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 Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 2:41 pm
Today was a rather laid back day for the usually rambunctious reaper. She liked having days like these every once in a while. Nestled in a corner of her room, Hel sat at her loom, where a steady rhythm of ‘clack clack clack’ could be heard by anyone walking down the hall. She left her door wide open, possibly as an invitation to anyone who wanted to pop in for whatever reason, but also to enjoy a bit of the fresh air circulating from having the door open. In addition to the clacking, the young valkyrie could also be heard singing a tune native to her culture, that went along the lines of ‘The warp is made of human entrails, human heads are used as heddle weights, and the heddle rods are blood-wet spears~’
Even her attire for the day was laid back! Hel sat at her loom in the Riley t-shirt she acquired from the festival, her black bloomer bottoms, and her stockings. Her hair was also pulled back by a head band for the day, as to not get caught in the loom while she weaved.
The sounds of pitter pattering filled Mot's room this day. The tiny paws of FooFoo the foxfire echoed through the western style bedroom, followed by a muffled woof once in a while.
Inside, Mot was laying on his bed on his stomach, tossing a ball of twine out for the little mini pet to fetch. It was amusing in its own way, seeing how excited the foxfire got running after the ball, and bringing it back. Usually not easily, as Foofoo made a point to make it hard for Mot to pry the toy from its maw.
After a few hours of it though, Mot had gotten bored of it, mostly because FooFoo had, and took to laying on it's back on top f Mot's back. Great. Now he was bored and stuck, unless he wanted to wake the pet.
Luckily, the sound of faint singing caught both of their attention. Mot looked toward his door, and FooFoo's ear perked up as the minipet awoke. FooFoo leapt off of Mot and headed to the door, pawing at it to get it open. Mot groaned and rolled off of his bed and onto the ground with a thud, getting up and opening the door.
Upon opening it, Mot heard a very sweet and lovely sound. It really was singing he had heard!
FooFoo burst from the room and straight into Hel's bedroom, sliding and hitting a wall with a light thud. It was soon followed by Mot coming in to both investigate the singing and retrieve his pet. "Hello?" He called out softly.
Unfortunately for the light and fluffy FooFoo, the clack of Hel’s loom was louder than the sound of his little mass hitting one of her walls, so still she weaved while singing. “The shafts are iron-bound and arrows are the shuttles. With swords we will weave this web of battle ~” The reaper didn’t sing lightly either, no, it was of good volume but most of all, it was expressive. It was obvious she enjoyed singing, and that it was a pride of the valkyrie culture.
Fortunately though, she did hear Mot!
Hel paused; her foot easing off the loom’s peddle as she looked over at her door and then grinned. Oh, it was her cowboil neighbor! “Hello there, friend!” She greeted. “Good to see you up and moving!” Hel teased lightly as well, especially considering their last training session where he passed out rather quickly. “How are you feeling?”
Mot had never heard singing like that before! Needless to say the boil was enchanted with it. He'd almost wished he hadn't said anything, and let her continue to sing. He managed a smile and nodded. "Howdy." Their last romp of training had been draining, and for a while he had been certain the ghoul was just a brute in an apron. Yet there she was, spinning a loom and singing of bloodshed and battle.
Beautifully ladylike.
"I'm well." He replied, completely forgetting about his mini pet altogether. Said minipet was stuck on his back and waving his little legs wildly in the air. "Sorry, I'm not interrupting, am I?"
Hel looked over the item she was weaving, checking it for a moment before spinning on the bench seat to face Mot. “I’m glad to hear that!” The reaper gave a shake of her head. “No, not at all! I’m just weaving. What have you been up to—“ The reaper cut herself off when something wiggling near a wall caught her attention. The reaper leapt to her feet, swiping a few pieces of beef jerky from a bag on top of her loom before skipping across her room to investigate the wiggling ball of fluff.
“Mot!” Hel exclaimed, crouching as she stared down at FooFoo with wide eyes. “The gnomes tossed a mutated cotton ball into my room!” She sounded a bit outraged as she then reached out to poke FooFoo in the tummy. “Oh my Jack, it’s warm, too!”
Mot tilted his head. Something had distracted Hel from him. He looked to where she had run. Ah.. FooFoo. Right.
Hel's observation cracked the boil up, sending him into a hearty laugh. Mutated Cotton Ball indeed. "Th-that's FooFoo. He's my foxfire." Mot corrected, though he almost played along with the mutated cotton ball theory. But then he feared she might use him for parts or something. He liked his pet not stuffed into a pillow, thank you.
Mot crouched down beside her and poked his side, not helping the pet up yet.
FooFoo growled, kicking furiously now.
The valkyrie looked up at the reaper as he laughed, a brow raising curiously until he corrected her. Her gaze snapped back down to the minipet, her expression still one of disbelief. A foxfire, huh? She blinked as the mutated cotton ball growled, and then wiggled harder. Hel popped the ends of the beef jerky strips into her mouth to hold while she then reached and picked up FooFoo, holding the foxfire under his front paws and squinting at him. Oh, a little nose, two eyes, ears, and a mouth! She then brushed her thumbs over his fur, grinning. “He’s so soft!”
Her words were a bit muffled by the beef jerky strips hanging from her lips. “He’d make the softest thread for a blanket!”
FooFoo stopped kicking the moment he was picked up. Like his owner, he had a soft spot for ghouls. The FoxFire stared at Hel, unmoving as if he was a toy.
Ghouls has food.
All Food = FooFoo's Property.
FooFoo opened it's maw and snapped down on the beef jerky in her mouth, taking as big a bite as he could from it. It was for him right? Clearly the ghoul was just weird about how she was giving him the food.
"FoOFo…" Mot was going to scold the pet, but for one thing he was already chewing. Secondly.. "…How would you gather enough fur to make a blanket? It's not very long…"
The ghoul stared back at FooFoo, who was staring back at her just as intently. Hel startled lightly as the foxfire snapped down on one of her pieces of beef jerky, and stared down at the bold little minipet with wide eyes. She was silent for a long moment before giving a muffled laugh. “How bold this cotton ball is!” She set FooFoo back on the floor on his paws, taking what was left of the piece of beef jerky and tearing it into smaller shreds, dropping the pieces near the foxfire. She took a bite of the other untouched strip of jerky before offering it to Mot.
“It would have to be a long term project.” Hel mused thoughtfully, waving the other half of the jerky at the cowboil. “I’d shave him, wait for his fur to grow, and then shave him again…unless I found other foxfires with equally soft fur…”
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Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 3:03 pm
Mot chuckled with a smirk. "Bold indeed. You have no idea. This ball of fur loves stealing my hat in the morning too."
FooFoo gobbled every bit of jerky Hel left for him. The foxfire left not a single crumb.
Mot stared past the offered jerky as Hel mused the idea of a foxfire blanket. For a moment, he considered it. With a light shake of his head, he grinned and took the jerky. "Seems like a lot of work. I also doubt FooFoo would like me much if I let that happen to him." And he would have to live with a vengeful ratlike foxfire. Not cool. "Not sure where you'd find willing participants.." A naked foxfire would be funny...
Mot took a bite from the jerky, chewed on it, then paused.
He just snacked on something willingly…
Hel laughed at the thought of this little dust ball parading around the room with Mot’s hat, watching as well as FooFoo devoured the jerky. “Word of caution to you, Cotton Ball.” She warned the foxfire. “Don’t ever steal jerky from my sister, Freya. She will wear you like a pair of new boots.” She seemed to be thoughtful for a long moment before moving on from the subject.
She kept lightly wiggling the piece in front of the reaper until he took it, and she grinned, way too pleased that he did so. Hel was almost expecting a fight about it! “Good things come from a lot of work.” The ghoul informed him seriously with a nod of her head. “But you’re right…it’d probably be an overly tedious project when I can just purchase soft yarn elsewhere.” Hel leapt back to her feet and strolled back over to her loom, grabbing a few more pieces of jerky before flinging them in FooFoo’s direction. “What have you been up to, friend?” The ghoul asked curiously, watching as he chewed the jerky with a pleased smile.
"Yeah. It also seems more animal friendly." Mot added with a grin in between chewing. Shaving foxfires was sure to draw attention, and maybe piss off a lot of little minis.
Mot sat on the floor where he was, content to talk to Hel from there. She was at her loom, he would hang out there with his gorging pet. "Same old, I suppose." He mused, still chewing at the jerky. He'd had jerky before, and he did like it. Not so much that he would eat it often, mind you.
"What is that?" He asked, nodding to the loom.
Oh…yeah. Animal friendly. She’d had kind of forgotten about that. Oh well!
“Ah, I see.” Hel replied, resting her hands on her hips as she watched the cowboil with a tilt of her head. When Mot questioned her about the loom, she turned back to face it again with a prideful smile, happy to explain what it is. “This is my loom!” The reaper started. “It used to belong to my oldest sister, and then it was passed down through all eight of them before it came to me.” Despite being through eight ghouls, the loom was in excellent condition! It was easy to see that Hel liked to take care of whatever items fell into her possession, especially when buying a new loom wasn’t a possibility, and even if they did, it’d go to the oldest first anyways. Thems the rules.
“I use it to make cloth, which turns either into a tapestry, a quilt, or even clothing sometimes.” Hence why she was talking about soft thread.
Sewing and weaving was not a hobby Mot would ever care for himself, but it seemed Hel was very passionate about it. The way she talked about her sisters was something to envy, and he almost wished he had grown up with a sibling to keep him company.
"That's really cool." Mot commented with a smile. "What did you and your sisters do together growing up?" Mot asked curiously, more interested in that than in sewing or spinning.
When asked about her sisters, Hel easily moved into the subject. For now she seemed to lose interest in continuing at her loom, and instead grabbed the bag of beef jerky and wandered back over to where Mot and FooFoo were hanging out on her floor. She plopped down across from Mot, sitting with her legs folded underneath her for now. “What didn’t we do?” Hel mused happily, fishing into the bag for another piece of jerky and holding it above FooFoo’s head to see if he’d stand on his hind legs for it.
“Rough housed, did the chores together, told stories to each other, and taught each other how to do things…” She trailed off for a moment as she seemed to recall something amusing in particular. “Our neighbor…he is another grim reaper with three boils.” Hel started, grinning lightly. “Our father likes to mope about how the neighbor has the boils, and all he had were ghouls, so all nine of us would often terrorize the boils, and chase them around the houses for hours.”
FooFoo was licking his chops and paws, cleaning up from a tasty feast. Then, a big piece of jerky floated magically above his head. The foxfire stared up doe eyed, whining. His paw lifted to try and bat at it from where he was in vain, then moved to stand on his hind legs, bouncing as he snapped his maw open and closed trying to grab it.
Mot laughed as Hel told her story. "Oh wow, you ladies were a force to be reckoned with. Or not to be reckoned with." He grinned, wishing home life had been that fun for him. Only in school did he get the chance to goof off. "When I was a kid we played games where the ghouls and boils made up opposite teams. We always won because the ghouls never wanted to get dirty. I can't imagine what would have gone down had your sisters been at our school."
Hel chuckled as FooFoo took the bait, and played a mini game of tug o’ war with him before letting him have the treat. This foxfire was adorable, she had to admit! Such a personality he had too! She reached into the bag and got another piece, offering it to Mot before getting another one to herself.
The reaper listened intently as Mot went on to describe some of his time as a young boil, laughing as his observation. “You’d be correct, friend!” She replied. “We’d be the ones dragging you through the mud…” Hel trailed off for a moment. “Growing up, all I had were my sisters and the neighbors…if we split into teams; it was depending on who was mad at whom, and who wanted to get back at who for something some one did.” Hel prattled this out, waving one of her hands before resting it back on the floor. “I was always on my sister Freya’s side though, no matter what the circumstances.” The ghoul mused with a fond smile.
"I don't doubt it." Mot mused with a smirk. If Hel was any indication, her sisters must have been incredibly strong as well. He wouldn't stand a chance.
"Freya, huh? Is she your favourite? Er… you two are close?" Mot wasn't sure if there was such thing as a favourite sibling. It's not as if he would know. Regardless he caught his error.
It seemed that Hel spoke of the sister fondly, hence his curiosity.
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Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 3:22 pm
“Yes, and yes!” Hel replied with a laugh, not at all minding Mot’s error as she waved another piece of beef jerky at the boil. “I love all my sisters dearly but…Freya is very special to me.” Her expression softened briefly before she went back to grinning. “The oldest is Sif…all the other sisters will go to her but Freya…she comes to me, and I go to her.” Hel wasn’t about to say that she enjoyed not fighting for an elder’s attention, that’d be revealing too much about how she felt about it.
“Who did you go to, Mot?” Hel suddenly questioned, looking over at him curiously. What did an only child do?
Mot finally relented and took the offered piece of jerky. He had already eaten one, so he would just have to eat this one slower, so as not to have more offered to him. Smart.
Hel's relationship with Freya seemed special. mot was a little jealous, but only a little. More than that he found it endearing.
"Me?" He repeated back, lowering his head as he thought about it. His father? barely around enough to go to. Mother? She wouldn't give him the sort of attention he wanted, only lectures. "Come to think of it, I don't think I had anyone to go to." Mot admitted after a while of pondering. He didn't wish to complain to Hel like he had with Lizzy. He had slipped then. His upbringing was not the problem of his friends. Still, it was nice to talk about such things to a friend.
"What would you go to a sibling about anyway?" He asked cautiously. He always had to keep his issues to himself, so distinguishing what he needed to share and what was worked out on his own was a blurry line.
Hel smiled when he took the piece of jerky from her, and grabbed yet another one out of the bag for herself, chewing on this one slowly.
The ghoul nodded her head and waited, watching the boil as he had to think about it. Hel frowned lightly. Wait…he had to think about it? Not only that, but he kind of was thinking about it for a while too! She seemed troubled once Mot finally admitted that he didn’t have anyone he could go to. What? While Hel wasn’t going to say that she ‘needed’ someone to function, having someone just be there was nice.
“Anything and everything.” Hel answered simply, reclining back on her hands now and sprawling her legs out in front of her. She wiggled her toes, staring at them thoughtfully. “…You can come to me!” The ghoul suddenly announced. They didn’t need to be siblings for that to happen, because friends did that too, right?
Go to Hel? For anything and everything? "Hmm." Mot tilted his head. While he had shared some things with Lizzy, it was only because it happened to come up in conversation. He'd never gone to anyone for the sake of needing to talk something out. "Well, okay then. It's a deal." He said with a grin. "When I need to share something, I'll go to you."
She actually blinked in surprised when he agreed. In a way, she wasn’t expecting him to agree to the idea so easily, since he seemed to have other friends that he was closer to than her. Regardless…it suddenly made her feel very happy that someone was now depending on her in a sense. The idea that she could be there for someone was a nice thought! “Deal!” She echoed, grinning widely. “Anytime too, okay, Mot?” She reaffirmed to the boil.
This is exactly the kind of connections she was hoping to make with others outside her family! Heee. She was happy. “Oh…say friend.” The ghoul was reminded of something, while she stared at him, pointing to her head. “…How did you get that hat, anyways?” He always wore it, treasured it, so there had to be some sort of story behind it.
"Anytime. The same goes for you. Come to me too, since Freya isn't here." Mot liked trying to help his friends, so it made sense to extend the offer.
Mot he'd in response, waiting for Hel to ask what she needed to ask. He stared at the finger that pointed to his hat, before his eyes lifted up to stare at the brim of it. "Ah~." He exclaimed, smiling. "Actually, I got it from my parents about six years ago, I think it was." He grinned, fidgeting with the garment. "I had been purposely flunking classes for a while back then. I was angry, since Mother always made me study over and over even when I was doing well. I rebelled, so to speak, in the most juvenile way I could." He grinned at himself.
"Anyway, I had been begging for a cowbell hat for years, but she always told me it was an unnecessary purchase, and to focus on school rather than silly gimmicks. But, they were going on a trip and leaving me with a tutor for a week. I was throwing a huge fit, but Mother promised me if I picked up my grades she would get me something. It was easy enough to pick them up, so I did. I thought she would end up getting me something silly like a candy bar or something. But when they came back, they had gotten me this hat."
Mot smiled fondly, looking down at the jerky in his hand. "That's the only time they ever got me something I really wanted, so I've never cared to take it off."
The reaper seemed a bit taken a back when Mot said she could come to him as well. Suddenly, the idea of going to someone who wasn’t her sister seemed…foreign, weird. She was just so use to running to the second oldest and having her there more or less her entire existence thus far, but she wasn’t here. “Thank you, friend.” Hel replied quietly after a moment, though only time would tell if she would take him up on that offer or not. Hel didn’t exactly like sharing her deeper feelings with others either.
It seemed now it was story time though, and Hel loved story time! The ghoul pulled her knees up to her chest, rested her elbows on top of her knees, and then rested her head in her hands as she watched and listened to Mot talk about his beloved hat. “Six years?” She echoed in awe. He had that hat that long? It looked very well taken care of! Of course, that was obvious from how the reaper cherished it. The ghoul was very enthralled with his story, and when he was done, it left her a lot to think about, too. Hel flopped over onto the floor, her hands reaching out to pick up FooFoo and placing the foxfire on her stomach as she then ran her hands over him thoughtfully.
“…I can see why you cherish it so now.” She murmured. At first she had just summed it up to a silly attachment to an item, but now she knew the real reason behind it, and it clicked. Hel was silent again before piping up. “So…do you have something that you really want right now?”
FooFoo, now done with jerky and his belly puffier and full of food, had settled to lay down. To his delightful surprise, he was scooped up and placed on the ghoul's tummy. The foxfire made a pleased noise, yipping and curling up into a round puff of fur, panting happily as she petted him.
"Something I want now?" Mot echoed. He tilted his head, gnawing on the jerky he was still working on as he thought. "Not especially. I got some nice boots and vests when I was out with Lizzy over break. Finally got myself a pair of spurs too." He grinned, tapping his heel on the ground. "I could never afford them before. I ended up helping out at her Mother's store in order to pay them off." While he did own a lot of cowbell themed items, most were gotten from relatives outside his parents, or earned through gambling.
Still, that felt like a cop out to her question. "Honestly, I don't usually lust for anything material…" Mot thought harder until he snapped his free hand's fingers. "Right, I did want a new jacket. Mine is, well, worse for wear." It had been bought second hand, its edges frayed and torn. "Though the one I have does look bad a**."
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Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 3:44 pm
This foxfire really was soft. It was a shame she couldn’t make a blanket out of material like this. One day, maybe! Maybe. Hel smiled a bit as she kept on petting the poof ball that settled onto her tummy, and looked up at Mot from her position on the floor. The reaper actually seemed disappointed when he said he didn’t want anything, listening as he listed off the items he received over the break. “Ah…that sounds like quite the nice haul, friend.” She complimented, eyeing the spurs on his boots. He was one tricked out looking cowboil that was for sure.
When Mot snapped his fingers though in realization, Hel’s eyes lit up. A new jacket? Huh! Briefly she wondered if there was something she could do about that, and laughed at his comment about the bad a** jacket. “What are you saying?” She teased. “That worse for wear is the trick to looking intimidating?”
"Exactly!" Mot agreed with a wide grin. "If it's worn down, it looks like you've been in a lot of rough battles, right? Therefore, you'd be an intimidating figure and less likely to be messed with. Or more likely. I suppose it depends on the crowd." He chuckled, then bit down on the jerky in hand and ripping another bite out of it. This was tough stuff to eat! Somehow though he just kept at it. He found a snack he liked.
"All the rough and tough characters in novels and movies have worn down attire, like they've seen all that the world could throw at them. That's badass."
She stared at the cow boil, her expression flat. She stared and blinked, and then blinked again. “Mot!” Hel scowled softly. “Having clothes that look battle worn is no substitute for actually having the experience from being battle worn!” Despite the fact that she was reprimanding him, there was an edge of amusement in her tone. “You should be an intimidating figure, period, and not because of your clothes.” The ghoul shook her head lightly, her lips twitching upwards.
“Well, in the stories, they have had the world thrown at them, yes? You really admire them, huh, friend?”
Hel's scolding earned a sheepish grin from the grim reaper, rubbing his neck as he chuckled. "I suppose. It's more like playing dress up, then." Wearing the clothes that reminded him of his heroes made him feel like a hero too.
"I do." Mot nodded, leaning forward more. "The hero always charges into danger without a second thought! They're always brave and strong, suave and calm in any situation." He grinned, though it faltered slightly for a moment. "I'd love to be like that." Mot felt as though a hero was supposed to always know what to do, always know what to say. "A hero knows no fear, and never shivers in his boots when things go wrong."
Hel scowled again, though it was more in general that directed at Mot. “Oooh don’t say dress up! It brings up unpleasant images, and you don’t want to play dress up anyways!” The reaper suddenly whine, having relapses back to when she was a younger ghoul and subjected (read as tormented) to dress up time by eight older sisters.
Her dual gaze looked back over at Mot, looking at him curiously and thoughtfully as he spoke about how he idolized the hero in stories. She could relate to that feeling, honestly, so she sympathized with Mot and frowned lightly when his grin faltered. “I think you will be, one day, Mot.” She replied honestly, glancing up at the ceiling.
“…Back home, there’s an epic poem about a hero, it’s long, but I’ll try to sum it up for you.” The ghoul started. “In a great hall, a king and his men celebrated, but it angered a monstrous outcast who came and murdered many of the men while they slept at night.” Hel paused before continuing. “Enter the hero, come to repay his father’s debt to the king. The hero and his men celebrate at the hall before retiring for the night, and the monster appears, and kills one of the hero’s men. The hero was feigning sleep, and he goes into battle against the outcast unarmed, as he thinks it would be unfair to wield his weapon. After a fierce battle, he tears an arm off of the outcast, ending him.” Hel paused once more, and looked over at Mot. “Are you with me, friend?” She had more to tell. Apparently Hel liked telling epic stories.
"Aaw what's wrong, Hel? Don't ghouls like dress up?" Mot asked with a playful grin. He knew how she felt about things regarding being 'cute' went, so he could only imagine what dress up was like.
Honestly, he wasn't so sure if he could ever truly be the man he wanted to be, but shrugged it off. It seemed like it was story time again, so he shut his trap and chewed on some jerky.
Mot assumed that had been the end of the story, but Hel posed a question, and it seemed not to be the case. "Oh, yes." He nodded. The story's hero seemed gallant and brave, and he thought since he had slain the outcast all was well.
He would just have to wait and see.
Hel made a sour face and stuck her tongue out at Mot at his comment about dress up, before continuing on with her epic story.
“So, the hero was very boastful of his accomplishment and hung the outcast’s arm in the hall as a trophy and sign of his deed. Well, the next night, the outcast’s mother was enraged at the slaughter of her son, so she attacked the hall as well. She killed many fine warriors while the hero slept, and he did not realize his carelessness about the situation until he awoke the next day.” The reaper took a deep breath. “The hero tracked the outcast’s mother down and engaged her in battle in her own lair. He had to use his weapon this time, and after a long strong he returned triumphant with her head.”
The ghoul trailed off for a moment, letting that sink in for Mot before she kept going on.
Mot stared Hel as she told her story with a piece of jerky between his lips. He wasn't even chewing it anymore. "The story feels like it has some kind of vengeance begets more vengeance moral." He commented, albeit muffled with the food hanging from his mouth. Still, it seemed Hel was not done.
He let her continue.
Foofoo, however, grew weary of storytime, and was now on his back with his feet up taking a nap.
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Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 5:57 pm
Hel paused, looking over at Mot as FooFoo apparently rolled onto his back while still on her stomach. The ghoul’s hands moved to rest on FooFoo’s tummy, where she continued to pet the giant ball of fluff. “It does! It is just one of the morals of this story though.” She grinned before continuing.
“So the hero returns home and is crowned king. Years pass until another problem emerges. One of his warriors steals a chalice from a dragon.” Here Hel paused for a moment, and thought of Jericho and chuckled. “The dragon goes on a rampage and destroys everything in sight, so once again, the hero, who is also the king, sets out to vanquish the enemy. He and his men are outmatch, and his men flee like cowards to let him deal with the dragon on his own. One of his warriors comes to his aid though, and they manage to best the dragon!” Hel paused. “…The king is gravely wounded though, and eventually succumbs and passes. He is then given a great burial, and is also buried with all of the dragon’s treasure, because it is cursed, and he wishes to spare his people from it. That is the end of this epic tale.”
It was also here, that Hel’s brow furrowed in confusion. Hey wait…there was another point to telling Mot this story, but it didn’t seem to come out the way she wanted it to. The reaper drummed her fingers on her chin as she pondered.
Mot raised a brow hidden beneath his hat's brim. "So.." Was that it? The hero did sound brave, but it also seemed like he brought a lot of that misfortune upon himself with all that fighting. Was that the moral?
"Are you saying heroes are doomed to be cursed?" Even Hel looked confused. "Don't get me wrong!" he corrected, waving his hands. "It was a really cool story!"
Hel drummed her fingers harder on her chin as she stared at the ceiling. Aw, she got caught up in telling the tale, that she kind of forgot why she told it in the first place. At Mot’s question though, the reaper immediately shot straight up, luckily, both of her arms wrapped around FooFoo to keep him on her lap as she looked over at Mot. “No, no!” She hastily corrected herself, “That wasn’t the point of this story!” The ghoul squinted down at FooFoo as she tried to recollect her thoughts from earlier, as if the foxfire might have the answers…
Maybe he did! Hel snapped her fingers, and looked back over at Mot excitedly.
“What I meant to say with this story is that heroes aren’t perfect, and they can make mistakes, and just because they don’t always make the right choices, doesn’t mean they’re any less of a hero.” The ghoul nodded her head, pleased now that her thoughts returned to her. Of course though, she wouldn’t mistakes, no, not her! It was a good tale for those striving to attain greatness or so she thought.
Mot raised both brows as Hel suddenly sat up. "Oh?" He waited for a better explanation, because as it stood, he still did not quite feel right.
Foofoo, in the meantime, kicked a leg up and continued to sleep.
After the moral was explained, Mot thought on it a moment. Heroes are not perfect. They make mistakes. Although it made sense and he got the point, Mot somehow did not feel all that better about it yet.
Still, the thought was there. Then again, he wasn't sure what was so heroic about killing. This coming from a grim reaper..
And now he felt like a bigger wuss.
Mot furrowed his brows again and chewed on the last bit of jerky. "I suppose so." He said simply.
Hel looked at Mot expectantly and excitedly for the realization to dawn on his face and for him to be uplifted by her words. Her expression fell though, the longer Mot remained sullen, and her expression drooped when he only answered with a simple reply. Well, she felt…dumb. She didn’t make him feel better. How could Freya do this so easily, she wondered? Freya always knew what to say, and how to say it, and it always made Hel feel better after speaking to her. It just seemed that…she wasn’t as good as Freya. The ghoul grimaced briefly and scooted over to Mot on her bottom, still holding onto FooFoo firmly.
She reached out and patted him on the knee, and gave him a tentative grin. Persistence…that’s one thing she had going for her. “Mot, what are we, right now?” She questioned.
Mot had considered that his mood might be negative on Hel, seeing as she had told the story just for him. Somehow though, he couldn't force himself to smile it out and pretend he was fine. It was more like a young child pouting but not saying what was wrong.
He watched as Hel scooted over, only then realizing he'd been pouting, and stiffened his expression. He'd meant to try and smile but ended up just looking uncomfortable. However, the expression faded as she asked a very strange question. Needless to say, the grim reaper thought she meant something else entirely. "Wh…" What kind of question was that suddenly? He'd heard lines like that in day time dramas and fights between couples in public. So what did it mean coming from Hel?
It made no sense to Mot, and thinking about it got him flustered. "Uh.. huh?"
The ghoul stared at Mot expectantly, still with that tentative grin on her face, even as the grim reaper looked uncomfortable. Smiling and grinning was contagious, right? Hopefully? The grin faded from her face once more when Mot’s expression just went blank. Oh Jack…was it really that hard of a question? Unbeknownst to the valkyrie, she wasn’t aware of how that question may have sounded to someone else, when the answer to her was very obvious and had nothing to do with relationships at all! She decided to help the poor boil out, just incase he became even more down at not knowing the answer.
“Right now we are…students!” Hel perked back up, grinning at him once more and patting his knee again. “What does being a student mean?”
Students. Right. Wow, he felt dumb. Why did he think otherwise. Mot flared a deeper shade of red at his own confusion and resisted the urge to face-palm.
"O-oh." He squeaked out, then cleared his throat as manly as he could, making up for the break in his voice. "Students are uh… it means we're learning, yes?" He stammered, turning his head away and rubbing his neck.
Hel was terribly amused that Mot blushed for some reason, and by the squeak and the break in his voice. “You’d be correct, friend!” She cheered lightly. “We’re learning!” That obviously should answer all the questions right? They were relatively new students, with quite a few years to go here at the Academy! They’d become even better warriors over time!
The ghoul reached out and pinched Mot’s cheek, grinning widely now. “Aww Mot, you’re blushing! How cu---“ She cut herself off in her tease and blinked. “Uh…why are you blushing?” It just seemed to hit her now that it was a very odd time for the reaper to be blushing, and now she was rather curious as to what caused it.
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Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 9:47 pm
To Mot's horrid luck, Hel pinched his cheek and called him out on his now flushed face, causing him to grow redder, warmer. Not only that, she almost called him cute. How could it get any worse?
And then it got worse.
Blushing? He was so not blushing over a question he thought meant something else! That something else was not something to blush over! "No I'm not!" He said quickly, defensively. Now he was blushing because she knew he was blushing. It was a horrible train crash.
Obviously denying he was blushing was a kosher way to deal with the situation.
The reaper just stared as Mot’s blush grew darker, her fingers still pinching his cheek as a dark brow rose curiously. Her look said it all. Busted. It was a horrible train crash, and really was getting worse for Mot! Hel quickly clung onto the quick and defensive way his tone became, not to mention the blatant lie that he wasn’t blushing when he so obviously was, and it was getting redder!
Hel let go of his cheek and leaned towards him, staring up at him without the brim of the hat in the way. Oh she wasn’t going to let this go. She wanted to know! “Mooooot ~” She sang softly, tauntingly. “I did not spring from the pumpkin patch yesterday ~”
Mot instinctively leaned away from Hel when she leaned forward. His gaze met hers for a moment, her able not allowing his hat to hide it. Even as she sang with a taunt he stared back, and shook his head. Noooo! Don't 'Mooot' me, he thought.
Okay, so Hel was not that gullible. A simple denial would not ward her away. "It's nothing." He snipped back. This wasn't working! Lie, boil, lie! But even Mot wasn't sure why the idea of her asking a relationship question bothered him, even if it really wasn't one. Probably because he knew nothing about it.
"I thought you said something else. Nothing major."
Nope, she wasn’t that gullible, and his further denial about the subject just reeled her in more! If he wanted her to stop, he’d actually have to tell her a really convincing lie or…the truth! Hel cackled as Mot got snippy, one arm cradling FooFoo while the other hand firmly planted itself on one of Mot’s knees to allow her better leverage as she leaned towards him even more. Hel didn’t really have a concept of personal space.
“It it’s nothing major, you’d tell me, and you wouldn’t be blushing!” She pointed out stubbornly like a brat, grinning.
Could Mot lean his neck back any further than he was? No? Oh, he'd just have to shift backward then! And so he did, his hands on the ground behind him as he shifted away some from Hel's approach. Personal space was nice, especially for Mot at that moment.
"Uh.. bu.." Stammering was not answering, but he was having trouble thinking. It was an innocent mistake really, but being drilled for answers was embarrassing him. It's not as if he like liked her or anything! Really! He barely knew her yet. He was simply a teen male with an over active imagination.
Lie. He needed a lie.
"I uh just.. thought you were asking.." Mot slid back some more, practically sweating now. ".." Jack Damnit! He couldn't say it! He could not tell her what he thought he had heard her say, and he couldn't come up with a quick lie. Was Mot going to end up being an infamous coward? "W-when you asked me that it just sounded like.. " He flared red again and smacked his hands over his face. "Guh! Does it matter?!"
Hel was a cruel friend, taking delight from Mot’s suffering. Unfortunately for the cowboil, he still wasn’t going to get his much needed personal space until he gave her a decent answer. Hel wiggled even closer to him so that their knees touched, and still grinned widely at him, waiting. “Uh…?” She egged him on. “You thought I asked…?” She snorted once more than the poor boil started to sweat. What in the name of Jack was he so worked up about!? The suspense was killing her! Her hand left his knee to reach up for her head band, and she pulled it off and reached to dab at his skin with it.
“What did it sound like, friend?” She edged, concentrating on wiping his face with an amused tone. She pulled back a bit when the reaper suddenly smacked his hands over his face, and the ghoul couldn’t help but toss her head back and howl with laughter. What was he getting so worked up about!? It was terribly endearing yet hilarious! “It matters now!” She replied merrily, “You’re the one making such a big deal out of it!”
Even as Hel reached out and batted away the sweat, Mot avoided her gaze and continued to stammer and avoid answering her. How horrible. How embarrassing.
Hel burst with laughter. Mot groaned in his hands from the growing sense of humiliation he was gaining out of Hel's constant taunting. "How can I not?! You keep drilling me about it." Mot squeaked out, inwardly slapping himself in the forehead for once again squeaking. Damn his vocal cords! Focus!
Then? He started laughing.
As much as he had been embarrassed, Hel's laughter along with the fact he felt so self conscious ended up making him laugh to, mostly at himself. He let one hand drop from his face, his other hand covering his eyes as he leaned his elbow on his knee and continued to laugh.
Hel just laughed more. It was stomach splitting how Mot squeaked, and she dropped her headband and held FooFoo to her tightly as she fell backwards onto her floor and howled louder. The reaper curled around the foxfire and laughed, and it only prolonged her fit of laughter when Mot laughed too. Tears were streaming from Hel’s eyes and her stomach was really started to hurt, but still she laughed for a bit longer before it died down, leaving her with the occasional chuckle. Oh Jack, her sides really hurt! She pushed herself back into a sitting position, still hugging FooFoo tightly as she started at the reaper who had bent over and rest his head on his hand.
The ghoul snorted and reached up to cover her mouth, trying to calm herself. “S..so really, my…squeaky friend.” She snorted again, and took a deep breath, asking in a slightly calmer voice, “What did you think I said?”
Somehow, through all of that laughter, Mot's anxiety melted away. After the laughter had simmered down, he felt more at ease, and a lot less tense. Really, his embarrassment seemed so juvenile now. It also felt good to just laugh like a maniac with a friend.
He grinned at her name calling and lightly shoved her without even seeing her before resting his free hand over his knee again. "Grah, I thought you'd asked me what our relationship is." He admitted, though right after that, his stomach felt tight, hoping she didn't take it the wrong way. She was a friend. Just a friend.
Ah! He was grinning again, for real this time! That pleased her immensely. The reaper chuckled when she was shoved, swaying from the momentum before settling again, running her hands over FooFoo’s fluffy fur. When Mot finally told her the reason he was blushing, Hel paused and blinked. She was silent for a long moment before a hand came up to her chin and she appeared thoughtful. She thought back to her question and then a look of realization crossed her face as she snapped her fingers. “Ah! I can see how my wording was poor, now!”
She beamed at Mot, and then left the topic alone at that. If only he had fessed up sooner, huh?
“So.” Hel started on a new topic, keeping their conversation rolling. “What are your goals for this year?”
That was it?! All that bitching he had done and she didn't even flinch. Now Mot felt like the ghoul in the room. Clearly he was a ghoul. He certainly acted like one. Maybe if he had more than his mother to talk to as a child he would have been manlier. But no. His dad was a nerdy recluse!
Anyway.
Mot smirked, breathing out and shaking his head. Enough of that. "Goals?" Mot slid his hand from his eyes as he lifted his head, looking up as he now cupped his chin. At this point he felt like manning up was a good one. Get stronger. He'd never thought about trying to better himself like he had since recent events.
"I suppose.. My goal is to get a little bit stronger. Mentally and physically."
Yep. That was it. Hel had no reason to question their relationship at this point in time. She knew they were friends, after all! Yep. He was her friend. For sure. Now that her curiosity was satisfied as well, she had no reason to linger on the subject and thus moved on.
“Yes, goals.” The ghoul echoed as she watched Mot. When she heard his goal, she grinned, throwing a fist into the air. “That sounds like an admirable goal!” She then lowered her fist, blinking as she held it out to Mot, like he had showed her during one of their past meetings. Fist bumping! You did it to celebrate, and she was celebrating a good goal. “That is always a goal of mine.” She commented. “We can work towards it together!”
Mot grinned widely. The fist bump! She remembered! Gladly and readily he returned it with one of his own. "Together then." He felt she might make him look to be a wimp in comparison, but then again it was good to set the bar high. At least that's what he always heard. "But, uh.. take it easy on me." He grinned cheekily.
Yay! She did the fist bump correctly this time! Another reason to celebrate! Her hand returned to FooFoo, petting the heavily sleeping minipet happily.
At Mot’s statement, Hel laughed once more. “Pfffthahaha…No.” She uttered back with a cheeky grin of her own. “I won’t be doing you any favors by going easy, and you can’t go easy on me, either!” While she knew Mot had a hard time pushing ghouls around, maybe she could work on that a bit as well!
Damn. He knew he wouldn't get it easy. There was no harm in trying though. "Ah nuts." He exaggerated his disappointment with a finger snap and pout.
"We'll see about me going full out." Brawling a ghoul. It was still on the uncomfortable side of his tolerance level. Ghouls, no matter how strong, were not to be treated roughly. Somehow he could not get that out of his mind. In the back of his mind he refused to allow it, no matter how much he told Hel he would try. "Aren't there other ways of getting tougher than combat training?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 10:32 pm
“I can’t even say it was a nice try, friend.” Hel chuckled as Mot snapped his fingers in faux disappointment.
Ah darn. It was that ‘we’ll see’ dealio again. The ghoul would still be happy though that she at least got Mot to flip her, even if it took a lot of goading and intimidating! The fact that he could was awesome! When questioned about other ways to get tougher, Hel perked up. “Of course there is!” She happily replied. “First, eat and sleep well.” Two things Mot did not do, but she was working on that too! “Next, weight training! We can work on your arm muscles…” The ghoul trailed off. “When we can get into the Fitness Club room, we can use the machinery there, too!”
Eat? Oh man. Sleep? Oh dear. Machines? Oh no!
This was all sounding like a lot of work and time! While that wasn't too big of a deal, it seemed a little overwhelming. Mot groaned, sliding onto his back and wiggling his limbs like an infant. "So much worrrrrk." He whined aloud. He was partially joking, but it had truth to it. Why was he doing this again? Can't he just shoot his enemies and hope for the best?
Please?
Hel watched as Mot slid to the floor and then proceeded to wiggled around like a baby. She was just amused, and probably always would be whenever he pulled stunts like this, but she wasn’t going to let him off easy, nope! Mot could throw a tantrum all he wanted, as long as he didn’t stop working, but that wouldn’t stop Hel from teasing him. “I do recall friend, a conversation in our first get together…” The reaper started, looking down at him with a taunting grin.
The ghoul then knocked her town down a few octaves, and tried to match the bit of rasp that Mot held within his voice. “I hope to be a full fledged Grim Reaper by the end of it all. I want to be top of my class. The best there is.” She stopped mimicking him then (pretty damn proud of herself though, for her imitation), and further egged on, “And you’ll only be the best by working.”
Mot refrained from his wiggling and sat up, looking at Hel in curiosity. Something he said when they first met? He listened carefully.
. . .
"Was that supposed to be an impression of me?!" He asked while laughing. The fact she had remembered what he said word for word, and the way she perceived his tone of voice was especially amusing to the reaper.
He died down his laughing and shook his head. "I get it~ I get it." He conceded. Momentarily he thought to mock Hel's accent, but he had no idea how to go about it properly. Oh well. She was safe for now. "Just know I will complain the entire time."
Hel puffed out her cheeks as Mot laughed, and asked if that was suppose to be him. Hey! She thought she did a stellar job! Maybe the reaper was upset because she sounded like a better Mot than he did. Wait…how did that work out? Anyways…
“Yes, it is!” She replied haughtily, but couldn’t help and crack a smile as he laughed. She let the air out of her cheeks, and ran her hands over FooFoo again. She’d just have to work on her Mot impression then! The ghoul chuckled when he said he would complain the entire time, and nodded. “Oh I know. I’m expecting it.” She teased. “That important thing is that you don’t stop trying, though.”
"Yeah, I won't stop trying." He relented with a shrug. He almost felt like he had to, for some reason. He'd never had a reason until coming to the academy. Every other student he met seemed to have something to say about the matter. Strength, capabilities, etc. Hel was the pushier of them, right along with Petro. Still, it felt more like obligation than a personal goal. He had no interest in being strong. None at all.
FooFoo had an interest though. An interest rolling from Hel's grasp, down the floor, and out the door.
Why? No one knows. It just happened.
The reaper paused, the smile slowly falling from her face as she stared at the grim reaper. She couldn’t put her finger on it exactly, but there was something about his tone that seemed…off? It was like he seemed to agree as to placate someone who was nagging him. Hel frowned lightly as she reached up to rub the back of her neck. The ghoul couldn’t grasp not being motivated to better one’s self…she was here because she wanted to be, not because she felt obligated to. She wanted to try and be different than her sisters, who didn’t attend the Academy at all…
Hel was pulled from her thoughts as her lap suddenly went cold. She blinked as she watched the giant cotton ball roll away from her and then out the door with intent, and stared at him for a moment longer before looking back over at Mot. “…What was that about?”
Mot blinked and leaned his head to the side to watch FooFoo roll off of Hel's lap and out of the room. He chuckled at Hel with amusement, scratching his cheek with a cheesy smile. "Pee break." He answered. "I don't know why he feels the need to roll like that.." It was a complete mystery; one that Mot didn't care to unravel. So long as the pet didn't leave any surprises on the floor, he left him be.
“Oh…” Hel nodded her head in understanding, but now she kind of missed her little lap buddy! The reaper chuckled. “He looks like a tumbleweed when he does that.” Okay, so tumbleweeds weren’t luminescent glossy white, but still, with all that fluffy fur, he did look like one! Considering who his owner was as well, it shouldn’t come as a big surprise.
The ghoul drummed her fingers before springing to her feet suddenly, moving over to her dresser before rifling through it. She then bounded back over to the grim reaper, and waved an unopened bag of beef jerky right in front of his face. “Here you go friend, this is for you! Since you and your mutated cotton ball tumbleweed like it so much!”
Mot blinked, watching the ghoul get up suddenly. Was she going after FooFoo? No, she seemed to be looking for something.
The bag presented brought a grin to Mot's face. Little did he know, Hel was feeding a new found addiction that he and his pet now shared. Hel's colourful name for his pet also brought a great amusement he didn't care to correct. "Oh sweet!" He exclaimed, taking the bag from her after standing up. His grin gave away how much he would enjoy it.
"I'm going to go put this away. Actually, I should get started on some homework too."
What’s this? She offered him a bag of food and he grinned? Victory. Complete and utter victory. Freya would be proud of her, seeing as she now hooked her friend onto one of the greatest snacks of all time, beef jerky.
Hel just grinned as she straightened herself up and rested her hands on her hips, staring up at Mot. At his announcement that he probably should get started on his homework, Hel made a small face. “Aww…” She uttered, pushing some of her hair back before grinning once more. “I suppose you should then, friend!” Homework was rather important after all, and Mot had a lot of work to do if he wanted to be the top of his class! The valkyrie glanced over at her loom. “Thanks for stopping by, though!” She meant it; she really enjoyed their impromptu ramblings today.
"Any time." Mot replied with another smile. He should make a habit of popping in more often. While some of it had been awkward, the general conversation had been fun and pleasant. It was nice sitting and talking. And in Hel's case NOT training.
"See you." Mot waved, heading back to his room with the jerky he'd been given.
Hel did learn a very valuable lesson today! It was that she could spend time with another and further their bond without training. It was a rather startling epiphany!
“Have a good day, friend!” The valkyrie called after him, standing there for a moment longer and just staring at her open door. She’d leave it open a bit longer! With that settled the ghoul returned to her loom and resumed working, humming a cheerier tune this time.
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