asgardstricks: (and i hate somebody too)
♦ L O K I ♦ ([personal profile] asgardstricks) wrote in [community profile] asgardeventide2013-01-13 12:47 am

NPC POST - LOKI - VIDEO

[This time, the bracelet will flicker on regardless of what you're doing. It's an important announcement, though Loki's sitting cross-legged on the top of his desk as if it's nothing big.]

Hey, kids. You might want to sit down, 'cause today we've got major news for you.

We're going to have Story Time With Uncle Loki, how great! Pay close attention, because this is your chance to make a big decision. You've been insisting on having input for a long time now, so we're giving you a chance. Try not to fuck it up.

[A pause, and deep breath, and he continues, eyes closed as if reciting something from memory.]

Once upon a time a world was born out of void. Whether it grew quickly or slowly doesn't matter, because "time" means nothing with nothing to keep it. Either way it grew, bigger and bigger until it was a nice, stable plane. The world was made up of magic -- so much it couldn't be contained in the stone and soil and sand. And so the world made life. Grass sprouted, trees grew, and all sorts of birds and beasts and other things came to inhabit it. But the world was still too full, and after some time the pressure led magic to burst out of the world in little fragments. The body of the world left only a few fragments, large and deeply connected to the land. These fragments took form and became the chief Giants. The soul of the world left more, smaller but brighter fragments, attuned to the spirit of the world and all the things living on it. These fragments became the first gods. The tiny splinters that showered on the world became the sapient peoples, elves and men and all their cousins under the stars.

It was given to gods and giants to care for the spirit and the body of the world, but from the beginning the two couldn't act together. The pressure that created them also splintered the world itself, and soon it began to grow many other, smaller worlds on its back. Soon it was becoming too big to support on a cracked foundation, and it was apparent that the world would eventually cease to function, leaking magic into the void until it dissolved away. But the world, for it was a living thing itself, with a broad, warm mind of its own, didn't want to die, and didn't want to see its people die with it. And so, in those very earliest days, it told its future.

One day, the gods and giants would go to war. They would die, and their magic would return to the place from which it came. The last to stand would be the Queen of Frost, and it was given to her to go to the heart of the world and give her life to freeze the world, keeping it safe in ice as it healed. When it melted, everything would be reborn, and the survivors chosen by the world would go on to create new life. But there was something else in that future. Time, it seemed, did not run straight. It twisted, curved and altered things. And so, after quite awhile, the world began to whisper:

"Perhaps," it said, "there can be healing."

And so began the true war. The Giants, long settled in the superiority of their prophesied victory, began to work to speed the foretold future. The Gods, desiring to save themselves and their people, began to work to find a cure. But a sickness came to the center of the land. Perhaps it was an illness of the world itself, perhaps it was something more sinister, but the result was the same: the land began to wither, and the magic began to seep away. The Queen of the Oldest City faded with it, and in his mourning the King began to despair. And so he went to the depths of the world, to look upon the countless child-worlds and search for answers. Perhaps, he reasoned, some of the life given to those children could be brought back to the mother. And so he and those Gods who followed him opened their very souls, binding people from the child-worlds to them and themselves to those people. The cure, it seemed, worked. It seemed that maybe, with effort, the very mother world herself could be healed.

Of course, the giants moved. Many lives were stolen from the world, among them the god whose heart desired peace more than anyone's. And so the rest mourned, as that shining essence faded to return to the world. Only something wasn't right. It was felt deep in the beings of all Gods and, surely, all Giants, but most in the soul that mirrored his. She fled, swearing vengeance on the City if she could not find her peace. And so the Gods looked again in the depths of the world, and found there the evidence of something fouler than Ragnarok itself. The Queen of Frost, it seemed, had gathered that Immortal essence. For what reasons, no one but she could possibly know. The Queen was a patient, clever being, and one who cared for her power above anything else. Then again, she was born of the world, and perhaps had her own plans to save it.

There was a choice to be made, then. To set out against the Queen and reclaim the Lost God, or to accept her plan and neutralize the Mad Goddess. The way to do either was hard, secret, and locked away in a place unreachable by the Gods, deep under the sea. Anything born of the Mother World was rejected from that place, though it held knowledge untold in all the millennia of the world. Fortunately, the Gods had on hand those born of the child-worlds, who could, for just a short time, access the Root of all Knowledge. It would be risky, and would only come at the aid of the Lady of the Sea, but it could be done. And so the Gods set this choice before their allies, and prayed that all would be well.

[He loosens his shoulders after that, suddenly all casual smiles.]

So. Will you save him, destroy her, or do nothing? This time it's up to you.
dreamspinning: (Breathe in only 'til you get it)

[personal profile] dreamspinning 2013-01-13 07:51 am (UTC)(link)
[since he arrived, ushahin has been searching for the lore of this place, and who has laid it all out so pleasingly for him but his patron god?]

Ah, so this is the story. And your mirrored gods, the Mad and the Lost, what are they to us, little children of the child worlds?

[you'll have to forgive him, that arrival was quite recent]
ofthursday: (Do you know the price I paid [Focused])

[Video]

[personal profile] ofthursday 2013-01-13 07:56 am (UTC)(link)
[Castiel is quiet through the entire story, listening intently, and though he doesn't look impressed he's also not as irritated as he usually is when the gods speak. He likes Loki well enough, and being given the choice of what to do is nice even if he doesn't believe all the of the story.]

Do you believe there is truly a chance to return Freyr?
veneficus: (pic#5353143)

video.

[personal profile] veneficus 2013-01-13 08:00 am (UTC)(link)
If the Travelers succeed in this risky task, even then, war would come swiftly to the city; I don't imagine the Queen of Frost would take kindly to those who stole from her.
tigers: (That was the question I'd never answer.)

video;

[personal profile] tigers 2013-01-13 08:00 am (UTC)(link)
Well, that was long-winded indeed. Has your tongue run off without you yet?

[ Moran don't curr. ]
bloodypocket: (♭ | capo.)

audio;

[personal profile] bloodypocket 2013-01-13 08:03 am (UTC)(link)
The Queen is aware of exactly what you intend to do with this, or is this really there is all to it?
ofthursday: (Taking notes [Nerding/Planning])

[Video]

[personal profile] ofthursday 2013-01-13 08:04 am (UTC)(link)
Souls can fade, in this world?

Has a god ever been revived before, here?
key_illusion: (pic#3014107)

[Filtered Audio]

[personal profile] key_illusion 2013-01-13 08:05 am (UTC)(link)
[As much as he's been shoving away his feelings from his recent curse, ??? can wait a little longer. This is important? And yet--]

Why make us choose? Don't you want Freyr back?
magnifique: (I might as well not care less)

video

[personal profile] magnifique 2013-01-13 08:06 am (UTC)(link)
[ "neutralize"? France has a bad feeling, but... ]

-- Is it not possible to save both?
dreamspinning: (I've walked through it both ways before)

[personal profile] dreamspinning 2013-01-13 08:09 am (UTC)(link)
Freyr and Freya?

You are not Shapers here, it seems, but it is still your way to ask much.

If we retrieve the Lost, what of the war? The Ice Queen will be more than wroth, I would imagine. And, for that matter, what of the Mad? It is a subtle thing, madness. Will you take her, even if she cannot be made whole?
ofthursday: ([¶ set] Pull the trigger we are)

[Video]

[personal profile] ofthursday 2013-01-13 08:10 am (UTC)(link)
Unfortunate, in both regards.

Who is this 'Lady of the Sea'?
magnifique: (the very pronoun of beauty and love)

video

[personal profile] magnifique 2013-01-13 08:11 am (UTC)(link)
So it would not harm Miss Freya?

[ because he's liking the sound of that idea, then! ]

If so, that's very good then, oui! Surely that'd be the ideal choice!
tracings: (did it bleed)

video;

[personal profile] tracings 2013-01-13 08:14 am (UTC)(link)
[And so the first true signs of war rear its head. Archer cannot say he finds the premise of the tale or the choice presented surprising, necessarily, and while he personally questions the decision to allow the gods' guests to decide, he knows they see the people here as valuable. Somehow.

He considers Loki's story, even stops to make a note or two on the whole matter. It's strange, having more than a split second to make what is apparently an important decision, and Archer takes a wry sort of enjoyment in savoring that fact.

But then there's the choice - save one or eliminate the other. To "save" would preserve more lives, or so it seemed, and yet what havoc would a fractured mind left unchecked wreak? If the sacrifice of one (they say one, but it's never just one, and he knows this too well) would ensure safety from the hands of the other, then surely that would--

This again. Always this again, wasn't it? When he appears on camera, he's only barely biting back a mildly irate expression. He had taken being summoned into a more peaceful world perhaps too much to heart - to think he'd escape this sort of thing for long was careless.]


Have you considered an abridged version of this for those among us less quick on the uptake?
likethelight: (165)

[video]

[personal profile] likethelight 2013-01-13 08:17 am (UTC)(link)
[ ... ]

Just because someone's grieving a loss so strongly, it doesn't make them an enemy. And I believe if there's a way to save someone that makes the risk worth it.

But reviving the dead, what that can do to a soul --

[ Pressing his lips together a little. ] That's not saving them or anyone.

Just what sort of deal is this? The thing that will save him -- is that related to what you're saying is worse than Ragnorak itself?
tracings: (here in hell)

video;

[personal profile] tracings 2013-01-13 08:18 am (UTC)(link)
And I was about to compliment you for being so charitable, letting us make the choice like that.
holmes_fanatic: (In the Teeth of the Evidence.)

[video]

[personal profile] holmes_fanatic 2013-01-13 08:20 am (UTC)(link)
To me, Odin-sama's logic is flawed. Taking life from the children to return to the mother -- no mother would sacrifice her children for her own sake. She would do the opposite. It's possible this world itself has accepted her demise and the whispers you hear are simply your own fears. To ones promised immortality death would be pretty scary, but death is a fact for us. It's hard to accept, but it is a fact nonetheless. Denying that only creates misery and pain.

I can't condone the gods of Asgard's actions in this struggle.

Freyr-san is a different story however. Leaving aside the war between gods and giants, Freyr-san should be allowed his freedom. He has been honest and open with the Travellers when other gods were not. Leaving him trapped doesn't sit right with me -- despite the fact that freeing him will give the gods more power. For that reason I'm voting to save him -- and volunteering to take part in the effort to free him.
dreamspinning: (Have you disappeared)

[personal profile] dreamspinning 2013-01-13 08:27 am (UTC)(link)
So you will welcome her, regardless. Good.

[he nods, and his hair moves, showing the ruined side of his face, studying loki with mismatched eyes]

You offer us the choice of standing by, of letting our worlds end? An interesting thing for gods to do, my Lord. But I have not lived so long that I wish to sit back and freeze. I heard that Asgard fared poorly, in the last battle, and it must be so, if a god perished. What will change, to bolster our chances?
asgardswisdom: (like it ain't no thing)

[Filtered Audio]

[personal profile] asgardswisdom 2013-01-13 08:27 am (UTC)(link)
We do. But we need you to find the answers for us, for the twins. So you have a choice. We won't make it for you.
asgardswisdom: (you are the antibody)

[video]

[personal profile] asgardswisdom 2013-01-13 08:31 am (UTC)(link)
Have we taken any of your lives to heal Yggdrasil? We never asked for your blood. We asked for your emotions, to bring this place colour, and it worked. Don't presume to know so much.

[ Odin is 100% sick of your shit, Conan. ]

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