It's a Bird, It's a Plane

[betarade_spill]

Aw, shucks. It's that large, funny-talking horse dude with the winged helmet. What's he doing with that big wooden sign? Hammering it into the ground in the Forum? And, what does it say? "FREE PIGGYBACK RIDES." He can't be serious. Who would trust this huge, jolly weirdo (even if he does clean out demons like it's his day job)? The long-snouted thief of Thor's wardrobe must be nearly seven feet tall, and he's wide enough to weigh a quarter ton!

Oh, great. He's hovering. He must really be insane to expect anyone to go FLYING with him. The 'man' looks like some kind of monster. And, is he looking this way? Too late to hide...

"Wouldst thou care to take to the sky with Beta Ray Bill?" The joy of flight is apparently worth sharing. Boy, someone must be in a good mood...

((Note: any characters taking Bill up on this offer are in danger of seriously getting their hair mussed. Horse jokes may result in one unassisted flight lesson...just one))

Comments

[brave_heart_verity]

He's definitely the lucky one, as far as she's concerned.

"Yeah, we. It's not. It's not the sort of club I want more people to join..." She's a little lost now.

[betarade_spill]

It doesn't matter. He dismisses the whole subject with a gesture, waving his hand low.

"I pray thy stay thus far hath been pleasant?"

[brave_heart_verity]

Okay then.

"Mostly. Except for the demons."

[betarade_spill]

He hisses a purring predatory hiss, the kind that unhappy tigers make. The kind of thing that belies his usual human-like presence. But his face, his voice seem a little ashamed.

"If only I had glimpsed it forthwith! They could have been driven back at the onset!"

Even Stormbreaker throbs with energy unhappily.

[brave_heart_verity]

"Whoa. Hey. What happened is nobody's fault. Nobody did anything wrong that led to that. It just. Sometimes bad things happen." This sort of thing is not really in her wheelhouse, but she's got to try. If for no other reason than to keep Katsuya from feeling guilty again.

[betarade_spill]

Perhaps a little more darkly than usual, he says, "Those beasts which strayed not into this realm were the luckiest of all."

[brave_heart_verity]

"Uh. Yes. That's true." Definitely Asgardian. As in, scary.

[betarade_spill]

"Unscathed, wert thee?" Yoda approves of this sentence.

[brave_heart_verity]

Yoda and Bill would get along so well.

"Yes, I.. just helped get people organized and away from the fighting. I never really saw what was happening most of the time."

[betarade_spill]

"Ah, well done." Because if you can't beat them, it's totally understandable to run like a scalded dog. Looking out for others instead was admirable.

"A haphazard retreat can cost life and limb."

[brave_heart_verity]

She's still not used to being praised for that kind of thing, so it's a delight and a surprise.

"Thank you. I'm guessing you were the light show I saw?" It's hard to miss that kind of thing, even from a distance.

[betarade_spill]

"Hmmmm," he thinks back. Demon invasion, in the Nexus. Recent. Okay, that's right, giant centipede thing.

"Aye, I did strike the critter-beast with mine best thunderbolt." Honey, you'll never guess what happened to me at work, today.

"Such a fickle thing, lightning. Here be the most bizarre I hath ever commanded."

[brave_heart_verity]

"Really? The lightning here is different than in other places?" She thought electricity was electricity. Who knew?

[betarade_spill]

"...wouldst thou care to feel the lightning that dwells in this enclave realm-betwixt-realms?"

He held out his hammer to her, upside down, so that the grip was facing her. It hummed with magical energy.

[brave_heart_verity]

"Oh. I. Um. I wouldn't be worthy." She has no illusions about who she is, and what she isn't. She never has.

[betarade_spill]

Made for two mitts larger than a human's, there's room aplenty on Stormbreaker's outstretched handle.

"Worthy enough for a peck, by my tally."

Nobody is promised tomorrow. Bill won't force her into anything, but his white eyes seem to say, 'you may regret it if you don't.'

[brave_heart_verity]

There's a moment's hesitation before she reaches out to just barely touch her fingers to the handle. She's not sure what these hammers do, exactly, when the unworthy touch them and she's frankly scared to find out. Sure, Loki can tug and tug on Mjolnir without getting electrocuted, but she's only mortal.

[betarade_spill]

The winds, the clouds, the currents of magnetic electricity surging between the flowing magma beneath the ground and the swirling ocean of the atmosphere above. Like lovers forever barred from each other, stealing a kiss only when the conditions are most favorable, Bill can feel it all through his hammer. And for this moment, so can Verity.

The energy fills one's body like a neon balloon, somehow making it feel as though one were some statue, not truly living until this moment. And like an echo, there is the memory not too distant of how lightning should feel. A fickle beast, seeking to find its own way, like a mostly homogeneous herd of wild horses only loosely aligned. But the echo betrays the Nexus' unique energy, where centaurs and unicorns, Clydesdales and Arabians all struggle for dominance, corralled by only the most skillful of wranglers.

Bill flexes the control he is so blessed with. The control beyond the power and command of the elements; there is his innate will and finesse as master over them. Like angels, sparks of Nexus lightning begin to dance around the two touching Stormbreaker. They are easily seen, but there is so much more than what can be seen, vision truly becomes a hindrance. Even Bill is only meant and able to sense but so much at once.

"Close thy eyes, Verity Willis."

A truly beautiful description, well done!

[brave_heart_verity]

"Oh." It's such a tiny word to hold so much meaning. She had no idea. She's not much given to poetry, but this is beauty. This is the sort of thing people die for and she finally understands why. Her life has always been so small, and even after she was taken out of the box she'd made for herself she hadn't dared to let much in, or out. What a waste.

The dance of lights around them is mesmerizing. How can he expect her to look away? But she does, eventually, close her eyes. The lights will be dancing in her vision no matter how tightly shut against it.

aw shucks ma'am 'twern't nuthin'

[betarade_spill]

Like water, the lightning can rush and crash with force and anger. But it can burble and wash with warmth, as well. Thor's oath-brother closes his keen eyes as well, stepping into the darkness with sensation, and leads Verity on a journey of perception. They are the lightning. The unrestrained static dancing around them crackles with a life all its own, and he whispers to it sweetly. Sweetness begets sweetness, even here in the Nexus; all but the lightest of a charge, ebbs away.

In the body of the temperamental electricity, they flutter ever closer, ever closer to their own skin. Bill becomes the finest calligrapher, writing on tissue so delicate. He mustn't carve through the paper, but the lettering must be flawless. Now, just a hint of a tingle. It is shy, at first, but quickly becomes curious with the bodies of flesh. Like a wave, the tingle quickly washes over them. Two islands magically meet on the sea, as the atmosphere delicately exchanges its curious banter with the nerve endings in their bodies, and they are on both sides of the conversation.

The excitement crescendos all the way up to a sizzle, just a touch of fire to the skin before Bill pulls it away by the nape of the neck. Away it zooms, commanded by its master, held so gently and yet so firmly. We are so fast! Is this how light feels to traverse such distance so quickly? Out over the ocean now, some long-forgotten beach in some unused corner of the Nexus. His fingers still hold the static like a mother cat holding her struggling kitten, but the sensation changes.

"Thou canst sense it, hm?"

His fingers loosen so slowly on the rallying lightning, until only Verity's are holding it.

False modesty is not a virtue, dear.

[brave_heart_verity]

It's a bit of a struggle for her, letting go and becoming something else. Anything else. The curse has held her down for so long, and even lightning can't move a mountain all at once. She almost backs away--almost. But she's done running away from things she doesn't understand.

It's more than worth the effort. Everything is alive and beautiful and dancing and she's part of it too. Feeling so much power around her, in her, is overwhelming.

"I do. It's beautiful."

And then he's trusting her to hold it. It's too much, she doesn't know what to do. But he wouldn't trust her with it if he didn't think she could handle it. Deep breaths and calm thoughts. They're going to be okay.

[betarade_spill]

"Abide with it...stay upon it..."

The electrons may not respond exactly as she wishes, but she commands them nevertheless. They are skittish, and stubborn, and so easily distracted. But Bill hadn't chosen this little unknown cove for no reason; there was no one around to be harmed, and the dark clouds were brimming with pent up power. For a first timer, it is often like trying to paint a porcelain figurine with a fire hose. But even that is a beginning, and Bill is right there with her, his patient focus an encouragement to Verity that there is no such thing as a mistake.

[brave_heart_verity]

People like Verity shouldn't be given so much power all at once: she's angry and she's inexperienced, a dangerous combination. It's a good thing Bill's there to protect her from herself. But what she isn't is violent. She has no desire to really hurt anything. She wants to make the sparkles dance, not make the rocks explode.

Not that she's likely to manage either, with her lack of practice. But she can try.

"How...?"

[betarade_spill]

The birthright of another, in truth a part of Odin's son's very being, is not easily harnessed by another. Perhaps it is like being a baby, at first, unaware that the little hands one keeps seeing in your visual field, belong to you. Their minds mystically linked by this enchanted hammer, the power flowing from some place beyond understanding, Bill does not take command of the elements for her. An artist, his student's hand holding a paintbrush on a canvas: instead, he places his mind's hand on hers, and moves it ever so gently. It's right there for her.

In the world, far away, the clouds stir. A faint jolt jumps between them, coaxed by Verity's command.

[brave_heart_verity]

There's a lot of pressure. Not just the emotional pressure of wanting to do well and not wanting to lose control, but the physical pressure of the storm starting to bear down on her, the pressure of the power wanting to be released to do something. Anything. The horses chomping at the bit can feel her nervousness through the reins. The waiting is agony.

And the beach, a good clean stretch of sand, is a good place to run. Maybe if she lets some of the pressure off, she'll be able to focus on what she wants.