eighth scroll - backdated to before the ball [ video ; open with one lock ]

[girlworthfighting]

Greetings, all.

I trust by now everyone has heard of the resurrected...creatures that have been stalking around the outskirts of the city, and so for me to mention at one point I had among them a "double" of my own hopefully will come as not too much of a surprise.

I've heard by now that my particular double surfaced about two weeks past, and was dispatched. My apologies to anyone it may have threatened in the meantime. I sincerely hope none of you were too injured by it, if at all.

However... [She shifts uncomfortably, swallowing.] My body at the time of my death had a sword still in its possession. Well-cared for but probably visibly old to even a novice, with a plainly decorated scabbard. The sword did not turn up among my remains, and despite my best attempts to retrace the being's path I have yet to find it.

My hopeful conclusion is that it was dropped somewhere along the way and, unclaimed, someone out here found it. I am claiming it now. I will make no game about it: that sword is very important to me. If you have it, I will barter almost any favor or recompense for it's return. I would be most grateful if you contacted me immediately. Thank you.

[She hesitates.]

Oh -- and, in case any of you already among my acquaintances had somehow not yet heard, I suppose this accounts as my official notification of "I'm alive again".

My apologies for not doing this any sooner. There...didn't seem to be much to say.

[She's frowning uncomfortably to herself as she turns off the feed. After a minute of reflection she turns it back on again.]

[Private to Loki]

Well...if you were waiting for a chance to say "I told you so", I think I just gave you a big opening.

Comments

[attention_wenches]

Truthfully, I have no idea. There's obviously a tipping point of sorts, but I've never slept very much.

[girlworthfighting]

Maybe you should give it a try. For experimental purposes.

[attention_wenches]

Doesn't work. I just stare at the ceiling. Absolute waste of time.

[girlworthfighting]

It sounds like you could use more exercise. Of the physical sort.

[attention_wenches]

I am Asgardian, milady.

[There's a brief pause while he considers the fact that this isn't actually true. But close enough.]

I don't tire out very easily, even if I do put myself through paces.

[girlworthfighting]

Which, some would argue, is why you should put yourself to harder exertion.

[attention_wenches]

Sounds even more tedious than sleeping.

[girlworthfighting]

[Ugh.] You're too clever to be this obtuse, unless it were on purpose.

[attention_wenches]

I'm not being obtuse. I'm being uncooperative.

[girlworthfighting]

It's nice to see that you're self-aware of the distinction. [She actually rolls her eyes.] Do you ever stop?

[attention_wenches]

Not when my freedom to avoid undue physical exertion is on the line.

[girlworthfighting]

Loki. I am not going to hunt you down and force you to do pull-ups or run laps or whatever it is you seem to be thinking.

[attention_wenches]

No, you're going to disapprove when I proceed not to do anything of the kind. Which in its way can be rather disconcerting. I'm just getting ahead of things.

[She might remind him a little too much of Sif. He's starting to use it as a basis for predictions.]

[girlworthfighting]

I'll disapprove if I think you're not being careful and not taking care of yourself. If you're not acting with the intelligence we both know you possess.

Obviously, your life is not mine, and you have different priorities and choices. I'm sorry if I wasn't always respectful of that before now.

[attention_wenches]

[Close enough. And he's more thrown than he'd like to admit.]

Apology accepted, I suppose.

[girlworthfighting]

Thank you. That's more or less what I've been trying to say this whole time. [She sighs.]

I'm not always good at talking.

[attention_wenches]

[It's not a problem he feels he has. Talking and saying something, perhaps, but not talking.]

I appreciate the thought.

[girlworthfighting]

I worry about you, Loki. Not only because I feel it's my responsibility, though that is still true. But I like to think that we are...friends, after a fashion.

You let Thor worry about you, don't you? Why is it such a burden for me to show any concern?

[attention_wenches]

Only because I can't seem to make him stop.

[He's supposed to be a prince, and he was a disappointment and a failure at that long before he had any inkling of his true parentage. Princes don't allow themselves to show weakness.]

[girlworthfighting]

And you expect me to, eventually? To drive me away?

[attention_wenches]

It's the worrying I find uncomfortable.

[girlworthfighting]

But why? Is it so wrong of me to care?

[attention_wenches]

It really isn't personal.

[girlworthfighting]

Maybe you don't intend it to be. But it feels that way, to myself.

I don't reach out very often. After all that I've been through...I'm no good at that. It hurts to be rejected, when for once I'm trying to give someone a chance.

[attention_wenches]

[Ugh, feelings. These are terrible.]

Fine, truce, guilt acknowledged.

[He still doesn't know what to expect. Friendship is something he has very little experience in, and he has no notion of what to discuss with a lady in a different stage of life and with entirely different inclinations to his own.]