A Ticking Time Bomb */

“If you’re here to lecture me about my hair again, you’ll fall on deaf ears again.” Raynor called out. He emerged from behind the fridge to reveal his hair in a bun and eyes puffy. “Unless you just wanted to see your dear, older brother?”

daniel couldn’t help but be somewhat suspicious of his cousin’s motives, after all, it wasn’t as if they were close friends. he had learned long ago that if raynor sought him out it usually meant he wanted something. still, he was polite, so he didn’t automatically dismiss his cousin, instead furrowing his eyebrows as he lifted his head to look at the older male. “i-i why are you surprised?” he stammered, caught off guard by the entire statement.

“Because the few times I have met him, he’s come off as someone who would get into a fight with a tree if he thought it wronged him. You would apologize to the tree, however.” Raynor shrugged. His attempt at expressing his worry for him dating someone who’s aspired to be a warrior was going somewhat poorly. “Opposites attract, I suppose.”

He leaned back in his chair and raised an eyebrow. “Everything alright?”

Born to Sigyn and Loki, he was always very loved and loved back. He was always such a happy and gentle child. Part of why so many thought he was a late bloomer with sorcery because he was too timid to try, he would never dream of even accidentally hurting a fly. He just enjoyed helping people, even from when he was a toddler. 

He always expected to have sorcery like his father but one night while he was sleeping, he had dreams of ghosts screaming; Screaming at him to save them, to let them talk to loved ones.  Raynor was only a child then, he didn’t understand.

At first, it only happened in dreams. But as he grew older, the voices screamed in his head constantly. Loki and Sigyn tried to help the best he could, but the voices wouldn’t leave Raynor alone.

He, with the help of Loki and other sorcerers, realized he had the power of necromancy and mediumship. Death seemed to linger around him like a dense fog that would never clear.

At least, until he met a warrior named Halvor. A warrior is Odin’s army, Halvor became the one thing that kept the ghosts in his heads at bay. Raynor loved him, and Halvor loved him back. But like all good warriors do, Halvor died.

A son of two gods and he never felt more powerless than when he realized he couldn’t use his power to bring him back. He tried everything; black candles, chanting in every dead language he could remember, nothing worked.

It didn’t take long for the ghosts to come back. He gained self-destructive tendencies to keep them away, anything to get the screaming out of his head. Anything to get Halvor’s last words out of his every thought.

But now, he was more willing to accept Loki’s help and in time, he was able to control when he heard the wishes of the dead and summon them as he wished. He is able, though very reluctant, to resurrect.

Now

He was an inconsolable mess for months after Halvor died, now he is somewhat better. He is more put together now, something resembling okay and how he was before his death. Those who know him best know that is not the case.

There’s something darker, colder, and irreparably broken about him that time has done little to heal.

     siri sighed. she’d never minded being called the wicked witch, in fact it just encouraged her. she wasn’t so insensitive that she hadn’t been able to notice that her brother had been having a rough time as of late, and if calling her names helped him even the slightest she was more than willing to play along. “do you mean it? can i finally start to live my dream of being an only child?” 

Raynor enjoyed talking with and teasing his sister more than he’d let on, it was a welcome distraction that was few and far between.  For a few moments, he felt at ease from his grief. “You wish, I’m going to stick around forever just to spite you. We’re children of Loki, we’re spiteful assholes with impeccable fashion sense.”

     “at least you know better than to underestimate me.” siri doubted after a century her brother would doubt her after saying she would do something. “really? are you sure about that, raynor? i think you’re due for a bit of botox.”

“Of course I do, I am no fool. You’re not the Wicked Witch for no reason, Siri dearest.” Not much brought Raynor a ton of joy these days, but poking the bear that is his sister (at times) did bring him more than he’d ever admit to their mother. When she said he was due for botox, he feigned hurt. He gasped loudly and put a hand on his chest. “How dare you? I could never need botox! I don’t know how I’ll ever forgive you.”

      “don’t make me drop a house on you,” siri said with what could only be described as an imitation of the witch’s laugh from the wizard of oz. you would think a century would be long enough for them to stop bickering like children, but siri and raynor always proved that thought wrong. “that probably has something to do with you being a man, my dear brother.”

“You would.” Raynor let out a ghost of a smile. With both of them being over a century old, one would think that the sibling rivalry would grow old to them. Sometimes it does, then they get right back to normal. “Perhaps I age better, my dear sister.”

“that isn’t good.” she never thought she had to worry about raynor. of everyone in their sprawling family, he had always been the grown up - at least in her eyes, a responsible figure. even after halvor…- a part of her had presumed ( wrongly, it seemed ) that he would manage to TAKE CARE of himself. “i mean. i think- sleeping it off and trying again when you have is a good idea, but maybe- maybe we should grab food, now, first. i’ll pay.” take care of you.

“Tova, I’ll be okay.” To say that he had been a wreck the past few months would be an understatement, but he had at least gotten a bit better at hiding it. But rejecting help was more or less an instinct now, he wanted to think that if he gave an impression that he was somewhat okay that maybe he would believe it too. “You don’t have to worry about me, you know?”

“oh. oh.” his words properly registered, and her heart sunk. raynor had never struck tova as the sort of person to appreciate pity - but she was more HUMAN than he was, and it was a feeling that she couldn’t help. “maybe it- it isn’t you,” bad words. she wanted to comfort him, but she realized seconds too late that such a turn of phrase probably wouldn’t help. “i mean. are you tired? or- or hungry? maybe you’re just… off your game.” 

Cringing when she realized, he ran a hand through his hair. Maybe it isn’t you, oh how he wished it were so. Maybe it isn’t the crushing grief impacting his powers, or the possibility that Halvor simply doesn’t want to come forward and see him. “I’ll guess all of the above. I just - I’m fine, Tova. I’ll be alright, I just need to sleep it off and I’ll see him.”

“I’m surprised your father isn’t here.” He leaned back in his chair. “He loves to have the whole family together, if he weren’t a god in an entirely different religion, he’d be the one hosting the family Christmas parties.”

    curiously, and with intention, gunnar was watching his cousin attempt, unsuccessfully, to summon someone from the dead. unbeknownst to his cousin, gunnar had been watching from the start. it was pathetic to watch, and gunnar almost felt sad for raynor, almost. 

   stepping out of the shadows after raynor seemed to accept his defeat, gunnar cleared his throat, hoping to alert his cousin to his presence. “hello, cousin.” the dark haired boy pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and lighted it in one swift motion before taking a long drag. “saw your attempts there, so frustrating isn’t it? failing.” 

    licking his lips, gunnar thought carefully about his next words. “you know, bringing him back from the dead won’t do anything. you’re miserable now and you’ll be miserable with a dead boyfriend…” he paused, taking a moment to wonder how it turned out that basically everyone in his family liked boys except him…was he missing something? he quickly shook the thoughts from his head. 

     “alas, give up. he’s dead. you clearly have no true hold on whatever power you posses to bring him back and you know the strange kid is always mumbling about messing with time. with our family’s luck you’d open a weird time space continuum and we would all be fucked, so please, do us all a favor and give up.”  

Listening to Gunnar speak, Raynor really thinks that’s it’s a wonder he isn’t closer to more of his family. He happened to think that very sarcastically. He knows the loss of Halvor made him an inconsolable wreck most of the time, but even he is clear-minded enough to be annoyed at Gunnar. He doesn’t go out of his way to speak to his cousins, but this was making him want to run to Danny, at least he wouldn’t keep reminding Raynor of his failures.

“Coherent thought must not run in your side of the family at all, hm?” He snapped. “I am beyond relieved that we are not biologically related.” He wiped the frustrated tears with the hand he didn't just punch through a wall. 

“Please, do us all a favor and fuck off. Do not ever think you could tell me to give up on talking to my dead boyfriend or bringing him back.”