“ I am Sigyn, wife of Loki. If you are looking for my husband, I regret to inform you he is on Midgard overseeing its corruption, ” Sigyn says dryly, scarcely looking up from her book to regard the person standing before her.
“Hm, good to know, Sigyn. But I wasn’t really looking for your husband. Was really just wondering about your life really. Despite that sounding like just the sort of thing he’d get up to.”If they really needed to encounter Loki, Saima figured there were other ways to find him.
Instead, the woman herself seems interesting enough as far as they were concerned. “Name’s Saima Vaher these days. But I can go – since I don’t mean to trouble you any.”
•“My poncho and I are ready.”• A small laugh at her expense. She felt like a little kid whenever she wore it, which only highlighted how young she was– relatively speaking.
Having phantom pains, she rubbed her shoulder. •“They have been, very fantastical. It’s different than the first time around. Gods, I don’t even remember what I did.”• Some of her memories, it seemed, will be coming back whenever they wanted to.
•“I see. It can get busy, and I do respect that.”• She nods, as if to give notice to Al. •“Have you been in touch with anyone else? I feel like I was off the grid for so long that things have changed so much!”•
“Hah, it’s always good to be prepared then. In any which way that you can be.“ They replied with a small goodnatured tone.
“Oh definitely. You’ve certainly been through a lot. And having it come back piece by piece can be overwhelming and strange to deal with. Memory is such a weird, weird thing – and how it works for different kinds is a whole another thing.“ Something that had been at Saima’s attention for a little while now.
“I have, I have – but things have changed so much – that I’m not even sure if you’d recognize some of the folks I’ve been in touch with these days. Especially since my own circumstnaces have changed in a major way. Circles shift so muuch over a relatively short period of time.“
Claire couldn’t say she UNDERSTOOD why either, but she didn’t always GET things right away. So she always figured it was something just outside of her knowledge circle.
“ I’m Claire. “ Claire CAN’T REMEMBER if she gave her name already, but she knows she has a habit of just talking with no beginning or end. And then leaving in a gust of the wind. People not even knowing what had hit them. “ Claire Malon! “
And such were the ways of humans, even after years of witnessing them and assisting, there were things that Saima wasn’t likely to really get. In spite of noticing many patterns along the way.
“Nice seeing you here, Claire. Pretty name.” It was one Saima had remembered from recent memory. So it was good that their recollection had been correct – didn’t want to assume in case it was mistake. “I’m Saima, Saima Vaher. ”
Matt chuckled, cheeks flushed with delight in his lover, in the quaint gentleness of his morning. He wished all of his days could be so good as this one.
“What do you think, my love? Are you ready to go look at some of our options, mm?” It was a bit of a journey, made easier by magic but far nonetheless. “I am certain there will be more food at each, even if it must be foraged.” Something of a challenge.
“I am ready whenever you are.“ Now that Saima was awake and fed a little bit, they were totally able to make the trip to check out the options. Choosing a new place to live was an intense situation, one needed to have some support there.
“It should be fun to check out different places. Well, we’ll just have to see when we get to these places. Surely, something could be arranged.“
SHE BRIEFLY LOOKS AWAY, HALF-SMILES AND HALF-GRIMACES OUT OF A FAKE-IT-TO-MAKE-IT DESPERATION TO KEEP AWAY THE PAIN. “ Thanks for always being so patient and kind, Saima. “ The stargirl looks up at her friend, peeks out from under the veil that is her blonde hair. It’s a mark of her shame, her oddity that she loathes so deeply about her roots. “ Do you have any tips for me this school year? Like … how to fit in and not be such an anomaly amongst my peers? “
Stella pockets her hands and turns over a dried autumn leaf with her toe before kicking up the pine needles and cones towards the tree stump. “ Sometimes, when I’m an emotional wreck … I can’t control my powers. They just come out, and such events always scare people away from me. “
“It’s literally the least that I could do,” they respond simply – not daring to take too much credit. It all seemed to be part of being a good friend – especially in such a personal situation. Glancing back at Stella, Saima thinks for a moment about what advice they could possibly give in terms of dealing with school situations. The last time they sought out education, it was an adult. And even teenage situations were too far long ago to be remotely relevant to what Stella had been dealing with. Not to mention to complicating factor their appearance changing significantly since then.
“Oh, I wouldn’t really know what to say about that. I had been dealing with being an anomaly for way too long.“ They kick a few leaves while the try to come up with something. “Right, I can see how that would cause trouble. I think – you’ve definitely should practice centering yourself and calming down from heightened emotions. Getting in the practice of counting down usually serves as a way to get yourself a little more together. “
“…Well, yes. It doesn’t matter that I can see right through you. It doesn’t make you any less real.” Saima had been fairly honestly about the way that they can pick up on the things Stella often meant to hide from other people. It was a sense that they had had for much of their existence – even if it did make interacting with individuals a little troublesome from time to time.
But in this case, it only served to make them feel closer to Stella. Since they often had struggled with similar concerns. “Trust that even if I can see through you pretty well – I don’t think any less of you. I can relate to you all the more, and frankly – I appreciate having that kind of similarity. I haven’t had the chance to experience that in a while.”
“ You don’t know how much you MISS something until it’s GONE. “
Claire’s in a graveyard, there’s no REASON for her to be here. Not really. There is no buried body. But it’s the sense of LOSS that brings her here. That has her clutching flowers. Looking for a grave to lay them upon.
She’s thankful her life isn’t THAT much of a cliche and it’s not raining. Instead it’s cloudy, the sun rays peeking through as if it was trying to warm the frozen earth but FAILING.
Great One, how she WISHED things were different.
“Isn’t that the truth? And even then, there’s something that tends to stick around with you.” It’s a feeling that Saima has known entirely too well. Over the years, they’ve lost so, so many people. Although it came with the territory of being the kind of entity they were, it still left strange feelings that they knew wouldn’t readily pass.
So the most that Saima could do was allow the space for those melancholic thoughts of longing and regret to just be.
Erzsi nodded with a grateful smile. “I’ll email it to you as well. That way you have the uncompressed video as well. I know Insta can mess with video quality,” Erzsi remarked before taking another drink of her beer.
“So, how does it feel to have adoring fans? How does it feel to be on stage?” Erzsi asked curiously. While Erzsi had never been on an actual stage, she knew what it was like to be in the spotlight. She wondered if it was the same feeling.
“Appreciate it. I do like having that uncompressed video. There’s often even a sound difference between the formats.“ Something that they had stumbled upon through reading about different tech over the years.
“It’s.. interesting. It does feel amazing to be on stage, to perform. There’s an energy that comes from sharing a talent with others and an energy just from being a part of something larger. It definitely feels like a fascinating connection is formed in that moment. I can slip into a otherness that actually radiates to others and draws people in – and I just.. relish that so much.“
Erzsi pulled out her phone to begin making a notification to remind her. How she ever survived without this little gadget, she didn’t know. Convenience was the best thing about nowadays. “What time works for you?”
Erzsi tilted her head as Saima teases, “Tease all you want, Saima. I have never been happier. It’s interesting how people change and how that change can bring two people back together. It’s amazing really.” She can’t help but smile shyly as she talks about them. This relationship she found herself in was just so new.
“Afternoons seems to work best on my schedule. So maybe around 2 or 3 PM would be great for me.“ They weren’t particularly attached to a certain time – but the afternoon always felt like a good space to create.
Despite their teasing, a genuine little smile appears. “Ah – it is very, very interesting how people change. I’m thrilled that you’re actually that happy. It’s a real rarity to see someone so excited – so I can’t blame you in the least for being over the moon, really.”