video | un: man of still

[figureitout]

Okay, seriously, is this for real?

[ Hello there, fellow recruits! Today, the network brings you a fascinating video of... a hand. A hand that is waving, though less in a hello-how-are-you way and more in a I-am-so-done-with-everything way.

The hand pulls back, though, revealing an arm clad in green-grey plaid shirt (don't knock the plaid, okay, the plaid is eternal)... and eventually, the face of a teenager. Who is currently making the most judging face you will ever see in your life. ]

What kind of bomb needs fish hearts and sea urchins? It's like someone just threw together a list for the most random and incidentally dangerous things they could think of. And do you even need these anymore? Is the bomb a thing? I mean, the briefing I got was... uh, let's just say hurried. [ More like non-existent, but, yeah.

Stiles pauses, like something has just occurred to him. ]

... Right, probably should've started with that. The "hi weird jewel amulet I literally just got here and have no idea about anything" thing. And also the "I really hope someone actually sees this and I'm not sitting here and talking to a piece of jewelry" thing. Does this work? Is this working?

[ He leans in and pokes the jewel. ] For my own peace of mind, I'm saying it's working. I mean, magic jewels is, like, the least weird thing about all of this. [ Wish he'd shut up yet? Sorry, you are currently subjected to the Talkamus Stilinskimus, a very un-rare case of rambling that occurs whenever Stiles so much as opens his mouth.

Your wish is about to be fulfilled, though, as he claps his hands together. ]

Anyway! Go... team? [ ... such eloquence. But in his defense, no one ever told him talking to invisible people you don't even know actually exist would be this awkward.

That is the last sight of him anyone on the network sees, though his voice still follows, almost like he can't stop the think-at-the-jewel-and-it-will-broadcast quickly enough. ]

... is there a team? Man, I hope there's a team.

Comments

[figureitout]

So... you're totally happy, being stuck here, thrown to different places to act according to very bad, very shady instructions from an organization that's totally suspicious.

[ Then again -- this is Loki he's talking to. ] Wait, no, those wouldn't bother you, would they?

[ And indeed they don't, as Loki goes on to explain; an opportunity, he calls this, and a small part of Stiles... agrees. When is he ever after this going to be able to get out of his own planet, own universe? See different places like this?

Never. And that small part of him is tempted to leave trying to break out to those who find the thought more pressing... but no, his dad needs him. Scott needs him. And whatever opportunities he might have, here, he's not abandoning those he loves just for his own curiosity. ]

Yeah, I kind of figured. [ His first introduction to ALASTAIR wasn't exactly trust-inspiring, in any capacity. ]

[selfimage]

Totally happy is a tad bit of an exaggeration. Even bad situations have their uses. [ it all game down to how to use something. for Loki, even events that could possibly hinder him could be used for something. he was good at rearranging debt; no one wanted debt from him, almost as much as no one wanted to be in his debt.

this situation is far preferable to the precarious circumstances that await him at home. ]

Though I think it's more ALASTAIR's poor communication skills, rather than any nefarious dealings on their part. That still does bring up another good question: what basis are they making these the decision? What world needs help, what world gets destroyed?

If there's a beholder, they're doing a fine job of keeping it under wraps.

[figureitout]

So... biding your time?

[ Does that sound more appropriate? It is the strategy Stiles is going for, too, when he eventually has enough to go on to be able to bide his time at all, instead of this blind stumbling in the dark with little answers and even less control. ]

Maybe we should sign them up for Interpersonal Communication 101.

[ Sarcasm aside, the question Loki poses is one that has been plaguing Stiles' mind, too... and more than that, the question it leads to, an inevitable end to the road. ]

Yeah... and how do we even know these are the right decisions? What if in the grand scheme of things, one planet being destroyed is going to ensure that all the surrounding planets survive, and if we save it, ten other planets die instead?

[selfimage]

Well—it's not as if other worlds haven't been destroyed by ALASTAIR. They've had their fair share of it, I'm sure. It's not just universal, it's in terms of the integrity of the timeline, or so they say. Though I doubt it's based on the moral upholdings of right and wrong.

Divine plans differ from the mortal.

[ there's a shrug in his voice. ]

It's about choice, freedom, that sort of thing.

[figureitout]

Yeah, right, cause you'd know all about that.

[ The divine plans, he means. ]

What if I choose to question everything they're doing? I mean, I'm not saying I can do anything about it, because I can't, not yet anyway... and most people seem to think that doing what they tell us means we have a chance of getting back home. But I'm not going to trust them or what they tell us, either.

[selfimage]

[ having a father that had planned to raze the mortal realm for the "greater good of all the realms"—yes, he remembers that very vividly. even if he was a bird at the time. ]

Freedom and choice aren't as easy of concepts as some think.

[ a quirk of his head. ]

Ask me about it when we finish this mission.

[figureitout]

You don't have to tell me that.

[ He knows all too well. Better than he'd like, honestly. ]

Sure, hey, something to look forward to! If we ever get out of here, that is. [ Ha, ha... that's mostly a joke. Mostly. ]