assguardians | IT'S THAT TIME.

"Gods." Right. Overpowered mutants playing god, more likely. You actually believe all of that shit?

[He grins coldly.] I just got an answer and personal information out of you, didn't I? Not really working with all of my usual tools here, so I'm glad you're so obliging. You were, what, a metamorph?

I'm not going to get into a philosophical debate about the nature of godhood. They don't meet my world's standard for it, but that doesn't make them not gods.

You assume I wouldn't have given them to you without the threat.

Oh, c'mon, don't try to rewrite history that's just happened. I asked nice, no one was behind it. I get a little closer, and suddenly the gods come up.

[He gives her a once-over.]

Besides, I know the look of someone who's either looking to pick a fight or run away. You protecting them or something?

And you didn't answer my question.

There's no one you can waltz up to and threaten to get your way. Unless you've been placed into the right house, there's no fire here for you. You have exactly what everyone else has, one god-granted power.

[she's small, and she's thin, and she looks like she doesn't sleep enough. she's also standing like someone who knows their way around combat, and if he's really, really paying attention, something about her shadow is just...not quite right]

Protecting the gods? Hardly. But I will protect myself. And I find myself suddenly disinclined to answer personal questions.

I'm not interested in god-granted powers. I'm interested in my real power. [He tones it down a little as he decodes her words, though, looking more thoughtful.] So there's a house that does let people manipulate fire? How do I apply for a switch?

[He looks down his nose at her final statement.] You seemed proud enough of your abilities when you first brought it up. Now you're ashamed all of a sudden? If you are a mutant, you're a pretty piss-poor one.

Aren't we all. And I'm not sure you can, but I suppose you could ask.

I'm not ashamed, I'm disinclined to talk about myself to someone who thinks threatening me is the best form of conversation. I'm not sure I'm a mutant, either.

Right. The unsympathetic gods. What house am I asking for? I'm apparently in Baldr right now.

[He arches his eyebrows, then laughs.] Oh, untwist. You're the one who called it threatening - I just moved in a bit closer to facilitate communication. You really think I'd beat up a girl who looks like she weighs about 80 pounds soaking wet? That'd really make me look like a tough guy.

[she doesn't know off the top of her head, so she lifts her hand and pulls up the network on her bracelet, never quite taking her eyes off him as she looks it up]

Odin. Baldr's powers are flight or regeneration.

[she closes the network and raises an eyebrow, then smiles. her stance doesn't change, but the rest of her posture relaxes]

I suppose one never quite knows.

Oh, is that what this thing's for? [He pushes the gem, like she did and blinks when the network appears, trying out a few of the functions.] Shit... that's actually not too bad.

Odin, huh? As exciting as flight sounds, it's not really my style, and regen is pretty useless without the claws. I'm not exactly gonna heal someone into submission.

[He finally looks up from the screen, noting her new posture and smile and tilting his head curiously.]

Any reason you're so quick to default to a fighting stance? Not like I blame you or anything, but something like that usually comes with a story.

Amongst other things. It also keeps us from losing our color.

I'd think regeneration would be quite useful, actually. You can't heal someone to death, but you certainly can outlast them, if your body heals itself.

[her mouth quirks, actually amused now]

Habit, honestly. And we also just came through a battle, here. Prepared to fight has been a default, lately.

Point, but I'm not exactly the defense type. If you're not on the offensive, you're probably losing.

[That gets him curious.] A battle? I think the faceless maid said something about a war, but I was too busy not believing the shit out of all of this to catch it. So the apocalypse story actually holds up?

Immediate healing seems like something of a defense that allows one to be on the offense.

She probably did, because we're at war. The first real battle is recently finished, and I assume everyone is regrouping now. Some people seem to already be aware of this place as part of their world's mythology. The war is called Ragnarok.

You don't really learn how to throw a punch when you can throw fire. [A rare acknowledgement of weakness, but he just shrugs.] If there's a war going on, there's got to be weapons around. I'll just have to learn how to use one until I'm myself again.

[He thinks for a moment, then shakes his head.] Never heard of it.

There are blades, and people who will teach you how to use them. If you want to learn how to fight without weapons, there are people who can help with that too.

I'm really not the one to explain it, but the simplest version is that Asgard and the gods are protecting the World Tree, which either holds or leads to all other worlds. Possibly it does both. The fire and frost giants want to destroy the World Tree, for reasons I don't know. If Asgard and the gods fall, then so do all the rest of the worlds.

I can learn on my own. No one taught me how to use pyrokinesis.

[He listens, as respectfully as he can, and then shakes his head.] Sounds like a fairy tale.

I think it's a bit different, but as you like it.

[she shrugs a little at that]

Perhaps. But you're here, they've obviously changed you, the citizens are the way they are, the battle was real. If it's merely a tale, they've gone a long way for realism.

[She's got a point. There's no denying the bizarre, faceless or partially-faced people milling around them, or the fact that he's somehow been rendered powerless. Just because some of it is real doesn't mean that all of it is, but it's enough to be unsettling.]

So we're fighting to save the... World Tree? Because if it dies, then everything dies. Fine. But why bring in people with abilities that might help and then take them away?

[that makes her sigh. it's a bit of a sore point for her too]

We've been told that our abilities are, essentially, not compatible with the energies of this place. Giving us back our powers is fatal. And before you ask, yes, the gods apparently made an object lesson of some people. I wasn't here yet.

That's convenient. [His jaw sets angrily.] The "energies" just happen to render us useless. Or a lot easier to control, at least, since it's their powers we're working with.

Edited 2012-11-25 02:06 (UTC)

[mildly]

Yes, it is certainly to the advantage of the gods to summon themselves a multitude of crippled soldiers with little goodwill towards them.

Don't get cute with me. It's obvious that they don't give a shit about goodwill, or they would've, you know, asked first. There are plenty of hero types who would do this willingly - I've worked with enough of them to know that. They're on a power trip, plain and simple.

I'm not being cute. I was talking about advantages. If one has to lord one's power, to bluster and threaten and constantly remind, that means one's grip on it is slipping. They don't; they don't really care if we like them, or if we cower. We wouldn't be here if they didn't need us.

So they really do think they've got it all under control, even though they're depending on us to win their battles.

[He smiles, a distinctly arrogant expression.]

I think I can work with that.

IT'S THAT TIME.

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