Memory and Music

Reginmundr was, at first, completely opposed to the idea of removing his beard. It tied him to his past life, as it was the accepted culture to have the biggest beard possible. He soon, however, realized that a connection to his past may not be the best idea if he wanted to ever wed, and the girls in this car seemed to be worthy wife material. He had just opened his mouth to say that he would except trimming it down to a more modest length when Charlie said something about a beard scratching a girl's face during a kiss. That seemed to change his mind almost entirely, and he figured he could let his beard go. He would still have the Gods and Hugunn and Muninn, and his fighting style came from the olden days anyway. He allowed there to be a lapse of time before finally saying, "Alright. I can accept shaving my beard off."

"Are you sure?" Lena spoke, looking to him in the rearview mirror as she pulled into a parking space, cutting off the engine and pressing a button so that the roof unfolded and repositioned itself over the car, locking into place with a click. She turned off the radio, unlocking the doors and stepping out. She waited for the others to emerge before she began walking purposefully toward the barber shop, which happened to be the corner shop on this end of the relatively large mall. 

"Okay. Let's go get your hair cut first, and then we can handle the rest." Lena held the door open for the other two, allowing them to enter before entering the mom and pop barber shop herself. A guy, maybe twenty-two greeted them, and besides an older man sweeping up behind him it seemed that the store was vacant on this weekday morning. 

"Hi, we're looking to get my friend cleaned up," she said, looking to Reggie, who looked so out of place in the 50's style atmosphere. "What should he do to his hair?" she asked, turning to Charlie this time. She glanced at the styles on the wall. Some of them looked too modern for Reggie, whereas other were more traditional and might suit him better. The young, blonde barber was attractive, and it looked like he'd know what to do with Reggie's hair, even though it would definitely be a project. He raised his eyebrows amusedly as he watched the group.

(I am powerplaying the haircut just a little bit xD)

Lena nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that looks good. Something like this," she commanded, pointing the image out to the barber. He nodded, setting off to work, and Lena gestured for Charlie to come sit down with her in the waiting area. Once seated, she pulled out Charlie's journal, copying things meticulously as they waited and making small talk. It wasn't long before the barber called them back over to see Reggie's new haircut, and Lena almost didn't recognize him.

The beard was gone, and much of his hair had been sheared off. It was shorter on the sides but it grew longer toward the top; it looked long enough for someone to run their fingers through. The barber had gelled it back a bit so he looked handsome and sophisticated but not gay or formal. She wouldn't admit it, but Reggie looked good. The barber's cape around his neck hid his strange clothing, and with the hair out of his face you could see his foreign, angular facial features and his bright blue eyes. Lena averted her eyes, looking to Charlie. "What do you think?" she asked, a lilt in her voice. She knew that her friend would agree with her.

Lena nodded, suppressing a laugh at Charlie's expression. "Better? I think that's an understatement," she spoke, a smug grin on her face as she shut the journal- which she'd finished transcribing- and shut it in her bag to return to Charlie later. 

"Clothing is next," she replied to Reggie before walking out of the door with a purpose, making her way to the nearest Macy's. Her mom wouldn't raise any eyebrows when she saw a Macy's credit on her monthly bill, and either way, she would pay her back once she got the chance. They headed to the men's section, and Lena spotted a bunch of essentials on sale. In no time, she was practically throwing things in Charlie and Reggie's direction.

Lena had finally gathered a sufficient amount of clothing for Reggie to try on, and she laughed at his confusion. "A changing or a fitting room is a place where you change into- or put on- the clothing to see if it fits. Don't worry, the only thing that will be changed is you're appearance, and you can choose what to change into."

She shot a look at Charlie, trying and failing to control her amusement. She led them over to the nearest fitting room, taking a seat on one of the chairs in front of a mirror and gesturing for Charlie to sit beside her. "This should be interesting," she spoke softly. She was starting to feel tired already, which was unusual, but she attributed that to her anemia. She probably should have eaten more of her breakfast, or at least brought a bottle of water with her. She would have to find something soon. 

"He looks good, doesn't he?" she spoke in a hushed tone, raising an eyebrow at Charlie and grinning. It was kind of amusing the way her friend was trying not to look at him.
 
(lena is totally the persistent leader of the bunch)

Reggie walked into the changing room and looked about him. There was a mirror on one wall, and a little bench opposite it. On the wall between were many hooks which he supposed were for hanging discarded clothes on. Opposite that wall was the door. He took off all of the clothes he was wearing, simply setting them all on the floor for the time being. He searched through the stack of new clothing and found what seemed to likely be undergarments, and slid them on. There was a weird pocket, and he wondered what it was for. Not knowing which way it went, this little pocket ended up on his posterior end. 

After undergarments he looked for pants. He found it odd that some of these only covered half of his legs, but assumed this was for the warmer climates that led to hotter summers. Right now, many people seemed to be trying to expose their calves, so Reggie figured he should do the same. He didn't know what pattern was best for leggings, so he simply chose the first ones that fit, paying little to no mind to the colouring. Following the thinking of the leggings, the tunic he chose also had shorter sleeves, ones that went just past his bicep. When he moved his arm, the bump of his muscle protruded from the shirt. Reggie found this very odd. 

Now that he appeared to be all dressed, Reggie walked out of the dressing room. He stood in front of the two girls, watching their faces to determine their reactions. After a second or two, he asked, "Is the hole in the undergarments supposed to be in the front or in the back?"

(evi I am dying of laughter oh my god I love you)

Catalna tried so very hard to suppress her laughter when Reggie walked out of the dressing room and stood in the three-way mirror, but she was so very unsuccessful, and soon enough she was cracking up. The boy stood there with shorts on over a pair of jeans and a very confused look on his face; he watched them and searched for approval, but he also seemed confused by the short-sleeved shirt he was wearing, gaping at his muscle as it it jutted from the sleeve. Lena had know he was strong, but- wow. 

"Is the hole in the undergarments supposed to be in the front or in the back?"


He spoke and she had to stop herself from laughing again, her cheeks flushing in slight embarrassment at having to explain this to him. She wanted to see Charlie's reaction, but she knew that if she did she would be done for, and so she suppressed a smile and attempted to explain to him. 

"The hole part is supposed to go in the front; men use it when they need to- uh, urinate," she spoke, her cheeks flushing. She didn't want to ask him where he had positioned the hole currently. "But also, you don't have to wear jeans under your shorts; you just choose one or the other. And your shirt is on backwards, but that's definitely not your biggest concern." She looked him over, still impressed by how the makeover had turned out. She couldn't believe the chiseled jawline that'd been hiding beneath his beard and the gorgeous blue eyes that shone through now that his hair was cut, out of his face. She blushed, realizing what she was doing before getting up and calling a salesperson. 

"Here, he'll help you," she spoke, pointing the two to a fitting room and watching amusedly at the expression on the salesman's face. It was only then that she let herself look at Charlie.

Reggie could almost feel the girls' eyes glancing over his body, and wasn't sure whether he should be proud or scared. He didn't want there to be some kind of competition between the two of them, unless they decided to both be his wives. He was obviously the alpha male in this store. The man that Lena had beckoned over was a stick-ish looking fellow who seemed fragile enough for Reggie to be able to break his femur. Reggie glanced down at his arm, and noticed that he had no tattoo there. That meant, at the moment, he couldn't call upon any bestial attributes. Not that he'd need any for this thing...

Reggie sighed and started walking towards the dressing room, wondering why the stick boy was walking with him. Lena had said he'd help him, but most men did not enjoy the company of other naked men. Reggie was among this group. However, not knowing if this was typical American behavior, he let the man follow him into the changing room. This, Reggie later reflected, was a terrible mistake.
-----
Francisco was shocked at the build of this costumer. He was tall, muscular, and drop-dead gorgeous. His fashion sense was atrocious, but that was something Francisco could take care of. Heck, that whole body as something he would love to take care of. He walked back into the changing room with the big hunk, fully aware of the fact that he was breaching all kinds of rules by doing so. He wished his phone hadn't died not five minutes ago, because sneaking pictures of this delicious piece of meat would be positively amazing. Of course, he needed to govern his feelings. He didn't like sex rehab the first time, and was not prepared to go back. 
-----
Reggie started taking off his clothes, and simply took them all off. He turned the undergarments around, and turned to the man standing with him. The tag on his shirt said "Francisco." What an odd name; one that Reggie wasn't even going to bothering trying to pronounce. Instead, he gestured towards the stacks of clothes, and asked, "So, which of these should I wear?" 
-----
Francisco was dying a little inside. This rugged foreigner didn't understand American customs and was stripping. He was simply surprised by how big he was. What, 6'6"? 6'7"? All that lovable exotic meat... Wait, he just said something. What was it? Oh, right. Clothing advice. Lord knows he needs it. Now, what would look good on him... Francisco started pointed to different clothing, and Reggie started to put the clothes on, but Fran couldn't contain himself anymore. He started helping the guy get his clothes, letting his hands slide across his body. It was dangerous, but his Gaydar had been on the fritz lately and he was hoping against hope it was right about this guy.
-----
Reggie got the clothes on as quickly as possible. At this point, he didn't really care about social protocol. If this guy touched him one more time, he was going through the door. And then he did. Reggie hadn't put a shirt on yet, but he was done. He picked the guy up by his neck and slammed him against the door. The door, being poorly constructed, fell over, and Francisco fell to the ground on top of it. This left Reggie standing, framed by the doorway, shirtless, and accidentally striking an amazing pose.

(sorry for the kind of crappy post, feel free to take what I wrote and run with it to create more action or whatever you'd like)

Lena leaned closer to Charlie, making eye contact with her briefly before they both burst into laughter. She had started to wonder what was taking so long when all of a sudden she heard a grunt and the fitting room door came right off of its hinges, the attendant lying flat against it, out cold as Reggie glared at him, completely shirtless. Lena gaped for a second- he was completely gorgeous without his shirt on, perfectly sculpted- before she was up on her feet, chucking a shirt at him in frustration and trying to figure out a way out of this situation. She was good when she had a plan, but it wasn't always easy to come up with a plan on the spot, and it raised her blood pressure which was never a good thing. The Mist. She could manipulate the Mist. In a moment she was snapping her fingers and murmuring under her breath and praying to the gods that she'd be able to sufficiently camouflage this disaster. It was less than a minute before store attendants came rushing into the room, and Lena spoke breathlessly, trying out her acting skills.

"Please- my friend- that man was helping him, and he pulled a gun-" she spoke, looking to the other two with an urgent expression on her face and praying that they'd help her out. Some part of her wondered what the hell had happened that had made Reggie knock down the door, and she wondered if monsters were involved. She doubted it, but one could never be sure.

All of a sudden that was a shudder and a loud crunching noise, and the fire alarms blared loudly overhead. That crash was definitely inhuman, and Lena's heart raced. They had to get out of there, but they also needed to handle whatever monster had entered the mall, much to Lena's dismay.

Francisco went unconscious as soon as his body connected to the door. And that was just faaaaabulous.

Reggie was initially shocked at Lena's reaction. She was trying to cover it up and lie. In his homeland, he could give any number of excuses: the other man looked at him funny, or talked badly of Reggie's parents, or insulted his honor. Here, he had to have been provoked physically or violently. Well, that was ridiculous. That man deserved a beating for what he'd done. Then, of course, he remembered that he was in a new country, and that that meant new rules. He took Lena's cue and started to spew about how he was scared of dying and such. However, within a few seconds, there was a loud crash. In his time in this newer era, Reggie had learned that this meant there was about to be a supernatural attack of some kind.

In a few seconds, Reggie's heart suddenly felt heavy and cold. It was like he was back in his own time, witnessing a man in his village have a vision. A vision of one of the many battles between Asgard and Jotunheim. The man had been blabbering at first, then he began screaming, in an almost incomprehensible stream, a description of the Jotnar. They had an almost glassy appearance about them. Their eyes were red, and they stood over ten feet tall. While they looked humanoid, there was the presence of something greater behind them; of wisdom that predated the gods themselves. One alone was said to be able to lay waste to an entire horde of warriors. The vision alone froze the man from the inside out, starting with his heart. Reggie had felt this same feeling then, and he hoped that this was not a Jotun, especially with his current lack of powers. He would need to perform some blot ((Norse sacrifice ritual. There should be an accent on the "o" but I'm lazy)) soon. Perhaps, if whatever was attacking thme was easy enough to kill, he would sarcifice it. If it was a Jotun... he would probably try to run first.

Reggie turned to Lena and Charlie, addressing them both at once. [color:a4e7=#heliotrope]"I think it's a Jotun. I can... feel it. They're tall, they're smart, and they're strong. I say we get to camp." He said, and then summoned Gungnir, his spear, into his hand. He took a few deep breaths, mentally preparing himself in case he had to fight.

Lena's heart pounded in her chest as she frantically tired to determine what to do. A Jotun? Gods, why hadn't she taken the time to learn Norse mythology? She could list off every Greek monster and its respective powers and flaws, but she hadn't taken the time to remember the godsdarned Norse monsters. This was just wonderful. Whatever it was sounded powerful and destructive, and Reggie had the right idea, wanting to leave it there to do its damage. But could they? If they did, it was going to kill a hell of a lot of civilians looking for them, and even though Lena was probably the one of them who should be the most worried about fighting this monster, she took Charlie's arm and led them out of the fitting rooms into the main area of the department store. 

"We don't have a choice; we have to get rid of him before he does more damage," Lena spoke gravely, turning to Charlie. 

"You're unarmed, but you can fight pretty well, you just can't remember right now. It'll come to you, I promise. Stay back, though, you're not that good. And here." Lena pulled off a gold bangle, which transformed into a bronze dagger. "Keep this with you; try to fend off civilians more than fight. Reggie and I will be alright," Lena said, a bit uncertainly. She grabbed her silver bangle, which transformed into her ruby-encrusted longsword. Then, she turned to Reggie. 

"What do you know about these Jotun?" she asked, but they didn't have much time. The Jotun was staring straight at them, roaring something she couldn't comprehend in the Nordic language. He looked just as Reggie had described, and panic flashed in Lena's eyes for a moment as she looked to the boy desperately. She would probably be able to hold off this man for a little while, but could she defeat him singlehandedly? No. And since Charlie wasn't going to be of much help, Reggie was her only option. Thankfully, he did seem like a good one.

Reggie looked at Lena with something akin to complete befuddlement. In his homeland, you did not worry about who got stuck between the toes of the Jotun; you ran, and whoever was slowest was the distraction, as they ought to be for not being fit enough to get away. This was life. However, after a few seconds of thought, he realized this was the nobler thing to do. Together, they ought to be able to kill the Jotun, and it was likely following Reggie anyways. His father didn't have the best track record with the Jotuns. Thankfully, now that the mortals were in disarray, Huginn and Munin joined Reggie, flying nearby. Reggie instantly thought of the different ways to hurt a Jotun; essentially, they had the same weaknesses as any human.

Reggie turned to Lena when she asked him about their weaknesses. He had to yell over the booming of the Jotun's voice. "They're just like any normal human, but a lot bigger and a lot smarter." He yelled, and focused on what the Jotun was saying.

"Reginmundr Odinsson, spawn of the AEsir, bane of the Jotnar. Prepare to meet the most dishonorable death; crushed underfoot by one of those who predates your Gods." The Jotun paused and smiled before roaring, in a voice that hurt Reggie's ears, "DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"

Reggie had not time to talk much strategy with Lena. He had no idea how she fought, nor she his own fighting style. The Jotun was bearing down straight at them, and Reggie did something that spoke more volumes of his worth than he could ever realize. He was scared, but his first instinct was to stand in front of the girl he'd just met only hours before.

((Anime, if you want, I can edit this, if you think Charlie would have had something to say or whatever. I just firgured that she wouldn't be doing much fighting head-on))

(I suck at fight rp but I tried!)

Lena nodded, taking this all in in seconds. She didn't have much time to brace herself; she kind of just had to jump right into it, and that unsettled her, but the Jotun was there and screeching threats at Reggie and she couldn't feel unsettled for very long.

"You know this guy?" she asked him incredulously, cursing herself silently for allowing him to come with them. Still, the buff demigod had stepped in front of her, and while she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself it was a little bit endearing. The Jotun came charging at Reggie, and Lena had just about devised a plan to get behind him so she could get her sword in his back when all of a sudden there was a growl from behind her and another Jotun stood right before Charlie, who had somehow managed to chuck her knife straight into the other Jotun's calf. Lena gaped for maybe a split second before springing into action. Charlie was now weaponless, and Lena all but ripped her last bracelet from her wrist, shouting "Heads!" and tossing the dagger hilt outwards to the other girl, hoping against hope that she'd catch it, because she had no other options currently. 

"I smell Egyptian... and GREEK," roared the second Jotun, glowering down at Lena, who held her own considering she was relatively slender and not all that intimidating, albeit tall. "Daughter of Prometheus, huh? Daddy's got a lot of control over the world, with his knowledge and all," spoke the gigantor man, smirking slyly at her and knocking at her with one of his huge, hairy, paw-like hands. Anger raged within Lena and she ducked beneath his clumsy smack easily, parrying and cutting into the flesh of his arm as effectively as she could. He roared and she rolled between his legs ninja-style, effectively confusing him before, to her dismay, facing his hairy back. Before he could turn around she made an impulse decision to make a move, praying that Reggie was taking care of the other Jotun. She took hold of a thick clump of his back hair, using it as rope and scaling his back, which was difficult due to his uncontrollable thrashing as he realized what she was up to. She had made it up to his middle back, where she could run him through and take him down, when his knees bucked and he threw her backwards. Lena lost her grip and plummeted down a good ten feet to the ground, her sword skittering across the tile floor. The roar of the combined Jotun monsters filled her ears, her vision blurring slightly. She was numb currently, and even though it was bound to be painful later, she couldn't be down like this. Charlie was barely armed, and Reggie wasn't going to hold out against the two of them. She needed to get up.

Against everything her brain wanted to do, Lena's body kicked into overdrive and she managed to get to her knees, orienting herself and immediately lunging towards her sword. She crawled over to it, her vision clearing as she blinked, and grabbed it by the hilt before standing. She could walk pretty well, considering the blow she'd just taken, and as her adrenaline kicked in she was astonished, she didn't feel much pain at all yet, and nothing seemed to be broken; she'd just had the breath knocked out of her. The Jotun before her had gotten back to his feet, and having gotten rid of her, he'd focused his attention on Charlie. Lena swore under her breath, taking in her surroundings. Too bad her martial arts skills weren't going to help now, not with this enormous man... but wait, she did remember one thing when going after a guy: go for the groin. And while Lena dreaded what she was about to do, she saw her opening as the Jotun hung over Charlie, trying to be intimidating, and she took it. 

"Watch out!" she yelled- at a loss for time for better directions- just before making contact, and she barely even remembered what'd happened after she'd run between his legs, slashing upwards quickly and making sure her blade made contact where she'd intended to before she disengaged her sword and rolled quickly out of the way. Although she'd been cringing before, Lena thanked the gods that the Jotun only wore thin loincloths; she couldn't help but be every so slightly amused at the idea as she braced herself for the loud scream of outrage and pain from the giant, praying that either Charlie or Reggie would take the opportunity to get rid of him quickly. The gods knew that she wouldn't be able to do it at the moment.