Roleplay: Hela x Spizzzo

Dated: September 14, 2026

The Last Chance

Hela was now looking more dignified than she had when she initially had emerged from the lake. The clothes she had so rudely arrived in were gone, swapped with clean ones she had taken from the farmhouse. They might not be terribly well fit or her style, never before had she worn a check flannel shirt but beggars could not be choosers. Her hair was tied up, a sure sign that she was determined to complete the task she had set for herself.

Once ready to face the world...and with night now properly claiming the village, she had ventured out of the farmhouse to explore. It was here she had gone to first, the taverne, The Last Chance. A quick glance around just to eliminate any signs of life she was not familiar with and it was deemed good enough. She had brought a sack with her from the farmhouse and it was set upon the table, things that looked possibly useful were being places inside: matches, candles, a few packaged snacks and some packets of cigarettes. Then she found toilet paper....That was exactly at the point she was at now, standing in the middle of the taverne, at the mountain of rolls of toilet paper she had pulled from the rooms and bathrooms sat upon a table top as well as a few rolls already in the sack. Eyes narrowed as she muttered to herself "How much do people use again?" It has been such a long time since she had needed to worry or think about such a thing but she had Lettie, Lettie would need it. "One roll a week?...Two?" What did humans do with all of it? Why could she not remember how much she used to use? She picked up another roll and dropped it into the sack anyway. Then arms folded in front of her chest, head tilted as she scanned the room for another container. Perhaps she should take it all, hide it all, just in case.

Spizzzo is also looking much better than when he had arrived, insofar as he's allowed the mud to dry overnight and scraped off most of the solid parts, so now his clothes are merely filthy rather than sopping. His moustache ends in sad drooping dangles, flopping like short wet noodles against his cheeks as he makes his way into the tavern, eyes brightening when he spots the fire, and brightening again when he spots another inhabitant. And rolls of paper! "Hello!" he calls out entirely too cheerfully for his appearance or the environs. "Say, could you spare some of that for kindling? I'm trying to get a fire going in that old watch tower."

Hela froze with one hand reaching out to the sack again. The cheery sound was not one she had prepared herself to hear. Gaze snapping to rhe man, clocking the mud, clothes, moustache. The suspicion on her face was all too transparent. "Hello." she says, considerably void of enthusiasm. Then her attention snapped back to her haul of toilet paper, somehow already protective of it. "For kindling?" A brief pause and then a firm shake of her head. "No."She reached across and pulled one of the rolls a closer to herself as though he might suddenly make a grab for it. "There is wood everywhere. Old letters. Books. Shit ones." Bringing the roll to her chest as if to protect it. "This has a purpose." Exactly how much of a purpose and what quantity constituted that purpose...who knows, that was against the point. Her attention returned to him, studying his face with interest. He was not familiar. However, this meant there were four of them here by her count. At least that meant perhaps she herself would have a food source and Lettie might be safe around her. "You are terribly cheerful for a dead person." A step to the side, just to ensure the table with her mountain of paper rolls was not a barrier between them should he so lunge. "Did you wake up in the lake too?"

Spizzzo squinches up his nose at the thought of using paper with writing on it for kindling rather than paper with no writing. Then "Hmm"s audibly as the thought strikes him, "I wonder if I can read..." He shakes his head, since the focus of the moment is fire, and the secondary focus is making a new friend. He only splatters some mud around him as he gestures. "Well. I'm sure I can find some blank pages then, and I thank you for your assistance." His eyes widen briefly at her statement about his livelihood, but he shrugs. "I'm terribly animate for a dead person too, as far as I know. And yes! Quite the adventure that was. Apparently I am a terrestrial animal, and cannot breathe water. Neither am I a strong swimmer."

Hela stared at this newcomer, then a brow arched. "You do not know if you can read?" Was this man suffering the same condition as Lettie. Then came the explanation about being terrestrial and unable to breathe water, and Hela's mouth tightened as though suppressing something dangerously close to amusement. "That is generally how drowning works." She lowered the toilet roll from her chest at last, though still gripped it. "Same though. I think I was ki....A faint scraping sound touched one of the windows and the artist froze. Another soft drag was heard against the glass. A sharp turn on her heel and Hela turned to face it, though it was dark outside in the night. She quickly grabbed the lantern that was providing the glow of light to the room and extinguished it. Just like that, the room fell into the same darkness as outside. "Shhh." she hissed, terribly bossy of her. Then in a whisper "Hide under one of the tables." comes the next command, though she herself did nothing of the sort.

Spizzzo shrugs happily, "Haven't tried, yet. I'll add it to the list." Then the sound, the reaction, and the darkness. As the light fades, Spizzzo turns to face the scraping, one arm held out in the general vicinity of the space between the scratching and Hela. He answers in a careful whisper himself, "Me trying to hide under a table in the dark is likely to draw more attention than it dissuades. What is it? All the inhabitants I've met so far have been lovely."

Hela turned her head towards him in the darkness, though the look she gave him would be one her gran was proud of, even if it could not be seen in the pitch black. "Lovely is not the same thing as safe." she hissed. There was another scrape, soft and faint, against the glass pane. She did not move but she listened. One hand lowered slowly, setting the toilet roll onto the table beside her hopefully back upon the table top. "I do not know what or who that is." And that was a problem. She wanted to know how many people he had met, to see if her count so far was accurate or if more and more kept on rising out of the damn lake. Now was not the time for conversation though, not when the sound upon the glass repeated. If Spizzzo however, had no desire to hide and protect himself, perhaps he would not be her lunch and could be a sacrifice instead. "If everyone has been so lovely, why don't you go outside and see who that lovely person is?" Perhaps it wasn't a who, perhaps it was just a branch on the glass and the wind playing tricks and she was just on high alert.

Spizzzo listens to the scraping, then sets his jaw. "Well, sure. I'm sure it's another bedraggled soul looking for warmth and comfort. Maybe that nice little girl with the funny ears got lost." He smiles at the thought of welcoming the nice little girl into the warm tavern, and calls out, "Come on in! We have kindling and light" as he reaches for the door.

Hela moved the second he mentioned the little girl with the funny ears. "Lettie?" The name blurted out of her mouth before she had time to think about it. He was reaching for the door. "No." Hela crossed the distance quickly, one hand going for his wrist and the other for the door itself, trying to keep it shut before he could pull it open. "Do not!" She needed a second to think, what if it was Lettie outside? "If that is Lettie, then we make sure it is her before we open anything." Her attention snapped back towards the window, listening for the scrape again, every muscle tight, ready to lunge, fight, shift, whatever it took. Yes, Lettie could be outside but it could also be something else. One hand braced against the door, she llooked up at Spizzzo through the darkness. "Describe her. The girl with the funny ears. When, where, what happened?" She remained tense though, ready to go outside herself if there was any indication it was the young woman outside and not a stranger.

Spizzzo blinks at the sudden shift in tone and positioning, but makes no effort to resist as Hela takes his wrist in hand. He clears his throat before answering matter-of-factly, "Nice young lady. Hair was red and black, ears like a cat. She was having a rousing debate with her mother about whether or not we are real or spirits. I believe her mother reached a conclusion, but then fainted. Last night, on the lake shore. Why, is something the matter?" His ears strain to pick out a rhythm or reason in the intermittent scraping, but it doesn't seem to arrive in sync with the howl of the wind.

Hela paused before parroting "Her mother?" That caught her. Her grip upon his wrist loosened though she did not let go of the door. "Lettie's mother is here?" The confusion from her screamed even though her voice was just still a whisper. Rory, Lettie, Herself, this man and now Lettie's mother.There were five of them...at the very least. She could not tell if the climb of number was a relief or a concern. "She did not mention that." Not that she knew if it was before or after they had met up. Hela's eyes shifted back toward the blackened window. People appearing here did not feel accidental. "Last night." Again she repeated as if saying those words would somehow bring her all the answers to all the questions that had been formed while here.

Then another scrape dragged against the glass. "That is not the wind." Well she didnt think of it. Hela finally released his wrist but kept the door secure. "If Lettie is with her mother, then that makes this less likely to be her. She is safe at least." A deep woosh of air left her lungs as she leant against the door. "Who are you? Name? Where are you from? What are you? In as few words as possible, tell me who you are."

Spizzzo smiles slowly, somehow the tension of the moment entering his senses and becoming transmuted into something comforting and familiar in his chest. A dark room, a scared friend, a strange noise, a nebulous threat. Well that's alright then, isn't it? And then, a genuine cause for jubilation. A question he can answer! "Oh, I'm Spizzzo Spizzzoson. I came out of the lake yesterday. I'm a terrestrial animal, and a poor swimmer." Well. One out of three ain't bad

Hela waited though nothing could have prepared her for that name....Spizzzo Spizzzoson. His parents must have been...well a word that can not be uttered in polite company. Lake, terrestrial animal, poor swimmer, it told her nothing really. Her lips parted in a pause before she spoke as though another part of his answer might still be coming...it did not. "That was unhelpful." Her voice remained hushed, she had asked him three remarkably straightforward questions and somehow learned pretty much nothing apart from his parents were awful. "Spizzzo. One z or two?" At least she had a name. "Emma." is what she offered her name in return, a lie but it would do. "What were you before the lake? Where was home? Human? Witch? Vampire? Particularly articulate badger who enjoys mashed potato?" One more scrape on the window cut her off. Attention snapped to the sound, her head tilted. It was both rhythmic and persistent. She held up one finger towards Spizzzo. "Do not invite it inside." A very pointed instruction this time. Hela moved away from the door and carefully towards the window. One hand found the edge of a heavy wooden chair and grasped at the back rest. She leaned just enough to try to peer through the pane without putting her face directly against it as she looks and waits.... "It;s a fucking tree," she sighed, "If you promise we will never discuss this again, I will let you have one roll of toilet paper."

Spizzzo holds up two fingers before confidently answering, "Three z's, if you please." Confused, he looks at his fingers, shrugs, and raised a third. He turns to watch Hela, sliding into a loose and ready stance, arms raised to defend against...a tree. He quietly muses, "Before the lake?" He then smiles again, and mimes button his lips.

Hela watched the third finger rise. Three z's...really? He probably had a silent x in that name for a hoot as well. Then he mimed fastening his lips and Hela narrowed her eyes at him for a moment, deciding whether she trusted that promise. She didnt but there was limited choices in this world and making an outright enemy for the sake of one roll of paper was probably not the smart move. She turned back towards the table, selected a single roll from the pile with the solemnity of someone distributing wartime rations, then walked back and held it out to him, though in the darkness a little bump of her leg against a chair was had on the way. "You do not deserve it." The roll remained extended. "But you have agreed never to speak of the tree again, and I am apparently a woman of my word." Even she herself had doubt in that. Assuming he took it, she would return to her sack, gather it up and sling it over her shoulder. She could not carry the remains of the mountain of toilet paper tonight, but she would be back for it...unless someone else took it. Her gaze moved once around the tavern, then back to Spizzzo. "Try not to burn down the watchtower or drown again. Maybe keep some paper for your arse." Hela moved towards the door, opened it a crack to suspiciously peer outside, then stepped out into the dark. No farewell beyond that.

Spizzzo waves the toilet paper roll overhead, calling out, "Bye Emma! Nice meeting you!"

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