2012-08-02 Loki makes a friend

The studio apartment Loki is shown to when he arrives at CMS is on the third floor. It's spartan and modern but there are photos of Bethany as a girl with friends and teachers, taken in Europe and Africa, only two of her and her parents--one when she was an infant and one at some sporting event when she was still a lanky little girl with braids and braces. There are books to read and an entertainment center, leather chairs and a comfortable leather sofa for lounging on. It's a while before Beth gets back.
Getting across New York in the evening is horrible and by the time Bethany arrives, she's in a terrible mood. She's still damp, her wool suit crumpled, she's wiped most of the makeup off her face, her hair is a mess. She parks in the lot behind the HQ and crosses the street to come in the back. No one says anything about her appearance but she knows the looks. Sal is hovering at the end of the back hall.
"You have company," Sal says nervously. "The same gentleman as brought the flowers the other day. You said he could wait in your apartment?"
"Yes, I did." Bethany wants to sink through the floor. Still, she's a big girl. She can manage. "I'll go on up. Thanks, Sal. Anything important going on?" 
"Well, some flowers arrived," Sal says, with a barely masked eye-roll. "Roses."
"Just..." Bethany waves her hand as she heads for the lift. "You know."
"Yes, I do. I hope the rest of your evening is better," Sal says hopefully. Beth doesn't throw a shoe at him, but only because she's too tired.
Shoes in one hand, suit jacket in the other, Beth opens the door to her apartment and trudges in. "Sorry I kept you waiting," she calls.
Loki is pacing, walking back and forth across he floor with his hands behind his back. When the door opens, his illusions slam back into place, and that beautiful smiling man looks up, only to see that Bethany is alone, before they fade again. 
On the leather sofa, a bottle of honey mead and two goblets, hand carved from ram horn, along with a potted young plant sit along with Loki's sport coat. The little sticker on the flower reads 'daisy', along with a few care instructions. There is a price tag too of $4.99. Seems Loki is unaware of removing the tags from gifts.
The man himself looks...odd. His green eyes are almost glowing in the darkness of the apartment, like a cat's would in low light. His clothes are stylish, but a little rumpled, and he smells faintly of ozone. 
He looks tired, but full of a nervous energy that keeps him pacing. Confusion mars his features. "I dropped in unannounced. Thank you for seeing me at all." he says softly. He stops pacing long enough to turn to Bethany and smile gently. "You look as terrible as I feel right now."
 
"I'm sorry you feel awful. I'm glad to see you, though." Bethany really is, though she realizes belated that she should have stopped to touch up her makeup downstairs. She doesn't look too... she catches sight of herself in the mirror by the door when she hangs up her jacket. No, she looks bad. Bruises really show on pale skin. She pulls her gun out and sets it in a wooden box on the shelf near the door. "I should change but that doesn't mean we can't talk. Are you all right?"
"That's...a complicated question right now." he answers, moving back to the couch and popping the cork on the bottle of mead. He pours into the two goblets, a strong scent of honey drifting out. "I...miscalculated today and it nearly cost me everything." 
"But please, change. Make yourself more comfortable. I can wait." he nearly whispers. "Why don't you tell me who or what caused those marks on your face, and how I may painfully rip them limb from limb."
 
"My own fault," Bethany demurs. "I should have ducked, but... it was close quarters. It happens." She quickly grabs a pair of yoga pants and a hoodie out of her drawers and ducks into the bathroom, leaving the door open a crack so they can talk. "I'm sorry things went badly." She's fast at wrangling herself out of her fancy clothes and under-nonsense and raking a comb through her hair. A moment later, she's out dressed in soft black clothing with her hair loose around her shoulders. "Tell me about it?"
"If it were badges of honor obtained in combat, you would not be attempting to hide them, Bethany Cabe." Loki says, leaning his back against the door frame of the bathroom while she changes. He holds out a goblet of the mead to her when she emerges. "It's quite strong." he warns softly, before moving back out into the living area. "But perhaps that's just the thing tonight."
He sits himself down on the sofa, moving the plant and bottle to the coffee table and tosses his jacket over the arm of the couch. He then makes a soft motion with his hand, and sets an egg shaped stone on the table. "This is what happened." he says, motioning to the stone. It seems to pulse with it's on inner light, and a strange rune is marked into it's surface.
 
Busted. Fortunately there are other things to worry about. And mead. Bethany takes the glass with a quiet 'thanks' and follows to the couch. She sits down near Loki, tucking her feet up, and watches the stone.
"It's beautiful." She takes a sip of mead and studies his face for a moment. "What is it?"
"One of the nine Norn Stones. This one for the realm of Niffleheim. I...bound it to myself yesterday." Loki sounds a little uncertain about the 'binding'. "It's a complicated ritual that is supposed to grant me the stones powers. Power of life and death. It...worked."
Something about the way he says that it worked doesn't sound right. "In the process though, the stone...I'm not sure how to explain it. The stone somehow...it didn't take over, but it...amplified...parts of me."
 
"Tell me?" This is all way beyond Bethany's paygrade but friends don't get paid. She pulls a folded white pashmina shawl off the arm of the sofa and wraps it around her shoulders. "And tell me why you would do this, what's so important that you needed to risk yourself? ...if you want to tell, that is. I don't need to know. I just want to understand."
Loki looks up from the stone and smiles softly at Bethany. "I did not think it a risk. I bound the first two stones to me with little to no trouble. My magic was strong enough to handle them. This one...knew that I wanted its gift. And so demanded a price."
He pauses, taking a big drink of the rather strong mead before speaking further. "The price was what I wanted the most, and the stone agreed to help me obtain it. It...my..." he stops again. Gifted with a silver tongue almost from birth, it's quite rare for Loki to not be able to find the right words to smooth over any situation. Even rarer for him to share the fact that he doesn't have the right words. 
"It took my desire to slay my brother and amplified it a hundred fold. I found myself at my brother's side, using all of my ability to kill him. If not for the mortal Axiom with him, I surely would have succeeded. And I would have been lost to the stone forever."
 
"Oh, Loki." Bethany's expression is just compassionate. She puts her hand on his arm. "I'm so sorry. That's terrible. I'm glad you're still--here. You. Is it... the binding, is it permanent?"
"The stone failed, and could not complete the bargain. And so...it's power is now mine, fully." he whispers, leaning forward to touch the stone with one finger, and the flower with the other. "And I think I now know why this attempt was different than the others. The first two stones, I wanted the power for myself, and so myself was all that was asked in the binding. A small part of my own magic in return for the greater part of theirs."
As he speaks, a soft green aura appears around the young daisy, and the plant seems to stretch. It grows, and blooms right before your eyes, into one of the most perfect examples of the daisy flower. That green aura drifts upward, and for a heartbeat the 'smoke' looks like a laughing skull, before it shatters and drifts apart into nothingness. 
"I offered someone immortality. I'd best have the power to deliver, if she accepts."
 
"Oh." Bethany is rarely flattered but in this case, she is, mingled with some horror at the cost. She takes a drink of mead, which is definitely strong, especially on an empty stomach. "You fool," she says in a tender tone that suggests she doesn't mean it at all, especially not the with the way she leans closer as she reaches to touch the perfect daisy. "Surely that wasn't the only reason."
Loki actually grins at being called a fool. The daisy is nearly perfect in every way. Soft, fragrant, and colorful. "It was...a terrible miscalculation on my part, but in the end I suppose I got what I wanted. Needless to say, I'm going to be doing a great deal more study before I attempt to bind the next stone. It just never occurred to me that I might care for something else beyond myself enough that the stones would pick up on it."
Loki waves his hand over the stone again, making it vanish once more before he scoots back on the sofa and draws one leg up. 
He reaches out, to try and lightly run a finger along Bethany's face, near the worst of the bruising. "Tell me." he pleads softly.
 
"Because you are my friend." Bethany puts her hand on his, just briefly. "I will tell you, but you can't get angry. Please. Or I can't be honest with you." Anxiety spurs her to move and she gets up, taking her glass with her. "I don't talk about it. It's not something people in my position discuss. It's not easy." Usually, she doesn't feel anything at all when she talks about it, when she has to. She can be brisk and lie and gloss over it. Now, her cheeks burn with humiliation and her eyes sting.
"I cannot promise that I will not get angry. I will promise that I will not act on this knowledge without your permission." Loki says softly, noticing the change. He notices the humiliation and looks concerned. "There is nothing in the nine realms of existence that you need be ashamed to tell me Bethany Cabe." he says softly.
 
"I got married when I was seventeen. Just over ten years ago." Bethany takes a fortifying drink. "He wasn't well then, he's not well now. I didn't know when I married him--he was nearly twice my age. I thought he was wonderful and he seemed to love me and I was a child, really. I don't know if you have drugs where you come from, but he takes too many of them. Drinks too much. And when he does he doesn't behave well. He hits me, among other things. But I made a promise. I don't just break promises." There, she got through all that without her voice shaking, that was good. "That's all. It just happens sometimes."
Loki rises and moves over, extending his arms and offering a hug. "And so he strikes you when he is on these binges." he states, shaking his head softly. "And you will not leave him because of the promises you made and the love of the man he once was still in your heart." 
"I...understand."
"I'm supposed to protect people, and..." Bethany leans into the hug, letting her head rest on Loki's chest. "...I feel like a terrible fraud. Thank you for not blowing a fuse. If my staff seem unusually happy to see you, that's why," she mumbles into his shirt. "They're hoping I'm being unfaithful, which is not very flattering."
"Don't mistake me. I am quite angry at this husband of yours. Did he not swear an oath to you as well?" Loki asks, drawing Bethany in and holding her to his chest. "And I caught that from your staff. But you could do worse than a god." he jokes softly. "I seem to have a thing for women that are already claimed."
 
Bethany will think about that last part later, right now she's just going to soak up getting to lean on someone. "He did, yes. 'To love and to cherish', among other things. You can't necessarily hold someone to something they're not capable of doing, though. It's not the injuries to my body that bother me. It's the lying. The covering it up, wearing a different dress to the dinner party, long sleeves on a hot day, all that. But I don't give up on things just because they're hard. Also, I'm stupid."
"I have a differing opinion, Bethany Cabe." Loki says. He will stand there and hold Bethany as long as she needs, keeping his arms tight. "I admit that I know very little of love. The woman I first gave my heart too belonged to my brother. We...fought over her, and I lost. I was sworn to never mention my love to her again and so I didn't. It...killed me to lie. And now..." Loki trails off, and kisses the top of Bethany's head. 
"Now it concerns me that the lies have become so easy. I am starting to think that a love you must lie about...is no longer love."
 
"Lies do break love like nothing else." Bethany pulls away enough to look up at him. "Sometimes, I think our souls need the truth. Lying about something essential to our selves twists things up, something in us rots and spoils." Her expression clouds and she shakes her head. "Sometimes, I don't even recognize myself and that's when I can bear to look at all."
Loki smiles softly as he studies Bethany's face a moment. "Few can hurt us more than the ones we love. We give them those weapons to use against us, trusting that they never will."
"But take it from a different point of view. You have a strength in you that defies reason. You can endure this, of that I have no doubt. And I won't waste my breath trying to convince you that your love isn't valid." Loki says with a light grin.
"But know that if you ever do not feel strong enough, I will be here. And I will lean on you for the same reason. Maybe together, we can hold each other up."
 
"I appreciate you not trying to divert me." Bethany takes Loki's hand to lead him back to the couch. "I don't even know if it's love I feel anymore or just pride. That's probably an awful thing to say. I suppose time will tell. I'm sorry Thor asked you do to that, to lie about how you felt. It seems very wrong."
Loki sits back down and refills his goblet, before offering more to Bethany. "Duty is a mountain, Death is a feather." he recites, as if he's heard that many many times before. "It is...over now. My silence has earned my brother Sif's love. I cannot change her heart, even if I could change her mind."
 
"It seems unfair to her, too, that she was never given a true choice." Bethany lets Loki refill her glass, even though it's going to go to her head. "But if once someone is set on a path, they must run it for themselves, see it through to the natural end. That's the heart of every tragedy and every triumph, it's just that none of us know at the start which it will be--my headmistress said something like that to me when I got married." 
Bethany is quiet a moment, her lips pressed into a thin line as she looks into her glass. "Still. It makes me angry for you, it feels disrespectful and just... sorry I'd only break my hand or worse defending you."
"The future is a mist, the past is a picture, and the present is but the translation of one to the other. It...warms me just to know that you would attempt to defend me. I feel now that you are the only left who would." Loki says, the liquor turning him a little reflective. Give him a cigar and he'll turn full on philosopher.
"I..would defend you as well. But I get the feeling that you would never forgive me."
 
"Defend me when I can't defend myself and I promise I'll be grateful." Bethany puts a hand on his shoulder. "Defend me when I can, and I'll pull your hair for it." Suddenly, she giggles at the image that brings to mind. Mead. Empty stomach.
"I suppose the difficulty comes when telling the difference between the two." Loki says, smiling fully for the first time tonight. Despite how pretty of a man he is, his real smiles are so much nicer looking that the illusion he normally wears. "And what if I like having my hair pulled?"
 
That makes Bethany giggle even harder. "Then we have something more in common." As soon as the words are out, she covers her mouth with one hand, eyes wide with mingled horror and laughter. "That was my out-loud voice," she says, muffled. "Sorry."
Loki laughs, and shakes his head, rubbing at his eyes a little as the laughter seems to draw a tear. "I'll remember that." he says with a grin. "I think you are a little drunk."
 
"I expect so. You should be flattered. I don't get drunk with... well, I just usually don't." Bethany doesn't seem too perturbed. After all, she got him to really laugh. "I'm glad you're here. Stay and watch a movie with me or something. I promise to keep my inside voice on the inside." She checks how much is left in her glass. "I hope."
"I will stay. Though if you make no such promise and speak your mind freely, I'll stay even more willingly. Let's leave the masks for the outside world tonight, and live tonight so that we regret it in the morning." Loki jokes. "I think we deserve that much." He refills both goblets again, and waves his hands one more time, summoning two more bottles from his home realm. "Best do that now before I get to much mead in me. Summoning spells while drunk are never recommended."
 
"I can only imagine. There's no room in here for a pink Asgardian elephant." Bethany picks up the remote and flips the television on, bringing up 'The Maltese Falcon'. "I'd pick Casablanca," she says, settling in beside Loki, "But I'm afraid it might be too on-point for both of us tonight."
Loki grins and blinks at the television. "I haven't seen either, in truth. This is my first time watching 'a movie'." He leans back, and settles in to sit for a while. "And Asgardian elephants are purple." he jokes. "I'll take you there one day, if you like."
 
"I would like that." Bethany puts her head on his shoulder. "I haven't forgotten your offer. I want to say yes, but... you know." She's sure he does.
Loki puts an arm around Bethany and leans his head against hers. "You are scared." he whispers softly. "And your not sure if you entirely trust me yet, even though you want too." Loki kisses Beth's hair and grins, the amusement coming through his voice even if she can't see it. "That about sum it up?"
"Well, you can relax. I will not push you into anything you do not willingly go. And...I will do my best to never trick you. But I warn...I'm playful by nature, Bethany Cabe." Is he always going to use both names?
 
"It's probably foolish of me, but I do trust you. Or at least I'm willing to take my chances." Bethany tips her head to look up at him. Her eyes are bright with enthusiasm. "I want to be able to live a long time and do everything there is to do. I just need to think of the people around me and how it will affect them. If it were just me, I'd have said yes already." Adventure and the unknown? Yes, please. 
"And I understand that you're a prankster--I like that. There's just a time for it and a time to leave off, not that everyone agrees on those times." Bethany gives him a mischievous grin. "Also, it's just Bethany. Or Beth. Or 'Bethany Camilla Cabe!' if you're mad at me."
Loki raises an eyebrow and grins. "Beth." he says, almost tasting the word. "You mortals with your naming conventions." he jokes again. He reaches up and lightly tugs on a lock of Bethany's hair. 
On a slightly more serious note, he continues. "I don't think it's foolish of you. But then, I might be a little biased. And I'm not offering to restore your youth. That's a whole different set of spells, and the cost of eternal youth and beauty is...rarely worth it. I'm offering to freeze you, in a manner of speaking, as you are right now. Every perfect little flaw. Every perfect little mistake."
 
Bethany makes a happy little purring noise. "I could live with that. I don't want to be younger." She makes a sour face at the idea. "We all know how that turned out. And I don't care about being beautiful, I just care about being strong. Would my heart change? My thoughts? My intentions? Or would I be like an arrow that's left the bow?"
"The strength of your body will continue to gain or lose strength depending on your work with it. The spell I intend to work will not prevent you from getting fat, or keep your hair from growing or anything. Your heart will beat, your hair will grow, and you will be much the same as you are now. There will be..a few modifications." Loki starts. 
"You will heal faster. I'm not entirely sure how much faster, but it will be greatly improved from how you are now. As for your mind, nothing will change that you, yourself, do not change. Why would I want to altar what I'm afraid of losing." Loki says, perhaps not realizing he said that out-loud considering how much he hates revealing weakness.
 
Bethany takes it all in, still capable of marginal solemnity in spite of the mead. "Then I can't see why I'd say no," she says, after a moment taken to contemplate his expression. 
"But of course, right now, I can't say why I'd say no to skinny dipping in City Hall Park Fountain, so maybe now is not the time for decisions," she adds with a giggle--so much for that solemnity.
"Loki grins and giggles along with Bethany. "I see your point. Though...I'm not sure what a skinny-dip is." He leans his head down, intending to press his forehead against hers, but accidentally bumping her with something that isn't there. "Oh..excuse me."
Loki reaches up, and suddenly the horned helmet that he normally wears becomes visible. He pulls it off, and tosses it on free couch spot on the other side of Bethany. He grins and laughs, again. "Always forget I'm wearing that thing."
 
That makes Bethany laugh harder and she ruffles Loki's hair to shake it loose. "Skinny dipping is where you take off all your clothes and jump in a likely body of water. Made more challenging by doing it where you can get arrested for it. People are so fussy." The glint in her eyes suggests that she has been guilty of this crime on more than one occasion. "It's considered quite scandalous."
Loki blinks a few times as his long hair is ruffled. "How dreadful." he states. "And people do this willingly?" he asks, before blinking softly and grinning. "Would it bother you if I took my armor off?"
 
"I don't mind," Bethany says easily. That's not just the mead talking, fortunately. "I can go get you a robe if you like, or you could get your own if there's no risk of elephants. You can't tell me that you don't have skinny dipping in Asgard." Terrible, terrible place if that's true.
Loki shifts and stands up, pulling his 'shirt' off. "I think a robe might be best." he says, slightly muffled from within his shirt. "If your concerned about nudity." As soon as the cloth shirt finishes leaving his body, it shifts. He drops it the floor and it converts into a heavy looking suit of green and gold plate mail and leathers, as the man turns bare chested. Loki takes a deep breath and starts to loosen the belt, without a concern in the world. "It's been almost 300 years since I last took that off." he explains. 
"As for the skinny dipping...I'm not terribly fond of water." he says, the illusion on his belt falling away, revealing a sheathed sword and dagger hanging from it, which he drops to the floor next to the armor.
 
"It's time you took it off, then. I'll get you a robe. I don't care, but personally, I hate how this leather upholstery sticks to my ass." Being from a country that takes nudity casually is a benefit--she finds American prudery annoying, which is precisely why skinny dipping is hilarious. 
Bethany puts down her glass and goes to rummage in the 'spare clothes that aren't hers' closet. There's a... yes, there's a lovely plushy big robe from some hotel in Europe right there. 5r
"I'll do the swimming for both of us, then," she says, coming back with the robe. "I won't make you get wet. You are rather like a cat, aren't you?"
Asgardians place little stock in nudity as well as the man adds the plate and leather greaves to the pile on the floor and takes the robe. "Thank you." he says, and settles back on the couch, stretching for a moment just like a cat. "Whatever do you mean, like a cat?" he asks innocently, before winking and grabbing his goblet. "I suppose I share share certain qualities. But then, who doesn't enjoy being petted."
 
"Pretty, demanding, vain, agile, eyes that gleam in the dark, hates water, scratches even if it loves you, and loves to be petted." Beth snuggles next to Loki again and starts the movie. "Feel better like this?" She peeks up at him.
Loki puts an arm around Bethany and nods to her question. "Vulnerable." he says out loud. "Not that I use the armor much for it's protective value, but still. It takes whatever form I wish it to take, but it is still armor. So here you go. The real me, no illusions, no hiding, too drunk to properly perform magic." he says, with a silly grin on his face. "And yet I'm comfortable."
 
"Good. You should get to be this way." Bethany touches his cheek gently. "It's good for you." Good for everyone, in the end, she suspects... but everyone else can go to hell for a while. "And it makes me happy."
"MY being vulnerable makes you happy." Loki asks softly, before reaching up and tugging on a lock of Bethany's hair again. "Or my being comfortable being vulnerable with you makes you happy?"
 
"Just you being comfortable. And you being comfortable with me." Bethany grabs her glass and takes another drink, then sprawls lazily back on the couch with him. "I like seeing you smile and relax. It's like... winning something really good. Don't you feel like that sometimes?"
"Oddly enough....yes. That's exactly how I feel right now." he says. "Like for once in my life.../I/ won." Loki grins lazily, and rolls his head over towards Bethany. "Thank you...Beth."
 
"That's what friends are for." Bethany smiles up at him--as surreal as it all is, it makes sense on some level and she's happy with their evening. "Any time, Loki."
Loki squeezes lightly with the arm wrapped around Bethany, and lightly tugs at a lock of her hair with his hand as they watch the movie.
Category:Logs
Category:RPLogs