2015.02.08 - Breaking the Cycle of Fate

It was said as an idle comment, with Steve Rogers mentioning to Rocket that he should meet the Asgardian God of Mischief...Loki...and the fates took amusement of that. This was no idle comment...but an opportunity in a convoluted tide of webs that would lead to Ragnarok. Would Rocket be involved? Theoretically. Free will was still somewhat of a factor though not as much as some might think.
Yet.
And so it was that Loki and Rocket found themselves brought to Staten Island, specifically a dairy queen at the corner of Warp and Weif lane, at exactly noon on a particular Saturday. Fate wanted them to meet, and therefore by the Gods, meet they shall.
Loki arrives at the Dairy Queen, shifting his clothing to his ceremonial armor, complete with horned helmet. The outfit looks slightly too big for him just yet, but he'll grow into it. He must look his best, since he is entering the domain of a Queen, after all. He steps forward and encounters the glass door with a clang, then backing up and noticing the handle, entering the establishment. They don't have glass doors in Asgard, so he occasionally forgets about them.
Rocket Raccoon: Live At Ragnarok? It's kinda sounds like some major rock event. Would lighters be involved as they bring the house down? Regardless.... that's a long ways off even if the fates are setting things in motion along those lines. Who ever would have thought that the road to Ragnarok starts with Rocky Road? But even as Loki arrives there's someone else already here that is drawing a lot of the focus. A small humanoid raccoon who's hovering upon rocket 'skates' at the cashier. "Look lady... these credits are perfectly good. It's not my fault your backwater planet doesn't have Galactic Money Changers. Maybe you have someone I can take out for you in exchange... until I pop back to Knowhere?"
Kilroy waves a hand as he walks in, and the exact change is in Rocket's credits is fairly converted into US currency. He is not really on fate's radar...he can't be...but Destiny...on the other hand asks for favors sometimes in exchange for the abilities Destiny gives....ability rather...so here he is, doing a favor. It's an opportunity...if those to whom it is offered take it....upon seeing the young Loki, Kilroy has SOME guesses about what that might be...but Rocket?
He hasn't a clue.
Unlike before, however, the curse is lifted so the broad glow leaving his hand and hitting the currency is quite visible. Kilroy keeps forgetting about that. He pretends he meant to do that and nods politely to Rocket.
And wonders what he might actually EAT here...looking t the menu....
Loki approaches the counter, offering a formal bow. "I am here to see your Queen. Tell them tha Loki Odinson of Asgard has arrived." He looks over at the raccoon, nodding a greeting to him. "Greetings." He isn't weirded out by such a creature, since he's been around animals that could talk in one way or another in Asgard. "I was unaware that Midgard was ruled by a queen. As a prince, I thought it only proper to visit."
Rocket grins just a bit... and catches site of Kilroy. Someone he's at least encountered before on Genosha. Though he saves greeting Kilroy, as he turns his focus back towards the cashier. "There... happy now?" He drops the money in her hands as he lands on the counter after cutting his rockets. Even though he's a humanoid raccoon, the eager hand wringing in anticipation seems to remind one of the hand washing movements that many misunderstand as washing their food. Rocket snap-turns his head when Loki approaches the counter and starts asking for the Queen. "Wait'yer turn and we won't have any trouble." He's got a lot of attitude in that that small package. "Wait... Loki? Hey... small world. Literally."
Kilroy slowly smiles at both but is careful not to condescend. He answers Loki first, surprised that Loki is so...young? "There is no queen of Midguard. It's just a name to provoke an image. Their deserts are good, their food is ...average."
He is amused that Rocket didn't blink an eye at him suddenly using Magic. Maybe he thinks Kilroy is a mutant? Then a gain...space being space, the unusual is probably regular.
Loki frowns at Rocket. "Am I supposed to recognize you? I do not recall knowing you. Perhaps you are mistaking me for my adult self." He then turns to Kilroy and frowns. "Oh...I see. That is quite disappointing." He shifts out of his ceremonial armor and back to his casual outfit, looking at the employees and the menu above their heads. "I suppose it would be wise to order something. Wha do you suggest?"
"Nice seeing you again..." Rocket offers to Kilroy, recognizing him from his time on Genosha. Though his focus swiftly shifts back to Loki. "No need to snippy about it. I just recognized the name, pal. Someone mentioned you to me the other night. I assume it had to be you anyway. Loki seems like an uncommon name.... and the gaudy outfit seems like it would belong to someone who knows a guy who dresses in a red, white, and blue outfit with little headwings." He snerks just a bit and rests his hands on his holsters... just in case. "I'd recommend..." Rocket pauses though as his order comes. A massive sundae bigger than his head. "Flarking Sweet." Grabby hands reaching for the dish.
Kilroy says, "A comment you say? It may not be coincidence with the two of you meeting...Fate...even...myself? Fate did some rather nasty things to me...I got better...I offer the same thing to people sometimes though its never an easy answer....as for what to order?" He smiles,"The Peanut Buster Parfait is quite good...as is the Blizzard. Both are ice cream deserts." He nods politely to Rocket,"Nice to meet you as well. I'm working for a different employer now by the way.""
Headwings. "Do you mean Thor?" Thor's helmet has wings on it after all. "Thor does not wear much white. He makes too much of a mess." The trickster looks to Kilroy and ponders. "You do not seem to be one of the Enchanters. Odin gave his eye for wisdom and to know the future. I know it requires a sacriice, but I am unwilling to give one of my eyes to learn my fate." He shudders, pushing his long dark hair back and crossing his arms over his chest. "Ice cream. I do like ice cream. We don't have that in Asgard."
"Fate?" Rocket blinks at Kilroy and then throws his head back in an exaggerated laugh. "Fate shmate. Ain't nobody guiding my fate but me." Rocket gestures for the person holding out his sundae to just sit it down for now. As he gestures to himself by poking a thumb at his chest. "Nah. Guy's called Captain America. Carries a pizza pan he throws at people." Rocket grins just a little bit. "It's a pretty archaic weapon.... but not bad in a pinch. I'd rather have a good blaster in my hands."
Kilroy says, "I am...a channeler not an enchanter and certainly not one of The of the same name, and allow me then," he buys ice cream for Loki and a foot long chili dog for himself. "I don't do the future...I just tell you the price of something...including changing your fate...good or bad as it may be, though Lord of Asguard...I think yours is foretold....at least the end is...but that can be changed...altered at least...The price is never easy but always doable. You just have to ask and I'll answer. Doing is entirely up to you."
He smiles at Rocket,"They are real I'm afraid but for practical purposes for most, not believing in them is just fine. I've met Captain America. Good man. But if there is something you truly ever desperately want that seems impossible...ask me...I may know a way...even a difficult or equally impossible one.""
"You are not a god." Loki says flatly to Rocket. "Some of us have their lives written out to a point. JARVIS will not allow me to read about my written history. Back home, when I was very young, I heard father talking to mother and happened to overhear that when he visited fates the told him that I would be responsible for the destruction of Asgard. It is something that has weighed heavily upon me."
"That's not what some of my Ex-girlfriends have said..." Rocket retorts to Loki on the 'God' thing, buffing his claws on one hand against the front of his jacket. "And if you believe your entire life has been written out.... and you have no free will, I will borrow you one of my blasters and you can off yourself. Life isn't worth living unless you're living it to see what can happen." Rocket points a clawed finger at Loki's nose. He does look over at Kilroy though and grins a bit. "I'd rather find my own fortune... than have someone tell me how to achieve it. 'Kay?"
Kilroy grins at Rocket,"Well if you want cash I can do THAT," he grins and adds 1000 credits to Rocket's unit when no one is looking. An odd sense of humor has Kilroy,"But I get what you mean, and a perfectly acceptable answer. The door is open if you ever change your mind."
To Loki he says, in a quasi double manner that the mystic do, "It's the way Fate works. Those who fight it most often think they are doing good, they mean well but sometimes by keeping secrets they can actually end up repeating the exact same thing they sought to change. Ask, and i will answer. But the universe is a wide and mighty place. Rocket is right. Free will IS still real for anyone....no matter what the probabilities are.
"I was brought here by accident. I traded places with my adult self. Perhaps I can change my path and not turn evil. I don't know. And I would not 'off myself' as you say. I am Loki. I will never destroy myself." There are plenty of other things that can kill him, after all. "If you can see my future as I am now, what do you see?"
"I'll keep you in mind... though I hope you won't be hurt if I don't come calling." Rocket picks up his sundae from the counter and rockets over to a nearby table with his rocket 'skates', sitting the sundae down and standing on the chair to enjoy it. "Sides... I've destroyed tons of things. Demolitions is kind of one of my 'Special Skills'. I wouldn't shed a tear about being told I am gonna destroy things." Rocket notes... of course he has no clue about the nature of Ragnarok or what Loki is talking about exactly. He is an alien after all.
Kilroy says, "nope. Not at all. Demolitions is a highly useful skill. I've hired some experts on jobs myself." He smiles. 
He looks at Loki,"That's...not quite...the way it works...you have to tell me the future you want and I tell you the price to get it...but since you kind of asked....the price to know your future?"
He considers a moment, gets a blank look on his face and then says,"Go to a public library. Go disguised as a human. Ask the reference librarian politely for the new paper articles and activities of the God Loki in the last five years. This is your most probable future unless you change your fate."
He gets his hotdog and hands Loki his ice cream. 
"Excuse me a moment while I eat this...I'm famished." He begins to devour the chili dog as he sits down."
"I..." Loki looks at Kilroy, then looks away, taking his sundae and going to a table to sit alone. "I want to be a hero like Thor. I want him to be the brother I knew just a few weeks ago when we were adventuring through the realms of Asgard. I want...I want my family to love me, and I want things to be as they were. I don't want to become a madman."
Rocket grins and gestures towards Kilroy. "This guy... this guy knows where it's at." Rocket shakes his head just a bit at Loki. "Look... even if people are saying you're gonna become this madman... did you ever stop and think /MAYBE/ there's a good reason for it? You're looking at your actions as an outsider as someone who isn't seeing this from the right perspective. Sometimes stuff needs to be destroyed to make way for something better."
"I am not certain I understand what you mean." Loki turns sideways in his seat to face Rocket. "How would you look at the situation? What IS the right perspective? Nearly everyone I've met keeps telling me about the horrible things my adult self did. If he was truly that terrible, how did he get that way?"
"Who knows... people can have pretty messed up perceptions of things. This is good, that is evil." Rocket shrugs as he takes another bite of his sundae. "Nobody is pure good or pure evil. Maybe there was a method to your older self's madness." Rocket offers, since he doesn't entirely know the situation. "Maybe you should do what your buddy here suggested. Find out about yourself from someone who isn't biased."
“I am not certain I like this world. Apparently my older self has left artifacts around the area. Three teenagers found a book and managed to summon me from where I was. If people find these items and artifacts, they can just summon me any time. What if I was in the bath?"
Rocket laughs at the idea. "Maybe you should consider a bathing suit." Rocket points at Loki with his spoon. "I can imagine getting summoned up during an embarrassing situation kinda makes anyone paranoid. Can't you just find and recover these artifacts yourself? Especially if your older self or whatever hid them?" Rocket suggests. "I should hope you at least got this book from those brats?"
Kilroy says, "The easiest first..." he stops eating his hotdog mid bite and said,"Then don't. There is no price for not going mad. You just have to choose not to, but you are unlikely to do so as the years wear on and you learn the secrets kept from you. Doubly so if you return from when you came.
The love of your family will always be given. This too shall cost you nothing.
To be a hero like Thor you must do as Thor did...and have your power stripped from you and live as a mortal until such time as you are Worthy. It would be longer than you wish and shorter than you need, for you are cunning and will understand the true test but can indeed become like unto thy Brother.
He will always be the brother you know now. Thor will never change unless he too breaks his fate, and he will never desire to in the current mien.
For things to be as they were, you must bring the Fire Crystal of Sytryr to the Rainbow Bridge and use the scepter of thy adult self in a circle three times and to thy own realm shalt thou return....
But...to avoid becoming a madman? That, is truly a steep price. You must learn the secret kept from you by the one you trust the most, you must reconcile the family thou hast and the people thou had, hast not and shall have with the people you know; thou must free the serpent from his prison and send him on his way, take the acid from the wolf's eye, and make death bearable for Hel, and even then Fate will still trick thee in the end unless you free the daughter of Clothos from the rifts of Time itself.....then and only then shall the dark chains of fate wrest their hand from thy throat...
Or...of course, you could just 'not do it'...but I wouldn't bet on your future self if I were you..."
and then as if he didn't notice he said it, he keeps eating his hot dog.
"A Secret kept from me? Why would they keep a secret from me? Is it my name? Oh no, am I really named something like Lafortumikcelzakif? I can live with that, tbut I want to now what secrets they are keeping. You must tell me!"
Rocket glances between the two men... "Maybe I'll leave you two to talk. Groot probably would like some of this sundae anyway." Rocket taps a few crystals on a bracelet around his wrist. "Cosmo... passport me to Knowhere please. And gentle on the landing or you'll be wearing this sundae... you damn mutt." There's silence for a moment and voice with a Russian Accent responds. "(Da Comrade Rocket... Prepare for Passport.)" Rocket picks up his sundae. "I'm sure if the so-called fates desire, we'll meet again." A moment later there's a shimmer of light and Rocket is gone... like he was beamed up.
Kilroy finishes eating his hotdog,"That's not the way it works. I don't know." He waves to Rocket as he vanishes,"But the price of learning a secret your other self knew is easy...follow the threads of thine other self and wind them backwards...but to earn what you hope to earn...only the one that keeps it can tell you...the secret will find you soon enough...the fates are EAGER for you to know and it will find you eventually no matter where you go or what you do.
"But how can I trace his threads when I am younger than he is? I suppose I can try." He picks a piece of chocolate from his ice cream and sighs. "So what is the payment for learning the secret? No no, stay, Rocket." If things keep getting hairy he might grab Rocket and use him as a comfort pillow.
Kilroy says, "the price of learning the secret is the same as learning your future..." Kilroy sighs standing. He is beginning to feel like a vending machine but then realizes Loki is terrified. He sits back down. A very young Kilroy was threatened with Death for not giving information or lying. Kilroy will change the cycle in that alone. 
"Look Loki, I really don't know...but can I recommend starting with Thor...and ask him to trust you? Thor is the person who you said you wanted to be most like...so maybe he is the one you trust the most....if you really want what you say you want...don't be afraid of it. Don't run from it. Just accept that you could be evil....and calmly do everything you can not to....I had that choice myself while under a spell not so long ago...and it was a near thing...the line between hero and villain is thinner than you think...just do the best you can..."
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