>Nudge<

>Tug<

*POKE*

"Knock it off, Haldir, I'm not writing about the time you were in Rohan and were incarcerated for- oh, sorry." Zhie rubbed her eyes and groped at the alarm clock. "What's wrong? It's four in the morning, did something happen?"

"I didn't want to wake you up," whispered a low voice, "but I can't sleep until I finish this. I tried to, but I thought you could help me. My Westron isn't too good this late. Or early."

Motioning towards the door, Zhie stumbled out of bed and followed him to the kitchen, where her first stop was the fridge to retrieve the orange juice. "What are you writing? A summons? A letter? Transcriptions for Elrond? A historical account?"

"A poem," answered Erestor meekly. "It's, uhm... it's for this thing... online... in this group..."

Brow arched, Zhie motioned for him to continue as she drank her juice. His face reddened, and Erestor shook his head.

"Never mind, it's stupid. I'm going to bed," he said abruptly, shoving the sheets he had in his hand into his pocket.

"Ress, come on, I want to help you, but I need to know what I'm helping you with, or I'll just end up offering things that aren't helpful, but sound nice. Like turnip, jack-in-the-box, and squishy."

Pausing for a moment, Erestor shakes his head. "Nope, I can't use any of those. They don't rhyme with-" His face glows again. "With... umm... her name..."

"And... do I get to know what her name is?" prompted Zhie.

Shaking his head, Erestor said, "I end up... blushing a lot when I say it, so, umm, I better not." He tries to hide the little smirk he has, and turns away, rubbing his jaw to rid it of the silly smile. "Look, this was a bad idea, I should have let you sleep. I just..." Walking to the window, he pushes the curtain aside with the back of his hand and sighs. "The only word I can think of is 'Argentina', and I really can't use that for anything."

"Argentina? Oh! Hmm... yeah... sorry, I'm drawing a blank on that, too... what about using her last name?"

"I tried that," he said in a sour voice.

"And?"

"Just think about it."

"Rolly...polly...holey...moley... er... okay, you win," admitted Zhie. "But, Erestor, you know, poems don't HAVE to rhyme."

"Yes, they do. Every poem I've written has rhymed. All of the poems you write rhyme. Even the one you have that start out 'There was a young elleth from-' "

"Let's not knock the limericks, okay? Limericks, yes, those have to rhyme, even the naughty ones, but free verse, you can do anything with that," Zhie explained.

Chewing his lip, Erestor shook his head. "I need structure. Otherwise, I'll just babble and sound like an idiot."

"Hey, what do you think I'm doing right now?" she asked, turning her notepad so that he could see all of the conversation that had been written down with accompanying narration to this point.

"Well," he said as she turned the pad back around to record things again, "maybe if there was some way to keep it short..."

"Haiku!"

"Bless you," he said, pulling out a tissue and handing it to her.

"No, no, haiku is a poetry form from Japan, five syllables, seven, and five again. Usually about nature, but I think you can get away with using it for A- uh, your, um, topic," Zhie carefully told him.

Nodding, Erestor said, "I shall see what I can do. Thank you, I promise not to bother you again this evening."

"If you come up with something good, you'd better!" she teased him as she headed back to her room. "Oh, and Erestor?" The elf looked up from his work. "I'm glad you found something you liked in the Alexander movie, too."

~blush~

-End-

(Yes, I take my muses to movies. Gotta keep them cultured, right? Suppose I have to go do one of these for Glorfindel so that the chief muse doesn't feel slighted...)