Inbox (Caldera)

[coldsong]

"Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Attack while they are distracted.

Kindly leave a message."

Comments

omg why is this your FIRST FUCKIN INBOX THREAD LMFAO [text; @ogreslayer]

[likeiron]

Hey. Is this Loki? I have a favor to ask.

text @Jokulros people are just intimidated by his aura idk

[coldsong]

Indeed it is. And to whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?

[And what madman sent you to me for a favor, for fuck's sake, is what he doesn't say.]

[likeiron]

Nina Ironfist, the Ogreslayer. I'll cut to the chase.

Gadriel thinks I'm corrupted by sorcery. He... might be right? I was healed by a mage after I got burned in the volcano, and now I can suddenly heal myself with fire I never had before and didn't ask for.

He wants you to check... for corruption.

[coldsong]

[Oh, that madman. Suddenly it all makes sense.

Loki's first inclination is to just tell her he's sans powers right now, but maybe that's not the best idea under the circumstances. He still has his brain, anyway, and centuries of magical expertise. If there is some kind of corruption (?) going on, he ought to be able to chase it down, at least.]

I am fascinated that he would send you to me, but I suppose I owe him a favor after escalating tension with him unnecessarily at our first encounter.

Healing magic can alter physical composition, but it would be a very unusual side-effect. Which mage was this? I assume asking them directly is not on the table because you don't trust them?

[likeiron]

Joshua. And no. Right now Gadriel just wants to lock him up and the only solution to not start more shit was to ask another sorcerer who doesn't know Joshua to check me out.

[coldsong]

I see your dilemma. Locking a man up with no proof of malfeasance, let alone authority to do so, is not a way to earn goodwill, that's for gods-damned sure.

So! Presumably what we want to do is determine the origin of your unsettling new gifts. How soon after healing did you notice this change?

[likeiron]

Yeah, you think? Gadriels already on a bunch of people's shit lists, I'd like to keep him off more of them.

The next day. I hurt myself and healed it with a flame. I don't use magic. I'm not a mage.

[coldsong]

[So this is less about a magical surprise than keeping Gadriel from going off half-cocked. How can someone so well-intentioned be such an absolute disaster of a living being?]

What did it look and feel like, this healing with a flame? [Sounds like his worst nightmare, he's already unsettled.] Just cauterized the wound, or did it actually leave the flesh as good as new?

[likeiron]

It healed it entirely. I have a lot of scars, but I didn't get a new one. It like... burst out of my skin and flared around the wound.

[coldsong]

No offense, Madam Ogreslayer, but that's nightmare fuel.

All right. I assume he is observing our conversation in real time. I think I ought to see you in person, but I want to be sure he's willing to trust me enough to let me near you.

I actually don't have the use of my own powers at the moment, but I have all of my own knowledge. Here's hoping that's enough to render a conclusion of some sort.

[likeiron]

You're fucking telling me.

He said he's coming either way. Didn't sound like an optional event.

Better than nothing. Where?

[coldsong]

If you're comfortable coming to Salt Spire, my apartment is there, three blocks east of the Library.

If you don't fancy a dip in the ocean, however, I can meet you in the woods outside Berry Burrow. Your choice. [And if he's slightly nervous by the idea of letting Gadriel and an unknown stranger enter his apartment, he chooses not to voice that anxiety.]

[likeiron]

Eugh. Pass.

The woods are fine. I'll meet you there in an hour.

( She does not reply after that. )

> action

[coldsong]

[He can't blame her. He's not wholly comfortable under the water, either, but he stays because it's going to be the place to be when summer rolls around.] Looking forward to it!

[That response is a lie, but at least it comes across as one of those innocent sociable lies that everyone tells.

Loki actually takes a moment to think about whether he wants to send anyone else a message about where he's going and who exactly he expects to meet there, in case something should go terribly wrong. Finnick? Maybe Night Sky? But no, that's probably a bad idea, drawing more people into the mix. Everyone is already on edge enough. What's the worst case scenario? They kill him? Not like they'd be the first.

He arrives in the woods just slightly late, walking between the trees with no coat, linen sleeves rolled up to the elbow. If Nina wasn't expecting a blue person, she may be surprised, but aside from his coloring he looks pretty normal. He is, in fact, carrying daggers, but they're sheathed and hidden upon his person, so he mostly comes across as an effete, slender figure of a mage, with weird red eyes.]

[likeiron]

She sure as fuck wasn't expecting a blue person, but at this point, Nina didn't even care. This was all for Gadriel anyway — and, okay, it might have been a little bit for her because the man had got it in her head that magic here could absolutely corrupt someone, and she had essentially been given proof of it. She still thought it was the volcano woman though, not Joshua. What the fuck did she even do to Joshua that he'd try something like that?

The "Ogreslayer" was probably smaller than he expected, so at least they could both potentially be surprised. Barely above five feet tall, bearing no weapons, but looking ripped as hell — a warrior covered in scars across almost every inch of her body. Except that spot where she hurt herself earlier, where fire had burned it clean. Disgusting.

She looked over, arms folded. "Loki?"

[thecodexabides]

So this was a fun party that no one invited wants to be at. Gadriel was early, of course, because he wanted to check the terrain. Also he was worried.

He was standing, leaning against a tree, arms folded, with that facial expression of someone whose dog got out and ate some trash and now the dog has a tummyache and so here we are at the vet: frustrated and worried at the same time.

Despite what everyone thinks of him and his manners (and smell) he was not raised in a barn. He elbowed off the tree as Loki approached. "Thank you for doing this." The sorcerer owed him nothing, much less a favor like this.

[coldsong]

There is an element that lives in Loki's head, which spends its time pointing out the worst or most chaotic thing he could do in any given moment, and which he privately thinks of as his anti-conscience. For much of his time on Caldera, it's been quiet, more concerned with recovering from his own wounds, but suddenly now it pipes up with the observation of just how much trouble he could cause with the power they've placed in his hands. All it would take is a confirmation of Gadriel's fears, and they'd thank him for it.

This is not the person he wants to be though. Not here. He doesn't have to bite every hand that reaches out to him here. His lips twitch into a wry, uncertain smile when the woman greets him, because of what's going on in his head, but maybe she'll think it's because of what comes out of his mouth. "Somehow I expected you to be taller. But yes, I'm Loki."

"Gadriel." He even gives the man a slight bow, although he's more nervous right now than he was when he encountered him outside the volcano. Guilty conscience, perhaps, or maybe it's just because he doesn't have the high ground. "Thanking me is a little premature, I don't dare promise I can resolve the problem. But I will not make it worse, so there's that."

[likeiron]

"I get that a lot." Nina seemed amused, even if nothing else about the situation was funny. "I'd say it's a pleasure, but this isn't exactly the ideal way to meet." What with the looming threat of violence radiating off... at least one of the three at any given point, probably.

Nina kept her arms crossed, eyes darting between the two of them. She knew next to nothing about Loki besides the fact that he was not human, a magic user, and had been one of the people that nearly killed Gadriel when he first arrived. Needless to say she sounded... uncertain, when she spoke next.

"What do you need to do?"

[thecodexabides]

Gadriel: bringing people together. It's so touching. He should start a dating service.

"That is more than enough." It's a start. At least he would know whose face to break. "She insists." He was just going to rat her out. "that her newfound sorcery is related to being burned in the volcano. Many of us were burned in the volcano. Only she has this," his mouth curled in distaste, "ability."

[coldsong]

...okay, he can't play it straight this whole time. "I will need to poke you with several pointy sticks, which means I'll have to collect some sticks first."

He gives a helpless shrug. "No, at the moment I just have questions and I'd like to see where the fire healed you. Truthfully, a demonstration might help but I feel somewhat uncomfortable asking you to injure yourself, so let's see what we can figure out without that first."

He raises an eyebrow at Gadriel, hearing him out thoughtfully in spite of his delightful facial expressions. "Are you sure about that? That she is the only one who's gained this ability? I understand you might not want to conduct a survey over the network but I don't think you can come to that conclusion for certain until you've asked around."

[likeiron]

"You have to what?" Nina glowered. Poking her with sticks didn't seem like a very scientific or whatever?

Oh. He was fucking with her. Nina spared Gadriel a glance. This is the guy you want to check for sorcery? Gods help her.

"I can do a demonstration." She offered. It sounded like the easiest way to discern the problem at hand, right? But of course a normal person wouldn't just want someone to hurt themselves when they could, you know, ask questions.

"He's not sure. But neither am I in either direction. The guy that healed me used fire, and suddenly I'm shooting fire out of my body. On the other hand, we sort of brushed off the volcano lady, so maybe she's just pissed about that."

[thecodexabides]

He was down with poking her with sticks, even after he gets that it was some sort of...joke. She deserved to be poked with sticks for putting him through this.

Nice try, Loki, but Gadriel knew things. "I myself was burned with fire in the caves. I have no ability to heal with sorcery." He'd...probably set himself on fire if he found himself able to use heretical magic, so it's just as well.

And he would just say this part really fast. "Andthesorcererwhohealedmedidnotuseflames." SO. It's clearly Joshua.

[coldsong]

Oh Norns. These two are simultaneously a comedy duo and a disaster waiting to happen. Loki feels privileged to witness this interaction.

"As someone who is both a god and a mage, let me assure you when your options are a wizard has cursed me or a god is fucking with me, the latter is more likely. Just as a matter of conservation of energy, a divinity has more to burn."

But that's not proof. He nods at Nina and steps a little closer. "Well, let me just see where you were healed first, if it's not too terribly personal a spot..."

But Gadriel chooses this moment to speak up about his own healing experience, and Loki turns to give him a frankly surprised look. "Really. I'm surprised you let anyone near you. Who was yours, then?"

[likeiron]

Nina rolled up the sleeve on her right arm. Numerous scars of varying age marred her skin, but she drew a line from the side of her wrist to about midway up her forearm. "Right here is where it should be."

A beat. "I'm. Sorry. What the fuck did you just say, Gadriel?" She kept her arm extended, but snapped her head toward her brother. "Yeah. Who was it?"

[thecodexabides]

"And you believe Ignacia is a god." He did not believe it. "I've been near a scion of a Chaos god. They feel a certain way. She felt nothing like it." See, he knew things about gods.

...why were they both looking at him like that. Well, he'd already said it so he might as well say it again. "My hands were badly burned. There were people who would be injured if they went in without help. I had a choice to make."

He cleared his throat and found the ground very, very interesting for this next part.

"A sorcerer offered. It would take too long if he just wrapped it. I am already tainted by the Warp, so," Shrug. "It was a calculated risk. I already cannot go home, so it does not matter."

"His name was Aymeric." five stars, would recommend if one wants to imperil one's soul.