eachdraidh | video;

[ There are two brown puppies eating a Christmas pudding off the floor when the camera activates, little tails wagging as they trip over paws that they have yet to grow into. Their muzzles are oddly long even now, but they're not quite as bulky as they will be -- not yet.

A quiet chuckle from behind the locket reveals, to those who may have heard it, the surprising owner of the pups -- the Outsider. The smaller of the pups looks up from the pudding at the sound and scampers over, whining and pawing at his legs until the Outsider bends down to scoop the little one up. The locket, which is floating in midair via magic, is pushed back -- just in time for any viewers to watch as the pup attempts to burrow into the Outsider's shirt. ]

You are unlike others of your kind, little one, [ the god murmurs, smoothing a hand over floppy brown ears. The other pup is still eating the pudding, though at this point it looks more like she's getting in a fight with it. ]

In my world, Wolfhounds are kept and trained by Overseers of the Abbey to hunt heretics. That I should now have a pair myself is rather ironic and more than a little amusing. But then, they are terribly intelligent creatures.

[ The small pup licks at his chin and he starts, blinking. The locket turns off just as his mouth twists up until a slight smile. ]

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[Well that's... strange.]

...you were very powerful?

Yes. I am a god, in my own world.

Oh.

[That's a very strange thing. He missed out on the whole Thor and Loki fiasco, so he doesn't know much about that, and he's certainly never talked to one before in his life, not face to face.]

What is that like?

[ 'Lonely'. The thought comes unbidden, and the Outsider blinks, surprised at himself. ]

I have seen the events of lifetimes unfold. After a while, you crave for the unexpected.

[Yeah that doesn't sound like a position he'd like to be in.]

Do you like it here? Despite being... lessened?

It is more interesting, though perhaps that is because I cannot see as clearly. I certainly speak to more people.

[ So. Yes. Yes, he does like it here. ]

Why didn't you speak to more people where you're from?

[There's no doubt he had the ability, so if he wanted to, why didn't he?]

They were boring. Predictable. I could anticipate what almost all of them would say to me, would think and do.

[ Beat. ]

I'm also hunted by the Abbey for existing as a being of magic, and as almost everyone across the Empire follows their teachings...

[ Well. You can follow, he's sure, being an assassin and all. ]

[He can follow. It's easy enough.]

They have the means to kill you?

They can disrupt magic. To kill me is rather difficult, but I am not the first god chosen by the Void and I may not be the last.

[Well that's interesting.]

You weren't always a god.

No. Though it has been a very long time.

[ Like... four thousand years. ]

Do you remember it? Being... chosen?

Yes. Though it is not something easily explained.

[ because the Void is weird ]

Okay.

[He... does want to know more, but he's not sure how to ask.]

Why not?

[Well that's one way.]

The Void is a realm of magic, dreams -- it is what began the world and what will end it. Things there are not as they are in this world, or my world, or -- I suspect -- your world.

[That's... interesting, but also... kind of beautiful.]

Oh.

[ poet!assassin ]

I look at things differently, now -- differently than I once did. I am not the same as I once was, and so my memory of the change is colored even by that.

[ It sounds almost like an apology, wrapped up in an explanation. ]