

2 Weeks before the Onset of MOME ....

Location: Deep under the Misty Mountains

"Hey, are you alright? That's quite a height you fell through."
"Not to worry, Norda. The slope's gentle. I just caught my foot in one of those rib-cages lying there."
"Hmmm, it's huge. Is it the Goblin King's? I wonder."
"I don't think so. His troupe should be on the other side. More towards the west. Hey, you should come down the slope. I see a passage here. Slide down." Sidd shouted from below.
"Coming."
Very soon both the siblings were on the same level.
"You alright? Now, look at what I found."
Sidd held out his hand to reveal a perfectly round Ring, seemed to be made of pure gold.
"Oh my god, is it the One Ring???" The girl exclaimed in excitement.
"I thought so too. But look here, closely. Yes there. That's Weta Workshop's sign. Seems like they misplaced it during filming of the Hobbit. We can put it to good use. Now stay close, Gollum must be very close to us now."
And just then a loud hiss made them jump back in surprise and he fell down again, this time on his back. Norda picked him up and they both saw Gollum's hideous gleaming eyes in the shadows staring at them, full of hunger.

"Very close we are, preciousss. Has it got namesses?" *chuckles* "What is it preciousss?"
"We are humans from, umm, the human world. I am Sidd and this my sister."
*Chuckles again* "Yes, yesss! Wicked tressssspassers like that nasssty Bagginsess. Now, give back our preciousss. or we'll eats you!"
" This isn't your Precious. The precious was destroyed."
"Oh, we knows. But Jackssson's a nice hobbit. He pitied us and gave us that new Precioussss. It'ss mine. Give usss back quick! Give us. We will gnaw your bones out!!" Gollum leaped with fury over Sidd. But he was ready.
Instantly he threw the light of his flashlight into Gollum's eyes, which of course he knew, would blind him.
"Arrrgh! Ssss. Take it away! Ach! Take it away! It burnsss us! Cruel Men burnss usss!"
But Sidd was unnerved. Norda was moved though.
"Hey, take it off! You see, it hurts him!"
"Nice girl, my precioussss! Take it off usss! You must believe your ssister!"
"No I won't. I won't unless you listen to what I have to say." Sidd demanded.
"Take it away. We won't ... aaaah! Yesss! Yess! Ach! Yess we'd hear the nice people!"
Sidd put the flashlight away and waited for Gollum to get re-adjusted with the darkness again.
He pulled out a Golden Envelope with the words "MOME-2013" embedded on it. He held it aloft, out of reach of Gollum.
"This is an invitation to this year's Male of Middle-earth Pageant. And I'm going to sponsor someone."
"Taken! We're taken! We is done!" Gollum said menacingly." We won it yearsss back!"
"I know. I don't mean to sponsor you anyway.This year, I have chosen my contestant to be the Lord of Mordor, Sauron." For a moment the whole cave was silenced. Sidd was pleased by the terror in Gollum's eyes.
"Hehe, nice men. Must've hit your hard on the rocksss, preciouss."
Sidd went on with his proposal, ignoring the comment. "Now the road to Barad-Dur, I hear, is a tough one. And a long one. Time is pressing.But I have read, that you know or at least knew of a short-cut to Mordor. Yes or no?"
"No." But it soon turned to a "Yesssss" when the flashlight fell on him again.
"What I propose is simple and clear. You lead me to the Black Gate. To the Dark Lord himself.
And your job's done."
"Never! Even if your lightess kills us, we'll never go there!" Gollum jumped on Sidd and started to wrestle with him. But Gollum had forgotten the sister standing beside. She was afterall, the protection.
Norda jumped in and single handedly took on the miserable creature and apparently cracked few of his ribs.
Soon, Gollum was whining and groaning on the ground. Beaten. Crying.
"Think twice Gollum.You in or out?"
" Ha... have. Have pity on uss. Oh yesss, we would go on one condition. You must beat usss to a game of riddlesss! Fairly now." He added quickly.
He remembered well what had happened last time when the rules weren't that clear.
"what are the stakes?" Norda asked, now in charge since Sidd was still trying to catch his breath after the brief fight.
"We beat you, you lets uss go. You beats usss we helps you."
"That's surely better than what Bilbo bargained for" Norda whispered to her brother.
"Ve.. very well. Ask away Gollum!"

GOLLUM: What do you call a man with a sssseagull on hisss head?
SIDD: Cliff! What do you call a man with a shovel on his head?
GOLLUM: Doug! What do you call a man with a hundred rabbitsss on his head?
NORDA: Warren! What do you call a man without a shovel on his head?
GOLLUM: Douglassss! What do you call a deer with no eyesssss?
SIDD/NORDA: No idea!
GOLLUM: Correct!
NORDA: Phew! What do you call a man made out of string?
GOLLUM: Fred! What do you call a deer with no eyessss and no legsssss?
SIDD: Still no idea!
GOLLUM: Correct! Cursssssessss, preciousss!
SIDD: What's in my pocket?
GOLLUM: Our Preciousss! Oh yesss. We learns from mistakes, we do!
SIDD: Hehehe, sorry Gollum. That's wrong. We learned from Bilbo too.
The Ring's in her pockets. Mine are empty! You lost!!

"Cursesss and Splashesss, tehy tricksed uss again! Poor Smeagol, always the fool! We hatesss you!!! You leaves Smeagol no choicesss! Gollum! Gollum!"

"That's the mark of a good hobbit. By the way, stop that gurgling. It's annoying. Now lead on. Quick!"

Gollum starts climbing through the jagged rocks constantly mumbling and muttering to himself.
"poor fella!" Sidd thought. "If only we had wanted you as a guide ..."

[BagginsGirl]

Early in the morning, as the sun was just beginning to show its face to the Earth ( Middle Earth that is) a small cloaked figure was making her way to The Hotel Gondor. "I hate mornings ...." She muttered to herself. She approached the hotel, afraid the doors may still be locked. She pushed on the door and it creaked open, phew. "He better be here. If he's not here...." The cloaked figure, wandered through the hotel looking for the right room. After a few minutes of searching she found the room. "Awe, here it is."
She knocked on the door. No answer. She knocked again. Still no answer.
Maybe he wasn't there yet? Impossible. She had pre-arranged everything for him. All he had to do was travel from the Shire to their meeting place in Gondor.
Now she was getting impatient. She banged on the door and yelled at the top of her lungs " Peregrin Took open this door right now!"
From inside she could hear what sounded like a startled Pippin falling out of bed and stumbling to the door.
A sleepy-eyed Pippin opened the door, and saw BagginsGirl with arms crossed and tapping her foot impatiently.
"I told you to be ready to go early in the morning, your still in your pajamas and your hair is a frizzy mess! But its okay, we still have time to make you look presentable."

Pippin yawned and stretched his arms over his head. "Right........What are we doing, again?"

"I'm your sponsor for MoME, remember?"

" Oh, right. Well then, let's have some breakfast and get busy."

"Breakfast? My poor little Pippin, we are running late. There is no time for breakfast. "

Pippin gasped, " But that's no good! I can't think without breakfast. And I'll certainly never win MoME on an empty stomach.

"Fine," BagginsGirl sighed. " I guess it was a silly idea to get a Hobbit to work without breakfast."

" Oh, yes. Very foolish of you." Pippin said lightheartedly.

" Just eat quickly, so we can make you look your absolute best. I want to make a good first impression. And we still have traveling to do......luckily Gondor isn't to far from where we need to go..."

BagginsGirl realized she was talking to herself. Pippin had already scurried off the pantry and was happily singing, apparently unaware he left his worry stricken sponsor talking to herself.

[Melwa]

Melwa woke to birdsong. The morning sun was already bright enough to illuminate the small tent. She heard the crackling of the fire outside. Faramir must already be up. The prospect of breakfast propelled her to get up and dress. Yawning, she pulled back the tent flap. "Morning, you two. Been up long?"
Eowyn smiled. "I haven't, but Faramir has. He let us sleep while he got coffee going. Where's the pancake mix?"
"Oh, it's in my blue saddlebag," said Melly, "I'll get it." After breakfast, the threesome set to work and soon had everything packed and ready to go. "Will we get there in time? I don't want to be late for the opening ceremony at 10." She blushed. "I'm very new at this, you know. You'd probably do much better with a different sponser, Faramir."
"But I don't have another sponser, my lady. Nor do I wish for one. I am quite content. As to being late, I think I can ease your mind. Though you would usually rise at 8, the morning sun woke you early. The time is now somewhere between 8 and 8:30. We should only be about an hour's ride from the outskirts of the city, which will leave you ladies plenty of time to get dressed up to your heart's content."
"Thanks, Faramir. Okay, I guess we're ready, let's head out! We can work on our plans on the way." Melwa missed the smile the couple exchanged behind her back. They permitted the girl to make plans for weeks ahead of time. "First is the feast - Eowyn, you said you had an idea? Faramir, did you put any thought into that dream house of yours yet? And I know the BEST shop in the city for swimwear, but we'll need to wait until we're checked in at the hotel . . ."

[notlistening]

Bilbo sat smoking his pipe outside his home on Bagshot road, the Shire. “Good morning.” He piped up as a cloaked stranger approached him.

“What do you mean by that? Do you mean to wish me a good morning, or do you mean that it is a good morning, whether I want it to or not? Or perhaps you mean to say that you feel good on this particular morning. Or are you simply stating that this is a morning to be good on?” the stranger argued, leaning on the borrowed broadsword she could barely lift.

Bilbo appeared confused. “All of them at once, I suppose. Can I help you?” he asked cautiously, eyeing the shiny blade that glinted in the mid morning sun.

“That remains to be seen. I'm looking for someone to share in an adventure.” the voice from beneath the hood stated.

Bilbo tried to peer beneath the hood, but failed to find a face in the gloom. “An adventure? Now, I don't imagine anyone West of Bree would have much interest in adventures. Nasty, disturbing, uncomfortable thing. Make you late for dinner. So, Good morning.”

“To think that I should have lived to be good-morninged by Belladonna Took's son as if I was selling buttons at the door.” The figure raised her arms in frustration and set the sword aside. Darn thing was mighty heavy.

“Beg your pardon?” Bilbo asked, putting his pipe out and trying to make a quick getaway up the stairs.

The cloaked figure got there first, barring his way. “You've changed, and not entirely for the better, Bilbo Baggins.”

Bilbo backed away a bit. This was getting a bit weird for his liking. “I'm sorry, do I know you?”

The hooded head shook back and forth. “Well, you know my name, although you don't remember I belong to it. I'm Notlistening, and Notlistening means... me.” She said, tossing back the cowl and revealing her own self.

Bilbo sat down in surprise. “Not THE Notlistening… who won last year’s MOME, fraternises with the likes of the Tookish Traveler, is friends with a half-elf from the frozen north, wielder of that wicked broadsword and has a pet fell beast? I had no idea you were still alive…”

Notlistening huffed. “And where else should I be? Well, I'm glad you at least remember something about me, even if it's only my dubious associations. Well, that's decided. It'll be very good for you, and most amusing for me. I shall inform the others that you will be my contestant for MOME.”

Bilbo stood up in a hurry, knocking the giant sword that leaned against the fence to the ground. It fell with a great clatter. He stepped away from it as if it might bite him.

“What? No, no, no, wait. We do not want any adventures here, thank you. Not today, no. No MOME for me, whatever that is…”

Nl handed him a golden envelope with his name caligraphied on the outside. “Bilbo Baggins, you will be my contestant for MOME. You will be ready on October the first, to take you rightful place at my side for the most prestigious competition on all Torc.” She laid a gentle hand on his shoulder when he appeared frightened. “I’m not here to harm you. I’m here to help you…win.”
Bilbo sighed in resignation after reading the contents of the letter. “I don’t suppose I can send my nephew…”

“Nope. Frodo has already won this competition. You need to attend to uphold the name of Baggins.” Nl said, picking up the sword as best she could. “So I’ll see you on October the first then, shall I?” and in a puff of greenish smoke, she disappeared.
Bilbo coughed, blinked and fanned the smoke away. “But October first is today…”

[siddharth]

1 Week Before MOME
LOCATION: Barad-Dur

AAAASH-NAAAAAAZG!!! Rang throughout the multi-storeyed castle, as sidd pressed the door-bell. They heard the distant thuds from within, slowly approaching the door. Gollum tried to run but his neck was collared, which again was held by the mighty Norda.The Huge rusty doors slowly creaked as a gigantic old troll, opened the door.
*cough cough*" What der ya want? *cough*" the troll slowly pronounced. And by the time he had finished, all three of them were covered in Troll-saliva."We come from far away, seeking your master. The Lord of Mordor, Sauron the great."Sidd replied as he cleaned himself of all the saliva.
"Crayon? No sir, my Master doesn't draw with crayons. He prefers Oil-painting."
"Eh? No. Sauron. Annatar! Gorthaur! S-A-U-R-O-N!!!! We need him for MOME!"

There was a sudden sound of rushing feet as the door finally opened completely and Sauron,
completely covered in his black armour appeared. "MOME? Did you say MOME? Come in, come in!Quick!"
He led them in. "I am sorry for my Butler's behavior. He is near-deaf. You know, they maimed his ear after that Last Battle. Now, what about MOME? No wait, it should be confidential. I must take you to my chamber."
And so they began their ascent to the top of Barad-Dur.And Sidd and Norda soon realized that they were actually the first humans to see the insides of the Dark Tower. His nervousness grew. What was there in Sauron's chamber? Dry skeletons? Wicked spirits? Shriekeing ghouls or raw, foul and rotting carcasses of unspeakable things? Sidd shuddered at the thoughts. He took a quick glance and saw that Gollum was completely dragged along. They didn't know when that poor wretch was knocked off unconcious. Perhaps when Sauron appeared.
All this while, they finally reached the top of the stairs.Sauron pressed the switch and
the automatic doors slid open, as Sidd gulped.
Then he was blinded by a lot of light. As his eyes refocused and he adjusted to the light the image became clear as the four of them stepped into the chamber.

Everything around was lit oddly with a weird combination of party-lights and normal fluroscent tubes. There was a large four-poster bed in one corner.A weird spiked PC in another corner, which had a keyboard with Black-Speech letters. (the page open was thelandofshadow.com- his official fan-page) There were huge shelves there were holding hundreds of books.
And there was a showcase of glass in which sat - What? Soft-toys and cute teddy-like miniatures of Balrogs and Watchers and orcs and dragons?

It was too much for him,and Sidd burst out laughing like a lunatic.
"What's got into him?" Sauron asked Norda, who simply shrugged. "Okay, now tell me. What about MOME that I have something to do about?"
Sidd was laughing even as he wandered all around the room. But Norda replied
"It's very simple, Sir. We want to sponsor you in this year's MOME. We think you are the best one to win."

"Hey Sauron! Hahaha! What's this, you are reading "Lord of the Rings"? Whoo haa haa!!!"
"Shut up, moron! You do not know the Life after retirement. How impossibly hard it is to pass
the time. No cool evil supporters, no popularity, no taking over the world plans, shunned by the whole world. Even the pension's stoppped, no thanks to that Mitch-King! All I can do is re-read that part of my life when I was still glorified. I .."

"Sir!" Norda said. "Leave him alone. Do you agree? Pleeease?"
"Of course, lass. Why won't I be?" Sauron replied in a matter-of-fact manner. "It's perhaps my
last chance to top the popularity charts. Oh those were the days ..."
Sidd had finally calmed down and now sat beside Norda. "Has he agreed?" Norda answered positive.
"Very well now, Lord Sauron. We thank you for accepting the challenge. The contest starts within a week. Here's the dossier on it - take a look. Oh, I forgot you read only the Black Speech. Forget it, I'll read it to you later."
He put back the parchment and continued. "Now, what we need is a fool-proof, flawless
strat. We can go on during the contest. But first and foremost we need -
Sidd's talk was cut short when Gollum awoke and saw the brooding figure of Sauron. he shrieked aloud and jumped back and forth all around the room.
"Heya bud. Long time no see. 'Sup?" Sauron replied.
"Go away. Leave usss alone! Ssssssssidd, precousss. You wanted us to lead you to Him and that we have done. Let uss go away with Preciouss ,master!" Gollum pleaded.
Sidd stood up, steadied himself, cleared his throat and said. "I'm so sorry Gollum, but we had more in mind for you. And since you wouldn't have agreed first we had no choice but to lie. The thing is you were the first MOME-winner. You can give us precious advice on the contest. Be our mentor. Help us win it, please. And we will let you go! Alongwith this" He held out the One Ring-replica.

"You tricked uss again? YOU TRICKSED USSS AGAIN!!!! Gollum! Gollum! WE kills you, precioussss!"
But before anything, Sauron arose and smacked down Gollum. "Not so fast. He's my last ticket
to success. You kill him and I make your life worse than death. Clear? You have only one choice laddie. To help us."
"Smeagol. Please." Norda requested with sober eyes.
Gollum seemed to be bursting with desperation and misery. But he knew there wasn't a choice.
"We will help. But only to get the Preciouss back. You fails the word again, we will wring your
filthy little neck to piecess!" Gollum warned.
"Excellent!" Sidd clapped." You will not regret it Gollum. Now, Sauron back to the topic. As I
was saying. We need to have the best first impression. Do something spectacular. And also, you really need to ditch that head gear for now. Show them your fair-side. The judges are ladies you know?"
"Yeah, yeah. I thought the helmet was more of the present fashion but - I'll follow you."
"Cool. So let's plan our entry. Gollum, join in and give us some valuable input ..."

[Tookish_Traveler]

“Come on come on come on come on!!!” Tooks tried to hurry Aragorn along. “It’s red carpet time. We gotta make a big entrance! Calma and Sable will love you.”

“But I don’t have my pants on!” Aragorn replied. “Can you ju…..”

“Here, take them with you. You can get dressed on the way.”

“But…” Aragorn’s response was lost as Tooks pushed him out the door and into the night….

[notlistening]

“Tell me again why we couldn’t take Serenity to this Osgiliath place?” Mal complained, driving the covered wagon across the plains of the Rohan.

“Firstly, because it’s a space ship and we ain’t in space anymore, flyboy. And second, Bilbo gets airsick.” nl told the handsome Captain beside her. “He had a bad incident with one of the eagles a while back but we don’t mention that.” She continued, her voice dropping to a whisper.

Bilbo was tucked up asleep in the back of the wagon, surrounded by food, brown paper wrapped parcels, swags and chests of whatever Mal and Cornelius had acquired in Bree and Edoras. Cornelius was hanging on for dear life at the back of the wagon. He looked a bit green his own self.

Mal tried to steer around a particularly bumpy patch of ground and the wagon heaved to the right a bit. “Well, I’ll tell you darlin’, I’m getting sick of you dragging me to these shindig you like so much. Are we actually getting paid for this one?”

“If Bilbo wins, we will take home the honour of Man Of Middle Earth...” she felt the heat of Mal’s glare and added: “And hopefully some serious coin if you and The Scribe bet the right way this time. I told you Thorin would win last year but would you listen? Noooo. Mighty Mal Reynolds always knows how where to put his coinage. You had to bet on the other guy.”

“Yeah, well, with what that monk has acquired for us this year, we should make out like bandits...which we are.”Mal said, urging the horses up a small hill. Bilbo rolled a little across the wagon but didn’t wake.

“Anything interesting back there?” nl wondered lifting the corner of a blanket.

Mal slapped her hand away. “Define interesting...”

“Anything that the newly crowned king of Minas Tirith might consider contraband? Stuff that could get us locked up?”

“Sweetie, we’re crooks. If everything were alright, we’d be in jail.” The wagon crested a hill and from there they could see clear down into Gondor. Just before Mal could start heading down the hill, they were surrounded by a troop of Gondorain guards.

“Whatever happens, remember I love you.” Mal whispered, taking her hand.

“What?” nl said, eyes wide.

“Because you're my wife.” he explained with a scowl.

“Right. Sir. Honey.” nl grinned.

“Customs. Border Patrol. Anything to declare?” the man with the winged helmet asked.

[Cock-Robin]

Before MoME

Gwaihir the Windlord circled lazily down. The War was over, and there was precious little to do, other than chasing the remaining orcs and stuff, but he saw a hobbit down there frantically waving up at him. He dived down and landed nearby.

"What do you need, my little hobbit?" He knew better than to underestimate the little people.

"We're almost late. You're a contestant in the Male of Middle-Earth competition. We need to get to Osgiliath post haste." He handed the Eagle a golden envelope.

Gwaihir sighed. "Welcome to Deus ex Machina Airlines. Hop aboard, and we'll get there."

Robin got on and the Eagle took off for their destination.

"Dont' know what the competition involves, but I swear I'll flatten the next one who asks why I didn't just carry the Ring to Mordor and avoid all the trouble along the way. That big book would now just be a pamphlet."

"I won't mention it myself." said Robin. "The Red Book looks fine as it is!" He was getting exhilirated by the heights. "Could we stop circling like this? I'm getting nausea."

"Don't you dare! You're not going to mess up my beautiful feathers. Use your bag!"

And he flew off in the direction of Osgiliath, with the hobbit on his back.

[notlistening]

The wagon rolled on, heading closer to the Grand Hotel in Osgiliath, its shiny gold dome glinting in the afternoon sun.

“Well that went better than expected.” nl said, checking that the guards weren’t following them.

“How do you figure that? We lost half our booty to those...men of questionable parentage and morals.” Mal finished his sentance as Bilbo cleared his throat.

“And we’ll be fine. Cornelius stashed the best stuff on his person.” nl said, smiling at the stout monk who patted his ample stomach.

“Glad to be of service. Now are we almost there? Becuase I’d like to get of this forsaken contraption before I loose another lunch.” Cornelius groaned. “My mistress would not be pleased with this mode of transport.”

“She’d probably have us there by now, way she drives...” Mal said under his breath.

“It’s around the next hill then you all can wallow in the lap of luxury that the fabulous MC has arranged for this shindig.” nl told them. And to prove her point, as they crested the hill the wrought iron gates of the hotel came into view, along with a much smoother road. Even the horses seemed to sigh at that.

“Mr Baggins, a quick rest, a bath and then I’ll need you ready to strut your stuff on the red carpet. We’re a little late as it is. You think you can manage that?”

“Perhaps a little snack beforehand?” Bilbo asked. “I need to keep up my strength and I’ve already missed afternoon tea and supper.”

“I’ve seen how much hobbits eat. You may want him to “strut” before that ‘else he’ll never get there in time.” Mal whispered as they pulled up in front of the hotel doors. He handed the reins over to valet parking and helped nl off the buckboard. “You ready for this?”

“It’s what we do, darlin’. It’s what we do.” nl said, waking his arm and following Bilbo and Cornelius inside.

[Calma]

“Have the contestants arrived yet?” Archie asked as they left their hotel room.

“Most are on the way so we have time to get to the reviewing stand for the red carpet walk.” Calma smiled up at her tall escort. “You’re hungry, aren’t you?” The man nodded a bit sheepishly. “The snack bar is just off the lobby. Go get yourself a sandwich.”

“Anything for you?” he offered.

“No thank you, Archie. I have to stay a bit empty for the cooking competition, but you could bring me a soda, please.” She said as they entered the elevator and pressed the lobby button. “I’ll meet you at the reviewing stand.” Calma stepped from the elevator. “Enjoy your lunch, Archie.”

[Tookish_Traveler]

Aragorn was still getting dressed in the hallway as they waited for the elevator.

oops...


Thankfully he was fully clothed by time they arrived at the red carpet.

And looking mighty handsome.


As Tooks stepped from the limo, she suddenly realized that she had forgotten to change into her gown.
She sighed and tromped in behind her contestant.

Tooks follows...

[siddharth]

All the hubbub gathered around the city of Osgilliath was silenced as the people watched in astonishment the darkening of the skies. There were clouds, dark clouds that covered the Sun to reveal the darkness they held. As the crowd tried to gather their wits,they didn't believe what they saw.
There were two flaming Balrogs, roaring as they came nearer. They seemed to pull something. Something heavy. It was a huge ball of fire, burning dazzling bright. As the Balrogs roared their loudest, the fires from the wheels leaped and covered the entire sphere in even more flames. And with a Loud thunder, lo and behold! The fire was gone! There stood a long black Limousine.As the mob finally came to understand that this was yet another contestant for the MOME, they went even more crazy than before, thinking of the spectacle they had just seen.

The door of the Limousine opened and there came first Gollum, who refused to dress for the occasion but was still forced to wear some formal clothes - and glasees so that he doesn't look so menacing.
And then came out the sweet and jolly Norda, dressed in a gorgeous white dress.
And then Sidd moved out of the car and waved in a composed manner to the audience greeting them politely, as was always his manner. All this while the noise by the crowd enhanced but it finally silenced, eager to finally see the contestant.
"Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, respected Emcee and judges our contender for MOME- Annatar. Lord of Gifts!!!!

Sauron finally stepped out of the car, dressed in an elegent Armani suit. But what impressed most everyone was his appearance. When they heard of Sauron they had never expected something like this. All the fan-girls around seemed to be drooling as they huddled around Sauron. With shouts of "I love you!" and "please marry me!" everywhere, Sauron gently excused himself from the group as he came beside Sidd.
"Congratulations, Sauron. Seems like you made quite an impression. Atleast on the crowd." Sidd commented.
"Theatricality and deception are powerfulu agents, my friend." Sauron winked.
The fan-girls with no where else to go turned towards Gollum as he was taken up (for his utter resentment) by the teenage-girls, with new shouts of "so cuuute!!!"

Sidd, Norda and Sauron gracefully walked down the Red carpet as they were greeted by the hundreds of fans and audience lined there to see them, shake hands with them. They came closer to where the emcee and the judges, the elegant Rowanberry, the beautiful Sable, and the gorgeous Calma stood. But they halted just about 30 metres from them. Sidd handed something secretly to Sauron as he whispered;
"Do not fail, Sauron. A good way to impress them. Our only chance."
"No worries. We have already practiced it so many times, mate."

Sauron replied and then threw some 'thing' towards the judges. Sidd almost chuckled when he saw the look of wonder and pleasure that was reflected on the faces of the two judges, as a big bouqet of Elanor-flowers, the golden flowers of Middle-earth, straight from Lothlorien landed exactly in their arms.

"My ladies, those Elanor flowers I hand-picked from Lothlorien (with permission of Her highness, Galadriel of course!) is just a token of thanks from us for letting us compete in this competition. I am so honored to be a part of this."
Sauron said as he kissed the hand of the three ladies successively in a manner that would melt even the toughest of women.

"It's going well." Sidd whispered to Norda.
"Absolutely! He is knocking it off! They should love the flowers."
"There's more to it than meets the eye." Sidd winked slyly.
"what do you mean?" Norda was curious.
"I have put amidst those flowers small boxes of chocolates of the finest make. Best of Middle-earth, made by the great Tom Bombadil himself! And a note."
"That was intelligent. Now, we must go back and plan for bribing the judges." Norda whispered back.
"What?"
Norda, suprprised, said "You surely don't believe that the judges are going to sway your way with just a bunch of flowers. Do you?"

[Calma]

As Sauron made his way to rowan, Calma fanned herself with her right hand and let loose a soft whistled “Wow.” She smiled at Archie as she set the pretty flowers aside then took a long drink of her soda. Thank goodness he knew to bring an extra large one for the Red Carpet review because as she looked up there was Aragorn all spiffed up and looking good enough to eat.

[Calma]

*bump*

As the parade of contestants came to a screeching halt, Calma looked about the area and sighed. “It’s the weekend.” She explained to Archie who was trying not to doze off beside her. “I don’t see anyone coming for awhile. Shall we nip off for a bit of dinner and a walk about the place?”

The tall man grinned as he stood and offered his hand to help her to her feet. “Sounds like a plan to me.” He grinned as he curled her arm in his and led the way to the dinning room.

[BagginsGirl]

BagginsGirl sat and watched as Pippin eat, eat, eat, and then eat some more. She fastened her eyes on his waistline nervously, maybe it was fear or her imagination but his stomach was beginning to look rounder.
"Alright thats enough for you! Its a good thing Osgilliath is so close because we're running late and your not even ready yet!"

Pippin looked up from his sandwich, with his checks stuffed with his bite, his messy hair, wrinkled pajamas-he didn't look too appealing.

"Well, let's go." He said.

In a mad dash, Pippin dressed in his shiny Gondor armor. And BagginsGirl dressed in her most stunning dress ( and packed a few raincoats, thanks to a hint by a caring experienced pro) and a couple of special gifts.

"All right Pip, we're a bit late and we need to make an entrance worth remembering."

"So what are we going to do?"

B-Girl whistled a few times, and after a moment a dazzling white Pegasus broke through the clouds and then landed gracefully in front of them.

"Well, I've never seen one of those before." Pippin stated.

With that B-Girl and Pippin hopped onto the Pegasus and flew to the Red Carpet. As the Pegasus flew into Osgilliath and Pippin and B-Girl came into view of the judges, fireworks erupted behind them and lit the sky in bright blue,red, yellow and green.

Pippin's face lit up. "Where did you get those?"

B-Girl shrugged. "I know some people."

The Pegasus alighted onto the carpet,trotted across, and knelt before the judges as the fireworks died down.

"I'll do the talking" BagginsGirl whispered.

But Pippin dismounted, knelt before the judges and said: "Oh, charming and gracious judges Calma, Sable, and Rowanberry I traveled from afar to participate in your competition. Though I am just a hobbit, I hope to prove myself worthy and be considered a real Male of Middle-Earth."

It wasn't an exceptionally amazing speech, but Pippin had poured his inner most feelings and thoughts into it, and in his simple, earnest, hobbit-like way it was touching.

Baggins-Girl reached into her bag and handed Pippin gifts to presented to the judges.

"In thanks for allowing us to participate in your completion, here are rings made by a Elvish craftsman just for you." Pippin offered the judges and Rowanberry the rings, then added as an afterthought. " Don't worry, they aren't rings of power. They're just pretty."

With that Pippin and B-Girl walked away.

"I'm impressed Pippin, you did good."

"Thanks, now whens dinner? I'm starving"

[siddharth]

"Oh no!" Cried out Norda. "How did it got torn like that?"
"I don't know. It must have been when all of those people surrounded me when I was coming out of the carriage." Sauron replied innocently.
"Well that's that." Sidd said. "Talk won't do. We have to get you a proper dress for the dinner party.There's your trunk. Look into it and try out something. Let's see what works."

************
After a while, Sauron trotted out of the changing room wearing this.
"Nah!" Sidd said. " You are not going to a club here, are you? It should be formal but elegant."
Next sauron tried out this.
Norda dropped to the ground, gasping.
"Ah ah. I think they would be expecting a little more clothes today."
Sauron, disappointed, again went in to come out with this.
"Okay, Haven't I already told you that you will not be wearing any armor? Scoot!"
Finally, after a while later, Sauron comes out wearing this.
Ah, yes. That's more like it. That's confirmed then. Well done. Norda have you got the brib...a ... gifts for this week ready?
"Yeah, yeah. Here are they. Since we already presented them some chocolate this week, we'll be leave the food gifts for next week. There should by some variety. I think they will like what they see in these. Sauron, you will be presenting these to all three of them, alright? At the dinner party. There has to be contestant-judge interactions or you won't garner much points."
"Aww, but I am hungry! I need meat to eat! Lot's of it."
"Meat's not gonna run out. Time will." Sidd said firmly. " Let us hurry now or we'll be late."

*****

After half an hour, four people were seen walking speedily down the corridor towards the banquet hall.
In the front came Sauron of course, with a fixed gaze on the three judges. Perhaps a bit nervous. Then followed Sidd and Norda. And behind them scrambled Gollum (Who still refused to dress rationally), mumbling something about bones and fishes and dinners....

[siddharth]

Sauron stepped on to the podium where Calma, Sable and Rowan sat. He slowly but confidently approached them.
"Most esteemed judges and MC, I really do honor your charm, your beauty and the commitment you show to a contest like this, a competition of Oliphauntine proportions. I will be honored if you grace yourselves with such gifts as I have brought in respect for you."

First he stood in front of the Lady sable and bowed low. He brought out a huge parcel wrapped in a shiny red cloth and tied with ribbons of many colors.
"For you, my lady is a gift which I myself had to take in lieu of my mighty Mace, from the Lady of Lorien. May it ever dignify the grace you possess."
Sidd rolled his eyes. He's sure a sweet-talker. But he remembered well that the gift was a gorgeous dress, made by the Elves of Lorien themselves!
"Thank you Sauron, the Great." Sable said sweetly. "Honored I am to recieve a gift from Lorien ... by your own hands. Give your best!"

Then Sauron approached Lady Calma. He again bowed graciously and put forward a gift wrapped in a shiny green cloth. "And for you, Lady Calma is something I had acquired when I was still fair. Annatar they called me, the Elves of Eregion. It's beauty surpasses the night-sky and yet, not yours."
Sidd rolled his eyes again. Oh come on! I should have told him to limit the cheesiness.
And yet, Calma was blushing heavily. "Oh no, you still are very fair to my eyes, my good Dark Lord." She managed to say only but this.
He tried to remember what was in it. Ah yes, a a lovely golden dress that matches with the cheerful personality of Calma.
And finally Sauron stood in front of the MC Rowanberry with a gift wrapped in Red in his hands.
"Your efficiency in handling these gargantuan contests does astonish me, my Lady. To honor your commitment, your sacrifice and everything you have ever done, from starting to organizing and then finishing, I bring you this. Something that I made in the fires of Mount Doom, whilst preparing the One Ring. The fiery color does resemble your undying spirit."
Oh yes. Sidd recalled. There was a beautiful bright-red dress in it. Even Sidd had thought that it was gorgeous.
" Thank you, M'lord. Your graceful presence honor the MOME this year. Please feel free to havy anything as much as you want at the dinner we have put up over there." Rowanberry bowed and smiled.

Sauron literally dashed off and jumped into the "thick of the things". Sidd turned away, and plated up this and that of everything he could find (for it was wise to take all the food before hand) and went on to sit on a lonely table in one corner. He wondered for a moment where Gollum and Norda were but hunger overpowered him and he dived in ...

----
OOC - Sorry, posting after myself.

[SimplySable]

Sable smoothed down the dark metallic brown fabric of the dress she had donned for the red carpet then looked up and smiled at the other judges.



She kept her look neutral but encouraging as each contestant was presented or presented themselves, but behind her eyes there was a bit of admiration for the brib...er...gifts presented and the most elegant speeches.

Leaning over she whispers to her companions. "Are they always this ... um... showy?" she chuckles

[Tookish_Traveler]

Tooks grabbed Aragorn's arm and headed for the banquet hall. "We might as well get a few bites in," she muttered. "A few? But I'm starving," Aragorn said.

"Hmmmm. too bad," Tooks had to laugh. They entered at looked at all the food displayed on the tables. "Stay away from the sauces," she advised Aragorn.

[notlistening]

Bilbo opted for a smallish snack of tomato soup and crusty bread, poached fish, mash potatoes, green beans, followed by a slice of apple tart with ice cream and a nip of brandy for courage before he changed into his suit for the red carpet parade thing. He had a little trouble doing up the pants and jacket than Cornelius had procured for him from a very well respected tailor in Minas Tirith. The large monk was just brushing the crumbs from his jacket when notlistening and her companion returned from...well Bilbo wasn't exactly sure what they had been doing with all the extra parcels form the back of the wagon.

"Finally!" Mal sighed, dropping into an overstuffed chair, leg slumg comfortablely over the arm. "I thought he'd never finish eating."

"A hobbit lives by his stomach, Mr Reyonlds." Bilbo told the scruffy captain.

"Never had this much trouble with Boromir." Mal complained so only nl could heaar. She swatted his arm playfully.

"Boys, play nice." she got up and walked around Bilbo, scrutenising his outfit. She tugged on the lapels, straightening them and brsuhed away a final crumb. "There, you look fabulous. The judges will just eat you up."

Bilbo gulped. "One of them isn't a dragon, is it?"

nl winked. "Depends if you make her cross by gettign there even later than we are." nl said, taking Mal's offered arma dn walking out of the suite. Bilbo followed behind, Cornelius left to tidy the shambles of a room.

The ride down in the lift was quiet. Bilbo seemed to be practicing his speech under his breath. Lights dazzled them as the walked through the garland adored foyer. nl and Mal stopped short of the red swag curtains. "This is it, Bilbo. Make us proud."

"I'm not a proudfoot." Bilbo mumbled them Mal gave the small hobbit a discreet shove to the back and Bilbo was on the carpet. He stopped, like a deer caught in headlights as the papparazzi of Gondor snapped his picture. Waving fan gurls cheered from the sidelines. nl urged him to start walking as Mal drew his gun.

Music swelled and Bilbo degan to shuffle down the carpet towards a panle of very agreeable looking ladies. He concluded that they awere the judges so he straighthened his back and walked much more boldly towards them. He bowed deeply before teh beve od beauties and kissed each hand, having to stand of tip toes to reach Calma, her being so tall and stylish.

"Thank you ladies for inviting me to paricipate in you splendid contest. I hope I can only do iy justice and make my sponsor and all you lovely ladies proud." Bilbo bowed again, then bolted from the carpet to throw up his substantial lunch.

nl groaned and hurried to his side. "No more snacks before event, dear Bilbo. But on the whole that went rather well. Don't you think, Mal?"

But the rougush captain was also kisisng the hands of the judges. nl sighed and ushered Biblo inside ot the Banquet hall. A good meal would set him to rights.

[Melwa]

Melwa checked her hair in the mirror one last time, and then went to knock on the next door. “Are you two all ready? I don’t want to be the last ones to check in.”

Faramir opened the door, and Melwa lost track of what she had been going to say. “Yes, Eowyn’s finishing the gift-wrapping right now. She said I couldn’t tie the bows right.” He shrugged. “Are you okay? There’s no need to be nervous – you look lovely.”

Melwa blushed again, but managed to regain her train of thought. “Thank you. Okay, we should be able to catch the judges on their way to lunch.”

Faramir grinned. “I can do better than that. I’ve got a little surprise waiting in the dining room for them.”

“Really? Great! I can’t do everything for you, you know. Eowyn, can we go now? We’ll each take a box.”

Eowyn came into the hall, dressed to perfection, and holding three small packages.

“Now don’t ask what they are. I want the recipients to be the first to know.”

Melly grinned, but couldn’t resist pleading, “Just a little hint?”

Eowyn returned the grin. “No,” she replied firmly.

“Well then, hurry up!”

The hall to the dining room was filled with photographers, so the three had to pose. Faramir and Eowyn were in complimentary golden formal wear, while Melly had donned a red gown. Then, with a girl on either arm, Faramir entered the dining hall and headed to the dais where the ladies of honor were seated. “Madames Calma, Sable and Rowanberry, it is an honor to be here. I am Faramir. May I present my sponsor, Melwa, and my wife, Eowyn.” Melly curtsied, and Eowyn nodded her head. “As a token of our gratitude in being participants of this fair contest, may I present to you these gifts. I would suggest you open them one at a time.” His eyes twinkled.

The ladies were all curious. Sable shook her package, trying to guess what it might contain. Calma carefully turned hers every direction, analyzing the shape. Rowan exclaimed, “Me first, me first! I’m the MC!” and eagerly ripped the wrapping off. Inside, she found what looked like a jeweled bracelet, with a glorious ruby at the center.

“These were all made by the dwarves of the Glittering Caves, Lady Rowan. But they are more than they appear. Twist the ruby 180 degrees.” Rowan complied, and sat contemplating the look of the bracelet on her wrist, until she heard the gasps from around the room. She looked up.

A beautiful banner of red and gold was unfurling itself from the top of the wall across the room, spreading across the wall. Embroidered in the center was "Rowan, Mistresses of Ceremonies."

Sable, after applauding with the rest, opened her present.

A colorful, elegant hair clip was revealed. “Oooh,” sighed the TORCer. “Do I twist the flower?”

“No, you push the center of the flower three times.”

As she complied, a banner began to flow across the wall on the left. Dainty pink and brown embroidery surrounded the words “Sable, Honorable Judge.”

Calma had already plucked the ribbons off her package, and only took a moment to glance at the new banner before taking the lid from her box. “Hmm, a brooch. Lovely for a cloak. Do I turn the big jewel?”

Faramir nodded, bowed, and swept his arm to the right wall, where the sea-green and silver banner was already rolling out. “Calma, Honorable Judge.”

The diners stared in awe at the now covered walls of the room, and burst into applause.

“And now, miladies, with your permission, I will go find some dinner.” With a final bow, Faramir turned, offered his arms to the ladies of his retinue, and headed for the end of the line.

[Tookish_Traveler]

Tooks was reaching for the shrimp when the lights suddenly went out. Someone stabbed her finger with a fork. "OUCH!!" she yelled as general mayhehm ensued. "Aragorn? You here?" But she got no reply. Tooks shrugged and felt her way to a chair by the wall. Hopefully that would be a safe place to hang out until the lights came back on at TORC.

[Calma]

The graying TORC’er returned to her seat and warmly greeted Pippin as he knelt before the judge’s. With a gracious smile and nod she accepted the gift of a very pretty ring. When the Hobbit had continued on his way down the red carpet, she turned to Archie and gave him the ring. “For safe keeping.” She said then turned her attention to the arrival of Bilbo Baggins. His speech was profound and heart felt, but he did look a bit nervous and green around the gill.

“You don’t want to see that, Love.” Archie shielded her eyes, but not her ears.

“I can’t really blame him.” She smiled a smile of understanding. “I’d be a nervous wreck, too.” She signaled a near by concierge and asked the hulking Dark Rider to send a pot of mint tea to Bilbo’s room.

When she looked back to the carpet, she smiled and greeted Faramir and his entourage. She accepted his gifts of jewelry and banner with a bright smile and welcomed him to this year’s contest.

As she was about to leave for the banquet Sauron again made an appearance on the red carpet this time bearing gifts of lovely dresses. “How thoughtful.” Calma smiled as she handed the gown and the other gifts to a near by staff member. “Take these to my rooms, please.” She said then looked to Archie. “I’m still starving. Let’s see if we can grab some dinner before the mayhem begins.”

Archie curled her arm into his and led her to the outer hall where a line of yellow raincoats hung. “Best put one of these on. I think I heard someone yell ‘ouch!’.” He chuckled as he helped her with the coat then found one his size and put it on. “If we’re lucky, we might get some shrimp before Tooks snags it all.”

[notlistening]

“It’s an outrage, is what it is!” Bilbo complained, staring at the mayhem that was ensuing in the dining hall. The raccoons, dressed in Osigiliath livery had relit the lanterns and Bilbo seemed appalled at the ongoing food fight
.
Nl sighed and slipped on her yellow raincoat. “They started early this year. Most ogf the time you at least get the first course done with.”

“You get used to it.” Mal told him, removing his browncoat and donning the yellow one in its stead.

“A totla waste of good food!” Bilbo continued to rant, as nl tied a rain bonnet on the hobbit’s head. His stomach agreed as it growled loudly when a plate of spaghetti Marinara splattered against the doorjam.

“I never said the food was good. I hear tell the raccoons are on kitchen duty at this shindig. They could have gotten it out of King Aragon’s rubbish bins in Minas Tirith for all we know.”

“Don’t give them ideas, Mal.” Nl said, popping open an umbrella. She managaed to deflect the worst of the creamed spinach that came their way as they traversed the dining hall, looking for surviv...I mean other contestants. She spotted Tooks and Aragorn, waved before ducking into her assigned booth.Thankfully it was mostly debris free.

Mal tied his own yellow bonnet on. “I can still end you.” He growled when he saw nl smirk at him.

“The floral one makes you look prettier. Now did you manage to get all the bri..presents out to the judges before the red carpet?” she asked, opening a menu on the off chance something may have survived the carnage.

“Yep. We gave the http://s2.photobucket.com/user/miss-doo ... rt=3&o=270 to the Lady Calma. And the other ring to http://s2.photobucket.com/user/miss-doo ... rt=3&o=222 The Lovely Sable.
Then the necklace to http://s2.photobucket.com/user/miss-doo ... rt=3&o=234 Rowanberry, the fabulous MC as it matched her eyes.”

“And you are sure no one can trace this stuff back to you or Serenity?” nl asked, ordering a martini from one of the raccoon waiters. She thought it could be Tony, as he had a couple of fingers missing.

“I honestly don’t know where Cornelius got most of the booty from. He could have picked it from the hands of dead reavers for all I know. Point is, Mr Baggins here may have a shot at this thing because naughty men like us can snake around and procure such items.” He took a swig of the beer he ordered and wiped his mouth. “Here’s to your success, younf Master Baggins.” Mal said toasting the hobbit.

Bilbo tried his wine and found it was a Wynyard. Things could just be looking up...then he did look up and got an eyefull of mussy peas.

[siddharth]

Sidd scraped off a huge amount of meat from a leg piece as he sat there. He was
mentally cataloguing all the contestants and their sponsors this year.
And all of a sudden the lights went out. The change was too sudden for him, and expecting some kind of bombardment, he fell off his chair with the whole platter of food he had on his face...

******
On the far side of the room Norda was standing there with a goblet full of ice cream,
shyly watching Aragorn. He was walking and talking with everyone all about the hall.
She had admired him from the start and wished very much to talk to him.
But as ever, her legs were shaky and anyone could tell her nervousness...

*****

In the centre of the hall was assembled most of the crowd. And in the centre of this crowd was
Sauron as he gobbled up plate after plate, whatever lay before him (including a poor little
squirrel who was actually attending the MOMe and was not meant as food).
A man in black coat approached him. "Hello, Mr. Sauron. I'm Alfrid Hawkandslash from "Middle-earth daily". Would you mind giving a short interview?"
"No sir. I haven't had nothing worth to eat these past few centuries besides whatever cheap grade stuff you can get in the retail stores in Mordor. Makes it more harder after retirement, with what little pension I get. So thank you, but no thank you!"
The reporter went off, visibly unhappy. But in his hurry Sauron didn't notice that he had put another squirrel inside his mouth. A guard came running in and ordered him to throw it out.
Sauron raised an eyebrow. "Who are you to deny me, Sauron, ruler of Mordor and almost-ruler of Middle-earth, my food?"
And Sauron, with his mighty hands picked up the biggest turkey there was on the table and with all his might he threw it towards the guard. The guard luckily managed to duck it, but the turkey flew on with ramming speed and hit the gigantic Mountain troll near the corner. Sauron's throw was mighty, for the troll tumbled and crashed right into the switch-boards, breaking the fuses. The lights went off but the battle just began ...

*********
Smeagol was disgusted by all the smell of "cooked" food. He scrambled around the periphery of the hall and suddenly he caught a faint scent of that which he had been craving for since the dratted Sidd had come along and picked him up.
"Crunchy Fishessss, preciousss. Crash uss and bless usss, preciouss! Rwaw, Wrrrringly fishesssss!" And so he went off, sniffing madly. Madder than a mad-dog.
And soon, Smeagol lay in front of what seemed like the treasure-hoard of Smaug: the huge Kitchen set up for the MOME....

[Cock-Robin]

Gwaihir and Robin arrived fashionably late. Well, maybe more than fashionably late. The Great Eagle had been busy visiting abandoned dragon's hoards to find gifts fitting for the judges and MC.

He landed just outside, and entered the great hall where everybody was.

"You represent me, Robin, please present our gifts to the esteemed judges and MC."

"With a good will, Gwaihir!"

He carried three parcels, with a message for each of them, a feather laid on top.

First to Calma. Each of them received a tiara fitting for their status.

To Calma, a tiara of gold, with three gems sparkling in it. Two emeralds and two rubies:

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_p ... 093643.jpg

To Sable, a mithril tiara, with a single sapphire set in it:

http://www.giggletimetoys.com/mm5/graph ... 1/2111.jpg

To Rowanberry, a platinum tiara set with diamonds:

http://www.atlantadiamond.com/wp-conten ... delhi1.jpg

Also, to each, a beautifully calligraphed invitation to a free tour of the best parts of Middle-Earth, courtesy of Deus Ex Machina Airlines.

Then, it was Robin's idea, for each, a replica of a ring of power. And they looked authentic. The magic decoder was there,

http://a.tgcdn.net/images/products/zoom ... r_ring.jpg

The whistle which played a tune when blown,

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-dXQFt-jxOI/S ... ture+1.png

And this inscription:

This ring, and no other, was made by the elves,
(who'd pawn their own mother to grab it themselves.)
Ruler of creeper, mortal, and scallop,
This is a sleeper that packs quite a wallop.
The Power almighty rests in this Lone Ring,
The Power, alrighty, for doing your Own Thing.
If broken or busted, it cannot be unmade
If found, send to Sorhed (the postage is prepaid)

When Gwaihir first saw them, he shook his head. "Shakestoor, it's not."

"True, but they'll get a laugh." said Robin.

[rowanberry]

The MC sent the following memo to all contestants:

Instructions for Challenge #1: The Master Chef

Plan and prepare a festive three course dinner: starters, main course, and dessert.

Fresh ingredients to whatever you'd like to serve will be available in the kitchens of the Celestial Dome, and if for some reason we don't have what you need, we'll order it immediately.

The kitchen staff will be at your service to help you with the work, but you are the one whose skills and decisions make the difference.