landvættir [Hope]

Wisps of steam danced amid the stars, the moonless sky an endless expanse of sparkling jewels. The smell of sulfur and anise put their minds at ease, their tension melting away in the quiet blue lagoon. It was rare that the pair would find themselves otherwise alone in a dream, each twin taking their time and enjoying the geothermal spa, their minds too occupied with the idyllic peace of the moss-covered Icelandic landscape behind them to question when their host was going to visit them in their own dreams. It wasn't often that they had an excuse to just let loose like this, the only sign of their usual setting that same old wrought iron gazebo sticking out of the foggy water, Expectation slowly swinging herself from one end to the next as her body made subtle ripples in the mineral-rich water. Meanwhile her sister seemed more content in the shallow side of the pond, her toes squished gleefully into the Sicilia rich mud as she occasionally lifted a toe out of the water, always surprised to see it as clean as a whistle It was a nice and unexpected break. But a sliver of blue light in the sky was the only sign they needed to know it was time to get serious.

The world seemed to shudder. That feeling of falling backwards overwhelmed everyone in the dream. The sliver of light overhead became wider and wider, the silver-blue moon quickly dimming all but the brightest starts in the light. By the time it was only half-full, Expectation saw a tiny shape forming near its center. The shadow grew larger. Larger. And larger still! It even took her a whole second before she realized what it was:

The host of the dream itself was falling toward them, as though the moon itself had spit her out!

KASHUN!

The mass of white fur smashed into the water at break-neck speed. Aspiration held tight to the closest leg of the gazebo, as her sister was tossed around like a rag doll by the enormous wave, giggling her fool head off as she was slammed head-first into some suspiciously sharp rocks. It took three or four waves before the ripples subsided, the more level-headed of the pair now half-hiding behind a rock like some curious elf.

“Excuse me?” Aspiration spoke first, Expectation still floating off on her own, probably unconscious. “Are you alive?”

The steam was still thick where the wolf landed, but she could tell her guest had assumed a more practical form. It was hard to get a good look at her, but it was a bit of a relief to see a female silhouette. She'd lost since decided this time around to try to deduce who it was until her sister woke up. Just the images she's been given narrowed her down to maybe twenty or thirty relevant souls. Besides, there weren't many Nordic spiritualists left. Especially Quincy...

Ok, maybe some of it was more than intuition.

Falling.

She felt herself falling now into the cool air. Slowly she opened her eyes to see a starry litted sky and and silver moon hanging in the sky. Before she could blink, she was falling quickly and suddenly:

SPLASH!

From one strange void to another realm Freyleif felt confused, did she just land finally? Something else felt strange; why did she feel so fluffy? She heard someone crash into some rocks and a curious voice calling out if she was okay. Taking her time to get on her feet. Wait feet? Paws? The anthro wolf glanced around confused and looked down at her paws and silhouette trying to make out what she was.

“W-what?” she thought and stared around wide eyed. This place looked familiar if not for the strange starry sky. The Blue Lagoon as she recalled. For a split second she memory backed as her younger nine year old self swimming with her mother here, they were much happier back then without a care in the world. Freyleif’s depression felt like it melted off into the steamy waters below like a weight lifted off her. But was this truly a place or just a dream? She could think nothing but fond memories back home in Iceland.

The white she-wolf waited utill the steam settled away. Fluffy tail stiff straight and ears perked up in alert state and carefully worked on her vocal cords, first sounding like a growl before adjusting more humanish. 

“Where am I? Is this a dream?” she questioned towards the sisters by the rocks. The steam made it hard to see them clearly but she could tell there were people there. “Did I die?” her ears flopped down in sadness. She clearly remembered wandering the streets of Karakura and getting attacked by a hollow before passing out by Wraith’s disguised flower shop and fell into a coma. She wondered if he left her to pass away, after all they had a terrible departure and she blamed herself with fighting with him.

If she fell into death’s hand, then perhaps the valkyries had picked her out to be in Freyja’s fields. Though this looked nothing like the flower fields of Fólkvangr but her own dreams and aspirations. Slowly she tests taking a few steps forward and paused, it felt weird being in wolf’s skin. She heard of her kin of Nordic spiritualists taking these forms and run around Iceland as guardians or völva of the female shaman version.

The wolf’s fur had blue and red tribal like tattoos on her back and belly from the scarification her clan 'gifted' her. Hough the process was painful at least she didn’t have to rely on ginto anymore as her body acted like a vessel. Seiðr they called it, her clan wanted to be like the Norns so every female tribe member was often gifted with such rituals and given runes instead of silver tubes.

“Who are you two?” Freyleif finally asked again. So many questions she wanted answered, why was she here out of all places?

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“Y-you don't know where you are?”

Aspiration stayed close to the rocks, still a little uneasy about getting too close without her sister. They'd met a handful of souls that manifest as animals in their dreams, but it was rare that anyone manifest like this.The fact she was so shocked by her appearance meant she wasn't used to taking this form, in her dreams or otherwise. But the fact she could speak meant she didn't have to rely entirely on symbols. In other words, with her sister still floating unconscious off in the steam somewhere, Aspiration had an opportunity to try to resolve this girl's issues without her sister's interference.

A coy smile crept across her face as she lowered herself and moved around the rock, paddling gingerly toward Freyleif with only her head sticking out of the water.

“Don't worry about my sister,” She was tempted to call her dead, but decided it'd only complicate things. “You know these waters? You've felt them before? Why are you so nervous? They are healing, after all...”

Swimming behind her, she eyed that bushy tail and gave her a cat-like smile. She wanted to grab hold so badly just to see her reaction. To show her how much more real this was than a mere dream. And while she was afraid it might awaken the uptight Quincy, by the time she snapped out of her musing and came to a decision, she found herself a foot away from the snow-white puppy, her tail already firmly in her hands.

“Gotcha!”

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She was confused once until she looked around her better without her mind clouding her with depressive thoughts. It was the Blue Lagoon, to what it appeared to be in her dream. Her eyes then lingered to twin speaking and her ears perked curiously. The twin paddled close to her with only her head sticking out, the Quincy was unsure what was going on and looked off towards the floating other girl hoping she didn’t ham her in falling.

“The Blue Lagoon.” she said softly in awe, what was she doing back in Iceland or was it even the place. Everything was so confusing, first she went into a coma and now found herself in healing waters. The wolf Quincy slowly turned her head as the tin swam around her, tail going stiff like a board even if wet. This new form felt odd and ears on top of her head moved about like satellites to hear all the sounds around her. Her mind was snapped out of her many thoughts and she let out a yelp as her tail was snatched. The feeling was real as it came, this was no fairy tale land.

The Quincy wolf gave out a girl and bared her teeth into a snarl. Her soul had responded; angry and frustrated at herself and the world. “Let go! She outburst snappily. Her wolfen hands tightening until her claws cut into her palms stinging her in pain before quickly releasing them.

“I-I’m sorry.” she apologized and placed her bloody hands onto her face in shame. It took her a moment to collect and compose herself before addressing the twin, looking between her paws at the strange girl who held her bushy tail.

“This obviously isn’t a dream but I have no idea who you are.” she said slowly removing her paws and looked around. She longed for Wraith to be her by her side after passing out by his doorstep, but that wasn’t the time to be moping about her boyfriend. She had other issues that were damaging the very core of her soul: that hatred towards herself and not becoming Queen to lead the Quincy in a better light.

“I don’t know what to do,” she murmured softly to herself, once again caught in the tornado of her thoughts that clouded her judgment. “Why am I still alive? What did I deserve to have such a cursed fate?” she was unsure why she was telling or asking these things to a cute twin.

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She let the wolf's tail slip from her fingers, tilting her head with a frown as she watched her palms soak with blood. Returning to the warm waters, she took to blowing bubbles in the sulfuric pools as the Quincy apologized and started to lament her fate. She was a being of contradiction, afraid of hurting others but unable to help but hurt herself. It was as though her Fate was so overwhelming that she couldn't help but direct her power inward in some vain attempt at protecting the world around her. But, much like Weylin before her, Hope only saw a distressed and desperate Quincy, struggling against her own potential even if it meant unravelling her very soul in the process.

"And what are the symptoms of your curse, lone wolf?" The twin rolled onto her back, gently kicking just enough to let her body float in front of the wolf. "Consider your pain, even if it makes you bleed." Grabbing hold of her hand with one of her own, she traced her paw like palm with her thumb, healing her wounds. "Follow the trail further and further, perhaps even before you were born. If you believe your curse is set in stone, climb that mountain, find that rock, and the rest will become clear..."

Turning her head away from Freylief, the twin eyed the edge of a forest that seemed to spring to life in the blink of an eye, coming into being so quickly it was impossible to tell if it had been there the whole time or not. There were no forests like that in iceland, ancient black pine and thick blankets of snow reeking of Germanic origin. On the edge of the woods, only a few steps from the pool, a large wooden door stood on its own, a key left in its only lock. The question was, if the wolf was ready to take her first steps out of that familiar warmth, or if she was afraid of leaving her hot-blooded self behind, and accepting that her pain was just her own stubborn borishness.

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She couldn’t understand why she had such a terrible fate attached to her, or maybe she was doing this to herself? The young Quincy explored the world like a wild untamable animal and resorted to violence. That violent nature grew within her personality, but why? She pondered on the twin’s words on her symptoms and her mind went blank for a moment as she tried to move those gears to answer. Nothing. Her ears dropped down while considering the words then closed her eyes to delve deeper on just what exactly set her off like this state. Her palm healed over and she flexed her finger-paws and tilted her head in contemplation.

Thinking back on her childhood made her wish to be in the aromatic smelling bakery. She could almost feel the gooey and powdery batter between her fingers and getting in her nails as she kneads the substance to make bread and cakes. Her right ear twitched and her hands clenched again but this time not so hard as she followed the motions of kneading bread.

When the twin moved away, Freyleif opened her eyes to look at the strange new path unfolding before her eyes. A beautiful forest just popping up like it was there the whole time. Was it her imaginary mind playing tricks on her again? Freyleif blinked and stared a hard while trying to figure out what was going on even felt compelled to skip towards the door. There were no forests in Iceland saved for a few nature reserves below Reykjavik and she wondered maybe the Island had more secrets than meets the eye. There was also thick snow on the pine trees she noted, something germanic origin? Emerald eyes gazed towards the twin questionable then back to the wooden door. She took one step forward then the other foot reluctantly followed, her curiousness wanted to know what was behind that door but then she suddenly stopped at the edge in doubt. What if there were monsters behind that door? What if the Past came to bit her in the ass she didn’t wish her eyes to see again? A bleak future to unfold and the curse even worse than before.

Reaching up to grasps the Nordic wolf headed cross, the white wolf girl stood there uncertain. She prayed silently in her mind to her mother and the Old Gods to give her courage and strength she lacked in moving forward. The warmth of the water kept her back from moving that next step, the cold looked way too bleak even though it gave a beautiful display in her imagination. Maybe she would find the huldufolk merrily dancing behind that door or the stone trolls keeping shy as a child walked past them unexpectedly or maybe the Legendary landvættir of Iceland.


The she-wolf continued to stand there forming these strange ideals in her head yet at the same time too scared to see what was behind that door. Stuck lamenting on her mistakes as a small child in not saving her mother in time. That was it. She cursed herself for being the weak one. She doubted her strength and like an angry wolf bit at her own tail or others in her rage.

“Móðir.” she said in a sad dreary tone. Tears welling up against her eyelids threatening to break through like a dam. She was mad at herself for being so weak when she was just ten years old, mad at her own strength to really grasp her pride as a Quincy and herself to stand above and protect those weaker than her.

“I..don’t know what to do.” she admitted, ears laying flat again and shaking in fear. Tail tucked between her legs like she was cornered among monsters she couldn’t get through. She stood in the warmth and comfort of the springs refusing to find an escape.

646/1334=1980

“What are you afraid of?” The twin looked across the hot spring to her sister, longing on the rocks as a crack on the side of her head sewed itself shut, the wound still a little loose as she spoke boisterously above her sister. “You're miserable here, ain't cha? It can feel nice giving into the heat, you don't want to just lose yourself do you?”

“Onee-san...” The other sibling was clearly annoyed at her sister's meddling, but couldn't argue that she was doing what was right.



“You have to keep going forward,” She gave the wolf a toothy smile and grinned. “You have to realize that no matter what's beyond that door, it's better to be chased by monsters than become one yourself.”

The sisters knew more than anyone what that meant. The inability to control your urges. The primal yearning to destroy everything around you to keep yourself from being hurt. And knew that if the poor girl didn't have any hope, it'd be the only fate left for her, until she had nothing left to destroy but herself.

The She-Wolf had to make a choice: be devoured by her own monster or run to the future head first. She was scared, of course, anyone would be in the comfort of the heat the springs gave off. Her heart beat like tribal drums as she looked up towards the door and slowly untuck her tail and wagged it. If she wanted to protect her pups as a future Queen then she would have to push forward and grow - even if she still growing.

“O-ok, I’ll go through.” she said. Slowly she lifted her foot and moved it onto the cold snow. The next foot joining the other and slowly she strode towards the door. Moving towards a path where she would break down the obstacles before her. The looming trees were no longer scary but rather pleasant, even could smell the pine that filled her nostrils. It eased her mind to take in the sights and sounds of the crunching snow beneath her pawed feet.

She could imagine seeing an elf in the corner of her eye hiding behind a tree. Even the steam behind her that rose like a mighty dragon coming out of its slumber and being concealed by its smoke. It was her fantasy world to not be afraid of, but take it as an adventure and experience all the new wonders to explore. Finally, she came towards the door and immediately reached out to open it and see what lies beyond it.

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