asgardmeridiem | [OPEN LOG]

Entry tags:

[OPEN LOG]

Who: Jade + literally anyone
What: Jade bribing people into her restaurant with free things.
When: Day 355.
Where: The Highwind, in Heimdall's district.
Rating: PG-13 for language at most!

EDITED TO ADD: Also, totally feel free to threadjack and use this as a mingle log IF YOU WOULD LIKE ♥

[ It had worked once before, back in the heat of late summer in Asgard, so Jade was trying it again. She had dragged the sign out to the front of the store, right in the middle of the sidewalk, and written in huge letters:

free hot chocolate! :D
just come inside ♥

The temperature hadn't broken the sixty degree mark today - it was getting chilly fast. Both Orihime and Annabeth were gone, and the store was oddly quiet. Jade will be found keeping herself busy throughout the day with odd little chores when it's completely empty of customers - sweeping, dusting, and occasionally dozing in a booth near the door when the boredom becomes too much to bear. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Lose our memories... back to the instant we came from?

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Lose our memories... back to the instant we came from? <small.[She frowned.]</small> I think it might be true, but I don't like that if it is. If I can find a way to keep our memories, I want to.

[A nod.] It... does seem likely. It would be nice, I think, to be able to remember, but... with the way things seem to work, it's hard to imagine being allowed to. If the people later on the timelines haven't noticed anything amiss or even heard anything about Asgard....

[Then that kind of implies that either memories for those earlier were wiped or that literally everyone suddenly became excellent at hiding things.]

... I've... had a little progress so far. But it doesn't feel like it touches our worlds yet, so I don't know how good it is. It's also... costly.

[She pulled out a little vial. It had a blue color to it. The label barely carried enough space to show the writing 'Ogham's Pen.']

I think you wanted to know if I was getting anywhere. It... I don't know how to put it. If I drank it, it would be like having a camera or a video recorder. I could capture a few seconds or some images... and I'd remember them, but I'd lose a piece of something I remembered before.

The thing is... like you said, it's hard to imagine we could take it beyond, and the only memories it affects so far are the ones I have here.

[She perks immediately, but it's not in an actively good sort of way. The corners of her mouth pull downward, eyes turning immediately to the vial when it's produced. Brow knitting, she listens.]

Samantha-- [There's a lot she could say about memories, really, a lot of warnings she could give - her mind is buzzing with them, but first comes a question.] How many times have you used it? [Her concern is obvious.]

Once. To make sure it worked. It wasn't something I'd dare let someone else test unless I could be sure. There's... a little control on what you burn out for the memory, and the recall is perfect.

...it's not something to toy with. It could do permanent damage if you abuse too much of it. I'm certain of it.

[Permanent damage, indeed. She forces herself to sit back in her seat as she processes this, hands tight around the mug in front of her.]

... None of it is. Memories-- it's too risky to tamper with them if you're not completely sure what you're doing or how to do it. Samantha-- you could destroy yourself with things like that. Is it really worth that?

I am as careful as anyone can be when they're working with this sort of thing. [She took a sip of her drink and pocketed the potion again.] I've... seen the future in my world. I already am destroyed. I'd rather not die not knowing the people I knew here.

It'd be insult added to injury, and even if I'm wrong about that I've lived here for the better part of a year. Denying me that chunk of my life's something I'm not ok with. However, when I say it's meant to be used sparingly... I mean it.

This is something I don't plan to ever sell more than two or three doses to someone ever. If you're going to go this far, the memories should be precious ones.

[It's almost like a wince, the way her eyes squeeze shut for just a moment. Already destroyed? How many people is that, now? (She's never sure whether to count herself or not.)]

Maybe not, but... here, you can still be with them. You can still live life the way you have, for as long as the gods will let you. If you're not careful, you could ruin even that for yourself...!

[She falters.]

... Not that I'm saying you aren't careful. You... really have been, by the sound of things. It's just-- there's no way to be certain it would even work once you're sent home until you are. I don't want to see you lose what time you have left here for something like that.

[Even if she can also see the temptation of things like that.]

[She reached up to put her finger to the girl's lips when she started to raise her voice. It was a careful, small gesture and she gave her a very soft, sad smile.]

Don't expect me to take more than a couple doses, ever. If it doesn't affect memories from my world, I don't think it will work to bring them through. I've done a test, one test... and there might be one, two memories I want to keep beyond that... just in case. But beyond that?

No, it's back to the drawing board. I won't settle for blasting my mind for a half-assed cure. This isn't the solution. So... I'll sacrifice a couple moments, just to keep a couple faces in my mind. But don't worry... no more.

--....

[She falls silent at the gesture, but her frown is still there, eyes still focused with more ferocity than would normally be in them. It's not anger, exactly, especially as the urgency ebbs away, but there's sadness, and a lot of it.]

....

[Though she nods, firm but slow, she does so with a following,]

Good. But what will you do with your next attempt? And the one after that? [And after that-- and so forth.]

... [She smirked. Ok, yeah... that one was fair. She sighed and scratched at her head.]

Before I took this one, I looked as best I could into its magic, and any other properties the herbs could have. I'm trying to test them without needing to actually take the dose as much as possible.

The possibility of frying my brain's a little too real to just take them.

Really, I didn't actually drink the dose until I'd had a month to test properties. I think I may want much longer for the next one, and ... there's another project that's more important.

[Can't get away with stuff like that when Naminé's around. Blind spot or no, she's otherwise much too clever for her own good (or, you know, the good of people trying to sneak things past her.)]

[Her shoulders relax gradually, just a little, and she settles back in her seat again, considering the other girl wordlessly for a few moments.]

... Well... I suppose that's as good a way to go about it as there is. Just... don't forget, I'm not sure there would be anything I could do to help, if something did happen. ['As a healer' is the easiest way to take that; the other interpretation is hidden under things that she has not seen fit to tell. She shakes her head slightly to clear it; that's not a good way to allow her mind to go.]

I'm glad you're being careful. [Even if the whole thing makes her terribly nervous.] I'd appreciate it if you kept it that way. [... Hah.] After all, I couldn't convince you not to keep looking into it if I tried, could I?

Nope. [Totally honest] And do you honestly want to convince me not to want to remember you? [She gave her a mean little smirk at that. It wasn't a fair question after all.]

But you're right. This sort of thing isn't something you can cure with powers. Maybe telepathy, but I doubt it. Can't risk it going wrong.

[Her frown is only momentary; she knows it's a joke. All the same, her smile when she offers it is weak.]

If it saves you from worse thing, then yes.

[Not the sort of powers Asgard gives them, anyway.]

[She keeps that to herself.]

The gods might take pity on you. Still, it's not something I would bet on.

Ugh. Never, ever bank on them for that sort of thing. It's not like I'm getting on their case, but trusting them to fix the problem's asking for trouble. I think we'd agree on that.

We do. That's why I wouldn't bet on it.

[Can't live with em, can't live in Asgard without em.]

I can't imagine they'd be happy about what you're trying to do in the first place. After all, they're the ones who let us forget.

The memories? [She looked at her for a second and then shook her head.] I don't think they care about that as much. They... don't really control our coming and going. I'm pretty sure of that now.

Hm.

[Her lips press together as she considers this.]

What makes you sure?

Weird things... There's people they've spoken well of, people they actually seemed to like, who helped a lot, that people were relying on for leadership. Then, one day, poof. They're just gone.

And people who show up that cause trouble like Henry...

I actually don't think Hel's lying anymore when they say they don't have complete control.

[Slowly, she nods. She's all too familiar with ruses, but....]

I suppose that does make sense. There are... a lot of ways to achieve what they've said are their goals, I think, and not all of them involve helpful people staying here and dangerous ones never coming to the city, but-- I can see what you mean.

....

I'm never quite sure what to think of them. In the past, I--....

[... No. Not a good topic.]

... Well, let's just say I learned to be wary of people who want you to do things for them and don't give you a choice in the matter.

Believe me. I don't care if they really are desperate and we're one of their last hopes. Even if everything they've said is true, I still wouldn't trust them completely.

Desperate people will do desperate things, and that can be very dangerous.

[She reached over to put a hand on the girl's. Even she could catch on that there was something more here, and she wanted her to know it didn't need to be explained.]

[Slowly, she nods - there is no question about that. She understands desperation all too well. Her eyes light on their hands a moment, accepting the gesture without comment.]

As long as we're still useful to them, they have a reason to let us keep living here. [Not a good enough one, perhaps, but better than nothing.] That's... something. But I wonder what will really happen when they no longer need us.

When they have no reason to keep us, I am fairly sure they intend to send us back. [She glowered at that.] If I had a choice in the matter, I'd move down south with Ran at the end of it all. Going back... isn't what I want right now.

That does seem the most likely. I doubt we'll even have a choice.

[....]

A friend of yours?

Ran is the giant who rules the city to the south of here. We went down there when we were trying to rescue Freyr. I actually kind of like her.

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