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[banished-to.livejournal.com]

The jungle bothers Hel about as much as the dough does. She doesn't actually care about either. Some of the dough that touches her left ankle dies, the rest...

The rest has apparently chosen to believe that since they have tasted death and come out alright they must be the militant arm of peace. This is the dough that stands between the two-legged and the weak. Their flower-petal armor is poisoned, and their weapons the longest thorns they can manage.

If she knew, the goddess would be amused. She feeds the dough that comes to her, in peace, because it is Hers. Hel always knows her own.

She sits by the lake sewing calmly on a large apron for herself. Its hard to find anything for someone thirty feet tall, after all.

Comments

[seaweedbrain.livejournal.com]

I'm coming out of the lake for some food when I see her and I suddenly think that maybe I reappeared back in my world because that is totally a goddess.

Big. Think really big.

I end up being so startled I flop back into the water, which is nice since it cushions the whole spaz attack nicely before I pop back out and dry myself off. Maybe it's goofy to think that not needing a towel to do that is kind of a nice advantage when you're a halfblood, but you'd be surprised how often it's come in handy.

"Uh... hi?"

[banished-to.livejournal.com]

Hel looks up at the sound, and then nods in turn, "Hello." she offers in a soprano.

No, really.

And then extends her living hand in an unmistakable gesture. Even if they can only touch her fingertip Men tend to be more comfortable if you make their polite gestures.

[seaweedbrain.livejournal.com]

I reach out and pick her pointer finger to shake. This should probably feel weird, but I'm kind of used to it. She's not even threatening to kill me.

"Sorry for making noise. I didn't mean to interrupt."

I've learned it's a good thing to apologize if you might have done something to upset them and they're not being jerks. I'm no pushover, but I have enough people who want me dead that I don't look for more trouble.

[banished-to.livejournal.com]

"It's perfectly fine." Hel says, "I get quite enough quiet at home." she's also got a slight lisp, due to the dead side of her face. "I am Hel."

[seaweedbrain.livejournal.com]

The name sounds kind of familiar (other than the obvious) but I can't quite remember who that might be.

"You're a goddess, right?"

I'm just checking.

[banished-to.livejournal.com]

"Mmm. Norse goddess of the unworthy dead." she agrees, "By which my relatives mean anyone who dies in a way other than violence in which they are participating."

[seaweedbrain.livejournal.com]

"...oh."

Huh. Someone from a different pantheon. That's the word, right? I wonder how that works.

"My, um, my uncle is a god of the dead." And it's always weird to think of them like that, the gods. "I've been to his Underworld in my world. It works a little differently. I think."

Unless hers has a postmortem EZPass lane.

"He was, um," weird, kinda creepy, demanding my death, accusing me of being a thief, whiny (no really) "different."

I'll use that since I'd liked Nico and Bianca, after all.

"Nice to meet you."

[banished-to.livejournal.com]

"Probably." Hel agrees, "Mine is pretty non-standard. It's bad enough that I'm rather exiled there. Nobody was willing to go, and I can't exactly climb out on my own. It's nice to meet you, too."

After a very tiny pause, "This is the part where you introduce yourself so that I don't end up reverting to childhood and calling you tiny little Man."

[seaweedbrain.livejournal.com]

"Oh yeah."

She's got a point.

"Percy. Percy Jackson."

[banished-to.livejournal.com]

"Pleased to meet you Percy Jackson." Hel says with a soft laugh. She has really mellowed since she was a kid. The sun is too precious to waste on angst. "Have you been here long?"

[seaweedbrain.livejournal.com]

"About a week. And the door won't let me out, no matter how nice I ask."

I tried.

[banished-to.livejournal.com]

"There are worse places for exile." Hel offers without comfort. It's just a fact; she lives in one of them. "Time stops for almost everyone."

[seaweedbrain.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I know. It stops a little too well, though. I can't get an Iris-message out or anything."

[autocommander.livejournal.com]

Optimus found a ramp that comes from the garage to outside the bar.

He is taking a walk around the lake in his full-sized form, which he rarely gets to do at Milliways. Needless to say, finding a woman at his scale is a rather unusual thing. She's also sewing, which he remembers can take a bit of concentration.

Therefore, he stops briefly; if she wants to acknolwedge him, she will, and if she doesn't he can keep walking.

[banished-to.livejournal.com]

"Good day." Hel says in a soft, slightly slurred, soprano, "I think you are either very new or it is very rare for you to be here."

[autocommander.livejournal.com]

"Rather new," he says. He bows slightly. "I am Optimus Prime."

[banished-to.livejournal.com]

"I am Hel." she says in return, dipping her head. She doesn't need to bow back, she's a goddess. "And before we get to the usual question; they named it after me, not the other way around."

[autocommander.livejournal.com]

Optimus nods. "Then you would be Hel, daughter of Loki and Angrboða -" (he gets the pronounciation right) "- and ruler of the lands of those who do not die in battle. Am I correct in this? I've studied much of the literature of Earth. And I am afraid I'm unsure of the proper terms of address, so please correct me if I err."

It's Milliways. In here, many things are possible.

...just really weird.

[banished-to.livejournal.com]

"That would be me." Hel agrees, "And generally I go by Hel. This is my refuge, Optimus Prime, and it would be really rather silly to stand on ceremony. It's bothersome, and boring, and wastes the sunlight.

"I miss sunlight too much to waste it."

[autocommander.livejournal.com]

"I wasn't sure, and it's best to be polite when meeting someone for the first time, in my opinion. Please, call me Optimus. 'Prime' is my title, after all, and if we're not standing on ceremony, why use them?"

He takes a moment to make sure he's not blocking any sunlight shining on her.

[banished-to.livejournal.com]

"A pleasure to meet you, then, Optimus." Hel says with a smile, "You are the second robot that I've met here. The other was a very small black one named Ironhide."

[autocommander.livejournal.com]

"Ironhide's one of my people. Inside the bar itself, we get shrunken down to a smaller size; even out here, usually, we're sized for normal humans. I found a ramp out of the garage - where we're our normal size - that let me out here at my full size. Not quite sure why things like that happen."

[banished-to.livejournal.com]

"I admit that it's rather refreshing to not have to bend down and kneel both in order to talk to someone." Hel says, grinning. It pulls at the dead skin on her left, turning it into a grimace over there. The right side, though. It's a good smile. Not so much on the dazzling, but big on the honest.

[autocommander.livejournal.com]

Optimus chuckles, and sits down. "And it's also good not to strain by looking up at someone."

His hip joints don't quite go to the sides as much as a humans, but he can stretch his legs out in front.

"I like it out here. When I first came here, I finally had an idea as to why humans like trees."

[banished-to.livejournal.com]

"I find them soothing. I've been fighting a garden of them into staying alive for, oh, I don't even know how long anymore. There is no sun in Niflheim, but the garden is important. I give my people what comfort I may."