[EP] your game is weak

[st_ratagem]

Loki had bolted almost the moment he heard about a door opening to a new world. Yes, he knew it was temporary, that on previous such openings there was no more chance of escape than there was from the Inn. It was a new place, that was enough to disappear in for... as it turned out, roughly two minutes. It wasn't exactly small, but it was certainly limited.

Fortunately, the festival-like atmosphere was entertaining enough to walk through, and the various games were... interesting. About half of them, he thought, were very clumsily rigged to bilk players. It was obvious enough that Loki rather thought people expected the cheating, that it was meant to be part of the experience. Still, the clumsiness was offensive when there were any number of ways to get the same result without being so obvious.

Naturally, he un-rigged a few of those in passing, and on a couple of the un-rigged games he set a few spells to ensure a higher winning percentage for players than they might otherwise have. Subtly, of course.

He paused briefly at a sort of shoot-the-duck game, pondering what if anything to do to it.

Comments

[st_ranger]

Bucky wandered along, glancing at the different games. These types of places sure did seem much more elaborate than the ones he remembered going to with Steve fifty plus years ago. Games being rigged wasn't new, he remembered them being rigged back then too. Still, he had no problem plunking down all his money to try to win a stuffed animal for a girl, to the point that he and Steve had to walk home when he'd failed.

Better times back then. The memory made him smile. He was tempted to try to win something for Steve, but he didn't know how well that would go. Walking up to one of the games where you shot at things with a gun, he hesitated. He was a good shot, but would he be able to counterbalance for a rigged game?

With a sigh, he stood there, staring in contemplation. He wondered if anyone else he knew had won something.

[st_ratagem]

Loki had gone, and now on returning to the area saw Bucky surveying the rifle and ducks game. Because he was who and what he was, he used a hair of magic to let himself sneak up on his friend so he could murmur almost directly into the man's ear. "It was rifled to pull left. I 'fixed' it, but I've no idea if it's been broken again since then."

[st_ranger]

Bucky blinked, tensing up a little at the voice behind him until he recognized who it was. His smile widened and he gave the tiniest nod of his head, otherwise not moving. "Hmm, only one way to find out," he murmured right back."

Turning, he raised an eyebrow at Loki. He had not seen the man in a while and had wondered if the ghost thing had affected him. His head tilted, eyeing Loki up and down. Seeing Howard had sure messed him up and he'd almost not wanted to leave his room. "How are you? Haven't seen you in a while..."

[st_ratagem]

"As well as can be expected." Which was, honestly, better than it probably should have been. The period immediately after Yule had been difficult, but Loki had managed to reach a certain level of peaceful equilibrium, albeit a peace occasionally interrupted by Thor obviously resisting the urge to argue with him about it. "You?"

[st_ranger]

"About the same..." Loki doesn't say it, which makes Bucky think that he probably saw someone. He nods, leaning back against the counter of the game, relaxing a little. Steve doesn't annoy him nearly as much as Thor annoys Loki. Still, he would bet that Thor didn't annoy Loki as much as the man seemed to imply that his brother did. "Glad the holidays are gone. Trying to get back into the swing of things. Wondering about this... world. Why they opened it for us. What the implications are... Hard to trust things." He shrugged. "I'm sure Steve would say I'm worrying too much."

[st_ratagem]

"I imagine it's exercise. You want to make sure prisoners get a certain amount of exercise." Loki tilted his head slightly, considering. "Also, the illusion of freedom is a powerful control. Nothing like real freedom, but it takes up the attention."

[st_ranger]

"It's a distraction." He frowned a little at Loki. "Give them something to do, somewhere to go, make them look left while we do something on the right. A magician's trick. What are they doing while we're here, hmm?" His arms crossed over his chest and as much as he wants to relax and just have fun, he can't turn his mind off. Too many had betrayed him in the past.

[st_ratagem]

It made sense. It was certainly one good way to ensure a general lack of presence in the Inn proper. "Alternatively, it's a pacifying move. Give us something to do in order to ensure that we're not paying proper attention later."

[st_ranger]

"Hmmm..." Bucky mulled it over. "Oh, look how nice they are, they gave us a day pass somewhere." He wondered if that was truly the case. "So we let our guard down, right?" Either way, whatever the cause, he's not sure he trusted it. "Maybe... I can't believe that they have a charitable reason for doing all this."

[st_ratagem]

"Decidedly not. Prison wardens are rarely known for their compassion and altruism." Odin very much included. "But it's to their benefit that we be tolerably soothed on occasion. My brother alone is powerful enough to be a problem if he gets antsy enough."

[st_ranger]

"True..." He gave Loki a look. "But, your brother has at least got things to distract him. Stark. You, when you tolerate him. Steve." One hand reached up, scratching the back of his head as he thought about it. "The whole guise of this place bothers me. It's a prison, but they don't want you to think it's a prison. Here, have a nice lodge. Have a resort that looks like it's not a prison..." His voice trailed off. "Not like I have much to go back to, but some do."

[st_ratagem]

"If I've a choice, I prefer a pleasant prison to an unpleasant one." Loki shrugged, then looked away. "I've nothing to go back to, myself. Yule brought me the knowledge that on my return I'll have a month left to live, at most." It still seemed more relief than not.

[st_ranger]

His gaze softens and his arms slowly uncross. "Hey, the future isn't set in stone. We can change things, right? Control our own fate?" He frowned, not wanting to think of his new found friend as dead. Hesitantly, he reached out and patted Loki on the shoulder with his human hand. "It's not such a bad prison here. I do miss television," he teased. "Some of us would miss you."

[st_ratagem]

Loki flashed a quick smile, but didn’t duck away from the tough as he might have usually done. “I’ve already decided I’m going through with it. What I saw looked like steps in a plan, and at least until I know more I have to trust my own judgement.” And his judgement, as he’d seen, favored death.

[st_ranger]

Bucky's touch was quick, slowly pulling his hand back just in case Loki was not okay with the sign of affection. Still, he didn't like what he heard and it showed on his face. "I won't try to talk you out of it," he murmured sadly. "Doesn't mean I have to like it. You have become a friend. I... I'd miss you," he said softly, struggling with the words.

[st_ratagem]

Loki opted not to note that he’d be returning to a time that almost certainly meant he’d be dead before they even had a chance to meet. It wouldn’t help. “For what it’s worth, I also think there’s a chance it won’t be permanent.”

[st_ranger]

"Maybe. I don't know anything about the future..." He frowned. "Not many people can come back from the dead, Loki." A soft sigh slipped out as he glanced around, then back at Loki. He couldn't help but laugh at the fact that they were here, among carnival games, having a talk about death. "Either way, you're here now. Shoot a gun with me?"

[st_ratagem]

“I’ve more or less done it twice.” Once unintentionally, once very much a faked death. “But yes, let’s do that.” Bucky already had one of the toy rifles, so Loki took up a different one and checked the sight. Off, but it didn’t matter. He’d be able to manage.

[st_ranger]

"You better not tell people you've died before. They might want to know your secret," he teased. Bucky raised the gun and checked the sight, also seeing that it was off. He frowned. The game really wanted to get you to fail, didn't it?

"Think I can win a big stuffed animal for Steve?" He laughed and set the gun up against his shoulder, taking a few shots. The first one did not hit the target, but he could use where it did hit to compensate. He'd been a powerful sniper in the Army, after all. The second and third shots hit the target right in the center after he'd adjusted for it. He grinned over at Loki. "Eh, not bad."