cape_kore | video/action ❆ day 170

[Meja's in one of the labs in the early morning, one that hasn't been combed over too much yet, rifling through cupboards and searching for more testing equipment. Or anything that looks like it could be testing equipment. Roland the Rat sits on her shoulder, nose in the air, sniffling at everything she finds. She finds a few disturbing implements that she leaves be, bladed things which... honestly seem surgical in nature. How fun!

There are other, smaller things that she finds, however, which look less horrific. Finally, in the late morning, she decides to take a break and address the network. Roland sniffs at the phone; she picks him up and holds him in her other hand.]

For those who are following any progress, we've found at least one edible plant from the seeds we've germinated. Others are yet to be tested. If anyone's feeling bored, I'm in a lab near the library and I've found a few devices. Not for testing, exactly, but just to figure out what they are.

[She offers a wry smile, which fades a little as she moves onto her second item of business.]

Also, I don't know if anyone's seen her, but I'm not able to contact Anita Blake on the phones anymore. I'd appreciate if anyone would keep an eye out.

[With a final squeak from an impatient Roland, Meja cuts the feed.]

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[Meja smiles slightly, less wry than before, nodding.]

I've been experimenting with magic where I can. Nothing I've done has cracked the outer wall yet. If it is, in fact, the outer wall. [Who knows?] Using traveling magic had... unpleasant side effects, when I previously attempted them in the town.

I recall. I could find no point beyond the fog to which to travel to begin with.

[But I have no bad dreams, he had been fond of saying. Not quite true.]

If you would be amenable, I should like to join you in your efforts.

Certainly. One head is better than two, as they say.

[He shares a name with the being Meja would most like to bury her blade in. Really, the only being she wishes active harm on. But this Loki has done nothing to her, yet, and she'll give him fair treatment until she gets to know him better. Every being deserves a chance, in Meja's book, aside from that one being who has already burned his chances.]

I'm accustomed to aggressive fog from Niflheimr, but this is... something else entirely.

[Perhaps someday, in a fit of fickle honesty, Loki will outline to her exactly why she shouldn't trust him. Perhaps he will tell her, smiling, of all the creatures he has killed, and how it felt to slaughter them, firsthand or otherwise. Perhaps he will tell her why, what grasped hold of his madness and twisted it and made it sinister. There is a thrill, he must admit, in the confessional, guilt borne up upon slender shoulders like a shawl: something clasped close and worn with pride.

But not today. Today they stand if not as equals then united under a common goal, and for all his madness and caprice Loki is no fool. Theirs is the same enemy. For all the joy that might be reaped from wreaking havoc among those trapped here with him, it would serve no end, further no ambition. And all of that, all of it implied in the hint of a smile.]

Even the fortresses of Asgard are not so well-reinforced. Yes. But as I was raised among those it is possible I have yet in my memory some tricks to bring to bear against this place. Providing of course I can find them.

Jogging one's memory gets tougher and tougher, as time goes on.

[Trust is a large word — but in reality, Meja is trusting. Because she always expects the worst, but hopes, if just a bit, for the best. Life has not stamped out that hope, yet, and unless something devastating happens, it never will. It's a candlelight in a storm, one that hasn't gone out yet. It defines part of who she is.]

Perhaps I can help with that, too, somehow. Though I doubt our magic works the same way.

[Loki gives an easy, eloquent shrug.]

Perhaps not, but that hardly means we need not work in complement. It would suit us to experiment, I think.

[It would suit Loki, certainly, to learn more about her. To assess how threatening she might be to him. To augment his own power, if possible. And more than that: on some level he finds her curious. He, irredeemable, who finds hope in his own hopelessness, embraces his own monstrousness as surely as it repels some part of him still... and her. She knows his name and guesses his nature, that much he can tell, and yet she does not act on that suspicion. That knowledge; she speaks from experience, of a sort. It makes her useful. He offers a sad smile.]

I have discovered a notable absence too. Perhaps we could both use a distraction.

[Nevermind that Thor's 'notable absence' is more relief than burden. Let her read what she will in the implications.]

[While the Center has a way of kidnapping and returning, on both ends, Meja isn't allowing herself any hopes one way or another. If Anita returns, she'll be glad to have her friend here again. If she doesn't, then Meja will be glad that she was able to return home. To hope for Anita to remain in the Center is a selfish impulse. In her mind, at least.

That's what this is all about. Going home. Or at least discovering more about their prison.]

Distractions are appreciated.

[Meja can't imagine a Loki missing a Thor, exactly. But then, she's thinking of both from her world. Assumptions could be dangerous. Maybe this one does miss the God of Thunder. He had a certain slightly oafish charm.]

It could be that our magic is at least compatible, and perhaps that could make it stronger for what we want it to do. [There's a lot of power here that will have to be overcome.] I look forward to finding out.

video/action ❆ day 170

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