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

[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.]

[girlworthfighting]

I wasn't trying to make you feel guilty. But it seems I have to accept it, if it's the only sign I can get from you that you think of me as more than a babysitter who is friends with your brother.

[attention_wenches]

[He doesn't know how else he's supposed to feel about her, but he can muster enough tact not to say so.]

Whatever your intentions, that seems to be the way it worked out. Usually something only my mother can manage.

[girlworthfighting]

I'll try to take that as an extremely begrudging compliment.

[attention_wenches]

That sounds apt, yes.

[girlworthfighting]

[She nods, and there's a pause while she lets that settle.]

Well I've either done all the good I'm going to here, or if I keep going I'll probably make it worse. So I suppose now it's time to bid you a good day, Prince Loki.

Thank you for talking with me.

[attention_wenches]

What pleasure there was was all mine.

[He can't turn it off. But he does bow properly.]