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| 2016-12-21: Donaldson en Kazakiri |
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Posted by: robkelk - 04-08-2025, 05:56 AM - Forum: Stories
- Replies (2)
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"Donaldson en Kazakiri"
or "The Lay of the Heroes of the Blossom"
(or, to the irreverent, "Rob and Hyoga Go to Hvergelmir")
by Rob Kelk
The sun, the sister | of the moon, from the south
Her right hand cast | over heaven's rim;
No knowledge she had | where her home should be,
The moon knew not | what might was his,
The stars knew not | where their stations were.
– "Voluspo", The Poetic Edda (translated by Henry Adams Bellows)
Yggdrasil
December 21, 2016
10:44 UTC
The Goddesses on duty couldn't hear themselves over all the alarms going off. But they all heard The System Administrator shout out an order they never wanted to hear:
"Quiesce the system!"
Everything went still. Everything. Except for the small pocket of metareality where the Goddesses who were on duty were still frantically trying to undo the damage that had just been done, the entire Refuge reality was suspended between clock-ticks.
In the management office, the System Administrator - Urd - turned to her sisters. "How do we fix this?"
"What went wrong?" The Programmer - Skuld - asked in exchange.
The Real-Time Monitor - Belldandy - didn't answer immediately. When she did, her voice was grim. "It was Níðhöggr."
"Níðhöggr gnaws at Yggdrasil all the time. What's different this time?"
"It was the solstice on Midgard," Belldandy replied. "The exact second of the solstice."
"A time of change."
Skuld frowned. "A time of potential - and the Níðhöggr virus attacked that potential."
"Leading to either stasis or chaos on Earth until the next solstice." Belldandy shivered in fear.
"Which we could normally work around, but with all our efforts needed to stabilize the Refuge reality after the synchronic alteration events, that's impossible right now." The telephone rang. Urd put the call on speaker. "Urd here."
"Peorth here. We have a patch, but we estimate it will only hold for eight hours once Yggdrasil is running again. Somebody needs to go into Niflheim and make repairs to Hvergelmir."
"We can't spare anybody here. What kind of repairs?"
"Simple ones. Even a mortal could make them, given a half-hour briefing."
"That's good," Skuld replied while looking at the Yggdrasil monitors. "But what kind of mortal could survive the trip?"
Belldandy reached into the pouch she was carrying and cast the runes. "One who is accustomed to the cold of the world, who keeps himself to himself, who travels to better himself, who leads others from the heart."
Peorth thought for a moment. "So, somebody who Chinese astrologers would call a Wood Dragon, western astrologers would call a Cancer, the rest of Midgard would call a resident of a cold country, and we would call trustworthy. We could find somebody like that in a few seconds if Yggdrasil was running. Do we restart the system to make the search?"
Before Urd could reply, Skuld said, "There's no need. One of our apartment managers matches all of those criteria."
"Bring him here, now. How long can we keep Yggdrasil quiesced before system failure sets in?"
"Just barely less than an hour, by our perception of time here," Belldandy told her older sister.
"Then we'd better hurry. Peorth, take over here! We have a hero to summon!"
Yggdrasil
December 21, 2016
10:44 UTC
The Norns completed their ritual. Without the assistance of Yggdrasil, it was a difficult task... but a successful one. Rob Donaldson, still asleep and without any nightwear, appeared in the circle that they surrounded.
"Ew!" Skuld turned away.
Urd quickly magiced some clothing into existence around Rob, and a pair of glasses beside him. He felt the pressure change and woke up. "Wha... Where am I?"
"Welcome to Yggdrasil, Mr. Donaldson."
"Milady Belldandy? Yggdrasil? Am I dead?"
"No, not yet. But we need your help if the entire universe isn't to descend into chaos."
Yggdrasil
December 21, 2016
10:44 UTC
"So, this Nidhogg virus hit just the wrong memory spot at just the wrong time?"
"That's close enough, considering what humans are able to understand," Skuld replied. "The actuality is different, but the analogy is sound."
Rob nodded. "I expect everything that I sense you doing here is just an analogy that I can grasp."
Skuld turned to Urd. "See! He gets it! I knew he was the right person to call on for help!"
"I also know that the eddas describe journeys of many days or weeks in order to accomplish this sort of task, and we only have a few hours. Will I have a vehicle to cut my travel time down to what we actually have?"
"No, Hel doesn't allow such things in Niflheim."
"Then I'll need a traveling companion who can get us there before your deadline catches up to us."
Yggdrasil
December 21, 2016
10:44 UTC
The Norns completed their ritual. Without the assistance of Yggdrasil, it was a difficult task... but a successful one. Hyoga Kazakiri, still asleep and without any nightwear, appeared in the circle that they surrounded.
"Ew!" Skuld turned away.
Urd quickly magiced some clothing into existence around Hyoga, and a pair of glasses beside her. She felt the pressure change and woke up. "Wha... Where am I?"
"Welcome to Yggdrasil, Ms. Kazakiri."
"Woah," Rob muttered. "Deja vu."
Urd looked grim. "We're short on time; we had to re-use some."
"Holy Djelibeybi, Batman," Rob muttered in a tone he hoped the Goddesses couldn't hear.
Yggdrasil
December 21, 2016
10:44 UTC
"You now have the supplies and the knowledge that we can give you. We will restart Yggdrasil, but duration will not resume on Earth; we'll keep the mortal part of the universe quiesced to protect people from the damage that Níðhöggr did, until either we get a green light on Hvergelmir or Yggdrasil begins to suffer from the quiescense. You'll have... six hours."
"I hope that'll be enough," Hyoga said.
Urd frowned. "It will have to be enough. Once duration is re-started in the Nine Worlds other than Midgard, we will then send you directly to the only point in Niflheim that we can visit uninvited: the gates of Hel. From there, you will be on your own, and the universe's clock will once again be ticking, except on Earth."
Rob took a deep breath to steady his nerves. "Just to confirm: We'll have less than six hours to get to Hvergelmir, make the repairs, and get back. If we fail, the world will suffer either chaos or stasis."
Belldandy smiled. "You can take your time getting back if you're successful."
"And if you fail, you might not want to return," added Urd.
Rob shivered. "Let's not think of that possibility."
"How do we get there?" Hyoga asked.
"Step through here." Urd pushed the big green button on her desk, then gestured to a door that wasn't there before she pressed the button.
They did so.
Thence rode he down | to Niflhel deep,
And the hound he met | that came from hell.
– "Baldr's Dreams", The Poetic Edda (translated by Henry Adams Bellows)
Niflheim
December 21, 2016
10:44 UTC
There was a gate behind them, and a gate before them, on the far side of a bridge over the river Gjöll, all rimed with frost. The gate before was guarded by the largest hound either had ever seen, secured on a leash long enough to allow him to cross the bridge. Rob didn't need to be told who the hound was; he'd read that manga story years ago.
"What business have a mortal and a half-made angel in this place?" asked the hound, with a voice that invoked all the fears of all the beings ever chased by all the unleashed hounds of Earth.
Rob steeled his nerves and spoke before Hyoga could react to being called half-made. "Mighty Garm, who guards Hel's gateway, we seek only to travel beside the river Gjöll and the walls of your mistress's realm. Our quest bids us make haste to Hvergelmir; we do not seek to pass through Hel's gate at this time."
"You stink of the Entwiners of Fate, mortal, but not of the single Norn who most recently exiled me from Midgard to return to my accustomed station here." He cocked his head, as if listening. "My mistress Hel has sensed what Níðhöggr did. You may pass now. I will decide whether you may pass again when... no, if you return. But be thee told, mortal: it will take thee nine times nine days to walk the length of the walls of Hel's domain."
Rob nodded. "O best of hounds, we take our leave upon those words."
"Then go, and do what you must, mortal."
As soon as they were out of Garm's sight, Hyoga took her FUSE=Kazakiri form, took Rob into her arms, and took flight.
In nine by nine minutes, they had left Hel's domain far behind. Hyoga stopped to rest, at which point Rob uncovered his face so that they could talk properly. "I haven't traveled that fast since the last time I flew, and that was in an airplane."
"I'm sorry that I didn't serve coffee during the flight." Hyoga grinned.
Rob grinned back. "I didn't get coffee on that flight, either. It was a private plane that I had hired so I could take some aerial photos. Speaking of coffee..." He pulled from his pocket the thermos that Skuld had lent him.
"Yes, please. But just enough to moisten my mouth. I don't have a digestive system; don't waste supplies on me."
Rob filled a small cup, drank half of its contents, passed it to Hyoga, then accepted it back and drank what she didn't. "Ready to go again?"
"Almost. By the time you've put the coffee away and readjusted your balaclava, I'll be ready."
And she was as good as her word.
Jötunheimr
December 21, 2016
10:44 UTC
"Mighty Fárbauti, who sits upon the throne of the Jötnar, why do we not challenge this mortal and his companion who intrude in the realms beyond Midgard?"
"Good Brimir, their quest benefits Men, Dvergr, Jötnar, Vanir, and Æsir equally. If they fail, we must needs carry out their quest ourselves, and we have not the time. Bide thy time; there will be time enough to challenge them should they choose to attempt to return to Midgard."
There Nithhogg sucked | the blood of the slain,
And the wolf tore men; | would you know yet more?
– "Voluspo", The Poetic Edda (translated by Henry Adams Bellows)
Niflheim
December 21, 2016
10:44 UTC
They had traveled at Hyoga's best speed for three hours, following the snow-clad banks of the river Gjöll upstream for the entire distance. Hyoga had been careful to remain on the side of the living, not the side of the dead, even when the river's flow shrunk to a stream, then to the merest brook meandering along a vast riverbed.
They had reached Hvergelmir.
Rob saw the hart called Eikthyrnir standing over the well, eating tender shoots from Yggdrasil's branches. Water fell from its horns into Hvergelmir.
Hyoga saw the celestial being called Eikthyrnir hovering over the well, trimming potential-but-stillborn alternate universes from Yggdrasil's branchings of reality. Potentiality fell from its form into Hvergelmir.
They compared notes. Eikthyrnir ignored them.
"I wonder what Eikthyrnir is really doing," Rob said.
"And how Hvergelmir is really being filled," Hyoga added. "Now that you've described it, I can see what you're seeing."
"You're one up on me, then. I guess I just don't have the ability to see the universe the way an angel can. Okay, I see a pool there, and somehow I know it's Hvergelmir. There's a bare trickle of water flowing from it, and a puddle of water over here." Rob gestured as he spoke, pointing things out.
"I can work with that description. What do you see over here?" Hyoga motioned to Rob.
"A wall around the pool, but some stones have been knocked asunder and some of the water is leaking out, filling that puddle. Just out of curiosity, what do you see?"
"A paradigm of concepts surrounding potentiality that flows into actuality, but some of the concepts have been cast loose and some raw potentiality is just sitting there. Rob, is there a point to asking me what I sense?"
"I guess not. Let's just pretend that what I see is what really is, and get on with the repair work."
Working together, they quickly placed stones upon stones as if they were a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. Hyoga located the stones/concepts that belonged together, while Rob carried them back to Hvergelmir and placed them into the wall/paradigm.
"We work well together, pretty lady."
"Don't call me that. I'm not a lady, or even a human, and I'm not pretty."
"You're very pretty, Hyoga. And being a lady is a way of life, not a biological description - at least, that's what I think."
She blushed for a moment, then went back to work.
Finally they were done... but Rob could see that water was still leaking out of the cracks in the wall.
"We need to glaze the wall somehow. If only we had a source of intense heat that we could play over the wall and let the stones glass over, or fuse together."
"Fusing them together would probably be a bad thing, but they do have to have connections between them."
"What's over there?" Rob pointed across what he saw as a small valley. "There doesn't seem to be any snow over there."
Hyoga looked across what she saw as the gap from which all realms arose. She didn't see any fire giants present at their border with the Ginnungagap. "It looks pretty warm over there, yes."
"Maybe we can find something there that's hot enough to do the job."
"I would expect so. Wait here." Without waiting for an argument, Hyoga flew at her top speed across the Ginnungagap. She somehow knew that no mortal could survive that trip, as short as it was. A few moments later, she was back, a glowing stone in her hand. "Don't touch it."
"Urd said that I needed to be the one to repair the well."
"Then take my hands in yours, and guide my actions."
He did, moving Hyoga from side to side in an almost crablike walk. The wall shimmered and became smooth, the stones securely held behind a glaze of molten rock (or, as Hyoga saw it, a mingling of concepts that produced ideas strong enough to withstand the test of time).
Then she tried to open her hands... and could not. "Rob... I can't let go." Hyoga held up the still-hot rock, then cried in pain as she tried and failed once again to force her hands to open from around it.
Rob grabbed a nearby rock and used it to knock the rock from Hyoga's hand. It landed in the puddle, causing the water to turn to steam.
The steam drifted to surround Hyoga. Rob reached into it and tried to pull her out, but encountered nothing where his eyes showed Hyoga standing.
"Don't leave me, pretty lady," he said. "We just met; you're just learning what it's like to be an average person; it can't end now! You have to have a chance at happiness, just like every other person on Earth!"
He ignored the tingling in his arms; the arms that he had reached into the steam with. He'd survive. He was tough. And it was just water, right?
The tingling subsided, as did the steam. It cleared to reveal Hyoga standing there, in human form and as pretty as Rob had ever thought she had been.
"Are you all right?" He rushed to her side.
"I'm fine, I think... but I feel strange."
"Strange?"
"I've never felt this way before." Then her stomach rumbled with hunger.
"You're just hungry... wait. You're hungry. You said you don't have a digestive system."
"I didn't have a digestive system, but... I think I do now." Then she saw herself reflected in the pool of water in Hvergelmir - which she no longer saw as a pool of potentiality. "Is that me?"
"That's you, as pretty as always."
"I've never been that pretty. Have I?"
Rob suddenly remembered his Norse mythology. "Oh, no. Did I... Hyoga, exactly what is on the other side of that valley?"
"That valley is the Ginnungagap, and Muspelheim is on the other side."
"Muspelheim. Niflheim. Steam produced from their meeting. The steam of creation, from which all things in the Nine Worlds were created, if I remember correctly. Did I...?"
When it became obvious that Rob wasn't going to continue, Hyoga asked, "Did you just remake me?"
"Can you shift into your angelic form? I was thinking of you as a person, and every person I've ever known has been human."
"I'll try." Hyoga transformed in front of Rob, into a form which was similar to but more beautiful than FUSE=Kazakiri had ever been.
"Your wings are white now..." Rob said in awe.
"Are they?" She looked at herself in Hvergelmir, only to see the pool of potentiality again. "I'll have to take your word for that; I have my angelic senses back in this form. Oh, and I'm not hungry any more."
"I bet that'll come back when you transform back to... to human, now. I'm sorry, Hyoga."
"Why? I'm not a monster any more." Her smile was the smile of an angel, even though she was now half-human.
Yggdrasil
December 21, 2016
10:44 UTC
"Systems are showing green again. Do we re-start Midgard?"
Urd shook her head in response to Peorth's question. "Not yet. Give them a chance to return."
"We can't hold Midgard quiesced for much longer without risking system damage."
"Hold for as long as you can! The least we can give our heroes is a shorter absence from their lives that they have to explain."
Niflheim
December 21, 2016
10:44 UTC
"Get up and keep running!"
"I can't!"
"You must! Why did we even land?"
"I was tired!"
"You don't get tired!"
"I do now! I'm human now, remember?"
"Don't take that tone of voice with me!"
"Why not? It's your fault!"
They dodged yet another hail of arrows.
"Ack! Since when do dwarfs use bows?"
"It's 2016! Be happy they don't have esper Skills!"
"Less talk! More running!"
"Less running, more flying!" Hyoga transformed back to her angelic form, grabbed Rob, and took off like an angel out of Hel.
Yggdrasil
December 21, 2016
10:44 UTC
"Urd! We're out of time! Changes are starting to happen all over Midgard!"
She sighed. "Do it."
Niflheim
December 21, 2016
10:45 UTC
They took cover behind a ridge as a squad of trolls opened up with AK-47s and unloaded the clips.
"I think I was happier with the bows and arrows."
"So, this is it. I just became human, and now I'm about to die."
"Don't misquote Arthur Dent at me! We're not going to die!"
"Just... kiss me before we're killed. Give me that much happiness. Please?"
Rob remembered his outburst at Hvergelmir. "I can give you that much, at least." He moved in to kiss Hyoga... and stopped as a shadow fell across them. A large shadow.
"You know that such devices are forbidden in the realm of Hel."
The trolls started to panic. "Fáfnir! Have mercy!"
"Mercy I have for those who try and fail honourably. Mercy I have not for such as you, who forswear your oaths to Hel." And he flew at them - literally.
After a moment, all was quiet.
"I have no quarrel with you, sons of Men." Rob and Hyoga looked up to see Fáfnir perched atop the ridge where they had sheltered. The wyrm took a closer look at them. "If I had known, I would have come to your aid so much the sooner. This dragon offers apologies to another dragon."
Rob stepped back from the ridge, turned, and bowed. "Thou hast my thanks, Fáfnir. May I ask, how didst thou kill thine opponents?"
"Why, with my breath, which is poison to all that is mortal. How dost thou survive being in my presence?"
Rob thought for a moment. "I... do not know."
"Yet thou dost survive. Thou art the most durable mortal I have ever met. Now I must take my leave; 'twould be best if you also were to leave this place."
Rob suddenly realized what had happened. He'd survive. He's tough. He'd thought that while reaching into the steam of creation to rescue Hyoga. He wondered whether Hyoga's thoughts had also remade him in any way, the way that his words had remade parts of her.
"We'd better go."
Niflheim
December 21, 2016
11:29 UTC
"Is it safe to stop?"
Rob thought for a moment. "I think so."
Hyoga landed and transformed back to human. "I'm still hungry, and I'm feeling other things, too. Is this an adrenaline rush?"
Rob pulled the thermos of coffee out of his pocket, following it with two granola bars. "This is all we have for food." He passed one of the bars to Hyoga, then poured some coffee into the cup.
"Thank you for the food." They ate while they talked.
"I don't know whether you're feeling an adrenaline rush, Hyoga. Is it wearing off now that we're relatively safe?"
She thought as she chewed. After swallowing, she answered, "No. It's getting stronger. And... and it's getting even stronger when I look at you."
"Oh, dear. Not again."
"What do you mean, 'not again'?"
"You might be feeling one of the most primal emotions a human feels." Rob took a drink of coffee, then passed the cup to Hyoga. "Here."
"But... isn't that an indirect kiss? I couldn't... Oh. Oh, dear."
Rob sighed. "You had no problem sharing this cup with me before you were re-made. Well, that narrows it down to two broad emotions. Are you really sure you want to either love me or lust after me, Hyoga?"
"You're the first man I saw after I became human, Rob; that had to have left a mark. And when you thought the steam of creation was destroying me, you tried to save me; I know you care about me. And I wasn't aware that I had a choice who I could want that way."
"Do me a favour? Think about the other men and boys that you know, and compare them to me."
"Kamijo... he's nice, but if we touch, I'll disappear."
"Not any more."
"Oh, you're right! I'll just become human! But he's a friend, just like Index. Accelerator... somehow, I think it would be wrong to feel anything for him. And Mamoru's nice, but I don't like him the way Usagi does."
"Anyone else?"
"No."
"You need to get out more."
"I've had enough time away from home on this trip to last me a lifetime! And you're changing the subject."
"On purpose. We're going through a high-stress event. These feelings might just be your - our - hormones talking."
Hyoga smiled at Rob's confirmation of his feelings for her. "We'll just have to find out whether it's our hormones or something deeper once we're safe." Hyoga handed her empty granola bar wrapper to Rob. "Shall we go?"
"Let's."
Niflheim
December 21, 2016
13:02 UTC
A blast of wind, colder than the icicles of Thule, blasted against Hyoga and Rob. They had no choice but to land, where they saw the tallest giant that either of them had ever seen.
"Niflheim is a place for Jötnar and dead Men, sons of Men! If you are here, you should be dead!"
"Can't argue with that kind of logic," Rob muttered.
"That was logic?" asked Hyoga in puzzlement.
"No. That's why we can't argue with it." Rob raised and projected his voice, the way he would if he was on stage. "Who art thou, who chooses to impede our progress toward the gate of Hel?"
"Some call me winter's father, though my name is Vindsval." He waved a hand in their direction, enveloping them again in cold and snow.
Rob held Hyoga closer, to share his body heat with her. "Be glad they don't have esper Skills, eh?"
"That's magic."
"Should we fight him?"
"He is winter's father. If we kill him here, or even knock him out, what will that do to winter on Earth?"
Vindsval laughed. "It would cause the protective blanket to begone from Midgard! Thou knowest what effect that would bring, does thou not?"
Rob nodded. "Too many lives would be affected for the worse, the least of which would be the lives of men."
"Forsooth!"
Rob and Hyoga looked at each other. That wasn't period Norse translated to English; it was more comic-book olde-tyme talk.
"Wait a minute. Do we really have to talk like that, or can we talk the way we're used to talking?"
"Son of Man, it has been decreed by Hel that within her realm the old ways are the best."
"I understand and thank thee for thine answer, Winter's Father. We shall endeavour to not speak in a manner that has been forbidden by the ruler of Niflheim."
"We understand each other, O son of Men."
"Then please understand this, O Father of Winter: We seek only to travel toward the gate of Hel, and then return to whence we came."
"I will aid your travel to the gate of Hel, O Sons of Men! I will deliver your frozen corpses to the Best of Hounds by mine own hands!" The wind and cold which had come and come came once again.
Hyoga held Rob tightly, shivering all the while. "Do something!"
"Why are you shivering? You're still in your angelic form!"
"I'm cold!"
Rob didn't think it was that cold. Mind you, Rob had arctic clothing and Hyoga did not. "Can you fly?"
"Not in these winds." Then Hyoga stared at Rob. "The snow..."
"What about the snow?"
"It's turned to water on your - thine - face."
"It's melting?"
"No. There's no frost on thine eyelashes, either."
"Hyoga... when I reached into the steam of creation to try to pull thee out of it, what wast thou thinking?"
"That thou wert risking thy life for me. Then, for a moment, I thought thou couldst do anything. That's when the steam abated."
"And that is when I was thinking that it was only water."
"What is this talk, O Sons of Men? These are poor choices for your epitaphs!"
Rob narrowed his eyes and looked straight at the face of Winter's Father. "If we are correct in what we are thinking, then they are no epitaphs at all." He then willed that the ice flying around himself and Hyoga stop in its flight.
And it was so.
"Thou art changed, O Son of Man. This is why Hel forbids your race from her realm! Now, fear winter before you die!"
"My family, my clan, my nation; we all live in winter for half the year. We fear thee not, Vindsval. We rejoice in thy presence!"
"You do?" Hyoga asked in amazement.
"Of course! If it wasn't so windy, I'd show you how to have fun throwing snowballs at each other."
"This activity, I must see," Vindsval proclaimed. And the winds tapered off to stillness, and the snow fell to the ground, and the skies cleared.
Rob smiled. "Okay, Now, watch closely. This is how you make a good snowball - not so tightly-packed that it will cause damage to the person who it is thrown at, and not so loosely-packed that it will fall apart in mid-flight..."
When looking back at this encounter in later years, Vindsval always remembered his amazement that these Sons of Men could teach him the joy of a snowball fight. Despite the displeasure of the ruler of Niflheim, Vindsval could not but call it time well spent.
On all sides saw I | Valkyries assemble,
Ready to ride | to the ranks of the gods;
Skuld bore the shield, | and Skögul rode next,
Guth, Hildr, Göndul, | and Geirskögul.
Of Herjan's maidens | the list have ye heard,
Valkyries ready | to ride o'er the earth.
– "Voluspo", The Poetic Edda (translated by Henry Adams Bellows, names updated to early-21st-century spellings)</poem>
Niflheim
December 21, 2016
15:44 UTC
Rob and Hyoga made their way to the gates of Hel. As they arrived, they saw to their surprise that they were expected. They discovered an armed party had arrived from the direction that they wanted to travel.
Garm was howling his displeasure at the intrusion. "What business brings you here, O Choosers of the Slain?"
"We are here to escort these two away from the lands of the dead and back to Midgard, O Greatest of Hounds."
And Garm saw that it was so. Even so, ever-faithful Garm was not willing to let them leave without a fight... but even to one such as him, to pit strength against strength against six Valkyries would mean the final death. The battle must needs be a battle of truths. "The mortal man has journeyed away from Midgard, a journey that no Man is allowed to partake, O Choosers of the Slain."
Geirskögul intoned, "Look upon him again, O Greatest of Hounds. He journeyed at the behest of those who guide, on behalf of those who live. His was a hero's journey, and since the time that Midgard arose from the Ginnungagap heroes have had the privilege to do what others dare not." And the magic of the music showed Garm that this was true.
"The mortal man has trespassed in the realms of the dead, where no living mortal should walk, be he hero or not, O Choosers of the Slain."
Skögul intoned, "Look upon him again, O Greatest of Hounds. The mortal was called to these realms by the Entwiners of Fate themselves. It was his wyrd that he was to have walked this path." And the magic of the music showed Garm that this was true.
"The mortal man has willingly entered Niflheim, and he did not die in battle. His place is here, O Choosers of the Slain."
Hildr intoned, "Look upon him again, O Greatest of Hounds. He has done us all a great service, and he has not died at all; in all fairness thou must not impede his path wherever it may lead." And the magic of the music showed Garm that this was true.
"Then the mortal must continue to walk the hero's path, else when he dies his soul will be taken by my mistress no matter the cause of death. I have looked upon him again three times, I will look upon him again no more. What of the half-made one, O Choosers of the Slain? Her actions were not those of the hero, as she used upon her quest no part of her being save the abilities to which she is accustomed."
Göndul intoned, "Look upon her again, O Greatest of Hounds. The heat of Muspelheim, the chill of Niflheim, and the waters of Hvergelmir have once again mingled their essences to form the creating steam, if only for the briefest of moments. The one called Hyoga is no longer half-formed, and all of her abilities are new to her." And the magic of the music showed Garm that this was true.
"Then the no-longer-half-made one is of us now, and must gain a Doublet and not leave this realm without call, O Choosers of the Slain."
Guth intoned, "Look upon her again, O Greatest of Hounds. She is born of Men, not of Gods. The Doublet System of Hild and Kami-sama must not be applied to her." And the magic of the music showed Garm that this was true.
"Then the no-longer-half-made one has no place in the Nine Worlds, and must be destroyed, O Choosers of the Slain."
Skuld intoned, "Look upon her again, O Greatest of Hounds. Her place is in Midgard, with the mortal who has done us all a great service; their fates have been entwined." And the magic of the music showed Garm that this was true.
And the magic of the music showed Rob that this was true.
And the magic of the music showed Hyoga that this was true.
"Then the mortal must acknowledge the no-longer-half-made one as family in the presence of other mortals before this day is out, else when she dies her soul will be taken by my mistress no matter the cause of death. I have looked upon her again three times, I will look upon her again no more. Do what thou wilt, O Entwiner of Fate who is a Chooser of the Slain." Garm put his head between his paws and, however grumpily, slept the sleep of the loyal hound.
Skuld took Rob and Hyoga's hands. "We must be away now, before He Who Howls awakens."
And it was so.
Yggdrasil
December 21, 2016
15:49 UTC
"I hate having to talk that way," Skuld continued after passing through the portal from Niflheim. "It's so old-fashioned! But Hel insists, and it's her realm." She let go of Rob and Hyoga.
Rob laughed. "And you're always at the cutting edge, aren't you, milady Skuld?" Then he turned to Skogul. "It was my wyrd, eh? I saw what you did there."
Skogul shrugged her shoulders. "Calling upon Wyrd - Urðr - Urd couldn't hurt."
"And I did hear your call." Urd smiled as she very carefully re-packed some fragile alchemical flasks into a very-strongly-bound box. "Do the two of you understand what Garm commanded of you?"
"I'm not sure, milady Urd."
Belldandy smiled. "Then I will give you the same tasks that Garm did. Rob, you must not sit by when a wrong is to be righted, when an innocent needs help, when injustice is ascending over justice. You must take action - and that action needs to be more than merely 'liking' a post on Facebook."
"I accept that burden gladly, milady Belldandy. And I don't even have a Facebook account."
She smiled. "And your first call to action is on behalf of your companion. Hyoga, you need to accept that, despite your celestial abilities, you are no longer simply a concentration of other people's metahuman powers given human form; you are a human, with a human need for companionship and family."
Hyoga put her arm around Rob's waist. "And I know without knowing how I know that Rob will be a part of that family."
Belldandy smiled. "And you, Rob, need to not only accept that Hyoga is important to you, but you must also tell other people that she is important to you - before the day is out."
"Of course." He smiled while replying. "I've always thought that Hyoga is somebody important; she's just a bit closer than that now. We need to figure out who we're going to tell first, though. After we tell our apartment-mates, of course."
"And then San Antonio," Hyoga added.
Rob looked puzzled. "San ... Antonio? Is there a residence there?"
And with that question, plus a Meaningful Look from Belldandy that Rob couldn't see, Hyoga realized that they had not reassembled the well at Hvergelmir to be exactly the same as it was before Urd had quiesced reality. She wondered how many other changes they had made, but all she said was, "I'm sorry; it's been a long day. I should have said San Francisco."
Rob grinned. "Yes, Gomez would probably take the entire account in stride, wouldn't he? Tell him first, and let him build up our confidence before telling the others."
Then Hyoga asked a question to distract Rob from her unknowing blunder. "What if somebody objects to the two of us being together?"
Rob reached for her hand and held it reassuringly. "That's their problem. Even if it was Mii and Ami who were the ones to object. The two of us have literally been to the Gates of Hel together and lived to tell the tale, and you've been reborn in the process. As far as I'm concerned, you already are a part of my family, Hyoga." Rob drew her into an embrace. "We'll need to see how you fit into our family, but you'll have a place of some sort there."
Skuld turned away. "Tell me when they're gone, okay?"
But before Urd and Belldandy sent Rob and Hyoga home, Belldandy quietly slid an envelope into Hyoga's pocket - a pocket that had not existed before she did so.
Blossom Apartments, Ottawa, ON, Canada
December 21, 2016
15:52 UTC (10:52am ET)
"I could sleep the entire day away," Rob said as he fell into his own bed from the portal from Yggdrasil.
"So could I," replied Hyoga, immediately beside him. "But I don't want to sleep." She made no move to get out of bed.
"Hyoga... We really shouldn't."
"I know. Even if it would be the best Christmas present ever." She sat up in bed. "Remember, I'm human now; what the Book of Enoch says about that doesn't apply any more, if that is what I feel for you. Wait, did you promise Mii that she would be the first of the women here to share your bed that way?"
Rob thought carefully for a long moment. "No. What I promised her was that I would share her bed the day after her eighteenth birthday if that was what she still wanted, and I made the same promise to Ami. What I'm thinking is that the two of us shouldn't do anything until after my fiancées know."
"And approve. You're right, of course."
"C'mon, sleepyhead. Out of bed."
"Are you talking to me or to yourself?"
"Both of us. We have to tell everyone else that you're part of my family now, remember?"
"And you have a new ability to explore."
Rob grinned. "I think we both do. Come on, let's go get some lunch."
Epilogue
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
December 21, 2016
1:06pm ET
"How often do things like this happen to you, Mr. Donaldson?"
Rob smiled at Naru's question. "Today was the first time I've ever been to a different dimension, Ms. Osaka, but it does seem like strange things happen to me and my guests on a regular basis. You should ask Sailor Jupiter about the time she fought a Predator one-on-one some time. Why do you ask?"
Naru went pale at the thought of going up against a Predator. "I was thinking of asking whether I could move in with you. But I think I'll stay with Mama and Naruru and Umino for now."
"That's probably for the best."
Blossom Apartments, Ottawa, ON, Canada
December 21, 2016
1:07pm ET
Alone in her apartment (which wasn't where she remembered it being yesterday), Hyoga opened the letter that Belldandy had given her without Rob's knowledge.
"My dearest Hyoga,
(For a moment, she wondered who the "dear Hyoga" and "dearer Hyoga" were, that made her the "dearest Hyoga".)
"I know that this will be hard for you, but you will need to live with the fact that you are one of the few beings who remember how the universe existed before you and Mr. Donaldson repaired Hvergelmir. Most things remain the same, but Urd tells me that because she held Yggdrasil in a quiesced state for a fraction of a tick too long, there are a few people who we approached in this version of reality that we did not approach in the reality of your birth, and vice versa.
"Here are the most important changes that people will expect you to know. Firstly, the Juraians are living in Vancouver, in their own home and under the very light guidance of a liaison named Garnett Iwasaki; there is not yet a residence in Texas. Secondly, my husband and his comrades from Whirlwind are living in Somerset, along with your friends in Hokago Tea Time. Thirdly, you are already friends with Hokago Tea Time. Fourthly, the Pensacola residence is being managed by Harley Waters, whom you have already met. Fifthly, the Halloween Party was held at Douglass Gardens Apartments, and that is where Yui Hirasawa and Shinji Ikari first met. Sixthly, the TSAB girls are living in Philadelphia with Admiral Harlaown. Seventhly, because of her ties to the Time Gates, Ms. Meioh also has scattered dreamlike memories of the previous version of reality and would appreciate being able to speak with somebody about them. I know that this will mean that you will be unable to accompany Mii and Ami on their trip to Windsor next week.
"There are more changes, but I will leave them for you to discover."
(Hyoga smiled at that comment; she had already noticed that there was a third floor to the building where she lived.)
"Please be assured and remember that you can call on us in a time of great emergency.
"Belldandy"
As the letter disappeared into motes of light, Hyoga wondered why Mii and Ami would be going to Windsor next week.
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| Raven's Garage appears to be down! |
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Posted by: STMPD - 04-08-2025, 02:02 AM - Forum: Drunkard's Walk II: Robot's Rules of Order
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Hi all! Been a hot minute since I crawled out of my Zoomer Discord hole to engage with the gang over here. There's a bunch of things I want to talk about / shill, but for now I just want to focus on one pressing issue: what the heck happened to Raven's Garage, the mightiest Bubblegum Crisis fansite of them all?
I ask because back in January Skuse was announcing the site's 30th anniversary, remarking that he was now a 60-year-old man, and that he still wanted things to talk about, so email him etc etc etc. I did actually try to do this and the email didn't go through, I don't know what happened. And now the site appears to be... down? Like there's a page but it's not a real page, it's this weird 'index of' thing and then dumps anyone who clicks on the sole link buried in it to a 403 error.
So it's not that Skuse gave up on the site, I presume, unless his entire take on Raven's Garage switched between January and now and he now wishes for his work to be consigned to the void eternal. Does anyone know what happened? Am I missing something? I know plenty of people on the BGC Discord would like to see the site either revived or archived.
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| Compromised Account on Wiki |
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Posted by: Bob Schroeck - 04-01-2025, 10:08 AM - Forum: Fenspace
- Replies (5)
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I just discovered that someone using BlackAeronaut's account on the Fenspace Wiki has posted a page containing 300K of what looks like link spam, including some very suspicious-looking links at the back end. It definitely doesn't belong on the site, and I have concerns that his account may be compromised.
Since I have the privileges to do so, I'm going to temporarily block BA's account; I will also delete the page in a few hours -- it's been there since 3/11, it's not going to hurt to leave it up long enough for someone else to look at it and tell me that I'm off base about it (as unlikely as I suspect that to be).
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| 2016-12-20: New City, Old Problems |
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Posted by: robkelk - 03-30-2025, 09:04 AM - Forum: Stories
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New City, Old Problems
by Rob Kelk
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
December 20, 2016
2:34 pm ET
For the second day in a row, they were doing research at the library, trying to figure out what had happened to them. He waved her over to the computer that he was using. "You need to see this."
"I don't think I need to see anything on a computer. That's your specialty."
"You need to see these Lycos search results." He showed her the screen.
"Sailor Moon... There's an anime about Sailor Moon?"
"And look here." He pointed at one line. "Tsukino-san... No, that has to be wrong. She can't be Sailor Moon."
"How did they know?" she asked in a shocked whisper.
"Are you telling me Tsukino-san really is Sailor Moon?"
"That's right. I figured that out a while ago."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"It wasn't my secret to tell! Besides, I never asked whether I was right, and she never actually told me."
He cleared the search, and searched for his own name. A few minutes later, he was crying. "Comedy relief? Is that all I am?"
"Not to me." Naru took Gurio's hand in her own and held it for a moment. Then she sat down beside him. "Can you show me how to make this search page work? I'll help you find her, or maybe some of our other friends."
* * *
"You two aren't thinking of leaving, are you?" Mayumi Osaka looked at the ravens sitting in the corner of the storeroom. "It's far too cold out there for you to survive."
"Caw!"
"That's good." It amused Mayumi to pretend to have a conversation with the birds while her daughters Naru and Naruru were out doing ... whatever it was they were doing. Probably shopping for Christmas presents. She wasn't about to chase the birds out of the building, even if it wasn't too cold outside for them to survive; they had been there first, after all. "Just don't hide any of my gems, please."
As she picked up a box of bracelets to take to the shop display floor, she thought that the ravens were looking at her with some amusement. It must have been her imagination. She stepped past the curtain and into the shop itself. "Perhaps one of these would be more appropriate as a gift for your friend, Mr. Donaldson."
As he looked through the selection, he half-distractedly asked, "Have you been open long? I don't remember there being a jewelry store here last year."
"Oh, we've only been open for a week now. We were lucky to get the lease for as low as we did, even if we aren't directly on Bank Street."
He smiled. "I remember when this used to be a coffee shop, a couple of decades ago. They're in the Byward Market now. I think you found a lucky place to set up shop, miss."
She laughed politely, her hand over her mouth. "Nobody's called me 'miss' since my older daughter was born."
"Oh! I think she'll like this one," he said, pointing to a silver bracelet with a wave design worked into the metal. "Sometimes I think she spends all her time in the water."
"She's a professional swimmer?"
"No, she'd a medical student. She loves swimming, though."
"Ah. Would you care for a gift box to go with the bracelet?"
"Yes, please. And, if you wouldn't mind, please put your shop's business card into the box."
Mayumi smiled. "Of course!"
Once the necessary business transaction was completed and Rob left the shop, turning on Fourth Avenue to walk back to Bank Street, his polite smile turned into a grin. Not only had he finally found a Christmas present for Ami, he'd also found one for Usagi - assuming Mayumi Osaka was a displacee. Considering she'd named her shop "OSA-P", Rob thought it was only a matter of time before he, and Usagi, had a chance to meet Naru.
8:37 pm ET
Mii was carefully taking the well-lit roads back from campus. She didn't want to run into another one of those ... things ... that had nearly killed her just after Halloween. She knew that, even if the strike force had been allowed to manage a 100% success rate in killing the sluagh in the Horde's stronghold last week, it was highly unlikely that all the sluagh in the area had been there. And even if they were, more would no doubt show up eventually from other cities.
She would have taken a bus home, but she wanted to do some window shopping along the way - and, if she was lucky, actually buy some gifts for her friends. She'd just have to trust her luck.
Unfortunately, her luck didn't hold. While looking down a side street, she saw one of ... those things ... approaching a young couple from behind. A quick look over the rims of her glasses showed that anyone else nearby could only see a rather scruffy human - but nobody else was nearby.
Mii really didn't want to be attacked again, but she wasn't about to let innocent people come to harm. "Hey! You!"
The sluagh turned to look at her jog toward it. So did the couple - teenagers, a boy with thick glasses and a girl with wavy hair.
"Yes, you!" Mii continued as she got her cellphone out and hit the speed-dial button for Kuroko. "Why were you sneaking up on those two?"
"Mind your own business!"
Mii heard the line connect. "Hello?"
She spoke louder than before, to make sure Kuroko could hear her. "I am minding my own business! And I was at Calabogie last week!"
"You're one of them? DIE!" The sluagh dropped its mystic disguise and leapt at Mii.
The teenaged girl said "Oh, no, not again..." just before she fainted.
Mii dropped her phone and punched the sluagh, throwing it off-balance enough to miss attacking her. Spinning on one foot, Mii kicked the sluagh in the back.
It didn't go down.
"Oh, shi-" Mii's curse was cut short by a concrete cinder block falling from nowhere onto the sluagh's head. That was enough to knock it out.
"I apologize for taking so long to arrive," Kuroko said as she teleported to Mii's phone, picked it up, and handed it to her.
Mii smiled. "I'd say your timing was just right." She turned to the teenagers, only to see the boy carrying the girl up the steps to one of the nearby shops. She raised her voice again. "Are you two okay?"
"We're getting out of your way!"
"Out of our way? Why?"
"Konori-sempai..." Mii turned back to Kuroko, realizing from the use of her family name that they were still working, then looked where she was pointing. "...would you happen to have any more concrete blocks?"
"Not with me, sorry."
"Then we have no choice but to kill all three of them."
"When did they start hunting in packs?"
"When haven't they?" Kuroko replied, then muttered under her breath, "They aren't running away."
"They're calling our bluff," Mii answered in the same voice. Out loud, she asked, "How many spikes do you have?"
Kuroko lifted her skirt with one hand and ran her other hand along the bandoleer she had strapped to her thigh, teleporting the iron spikes into her hand. "Enough."
That was enough to get the sluaghs to run off, away from Bank Street and toward the river.
"We're going to have to deal with them eventually, you know."
"We should deal with them right now. They'll be easy to find if we act fast. Would you go get Sailor Moon, please? I'll see to the bystanders."
Kuroko nodded and teleported away.
As she walked over to the front of the shop where the boy was still watching, Mii said, "I think that's all of them for now. What did your friend mean by 'not again'?"
"When we were in Tokyo, Naru was attacked by monsters a couple of times. What were those things?"
"They're called sluagh. An acquaintance of mine told me that they're Fair Folk that were killed but didn't die completely."
"They're yokai that were turned into yurei?"
Mii thought for a moment. "I think so, yes."
"How did you see the first one? Are you a miko?"
"No, I'm an esper. But my glasses were a gift from a megami."
Just then, they heard from a distance the cry "Moon Healing Escalation!"
"An esper? You're a Newtype?"
Mii shook her head. "I'm not that sort of esper. Oh, but it looks like your friend - Naru - is waking up." She turned to the girl. "Are you all right, miss?"
"I'm okay, thank you. Are you all right? You were attacked instead of me."
"I'm fine. Your friend tells me your name is Naru. I'm Konori Mii."
"And I'm Umino Gurio," the boy added. "Mii was saying that she's an esper."
"Like a Newtype?"
Mii giggled; an odd sound from the usually-serious young woman. "Maybe I should ask for a giant mecha. No, I'm not that kind of esper." She noticed a movement on the sidewalk, then spoke into her phone. "You'd better hurry up; the one we knocked out is starting to wake up."
A second later, Kuroko appeared, holding Sailor Moon's shoulder. "Over there."
"Moon Healing Escalation!"
Naru looked up. "It's her. It's really her. Usagi!"
"Naru! What are you doing here? And Umino! Oh, but... I'm not -"
Mii laughed. "It's too late to deny it now, Tsukino-san."
9:18 pm ET
"well," Rob said, "I was going to give Usagi your business card as an early Christmas present, but I see she's already learned that you're here. My name is Rob Donaldson. It's my job to help people like you adjust to being in this reality. Welcome to Refuge, and please call on me if you need help of any kind." He offered his business card to the newcomers.
"Mayumi Osaka, and I'm happy to meet you." She formally accepted his card.
"I'm assuming that you'd like to meet more people like yourself who have found themselves here. I believe I can still get invitations for you to a black-tie event that's being held on Christmas Eve, if you can attend a formal party on short notice and you're interested in going. How many invitations do I need to request?"
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| I did a thing (and you can too) |
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Posted by: AvrosRaven - 03-27-2025, 11:36 AM - Forum: My Apartment Manager is not an Isekai Character
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I wasn't sure if there was a thread for people's writings that were KanriKyara related, so now I made this. Speaking of which, here's something I wrote (My self insert. take it or leave it, Bob  )
Raven stepped off the plane, stretching his hands behind him.
“It’s nice to be back in SoCal… ok I barely remember living here, but it’s still nice…” he said, quietly groaning in pleasure as his muscles stretched out. His bones creaked. It hadn’t been a particularly long flight, but it was still enough to make his legs fall asleep.
“I wonder what shenanigans I’m going to get up to while I’m here…” he thought as he walked into the airport proper. He picked up his bags, then set out for Rutgers University.
The ride down to the dormitories in the Uber was quiet. Lines of trees blurred past him, and it put a smile on his face. He had always liked the natural world. Besides, seeing so much green was really nice when he compared it to Arizona, with its rocky greys and browns, and small, compact trees struggling to survive. Here, though, trees grew tall and proud, a stark difference to what he was used to. It was a nice difference though, and he appreciated it. It was a good change.
The car stopped about 20 minutes later. Raven ducked his head out of the car and took his bag from the trunk. He thanked the driver, and tipped him too. Then he ran a hand through his hair as he looked up at the building in front of him. A gust of wind swirled around his body, lightly chilling him. Douglas Garden, a place that had recently had a large uptick in tenants for no apparent reason. A sly grin creeped up his face. This was going to be fun.
Raven stretched after knocking on the door. A man, maybe late thirties, early forties, opened the door. Raven plastered on his “I love people” smile and stuck his thumbs in his pockets.
“Hello! My name is Raven, it’s a pleasure to meet you! Well, it’s not my given name, but here…” he said while he pulled some papers from his bag and handed them to the older man.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you Raven, we’re glad to have you here. Welcome to Douglas Garden, my name is Bob Shroeck, but you can just call me Bob, I suppose,” Bob said in response as he took the papers. Raven stood expectantly. Bob raised an eyebrow looking at the papers. An awkward silence ensued.
“Errrm… can I live here?” Raven asked in an attempt to break the silence. Bob jumped slightly, but smiled.
“Yes, you may. Come in, come in, we’ll just get the tenant contract ready and you’ll be good to go,” he said, waving Raven in. Raven let out a sigh of relief.
‘Well, I’m certainly glad that’s over..’ he thought before following his new landlord into the main office.
The contract signing was anticlimactic. Just a couple of scribbles later, plus a handshake, and he was officially a tenant of Douglas Garden.
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