towerofanimus | 01 - That's great, it starts with a Q&A, smog and sky, a dark tower...

Entry tags:

01 - That's great, it starts with a Q&A, smog and sky, a dark tower...

Characters: Loki and hopefully someone else, otherwise this log? Pretty sad.
Setting: Floor Four.
Format: I'm fine with either.
Summary: After the Q&A session, Loki is looking for things. The big one's seeing if he can spot a tree outside, but people to pepper with questions also is on the to-find list.
Warnings: Only that I like terrible puns and so if the thread ends without me finding a way to make one I'd be surprised.

He wished that one of the windows could open. Loki had even tried them all, finding no latches, no hinges, nothing which indicated that they could. If they could, for now at least the method of opening them was beyond his ken. For now. Not that Loki was sure, yet, what he'd do if they could. After all, his brother was the one who could fly, not him.

Thor...the fact that he had yet to show up worried him. Was he dead? Possibly, but that didn't worry him terribly much. Dead meant little. The reason Loki was here now, standing in a glass cage, was because his elder-self had died at least twice that he knew about and managed to come back from the dead. They all had died at some point. But missing meant more.

Like how Yggdrasil was missing. To be fair it had been given a fixed position by Thor (where was he?), and so it could simply be somewhere else on this world. But then there was Canada and the fact she found it odd...granted, on Midgard, Yggdrasil was in Oklahoma, and Loki knew that qualified as the middle of nowhere as the people of Midgard were concerned. But it was hardly subtle. Even if she hadn't seen it in person, she'd have seen a picture somehow...right?

Questions. He had no answers and many questions, such as, said in a bit of a sigh, "Is there really nothing out there besides clouds?" So far the answer to that appeared to be 'no,' and he likely was wasting his time, but still leaned against the walls for just a bit longer in the hopes of seeing something. A branch of the world tree, maybe, or birds, or maybe a bit of weather. Thunder, maybe.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

~~you called?~~ When she had the time, she usually preferred to be on the glass floor than anywhere else.

The room wasn't exactly up-lifting, though. She missed the feel and sounds of the forest- nature at all. If anything, being on the fourth floor felt entirely bitter. But it was quiet enough and a place to get away, so she chose not to dwell too long on it.

"As far as can be seen," she answered the young boy, even if he could have just been speaking to himself. "Even if there's something else, going through that fog would be risky." She knew her capabilities and limits.

~~s'up bro~~ Loki gave the speaker a glance which was...when it really came down to it...startled, yet deeply unsurprised. Startled in that he got a response, and that the response was friendly, and the responder had, well, wings. Deeply unsurprised in that he could think of a dozen explanations for said wings, and besides, didn't they all have more important things to think about?

"It's...unnatural. You would think that there would be something out there, that this tower is not just the only thing floating in a sea of clouds." Which, after a moment's thought, he supposed was rather possible. He turned fully towards the girl as the view was starting to depress him. "I'm Loki."

Apparently visiting the fourth floor was habit-forming. Lillet had made her way up to the impromptu viewing platform the moment her introduction to the hazardous task of window-washing was over - you'd think I'd have seen enough glass to last a lifetime - and taken up a spot a little further along from Loki.

Until the fairy had arrived, and started a conversation with him. At that point, she had let out a gasp and, a little less obtrusively, begun to send them both Looks. Was there another magician somewhere in this tower? Or perhaps the boy standing there was her summoner - why would they introduce themselves, then... Confused but curious, she listened in.

His name had a familiar sound to it, though she didn't think she'd ever heard it before. Maybe it resembled something she'd heard. "Nice to meet you. I'm Mercedes."

She didn't bother hiding a sigh. Not for his reaction to her appearance, she was becoming used to that, but more for the relief of conversation. This place was obviously weird and talking about it helped. The sigh had almost covered the noise of what could have been a gasp. Had Mercedes imagined it?

The thought of nothing but clouds and fog surrounding them sent a sick feeling to her stomach. She didn't hide that either. "I would hope. Plant-life, at least, would make this scene more amiable."

Loki heard a gasp and, while as outwardly calm as ever, inwardly flinched: had they reacted to his name, the fact Mercedes had wings, or something completely unrelated that he hadn't been paying attention to?

"Yes, it seems so barren." He glanced back out at the clouds, imagining the technicolor boughs of the World Tree...at least it would bring some color into the scenery. "Back home, Yggdrasil used to keep me up at night. I hadn't realized I'd gotten used to it until now."

"Um, excuse me," and Lillet had taken the opportunity to approach, "But are either of you from--" What, 'the world'? She didn't think her particular one had any distinctive name, other than the material plane and assorted identifiers that were incredibly useless at this point. She paused, embarassed at her ignorance, and tried again, addressing first Mercedes and then Loki, "That is, you are a fairy, aren't you? And you're a magician?"

As much as she hated to interrupt, them, the chance was too good to miss.

"Pardon?" Maybe she'd heard wrong? That was definitely it. Yggdrasil? She was very certain that she'd never met this boy before in her life. Could there be another one? No, no one could share a true name. "I'm sorry, I fear I misheard you. Could you please,"

She stopped once the other girl spoke up, and she turned to her, still looking a good bit bewildered. Mercedes nodded slowly. "I am, yes."

She didn't know about Loki but she hadn't had the best of experiences with magicians before. That meant the girl was familiar with that sort of company, right?

Was he a magician?

...good question. "I'm not a magician." Ikol had been rather blunt about him having no power, but Ikol was also far from the most trustworthy of birds. Perhaps he had been lying about this as well? It would give him something to think about, between trying to figure out what was actually going on and how to get out of the tower. "Unless you're talking about the sort of magician who does card tricks but little of real substance."

And Yggdrasil too. She couldn't keep a slight frown away at Loki's answer, but she let it shift back to her usual smile before it could give the wrong impression.

"Oh. Well, I meant someone who could use magic, but-- never mind. Sorry again for interrupting. I didn't know anyone else came from a world like mine, so..."

Babbling. That hadn't happened for a while. "I'm Lillet Blan, a magician from the Tower of the Silver Star. It's in the centre of the Dark Forest?" Hopefully that would mean something to at least one of them. Otherwise this was going to be seriously embarrassing.

Her relief that the young boy wasn't that of the magicians turned to curiosity when the girl spoke again. She was? Mercedes'd never heard of a female sorcerer. But then, who's to say things weren't different in her world. It certainly sounded like that was the case.

"Nice to meet you, Lillet," she tried to offer a smile, at least, assured that she would at least get her answers from this entire conversation gosh in good time. "I am Mercedes of Ringford."

She tugged at one of her braids, clearly confused. "I'm afraid I've never heard of such a tower. And the only forest I know is my own, which is by no means dark."

"I'm Loki. I have not heard of this tower either, nor the forest, though it might be somewhere in the nine realms that I have yet to visit." He frowned, briefly: Ringford wasn't familiar either, though based upon the name alone it sounded like it could possibly be in Europe. Which would make Mercedes a...what was the term...oh, yes, a mutant?

...it seemed unlikely. Possible, yet unlikely. "I suspect that I am alone as well, so at least you have company in your uniqueness, Lillet." And he too joined in on offering a smile, one that was cheerful and as reassuring as possible given the circumstances, and more than just a little bit fake. The lack of anyone from any of the worlds he knew was just a bit worrying.

"Nothing but clouds."

Castiel appeared with an almost-quiet flap of his invisible wings, glancing at Loki curiously. "Hello."

"Ah, hello," he replied, returning the curious glance with one of his own. Loki briefly considered throwing in a sir but decided against it in the same moment: he really didn't know the other man and couldn't tell if he'd be the sort to warm up to that sort of thing...and it wasn't Loki's style to 'sir' random people without a good reason. "It is a rather bleak view, is it not?"

"It is rather disconcerting," the angel replied, shrugging his shoulders slightly. Being confined in the tower is slowly getting to him, and he can't even leave his vessel for some reason or another. It must be the collar.

"And not only is the view disconcerting, so seems everything else in this tower. The lack of answers, the food..." Loki decided, turning towards the other man: he was far more interesting than the unchanging view. (Not that the view offered competition, really.) "Have you found an exit yet?"

Castiel shook his head slowly, looking at the ground and the window before looking at Loki. "There is no way out yet. I have looked through every book in the library, checked every corner for a crack. Nothing."

"Our saviors," Loki replied, though 'captors' or 'collectors' had sprung to mind as more accurate noun choices, "are quite prepared. At least in this regard."

But that way, at least for the time being, led to redundancy. And so, with a slight polite nod, as he seemed the sort who would appreciate it, Loki added, "My name is Loki. It's a pleasure to meet you, though I rather wish the circumstances were different."

"The beings in charge have no reason to keep us here," the angel growled, head held high before he nodded slightly, acknowledging Loki's nod. "I am Castiel."

It was an interesting name. There was something familiar to it, to its cant, something that Loki felt that he should rememb-- oh, wait, yes, when he was France he cheated a tourist from Switzerland out of her money. That was it. However, the municipality and the gentleman in question likely had little in common.

"Likely not, which brings up the question of why they are keeping us in here. Of course, for all we know, the clouds outdoors might be toxic and kill us all in an instant."

Castiel continued to look outside, as if to find an exit, an opening, whatever it was that could help them escape, before he shook his head and walked past Loki.

"I have heard that they employ window washers out of some of the inhabitants here." And him, a janitor. Of all jobs, he had to be a janitor, in a trenchcoat. Great. "If the clouds outside this tower is toxic, they would have died now."

This caught Loki's attention. (Not that it wasn't already caught, but it was the difference between his attention wearing a collar and a leash, and his attention having a full body harness, its legs tied up, it being stuck in a wooden box with wheels, and a leash.) He perked up, more or less.

"Really! Do you know who they are? I'd love to know what it was like outside." Or, more importantly, how they got outside.

Of course, there wasn't much he could do just yet about it (and if their captors were malicious making a great deal of rope wasn't the most subtle thing in the world), but having a way outside was good to know.

Molly peeked out at him from around the corner, "I bet there are buildings out there!"

He hoped so. (And said as much, otherwise this would be a very boring response.)

"I hope so." The thought of staring out into endless clouds was suddenly a very depressing thought. He turned and, after considering his options for a moment, walked over to a chair he viewed as most comfortable and plopped down into it. "It would be nice if there was more things around."

"It's prolly fog or smog that's reeeaaally bad so we can't see anything," she goes and sits at his feet, "but it always goes away so eventually we'll see something!"

He pulled his feet up in response, sitting crosslegged in the chair...it seemed like a probable faux pas to hit someone you just met with a boot by accident, after all. "There might be nothing under it. For a time, my..." Would Asgard count as 'home'? It was close enough for the sake of a conversation. "...home floated in a sea of space, and I have heard of realms stranger yet."

Molly stared at him blankly and says, with very little tact, "THAT'S SO COOL!!"

"You really think so?" This was said curiously. Sometimes, just...sometimes, he could understand how Odin had so many problems relating to Midgard. "I found Earth more amazing."

"YEAH!" she yelled, falling backwards for a moment before sitting back up, "Your world can float and that's sooo cool! Earth is boooring!!"

"Oh, come now." He got out of the chair and, ever so ungracefully, plopped down on the ground, resuming sitting cross legged. The chair was reminding him of his father. "Midgard has indoor plumbing, at least. All we have are...nevermind."

She smiles at him as he sits down on the floor with her, "What's Mig-dard?"

"I think you'd know it better as Earth. One of the nine realms." There was a pause. "Though I'm not sure how many still remain."

She tilts her head, "nine realms?"

"Dimensions, I suppose." Loki checked his pockets: he lacked parchment or ink to draw a visual aid on. Words it was, unless he were to hike down to his room or whatever. It seemed excessive. "Are you familiar with the world tree? Yggdrasil."

(deleted comment)

Loki had heard once that when Thor had first remade Asgard, long before his elder-self had returned as a woman (one of those complicated things Loki wasn't going to dwell upon unless he had a reason) and the other Asgardians were found, his brother had spent more than one night standing on the parapets of Asgard thinking nobody knew what. Loki wondered if this was what it felt like. Likely not. Their attachments to home were far different.

The interjection was, to say the least, welcome.

"On occasion." Especially if one counted Ikol. He turned towards the speaker, cheeky grin in place. "Fortunately, as you replied to me it seems as though I will not be doing it today. I'm Loki."

(deleted comment)

After a moment Loki shook hands. It was...strange. Unpleasant? Not really, but he could count the number of people who would voluntarily shake his hand (unless, of course, he used a pseudonym or otherwise hid his identity) on one hand.

"Is that what they are?" That would explain the naming scheme he had encountered in the tower. "Well, I have heard of stranger things."

"There has t' be ground." Which was what logic dictated, at least. Not much else could be concluded safely in this place.

"Not necessarily." He frowned, momentarily. Really, when it came down to it, he hoped there was ground: being trapped in only a tower would be rather depressing. "After all, for a time I lived...my home was floating in a sea of space."

"'For a t'me'?" The wording is weird. She would not put it past people in this place to live in a world like that, have lived in a world like that, but to think that they had and now did not anymore was a bit weird. As if the first world really had gotten destroyed...

"There was an accident." Ragnarok sprang to mind, but it seemed...undiplomatic to mention that in mixed company for a number of reasons. Among which was the fact that the Warriors Three were all conspicuously absent. "It got better. My name is Loki."

She fell silent for a moment. Loki? Why would someone call their child that, out of all the available names if it had to be such a pagan name - not that she minded the stories or her own past, but it might give the child trouble if they wanted to rise to some kind of position. Not that this guy looked like he wanted that.

"Why?"

"On what part? If you are referring to the 'it got better,' it's because my brother is exceedingly stubborn." Frustrating at times, but a good thing, really. If he weren't, Loki would be far more distressed about...well, everything. As it stood, he had no doubts as to his brother still existing, the question was more 'in what condition' or 'is there anything in his way.'

"Your n'me." She cannot really introduce herself before having figured out what is up with this guy. There is always the decision between human and nation name.

"Oh, well, I thought it would be impolite to not offer one." He offered her a smile. It was intended to be earnest and reassuring, but smirked a bit more than intended. (Loki had changed many times throughout his...and his elder-self's...existence, but one of the things which remained consistent was his tendency to smirk.) "And awkward. Imagine speaking with someone else and having naught to describe me with save 'a lad' or 'some person'."

"Did you choose 't yourself?"

And then she remembered that it was very bad manners to not introduce herself, even if she was not sure which name would go over better. In the end, the human name would be the safer option. "I'm Bengta Oxenstierna."

"Oh, no. It was given to me. I've also gone by Lock..." Technically Serrure, but that was only because the people who had heard him give a name were all French. "...if that would be easier to remember...that, I ended up picking." In a sense. Technicalities.

"What 's yer race?" Because being direct about things just is the best option sometimes. Too many words make it only confusing and have the tendency to cause even more misunderstanding and embarrassement.

"Asgardian, of course." There was a brief pause. "Or a half-giant, if you wish to get technical." There was a second, longer pause. It occurred to Loki that might be a good opportunity to get a burning question of his, at long last, answered. "Perhaps you might know...for some bizarre reason, when I said I was an Asgardian, mortals wouldn't accept it. They called me a troll. Would you know why?

It was a serious question. Rather unimportant given current end-of-the-world circumstances, but it would be rather nice to have an answer.

Her eyes narrow slightly. "People h're?" She has only met that male Denmark and the female Norway so far, and they would know that all of this depends very much on... everything. Loki is just a very shifting character, fitting his personality and abilities. But at the same time, while looking strange and his tales sounding somewhat skewed, he also sounds close to the 'real thing', or what she would expect at least. A bit young looking, maybe, very green. Not that that has any meaning with him.

The answer was important though; she didn't really know enough about those people's backrounds to draw conclusions about their thought process.

(no subject)

lowkeyinaminor - 2011-07-04 01:49 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only