NPC POST - VIDEO - EVENT STARTER

[asgardsflight]

[ All of you need to stop giving Honir reasons to look sad on his only network appearances. This time, he looks downright bereft. But he smiles anyway; Mimir is steady at his side and it's enough support to get through this. ]

Can I tell you a story, Travellers? It's one some of you may have been wanting to hear - but it's a love story, for those of you that don't like them and want to avoid having feelings.

But it's not just about romantic love. [ His gaze flickers to his fellow god, then drops to his hands where they're sitting limply in his lap. ] It's about familial love, and earthly love too.

There once existed the god Tyr, and my big brother shared his heart with all he could reach. He reigned over diplomacy, and sought peace wherever he could find it - and he found it in our friends, the Earth Giants. They were calm and sweet, unlike their bitter siblings, and they favoured our alliance.

And their Queen favoured Tyr. They fell in love, in spite of the differences between their species and those that told them it was wrong, because how could something so sincere be anything but beautiful?

[ His smile fades into a frown, and he fiddles with his thumbs for a second. ]

But it was not to be. Laufey became heavy with child, and our magicks are too different - it was too much for her body to sustain, and she. Died. In childbirth. My brother saw his two beautiful baby boys as his beautiful wife lay dead, and stricken with grief, he sought to hold his family together.

[ Full-on frown now, with a near frantic twisting of his fingers. ]

He trapped her soul in a doll. He was desperate and - no one had ever done it before, no one knew how to stave off death, he was just. Desperate. He couldn't let her go, but in trapping her soul, he trapped her body and mind too. Laufey festered in madness for eight short years before her pain broke free from the doll; then madness and pain were all she knew. She killed Tyr, and almost all of her kin. We tried to stop her, we were there and she couldn't - we couldn't reach her.

[ Misery strains his voice. Grief and guilt and shame. He does try not to cry, though, and mostly accomplishes it when Mimir covers his hands with one of his own. ]

So we killed my sister too. It was the only way, and by then, it was too late. There was no one left to save but those two baby boys, sitting in the rubble of their parents' love.

[ Another face pops into the screen: Loki, grinning inbetween the two gods with his arms thrown over their shoulders. There's nothing pleasant in his smile. ]

And that's how I became a super model!

Little Loki -

Thanks for the bedtime story, Uncle. You nosy little shits wanted your answers - these guys are here to take you right to them. Have fun sleeping on a mass grave!

[ Rude little trickster that he is, Loki cuts the feed for Honir over his aghast gaping. ]

[ OOC NOTES: This is the IC post welcoming the Travellers to join them for a trip to Ginnungagap. OOC information can be found here and the mingle log is here. It isn't necessary to respond in order to go on the trip. All of the gods will be wandering through this post, so let us know if you'd like to speak to someone in specific! ]

Comments

[fire_punk]

[The story has Kevin thinking. Really thinking. Some parts are way too familiar, only in this story, it was just someone who went crazy. Not someone who liked hurting people. He's not sure which is worse.]

At least the babies were okay. [Because, in his own story, he hadn't been.]

[asgardsflight]

[ Honir isn't nosy enough to look into the Travellers' worlds ( as they are all capable of doing ), so he takes Kevin's words at face value and gives the boy a bright smile. ]

Yes. If there's anything I don't regret about then, it's being able to bring Loki home safely.

[ -- Well, one of them, at least. But he won't get into that, it's not his place. ]

[asgardstricks]

I'm gonna slap the next person that calls me a baby.

[snugglesjugs]

[Seeing Mr. Honir again is nice, but he had a feeling that this was about the incident. Sadly he was right and it takes him a few moments to say anything.]

Are their souls at rest now.

[The tale remind him of terrible things, he knew quite well what happens to rotted souls.]

One of babies was Mr. Loki, right?

[asgardsflight]

They were all given back to the Mother, yes.

[ He says it like a sigh of relief, the only good grace of it all. They suffered, but not eternally. 'Gone to a better place,' if you will. ]

That's right. They were so cute then. Not that they aren't cute now, but they don't like it when I say so.

[asgardsfog]

Seriously, stop calling us babies. That was thousands of years ago.

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[galvanist]

[all of this sounds WAY TOO FAMILIAR for Whale. Not wanting to lose somebody, bringing them back from the dead and them coming back wrong? hello there canon, how are you doing.]

So, you can only bring someone back from the dead here with magic?

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[asgardstactics]

Why do you ask?

[ Curiously, not sharply. ]

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[asgardstricks]

What do you use, tears, blood, and positive thinking?

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[tradire]

[ There's really only one thing he cares enough to get into right now. ]

So. The infamous Loki finally shows his face.

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[asgardstricks]

Oh, look! It's the one with the cow-horns.

[ He's had many a greasy-haired joke at this Loki's expense, it's a good time. ]

Wasn't exactly hiding, dude. I kind of live here.

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[asgardstactics]

He'd do Asgard a favor to hide it a little more, I think.

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[asgardsfog]

Excuse you. It's their faces, thanks.

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[true_renaissance_man]

Love that can not be let go of once it is over does cause a lot of pain. I have the greatest sympathy for your loss. It is little wonder you did not wish to speak of this before, it must be very painful. Terrible really, that it was blown up into such a conspiracy.

This is what happened to the Earth Giants... Are you really sure none could have survived? Maybe they left the area when they saw what was happening?

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[asgardsflight]

[ He gives an appreciative smile for Leonardo's understanding, but something uncertain ( or maybe uncomfortable ) slips into it at his question. ]

There were some, but they weren't ... They weren't the same, after. I don't understand it as much as Mimir or the Allfather, but - when your essence gets corrupted and turns against you, it can leave you ... hollow, I guess? And being hollow means there's room for something else to get in. They changed.

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[asgardstactics]

[ His tone is quiet, distant - but firm. There is no room for argument in it, or at least no argument that he will tolerate. ]

There are no Earth Giants left.

[bythewaves]

Where art thou gone? The day is bare,
the sunlight dark, and cold the air!
Tinúviel, where went thy feet?
O wayward star! O maiden sweet!
O flower of Elfland all too fair
for mortal heart! The woods are bare!
The woods are bare!" he rose and cried.
"Ere spring was born, the spring hath died!"
And wandering in path and mind
he groped as one gone sudden blind
who seeks to grasp the hidden light
with faltering hands in more than night

[ Maglor is all too familiar with tales of what love may do, for better, or for worse. He even knows what the death of a loved one may drive one to, although in his world the ending was happier (sortve) - some things, it seems, are uni(multi?)versal ]

I grieve for your loss, but I thank you for your tale. Though full of sorrow and grief indeed, it seems to me a pity that a love so great would be forgotten.

[asgardsfog]

It's not forgotten, even if we want it to be. No thanks to the asshole who dragged it all out into the light again.

[runtothesunlight]

[He hasn't really checked the network in a while. As much as his social skills have improved, Minato's still not used to the idea of talking to so many people at once, even online. One person he could make short conversation with, but add in more people, and he'll only speak when necessary.

He'll have to work on that.

The story though...]

You did all you could. Thank you, for telling us.

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[asgardsfog]

It's what you nosy little shits wanted, right?

You're just lucky uncle is a pushover.

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[comeonthensexy]

In other words, we're going to travel to Ginnungagap?

[ Exciting. He's keeping said excitement under wraps, though. ]

I'm sorry about your brother.

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[asgardsfog]

Yup, you'll be stepping all over the bones and whatever remains are still buried there.

Sounds like fun.

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[madcuriosity]

I'm so terribly sorry, for all your losses.

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[asgardsflight]

[ He blinks a little in surprise as he sees through the curse to little Alice beneath it all, and then his smile is bright if not somber. ]

Thank you, Miss Alice.

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[firstbeliever]

[:C Big Alien. Jamie looks upset.]

That's a sad story. No one wants the people they love to die.

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[asgardstactics]

[ Mimir nods at him - a silent acknowledgment. He doesn't truly have anything to add to it. ]

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[cyan_maid]

...Is that really what happened, sir?

[She'd wanted to know about these Earth Giants just as much as anybody else, and Jane - doesn't want to doubt the story. The Gods had seemed very emotional about it, and so did this fellow. But she still has to ask. She still has to be sure, even when the story breaks her heart.]

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[asgardstactics]

[ One eyebrow goes up, subtly, but otherwise Mimir's expression remains neutral. ]

We would weave a story much different than this one if we had reason to make something up.

[trust_us]

....At least they had their time together.

[It's not particularly comforting, but for someone like her, time is a treasure to never be wasted or taken for granted, especially with the one you love.]

[asgardstactics]

If you must find a silver lining.

[middle_strings]

[Okay. So tragic love story. Sad, but not unusual.

The bit about the soul being trapped into a doll though? That got Kankuro's attention.

After all, Sasori had managed something similar to that. Successfully. Without the madness. Huh.]

So, things really are different around here...

[Not that Kankuro knew how to safely hold a soul in a puppet because ew no, that was an abomination. But, it had been done and could be done again back home.

Really, this just drove home the amount of differences between Asgard and Home.]

Sorry for your loss.

[asgardstactics]

[ Mimir just tips his head at Kankuro. Not curt, nor inherently disrespectful; simply an acknowledgment of the consolation. ]

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[lookingfordragon]

What happened to the other child?

[This story sounded familiar, not accepting death seemed to cause more harm than accepting it.]

I'm sorry for your loss.

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[asgardstricks]

He grew up to be a really nasty troll under a bridge that likes to eat little children when they come too close.

[ Love u, brother mine! ]