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Characters: The Witch of the Candy House
Open? Yep
Where: Two Faced Forest
When: RH4 [or really, any other day if you wanna backdate]
What: In the Forest is a candy house, and a cranky old witch who wants these dang heroes to get the hell off her lawn!

Deep in the Two Faced Forest, next to a lake of impossible clarity sits a small candy house. Walls made of gingerbread, decorated with hard candy that magically stays unmelted in the sun, it's picturesque and inviting. Care to knock on the door? Or just have a nibble of the gingerbread? Either way, take great care. The witch is not known for her good nature...

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"Only if these thorns are able to cross water, climb into the sky and burrow into the Earth. It's only this kingdom that fear them. The others care not."

"What?" Again, he bristles. "Do the people know this? The king? That there is safety to be found outside this place?"

She is furious, and not at the witch. Again, her anger is directed back at the king.

All this time – villages swallowed whole by the thorns, when amnesty might be found beyond borders.

"Why flee your home for another when you can call others to do the dirty work for you?" came the flippant reply. "Those with short lives protect their homes, stay stubborn for them and will stand before them as the wave crashes down over them and sends them off to their graves."

“And those with long lives have no interest abiding by the petty patience of mortals.”

It is not the best side of her, and one that has been tempered during her stay here. But it is the most maddening trait of humanity – planning for the next ten years instead of the next hundred.

She turns to Thor.

“If they would be safer elsewhere, should we not simply move them elsewhere?”

Thor's eyes bore into the witch's, cold as a Jotunheim winter... But she has a point in there, and he can see it. "From what I know of Midgardians, they will not take kindly to being asked to abandon their homes," he admits begrudgingly. Jane certainly would not. Stark would not. Nor Rogers. These are not Midgardians here, but they seem largely the same, to him.

"Not permanently, at least. Perhaps if we can find a temporary relocation, while we eliminate the enemy..."

Edited 2012-06-29 12:25 (UTC)

His eyes were met without flinching, and with something bordering amusement before she turned away to resume hobbling back to her home.

"If you truly claim not to harm children," Sif called out, after the witch. "Then stop selling your houses to others who might."

She could not match the hag's power. Could not charge her. Could not even stop her from leaving. All Sif could think to do was use the old woman's own protests against her. That, for the moment, was the topic again on her mind.

He growled at her back, but did not make a move to attack her again. This, he saw, was going to be a problem: a force of chaos in the Kingdom with more power than the Prince of Asgard was nothing to be taken lightly. And truly, he wanted nothing more than to rush into battle anyway, reason be damned -- but if he could not even touch her, what battle would there be?

Still, he was not happy to turn away. "Come," he snarled, his mood gone black. "We have what we came for."

"We have more," she said, eyes trailing the old woman before turning to Thor. She paid his mood no mind. She was not an attendant, under compulsion to clean up his flipped tables.

"Thor -- you destroyed the thorns." A light, in her eyes. This was wonderful news, regardless of the circumstances.

"I would destroy a forest full of them right now," he glowers, still angered; the importance of it has not yet occurred to him, and he is still too stuck on his rage at the witch to think it through.

"And I would ride with you to do so!"

She reaches out an arm. Truly, he does not understand what this means.

"Thor Odinson. Put your foul mood aside and listen to me."

He whips around as she touches him, baring his teeth. "What?"

...And then, because it's Sif, and he's not suicidal, he takes a deep breath and tries again, more calmly: "What?"

Were he not the crown prince of Asgard, her expression screams. Even for Loki, she likely would not have checked her anger, now.

"Are you quite finished?"

"I am." Enough to hold his tongue with her, at least. He does not quite apologize, but he quiets down with a vaguely sheepish look.

"Very well." It is forgotten, then, and she continues. Excitement, back in her expression.

"Thor, I have been here for some time now. We have tried all manner of ways to defeat the thorns, and yet they consume still. Until this day, I have seen nothing damage them, let alone turn them to ash. I had started to fear that there was no way to break their curse."

And now he, too, smiles slowly; perhaps out of pride, or perhaps just because her smile is deeply contagious. Perhaps both, for there's definitely a hint of smugness in his voice when he says, "There is little that can stand in Mjolnir's way, Sif."

The witch will not be mentioned again right now.

"I am glad to see it."

Sif is normally one of the few people on Asgard who feel bound to poke holes in Thor's ego, lest it inflate his head to unreasonable proportions. But he shall see no such admonishment from her now. It is a relief, honest and truly, that Mjolnir has not failed them.

"Quickly, we must tell--"

Ah. Everyone. Including those that have been combating the problem for months, with no results to show for it. She knows that Loki has been at the forefront of those efforts. Her enthusiasm stalls, visibly.

"Tell-- who?" Again, he is behind her. "The King? I will go to him at once."

"Save us all," Sif murmurs. No, she would not see the King involved in anything that might actually be productive. She turns.

"You ought to speak with your brother, first. He has been investigating the thorns for some time. It would be good to compare your findings."

The unspoken: that to hear of Thor's success will surely lead Loki to designate his previous efforts as failures. There will be fallout.

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