#withering of yggdrasil

[tangy-sweetlove]

Withering of Yggdrasil

Corrupted Royal Knights AU

So this is basically all of the character designs I did for this AU. Now I’m specifically saying my designs since there was more than one person working on this AU that started in Twitter back in October 2020. While I would say I was the more active in doing art or even writing information for this AU I am not the sole owner of it nor the one who started it. This was a collaborative effort and I want to make sure that fact is never lost. While there is definitely going to be some redesigns;updates; or even rewriting on parts of the background for the characters, also in general the story. I am still happy on how these all turned out (only Crania got real update to his design atm but it was just because I wasn’t satisfied with his lower half look)

One last thing I want to share is that the final reference sheet shown here is that of the Reborn Knights. As in the Epilogue of the AU all of the Knights who were defeated end up being reborn, with Yggdrasil’s virus having some lasting effects on their data.

Anyways hope you guys find it interesting!

[andthekitchensinkao3]

Tapestry of Time Teaser

Because @loki-is-my-kink-awakening tagged me, you KNOW I don't need a reason to share 😁

This is a rough, rough draft, not everything figured out just yet, and the chapter is already at a cool 2,807 words and I'm not even halfway done 😅😆

Chapter 5, Mobius finds a possible way forward re: getting Loki home. This is the chapter where we dig into Norse mythology, oooooh.

Brackets [text] is just placeholders for me when I'm finessing the text into shape.

I tag EVERYONE who sees this. Whatcha workin' on?

---

[And the three giants who tend to it, who blesses life itself, or takes it away. Who weaves the strands of time… Mobius stilled, his fingers hovering over the text. Chills crawled down his spine like a slow-motion avalanche.

“The three Norns Urdr, Skuld and Verdandi live by the ash tree Yggdrasil, near the well of destiny, ‘Urdarbrunnen,’ where they collect the water and the white sand they use to wash Yggdrasil’s roots, to stop its trunk and branches from withering…”

He knew their names. Urd, Verdandi and Skuld, like a nursery rhyme long forgotten. But why hadn’t he thought of them before?

[Mobius finds what he was looking for. A potential answer to his dilemma: the Norns.

Mobius tells Casey about them, visibly excited. Excited to the point of heart racing. This is it. This is what he’s been looking for. This could actually be it.]

“Verthandi, or Verdandi, governs the Present, or that which is about to happen next. Urdr, or just Urd, is the goddess of the past. She was the original Norn deciding over people’s destinies.” Chills. Shakes hands out. “Skuld, ‘the Future’, one of the Valkyries. The etymological roots of her name is Necessity. She weaves that which is to come, uh, farther along. Like,” he said, needing to catch his breath for how his heart was pounding.

“Remind me not to dash madly down several miles of winding hallway?”

“Sure.” Casey nodded. “Like what, though?”

“Like big picture stuff, not the immediate present.”

“Like Verdandi?” Asked Casey.

“Yup,” said Mobius.

“I don’t get it,” Casey admitted.

“Me neither. But the kind of chills I had reading that first thing? Yeah. That’s…”

“Significant. But what’re we gonna do about it?”

And that’s the ten million dollar question right there. Mobius grinned. “We’re going to summon the Norns.”

[hriobzagelthewanderer]

Synopsis of the Predecessors, Part 1.

In the beginning, Humbaba the Terrible, Guardian of the Sacred Cedar Forest - was the first of his kind, a creature of might and magic alike made to be a guardian and protector of the Forests he called home. Possessed of not one, but Several Auras - Seven, to be precise - there were few who could ever hope to stand against him and survive at all, much less unscathed. He was simple in some ways, perhaps, but resolute in his loyalty to his identity, his purpose.

Then, along came Gilgamesh, and his friend Enkidu, whose combined strength and cunning alike were enough to trick and slay Humbaba… and all seven aspects of his once-intertwined soul fractured and scattered across the world, leaving only a singular, withered fragment of himself to, by luck, curse, or fate, reincarnate.

Ever since, the being that once rivaled all but the strongest of gods in might and duty found himself lost and aimless, hopelessly hurt and confused over a series of reincarnations, sometimes as other mystical spirits or creatures, often as simple human beings… but after enough cycles had passed, a sense of purpose had re-emerged within the soul:

Reunite with his other Aspects, or Replace them, one way or another. Learn, adapt, and reclaim what was lost to him, so that it would never happen again.

As the centuries and cycles of reincarnation continued, the being grew in strength, focus, and skill - learning to be cunning and clever, studious and discerning, and traveling the world all the while, by design and accident of birth alike. As spirits he tended towards nature, but also instruction, as creatures he remained passive but wary, as humans he pushed the limits of his life to create and invent, learning and adding to his wisdom and understanding with each lifetime.

Then, while a background character within the story of the Aesir gods and their Ragnarok, he found the World Tree, Yggdrasil, and bonded in part with it. When it was partially shattered by the events of that 'apocalypse', he spent the last of that lifetime as 'Gammal vän Kunskap' - friend and rival to Mímir, brother-figure to Loki Laufreyson - in a potent, unprecedented ritual - melding his soul and magic with the sap of the Great Tree itself, and in effect not only helping Yggdrasil recover faster, but creating a whole new class of mystical creatures - the Fae; based in part on the Sap, in part on the echoes of Humbaba's design and purpose, and off the deep connection to Magic and Life itself afforded to him in that life. The remains of that sap would crystalize and become their own unifying force in the cosmos - The Wild Hunt; the power and instinct of survival, of evolution and life in all its splendor and cruelty alike.

His echoes would continue to find themselves tied to that force, the natural world itself, from that point onwards as a result, be they spirits or simply human.

[ciryze]

Oblivion - We are all Monsters here

Rating: Mature

Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Categories: F/M ; M/M

Fandom: Tales of Symphonia

Relationships: Raine Sage/Zelos Wilder, Forcystus/Magnius

Characters: Raine Sage, Zelos Wilder, Mithos Yggdrasill, Forcystus (Tales of Symphonia), Magnius (Tales of Symphonia), Kratos Aurion, Remiel (Tales of Symphonia)

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Manipulation, Hurt/Comfort, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Fluff and Angst, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Declining Tethe'alla, sorta - Freeform, AU where Kratos had Lloyd during the ancient war

Language: English Series: ← Previous Work Part 3 of Call of the Betrayed

START HERE: AO3

Prologue:

Once upon a time, there existed a giant tree that was the source of mana. A war, however, caused this tree to wither away, and a hero’s life was sacrificed in order to take its place.

Grieving over the loss of the hero, the eternal emperor took the remains of fertile earth from the very roots of the withered tree and formed the Chosen One, giving this edict: “You shall fill the land with life instead and rule in my absence. Send your sons to find me and let them become the hero, or this land shall face its eternal end.”

The Chosen One, princess of the hearts of mankind, sent her beloved children towards the tower that reached up unto the heavens. And that marked the beginning of the regeneration of the world.

Illustrations Chapter 1:

The world Map (Tethe'alla):

[frostkingoftheapocalypse]

Darkness was peaceful. Not out of any joyless or wretched reasonings: Yggdrasil’s King savoured light as most surface-born peoples of the apocalypse did. A dawn-riser, he revered the eternity in the moment where an indistinct horizon of mountain and icefield turned pastel, glinting, glittering. Jötunheimr shared their star with three others: it was a small enduring cluster of ancient unstable gas, and it was close, dangerously precarious, kept at bay behind the broiling rises and disc-like shapes of Muspelheimr. When it tracked into a hazy view, it was to see only the aura of it refracting around their hostile neighour.

But a free breath above ground held connotations the old King could not shake. And so his dreams, his private domain, was the heavy, silky indigo of night.

He did grieve in daylight hours: a reverent crack in his armour, a rare relief of his unveiling, travelling solo across the realms, the months that he did not have to bear the influence of his consideration and presence over his peoples. He did not resent it, that primary nature of his, it was duty and pride. But that did not lessen the exposed nerve of his feelings.

Those whose energies he touched in their last moments filled his lungs like drowning. The last of anything, especially a civilisation, was the hardest to compartmentalise.

Indigo and ink. Hazy sensation. The King’s dream sat at the bole of the dead tree. He recognised it in his sightless, unfurling, gentle touch, sensitive fingertips finding the bark by his cheek. It had spoken to him, until the few remaining cells in it had succumbed to the frost, no longer speaking its final tale, and the elder’s own tear-tracks had formed grim, frozen lines into his beard. He was not surprised to find it here, in the unconscious realm.

The flicker of light around the tree’s corner however.

Crimsons narrowed. It had the paranoia of being shoved off a cliff for peering over the edge, punishment for his vice of knowledge. But one could not have iron will over all their internal domains, train for that as one may. You could not choose how you processed the passing of daytime in your sleep.

The King’s dream-body was glacial slow as he coiled back into a hunter’s posture, not responsive enough for alarm bells yet, but getting closer as he approached the dream-lure, those spears of solid sunlight through the sliver of a root-gap. He had never seen light like that. Golden. A true gold. Curiosity burned a taut rope along his posture: a dim simulation of his waking hours, but even reduced to this. This vice of his was a force.

The light seared him as the King jerked back. Grimacing. The shock stirred enough wit into him now to wither at it internally, a tense scowl at his idiocy: this piercing light harsh enough to thrust hard-defined lines into the dark? A light that could slice through a pitiful splinter between roots? One might as well have stared unblinking into the fire in a torturer’s dungeon set before your face, speeding up the intended blinding of you, hapless little fool.

The King’s back was a solid ache as his jaw ticked away, struggling to think. He had the dread, quicksand feeling of importance - so lucid in this moment that waking up was a disaster away from being his reality. There was something, beyond that gap. The Norns had their claws in his lungs. A warning. A sinus pressure, like an alarm bell that wherever his body rested in the waking realm, he had ceased to breathe with it.

He crouched. Doing the only thing that there was left to do, and praying it was enough as he set his ear against the gap, the well-worn V of his brow keeping eyes closed as he ceased to breathe and listened.

@ncrthernattitude​

[valuka-shuna]

World Tree and Primordial Chaos

We should start with the foundation of the series' multiverse - The Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quanta. It ties in most of Mihoyo's games under the same rules, but the rules are expressed differently. Some new information from recent chapters have been omitted for the sake of simplicity and spoilers.

AKA why Genshin is in the same universe as Honkai, but you do not need to play Honkai to understand Genshin.

The Imaginary Tree that holds all of the Hoyoverse together is based on the belief of a world tree. The most well-known example is the Yggdrasil of Norse mythology, but it's a motif seen in various cultures around the world. It holds together the heavens, the skies, the worlds, and maybe even the underworld. The Imaginary Tree also embodies the concept of the tree of life in that it binds all forms of creation to its branches.

The Tree is depicted differently depending on the game and context, but it's always a colossal pale-colored tree with twisting roots. It's an entity that normally isn't visible to human eyes. How can our puny monkey brain even begin to comprehend our existence on the cosmic structure holding our world together? It's literally larger than life itself.

From the trunk of this tree spreads numerous branches and from these branches grow an infinite number of leaves, each of them a different world. For our purposes, we must understand that every Mihoyo game that takes place in this universe is a leaf on this tree: Gun Girls Z, Honkai Impact 3rd, Genshin Impact, and Honkai Star Rail. HI3 and HSR are more similar and may be leaves growing on closer branches than Genshin. Each leaf (game) is governed by the same laws of the Tree's universe, but are otherwise entirely separate and does not affect one another.

Then why not also Tears of Themis and Zenless Zone Zero? Because there are no expy characters like Kiana or Mei. But also because lore reasons. For example, Genshin and HSR are explicitly linked by this monster item drop and a loading screen.

(Genshin ley lines are directly connected to Irminsul and thus the Imaginary Tree, but that's a story for another time.)

The Sea of Quanta is the other being opposite the Imaginary Tree. The Sea is akin to the concept of primordial chaos or the soup of life. The Sea is an unstable, endless space that doesn't follow conventional logic. Generally accepted understanding of physics, mathematics, and reality do not work here. Above the Sea is where the Tree grows. Leaves of the Tree can wither, drift off their branch, fall into the Sea, and get dissolved out of existence in the chaos.

The world of the now detached leaf is considered a Bubble Universe. They can exist in various degrees of stability depending on whether it can sustain itself. Bubble universes do not necessarily have to be discarded by the Tree. They can also spontaneously spawn out of the Sea of Quanta. The Sea is unstable enough that a bubble universe can be created entirely from human memories. Bubble universes can also be man-made. Essentially they are miscellaneous parallel worlds floating in space.

The Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quanta has an antagonistic, but codependent rivalry. "The Sea Of Quanta wants to flood the Tree. Meanwhile, the Imaginary Tree wants to absorb the Sea." as described by the HI3rd wiki. It seems like cosmic material gets recycled as it grows on the Tree, decays, falls into the Sea, and eventually reabsorbed back via Tree roots.

There aren't many depictions of the Sea of Quanta outside HI3. It generally looks like endless blue space with broken block structures swirling as if suspended in liquid. It is possible to physically traverse this space, jumping between bubble universes and fighting monsters born from the quantum chaos.

(Crude depiction of The Tree and Sea outside space-time.)

All this stuff about the Sea being made up of world tree debris begs the question: Why and how do leaves fall off to begin with? If leaves are whole worlds, wouldn't them withering off the Tree would be an apocalyptic event? Losing one leaf is like losing a timeline, a parallel universe, a whole world of possibilities, and the entire civilization that lived in it. The answer is yes, and that's what the story of Honkai Impact 3rd is about.

The word Honkai is the English localization of Houkai (崩壊) meaning "collapse", "decay", or "destruction" in Japanese. The same goes for Chinese where the actual name of the game is 崩坏3. The "3rd" is a reference to Evangelion's Third Impact because the Mihoyo founders are Eva fanboys. Honkai Impact 3rd is about humanity fighting against the collapse, decay, and destruction of their world leaf.

Knowing the etymology of the titular Honkai is important because it gives context to its concept. The Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quanta aren't inherently good or evil. They are neutral forces of nature. The Tree itself must self-regulate so as to not expend its resources maintaining nonviable worlds . Otto Apocalypse says Honkai "breeds, nurtures, tests, and removes civilizations." Decay is natural. The system in which the Tree decides which of its infinite branches to prune off is called the Honkai.

The Imaginary Tree's self-adjustment system works by testing humanity within the leaf's world. The Honkai will manifest as anything that will bring calamity. It can manifest as beasts, natural disasters, robots, zombies, or the mobs you fight in game. When a Honkai invasion is devastating enough, it can cause an apocalyptic event. The in-universe source of The Black Death that destroyed a third of the world's population is an example of the Honkai manifesting as infectious disease.

Humanity must keep evolving and advancing against the will of the Honkai in order to keep up with the destruction. If it manifests as disease, humanity must find a way to heal. If it manifests as monsters, humanity must fight them. And if it manifests as humans corrupted by Honkai energy with supernatural powers, humanity must find a way to make them fight for our side. (These humans are called Herrschers and are integral to the HI3 plot, but not for the purposes of this post.)

If the civilization within the world of the leaf falls to the Honkai invasion, then it is deemed no longer worthy of keeping. The leaf will be pruned and fall into the Sea of Quanta.

(Spoilers: Or so we thought for most of the story until recent chapters, but that is again a story for another time. Finality will descend and reset the world to give us another chance to fight the Honkai.)

The degree to how much of this cosmic lore is actually relevant to each game depends.

Gun Girls Z - Relevant in that this is where it all started. Kevin Kaslana first brought up the concept of bubble universes in this series.

Honkai Impact 3rd - Extremely relevant in that the player character routinely interacts with bubble universes. In fact, the canon main story timeline is considered a separate world (leaf) from the Captainverse self-insert timeline used for events.

Honkai Star Rail - The relevancy remains questionable at the moment because the game is not yet released at the time of writing. I would assume it will become relevant due to the existence of the Imaginary and Quantum class typing on top of typical ones like Fire and Lightning. It is also implied the Honkai exists under the name Stellaron "Cancer of All Worlds". The train the characters ride between planets comes directly from the HI3 world. A train called the Cosmic Juggernaut was invented in HI3 to manipulate space-time and travel through the Sea of Quanta. This train somehow ended up damaged in the world of HSR, where HSR Himeko found, repaired, and renamed it as the Astral Express.

Genshin Impact - Also relevant, but it becomes easy to miss early on if you are not already familiar with Honkai. Almost everything exists in one way or another, but under a different name. The Irminsul tree is likely Teyvat's biggest connection to the Imaginary Tree. The Cataclysm 500 years ago could have been a Honkai eruption. The Abyss may or may not be within the Sea of Quanta. It's possible the Descenders are visitors from beyond the Teyvat leaf.

The space underneath the Chasm as shown in Perilous Trail might be a bubble universe, complete with things spawning from memories and monsters that look suspiciously like quantum shadows when Traveler and Xiao try to make their way out.

The way Yae describes traveling through space-time into Makoto's realm of consciousness sounds like Traveler were traversing through the Sea of Quanta into a bubble universe. How Ei and Traveler are the only ones who remember when the Sacred Sakura Tree was planted because their memories weren't altered while they were in the bubble universe outside of the Irminsul's reach.

There's more of this kind of allusion to Hoyoverse's cosmic lore in Genshin. Enough to write several other posts. The problem is we don't have confirmation about Teyvat's place in the universe. Is it a leaf still attached to the Imaginary Tree? Or is it a big bubble universe floating in the Sea of Quanta? Has the Honkai invaded yet? And if it did, what did it manifest as? Does it have a different name?

We already got some Imaginary Tree connections following the Sumeru archon quest and Wanderer interlude. But there's still no reason to play Honkai just to understand Genshin. At most, Honkai will give context to some unexplained phenomena. Genshin will likely explain their version of the world tree and primordial chaos eventually, at their own pace and in their own terms. A lot of Genshin players hate the idea that Genshin takes place in the Honkai universe as if it were inferior to Mihoyo's favorite child, but I want to reiterate that this isn't the Honkai universe so much as it is the Hoyoverse. Genshin Impact is as much Honkai as Honkai Impact is Genshin.

[unmeinoniwa]

thinking bout how in theo’s original verse, he technically has a younger sister. while the librarian’s role is to safekeep the knowledge, they also have a double role (albeit hidden role) where their soul is used to aid in the experimentation of artificial lifeforms bc the higher ups main goal is to create a human form of yggdrasil — bc humans cant develop the wither illness that yggdrasil is experiencing rn which can irreparably damage the tree and knowledge within. who better to use at their disposal than the librarian himself? so in turn, an artificial “human” was successfully manufactured but theo has no idea that this is happening and they only end up meeting in the final arcs bc his sister was broken free thanks to the serpent who caused the wither in the first place. she ended up losing her memories and what shes supposed to be bc she was broken out prematurely but ever since she left out into the human world, theo’s felt a connection missing and he can only finally meet her once hes freed from his own shackles 😭😭

[arcanelore]

Well, happy new year!

I’m collaborating on a few projects, one of which has a “magic tree”. I don’t know that it’s an overdone trope, but I can think of a few in fantasy literature, and literature in general.

So here are my favourite “magic trees” from literature, mythology and pop culture. This list is certainly not exhaustive or comprehensive, just ones that I could think of..

Yggdrasill

The world tree of Norse Mythology.

It’s probably the grand dad of the Tolkien mythical trees. Yggdrasil is attested in the Poetic Edda compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and in the Prose Edda compiled in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In both sources, Yggdrasil is an immense ash tree that is central to the cosmos and considered very holy. The gods go to Yggdrasil daily to assemble at their traditional governing assemblies. The branches of Yggdrasil extend far into the heavens, and the tree is supported by three roots that extend far away into other locations; one to the well Urðarbrunnr in the heavens, one to the spring Hvergelmir, and another to the well Mímisbrunnr. Creatures live within Yggdrasil, including the dragon Níðhöggr, an unnamed eagle, and the stags Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór. For the record it is an Ash tree.

White Tree of Gondor

First White Tree

The first White Tree of Gondor came from a fruit that Isildur stole from Nimloth the Fair, before it was was destroyed. Isildur brought the sapling to Middle-earth and eventually planted it in Minas Ithil before his house. But when Sauron returned to Middle-earth, he attacked and captured Minas Ithil in SA 3429, destroying the White Tree. Isildur escaped, again taking a sapling with him.

Second White Tree

In TA 2 while in Minas Anor instructing his nephew Meneldil in rulership, Isildur planted the sapling of the White Tree in memory of his brother, Anárion. This White Tree stood until TA 1636, when the Great Plague spread across Gondor and the tree died.

Third White Tree

A third sapling was planted in TA 1640 by King Tarondor. After the line of the Kings failed the tree never bore fruit and seldom flowered and finally withered and died in TA 2872 at the death of the Ruling Steward Belecthor II. At this time no seedling of the tree was found, and the dead tree was left standing "until the King returns.”

Fourth White Tree

Following his coronation as King of Gondor, Aragorn was taken by Gandalf to a hallow on the slopes of Mindolluin. There, Aragorn found a sapling of the White Tree. The dead tree was removed from the court and placed in the Houses of the Dead, and Aragorn planted the sapling in its place. In June of TA 3019, the tree bloomed.

The Christian Tree of Forbidden Knowledge

Whether you consider it sacred or mythical, the Tree in the center of the Garden of Eden has to be considered on your list of important trees.

In Judaism and Christianity, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is one of two specific trees in the story of the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2–3, along with the tree of life. Alternatively, some scholars have argued that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is just another name for the tree of life.

Spell: Tree Merge

Fyvrian Level VI

Author: Dennis

Caster is able to physically merge his body and consciousness into a tree of at least his body size or greater.

While merged caster can cast spells, use Psionic abilities IF he is of high enough ability to maintain consciousness

CS: Duration until actively ended by caster. Maintains consciousness

MS:Duration up to SI: days Maintains consciousness

MF: duration SI ROUNDS. Does NOT maintain consciousness

CF: duration indeterminate. Douse NOT maintain consciousness.

SI:30+ maintains consciousness, even with MF

SI:55+ can extend perception through tree body.

SI:85+can extend perception through root network. Maintains consciousness, even with CF

Speed:15-SB

[lordofthestrix]

What would you do if I was a tree and you were a fish?

Transforming this into a duology because Aurora's curiosity isn't quenched.

The invisible web unfolded with the world as its prey. Tristan sensed the harmonious, devouring prowess of its threadlike commands forming what was yet to arrive. An immeasurable multitude of dancers, actors and singers alike. Each one believing in the delivery of their improvisation, almost all of them utterly blind to how accurate the stage would remain ever loyal to his opera.

Upcoming years of both splendor and ruin appeared like a vision in the sovereignty of his eyes and ploys, artfully sharpening the details of the design just as the one voice with the right to make an entrance inside his study without so much as knocking on the door visited in the sudden urgency of a somehwat familiar question.

His gaze abandoned the page and the frozen, echoed imprint of crafted tomorrows found the present deja vu of her inversed question with puzzlement.

The duel was short lived and absolute. The ghostly web, so grand and unfathomable mere moments ago, retreated in vanishing defeat, to be conjured to completion at a more convenient time. Soon, she was all his eyes chose to see.

Not a monumentally surprising turn of events. The performances he could play upon the world were manifold. But not one kindled the jolt of strange, jubilant and honest happiness his sweet Aurora inspired.

Fishes and trees. Second assault, or so it seemed. Amused, Tristan left his desk and his stratagems for sculpted futures, in favor of  dreaming up a response for her.

“Everyday I would battle in warring conflict against the will of the river in order to remain by your side. Until my fins hardened like armour. Only then, at the certainty of my daily return, I would venture its curse. With you as my stirring inspiration, I would swim to encounter the tidal mouth of the ocean. The gifts I would bring you back with each new moonlit or moonless night. All the untold treasures the seven seas devoured, I would uncover for you. I would command a thousand shoals and sail to endless shores in your name. I would reduce the oceans to my mercy just to see you grow, splendid and majestic as you are. Yggdrasil itself would wither in irrelevancy at your side. Your roots would extend to every land you please and I would jealously guard your waters as the most ferocious of leviathans.” It was her hand he claimed in a kiss this time. as the scorching promise of his words.

“Now. I believe it is time for you share where this new fixation with sea creatures and forest sentinels originated?”

@ladamedemartel​

[sky-limits]

{FOV} Chapter 1 - Nila - Roots

The cave was dark, cold, and wet. As far as most caves go, it wasn't out of the ordinary. Nila was trotting through it, with her handler on her back. Britta, a smaller than normal Tomtar, dug her hands into Nila's ruff, hoping for some comfort.

It was cold outside too - biting winds that howled and screamed at night, cutting their way through and stealing any warmth anyone managed to achieve. They had both seen the tree together as rider and rukaan, leaves wilting and twirling to the ground, graceful corpses of ballerinas. Yggdrasil was dying, life being sucked out of it from some source they could not identify. It had been difficult to see the World Tree sickened and in pain, bark peeling as they trotted past it.

But now they were on the search for a solution, a cure. Britta’s tail flicked through the air anxiously as Nila took careful steps. The ground was pebbled and rough, slick with drippings from the stalactites overhead. They were on a quest to find information, anything really, that might help the tree. Britta and Nila had agreed to go underground, to those closest to the roots - to find a dwarf. There might be an infection in the earthy, gritty tunnels that was causing the tree to wither, and now they were deep in the tunnels.

There were small lanterns lighting the way along a path that was packed solid by the boots and hooves of dwarves and rukaan alike, and while they had been traveling for what seemed like days, the pair never reached a branch or split in the semi-dark of the mineshafts. Soon, though, they heard a great roar of laughter coming from further down the tunnel.

Nile picked her way over the rocks as carefully as she could - it was still bumpy in areas - and Britta held on tight, hoping they would find someone to help. She had brought a bag full of ores, jewels, precious jewelry, and hoped it would be enough to buy over the stout-hearted dwarves. The lights became more frequent as they kept along the path, until the ceiling broadened and opened up, revealing a great dining hall.

Tables lined the walls of the cavernous room, spreading up and out like mushrooms growing from a tree. The ones on the floor ringed a central table piled with heaps of food - vegetables, fruits, steaming piles of meat. Dwarves sat all around, smeared with dust and grit and dirt from their day’s work. They laughed and chattered, passing secrets through motions of whispers, until the hall fell silent upon the rukaan and rider’s entrance.

The sooty black deer and little white-haired humanoid stood together, afraid at what the dwarves were going to say or do. In the end, they did nothing, simply turned to who they apparently saw as their leader, the dwarf stepping down from her seat and sighing at a meal interrupted. She walked to Nila and Britta, crossing her arms as she reached them. “Hello. You can call me Gershwin. Why’re you here?” Her voice was as rough as the stone around her, carrying a polished snark to it like the gems hanging from braids in her dark hair. Britta swallowed deeply, nerves jangling around Gershwin.

“Have you noticed the seasons haven’t changed?” Internally, she winced. Not a very strong case to start with. The older dwarf nodded, motioning for Britta to continue. She climbed down from Nila, petting her head as she continued on. “We - Nila and I - are here to see if you knew anything about the causes of it.” Gershwin raised an eyebrow and the corners of her mouth turned down in a frown. “Not! Not that we’re blaming you, of course,” the tomtar had to take a deep breath to comfort herself. “We were just thinking that the disease may be coming from the roots, which are in your lands. We would like to request to see them, to make sure that they’re okay.”

Gershwin seemed to soften just a bit at this. “Why should I show you into my tunnels? Give away my information?” Britta fumbled for the saddlebags she had with her just for this purpose, and drew out a forged medallion, embedded with rubies and sapphires.

“Maybe this?” She held it out, and Gershwin swiftly took it, cradling the bauble and inspecting it. With a nod and a beckoning hand, her approval had been earned, and Britta and Nila began to follow her down the winding corridors of the underground. Gershwin talked all the way to the roots, narrating through the tunnels about their history.

“Many dwarves of my line have excavated the hallowed halls of our home,” and here she paused, turning to Nila and Britta, at a door covered in entangled roots. They interlocked intricately, and only shriveled back at Gershwin’s touch. “But I am the only one who has ever seen the Roots.”

Tangled in a large ball, hollowed out within this sphere of earth, there were a few roots. As large as Nila, as thick as Gershwin’s arm, they snaked through the dirt like withered worms. The rukaan and rider wandered through the spacious room, Britta gently ghosting her fingers over the root’s bark, Nila sniffing them.

Immediately the tomtar pulled out a notebook and began scribbling in it, murmuring as she paced around the root ball. Nila followed, and huffed if she found something interesting, stamping a hoof as a signal.

Their investigation done, ended at the dead-end tunnels, the two turned to the dwarf who had helped them. "Thank you," Britta started, glancing down at her journal. "I know this will help but…do you have any other clues? Advice?"

Gershwin stepped from side to side, uncomfortable under the pair's gazes. "You two are intrepid, I'll give you that." She sighed. "You need to somehow find the Winter Doe, and that's all I know."

Britta and Nila exchanged a look, and the tiny rider turned back to the dwarf. "Thank you again, Gershwin." With a nod, the duo left the caves, and the halls of the dwarves.

[dyns33]

Graveyard

Flufftober 11 - Loki x Reader 

(Je suis désolée papy, je n’ai pas osé de prendre dans mes bras quand tu étais à l’hôpital) 

        "I don't understand why you are doing this. This place is... gloomy."

There was no graveyard on Asgard. The dead were placed on boats, drifting away into nothingness, and their souls then ascended to the Vahlalla if they were worthy of it.

No need to keep the bodies.

In ancient times, some soldiers had rested under the palace, but the practice soon seemed unnecessary and impractical. There were too many good soldiers, and not enough room.

They would all meet up afterwards anyway. Visiting mummies and skeletons... it was weird. And dangerous, corpses could bring disease. Not to mention the smell.

At least the Midgardians put theirs in a box and then underground. It was healthier.

But still very weird.

           "If you want to come see your loved ones, you know you'll find them here." Y/N explained, taking his hand, holding the flowers in the other.

           "But they're not there. I mean, their leftovers yes. But they are not there. You can pray from anywhere you want, talk to them from your room, they'll hear you, know you're thinking of them, will be happy, and after your death, you will join them. Unless one of you hasn't led a good life of course, but either way, this place is dismal."

Not paying attention to what he was saying, Y/ continued to walk through the graves to reach her grandfather's. She cleaned it up, removing the dirt, sand and leaves, before throwing away the withered flowers to replace them with the ones she had brought.

           "Hello grandpa. Loki, say hello."

           "... Hello."

           "Grandpa, this is Loki. My... lover. He doesn't like boyfriend. He's very nice to me, even though he's terribly stubborn and thinks he knows everything better than everyone else."

           "... That's me."

           "I'm good. Much better than last time. I hope you're doing well too. I miss you… I'm still sorry I didn't say goodbye to you when I had the chance. I hesitated to hug you and… I didn't know this was the last time I would see you. "

Maybe Loki was stubborn, but he knew when to shut up. Gently, he put his arm around Y/N's shoulder to pull you towards him and comfort her in silence, leaving her to cry as much as she needed.

He remembered Thor praying in his prison for their father. He hadn't prayed for him. He had thought about Odin a lot, but he hadn't spoken to him directly.

And his mother... He hadn't prayed for Frigga either. He hadn't been there when she died, nor at her ceremony. According to his brother, it had been very beautiful, and she had gone up to Valhalla.

Where he wouldn't go. Not after everything he had done. He would never see her again, as he would not see his brother after his death, nor his dear Y/N. She was not a warrior, but she deserved to go to Heaven.

At least he would find their older sister, in her kingdom.

Y/N calmed down a bit, starting to talk again, trying to smile, recounting what had happened in her life since her last visit, and how Loki was helping her a lot. She would have liked her grandfather to meet him, she was sure he would have appreciated him. He wasn't so sure, but he would have done anything to prove to the old man that he was worthy of her. Well, he was not, but he was trying to be.

Looking around, Loki saw other people talking to graves. Others were near a tree. He didn't understand why. The old tree was not Yggdrasil. Y/N followed his gaze.

           "This is one of the places where you can scatter the ashes." she explained.

           "The ashes ?"

           "Some people don't want to be buried. My grandmother for example. She didn't want her children to come to a cemetery to cry, she found it too sad. She didn't want them to have a place to find her at all. So she's in the ocean with her husband now."

           "... Isn't that her husband here ?"

           "No, he's my other grandfather. Of course the family still meet once a year near the sea, to remember. But they try to make the event happy, eat in a restaurant, they celebrate other events, birthdays... The goal is to be together."

           "I think I understand."

There was only one  'religion' on Asgard. They all knew what happened after death.

The Misgardians didn't know, they weren't sure. He was not sure either. Loki couldn't say if they were going to Valhalla. Maybe not.

So, since they couldn't know if they would meet again afterwards, they wanted to at least meet before. All together. The living and the dead.

Of course Y/N often thought of the dead without going to a graveyard, but she had come with Loki. To share. Then they would go to the sea together. She would tell him about her grandmother and her other grandfather, while admiring the sunset behind the waves.

           "I..."

           "Yes ?"

           "I don't really have a specific place to go." he mumbled. "But I would like you to meet my parents. Odin loved Norway. He died there. I'm not saying we have to travel to…"

           "I'll love to." Y/N said, kissing him on the cheek.

           "I'll ask Thor if he wants to come. I don't think they would be happy if he didn't come. I don't know if they'll be happy to see me, or for me to pray for them. I never... I did not honour them."

           "You avenged your mother's death, then you saved your brother and your people. You know you honoured them, in your own way. I'm sure they know it too and are proud of you."

Loki smiled. He said an Asgardian prayer for Y/N's grandfather, bowing down to the grave promising to make her happy. Then they prepared their trip to Norway. Thor joined them, they bought flowers together. Their mother had always loved flowers.

And when he would be gone, since he didn't know if they would meet again afterwards, Loki would ask to be buried with Y/N. So at least, whatever happened, they would be together.

[tangy-sweetlove]

Hmm thinking about posting the art I did for Withering of Yggdrasil (aka the Corrupted Royal Knights AU)

[hiddenhearthwitch]

I shared this on twitter but y'all might appteciate it more.

So, you might know in the Norse mythos there's an unnamed eagle that sits atop Yggdrasil, he is attested to in the Prose & Poetic Eddas.

In the Eddas Odin, disquised as Grimnir says,

"Ratatösk is the squirrel named, who has run in Yggdrasil's ash;

he from above the eagle's words must carry and beneath the Nidhögg repeat."

Meanwhile there's an eagle-shaped jötunn named Hræsveigr who creates the winds. In Vafþrúðnismál (third poem of the Eddas), Odin questions the jötunn Vafþrúðnir about the origin of the wind, and the jötunn answer:

"He is called Hræsvelg,

who sits at heaven’s end a giant, in the shape of an eagle;

from his wings

they say the wind comes over all people."

Heavens end could literally mean above Vahall, at the ends of Yggdrasil. Both figures are eagles associated with the winds, who stand atop the highest peak.

Also, Veðrfölnir, the hawk that rests between the eagles eyes, translates to “wind-bleached” or “wind-witherer” in old Norse. Which is just a bonus tidbit to tie it together. Unfortunately, since neither are mentioned much in lore this is more UPG than anything! But I thought it was fun theory! 💚

[cardest]

Norway playlist

The trolls have gathered around to see the Mother North dance at midnight in the Trollheimen fjellområde as they listen to this epic NORWAY pllaylist I put together! Takk!

Are you ready? Have you your wits? This is the it.... NORWAY PLAYLIST songs are right here to listen to: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-iHPcxymC1_gH0U66TKasbEjdbkPxeW7 001 Folket Bortafor Nordavinden - Ur Is Ka Ha So 002 Satyricon - Commando 003 Arcturus -  Fall of Man 004 Dimmu Borgir The Serpentine Offering 005 Borknagar -  The Eye Of Oden 006 NORDJEVEL - Sunset Glow 007 WArduna - Fehu 008 Z-off - Hurra For Norge Norsk punkrock 009 Shakma - Night of the coven 010 Duivelspack - Yggdrasill 011 Enslaved - Path To Vanir 012 Kalenda Maya- Villemann Magnhild 013 Mental As Anything - Beserk Warriors 014 Chontaraz - Rondamauh 015 Manes -  Menn På Helveg Hastar 016 Norske Gutter - Hvem Faen Tror Du Du Er 017 Iron Maiden - Invasion 018 Solefald - Oslo Melancholy 019 Immortal - Sons of Northern Darkness 020 Slegest - Blodets Varme Gjennom Meg 021 Old Man's Child - The Millenium King 022 Covenant - Bizarre cosmic industries 023 In The Woods - I Am Your Flesh 024 Satyricon -  Ageless Northern Spirit 025 Golden Core - Rúnir Skal Rísta 026 Inferno - Metal Attack 027 Nordvegen - Ullensvang 028 Arcturus -  Ad absurdum 029 Ánne Máddji Heatta - Madji  at Dawn Light 030 Eldrim - Heimkomst 031 Hedvig Mollestad Trio - Approaching / On Arrival 032 Sirenia -  The End Of It All 033 Byrdi - Solsnu (feat. Kjell Braaten) 034 Bard Spec - Fire Tongue 035 Eirik Jarl - Norse song 036 The Open Mind - Thor, The Thunder God 037 Seidrblot - Skeggöld 038 Black Moon Circle - The Machine On The Hill 039 Sigmund Eiks - Knepphallingen (Hardingfele) 040 Satyricon -  Now, diabolical 041 Amberian Dawn - Valkyries 042 Gåte - Huldra 043 Enslaved -  Waruun 044 An Danzza - Rúnatal (Canción Rúnica de Odín) 045 Burzum -  Belus' Død 046 Abbath - Harvest Pyre 047 Aura Noir - Abbadon 048 Beatles - Norwegian Wood 049 INCULTER - COMMANDER 050 KAUNAN - Halteguten 051 Mortiis - Across The World Of Wonders 052 Skuggsa - Kvervandi 053 Covenant - Planetarium 054 Kampfar - Daimon 055 Adrian von Ziegler - Vinterns Drm 056 Blind Guardian - Valkyries 057 Ulver - The Argument, Plate 2 058 BigBang - Girl In Oslo 059 Gorgoroth - Bergtrollets Hevn 060 Emperor - Curse You All Men! 061 Tom Trussel - Oslo City Blues 062 Vazelina Bilopphøggers - Borghild 063 Dosdfall - Hemlig Vrede 064 Dimmu Borgir - Progenies of the Great Apocalypse 065 Kryst The Conqueror -  Valhalla 066 The Dogs - Oslo 067 Enslaved - Eld 068 Solefald - Loki Trickster God 069 Dunbarrow - You Knew I Was a Snake 070 A-ha - Take On Me 071 Ulver - Høyfjeldsbilde 072 Mayhem - Freezing Moon 073 Skambankt - Balladen Om Deg 074 Djerv - Headstone 075 Arcturus -  Raudt og svart 076 Øystein Sunde - Bleieskiftarbeider 077 Wardruna - Helvegen (The Way To Hel) 078 Ihsahn - Unhealer 079 Kampfar - Dominans 080 TNT - Seven Seas 081  NRK  Til Dovre faller - 1814 082 skuggsa - Rop Fra Rynda - Mlt Fra Minne 083 Iskald - Innhøstinga 084 Kvelertak -  Rogaland 085 Svarttjern - Hellig Jord 086 Renaissance - Northern Lights 087 Fred Åkerström - Oslo 088 Concrete Steps - Big Fish 089 Trevor Morris -  Northern Lights / Entry to Kattegat 090 KaadaPatton - L'absent 091 Adrian von Ziegler - Einherjer 092 Enthroned - Skjeldenland 093 Jokke og valentinerne - her kommer vintern 094 Styx - Man Of Miracles 095 Residents -  Arctic Hysteria 096 Martine Kraft - Himmelfot 097 Red Harvest -  Anatomy of the Unknown 098 Audrey Horne - Out of the City 099 Darkthrone -  Arctic Thunder 100 Trevor Morris - If I Had A Heart 101 Immortal - The Rise of Darkness 102 Sepulcher - Corporeal 103 Mysticum - LSD (from Planet Satan) 104 Empyrium - Under Dreamskies 105 Slagmaur - Norwegian Giant 106 Aeternus - Fyrndeheimen 107 Thorns - Existence 108 Solefald -  Crater of the Valkyries 109 Tristania - Libre 110 Trevor Morris -  North Sea Storm 111 Arcturus -  The Chaos Path 112 MAYHEM - A Grand Declaration Of War 113 Manegarm -  Odin Owns Ye All 114 Kampfar - Hymn 115 Dimmu Borgir -  Gateways 116 Dødheimsgard -  The Snuff Dreams Are Made Of 117 Satyricon -  The pentagram burns 118 Enslaved - Midgards Eldar 119 Folque - No har Jonsoknatta kome 120 Nekromantheon - Rise Vulcan Spectre 121 Iron Maiden -  Invaders 122 Tsjuder - Throne of the Goat 123 Einherjer - Naar aftensolen rinner 124 Mork - Holdere Av Fortet 125 Nidinger - Baldrs Draumar 126 Arcturus - Du Nordavind 127 Green Carnation - Into Deep 128 Darkthrone -  Too Old Too Cold 129 Pagans Mind - Through Osiris Eyes 130 Kvelertak - Blodtørst 131 Tristania - Year Of The Rat 132 Ulver - I Troldskog Faren Vild 133 Cirith Ungol - The troll 134 Eliwagar - Huldresagn 135 Vårsøg - Fram kom ein skreddar 136 Amethystium - Solace 137 Audrey Horne -  Bridges and Anchors 138 Gayte - Til Deg 139 Nanci Griffith - St. Olavs Gate 140 Folque - Liti Kari 141 Hin Onde - 24th of September 1155 142 Trevor Morris -  Ragnar's Sail 143 Enslaved - Ruun 144 Purple Hill Witch - Astral Booze 145 Thulsa Doom - Machine of Oslo 146 Svarttjern - Code Human 147 Leaves' Eyes -  Vinland Saga 148 Darvaza - A New Sun 149 LUMSK - DUNKER 150 Solefald - Tittentattenteksti 151 Raga Rockers    - Fritt liv 152 Isengard - Landet og Havet 153 In The Woods... - Pure 154 Communic - Conspiracy 155 Dimmu Borgir - Vredesbyrd 156 Arcturus -  The Arcturian Sign 157 Gorgoroth - Carving A Giant 158 Panopticon -  Norwegian Nights 159 Asmegin - Blodhevn 160 DumDum Boys - Lunch I Det Grønne 161 Taake - Nordbundet 162 Gehennah - Deadlights 163 Trønder Thunder - Tordenskjold 164 Årabrot - Maldorors Love 165 Misotheist - Blood Of Rats 166 Windir - 1184 167 BLOOD RED THRONE - InStructed InSanity 168 Deathhammer - Chained to Hell 169 Satyricon - Die By My Hand 170 Myrkskog - Bleeding Wrists 171 Ring Van Mobius - End of Greatness 172 Valkyrja - Crowned Serpent 173 Kjøtt - Hvit Hud / Svart Skinn 174 The 3rd And The Mortal - Why So Lonely 175 Voluspaa - Ferden Går Videre 176 Abyssic - Transition Consent 177 Myrkraverk - Nær Døden 178 Romantic Noise - Sagitario 179 Shining -  The One Inside 180 The Devil and the Almighty Blues - Distance 181 Manowar - Thor (The Powerhead) 182 Djevel - Det Svartner Paa Likbleik Hud 183 Øresus - Angst 184 Turbonegro - City Of Satan 185 Gåte - Sjå Attende 186 Immortal - Where Mountains Rise 187 Cor Scorpii - Fotefar 188 Cadaver - Hypertrophyan 189 Hugsjá - Ni Døtre av Hav 190 Kalandra - Brave New World 191 Borknagar -  Up North 192 Ved Buens Ende - You That May Wither 193 Alestorm - The Sunkn Norwegian 194 Brød & Sirkus - Frykt 195 Burzum -  Jeg Faller 196 Djevel - Et Menniskes Hele Korpus Og Legeme 197 Helheim - Ymr 198 Leaves' Eyes -  Farewell Proud Men 199 Sylvaine - Mørklagt 200 Enslaved -  Convoys To Nothingness 201 Gaahls Wyrd - Ghosts Invited 202 Hagalaz' Runedance -  When The Trees Were Silenced 203 Dismal Euphony - Et Vintereventyr 204 In Vain -  Image of Time 205 Khonsu - The Malady 206 Arctic Sleep -  Pine Mountain 207 Flametal -  I Am A Viking 208 Dimmu Borgir - The Sacrilegious Scorn 209 Trevor Morris - Vikings Attack 210 Wongraven - Tiden Er En Stenlagt Grav 211 Endstille - World Aflame 212 TYR - Eric the Red 213 Synthetic Gentlemen - Kick 214 OBLITERATION - Detestation Rite 215 Judas Priest - Halls Of Valhalla 216 Urarv - Red Circle 217 Old Man's Child - Doommaker 218 Abbath -  Winter Bane 219 A-ha - The Sun Always Shines On TV 220 Eldrim - Attergangar 221 Nan Madol - Tidal Waves 222 Vreid - Lifehunger 223 Acârash - Cadaver Dei 224 Triosphere -  The Sentinel 225 Vargvrede - Song of Betrayal 226 Vemod - Å Stige Blant Stjerner 227 Emperor - Inno A Satana 228 Eivør - Í Tokuni 229 Arcturus -  For to end yet again 230 Enslaved - The River's Mouth 231 Nidinger - Ash Yggdrasil 232 Covenant - Planetary black elements 233 Khold -  Forrykt 234 The Wretched End - Tyrant Of The Mountain 235 Voluspaa - Av Sin Klokskap 236 Solefald - Jernlov 237 Vredehammer - Viperous 238 Hellish Outcast - Partition of Lust 239 An Danzza - Rnatalins Rune Song 240 Green Carnation - The Quiet Offspring 241 1349 -  Nathicana 242 Sirenia -  Spor 2 243 TAAKE - Nattestid Ser Porten Vid 1 244 Virus - Black Flux 245 Blood Red Throne - Requiem Mass 246 Edvard Grieg - March of the Trolls (Orchestral Version) 247 Tidfall - Prophecy Horizon 248 Limbonic Art - A Void Of Lifeless Dreams 249 Lindy-Fay Hella - Three Standing Stones 250 Borknagar -  Winter Thrice 251 Panopticon - Håkans Song 252 ULVER - Nowhere (Sweet Sixteen) 253 Vondur -  Panzer Legions Of Vondur 254 JORN - Traveller 255 Disiplin - Liberation 256 Beyond Dawn - When Beauty Dies 257 Ruphus - Inner Voice 258 Leaves' Eyes -  Norwegian Lovesong 259  The 3rd  & the Mortal - Death-Hymn 260 STORM - Noregsgard 261 Satyricon - Hvite Krists Død 262 R. Stevie Moore –  Norway 263 Lucifer Was - In Anadi's Bower 264 Susane Sundfor  - White Foxes 265 Kjeld - Betsjoend 266 Kari Rueslåtten - Sørgekåpe 267 Green Carnation - Sentinels 268 Agenda - Suffer 269 Mortiis -  Tribute to Euronymous Unreleased Outro 270 Sirius - Sidereal Mirror 271 Insidious Disease - Betrayer 272 Gehenna - Through The Veils Of Darkness 273 The Deviant - Atomic Revolt 274 Varde - Halvdan Svarte 275 Carpathian Forest - He's Turning Blue 276  Ragnarok TV show - Outro 277 Sâver - How They Envisioned Life 278 Dold Vorde Ens Navn - Drukkenskapens Kirkegard 279 MANES - Young Skeleton 280 Nattefrost - Nekronaut 281 Cadaver Inc. - Primal 282 Ida Maria - I Eat Boys Like You For Breakfast 283 ragnarok - En Verden Av Stein 284 Mari Boine - Chasing Myself Into Reality 285 Death By Unga Bunga - Don't Go Looking For My Heart 286 Hexvessel - The Tunnel At The End Of The Light 287 Urgehal - The Iron Children 288 Darkthrone - Soulside Journey 289 Theatre of Tragedy - Der Tanz der Schatten 290 Wardruna -  Kvitravn 291 Einherjer - Dragons of the North 292 Thale OST - Thale theme 293 Hedvig Mollestad Trio  -Bewitched, Dwarfed and Defeathered 294 Motorpsycho - Spin, Spin, Spin 295 Susperia - Vainglory 296 MYRKUR - Jeg er Guden, I er Tjenerne (Live at the Mausoleum) 297 ICS Vortex  - Odin's Tree 298 1349 - Beyond The Apocalypse 299 PRISTINE - You Are The One 300 Tristania - Beyond the Veil 333 Immortal - Where Dark And Light Don't Differ 444 Folket Bortafor Nordavinden - Odin 666 Satyricon -  Mother North  Songs are right here at this link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-iHPcxymC1_gH0U66TKasbEjdbkPxeW7 Have I missed a song or band? Let me know. Takk!

[imagine-loki]

Toxic

TITLE: Toxic

CHAPTER NO./ONE-SHOT: One-shot

AUTHOR: fanfictrashdump

ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Loki loves telling everyone that he fears nothing and no one. Tony asks him to check in on Character, who has been in a pissy mood all week. Loki chuckles. “Oh, I fear no one, but I’m not suicidal.”

+

The first sign that Loki was a soft boy wasn’t anything big or particularly mushy. He stopped on the street and got down on one knee to help a boy whose laces had come undone and was struggling to do them up himself.

RATING: T

NOTES/WARNINGS: I entirely forgot about this one-shot in my drafts. I kinda lost steam with it and I decided to post it kind of unedited, so there should be errors and boring valleys galore! Language! Reference to suicide.

SUMMARY: Lily is usually a sweetheart, but there’s a bit of poison flowing through her veins, right now. Meanwhile, Loki has a short bout of good conscience. 

=

“Where are you going?”

Lily jumped, startled, immediately grimacing as her left shoulder smarted. Her arm was in a sling, having crash-landed onto it during a mission last week. The medic had said that she had likely torn one of the tendons in her rotator cuff, but that they would not be able to do anything about it until the swelling came down. Now, her whole arm lay useless in its cloth cradle while the other side bore the weight of bags and baskets.

“Um…,” she hesitated in her place, unsure as to why she was feeling a little like a schoolgirl caught out doing something she wasn’t supposed to. Well, maybe it was the fact that Stark had told her I don’t want you doing anything for the next month… “I was just going to the bodega. I’m out of snacks.”

“No.”

For a second, they stood in silence, staring each other down while she waited to see if there was going to be anything added to his sentiment. “That’s it?” He nodded, looking bored. “Yeah, I’m not a child. I’m going to the bodega.”

Loki groaned. “Lilian…”

“Not my name, dude.” She made the mistake of bumping into his shoulder with her injured side. On any other occasion, with any other human, it would have been no issue. Loki, however, seemed to be as dense as the center of a collapsing star, and though he barely swayed from his spot, she let out a sharp hiss and gritted her teeth painfully.

“You humans are so pathetically feeble, I swear,” he remarked, bending at the knees to gently prod at her shoulder. “Give me the list, I’ll collect your supplies.”

“No,” she replied, instantly, imitating his haughty tone, perfectly.

“Don’t be a child. I can go there and back faster than you can.”

Baby blues shot up and hardened at him. “What do you need? What leverage are you trying to get?” Loki frowned, tilting his head minutely to explore her incensed semblance. “You know what? I don’t care. I don’t need to be coddled. I can take care of myself just fine.”

“I didn't–”

“Leave me alone!” With the last shouted syllable, her veins glowed bright green and thorns seemed to sprout from every bit of her skin. Loki held his hands up in surrender, and took a step back for good measure.

With one last withering look, she skirted past his imposing form, and pressed the elevator call button. The doors opened almost instantly, and she slipped in, pressing the button for the ground floor. She did not expect, however, for the elevator to dip slightly under the weight of another person. Despite the fact that she had not seen Loki follow her to the hallway, he was standing there, silently, a few feet between them as they rode the elevator down in silence.

At the lobby, he waited for her to exit the car first, following like a spectre right after. They had made it half a block before Lily could no longer resist the urge to scream, and she turned on her heel to face a calm Loki.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Loki fought the smile creeping onto his lips for a bare minute. “Accompanying you. I thought that much was obvious.”

“I don’t. Need. A babysitter.”

“Never said you did, flower,” he riposted, off-handedly before he gestured her ahead.

Letting out a barely restrained groan, she stomped her way back down the street towards the bodega. Loki, for the most part, followed silently, gently fetching things from the top shelf that he knew she was trying to get to, crowding her side when other people got a little too close, generally treating her like she was a porcelain doll about to shatter.

It was annoying the shit out of her.

The bodega owner had barely reacted when she slammed her basket down and unpacked her groceries to pay for them. Her usually charming, chummy demeanor was extinct and replaced by a surly, snarled lip. Why would he be doing this? Was it just to drive home the point that he thought she was incompetent? Weak? Whatever it was, it was gnawing at her very soul and all she wanted to do was to go back to the tower and hide in her room until her shoulder had recovered.

Snatching her receipt from the bodega owner, she turned away from the counter. “Let’s get moving, Snakeb… Loki?” She glanced left and right, not finding him there, nor could she feel the heaviness of his presence anywhere around her. She glanced out the glass doors and found her missing demigod on the sidewalk. A child of about five or six, who was clearly waiting for his mother to get through with her transaction at the bodega, stood still with a gentle smile. Loki was down on one knee, equally easy grin on his face with a shoelace in either hand.

“I’ll show you again. Pay close attention, alright?” He pulled the strings up taut and made two loops. “Around the trunk of Yggdrasil, the little rabbits go, they twine around the knitted roots and sink deep down below. After they have had their fun they jump up to spring free, but every part of their spirit’s tied to the Great Tree,” he singsonged, knotting the laces easily. “Got that?”

The child nodded, giggling before going off with his mother who was looking at Loki a little too hard to be comfortable.

Loki glanced up, sensing Lily staring and offered her a smile she didn’t return. “Are you ready?”

“You taught him how to tie his shoes.”

He brushed aside her prickly tone, unbothered. “Yes… is that a crime, now?”

“Why?”

“He didn’t know how.” He shrugged, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“I thought you didn’t like weak things.”

“You know, at some point you’re going to have to tell me why you’re so cross at me.” He snapped, finally, though he didn’t look angry. Disappointed, maybe? Sometimes it was damn near impossible to place any emotion on his face that wasn’t blind rage.

“I heard you talking to Tony, OK? When I was taken to the medbay, she snapped back with double the fervor.

Loki sighed, counting backwards from ten. He was fond of the mutant and he didn’t want to frighten her by barking at her, as he would anyone else. "Despite what you might think, that doesn’t help explain anything.”

“You told Tony I was weak and didn’t belong in the field!” She shrieked, pushing her index finger into his chest. It hurt her more than it did him, but it was a matter of principle.

“No. I told him it was stupid to send you out to the field to somewhere you’d become weak. Foot-thick steel walls zap your energy and I warned him repeatedly about the repercussions. You got hurt because of it.”

Her anger sputtered and idled at the clarification. “You were looking out for me…?”

Loki laughed, a little mirthlessly. “Imagine that,” he replied, sarcastically. He reached out for her basket, carrying the snack-laden vessel himself to give his hands something to do as he marched stoically down the street. People seemed to sense his mood, as they all parted like the Red Sea for him, though they barely allowed her enough space to squeeze through. Glancing backwards, he caught her eye, slowing his pace considerably to allow her to catch up.

“But… you hate me.”

A little notch formed between his brows as he considered her closely. “When have I ever said that? You’re my friend. I don’t make friends with people I hate… Or people… Or make friends, in general, so you should count yourself very bloody lucky.”

Lily shuffled uncomfortably where she stood, and Loki could have sworn there was a flash of a shadow over features, but it was gone a moment after.

“Can we go back or are you going to stand here and glare at me some more?” He joked easily, gesturing down the street with his chin. The mood seemed to lighten, instantly. He didn’t pay her transient anger any mind.

Perhaps he should have.

The Tower was tense, to put it simply. Laughter, which was commonplace whenever the team was home, was nothing more than a distant memory. It seemed like every little noise and movement set off a chain reaction of unpleasantness from what was usually their most pleasant resident. No one had really expected this side effect. After all, when the mutant decided to tell Tony her secret after having worked for him for five years, she assured that she had it well under control. And it was. Her abilities were second nature at this point. Of course, the pressures of battle are something else, entirely, and little quirks popped up just as little quirks are wont to do.

And pop up, they did.

The first time it happened, the team had come back from mission somewhere in the South Pacific. They were all tired and sun-baked enough that if they never saw the great wide ocean ever again, it would be too soon. Heroes all piled into the kitchen with far too many containers of Chinese food, chatting in quiet hushed tones to give their raw throats and over-sensitive ears a chance to rest.

In the far end of the kitchen, Lily stood on her tip toes. Her small frame strained to reach a mug at the very top of the cabinet so she could make herself some tea. Steve, helpful and gentlemanly as ever, rested a hand on the small of her back to signal her that he was there. Reaching above her, he easily grasped the mug, offering her the handle with a dazzling smile.

Usually, she would beam up at the soldier and give his hand a squeeze. Today, her eyes narrowed dangerously. “What, do you think I can’t fucking get a mug now, Rogers?” She snapped, and the soft murmur of the room cut out immediately.

As if in slow motion, they whole team craned their necks over to where the pair stood. Steve had frozen in well-placed shock, mouth opening and closing to grasp for an appropriate apology that he couldn’t understand why he owed. Guilt flashed for but a second across Lily’s features before she cracked her neck awkwardly. Her veins, which would glow a bright green only when using her abilities, pulsed a sludgy brown. She had barely mumbled an apology before going off to hide in her bedroom.

That first encounter had been the mildest, by far.

No one had any idea how to remedy the situation. After all, Lily was usually such a bundle of bright, brilliant energy. She was the one who would always wake up to make breakfast for the group, leave them flowers, bake cookies when one of them seemed sad–she was not a dark, angry entity that yelled at her fellow teammates. Or snarled at anyone for entirely arbitrary reasons (that was Loki’s job, after all). The attitude usually waned after a few days and she’d be back to her bubbly self, which was all the more terrifying.

Right now, however, they were in a dark period.

“Are you truly using a children’s game as a selection tool for whom has to go disturb the plant witch from her self-imposed exile?” Loki asked, a little smugly as he happened upon Natasha and Tony playing Rock, Paper, Scissors to take Lily her new uniform. “You’re pathetic.”

“Don’t act like the sudden goth girl phase isn’t weird. I can tell she scares you,” Nat quipped, rolling her eyes.

Loki gave her a withering stare, looking smug as he circled her in a predatory manner that annoyed the hell out of her. “I fear no one and nothing, Miss Romanov.”

Tony snorted, before a glimmer in his eye sparked and left Loki looking weary. “OK, great. How about you go take this to her, then?” Tony held the bundle for Loki to take.

Loki chuckled, knowing full well the terror that the woman could inflict if provoked. “I said I feared nothing. I didn’t say I was suicidal.” He considered a little longer. “Well, not anymore, anyway.” Tony frowned, making a mental note to follow up at a later date.

“Come on! You two seem to be all buddy-buddy the rest of the time, anyway. Why don’t you just look in on her?”

The god rolled his eyes. “Has it ever occurred to you idiots that perhaps she’s protecting us and not herself when she locks herself away?”

“You are absolutely no help. Fine, Nat–” Tony turned around, sweeping his gaze left and right. “Nat? Where the hell did Nat go?” Frowning, he turned back around to glance at Loki and, instead, found himself alone. “Yeah! Great! Let's… er… regroup later! Good… talk…”

=

Loki sat at the kitchen table, poking at the, frankly disgusting, plate of eggs and bacon that Bruce had genuinely put all his effort into making for the crew. Glancing around the table, he found a sea of faces with the same sad expression. They all definitely longed for Lily’s pancakes and bacon breakfasts right about then. Loki was the only one who wasn’t even making an effort to be polite and put down some of the meal down his gullet. He had eaten some pretty grim things in his life, but he was not about to make that conscious decision when he wasn’t under any type of duress.

“It’s been two weeks, Tony,” Clint quipped, oddly undisturbed by the state of breakfast and munching full speed ahead. “She’s never been dark for this long.”

“I know. Is this you volunteering?”

“Last time I volunteered, I nearly got impaled on barbed thorns the size of my arm. I barely made it out without looking like Swiss cheese.”

“Barbs?” Loki asked, tilting his head curiously.

Clint nodded, eyes widening. “Yep. Big ones.”

Tony caught the whiff of an idea brewing in Loki’s mind. “Why? What are you thinking, Reindeer Games?”

Loki frowned, waving off the interest. “Nothing. Making a rather satisfying image in my head,” he replied, earning him a dark look from Clint and an annoyed sigh from the rest of the table. It wouldn’t do well to get their hopes up, after all.

After breakfast, Loki found himself pacing the corridor of their living quarters. Lily was only a few doors down and had not seen much of anyone in the whole two weeks since they had gotten back from mission. His brain continually told him that there was nothing he could do, no way for him to remedy this situation. That whatever this state of being was, he would only make it worse. It was better if he just went back to his room and waited for her to seek him out.

And yet, there was a small little voice in the back of his mind, his conscience, he would begrudgingly admit, that urged him to knock on her door.

She would go to the ends of the earth for you, if you needed it, it soothed.

The thought sparked images of the annoyingly sweet woman keeping his handful of secrets and being genuinely interested in his life. He could admit that his conscience was speaking the truth, but only because he knew the imp had little in the way of common sense and self-preservation. This was not the creature hissing at them all from across the threshold, though. And, why would he willingly put himself in the line of fire?

Out of the corner of his eye, a figure caught his attention. A vase of flowers on the windowsill, one of her creations. They were no longer the fresh white daisies they had been when they were placed there. Now they looked like some sort of Nightshade and he was certain they were not the nice kind.

“Oh, you fucking bleeding heart,” he ground out with a groan just as his conscience won out. Without allowing himself time to think or change his mind, he pounded his fist on her door. “Open up or I’ll break it down, Lilian.”

“Fuck off, popsicle!” Her voice was rough and shuddering, like she was trying very hard to keep everything out–or herself in.

Loki swallowed at the venomous retort that brewed at the tip of his tongue on its own accord. Being the bigger person was never quite his forte (nor did it ever get him good results), but he was able to reign himself back in. Rolling his eyes, Loki placed his hand on the door, letting the golden glow of magic envelop it before a satisfactory click let him know that it was open. He had barely crossed the threshold when he jumped back with a yelp.

On the floor, where flowers usually formed a dense, soft carpet, were twisting brambles and thorns. Flytraps and pitcher plants lined the walls, all too large to be considered just houseplants, and blooms burst open, letting out plumes of pollen that Loki dared not to breathe.

This was definitely worse than what he was expecting.

His eyes tore away from the dark forest with a little effort. “Lily,” he tutted softly, watching the woman tucked into a tight ball, tears leaking from her tightly lidded eyes.

It should have been obvious to him. Every living creature had a defense mechanism. Predators had their teeth, prey had their speed, and plants had adapted in similar fashion. Thorns, barbs, poison, giant vats of acid–they had made sure that their lineages survived. It stood to reason that Lily’s mutation, tired of the fighting and the constant worry of missions would also develop some dark effect. Since she wasn’t allowing herself to be dry and acerbic to her friends, her biology had found an alternate solution.

He should have thought of it before.

“Gods, how much pain are you in?” He asked, kneeling beside her on the bed. He ignored the spines digging into his trousers from where he walked through some cacti. There was no response, but rather a whimper and a sigh. “Flower, look at me.”

“Leave me alone, you self-aggrandizing asshole,” she growled, not bothering to open her eyes.

The corner of his mouth twitched, even as he pushed her hair out of her scowling face. It had gone from a bright silver to a dark, smoky grey. “You forgot self-serving and maddeningly good looking.”

“You’re not funny.”

“Agree to disagree.” At his touch her skin erupted in prickers as though they were goosebumps. He swallowed the hiss at getting his fingers skewered, blood pooling at the tips.

Lily’s fists flew in his direction, though he easily caught them in one hand. This time the groan of pain wasn’t silent and blood trickled down his wrists from his palms. “Stop it! Don’t touch me! FRIDAY, he’s hurting me!”

“Disregard that, FRIDAY. Lily, I swear–” She struggled in his grasp, eyes opening and flashing pitch black at him. He was shocked enough that he released her wrists. Her nails grew into sharp wooden talons and just as she reared back to swipe at him, Loki had enough sense to lay his hand on her temple and command, “Sleep.” Her body stiffened and slumped down a second later. “That bloody stings,” he complained, letting her rest back on the bed and bringing the covers over her oddly cool skin.

Loki couldn’t help but compulsively stroke his fingers through her hair, eyebrows pulled together in concern. For all his knowledge of magic and aliens and different realms, he could not figure out for the life of him how to soothe the poison threatening to consume her. In her slumber, she whimpered, shuffling closer to the gentle heat that radiated off of him in waves. Loki convinced himself that he was allowed to dote on her, so long as she wasn’t conscious to remember it. The sludgy brown lines going up and down her exposed skin lightened somewhat under his careful evaluation. Enough that he did not feel threatened when he tapped at her temple and took the sleeping spell off.

He offered a small smile when her eyes blinked up at him in confusion. They were back to their normal baby blue, though her hair still resembled plumes of smoke. “Easy,” he whispered as she jerked away from his touch, all at once. Instead of a hiss or an insult, she frowned, settling back to rest against the pillows, body barely brushing against his. “You’re safe.”

Lily nodded, breathing deeply. This time she didn’t hesitate when he brushed his fingers over her hair. “What are you doing?”

“Tending the garden.”

She rolled her eyes, exasperated. “I’m not a garden.”

“Yeah, you are. A few brambles and prickles here and there. Nothing a good prune and a hug won’t fix.” He used his index finger to lift her chin, having essentially buried herself into one of her pillows, cheeks burning. “You don’t have to keep us safe, flower. Sometimes, you’ll need to vent all that ill will and it is not up to you to avoid that.”

“Says the frost giant masquerading as an Asgardian.”

Loki let out a bark of laughter. “I think I liked you more unconscious.” Sadness flashed through her features, eyes downcast. “I was joking. You know I was.”

Lily nodded and the two fell into a tense silence for a long while. The mutant had sat up, fidgeting with her hands on her lap while Loki watched her, expectantly. He wouldn’t press her, of course, but he could tell that there was something on her mind that she wanted to get out in the open. When she didn’t say anything, he simply placed his hand over hers and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“I’m scared,” she blurted out.

“Well, you’re very scary so that makes sense.” The look she gave him told him that was not the answer she wanted and before she could look even more dejected, he added. “And that’s good. You’re powerful. You should be scary. Scary keeps you safe. Fear is a great motivator.”

Loki was starting to panic. It didn’t seem like any of what he was saying was helping her, though it was possibly the most honest and candid he had ever been. If anything, the quickly gathering tears in her eyes told him that he was making it leaps and bounds worse. Shouldn’t she be ecstatic that she could make anyone bend to their will by looking a little ominous? She certainly had the whole of the Avengers acting like she was some sort of displeased deity.

Except she wasn’t. She was gentle and giving and cared. It was becoming very apparent that this was her own personal hell.

“I don’t fear you,” he muttered, brushing hair away from her face. This time there were no barbs to prick him. “And honestly, the rest of these idiots don’t, either. They’re just worried for you.”

“I don’t know how to fix it.”

“Maybe because there’s nothing to fix. I’m guessing that with a little training you can learn to use… whatever the hell this is to your advantage.” His mouth twitched in a small smile. “Sometimes you must learn to embrace the darkness, dear.”

Lily was quiet for another long while, picking at her nails while she thought hard. “Loki?”

“Yes, pet?”

“Can I have a hug if I promise not to tell anyone?”

Loki barked out a laugh, pulling Lily into his arms and squeezing her tightly. “I don’t give a shit if you tell anyone. They probably won’t believe you, anyway,” he murmured into her hair, noting the soot-like material that clung to his fingers as he stroked her hair, turning it back to silver. “Don’t suppose you know if this is dangerous or not?” Lily shook her head against his chest. “Of course you don’t. Why would you?” The mutant giggled against him when he squeezed her a little tighter.

“Loki?” The Prince hummed his recognition against her crown. “Thank you for being a good friend.”

It took Loki supreme effort to blink away the tears that for some reason had sparked to his eyes, unbidden, at the sentiment. “It is my distinct honor, flower.” Comfortable silence filled the room for a moment longer. “I also couldn’t take Bruce’s cooking for another day.”

Lily scoffed, pushing away from his chest with a glare. “Why? Why do you ruin it?”

“Have you met me? Come on!”

“I hate you. Next time I’m poisoning you,” she whined, pulling Loki after her.

“Where are we going?”

“I can tell you haven’t eaten because you’re a child. We’re going to the kitchen.”

Loki grinned, following dutifully after her, as if the imp had any physical means to drag him anywhere. “Do I get pancakes?”

“No!”

“Please?”

“…fine.”

[iturbide]

Unrelated to FE, what did you think of the recent dragalia event with Luca and Isaac?

LOOK. I LOVE MY BOY. I WAS SO HYPED THAT HE GOT TO STAR IN A SIDE EVENT.

BUT OH, MY BOY FUCKED UP BAD.

I know he wasn't being malicious, but he made a huge error while he was trying to help, and there were major consequences for it. The fact that he had to grapple with this was really engaging, and I liked that the core conflict that the siblings ended up on opposite sides of was a grey one, rather than there being an obvious 'right' and 'wrong' take: there's clear value in what exists here and now, but there's equal value in old traditions that keep us connected to our individual cultures and heritage. I kind of wish we'd gotten to see more of the actual practices and traditions from that Sylvan village, but there's only so much hard worldbuilding they could do, and I respect that.

But probably my favorite thing about it was that my boy managed to kick a hardline traditionalist into recognizing that he was thinking about everything wrong. Frankly? Luca was right: tradition isn't dead until every last practitioner is, so Isaac's immediate defeatism when Yggdrasil withered, as though the root of Sylvans' entire culture had died with it, didn't make any kind of sense. The fact that Yggdrasil comes back just adds to this, especially since Isaac made it so clear that the dragon was so sensitive to the feelings of its people: it seems entirely possible to me that Yggdrasil's widespread withering might have been partly the fault of the traditionalists, who gave into despair as they rigidly clinging to the notion that change is cultural death; and its rebirth came only after they let go of that mindset and embraced the notion that they were the heart of their tradition and could endure with the support of Sylvans from outside the village who share in that bond of kinship and cultural heritage.

Overall I loved the event, I loved that Luca had a chance to shine and show off what makes him so great, and I loved that it ended on a hopeful note even though things changed. Luca might not have been the main focus, since Sarisse was the character we spent most of our time following in the story, but he was still a key part of that satisfying resolution because it was his perspective that opened Isaac's eyes. It was so much more nuanced as a story than I usually expect from a mobile game and I just found it well-handled on the whole.