asgardeventide | 001; audio; day 65

[The transmission is preceded by a brief sigh, a sound halfway between begrudging and resigned. Not the best noise to make while forming a first impression, but he's past caring at the moment.]

Hello. My name is Lelouch vi Britannia, and evidently, I am among Asgard's newest residents. [A brief pause.] If at all possible, an introduction to the city beyond the incredibly spartan letter and explanation offered by the house staff would be appreciated. I've taken the liberty of browsing some of the messages already posted, of course, but that hardly beats the convenience of having it all rephrased yet again for me, doesn't it?

[He may sound faintly self-mocking. Just faintly, though, and it fades in an instant.]

Besides, it seems like I'm going to be staying here for a while.

[Sudden opening of the city gates or not. And... well, it can't hurt to ask, so after a pause, he does.]

The term "Ragnarok" has come to mean a number of things over the centuries. A selfish man thought it would be the dawn of a new era of peace at the expense of personal freedom and expression. Of course, he wasn't looking at it in those terms, but that's what the result would have been.

Tell me, are our actions here meant to preserve this world from a literal twilight of the gods, a figurative one, or something else?

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What else is Ragnarok supposed to mean? [he's genuinely curious; it's kind of an important word in his world, and he's wondering if it's pretty much synonymous with "destruction" in all of them, or if it's just (a really freaky) coincidence.]

Other than that... if you have any other questions that haven't been answered yet, I can try to help. I'm Hope, by the way.

People sometimes overlook the specifics or substitute their own. That was what I was referring to.

Hello, Hope. You can tell me exactly what we're supposed to do to "bring life to the world." I haven't yet heard an explanation.

Oh. I... guess that makes sense. It's kind of a human thing to do.

And that's probably because we don't really have a straightforward answer. The most I've heard is... forming connections with other people, or something like that.

... Forming connections with people. I assume that refers to something beyond simple networking.

[There's a slight lift in tone to indicate that he's half-asking for confirmation, but then the statement is clear enough that he doesn't entirely need it. Forming connections, is it? That's... annoying.]

I guess so. I can't say for sure, but... it'd be pretty pointless if we were brought here for something that simple.

Pointless? The letter seemed to indicate that bringing life to this world would help ours as well.

I know, but we don't know if that's true or not. The gods haven't been completely truthful with us.

What a surprise.

[a dry, not-quite-laugh]

Yeah, most people think so.