[While there is a part of them that longs to stand outside the door, they sit on their bed instead. It shall make the knock more exciting that way. They're almost like a child waiting for it to be an appropriate time to wake up on Christmas Day and check for presents.]
[When Sumire arrives, she knocks on the door and waits. She's a shy, rather quiet but cheerful 15 year old girl with a bright smile and very sad, traumatized eyes. But the thing is, she comes over very often to check in on Yusuke and bring him food and make sure he's alive, deliver messages from Ren or Akechi. So, seeing her at the door might not be shocking at all. Might even be disappointing at first.
Still, when the door opens, she'll smile, cheeks warm, and give a bow, ever polite. But instead of asking after Yusuke, she addresses Loki.]
[The knock! Yes! Loki jumps to their feet and answers the door, and there is...
This girl. Their excitement disappears into something more akin to this, but as they think it over, it does make sense. Someone would have to be fairly close to Ren and Akechi to write the fanfics the way they did, and to even want to write them.
When their brain recovers from the adrenaline rush that amounted to nothing, they open the door fully for her to enter,]
Loki is fine. [No honorifics necessary. Their eyes narrow at her, still considering the situation.] Are you truly going to deliver it yourself? That could backfire on you, you realize.
[She steps in and moves to sit on Yusuke's bed, she knows he wouldn't mind in the least.]
I do, though not right away. I was thinking either an accidentally cursed object or finding a package at my door addressed to him.
[Looking at Loki, she smiles, something warm and friendly and maybe a little mirthful. It's hard not to note the disappointment but she's not bothered in the least by it. It's not as painful as the disappointment of failing to qualify with her gymnastics or something.]
You're disappointed. I am rather the obvious answer, huh?
[They sit across from on their own bed, kicking their legs in the air absentmindedly, trying still to get that energy out.]
You are, but I suppose I don't know what I expected. I didn't make any guesses, thought I would let myself have fun with the surprise.
[Which meant the excitement built into something not at all proportional to the actual event. Whoops!
Loki holds out a hand and a green glow overtakes their palm, quickly replaced with the as requested strap-on. It is reminiscent of Akechi's Loki, with wild black and white stripes in an abstract and dizzying pattern. Other than that, though, it's completely ordinary.]
You'll have to handle the gift wrapping yourself, whatever story you end up going with.
OH! He will love that so much more than he'll ever admit. Even if it doesn't do anything, he'll give me one of his tsundere insults.
[She takes it and examines it with only a bit of shyness she's feeling poking through. Loki can probably tell she wants to die a little inside seeing and handling her first dildo.
Mostly she's seeing that it's average, proportional, good heft. Akechi will like it and be sorely disappointed when it does something disastrous. But really, what else does he expect from a Loki themed dildo? The onus is really on him.]
I have a few ideas. Either in person myself or anonymously. Either way, I think Senpai will have fun. I'm thinking after the next fic when I don't write about BenRoro. Allow him some healing before I do more.
[She pauses and then looks at Loki with wide eyes.] I do love him! Like dearly as a friend, I just... think he could use some sibling energy to soften the shell he has around himself.
[If they're embarrassed by any of this, there's no tell in their expression. If anything it's not the fact they're handing a dildo to a teenager, that's whatever, it's that her reaction makes them feel... old. The same way Billy makes them feel old. They had not felt old in some time before arriving here. Nostalgic, sure, but it's a very different feeling.
Akechi makes them feel like a mother hen, so perhaps it's only fitting.]
I try to tease him myself, of course, but I imagine the effect will be greater when coming from a peer. He thinks of me as above you all, for some strange reason.
[says the literal god]
By the way, you're welcome to write stories about me, if you wish. So many others have.
[Placing the dildo in her bag, she secures the flap before looking at Loki again for a long moment. She wonders what it's like to be a god, to be powerful like that. To be beautiful and acceptingly chaotic, they seem so otherworldly and ethereal. What she and the others must seem like to them. Maybe they are above everyone but...
Loki not only likes her stupid bad writing, but even allows her to write about them. It makes her expression soften into something fond and warm. Maybe treating Loki like they are above everyone else is making them feel other? So Sumire decides not to.]
I don't see why he treats you as above the rest of us, you share a room with Kitagawa-kun of all people and I bet you're no better than Akechi-san is at braiding hair.
[That gets Loki to burst into a peal of laughter, their laugh a witchy and rough sort. Eventually they calm down enough to address the matter,]
Heh, Sumire dear... I'm an Asgardian. A god of the Vikings. I'm an expert at braiding hair.
[True, their own hair is messy and free, but that's because that what fits this particular story. They're the trickster, not bound by rules. Still, pretty much every Asgardian child knows how to braid hair. And you can bet Loki's braided Thor's into ridiculous shapes and knots.]
Hmm, I don't know. Akechi-kun is pretty good at braiding hair, he might give you a run for your title.
[She giggles, clearly poking fun. Akechi is middling at braiding hair. But then she gives Loki a curious look, as if trying to decern something about them but clearly not too hard since they are an enigma even to the people have known them for years.]
Are you really a god? Or are you believed to be a god by people who were lesser in power and age? [A pause.] It's just, I knew a man who thought himself able to shape the world like a benevolent god, but he wasn't even if he had the abilities to back up his claim.
You lie to me, Loki, God of Mischief?! How dare you!
[They giggle as well, continuing and upping the ante.
As she shifts gears, though, Loki mirrors her, their expression more thoughtful. There is a simple answer they could give to this question that she wouldn't like, that isn't necessarily what she's asking. A man could very well become a god, if enough people believed him to be one. So, they'll go about it a different way.]
My father created humanity. That's standard godhood stuff, yeah? Suppose you could start arguing we're simply another species, get into all the alien theories and the like. And that's one story. One story amongst many others. Above all, we are beings of story.
It's possible then, that we did not exist until someone told our tales one day. That it was humans who created us, and we sprung to life from their belief, filled with memories of all the years prior. That's another story.
It doesn't really matter, though, does it? The fact of the matter, if you can call it a fact, is that I am a frost giant born in one realm and raised in another by a man who once slept with the Earth herself. I have memories that stretch back to the invention of the wheel. I wield magic strong enough to shape reality itself. I have witnessed the end of the universe, and its rebirth. Am I a god then?
What do you think? And would I lie to you? That is, after all, what you're claiming.
[Sumire listens, but isn't intimidated by any of it if she's honest. Sure that means Loki could very much really be a god, but maybe in her universe they don't exist. Maybe Dr. Maruki was as close to a god as one gets in her world. Maybe there are gods beyond that that she doesn't know about.
It's all very curious to her and she listens intently. She does feel a bit bad about Loki thinking she was claiming they there lying but then-]
You would absolutely lie to me, you're the god of mischief afterall. [She's not offended, instead she giggles. But she sobers quickly with the topic.]
Still... I suppose those things would make you a god in many ways, yes, I think. At least in my book, but they all sound like amazing stories to me too. Not lies, just stories. Maybe it's because I come from a world with man made gods that I find it all... difficult to believe that someone plain like me could have a conversation with a real god.
[A pause...]
Or maybe it's because one of those men who thought they were a god took everything from me and in my grief, I let him. I wanted him to kill me and make me someone else. And then when I didn't want it anymore, he still tried to force that on me. So, now I find the concept of godhood to be... a crutch for those who think they know better, to toy with other people's lives.
[Loki sticks their tongue out in a cute little etto bleh expression.]
Guilty as charged!
[But after that, they might as well be a different person, the shift is so drastic.]
From what you’ve described… that is godhood functioning as intended. Think of all the stories you’ve heard. So many of us view human lives as our playthings, myself included from time to time. We do not use it as a crutch, to support us. We simply are.
I’ve known men who’ve chased godhood. One I helped to obtain it. He tried to kill the gods, as recompense for how they had treated him. Like a doll thrown away when the game was over. He lived in a make believe world, an idealistic life we had granted him in favor of the alternative. And it drove him insane.
As you said, we thought we knew better.
Unlike the man in your story, I did not force this existence onto him once more after he had broken free. No, I gave him a different tale.
For a human consumed by a false reality, what title would be better fitting than the God of Lies?
Thing is, godhood has its caveats too. The fate of the God of Lies is to be shackled in his son’s entrails as venom drips ever so slowly into his eyes, forced open to bear the pain eternally.
The gods are cruel, Sumire Yoshizawa. Sounds like your villain was merely playing his part.
Everyone is cruel in the end, it's about finding the people in life who cherish you enough to spare you their cruelty really. Even I can be unkind in how I ignore people I don't know. I don't stop to help someone crying out in pain because what if it's a ploy to hurt me?
I know being selfish isn't cruelty, but only to oneself. It's cruel to the other person regardless.
[She pauses and thinks about it.]
Then does it make me a potential god that we not only will overcome him but steal his heart and change his ways entirely? Stop him and force him to see the fault in his actions and choose to change them? Doesn't that in turn make us more powerful than him when we do so?
[She asks sincerely.]
Or is it how I already know I forgive him, even if we fail? I already forgive him now.
[They lean back, fully lying down on their bed now. Their scary persona has left, replaced again by the more fun sleepover Loki.]
Why are you asking me? I don't care at all if you're a god, potential one or not. And I don't really care if you forgive him either.
[Well, perhaps not fun, but at least more casual.]
I have no say in your status, and that will be even more so true when you return to your story. If you're looking for some sort of validation, best to find it in yourself or from your comrades. None of this has anything to do with me, yeah?
[While it's true Loki has taken some interest in these kids, their approach to relationships is rather different than an ordinary person's. Not necessarily because they're a god, but because they're Loki.]
Hm. You're not wrong. I guess then, in a way, you being a god wouldn't matter to me too.
[She looks up in thought. Looking for validation outside of herself is a bad habit she hopes to break one day, so getting called out on it kind of stings, but she's used to bearing the brunt of such call outs now.
One cannot be a professional competitor without critics and people who will be harsh afterall. ]
On another note, how do you feel about Akechi having Loki as one of his personas? Ren has Thor too. I have Vanadis.
[She can't help but wonder how they feel about her having Freyja as a persona.]
[Which is why their own answer was kinda a non-answer. They could definitely be interpreted as a god! Especially when considering the facts of their existence.
Huh.... I never thought of them like that. Hm, I think it's less pokemon and more... her dark materials? I mean, other than Ren and Akechi, the rest of us only get one, though it does evolve, so I suppose.... more like digimon. Only get one, but it's a part of your soul so it's more like a daemon in that way.
[Hm, yeah that's about the best way to explain a persona.]
They are us and not. Like I'm not actually Vanadis, but within my soul are aspects of her that fit and manifest as her. Where she's the closest representation of who I am in that moment.
[She thinks about it for a long moment, then nods.]
[Loki's technically only seen Akechi in action, and he was quick to stress that he had another one and that it wasn't like that because well, probably a little embarrassing in front of the actual Loki.
Just another thing to tease Akechi about, it seems. And one to tease Sumire about as well.]
Oh? And in what ways are you similar to my mother? Do you feel the urge to lecture me? To scold me?
[She laughs at that, because she thinks it would be funny if she started to do that just because of Vanadis. But she knows they aren't the same person or god or whatever. Hers is just a representation and theirs is the real deal.]
I mean, I could if you really want, if that's missing from your life, I'll step up to the plate.
[For a moment she thinks about it.]
But I don't even actually understand it. I guess because I'm a fighter, I'm strong, but I am someone who loves and guides. How does a persona choose? Because I don't pick it. It... it picked me. So really, in what ways is your mother like me that she would choose me?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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just have fun with it, i know you understand chaos better than anyone, i can't think of anyone else i would want to be my partner in crime
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one week then. i'll give it to you in person and put this mystery to bed
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thanks bb rly
~one week later~
where shall i meet you for the exchange?
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-> action
[While there is a part of them that longs to stand outside the door, they sit on their bed instead. It shall make the knock more exciting that way. They're almost like a child waiting for it to be an appropriate time to wake up on Christmas Day and check for presents.]
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Still, when the door opens, she'll smile, cheeks warm, and give a bow, ever polite. But instead of asking after Yusuke, she addresses Loki.]
Um, it's a pleasure to work with you, Loki-sama.
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This girl. Their excitement disappears into something more akin to this, but as they think it over, it does make sense. Someone would have to be fairly close to Ren and Akechi to write the fanfics the way they did, and to even want to write them.
When their brain recovers from the adrenaline rush that amounted to nothing, they open the door fully for her to enter,]
Loki is fine. [No honorifics necessary. Their eyes narrow at her, still considering the situation.] Are you truly going to deliver it yourself? That could backfire on you, you realize.
Sorry for the delay
[She steps in and moves to sit on Yusuke's bed, she knows he wouldn't mind in the least.]
I do, though not right away. I was thinking either an accidentally cursed object or finding a package at my door addressed to him.
[Looking at Loki, she smiles, something warm and friendly and maybe a little mirthful. It's hard not to note the disappointment but she's not bothered in the least by it. It's not as painful as the disappointment of failing to qualify with her gymnastics or something.]
You're disappointed. I am rather the obvious answer, huh?
you're fine!!
You are, but I suppose I don't know what I expected. I didn't make any guesses, thought I would let myself have fun with the surprise.
[Which meant the excitement built into something not at all proportional to the actual event. Whoops!
Loki holds out a hand and a green glow overtakes their palm, quickly replaced with the as requested strap-on. It is reminiscent of Akechi's Loki, with wild black and white stripes in an abstract and dizzying pattern. Other than that, though, it's completely ordinary.]
You'll have to handle the gift wrapping yourself, whatever story you end up going with.
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[She takes it and examines it with only a bit of shyness she's feeling poking through. Loki can probably tell she wants to die a little inside seeing and handling her first dildo.
Mostly she's seeing that it's average, proportional, good heft. Akechi will like it and be sorely disappointed when it does something disastrous. But really, what else does he expect from a Loki themed dildo? The onus is really on him.]
I have a few ideas. Either in person myself or anonymously. Either way, I think Senpai will have fun. I'm thinking after the next fic when I don't write about BenRoro. Allow him some healing before I do more.
[She pauses and then looks at Loki with wide eyes.] I do love him! Like dearly as a friend, I just... think he could use some sibling energy to soften the shell he has around himself.
[A pause.]
And a little chaos is always fun.
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[If they're embarrassed by any of this, there's no tell in their expression. If anything it's not the fact they're handing a dildo to a teenager, that's whatever, it's that her reaction makes them feel... old. The same way Billy makes them feel old. They had not felt old in some time before arriving here. Nostalgic, sure, but it's a very different feeling.
Akechi makes them feel like a mother hen, so perhaps it's only fitting.]
I try to tease him myself, of course, but I imagine the effect will be greater when coming from a peer. He thinks of me as above you all, for some strange reason.
[says the literal god]
By the way, you're welcome to write stories about me, if you wish. So many others have.
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[Placing the dildo in her bag, she secures the flap before looking at Loki again for a long moment. She wonders what it's like to be a god, to be powerful like that. To be beautiful and acceptingly chaotic, they seem so otherworldly and ethereal. What she and the others must seem like to them. Maybe they are above everyone but...
Loki not only likes her stupid bad writing, but even allows her to write about them. It makes her expression soften into something fond and warm. Maybe treating Loki like they are above everyone else is making them feel other? So Sumire decides not to.]
I don't see why he treats you as above the rest of us, you share a room with Kitagawa-kun of all people and I bet you're no better than Akechi-san is at braiding hair.
[A tease, good natured.]
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Heh, Sumire dear... I'm an Asgardian. A god of the Vikings. I'm an expert at braiding hair.
[True, their own hair is messy and free, but that's because that what fits this particular story. They're the trickster, not bound by rules. Still, pretty much every Asgardian child knows how to braid hair. And you can bet Loki's braided Thor's into ridiculous shapes and knots.]
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[She giggles, clearly poking fun. Akechi is middling at braiding hair. But then she gives Loki a curious look, as if trying to decern something about them but clearly not too hard since they are an enigma even to the people have known them for years.]
Are you really a god? Or are you believed to be a god by people who were lesser in power and age? [A pause.] It's just, I knew a man who thought himself able to shape the world like a benevolent god, but he wasn't even if he had the abilities to back up his claim.
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[They giggle as well, continuing and upping the ante.
As she shifts gears, though, Loki mirrors her, their expression more thoughtful. There is a simple answer they could give to this question that she wouldn't like, that isn't necessarily what she's asking. A man could very well become a god, if enough people believed him to be one. So, they'll go about it a different way.]
My father created humanity. That's standard godhood stuff, yeah? Suppose you could start arguing we're simply another species, get into all the alien theories and the like. And that's one story. One story amongst many others. Above all, we are beings of story.
It's possible then, that we did not exist until someone told our tales one day. That it was humans who created us, and we sprung to life from their belief, filled with memories of all the years prior. That's another story.
It doesn't really matter, though, does it? The fact of the matter, if you can call it a fact, is that I am a frost giant born in one realm and raised in another by a man who once slept with the Earth herself. I have memories that stretch back to the invention of the wheel. I wield magic strong enough to shape reality itself. I have witnessed the end of the universe, and its rebirth. Am I a god then?
What do you think? And would I lie to you? That is, after all, what you're claiming.
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It's all very curious to her and she listens intently. She does feel a bit bad about Loki thinking she was claiming they there lying but then-]
You would absolutely lie to me, you're the god of mischief afterall. [She's not offended, instead she giggles. But she sobers quickly with the topic.]
Still... I suppose those things would make you a god in many ways, yes, I think. At least in my book, but they all sound like amazing stories to me too. Not lies, just stories. Maybe it's because I come from a world with man made gods that I find it all... difficult to believe that someone plain like me could have a conversation with a real god.
[A pause...]
Or maybe it's because one of those men who thought they were a god took everything from me and in my grief, I let him. I wanted him to kill me and make me someone else. And then when I didn't want it anymore, he still tried to force that on me. So, now I find the concept of godhood to be... a crutch for those who think they know better, to toy with other people's lives.
no subject
Guilty as charged!
[But after that, they might as well be a different person, the shift is so drastic.]
From what you’ve described… that is godhood functioning as intended. Think of all the stories you’ve heard. So many of us view human lives as our playthings, myself included from time to time. We do not use it as a crutch, to support us. We simply are.
I’ve known men who’ve chased godhood. One I helped to obtain it. He tried to kill the gods, as recompense for how they had treated him. Like a doll thrown away when the game was over. He lived in a make believe world, an idealistic life we had granted him in favor of the alternative. And it drove him insane.
As you said, we thought we knew better.
Unlike the man in your story, I did not force this existence onto him once more after he had broken free. No, I gave him a different tale.
For a human consumed by a false reality, what title would be better fitting than the God of Lies?
Thing is, godhood has its caveats too. The fate of the God of Lies is to be shackled in his son’s entrails as venom drips ever so slowly into his eyes, forced open to bear the pain eternally.
The gods are cruel, Sumire Yoshizawa. Sounds like your villain was merely playing his part.
no subject
Everyone is cruel in the end, it's about finding the people in life who cherish you enough to spare you their cruelty really. Even I can be unkind in how I ignore people I don't know. I don't stop to help someone crying out in pain because what if it's a ploy to hurt me?
I know being selfish isn't cruelty, but only to oneself. It's cruel to the other person regardless.
[She pauses and thinks about it.]
Then does it make me a potential god that we not only will overcome him but steal his heart and change his ways entirely? Stop him and force him to see the fault in his actions and choose to change them? Doesn't that in turn make us more powerful than him when we do so?
[She asks sincerely.]
Or is it how I already know I forgive him, even if we fail? I already forgive him now.
no subject
Why are you asking me? I don't care at all if you're a god, potential one or not. And I don't really care if you forgive him either.
[Well, perhaps not fun, but at least more casual.]
I have no say in your status, and that will be even more so true when you return to your story. If you're looking for some sort of validation, best to find it in yourself or from your comrades. None of this has anything to do with me, yeah?
[While it's true Loki has taken some interest in these kids, their approach to relationships is rather different than an ordinary person's. Not necessarily because they're a god, but because they're Loki.]
no subject
[She looks up in thought. Looking for validation outside of herself is a bad habit she hopes to break one day, so getting called out on it kind of stings, but she's used to bearing the brunt of such call outs now.
One cannot be a professional competitor without critics and people who will be harsh afterall. ]
On another note, how do you feel about Akechi having Loki as one of his personas? Ren has Thor too. I have Vanadis.
[She can't help but wonder how they feel about her having Freyja as a persona.]
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[Which is why their own answer was kinda a non-answer. They could definitely be interpreted as a god! Especially when considering the facts of their existence.
But more importantly, they are Loki.]
I think it's cute. I've seen lots of versions of myself and my family, but yours seem relatively harmless in the grand scheme of things. They're sorta like Pokémon from what I gather?
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[Hm, yeah that's about the best way to explain a persona.]
They are us and not. Like I'm not actually Vanadis, but within my soul are aspects of her that fit and manifest as her. Where she's the closest representation of who I am in that moment.
[She thinks about it for a long moment, then nods.]
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Just another thing to tease Akechi about, it seems. And one to tease Sumire about as well.]
Oh? And in what ways are you similar to my mother? Do you feel the urge to lecture me? To scold me?
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I mean, I could if you really want, if that's missing from your life, I'll step up to the plate.
[For a moment she thinks about it.]
But I don't even actually understand it. I guess because I'm a fighter, I'm strong, but I am someone who loves and guides. How does a persona choose? Because I don't pick it. It... it picked me. So really, in what ways is your mother like me that she would choose me?
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okay so what's it do? :eyes: