asgardeventide | 9th Spark || [Video]

[You'd think Merlin would have gotten over the stage fright after all the announcements he's made before this, but no such luck. There's still a moment of nervous fidgeting before he clears his throat and gets straight to the point.]

Everyone's all right, yeah? After...the darkness. [He falters, paling just a bit, then forces himself to continue.] Turns out that was an attack on the city from the giants. A lot of us have been training, working on our powers for something like this, but we were still unprepared. [A soft, mirthless chuckle.] Really unprepared.

I thought we could try something--you know, in case we're caught off guard again. We've all just been talking to people we already know in the Teacher's Council meetings, or working with Travelers who have powers we're interested in. We're not going to have that sort of luxury when we're actually under attack. I know, I should've realised it earlier [especially with the number of battles he's followed Arthur into] but we have to work with what we've got around us. That's why...well, why don't we pair ourselves up blindly and come up with a useful way to combine our powers? Then we could share our ideas in that practice log I set up a while ago, so the information's available to everyone in the city. Or we could just talk about it during the next meeting. That way, we have a better idea of how to work with any of the powers, in case our usual allies aren't around.

[Merlin smiles at his audience rather hopefully.] If anyone wants to join up, let me know and I'll see about finding you a partner for this.

Oh right, I was supposed to say something else, wasn't I? You all heard what Odin said about the elves from Alfheim. They're the allies the gods have called on to help us rebuild what was damaged during the darkness' attack. I might have spoken to their queen--well, actually, it was more her talking to me--and she wanted to make sure the gods don't ah... [An embarrassed sort of pause as he rubs at his neck.] leave out things when they mention her. So if you've questions about the elves or anything similar, I suppose I'll...try my best to answer them. Or ask her for you. She did say that was all right.

[Merlin leans back, looking relieved that he's nearing the end of his message.] That's about it. Don't forget the next Teacher's Council meeting will be in a week--newcomers are welcome!--and that the hospital's always open for anyone who's been injured and needs help.

(ooc: If anyone's still interested in participating in the random partner activity, go ahead and sign up here!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Does this mean the giants have a king and queen too?

Yeah...they do. At least the cities of Muspellheim and Thrymheim do. One has King Surt and one has Queen Thiazi.

According to Loki, they were the ones who sent the darkness here.

So we should focus on kicking their asses, first.... [Didn't Muspellheim send that dragon, too? She's pretty sure she remembers him saying something about Muspellheim.... Anyway, it means those cities must be really powerful. Maybe more powerful than Asgard....]

Are the elves willing to fight those cities? Or at least support us some more? I did some trading with them when they were here, but if Draco and I are going to seriously get into herbalism as a business having more supplies from them would be great.

That's if we can reach them. So far, they've only sent us their soldiers and harmful spells, with no sign of them anywhere near the city. Something tells me they're not all that interested in getting involved if they can help it. We'll have to fight to get past them and whatever defenses they've put up around their cities first.

[At the mention of the elves, Merlin's expression clears.] If it comes down to it, we'll have the elves to help us. The queen said they aren't fond of fighting normally, but they'll give us aid to save Yggdrasil, if they need to.

That means we have to keep putting up with their attacks, huh? It sounds like we'd need an army if we wanted to try attacking them.

[Euri's voice grows a lot lighter, too.] That's better than nothing! I hope she's sincere about that, they all seem pretty nice in general.

We'll need an army to fight them off, at this rate anyway. We can't always rely on the gods to bring us back from the dead whenever something happens, you know?

Right. And even if they could do it every time, we shouldn't depend on something like that.

We shouldn't. It cost them a lot, making sure we were brought back the way we should be, and we know now they do have limits to their powers. Even gods can make mistakes when they're tired, and I'd rather not take the chance of not coming back.

Plus dying here is horrible to begin with! And with that uncertainty it's even worse.

You can say that again.

[His expression hardens.] That's why we need to be prepared and take all the help we can get. The next attack might be something worse than the darkness.

[Her tone is growing a bit more solemn. Prepared, huh...?]

It's too bad the magic plants here can't be more helpful when the attacks actually strike... but we never know what's coming, so it's impossible to predict what would end up being useful.

Magic plants...? Oh, right, you and Draco were experimenting with some of them, weren't you? [He saw the message about the sleeping potions, even if he didn't reply.]

Have you talked to someone called Samantha? She's been looking into magical plants, as well.

Mm, we've been really successful so far. The plants here aren't nearly as good as the ones back home, though.

... I know. [Flatly.] She's irresponsible. [Because being crazy and/or dangerous and working with this kind of flora is the equivalent to a homicidal person being given a loaded gun.]

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