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A sigh falls from Amora the Enchantress, well former Enchantress' lips as she walked the length of the park. Yes being heartless meant that she lacked much of her motivation to cause trouble, but she was bored. No news from Karnilla, no real movement with spying on what the Princes were up to… It left her wandering aimlessly.
So the park seemed just the place. Granted the beautiful, blonde bombshell had no lack of admirers following her apace. Plenty of men walked into trees, benches.. other people.. with just a glance of her pretty green eyes.
But it no longer amused the Goddess of Desire.
The sound of her heels muted as she stepped off the paved walk way and onto the grass, stepping lightly into the field of trees and plants. A hand reached out to brush over a few hedges, and she plucked a dying leaf and twirled it between her fingers.
*
"I shouldn't be here." Merlin mutters to himself, the flashes, the remnants of his dream, still bothered him. And yet, something compelled him to stay. To wander the park. To try to determine why the Hellmouth had been opened, and who would benefit from it. The old man shakes his head, his long white hair and long white beard sway as he does so. His pointy hat, which seems to sit precariously on his head, barely seems to move.
As he walks through the park, he lets his gaze go where it pleases. After all, one never knows what one might see, especially in a place where they'd least expect it.
*
Amora crushed the dying leaf between her fingers, leaving the little bits to float downwards as she wandered. Oh, she was aware of the Hellmouth, but perhaps it was arrogance, or perhaps the simple nature of one so old and used to magics that the idea of it didn't really leave much of an impact on her. It was, however, a good place for her to pick up magic. Midgard lacked much of the ambient energy that Asgard, Nornheim, or any of the other realms. At least, any that she was familiar with. So the rift in the fabric of the universe? Good as any.
So it was that the blonde looked idly surprised to sense an entirely different magical presence in the park. She changed her course, stepping around a tree to seek out the presence. Her eyes falling upon the aged figure of the man with a.. pointed hat?
A quirk of her brows followed and she paused, head tilting to the side as she studied the wizard.
*
Looking down at his shadow, Merlin raises an eyebrow and lets out a hollow laugh. "Don't give me that look! You have no say in the matter! And since you're a part of me, you've to do what I say!" His British accent is quite evident, to those who care about such things. He waves his hand and continues walking, his staff thudding against the ground. "Now…what was I doing?" He murmurs to himself.
As he looks from the path toward the trees, he frowns. Is that woman staring at him? No, surely not. She must just be having a relaxing day in the park. Maybe? His pace slows slightly as he considers the woman. No, she's unusual. But how is she unusual?
*
A flutter of thick eyelashes follows as he talked to his .. shadow? And Amora steps out from the trees to approach the possibly crazy old magic user. For she could sense the magic, she knew it was there. Even if she didn't have her own power, well much more than a child had, she could sense the presence of other magic just fine. It was what had allowed her to find Strange after all.
Slowly, she approached, stepping carefully over the sticks and rocks on the ground. Her heels sinking into the dirt and gaining a look of irritation from the beauty, even as she tried to smooth down the front of her miniskirt as she approached.
"Excuse me, elder.. but do you require assistance? You appear some what lost.."
*
"Lost? Oh, my child, I'm not lost! Disconcerted, perhaps. Tired? Maybe. Surrounded by danged fools on occasion? Most certainly" Merlin laughs and shakes his head. "But," he waves his staff around. "I am not lost. I am in the park that is most central in the township of 'New' York." There's something in the way he says 'new' that suggests perhaps he's not as impressed with it as he is, or was, with the original York.
"However, I might ask of you the same. You were in amongst the trees, after all. And your…" He glances down at her feet. "Travel wear seems to disagree with the greenery. Are you in need of assistance?"
*
A laugh, high and chiming, and utterly too cold escaped her. A chilling discordance with what it should sound like. It didn't seem to suit the beauty that graced her delicately shaped features, but her green eyes were just as flat. Still, she smiled and approached closer still before she paused a hands span away. She paused to inspect her heels and shrugged briefly.
"I'll admit, I'm unused to having to walk every where. It's terribly unfashionable. But I have little and less to keep me occupied these days." She sighed, as if greatly put upon, before she offered out her hand manicured hand. Green nails catching in the sunlight.
"I'm Amora, and who might you be?"
*
The laugh causes pause in Merlin. It does seem a little…he's not quite sure what. But it doesn't seem to match the joy it is supposed to convey. "I find myself rather fond of walking, personally." He responds in his somewhat gruff British voice. "It helps me think. It lets me…" His hand flutters about, "observe existence, in whatever form it takes."
Reaching out his own hand to accept Amora's, he smiles a little. "Merlin of Camelot." He responds in his normal introduction. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Amora."
*
Golden brows shoot upwards at his words and Amora blinks once and then twice in interest. "Merlin of Camelot as in the mortal's tales? How fascinating! I cannot say I've ever met anyone of your .. hmm, parthenon is the incorrect word. Mortals never saw you as gods per say.." She tilts her head to the side, blond hair spilling over her shoulders as she rolled them back.
"Midgard has been so very interesting lately. I wonder if Loki has had a chance to meet you?" She turned green eyes toward him, the emptiness inside her gaze screamed of enchantment. Of something gone wrong. Even as she acted at emotion, played at the memory of it, there was none actually there behind her expression.
"I was Amora the Enchantress.. but it would be that you've caught me after said title has been stripped. Also, formerly of Asgard. Currently of Nornheim? Midgard? I know not.."
*
"Mortals…" Merlin is almost always interested when someone uses that term to describe someone other than themselves. "Aye. Merlin of the mortal's tales would be correct. But they're more than tales. They're history. My history." He responds in kind. "And you'd do well to rember that!" It almost sounded like a threat. Though not quite a threat. Perhaps he just keeps coming across people who think he's nothing but a story.
"Midgard…Loki…" He scratches his nose. "Ah. You're Asgardian, I see?" He lightly thumps his staff upon the ground as he ponders, looking Amora over again. "If you do not mind my saying, Asgardian, there appears to be something rather unusual about you. I cannot place a finger nor thought upon it as yet, but I cannot shake the sense that you are different somehow."
He shakes his head. "Regardless, I've not met Loki. Nor have I met Thor Odinson. Have I met Odin Allfather?" He ponders the last question to himself. "I cannot remember. I've lived a many years, by human standards. I cannot be expected to remember it all!" He gazes at her with sympathy as she mentions her title being stripped. "Why are you no long Amora the Enchantress? What took you from Asgard? Why would one move to the land of the Three Norns? Midgard seems more hospitable than the home of the Norns!"
*
Amora didn't seem ruffled at all that he stamped his staff and grumbled about history and tales. She smiled again, a reflexive motion as she settled up against his side. "Oh, lovely. I have finally met someone on Midgard the Prince has not. How delicious." She winked and looked over him again and gave a dramatic sigh, stretching her arms over her head.
"Mmm, Asgardian, I suppose. Though they would not claim me these days. You see I upset the golden, Crown Prince. He seemed to think it all my fault. He insulted me, after breaking my heart. Which, truly, was foolish. Who angers a woman that could curse him? But no one called Thor Odinson bright. I didn't actually do anything, but they assumed that my word was meaningless…You see, as a result, I was stripped of my powers and status and given to the Norn-Queen. Punishment.." She grimaced, and waved a hand at herself.
"I was meant to learn something, but no one seemed to tell me what that was exactly. Other than control.. Which seems foolish when compared to the rest of my kin." She clucked her tongue and shook her head. But she warmed to the tale all the same.
"Beyond that I cannot say." Her eyes flicked over the aged wizard beside her for a moment and away. "For I awoke here and am forced to stay. Near powerless and at the mercy of another. And all the worse for it."
*
"Thor Odinson…insulted one of his kind who was adept in the mystical arts? Ha." Merlin shakes his head in disbelief. "Perhaps I should not judge him so harshly. After all, I had to help raise Arthur from child, to young prince, to king, and he…he was not easy to deal with at times." Arthur will always have a special place in Merlin's heart, but being a mentor is not easy for anyone.
"You have my sympathies, however, child." He keeps calling her 'child', despite the fact that she's probably older than he is. "Being stripped of one's abilities and one's title is never an easy thing. And the land the Three Norns, and the Norn Queen, inhabit…I wouldn't dare dream of that place for anyone! It's not terrible, but any place that holds a being that claims to focus on the fate of others is never a friendly place in my mind."
He tilts his head to one side inquisitively. "Now, you say you are forced to stay here. Is that merely because you cannot create dimensional portals any longer and because you are not granted access to the Bifrost? If so, that should not deter you from attempting to visit other places, if you wish."
*
A faint smile pulls at her lips as he speaks of Thor and laughs. It was at least, more honest in its attempt to form. Even if the emotion behind it was lacking. "Aye, well.. He has chosen a mortal to be his Queen again after the last failed. And he has had more fair maids fall at the alter of his heart in vain. Myself included." She whispered, looking away briefly.
"And the Norn-Queen and I.. we are a two fit for tales. I was her apprentice when I was young, but she cast me out. Only to intercede for me again after two thousand years, and claim me as her's… The All-father has no love for me and allowed it. None spoke out against her.. no one stood for me. No cares.." She shook her head and pushed her hands into her pockets at her hips. "How strange a thing, for the Goddess of Desire to be bereft of all that she would desire in all the Nine Realms..?"
"I am trapped here as much as by my lack of power as by the force that—" She broke off, and grimaced, her eyes squeezing shut before she opened them. "There are geas." She let it rest there.
"I should leave you, Merlin of Camelot. Least I draw eyes that like me not."
*
"You've had a troubled life, child." As much as she might have trouble conveying true emotion, the sympathy on Merlin's face is real. "I doubt very much that there are those who do not care." He says softly. "But from what little birds have whispered to me, when Odin Allfather cares little for someone, others rarely speak out in favour of said person. 'Tis shame. Had I known you, and of your plight, perhaps I would have had the audacity to speak up. Injustice 'tis injustice, regardless of who the injustice befalls, and let no one, 'god' or mortal, become beholden to it." Isn't that something he tried to teach to Arthur? That injustice should be fought?
"The Goddess of Desire may have been left with naught, but she may still regain that which she does most desire." He strokes his beard as he listens to her, thinking.
"Geas are a terrible thing. I am sorry for that as well. If there is anything I can do, please to not hesitate to tell me." Snapping his fingers, a little rainbow coloured butterfly appears in a puff of pink smoke upon his finger. Holding it out to Amora, he says, "Take her, and keep her with you. If and when you wish to get in contact with me, just let her know, and she'll find me, wherever I am."
*
If Amora could feel, perhaps his words of pity would have roused tears to her eyes. Perhaps not. Yet she still smiled faintly, and inclined her head. "Tis hard when all you've known for thousands of years turn away at your disgrace, or charge you evenly with it. Or even more so are the cause. I would say it hurts, but I feel it not." She whispered, her gaze lifting toward him again as he spoke of her regaining that which she most desired.
"I know not what I might desire the most may be anymore… how strange to think." Then her gaze fell to the butterfly, and she reached out a delicate hand to cup it close to her. Surprise flitting over her expression with a lurch of golden brows upwards.
"Thank you, Merlin of Camelot. I shall hold that as a comfort at the very least.." She inclined her head, and still clasping the butterfly spun if magic close, turned to leave the old wizard in the park.