( closed ) that's why i tell

[ikols]

Who: loki ikols & kid loki thecoolerloki
What: sleepover night
When: post-strange's spooky house adventure
Where: loki's apartment in central city
Content Warnings: tba

[ Having asked for some time alone with the boy, Loki finds himself missing Peter as evening crawls onward and the apartment is too quiet. He busies himself with his tasks: adding blankets to the back of the couch that will serve as the boy's bed later, setting out an array of snack foods on the coffee table, and hooking up his consoles to the large TV on the wall. He calls for pizza early, two kinds in case the boy is picky, and plants his hands on his hips as he surveys his child-proofed home.

Anything of real worth or danger has been stuffed in his pocket of reality that he keeps items in when pockets don't match his outfit, so he feels confident there isn't a Norn Stone or wad of thousands of cash lying around forgotten. He figures that if the boy is planning on murdering him and exacting revenge then he will twist himself into knots in an attempt to do so and if it is truly going to be attempted the allure of doing it in Loki's flat will be too ironically delicious to resist, so they may as well get the temptation over with. That, and he doesn't like the idea of the boy snooping around trying to figure out where he lives; better he knows and stops caring.

When the knock comes on the front door, he opens to peer down. ]

You had better have brought pyjamas and a toothbrush.

Comments

[ikols]

You're not being shipped off, [ taking a seat on the couch, he swipes more pizza, ] I imagined it might be fun for you to learn what you can from him! I was once the Sorcerer Supreme and let me tell you, he keeps weird shit in his house. Houses. Wherever he lives.

[thecoolerloki]

He lives in the same hotel as the rest of us.

[But he knows he's just being difficult for the sake of it.]

When am I getting scolded for what happened in Sunset Falls? I'd prefer to get it over with quickly.

[ikols]

He won't always live here, none of us will.

[ Poking him on the leg with a socked toe. ]

Who said you're getting scolded?

[thecoolerloki]

It's how the story goes. I have an idea, mischief ensues, the All-Mother scolds me.

[Enjoy being the current All-Mother, Loki.]

[ikols]

[ With a wrinkled nose, he says, ]

As much as my resemblance to mother is astounding, I won't be telling you off in her stead. I think you did well, in point of fact. You held your own and were the most capable person within the building.

[thecoolerloki]

I must've cast a rather strong illusion then.

I endangered all the others on some selfish whim, and I continued, knowing they wouldn't be able to sustain themselves as well as I could.

[He did eventually try to help. And he didn't intend for it to be a scary murderhouse either.]

[ikols]

[ Aaaand there's the confession that a scolding wouldn't have turned up. ]

You didn't know the fullest extent of what the book did, did you?

[thecoolerloki]

I told them I did. And that we didn't need to contact you or Strange.

[ikols]

But you didn't know, you lied.

[thecoolerloki]

Duh.

[ikols]

[ Pinching him on the leg for that 'duh'! ]

So, it was not your fault. You did not know of what you were unleashing, it was an accident.

[thecoolerloki]

[He kicks him back]

Except, I didn't care once I had actually unleashed it. I only allowed it to end because I grew tired.

[ikols]

That's a honking lie and not a very good one. My bird told me you were frightened but bravely holding your ground, I don't believe for a moment you let that house win.

[thecoolerloki]

I never cared about the house, Ikol.

[ikols]

Then why did you drag everyone into your whirlpool of a little adventure?

[thecoolerloki]

The spell described a space within a space, hidden from all. It supposedly worked better the more people you had cast it. I think everyone else saw it as some sort of secret base or clubhouse, that sort of thing children are often interested in.

I thought... well, there's no History of Asgard here, is there? No story for me to interrogate. But I know a place that not even Thor nor Odin could find. It's where I found you.

[ikols]

... I have been to that place, I saw you too. The Old Man as well. But it was not here, Loki, this realm is like a bone left out in the cold when it comes to knowing us, it couldn't if it tried. No part of us has imprinted here. The only bit that has for me, [ he taps him on the chest, over his heart, ] is here.

[thecoolerloki]

But you were technically born separate of us. And you were reborn, with a body of your own.

What if he's- [he indicates his head] ... what if he's still there.

[ikols]

Yes, I burned and was reborn. I am all myself, and still I went to the place only we can find, for I may not be him or you but I am Loki. I change as I will and do not apologise for it.

[ He sets his ale down between his thigh and the couch to summon his helm in his hand, rubbing a thumb absently over the spike of a horn. Shorter by far than a certain pair yet still sharp. ]

He will always be with us in some way, Loki, for we never really leave ... even when we die.

[thecoolerloki]

Then if he's not gone, I would speak with him. The one the spell produced was unable to answer me properly.

[... since he was built off Loki's own thoughts and insecurities and he couldn't answer questions that Loki didn't know the answer to.]

[ikols]

He is a ghost, a shade. What he could tell you would be spiteful and lost in its own rhetoric.

[ Tilting his head curiously, ]

I have his memories and magic, I can try to figure out which answers he would have given.

[thecoolerloki]

You told me before that you couldn't. That that is what makes you yourself, and not him.

[Which is why he sought an alternative.]

[ikols]

Yes, but I can guess.

[ ... Oh. ]

You can ask me things, Loki.

[thecoolerloki]

Alright.

[he sighs, like he's getting into character while they play pretend.]

Why did you not trust me to be Loki. Why... [this feels weird!] Why did you choose Ikol over me.

[ikols]

[ He thumbs the lip of his ale rather than the helm on his lap, mulling over inherited memories. ]

There was a ... kind of fear. Not enough failsafes. Erased from the Book of the Dead, it happened too easily, it was odd to win.

Near the end came violence and fear, and little else. Sadness, last of all.