video; un: Glee Shoth

[becauses]

[ Oyez, oyez, oyez, you’ve got a call on your magical crystal. Pick up the phone and you’ll see Glee, looking serene, confident, and in her element in (1) organizing things and (2) telling people what to do. ]

It has been almost two months since we were conscripted by ALASTAIR, and we have yet to meet, introduce ourselves, and discuss what we’ve learned in person and in an orderly fashion. In light of recent… developments, increased cooperation will become a necessity to pool what we’ve learned and plan a deliberate way forward.

I expect all of you at the red warehouse between the commoner's district and the outskirts, six days from now at sundown. For those of you inclined to provoke tensions with local law enforcement, incarceration is not an excuse for tardiness or absence.

Comments

[becauses]

Are you willing to clean up afterward, too?

[selfimage]

Have you ever seen The Sorcerer's Apprentice? Er—not the Nic Cage spin-off film. Nix the Nic Cage one. The one to what mortals would call classical music.

It features an array of dancing broomsticks. That one.

[becauses]

[ This is video, so he'll be able to see her completely noncomprehending reaction to basically every word in the first three sentences. He is speaking gibberish. At some point, it'll probably be clear that she and Ahad don't come from a modern world at all. thanks dad for stalling technological development for two thousand years But she'll work with what she has. ]

You're offering me dancing broomsticks.

[selfimage]

If it comes to that. I don't like to box myself into a single option. The magic of frolicking cleaning implements never ceases.

[becauses]

You're very loose with your own magic.

[selfimage]

Are you going to scold me?

[becauses]

Not now. Not so long as your magic benefits ALASTAIR.

[selfimage]

[ there's a long pause. a tumbleweed blows through. ]

Ugh. Maybe I'll rethink this.

[ there's still enough dubiousness in him when ALASTAIR comes up that visibly makes him twitch. ]

[becauses]

[ She tilts her head inquisitively, a signal for him to continue on that train of thought. ]

Has anything happened since we spoke about our employer last? Or is that just natural suspicion?

[selfimage]

There are certain aspects of this multiverse that always make me suspicious. Or, rather, some that are self-proclaimed make it moreso.

We're playing a game of false debt. A little give a little, take a little.

[ his voice is telling in just how much he likes it. ]

No one usually requests my service unless ... ah—well ... it's all about playing with fire, you could say.

[becauses]

[ She smiles -- small, but without its usual heavy dose of self-confidence. It's just a warm expression. ]

Fire is a good thing, in moderation.

[selfimage]

[ he tries to look defiant, but he just looks puffy. it's difficult to look any other way when she's looking at him like that. ]

I'd rather not be used by them to deny freedom and choice for the future.

[becauses]

No?

What do you want for Chantes, then?

[selfimage]

That depends on what Chantes wants.

[becauses]

What Chantes wants may not be what Chantes needs.

[ ALASTAIR understands that principle, probably. The question is whether ALASTAIR knows what Chantes needs -- aside from needing a sun back. Glee takes that as a given. ]

[selfimage]

And who's to say what Chantes needs? Us, or ALASTAIR?

[ Loki watches her with bright eyes. ]

We would know better than those who spent their lives here?

[becauses]

[ She settles back against the wall, a deliberate gesture meant to signal a transition into okay here comes a story, follow good story-listening convention and stay quiet until it's done. ]

When I was younger, I spent a good deal of time moving across the continent. After several years, I met a man who wandered from village to village, town to town. He made a point of taking the most dangerous jobs available, where proprietors in pursuit of short-term gains cared very little about protecting the people who kept their enterprises running. The traveler was inevitably injured or killed -- which is less drastic than it sounds, because the man was a disguised god, and who was terrible at taking care of himself in any case. The traveler let his own battered body serve as a silent rebuke to those proprietors before moving on to another village. There were a good many places with dangerous work, you see, and he had certain obligations to fulfill. Being a god, he had a good deal of time -- but that didn't stop what he was doing from being incredibly inefficient. There were too many selfish people in any given town, and too many selfish people dominating the world outside, putting pressure on people to make decisions that would hurt themselves or others down the road.

[ The smile remains on her lips, and her tone stays conversational. She might not have her mother's flare for artistic descriptions, but she can get out the facts without any fuss. ]

Two lessons come to mind, thinking back on those years. First, people can be good and wise, and people can be selfish and short-sighted, whether they've been in one place for a day or their whole lives. Second, trusting people to see the error of their ways is ineffective nine times out of ten.

And while there are still things to learn, that's why I have no qualms with telling Chantes what it needs, and acting to see those needs fulfilled.

[selfimage]

[ like an indigent child he listens, his eyes following her as she speaks. stuff like this is important—stories are important.

he leans on his elbow and his chin on his palm. ]

It's not just about what's efficient and what's wise. This is their world, and their lives, and their own fates.

[ this hits a bit too close to home, no matter how much he tries to put a gap between "this" and "himself." ]

In doing this—at the behest of ALASTAIR—we may strip them of their free will. Just as we did with Anwick.

[becauses]

There's a certain point where allowing one segment of the population control of its fate leads to that segment trouncing on everyone else's ability to control their own fates. Chantes reached that point when the sun went down, or perhaps when people began dying in brawls.

[selfimage]

[ that scrapes against him like nails on a chalk board. she's right, to an extent. she also sounds like his mother. what was best for Asgard was not what was best for Loki, but they had disregarded him anyway. ]

Dying in brawls or dying by dragons. [ he says, to her or to himself. ]

I'm always up for a bit of meddling, as I'm not unaware that something needs to change. The signs are already there. But as for the goal of our employers? Well ... I couldn't say, yet we're doing their bidding anyway. The whole free will thing just isn't so cut and dry. We don't ignore them or decide. I'm sure we can find a happy medium.

So, I guess it really just boils down to this: do we help the world, or do we help ALASTAIR?

[becauses]

This world, [ she says, without pause. ] With the best information we can acquire and the best ideas we can bring to bear.

[selfimage]

Good.

Me too.