Enlist My Bonnie Laddie (OPEN)

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The line was long, the cafe was almost full but despite the number of people there the silence was overwhelming. No one had the energy to talk, to even move unless it was to move forward in the line. The only sounds that came were from behind the counter as the rationed food was hadned over to the weary resistance members. That was until the appearance of one member who burst into the room in mid song;

“Twa recruiting sergeants come frae the Blackwatch- Och now come on. Ye must ken this one by now!” he said to all the tired faces in the cafe.

A couple of them smiled, a few even called out for him to continue, but Gawain waved them off and said, “Och no the noo. I'm gonnae grab some of this fine lookin' grub first.”

He joined the end of the queue as some conversation began to strike up in the cafe, and tapped the shoulder of the person in front of him, “Gonnae put me out of my misery the noo and tell wit s**** they're givin' us the day.”

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Hel had been feeling compassionate as of late. Mortals here were not like the Vikings she was accustomed to. These people were greatly afraid to die, unlike the Vikings who lived to die in battle. Did not these mortals realize that death was only a part of living. It was not to be feared. However, that was not how these poor mortals thought. It allowed Hel to feel compassionate for them, especially the living.

It was why Hel stood in line awaiting food. It was not for herself. Hel had no need to eat or drink and the food mortals ate did not appeal to her in the least. Instead, Hel was here for the blonde fairy. She would bring the food to the woman for otherwise Hel feared that she may not eat otherwise. Mortals needed sustenance to survive and it seemed the fairy wished to survive, but was too busy caring for others that she did not care for herself. Therefore Hel had taken it upon herself to make sure the young woman ate.

The goddess noticed that the living were quiet. There was no senseless chatter and they seemed on edge. However, the quiet was soon ended by a young man who made quite a bit of clatter and noise. The mortals seemed to perk up a bit and Hel was surprisingly not bothered by the sudden noise.

She turned when she felt the tap on her shoulder and turned to the young man as he spoke. She blinked at him for a moment. She was not even sure he had spoken a recognizable language. It was certainly not one she recognized anyway. “Mortal, I am afraid I do not understand your speech. It is a language I neither recognize nor speak.” Hel was fluent in many languages, especially languages similar to Norse, but this was unfortunately not one of them.

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This had not been the first time that Gawain had come across this problem. It seemed to be that a lot of people here in Tintagel did not quite understand his accent. He had been attempting to water it down somewhat but there was a stubborn part of him that kept complaining about why he should have too. In any case, when it came to a beautiful young woman such as the one in front of him, he was certainly willing to make an exception.

Even if she was beautifully frightening.

“I uh, was jus’, just wondering what rubbish they’re trying tae…to…feed us the day…I mean, today,” said Gawain with difficulty, trying to rearrange the words so that they were more like the way his cousin and Lance spoke.

“But uh, with such a bonnie lookin’ lass…uh…when such a…beautiful, looking, young lady here, I’m sure this food will taste divine,” he said, smiling through his struggle, “I doubt anything could taste sh-…terrible with you around.”

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Mortals were strange and fascinating creatures, to be sure. Hel often found herself surprised by their actions, for they always seemed to do things she never expected. Then again, most of the mortals here on Midgard were not Vikings with which she was used to and therefore could not possibly act in the way she would have predicted.

It should come as no surprise then to find that this mortal had surprised Hel, for he not only complimented her once, which was once more than Hel was used to, but twice commenting on her beauty. And of course he was taking great pains to speak in a way that she could understand. She nodded once, to show her understanding. “You are kind, Mortal, but I am not young and it is only this form you find aesthetically pleasing, though I must confess that I have no understanding of how my looks shall affect the taste of your mortal sustenance.” It seemed an odd thing to say and Hel could not perceive what was meant by it, other than that it was meant kindly.

“However, I believe you mistake my intentions. I am here to bring sustenance to the young fairy woman over at the hospital, for otherwise I fear she may never eat and then she too will fall dead and her efforts will have been to no avail.” Hel did not particularly care whether the girl lived or died, but it seemed to matter a great deal to the fairy, though she did not seem particularly adept at caring for herself.

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“Well I’ve got no idea what aesthetically means, but age isnae…is not, really a problem fer me. If’n yer older than I think I dinnae…don’t care, cause yer still damn good lookin’ anyway, ye ken? Uh….you know?” said Gawain, still struggling to keep the balance between charming and translation.

She did not look that old, in fact she looked around the same age as himself, but maybe it was something in the eyes that gave him the clue that she was not kidding. Or perhaps it was the way that she herself spoke, but it was the eyes that gave him his first clue. They looked old, very old, like they had seen things that he could not even imagine witnessing.

Then she started speaking about a fairy and bringing her sustenance and Gawain started to grin, “Well then why don’t I give you a hand and the three of us can have a grand old time.”

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Hel did not understand the midgardian need for things that were pleasing to the eye, especially when it came to souls. The soul of a being was beautiful regardless of the vessel in which is traveled, so Hel was puzzled at the need for external beauty. She exhaled loudly, pushing the air out of her nose in confusion. She tilted her head to one side, considering the man. “I do not understand the mortal fixation with physical beauty. Is it not enough that your souls are beautiful? Must one also be physically pleasing as well?” It was exceedingly puzzling for Hel, whose true form was that of half a corpse, was not beautiful.

Granted, there were not many beings with the ability to see the form of the soul, so perhaps mortals had no understanding of the beauty within. Perhaps it had never been conveyed to them. It was an interesting thought and one that Hel would tuck away to think through at a later date. This was neither the time nor place for such deep thinking and questioning.

Hel felt a twinge of confusion begin to blossom in her chest at the suggestion. “I do not understand,” she told the mortal, allowing the confusion to show on her face for a moment. “Neither Anika nor I have time for festivities. I must tend to the dead and continue showing souls the way to the afterlife. Anika is very busy as well, tending to the sick and injured and managing the place. I am afraid I do not understand what you are suggesting.”

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This was deep thinking. The many that knew Gawain would probably have laughed at the thought of him trying ‘deep thinking’ considering him to be somewhat shallow and only after one thing. Which was true. However just because he did not really do ‘deep thinking’ did not mean that he did no thinking at all. He did, often, and came up with his own kind of logic which only really made any sense to him, leaving others baffled. He would believe that this was because he was clearly an undiscovered genius, not that his logic was just so ridiculous others could not follow it.

“Well, it’s the first thing you notice in a person, right?” he said, his brow creasing as he attempted to think deep, “when you meet a body, afore they even open their mouths the first impression you get is how they look, d’ya ken like? Uh. You know? So beauty is quite important and that cause, like, it’s the first thing that attracts ye to a person, ken? Sorry, you know?”

He folded his arms and attempted think even deeper, “an like, that’s fine an everything cause like, everyone’s got a different opinion about what ‘beauty’ is in that. Like my mate Lance, he’s got his type; dark haired loonies, and my cousin Arthur, he’s got his type, busty red heads, and me, I got my type…which is pretty much everything, everybody is beautiful, there’s a bit of beauty in all of them. Maybe that’s on account of that whole soul thing, which ye don’t really get tae see until ye get tae ken them better and that like.”

Nodding satisfactorily his brain caught up with and he just realised what the other girl had said to him. Leading the souls? Tending the dead. His eyes popped a little and his jaw dropped. “Here…here…are you…are you one of them gods?”