batmansphoenix | IC Contact

You're such a kid.

[ Taking Jason's hand he teleports them in a flash of green light outside the paddock. It's dark at night and the breeze here is balmier than by the coast, although the scent of hay is thick in the air as Loki climbs the three-plank fence. ]

Come on, his stable is this way. Five minute walk.

Edited 2015-12-12 13:46 (UTC)

[Jason's been teleported enough times to be used to it by now. Doesn't mean he has to like it. It always leaves him disoriented for a second, which he hates. And he has to admit he's still not completely comfortable with superpowers in general, but that's not going to change any time soon.]

I can't believe he's just chilling at a zoo like a your everyday horse.

He's the best of all steeds, he can race through space and carry Odin's All-Mighty old backside, fire spurts from his mouth and his eyes glow red. [ Hands spreading, he gestures to the simple wooden fence. ] He couldn't be contained if we tried, this paddock is simply his space and he knows it.

This isn't a horse, not really. Sleipnir is a monster.

[ The stable is large and dark, housing only one occupant when Loki heads on in. There are no locks because who would be stupid enough to startle a god-born? In the darkness the scent of hay is strong, a horse-y musk permeating the room, and two red eyes light up in the shadows before Loki comes to a halt. ]

It's me, you can relax. Sorry about the late hour but someone wants to meet you ...

[ A small ball of magical light in Loki's hand helps illuminate the surroundings, and there lies the huge Sleipnir with all eight legs curled up as he stares at the two men with (when the flames die down) green eyes that flicker sideways to squint suspiciously at Jason. Loki moves forward to pat him on the nose, his palm the size of Sleipnir's nostril. ]

His name is Jason and he thinks you're uber cool. Please don't eat him.

Sorry, buddy, don't have any ice cream on me.

[Jason tries to go for nonchalant, but this clearly one of the coolest things that has happened to him in a while. Because there he is- no trick of the light could be that good, and there's no way Loki could have guessed what Jason was going to ask about. Sleipnir is real, and so Loki really is Loki.]

I'm pretty sure I'd taste gross anyway, just put moisturizer on my skin.

He'd like that, it'd just make you softer to chew.

[ Sleipnir snorts in agreement, or perhaps is just as naturally inclined to troll as the man he shares bright green eyes with. When Loki walks over to sit at the horse's back, he offers a hand to Jason for the redhead to join him at his warm-backed seat. ]

Pull up some hay, he's not going anywhere.

[Jason raises an eyebrow, but follows suit. Loki wouldn't go into the trouble of setting all of this up just to kill him, he's had plenty of chances in the past.]

Does he like you doing that? I mean, I've ridden horses before but not sentient ones that could actually understand me.

[ With Sleipnir a warm backrest, he reclines against the horse and settles at Jason's side, a wrist draped over a bent knee. ]

If he was bothered at all, he would have made it known when we arrived. He likely won't wake up when we leave, needs his rest. So, what do you think? Still thrilled?

Does he still have 8 legs? Yes, yes I'm thrilled.

[He wraps an arm around Loki, his back against the magical horse. The situation is so surreal. He wants to tell Loki that he has his eyes but decides against it.]

How come he's here?

[ Settling into the arm that goes around him, his head tips sideways on Jason's shoulder. To tell him or not to tell him? Ah, it's been so long since anyone arrived who was like Jason, someone clever and distrusting of the system but not violent against it without cause. ]

Other Asgardians came here. My brother Thor, the Lady Sif, Fandral ... even another me. They all vanished, this was before the Eudites fixed their control on reality-warping and implemented the need for everyone to make a choice whether to go home and to inform their friends here. Before that, they kept losing people because of filing. My best friend was thrown back into our home dimension a number of times and I threatened the Edgewood rep instead of taking a fight to the City Council, I demanded that they find her and bring her back unharmed. If they hadn't, I would have run them through with my sword and sought the truth.

[ Sighing, he adjusts with a wriggle. ]

After that, I wanted an ally I could count on if things ever became ugly here, someone from home whose power could never truly be contained, not even if it was capped upon entry to this peaceful land. Sleipnir is not someone they would offer a deal to, obviously, but he is smart and loyal and despite what anyone in Asgardia says, he is very much mine. He can run through the galaxies without need of air, travel between the cracks that separate realms, run the road to the land of the dead and never falter.

[ A shrug puts Loki's lips near the hinge of Jason's jaw, murmuring there. Behind them, the horse's breathing is even and his hide is warm. ]

I needed someone I could count on that wouldn't vanish, who wasn't tied to an Incentive or a bargain. Besides, he could use a holiday.

That makes sense. [Kind of. He understands the need for having someone, better than most. He's the one who went crazy trying to find a Robin, after all. He's all for having someone by his side. But Loki speaks of galaxies and cracks between realms and the land of the dead and Jason's brain has a hard time catching up.

As Loki speaks, Jason calmly caresses his arm with his thumb. He's honestly not really a physical kind of person, but he is a very emphatic one. He's always been able to mirror people's emotions to the point where it makes them uncomfortable, that's how he gets under people's skins. And when he misreads them, that's how he gets killed. But he can tell Loki craves this kind of physical comfort, so he gives it to him without even realizing it.]

You told me about her before. Your best friend, I mean. Can I get a name?

[ If he could melt into Jason's side any more then he does at the small caress, only tensing a little when he resigns himself to the wealth of video backlogged on the network that will give the other man his answer even if Loki evades the question now. Sliding his phone out, he flicks to pictures in sequence of himself and a red/pink/purple-haired woman (the colours change as time goes on) sporting arm-sleeve tattoos and thick glasses. ]

Verity Willis. She's a good person.

[ As if the snapshot selfies don't tell that story; Loki napping on a couch and Verity pulling faces behind him, two thumbs up over a cooked meal ostensibly made together, endless shots of this and that ... and the last one of a genuine hug where Verity is laughing and Loki's grin is wider than usual, nose buried in her hair.

He doesn't mean to sigh nasally as if a huffing teenager but it can't be helped. ]

Before she left Eudio we had a huge fight. My fault.

[Jason makes a mental note to be very careful with the pictures he allows Loki to take. Mostly because he's avoided having a picture of his face online for years, he's not going to start now. The woman looks fun, though- even if she reminds him a lot of Babs. He will definitely search the network for every mention of her name, no way around that. But at least he'll feel slightly guilty about it for Loki's sake.]

You look close. She an Asgardian too?

[Leaving it open for Loki to discuss as much as he wants. He's not going to force him to talk about the fight.]

No, she's a regular person. She's amazing though, you don't ... I can't really explain the scope of what she's done for me.

[ Which is why he slumps where he is, very much planted in the curl of Jason's arm like he might have turned into one of the golems he issued to Kamala's school. It's hard for him to hold eye-contact. ]

I used to be a really awful person, most of what I did is public knowledge on the Earth I know. Really heinous, violent ... crimes. Verity chose not to care and gave me a chance to prove I was no longer that person, she never looked at me like she was afraid of more than me hurting myself. I would disappear for weeks and she would be so upset, I couldn't understand why she cared what might have happened.

[ Smiling wanly, he hums a short-lived laugh. ]

I've been trying to be better for a long time, but she really made me feel like I already was. When my family drove me out, she was already in my apartment trying to put everything my brother had broken back together.

[ 'Heinous violent crimes' doesn't really phase him. Unless Loki begins getting into specifics all he can do is assume he's not done much worse than Jason himself has done. He's killed, tortured, starved people to death. He's hurt people he should consider family. He left Tim to die, and stabbed a 10 year old kid when he was so full of grief even memories of that time get blurry. But Jason gets a weird feeling in his stomach as Loki keeps on talking.

He's not the sentimental type. He knows he's done wrong and worst of all? He feels no regret about it because someone has to play the big bad wolf in here and it might as well be him. He doesn't need someone to believe in him, not the way Loki seems to crave. But he still wonders how his life would have turned out if he had had someone like this woman by his side. Probably the same. There will always be scum he has to get rid of.

He closes his eyes, resting his cheek on Loki's hair.]

Can't you go say hi? Tell her you're sorry, if you say the fight was completely your fault. Or tell her what you just told me. I'm not an expert in lover's quarrels so, you know, do whatever you want but it's really obvious you miss her.

[ A simple nuzzle is returned. ]

She's not here, she left to go home. I'm ... not sure if I should go back there, not anymore.

I thought sleipnir could 'travel through dimensions'. And you're free to go home any time you want.

[A slight squeeze. This place would get boring without Loki, but he accepts that's going to happen sooner or later.]

It's your life, I guess. But if she's as good as you're making her sound she deserves an apology when you go back, at least.

[ He could go into the complicated existential trauma of it, killing himself and then being terrified his older future-self will come back and destroy him, but what it comes down to with the ego-death looming and eight months of nothing after it as Verity said ... ]

I don't think I've got very long left to live if I go home.

[ So he'll stay here instead, wrapped in Jason's arm in the hay with Sleipnir warm at his back, hidden in the curve of his sometime-lover's neck. Loki never claimed to be brave. ]

[He purses his lips. Jason expects to die sooner than later, considering his line of job. As careful as he is he still jumps in front of bullets for a living. He couldn't say in prison for a single night without people trying to get rid of him. But expecting it and knowing with certainty are two different things.]

Why not use the incentive to change that?

I can't be around if there's another of me to come after, I kind of ... for lack of a better word and to not splurge on details, I reincarnate. After a sort. It's all part of being the God of Chaos, the change is necessary ... I just don't know why something that drastic would be, yet.

[ It doesn't look like Loki is happy with being Eudio-based forever, either. ]

[This is where a normal person might mention the similarities in their life. Jason didn't reincarnate, per se, but he did die and come back to life different. He wasn't the 15 year (and 3/4) kid that got beaten up with a crowbar.

But Jason has never been a normal person, so the words die in his throat and turn into a hum of interest instead.]

I'm trying to understand here. I should, because there are gods walking among men back at home too and you know I've seen my fare share of weird shit. But it's kinda hard to wrap my mind around it.

Does that mean you have to reincarnate after x years? Or is it random?

It's more an 'as and when needed' thing. I don't do it lightly.

[ With a head full of turbulent thoughts brewing, he leans back against Jason and sighs. A hand rubs Loki's face, flopping back to his lap. ]

But I'm never the same once I do. I have to be the best Loki I can while I'm around, for as long as possible. If I die then I need a damn good reason because I'll just come right back as someone else. The odds are not stacked in my favour.

Edited 2015-12-27 14:42 (UTC)

You look like a damn good Loki from where I'm standing.

[He feels like he's supposed to do something, but he isn't sure what. Dick was the one able to have entire conversations with his body, Jason uses his words as weapons at avoids touching everyone for as long as possible. And yet he's here, holding Loki close because he needs it. Kissing Loki's forehead feels too gentle, so he just... squeezes him gently, letting out a sigh.]

So as long as you're here you'll be you?

You'll know if I've changed. I'll either be nuts or ... well, likely just that. I've been known to age badly.

[ He returns the squeeze, twisting around to let Jason know he appreciates being listened to with a peck on the cheek. Not a big deal, just a nudge. ]

You're a good listener.

[He shrugs, trying to give him at least a grin. Trying being the key word. If he's a good listener it's because he's good at gathering information. Everything Loki says goes into his head in little labels to use later. He'd tell Loki, but he's pretty sure he has him all figured out.]

I changed, too. What I went through... some of the things they did to save me weren't- [He hesitates. But as long as he doesn't go into specifics it should be fine. Loki is smart, but he's not from his world. He'd be missing pieces from a very complicated puzzle.]

They used magic to save me. And magic comes with a price. They brought me back but- [He points at his temple with the hand that isn't around Loki.] not completely sane.

People who think they are sane, Jason, very often are not. You're just fine.

[ He twists around, decidedly not thinking about how he will have to make conscious efforts not to interfere with whatever magics brought Jason back, mended him, and reaches to pull him into an involved kiss that only escapes a hoof in their faces because Sleipnir is asleep.

It parts with a soft wet smack, pecked for good measure as Loki's fingers wind through Jason's hair. ]

You are everything I could hope for you to be, just like this. Unless you screw me over, [ he adds after a beat, snorting softly, ] but I'm placing my bets you won't.

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