driftfleet | dreams in digital

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dreams in digital

[ Calibration Rooms ]
( for A-M characters )

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ROOMS BY CHARACTER

A - C

Connor

D - F

G - I

Haggar

J - M

Lup

(last updated: 1/21/19)

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[ the red cloak seems rather unassuming. If you touch it, you get the sensation of applause in your ears. ]

[Huh. Not quite what he was expecting. It's amusing (he touches it a few times in succession to test the effect) but it doesn't really tell him what he wants to know, so Lorden goes to the last source that looks like it might be able to help: the stack of books.]

[ the stack of books don’t seem very interesting at first glance. Then you notice it’s like a series. The covers are blue with bold titles on them. The order seems to be.

The Tragedy of Loki
1. The Giant Killer
2. The Discovery
3. The Fall

There are a few that are unnumbered called Death, Rumours and The Fleet

when you open up the books, you notice that there are no words. They’re all drawings of a childlike nature. As you flick through the pages, they start to move and change, taking on an entirely different scene. ]

[He picks up the books of the series first, smiling at the drawings (although some of them seem rather bloody). Not as convenient as having his Ghost scan all the text and just let him know the important bits, but not nearly as time-consuming as having to read it al himself. "The Giant Killer" seems like the best place to start.]

[ you hear a voice clear as bells. It sounds like odin, gravelled but pronounced.

once upon a time, there was a war between monsters and gods But it ended with the monsters banished back to their world and the gods returning to theirs, overseeing the realms. In the golden realm, there lived two princes, the elder as bright as the sun and the younger as cold as the moon. They were brothers, as close as kin could be but only one could truly be king. And slowly, the younger brother watched as his brother fell deeper into arrogance and pride. He had beg, pleaded and tried to convince his brother many times to choose differently but the elder brother always scorned him.

The story breaks briefly as echoes can be heard around you, never doubt that I love you, never doubt, never doubt so please, please, listen to me, why won’t you listen to me?

They fade as soon as you turn your head to catch them, shadowed footsteps. When you turn back to the book, it resumes as normal.

So in desperation, the younger set off a plot. He would let the monsters into the golden realm to show to the rest of them that his brother was not ready. It went perfectly and his brother’s coronation was disrupted. Angered, his brother had charged into the frozen wastes, ready to slay the monsters. But he failed and the high king banished him ]

[There is a sharp intake of breath at the appearance of the "monsters", but even the rough, childlike sketches of Asgard make him homesick for a place he barely knows. Kings and brothers, a quest to become worthy, pride and arrogance...some things are universal.

(New Monarchy ought to read this story, he thinks. Having a king wouldn't solve their problems without creating a host of new ones.)

He keeps turning the pages, curious where the story will go and who will end up being the Giant Killer.]

[ the voice is different from that of the giant killer. This time, it’s clearly thor’s voice dictating the book. He sounds younger though, boisterous and happy.

the younger sibling ran into the vault, where the casket of ancient winters resided. There, he discovered the awful truth about his heritage. He was not a son of asgard, but a monster from the frozen wastes. Weary from the elder’s betrayal, the high king fell into a deep sleep. And then . . .

Then the younger was given kingship by his mother. His brother was gone, his friends cursed him and abandoned him and his mother was heartsore from the loss. He was alone and he knew that when his brother returned, he would return full of wrath. His father would wake, full of anger. He knew that the hammer would fall on him for what he had done. So he tried to rid the golden realm of monsters by plotting to destroy its king. ]

[Lorden continues to frown at the appearance of the "villains" of this story, but he keeps reading, fascinated by the story. Occasionally he makes some comments aloud, though as far as he can tell he's speaking to himself.]

You should have told him the truth. I bet he could have kept the secret.

[How is the prince supposed to unite the realms if he doesn't know anything practical about one of them? It sounds like a flimsy excuse to him.

Then again, it looks like a lot of people are headed for a trainwreck. He's gotta see how this ends, so he keeps reading.]

[ the voice was loki’s but fully distorted.

And so, the younger sibling kills one father to save another (cw: death). Pride fills him at last. At last the golden realm could love him. Could not discard him. He had done what no one else could. They could see that he was a true son of the golden realm. But his brother had returned, changed. Gone was the Giant-Killer, here was the gentler brother he had tried so hard to reach and failed, every time. Wrought with anger, fear and pain, they fought (cw: superhero violence) on the bridge between worlds. The bridge shattered under the weight of the hammer and they fell — nearly.

Nearly . . .

The younger son told the high king what he had been trying to do. He asked for understanding — he was a fool — he thought his family would take him back — but he wasn’t theirs — they saw him for his monster that he was and said no (cw: suicide). And thus, the monster was defeated, plunged back into the depths and the golden realm was saved . . .

The rest of the pages are filled with celebration and a single spread page with Thor and Odin standing over a mound of blue. And a pitiful voice whispers, I could have done it, Father. I could have done it. For you. ]

[Lorden reaches the end of the book and scowls, looking up from it.]

But they lied to him and set up false expectations! What did they expect?

[Does it feel a little too sensitive because of the whole situation with blue people in his own world? Perhaps so. But even the Vanguard doesn't stop new Guardians from seeking out the Darkness in order to better understand the Light.

Granted that the books had been labeled as a "Tragedy", but still. He huffs and sets them down with a thud, walking quickly through the observatory to the door.

But this is the door with the broken rainbow bridge, and the single figure looking down into the void. It's enough to slow his roll, so he stops and looks at the scene for a while, eventually knocking against the wall to make a noise to alert the other to his presence.]

[ Loki seems a little … different. Someone seems to have taken a brush to his face, because there are swathes of blue in a zig-zag pattern and one of his eyes seem to be a dark, blood red. His form seems to flicker on and off as if he’s not truly there and his voice tends to distort, like radio static. When you step onto the bridge, you can hear the siren song of the V̵̙͓̦̺͆͗̋ͩ̒ͅo͓͓̹͎̪ͪ͂ͧ̓ͨ̋͞i̭͎̹͍ͤ͊̆d͏͓͔̭̜͚, calling for your oblivion. the sound turns loki's head and he comes closer to the entrance. ]

Is there something you need?

[If he had his Ghost here, he might pay attention to that call, actually. But if he had his Ghost here, he could know for sure that death wasn't permanent. Who among the Guardians hasn't jumped off a ledge just because it was there?

But he doesn't have his Ghost, and so he stops.]

I was curious if this was your place.

[ loki cocks his head. ]

All of this is mine.

It's beautiful.

[Parts of it are cracked and the bridge is shattered, but those cracks are mending themselves. That's a good sign, right?]

But the stories in the books are kind of depressing. You gonna write new ones?

What is good is kept elsewhere — Where they'll be safe.

[ and that's important to him. that everything loki treasures is safe from his own twisted mind. ]

But there is good in here?

[He's not sure why it's important for him to know that, but it is.]

[ loki blinks. ]

Certainly what I would consider good still exists.

[He nods, looking satisfied.]

Then--thanks for sharing what you have. It feels like home.

[ that . . . is an odd sentiment. ]

How so?

[He gestures around to indicate everything - the observatory, the space around them.] Beauty on the edge of the Void. This building wouldn't look out of place in the Dreaming City. The story about the prince raised into lies is--[obviously about you, but damned if there aren't shades of his own history in there]--like something out of the early days of my peoples' kingdom. I--

[And he pauses, looks away, frustrated.]

--I want it to have a better ending than it did for my Prince.

[ loki is quiet. ]

The story is already over. It has ended.

Oh.

[He chews on his lip a little. But these are other people in the Fleet, right? Does he mean he's dead back home?

Does it matter?]

Was it a good story, in the end?

[ his lips twitch slightly. ]

Does that matter? I'm not the one who decides what kind of story it should be. That is left to those who see it.

Of course it matters! A good story out of it would mean a lot to the next boy who grows up and learns that he's different from his family. The next Prince who doesn't feel like he belongs. Hell, the next time someone has to make common cause with a people who used to be their enemies.

Stories matter. Even yours.

You asked me if it was a good story. Having lived it, I could not say. That belongs to those who see it for themselves and what they take from it.

It is not for me to claim this narrative as solely my own anymore.

dreams in digital

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