VIDEO. UN: LOKI.

[selfimage]

Hello there.

[ Loki's standing on the porch of the ashen saloon, black bones against a dusky horizon. ]

Another day saved, another mission over ... [ he says it in an "all in a day's work" sort of tone. a finger twists and he gestures outward. ]

As the story continues! [ the drawl comes from his lips slowly, as if for dramatic effect. ]

We've met our arch-foes, saved a part of the fractured multiverse from apparent destruction and preserved the integrity of the timeline—erm, hopefully on the last two, anyway. In light of current events, and while we all cool down, I thought we'd play with a little fun hypothetical to stimulate conversation. Call it something that's been on my mind. So, riddle me this, Audentes ...

If saving a world meant destroying it—you know, kind of like a hard reset—what would you do? Would you do it, let it die and get coffee instead, or would you fight with tooth and axe for its survival, despite all odds? All methods in between, of course, feel free to be creative.

[ sometimes, some things remind him all too much of Ragnarok. ]

Comments

audio; un:hound

[ofobedience]

Destroy it. Unless, of course, we were given more thorough instructions than the ones we've been handed out so far. In which case, I'd follow those.

[because he's a Good Dog and he follows commands.]

AUDIO.

[selfimage]

[ there's a little hum that fills the air with pause before he replies. ]

Any particular reason other than that's what fate dictates?

[ofobedience]

I wouldn't have used the word fate necessarily, but forgive me for being pedantic. hahah.

[But it's not quite that, is it? Not really.]

I'd do it because, hypothetically, that's what we've been ordered to do. We're here to execute higher commands, are we not?

video;

[predomination]

It seems like that's going to cause quite the debate, Loki-san! [so cheerfully, before he adds, in a more casual tone.]

I think it would depend on the circumstances. Many can claim that destroying a world will save it, but most of the time, they mean it in selfish terms.

[selfimage]

I could make a valid argument for it being synonymous.

[ but he's Loki, he's good at that. there's a smile in his voice. ]

So, the context of ALASTAIR then. It's what the program dictates is best according to its calculations, or so I've read. You trust it? Or, perhaps, is it something else?

audio | username: xXx_trueblue_xXx

[competing]

[ the last time they had a conversation like this, things had been different. simpler.

(god, had it really only been a couple of days ago? it feels like ages now.)

had this cropped up before, lance might have had a ready answer on his tongue, all confidence and bravado and every other thing that's carried him this far, none of which are actual experience or wisdom or insight. all guts, all show. back then, saving the universe had been easier. back when he thought he knew what saving meant. the longer he stays here, with alastair, the more he's beginning to think it's all just a matter of perspective and semantics and a bunch of other things that are, admittedly, not lance's forte.

so what does that leave him with? how far can his gut take him now?

they're all thoughts he can't quite articulate yet, which is a feat for someone who normally doesn't have much of a problem speaking whatever comes to mind, but a lack of filter doesn't necessarily mean a great command with words (isn't the opposite more the case?) so in the end he's left voicing the only other thing his mind can latch onto in this moment... which may or may not be what loki had intended for at all. ]

...That dragon stuff's still bothering you, huh?

[ofobedience]

I don't doubt you could.

[Whether he'd buy into it or not is another matter.]

But to answer your question, no. I don't trust it. If anything, I'm inclined to think they ought to back off entirely and let the occupants of the worlds we're employed to save deal with their business themselves. But ultimately we're here to fulfil a purpose, to complete missions. I don't care enough to do anything beyond that.

[That isn't quite it, either. Not in its entirety. But never mind that.]

[selfimage]

We all need a snake down the pants at some point.

[ there's a smug little smile and a long shrug of his shoulders. ]

Mm—claim, perhaps. But if it was calculated? It happened once before, it was the first mission where everyone was brought together, before we were Audentes. It wasn't direct of course, more like a piece pushed into place.

[predomination]

And also poorly communicated, I take it?

[he doesn't wait for an answer. he doesn't need one.] Then I guess one would have to consider how many lives would be lost if the world was allowed to continue versus how many would be saved if it was destroyed, assuming every other possible scenario had been considered and deemed unworkable or failures.

AUDIO.

[selfimage]

[ damnit Lance, why do you have to be like this? the dragon stuff always bothered him, not because of the world dying, but because they had been stripped of autonomy, and Loki never liked making decisions that weren't informed to the catalytic sort of outcome that he so enjoyed.

there's a long, suffering sigh. ]

Not in the way you think, if you must know. It's all in the past.

audio; un: beloved

[dailydouble]

Shall I assume we would be properly informed?

[ There's something in his tone to indicate that he's not entirely thrilled about where this line of questioning will lead. ]

[selfimage]

We'll say yes this time, for lack of choice the last time. We don't want to do that again.

[ there's less bitterness in his tone and more curiosity. it still stings a bit, not as badly as the knife his mother drove between his shoulder blades, but enough that he's still sore enough not to allow it to happen again.

he was no one's pawn. ]

[competing]

[ and lance, projecting, thinks it's all bravado answering him in turn. ]

Dude, I get it. What they made you guys do — that really sucked. You literally nurtured the very thing that wound up destroying that world, and from the sounds of it, none of you had any idea! Pretty sure that gets you a first class ticket to Bittersville, maybe even the scenic route through Whattheheck City and Notcoolyo Town.

[selfimage]

[ easily, and all irritatingly put-together: ]

Are you going to answer the question?

[selfimage]

[ Loki's willing to grace him with an answer, despite. some things need expressed with all proper weight in bitterness. ]

Replace "poorly" with "not at all" and you've hit the metaphorical nail on the head.

[ he twists his hands back and forth, and then twirls his fingers in some grand gesture with an accompanying sigh. ]

So you see it as a last resort?

[dailydouble]

I would have let it be destroyed, once. There was a time when little moved me.

[ Ahad's nihilism was learned over centuries of pain, and not entirely forgotten. ]

[predomination]

[he scoffs. typical. just when he thinks he might be able to give ALASTAIR the benefit of the doubt and assume that maybe they don't operate on the same level as he does, he gets proof like this.]

I'll say it wouldn't be my first instinct. Destruction for the sake of anything's rebirth or salvation leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but if there were no other viable options and more people would suffer otherwise, then I'd be willing to make that call.

[even if he had to make it alone, so no one else had to bear the weight of it.]

[competing]

[ wow, fine. ]

Maybe if I had more details...

[selfimage]

There's a point where those connect.

[ but he sounds more curious than accusing. ]

You'd do missions for the sake of doing missions? That sounds a little labor intensive when you're getting nothing out of it.

[selfimage]

[ that, at least, he remembers. there are bits and pieces of Ahad, sometimes flowing together, sometimes fragments, that he had gotten along the way. he remembers that kind of apathy, and he knows very well what came from it. ]

Ah—and now?

[ love usually means that there's something worth saving. ]

[selfimage]

I'm beginning to think you don't want to.

Ah—that's all right, it gets difficult to run in circles with it, if you ponder too hard.

[ one that's more than personal, not only because of Anwick, but because of other bits and pieces of a former existence. ]

[ofobedience]

It passes the time until I'm able to leave. What else would I do?

[Following orders-- regardless of his indifference to ALASTAIR and their mission statement, it's what he does. What he knows.]

[dailydouble]

I have fought too hard to survive a dying universe. Saving a world without destroying it seems possible, after that.

[selfimage]

Of course, it can get inevitably more complicated than that, as you know.

[ the question, even if it was stated in a way that churned the mind, went deeper than the rabbit hole appeared. and it's somewhere between that gap and the bottom where Loki says "don't look too far, you might become the rabbit." ]

Why the distaste for rebirth?

[predomination]

It's not distaste, exactly. There's a certain cycle to things- a balance that needs to be maintained. Rebirth in itself isn't a bad thing, but when something is destroyed, everything is thrown off balance. Equilibrium can be reestablished, of course, but you have to be certain that what it will be is better than what it was before.

Otherwise you've just destroyed a world and made a bigger mess in the process.

[and that, also, can get infinitely more complicated. Aizen's speech was proof of that- he can still remember him, slowly being consumed by the Cross Seal, screaming about how weak Urahara was to bow to the Soul King, because of it being the keystone, because it held together all the worlds. even if Aizen's intentions had been pure, he would have thrown every world into chaos for his demented vision.]