The Yule Log

[ragnarsson]

who: The Norse and everyone else in the city!
what: The Norse celebrate Yule. Gods help everyone.
when: December 22nd, Winter Solstice
where: Somewhere outside
warnings: Alcohol, drugs, animal sacrifice, blood play, rough foreplay, sex. Will update if necessary.



The Yule celebration has gotten underway on the Winter Solstice and it promises to be a most interesting night. The Norse have gone all out with this affair to make sure it's going to be a success. First thing to be spotted is a bonfire, so big that you might want to be careful not to trip around it, because you'll fall right in. There's plenty of room for dancing too, if you feel like grooving to a beat that's a little more unusual than most.

The Yule celebration shares a lot of similarities with Christmas, so it's a good time for gift giving. There's little shoes on a table, mimicking the tradition where Odin would leave presents for good children by putting them in their shoes. Claim one as your own and maybe a friend will leave a gift inside one for you. Watch it though. Any grinches will be fed to the Yule Cat.

There's a table set up to the right of the bonfire with food, mostly of the hearty kind that the Norse seem to prefer, and of course, lots of alcohol. Please remember not to get into any drinking contests with the gods. They will observe no responsibility for what happens afterward.

There are also mushrooms for consumption, provided by everyone's favorite psychotic Viking, Ivar The Boneless. These ones are directly from his home world, which means they come with a variety of side effects. They have the ability to make a person hallucinate quite a bit. But they can also make people much more horny than usual. Lastly, there's the effect that hits some people in making them extremely violent. Sometimes one effect hits, sometimes more than one. In any case, anyone who consumes some is assured to have an...interesting time.

On a lighter note, there's mistletoe scattered around, hung from the trees and tent beams. Fun fact: the Vikings were the first one to use it for the tradition of kissing. Of course, they also believed it was a plant that was powerful enough to kill a god, so the kissing was ostensibly for protection.

At the height of the night, there will be an animal sacrifice done. A goat is slaughtered and the blood from it is gathered into a couple of bowls. If you'd really like to go all out like a Viking, paint your face in the still-warm blood, or drink a little bit of it. Otherwise, enjoy freshly seared chunks of goat as it bastes over the bonfire.

Have fun, drink, fight, and remember to make your ancestors proud!

Comments

Lady Sif | ota

[fiercestwarrior]

i. feasting

[ Sif has not been enjoying most of the celebrations going on in the city, but tonight she has decided to let her hair down. Perhaps not in a particularly joyful way, but there is a wildness in the air here that speaks to her. To start with, however, she remains relatively calm while she tastes the food and takes in the atmosphere, and gets started on her drinking.

Even now, there is an almost dangerous glint in her eyes, an air about her that is reminiscent of the heavy heat before a summer storm. ]

ii. mistletoe

[ Sif has no idea what the mistletoe hung here and there is supposed to signify, and so she takes no pains to avoid it. One may want to be careful about trying to kiss her though, it could turn out very pleasant indeed, or quite painful. ]

iii. dancing/mushrooms

[ Sif moves well, with sure footing and expert control of every part of her body. It is a display far more sensual than anything she ever shows in daily life, sweat shining on her brow as she moves ceaselessly to the beating of the drums.

She does decide to eat some of the mushrooms, and laughs with delight as flames seem to skip from the bonfire to live on her skin, turning her into a living flame. She feels alive again, and she wants to fight and fuck and do all sorts of foolish things that she so rarely lets herself do. She is tired of being the sensible one, of standing in the shadows until she is needed.

Let everyone see her now, and make of it what they will. ]

iv. sacrifice

[ Sif drinks the blood, her lips stained red as she raises her cup up high, her voice carrying loud and strong as if calling troops to battle. ]

Who wishes to mark the Lady Sif?

[ iii ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ He's a little surprised by how quickly she's letting loose, especially since Sif seemed uncommonly tense when she arrived. He understands why. Eventually, all things need an outlet. So he approaches her carefully because Loki is not keen on being stabbed on Yule. ]

You seem relaxed.

[fiercestwarrior]

[ The temptation to tear him apart is certainly there, but there is nothing knew in that. It is what she would ordinarily want, and so she decides to simply let the urge wash over her like a wave and then return to the burning sea that is her soul at the moment. ]

You seem to want to play with fire.

[ Since he has willingly sought her out. ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki shrugs loosely. ]

I always do. I simply have limits on how much I wish to be burned.

[fiercestwarrior]

[ That actually makes her chuckle a little. ]

I remember. So, what draws you to my side?

[ Because she probably burns a little too hotly for his taste, if she would hazard a guess. ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ Well. Currently anyway. He doesn't actually want to start trouble, even if the impulse will always linger. ]

Should I not be here?

[fiercestwarrior]

[ She waves her hand in a sort of dismissive gesture, not so much shooing him away as signalling that she isn't about to start flaying him with either words or blade. ]

You are not in any danger from me tonight. Be wherever you want to be.

iii/iv

[storradr]

[Ragnar knew better than to overdo it on the mushrooms. He'd learned that lesson the hard way in his youth.

Tonight, he'd only popped two or three into his mouth, swallowing them down right before the sacrifice. He found it made the whole affair that much more intense. A vision of a dark, cloaked figure stood behind the goat and the sounds of ravens echoed in his ears despite there not being any at the party.

By the time he reached for the blood in the bowl, his eyes looked uncharacteristically dark with just a bright icy blue halo around the black of his dilated pupils. He dipped two fingers into the blood and drew two lines from his forehead to his chin and down his neck, the blood trickling down past the neck of his tunic.]

Sif. [He tilted his head, peering at her face a moment and then dipped both hands into the blood before reaching out to drawn fierce lines running from the corners of her eyes down the outside contour of her face like wings made of blood. He drew along her cheekbones and then down the sides of her jaw and neck, looking memorized by the contrast of her skin and dark blood.]

[fiercestwarrior]

Ragnar.

[ It was no surprise that he had come to join the ritual, even less of one that he had found her. His fascination had been quite apparent when they first met, so if anything it was a little unexpected that it took him until this point to approach her.

Her eyes were dark as well, but Ragnar was leaning close enough that he might still be able to catch what little could be seen of their usual hazel hue.

She dipped her fingers into the blood as well, even though he was already marked, and trailed her fingertips over his bearded cheeks. ]

[storradr]

[Simply hearing her say his name made his heart beat a little faster. In his inebriated state, her voice seemed to hold immense power.

He stepped closer, cupping her face and smearing the blood he'd just painted there across his palms. Tilting his head forward, he pressed their foreheads together, closing his eyes. He stayed there a moment, basking in her presence.

When he finally did move, it was to slide a hand through her hair, guiding her closer to kiss her without hesitation, tasting the blood on her lips.]

[fiercestwarrior]

[ She knew what he wanted to do, what he was going to do, and on any other night it might well have gotten him tossed into the bonfire.

Her heart yearned for another, his yearned for his wife, but beneath that a spark had still ignited. A spark of something that couldn't be given a name because it was too faint, but it had been real. Or perhaps that was just the mushrooms. Whatever the case may be, she couldn't find it in herself to care about any of the reasons why she shouldn't let Ragnar kiss her, and so he did.

A quiet moan was muffled against his lips as hers parted in welcome, and she wrapped her arms around him to clutch the fabric of his clothing in her hands. ]

[storradr]

[He stepped in closer, closing the slight gap that he'd left between them, advancing like he was claiming her. He deepened the kiss, cupping the back of her head. His other hand had found its way to her hip and slid around to the small of her back, bringing her even closer.

The mushrooms were making the kiss some kind of otherworldly experience and he couldn't say for sure where he was, the feeling of being displaced in time and place that much more intense. And the many people talking and enjoying themselves all around them? What people? The only thing Ragnar could hear was the faint echoing call of ravens.]

[fiercestwarrior]

[ Time was folding in on itself, and as everything around them faded away Sif felt as if in one moment she received every kiss she had ever shared with anyone, as well as every kiss that would ever be offered to her. It was all happening simultaneously, and while some small part of her mind knew that this was the doing of the mushrooms, that really did nothing to make the experience less intense.

It had been centuries since Sif allowed herself to act upon it, and Ragnar was getting the full force of all of that pent up energy crashing over him like a wave as the goddess of war kissed him until she was completely breathless, only taking her lips from his when it became absolutely necessary. As a parting gift, her teeth sunk sharply into his lower lip, drawing fresh blood for her to lick off with a laugh. ]

iv

[valr]

[It isn't until Sif identifies herself that Kara realizes who she is. It's not to say that Sif hasn't caught her eye, but in Kara's mind the association of long, golden hair threw her off from realizing who the woman was.

But now it clicks, and who is Kara to deny such a request.]

I would, my lady, if you allow it.

[fiercestwarrior]

[ The reverence in Kara's tone an expression has become something that Sif recognizes as a sign that whatever universe she comes from is one where some version of her has been worshiped.

So far, she has been quite far from what such people have expected, but on this night she will do her best to fill the role of goddess all the same. It can probably be attributed to the mushrooms and the drinking, but somehow she feels as if its the right thing to do.

She gives Kara the bowl, and presses a kiss to her forehead. ]

I allow it.

[valr]

[Kara accepts both the bowl and the kiss with a smile that is unpracticed but genuine. She dips her fingers into the blood and even though it's been centuries since she's done anything like this, there's no hesitation in the lines she draws carefully on Sif.

And then she steps back, nodding in approval at her own work.]

I am Kára, of the valkyrja.

[Since they haven't been officially introduced.]

[fiercestwarrior]

Greetings, warrior.

[ Her title earns her a salute, fist over heart as Sif bows to her. ]

Would you be marked as well?

[valr]

[Kara bows in return, touched by the gesture, before she holds the bowl back out for Sif.]

I would be honored.

[Unlike Loki and Thor, who Kara barely interacted with, she had spoken to Sif a few times and remembers her fondly. This is not the same woman, but some of that remains.

In a way, it makes it easier to talk to her.]

It has been too long since my last blót.

[fiercestwarrior]

[ Sif dips her fingers into the blood and draws a wide line over Kara's forehead, and then trails all her fingers straight down her face, as if she is weeping blood. ]

The honor is mine.

[ It is a great responsibility, to be looked at as a god. Sif is a proud and arrogant woman in many ways, but in this she is humble. ]

May you be blessed.

i do what i want!! aka wildcard

[garotted]

[ near the end of the night while things are winding down and the shrooms are starting to wear off, sif will find a tiny black cat suddenly between her feet, rubbing its small body against her ankles.

alex has been watching her off and on throughout the night, especially after hearing someone call her by her name. this definitely isn't the sif she's accustomed to, but it's sif, and that makes her maybe the most important god in asgard as far as she's concerned. ]

[fiercestwarrior]

[ Sif isn't particularly surprised to find that an animal is being friendly to her. The city does have its strays after all, and some of her first experiences in the quarantine involved rounding some of them up to bring them to shelters.

What would be surprising is to know that this little cat has such a very high opinion of her.

But since she doesn't know either that, or the fact that this is no cat at all, she bends down to give Alex a friendly scratch behind one of her ears. ]

Hello, little one.

[garotted]

[ immediately, alex pushes her head into the scratch, purring as loudly as her currently little body can manage just so sif knows exactly how much she appreciates it. she's really, really bad at showing affection to other people as a human, but it's.. easier like this. and she does want to get to know this sif. for one thing, suddenly she's a warrior? how fucking badass is that?

hope you don't have any intentions of going anywhere anytime soon, sif, because a moment later alex is staring pointedly toward a bench. hey? take a seat?? ]

[fiercestwarrior]

[ This little cat is starting to remind her of the strange dog that decided to affectionately pester her during some of her first days in the city. She had almost ended up keeping the little bugger, but in the end she wasn't in a position to keep a dog and so she had instead made sure that a loving home was found for her would-be companion.

Sif sighs sort of fondly and sits down on the bench. Sometimes you just have to do what the critters tell you to. ]

You know, I spent a lot of time having conversations with animals when I was a girl.

[garotted]

[ much better. alex waits until sif has settled before leaping onto the bench beside her. she pads closer, then settles into a small cat loaf at her side, little furry body pressed alongside sif's thigh, still purring contentedly.

the comment earns a glance up, though, mismatched eyes surprisingly intense for a feline as her ears flick forward to listen. ]

[fiercestwarrior]

[ Well, petting the loaf is pretty much mandatory, isn't it? ]

It is true, I did. I spent much time in the great stables of Asgard, and so I spoke to the horses. There were cats there too, to keep the vermin out. I once found a mother and her kittens, and decided that it was my duty to keep them safe. When other children came to look at them, I chased them all home to their mothers bleeding.