#anywhere

"You know your old lore , young man." He offers a hand

"The world snake is a son of Loki, and I guess if I have to have troll stuff rub off on me, I might as well pick a fun one." He eyes the hand for a moment - not wary, but perhaps surprised. It doesn't seem like people normally offer him their hand, or maybe he just doesn't get out enough to meet folk. He wipes off his hand and takes Torin's, though his is cold and clammy still.

The older man's hand is soft in parts, calloused in the others, and it's brief, no danger of 'holding on' beyond the young man's comfort level

"There was some of this info in the stuff I transcribed for Tove, too. Thought I doubt anyone is gonna write a song about Nithhogg the corpse-eater. I mean, maybe death metal."

"Oh, trolls touch other cultures too... Finnish Folklore, Cornwall tales... " A brow "Oh, you're the one who found that treasure trove"

"Yeah, I figured Tove would like that stuff." He drops his hand. "I was reading about some of the different translations of Grímnismál. Most talk about Nidhoggr as a monster, but the translation could be read as "Malice Striker" being a "Striker of Malice" and not "Striking out of Malice". Like, striking it down. And when they get to the bit about sucking at the blood of the slain, these were of 'workers of ill' so maybe defiling those corpses could be, like, a lesson to the living..."

And then he shuffles a bit and withdraws, that being quite a speech to a stranger. "Uh. It's just.. an idea though."

"You mean, similiar to a post facto Sin Eater?"

He nods, and then, hesitantly offers, "Most translations say that the arrival of Níðhǫggr heralds Ragnarök, so it's supposed to be like, a dire warning. But it could be read... because so many other themes are of change, that this could be a 'redemption' of the serpent. Like he's 'shedding' the corpses and beginning life again." A toothless grin. "Like a rotting, scaly phoenix."

"Or it could be like a snake playing branch..and then swallowing the prey that got too curious."

He nods! "That works, too."

"You know who gets a good rep besides being heavy in Guile?"

"Odin. The All Father... the same things Loki catches flack for, that old wiley Woden pulled off similar"

"Really?" He looks intrigued. "I'll have to read up some. Mostly Loki gets the press."

"Oh, much of the old eddas were lost... but Odin too was a shapeshifter, and illusion caster... and he often came close to cheating others in bargains with the skill of a con man"

"Cheating might be more of a pooka thing. It's too easy to get caught."

"Might be," He nods "But if you want sluagh kin... mmm not every soul went to valhalla. Some..drifted..and a few escaped other places."

Dag listens, interested!

"There are even tales that aren't know by man, story of a rebellion in Nifflehelm where one spirit sought to steal his fellows free"

(Pause, but feel free to assume Torin went down to talk to Tove if you guys want Dagmar/Symon talk later and I'm not here)

ok