Cubismo

Astrid knew that Micah was a pretty good guitar player, but she was still pretty impressed by what he was laying down. It still may not have been quite her genre or style of music, but talent was talent regardless of what favor it was and Astrid made sure to give Micah a sincere thumbs up as he played. While that was going on, Astrid's mind was focused on figuring out just how she could fuse her more heavy brand of rock with Micah's. So much so, that when she heard Eira give her tepid approval she was fairly surprised by her subsequent stripping right in front of them. "Woah, woah. What are you..." To her credit, Astrid caught on to what was going on when Eira started to sprout metallic wings from her shoulders. "Huh. I did not expect to see all that. You really gotten to warn people before you go all Transformers on us," Astrid says semi-jokingly as she taps her hammer amulet to transform Porrklubba. With her signature weapon now in her hands asked the obvious. "While the idea of a sky concert sounds metal as all, I have to say that playing out in the skies, while awesome, doesn't always provide the best acoustics," the Asgardian admits from experience before shrugging. "But whatevs. I'm game for anything. You game for it too Micah?"

Even with having used Porrklubba well over hundred times to soar through the skies herself, Astrid was still taken aback by just how exhilarating it was to fly on Frárvængr. Though the wind was in her face and the sound of the rushing wind filling her ears, Astrid still had the presence of mind to do as Sanngriðr said and hold on to Frárvængr as they traveled, though the urge to spread out her arms in a double-fisted V was quite tempting. Astrid did allow herself one indulgence by screaming out "Canada here we come!" over the wind.

Ms. Thursday Föðursystir Sanngriðr (6 posts) Nordic (8 posts) Reptile Brain (4 posts) = 18 IC posts (2PP to Ms. Thursday)

Will Save: 1d20+8 22 Made it.

As it turned out, Astrid did in fact spree when she suddenly heard the winged stead speak up. When presented with Valkyrja's offered sugar cubes she took up eagerly and gave the warrioress a round of excited thanks yous as she let Frárvængr eat out of her hand. Astrid was being incredibly silly and knew that it, but right now she didn't care. Of course, after asking a lot of earnest questions about the realness of cutie marks, Astrid does eventually remember that she was here for more than a social meet and greet. "Gods, we're going to be here all day if I keep goshing like a total fangirl about this," she admits to both Valkyrja and Frárvængr. "We should get a move on, ya?" With that said, Astrid happily climbed on Frárvængr's back and waited for Valkyrja to do the same.

Astrid was right in the midst of trying to alleviate Micah's genre concerns when Eira came back into the conversation with a huff and whole lot of attitude. The Asgardian rolled her eyes and had to fight the urge not to facepalm again. Things were going to Hel real fast by Astrid's estimation she of all people had to be the one to fix it. "Look," she cut in, trying to be civil as she addressed both parties. "We don't even know what kind of band we even want yet. Our sound is still totally up in the air. It could be anything really." She let that plea settle for a second, hoping that it would chill some nerves before she got to the real heart of the matter. "But the only way we're going to figure that out is if we actually hear each other play. So how about we do just that at the band room? It ain't like metal and rock are polar opposites. Hel, they're both flavors of rock and roll when it comes right down to it. So we can totally find some middle ground or something new altogether if we actually give each other a chance."

Hmm. It could fly up taking pot-shots at the rampaging rhinoceros or could do something dumb. Let's go with dumb! Starting Conditions: Ms. Thursday is at 10 Defense. Full Action: Charging the Rhino. Moving double base speed to get into Touch range with him/her. Using Porrklubba's Strike + Dazzle Power Power for the melee attack. I'm also going to use All-Out and Power Attack. The Charge boosts the Attack by 2 (+10) while Power Attack boosts both the Strike and Dazzle DCs by 5. The Strike DC is now 32 vs Toughness while the Dazzle Auditory DC is now 25 Reflex for the initial save. 25 vs Fortitude for any later attempts to remove the Dazzle Auditory effect. Attack (Strike + Dazzle): 1d20+10 20 Ending Conditions: Until her next round Ms. Thursday is at 3 Defense because of the Charge and All-Out penalties.

"Endelig" Astrid said in her native tongue, relieved that her feline opponent was finally down. Even more so that she didn't have to actually wound the animal to take it out of the fight. Of course, the moment the Asgardian was done wrapping up that mess another reared its ugly reptile head. Astrid didn't know where the talking monster had come from but it seemed pretty intent on going after Benico and whoever he had bonded in his tentacles, which unsurprisingly didn't sit well with Astrid at all. "Hey! Some lizard creep is trying to giving Octo the stick eye. You gotta back him up before-" Astrid's voice trailed off as the sound of loud, angry hoofs started to approach. The Asgardian huffed irritably. "But first's things first." She locked her eyes on the rhino and steeled herself for what unfortunately had to come next. With her weapon firmly in hand, Astrid surged forward to meet the rampaging animal head on and stop in its tracks.

"A helvete," Astrid swore in Norwegian under her breath. The teen cringed even as she put a palm to her face. If Benico was on the scene he probably would have commented on just how perfectly Astrid was mirroring a facepalm meme. After a few seconds of blessed darkness, Astrid removed her hand and gave Micah a very apologetic look. "So, right, I'm just gonna apologize on Eira's behave here because she's bloody awful at making first impressions." She rounded back to the girl in question, staring her down even as she started pacing near the bleachers. "We aren't going to get people to join our rock band if we act like big-headed drittsekker!" Regardless of what Eira says in return, Astrid made sure to at least give Micah another apology and offer to join their perhaps doomed band. "Seriously, sorry about that, Micah. Eira has to work on her delivery because she can really be such a-" Astrid caught her herself before she said another curse, remembering whose company she was in, "Spazz at times. But she's also kind of cool when she chills out. Anyways, we're still figuring out what kind of band we want to be. I'm thinking heavy metal with folk infusions but nothing's been really set in stone yet. You still interested?"

Things had escalated quickly and Astrid was absolutely ecstatic about it. It had been a while since she seriously thought about being part of a band and the old feelings of pending collaboration was coming back. Arriving at the athletic field, Astrid waled up to a predictably self-deprecating Micah and gave the Johnny Cash-enthusiast an amused rueful look. "Won't say I'm an expert," she repeated, shaking her head at the boy's words. "Come on Micah! I've heard you play. You're sound is great. Superb! And you'd be a awesome part of our band. So what do you say? We can all be part of something great and really learn from each other."

Astrid had Porrklubba in hand could have flown solo if she wanted, but that would have meant losing out on the chance to ride a flying horse, which if Astrid was being honest was up for with meeting Liv Kristine in person when it came to her childhood dreams. "Hel yes I want to take a ride!" She practically screams as she sees the six-legged winged stead. The Asgardian approached the horse with earnest wonder but also steadiness as if she was afraid that it would fly off or dissipate into the aether if she got to close. When Astrid realized that she was being ridiculous by acting so nervous, she finally just reached out and patted the steed. "This so cool, Valkyrja! Can she talk?" Astrid suddenly asks, her eyes still fixated on the horse even as she asked Valkyrja the question. "Totally weird question, I know. Or maybe not weird at all. But I know that some of the horses in the Nine Realms are enchanted with speech. So can she, you know, talk? Because if she can than my inner eight-year old is going to squee."

Her saga at an end, Astrid unplugged the guitar and let it rest against the band room wall. It was kind of funny. She could go ten rounds with a giant without breaking a sweat but when it came to her music it almost always felt like see needed to cool off after finishing a performance. When the Asgardian sees the smile on Eira's face, she flashes one of her own. "Beautiful? Huh. My music's been called a lot of things but beautiful is a new one. Thanks," she says, trying her best not to blush. Though the compliment has her distracted for a second, Eira's question and the idea of forming a band immediately brings Astrid back to reality. "Yeah, I do. Like, constantly and all the time. Hel, it's probably my favorite place in this school," she says sincerely before adding, "Claremont has a lot of kids with talent running around but it doesn't have a freaking band for its band room. Crazy, right?" She threw up her arms, excited about the burgeoning idea. "If you want to fix that problem than I totally for it! Bragi, together we might even be able to convince Micah to join us!"

Astrid politely ignored the metal-snake-thing that just came out of Eira's sleeve. She was a Claremont student and she'd seen much stranger things in her time here. Also, she was way too excited by Eira's willingness to listen to her music to be bothered by something so normal as that. "Sweet!" She cheered, jumping one fist into the air. "Just remember If I melt your ears off that you agreed to this." Astrid had been going back and forth on what exactly what she wanted to play for Eira. At first she thought some of her more easy-going melodic death metal riffs would be more the new girl's speed given that she liked Arch Enemy but her Bathory comment made her think otherwise. "Bathory, huh? Oh I can definitely help you there. How this!" Astrid inserted the electric guitar's jack into a nearby amplifier and started to play. True to the viking metal genre, her set was loud, chaotic, breakneck and unapologetically saturated with a folk sensibility. As her fingers played, Astrid sang her saga: A riotous tale of how she several other Claremont students battled an invading giant and its army of murderous elves.

"Hva i helvete?!" Astrid cursed aloud as she saw the tiger shake off her spell and leap to the side. The beast tried to return the favor with an atatck of its own but Astrid was fortunately enough able to deftly avoid its claws. Of course, that didn't change the fact that she was wasting time dealing with a very ticked off feline when needed to be helping out the others with the rest of the chaos. "I'll be right there!" She yelled to back to Veronica. "Just need to take another swing at Grumpy Cat over here." Taking in a breath and concentrating, Astrid stared the tiger down yet again as she channeled divine lightning into Porrklubba, this giving the spell a significant boost in power. With another scream of "Skykkr!" blasted the tiger once again.

Let's try this again, eh. Standard Action: Another Touch Stun against the Tiger. This I'm time going to add Power Attack and All-Out Attack to it. Attack: 1d20+12 30. With the bonuses Tiger now has to beat a DC 23 vs Fortitude and Ms. Thursday is now at 5 Defense.

While Astrid may have playfully rolled her eyes at Eira's comment about the supremacy of the Swedish metal scene, the new girl was still definitely winning her over when it came to the rest of her comments. "By the Gods, yes! The Americans think they own the genre when they didn't even invent it!" The rocker threw up her hands in indignation, earnestly peeved. The number of times she actually had to tell someone here that their country didn't create heavy metal was one to many in her view. At the band room door, Astrid dug into her pockets searching for her entrance card even as she started to kvetch about another downside to life in America. "Yeah, and don't even get me started on the freaking maddening drinking age here! New Jersey, of course, is one of the worst states but pretty much all of them beside a few are totally insane." Astrid yet again humphed, but her glower quickly turned into a mischievous smile that she shoot Eira's way. "But I guess it isn't a big problem. At least for me. I have my ways to get into clubs worth the name." They were inside the deserted band room now. Astrid wanted to introduce Eira to some one of the other metalheads though she supposed she could always do that another time. Astrid ran up to her favorite electric guitar which was laying unattended in a corner and started strumming. "So, wanna listen to me play or do you want to blast some more Arch Enemy in a booth? Hey, maybe you can interface with the equipment to really give it's sound a boost! You know, if you can do that sort of thing with your powers."

"I..." Nope. Astrid wasn't going to get weirdly choked up here in front of someone she only just got to know. Nevermind that she was still on school grounds. The last thing she needed was being called out by one of classmates. She had a rep to uphold after all. With that in mind, Astrid took a second to quickly rub her eyes and try to whip away something that totally wasn't there. She wasn't exactly subtle but it did the trick. When she was done with that awkward bit of business she returned to her more causal manner. "Don't worry about it, Sanngriðr. Really, I'm a tough girl. I can deal with family drama. I appreciate the consideration though." Astrid gave the valkyrie a respectful punch to her armored shoulder in thanks. "I heard about Thrud. Not much though. Guess she's my half-sister which is pretty awesome because I always kind of wanted one of those. I'd love to hear more about her."

Astrid took in Eira's tale with obvious interest. When she got to part about the creepy jotunn Astrid made a look revulsion before giving Eira a nod of approval. "Freaking typical that! I knew I shouldn't be surprised about how simple they can be but damn can they be utter creeps. Good on ya for giving them a solid knock to the jaw for it." As Eira went on though Astrid did start to simmer down a bit in light of knowing that things at worked out for the other girl in the end. When Eira asks about what to do at Claremont, Astrid quickly answered with an excited "Plenty," and made a wicked grin as her mind ran through all the possible places on campus that she could take the newbie. Claremont might have been a bust when it came to Scandinavian history but beyond that it was still one of the most prestigious and well-founded boarding schools on the planet. Add metahumans and super-tech to the mix and you got a virtual wonderland for a teenager looking for excitement or an distraction them their tedious studies. After thinking on it for a few second Astrid came up with a question. "You're a fan of the music from the Old Country, ja?" She asks half-jokingly, but pointing at her Arch Enemy band shirt all the same. "Well, Claremont has a kick-ass sound system in the band room and your's truly just so happens to have access to it. If you want to get the memory of bad history out your brain we can blast some metal on state-of-the art amplifiers. Hel, I even play you some of my own set list if you want. What do you say? You up for it, Eira?"

"By the freaking gods!" Astrid blurted out as she saw Valkyrja magical turn into, well, Valkyrja. Of course, that surprise was nothing compared to the bear hug she suddenly got swept into. When the follow Asgardian finally let Astrid go, the teen was visibly blushing. "Oh, wow," she said awkwardly, trying her best to settle back down and drain the redness out of her cheeks. "Um. Thanks for that. Really. I, uh, don't often get hugs from fellow Asgardians." Astrid was silent for a few seconds after that. She didn't like to ruminate very long on her awkward status in Asgard, but sometimes she couldn't help but do just that. Eventually though she got out of it and gave Valkyrja a real Asgardian greeting. "I'm honored to see you too, Sanngriðr of the Valkyrie."

Will Save: 1d20+12 30 And Astrid makes the second save. She will proceed too: Free Action: Going to burn a HP to nap Quick Change to get into costume because I totally forgot to do that last round. Move Action: Using Flight to move into Touch range with rampaging Tiger. Free Action: Swapping to Stun AP on her Powers of Porrklubba Array. Standard Action: Using Touch Stun on the Tiger. Attacking Tiger: 1d20+12 32. Sweet. Got a nat 20. I imagine that's a crit. If not Tiger still has to beat a DC 18 vs Fortitude.

Somehow things had managed to go from bad to worse. Gorillas and tigers oh my. Astrid clutched Porrklubba harder and let out a Norwegian curse under her breath. "Faen." It didn't exactly do much good but it did let Astrid vent a bit. Her usual way of venting when villainous shenanigans were afoot (beating up the jerks responsible) was unfortunately denied to her until they got this wild situation dealt with first. With that in mind, she heeded Veronica's call and answered back. "Don't know where Ben ran off to but I think he noticed something was off before anyone else did," she quickly explained before saying, "Gonna have to cut this short. I spot a mean looking tiger that needs to be settled down. Be right back." Knowing that she didn't have a lot of time, Astrid focused and started to say a couple words of the Old Norse in a fast whisper. She had only done this spell twice and she still hadn't exactly mastered it, but given the situation she didn't really have time to be slow and exact. When her incarnation was done sparks of lightning surrounded her as her clothing magical shifted into her costume. Her rocking battledress now on, Astrid activated Porrklubba's power of flight and bolted into action. The magic warclub left a travel of tiny sparks of electricity as she flew above the running crowd of scared zoo-goers and closed on the rampaging tiger. When Astrid made it to her quarry she gave the animal a reluctant look even as she blocked its way from the fleeing guests. "Really hate to do this but you're going to need to go to sleep be a tick. Don't worry. I'll make sure the drittsekk that started all of this gets there's." With that said, Astrid held Porrklubba out in front of her and yelled "Skykkr!" Instantly, the a bolt of lightning emitted from the weapon and stroke the animal. Astrid knew that the blast won't be lethal or even painful but she still cringed as the tiger was hit.

My bad, Thevshi. Her post is in. Since she doesn't know where Fearmaster is there ain't much she can do beyond make a Move Action to get out her weapon.

Things were looking up. Heroditus seemed to be really digging her music after some initial shock, the Atlantean even giving her a smile and thumbs up in approval. Benico was also going a mile-a-minute talking-wise. First talking about an old horror movie (which Astrid remembered watching once on a very poorly translated bootleg when she was about twelve) only to start mentioning some weirdo he apparently saw around. Unfortunately, Astrid was too distracted to really responded to either of those topics, instead just bobbing her head as he wandered off. Everything seemed pretty good. Until it suddenly wasn't. Astrid noticed how all around her people started to go from suddenly nervous looking to full on terrified. Some people even running off in a total panic. "What the Hel is going on," she asked aloud, looking first towards Heroditus and then a close by Veronica who seemed to have realized as well that something really bad was going on. seriously suspecting that Benico may have been right about whatever or whoever he spotted, Astrid immediately pulled out Porrklubba and steeled herself for whatever was coming there way.

Astrid took the thick-looking jumper and gave it a look. Sure, it wasn't her usual style but it she wasn't about to punch a gift horse in the mouth. Unlike most of her other clothes this wasn't ripped to all Hel and the neat looking runes on it definitely rose its awesomeness value in her eyes. Astrid promptly put the jumper in her bag for later use, but not before giving Bobbi her deserved thanks. "Thanks for the jumper, Bobbi. Tell your mom that I appreciate it!" Remembering about the cold she peeped again. "I think I'm good when it comes to the cold. So as long as nobody's throwing ice spikes my way I should be able to tough out whatever comes our way in Canada." The idea of heading up north was music to Astrid's hears. Given her schooling at Claremont she didn't have a heck of a lot of time to travel the States, let alone the rest of North America. Half of the reason why we agreed to go on this trip was for that very chance. "Ha.You got me. I'll give the tour next visit, ja? So when we do set out for the north. I'm ready for it!"

Astrid was very tempted to slap herself. The Katastroffs! How the Hel could we forget about the damn Katastroffs? They were one of the biggest hero outfits in Scandinavia. "Wow, ok. Had a total brain fart right there," she said apologetically, hoping that her cheeks weren't reddening from sudden embarrassment. Wanting to mentally move on from that faux pas, Astrid forced herself to think about Eira's Multiple Aesir commit. She vaguely recalled being told on Asgard that the skeins of myth were a complicated thing that didn't always allow for easy to understand definitions and cosmology, but most of it had either faded from her memory or had been never been really absorbed in the first place. "Yeah, I remember being told about that all trans-dimensional Earth stuff. Kind of." The Asgardian shrugged indifferently and moved on. Mythological metaphysics weren't exactly her bag. Mythological realms on the otherhand..."Oh you've been to Jotunheim! Well, yours I guess. Whatever. Whatcha do there? First time I went I was on 'assignment' and had deal with ancient feud between two Jötunn clans that were fighting over whose ancestor really inscribed a really awesome looking runestone. I tried to get them to think that maybe they both shared the same ancestor to settle things but that only got them angry at me!" Astrid sighed angrily at the memory. "That ended terribly, but I at least got to check out the realm for a bit afterwards. The rowan trees there are beautiful. And the mountains! I tried to fly over one and couldn't even make it with Porrklubba. Probably had to do with them moving around all the time. Ha!" As Astrid gushed about Jotunheim she was mildly aware that she might be talking to much and too fast. So she stopped her recalling for a bit to give Eira the chance to talk about her own Jotunheim adventures if she had any.