It takes [ a breath ] more practice than I would like to admit. Shapeshifting is still difficult for me, if I'm mimicking someone else's appearance.
[ Snakes however, he managed relatively quickly. ]
All magic in this world is concentrated in the Fade; part of the difficulty, I think, is relearning how to reach for that wellspring instead of our own seiðr.
I've noticed a lot of changes since arriving here.
[ It's a pretty strange feeling and a disconnect she tries not to think too heavily on. This body isn't hers, isn't the form she held before getting here. Everything is more difficult. Hunger and exhaustion more easily reached. It's like being hobbled, that and the loss of her abilities. ]
That does help, knowing that it is possible to find that source again. All of this has left me... [ There's a long pause, as if she's not sure about how much she wants to open up to him. ]...feeling a bit out of sorts.
[ He doesn't really want to be the one to tell her this. He doesn't think anyone else should be either. The hesitation is there, in his tone, in the breaths he takes before speaking again. ]
As far as I can tell we've become human since arriving. Some things remain; the cold doesn't bother me much, even here. But a lot of what it meant to be Asgardian, or a Frost Giant, has been lost.
[ It’s honestly a little panic inducing, thinking her lifespan has just suddenly been cut. Sylvie has lived well over a thousand years and the idea of now only having a smattering of decades left is more than a little sobering. A blink in time. ]
I hope you’re spending your days wisely then.
[ It comes out of her mouth before the other implications register; who he might be spending those days with. Sylvie makes a pained face at her own stupidity, suddenly glad this thing only records voices. ]
[ He's also low-key freaked out about having only less than a handful of decades left to be in the world. This world, anyway; and while he knows that sometimes Rifters leave, he doesn't know where they go. For all he knows about it they simply cease to be.
Much like dying, that. ]
How would spending my days unwisely look?
[ Teasing, mostly, but he is curious as to what she'd consider a more or less waste of his time. ]
[ There are several intense embarrassing thoughts that lurch up immediately, and she smashes them down. Jealousy isn’t a good look for her, and while envy had been a rather constant companion throughout her travels (families and connections and friends were never in the cards for her) she doesn’t like the intensity of whatever this thing she feels for Loki is.
No, She’ll definitely not let herself go down that path. ]
I imagine anything that doesn’t involve getting ahead. But seeing as you’re not living here at the Gallows, I think you have done quite a bit of that.
Well it’s a good thing you’re not here then. I’d hate to have our reputation ruined by your lack of class.
[ the truth is that the setting isn’t great for her either. There’s not much she calls her own but still her inability to relax in a wide open space with no real place for her to wedge herself safely away has been impacting her sleep. It’s only a matter of time before she accepts the inevitable and signs up for the watch, if only for a door she can lock. ]
[ There's a very long pause there, and it is a good thing then that the crystal doesn't transmit video as Sylvie goes through a range of emotions, licking her lips and clenching and unclenching her hands before she pulls her heels back up onto her bed, hugging her knees as she lets the crystal swing from her fingers. ]
The quiet ones, where people went out like a candle snuffed, were my most frequented. The screaming and dredge of society collapsing bit by bit wears on you; and just makes everything significantly more risky.
[ He imagines that 'used to' means that she has one now. He imagines that favorite is Lamentis-1, despite all the missteps he made, and he imagines it hasn't been easy for her, to arrive here, find him living a life separate from her.
He imagines a lot of things he can't bring himself to give voice to. ]
I'm sorry that you ended up here instead of exploring the vast multiverse. [ She deserves the opportunity to have as much fun as possible, by his reckoning. ]
At least this end of the world could be prevented if Riftwatch and the Inquisition are to be believed.
I'm not sure that's what I would have been doing anyway.
[ Not with a billion boogeymen she released herself onto the multiverse. She didn't regret it, giving people free will, but at the same time she couldn't imagine a path for her out of the citadel that was one of any kind of release from running. ]
Mmm.. and believing in supposedly benevolent organizations has always gone well.
Maybe not, [ he hedges, ] but it's what you deserve.
[ There's still a lot of detail he simply doesn't have access to, doesn't know about, and Loki is unwilling to press Sylvie on the topic. But he imagines that breaking the Sacred Timeline free would have repercussions, things that he and Sylvie would have to deal with. Together, maybe? It's difficult to say, especially given how cool she'd been toward him when he first ran into her in Hightown.
He snorts a little. She has a good point. ]
Has anyone given you the "rifters are dangerous and thus politically aligned with mages, who we used to keep locked away in towers" rundown yet?
Apparently, Mages got tired of their treatment and decided to go rogue, legally. Apostacy? Because this place's majority religion was the one running things. Which meant the Templars went rogue running right after them.
So that war was well underway when the current head of the opposing forces, who claims godhood by the way, fun times that, decided to blow up the head of the religion down here during some sort of ceasefire. Now we have this war and bigger problems to handle, but that war was never resolved so it's...still a problem.
[ He takes a breath, sighs. He hates this. ]
People here are terrified of Mages. Possibly because they can become possessed by the sort of demons that were there like when you arrived, and the rest of the people can't or aren't likely to.
If they only knew how many gods were actually running about in their streets.
[ It all seems so little to her, tiny problems for tiny people stuck on their planet in their one universe- but now she is tiny and stuck on this planet and she needs to really wrap her head around that. ]
Of all the worlds we would end up in it would be the one where we can't really use our magic freely. So what? The plan is to stop the templars or put the mages back in their cages? And if the second one, why should we be helping?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rosecarmine
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-05 01:59 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-05 02:06 am (UTC)[ Snakes however, he managed relatively quickly. ]
All magic in this world is concentrated in the Fade; part of the difficulty, I think, is relearning how to reach for that wellspring instead of our own seiðr.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-05 02:18 am (UTC)[ It's a pretty strange feeling and a disconnect she tries not to think too heavily on. This body isn't hers, isn't the form she held before getting here. Everything is more difficult. Hunger and exhaustion more easily reached. It's like being hobbled, that and the loss of her abilities. ]
That does help, knowing that it is possible to find that source again. All of this has left me... [ There's a long pause, as if she's not sure about how much she wants to open up to him. ]...feeling a bit out of sorts.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-05 02:24 am (UTC)[ He doesn't really want to be the one to tell her this. He doesn't think anyone else should be either. The hesitation is there, in his tone, in the breaths he takes before speaking again. ]
As far as I can tell we've become human since arriving. Some things remain; the cold doesn't bother me much, even here. But a lot of what it meant to be Asgardian, or a Frost Giant, has been lost.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-05 02:53 am (UTC)[ It’s honestly a little panic inducing, thinking her lifespan has just suddenly been cut. Sylvie has lived well over a thousand years and the idea of now only having a smattering of decades left is more than a little sobering. A blink in time. ]
I hope you’re spending your days wisely then.
[ It comes out of her mouth before the other implications register; who he might be spending those days with. Sylvie makes a pained face at her own stupidity, suddenly glad this thing only records voices. ]
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-05 03:07 am (UTC)[ He's also low-key freaked out about having only less than a handful of decades left to be in the world. This world, anyway; and while he knows that sometimes Rifters leave, he doesn't know where they go. For all he knows about it they simply cease to be.
Much like dying, that. ]
How would spending my days unwisely look?
[ Teasing, mostly, but he is curious as to what she'd consider a more or less waste of his time. ]
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-05 03:28 am (UTC)No, She’ll definitely not let herself go down that path. ]
I imagine anything that doesn’t involve getting ahead. But seeing as you’re not living here at the Gallows, I think you have done quite a bit of that.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-05 03:31 am (UTC)[ There's an air of 'what else could one do?' at the end of that statement. ]
They all get up at an ungodly hour besides.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-05 03:40 am (UTC)And what would you be without your beauty rest?
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-05 03:44 am (UTC)A mess, clearly. Not one that anyone would like to gaze upon either.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-05 03:55 am (UTC)Well it’s a good thing you’re not here then. I’d hate to have our reputation ruined by your lack of class.
[ the truth is that the setting isn’t great for her either. There’s not much she calls her own but still her inability to relax in a wide open space with no real place for her to wedge herself safely away has been impacting her sleep. It’s only a matter of time before she accepts the inevitable and signs up for the watch, if only for a door she can lock. ]
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-05 07:29 pm (UTC)[ Presuming she's made some. It's early yet, he knows, and there's a good chance she's got less than 0% interest in making new friends as it stands.
Still. ]
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-05 08:38 pm (UTC)I know exactly one person's name and it's because she has a dog.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-05 08:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-05 08:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-05 08:49 pm (UTC)Her version of Midgard sounds hellish. Undead wandering around and infecting people.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-05 09:05 pm (UTC)[ There's too much risk in those of course, so she tried to avoid them. ]
I suppose they can happen at any time now.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-05 09:07 pm (UTC)[ A verbal shudder from Loki. No thank you. ]
Yeah.
Did you ever have a favorite?
[ He winces. The question sounds stupid, aloud. Which end of the world did you enjoy the most? The least? ]
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-05 09:27 pm (UTC)The quiet ones, where people went out like a candle snuffed, were my most frequented. The screaming and dredge of society collapsing bit by bit wears on you; and just makes everything significantly more risky.
But no, I never used to have a favorite.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-05 09:38 pm (UTC)He imagines a lot of things he can't bring himself to give voice to. ]
I'm sorry that you ended up here instead of exploring the vast multiverse. [ She deserves the opportunity to have as much fun as possible, by his reckoning. ]
At least this end of the world could be prevented if Riftwatch and the Inquisition are to be believed.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-06 11:22 pm (UTC)[ Not with a billion boogeymen she released herself onto the multiverse. She didn't regret it, giving people free will, but at the same time she couldn't imagine a path for her out of the citadel that was one of any kind of release from running. ]
Mmm.. and believing in supposedly benevolent organizations has always gone well.
[ But it's said with some humor at least. ]
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-07 04:22 am (UTC)[ There's still a lot of detail he simply doesn't have access to, doesn't know about, and Loki is unwilling to press Sylvie on the topic. But he imagines that breaking the Sacred Timeline free would have repercussions, things that he and Sylvie would have to deal with. Together, maybe? It's difficult to say, especially given how cool she'd been toward him when he first ran into her in Hightown.
He snorts a little. She has a good point. ]
Has anyone given you the "rifters are dangerous and thus politically aligned with mages, who we used to keep locked away in towers" rundown yet?
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-07 11:08 pm (UTC)[ Not...going to address what she deserves. Because she deserves even worse not telling him what's happened. Not being forthright. ]
I've heard worse about Mages in general though. You'd think people would appreciate magic for the boon it is.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-08 12:06 am (UTC)So that war was well underway when the current head of the opposing forces, who claims godhood by the way, fun times that, decided to blow up the head of the religion down here during some sort of ceasefire. Now we have this war and bigger problems to handle, but that war was never resolved so it's...still a problem.
[ He takes a breath, sighs. He hates this. ]
People here are terrified of Mages. Possibly because they can become possessed by the sort of demons that were there like when you arrived, and the rest of the people can't or aren't likely to.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-09 01:40 am (UTC)[ It all seems so little to her, tiny problems for tiny people stuck on their planet in their one universe- but now she is tiny and stuck on this planet and she needs to really wrap her head around that. ]
Of all the worlds we would end up in it would be the one where we can't really use our magic freely. So what? The plan is to stop the templars or put the mages back in their cages? And if the second one, why should we be helping?
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From: