strangetrip | [EP/GP] Check-In: I Assure You We Are Open

Entry tags:

[EP/GP] Check-In: I Assure You We Are Open

The damp, cool, chilly morning clouded with fog seemed to fit the mood about the Madonna Inn. Nobody had been quite right since the undead invasion. Definitely not Vax'ildan. But for him, it was less about their sense of day-to-day calm and safety shattered, less about undead specifically. It was a lot more to do with losing Scanlan and Pike, and the new memorials installed in the Temple.

He wondered about it, not for the first time, even as he readied for the fresh arrivals that might be coming today - or not, because they didn't always. What decided who came and went? Was there any sense in how many and when or why? Not so far as he could tell, but he'd never been the brains.

Gathering up the great heap of cloth and rope in his arms, the lean figure summoned the wings of his armor, the black of his silhouette merging with the other dark and shifting shapes skulking about in the first light of dawn. With a crouch and a lunge from the roof, he spread his wings wide and circled through the air right up to the face of the main building, unfurling the massive banner he'd sewn of spare bedsheets and painted with dark dye to tie it up taut:

WELCOME NEWCOMERS
YES, THIS MEANS YOU
NO REALLY WE'RE SURE

Life kept going on around you, no matter how confused or scared or fucked-up you were. And the best thing, the kindest thing, the sanest thing he could think to do in all this was to start up the coffee machine, stack some decorated pumpkin-shaped cookies on a platter in the lobby, and prop open the doors for whoever would join them in being confused and scared and fucked-up today.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Bo, on the other hand, had been rather pre-occupied with the view of Loki from behind when she discovered he was back behind the bar.

"There are some good vintages near the back." Okay, she couldn't quite help herself - the view was nice.

Even if he hadn't recognized the voice, Bo had a distinct presence. Far from unwelcome, especially since the edge of desperation that had colored their first meeting was absent. "Yes, there were. Thank you." One such example went over there to join the others he'd been stashing over the past few days.

It wasn't really stealing when everything was generally available, but it was still entertaining. "Hello, Bo."

"You're not even going to pretend to reach in the back for me?" She feigned a hurt expression as she leaned against the counter, elbows up.

Loki chuckled. "And I'm certain you're utterly heartbroken. Alas, I have already gone through the back, unless there's something still there you want."

"if I had your powers I'd just make something appear." She paused, then sent him a playful smirk. "I could always drop a pen, I guess."

"As it happens, I wouldn't mind seeing that." Loki turned to face her and flashed a smile; she was more entertaining when she wasn't starving, definitely. "Sadly, making something appear means having it on hand in the first place. Like so." He pulled a pen out of over there and offered it to her. In case she wanted to drop it.

She took the pen and smiled at him as she thought about what to do with the item. You could do a lot with a pen. A pen and a mouth could be rather provocative. She wondered if Loki would actually bend down for her if she dropped the pen, though.

She tapped the end of the pen to her smiling lips thoughtfully. "So the item has to exist for you to manipulate it, huh?"

"In general, yes." Bo was definitely more entertaining when she wasn't starving. And, remarkably, very engaging even without her lust energy forcing the matter. Did most succubi manage that, or did most of them rely on magically leading people around by their hormones?

Likely the latter. It was too easy to rely on power rather than developing skill. "To pull anything out of 'nowhere' I have to have put it there in the first place."

She decided to hop up onto the counter, legs crossing as she did. Probably Kitty would eye-roll at her, but it wasn't like the bar was particularly busy and patrons needed the space.

"Now I'm sitting here trying to picture what you keep in there, other than pens and booze." She peered at him. "I bet some of it's pretty interesting." And probably not all of it necessarily 'safe'.

"Less than you'd think. Books. Twine. A lot of knives." In reality, the knives were one of the few things he could simply create, but it was always best to let people hold on to the theory that it was possible to disarm him. "A prosthetic eyeball, briefly."

"I saw that last one - your brother's, right?" Bo still mostly avoided Thor since she still felt awkward for what went down between them. "He looks better with two eyes, but then, I find most people do." There was a hint of playfulness in the corner of her own eyes. "Though I'm going to sit here and pretend twine is being used to a lot of interesting things."

"He claims to look very good in an eyepatch." Loki had seen the replacement eyepatch briefly, and he had to agree with Bo: the eye was better.

The smile he aimed at Bo then was definitely a smirk, not remotely innocent. "For what it's worth, I'm very good at knots."

Her eyebrows lifted as if surprised. "Oh really? I couldn't think of one useful thing I'd have for knots." Except, the opposite was true. She could probably think of a lot more uses than most people, but mostly because her brain was wired that way.

Bo's eyes lingered on him for a minute. It was easy to flirt with him - she knew he couldn't hurt him if she ever lost control.

"What does the god of mischief need with twine, I wonder?"

"Oh, of course not, innocent youth that you are." Hah. There was every possibility that even a succubus with a fixation on love would have more ideas than he did. It was, after all, well within her line. "I don't need it, but it's quite useful to have on occasion. Also, I've been known to make fishing nets, from time to time."

"Fishing nets?" Her eyebrows lifted for a moment. She wasn't sure how 'god of mischief' equated to fishing nets. "Is than an Asgaurdian thing?"

"Yes and no. We used to visit Midgard occasionally when we were young - my brother, me, his friends. They'd all go do idiot things to impress the mortals, and I went my own way." He'd picked up a bad reputation quickly, between Thor cheerfully telling stories about genuinely happy memories that disturbed humans and his friends enjoying piling on. "Knots and tangles ended up part of my 'fucks everything up' portfolio, fishing nets are basically all knots, and I wanted an excuse to be somewhere else while Thor was causing random storms."

"I'll never look at a fishing net the same now." She smiled wryly. Really, it was such a subtle thing, but she knew it could be just as mischievous. "Maybe you could show me your skills sometime."

Loki spread his hands with a sunny smile. "At your convenience. I'm hardly ever on a schedule here."

Her lips smiled wider, her expression playful. "You really like playing with fire, don't you?"

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Or so I hear." And in this case, a little time was gaining significant amusement.

"With the way things are going, I might have to take you up on that offer sooner than later." She was being playful, but there might be a slight hint of self-deprecation there.

"Ordinarily it's best to assume I don't necessarily mean what I say, but in this case, I do." Serious business under the play, a little, but the play firmly centered. Likely best, if only for later deniability as needed. "At your convenience."

"You know, I have a sneaking suspicion you might like my world." She bobbed her head to the side. "Or, maybe you'd find everything really annoying and roll your eyes at it - but then you'd probably have a lot more excuses for mischief."

If he were Fae, Loki would definitely be dark.

“I rarely need an excuse. Just an idea and some free time.” Most of the time he did have reasons, or excuses if you were the target or an otherwise uncharitable sort, but not always. “As such I can generally make my own fun wherever I happen to be.”

"Remind me to go with you the next time another world opens up here." She meant it. Maybe Bo liked playing with a little fire too. "You haven't been to one yet, have you?"

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA