Who: Teddy and Viking Man What: My name is...? Where: Teddy's house When: Wednesday, late afternoon Warnings: None
Dinner time.
Some of the gods had graduated from ichor and oatmeal to normal meals. Trying to steer away from red meats that may be associated with god flesh, he'd made them some TV dinners with peas, slightly wet mashed potatoes, and a brownie for dessert. He wasn't sure if he trusted them yet with glasses of water or milk. He headed down the stairs and put down each TV tray; some were snatched up and others were taken more carefully. Some of them... he was starting to think were beyond hope. Sighing, he headed to the last cage, the one in the sun. "Dinner time, Viking man."
The Viking Man took a moment to make any gesture that he had heard or understand he was being spoken to. He reached up to the sunlight and watched as his hands moved through the illuminated trail of dust that was aloft in the air. His skin was distinctly less gray and cracked, patches of brilliant blond hair was beginning to grow randomly on his head. He turned, the white eyes of sickness were giving way to that of violet. “Outside... Can I?”
Teddy paused in his movement of sliding the tray toward him. English? "You're talking better," he remarked, hoping for a reply that would give evidence to intelligence and not random rambling.
“Feeling better... a little better.” The man crawled over to the front of his cage to face the Greek, careful about his rags that barely covered him or the thousands of lashes that covered what would be fair skin.
Well... he was still pretty weak. And Teddy was, thanks to many horrible movies and brands with his name on them, fairly strong among the Greeks still. If the man got loose, he would be relentless in hunting him. "All right. But if you bite someone, I'll use your brains for paste." He unlocked the door and held it out. "Got it?"
“Not how my story ends... It always ends the same way.” It was almost a sick joke that only he got, but he took his opportunity when he saw it. In his dash he moved on all fours before remembering that was not the way to walk and pulled himself shakily to his feet. His eyes shifted to the sunshine coming in from the window. He pointed toward it, “I-I need that.”
The window? Teddy blinked, the clockwork turning his head almost audible. Oh! "The sun, you mean? Okay... follow me." He set down the TV tray for later and headed up the stairs, always keeping his head turned back to keep an eye on his ward.
The man followed intently, only pushing ahead weakly when he could get outside and feel the warm summer breeze against his skin and bathe in the bright rays of the sun. He stood nearly entranced there... “So long...”
Teddy had led him out into the backyard; a big tree overcast a good portion of it so he couldn't fly away if he was a sky god, and the fence was high due to Bowser being far too curious for his own good. But at the look of the god now standing in the light, he queried, "So you're a sun god, huh?"
“Partly.” He closed his eyes as he took a deep breath and then began to cough violently. Lowering himself to the grass of the backyard and he sat, steadying his body. It was not quite ready for deep breathing it appeared, “Sun... The sun nour... feeds the crops...”
The bigger god caught the other's arm on the way down, making sure he didn't hurt his fragile self. "Where do you come from?" he asked softly. Was he a Greek, maybe? Part of him hoped.
“Washin...” Wait. The god paused and rubbed his tubs before pulling on his long pointed ears in frustrated thought. That wasn't what the Greek wanted. It wasn't what the Greek wanted. He pulled a batch of grass and dirt from the ground and rubbed it between his hands... What were the words? They were in his head somewhere... “The North Lands?” That would have to do at the moment.
Eh? "The North Pole?" That couldn't be right. Ummmmm... "Russia? Iceland? Um... Canada?"
If he was healthier and his mind was clearer, he would probably be able to come up with a modern name but instead he dragged his fingers in the dirt, ruining a small patch of the Greek's yard to make a crude map. There was Greece, modern France, Italy, Russia... There was England and there was Scandinavia. It was there he pointed.
It was okay. Teddy didn't care for his lawn, everywhere. As far as he was concerned the weeds had a right to grow there, too. He bent down to inspect the map. "That's... Scandinavia, right? Or Germany. I'm horrible with maps." Looking up to the man, he got it then. "You're Norse?"
The man nodded and then frowned, “Sorta. It's... compli... odd.”
"Complicated," replied Teddy to fill in for the word. "Do you remember your name, friend?"
“Freyr.” He responded back softly. “Only... One of the only things I remembered for so long.”
"Freyr... Freyr..." The tall god scratched at his head in thought. "I think I've heard of you. A little, anyway. Where's your clan?"
The tall elf flopped down in the grass. “Washington... maybe? Is that a place?”
"There's a state in this country named Washington. And the capital of this whole place is Washington."
“When captured... When I was captured...” Freyr closed his eyes and tried to think, to remember, while trying to speak. At least he was outdoors, it made it so much easier... but still so hard, “Remember... I remember statues.”
"Lots of places have statues," sighed Teddy. "But, Washington D.C. has tons of them. Was there one of a man, sitting in a chair? Or a big pointy one? Or a white house?"
A big pointy one? Everything was flashes but that seemed.... right. “That place. I-I was there. Then I was attacked... couldn't fight them off... Too many, you know?”
Teddy nodded. Even the strongest of gods could be overwhelmed, this he knew. "The Egyptians. They are warring against the Greeks, my people, here." He held out his hand politely. "I am Herakles. But please call me Teddy, Teddy Pullman."
Freyr took it and then after a long moment shook it. “I have... have one of those names, too. Just don't know it now.”
"It's okay. I'm glad you're better... maybe this means the others will. But you're a well-known god, I think, at least for the Norse. You can stay in my guest room until you're all better and you remember everything."
“If they did not give up in the pits... Maybe...” The Elven god did not seem to hold much hope for them however, but he also didn't seem to hold much sympathy for them. It was one thing to be captured, another to give up the fight. But he nodded to the Greek and his words, “Why did you save us?”
"Because slavery is the worst thing one person, immortal or mortal, can inflict on another," said Teddy after a moment of quiet contemplation. "Whoever you were, you didn't deserve to die down there. It shouldn't matter whether you are Greek or not." He smiled, managing somehow to look like a boy, even with the strength to pick up a car and throw it like a NERF ball.
Freyr tilted his head confused, the words not quite making sense in his still maddened mind, but he let his own questions go silently unasked. “Thank you.”
"Do you remember if there's any way to get a hold of your folks?"
The Elf's eyes clenched shut again, “Does the word... 'numb-phone' mean anything?”
"Numb-phone? Uh, no. We've got cell-phones, home phones, pay phones," replied Teddy with a shrug.
“Numb-phone... Phone numb?” The words trailed out of his mouth as he tried to make them make sense, “Phone number?”
“Oh! Yes! A phone number. What you use to call people."
“I-I think they have one of them, but I don't...”
"Hey now..." Teddy reached out, gave the god a pat. "S'okay. I don't expect you to remember everything. If you want, we can go back in, eat something. You've got time,okay?"
The battered god's eyes opened and looked to the Greek, before looking once more to the sky and reached up toward the light, “I want... want to stay out here... a little longer.”
"Okay. Sit tight, I'll go grab your taters and peas. If you run off, I'll send out a search party." Standing, he ruffled the guy's hair a bit -- well, what was there anyway -- and headed inside to grab the tray.
Taters and peas... Freyr had no idea what those were at the moment, but they sounded like vegetables. Vegetables and not the flesh of fellow slaves too weak or too surprised to defend themselves. He settled more into the grass, stretching his weary frame for the first time in... in a long time and simply relaxed.
Inside, Teddy walked back up the stairs of the basement with the little plastic tray. His life was so strange now. But then, this was pretty tame compared to other achievements in his long, long years. He put the tray out for Freyr and sat back down to his computer desk, facing towards the back yard, and sent out a message. His family was big. Maybe somebody would know.