[Adachi looks like hell; like he'd been run over by a bus multiple times, patched up a little, and then tossed under the bus again. He's extremely disoriented, and his face is pressed up against a pillow as he focused his bracelet on him.]

Okay... serious question here, guys:

...how much time actually went by between everyone going nuts and right now? Please tell me it was at least one month?

[Because anyone that went looking for him the day previous would have found him sleeping, and unable to wake up.]


[[ooc; Adachi's been canon updated to the end of his story line in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, so he's lived half a year while sleeping one Asgard day. He's a little disoriented. Just a little.]]

[ This is Odin's first real public appearance since the martial law was first instated, an intentional move after the whole traitor fiasco, and despite his standard crisp black suit and ramrod straight posture, the King of Asgard is still looking a little rough around the edges. A muscle jumps in his jaw right before he begins speaking. ]

There's a decision to be made. You handled the last with a surprising amount of grace and reason, and for your hand in both getting us to this point and in the war at large, we'll give you say in this one as well.

You returned from Mimisbrunnr with the information we needed to recover Tyr's soul from Thiazi's grasp, but we've been waiting for the right moment. We need to be prepared, because as soon as we make our move, she's going to know, and she's going to be pissed.

[ At least for that much, he almost looks pleased, insofar as the only change in his demeanor being a sort of fire in his eyes. It's short lived. ]

So. Before we perform the ritual, we need to decide what to do with Tyr's soul once we have it. This is where you come in. My colleagues and I will be around to answer any questions you might have, but seeing as this is a largely personal matter for many of us, I'll remind you lot to either keep it professional or keep it to yourself.

[ Looking @ u, Freyr and Loki and any other bleeding hearts in the audience. ]

We need to act fast, so you have until sundown. And one last word of caution - [ As personal as Odin will get for this post, with an imperceptible glare. ] - do not take this lightly.

[ OOC NOTES: This is the IC discussion regarding whether or not to resurrect Tyr! The poll is still open until Oct. 16 at 11:59PM CST, so hash things out and make sure to vote!! Let us know if you have any questions or if you'd like to request an NPC in specific for your thread! ]

[ even in war there is time for philosophy. maybe. Kaworu comes to the video, smiling. He is sitting in his room; on the walls, there are MANY photos of many different people he has met while in Asgard. In his lap there is Zadkiel, an adult orange cat, who is purring loudly (surprisingly, because this cat is the devil) ]

Of all the things you have learned through your life, which is the one you praise the most, the one you think of the most about, the one you are most glad to have learned, met or seen? And why?

[ and because he learned it's better to answer your own questions in order to help others answer, Kaworu will do exactly that ]

I'd say mine is rain. Since this body was created, I have lived inside a laboratory and I was not allowed contact with the outside world. When I first arrived to Asgard, it was around this time of the year and it rained. It was the first time I had seen and felt it, during an afternoon when I shared with someone who is no longer in this world. I suppose that's why I came to love it. Rain reminds me of him. Rain reminds me of many things, and each is very dear to me. [ his hand reaches to pet the cat's head as he looks down at him ]

Ever since I arrived, I was allowed to learn much and see much. I was allowed contact with others, and I was allowed to learn about others. [ yes, "allowed". Because before, he was more of a labrat, not allowed much.

He smiles softly and after he turns to the bracelet again ]

I'm very glad for the time I have spent here. And I thank you for it. I thank you for all that you showed me and taught me, and I thank you for being there. It made this extra time I was allowed much more meaningful.

[ and he is talking about himself which is weird for those who know him, but the war is ending and it's time ]

Good afternoon, Asgard. This is Minato Arisato of the City Patrol, and of the Emergency Response Team.

Given recent events, from now on, should anyone wish to join the City Patrol, we will require a background check. We'll need to know your history as well as your reasons for why you wish to join us. And to make sure that you're not lying, we'll have Officer Adachi around to double-check. [Because relying on a telepath like him is the best, right?]


That should be all. If you have any further questions, don't hesitate to contact us. Remember to follow the curfew and practice the drills. Have a good day. [His shadow seems to cheerfully wave good-bye as he cuts the video.]

[ The morning of day 505, a message from the gods is broadcast over the network: ]

Greetings, Travelers.

Some of you may know already that there was a breach of the castle barrier. We apprehended an individual using Thiazi's magic to attempt assassination of the Queen, and have confirmed that he is Thiazi's informant inside Asgard. This man has been actively assisting her in making attacks on the city as well as misleading our own intelligence efforts.

[ Heimdall is understandably quite cross at this. He gestures offscreen and the feed shifts from Heimdall to a wider shot of the room, where there is a man being held in place between Thor and Loki, who also look quite cross. ]

His name is Satan and he pleads innocence by corruption -- that all he has done while sabotaging Asgard was Thiazi's influence. While he lives we cannot tell his intent, only that he is indeed the perpetrator.

Since he is one among you, we leave his judgment in your hands. What would you have us do with the traitor?


(( The poll is to be filled out ICly and once per character! This will decide Satan's fate. Please feel free to threadjack at will to discuss the trial! ))

Action:

There's a stray kid wandering around the city today, a lanky young boy - when did he even get here? He looks lost, baffled, and more than a little wary and scared. He shouldn't be here! This place is grey, it's ugly, and more than anything, it's not his home.

Every so often, he stops and looks in shop windows as he passes them. Toy shops and craft shops, mostly. Trying to pretend like he isn't looking at that stuff, though; he's going to be a man about it! He doesn't need the cute stuff! He doesn't need to look at the singing flowers, or the weird bunnies or that stuff, either...
(Fooling no-one.)

In time, he can be found seated on a bench in the park, fiddling around with a bracelet that he's not sure how he got. Okay, it's very pretty, but - ]

Video:

- Ah! What's this doing? 'Recording' - huh?

[Poke, poke. The transmission flicks off, then shortly on again, with a slightly less surprised looking kid.]

Uh ... hi...

I can talk to people on here, right? Um... so [nervously, he almost mutters-] ...has anyone seen my parents? Their names are Hayao and Aiko Tatsumi... Ma? Dad? Are you here too? I'm - I'm in the park and I'm not sure where everything is... where am I?


((OOC: Yes, Kanji's been de-aged. Enjoy your temporary bitty with issues.))

[HELLO ASGARD. THIS IS YOUR RESIDENT ITALIAN ASSASSIN SHOPKEEPER ON THE LINE. And said resident Italian looks as if he has a question- or would if he currently wasn't having his attention directed to something on his outfit. Something like a grey hair.

Dio mio, does he really need a reminder about his age on top of fighting a war. Ezio makes a face at that, brushing off his sleeve and finally turning to the camera again.]

Buon giorno, Asgard. A question. [A pause, and then-] At what age do you start to consider someone as "old?"

[No, this has nothing to do with his novices telling him he needs to be more careful because of his age, or ghost pangs of old wounds when he moves the wrong way, what are you talking about. This is just normal conversation.

Right.

Right.]

[[FYI: Some characters might have the (mis)fortune of Ezio conking out in the middle of their conversation, as he's going on a canon update! Enjoy.]]

[ the feed flickers on to spike laughing. damn. it's a rare sight these days, but it doesn't seem completely mirthful anyway. ]

Seems like I missed another exciting week. [ he was off-bracelet about 10 days, and he's shaking his head. of course it would be when the city needed him. ] Don't even have a bloody excuse this time, so I may as well throw myself on the mercy of you all.

[ the laughter has stopped and he looks a bit distant for a moment. ] Training in the Arena. I'm doing it, every night. Doesn't matter what your power is or anything, just be there.

I need a snack.

[ and we're done. ]

[Newish face on the network, though some should find it familiar. Ostensibly a younger boy talking, for those who don't know any better. Gun in her hand? Gun in her hand. Naoto seems a little hurried, but she's still trying to manage a formal tone. Still, there's a trace of panic she can't quite eliminate.]

My name is Naoto Shirogane, I'm with the City Patrol. This is important, so please, pay attention. It's exactly what some of us feared. Just a moment ago, I caught sight of an army approaching the Gate of Fog. Most of the force is comprised of...frost giants, I believe? [Guess who hasn't actually seen them before?] Eighty or ninety or so, one hundred at the most. There were at least ten larger ice creatures accompanying them, and they're equipped with two catapults. Some kind of strange lights were around them as well. I don't have any further details, and I apologize, but...

[She grips her pistol a little more tightly. This isn't something she was really ready for, but like hell is she going to back down.]

I'm in no position to give anyone orders, but we must begin coordinating. Now.

( [filtered to City Patrol] )

( [filtered to Investigation Team] )

[It takes some pretty extreme circumstances to get Adachi rampagingly pissed off; the only time it had (that he knew of, at the very least), was when Yamano had pissed him off, and he gave that bitch what she deserved. Now this entire month had been an excuse to essentially piss in his bowl of rice, and there was nothing he could damn well do about it.]

[Except of course, rant where everyone could hear him. It probably wouldn't do him any good, but at least he'd feel better for a little bit.]

This place is... is just messed up!

It screws with my head for weeks, makes me forget the few people that I actually give a shit about, makes me see everything go to shit night after night, and then it's just, 'Oh well, this is how it's going to be, sucks to be you!'

Fuck that!

[He's shaking, and having trouble keeping the bracelet straight, so he pauses a moment to take it off.]

I didn't fucking ask to be dragged into this! I didn't want to forget Nanako-chan or Dojima-san or anything I fucking did back home! Now it's not supposed to fucking matter anyway, 'cause it's all gonna burn?!

[The bracelet suddenly went flying then, finally cutting out when it hits a wall.]

[No, he's not okay.]

[Adachi looks extremely uncomfortable one what amounts to a massive video chat with an entire city. The fact that he's holding his head like its about to split open doesn't seem to be helping him any.]

U-uh... hey, Asgard?

[Wow that was timid; he might have been overplaying it a little, but his head was killing him at the moment.]

Did anything... weird happen to anybody last night? 'Cause weird sure happened to me.

[He started rubbing at his head, moving his hand away to reveal a nice bruise where his head had hit his bed post when he blacked out.]

...feel like m'on a bender without the actual bend.

[ Kaworu looks different today (and tomorrow). He is white and from his back several wings spurt out (if you look closely, they resemble a damselfly’s wings); it’s almost as if he’s surrounded by light, in a way. He is shirtless due to the wings and in the middle of his chest there is a red orb (his core). This would be called Kaworu’s angel form. Or at least, how he imagines it to be. In his hands, he is holding what it appears to be an embryo, encased in an amber-like substance - that is Adam. Kaworu received Adam some time ago, but he has kept it away for several reasons. Now that he is (temporarily) in his angel form, he couldn’t help but to reach for the embryo. ]

Angels desire to become one. It’s not love, not really. I do not love my children and siblings [ all 15 of them; yes, Kaworu has children ], just like I do not love Adam, my mother - but I still need them and wish to become one with them. It's a need humans don't understand. But becoming one isn't something only angels want. [ he smiles gently, red eyes turning to the embryo ]

Plato said that long ago, humans had two faces, two noses, two sets of ears, eyes, arms and legs. They were powerful, and the gods were threatened by them, so they decided to cut all the human beings in half. The humans were all divided in two; that’s how one became two, and it left a wound. After, the gods scattered them away, leaving them to find their missing half. That was the source of human’s desire to love each other. Love is born into every human being: it calls back the halves of their original nature together; it tries to make one out of two and heal the wound of human nature.

And so, when a person meets the half they are missing, the two are struck from their senses by love, by a sense of belonging to one another. To come together and melt together with the one they love, so that one person will emerge from two. ‘Love’ then became the name for the pursuit of wholeness, for the desire to be complete. That's what Plato said.

But what is love, to you? What do you call love, and why do you? What makes you say “I love this person”?


[ a pause ] Shinji-kun, I can’t leave the room, Tsuki and Zadkiel want to bite my wings. [ maybe that should be your priority right now, kaworu ]

[It's been so long since Ryoji's last appearance that his voice may sound unfamiliar. It's lacking the usual cheer to it as well, sounding tired and hoarse. Not only is the transition from gray to normal difficult on him, Ryoji has heard some things that have caused him mental strain, and now he's here to talk about them.]

This is Ryoji Mochizuki. I'm sorry, but I lost my bracelet for a while. I'm sorry to those of you I've worried. If anyone needs to meet up with me, I'll be waiting.

[He trails off with a heavy sigh.]

In the meantime, I hope you don't mind if I ask for answers. I'd like to know what happened recently, and how I can help. I'm seeing some damage... a-a lot of damage, so I can assume there was some sort of attack...

[His voice starts to break under the pressure of all his worry, and he clears his throat.]

Thank you for your help.

I understand recently many have been asking questions. I have a few of my own. [ Of course he does. It’s what Kaworu does best, after all: question people nonstop. This time it’s a fairly simple question (no it’s not) ]

What do you consider to be “home” and what do you consider to be “family”? Your home, your family – what defines it?


[ and as usual, for those who don’t wish to engage on a philosophical question, there is something else ]

I have tasted wine during the funeral. I’m not a fan, even though I was told it’d taste better as I drunk it. [ it didn’t taste better. ] However, I was also told there are sweeter drinks. Would anyone know about this? I promise I won’t drink too much, that was a onetime experiment. [ no, really. Not that drunk Kaworu is terrible; he just smiled a lot (even more) and talked way too much. He also got topless. He prefers to stay sober. ]

[ sup Asgard, here's an oracle looking particularly pleased, and it's because she's ..particularly pleased with herself. or maybe just in general. it's hard to tell. but she's sitting on the floor of a bedroom ( hers? probably. but who knows. ), her bracelet being held up for a moment when the feed first clicks on before it's put on the floor in front of her. then she's kind of stretching but kind of not, leaning forward a little, pretty much just to avoid the most unflattering camera angle in the world. but she's too jittery to actually hold the camera up, so- right. anyway. ]

So I've been thinking. [ there's a pause, like she's imagining someone going 'uh oh' ] And I think what this city really, really needs is an art club. Or an art- something. Club sounds too much like high school. And that's not what I'm thinking of. Not really a class, but just a time and place where people can get together and make- stuff. Make art. There's a really great space in the Freyr district that's open to the public to use, and I've been going there just to draw and paint on my own, but I just keep thinking that it might be really cool if there was a whole group of us. And I already know there's a few people here who like art as much as I do, so I figured I'd bring it up. Because why not.

We don't even have to work on any projects together, specifically, but sometimes it's kind of nice surrounding yourself with people just creating things, right?

[ there's a pause, and she sighs a little sigh ] I know that there are a lot of really scary things going on, and I've found myself more caught up in them than I ever thought I would be. But our purpose here isn't just about fighting and sweating and bleeding to try and save the worlds, right? It's about bringing the color back.

And... Isn't that what art is for?

[ oo, so insightful, she might have practiced that one. then she's grinning again, a little mischievous ]

So... Let me know if you want in, okay? Oh, and if anybody wants a live model to paint, I've got just the man for the job. [ she's looking up past the camera now, reaching to shut it off as she does. ] Hey, Stiles-!