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 Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 3:21 pm
"What."
Freya had been picked up, put on her feet, and still her eyes had not opened. They fluttered when his hands trailed down her, but still remained closed.
Then he spoke, and moved away, and she was left swaying and weak. Her eyes finally opened as she tried to remember where she was - who she was - and blinked down at that black hand that reached for her. Without even thinking, she took it.
Oh. Right. Trip with Herryk. She shook the haze out of her head and stepped out of the train car, her curiosity now edging past her drunken satisfaction.
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Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 3:43 pm
Herryk chuckled as he led her from the train. "It is just a short walk now, Freya." A very short walk. Herryk could see their destination from where they stood. He drew his ladybird up against his side and pressed a kiss to her hair. Always kissing, always touching. He wanted to keep her in a semi-state of fuzziness, and so far he seemed to be doing a good job.
As they walked, Herryk fell silent as apprehension started creeping up on him. He wasn't panicking, he was just... augh. No, everything would be fine. Svella's shop loomed in the near distance, and Herryk wasn't sure what he was expecting.
It was more than a little terrifying.
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Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 3:48 pm
Herryk was, indeed, keeping her in a state of fuzziness. She leaned heavily against his body as they walked, her curiosity dampened by the flutters of happiness that tickled her stomach. She looked up at him, studying those strong features as they worked, and put her hand on his chest.
"So where are we?" The curiosity had returned. "What are we doings here? Are we stayings? Is anybody here? I am hungry, is there foods?"
Quick, fuzz her again, Herryk.
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Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 3:56 pm
"This is Svella's house. Er.. shop. It is where Herryk learned about the Academy." He cleared his throat and offered Freya a smile that turned into a chuckle as he quickly answered her rapid-fire questions.
"Not staying, Svella is here, and there will be food but not yet, beloved. Svella has packed food, but no eating -- after this stop there is still one more little walk before lunch."
This was all sounding overtly complicated and drawn out, but it was important to Herryk.
The draugr pressed a quick kiss to the bridge of Freya's nose before opening the door to the little reagent shop, ushering the valkyrie in before he closed the door, dropped their bags and bellowed loudly, "Svella?"
A scratchy, feminine voice called out, "Ja, ja, ja, boil. Patience, patience!"
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Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 4:20 pm
"Svella?" Freya's heart leapt at the name. Who was Svella? Was this the person Freya was here to meet? All the fuzziness in the world couldn't keep down her sudden case of jitters as she suddenly realized she was going to meet someone of importance to Herryk. Perhaps, the closest thing he had to family, if he had gone through all the trouble to bring her to meet the woman. She shifted her weight from one foot to another, her skin turning a shade paler in worry.
She heard the voice, the familiar accent, and flattened her back against Herryk's stomach, as if she could melt away and hide there.
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Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 5:43 pm
Herryk gave Freya a reassuring kiss on her shoulder before slipping past the valkyrie. He made a beeline for the basket that rested on the countertop, rifling through the contents as if assuring himself that everything was packed within.
"Svella! Why is this völva dallying... Svella!" His voice held a mild tone of fondness when he called out for her.
"Tch, boil!" A small, rotund and impossibly gnarled woman hobbled out from the back room of the small shop. Her intense eyes immediately darted to Freya before she whapped Herryk on the arm. The draugr immediately ceased his pillaging of the basket to give the hag a wide smile.
"Svella! Come. Say hello to Herryk's Freya."
"Oh, ja," she mumbled, narrowing her eyes at Freya. "The valkyrie."
Herryk was too busy beaming at his beloved to notice the bite that Svella's tone held.
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Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 7:16 pm
Freya felt like she was going to hurl. She heard the woman' voice, and her eyes darted to the back room, as she waited. Finally, the woman hobbled out, and Freya swallowed thickly, giving her a bright, nervous grin.
Said grin faltered when she saw the look on that woman's face.
"Is a pleasure teh meets yeh, Ms. Svella." Freya's voice cracked as she greeted the woman, holding both of her hands out ready to take the woman's hand in her grip. If it was offered. At all.
Or, she could crawl into a hole and die. Either way.
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Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 9:52 pm
Herryk beamed at Freya.
"Svella is the witch that told Herryk of the academy. She also taught Herryk to speak the common tongue."
Svella grunted.
"I've packed yer lunch. There's a blanket upstairs. A green one. Be a good boil and grab it? Old Svella's bones ache today." She patted Herryk on the shoulder and wagged a gnarled hand.
Herryk chuckled and slid Freya a soft glance. "Herryk will be right back." He sent Svella a glance filled with warning before he moved into the backroom and thudded up the stairs.
Svella watched him leave before she turned to Freya.
"So."
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Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2011 1:32 am
Freya let out a tiny, high-pitched noise when Herryk left, and her hand twitched to reach up at him, but he'd already turned away. Before she had the courage to turn back to Svella, she heard the sound of her voice, and sucked in a short breath. She turned, and her nervous expression tightened into an awkward smile.
"Ah.. hallo!" Her voice was so high-pitched, even she had to wince. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Hallo, Ms. Svella. Yeh dids an amazing jobs teachings Herryk. He is a fine boil." Her eyes fluttered back to the stairs for a moment, the fondness in her gaze returning. "A very sweet boil."
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Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2011 7:43 am
"A very sweet boil indeed," Svella murmured, fussing with the picnic basket she'd put together for Herryk. "And while I have no fondness for valkyries, no fondness a'tall, Herryk made me promise that I would be polite." Wrinkles upon wrinkles upon wrinkles contorted into something of a ... it was hard to tell whether she was frowning or smiling.
But her voice cleared up any confusion. It was gentle and full of a motherly fondness.
"When the boil tells me 'Svella, Herryk is dating a Valkyrie,' I can not believe my own two ears. He is as he is because someone of your ilk could not do their job proper. So I get angry. Not at him, not at you," Svella snorted in disgust and waved a gnarled hand, "but at the situation in general, ja?"
A bellow carried down to them from upstairs.
"SVELLA HERRYK CANNOT FIND THIS BLANKET."
Svella reached under the counter and pulled a plush green blanket from within.
"Keeps looking, boil! I know I left it up there." She turned her attention back to Freya.
"So. You make Herryk happy, and this makes Svella happy. He is just ... too sweet for his own good sometimes, ja?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2011 7:53 pm
Freya knew exactly what the woman was referring to. She'd felt a pang of guilt when she'd realized what Herryk was, even though it wasn't her mistake that had brought him to his current fate. Then again, if it hadn't happened, he might have never met Svella, and in turn may have never entered Amityville.
Freya would have never met him.
Herryk would be someone elses.
Freya felt sick at the thought, her skin paling considerably.
"I understands." Freya whispered quietly. "Yeh has nothing to worry about, Ms. Svella. I loves Herryk with everything that I am." Her brow furrowed deeply. "I only hopes it will be enough."
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Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2011 8:20 pm
Svella gave Freya a smile. It might've been a smile. The hag's face made it hard to tell, exactly.
"SVELLA." There was the sound of thumping.
"Ahhh, mørk gutt," Svella called up to Herryk. "It seems that old Svella had the blanket down here all along, hah!" She immediately turned back to Freya.
"This means much to the boy, this thing he has planned. Even if it is not so special to you, pretend it is, hmm?"
Herryk thudded down the stairs, almost tripping on the last three as he took them in one leap.
"Silly woman," Herryk said fondly, grabbing the blanket in one hand and the basket in the other.
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Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2011 9:15 pm
Freya had been trying to decipher the look on Svella's face when the bellow came from above, and she looked up in surprise. Her eyes were still up on the stairs when Svella spoke, but she turned to respond. She was too late, and had no time to explain how much it meant to her, before Herryk was already upon them. So instead, her mouth snapped shut and she simply nodded. Then she beamed her brightest smile up at Herryk, her cheeks flushing for the mere fact that he'd returned.
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Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2011 10:22 pm
"Svella, Herryk gives much thanks." Rearranging the basket to rest in the crook of his arm, he gave the blanket to Freya before bending to pick up their bags.
"It was nothing, boil." She waved a gnarled hand at the pair. "Have fun, have fun. If Svella is sleeping by the time you are finished, leave the basket outside the door. Svella will get it in the morning." It was slowly becoming obvious where Herryk had picked up his strange way of speaking, though admittedly the hag's way of speech was not nearly as stilted as Herryk's was.
The draugr gave a sharp nod before holding the door open for Freya. His eyes were bright with excitement.
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Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2011 10:47 pm
For the first time since they'd arrived, Freya was finally curious about what was inside the basket. She gave it a quick peek, before she was given a blanket. "We're leavings, already?" She felt awkward and nervous around Svella, but she'd only met the woman. She hadn't even gotten a chance to tell her just how much this entire trip meant to her, and she was already being whisked away.
"I hopes I gets teh see yeh again soons, Ms. Svella." Freya had few personal boundaries, but she was still nervous when she leaned in and wrapped the little woman up in a warm hug. It was quick, and then she was gone, hopping through the door and turning to give her a wave.
"I will takes care of him!" She called out in a promise, linking her arm under Herryk's to let him lead the way.
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