What Are You Tolkien About?

(My coworker and I are total nerds, and we have been good naturedly messing with each other via sticky notes for a while. My coworker has several boxes of ‘Star Wars’ marshmallow cereal in his cube, along with lots of other nerdy toys and such. He is also the Dungeon Master for a Dungeons and Dragons game that my husband and I are part of. There has been a lull in sticky note exchanges, until today.)

Me: *via sticky note* “The computer gnomes demand sacrifice. Cereal will do… for now. Do not disappoint us again, human.”

(The rest of the conversation carried on over IM.)

Coworker: “How am I supposed to know that the computer gnomes are displeased?”

Me: “How should I know? You’re IT. That’s your area of expertise, no?”

Coworker: “The magic blue smoke inside the computers still eludes me… and I never learned gnomish… Apple Products and such… PCs are clearly goblin infested, not gnome infested.”

Me: “Must have been carried over when that auditor brought in her Apple laptop.”

Coworker: “Oh crud, cross contamination… Soon we will have gnoblins!”