epidemiology | EVENT ★ THE ORDER OF THE CHIMERA

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EVENT ★ THE ORDER OF THE CHIMERA

MEETING MINGLING

As characters arrive, the forest clearing is still dark, barely lit despite the evening hours. It makes it all the more difficult to clearly make out the men and women shuffling about in cloaks, but at the very least they don’t treat the ALASTAIR recruits suspiciously. Rather, they seem to be expecting guests already.

It becomes quickly apparent that these are no ordinary people. There's something off about them, something a little... magical. Hidden by their hair is their pointed ears, one of the only things that suggests they have goblin ancestry.

Needless to say, there are no refreshments, but recruits are encouraged to find each other and try to put the pieces together. There may be clues in their surroundings, tomes and trinkets left about various tree trunks in lieu of proper seating, and the Order members around them.

INITIATION

Eventually, a silence falls over the crowd as two figures take to the center of the gathering. There’s an obvious familial resemblance between the pair of men, though one hangs a step behind. Chances are, you've seen him before, lurking quietly in the background. This time, he does the same.

The more outspoken of the pair steps forward, spreading his arms out to greet the assembly proudly.

”Welcome, old and new friends. My name is Michel. No doubt some of you are wondering what you are here for — don't worry, all will become clear. We are the Order of the Chimera, and today, you are the lucky few who will join our ranks and fight for justice.”

The crowd cheers.

”We are special. Gifted. We have goblin blood running through our veins that makes us strong, and that terrifies the humans, so we must live in secrecy. The goblins have hatred for the human side of us, so we must hide from them, too. We're half-breeds. Chimeras: beings made up of parts from different races, something that should not exist.

But the Chimera is also powerful. Before, all we could do was take the sun away, but now I've discovered something greater. A spell that will change everything. Magic that will strike anyone who does not stand with us down. We wi—”

SHUTOUT

Naturally, nothing’s that easy! Before he can finish, the speaker gets cut off mid-syllable by a bang and rise of surprised shouts along the back of the assembly. Despite the scrambling, those who were involved in the town square debacle might recognize what’s happening.

The law enforcement must’ve gotten tipped off, because they’re here to crash the party -- and all invited PCs get to be part of the collateral damage. Between the physical skirmishes and Order members retaliating with spells sizzling through the air, it should be possible to use the resulting noise to make a break for it and lie low until the heat’s died down. The hard part is making sure everyone makes it out to begin with, because you can bet that the punishment won’t be a slap on the wrist and a night in the slammer.

[ooc notes: there will be a subthread for NPC interactions, though was stated in the event post we recommend grouping up -- the more minds, the better! There's no set tag order, so characters may come and go as they wish. ]

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[ ouch.

there's a flinch that crosses her face as the barb presses its point. she doesn't need to feel guilty over something for it to hurt. she takes a pause and her dark brows pinch tight. ]

I hadn't figured that part out yet. The whole run from the authorities thing really took me by surprise.

[ another pause, and her lips part before she speaks. ]

It may sound strange, but I meant to find you.

[ The sight of her flinching is exasperating, especially with the follow-up answer she provides. It's odd seeing his brother as a woman, never a form Loki overly cared for before, and it underlines the difference between the two, ire beginning to seep away like poison from a cut wound.

He opens up his cloaks, raising an arm. ]

Hold onto me, we cannot stay here. [ Getting away from the patrolling remnants of the authorities is as good a plan as any, especially since he hasn't been party to any others tonight. In a slightly less gruff tone, he adds, ] Suggestions as to where to land would be welcome.

[ with the puff of a scolded child, a few strands of stray hair are tossed carelessly as she approaches, finding a nook to tuck herself in and throwing an arm over his shoulder. she looks decidedly put-out, as if she's being forced into something terrible. ]

There's a nice grove by the scenic Odette Memorial that's just ripe for the sneaky-sort of get-together. I'm sure the authorities already have their hands full at the moment. ... Ah, well—that and they can't fly.

[ there's no need to hold on too tight, she knows, despite her first (as there will most likely be many) in stunning misdeeds directed toward him, that he won't drop her. ]

[ The only other person to ride with him this way has been Jane, much shorter and far more prone to falling free without his arm secured around her. It's habit to do the same for Loki, even if Thor momentarily considers dropping her in a pond en route.

But there are clouds in the darkness above, so he'll get what he wants anyway.

Mjolnir arcs in a silver circle before throwing them skyward, directly up into the clouds so that anyone who witnesses their ascent won't be able to track their movements once high enough. Through the damp, cold clouds they sweep in the right direction, his hood flattening against his shoulders and hair straggling in rat-tails around a still very present frown.

Under the rush of the wind, he huffs with a shaking head, ] You always lie to me, don't you. I did not expect it from you this early.

[ WOW DROPPER NO DROPPING. thank the norns for seven league boots, mmkay. ]

I'll be sure to keep my falsehoods on schedule next time.

[ the sudden change in altitude doesn't faze her, nor does the temperature change. (one of the weirdest things about teleportation is the subtle changes no one thinks about: temperature, barometric pressure, air density. it can make flickering from one place to another unpleasant, always because the change between extremes was felt.) the wind howls against her ears, and burning her cheeks. it's nice; a rush.

when she answers, she sounds a touch resigned. ]

It's a circumstantial thing. I don't really plan it. [ waitasec. ] Ah—well, most of the time.

That is not what I meant.

[ His sigh is directed ahead at Mjolnir as the siblings streak through the sky. Lips purse, stamping out his frustration into abject silence on the matter. ]

It matters not. We are almost there.

[ it's debatable what she knows he meant anyway, but it was best in times like these to feign at least a little innocence.

this wasn't the brother she knew, nor the one that had raised Asgard from the ground in the middle of Broxton. despite the similarities, there was no history. in some ways that was comforting, whenever the guilt of her own lies became too much, she could legitimize herself by the simple reminder of this is not the brother that I wronged. it worked, sometimes. at times like this, it seemed a burden. there was a trust that wasn't there that her own brother wouldn't blink at.

one she had to reclaim, again.

the air was calmer here, the anxious clamor of spells and sorcery long fade, but it could've been the comparison that made it more serene. ]

Aye, aye.

[ she says, resigned. she's sure she'll have plenty to explaining to do when they reach the ground. ]

[ He holds her up so that he lands for both of them, setting Loki down once they arrive in the grove by the Odette Memorial. Dust and dirt fall through the canopy a moment later as he glances around, trees ceasing to sway in the downdraft. ]

I don't claim to understand you, Loki, I cannot say I ever truly knew my own brother, perhaps, but surely you knew I would be displeased by being lied to. [ His expression narrows, softening at the edges with a nevertheless shrewd kind of irritation. ] Even if you sent me away to a quiet location where I could never have been mistaken for one of the people now in chains who attended that meeting.

I hope that is your reasoning, as I might have wanted to act with you, or I am left to believe you spin yourself amusements at my expense.

[ strands of hair brush against her face before falling in coils around her shoulders. with black nails, she lifts her fingertips to brush some away from her cheek as the flutter of wind dies down.

she's quiet for a moment. ]

Yes, well ...

The important part is that you weren't seen. I doubt they'd be able to handle you, and we've all seen how well you do in captivity.

[ and then a sigh. ] ... Ah, perhaps you know me better than you think. For me playing sides is kind of a given, it's what I do, but you ... the people in Chantes trust you. You gave them your word to protect them.

You don't have to break it. That's what I'm for. I'm the questionable one, [ she says it like the words don't hit as hard as they do. ] It comes with the reputation. You can't be the questionable one too.

[ as much as something tugs within her at that. ]

You won't be the questionable one of us when I tell them you have my trust and make them listen to every word. [ A shake of his head and Thor flops his hands at his sides, Mjolnir still absently held. ] I will stand with you against slurs and battle alike but in order to do that I need to know you will not deceive me.

[ Halving the distance between them with a couple of steps, he seeks to pin her attention with widened eyes. ]

You are not for anything and I have no wish to stand upon a pedestal above you, brother. [ A small chagrined smile ticks up as he corrects himself after the moment. ] Sister.

[ her chest heaves a little bit as she glances up at him, lips pressed into a thin line. ]

There are a lot of Thors and a lot of Lokis, a lot of others like us, I'm certain, and I assume there are more quarrels than not between them.

[ why can't I remember hating you? ]

And not without cause.

[ her mouth feels dry. ]

I can't claim that I won't ever betray you, and perhaps I should apologize in advance for the grief that I may cause you in the future, because there may be some of that, too. But ... know whatever I am doing, that I want to do it on our behalf. For us, for you, and for whatever cause freedom might have here.

Even if I deceive and betray you, I'll return to you. For the better, I promise.

Did you never stop to think that asking me to stay away from that meeting would have worked? That I might have replied with, "Yes, Loki, I am exceptionally noticeable and you have a point"? The deception ... it irks me, aye, but I know why you use it. It's the lack of communication that angers me at its barest bones tonight. [ That is the crux of the matter, as Thor feels it. ] If what you do is for the better, I would be there to do it with you. Drive this wedge between us again, Loki, and I will push back whether you mean well or not. I must if I do not know your mind.

[ And now they stand in a chilly grove in the dark, arguing. ]

[ it's almost kind of nice, in the weird way that it tugs in her stomach. she deflates a little more, her shoulders coming in. ]

I may know the other you, but he isn't you. You're not that Thor. I didn't know how you'd take it, or if you would leap into it regardless.

Whatever happened between you and the Loki you knew, I don't claim to know of it ...

[ that was it, wasn't it? that she had no idea how she'd be received, and assumed, despite Thor doing everything to the contrary, that she'd immediately be distrusted. perhaps she was growing so used to it, that she had made a poor call. she had driven such a gap between the Thor that this was, and the Thor that she knew. ]

I won't ... do that to you again. I'll tell you. [ the flow of her voice is gone now. there's no convincing to be done anymore. ] Will you do something for me?

[ It's such a mess and deserves to be kicked right off a cliff for now. Loki is safe, the lie was ... It wasn't a good call because their teammates are locked up and Thor feels guilty about not being around to help, regardless of what would happen to him, but Loki meant well. There was no malice involved. He knows the taste of spite from his brother and there is none here to trace (Loki's reassurance feels genuine, whether Thor is a fool for believing her or not). ]

As long as you do not wish to take my cloak while it is cold. [ A weak attempt to lighten the mood. Eh. He nods, if only to prove he totes the same trust he preaches. ] Aye. What?

[ to her, it was better legs to stand on than Thor being locked up again in some tiny cell, more useless then he would be now. she doesn't feel guilty about that part, not about the lie itself, but where it eventually lead. she wonders how much this Thor expects it out of her, but she can't be certain.

for a moment she feels like her question will be folly, leading her down a path that she would rather not travel. this will lead to dark places, she says to herself. ]

What happened between you and your brother—your Loki—in the universe which you hail, I'd ask you of it.

[ it would give her a glimpse at who she's being compared to, no matter how much they'd both like to think otherwise. ]

[ That gains a sharper look and a pause as he shifts his weight, finally hitching Mjolnir back at a hip. With his hand devoid of anything to clutch, his hands come together with an uncertain gesture. Subtlety isn't a great play of his, so he lets concern frown through it. ]

That depends. How much of your ... history is clear to you?

[ NAILED IT. ]

[ she watches him from his stance to the small twitches in his finger, as if she's able to read every small gesture like black ink against a page.

and so it goes.

the feeling that accompanies the question is one of resignation. she had walked into this (maybe she had done it herself, and wanted an excuse to tell him), but how long could she go on avoiding it? that Loki that came before, the one that she tried so frantically to distance herself from. there was a gap there she'd like to keep intact. ]

My history?

[ there's a lump that feels like a snake in her stomach. ]

There's quite a lot of that.

Your familial history, Loki. We don't have all night to wile away nostalgically on hundreds of clever tricks and schemes.

[ It's meant lightly, trying to steer the topic in the right direction although Thor has no idea how, not without causing Loki some kind of pain if he reveals the wrong thing. He absolutely doesn't want to go down that road again. ]

Heritage and such.

There's far more than hundreds. [ she replies hotly, feigning offense before her speaks to herself. ] Thousands, probably.

[ it's odd to listen to Thor find a way around something. it's the opposite, usually, with her dancing around the point and him doing the guessing. fingers go to the back of her head, weaving among the tangles. ]

Yes, all right—heritage. Can we narrow this down? Odin or Laufey?

[ The release of tension when he hears Laufeys name is all but palpable on the night air, visibly relaxing. No need to delve into details on that, so he pushes forward with the subject Loki requested. ]

My brother discovered his past and took it ill, father was ... not a help to him. [ As loyal as Thor is, there are times when Odin really just makes situations vastly worse. ] He believed himself cast out. Through his own confusion and spite, he sought to take Midgard for his own and joined with allies we would once have fought side by side.

I begged him to stop his madness. He would not. [ 'It's too late.' Not 'No, Thor' or 'I don't want to stop'. Just resignation and misery that clawed at Thor's insides before Loki's blade did that for him. ] Then came Malekith to Asgard and I required Loki's assistance against the All-Father's wishes. I broke him out of the dungeons and he led me the Svartalfheim, where he ultimately died.

I owe him my life.

[ so the old man shares the same gift for sensitivity no matter what the universe, that's an unfortunate comfort. she remembered Odin's confession of love to his children after he had lost Aldrif for a second time, the words were still fresh in Loki's brain. it is, in some ways, an awkward comfort. words uttered all but too late for a prior life.

she listens as he speaks, catching the pauses and change in tone. it feels like there should be more, but it never comes. all that she hears is Thor's guilt, and she wonders if her own brother felt this way when he was pursuing her. she can't say, even with memories that span so far backward, she never considered Thor's desperate attempts to bring her back.

a part of her is almost jealous for it, and this Loki that squandered these chances of—redemption? no, companionship. ]

Thor ... [ she says gently to get his attention. ] You couldn't have saved him. Not from death, and not from himself.

[ the pit turns in her stomach. ]

I've gone down that path, and I know where it leads.

[ The confession slips by him at first, broiling in a sickly nostalgia that feels uncomfortably like swimming in acid, no fresh breath to be taken when the subject of his own brother is brought up. ]

What angered me the most was not his folly, it was not even the lives lost because of his pain. [ That shames him a little, gruffer for it. ] It was how he revelled in the role he was given, the crazed monster taken in by Asgardians, an adopted threat. He would have lied himself blue [ hah ] telling me he regretted none of it, if I had deigned to listen.

[ Quiet for a moment where he backtracks over the present Loki's reply, he frowns and holds his tongue when it comes to asking What have you done? That would not be a short story, she said so herself. "Thousands" of infractions. He will ask one day but it will be elsewhere, some place with walls and a better chance of boxing Loki in so she cannot run out of fear of discovery.

For the first time in a long time, his expressions softens along with his voice. The dirt he stares at certainly isn't commanding his emotions, thickening his tongue to lead. ]

He apologised as I held him in my arms. Called himself a fool. Loki died for me, wallowing in sorrow and grief in a cold, dark realm, and there I left his body in a nightmarish land we had feared as children. That is the last time I saw him.

[ did he regret it?

no, probably not. not in the place where the regret should be. regret that the game didn't work in his favor, possibly, or that the pieces weren't right. in Loki's desperate dance toward madness, there were dips and turns, and consequences that were expressed simply with words were twisted in bitterness and spite. there weren't any explanations for that kind of selfishness, at least not any that she'd like to give.

that Loki, much like the one that strained to leave behind, had died a hero. somewhere in the back of her mind a voice buzzes: it's a trick, just a shadow on the wall. when Loki dies, there's always a reason. to accept death meant that he had to die, must die, but for what? there was a game to be played here, with Thor as one of the pieces. the notion makes her uncomfortable, as much as she had just done the same. ]

He was where he wanted to be.

[ it's double sided: on one end, the possible comfort, on the other, the possibility of his death playing into some scheme very real. ]

And others have to live with it. It usually goes that way—Loki does something, and the consequences follow suit.

[ she pauses and an awkward look crosses her face, brows pinching. ]

Are you all right?

Aye. [ Been better, but. ] None speak of him, they wish to leave him dead. You are the first in a long time to ask after what befell him, that is all.

[ It ripened the whole experience all over again, more so because of the younger Loki being the one doing the asking. Thor closes the distance, brushing Loki's hair over a shoulder to slide a warm calloused hand supportively behind a neck, all but coaxing her to look at him if the need is there. ]

I know not what your history with your Thor is or whether he has been a good brother to you, but I do know this — for as long as you wish to stand beside me, Loki, I will let no one take you from my side. You may trust me in that.

Edited 2015-12-07 11:13 (UTC)

[ of course they wanted to leave him dead. that comes as no surprise, but instead a myriad of conflicting emotions. some whisper good, no one needs another evil Loki, others weigh upon her in promises of guilt and fury. no one wants you washes fresh over her until she can find the pillar of the All-Father's words that she had heard before she arrived.

then there's Thor, and when he approaches everything seems warm again. she lets out a breath, her shoulders relaxing and chest deflating as he speaks.

she had caused her own Thor countless horrors, but maybe she could find a way to make it up to this one. not her Thor, but ...

her head cocks upward at the urging. ]

Aye, terms accepted. Trust that I've dotted my "i"s and crossed my "t"s. Know I'm doing what I do for the best, and I'll tell you my schemes.

[ the smile on her face twists a little. ]

Maybe more, one day.

[ maybe. ]

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EVENT ★ THE ORDER OF THE CHIMERA

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