[ the feed comes to life showing a woman who hadn't shown her face much until now. There is a small smile on her lips, honest and solemn. ]

Now that it is over, you will hear our words, for you deserve them.

The curse you experienced was not our doing as I know many of you have guessed. None of us wanted this and none of us schemed to bring it into fruition.

It was not the doing of the giants either; for no giant, not even Thiazi is able to wield such power. It is thankfully entirely beyond their abilities.

[ she releases a breath and then continues. ]

We think it was Freya. She is the only one strong enough to formulate such a plan. We heard her screams, we know her heart is full of anger. We believe that in her anger, she had struck the city with this curse without much prior thought and so the results were as grave as they were.

[ a moment of silence. ]

I must ask you, find the strength in your heart and do not think of her too harshly. Whatever Freya did, she did out of grief, out of despair and out of a terrible loss. She is mad with grief and in her madness, she had done a deed that is cruel and reckless.

But I will ask you to show her compassion all the same.



[ ooc; curse closure! Q&A round with Sigyn and the others. If you want Sigyn, or any God in particular, simply address them in your comment. ]

HEY.
HEY.
THE FUCK IS THIS? THE FUCK WAS ALL THAT?
WHAT IS ALL THIS BULLSHIT ABOUT HOUSES. AND GODS. AND OTHER BORING BULLSHIT. WHO CARES?
THAT BITCH PRATTLED ON. FOR SO LONG. I THOUGHT I WOULD DIE. OF BOREDOM. SO I STOPPED LISTENING AFTER A WHILE.
HEY. HEY.
HEY!!
I WANT ANSWERS.
DON'T THINK I WON'T KEEP DOING THIS. UNTIL YOU GIVE THEM TO ME. GUY BEHIND THE COMPUTER.
NOT THAT THIS IS A COMPUTER. IT'S MORE LIKE A SHITTY BRACELET.
BUT WHO CARES I KNOW YOU ARE OUT THERE.
I AM HOLDING YOU AT RANSOM. UNTIL YOU ANSWER ME. I WILL KEEP THIS UP UNTIL YOU DO.
ALSO. BEFORE I FORGET. WHERE ARE MY GIANT OGRES?
I SWEAR IF YOU DID ANYTHING TO MY OGRES. I WILL KILL YOU.
......
CAN I AT LEAST HAVE MAROON-STRIPE HAT BACK?
I SERIOUSLY JUST GOT HIM AND I MISS HIM ALREADY.
WHAT A PAL.
HE LET ME RIDE ON HIS SHOULDER. AND PUNCHED SOME WEIRD HUMAN SO HARD. HE RIPPED A HOLE IN THE UNIVERSE.
IT WAS GREAT.
MAROON-STRIPE? WHERE ARE YOU??
DAMMIT SOMEONE ANSWER ME!!!
I AM NOT SHUTTING UP UNTIL YOU DO.

[Don't tempt him, he is more than willing to be the biggest petulant brat in all of the universes until he gets his way.]

[ooc: An opt out post if anyone decides that they really REALLY don't want me to tag them with Caliborn. It won't get better from here folks.]

[someone's in the lab again. She's working on a little something and allowing it to bubble up into a filter, one eye glancing over to show she's paying attention. She looks a little uncomfortable and annoyed, and is shifting in her seat a lot.]

So, I'm adding a few lotions, oils and salves to my stock here. Nothing magical, mostly skin care. I've noticed recently is that we're not all human here. You might come into contact with each other and not everything will react well. Kind of like how a bird's feathers don't work right sometimes if you touch them because of our natural oils. Some of you might even want to come in contact. You never know.

[Another uncomfortable shift and a grunt.]

Also, there's a chance that you might, I don't know, end up sw...eating together at some point. If we've got really different diets, there's a reason for it. Considering that, if anyone wants to [ahem] volunteer racial allergies, odd quirks they've noticed in human contact, I'll keep a record. I'll check for anything that might give you a rash, have hallucinations, get sick and I'll make sure we're fully stocked up on stuff for that.

Right, this has been fucking embarrassing enough as is. [click.]

(OOC: Sam has just given you a Mordin Solus moment. Just a heads up that if you ask, you might get an earful of vague xeno stuff.)

[ When the feed comes up, Kate is looking grim. Or well, not grim, but serious. There are slight bags under her eyes of her own doing, but her eyes themselves seem to be alive for what feels like the first time in weeks.

She doesn't look happy. In fact, she looks extremely professional, with her mouth in a thin line and her brows furrowed slightly. If you squint, you might just see the cop uniform, the police badge. ]

I need everyone in Asgard to remain inside for the rest of the day if you can. If going outside is necessary, please remain outside of the Odin District.

[ If you're looking at the feed around her, you might recognize an alleyway. It looks like any old alley in the Odin District, so the chances of you recognizing the exact location are slim. Behind her there seems to be a collection of natives - most of whom seem to have a good amount of their color returned, and all of whom look concerned. They're standing behind what looks like a normal piece of rope, held up by two brooms on each side of the opening of the alley.

Kate looks back over her shoulder at them for a minute, which opens up the feed to blood splatter along the wall behind her. There's no view of a body, because she is being very careful to avoid putting that up on the network, but there is enough blood in view for anyone to have a general idea of what's going on. ]

I need everyone to stay behind the rope. Yes, behind the rope, thank you.

[ Kate turns back to the feed, regaining the same professionalism as before. ]

I've been notified by a shopkeep in the Odin District that there's been a murder. We don't know any details yet, but it seems the victim was a native, killed sometime last night. [ She's quiet for a moment, thinking about how much easier this would be if she had more people to call, more things to accomplish, but for now this will do. ] Until the murderer is caught, I would advise everyone to be extremely cautious when they move around the city at night. Don't go out alone, let people know where you're going, and please, please don't go looking for whoever did this.

Just because they seem to have targeted a native does not mean that they won't move on to travelers as well.

If anyone has any information regarding the murder - if you saw or heard anything that you think might be helpful - please feel free to contact me. My name is Kate Beckett and I work with the Forensics Unit out of the Hospital.

Thank you.

[ she cuts the feed off and immediately sets up a filter. ]


FILTERED TO FORENSICS UNIT

I need everyone who does not have any other obligations on site as soon as possible. I've sent the location to each of your bracelets. I've already notified Analie and the rest of the native team to bring all the equipment, but I'd appreciate... [ she looks over her shoulders again at the crowd that seems to still be growing ] any help, really.

It's too early to tell if this is connected to our last case, but I'll let you know if we learn anything. Again, come if you can, and if you can't we'll have a debriefing about it tomorrow morning.




( ooc plot info and the like )

It hadn't been a great day for him so far.

He had just arrived in Asgard, and though he had met the Maid and had things explained to him, she might as well have not bothered. He had been having too much of a panic attack at the time to properly listen, and afterwards had locked himself in the nearest bathroom for about an hour to calm down (which is to say he cried until his eyes hurt and his cheeks were stained with trails of red).

He had been so close, so close, to seeing the end of this game, and poof; he's zapped away to some different planet/reality/time-line to help some bogus Gods win another stupid war that he couldn't care less about.

Or at least that's what he assumed. He couldn't hear much above the rushing of blood and pounding of his bloodpusher in his ear tubes while that bitch was explaining everything.

Then, then; the real cherry on the top of this fucknugget parfait: he couldn't remember his block number. It was as if the woman hadn't told him at all. So, after wandering around the city for a few hours, he followed others from the Freya house back into the lodgings. He waited for everyone to fall asleep, then snuck into an empty room and cuddled up under the bed. Literally under the bed. That's when the real fun happened.

Daymares. Lots of them. It was all around awful. And when he woke up he was in the Loki district with a bloody and broken nose. This new adventure was going just great.

Luckily Nepeta--a Nepeta who hadn't been beaten to death by a crazy horn-bearing blundering clown, he hopes--got past his atrociously crabby attitude and promised to meet him in the lobby to fix his nose. Or at least he hoped she did. She never really said.

While sitting on a bench in the little front room area of the communal house, he fiddled around with his shiny new toy--the bracelet. He hadn't done much with it, yet. It seemed ridiculously stupid, like something Strider would alchemize for the irony of a fashion accessory that also doubled as a high-powered computer. He toggled through the settings until he figured out how to make a post. Might as well make himself known to whoever else might be out there.

ATTENTION ALL TROLLS
YOUR LEADER HAS RETURNED.
I KNOW MOST OF YOU MIGHT NOT LIKE IT, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO WERE SO FUCKING UPSET WITH MY INCOMPARABLE LEADERSHIP SKILLS IN THE FIRST PLACE, BUT I BELIEVE MY TIME AS RULER OVER YOU HAS RE-COMMENCED.
I AM CURRENTLY IN THE FREYA HOUSE. I THINK IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA IF WE GET TOGETHER TO MAKE AN ESCAPE PLAN. OR AT LEAST SOME SORT OF PLAN THAT DOESN'T INCLUDE MINGLING WITH THE LOCALS. I'M PRETTY SURE THEY'RE ALL ALIENS AND ALSO IDIOTS AND WE SHOULD STAY AWAY FROM THEM.
OH AND THE SBURB HUMANS CAN COME TOO. I GUESS I CAN SEE THEM AS SOMEWHAT COMPETENT AND MIGHT BE OF USE TO BREAKING OUT OF THIS WRETCHED CITY.

And now he waits.