[Having no idea who he was having to get a secret snowflake gift for, Jaskier did as much research as he could. And oh, would it not just be Jaskier's luck that he's been given a god!? Well, at least this has the opportunity to be a bit more straightforward than the other god currently in his life given that 1) there isn't some pre-existing history (or rather future, from Jaskier's perspective) to contend with and 2) there's a degree to which he might be able to maintain some anonymity. Still, what the hell does one gift a god with? Especially when a slight rule of nothing too extravagant was already put in place. Fuck's sake...]
[Eventually, Jaskier does settle on something to gift and one day outside Inanna's door, he will find a neatly wrapped box on his doorstep with a sprig of mistletoe tucked carefully into the ribbon. The gift tag attached only has a drawn snowflake rather than anything written.]
[Inside the box is a handmade wreath made from fir branches with more sprigs of mistletoe and dried pomegranates woven and attached throughout, and a large velvet ribbon tied with no small degree of perfectionism at the bottom. Nestled within the center of the wreath though is the other half of the present, or perhaps arguably the real present. Carefully arranged to avoid any spills are a few glass jars filled with various salts and aromatics as well as a couple of bars of soap. Once again, there is no writing labeling anything to try and protect the mystery of Jaskier's identity as much as possible. Inanna will either need to rely upon scent or drawings to determine what is what.]
[There is one hint given though as to who Inanna's mysterious gift-giver might be though even if Jaskier's refused to provide his handwriting or name. Tied carefully to one of the bars of soap where they hopefully do not end up being crushed is a clipping of some buttercups that clearly has nothing to do with the season nor with the soap it is attached to.]
un: K (backdated to when Inanna would've sent the recorded song)
[ Around midday or so, a white bunny wearing a red vest and a beret with two holes for its ears to go through goes to Inanna's house. If the god isn't there, the bunny will wait until he comes so it can deliver a box of baked goods and a small card that wishes him a good Valentine's day.
The card isn't signed, it only has a little 'T' in the corner. ]
Viktor had yet to seek Inanna out like this but it was now him that had come to the tiny house Inanna lived at in Talaria. His expression looked haunted as he knocked on Inanna's door and since his complexion was already so pale, it wasn't physically possible to be paler, but he was shaking very subtly.
Inanna answers the door in a few steps, smile on his face that firms into a flatter line. He reaches for one of his warm coats hanging next to the door but leaves it there. Instead, he surges forward, quickly asks:
"May I?"
and wraps himself around Viktor, no matter that he's a few inches shorter.
"I have you. I have you. Come on in."
The outside doesn't spell it out. Inanna chews his lip but doesn't ask for an explanation yet.
Viktor wouldn't have known how to ask for any sort of physical intimacy so Inanna being the wiser of the two of them and being the first to hug him would be met with Viktor clinging to him for dear life. Even when Inanna speaks and invites him in, Viktor just nods his head but continues to cling. It takes a few minutes for Viktor to uncurl enough to allow himself to be led inside. Even then he still holds onto Inanna's hand as if afraid to let him go completely.
"...I had to see you. To be able to hold you."
Viktor took a deep, shaky breath.
"I...I found out what it means to lose all aether."
That haunted look was still there as he looked at his gloved hand.
"It means that I will feel nothing. No hate or joy. No shame or confidence. Nothing."
And here Viktor looked Inanna in the eye and ran the backs of the fingers of the ungloved hand down Inanna's cheek.
Inanna listens and wraps his arm around Viktor again to assure him that Inanna's right there. With him. No matter what happens. The explanation makes him swallow.
No love.
Losing what they have. Losing it all again. Inanna kicks back against the urge simply to curl possessively around Viktor, as though that does any good. Love is love. It comes and goes, and if it were what Viktor wanted— if it were what he wanted, it would hurt, but Inanna would accept it.
Viktor's hurried rush, his shaking, the way he caresses Inanna's cheek— it isn't what he wants. That eases part of Inanna's heart while breaking another.
It sounds like gods burning up using their gift except surviving the experience.
"We'll find a way to keep your aether. I'm never going to give you up."
Damn, moments like these are probably how that song came to be in the first place.
Viktor's fingers turned from a single caress to gently cup Inanna's jaw in order to hold him in place for Viktor's kiss. Maybe he could just hold Inanna like this in his arms forever and pretend that nothing bad would find them. Yes, losing what he had just started to be able to have had shaken Viktor to his core and made him afraid of using the magic locked inside of his hand. Probably moreso now than he'd ever been before.
"...it's almost funny, though I don't think I can laugh about it. I was mesmerized by being able to use magic when I came to Folkmore. Now I dread the next time I'm given another impossible choice between what using it can do to me, or not helping someone that really needs it."
Inanna parts his lips and accepts the kiss as fierce in return. Not desperate yet. He's a ways from desperate. Information means options. It means not walking in the dark. He finds Viktor's gloved hand and clasps it firmly.
He opens his eyes and tries to find Viktor's.
"Beware binary choices. They can be false. Perhaps it's time we learn what Myths can do."
His nails sharpen into (perfectly manicured) claws.
Inanna looks confused before he looks down at his hands in surprise. The nails, claws, are sharp and manicured—flawless. Beautiful he would say even under other circumstances.
"No, that happened on its own." A pause. "I'm fond of that hand."
Inanna sighs, more serious again.
"I only mean I've had binary choices laid out time and again, but the answer, the best answer, wasn't either of them. Laying out the decision as preserving your humanity or saving someone else—that's binary. You're a scientist, a Myth. You can think of other options."
He slowly mosies them over to the sofa. It's not far. Before they sit, he taps at Viktor's stone hand.
"So you're hungry."
Inanna's terrified, yes, but it's a familiar terror in so many ways. Something like godhood, if it were external and only killed your soul instead of all of you. Folkmore's supposed to be after all that, but here's the same old terror in another form. Only, they can't simply stop telling a story to make it go away. He gulps.
He was glad that Inanna wasn't intending to amputate his hand at least. Viktor also sat on the couch with a sigh.
"That's just it. From what I understand you have a finite amount of aether from the moment you're born. What's happening to me...well it's a first."
Unfortunately, Viktor could actually think of a choice that didn't mean a binary one. But the idea of essentially sacrificing someone's aether, and therefore them, was just as horrifying to him.
If Viktor were from his world, he'd definitely be gifted. Probably chosen for a Pantheon if the timing were right (by which Inanna means horribly wrong). Finite amount of energy being used up, eaten, consumed. He still remembers the imagery of the burned out husk of a god, one of the first.
"It might be, but you're in Folkmore now. There's more than aether here."
He's kept mum about Baphomet, stressful as it is. He doubts an answer that comes with 'and you die back home' is much help. However, Inanna has his own theories of what's possible, so much so he's a fool if he's wrong, as consumed as Baphomet will be.
Viktor held it up in front of him and then looked at his gloved hand with a definite frown of distaste.
"No, I don't. I didn't even know it was doing anything to me at all until Hythlodaeus looked. He was able to see what he called aether but I took it to mean life force of some kind."
Viktor shrugged a little.
"Apparently whenever I use the magic that I thought Folkmore gave to me, whatever is consuming my 'aether' is able to consume either more or do it faster. I was told that even if I never used the magic again, it was still being consumed, even if it was imperceptibly slow."
Inanna's ego is not so large to assume he has the solution to Viktor's problems—certainly not a grand one. Neither does he fall into a sense of powerlessness. So long as he's himself, he can take action that matters. His past actions prove that.
"It's good we know. Do you want ideas, to let it out, or something else? I'm here for whatever you need."
He knows how precious time can be but also emotional needs can be as important. Inanna rubs Viktor's wrist, above the gloved hand.
His wrist will also feel strange since the more he's used the magic, the more the strange metallic stone has grown to encompass more of his arm. Right now Viktor just keeps the frown though now it's become something much harder to determine than just distaste. Sadness or maybe just concern mixed with a definite feeling of personal conflict. Whatever it is it stays even when Viktor turned to face Inanna and hugged him.
"None of the above. I just wanted to see you, to hold you."
Some of the desperation from earlier is gone but Viktor is still hugging Inanna as he speaks.
"I've never been loved before and didn't know how it should feel until you showed me."
None of the above. Not binary choices. Inanna hugs Viktor back and leans his head against Viktor's. Some of his soft hair brushes Inanna's face, and for all the horror revealed, Inanna still feels some kind of safe and sound together.
"You have me. I love you no matter what happens. No matter—"
whether Viktor loses the ability to love him back. Inanna closes his eyes, tiny tears clinging to his lashes.
[ And suddenly K's eyes actually are stinging with unshed tears at the unexpected words and gesture. Even under normal circumstances he'd be deeply touched, and right now — he's overwhelmed. Things have been incredibly difficult following the loss of someone very close to him, someone who's likely gone forever now because she was killed in their home universe. He's still feeling very raw. ]
Oh, it's beautiful. You created this? What is it for?
[ But what does he have to offer that a god might like? He can't create beautiful jewelry like this. He fears his only real use still lies in serving others, no matter what else he might accomplish, though he hopes it isn't true. He wants to do more than that, be more than that. ]
[ Lucifer. That's... something, all right. And not terribly surprising; other mythological religious figures exist as real people, so why not them too. ]
I think I Saw Her Standing There reminds me of her the most. Who she is and who she strove to be.
Yes, Lucifer and I were captive together in Ananke's altar. We knew each other before, but that's when we spent a long time bonding and becoming better friends.
It started snowing not too long after Inanna had arrived and it had come down pretty fast. Viktor hadn't seen many blizzards growing up in the newly named Zaun, so he wasn't sure what to do about one happening in Folkmore. Well aside from cuddling to conserve body heat. It was warmer inside his tiny house at least, less room needed to be heated.
Viktor had been given the ugly Christmas sweater he had on and he had a mug of warmed sweet milk in one hand, the distinctive anise flavor rising as steam from it. Various spirits were decorated with lights and though it got dark earlier, the festive little twinkling lights made all of Folkmore look beautiful. Viktor had even joined in and used lights to outline his windows. Now as the snow came down, he could see lights outside his windows.
"I don't think I understand how the Earth holiday works. Where I am from there is only the Winter Solstice, and the idea is to light as many lights as possible. So all of the windows have a candle or a lamp in them. What is the idea behind the giving of gifts to celebrate?"
Folkmore, at least the community of Talaria in Willow, certainly gets winter storms. Last year Inanna had to dig his way out of his house, and they may need to do that in the morning too. The morning's problem because Inanna is here with Viktor, and he doesn't plan on going anywhere, even if he could. He's dressed simply, a white cottony shirt with a wool jumper on, nordic pattern, though instead of Christmas trees or anything of the like it has simplified versions of the sigils of each of the gods in his cycle. Even Minerva.
He leans against Viktor, a similar mug in hand, and appreciates the lights Viktor has put up. It's better seeing them from his perspective, with what they mean to him, than the mere fact people put up fairy lights regularly in London.
"My family isn't Christian, but I grew up in the UK, so I'm used to it. It likely really ties back to winter being a time of hardship and going without, so having a day to get something gave you all the time to look forward to it as well as appreciating it. The gifts used to be smaller. An orange. Chocolates. A new pair of shoes or coat. It got bigger and bigger over the years as the main holiday around exchanging gifts."
Gods, that's probably sacrilegious in someone's book.
"Also because Jesus was supposedly born on Christmas, and the three magi came and gave him gifts, and Jesus is God's only son and his gift to everyone on Earth because Jesus was born to die for their sins."
Inanna waves it off. Perhaps that means more in worlds where gods aren't around every ninety years. Christianity simply doesn't have the same deathgrip on the cultural psyche when there are walking talking (dying) gods around.
Viktor took a sip from his mug as Inanna spoke, then raised one eyebrow in confusion.
"A single god's only son? That really doesn't seem like much to get impressed over. Then again I am used to many gods and they are usually concerned with their own business rather than the business of humanity."
It was pretty rare that someone mortal would get a celestial blessing. And it was widely agreed that the gods were real, just that they were apathetic to mortal doings.
"The giving of smaller gifts like candy or fruit, or even something like a new pair of shoes, actually sounds charming. It's a pity that the Earth holiday has moved away from that."
Viktor wrapped his free arm around Inanna. And he had a smile lurking in his voice.
"The question then is what would make a suitable solstice gift for you?"
Inanna's sure it's supposed to mean more when it's the only son someone has, a sacrifice more precious than were Jesus one of many, hardly to be missed. Admittedly, the gods aren't known for having children during the Recurrence. Two years isn't a long time, and Inanna almost winces at the memory of the past Inanna making what happened with the nineteenth century Woden far more personal. Regardless. No children.
"My world has seen a mix of both kinds of gods, those concerned with the fate of humanity and those not. Whether or not they cared, the gods always affected human culture."
His residency was in a church, and Inanna enjoyed giving a concert on Christmas Eve. Sure it ended in an orgy, and no one sang hymns. But that was a far more enjoyable service, filled with love, than people packed into pews for one holiday a year after skipping the rest of the time. No guilt. No shame. Only joy and devotion.
Inanna's eyes drop for a moment as he looks over at Viktor, but he brings them back up and sips from his mug.
"I am sure I would enjoy anything you give me."
His gift for Viktor can be summoned with a moment's notice, but Inanna doesn't want to distract from this one.
"Love, being loved, is a gift that gives in and of itself. You don't owe me anything loving you. Loving you is wondrous itself."
Being loved back is more than Inanna could ever want in return. He's glad Viktor loves him back. Folkmore simply wouldn't be the same. It plays over the whole year he's been here. Changes everything. Viktor's been here for him as he learns more about himself and accepts more than he previously has.
"Yes. Yes, I'd love to dance with you."
Inanna turns toward Viktor, who already had so much of his attention, and rests his hand on Viktor's shoulder. He knows how to dance, but following is so much more about paying attention to the other person's lead. The arts is a perfect gift for an artist. Even that which only exists for a moment.
Viktor isn't the best dancer, but with it being just the two of them he moves very slowly. He keeps time with music that he can only hear in his mind and while that may not translate as much for dancing, he was going slowly enough that it would be easy to follow his lead. It's been a very eventful year, and Viktor would not have been able to survive it, emotionally at least, had it not been for Inanna more than once.
"I'm sorry that I can't give you anything more than this dance, but if it makes you feel better just know that I am going to treasure this memory I for as long as I can."
Viktor intended for that to be the case for the rest of his life.
The world feels soft and quiet around them as they dance. The walls and windows muffle that noise, and their feet moving across the floor becomes its own music. Inanna follows Viktor's lead, and being together is its own kind of miracle. Time together far more important than any physical gift when Inanna knows what a workaholic Viktor is. It's meaningful in and of itself.
"I cherish it too, Viktor. This dance is plenty. It's like you said, the wonders when the gifts are small."
His heart feels warm, and that's enough. If Viktor thinks Inanna's gift is 'more' because it's an object, because it's... whatever, Inanna disagrees.
"I'm here for you. You're here for me. That's love."
The dance slowed until it was little more than standing in place and swaying lightly from side to side. Viktor had rested the hand clasped with Inanna's against his chest.
"Then let's combine what you have on Earth as the holiday and the solstice that gets celebrated for all of Runeterra. Giving small gifts made of light. "
In theory that could be something as small as a lit candle but Victor had an idea that he wanted to test out before he said anything to Inanna.
Inanna supposes he can save the album he recorded for Viktor until January or even February. It will still be winter then, and the songs appropriate to it. It's more important to celebrate together than to give any particular gift. Viktor matters more. They sway in time together, and Inanna hums a little bit as he considers.
His eyes turn dark, a small bit of song leaves his lips, and Inanna lifts his hand from Viktor's shoulder to spread one hand toward the ceiling. It turns into a vision of the starry night sky. Within it, little symbols spread across in pink constellations. Star Children in Folkmore.
"There we are."
Inanna points toward two constellations practically overlapping.
Now Viktor felt humbled again by the beauty and majesty of Inanna's magical reproduction of the night sky inside Viktor's little house. It put to shame any ideas that Viktor had, but he smiled when he looked around at it, then looked at the pair of constellations that Inanna pointed out.
"I suppose that lighting up the darkness would be something that the Queen of heaven would be able to do with little to no effort. But the display is still so beautiful regardless."
Inanna flushes slightly. Mayhaps it is cheating to use his godly abilities to give this gift, yet he honestly deeply wanted to show Viktor the beauty of the stars without giving up the comfort they've found. What else fits so perfectly for gifts of light?
"It's divination. I listen to my own heart, and so long as I do so honestly, I can do this."
It's sad to see the lack of any symbol for Jayce in the stars, but Inanna doesn't point that out. Viktor doesn't need the reminder. He sighs and leans his head against Viktor's.
Now it was Viktor's turn to blush and since his skin was so pale that blush would show up very well but he also kept smiling too. It may have turned into a dopey, lovesick smile, though. His idea was for a star of his own for Inanna. Viktor didn't say anything about it yet, thinking about possible ideas for making it instead.
He was also going to miss Jayce, but he wasn't going to waste the second chance that Folkmore had given him at having a life of his own. Tilting his head a little bit he caught Inanna's lips in a kiss.
Inanna enjoys the blush, though his intention usually isn't to make him blush, only to love him. In enough time, he wonders, will Viktor ever stop blushing? He will love it either way. Time with Viktor, Viktor loving him, it's all the gifts he needs. He hasn't forgotten that day Viktor came to his doorstep, sharing that frightening news.
Somehow they'll figure that out. Another time. Inanna kisses Viktor back, leaning into it. He no longer maintains any distance whatsoever.
There's a necklace box and a notecard attached to the box. Inside the box is a star pendant that's made from one of the crystals that glow in Tides.
The note is a bit corny but Viktor is trying to be sweet: For your gift of seeing the constellations, this is for you. You are the most brilliantly shining star of all.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Your giftee is Jayce Talis. Go ahead and give them something that will make them feel special this winter holiday season!
secret snowflake 2022
[Eventually, Jaskier does settle on something to gift and one day outside Inanna's door, he will find a neatly wrapped box on his doorstep with a sprig of mistletoe tucked carefully into the ribbon. The gift tag attached only has a drawn snowflake rather than anything written.]
[Inside the box is a handmade wreath made from fir branches with more sprigs of mistletoe and dried pomegranates woven and attached throughout, and a large velvet ribbon tied with no small degree of perfectionism at the bottom. Nestled within the center of the wreath though is the other half of the present, or perhaps arguably the real present. Carefully arranged to avoid any spills are a few glass jars filled with various salts and aromatics as well as a couple of bars of soap. Once again, there is no writing labeling anything to try and protect the mystery of Jaskier's identity as much as possible. Inanna will either need to rely upon scent or drawings to determine what is what.]
[There is one hint given though as to who Inanna's mysterious gift-giver might be though even if Jaskier's refused to provide his handwriting or name. Tied carefully to one of the bars of soap where they hopefully do not end up being crushed is a clipping of some buttercups that clearly has nothing to do with the season nor with the soap it is attached to.]
un: K (backdated to when Inanna would've sent the recorded song)
Nyan Cat.mp3
text | un: queenofheaven
[ Attached is a copy of Jingle Cats. ]
🐇🐇🐇
The card isn't signed, it only has a little 'T' in the corner. ]
After March Trial, Action but doing prose
<3
"May I?"
and wraps himself around Viktor, no matter that he's a few inches shorter.
"I have you. I have you. Come on in."
The outside doesn't spell it out. Inanna chews his lip but doesn't ask for an explanation yet.
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"...I had to see you. To be able to hold you."
Viktor took a deep, shaky breath.
"I...I found out what it means to lose all aether."
That haunted look was still there as he looked at his gloved hand.
"It means that I will feel nothing. No hate or joy. No shame or confidence. Nothing."
And here Viktor looked Inanna in the eye and ran the backs of the fingers of the ungloved hand down Inanna's cheek.
"No love."
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No love.
Losing what they have. Losing it all again. Inanna kicks back against the urge simply to curl possessively around Viktor, as though that does any good. Love is love. It comes and goes, and if it were what Viktor wanted— if it were what he wanted, it would hurt, but Inanna would accept it.
Viktor's hurried rush, his shaking, the way he caresses Inanna's cheek— it isn't what he wants. That eases part of Inanna's heart while breaking another.
It sounds like gods burning up using their gift except surviving the experience.
"We'll find a way to keep your aether. I'm never going to give you up."
Damn, moments like these are probably how that song came to be in the first place.
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"...it's almost funny, though I don't think I can laugh about it. I was mesmerized by being able to use magic when I came to Folkmore. Now I dread the next time I'm given another impossible choice between what using it can do to me, or not helping someone that really needs it."
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He opens his eyes and tries to find Viktor's.
"Beware binary choices. They can be false. Perhaps it's time we learn what Myths can do."
His nails sharpen into (perfectly manicured) claws.
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"...um. I do hope you're not suggesting removing the hand."
Inanna didn't strike him as that bloodthirsty, but he wasn't honestly sure.
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"No, that happened on its own." A pause. "I'm fond of that hand."
Inanna sighs, more serious again.
"I only mean I've had binary choices laid out time and again, but the answer, the best answer, wasn't either of them. Laying out the decision as preserving your humanity or saving someone else—that's binary. You're a scientist, a Myth. You can think of other options."
He slowly mosies them over to the sofa. It's not far. Before they sit, he taps at Viktor's stone hand.
"So you're hungry."
Inanna's terrified, yes, but it's a familiar terror in so many ways. Something like godhood, if it were external and only killed your soul instead of all of you. Folkmore's supposed to be after all that, but here's the same old terror in another form. Only, they can't simply stop telling a story to make it go away. He gulps.
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"That's just it. From what I understand you have a finite amount of aether from the moment you're born. What's happening to me...well it's a first."
Unfortunately, Viktor could actually think of a choice that didn't mean a binary one. But the idea of essentially sacrificing someone's aether, and therefore them, was just as horrifying to him.
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"It might be, but you're in Folkmore now. There's more than aether here."
He's kept mum about Baphomet, stressful as it is. He doubts an answer that comes with 'and you die back home' is much help. However, Inanna has his own theories of what's possible, so much so he's a fool if he's wrong, as consumed as Baphomet will be.
"Do you have a way to tell when it... eats?"
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"No, I don't. I didn't even know it was doing anything to me at all until Hythlodaeus looked. He was able to see what he called aether but I took it to mean life force of some kind."
Viktor shrugged a little.
"Apparently whenever I use the magic that I thought Folkmore gave to me, whatever is consuming my 'aether' is able to consume either more or do it faster. I was told that even if I never used the magic again, it was still being consumed, even if it was imperceptibly slow."
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"It's good we know. Do you want ideas, to let it out, or something else? I'm here for whatever you need."
He knows how precious time can be but also emotional needs can be as important. Inanna rubs Viktor's wrist, above the gloved hand.
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"None of the above. I just wanted to see you, to hold you."
Some of the desperation from earlier is gone but Viktor is still hugging Inanna as he speaks.
"I've never been loved before and didn't know how it should feel until you showed me."
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"You have me. I love you no matter what happens. No matter—"
whether Viktor loses the ability to love him back. Inanna closes his eyes, tiny tears clinging to his lashes.
text | un: K
text | un: queenofheaven
I hope you're in a good mood, but
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[ Purple pink light filled with stars comes out of K's relic. They solidify into the pictured ring. ]
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Oh, it's beautiful. You created this? What is it for?
[ Just... because? Is it his, now? ]
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I did, just now. It's to remind you you matter.
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I'd like to do something for you in return.
[ But what does he have to offer that a god might like? He can't create beautiful jewelry like this. He fears his only real use still lies in serving others, no matter what else he might accomplish, though he hopes it isn't true. He wants to do more than that, be more than that. ]
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Could you play something nostalgic of the Beatles for me sometime? Maybe record it? It makes me think of Lucifer.
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[ Lucifer. That's... something, all right. And not terribly surprising; other mythological religious figures exist as real people, so why not them too. ]
Lucifer's a friend of yours?
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Yes, Lucifer and I were captive together in Ananke's altar. We knew each other before, but that's when we spent a long time bonding and becoming better friends.
A Christmas thread
Viktor had been given the ugly Christmas sweater he had on and he had a mug of warmed sweet milk in one hand, the distinctive anise flavor rising as steam from it. Various spirits were decorated with lights and though it got dark earlier, the festive little twinkling lights made all of Folkmore look beautiful. Viktor had even joined in and used lights to outline his windows. Now as the snow came down, he could see lights outside his windows.
"I don't think I understand how the Earth holiday works. Where I am from there is only the Winter Solstice, and the idea is to light as many lights as possible. So all of the windows have a candle or a lamp in them. What is the idea behind the giving of gifts to celebrate?"
no subject
He leans against Viktor, a similar mug in hand, and appreciates the lights Viktor has put up. It's better seeing them from his perspective, with what they mean to him, than the mere fact people put up fairy lights regularly in London.
"My family isn't Christian, but I grew up in the UK, so I'm used to it. It likely really ties back to winter being a time of hardship and going without, so having a day to get something gave you all the time to look forward to it as well as appreciating it. The gifts used to be smaller. An orange. Chocolates. A new pair of shoes or coat. It got bigger and bigger over the years as the main holiday around exchanging gifts."
Gods, that's probably sacrilegious in someone's book.
"Also because Jesus was supposedly born on Christmas, and the three magi came and gave him gifts, and Jesus is God's only son and his gift to everyone on Earth because Jesus was born to die for their sins."
Inanna waves it off. Perhaps that means more in worlds where gods aren't around every ninety years. Christianity simply doesn't have the same deathgrip on the cultural psyche when there are walking talking (dying) gods around.
no subject
"A single god's only son? That really doesn't seem like much to get impressed over. Then again I am used to many gods and they are usually concerned with their own business rather than the business of humanity."
It was pretty rare that someone mortal would get a celestial blessing. And it was widely agreed that the gods were real, just that they were apathetic to mortal doings.
"The giving of smaller gifts like candy or fruit, or even something like a new pair of shoes, actually sounds charming. It's a pity that the Earth holiday has moved away from that."
Viktor wrapped his free arm around Inanna. And he had a smile lurking in his voice.
"The question then is what would make a suitable solstice gift for you?"
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"My world has seen a mix of both kinds of gods, those concerned with the fate of humanity and those not. Whether or not they cared, the gods always affected human culture."
His residency was in a church, and Inanna enjoyed giving a concert on Christmas Eve. Sure it ended in an orgy, and no one sang hymns. But that was a far more enjoyable service, filled with love, than people packed into pews for one holiday a year after skipping the rest of the time. No guilt. No shame. Only joy and devotion.
Inanna's eyes drop for a moment as he looks over at Viktor, but he brings them back up and sips from his mug.
"I am sure I would enjoy anything you give me."
His gift for Viktor can be summoned with a moment's notice, but Inanna doesn't want to distract from this one.
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Viktor's expression had turned a lot softer and maybe just a little bit vulnerable around the edges as he looked at Inanna.
"I don't think I could give you anything in return that's as precious as that."
But having an idea Viktor took his mug and Inanna's and set them both on the counter so they would be out of the way.
"But I did learn how to dance. Would you be so good as to honor me with one?"
As he asked that he raised his joined hands with Inanna's and slid his other arm behind Inanna's back.
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Being loved back is more than Inanna could ever want in return. He's glad Viktor loves him back. Folkmore simply wouldn't be the same. It plays over the whole year he's been here. Changes everything. Viktor's been here for him as he learns more about himself and accepts more than he previously has.
"Yes. Yes, I'd love to dance with you."
Inanna turns toward Viktor, who already had so much of his attention, and rests his hand on Viktor's shoulder. He knows how to dance, but following is so much more about paying attention to the other person's lead. The arts is a perfect gift for an artist. Even that which only exists for a moment.
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"I'm sorry that I can't give you anything more than this dance, but if it makes you feel better just know that I am going to treasure this memory I for as long as I can."
Viktor intended for that to be the case for the rest of his life.
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"I cherish it too, Viktor. This dance is plenty. It's like you said, the wonders when the gifts are small."
His heart feels warm, and that's enough. If Viktor thinks Inanna's gift is 'more' because it's an object, because it's... whatever, Inanna disagrees.
"I'm here for you. You're here for me. That's love."
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"Then let's combine what you have on Earth as the holiday and the solstice that gets celebrated for all of Runeterra. Giving small gifts made of light. "
In theory that could be something as small as a lit candle but Victor had an idea that he wanted to test out before he said anything to Inanna.
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His eyes turn dark, a small bit of song leaves his lips, and Inanna lifts his hand from Viktor's shoulder to spread one hand toward the ceiling. It turns into a vision of the starry night sky. Within it, little symbols spread across in pink constellations. Star Children in Folkmore.
"There we are."
Inanna points toward two constellations practically overlapping.
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"I suppose that lighting up the darkness would be something that the Queen of heaven would be able to do with little to no effort. But the display is still so beautiful regardless."
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"It's divination. I listen to my own heart, and so long as I do so honestly, I can do this."
It's sad to see the lack of any symbol for Jayce in the stars, but Inanna doesn't point that out. Viktor doesn't need the reminder. He sighs and leans his head against Viktor's.
"It's your heart I love most about you."
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He was also going to miss Jayce, but he wasn't going to waste the second chance that Folkmore had given him at having a life of his own. Tilting his head a little bit he caught Inanna's lips in a kiss.
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Somehow they'll figure that out. Another time. Inanna kisses Viktor back, leaning into it. He no longer maintains any distance whatsoever.
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The note is a bit corny but Viktor is trying to be sweet: For your gift of seeing the constellations, this is for you. You are the most brilliantly shining star of all.