Excerpt 009: Unsettled (Open to All)
Jun. 23rd, 2019 06:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rekindledtitanTYPE: Patrol log
LOCATION: The Nexus
PARTIES: Unconfirmed total [??]. One [1] Ghost-type, [1] Guardian-type, designate Blaze-37, Class Titan [[personal profile] rekindledtitan]
ASSOCIATIONS: Multiversal Nexus; Rogers, Steve; Blaze-37; Pelsor; House of Winter
By the time she returns, spring is rolling into summer. There’s a great deal she needs to catch up on – and serious work to be done. Ghost sends out a short message announcing their restoration to the friends they haven’t met with – Tina, Natasha, Adia, Katsuya, the handful of others whose PINpoint numbers they have. Then they report into the Tower, at their commander’s insistence. A very long debrief later, Blaze feels the need to go blow off some steam. When she does get back to the Nexus, it’s with a few new dents
Blaze has no time for standing around the Plaza asking questions, though given the circumstances she’s kind of obliged to show her face. So when she gets back, the first thing the armored Titan does is stride into the centre of the Plaza. She brings her hands together in a thunderclap and a flash of Arc Light, and announces as heads turn to her:
“The Fallen kept their word. The truce is sealed.”
It brings her little joy to do so, but it needs to be done. She doesn’t stand around, though. She needs to get to work. The Fallen presence and its consequences are her responsibility, and she has ground to make up. Anyone who wants to ask her questions will have to keep up as the Guardian heads out of the Nexus settlement.
From there on she can be encountered once more patrolling the Nexus streets and the Wilds, on the watch for any sign of trouble. There’s no more sitting around chatting or tweaking her weapons in plain view. Now she’s on duty at all times. She has patrol beacons to install and monitor, borders to watch over. Darkness to scout for. And the Exo never seems to sleep. Though she returns periodically to the informal Guardian outpost that Steve’s house has turned into, she doesn’t rest there. During noonday sun or gloomy night, her boots ring on the pavement or crunch through leaf litter, and those who want to find her have a good chance of succeeding.
And if not her, then it’s always possible to encounter one of the other Guardians either keeping watch at Steve’s house or roaming about the Nexus. Unlike Blaze, they’ll occasionally stop at a café or bar to sample the local fare, sometimes at peculiar hours. If there’s a ramen bar that stays open until dawn, they’re there.
(( This post is open to any characters from the Nexus who might run into her after her post-Winter resurrection. If you want your character to encounter a different Guardian in particular or set the thread in one of the settings above, just let me know where in narration and/or the header. :) ))
LOCATION: The Nexus
PARTIES: Unconfirmed total [??]. One [1] Ghost-type, [1] Guardian-type, designate Blaze-37, Class Titan [[personal profile] rekindledtitan]
ASSOCIATIONS: Multiversal Nexus; Rogers, Steve; Blaze-37; Pelsor; House of Winter
By the time she returns, spring is rolling into summer. There’s a great deal she needs to catch up on – and serious work to be done. Ghost sends out a short message announcing their restoration to the friends they haven’t met with – Tina, Natasha, Adia, Katsuya, the handful of others whose PINpoint numbers they have. Then they report into the Tower, at their commander’s insistence. A very long debrief later, Blaze feels the need to go blow off some steam. When she does get back to the Nexus, it’s with a few new dents
Blaze has no time for standing around the Plaza asking questions, though given the circumstances she’s kind of obliged to show her face. So when she gets back, the first thing the armored Titan does is stride into the centre of the Plaza. She brings her hands together in a thunderclap and a flash of Arc Light, and announces as heads turn to her:
“The Fallen kept their word. The truce is sealed.”
It brings her little joy to do so, but it needs to be done. She doesn’t stand around, though. She needs to get to work. The Fallen presence and its consequences are her responsibility, and she has ground to make up. Anyone who wants to ask her questions will have to keep up as the Guardian heads out of the Nexus settlement.
From there on she can be encountered once more patrolling the Nexus streets and the Wilds, on the watch for any sign of trouble. There’s no more sitting around chatting or tweaking her weapons in plain view. Now she’s on duty at all times. She has patrol beacons to install and monitor, borders to watch over. Darkness to scout for. And the Exo never seems to sleep. Though she returns periodically to the informal Guardian outpost that Steve’s house has turned into, she doesn’t rest there. During noonday sun or gloomy night, her boots ring on the pavement or crunch through leaf litter, and those who want to find her have a good chance of succeeding.
And if not her, then it’s always possible to encounter one of the other Guardians either keeping watch at Steve’s house or roaming about the Nexus. Unlike Blaze, they’ll occasionally stop at a café or bar to sample the local fare, sometimes at peculiar hours. If there’s a ramen bar that stays open until dawn, they’re there.
(( This post is open to any characters from the Nexus who might run into her after her post-Winter resurrection. If you want your character to encounter a different Guardian in particular or set the thread in one of the settings above, just let me know where in narration and/or the header. :) ))
somewhere in the woods--no major agenda here, just reminding them Loki exists
Date: 2019-06-24 02:39 pm (UTC)But Loki knows who passes close to his wards, and sooner or later he's bound to seek them out.
They probably weren't looking forward to encountering Loki in any form, but even if so, chances are this is not one they'd have expected. It's mid-morning when a whistle comes from the side of the path they're traversing, and looking up reveals a slender feminine form in white and green, perched in the bottom branches of a tree. The woman appears to be picking early summer apples, and she is not alone. Two others--a redhead who looks little more than a teenager, and a younger girlchild in a violet and gold dress--are higher in the tree. The redhead is picking. The little one is mostly eating.
"Blaze, Ghost," the woman calls in greeting, and drops to the ground to walk toward them. Barefoot and in long skirts, she looks like she stepped out of a John William Waterhouse painting.
"Hello. It's Loki," she says mildly. She's not in the mood to play games with her identity today, but she might just be curious to see their reaction.
Blaze secretly sad she missed the Chilly Blue Giant
Date: 2019-06-25 09:59 pm (UTC)Blaze stops in her tracks, rocking her weight back and lifting a hand in greeting as she takes in the climbers. The Guardian is back in her polished white armor, rifle at her back and sidearm at her hip, holstered over the brightly embroidered cloth hanging from her belt. Her bright gaze flits over the young women: lingering on the one who speaks, flicking briefly to the red-haired youngster, studiously skating past the child. The woman calling to them is Asgardian from her dress, pretty and impressively graceful as she jumps down to the grass.
Blaze’s aesthetic appreciation, however, is overridden by the sheer fact that she doesn’t recognize the woman and that’s weird, for an Exo. She remembers every face she’s ever encountered. (So far as she knows. So far as she can tell.) The stranger is hauntingly familiar (something in the bone structure, those sharp eyes) but not immediately known, identified and catalogued already. ‘Can I help you, ma’am?’ is on the tip of her metaphorical tongue when Loki names herself.
“Oh.” Behind her shoulder, Ghost is quicker to get it: a blink of his optic, a spin of his points, and the little bot drifts further up into view. Blaze still looks nonplussed for a moment, while her programming catches up, but then she relaxes. “That explains it. I wondered who’d be yelling at us all the way out here.” She considers Loki again, as if updating her mental notes. “That another new look?”
Just wait until the weather cools down again.
Date: 2019-06-29 10:19 pm (UTC)She spreads her arms wide and does a brief spin, light skirts and shawls flying out around her. "I've had both male and female forms since I was a child about the age of little Una in the tree there." She gestures back at the girl eating apples, then pauses and gives her a wave, as if to make sure she knows she's only being spoken of in kind terms. There's a little giggle and a wave in return, and then Loki returns her attention to Blaze and Ghost.
"You look remarkably none the worse for wear," she tells Blaze, then, though she knows looks may be deceiving.
"Did you ever get back to that tree we passed on the way back?" She asks Ghost. "I've been...otherwise occupied. With the children. With Thor. With general weariness.
no subject
Date: 2019-06-30 04:56 pm (UTC)“Must come in handy, being able to shift around that way.” Blaze’s own background cultures – both the City and her origin - don’t much emphasise biological sex or gender one way or the other, so having some flexibility in that just sounds neat to her. Give her a little time to mull it over, though, and she’ll start to wonder more about the psychological side. Maybe, being a shapeshifter from so young, it’s easy for Loki to change his body drastically without side-effects? But there are more immediate things to discuss.
“It was an easy death.” She doesn’t sound bothered by it, either, but her hands flex and her weight shifts as she goes on. “Ghost’s the one who had to live through it. I’m more concerned with the fallout. Fallen on the threshold, the people we lost.”
Ghost pipes up quietly at the direct question. “
We went there on our way to the border. The fungus creature didn’t come out again. But I think it’s still there. I took some scans of the tree… well, there’s not much tree left there.”“Found some bones down among the roots,” Blaze notes. “Don't know if that thing could take on an average humanoid, but I wouldn’t let children close to it. Felt like something worse than a regular predator.”
no subject
Date: 2019-07-05 03:22 am (UTC)"It can be handy," she says. "It can also be awkward at times. Wanting to be one shape when it's more prudent to wear the other." She shrugs. "Such is life."
"There will be ramifications for a while to come, I'm sure," Loki says. "And not just in the presence of the Fallen here. For the record, I do intend to keep up with the role I seem to have stumbled into. I will serve as messenger when needed, and escort strangers out of their territory if called to do so. I hope conflict will remain unnecessary."
She frowns a little at the talk of the fungus creature. "I'm glad you had a look," she says slowly. "I wonder if there should be some sort of general warning amongst the pamphlets in the Plaza. Where there is one such creature, there may be more."
"It wasn't familiar to me. Did the corruption seem to be spreading?" That's the real concern. An isolated monster is no big deal. Creeping rot killing the trees might be.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-07 07:33 pm (UTC)“Yeah. Fallen should know better than to break the truce. And we’ll work to uphold our end. Kinda… honorbound to it, personally. I won’t bet on it lasting. Things don’t ever go that easily. But we’ll see what their long game is.” She pauses, and it stretches for a couple seconds. “Seems like a good thing you were there to play intermediary.”
Blaze glances to Ghost before she says anything about the fungus-beast, inviting her small companion to weigh in if he needs to. “Didn’t look that way. Yet. Ghost said it looks like it’s feeding on the tree, so... what happens when it runs out of tree?”
She spreads her hands a little. “Not to be a stereotype or anything, I don’t want to go destroying predatory wildlife just because it’s creepy. But burning it now seems smarter than making leaflets about it. Only reason I didn’t yet is Ghost wanted one of our Warlocks to check it out. Got to think about containment.”
no subject
Date: 2019-07-14 01:12 am (UTC)"I assume that where one group can come through, so can another. There is always a possibility of upset that way, as well."
He raises an eyebrow at that pause, and then smiles. He can't not poke at it just a bit. "That sounded almost like a thank you, and so you are almost welcome."
He frowns thoughtfully. "I'm concerned, as well, but are we certain it isn't sapient? It would not speak to me, but that doesn't mean it can't speak, necessarily. Plenty of people don't want to speak to me. By the same token, we don't want to welcome an actual contagion in the Nexus, either, though. Further investigation seems warranted. If you'd like my assistance, I'm willing."
no subject
Date: 2019-07-18 09:10 pm (UTC)Poking elicits a flustered wave of her hands, an almost-flail. “I was working up to it! I know it was in your interest, but- you did bring my Ghost back safely, so- there’s no ‘almost’ about it. Thank you.”
It’s gruff and blunt but it’s genuinely meant. She doesn’t really want to linger on it, though, so she’s going to focus on the mushroom beastie. “Not a lot we can do to determine sapience if it won’t declare itself. I don’t know about you, but I’m not a telepath. If you want to come along and investigate, be my guest.”
After saying that, she does pause and glance up at Ghost for a second opinion. The little bot gives a gentle bob in the air. “
It’s her home, too.”no subject
Date: 2019-07-20 08:44 pm (UTC)More accurately, she would have assumed Blaze and her ilk were prowling to keep people like Loki herself from causing trouble. Which...they possibly are, in part, but there's more going on than that, and she understands that now. It's a kind of luxury, actually, to be able to be herself, a force for chaos, and still trust that her people are protected from disaster.
There's a flicker of a grin at the spoken thank you, but Loki has the tact not to make much of it, merely giving them a slight bow.
Ghost gets a thoughtful second glance, then, because of how he's picked up on the pronoun shift right away. These two make an interesting pair. "I may or may not be much help, but I'd like to try, I think. Perhaps if I approach it in a humbler form it might be more inclined to respond to communication."
Or it might just try to attack Loki. Who knows? "Were you headed that way now?"
no subject
Date: 2019-07-21 01:09 pm (UTC)From rampaging pirates and other troublemakers alike. But maybe Loki's interests are at least roughly aligned with their own these days.
"We were going to pass it anyway. Might as well get to it." Blaze gestures ahead. "And hell, if it doesn't work, I've never watched anyone try to talk to a mushroom before."
no subject
Date: 2019-07-23 08:36 pm (UTC)They were unspeakably lucky this last Winter. It could have been so much worse.
"I hate to become sentimental about a location," she adds, "but I concur. It is worth protecting this place."
"One moment." She turns and lopes back over to the tree, exchanging a few words with the redhead, who nods understanding, and then hopping up amongst the branches to bring the little girl back down and place her in the redhead's arms. She returns to them a moment later, mysteriously wearing shoes now where she had none before; little green suede boots with golden buckles.
"Right," she says. "They'll be heading home just in case the mushroom has fungal friends we stir up. Let's see what we can learn, shall we?"
no subject
Date: 2019-07-28 07:50 pm (UTC)Exo are tireless and Blaze is impatient, which means she sets a pace most humans find uncomfortable. She's pretty sure it won't bother Loki, though. She crunches a path through the leaf litter, angling deeper into the woods, her head up and keeping a sharp eye on the branches above as well as the ground ahead. The blighted tree isn't that far in, which makes it all the more a matter of concern for Loki's wards.
"Your kids ever head into the forest?" She asks it unthinking, and the question sparks up a flutter of memory, the echo of an impression. For a couple of seconds the Guardian slows, distracted. Kids loved the jungle, in her day. She thinks. That must have changed, later.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-29 08:34 pm (UTC)"Not without me, they don't," she says firmly. "Nor would Solvi. Fǫnn might, though. She is used to picking her own herbs in the wild."
She pauses and tilts her head at the way Blaze slows. "Are you all right?"
no subject
Date: 2019-07-29 11:31 pm (UTC)She snorts, catching sight of the crumpled stump through the trees ahead. "But nowhere's that safe, huh? And mushrooms aren't the worst thing I've seen in these woods."
The closer they get, the more obvious it is how little of the blighted tree remains. The husk now is smaller than the creature that clung to it before, hollowed out and collapsed in on itself. The ground around it is damp, soft with mold, and nothing stirs as they approach.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-31 11:18 am (UTC)Now isn't the time to ask, obviously. She gives a little shaker of her head and puts the question to the back of her mind for the moment. "There is a great deal of space in the Plaza, at least. Shops, playgrounds, little parks that pop up here and there. The other day there was a building shaped like a giant boot, with a spiral slide coming down from it. I brought them all to play, but it was gone again by the next morning."
Ah, damn. Loki frowns as they see how badly the tree has been hollowed out. She suspected it was dying before, but she didn't realize how quickly. Yes, if this rot creature isn't sentient--and maybe even if it is--it will definitely have to be contained somehow. She slows her pace, unwilling to step onto the moldy ground without checking for stability first, and turns to the side to circle around it. Breathing in, she notes the unpleasant scent from before, but that's hardly a surprise and tells her nothing.
"How solid is that earth?" She asks, hoping Ghost will have an answer, wherever he is hovering. "I don't want to step onto it and fall into a pit of slime or something."
no subject
Date: 2019-08-11 11:37 am (UTC)That is. They look like fun? Okay, less awkward talking, more maybe-monster hunting.
Ghost is about to answer the question when Blaze cuts to the chase by hopping right onto the blighted ground. Her boots sink through the spongy earth-but only a few inches. The Titan leans over, lifting her boot to study the impression with an air almost like disappointment.
"Solid enough." She can hear Ghost sigh in her ear, but the Exo shrugs. Loki might have other concerns: walking further around the tree, she'll be able to spot a thin trail of moldered ground leading further into the shade of the trees.
no subject
Date: 2019-08-13 11:32 am (UTC)Maybe memory?
Loki will have to think on that.
She opens her mouth to protest when Blaze leaps onto the ground, then fold her arms and gives her a long, piercing look. She's spotted the trail, and points it out with a gesture after a moment. "Best follow that and see where it goes. But Blaze, may I tell you something? As, mm...a momentary ally, if not a friend?"
Loki's not sure whether they're friends or not, at this point. Reluctant liking for one another's style doesn't mean they aren't going to clash sooner rather than later, but for the moment their goals are aligned. "You need to be more careful. Last winter should have taught you that, if nothing else. I don't know if mad recklessness is simply what Guardians do, and if so I certainly understand based on your ability to recover from anything, but--"
She glances pointedly at Ghost and back. "A lot can happen between the moment of death and the moment of rebirth. And in those moments you are at your most vulnerable. And though he may not thank me for mentioning this to you, I can promise you Reynard knows that."
"I don't intend to take sides in whatever the two of you have going, honestly, but spirits have long memories and they are very patient."
no subject
Date: 2019-08-17 02:51 pm (UTC)"That’s what’s got you fussing, huh? Not just some hypothetical slime puddle." She shakes her head, . “There ain’t that much between me and Reynard. We fought once, and we don’t get along because he’s a puffed-up, selfish, irresponsible jackass who gets high on his own power. That’s the shape of it. He’s strong in Winter and sneaky as hell, I’ll give you that. But on the big long list of things that want me dead, he really doesn’t rate.”
no subject
Date: 2019-08-17 06:13 pm (UTC)Turning, she beckons a little and starts to follow the trail of rot. "You're missing my greater point, though. If Reynard knows, and Pelsor knows, and I know, that you are vulnerable for a few seconds when you're dead, and that separating you from Ghost can prevent your immediate resurrection, then you must assume your higher-rated enemies, whoever they may be, either know that as well or can figure it out."
"It's a vulnerability, and you need not make it easy to exploit. Besides, you've got someone capable of scanning things in advance of you. Why test the depth of the water by jumping into it if Ghost can just look and tell you?"
This seems to be an actual question. "It is fun? Going out and coming back like that? Does it do something for you?"
no subject
Date: 2019-08-18 10:19 pm (UTC)At least, her sort of immortal. Guardians exist for a very specific purpose, and it’s one that demands audacity. Bravery in the extreme. …And sooner or later, a final death. None of them go peacefully. She’s not so quick to answer Loki’s latter questions, though. Ghost has vanished again as they follow the trail, so for a pointed moment there’s only the sound of their footsteps on the forest floor. The wind. Loki’s breathing, faintly. The smell of sulphur and Inanna palms.
Does it do something for you?
“Not the way you’re making it sound.” The Exo’s tone has changed. It’s not cold, nor angry, but there’s none of her easy-going cheer or even the protest that her voice held a moment ago. She’s serious now. Matter-of-fact. “Your second death is terrifying. Always is. By the time you quit counting, you don’t even think about it. Sometimes it’s over before you know it and sometimes it’s another horror lodged in your head. Either way, it’s all just part of the rhythm. I don’t think it ever gets fun. As for coming back, that’s- hnh. Guess you could call it a rush. Of a kind. It’s not the fun part.”
She looks down at her right gauntlet, the careful inscription marked out there. The Last and Surest Argument. “I’m a Striker Titan. Started out that way, anyhow. That means drawing fire, hitting the enemy head on, throwing yourself at a tank because you can- that’s what we do. That’s exhilarating. Getting up knowing the universe just tried to put you down again and you just laughed in its face, that’s a high. Getting blown to shrapnel by the tank, well, that part not so much.”
no subject
Date: 2019-08-27 12:41 pm (UTC)She listens then, quieting as she senses Blaze's subtle shift in mood, and doesn't interrupt. When she trails off though, Loki takes a breath.
"You must follow the call of your nature. I understand that. We are what we are. I only seek to remind you that not all sacrifices are needed. Living is often a better solution to a problem than dying. Even temporarily."
no subject
Date: 2019-09-03 10:09 pm (UTC)Blaze looks up and frowns at Loki for a few moments when the woman speaks again. The Exo shakes her head then, whether in rejection or just shaking herself out of her own thoughts.
"So I keep hearing." She looks ahead, at the trail of rot. It brings to mind another moment (another season, a different companion but so much the same) and unconsciously she picks up her pace as she talks. Can't be far. It's never far enough for comfort. "You a god of teaching too or is this more enlightened self-interest?"
no subject
Date: 2019-09-05 02:43 pm (UTC)And what of Loki herself? "I don't know," she says. "I think I began lying when I realized telling the truth didn't actually alter anything. One can talk and talk until one runs out of air, and time, but teaching and advice depend on the listener. Without someone who cares to hear, words uttered by a silver tongue are empty noises and no more."
"I make sure my truths are especially pretty," she adds. "So that they have that much going for them at least, should they be ignored."
And then she smiles. "Lies, on the other hand, have lives of their own. People cannot help but imbue them with their own needs. A good person needs to prove them wrong, or to find the truth they conceal. A wicked person may seek to further them for his own ends. The truth whispers; lies sing."
"But it is always better to say something, true or false, than to be made silent."
no subject
Date: 2019-09-07 09:23 pm (UTC)Can upend things just when you think you have them all figured out, even. There's a reason she favors straightforwardness. Clarity. Something reliable to hold onto. Then, verbal persuasion has never been her strong suit.
"I've got no patience for that," she says, eyes on the trail. This she is sure of, this and the
enemyalien waiting for them at its end. "It's hard enough figuring out who you are and what's going on, without someone setting out to misinform."no subject
Date: 2019-09-11 03:26 pm (UTC)Loki looks over at her thoughtfully and gives a gentler nod. She's never going to change her mind about what lies are and what they're good for, but if anyone has sympathy regarding working out one's own identity, it's her. "It is hard. I agree."
Returning her gaze to the trail, she adds, "But lies are, at the heart of them, stories. And stories can make things clearer, not because they offer us what is, but because they inform us of what could be, if we dare to make it so."
"Do you have a favorite story?" This could be a rhetorical trap, but it's not meant to be, for once. They're walking in the woods. Storytelling seems appropriate.