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Tweak says, "Freak freely, dude"

laura kinney (weapon_hex) wrote in somerealityrpg,
@ 2020-01-05 08:32:00

Entry tags:

!open, active: torunn thorsdottir

Who: Laura and OTA
When: Saturday or Sunday
Where: The Villa rooftop
What: Happy New Year, everyone is sad.
Rating: Depends how it goes

It wasn't that Laura particularly liked gardens. The one on the roof was nice and all, but it wasn't some magical place that served to refresh her energies when they were low - metaphorically or not. Really what had brought her up here was the warring of two desires - to be alone, and to seek comfort from someone acknowledging that she wasn't invisible. Hiding in her room felt too much like the days when that was the unspoken expectation, when she wasn't on a mission or in training. Not in use. Put away like a sword or a gun when it wasn't needed. Certainly there were other people she could seek out, of course, but most of them had their own priorities, and while she felt pretty sure that James would always make time for her he had so much going on that it felt a little selfish, sometimes. Or even more like shame and betrayal, when the hole in her chest that always seemed to ache a little more when she thought about Morgan or Peter or the Bartons would sometimes even act the same way around James and Sam.

She didn't come up to the roof that much so it was sort of a surprise how many of the plants she actually recognised. She had a vague memory that there'd been Healders involved in it at one point, so maybe that was why - she spotted verbena, angelica, gingko, licorice. It wasn't her area, herbalism, she really had no need for it when she could just flick a finger and change things with a thought, but she at least had enough of a grounding for it to absorb her for a few minutes before she came to the edge of the roof and settled on the low wall that surrounded it. So far being up here wasn't much different than being in her room, except for being colder.

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girlofthunder
2020-01-05 10:23 am UTC (link)

People kept complaining about the 1920s, but Torunn didn't think it felt much different than from when she arrived. There were still way more people than she was accustomed to being around in addition to so many things. It was enough to make a girl's head spin.

Torunn missed talking to her dad's statute, which was odd, since technically she could speak to Thor whenever she wanted now. Granted, he was from another universe, but he seemed genuine in his desire to know her. Still, she needed some time to clear her head, which praying to the statute had always afforded her. She heard about the roof-top garden and decided it sounded like as good as place as any to get some air. If anything, she could go flying from there.

She thought the garden was pretty. She wasn't used to beauty for beauty's sake, but it was nice. "Well, Dad, you answer prayers in weird ways," she said aloud.

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weapon_hex
2020-01-05 10:45 am UTC (link)

Of course Laura knew as soon as someone else came up. Her senses were not human senses - they were primed far beyond that, and even if a person managed to remain impossibly silent (disregarding, of course, the movement of the door) she would still be able to smell them, something that people had reacted to weirdly enough consistently enough that she'd stopped mentioning it a long time ago even though she rarely meant anything bad by it. It wasn't like she memorised everyone's scents or anything, though, any more than most people could identify a voice they'd heard only a few times, so there wasn't anything particularly notable about the girl until she spoke-- to herself? She certainly hadn't come close enough to be talking to Laura, even if it had made sense for someone to be calling her dad. Which it clearly didn't.

She got up curiously, walking back around until she could see the blonde girl. There was something really familiar about her, and after a moment Laura realised she recognised her from James' sketches. It had to be Torunn. "You prayed for gardens?" Or to meet him maybe, she realised belatedly, but that seemed like it was probably impolitic to come straight out and say when they hadn't actually met yet.

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girlofthunder
2020-01-05 11:04 am UTC (link)

Torunn immediately gripped her sword, which hung around her waist, although she didn't draw it. She'd learned enough to know she likely wasn't in any danger in Goodland, but old habits died hard. She was used to being on guard. "What? Oh, no. I...never mind." Torunn shook her head, which caused her long wavy blond hair to fall out of its loose ponytail. She groaned and yanked it back, not caring how it looked. "Sorry," she added. "I didn't know anyone was here."

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weapon_hex
2020-01-05 11:16 am UTC (link)

"You should probably do something with your hair if you're going to go for a weapon every time you get surprised," Laura pointed out practically. She hadn't been particularly alarmed by the motion, the way she was raised having afforded her a certain nonchalance towards the prospects both of fighting and of injury, and while the hair thing might be a little hypocritical, well, it wasn't like her parents had ever tried to make her training more convenient for her. If something was going to get in her way, she had best learn to deal with it herself, and tight buns or short haircuts had never been her first instinct.

She shrugged off the apology. "Apparently I can be quiet sometimes. I was just sitting on the wall." And unlike Torunn it seemed, she wasn't one to say things out loud that didn't need to be. It seemed weird enough to speak to animals like that sometimes, and more than once she'd caught herself simply thinking things at Azanah despite knowing that half the point was that animals could become accustomed to your tone of voice and even learn a few words.

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girlofthunder
2020-01-05 11:25 am UTC (link)

Torunn rolled her eyes at the advice. Who was this girl anyway? "Apparently," she agreed about Laura being quiet. "And apparently I wasn't on guard quite enough." She thought some choice words about acting so recklessly. Goodland couldn't possibly make her so soft in such a short amount of time, could it?

"I'm Torunn," she said, softening a bit. It wasn't the other girl's fault that Torunn was in a foul mood.

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weapon_hex
2020-01-05 11:36 am UTC (link)

She'd have said something relatable and reassuring about the lapse if she could think of anything, but put on the spot all she could think about was the times when she was too on guard, times when she'd scared people or put them off. She still wasn't exactly relaxed a lot of the time - not just in the sense that she wasn't scared of potential attacks, but the way so many people walked around not thinking of the possibility at all - and though she knew there had been times when she'd swung too far the other way, right now it was frustratingly difficult to pin any down without enough awkwardness to make it obvious she was reaching for something.

Instead she just said, "I thought so. James is an okay artist. I'm Laura. If it helps I'm very well-trained at stealth." And other things, but she didn't really do those anymore. Depending which memories you paid attention to, anyway. It had taken a lot longer to stop in the version where she'd stayed back home.

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girlofthunder
2020-01-05 11:52 am UTC (link)

Oh. The girlfriend. Torunn couldn't help feeling jealous. Oh, not because she fancied James; he was her brother in her book, but because she wasn't used to sharing him with anyone besides Tony and her brothers, who didn't count.

"You are Laura," she repeated. "James said...he said you were nice," she admitted. "When did you..." What? When did she steal James? That wasn't fair. "Um, how long have you two...you know?"

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weapon_hex
2020-01-05 06:17 pm UTC (link)

Somehow it actually made Laura feel better that Torunn was so clearly as ambivalent about the whole thing as she was trying not to be. It wasn't a nice feeling, that so many people were suddenly getting family here and she couldn't just be uncomplicatedly happy for them, and it was definitely one she didn't know what to do with, but the idea that Torunn might feel even a tiny bit of the same thing in reverse made the whole thing seem more... normal. Like she wasn't just irredeemably bad for it.

"A few months, I guess. It would have been in August." Because they were already together before her birthday when he'd given her the red glass dagger pendant that she pretty much always wore now, often pairing it with two or even three others at once that she cycled through out of her growing collection.

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	girlofthunder 2020-01-05 06:46 pm UTC (link)
	That seemed like forever to Torunn, but she forced a smile. "Congratulations." She perched on one of the stones surrounding a bunch of greenery and began braiding her ponytail. She wanted her hair out of the way if she was going flying. "So, I guess you know about us," she told Laura. "What's your deal then?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

weapon_hex
2020-01-05 06:58 pm UTC (link)

Sometimes it felt like forever to Laura as well. So little of her life had been hers, where she was free to do as she chose or even imagine the ability to make choices, and as time went on it was starting to be that she'd spent a startling amount of that time with James right there. He felt sometimes like the only constant thing she had, a piece of solid architecture when the rest of the world was made of mist and smoke and prone to collapsing when she tried to lean weight on it.

Not that she could ever say that out loud, and definitely not to his little(?) sister who she was meeting for the first time. It would probably just sound stupid. She chewed her lip absently, trying to figure out how to answer the question - it was always a sort of loaded one, and she couldn't just not care how Torunn reacted. She wasn't someone she could just keep distance from if it went bad. Then again, at least Torunn wasn't a pampered teenager who'd never even been in a fist fight. She knew a bit about reality. "My parents led a cult. They planned for me to be the host of their god and spent my whole life teaching me to fight and use magic, so I ran away when I turned eighteen." It was the short version - extremely short - but a good testing of the waters, usually.

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	girlofthunder 2020-01-05 08:53 pm UTC (link)
	"And here I thought my parents sucked." Torunn forced a smile, hoping to put Laura at ease about everything she just told her. "It's good you got out," she added. "No one deserves that." Torunn wouldn't have guessed Laura's checkered history just by looking at her; she seemed normal enough. Then again, what did Torunn really know about normal? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	weapon_hex 2020-01-05 09:08 pm UTC (link)
	It was pretty much as good as reactions got, really, sympathetic without being overwhelming, and if Laura wasn't entirely sure what to say next that was more to do with her relative lack of practice at this kind of thing still than anything Torunn had said. "They're gone now, anyway. And here's okay. Confusing, but at least everyone else is confused too." (Reply to this) (Parent)

	girlofthunder 2020-01-05 09:24 pm UTC (link)
	"It really is confusing," Torunn agreed. She let her guard down a little. Laura seemed nice enough, just like James said, and she'd obviously been through crap. "So many people and so many things. I don't always know where to look, you know?" (Reply to this) (Thread)

weapon_hex
2020-01-05 09:53 pm UTC (link)

"Yeah. I was only ever around a few people before." More at Mt Wundagore than at the Citadel, but most of them were lower ranked members of the Evolutionaries who tended to skirt the edges of the room when she was present and certainly didn't dare to speak freely. At least they'd treated her like an actual person at the Citadel, even if they were all a bit weird in their own ways and tended to rattle around in the huge tower.

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	girlofthunder 2020-01-07 08:52 pm UTC (link)
	Something she and her brother's had in common. Torunn wasn't sure how she felt about that; she wasn't sure she wanted to like Laura. It was stupid, but she couldn't help her feelings. "Sounds like it," she agreed. "Do you like it here?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

weapon_hex
2020-01-07 11:03 pm UTC (link)

It was an easier question to answer than it had been once. Months ago, she'd been too paralysed by the weight to even really think through what she might do if they were given the choice of whether to stay or leave, and it had felt like a betrayal of the people who didn't have anywhere decent to go back to to admit that it was in any way a hard decision. Since then things had changed-- she had changed. "Yes. Mostly. I don't like when people leave. Or come back and don't remember anything. But I could do things I couldn't at home because I had too many things I had to be responsible for." Like her sister, and making up for her parents. Tracking down the monsters and helping them be better when she could, or putting them down when she couldn't. Here, the monsters came to them; there wasn't a whole big planet where they could hide.

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	girlofthunder 2020-01-07 11:25 pm UTC (link)
	Torunn thought about what Laura said. She was still too new to have an opinion. On one hand, she missed her home, but on the other, meeting a version of her dad was...well, it was nice. This Thor seemed to genuinely care, which was something Torunn had prayed for at home. "I guess me too." She shrugged. It was weird not preparing for war. (Reply to this) (Parent)