WHO: Loki, Erik, Adrasteia & y'all WHAT: Catch-all WHEN: Late Solace / Early August WHERE: Kirkwall NOTES: Language warning for Erik, otherwise nothing yet. Open starters in comments.
Another person called Loki, he means? Abby shrugs a shoulder, tapping her fingers on the spine of the book. "I've only been here a couple weeks," she confesses, glancing up and over him once more, "You're the first Loki that I've met."
Because she thinks she'd remember a name like that. Laufeyson. Interesting.
"Geography, mostly," she continues, deciding he's going to know anyway based on the book that she's borrowed from him, "Since I have no idea where the fuck this place actually is. And magic. There isn't any, where I came from."
A beat, and then a slightly rueful smile. "Been going through the fictional section too. They hide the trashy romance serials up the back."
"In case that changes I'll ask you to recall me as the eminent Loki of the multiversal effect, thank you very much." He's joking, but only a little bit. If he makes more friends than Loki of House Asgard he will see that as a good sign of his ability to be the best Loki that there ever was. Or something.
She mentions magic, and geography, and he begins rooting around his notes before he finds and unfolds a map covered in what appears to be a Nordic script, nothing native to Thedas language-wise.
Loki spreads it out on the table between them. "Here's where we are," he says, indicating a small castle drawn over the seaside town. "Here's Starkhaven, and where Hasmal was." To give her a sense of how close the opposing forces are.
"Yeah," Abby answers immediately, "Not gonna do that." He gets what he gets. Should have introduced himself that way if he wanted a name as big and as long as that; it's why she didn't say her name is Abigail.
Anyway, the map immediately steals her attention. She's seen it before, crammed in between various lectures given to her by Riftwatch when she first arrived, but it's nice to have a moment to actually look at it. She watches his finger drift about inside the four corners, and is shaking her head before he's even done.
"No, Iā beyond that. Is this the whole world?" It seems... small, compared to Earth. Maybe it is?
He blinks at her dismissal and then snaps his fingers. "Drat." Well. He'll settle for being the only one, how's that?
Loki shakes his head too at her question. "These people don't appear to be clear on the fact that they're on a planet or that they're in orbit of their sun; what we know is limited by how far they can travel, but there has to be more to it." He opens his hand in a shrugging gesture. "The Qunari had to have come from somewhere and they may not have just sprung into being on Par Vollen."
It's good enough for her, so it'll have to be good enough for him too.
"Hmm." Same could be said for Earth, in its early stages. Abby's already drawn some comparisons of her own, noting the differences as she goes. Odd, to think that where she came from is similarly limited by a lack of any working technology (though through no fault of her generation's own).
"How do they know how to use magic but haven't realised they orbit the sun?. That barely makes sense."
"Magic and cosmology and astronomy aren't always the same, or follow the same path when it comes to the enlightenment of an entire continent." He doubts that mathematics is studied in the same way as magical theory in Thedas, all things considered. There's the Fade, for one thing, and actual demons to contend with. "Circumnavigating the planet might not be possible, at this point in time. There's really any number of reasons for it."
"Sure." She's not personally looking to try and circumnavigate this place, so it's a pointless topic of conversation, but Abby thinks it would be nice to know... it's unsettling, not finding an inch of her surroundings familiar.
"A planet called Asgard, but I've been to Midgard, or what you humans tend to call 'Earth'." Complete with airquotes, that statement, because who names their planet "the dirt"? Humans, apparently. "I presume that's where you're from, as well?"
She's not accusatory, just interested. Also working out how to deal with him being from another planet but looking distinctly human... it's doing her head in.
"Because it seems to be where most humans here come from, if they aren't native to Thedas. Where most humans come from in the universe known to me, also, but that's less important." He waves off this second piece of information easily.
"Really? I haven't met anybody else from Earth yet." She sounds slightly put out about it, too... it would be nice, to have something in common right off the bat with somebody else.
"Ah, well. Mister Holden is definitely from there, as is Provost Stark." Hopefully, that helps her, but those are the only ones he knows for certain.
At her question, he rubs his chin. Where to start, and also, how to keep this conversation light? "It's not a planet, like Midgard. It's more... like a disk, I suppose, flat as opposed to any sort of spherical shape." He shrugs. Don't ask him how, he doesn't know. "It was beautiful, with a mountain and a city at its center. Unlike Midgard, it was much smaller, so there weren't multiple cultures or histories, just one people, one place. The center of peace within the Nine Realms."
Neither are names she recognises off the bat, but Abby will file them away for later. It's nice to know, that's all. She doesn't expect either of them to ally with her based solely on that.
His explanation is interesting... kind of reminds her of the old world, but way back, right back when they thought the Earth was flat. That you could sail off the edge of it, if you went far enough to one side.
"What happened to it?" She asks, after a moment's pause. He used the word 'was' too many times in there for it to go unnoticed.
Hm. He does keep making that mistake, beginning with is and ending with was. Something about the distance between the reality of Asgard's fate and his own experience causing a cognitive dissonance, perhaps.
"Ragnarok." A beat. "An apocalypse. Nothing pretty, I assure you."
Loki makes a non-committal noise, not meeting her eyes at all before he sniffs and then shrugs. "It was predicted; foreseen, even. The reality of it was a bit different from the stories, however."
Her question does get him to raise his eyes again before he nods. "Yes. Surtur and Hela saw to that."
She doesn't try to look at him, while he speaks. Abby understands all too well the pain of losing a home, even feels slightly uncomfortable as she stands there, the books in her hands.
"Considering the fact that the last thing I remember was being erased from time, I don't particularly feel that I have much choice in the matter." He shrugs a little; what can you do. "Though I'm told that we are either dreams or whims of this world's 'Maker', so perhaps my choice has quite a lot less to do with what happens than I would like." Distasteful, honestly.
"Where I'm from there's something called the Time Variance Authority, which erases people from time when they meander too far from what they call 'The Sacred Timeline' through the liberal use of free will or random happenstance. I don't think they've gotten this far, however."
"If it's random, how can they punish you for it?" It sounds far too easy to move away from the Sacred Timeline... not to mention that it brings the idea of destiny into play, something Abby has never subscribed to personally.
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Because she thinks she'd remember a name like that. Laufeyson. Interesting.
"Geography, mostly," she continues, deciding he's going to know anyway based on the book that she's borrowed from him, "Since I have no idea where the fuck this place actually is. And magic. There isn't any, where I came from."
A beat, and then a slightly rueful smile. "Been going through the fictional section too. They hide the trashy romance serials up the back."
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She mentions magic, and geography, and he begins rooting around his notes before he finds and unfolds a map covered in what appears to be a Nordic script, nothing native to Thedas language-wise.
Loki spreads it out on the table between them. "Here's where we are," he says, indicating a small castle drawn over the seaside town. "Here's Starkhaven, and where Hasmal was." To give her a sense of how close the opposing forces are.
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Anyway, the map immediately steals her attention. She's seen it before, crammed in between various lectures given to her by Riftwatch when she first arrived, but it's nice to have a moment to actually look at it. She watches his finger drift about inside the four corners, and is shaking her head before he's even done.
"No, Iā beyond that. Is this the whole world?" It seems... small, compared to Earth. Maybe it is?
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Loki shakes his head too at her question. "These people don't appear to be clear on the fact that they're on a planet or that they're in orbit of their sun; what we know is limited by how far they can travel, but there has to be more to it." He opens his hand in a shrugging gesture. "The Qunari had to have come from somewhere and they may not have just sprung into being on Par Vollen."
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"Hmm." Same could be said for Earth, in its early stages. Abby's already drawn some comparisons of her own, noting the differences as she goes. Odd, to think that where she came from is similarly limited by a lack of any working technology (though through no fault of her generation's own).
"How do they know how to use magic but haven't realised they orbit the sun?. That barely makes sense."
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"Where did you come here from?"
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She's not accusatory, just interested. Also working out how to deal with him being from another planet but looking distinctly human... it's doing her head in.
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"What is Asgard like?"
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At her question, he rubs his chin. Where to start, and also, how to keep this conversation light? "It's not a planet, like Midgard. It's more... like a disk, I suppose, flat as opposed to any sort of spherical shape." He shrugs. Don't ask him how, he doesn't know. "It was beautiful, with a mountain and a city at its center. Unlike Midgard, it was much smaller, so there weren't multiple cultures or histories, just one people, one place. The center of peace within the Nine Realms."
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His explanation is interesting... kind of reminds her of the old world, but way back, right back when they thought the Earth was flat. That you could sail off the edge of it, if you went far enough to one side.
"What happened to it?" She asks, after a moment's pause. He used the word 'was' too many times in there for it to go unnoticed.
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"Ragnarok." A beat. "An apocalypse. Nothing pretty, I assure you."
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Abby chews on this new bit of information for a quiet moment, letting her attention fall toward the book in her hands. "I've read about it before."
Stories. Fictional ones, easy to lose an afternoon to: the end of the era of gods, as they walked among men.
"I'm sorry. Is it gone completely?"
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Her question does get him to raise his eyes again before he nods. "Yes. Surtur and Hela saw to that."
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"Do you think you'll stay here, instead?"
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Like, in that caseā
"How... does that even happen? The getting erased from time thing, I mean."
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