Kit turned to face the maddening rainbow colors of the swirling painting Gadget had hanging up on her wall.
<font color=orangered>"Huh. If I'm not mistaken, you painted this shortly after you were Chosen, just like me."</font>
"Of course I did. It was my only way of dealing with it. I mean, I couldn't believe it myself, and I wasn't told by Beast--"
"Hard to believe we're supposed to be on opposite sides, eh, Gadget? I mean, after all we've been through--you, me, Beast--hard to believe Fate wants us to kill each other."
"Yeah . . . I mean, you never WERE evil, but you're Loki . . . what are you supposed to make of that?"
"Loki wasn't originally evil . . . just mischievous. It wasn't until he killed Balder that he went over the edge. I'm glad I'm not him, though. It's good all i've gotta do is pull a few tricks on people, and then I'm done."
"No wonder the Wanderer still goes about. You need a chance to get around and pull your weight."
"Heh," Kitsune said, nodding. "Now if only my nature didn't inevitably draw chaos around me like moths to a flame. Of course, as I said when I found out, it sure as hell explains why we got put through so much of it."
Gadget had noticed on more than a few occasions how easily Kitsune talked to her, compared to his behavior with others. When faced with strangers or people he didn't trust--often both, in his circles--he was downright mute, but around her he was alive and actually ENJOYED talking and playing word games. She didn't know what to make of it. She supposed if she wanted to find out, she could easily analyze it, but something kept her from doing so.
"You aren't afraid of the Ragnarok?"
"Prophecy. Bah. Fate's up to the one's living it. No offense to you, but I can't do my job if I believe my actions were preordained long before I made them. Fenrir knows all his actions, and you've seen what that knowledge does to a person."
"Yes, I suppose I have," Gadget said. "Knowing each and every decision one has ever made and will ever make . . . I suppose, in the end, the fruit of wisdom does cause some sort of death. But it's not the death thought of . . . knowledge of existence kills human souls, destroys hope and the ability to love, so many things that humanity needs to survive emotionally. In the end, the knowledge a human can possess will destroy their very humanity, and they will become as a God . . . and they will die, soulless and abandoned."
"Impressive. You've been talking to Urthr, I see."
Gadget went to smack him, but Kitsune ducked and danced away.
"Sorry, Skuld, but I can't react any other way to serious news. It's a defense mechanism that I inherited. In all honesty, you've given me what I need to know, and I'm grateful for it. Thank you for your help, and do understand that I wasn't trying to offend you. I was trying to tell you--albeit in an odd way, I'll grant--that I take you seriously. More than any other person I know."
Gadget blinked, but Kitsune had already greyed out and vanished, leaving his coffee cup on the small table in the middle of the cabin.
"Dammit, Loki . . . What's your game this time? Knowing who you were--yes, I've talked to Urthr lately--I can't help but believe you've got something cooking up there, but for the life of me I can't figure out what . . ."
She turned to the painting, and it swirled away to reveal a touchscreen. Her brows furrowed. "Hugin and Mugin, show me Loki's travels in the past few moments."
The screen blinked, then revealed a world map, with two red dots blinking on it. One was near her cabin, and the other--
"I should have known. He's gone to find the loose ends of the past. And in so doing, maybe find the keys to our future."
"Hugin, Mugin. Warn Odin. If we're not careful, Loki may have just discovered the key to his chains, and we won't have any of the Fimbulvetr to prepare. I hate to do this behind his back, but . . . I can't afford to lose him to madness, not before . . . not before . . ." She pressed the screen, and it returned to the cacophony of madness it had been. Then she sighed, and the world turned grey, and tumbled into darkness, to be replaced by swirling masses of color and light, and then darkness and swirling lights and colors once more.
The gods of legend walked the Main in these days.
And, in dark corners, their enemies watched, and waited.
In an alleyway, an old man's eyes failed him, unable to comprehend the female paradox before him, this monstrous beauty whose left side rotted away forever, but never became bone.
Elsewhere, in the sewers, Fenrir noticed something slither by his foot, something large, and he smiled.
Further down the sewer, the rats who once covered the path screeched and ran down other tunnels, into tiny cracks, anywhere to get away from the horror they could feel.
And snow began to fall in Death Valley . . .
OOC: Don't worry . . . there'll be plenty of time for preparation and completion of this story arc and at least one other before the events this post set in motion come to fruition. The murders will be resolved, the Brian plot that barely exists will be resolved, the Manic thing will be finished, and then the fun will begin.
Anyone still curious about how Norse mythology is going to be handled in this story need ask no further.
And yes, the Ragnarok CAN be prevented. I'm just not about to tell you how. (What, and spoil the chances of a good RPing?) Of course, it won't be all fighting. We've got three winters to go through first. /OOC
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