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[stantheman]

who: Stan Uris, OTA
what: catch-all
when: March
where: various places around the city
warnings: n/a

( A. Library )

[ Stan sometimes feels like he hasn't really adjusted to live at all here. He gets homesick, more than he ever could have anticipated. He misses the other Losers and sometimes he even finds himself missing some of the less nice people around Derry. That's infrequent, though, and he misses the Losers all the time. It's been hard to find a new set of friends to really fit in with. Bill, Richie and Eddie had known him for a long time and they knew that there was more to him than his rigid exterior but then again they'd always created a sort of balance with each other. Here, he hadn't really found anything like that. So, he spends a lot of hours in the library.

He searches out books on birds, sometimes books on his religion or the language his father was always trying to push him to study and he had always resisted. Sometimes, very few times he'll pull down a fantasy novel to read. He's become rather good at knowing where different sorts of things are located, so you can always ask him for help or get nosy about what book he has his nose buried in. ]

( B. Zoo )

[ It's been a while since Laura had showed him the zoo for the first time and he's found his way back there more often than not. There's a lot of strange animals and then there are some that remind him of home. There's not an Evening Grosbeak to be seen and that's a bit disappointing to him but he'll always continue to explore through different bird species and the like. Sometimes he ventures to other exhibits but other times he'll stare at a flamingo like species for hours, just watching how they interact with each other and their environment or he'll try having a conversation with a parrot.

Do you want to know more about birds? He's the kid to ask or if you wanted to show him something else cool... ]

( Wildcard )

[ I'll match tenses and styles! Feel free to hit me with your best shot or hit me up via PM or on plurk at poetanarchy if you want to plot something or want a specific starter. ]

Comments

[stantheman]

What are valkyries? [ Stan had not learned very much about mythologies as of yet and Norse mythology might not have been what he would have learned about later in school anyway. ]

Who is Odin? [ He thinks he must be a very powerful idea if ravens were his eyes since those were often everywhere. ]

[like_quicksilver]

[Her smile widened. She rarely had the chance to talk about the stories from home, let alone to someone unfamiliar to them.] Valkyries are shieldmaidens under the command of Odin and Freya. They are gifted with capes of swan feathers that allow them to fly over battle fields, watching and deciding which warrior lives or is to be killed, either a stray arrow or misplaced axe swing. If a woman is killed in battle, she becomes a valkrie.

[There was more she could tell, but he only asked for the valkries. The rest she would tell with her other answer.] Odin is king of the gods, the All-father. He is said to wander the Earth, Midgard, we call it, in a grey cloak. He is god of poetry, knowledge and warfare, and wanders battlefields when it is all over, choosing the bravest warriors that will be taken to his hall, Valhala.

[stantheman]

[ Stan's brows furrow as he listens to her story. He's definitely never heard anything like that before and he wonders if there's any truth to it, before, not long ago he wouldn't have wondered at all but now he's looking out at unearthly birds and so who knows what all is possible anymore. ]

What happens to everyone else? [ Stan questions after a moment, curious strangely enough. It's an odd combination of things that this Odin seems to be god of. ] What is Valhalla... [ The question comes belatedly. ]

[like_quicksilver]

[If he had said so about Odin, she would've smiled-he didn't know the half of it, but who was she to question about the gods.]

The rest are taken by the godess Freya to her hall and field. Valhalla is a drinking hall covered in gold, the roof is held by spears, the walls shields and mail shirts cover the benchs. The warriors fight eachother during the day, but at night, they rise up against and go into Valhalla, where they spend the night feasting, drinking and sharing songs and stories.

[She wasn't the story teller that Floki was, but she hoped she could get across just why Valhalla was such a goal for her people.]

[stantheman]

[ Stan frowns at her description. He tilts his head thoughtfully but he can't really understand why anyone would want that. ]

Wouldn't fighting get tiring?

[like_quicksilver]

They fight to get stronger, with every battle on Midgard bringing in new warriors. [That was just how it was. Boys and even some girls trained for the shield wall as young as ten or eleven, and kept at it to grow stronger.] Every day, they fight to the death, with sword, ax and shield, in hopes that when Ragnarok comes, they will be able to stand with the gods in their fight against the giants, to prevent the end of the world.

[Her expression was serious as she told him. Even if he came from a future version of her world, there was nothing to say it wouldn't happen.]

[stantheman]

That doesn't sound like a great afterlife to me. [ After all, fighting isn't what he thinks is fun or relaxing or rewarding. No one really in his time thinks that, probably. It sounds exhausting and frustrating and has no aim or purpose. What's the point of getting stronger if you're dead? ]

What is Ragnarok? [ It's a different version of events than what's in the Judeo-Christian belief systems really. The end of the world isn't really something to fear. ]

[like_quicksilver]

It is more cheerful then Hel's domain. I mean the goddess Hel, not the Christian Hell. [Thanks to Athelstan, she knew the names sounded similar, and she was willing to bet Stan was more familiar with the latter.] Hel was forced by Odin to give shelter and board to those who die of sickness and old age. Her world is dark, grey and always winter; the only good thing about it is that she waits for the god Baldr to return to her domain, and so she always has a table set with food and blankets for shelter.

By all accounts, not the worst place to end when a person dies, but it was no where near as grand as Valhalla.]

[His other question caused her to look down. Of all the stories she was told growing up, this one scared her the most.] It is called Twilight of the gods. There will be three years of terrible winters, and summers were the sun doesn't shine at all, and families and clans will fight and destroy eachother from within. The fire giants will storm Midgard and the giant wolf Fenrir will free himself from his chains. Odin, his warriors and the gods will storm out of Valhalla to fight in a last stand against the Giants, the Wolf and World serpent Jörmungandr. If the gods loose, the giant Surt will blot out the sun, the wolf Skoll will swallow the moon, and the entire world will be covered in water and darkness.

[The end of all things, that was what they feared. For all her people believed in Fate, there was still hope that..somehow, the world would not end in such a manner.]

[stantheman]

[ Stan frowns a bit at the mention of Hell -- but then it's clarified and he's not sure if it's better or worse, to be honest. He lets her keep talking before he asked any questions. After all, she might answer them on her own. Her domain doesn't really sound all that bad. It doesn't sound any better or worse than Valhalla -- though, Stan thinks the fact that there's not so much fighting sounds better to him and all. Winter isn't so bad, he thinks -- then again, Derry hadn't really had winters that were all that harsh.

He nods in understanding of the explanation of Hel.

When she goes on to describe Ragnarok, he thinks it sounds a little like Revelation. He's heard some fire and brimstone preachers before, there were plenty of those in Derry ( a lot of good they do, just about as much as his father the Rabbi ). ]

It's like all people, in all time fear the same exact thing.

[ Stan says to the description. ]

But it never happens.