asgardswisdom | IC CONTACT;

IC CONTACT;

❝ Keep it short. ❞

[ feel free to use this for all your Allpapa needs! please pardon any lateness, and Odin may or may not feel inclined to respond depending on the importance/intelligence of the message, though I'll be sure to respond to all comments even if it's just a "quit wasting my time!" ]

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That'd be a lot of begging, wouldn't it? Nothing would get done, Oh-Wise-One. Why don't you just order the things in Loki's district to relocate?

And of course you do, but it's just polite, isn't it?

It's apropos.

[ There's an inside joke there somewhere. ]

Now, did you have something of import to ask or is this simply a social call with manners added in as an afterthought?

[Hm, how to play this. Sincerity could work, but Alvin doesn't think he'll be impressed by it. But straightforward can work, too. It doesn't necessarily have to be sincere. Just honest.]

I'm doing the legwork to know as much as I can here to play my cards right. If you know who I am, you know what I've done—this isn't the first time I've just landed in another world.

[That last bit makes him sound annoyed.]

But you can't function without knowledge. I played my cards right in Rieze Maxia, and I don't see why I can't here.

So honestly, I think why I'm talking to you of all people should be pretty obvious.

[ Odin listens, all patience and poise. Straight-forward is the right approach, he doesn't have time for games. ]

If you want something, ask for it.

[He contemplates his questions.]

I want to know where that sickness came from.

I want to know what you need me to know—actually know—to survive.

And I want a way to ensure that if I help you win this war, my world will survive.

[ There's a pause, an inhale. ]

In order: the Sickness came from nowhere. Or everywhere, maybe. It wasn't our enemies and it wasn't us, but it's magical in nature. Logical conclusion: it came from Yggdrasil itself. So - everywhere. Or nowhere.

[ Semantics. ]

The only way to live here and understand what's happening to you is to accept the idea that what we tell you is true, and that this is Yggdrasil, this is the world above worlds, and Ragnarok does spell the end of everything. Once you have that, everything else tends to fall in line. Survival, from that point, is largely on you. We'll do what we can to have your back but this is war and no one is safe. Not even us.

As to the last, well. You'll know if your world doesn't survive. Focus on not letting that happen.

So it could be bad that our worlds are all connected to this. Is that what you're saying?

[Alvin sighs, frustrated. This isn't good news. The second point is something he digests. He'll listen. He doesn't know where else he's gonna stand. The one good thing, Alvin thinks, is that it's illogical to play the field. There's no temptation to betray people if he might die either way.]

My world is already about to die. I want to secure it. Not just from Ragnarok, but from itself.

The Grey Sickness should be the least of your concerns if your world is connected to this.

[ What with the whole thing dying and all. Priorities, man! ]

That's something you'll have to do from within. We can't change the path of a leaf if it's chosen to break from its branch. Your thread of existence will always be there, but it's up to you to see it continue to thrive.

Say I did work from within, but with knowledge from a place like this. Would that count as interfering?

It's an impossibility. You're taken from a set point in time, you will be returned to a set point in time. Everything that happens here will be forgotten when you return.

Then how do I change that?

You don't.

How often do you get asked this question?

You have no idea.

Do you believe that all things come to be as they're meant to be, or do you believe in human folly as a factor? Or god's folly, if you will. You put a lot of weight in prophecies around here.

The thing about our prophecies is that they come from the Mother herself. She is alive, and she is sentient in her ways. Things unfold as they will and she reads the direction we take as a sign for the future. Some things can be changed, she's told us as much before.

Can all things be changed? Do you believe that?

[It's not a question asked in doubt, but in curiosity.]

No.

[ Immediate, flat. He won't give more than that, not when it's something that borders on personal. ]

I'm inclined to agree with you, which is why we're having this conversation. But I know a handful of people who'd hate that, and I can hear their nagging little voices in the back of my head.

[He actually pauses.]

Which makes me sound crazy, but y'know. Actual people here. Just not here.

[ . . . ]

I got that.

Hey, I'm just making sure. Some people are smartasses about the littlest things.

[People like Alvin.]

Are you done?

[ Go play with Loki instead. ]

Sure. We're good here.

[ Cheers, Alvin. ]

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DISCONNECT