if all the trouble in my heart would only mend, i lost my dream, i lost my reason all again | freya

[hedgebitch]

Things have gone from bad to worse. She doesn't know how it can get worse, but it does, somehow. Marina is dead. The Beast is dead. And she's alone. She has no one left to help her. Quentin probably hates her for what happened to Alice. She's going to have to look outside of the people she knows if she wants to get help in her cause. Reynard is still out there killing people. Raping them. God knows what else. She won't let what happened to Marina be in vain. She won't let what happened to her be in vain either.

Freya Mikaelson is kind of a well known figure in the hedgewitch community. The witches in New Orleans in general are well known and feared. The Mikaelsons are also a famously old family. Which means they might have more experience in older magics, the kinds you might need to kill a god.

She knows better than to go to the compound. Klaus is as infamous as his sister and Julia doesn't want to get on his bad side. Instead she goes to the regent, Vincent, and pleads her case to arrange a meeting. Which is why she's sitting at a table at Rousseau's, nursing a drink and waiting for the other witch to arrive.

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[deathlessness]

Vincent comes to Freya and assumes the worst of her from the start.

It's not an unfair assumption, honestly, it's one she's earned in her few short years in New Orleans and despite her family's sacrifice, she and Vincent are still trying to find their stride as the witch leaders of New Orleans. But it's a conversation that starts with Vincent asking her to do the right thing, the thing that values the needs of the many, rather than the few, to protect their witches, and Freya knows that she needs to prove herself.

Keelin is gone, off to a place that is far, far away from Freya, and she needs to prove her worth. The least she can do is have a drink with a young hedgewitch.

She makes her way into the room at Rosseau's and scans for the face that Vincent dug up off Facebook, while he was in the process of doing his due diligence, and makes her way over to the table. There's a certainty in her step that comes with knowing exactly where she's going, but she slows when she gets close enough, trying not to come off too aggressive.

"Julia?"

[hedgebitch]

Julia imagines they probably did their research on her -- and what they found might not be the most encouraging information. After all, Julia got blacklisted from most hedgewitch groups after Marina cast her out.

She's not exactly a welcome person in a lot of places these days. And she's only made more enemies for herself as she's started on this path to stop Reynard. Still. She can't let what happened to her and her friends happen to more witches.

If she doesn't stop him, who will?

She looks up from her glass, nodding her head a little in confirmation. "You must be Freya."

[deathlessness]

Vincent might have, but if he did, Freya doesn't really care. It's not as though she hasn't been a witch who made some bad life choices herself. What matters is that Vincent has looked into her and still wants to help her - that's the thing that matters.

"That I am."

She pulls out the chair across from her and drops into it, before waving a hand in Josh's direction. The vampire is likely there to keep an eye on Freya as much as he is Julia - never mind the fact that it's his bar - and he nods, before bringing over a bottle of tequila and two glasses.

"I hope you like tequila. From what Vincent told me, this sounds like a conversation where we're going to need a drink."

[hedgebitch]

"Tequila is a good start."

Really, after everything Julia's been through the past few weeks....well to say she could use a drink would be an understatement.

[deathlessness]

"Good."

She finishes pouring them both a glass, before passing one over to Julia, then picking up her own to nurse as she leans back in her seat. There are likely a lot of complicated pieces to this puzzle, so she'll let Julia decide where to start.

"So. Tell me about your god problem."

[hedgebitch]

"Well it started when my friends and I decided we were going to try to contact this supposedly merciful goddess, Our Lady Underground, so she could help us."

Julia scoffs a little at their naivety in retrospect and takes a large swig of her drink.

"We were so stupid."

[deathlessness]

Our Lady Underground rings a bell. Julia isn't the first witch she's run into that offered their love to Persephone, and in a way it makes sense that they do. Persephone is a goddess of mercy, of seeing the value in the darkness and loving someone in spite of it. For people like Julia, for people like Freya, she's a goddess of forgiveness, even if that isn't one of her domains.

"You had faith. It's not stupidity." She also wants to clarify that there's nothing supposed about her, but she has a feeling that that isn't Julia's point. "I take it you got something else entirely?"

[hedgebitch]

"We did. We got Reynard the Fox."

Julia takes a moment to finish her glass of tequila before continuing. She doesn't shy away from what happened to her, but it can still be hard to talk about.

"He killed most of my coven, my friends, except for my friend Kady who was able to escape because I distracted him. And he raped me. And now he's doing that to other witches. And he's going to keep killing and raping witches unless I find a way to stop him."

[deathlessness]

Well. That's less than ideal.

Reynard the Fox isn't her favorite of the deities, but she's heard of him. Dahlia used to tell her horror stories of the witches he would destroy - it was likely meant to convince her to stay close, but in fact it only had the opposite. She also knows that they're not going to be able to stay for this drink if he's already on the move.

"Is he targeting the followers of Our Lady Underground specifically?"

[hedgebitch]

"He is. He seems to have some sort of grudge against her, though I'm not sure why or what."

Eventually they would discover it's because he's Persephone's son and feels bitter that she "abandoned" him. But that's unknown information for now.

[deathlessness]

"Then we need to make a stop."

She gets up from the table, and passes the bottle back to Josh, before gesturing for Julia to follow her. Hopefully they have time to manage this before Reynard makes his way into the French Quarter.

"If you don't mind, it's not far."

[hedgebitch]

Julia stands up as well.

"I don't. Where are we going?"

[deathlessness]

"Most covens in New Orleans practice ancestral magic, but that doesn't mean they aren't partial to faiths of their own. There's a coven here that matches the profile you mentioned."

Young witches, all who follow Our Lady Underground.

[hedgebitch]

Julia feels her stomach drop a little.

"Then let's hope we get to them before he does."

[deathlessness]

Freya heads out onto the street and flags down a cab, settling into the backseat as she gives the address. She's also texting Vincent as they go, to warn him - he's probably going to be able to get there faster.

"Treme witches are protective and insular, and they're not a fan of my family, so we might get a bit of friction, but hopefully Vincent will be able to ... pave some of the way."

[hedgebitch]

"I'm used to friction -- a lot of people don't like me."

Which maybe she shouldn't be saying so casually, but Julia has made her own share of enemies, especially among Quentin's friends.

"I don't care if they like me, I just don't want what happened to me to happen to any of them."

[deathlessness]

"Good."

Because that is the thing that matters. She leans back in her seat and watches the Quarter as it passes.

"They're also not a huge fan of me, so I'm sorry if there's any resistance."

[hedgebitch]

"I'm getting used to resistance, honestly."

She hits it more often than not, in her experience.

[deathlessness]

"Me too," Freya admits sheepishly as the cab weaves through the streets. "I'm not always the best at working around it, unfortunately. I usually end up smashing through it."

[indestructress]

"Sometimes, that's all you can do." If people aren't going to work with you, sometimes you have to just push through them in order to still do what needs to be done.

[deathlessness]

"Yes, but it's not exactly a good way to make friends in the Quarter." Or anywhere for that matter. Sometimes the cause goes above worrying about the friends she could make, but then again, the things that Freya is usually worried about is her family.

"And that's somewhat what I'm trying to do now."

[indestructress]

"Then we'll try to avoid smashing through it, if we can."

Obviously, it depends on how meeting with Vincent goes. And if it comes to the matter of playing nice or saving lives -- well Julia already knows what choice she's going to make.

[deathlessness]

"We all will appreciate it."

And with that the car will lurch to a stop and Freya will climb out to head towards the house. She stops long enough to let Julia out with her, before closing the door behind her.

"Just follow my lead?"

[hedgebitch]

"I'll try my best."

Sometimes Julia could be...reactionary, but she would try to keep that in line, she knows it's necessary right now.

[deathlessness]

As they walk up to the door of the old, colonial style house, Vincent is already there waiting for them. He doesn't look happy to be here, but he seems somewhat willing to trust Freya's lead on this.

"Are you sure?"

"Do you know any other covens in New Orleans who worship Persephone?"

He sighs, before nodding and lifting a hand to knock on the door.