[voice/telepathy, private to chosen 12 + the four mentioned in the post]

[rebells]

[The voice that comes over the signets is a young boy's voice, carefully calm, speaking in a slow, deliberate manner. He's trying to be comforting, but he's not great at it.]

Hello. This is Jay, one of the people working on the plan to get you all out of that building. We're working as quickly as we can, and we're going to get you all out safely. Please know that.

If you're feeling up to it, I have a few questions that might help us establish whether there's a pattern between any of you. This information will be shared with Percival, Dirk Strider, Roy Mustang, and 9S. I don't intend on sharing it with anyone else, and neither do they. Regardless, if you're not comfortable answering a question, you don't have to. I am going to ask, however, that you not lie.

What is your name? Age? Gender? Species?
Are you trained as a fighter, and if so, have you practiced your abilities in Shehui?
What power did Qri give you, and have you practiced that in Shehui?
What did you say to the monitors or government, to the best of your recollection?
Is there anything else you think might have made you of interest to the monitors?
How have the monitors behaved towards you so far?

[He repeats the questions again, slowly, two or three times.]

If you could also keep me updated on your physical condition, that would be helpful.

Again, we're coming for you. Take care of yourselves and each other, stay strong, and try not to provoke the monitors, Jade.

((OOC NOTE: Assume this is backdated some, to the first few days of testing.))

Comments

[rootandbranch]

You like information, but you don't ask a lot of questions, sometimes. Is there anything you want me to talk about...?

[rebells]

There's a lot I don't know about you, I suppose.

. . . were you awake before Vern summoned you?

[rootandbranch]

Not for long, and not for a very long time.

[pauses, not really a hesitation, just trying to get it straight in his head...]

I was born in Jotunheim, of Angrboda the giantess. When the gods realized me and my brother and sister were alive, they took us from Mother's hall and brought us to Odin's in Asgard. Dad would visit us there sometimes. When I was a little bigger, Odin threw me in the sea to wait for the end of the world, and I swam around down there till I saw a hook. Thor was fishing. I was still so small, he pulled me right up.

[still kind of glum at the memory tbh!!!!!! ugh, he'd felt like a goldfish, and when he'd tried to bite Thor out of pique, Thor had just laughed. Geir wasn't so much bigger than a man that a man couldn't hold his jaws open. Thor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

I wasn't very old then. Anyway, Dad got really angry after Hymir threw me back. He said I couldn't be trusted to the sea till I was big enough not to make more of a fool of myself than I already was, and he buried me. Then I fell asleep. Then Vern called me, and I woke up. It was too early.

[...sigh. it's not a very long or exciting story, and Geir knows it. the exciting part of his story was supposed to be the end.]

[rebells]

[It's strange, to hear this myth-like story retold as something that actually happened to a--well, surely Geir counts as a person. To think about how it did happen to a person.]

He buried you? Literally?

[rootandbranch]

[DOES GEIR? DOES GEIR THOUGH??? great question, Jay.]

Under a hill. He raised a cairn of stones on top, but I don't believe most of the gods were sure quite where I was. Maybe he thought Thor would try to fight me or talk to me again if he knew.

[rebells]

[Gee, this dad of Geir's sure sounds like an asshole.]

And he didn't want that to happen.

[rootandbranch]

It's a guess. I don't know. Nobody really knows why Loki does things except maybe Loki.

[contemplatively:]

I'm not positive he knows why he does things either, but he acts like he does. Oh, well...

[presumably when he buried his son alive for thousands of years there was some kind of plan or purpose behind that, sure.]

[rebells]

[Yeah, Jay is skeptical of this.]

. . . was it much like this? Being buried?

[rootandbranch]

Oh, it was exactly like this. Just fewer things poking at you, and no lights going on and off. That's why I said I was used to it. They won't really talk to me or look at me, and there's no sun, so I might as well be asleep.

--not that I'm going to go back to sleep!

[even if it's easy to lose track, he can't, because he needs to reassure Vern and make sure everyone down here with him is also okay. he's very clear about that.]

[rebells]

That's good.

We're coming for you, as quickly as we can.

[rootandbranch]

I know! That's why we're waiting to try to escape till you do your thing, too. I trust you!

[and, anxious to reassure (people DO tend to react to the buried thing for some reason?):]

It's probably not as bad as it sounds.

[rebells]

[He doesn't know what to think, really. It sounds bad, but Geir might not process things the way a human--a mortal--would.]

When you say 'probably,' that isn't very reassuring, you know.

[rootandbranch]

[candid:]

I don't have many comparisons. It was just life, you know? I was alive.

Everything I know about anything but all that, I've learned here or with Vern.

[rebells]

Have you enjoyed it? Your time . . . outside the darkness.

[rootandbranch]

O-of course. Vern's there. And lots of people...

I've learned a lot.

[rebells]

[He's silent for a while. In a way, he knows that feeling. How much better it is to live than not.]

People are interesting creatures, it's true.

[Geir doesn't sound very much like someone meant to end the world, he thinks, not for the first time.]

. . . I remember about your role. But what would you do if you had a choice?

[rootandbranch]

[his answer taks a while to come -- maybe he lost track of time again? but finally, in a very small voice:]

I don't want to start Ragnarok any time soon. But it depends on if Vern keeps feeling that way, too...

[rebells]

[There is a pause.]

Do you know why he wanted to end the world?

[rootandbranch]

It's not mine to tell. He hates people, and he was afraid for a long time.

This has all been strange for him.

[rebells]

[He accepts that easily enough: he has his own secrets, after all.]

Coming to the coven?

[rootandbranch]

[Geir doesn't keep secrets for himself, but he'd keep one for Vern, if Vern asked him to. he's not actually sure that Vern minds him talking about it, but remembering Vern's nightmares, the grave dirt and the shadows, he's not sure how much Vern would want people to know in detail if he hadn't told them himself. it's Vern's own secret bitterness, like a wound to defend.]

And me.

[from the very first time Geir spoke, it was clear Vern didn't know quite what to do with him.

more broodingly, after another pause:]

We didn't decide not to start Ragnarok right away. I bit a couple of roots first. I wonder how they're doing.

[rebells]

I'm not surprised. You're . . . different.

Was that how you were supposed to end everything? Destroy the Tree?

[rootandbranch]

Yeah. If I'd been old enough and strong enough, I'd have started the war and then bit the Tree right where the Root began, and it'd have been over. Even if the fight hadn't gone like it was supposed to, the Tree would've still died.

It wasn't time yet, though. I hadn't grown enough. First I thought I could just bite all the smaller roots, separately, but... it hurt to watch after...

[not really a literal pain, but Geir had been delighted enough to see the world above the ground that watching the life drain out of it slowly, piece by piece, felt horrifying rather than successful.]

...Vern burned the eitr out with fire when we decided to wait, but I don't know how long they'll take to heal.

[rebells]

[He's silent, thinking about that: a Tree at the beginning and end of all things.]

What made you decide to wait?

[rootandbranch]

[it takes an even longer time for Geir to answer this one, and when he does, his voice is a little faraway-sounding.]

When I woke up, I tore the hillside asunder to get out. Vern's supplies got crushed in the falling stones, so we had to go to a town first to pick up something besides sheep and grass for him to eat. I took him flying.

It was nice to fly together. You can't fly in a torn sky. And he'd die, if Ragnarok happened. Of course he would. Well, I would too, but that's not what I thought about.