Astrid Hakansson (![]() ![]() @ 2024-06-13 14:15:00 |
![]() |
|||
![]() |
|
![]() |
|
![]() |
Entry tags: | Δ complete, Δ threads, → astrid hakansson, → rick allen, ∞ 2000: 03, ◦ hollow hill tavern |
RP: Just keep 'em coming [BACKDATED]
Who: Astrid & Rick
What: Being a Valkyrie is hard and Astrid wants to forget
When: 30. March 2000, late night [Backdated]
Where: Hollow Hill Tavern
Warnings: Child abuse, death, alcohol - for starters
Completion Status: Complete
The rune had appeared to her a little past ten last night, just as she had returned to her apartment, making it an early night, since she had an 8 o’clock client in the morning. That wasn’t going to happen, since at the earliest she wouldn’t be back here until noon the following day. Astrid had sent off the pre-written text for just this kind of situation, on her way to her balcony with her swan cloak in hand.
Closing her eyes, she mentally prepared herself for what was about to happen, knowing that she never would ever truly be able to do just that. She felt the cloak expand, covering her arms with long, sturdy feathers meant for flight, encasing her body in the white armor that would protect her from attacks. In her right hand, her spear of light materialized. Hating the fact, that even this had only taken a couple of seconds, she wouldn’t be able to make it in time to save the endangered life she was being summoned to witness ending. Spreading her arms, she took off into the night, following the rune that only she could see, hoping that the death at least was a worthy one, that she would be able to honor a hero whose death would mean that someone else would be spared.
The girl was on the lawn behind a small suburban house – a distant descendant of Máni, the moon – and Astrid’s heart broke. She couldn’t be older than thirteen, her face bruised and battered, her arm bent at an unnatural angle. There were bruises on her neck clearly marking where two large hands had held on tight and squeezed. There was still a flutter of life in her. The paramedics were working furiously, trying desperately to catch that tiny spark and fan it into a full flame of life.
The police officers were marching off a man in his forties. His knuckles bleeding and his roaring voice yelling about how the meddling bitch had deserved everything that came to her, that she had no right interfering with how he dealt with his real children. The children, she guessed, were the once she could see through the window, two of them, looking young enough to only just have started school. The boy’s cheek was red and swollen, his nose bleeding and his little sister was clinging to his arm, her wide, frightened eyes puffy from crying.
Astrid looked back to the girl on the grass, searching to see the weapon she knew had to be there. She stepped to the side, to get a better look, as the paramedics started to shake their heads and the girl’s spark rapidly faded. There, in her right hand. What once must have been a glass figurine, was now a broken shard buried in the palm of the girl’s right hand.
Closing her eyes, Astrid drew a deep breath, banishing anything that even hinted at her not being able to bear this. In a moment, she would be dealing with battered teenager, who had given her life to protect her siblings. She drew in a deep breath, and as she exhaled, she opened her eyes to see the girl get to her feet, and step away from her dead body.
The girl looked at Astrid.
“Are you an angel?” she asked her, and Astrid shook her head.
“You made your ancestors proud. I’m here to take you to them.”
At first the girl looked confused, then nodded and went into Astrid’s open arms. Astrid folded her arms around the girl, and with a push of her feet, she took off from the ground, carrying the girl with the Aesir ancestry to the majestic hall of Valhalla.
As was custom, Astrid stayed in Valhalla for the feast that night. She flew to and from, keeping a smile on her face and engaging in banter with the Einherjar, as she brought the meat from Sæhrímnir and mead from the udder of Heiðrún. She served, she drank, she ate, and she fought, for the time being pushing aside the fact, that the battlefield where heroes were found, were hardly ever the same kind of battlefields that had produced them a millennium ago.
The sun was beginning to set when she returned to her apartment. Putting down her spear of light, she let her swan cloak shrink back into its smaller form. With each feather that disappeared, each button unbuttoned, and each strap unstrapped from her armor, the despair over what she had witnessed came back to her. Could she have stayed in Valhalla indefinitely, keeping the thoughts at bay that way? Sure! But she didn’t want to. Valhalla was Aesir. Her mother was Vanir. And Astrid? She was from Midgard, from Earth. That was where she belonged. It was where her life was.
She could forget there, too.
Showered and dressed Astrid pushed the door to Hollow Hill Tavern open and made her way to the bar. She needed a drink that wasn’t sweet and perfect like the honeyed mead she had drank the night before, and then she needed to find someone who could take her mind off everything for an hour or more in a way that didn’t include weapons.
Astrid pushed herself up on one the barstools and signaled for the bartender that she was ready to order.