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. ]

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[It's not that Harry hasn't been informed, but what she says strikes him as odd, if only because it's new information entirely. The fact that they thought this war was almost over is new to him. No one else has mentioned it, anyway, perhaps because they thought they were foolish.]

Why did it seem like an ending? ... Or a wrong one?

[-- Ah. As she thought, then; he hasn't heard.]

Well... one time, everything suddenly looked like it was alright again. Like the color had come back. We were told that everything was alright and we would be able to leave, and there was a gate left open for us. But it was all a trick by the other Loki, and the greyness came right back before long.

[That, however, was before the war really began in earnest. Still, close enough.]

And during the first real battle we experienced, [she must mean the Travellers as a whole] ... things began to look very dire. One of the gods had to-- I don't know if you've heard anything about the situation with Freyr, but he... blew himself up. By the sound of things, if he hadn't, it's possible we might have lost the war right then.

... I didn't realize the context that Freyr did that in.

[It makes a little more sense now. He's heard about these things so many times that it's very different to hear about it this way. It's his fault for not looking into that further, in part because it didn't matter.]

Why did the other Loki do that? I thought he was on our side.

Yes.... It-- didn't seem to be done lightly. I was inside the city, away from the front lines, so I never really saw how bad it was out there firsthand, but... I'm a healer, and I was helping the others at the time with everyone that could be brought back to us for medical attention. It was... overwhelming, how many people needed us.

[Long enough in the past, perhaps, that it's not quite as easy to put it all together and much less pressing to try.]

You know, I'm not sure. The god who made the announcement explaining the situation wasn't very clear about it, other than to say that it was a cruel joke. But-- he is the god of tricksters. Or one of the Lokis is, anyway. It might really have been a prank and nothing more.

[Albeit an ill-considered one.]

[Harry falls silent as he considers that. His opinion on the gods has lowered from when he first got there. He has always understood the necessary evil aspect of things, but he doesn't agree with their way of fighting this war. Viewing the way that they're being used just makes him wonder why they aren't doing anything about it, and it's made him eager to try to take matters into his own hands.

He knows not all of them are the same. Freyr is willing to make sacrifices, and that's part of why Harry was quick to respect him. But the others? The others are different.]

Let's hope that there aren't any other pranks like that on the horizon. [It's spoken finally and decisively. He doesn't speak further on the matter with Freyr. It's a war, and they're, so to speak, extremely expendable given the magic that ensures they come back.]

[She lets him have his silence, taking a moment to consider, too, her hot chocolate - a little less hot, now. She takes a sip, then raises her eyes again. Uncertain though she is what's on his mind, he seems a bit preoccupied with it, and she's not about to disturb him. She will, however, study him a little as she waits.]

[Her own opinion on the gods is... rather lukewarm. In that, too, her patience plays a part. (She's had worse captors.)]

Yes, let's. [Her agreement is wholehearted, but calm.] It was an awful thing to do. [For a variety of reasons.] But at least he seems to have calmed down. There hasn't been anything like that from him since. [....] Now that I think about it, the gods as a whole seem to have become more... [She hesitates a moment, trying to find the right word.] ... serious about things. Not the ones who came to the city a little while ago, but-- the ones that have always been here.

Were they more playful before?

[Harry thinks about that for a moment, realizing that there's been a lot going on since he first arrived.]

And ... er, do you think it has anything to do with having Freyr's soul back?

Well... 'playful' might have been one word to describe it. [Just a bit loosely. It shows in her tone.] Let's just say that some of them were more... prone to troublemaking. There also used to be parties more often, I think.

[Busy times, to be sure.]

Mm-- I'm not sure if it's that, exactly. Everyone seemed very happy about that, especially the natives. If I had to guess, I'd say it was more that everything got serious, with the attacks becoming more dangerous. Everyone's had to buckle down. The gods, too, I suppose.

I suppose I wouldn't be able to understand that. I've been here since things have been very serious.

[Harry thinks back to Thor's behavior when he first asked to stay. He's not stupid enough to believe that his request was granted, but it was still a part of a lot of his original decisions. He's gone out of his way to ensure that he can fight, anyway.]

Actually ... it's been since that earthquake. Thor was stressed, but I—er, I don't know what happened, except that it led to the spy escaping.

Things have changed. I'm a little sorry you didn't get to see how it was before.

[Not that she'd want to make him be here any longer than he'd choose to, himself, but that's not really what she meant.]

Yes... that whole situation was hard on everyone. [She sits back a little in her seat, adjusting her hold on her mug.] We're the ones who decided what to do with the spy, after all, and then it turned out that way. The gods hadn't let us make very many decisions before that one. I think... it made everything more frightening, knowing that something like that could happen, and that it might happen again.

Because of what happened afterward. I don't think the gods can really blame us for that.

[Harry still feels better knowing that everyone decided not to kill the spy. That the gods had apparently not been very good at keeping him captured was one thing, but Harry also has begun to doubt whether the gods even cared that everyone was poisoned afterward.]

And ... knowing war, there is a very good chance it will happen again.

No, maybe not. But then again, blame isn't always given only to those who deserve it.

[She's learned that, if nothing else. Not from the gods, exactly, but... well, she's lived a life full of experience, for all of its brevity.]

Yes... there is. It's hard not to think of that. It could already be happening again, for all we know. There are a lot of people in the city, and lots of places to hide. [... A sigh.] And not all spies come from the outside. I don't know if you've heard, but... in the past, there were some Travellers who chose to work for Thiazi.

I did hear that.

[Though Harry had written it off as unlikely and paranoid, given the source he heard it from. Few other people mentioned that, anyway. The fact that she mentions it tells him that she is a better source for it.]

Do you happen to know who they were? Or why they'd help her?

[She nods, half to confirm it and half to answer.]

I... knew a couple of them. I'm not sure if they were more, but... if I had to guess why they did? I'd say it was to save their own skins. [That's the saying, isn't it?] They would want to side with whoever they thought was more likely to win.

[Harry wants to say that it's stupid to think that they would ever lose this war, but he knows that's nothing more than a silly desire.

Right now, he isn't certain they stand a chance.]

And at the time, it seemed like Thiazi might win.

[There are probably plenty of people who aren't certain, either - but most of them aren't traitors, and therein lies the difference.]

Yes....

[It's a little like a sigh.]

If nothing else, Thiazi's good at causing trouble and scaring people. ... I don't blame them for being afraid of what might happen if they stayed, but that doesn't excuse what they did.

Well ... throwing away other worlds.

[Harry can't understand that. How many people have that little to return to that they would fight for Thiazi? Besides, he still doesn't know what she promises her followers. It's something he's been interested in since the very beginning. He understood the Death Eaters, at least in a twisted way; they were scared. But shouldn't they be afraid of Thiazi on a whole different level?]

Mm. It's hard to imagine, isn't it?

[She falters; there's obviously something she's tempted to say, but whether or not what she actually starts with is that thing is difficult to tell, at first.]

But that's the thing. Some people don't care what happens to anyone else, as long as they get what they want.

[There's a brief pause - a hesitation - and then, more to the point of what she'd wanted to say originally,]

One of them had already done that, himself, even before coming to the city. He--... he'd done things that would have led to the destruction of countless lives and worlds, if he'd succeeded.

[Now that Voldemort's arrived, it's not difficult for Harry to grasp the chance that something like that would happen. Voldemort might not be interested in destroying multiple worlds, but he definitely has been responsible for the losses of numerous lives.

He definitely can see how this might happen. It's not a good thing, but he definitely can see how it might take place.]

I wish it was hard to imagine. [It's all he can say.] What was the name of this person?

Hard to imagine doing yourself, maybe.

[That's amendment enough; she can imagine it easily herself because she's seen it, because she's known people like that and known them well. At the question, however, she hesitates - but only for a moment.]

... His name was Vanitas. The gods sent him away - whether because of what he did or for some other reason I'm not sure, but he's not here anymore.

—Sent him away?

[He doesn't understand. Don't people leave all the time?]

[She straightens, realizing her lack of clarity, shakes her head--]

A figure of speech. In the beginning, I assumed it was his punishment. But-- now, I'm not sure. It might just have been the same thing that happens to all of us eventually. Either way, he's gone now.

It's possible they unchained his soul, but from what Loki explained to me, it's not possible to just do that for any single person.

[It's not that Harry hadn't wanted to do that when he asked, but he wishes he could now. In fact, it's the only reason why he hasn't sought out one of the gods to help with Voldemort.

He knows he can't.]

-- Unchained his soul?

[Her eyebrows pull together, frown unmistakable.]

From Asgard? Or from-- something else?

[It's the 'something else' she's worried about.]

Er, it's not the best way to think of it, but the magic that the gods use to keep us here ... it holds on to our souls to keep us in place.

[At least, that's how Harry understands it. He speaks quickly, having noticed her frown.]

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