[Day 2, Night - A House South of Town]

[direstnews]

[Written into the ground alongside one of the houses to the south of town tonight are a series of strange letters, forming a rough circle near the wall. A figure of approximately Loki's build, not there during the day's exploration, leans against the wall at the corner. The door to the house is open.]

[Some hours after the sudden switch from day to night, Loki stands in front of the door, a candle before him, a kitchen knife in one hand and a spoon in the other. He checks the mirror set carefully in the darkness, nothing yet visible in its surface. Then he strikes the knife with the spoon's handle, and he holds his breath - and he waits.]

Comments

[direstnews]

Oh, ick.

[12npcs]

[From that first splatter, your mind starts to stumble over yourself. The caw of a mockingbird seems to echo in your mind, bringing up plans within plans within plans. Everything you had intended, everything you had anticipated, everything HE did and didn't, opening up into one perfect, glistening web of possibilities... And with a sick wrench it jerks back further, taking in more, and more, and more, until your mind takes in the dizzying scale of entire world wo-

and it's over, just before something would have surely snapped, leaving you absolutely hollow... empty of everything but apathy.]

[direstnews]

[The noise is not a scream, but it is a very unhappy noise all the same. He clenches his eyes tight shut and presses a hand to his head, as though trying to hold himself together- or as though trying to hold the world, or something much closer to home, at bay.]

[And then, all at once, the tension there goes slack, and the eyes blink open, no light behind them.]

[nyanotech]

[The noise is enough to catch her attention, but the slackness that follows . . . that's worse. Worse and even more concerning.]

Loki?

[direstnews]

Here. I'm here.

[He doesn't sound quite certain of that, but the slackness and the apathy goes as the creature is destroyed. In its place is something that tries for flippant but actually sounds kind of upset.]

I've... yes. I'm here.

[nyanotech]

[Takes his face in her hands, watching how his eyes track.]

I'm not so sure.

[direstnews]

[They are not unfocused so much as avoidant, though at that he looks straight at you.]

I am. I swear it.

[nyanotech]

[Her thumb brushes a cheek.]

You need a bath.

[direstnews]

It is... it is as you say.

This substance...

[His fingers track through it, and his eyes slip away again to stare down at it.]

[nyanotech]

[Takes his wrist.]

Bath first.

Come on.

[direstnews]

I've things yet to attend.

[nyanotech]

What do you need?

[direstnews]

I would... I would see the circle undone.

And I would have my mirror.

[nyanotech]

[Something in her attention gets caught by the term summoning, but fades just as quickly.]

Where?

[direstnews]

[Nods toward the place where Rosette and Chrono are exploring the circle.]

I'll be but a moment.

[But he takes a moment to gather himself, and then another, and finally he moves to approach it.]

[nyanotech]

[Goes with him.]

There's no rush.

[direstnews]

[There sure is a circle on the ground here, all in strange lettering, drawn into the soil. He sets about erasing it, rubbing it out until the earth is, if not smooth, at least unmarked.]

I'll not tarry. Not over this.

[nyanotech]

[She stays caaaarefully outside the circle, tail fluffing out a bit from the proximity.

Legible or not, the meaning is clear.]

Who were you trying to call?

[direstnews]

A creature known as the Teller. It presides over all manner of tales.

[WELP it looks like Rosette and Chrono broke the mirror - but he will pick up the spoon.]

[nyanotech]

Not a bad choice for a place like this.

But that's not what you ended up with.

[direstnews]

It is not. The Teller was... overwritten.

[He's going to tuck away the spoon, bend to retrieve the kitchen knife, and then stoop to hook his fingers into the torso's shoulder joints, again.]

[nyanotech]

But it was here at first?

[But you are such a tiny thing. Reaches down with him, hooking fingers in its neck—it comes up a lot more easily.]

[direstnews]

[...you are a lot stronger than you look.]

It came in answer to my call.

[nyanotech]

[Maybe I'm just as strong as ladies with four eyes and cat ears usually are.]

Well, that's a bit of good news at least.

Whose story were you trying to figure out?

[direstnews]

Mine. And those I left behind. [A hand gestures around him.] And ours.