Log:Union's Dues: Nairheim

Union's Dues 2021/03/08 Helen Radical Grimm Union Felix Amelia Viv Talia Himinglaeva 2

The Takaga mansion is a rather nice place amongst the expanses of 'similar' rich demesnes in Colonial Heights; Helen has only recently been given leave to access the place. A little uncertain as to the proprieties about it, she has arranged to meet Union and Felix, Grimm and Radical, as well as Viv the life-mage at the mansion's drive' roundabout before the front doors. Waiting there, she leans against her crutches, bonnet tied properly on, waiting for people to arrive.

Felix goes up to the front door of the mansion after arriving and seeing all the nups. He presses the call button by the door then says to thin air, "Nothing to worry about, Imuoto-san. Just gathering some people to look into a problem. We'll keep the nups outside."

Viv is unsure why exactly she's been invited to this mansion, but then, uncertainty is pretty well her normal state just now. Perhaps once she attends the appointment she's made at the magical research centre that might change... But for now, she approaches the mansion, seemingly arguing with no one about whether she's got the right address.

Helen lifts a hand to wave Viv over. "My Mistress," she says quietly to the life-mage, "may be able to assist you with your ... memory problems. Well, nudge you in the right direction. Maybe. She's, um, well ... judgemental. It's kind of her job, so ... but some hope is better than none?" she suggests gamely.

People with powers are not the only heroes in the world. Finding adherents to the old ways, the ways of the gods, or what the Christian church lumps into 'paganism' with so many other old world faiths... it is not necessary to have flocks of Valkyrie all over the world.

As such, Himinglaeva was on the job. She was ferrying the soul of a police-man who died in the line of duty. One with a pendant about his neck in the shape of the traditional Mjolnir. A worshipper of the gods indeed. So she carried the soul with her... okay led it by its own choice, into the depths of the sea where she could open her own portal to the Immortal Asgard. She never knows which hall the worthy will end up in. But if she were forced to wager, she would think that this one would go to the All-Father's hall as opposed to Freyja's.

She will be in Asgard presently...

Viv says, "Really, Jean, that wasn't very nice! Let's have no bickering..."

Gabrielle Grimm, struggling and indebted college student, steps through a shadow gate at the prescribed location and raises her brow at the mansion they're gathering in front of. She folds her arms over her chest and frowns faintly.

Radical shows up outside of the mansion, arriving shortly before the meeting time. Thankfully his classes are done for the day. He appears fairly close to where Grimm arrived.

Viv smiles as Helen indicates it's the tight place and comes over. "Your mistress?"

Amelia was notified by Radical of this gathering. As it concerns the welbeing of one of the teens she's trying to watch over from a non smothering distance she arrives at the time and place.

Helen mmmms noncommittally, watching Grimm's arrival and subsequent reaction. She turns as she hears Felix come out, and says softly, "I wasn't sure about ..." She gives a gesture of her head towards the mansion, and adds, "I hope it's okay?"

Felix wanders back to the group after getting a 'Hai, Felix-san' in a teenaged Japanese girl's voice from the speaker by the door. He waves absently to Helen as he approaches her and the others.

Grimm looks to Radical and smiles, pulled out of her grumpy mood for the moment. "Hey. Five bucks says this turns into something way more complicated than a Q&A."

Viv turns in surprise at Amelia's arrival. "I recognise you! You're Amelia Steinberg! I was just in your building!"

Felix waves at Lizzy as well. Then he looks over as Viv speaks at Amelia. "Oh, well, advice that gets followed," he murmurs in a light Scots accent. "That's new."

Amelia nods to the strange woman with the strange magical aura. "Yes, I am. I hope you found what you were looking for in the Tower?"

Viv says, "Oh, well, not yet, but then I only made an appointment, with the Magical Research Centre. I want to see if they can work out anything about my powers and maybe who I am!" Viv's scarf waves to Amelia.

Amelia nods to Felix. "Are you bearing up okay? I know Union wasn't one of your inner group but she was a fellow teen? I know how much losing someone can hurt."

Helen snerks softly at Felix's murmur. "Thanks for coming," she tells him, sounding /very/ appreciative that he's agreed to, you know, back her up. Ish. Raising her voice, she calls out, "Miss Grimm, Mr. Radical, is this everyone?" She looks about for a moment, then asks Felix, "Did you see Union inside?"

Talia Sintergaard arrives out front of the mansion through Grimm's gate, dressed in proper Indiana Jones fashion. Her green eyes briefly glow as she emerges from the shadows, though she blinks away the cinders of red and green light glimmering in her eyes. "... I... Is it like that every time you teleport?" inquires Talia of Grimm.

Amelia nods to Radical and Grimm also.

Felix looks back at the mansion then back to Helen. "Well, as I was using the little mad scientist's room and was alone, no. But, I can give her a ring on the TeenLine?" he offers.

Radical waves to Amelia, "Thanks for coming." He nods to Helen, "I...think so?"

Grimm looks over at Talia and smirks. "Well, I use the gate for convenience, but sometimes I just travel instantaneously. The creepy whispers, the cold, and the sense of being watched is pretty consistant, though."

Helen nods to Felix, murmurs a 'please' to him, then turns back to Radical. "Just missing our guest of honor," she temporizes. "If I can have everyone's attention?"

Grimm raises a hand in a wave back to Amelia.

Viv turns to listen to Helen. The ends of her scarf perks up as well, rising above her head, reminiscent of a dog's ears.

Lizzy steps out of the house, still dressed for school, and looks wide-eyed at the assembly.

Felix starts to bring his PDA to his ear then says, "Ah, I've made contact. She's over there." He waves widely and calls out. "Heya, Lizzy! Come join us!:

"... That's terrifying," replies Talia. She shakes her head a little bit, trying to shake off the lingering feelings from the gateway before she waves to Amelia and Radical in turn. "So. This is a nice part of town."

Radical waves to Talia, "Hey there. Glad you could make it, too."

Grimm looks to Helen. "I only brought someone who has a scientific interest in this." She looks back to Talia, shrugs, and smiles darkly. "Oh, sweetie, that's just a little taste. We better get inside before the HOA complains about this gathering."

Slightly nervous at size of the group, Lizzy reaches out menatally to ones she's most familiar with: Felix and Grimm.

Amelia smiles, "This is the best part of town. The mansion there," she waves at the Takaga mansion "is owned by someone as wealthy as I am."

Viv says, "... Oh really? Thanks, I missed that." She goes up to Radical. "Hello - you're Radical? Someone gave me your name and said I should talk to you!"

Portals of the Deep. They are interesting to say the least. It's not a rainbow bridge, but it opens in the bay right beside Bifrost. So Himinglaeva lifts up through the light of the bridge, ferrying her soul along with her. Here, that soul seems more... Corporeal. She escorts the officer to Valhalla. It doesn't take long to -get- there. But it takes longer to leave. I mean who could turn away from a party like the never-ending one in Odin's hall?

It is not long however, before one of the Feast Hall's organizers hands her a scroll and tells her, "The All Father has a list of the next few hundred destined for Helheim. On your way back to Midgard, it would be of help to him if you could deliver this to Hel herself."

And so, after taking one last swig of mead, she nods and heads out to make the trip. It might take a little time, as she'll need to rid Bifrost to get there.

Grimm allows the contact and looks Lizzy's way, raising an eyebrow.

"Glad to get the call to help," replies Talia. She smiles and looks over at Amelia curiously, tilting her head a little bit before waving. "Good to meet you too."

Felix allows the contact as well.

Helen turns, and snorts at Felix's 'success!' comment before turning back to the others. "Thank you for coming. If you haven't been informed, we are looking for answers for ... Union," and here she nods towards the aforementioned superheroine. "The origins of her powers, and what her, um, current status might be. Besides, well, stuck as she is now. Some have experience that far outweighs my own; some hold themselves as protectors. We'll be going to where we can find out where we might get more information, to someone whose job is souls."

A twitch of her hand turns one of Helen's crutches into a wand, and she gestures with it, a twirling, coaxing motion as she speaks in vibrant Old Norse -- for those of you who understand it, she says, "Teeth-barer, Teeth-grinder, I need the long cart." Moments later, the trotting of hooves can be heard, and then there are two burly goats pulling a long, narrow cart up the drive and over to her.

"Well, we are inside the walls of the Takaga compound, Ms Grimm. But, we can move to the garage. More than enough room and lots of nice cars," the dark clad teen murmurs. "Or we can get in the magickal goat cart. Don;t stand right behind the goats. Just a suggestion."

Viv stares at the goats and their cart, as if trying to remember something.

 Lizzy says, "Thank you. I...just need someone to 'hold my hand' as it were."

Radical tilts his head, "Not the same goats as Thor's, I'm assuming?"

 Grimm says, "I'm not the hand holding type, but...we're all here to help you."

Helen thwaps Felix's arm with her wand, then gestures the wooden stick back into a crutch, to clump her way over to the goats, giving them each a good chin- and ear-scritching as well as a carrot. "Everyone has the same question," she says, amused. "Remember what I said about history being written by the winners?"

Viv says, "OH! That's what I was trying to think of!" Viv goes to the side of the goats and tries to see if one of them has a limp.

 Felix says, "I can do tha lassie. But, anythins else and I'll have to clear it with me old mum. *a note of supportive humor suffuses the mental voice("

Amelia says, "Norse isn't a culture I'm familar with, but I'm here for you, Union."

One of the goats does indeed hold one of its hind legs a little tenderly.

Viv says, "They *are* Thor's goats, I think!"

Grimm leans over to whisper to Talia, "Helen means the Jotun were the losers...". She smiles mysteriously and steps onto the goat cart.

Felix climbs aboard the goat cart near the end of the goat. No need to be in thumping range of say, a wand, again.

Viv looks arounds, not sure to whom to address the question: "Why are Thor's goats here?"

Lizzy climbs in and sits next to Felix.

Talia helpfully climbs aboard the coat. She tips her head for a moment, smirks, and intones, "They have the same names as the goats known from Thor's adventures."

Lightly, Talia shrugs at Grimm before taking a seat in the cart. She doesn't offer a comment on the topic of jotnar.

Lizzy says, "Thor's *recorded* adventures."

Amelia leaps up onto the cart.

Viv climbs in, because that seems to be the thing to do. But she hopes that this cart wasn't stolen from Thor. That would be bad.

The cart itself has a driver's seat, then two benches back-to-back, each able to seat about three people; one last seat faces backwards, for a total of eight riders. Helen, of course, thumps her own way to the cart's seat. "Because they were on loan. They've always been on permanent loan from a young woman who needed a goat-cart to get around, which cart and its speed was admired by her cousin. She had no need of it when she was sent to Nairheim, so ... why not let them stay with her cousin?" She gestures the crutches back to wand-length, and slides them into a leather slot on her seat that looks specifically made for just such things, turning to check to make sure she has all her passengers.

Viv shakes her head. "It's really weird that I can remember more about Thor's goats than I can about myself!"

"Do you know Thor's *unrecorded* adventures?" inquires Talia.

Radical climbs into the cart as well, remaining quiet at the moment.

Lizzy says, "No, but as has been said, history is written by the winners."

Viv says, "How could I know them if they aren't recorded?" Viv's scarf ties itself about her like a seatbelt.

Helen purses her lips, letting all climb aboard, then turns back. "It will take us a few moments to get there," she states, then snaps the reins. The goats follow the circle, start down towards the end of the gate ... but it fades, and they are no longer travelling on a gravel drive in a rich suburb, but on a rutted dirt road in a gloomy wood.

Lizzy says, "'Whose woods these are I think I know.'"

Viv says, "Ow! I guess the Norse gods haven't invented suspension?"

Amelia opens her senses to memorise this dimentional location.

Viv is wide-eyed about the new location, but seems oddly unfazed by the sudden change of location itself.

Grimm turns her head and eyes Felix for several uncomfortable moments. Then a slow, wry smile grows on her lips.

Radical also uses his dimensional sight to track where they're going.

Viv says, "Sorry, Jean, I can't help it! Maybe if you hold me tighter, Blanche?"

A minute or so later, the road changes again, shifting into sunlit fields full of happily-growing grain. The voices of field-workers can be heard, calling back and forth in the same language the Amish-dressed teen used to call the goats. And again, into another forest, dappled with sunlight but tall and old. Birdsong comes from the trees, though there is a definite sense of being watched.

Felix looks around at the surrounding woods, then fields, then woods again. "Really, I thought the road would be, hmm, more wintry and littered with zombies. Too many MMORPGs I guess," he murmurs in a slightly disappointed tone.

Viv looks at Felix. "Zombies?!"

From the front seat comes a snorting giggle. Helen looks back at Felix with a certain amusement, though those who see her will notice that her forehead is beaded in sweat.

Grimm watches back with her near-omniscient shadow sense, feeling out the realms as they go through each.

Felix looks over at Viv. "Liche? Draugr? Umm, revenants? You know, the restless dead. Although since Hel isn't the big bad or the level boss, more Helen's teacher, well, probably makes more sense." He does keep an eye out nonetheless.

Talia shrugs at Lizzy and Viv. She sits back in her seat on the cart, watching the gradually changing surroundings with keen interest. "Depends on the roads you take to get where you're going," opines Talia to Felix.

Lizzy reaches for Felx's hand.

Amelia nods, "I'm assuming this is the scenic route?"

Viv says, "I know what zombies are, I just didnt know why you were expecting them - wait, her mistress is Hel?!" Somehow no one mentioned that detail, at least that she can recall. "THE Hel?"

Felix takes Lizzy hand and gently squeezes it. He murmurs softly to her, "It will be alright, Lizzy."

The lively trees suddenly quiet; it suddenly is a different forest, this one quiet and still -- almost unnaturally so. On the driver's seat, Helen remains quiet, though the journey through this stretch of forest takes a bit longer than the others ... but then the forest fades, and the air grows hot, and rocks surround the cart, rocks both crystaline jagged and heat-smoothed.

"To go to Nairheim," calls Helen from the front, "one must take the road that goes down through the nine worlds. Touching upon each of them is necessary." Rounding a curve, ahead can be seen a giant, twelve or thirteen feet in height, hand wrapped around the thick shaft of a spear ... but then the air snap-cools, and the rocks become frosted, if not outright covered in ice. Snow crunches under the wheels of the cart.

Talk about the right place at the right time. Up ahead of the Goat-cart, a rainbow shines down onto the path. Sometimes, Heimdall has a sense of humor. As such, Himinglaeva ends up standing basically in the path of the goats. Goats that she recognizes. In her traditionally shiny armor (because that is what folks assume Valkyries look like), she smiles widely, stepping half-way out of the way of the goats, "Friends!" She calls out. Yes, she is talking to the goats. "Might you be on your way to visit Hel?" a pause and she adds, "Without a handbasket?" she asks loudly at the approaching cart. "As the mortals say... going my way?" Okay, so she is a few decades out of date.

Grimm closes her fingers as if grasping something, and as they finally close, a Coffeebucks cup materializes in her hand. She sips as they travel. She looks to Talia, Radical, and Lizzy. "Anyone thirsty?"

Helen reins in the goats, blinking at the apparition. "Oh," she says after a few moments. "You're ... right, one of the Waves. By all means, join us, daughter of Ran." She hesitates, then looks back. "If you can squeeze in ... or walk beside? We can go more slowly."

Amelia far reaches, and her hand reaches out, vanishes to the wrist, and then returns holding a bag, "Can't have coffee without doughnuts." Opening the bag she offers it aroound. There are various favours of doughnuts in the bag.

Lizzy smiles at the warmth of Felix's hand and murmurs back, "You've never let me in before. Why now?"

Helen turns her head towards the other side, where Viv sits. "Yes, 'the' Hel. Relax, you're not dead."

Lizzy says, "Nope, that's me, maybe."

Viv accepts a doughnut. She feels the need of something sugary just about now. "I know I'm not dead! Well, I think I know I'm not dead. It's everything else I'm confused about!"

Felix murmurs to Lizzy. "Ask her for cup of cambric, Lizzy. It's warm and good and calming."

Climbing aboard, Himinglaeva simply shifts herself into water form. Better to fit in the little gaps here and there. "Thank you. Your assistance is welcome." She flows off to one side and settles in to relax for the ride.

Radical shakes his head and says to Grimm, "No...thank you. On trips like this, I often find it hard to relax enough to eat or drink."

Talia shakes her head at Grimm. She looks up at the giant before things shift again and Himinglaeva arrives in a burst of rainbow light. Cheerfully, Talia smiles and waves to Himinglaeva. "Welcome to the road trip."

Grimm raises a brow at Felix's suggestion. "Mmm, yeah, I know a good recipe for that." She conjures a cambric in a warm insulated cup and hands it over to Lizzy. It's exactly the same as she remembers Sasha making for her on rare occasion. She looks to Radical. "That really sounds more like you need some tea." She's quite relaxed.

 Lizzy says, "Cambric? Isn't that a fabric?"  Felix says, "It's that as well. It's also a sweet steamed tea and milk combo. Good stuff."

Helen tilts her head a little, lips pursing. Well, let's see if ... She snaps the reins, and the goats start up again, trotting through wintry Niflheim and turning to head into a cave. The track remains as it has been -- a little bumpy, because no, the Norse did not have suspension -- but it becomes an underground gloom, a torch or a collection of glowing moss here and there the only light. In the distance can be heard the sound of bellows breathing, the clangour of several hammers at work upon steel.

Grimm offers to connect a separate mindlink with Radical, though he may be too stressed to accept.

Radical nods...and does accept the mind link from Grimm.

Viv looks about at everyone. "Ok, I know I know nothing about anything, but the rest of you know what's going on, right?" she asks for assurance.

Lizzy holds the cup in her free hand, but does not drink.

Radical nods to Viv. "More or less. I thought Helen explained it earlier, though. We're off to ask some questions of Hel about Union's current state."

Grimm leans back and sips her latte while she checks in privately with Radical so he won't be called out in front of people. << I figured you were tense when you got pretty quiet. You good?>>

Lizzy murmurs to Felix, "You didn't answer my question."

Without nearing the smiths, the goat-cart can be felt to track one way and the other, and soon emerges from another cave. The air is ... not stale, exactly, but not fresh; cool without being cold or warm. The sound of a river bounding down rapids comes to your ears until, rounding an outcropping of stone, it roars in full throat as the cart approaches a covered bridge, the peak of a cottage visible behind another stone outcropping on the far side.

Shrugging her watery shoulders, Himinglaeva looks to Viv and nods her head. "Aye. This ist the way to reach our destination." she states with a smile. "Worry not and enjoy the ride."

Felix murmurs, "You mean about what cambric is? Well, the recipe I like is steamed cream, sugar, and a dash or three of weak tea. It's tasty!"

Viv says to Radical, "Ok. I think I missed a few things! Lots of people were talking."

Grimm grabs a donut before they arrive and enjoys it with her coffee. "Thanks, Amelia," she says between bites.

Amelia smiles, "You're welcome, Ms Grimm."

Radical glances over to Grimm, and sends back over the mind link, << I'm fine. Just focused. I try to make a point of not dropping my guard when dealing with...beings of great power. >>

 Grimm says, "I think she meant about you not letting her in before, Kiddo."

On the cart's driver seat, Helen pants as if having gone through a great effort; the reins are slack, but the goats know the way, and trot under the roof 'thatched with glittering gold'. Hooves and wheels clatter on fitted, but not nailed, boards, until the group emerges from the other side. "Ho!! What business here??"

The one who hails the cart -- the goats make free to trot closer, but halt some distance away from the caller because of the hip-height wolfhound-looking dog at her side -- is clearly a Norse warrior-woman, leaf-mailed, spear- and shield-bearing.

Grimm finishes her donut and tries not to look Radical's way while mentally talking to him. << That's probably wise when dealing with someone of this level. I'm already prepared for a quick retreat. But...this is supposed to be a simple fact finding mission. Shouldn't go sideways unless we pry a fight from the jaws of peace, y'know?>>

Viv finishes her doughnut and wishes she'd asked for some coffee, now.

"No, the question before that," murmers Lizzy, "Why did you accept the link this time?"

The dark clad Felix shrugs slightly. Then over the mind link with Lizzy and Grimm states << I'm trying not to be such a manipulative ass as before, Lizzy. Not sure if it'll stick though. >>

Radical looks to Amelia, "How have you been? I haven't seen you in a bit."

Never having been one of the major gods, Himinglaeva does not possess the ability to transcend languages. She however does know the local dialect, and accented English. She lifts a hand and reflexively calls out in Old Norse before shifting to English so as not to lose her travel companions.

"Modgud! Well met once more!" she calls out as she flows out and resumes her divinely fleshed and armored form. "Unt Garm! How do you fare mein friends?" she asks in her heavy accent.

Talia tilts her head and smiles as the cart is bid hello. Leaning over the edge of the cart, Talia smiles and waves at the warrior-woman. In a cheerful tone of voice, Talia calls out in Old Norse, >> Greetings! We come to speak with the cart driver's Mistress, Hel. It's good to meet you, Modgud. <<

Felix listens to the language being battened about then murmurs, "I bet most of me ancestors hated that language. Well, save for the one's who spoke it, acourse." He stands up and looks around. "No, fierce hound guarding the door. The Poetic Eddas was being poetic?"

Amelia gives Radical a wry sad smile, "Looking for a good man. There's an infinity of dimensions. Surely one has a good man who's available?"

The dog goes, "WOOF!!" and the goats 'baah' in scornful return; one bares its teeth, the other lowers its head to offer its horns for the hound to impale himself upon.

Helen lifts her head, having caught her breath. "Helen Glick, with companions, to ask of my Mistress what she might know of a friend's situation."

Modgud grounds her spear, then lifts her hand to remove her helm. "The living," she says easily. "Hello, Helen. Have you found my replacement, should you succeed our Mistress?"

"My mother found her. And she's much like you," says -- or is that complains? -- Helen.

Modgud gives a smile that seems more grim than happy, but she steps closer, reaching down to touch the hound on the ear. It quiets, and follows at the warrior-woman's hip as she steps up to clasp forearms with Himinglaeva. "Another message?" She looks over at Talia, then tilts her head. "Touched, are you? Well, keep the peace, and guard your charges, warrior. The dead should not bother you, but do not hesitate if they should try."

Viv shivers a bit.

With a shrug, Himinglaeva clasps arms with Modgud and shakes her head, "When in Valhalla, one does as bidden by the All Father. Aye?" she asks. "But to be specific, the All-Father wished a list of those for your Mistress to take possession of upon their upcoming deaths. Apparently, Freyja's Seidr und Frigg's visions have named them. So... I am low-ranking enough to be sent on messenger duty."

But then she looks back to the others and nods, "I shall insure their safe passage to and fro. After all, carrying souls to the afterlife is something of a specialty of mine. Though, not usually those who are returning to Midgard afterwards."

"So people tell me," replies Talia to Modgud's comment. She smiles and shrugs a little bit, sitting upright after a moment or two of carefully regarding the wolfhound. Talia shrugs again and adds, "I intend no harm to the realm or its mistress."

Radical chuckles and says to Amelia, "Or outside of them. I seem to remember you took some interest in Apostate. Or his unpowered version of himself in his dimension." He then looks over toward the interactions with Modgud.

Amelia nods to Radical, "I did. But dating him would be too close to dating a team mate," She looks into Radical's eyes. "who has other interests." She then turns to Viv, "Cold?"

Felix gets down from the cart and looks back at the others. Apparently satisfied that they are going to get out sometime in the near future, the teen just looks around while staying right by the cart.

Grimm chuckles. "Apostate isn't him, though," she comments to Amelia. "Aside from the looks...sense of responsibility and all that...they're not alike."

Viv says, "Just - kind of nervous. I don't know how people can be so calm!"

The guardian -- giantess? though she's 'only' a sturdy six feet in height -- nods, and steps back. "Down," she recites formally, "and to the North." Helen nods and, mostly recovered from the strain of bringing seven other souls with her on the trip, snaps the reins and gets the cart moving once more -- slow enough for Felix to hop back into his seat.

Down, and to the north indeed, a chasm in which a few could resist the advance of many. At the end of it Helen lifts her hand, and the great gates that seal off the far end of the channel swing open; beyond them seethes a mass of bodies, though not nearly as many as one might think -- many hundred, but only a few thousand, as it were. They all have the look of 'let me out of here, I don't belong here', but when the gate opens (inward) and the cart trots through, they keep well away, caught between their own need to escape and their rightful fear of the hound whose belling howl can be heard beyond.

The gates close behind ...

... and you are in Nairheim. Helheim. Hel, Niflhel, however you wish to call it.

Radical nods, "I can still understand Amelia's reaction."

Felix hops back on. "Cool. And well, I'm faking it. Learned how to do that dealing with me dear old mum," says Felix to Viv.

Amelia tells Viv, "Experience. Most of us have been through something like this numerous times. You get used to it."

Grimm shrugs. "Maybe it's preference. I've been on a few dates with other versions of my past boyfriend, which...I guess I didn't think was odd, but....huh."

Viv says, "I guess maybe only being able to remember the last few days doesn't help with being experienced...."

Amelia says, "But Radical has never been my boyfriend. He's my team mate. My friend."

The hall Eljudnir is what seems like a many-day journey from the gates, but can't be more than a few minutes; you can /see/ the hall from the gates. There are many homes, simply- but well-built, around it, but the goat-cart pulls up to the front, where Helen stops it and says, "End of the trip." She climbs off, and a number of people emerge to greet you. Many of them are old, but by no means all, offering towels to wipe off the dust of the road, water to drink. Helen avails herself of both.

 Lizzy says, "Is that the same mum you'll need to clear anything more than hand-holding with?"

Grimm nods to Amelia. "I see. So...you just don't see him that way. That's fine. Everyone's got their thing."

Himinglaeva nods to Helen and the others, stepping forward and into the Hall to deliver her message.

Radical climbs out as well, offtering to help others out as needed.

Viv climbs out of the cart, and stretches. The water looks good, though she's a bit hesitant to accept it. She recalls nothing from Norse myth, but eating or drinking in the place of the dead sounds just the sort of thing that might be bad in a myth.

Amelia hops over the raised sideboard of the cart onto the ground.

Talia vaults over the edge of the cart and straightens up, taking one of the proffered towels to dust herself off. She shifts her attention to the various servants and the surroundings before blinking at the offer of water. "Oh. Thank you! I appreciate it." Quietly, Talia accepts the water and returns the towel though she hasn't taken a sip of the water yet.

Lizzy steps out of the cart, and accepts a towel to wipe her face.

Amelia mutters a word softly almost under her breath. A flickering appears around her for a few seconds. Then she is groomed, her clothing clean and wrinkle free, her hair brushed and combed.

 Felix says, "Well, yes, but as she's out of country, I may just give myself permission, Lizzy."

Viv says to Amelia, "That's a good trick!"

Amelia nods to Viv, "Yes. I was taught it by a good mage. Well," she chukles, "a capable mage who's mostly good."

 Lizzy says, "And would you give yourself permission?"

The magic at Amelia's hands is /visible/, intensely so; not bright, just ... rich color in an otherwise drab world. It draws the gaze of nearly every one of the dead nearby, their heads turning to feast upon the living wonder of it. And in point of fact, Viv is vibrantly, well, vivid. Somewhat less than the active Power used, but there are always a few of the dead watching her out of the corners of their eyes.

Felix shrugs slightly as he murmurs over the link with Grimm and Lizzy, << I honestly don't know, Lizzy. It's not a sitch that's ever come up for me before. >>

Viv says, "Yes, I know, I see them staring! No, I don't like it!"

Amelia glances at Felix. "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take," she remarks to him.

Helen's wands are crutches once more, and after drinking deep, she gestures for the others to follow, and thumps her way into the hall. The construction is a blend of stone for the core elements, good solid wood for trim, and ice as filler; how the ice keeps from melting when the temperature is above freezing is anyone's guess.

The hall is filled with many trestles, long tables with long benches upon which gather scores of people. A low murmur fills the long, pillared place, and though Hel clumps forward, she greets when she is greeted, but leads on without lingering.

Viv is distinctly more nervous here than she usually seems (even when she has no idea what's going on). Maybe it's the staring dead, or maybe an instinctive sense of death being the opposite of what she's about....

Talia follows along quietly, sipping from her cup of water as she takes in the sights of Eljudnir. She smiles politely and offers a wave to Hel when the Mistress of the Dead looks in the group's direction. A moment later, Talia adds a greeting in Old Norse.

At the far end, in a simple chair upon a one-step dais, sits a woman; she is flanked by a man and a woman in much finer seats, inhumanly handsome for the one, ethereally beautiful for the other. The central female is neither; oh, she has a certain amount of lingering handsomeness about her face, but she is not attractive. What she has, though, is presence. A slowly-progressing line that comes in one door is gestured to a halt as Helen enters the space in front of the dais; Hel pauses as her apprentice waits for the others to catch up.

Radical follows along as well, looking around at the architecture and decor as they move through the hall.

Viv's eyes are mostly on the people in the hall.

Lizzy lets go of Felix's hand and steps up behind and to the right of Helen.

Once the group is around her -- Helen does not move quickly, exactly, but she can keep up with most people -- Helen bows her head. "Mistress. A guardian of my town has fallen, and yet has not. I and those I bring have questions we hope you have the answers to."

Hel blinks for a moment, her gaze moving from one to the next to the next, lingering on Viv, but touching upon everyone for a long, penetrating moment. "You are my apprentice," she finally says. "Questions are your hunger, answers your fill. You and your companions may ask what you will."

Amelia has a question but it's only tangentally connected to the immediate issue so will wait.

Viv also is quiet, still not being exactly sure why she was asked along.

Radical nods, "We were looking to find out details about the current state of one of the heroes of Colonial Bay. Union." He motions to Lizzy. "She received her powers via some kind of magic, allowing to to change between her civilian self and her heroic self. Her civilian self...was struck by a vehicle. And since that time...her heroic persona has been to the fore. Did she die? And if so, what is Union's current state?"

The eyes of not only Hel but her two companions (Baldr and Nanna) fix upon the form of Union -- Lizzy Ross. Hel's hand lifts to gesture Lizzy forward and says, "If you will step into the circle?" Should Lizzy step up onto the dais, she'll see a twin circle carved into the floor a few steps before Hel, with runic script running between the circles.

Viv tries to read the writing, and find she can't.

Talia remains quiet for now, observing the proceedings in quiet contemplation for the moment. Probably a good thing she came as Talia and not her alter ego. Who knows how the gods would feel about having a fire giantess in their midsts.

Lizzy steps forward into the circle.

Virtually everyone, coming through the hall, will have come to realize that ... the dead are /many/ sorts of people, here. Yes, humans, and humans of many sorts, but also light elves and dark, plus jotun of various sorts, regular and fire and ice. Those with familiarity of Greater Faerie will see all of the races represented in some part; dragons as well, albeit of small, 'humanish' size. Plus others, many others, of races not before seen by the eyes of man ... but many human races nonetheless.

Hel nods in courteous thanks to Lizzy; a gesture and an Old Norse phrase from her ("your where") activate numerous runes in the ring. The magic there is visible to all, and the denizens of the Hall go quiet, their heads turning towards it, as Union glows golden ... but then the glow fades, as do the runes. The magic is, to those in the know, evidently a form of scrying.

"You are not one over whom I was given dominion," states Hel to Union. "Who is your god?"

Radical looks to Union to see what her answer is.

Talia idly rests her hands in the pockets of her adventuring pants. She quietly continues to observe, trying not to be obtrusive in the process. Note is made of the magic words and the runes at Union's feet while Hel assesses her condition.

Ater a long pause, Lizzy answers, "My god? I do not know her name. But I have always strived to uphold the ideals of my people: Liberty; All are created equal; Many become One; and others."

There is a long, heavy pause, then Hel gestures. "I see. How delightful a puzzle you have found for yourself, my apprentice," she says to Helen. "Elizabeth Ross, you may return to your friends as you like. No, you are not one of mine, but neither of the living nor the dead -- quite. You are caught on the cusp; you are dusk and dawn, neither night nor day."

Radical raises a brow at that, trying to parse what it means. "Hrm."

Before stepping out of the circle, Lizzy asks, "Please, ma'am, can you tell me, is my other body dead?"

Hel looks ever-so-faintly amused. "Did you not attend to what I said? You are on the cusp."

Talia tips her head to one side, listening thoughtfully as she considers things. "Can you tell us where her body may lie now?"

Lizzy says, "I apologize if I seem foolish, but I am still young. I feel that I live, here in this body I was given. I ask of the body I was born in, where I am not."

Grimm came off the cart looks as pristinely purposely messy as she usually is, untouched by dust or wind. She looks the way she wants to, or perhaps she looks the way she feels on the inside...a dark, beautiful mess. She's remained quietly observant. No need to draw attention that the conduit of the Destroyers is in their midst.

The eyes of the daughter of Loki shift to Talia, and she considers the Norse-gods-touched for a few moments. "It is neither my secret to tell," Hel replies, "nor my mystery to discover." Her gaze goes to Helen, then back to Lizzy. "It is that of which I speak. The form you inhabit is one your spirit enlivens; without you, it would not move, and might not /be/. I cannot tell you what you wish to know most, but were I to be one who sought to look, I would likely away to that place through which all of the greatest journeys must stray."

The word she utters next is different, unique to each individual who hears it. Some might hear 'train station', some might hear 'airport', some might hear 'wharf' or 'bus depot'. It is a place of journeying, yet not a destination in and of itself; it is a place where one will find many people together, yet most of them alone.

Helen blinks, and hard. "I thought that was a legend."

Hel looks down at the Amish-dressed girl, the same faint amusement on her lips as Lizzy earned.

"Right," mutters Helen, "clearly not."

Grimm looks very confused. She utters to Talia under her breath, "Did she just say Burning Man?"

Lizzy says, "The Nexus?"

Talia's eyes widen and she claps a hand over her mouth to muffle the snortlaugh that bursts forth unbidden. She leans over toward Grimm and quietly replies, "I heard 'the airfield', but I think she's actually naming a magical location. Like some kind of travel nexus."

Radical continues listening quietly to the conversation, just...taking things in. After all, this is really Union's mystery to uncover if she wishes to do so.

Grimm grins at Talia. "Girl, I gotta get you to the Burn if airport is what you think of as a magical location," she says with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. She looks back to the matter at hand.

Lizzy says to Helen, "What place?"

"Airfield," repeats Talia, "Like in a noir film. It's small and romantic and full of mystery. All Indiana Jones or start of a mid-twentieth century adventure."

Grimm thinks on that a moment. "Hmmm...I would've said...I dunno, Casablanca instead, then," she smiles at a happy memory of watching it with someone.

Helen rubs her eyes, then gives as much of a curtsey to Hel and her flankers as she can. "Mistress," she says, "thank you. Where are my cousins?"

Hel nods slightly to one side, her eyes glancing that way as well; there is a door in that direction.

Again Helen offers her courtesy, and she says to the others, "I think might need to talk with my fellow apprentices. Um ..." She frowns at Lizzy, gesturing her off the dais so that the dead -- or rather, the Dead -- might step forth once more to be judged.

Once Lizzy's back amongst the rest, Helen rubs at her forehead with the back of one hand. "What you hear is how you might view it. It's ... it's where souls go after death, but before the afterlife. It's where they get examined, and sent to the right places for judgement, according to their beliefs. There's no judgement, just ... sorting."

Lizzy says, "The greatest journeys, don't they start with seeking advice? A visit to an oracle?"

Helen gives a gesture of her head towards Hel. "What do you think we're doing? It's just that the advice given by oracles is never entirely, um, clear."

Grimm blinks at that. "So...does that mean Lizzy's soul isn't actually...here?" she motions to Lizzy's body.

Lizzy says, "Indeed, but she spoke of the greatest journeys."

"I think we've wandered into tricky territory," offers Talia to Grimm's question. She looks over at Lizzy and Helen, smiling a little bit. "Which is what makes this a great adventure."

Lizzy says, "The Oracle of Delphi, the Council of Elrond - these were consulted before such great journeys, were they not?"

Grimm smirks at that. "I don't think anything's been non-tricky since I got my powers," she comments to Talia.

"Me too," replies Talia, shrugging a little bit.

"It's ... partly here," says Helen of Lizzy's soul. "Which means it's partly in her real body, too. That's the penny's function -- it serves as conduit between her real body and ..." She gestures at Lizzy's current 'Union' form. "So she would always be linked to both, through the penny, but her conscious self would be in one. If one were dead, though -- or destroyed -- then it might either reside entirely in the other, or else ..." She makes a 'voom' gesture. "Off to the posting house."

"See? That would be a horrible magical location. Postal sorting facility," comments Talia to Grimm. She rubs her chin thoughtfully and looks over at Helen again, quirking a copper-hued eyebrow. "So... How do we go to the Soul Sorting Place?"

Grimm shudders at Talia's suggestion. "Way to kill the magic in...well, magic," she comments glumly.

Talia rests a hand on Grimm's shoulder, looking apologetic. Buzzkill is, apparently, not a title she wants to claim.

Lizzy walks back to the goat cart.

Helen sighs. "I'll have to learn. She," and by the twitch of her head towards the dais where Hel is once again judging each of the supplicants at a steady clip, "clearly knows how to get there. That means that at least one of my cousins knows, and probably a number of them. So we go ask them the how-to. You," and she applies that as a general 'you-all', which she probably would have said if she were more Southern than Midwestern, "needn't come if you don't wish. I am certain there are plenty here who might pique your interest in conversation, or a friendly wrestle. These are," she adds, "the more complaisant of the Dead in her care, though, so for a friendly wrestle you might need to go a bit further afield."

After searching her memory about what she knows of mystic and magical dimensions, Grimm realizes that though she knows of ... the Nexus, or as she put it, 'Burning Man' ... she has never been there, and that the Darkness inside of her is loathe to go there, at least under its own power. She knows of dimensional roads that /may/ lead there, but all those of which she knows are dangerous in the extreme, especially to her links to Power. There are undoubtedly other Ways, and if she were 'riding along' she could likely make the trip, but ... she might be cut off, to one extent or another, once she was there.