voice

[zen_en_vert]

Things are a little calmer now.

[Bruce murmurs. He doesn't like to go onto the network, but feels like he has to say this.]

Has anyone got a few minutes to run some things over with me? Resources, defenses, what's actually- got to be done, I guess? Because something gives me the feeling like this is about to get bad again very quickly. I don't know what to do to make the situation feel less helpless.

[It's very, very late at night, but anxiety has him; he isn't sleeping. Maybe it being the very witching hour is part of what erodes his self-consciousness enough for him to add;]

I wish I could go back to plain and simple atheism. I mean, self-control is never easy to maintain, but it's sure a lot harder in the face of... you know. Actual massive cosmic power. We had Yggdrasil back home, but it- it was different. I understood the math of that Yggdrasil. This place is just-

[Cutting off with a laugh at his self-indulgence.]

Anyways. Anyone else up?

Comments

voice.

[tonsofpun]

Can't sleep either?

voice.

[zen_en_vert]

I thought for sure I was so tired that after the giants left I'd sleep for days. Instead, I'm spending days not sleeping.

[Video]

[in_loveless_memory]

The calm before the storm, I'm assuming you're referring to?

Why can't you? These gods have limits like anything else.

[Video]

[zen_en_vert]

Mm, no, it's different. Back home, it was science. Weird science, yes, but absolutely science. Out here it doesn't even come close.

[Video]

[goesagainst_thegrain]

Things don't stay calm around here for long, do they... perhaps you're right to be concerned.

I'm not aware of anything that needs any particular attention at this time, however I will remain watchful in case that situation changes.

[Video]

[zen_en_vert]

I appreciate that. But we're still being fundamentally reactive, while the world ends around us.

video

[subecho]

Friend - friend. Are you... at unease?


[ YOU THINK, THOR. ]

video

[zen_en_vert]

I don't mean to be, Thor.

You're still awake too?

voice;

[twoendings]

You are one of many who feel this sense of unrest.

[Another person who is up, unfortunately.]

voice;

[zen_en_vert]

Do people meet to discuss this sort of thing? In a broader sense than how to fortify the parapets?

video

[theaccursed]

You are not misplaced in your unease. It is in your blood, your very nature. You are human.

[Malekith is willing to make the assumption anyway, that the video-less poster is human. Most people are within the city, regrettably.]

And what can one ever do to fight their nature?

video

[zen_en_vert]

Uh, arguably only barely.

[He doubts he qualifies any more.]

But enlighten me nonetheless. If low levels of unease are simply a human condition, then what should the more discerning being be feeling, in a situation like this?

[voice]

[prazerbutterfly]

[Tyki could never quite get use to the network as in his world he was use to confrontations being directly face to face. It was more personal that way.]

That's the nature of war. It never ends. It always progresses. Even if you're on the winning side, there is always something to look forward to. [But his words almost seem backwards. He enjoyed the war and he enjoyed killing.]

I would feel better if I had my own powers.

[voice]

[zen_en_vert]

Sounds a lot like entropy.

[A startled breath. He hasn't thought about it in those terms, and he can't imagine why not; it's the end of the universe, and isn't that what they always predicted?]

[text; private]

[proudofwhatiam]

I miss the simplicity of atheism, too. I used to tell my brother, if I could see it, if I could touch it--then, I'd believe in it. He didn't much care for that.

But to deny the complexities of what we've seen would be cowardly of us. And we must be brave--especially here.

[text; private]

[zen_en_vert]

I don't disagree with you.

I'm just not sure it's exactly that simple, either.

voice; private

[modernmarvel]

This place has to have its own math, Doctor. Just different variables.

[Someone still has a hang up about magic.]

Thor has me playing renaissance fair if you want to learn how to operate a forge.

[He chuckles under his breath.]

I think he's jealous of this Thor's army, so he's building his own.

voice; private

[zen_en_vert]

You know, I'd never thought about it that way. But it really helps, actually.

[Math, but with different variables.]

If you're awake, do you want to get out of here? I'm antsy, but I don't want to stir the whole house.

[pushesgently]

You find a lack of faith more comforting than the security granted by belief in a higher power?

[Strategy, schmategy. Theological and philosophical musings are like bait for Altaïr.]

[zen_en_vert]

Oh, absolutely. By a factor of about fifty.

[That, he's sure of, even when he's not sure of much else.]

[digophelia]

[Guess who's an insomniac by nature? This girl. She remembers him from Alfheim.]

Are you feeling well?

[zen_en_vert]

Fine. Just a little maudlin, if anything.

[voice]

[theredviper]

Did you truly live such a life of simplicity, or did you only choose it to put yourself at ease?

[Not that Oberyn thought too much on many things. Life is... was short. Act as you want, think as you want, be as you want, that was what he told his daughters and how he lived. But it would be foolish to think that anything was so simple.]

[voice]

[zen_en_vert]

There were mysteries, but I had the tools at my fingertips to solve them.

This is very different. I'm not sure if that was truly any more simple, but at least I was better at it.

[Video]

[dragonspeak]

War's always like that, I think. Once the general preparations are done, all you can do is wait for the fighting to start. It's always worse when you know it's coming.

[He has trouble sleeping, too.]

Er, I wanted to ask--what is atheism?

[Video]

[zen_en_vert]

The belief in the lack of any deities. No higher power.

voice.

[interns]

I'm awake.

[ because she's pretty sure Peter isn't here anymore and that's- definitely not-sleep worthy. so she sounds a bit sleepy, but really, she was cruising the network anyway, so ]

How do you mean, "massive cosmic power"? For the gods of this world, or for us?

voice.

[zen_en_vert]

The gods of this world. The power of this tree over its' many branches, as well. I'm not really clear how all this is delineated.

Video

[ghani]

[ Yeah no, sleeping isn't happening over here and avoiding people has done her no good so may as well engage in some philosophical discussion. ]

Whatever power this place has, the gods appear to be as much in its grasp as we are, if with a greater ability to use it.

Video

[zen_en_vert]

I have noticed that. It raises even more concerns, for me. It find it difficult to imagine finding a solution for all this.

[earnedthename]

[ Kate doesn't say anything for a moment after she turns on the channel - she just looks at the screen, searching for something to say. She's never really talked to Bruce - in her universe, let alone here, now. ]

What's the difference between the Yggdrasil at home and this one? Is it just personal experience, or...?

[zen_en_vert]

I'm not really sure, to be perfectly honest. I like to imagine that at home, I'm seeing either a branch of the thing, or else a shadow of it cast up on a cave wall.

[Video]

[comeonthensexy]

The math of Yggdrasil? Now that's something I'd like to know.

[Video]

[zen_en_vert]

Then you need to talk to Jane Foster. She's absolutely brilliant, and her work is revolutionary. No one has ever come close to understanding wormholes like that woman does, back in my world.