Freyja's a hit!

I just don't think you know how complicated it is to just connect with people of the modern world, you said inwardly to Freyja. There's a lot of socio-political divides that complicate how one judges another, distrust in strangers, protocols for how to engage with someone whom you--

"Pardon me, do you mind if I join you?" Freyja said as she approached the table, standing next to Olivia and the other coworker whose name was lost to you. She had no trouble discarding everything you just said, but she maintained a confident smile all the while.

Olivia looks up from her drink. "Hm? Oh, yeah, sure."

"Wonderful!" Freyja moved opposite the other two around the circular table, sitting in the tall barstools. "I'd been alone across the way with naught but a voice in my head, but I think other voices are my remedy."

The girls giggled, looking at each other for a moment. "What is that, Shakespeare?"

Freyja blinked, tilting her head. "Apologies, I must have misheard. Do what with a spear? I'm better with a sword, if I'm completely honest."

More giggles, as the girls leaned on the table, peering toward you and Freyja, trying to unravel the puzzle before them.

"I'm Britney, this is Olivia," the coworker whose name you formerly didn't recall said. "Where are you from, exactly?"

You couldn't believe it, Freyja was pulling it off instead of frightening these other girls away by being weird! "I'm called Freyja. I'm from Europe."

"Ohhhhhhh." The other girls nodded. To them, everything suddenly made perfect sense, even though it absolutely shouldn't have. But, you couldn't argue with results. The three girls chatted, as Freyja ordered another round of nachos, for the table of course, but mostly for her. Ale number five was promptly delivered, and the festivities and revelry continued. Lots of questions focused around Freyja: how she managed to get her stunning athletic body, how long she'd been in town, tales from Europe. Freyja answered vaguely, in order to avoid answering truthfully, but the other two girls were already a couple drinks in and likely wouldn't remember any details about the one who usurped control over your body anyway.

Freyja was as adept at being inquisitive as she was about orating on her life story, fortunately. She extracted so much you had never known about Olivia, things you could put to good use. She was a dog person, loved daffodils, would eat anything with strawberries in the ingredients but in particular loved the strawberry jam her grandmother used to make. Most importantly, she was still very much single.

"Do you have your eyes on anyone?" Freyja asked, looking at Olivia as Britney picked at the nachos, leaning on the table far more than the other two. Britney looked nearly ready to pass out, but Olivia was still holding her own at the moment.

Liv shook her head, made even more wobbly by her inebriation. "Still waiting for a nice guy. But not just a nice guy, a good guy. Someone who helps people who need it. Where are all those guys?"

Freyja shrugged. "They might be closer than you think. Perhaps nearby when you are toiling away at work."

"Oh, I dunno. Office romance can be pretty weird. But also, it feels like no one wants to just talk! It's either that they want me to do work for them, or they want to stare at my ass. If one of them would ask me about my poetry, maybe then I would consider it, but... I mean I post it all over my whiteboard."

Poetry? The last thing you saw on Liv's whiteboard looked like a to-do list of things to buy at the supermarket. Maybe next time you'll have to look a little closer.

"Hey, enough about dating and all that," Britney said, turning to you with a goofy smile. "You should definitely come with us tomorrow. It's gonna be movie pool night! Our friend Elsie, she sets up a projector near her jacuzzi and pool and we watch a film while floating in the water, it's so great. You could be my plus-one?"

Freyja simply nodded, understanding absolutely nothing about what she had been told, but she'd basically volunteered you for another night away from your apartment. She'd better not make plans during tabletop night! Your elf barbarian wasn't going to level himself, after all.

The night went on, more discussions, more laughter. Freyja occasionally shooed away attempts by guys to interrupt the dynamic at the table, trying to clear the way so you could make use of your knowledge tomorrow. She was pretty good at frightening them off with a bit of natural intimidation. It struck you just how much she focused on the well-being of others, as everything she was doing now--save for the tireless nacho consumption--served to aid you in getting to know Olivia, although Britney seemed keen to constantly interject constantly, as she seemed to grow particularly fond of Freyja.

Eventually, everyone had to part ways for the evening. Freyja used the card to pay for the table, a generous offer were it actually her money. After waving goodbye to Liv and Britney, you found yourself once again in control of the body, on a homebound bus clutching their phone numbers on a napkin. You felt good, great even. Despite consuming a meal that would paralyze a lesser human being, you only felt more energetic, aided by the incredible intel Freyja had landed! Once inside your apartment, you collapsed on the couch, not feeling even remotely buzzed from all that ****, but certainly still restless.

"You're... incredible, I guess is the right word," you said to Freyja. "I think I owe you one, after tonight. Tell you what, I'm on board, for this whole... whatever it is. This sharing thing. If it means I can get a shot with Liv, it's worth it. I'll even learn all that stuff you said I should learn, the guardian stuff, so we can work together. Just, I kind of like being in charge of my movements so I think we need to work out some sort of system."

"Very well," Freyja said in response, glancing about your tiny apartment with a brief amount of control. "I don't mind spectating, as long as you will not argue in times of crisis where I must act how I see fit. Your control means I maintain more energy should I need to call it forth, anyway. Those two will likely notice a different demeanor if you show up like this to the 'moving pool night' but act like yourself."

You shrugged. "I'll just say that tonight was five-drink Freyja, or something. I'll just be myself, kind of, and see how that goes. It can't be that hard to manage, right?"

You two sat in silence for a bit, staring upwards with your arms outstretched, pondering what to do while embodying a goddess.

"If it's all the same to you," Freyja said, "I wouldn't mind calling in that favor right now."