(Evie's Dream)
Your dreams tend to be mundane things, a sorting-out of the day's events, or an occasional wistful memory. Rarely are they things of insight or vision.
Perhaps fueled by the sight of the Keep, or whatever people are calling it, your thoughts wander to the sheer walls of the massive fortress and its surrounding no-man's land of icy fields and the deep ravine to which you'd returned after your journey to Hel's domain.
The sky of Asgard. Or perhaps even a slice of the realm, merged somehow with the mortal world. There's a tug at your heartstrings, a part of you that recognizes home, even if you've never been there, and are technically a child of Earth.
And in a moment that has to be a dream, you feel yourself taking wing, not in the manner of a ship tossed by wind and wave, but travel of a more purposeful sort. You know where you are going; you just don't know the how and why of it ... yet.
Still, your arms flail for a purchase that isn't there, and you land rather unceremoniously, albeit in one piece.
Someone chuckles.
"Ho, there, now, Heimdallsdottir. Baby steps. Can't just go battering down the doors of the Nine Worlds," someone says, helping you to your feet.
The man seems oddly familiar, as if you've seen him before. But enough is so unfamiliar as to set the mind on end that you have trouble finding his name, when it should be obvious in the way that water is wet.
"Hmph, yes, well that's to be expected. You certainly shouldn't be able to do that, and I wouldn't recommend you try it without a way of knowing where you are in the first place," he says.
Wait. You remember him from Sanctuary, the man in the cloak who helped unload the car.
"Where am I? Who are you?" you ask, somewhat reflexively.
"You're not quite anywhere, Evie Cartwright," he tells you. "And you can call me All-Father."
"All-Father," Evie murmurs the name softly, rolling it around in her head. It's so frustrating! She knows that she knows who this is. It's right there! But, it flits along the edges of her thoughts, like a butterfly that brushes the tips of her fingers as she tries to grasp it.
Despite that, she gets the feeling that she likes All-Father. He seems...powerful and old, like a grandfather who hasn't let time wear him down, a wizened bear of a man. The corners of her mouth turn up at that, a comforting thought, Grandfather...
She tries to turn in a circle and look around, but she finds this place disorienting. No matter how much she wants to look, she decides that it is probably best to just focus on All-Father, lest she lose her dream-lunch.
"Okay, so...why am I here?" she asks. A bevy of other questions flit through her mind, all circling around Fimbulwinter and how to stop it. But, that is the one that she actually voices. Well, for now, at least.
Baby steps, Heimdallsdottir.
Now that the All-Father is there with a steadying hand, your mind seems to be making sense of the chaotic whirl of colors. It's like a time-lapse image of a freeway, or even of the Vegas Strip - light and motion all blurring together, only so rapid that the light is separating as if passing through a prism.
"I'm on Bifrost," you say. Even though the term isn't entirely familiar to you, you are instantly confident in your assessment. You are standing on the fabled Rainbow Bridge between Asgard and Midgard - Earth. Where Heimdall stands watch.
"Others have done as you have, not all of them Aesir," the All-Father tells you. "The mind is more powerful than mortals care to admit. A tool, yes, but also a weapon. They are dismissed as dreamers and madmen."
"There is a reason your father, Heimdall, stands watch from this vantage," he says. "Unless barred by magic or the artifice of other gods, from here, you can see everything."
He spreads his hands to take in the vista beneath you, then brushes the hair back from your eyes. "You were so tired that the anchors that hold you in place weren't set. It's time to go back, Evie. But I will give you a gift to make sure this doesn't happen again until you are ready ..."
You wake. Not with a start, but a comfortable, languorous stretch. And, despite being in an unfamiliar bed, a corner of your mind knows exactly where you are.
And it isn't in the sense of 'in a penthouse at the Westview Grand,' but exactly where you are. You can't think of a coordinate system that doesn't immediately resolve into precise values. Altitude. Longitude. Latitude.
The only discomfort is from your key ring pressing into your hip. As you reach into your pocket to reposition them, your fingers brush against an unfamiliar shape.
Taking your keys out, you see the shape is a keyfob you don't remember having, an oak leaf made of burnished silver. And that is when the All-Father's name returns to your lips. Odin. The Wanderer, whose symbols include the oak leaf. Smiling, you return your keys to your pocket.
"Dang it, Odin!" she mumbles, her tone light and a smile on her lips. "Sent me back before I got to ask any real questions. Not fair!"
He probably did that on purpose. 'If I don't send her back now, she'll never shut up! she thinks with a chuckle.
For a few quiet moments, she lays there and considers going back to sleep. While this has been a lovely nap, her body still craves more. However, she figures she had best check in, first, just to make sure everything is still running smoothly.
She throws her legs over the edge of the bed and stands, stretching again. As she makes her way over to the colonel to check on him, she digs around in her pocket for her phone.
"What are you doing up?" asks Klepto. "Colonel Kissy-Face is still sacking z's."
Evie flops down into a nearby chair and grins, "Colonel Kissy-face? You realize that I'm never going to be able to look at him, again, without thinking about that."
She laughs softly and says, "Ah, well. It can't be any worse than the time Saul nicknamed one of the guys over at the prison Warden Pornstache. Thanks gawds I didn't have to talk to him very often..."
As she settles in, she continues, "I just had a short dream-chat with Odin. I was so tired that I sort of took a trip to the Bifrost because my mind wasn't anchored properly. I guess it's one of my gifts that haven't blossomed yet? I don't know. Being a scion is weird."
"But, when I got back, I found that I...well...I know where I am. Like, exactly where I am. Not just, 'I am in the hotel' but 'this is where I am in relation to everything on earth.'"
She shrugs and says, "Odin sent me back and I woke up. I figured that I would check in with Lya and make sure everything is still okay before I go back to sleep."
"Asgard?" Klepto asks. "I suppose it's more exciting than I make it sound, but I've seen Olympus and Themyscira."
"Lya went downstairs with the Doctor and TJ," Phoebe says. "Toxic and Ori are crashed, over there."
"I'm awake," slurs Orithia. "Gimmesec."
"No, no...I don't think I actually got to Asgard. I was on the Bifrost, the bridge between Asgard and Earth. Though, I'd really love to see Asgard someday," she smiles. "I'm sure Olympus and Themyscira are exciting! But, if you've seen them enough...I suppose it's like me living in Vegas all my life. Everyone else is all "Oooh! Vegas!" and to me, it's just home."
She nods, "Everything seems quiet enough. I'll just check in real quick then catch a little more sleep. Wake me up, though, if you get tired. Okay?"
She dials Lya's number.