[ All of you need to stop giving Honir reasons to look sad on his only network appearances. This time, he looks downright bereft. But he smiles anyway; Mimir is steady at his side and it's enough support to get through this. ]

Can I tell you a story, Travellers? It's one some of you may have been wanting to hear - but it's a love story, for those of you that don't like them and want to avoid having feelings.

But it's not just about romantic love. [ His gaze flickers to his fellow god, then drops to his hands where they're sitting limply in his lap. ] It's about familial love, and earthly love too.

There once existed the god Tyr, and my big brother shared his heart with all he could reach. He reigned over diplomacy, and sought peace wherever he could find it - and he found it in our friends, the Earth Giants. They were calm and sweet, unlike their bitter siblings, and they favoured our alliance.

And their Queen favoured Tyr. They fell in love, in spite of the differences between their species and those that told them it was wrong, because how could something so sincere be anything but beautiful?

[ His smile fades into a frown, and he fiddles with his thumbs for a second. ]

But it was not to be. Laufey became heavy with child, and our magicks are too different - it was too much for her body to sustain, and she. Died. In childbirth. My brother saw his two beautiful baby boys as his beautiful wife lay dead, and stricken with grief, he sought to hold his family together.

[ Full-on frown now, with a near frantic twisting of his fingers. ]

He trapped her soul in a doll. He was desperate and - no one had ever done it before, no one knew how to stave off death, he was just. Desperate. He couldn't let her go, but in trapping her soul, he trapped her body and mind too. Laufey festered in madness for eight short years before her pain broke free from the doll; then madness and pain were all she knew. She killed Tyr, and almost all of her kin. We tried to stop her, we were there and she couldn't - we couldn't reach her.

[ Misery strains his voice. Grief and guilt and shame. He does try not to cry, though, and mostly accomplishes it when Mimir covers his hands with one of his own. ]

So we killed my sister too. It was the only way, and by then, it was too late. There was no one left to save but those two baby boys, sitting in the rubble of their parents' love.

[ Another face pops into the screen: Loki, grinning inbetween the two gods with his arms thrown over their shoulders. There's nothing pleasant in his smile. ]

And that's how I became a super model!

Little Loki -

Thanks for the bedtime story, Uncle. You nosy little shits wanted your answers - these guys are here to take you right to them. Have fun sleeping on a mass grave!

[ Rude little trickster that he is, Loki cuts the feed for Honir over his aghast gaping. ]

[ OOC NOTES: This is the IC post welcoming the Travellers to join them for a trip to Ginnungagap. OOC information can be found here and the mingle log is here. It isn't necessary to respond in order to go on the trip. All of the gods will be wandering through this post, so let us know if you'd like to speak to someone in specific! ]