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Rena's room on the boat is an ecclectic mess. The cot bed has been positioned so that you can't get in without the door bumping into it. Next to it is a ratty tattered sleeping bag that she's actually sleeping in and there's a pile of comic books in one corner. It looks like she's starting a collection. In the opposite corner are a pile of clothes, featuring her three shirts and two pairs of pants.
At the moment, she's crouched down on the floor, reading a trade of Gotham Academy a good bit too close to the page to be healthy and tapping on the floor with a fingernail. She's gotta be healthy and that's hard to do.
Rena can probably notice Eyrgjafa coming even before she knocks on the door, if only due to her Beast. She doesn't open it, though, just waits for Rena to acknowledge her.
There's the sound of a cot being moved quickly, as Rena pops over to the door, opening it up. "Yo. S'up?" Rena throws a quick sloppy salute, "Permission to come aboard granted." She opens the door all the way and reclines on the far wall. "How's Ironheart?"
"Ironheart?" Eyrgjafa blinks - unnecessarily, since she's not Blushed, so this must be deliberate - as she enters, moving to lean on the wall by the door. "I've been good, for the most part. Working on my studies. Yourself?"
"Floretta. It's a comic book thing," Rena half explains, giving a half shrug. "'Been studying too, some. What's the point of living in a nerd house if you don't be a nerd sometimes?" She stretches, her back, a chorus of resounding pops coming from it. "I think I got the first step of the ascendant almost down. But, uh, you know how I know the Voivode? I might need your help with some shit."'
"Oh, okay," Eyrgjafa nods, clearly understanding a little more now. "She's been good." There's a pause as she considers Rena. "What do you need help with? I'm not exactly familiar with the Coil of the Voivode, beyond the broad strokes of what it can accomplish."
"One thing I can do is make little potions that can break blood bonds. But you gotta basically torture yourself to have it work. 'Nd I figure you could do whatever whammy you did to the fire ghost to me to make it sting less," Rena says, forcibly disaffected, like she isn't asking for help and making herself vulnerable.
"I can do that, yeah," Eyrgjafa says slowly. "You do realise that it's not a targeted effect, unlike Dominate, right? It's either active or it's not."
"Shit, might make it hard for Guy then. I invited him 'cause I might need someone to hold me down if I go Frenzy. And Guy is good at holdin' things. But if you can do it so I don't gotta get touched by a guy, that'd be even better, you know?" Rena says in her anxious mile a minute patter.
"I can ask around, see if any women among my contacts have Vigor, if you want?" Eyrgjafa offers. "Otherwise... I might be able to get a mage to craft bonds that can hold one of us, but that's far from a guarantee. And I'm not sure if it's a good idea, either."
"No bonds," Rena says, emphatically, "Stake me if you have to. Just don't chain me up. I'm going to flip my shit gettin' held down anyway, but I don't want it to be worse than it's gotta be. Women'd be better but Guy's dependable. Don't tell Bug, but I trust him a fuckton."
Eyrgjafa shrugs one shoulder. "I wasn't planning on telling them anyway, so that's no hardship." She pauses for a moment, thinking. "How important is vetting whoever I ask to you?"
Rena rubs around the edges of her eyes. "Fuckin'... make sure they aren't like killers or nothin'. Figure everyone already knows I'm the charity case with the bad sire and the blood bond anyway. 'F anything fixin' it myself'll make me look cooler," she says, unconvinced of her own words.
"Does that mean nobody who's ever killed, or only those who avoid it simply to reduce the chances of the Sakima being Very Unhappy with them?" Eyrgjafa asks, seeking clarification. The second part of Rena's response gets a long exhale out of the Daeva, as she moves to sit on the cot bed. "Do you think you're the only member of this Academy to have a prick sire, or to have needed help getting herself sorted out when still new to her Requiem?"
"People who aren't gonna kill me, fuckin' hell. I mean, I don't want anyone who wants to kill, but I'm stuck with a bunch of predators who are all barely keepin' it together, so whatever the fuck works," Rena lets out exasperatedly, "And yeah, and I bet they get the same fuckin' looks of pity. It fuckin' sucks. 'Nd my sire wasn't that bad. He had his high points."
"Yeah? Why don't you tell about some of them?" Eyrgjafa asks, only slightly rhetorically.
Rena gives a somewhat pained look. "You know. He took care of me. Night Doctored all the track marks off of me. Gave me a purpose. Got me off H while he was still around. Mighta kept me from dying in the streets," Rena says, shrugging, "Least I'm around to unlive my unlife now."
"Okay, and you're taking steps to make sure that's one you want, right? There's nothing wrong with needing help doing that," Eyrgjafa points out. "I certainly didn't arrive in Philadelphia planning to settle, much less end up becoming Convenor." She laughs mirthlessly. "It took me crossing an entire ocean and then relocating twice more just to find someone willing to help me work around my Kiss being addictive."
Rena lets out a long, loud, snarling sigh. "Askin' for help fuckin' sucks. Hate admittin' I'm weak. And 'fore you say otherwise, askin' for help means that. Not as weak as fully fuckin' up but it means you can't do somethin' on your own."
Eyrgjafa shrugs one shoulder. "There are plenty of things I can't do by myself. Does that make me weak?"
"Depends on the shit," Rena says, pressing the heel of her palm against the top of her forehead. "Why does shit still hurt even now that I'm a corpse. Shouldn't I not be able to feel at all?"
"Good question. If you ever find out the answer, let me know?"
"I mean, we could make it a fuckin' coil if we figure it out. Coil of the Unbreakable Badass," Rena grins sharply, "Patent pending."
That gets a chuckle out of Eyrgjafa. "Name could probably use work, but that sounds like something to deal with if and when you actually get any results out of it."
"Figure if I'm alive for the next hundred years, maybe I can stumble on the answer," Rena laughs alongside, her laugh loud and raucous like her. After a bit, her face sinks and she asks, "What am I gonna do about Bug when he starts out aging me?"
"There're a variety of options," Eyrgjafa answers, clearly picking her words. "I'm assuming going into torpor or moving to another city so you don't have to actually face it aren't on the table, but that still leaves Embracing them. Just make you clear it with the Sakima first. Best to do it with them, too."
"I mentioned it to them a while ago. They weren't happy. I don't want 'em to have to deal with this neither. No offense, but bein' like this blows. I hate bein' on edge all the time," Rena says stretching out her wrists.
"You get used to it, eventually, if you last long enough," Eyrgjafa says quietly. "That's not the same as it going away, of course. I'm not sure if even draugr manage that, honestly, and I'm not about to get sufficiently close to one to ask it."
"I figured. It's not exactly how I'd choose to spend my millennia, I'll tell you that for free. But hey, I got decades of worryin' about it before it becomes a problem. Might as well procrastinate," Rena says, twisting her leg to pop her knee. "Fuck, dude, I hate thinkin' about the future."
"I suspected that'd be your reaction, somehow," Eyrgjafa says, a wry note in her voice. "Do you have any particular plans for how to actually fill those decades?"
"Before all this? I didn't plan for two seconds in the future, figured I could have died anywhere any time. And now I have all the time in the fucking world," Rena chuckles darkly, "Figure I'll just go be the same trash human I always am. Breakin' shit and helping people."
"Just be careful about which shit you break, yeah?"
"Mostly just bigots get broke," Rena says, grinning smugly. She pops her knuckles.
"Oh, well, that I'm never going to complain about," Eyrgjafa grins back at Rena.
"I'm about to tell you something that I need you to promise to not tell anyone else. Under penalty of double death," Rena says, smile still on her face.
"Oh yeah? What is it?"
"I feel kinda bad for how pissy I've been at you in the past. You're a good person, even when we fight. I'm sorry for, you know, bein' a bitch some times," Rena says, quieter than her usual voice.
Eyrgjafa blinks once, clearly not having been expecting that. "Okay. I'm good with leaving all of that in the past if you are?" There's an abortive gesture like she'd been about to give Rena a hug but thought better of it.
Rena holds out a fist for a bump. "Hell yes. Let's pretend none of that happened. Now we just have to not fuck this up and maybe I might even ask you for some help, Ms. Convenor."
"That is my job title, not part of my name, you do realise," Eyrgjafa deadpans, even as she taps her fist against Rena's gently.
"I don't think I know your actual last name," Rena shrugs, giving a solid fistbump. "Sides, lotta the people I know don't love their last name. If you called me Miss Harlow, there'd be issues."
Eyrgjafa shrugs one shoulder. "Iceland never really adopted family names the way the continent did, so." Beat. "Technically I was born Elsa Ólafursdóttir, but that woman died a long time before you were even born. I am just Eyrgjafa Freyjasdóttir, now."
"Damn. That's a metal way to say that. You already know who I am and what my deal is," Rena says, putting her face into a resting grin, "But the less of my last name we dwell on the better."
Eyrgjafa wrinkles her nose slightly. "I have never really understood why people would mistreat family. Bare is the back of the sisterless woman, to somewhat misquote the sagas."
"People do it because you can just have kids. My folks wanted a kid to add to their look. They didn't give a shit about raisin' one right. But like I said," Rena says, forcefully, "we're not going to dwell on it."
"All right, then," Eyrgjafa says, shrugging slightly. "Have you done anything with Phaedra recently?"
Rena groans. "Tried! Shit's gone all kinds of wrong. I got pissed at her for draggin' me constantly and then when Bug and I were hangin' out with her and Guy, she kept givin' me looks and not saying anythin' and then got mad at me when I asked her to just fuckin' say something. Fuck."
"Okay. Do you mind if I ask what exactly you said when you asked her that?"
"I don't remember! I say a lot of dumb shit. If I could remember everything I ever said, I'd be smarter than Finley! I just told her to knock it off," Rena says, gesticulating. "Fuck me. You know how she gets!"
Eyrgjafa shrugs again. "I mean, yes, but in my experience she doesn't do that for no reason."
"She does it when sh thinks she has a read on someone. And she doesn't do the normal shit of keeping that to yourself. She has to make sure the person she's reading knows it too. And, I mean, she's right, she keeps getting my shit right but that doesn't make it less annoying. Christ." Rena lets out a deep sigh.
"Did you tell her that before you lost your temper at her?"
"Yes! I asked her to stop like right before we kissed!" Beat. "I really hope you knew that part already and this wasn't just an accidental own-goal."
Eyrgjafa just puts on her best secretive-old-woman smile.
"Wow, cool, I'm the dumbest motherfucker on the planet. Ugh," Rena says, sliding down the wall she was leaning on, till she hits a half sit half crouch on the floor. "Don't tell Phaedra. She'd probably be pissed that I told you."
"So are you planning to try and make up with her, then?" Eyrgjafa asks, leaning forward slightly from where she sits on the cot.
"I don't know. I wanna join Guy's gang, but... it fuckin' hurts when Phaedra roots around like that. I don't need to be reminded of my flaws. I know what they are," Rena rubs at her eyes. "Fuck me."
Eyrgjafa considers Rena for a long moment, then. "Do you want me to talk to her about leaving you alone in that regard? It might be something she takes more seriously coming from someone like me than a relative peer of hers."
"I don't need someone to fight for me," Rena grumbles. "I've told her to knock it off and if she doesn't, then I gotta make my point known the old fashioned way." She throws a punch into her hand.
"And you don't think resorting to that might make matters worse?" Eyrgjafa enquires, carefully keeping her voice calm.
"The fuck else am I gonna do? Have you come in and show to everyone that I'm a pussy? Pussies are for eating not being," Rena responds, her voice louder than it probably ought to be. "You gotta set your boundaries firm and retaliate if people cross 'em. Or else people don't learn."
"Nobody else needs to know, but okay," Eyrgjafa shrugs one shoulder. "If you want to solve your own problems by yourself, that's fine by me. Just don't expect me not to say 'I told you so' if it blows up in your face."
"Rather fuck it up for myself then get fucked by someone," Rena says, tightening her legs against her torso.
Eyrgjafa opens her mouth briefly, pauses, and then shuts it again, as if she'd thought better of whatever it was she'd been going to say
"No, no, spit it out. You don't get to do that. If you got an insult for me, I get to hear it. Don't just think it," Rena says, temper flaring.
"Oh, no, no insult. Just that getting fucked can be rather fun, sometimes."
"Oh. Yeah. 'F I ever find the right person, yadda yadda," Rena says, trying her absolute hardest to not imagine Floretta and Eyrgjafa boning. It isn't quite hard enough. She rubs her eyes and grumbles. "Fuck."
"Hey, you asked," Eyrgjafa points out.
"Nah, nah, the fuck is unrelated. Just fuckin' frustrated. I thought Phaedra and I really coulda been a thing. And now I'm dreading havin' to talk to her at all." Rena groans.
"Okay. Is there anything I can do to make that easier for you?"
"Not everything's something that needs your touch. Sometimes a gal just wants to complain," Rena says, uncoiling her long legs. "You need anything from me? Feel like I owe you for all this."
"I mean, complaining about needing to do something can be a thing that actually makes it easier to do, but okay. It's your call," Eyrgjafa shrugs one shoulder, falling silent at Rena's question. "Let me get back to you on that one?"
"Absolutely. You've got one Rena IOU," Rena says, miming handing over a piece of paper. "Tell me shit in reason and I'll do it for you. Commensurate to this, I mean."
"No asking you to assassinate my sire for me, got it," Eyrgjafa says drily.
Rena laughs, a loud boisterous affair. "Probably more of a job to run through Guy anyway," she says when the laughter abates.
"Plus I'd rather keep him around long enough to turn his knuckle bones into runes, honestly," Eyrgjafa admits with a grin. "And then make the blood eagle of him, because fuck that guy."
Rena looks decidedly uncomfortable at that. "Yeah, fuck him," she says, with false enthusiasm.
Eyrgjafa considers Rena for a long moment before speaking again. "So, anything else new in your life that you want to tell me about?"
"Nah, everythin' has been pretty boring. Quit vitae and heroin. Tryin' to stay clean. It's hard. Readin' comics. Thinkin' about makin' a little comic library here. So people can read the classics," Rena says, pointing at the tottering stack of books.
Eyrgjafa looks where Rena's pointing. "Would you like a shelf for those? Not a full bookcase, like you might find in a house or a library, but something that can be mounted on a wall."
"If it's free, yeah. No need to spend money on it, you know?" Rena says, trying to find a good spot to mount things.
"Free to me or free to you?"
"You. I don't want to owe you nothin'."
"Okay. That might take a while longer than just going to Ikea or the like, but it's your call."
"I don't like owing people." Rena says, simple and firm.
Eyrgjafa shrugs one shoulder. "Like I said, it's your call."
"And I ain't bitin'," Rena says, standing up and twisting her back till it pops. "You got anythin' else that needs doin' or am I good to go back to readin'?"
"No, I think that's everything, at least for now," Eyrgjafa replies, standing in turn. "Enjoy your reading, Rena."
"Will do, will do." Rena throws a thumbs up. "You aren't going to tell anyone any of this, are you?"
"Not unless I need to explain why I need someone who knows Vigor, and then only the parts relevant to it, don't worry."
"Thanks. Have a good day, alright?"
"You too." And with that, she departs.
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