ᛚᛟᚲᛁ has a silver tongue. (the_trickster) wrote in avengers_logs, @ 2018-03-05 17:56:00 |
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Entry tags: | -complete, darcy lewis, loki odinson |
Who: Darcy Lewis, Loki
What: disclosure at Darcy's current apartment. Infinity Stones, Thanos, and doomsday plans. Oh my.
When: Monday around lunchtime, after this exchange.
Rating/Warning: Chartreuse. For all dem f-bombs.
After making his way across the city to see Darcy, Loki found himself outside her apartment door. He was having what looked to be a stare off with it. Only a few years ago, he wouldn't have cared what happened to a Midgardian. His thinking was much the same as Odin's sayings that Midgardians in Asgard were just as welcome as a goat would be at a banquet. Loki knew all too well that he would have happily gone on his merry way without a second glance, leaving her 'muzzled' for the rest of her days. His plan was accomplished and he should be, by all rights, entirely over and done with it.
Yet he really was not over it. Instead, he was left ill at ease over what happened with Darcy. Things hadn't gone as planned and everything else went wrong with her, which wasn't at all what he intended.
Frowning, Loki steeled himself for Darcy's continued wrath and knocked upon the door.
Darcy wasn’t sure that she wanted to open the door, truth be told. She wasn’t as mad as she had been before, but she was still pretty fucking annoyed. Since she was still muted. Muffled. And forced to say things she didn’t want to say. If he wasn’t coming over here to do away with it, then she was definitely going to never speak to him again. Maybe tase. Maybe a kick in the balls. She hadn’t decided on which one.
She was trying not to think about what they said to each other last. Even if they loved each other, he was still treating her like this and doing all of these things. She couldn’t just forgive and forget so easily. It was going to take time.
When the door knocked, she went to open it up. Well. Here went nothing. She didn’t say anything, just let him inside and closed the door behind her before turning towards him.
“Okay, what is it?”
There was no doubt that this was going to be difficult, and Loki found himself trying not to stare at her for too long. Instead he stole token glances in her direction, choosing to look around and see if anyone else was there. It didn't seem as though there was anyone else present, although he was still wary. He did deem the interior to be sadly lacking. Darcy deserved far better than this. Then again, she deserved far better than what he did to her while trying to keep a secret safe.
"I must be cautious. I am not casting a spell on you. It is around both of us," he explained, raising one hand and created a spell of silence around them, and another so that anything that was said would only be understood by their own ears.
With those things done, he felt it safe enough to proceed. He didn't know if Darcy's patience would unravel even further, so he lightly traced a fingertip over her lips to remove the tongue-tying spell.
"My apologies," Loki said and then hesitated, mulling over how best to proceed. He was going to have to be out with it all at some point and her personal issues with his more formal speech patterns would just have to be damned. He considered that Darcy might not have the patience to listen to him for very long, if she even wanted to know at all. She was free of the spell, so she might prefer if he left without knowing a thing. It seemed better to leave the choice up to her. "Shall I attempt to explain it all in one go, or would you rather not know? One choice is safer than the other."
Darcy couldn’t help but look sarcastically amused when he put up his hands.
“Wow. You mean you actually know how to tell someone, or inform them that you’re going to do magic before you actually cast the spell? Holy shit. I had no idea! What a fucking novel concept!”
Okay so maybe she wasn’t completely over being angry at him. At least she was talking to him, that had to count for something. She wasn’t protesting the fact that he was keeping their conversation quiet though, at least he had fucking warned her before he did it. She wasn’t sure what he was doing, touching her mouth or whatever, so she just kind of stared up at him.
“Yeah. Your apologies.” Right. She didn’t even know if he was really really sorry or not. Maybe he was just trying to cover his own ass. She really wished she understood what the hell he was doing. Right now though, she was just curious as to what exactly he wanted.
Gesturing for him to go ahead, she went and sat down since this seemed like it was going to be a while.
“I want to know what your problem is, so go ahead. Tell me.” And she would see if she believed him.
Loki had been staring at her in such a way that it was equal parts raptly fascinated and dry sarcasm. That point was made. Announce before casting. Yes, it had sunk in. And yes, there was a fair amount of needing to cover his ass thrown in there, and that he felt he owed Darcy an explanation. No matter what she chose to do with it.
"Fine," he began while folding both arms over himself, continuing to stand. "The spell is gone so you can speak to anyone you wish. Know that I had to hide the Tesseract from a monster far greater than I am, named Thanos. It is he that gave me control of the Chitauri and gave me the scepter with the Mind Stone in it, in order to accomplish this task. Know that I could not say no to Thanos, because he is a mad man and he does not bargain well. You should also know that Infinity Stones are vastly powerful. Should he collect them all, should he place them in the Infinity Gauntlet, he will be unstoppable. The Tesseract is an Infinity Stone that is not only a powerful energy source, but grants the ability to transfer through space by creating doorways or portals. It is how I arrived on Midgard. At any length, I lost the scepter here, which Thanos loaned to me. There is a third stone which I fear your sorcerer used to manipulate time. There was another stone here, briefly, known as the Aether. It infested your associate, Jane Foster. While disguised as the Allfather, I sent the Aether away to a collector of obscure relics for safe keeping."
Loki paused to draw in a much needed breath before continuing. Not that he was speaking quickly - it was his same measured pace - but he was feeling ill at ease due to the subject matter.
"I know you may not care for me or my methods. But I will not have Thanos come here to claim three stones in one fell swoop. The stones should not be kept together in one place for that very reason. It is considered unwise. I feared if I told Thor, he might want to do the honorable thing and turn it over to the powers that be. In which case, it would still be kept on this world. Neither Valkyrie or Sif trust me, as well they should not. So I can not tell them. It would also put them all in danger.
"The less that know the whereabouts, the better. Thanos will be displeased for my failure. If no one else knows where the Tesseract is, then they will not suffer. If the wards hold should anything happen to me, then many worlds will be kept safe. If I die and for some reason the wards do not hold, Norns forbid, then Thanos must search for it. That buys more time. Though I suspect nothing will go well, if he finally claims it. It had been safe in Asgard's vault for the past four years. This is why I felt compelled to hide it away. Which you stumbled upon. On our rather catastrophic second date."
Phew. Loki exhaled in such a way that it looked as though a heavy weight had been lifted off him. He glanced over at the door and slowly directed his gaze back at Darcy, wondering if she was simply going to kick him out and then go tell everyone. Or if she would tase him and then try to drag him out, and be done with him once and for all. He was heavier than he looked. That might not work out too well. Perhaps he should offer to step out the door before she did that again, just to make things easier.
He warily watched Darcy, waiting for her verdict.
That was the dumbest thing that Darcy had ever heard. Some alien looking for a giant glove with a bunch of stones? Yeah. Okay. She probably wouldn’t have believed it, except for the fact that she’d seen the Aether, and the Tesseract and she knew about Vision and the mind stone and where it was. Well she’d heard about it, but hadn’t actually seen that one in person. So yeah, okay. She believed him. That didn’t mean that she was about to just suddenly forgive him or anything like that.
She put her hands on her knees and didn’t say anything for a moment, trying to figure out what to say instead of just sniping at him. Handle this like a mature adult. Because at least one of them was an adult, and spoiler alert…it didn’t seem to be him.
“I believe you,” she said after a moment. She didn’t quite know why, since it was a ridiculous story. Were other people going to believe him? She had no idea.
“Look...it was super shitty of you to use me in order to do it. I get why you did it, but...you fucking used me, didn’t tell me and then did magic on me without my permission again. I want to be able to trust you, I really do. But you have to be able to trust me. I get that this was a big thing to trust me with. But it...you used our fucking date to do shady shit. That’s pretty fucking bad.” She sighed a bit and rubbed her eyes. “What made you deal with Thanos anyway, if he doesn’t like to do deals?”
Initially, Loki looked surprised that Darcy believed him. Surprise shifted quickly into the sort of deep concern that one gets just before they retreat into themselves. His arms appeared to tense up, due in part because they were hiding white-knuckled fists tucked in under his elbows. Going white-knuckled was quite the feat, considering how naturally pale he was.
"It was multipurpose," he explained, now with more reluctance than he had when explaining why he did it all. "I would like you to know that the date was still meant to be a date. I thought I would complete my task, and we could go on our merry way and enjoy ourselves."
He turned his gaze away, slightly off to one side where he could stare at what Darcy was sitting on, rather than at Darcy.
"It is difficult to make deals with Thanos, because you agree to what he wants or he tears you apart. There is no inbetween. I was found by his forces, greatly hindered. Not at all as effective as I would have normally been while striking any bargains."
That was a judicious way of putting things, or at least he thought it was. He gave himself a mental back pat for his fine choice of skirting around the subject, and managed to keep a straight face.
“You mean you thought you could get away with being duplicitous and deceive me. I just happened to walk in on what you were doing,” she said, giving him a pointed look. If she kept harping on that point though, they were never going to get anywhere. She wasn’t sure which part of it was the most hurtful. The lying, the charming her or whatever else he had done. Just when she thought that she was falling in love with him, he had to go and do something dumb for a really good reason. It would have been easier if he was doing it because he was just an awful asshole.
She gazed back up at him, with an inquisitive look on her face.
“So Thanos found you after...something bad happened, and then you said hey if you give me the Tesseract then I’ll do your evil bidding?” she offered, wondering if she was getting this right. “Look I get you might not want to talk about it, but I need you to actually tell me the truth. If you don’t tell me the truth, and all of it...we can’t ever get past this.”
In fact, they would totally not speak again. Like she had threatened him before.
"Yes, I thought I could get away with not telling you," he finally admitted, rolling his eyes up before closing them entirely. It was easier than looking at her, or anywhere near her, while trying to explain any further. And it was for the reason that he adored Darcy and her many odd quirks and profound rebelliousness, that he was telling her anything at all.
"I was found by Thanos' forces," he continued to say in a hushed tone of voice, "after I attempted to destroy your little town, and Thor, and then the Jotunheim. I fought with Thor when he tried to stop the destruction of the Jotunheim. The fight ended with the Bifrost smashed to pieces, and Thor and the Allfather being the only thing keeping me from falling into the abyss of space. It might have all gone differently if they had pulled me up to safety? But I knew too much damage had been done, and so I let go. Of my own accord."
That was a nicer way of saying he wanted to die rather than the disgraced runt monster being paraded around as an abject failure on the way to the dungeons. The grand irony was that happened after the Chitauri invasion, anyway. Telling Odin to simply swing the axe was not merely a taunt, but an actual request.
When his eyes opened again, he stared up at the drab ceiling of this Midgardian apartment. He missed the murals of Asgard. It was a pity they would never see something so grand as that, ever again.
"After I was presented to Thanos, I said I would fetch the Tesseract. I made promises that I was not entirely certain I could keep. It seemed to be the only option left open to me, when there were no other options left. It was repeatedly stressed that failure would not be tolerated. I know that it would have been easier to say no, and then be torn to shreds and discarded. But when actually faced with that? I talked him into making me the puppet ruler of your realm. Which, at that time, did have some appeal...."
He untucked one hand from the crook of his arm and made a little motion with it. It was almost as though he meant to gesture grandly, but couldn't quite manage to follow through.
"And here we are now," he finished, finally directing his gaze back down at Darcy. "Potentially all the worse for it."
Okay so that was really fucking sad. And horrible. And she knew that Odin was a piece of shit, but man she really hated that guy. Good thing he wasn’t alive, or she would have berated him. In any case, she didn’t know what to say and thinking about it was only going to make her start to cry or something stupid like that, so she was wisely trying to move past it. Maybe she shouldn’t have trusted him to tell her the truth, because she clearly kept getting burned by it. But he wouldn’t lie about that..at least she really hoped now.
She pursed her lips together. “So this Thanos guy is really and actually coming here. Probably. To gather all these stones. How sure are you of this whole thing? Like I know you don’t want to tell everyone and I get that. I’m not going to say anything.”
She really wasn’t, because she didn’t want to get into it with anyone. And she didn’t want Thor to get all up in their business. She liked him, but he would put on his bossy pants and that would be the end of that. She didn’t want to have to tell Thor to shut up. Still.
“If he’s coming here, shouldn’t people be...warned or something? I mean...if they even believe you.. us.. or whatever.”
Loki's love/hate relationship with his brother was complex - and now more love than hate - but he knew Thor enough to know he would want to do the right, good, and honorable thing before ever resorting to trickery or deceit. In fact, Loki knew that all such trickery would be discouraged, around the time that he was told to find a legitimate means of making money. Above all that - after losing their home, both parents, and a deranged sister they never knew existed (and made him look like the height of normalcy) - Thor was all that he had left. It might be misguided to believe Loki consistently capable of it, but he was left clinging onto the last tie that bound him to what once was, for most of his life.
Odin was a whole other complicated story, but he felt as though some of that discord was laid to rest just before the Allfather died. Or it was lessened, considering their deranged sister showed up, and Odin never bothered to tell either of them about her. Well then. At least Thor knew what that felt like.
He pondered these matters while watching Darcy, and then sighed deeply before speaking again.
"If he means to collect the stones and rule everything he does not destroy? Yes, someday he will," was Loki's somber response. "At some point, he is likely going to make himself known. And by doing this, even if he should come here or send other minions? I thought perhaps I could lure him away in the wrong direction, or use some other ruse. Truly there is nothing to stop him, whether anyone knows he is coming or not. As they are quite powerful, it would likely only take two or three stones in his possession to wreak havoc on any realm. Thus I fear there is only a delay in the inevitable. Warnings would be futile. Your rulers are helpless. Your heroes seem incapable of banding together once again, for anything beyond a dungeon-break. I'm convinced your Man of Iron is as much a hindrance to himself, as he is to his foes."
Okay so this Thanos guy was totally going to show up. Sooner or later. Of course he would, because that’s just how the world worked. And now with time all messed up, it was probably just going to make them more of a target.
“Okay, that’s fair. I mean yeah you’re right. They’re all pretty shitty. But I don’t think that you creating a ruse and leading him off is going to do anything in the long run. No offense. I’m sure you’re great at ruses or whatever. But it sounds like he’d just smash you and then come back. And then everything would be shit and you’d be gone. So.. maybe.. Not?”
Not that she knew a damn thing about Thanos, but since it seemed like a pretty big threat, she had absolutely no idea how else to handle it.
“I’d like to think everyone will put their stupid shit aside to fight, but you know...probably not.” Sometimes she was glad she didn’t have super powers. Not often. But sometimes. “And I’m sure you hid the Tesseract as well as you could. But unless we find a way to take all of these things and like...hide them so well, or in a place too impenetrable...you’re doing a good job of making it sound pretty impossible.”
She sighed a bit. If she were in a funnier mood, she would have joked about skipping town. Skipping the planet.
“Fuck if I know what to do. I just get coffee. You don’t have to be a martyr though, you know that, right?”
As he uncrossed his arms to clasp his hands together, Loki was on the verge of asking Darcy if she wanted to run away to Vanaheim with him. It was probably a foolish idea, and he doubted she would even say yes after what happened between them. There were also no coffee shops or any of the things she was accustomed to, and it would only keep them out of Thanos' reach for a little while longer. As nice as that thought would be, it was probably better to not take her with him if he did try to leave.
He looked down at his hands and scowled, watching as he was just short of wringing them together. He hoped the other stones were in safe keeping, but he trusted that about as much as other people trusted him.
"I have much to atone for," he said slowly and cautiously, before glancing up at her. "Do not forget that I made several spiteful and vengeful choices, and many suffered because of that. I also can not keep the Tesseract indefinitely hidden with my belongings. It is likely he may still be drawn to it. He was, either to me or to Asgard's destruction, moment before I arrived here. Shielding and warding it seemed the best option. The chamber housed the Aether from being found, before. Only...now I do not want him to realize you know its whereabouts. He would make you suffer, and that would be on my account."
He tried to smile with a confidence he didn't possess when speaking about this subject.
"Therefore, a clever ruse and a great chase might be in order. If I fail, then you are the last person to know its whereabouts. I will then leave it to you how best to proceed, or who you choose to tell. I will be beyond caring at such a point."
Certainly, trickery and evasiveness wouldn't earn him a spot with the warriors in Valhalla. If he met his end, Loki was sure it would be more akin to the old saying about the road to Helheim being paved with good intentions...and quite a few bad intentions, too.
To further complicate matters and much to his perpetually growing dismay, he wasn't sure what Thor could do even if he was told, either now or later. They purposefully destroyed Asgard in order to stop Hela. As strong as his brother was, he doubted Thor would be able to stop Thanos. Or any of the Avengers, even if their so-called 'stupid shit' was put aside. If they blew up Midgard, where was everyone on the bloody planet going to go to, when they hadn't even managed to colonize their own Moon yet?
"Pardon the vernacular," Loki could easily be heard muttering, "but I believe that this entire universe is well and truly fucked."
There was nothing she could be mad at when he it came to his plan. It wasn’t something she could dissuade him from, and it was his own thing and didn’t really involve her. Well except for the fact that she knew where it was now. She got how that would be dangerous, if he thought that the best way to find out was to go through her. But she was still glad that he told her. She didn’t want any more stupid secrets between them.
“Well I don’t like your plan. But..I also don’t know any other plan so..” she shrugged. And yeah the thought of him being destroyed was scary, and she really didn’t like that part. But she kind of figured that if it were to happen to him, then she would likely not be too far behind. Everyone would be. “Yeah, you’re right. We’re fucked.”
Great. Now she was depressed for an entirely new reason. So that was fun. Slowly she got up from the couch, not really wanting to sit any more and didn’t say anything for another couple of moments, sort of pacing a bit and trying to figure out how she felt about everything. She didn’t want it to seem like she was just going to forgive him because they could die at any moment.
“Okay. I want you to really think about trying to find another way. And if we think of anything that isn’t going to get you or me or anyone else killed, then we’ll take it. And I absolutely don’t want you to make me unable to talk again. That was really fucking upsetting.” And not in just the maddening kind of way either. It was scary. “And I need you to actually talk to me. And don’t do things behind my back. Okay?”
Not being the epitome of a team player, Loki looked unsure if he was capable of what she was asking. Most of the time, he wanted to be. Other times, not so much. Even so, he could see the sense in what Darcy was saying, since she already knew more than she rightly should.
At that last thought, he made a face that was almost a wince. It was not a vulnerability he would have allowed to happen, before.
"Yes, okay. Know that I have tried to think of other ways, including telling my brother," he offered. "This is the only plan I could concoct, and no, it is not preferable. If anyone found out I took the Tesseract before Asgard was destroyed, it would have been taken away, immediately. And no, the destruction of Asgard would not be enough to destroy an Infinity Stone. They are older than the universe is and have endured. I know this from experience, for Thor tried to destroy the Aether and it reformed itself."
He watched her pacing and stepped in front of her to cut her off at the pass, so to speak.
"I will never again hinder your ability to speak," he said, while reaching out to take hold of her hand and abruptly stopping himself short of actually doing it. He didn't think that would be tolerated at this juncture. "I will endeavor to speak to you about this and all other matters. And should I have need to cast a spell to protect you, then I will tell you first. Is this acceptable?"
It wasn’t so much that she wanted him to be a team player, she just didn’t want him to just give up and not try to think of anything and everything so that he wouldn’t just die. That’s all.
Darcy nodded her head, “Okay. Well. We’ll just keep trying to think of things. That’s all. Don’t give up on me just yet, okay?” That’s all she was asking. She wasn’t asking him to go and do anything more than to just keep thinking about it.
As he stepped in front of her, she looked up at him. When he reached for her, she didn’t move or step back. Maybe a little sad when he didn’t do it, but she understood why. She’d not really given him anything to go on. Yeah she could still be mad, but damn it, she missed him. Desperately. And maybe she was an absolute fool to try and trust him again, and she would just get burned but…well they were all going to die eventually someday, right?
“Yes, this is acceptable.” And then she closed the gap between them and pressed her lips eagerly against his.
At least there was some hope that - between the two of them and their obscure ways of thinking - they might come up with a better plan. He wanted to tell her that, or to tell her he was hesitating because he didn't want to get tased again. It was still an utterly ridiculous word for a profoundly uncomfortable experience. And the other reason he was holding back was that he had already taken too many liberties casting unwanted spells on her. It would be better to let her decide how best to proceed. If she wanted to proceed at all, which....
Nevermind. Because those thoughts were wiped out by an avalanche named Darcy Lewis. The second their lips met, Loki's eyes widened. That lasted only as long as it took for him to forget all about invasions of personal space or taking liberties. His lips had already been parted to speak, so Loki knew that Darcy had seized hold of a prime opportunity. Clever girl.
He wasn't certain where they were heading with this, if anywhere, but he missed her. Desperately. Enough to actually mean everything he said to her. No lies. Not even a small fib. Those might come later. But for right now, he felt the sort of elation he had been missing for years upon years. Elation had been so thoroughly wrapped up with jealousy and scheming that it almost seemed like he had forgotten what it felt like all on its own.
So elated was he, that he barely noticed the exact point when both hands were resting on the sides of her face. He deepened the kiss even more, abruptly moving his entire body against Darcy and sending them both staggering around like a couple of village drunks during a harvest festival.