eachdraidh | video | open to both courts (yay non-locket devices)

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video | open to both courts (yay non-locket devices)

I've been thinking.

[ John's sitting against the base of a tree somewhere, idly scratching a stray mutt behind the ears with one hand while holding his device with the other. ]

Seelie, Unseelie. Order, Chaos. Can't really have one without the other, can you? But that's the whole thing the courts want: one to win over the other. And that's with the queens being sisters.

Sort of seems like it won't work either way, in the long run. Not in a way anyone wants.

[ This would have been essentially blasphemy, once upon a time; treason of the highest order. But John has had no shard for eight months, has only the memory of a gold cloak to his name now. It's the Shuck he serves and the Red Hand he fights for, this world and its people and those he cares about. ]

But maybe that's just me.

[ He shrugs, pausing just long enough for the dog to look up at him and whine. A snort and he goes back to generously bestowing ear scratches. ]

Anyway, if any of you are looking for something to do, a way to make money, and aren't afraid of hard work -- the Red Hand's hiring. We're a mercenary group but we'll take all sorts; we can find a job for you, if you've got something to bring to the table. We have no court-attached contracts, are focusing more on what the natives to this world need, so no worries there -- and I'm a shardless son of a bitch, so no worries about getting spanked or whatever your court does for having conversations with the 'wrong people'.

Leave your prejudiced bullshit at the door, though; we've got all sorts of races and believers among the ranks. If you can't handle that, I'm more than willing to throw you out on your ass.

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Plenty of locals in the Drabwurld. Right now a lot are moving away from the coasts, from the Void, and want protection from bandits or the local wildlife. We provide that.

Plus we're pretty good at moving furniture.

Ah—yes. I recall seeing quite a bit of that when I was there. [ there's a pause, and then he clarifies: ] The whole ... running from the Void thing. Most businesses moving, refugees upon refugees ... it's a mess.

I suppose with all this Void fodder business that a looming apocalypse has the potential to go sour quickly.

The natives trust you with that? Well, not you, specifically; the general kind of "you."

And a ship gets you to the mainland but no farther.

[ A half-shrug. ]

"The general kind of you" meaning...?

Less "you" personally and more the Red Hand as a whole. I know that they aren't too keen on shardbearers.

Most of the Red Hand is native. Started by someone shardless, any shardbearers were people she trusted.

And now it's more than that, isn't it? Even if it was conceptualized by someone who was shardless, it does make me wonder ...

Do you want to get to the point? I have shit to do.

Why you're taking any and all shardbearers now.

Hardly. We have standards.

I'll rephrase. Why take shardbearers at all, that being the case?

I was Seelie. Didn't and still don't believe in letting the Void destroy the world, in another group of people having to fight the same war over the same thing. I was lucky -- I had an open locket network for a year, made friends in both courts and elsewhere. But not everyone has resources like that, a way away from a fight they don't believe in and monarchs they don't trust, and plenty don't trust the opposite court enough to defect.

Take a job with the Red Hand? They get coin to get by in this world without needing to rely on handouts from the monarchs, have options and the chance to make new connections and meet people from the other side. They're still Seelie or Unseelie, but they're something else, too.

Stuck fighting a war you don't believe in? I was happy when the Shuck took my shard. But that doesn't mean other people have to be.

[ Loki's not entirely sure what he feels about it, any of it, really. there are some things that ring true, and others that ring a little off to him. (happy when the Shuck took his shard; why would the Shuck want such a thing?) it's like tying yourself to another thing. while he didn't agree with the monarchs, he knew where the root of it came from. ]

A meet-and-greet disguised as a mercenary business disguised as a meet-and-greet.

[ he doesn't sound disapproving. maybe weirdly approving? a front of a front of a front. fraternizing came with its own possible consequence, he knew that. ]

Or did I get that wrong?

Though I would doubt anyone believes in this war. Last I heard it had more to do with nature of choice.

It is what people make of it, I guess. From fighting Reynard the Fox to... shit, I don't know. A dating service.

[ Not really. But he actually wouldn't be surprised, so. ]

Not much of a choice between fast death and slow lingering death, in my opinion. Which I'm aware is fucking ironic considering the fact that I'm part of Death now.

I could use a—[ and then he pauses when something catches him a little more off guard than it should. ]—part of death? Come again?

Son of the Shuck isn't just a title. If He picks you, if He makes you part of His pack, then you become an Aspect of Death.

[ Loki holds up his hands as if this is all coming a bit too fast. ]

All right—all right! I got it. Erm, but aspect of death? Really? Perhaps I just have different experiences with those who hold dominion over death back home ...

Really. [ Beat. ] What, should I be wearing eyeliner or something?

Tell me, how vast is your hat collection?

The opposite of vast.

[ a thoughtful pause. then comes judgement. ]

You'll need quite a lot of eyeliner to make up for that.

I used to have a tattoo of the Grim Reaper, but I cut that arm off.

[ It grew back. ]

I'm not sure if that's dedication to the cause or not.

Eyeliner and fancy hats aside, I have to ask—what's with the dedication to the Shuck?

[ he's been to Hel before, he's aided Hela in her schemes and through her loyalties to the dead. Loki always had a tenuous relationship with her—daughter or not—and felt like certain things didn't exactly need to travel over with him when he arrived in the drabwurld. ]

It wasn't a thing, before. I mean, I was a Marine, but it's not like I was religious.

Here, after I became part of the Pack... I don't know. They're there for you, and you're part of them. They're part of you.

[ For someone who grew up a twin, who then hadn't talked to her for ten years, who had shunned connection... having connection that was there, that he couldn't run away from? That was huge. ]

Plus you sort of lose yourself to that nature, if you don't willingly do your job.

[ That too. ]

[ the whole thing is a little vague, but he gets the gist. it brings more questions than answers. ]

All right, I think I've gotten ... erm, half of that, I suppose?

[ that's what he's getting from it. while his unease doesn't show in his expression, it's definitely making him thoughtful. he had done a lot to escape death, and to escape Hela's halls, going as far as to tossing his spirit back into the reincarnation cycle on a hope and a whim. it had proved well used, as well as damning in some ways.

he wondered if it would've been better if that Loki had died that day against the Void. ]

So, bear with me. You're part of death. Death has a job to do. Death always has a job to do.

[ Story of his life. ]

Right.

[ Even Death by Mercy. ]

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