eachdraidh | VIDEO | UNSEELIE LOCKED

[ it's Loki! he turns his head for a moment before focusing back at the locket, his chin is resting on his hand, and his elbow on a desk. he gives a friendly wiggly-fingered wave, holding the locket with the other hand. ]

Hello. Story time, anyone? Some of you have already heard this one before, and I hate to tell it again, but bear with me, there are some interesting deets that most usually lack.

[ and then, he starts in his best storyteller voice, playing with words on his tongue and in a certain cadence. ]

There's a place known as Asgard aka the Realm Eternal. Asgard, in all of its glory, rests in the branches of the World Tree, up near the tippy-top. This place is the home to the gods. The nine realms below it are homes everyone else: storm giants, frost giants, angels, elves of the most annoying sorts, some humans, dwarves with bearded faces, etcetera etcetera. Inter-realm relations are always tenuous at best, someone is always fighting someone else over blah blah blah. There are even wars over dumb squabbles, and you'd think that the only way anyone could solve a problem is with an axe to the face.

However—cue the dramatic music—there was only ever one war to end all wars: Ragnarok. [ he draws a circle in the air with a dark nailed finger.

it's a funny thing to call something "the such-and-such to end all so-and-so," because it generally comes up again and worse somehow. there are lots of wars to end all wars, ends to end all ends, but it does make everything sound more dramatic. ]

In short, Ragnarok was a fated event and the Gods of Asgard were always finding new ways to try and stop it. [ a pause and he scratches the back of his head. ] Actually—erm, hold on just a sec. Let's rewind just a little bit. This Ragnarok, this "end of all ends" and "war to end wars," kept happening. Over and over and over again. The gods would get caught up in the same pattern, and boom! another Ragnarok. Even if details differed, everyone would fight and suffer and die just like the last time. [ then his hands come up in wonder! ] And then be reborn! Ta-dah! It would start all over again. More Ragnarok and more betrayal.

It's like they were stuck, and they were. Fate was using them, and just as many other things in this cosmos, someone found a way to take advantage of it. They stopped it eventually, and cut the threads of the tapestry that the Norns had woven. Those that had fed from their suffering were extinguished. [ and as an aside, he says: ] Or so they say. Who knows what happened to them?

And thus, the gods won their free future. Dancing ensued, parties happened, drinks were passed around, and everyone lived happily ever after. [ he lets out a breath and looks bitterly amused. ] Or so you'd think. But, hm, let's say—they kind of did. Here's the part they don't tell you, the epilogue: they didn't want it. They broke free from the horrors of Ragnarok only to find themselves at a loss. In their freedom they lacked security, so they forged themselves other chains of destiny.

[ he waves his hand and sits back in his chair, bringing the locket with him. ] There you have it. It's not like stories like that haven't been told a million times, but it does beg the question: are some events only deemed the "natural order" because they've happened so many times before, becoming a favorite trope of the cosmos? Perhaps fate would have us think so.

[ there's a pause. ]

Ah, well, enough of that for one day. I could use a pint of ice cream and a good romcom.

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[ well, at least one person hasn't. it's a bit pleasing, gonna be honest. ]

That seems to be the case. That's the point of a hard reset. The world ends and fate brings it back just as it was.

[ There's a pause on his end, considering, then: ]

What for? There's no point in doing something like that.

Let's think about it the other way. What is the point of doing something like that?

It's been done before, and in the end it benefiting someone else. The universe does adore its "natural order."

Edited 2015-05-26 20:56 (UTC)

[ Eren isn't what anyone could call very witty or an exceptional thinker, but he has enough to put two and two together. It's a new perspective for him, so the process takes a bit. ]

So they're not wanting everything to end because it's what they believe in. [ The destruction of everything so it can all be born anew is pretty words and all, but it's still bullshit. He could never fathom why anyone could get behind it, before. ] They want it because they get something out of it that isn't possible otherwise?

Now you're thinking.

[ he says, amused. ]

Someone has to be getting something out of this war if it's lasted for as long as it has.

But what?

[ The reasoning gives a... sort of logic to the other side's thinking. It still isn't right, and he'll never agree with it, but perhaps it isn't as senseless as Eren initially thought. ]

What could be worth getting this many people killed over?

That's a question I would like answered—the possibilities could be countless.

But it does seem at the head of every puzzle piece, doesn't it?

[ Perhaps it figures that they don't have a clue. Ultimately, though, it doesn't really matter; they could try to justify themselves all they want, and it still wouldn't be okay. ]

I don't know. [ If we're being honest here. ] I never had a lot of those.

Well, right now they're on every corner of the board and don't seem to have any interconnection.

One is as good as many.

[ He furrows his brow. ]

Can't say I know exactly what you're talking about, either. What pieces?

The Monarchs, the shards, our own situation—[ there's more he's not mentioning, but you know ... public. ]—don't you have a few questions about it? Odd things that don't seem to fit into the rest of the picture. But oh, you're sure that they do?

[ Again, he pauses. Should he have been questioning the monarchs more? ... But what more would he have been needing to ask? Eventually: ]

No. [ If he's going to continue being honest here. ] ... At least, I never thought about it like that. I've just been trying to fight back—because that's the only way we're going to have a chance in winning.

[ That's all. ]

[ oh, sweet summer child. ]

It's what's expected of us within the constructs of the narrative.

[ pause. ]

Why, that was bold of me to say.

[ Bold, but telling. He'll take a frank response over most other kinds any day. ]

Are you trying to say there's something else we should be doing instead?

Riddle me this: why do you think everyone wants our shards so badly?

—Huh?

[ a beat. ]

... They're supposed to have some sort of power behind them. They're needed to promise a victory. Everyone already knows that.

Then if the Unseelie have been fighting a losing battle for a millennia because of the "natural order," then ...

[ he makes some rolling motions with his hands. ]

You can just spit it out.

[ He's not going to pretend he understands anything about natural orders or predetermined fates. A part of him has always been painfully aware of how little he knows about everything, and it's moments like these that drive that point further.

So, what is it. Eren's not a fan of guessing games. ]

[ oh, Eren. you ruined it. he sights and continues a little dully: ]

So I could be jumping the bow a little bit on this one, but I have the hunch that if the Unseelie had won, even once that this wouldn't be happening.

Thus, we've never really seen what that shard can do when put to the test for the whole fate-fighting movement.

[ Eren Yeager, professional buzzkill. People tend to learn that about him pretty quick. ]

I didn't think there was anyone around who knows how to use a shard that well. [ No one who was actually fighting on behalf of the courts, that is. ] But... we can't have only a few. Morla's said we need all of them for it to work.