EVENT LOG: A FRIEND IN NEED ( ALFHEIM )

[asgardmods]

Who: Everyone going to Alfheim
What: The mingle log for A Friend In Need
When: Days 387-390 ( Jan. 12-19 )
Where: Asgard, Alfheim, and the train ride inbetween
Rating: PG-13. Anything higher than that should be taken to a private log, please!

Day 387 ( Jan. 12/13 )

Before boarding the train around dawn, the leaders of the separate groups should run checks on everyone that's signed up. Natives will help dish out a simple weapon to those without their own that want one, medical supplies to the healers and a simple kit for everyone else, and a simple mask with strict instructions to put them on as soon as the kingdom is within sight. After everyone is geared up and boarded, Odin's spies will set out on horseback first, masks already in place, to clear the path ahead. This gives you a five hour train ride to go over strategies and coordinate with your fellow Travellers and the Asgard natives that have joined the ranks.

As the train crosses the halfway mark between Asgard and Alfheim, the dark black clouds of smoke and ash will sprawl across the horizon and thicken the air, prompting early placement of the gas masks as a precautionary measure. It's a short trip from there, and once the train has stopped, it's time to get to work. The homes and buildings of Alfheim will be in varying states of disarray and ruin, some still burning as the inhabitants and neighbours struggle to douse the flames. Others will be smouldering, successfully saved or otherwise left to burn itself out in the days since the initial attack. There will still be Fire Giants sparsely wreaking havoc amongst the living quarters, but the vast majority of the fighting will have been drawn into the treeline by the Elves to give room for relief efforts and any evacuation attempts. Homes and larger buildings still largely intact will have been turned into temporary hospital rooms or safe houses for the young and incapable of fighting, with the injured laid out anywhere there is room; the dead will be wrapped in sodden sheets in the alleys between buildings until they can be properly buried - if ever they should find the opportunity.

This leaves the Travellers to split up and jump head first into their tasks. The Elves will be pleasantly surprised and immensely grateful for the arrival of aid, but they will not spare much time to gratitude when the battle wages and every second counts. Those fighting will immediately accept the Travellers into their defence, and from there, they will begin to push back against the Giants' forces. At this point, it will be largely defensive combat, an attempt to keep the Giants from moving further into the kingdom and setting more to flames. Surt himself will be present in this, and a vast majority of those that try to stand against him will be met with a heavy hand. Move carefully, Travellers, for there is still fight left in these desperate Giants.

Day 388/389 ( Jan. 14-17 )

By early morning, just as the Sun is beginning to rise, the Travellers will receive some support from their patron deities back in Asgard. For the next two days, they will have their House Powers to give them that extra edge on the battlefield. Another surprise will arrive as well, as the trees themselves seem to move through the battlefield to push back the Giants. The Treepeople will have arrived, many of whom direct their efforts towards the support group to help control the flames while others exact their grief and anger on the enemy forces that still linger around. These beings are the oldest in Yggdrasil, second only to the immortals, and strongly resemble their respective forests, but they are strong and firmly rooted in the Mother's survival.

They will fight alongside the Travellers until they are cut down or the battle is won, which it seems it will be when the flames begin to significantly dwindle nearing sunrise on Day 389. From that point onward, those fighting for Alfheim will rise to the offence and the Giants will begin to fall back as their numbers lessen and their advantage wanes. They will begin fleeing the kingdom, leaving Surt with only his loyalists at his side - and against the might of the Travellers and the Elves emboldened by their allies' support, they few will not be enough to claim the entire kingdom.

Day 390 ( Jan. 18-19 )

The Travellers' House Powers will fade before sunrise, but between the combined strengths of them, the Elves, and the Treepeople, they will still quickly overpower Surt's remaining forces and send them scurrying back to their ruined kingdom of Muspellheim. Surt will leave weary and more furious than ever at his failure, but he knows too that to stand alone would be his downfall. The battle is won, but the damage has been great and there is little time for celebration. The Travellers will be given the most sincere gratitude from the people of Alfheim, and sent back home with packs of food and supplies to patch themselves up before they arrive back in Asgard as the loyal and true allies to Yggdrasil and her children.

[ OOC NOTES: This is the mingle log for the A Friend In Need plot event! Team sign-ups are over here and it is never too late to join, thought the leadership positions have already been chosen. To plot out a thread with Surt, please comment here. Let us know if you have any questions or concerns! ]

Comments

[teenyoda]

"Who, Jade's boyfriend? Yeah, I've met him. In person during that stupid ball thing where I wound up looking like some campy Robin Hood. In tights."

[livedtwice]

"So he spent the entire time making fun of you for it, right?" That's a guess, anyway. That's what Harry would expect from Malfoy. It's how he behaved around Hogwarts.

[teenyoda]

"Actually, no. We talked a bit about Jade and I gave him some lady tips. He got a little pissed that he thought he needed them and left." There'd been a suggestion to leave and change, but he didn't have anything to change into, so...

[livedtwice]

"He needed advice?" Harry's surprised. "He likes to pretend he knows everything, so I'm not surprised he didn't take it." After all, he's surprised Malfoy made it clear he needed it in the first place.

[teenyoda]

"He might have. I don't know. Not really in to sticking my nose in the romantic relationships of acquaintances." Best friends, yes, he'd ram his nose in there, but Draco wasn't really... yeah. No.

[livedtwice]

"Except where you did," he points out. If Malfoy was dating anyone else, Harry would ask more questions. Since he's not, he doesn't. He likes Jade, so their problems can remain their business. Malfoy's reaction is more what he's interested in ... at least to make fun of it.

[teenyoda]

"Hey, he started whining about Jade and I offered advice. I wouldn't have if he hadn't mentioned it." That was not nose sticking in. That was... conversation?

[livedtwice]

"Well, at least you've heard him whine." Harry's glad someone's aware that he's capable of it.

[teenyoda]

"Let me guess, you and he don't get along all that well?" It was less a question and more a statement of fact.

[livedtwice]

"That's right. I'm not surprised he didn't take your advice because I know him ... a little too well." Though the truth is that Harry knows he doesn't know Malfoy very well at all. But the part of Malfoy that's too stubborn to take advice when offered is one he is familiar with.

[teenyoda]

"God, there's not some sort of Montague and Capulet thing going on between you, is there? Or Hatfields and McCoys?" Last thing he needed was to be pulled into some feud he had no actual part in.

[livedtwice]

"He was an idiot in school and thought he was entitled to being my friend because he was rich." That was ... simplifying it by a very great deal. "Only he was terrible and insulted everyone that I did want to be friends with. And he never stopped."

[teenyoda]

"Oh. Great. So he was Jackson." Consider that the biggest insult he could give someone, Harry. God, he hated Jackson.

[livedtwice]

"What was Jackson like?" Harry's never heard that name before, but he feels like he's seen it since coming here. Seeing it and knowing it are two different things.

[teenyoda]

"A dick. Rich, entitled, massive ego and a total narcissist. Screwed everyone over and was a smug jackass about the whole thing." Yeah, there's a line of disapproval etched on Stiles' face as he talks.

[livedtwice]

There's a pause where he processes that. Malfoy is ... potentially all of these things, but he changes. He lowers his head slightly. "Did he ever change?" Harry knows it's a weird question after all that.

[teenyoda]

"Not from what I've seen. He got worse after he got what he wanted." So, so much worse. Freaking... Stiles mutters a little to himself after that. God, he hated Jackson.

But, to be fair, Jackson asked for it. He kept putting his dad down and Stiles was a million times not cool with that.

[livedtwice]

"I'm sorry, then. I can say that Malfoy has ... grown up, at least. Between the war back home and the one here. He's still infuriating, but different. Changed." In many ways, he's changed. Harry knows he's singing a different song, but this Jackson guy seems much worse.

[teenyoda]

"No skin off my nose. He's not here anymore, so that makes it easier to ignore him. Trust me, Draco doesn't rub me quite the same way Jackson does. Rich and entitled, yeah, but..." He shrugged. Maybe it was just him and Jackson, but he hadn't met that many people that met the guy and actually liked him, other than Danny and Lydia, and even they were familiar with his many, many flaws.

[livedtwice]

"Like I said," Harry says, "he's changed." But not overly much. The fact of the matter is that Malfoy can be defended as someone who's changed, but that's after a long time here in Asgard. Harry knows that Malfoy's friends have generally not tolerated his behavior, so that's helped. Maybe the same can happen for this Jackson, too. Maybe.

[teenyoda]

Stiles doubted it. He doubted it so hard. Look at his doubting face, Harry. "Yeah, well, good for him. We have enough crap to deal with here without adding spoiled rich little assholes to it as well."

[livedtwice]

"Let's just count ourselves lucky that we came after he ... reformed," he says, the last word coming after a searching pause.

[teenyoda]

"Why? How bad was he before that?" Was he Jackson bad? Don't tell him he was Jackson bad.

[livedtwice]

"He once picked a fight with a giant bird that appreciates mannerly people and then blamed the bird for it. Tried to have the bird killed and the professor sacked who taught the class." Harry feels like that's a standard example. "Oh, and he threw around ... remarks about people who weren't born of magical lineage a lot. That's a thing where we come from. And he regularly insulted my best friend's dad."

[teenyoda]

"Oh did he?" He might have to have a chat with Draco about that. Insulting dads was a sore subject with Stiles and it reminded him all too much of Jackson. "You guys have a lot of giant birds?"