Today of All Days >> A Story of Birth, Smoke & Flame

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[ difficult post to write, i think it might be equally difficult for some to read, so be warned. the post isn't closed, but please only post if you can separate your character from your own emotions about what happens. i only say that because if you hop in this to have a moral debate with loki, you'll just get frustrated =D this post is loosely based on an actual school fire in the 50s. ]

The ways in which a god is called to a specific place and time are innumerable. Sometimes the god is bid there by another god. Sometimes by a mortal's lips through invocation. But these and infinite other means did not apply today of all days. For Loki was called to this piece of Rhy'din because of the Truth of her Being. All the way in Asgard she'd felt the approaching spike of Chaos resonate within her like warning rumble of a volcano. A powder keg about to pop. Demanding her audience. Today of all days, she would most certainly go to see the sight.

And today of all days, even this God of Mischief would be surprised. For when Loki arrived at the source of the spike she found herself standing in front of a gate whose sign read 'Holy Names High School for Girls'. Chaos...here? Eyelevel on the gates there was a plaque. Proudly hailing this as a haven for the daughters of Rhy'dins elite. Even with her imagination she couldn't fathom what kind of discord was about to -

Today of all days, before her thought was finished the arriving pandemonium gave answer. A window on the second floor shattered. The cause was inside the building and showed itself immediately. With a fresh source of oxygen to feed upon, what was once a hidden fire was hidden no longer. First its smoke seeped out the open window. As the flames grew the tips of orange and red lapped through the opening at the outer brick of the building.

Today of all days, no alarm sounded. This made Chaos curious. Through the power of her Current, Loki's consciousness traveled inside the incendiary school while her body remained outside the gates. Only this way did she discover the source. An elder woman dressed in the vestments of her Lord, pulling the handle of the alarm in vain. Calling to her younger colleague and bidding her to try. Even with the efforts of both the alarm wouldn't pull. On another floor a Father faced the same trouble. One of his hands was occupied for he held a handkerchief over his mouth and nose. His other hand not enough to muscle the malfunctioning device into sounding.

Today of all days, the closest fire heroes would not know of the rising panic within. This country street the school had boasted proudly of in the past was now their enemy. Each day the guard at the front entrance collected the cell phones of all the girls, and an hour away from dismissal that box was locked up and out of reach. Smoke had not yet reached the front of the building on this first floor, nor did the coughing or screams So of this fire the guard did not yet know. The teachers, all of them were trying to save their frightened students. Those had been in arm's length of their mobile phones had left them behind without a second thought. All had assumed the alarm would tell of their troubles. None of them could have known the bell would assert its silence.

Today of all days, the fire had begun in one of the two stairwells and there it grew and poured smoke into every hallway from the second floor upward. As the heat grew more windows broke one by one. Each fed the fire more than before. It left only one stairwell for escape for those lucky enough to have their afternoon learning near to it. Those students the fates favored, as Loki saw the first of those girls evacuating out the side of the building. The rest, trapped, had their collective fates resting in the hands of one man - their janitor.

Today of all days, Janitor Raymond was outside when the fire struck. On his way back from taking out the day's cafeteria trash he saw the unnatural red glow from a central collection of windows and the coughing girls who were the first to come outside. Mobile pulled from his belt, it was he who called the fire squad, giving the students and teachers trapped within a small amount of luck.

But today of all days, for some a small amount of luck was not enough. The fireman's answer to the call was combated by so many rescue challenges one would think this school was destined for demise. First they arrived at the wrong school, causing precious minutes to be lost. When they did arrive, locked gates in the courtyard they needed to get into in order to reach two of the second story classrooms where students were trapped had to be broken open with sledgehammers - more minutes lost. Then, there was an untimely explosion in the classroom the men were hurriedly trying to evacuate. All this while panicked children who couldn't bare the smoke heat and flame no longer were throwing themselves from the windows of the other classroom. Many of them with hair or clothing on fire as they hit the ground below. Still others who could not be seen in the windows were in other parts of the school growing still with death.

Today of all days, the god who stood unseen and unnoticed a distance away from all the commotion did nothing but Watch. Both with her eyes, and with the astral travel of her mind. That she did nothing could be justified by polite boundaries. This was not her province, this planet was not of Asgardian domain. But to justify so would be a falsehood. For Chaos would not be truly chaotic if she let an arbitrary ruling as 'this is not your yard' stop her from Being. All things, especially gods, can only be what they are no matter where they are. Such is the Truth of Loki.

Still. Today of all days, who was she to interfere? To snatch the dead from Lenneth's domain by keeping them safe in life? To steal souls away from her daughter and Helheim by allowing them to remain attached to their mortal bodies? No. The cycle of life completed with death, and to attempt to make it otherwise for any within the burning building who the fates had selected to breathe no more would make Loki no different from the fire crew who sought to control the unruly blaze. Mortals tended to mortals in such a manner. For gods there was a greater picture to serve.

Besides. Today of all days marked the anniversary of Loki's birth to the frost giant Laufey. Today of all days, there would be no party, no candles, no cake. But today of all days, the present these flames were greedily unwrapping? To one as inhuman as the god of Mischief and Chaos this, this was truly a befitting celebration.

Today of all days, Loki considered this terrifying and tragic picture of chaos her gift.