honey I shrunk the pups plot

[gods_that_haunt_me]

The door opens onto a wintry, misty seaside, and in steps a very tall man draped with a hooded fur cloak. Instantly his black-rimmed eyes widen in the shadow of the hood. As the door closes behind him, Floki lowers the hood and rubs his hands together, grateful for the warmth that Milliways provides at the most unexpected times.

But as he makes his way toward the bar, he catches sight of some very small movements. Underfoot.

He casts a questioning gaze around the room. It's not the waitrats.

"Elves?"


[OOC: Open to all normal-sized and shrunken pups.]

Comments

[iprotectyou]

There's a giant--well, giant is relative; this man is only a few inches tall--climbing a K'nex ladder onto a table near the actually very tall man. The little human stops to wave at the bigger one.

"Hoi, stranger! May the Force of others be with you! I'm Baze Malbus. Watch out for tiny people!"

His voice may be slightly squeaky.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

It's a strange thing to be hailed by such a small being.

Floki steps over to the table with long strides and bends down slightly to peer closer at the...man.

"Tiny people that are not elves, it seems," he says, a sing-song-ish lilt to his voice.

"I am Floki. How came you to be this size?"

[iprotectyou]

"Pleasure to meet you, Floki. Wish it was under better circumstances. As for your question, well, the rats dropped a certain machine which exploded and shrunk everyone in the vicinity," Baze explains, and then turns to finish climbing up the ladder.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

Floki frowns.

"So it was not magic, but a machine? Huh. I know that machines here in Milliways can do wondrous things, such as produce music, and even heal broken bones. I did not expect there to be a use for a machine that shrinks things."

[iprotectyou]

"Yeah, I don't know why this machine was built," Baze says, shaking his head.

"Idle curiosity, maybe? Who knows. Are you from one of the worlds with magic? An Earth, right?"

[gods_that_haunt_me]

"Idle curiosity is the plaything of the gods," Floki says, amused.

"Earth? Yes, I have heard it called Earth here. My people call it Midgard. And of course we have magic--does it not exist in your own realm?"

[iprotectyou]

"Not that I'm aware of!" Baze reports cheerfully, laughing.

"I mean, the first time I saw magic was after I came here."

[gods_that_haunt_me]

"Then perhaps you have not been looking closely enough," Floki suggests. "I believe that magic exists everywhere; it is only the people who have forgotten how to use it."

[iprotectyou]

"That," Baze says, offering Floki a considering look, "is entirely possible. I admit I relied on science in my later years. My friend, Chirrut, relied on the Force, which seems like magic, but isn't. The Force is an energy field that binds and surrounds all things."

[gods_that_haunt_me]

"Then, the Force is the power of the gods, is it not?" he says with a tilt of his head.

[iprotectyou]

"Well, I'm not sure if gods have anything to do with it, but the saying goes 'All is as the Force wills,'" Baze says, shrugging.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

"And for me and my people, all is as the gods will it," he says, obviously deeply invested in his belief.

The Force is totally gods.

[iprotectyou]

"Well, then, on your world, the Force may be representing the gods, who's to say?" Baze says, chuckling. He offers a rather elaborate shrug of his unarmored shoulders, and settles on the table in the lotus position.

"So, tell me more about this magic of yours. Can you use it?"

He's guessing that Floki's world doesn't have bacta or blasters.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

Well, Floki says. Because there are gods, okay.

He straightens and removes his cloak, brushing the droplets of water from it, and draping it over the back of a chair. And upon removing his cloak, he reveals a leather belt around his waist holding a bearded axe, an adze, a sheathed knife--tools? weapons? both?

"I am not as skilled as my wife, Helga. She is a healer."

[iprotectyou]

Huh, those tools? weapons? both? are interesting. Definitely no blasters. Maybe not even lightsabers. Weird!

"A healer? Neat! So she mends broken bones and stuff like that?"

Without bacta? How? Baze wants to know.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

He bobs his head in a bird-like nod, speaking of her with a deep affection that may offset the rough tools and clothing that he wears.

"And she eases pain, and lessens the duration of many ailments. It is her gift from the gods, and those of us who have benefited from her care are grateful for it."

[iprotectyou]

That doesn't exactly answer Baze's burning question, but that's okay. He doesn't think he'll get a straight answer to the question of what magic actually is on Floki's world, anyway.

"Good for her! I'm sure she's a valuable asset to you city. are there many healers like her there?"

[gods_that_haunt_me]

It's a gift from the gods, Baze.

Besides, Floki is the type to not give straight answers. They're more circular. Or nebulous.

"Our village has a few. Most women know the art, some men. It comes in handy on the battlefield, and when injured warriors return home from raids."

[iprotectyou]

"Raids?" Baze asks, cocking his tiny head to the side.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

"Raids," Floki repeats, which is probably as straight an answer as he could give.

"I am a Viking. It is what we do. We sail to distant lands in search of treasures, and we take what we want."

[iprotectyou]

Wow, that's terrible, Baze does not say, but the feeling probably shows up on his face, in his creased brow and the tight lines around the corners of his lips. But this is Floki's culture, so Baze tries hard not to judge. It's difficult, because the Empire took what they wanted for decades.

"Hmm," he says, noncommittal.

"So, what kinds of magic can you do?"

[gods_that_haunt_me]

And in this episode of Your Culture is Problematic...

Floki narrows his sharp eyes just a bit, and he tips his head, raptor-like.

"Magic is not something anyone can simply 'do,'" he explains. "We do not 'do' magic. It is not like the Bar, where you ask her for something, and it appears. My knowledge of magic lies mostly in healing, but I can only work with what the gods allow me to use at any given time. My gifts are elsewhere. I am a ship builder. I know the trees, which ones to take, how best to use them."

[iprotectyou]

That doesn't sound magical at all, but what does Baze know?

"Oh, okay. Ships as in boats, right? Not actual starships?"

[gods_that_haunt_me]

Base's lack of faith in magic is disturbing.

"Ships that go among the stars? No," he snorts with a wry chuckle. "There are no such ships in my realm. I have seen them here, in the garage, the kind that exist in your time, perhaps; and also a winged longboat that belongs to a god of my people. But I craft the ships that sail the rivers and seas."

[iprotectyou]

"I've never seen one of those," Baze says, shaking his tiny head.

"Where I'm from, no one went sailing the rivers, and there were no oceans."

[sunbaked_baker]

A familiar red-haired baker, dressed more for a modern summer, comes out from the heat of the kitchens carrying a tray of freshly iced cinnamon rolls. She flinches as the billow of seriously wintry air reaches her. "Shiva wept, that's cold!"

Augh, Floki, close that door!

[gods_that_haunt_me]

Closing the door now!

Floki utters his distinctive chuckle as he sheds his cloak and shakes the moisture from it.

"It is hardly anything else in Kattegat," he remarks, striding up to the Bar with a grin that creases his face. "Rae Seddon! How have you been?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"Much warmer than Kattegat - damn, that's cold," she answers, laughing as she sets down the tray of cinnamon rolls to rub the chill from her bare, scarred arms. Though most of her multitude of scars are years old by now, the still-shiny recently healed burns surrounding her neck and covering much of her hands are new, and her hair - once long - is now cropped short at her chin. "Season aside, I've been... a good deal better, lately, than I have been. A rather fraught situation might settle into something almost satisfactory, if things keep on like they have been."

Why yes, she is setting aside one of the skull-sized monster cinnamon rolls on a plate for him, why do you ask?

"How have you been, Floki? It's wonderful to see you."

[like_quicksilver]

As luck would have it, Gyda was outside the bar when the machine broke, so she was still her relatively normal size. That does mean that when she does go inside, she's especially careful where she steps.

Until father and Athelstan return from England, she's set up camp in her old room, and has been setting things up when she sees Floki emerge from the Door. "Floki!"

She would be a little taller than when he last saw her, and at fourteen years, looking more like Lagertha but with Ragnar's eyes (and sadly his ears). If it had been ages since she'd last seen either Ragnar or Athelstan, it had been even longer since she last saw Floki.

[electro_kinetic]

"Not elves," Noriko says, carefully--very carefully--maneuvering around the tinyfied bar patrons to get to the couch. Crutches are a pain in the ass on a normal day: when she has to be watching out for three-inch-tall people to avoid squishing, it's even harder. And much slower going.

"Regular people. Accident with some idiot's shrinking machine, so now like half the people here are miniscule."

Beat. She shifts her cast leg (it is purple and bears many signatures and notes and artworks; there's a rune somewhere on it that might be Norse, she isn't sure) cautiously. "Watch where you step."