Es War Einmal In Character

WHO Loki and OPEN
WHAT Moping, but what else is new.
WHERE The stables, in the stable of his horse.
WHEN RD12
NOTES None so far.

He'd shouted at the palace servants. Sent one of them cowering and quivering, sobbing in fear. Find her, he'd cried, but none of them had been able to. Frigga is gone. Returned to Asgard, perhaps; perhaps to return here later without any memory of what's already come. Sif, missing, though there are some who swear she has fled to the forest.

He storms away to the stables and dismisses the stablehands with a snarl. Slips inside the stall of the horse they'd given him, the little dark-colored mare. She is lying down, her forelegs curled. He collapses next to her. Leans against her, heavily -- such is his exhaustion.

He sleeps, on and off, for the rest of the day. Perhaps she senses in him kin, of a sort, for she stays with him, not standing, not wavering.

Who: Loki and the warriors scheming to kill the Hero of the Mountain
What: scheming to kill the Hero of the Mountain
Where: Loki's rooms
When: Early morning Rebirth Decline 9
Notes/Warnings: Everyone reply to the post rather than making a comment thread. No posting order; just wing it.

Once a fair few of them are assembled, Loki addresses them.

It is not a dignified place; the rooms are small, wooden and dusty and neat in a way that's more empty than organized. There is a bed in the corner, a trunk of possessions that is firmly locked, and a fireplace (currently unlit), a scattering of chairs (some half-finished) he's had brought in from the carpenter next door. The windows are firmly closed, though it is a stuffy place.

Loki's skin is blue, and close to him, the air is cold -- a breeze like winter's chill. If he stands still long enough in one place, frost begins to spread around him.

"I am burdened with purpose," he tells them, "a message from the power that would keep balance in this realm. Chaos and order are at war; you have been called to help order, as chaos is tipping the balance with the advancing thorns." You have been called; he does not deign to count himself among them. Doesn't Anya's choice mean that he is a higher thing, now? "But now the thorns do not act quick enough for chaos's taste. She thinks to strike a final blow, with the Hero of the Mountains, a false creature who restores a facsimile of order by turning back time. Perhaps you have seen; the clock tower has gone still, as it did in the former Capital, which turned into a town of ghosts."

His teeth grit. "The magic of time is not meant to be used," he tells them. "It threatens to destroy all worlds, collapse the very idea of existence and cause. She must be stopped. And we must stop her. The townspeople are less than useless; they revere her on rumor because they crave a world of indolent adulation.

"More distressing still is that the King is missing. Have any of you even noticed? He has been gone more than a day, now. He is the center of order's power, and if he is captured or killed, we could be overrun at any moment. We have all been ignorant too long, and lazy longer still. Do you want to stay in this realm forever, without a chance of returning to your homes? Do you want to watch the innocents here run over and killed by thorns? Do you, yourself, want to perish in fire and agony?

"Then do not act. Stand by, and let the Hero take what she will.

"Otherwise, the time has come to kill what threatens to destroy us."