(Untitled)

[acts_of_gord]

The Bar's too complicated an environment for Gordon to handle today. Fascinating as the goings-on are, and enthusiastic as the people who chose trial forms may be, it's just too much. He seriously considered going back to his room and just staying there when he came down the stairs and saw that Cubefall was in full swing, but...

If I quit, if I

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[banished_to]

It is hard to miss Hel, when she leaves the place she's been staying and heads for the lake. She has a basket with her, draped over her left arm, and when she settles down she removes sewing from it. Despite the fact that there is enough cloth to cover Gordon four times with more to spare, the embroidery is as delicate as a machine could do.

[acts_of_gord]

... wow.

Wow.

The last time he saw anything that size and alive, it was the gargantuan things in Black Mesa.

Damn.

[banished_to]

Half right, anyway, but when she notices his gaping the lips on the living side of her face curl into a wry smile and she says, "My mother was Jotun, a giant. I am of average size for her people."

Hel is a soprano.

[acts_of_gord]

... Gordon's going to just sort of reach under his chin and push his jaw closed now, mm'kay?

"Yes'm," he manages. "I, uh... wow. Didn't... expect to see you there."

Big big things are a part of reality, but big big things that are human looking, well, that's kind of freaky.

[banished_to]

"I can guess that." Hel says, offering her living hand for shaking. Probably more like a fingertip for shaking, but she learned manners from human-sized people and they stuck. "I am Hel."

[acts_of_gord]

"Gordon Freeman," Gordon manages, reaching up to shake the offered hand. "Pleased to meet you, ma'am." He pauses. "Miss? Um..."

Titles are a little tricky right now.

[banished_to]

"Hel." she says firmly, "Just Hel. I tower over everyone enough that standing on ceremony on top of it would just be silly, now wouldn't it? You are not one of the Aesir, and you are certainly not one of mine, so there is no point in my being pushy about titles."

Besides, her name is more than enough for people who know her as goddess. Everything else is superfluous.

[acts_of_gord]

Gordon doesn't know her as a goddess- he's really not up on his Norse mythology beyond a vague understanding that dying in battle generally gets you into Valhalla, which beats the alternatives- but with a name like that it's probably not all that hard to figure out what he's dealing with.

"All right," he says. "Are you new here?"

Well, c'mon, he'd remember seeing her before!

[banished_to]

"I am not." Hel says, shaking her head, "But I have not fit inside the bar in a very, very long time and I spend much of my time in the mountains and woods. There is no sun in Niflheim, I miss it when I am there."

[acts_of_gord]

"Can't say I know that name," says Gordon. "That a world?"

Xen didn't exactly have sun, either.

[banished_to]

"It is the realm of the damned." Hel says, nodding once, "Those that the gods of Asgard disdain; the mothers, children, bards, tailors, servants, and anyone who is not a warrior."

[acts_of_gord]

Gordon never thought much of anybody's gods to begin with, so he's not about to call that arbitrary or unfair. He's just going to nod. "I always wondered what happened to the people who didn't rate Valhalla."

[banished_to]

"They are sent to me." Hel says, "There to fade into mindlessness. There is nothing that I can do for them." This? Outrages her. Somewhere along the line revenge took second place to getting justice for her people.

[acts_of_gord]

... okay, that's unfair.

It kind of shows on his face.

[banished_to]

"Yes." Hel agrees, "It is. They deserve far better. I will kill the gods, and that is my only comfort."

[acts_of_gord]

"Good luck," murmurs Gordon. "Sounds like they probably deserve it."