Who: Gamora and Loki What: Magically delicious disguises. When: A couple of days after this message Rating: Green.
Gamora sat very still and very straight on the couch in her suite. She had positioned herself so she could stare at the door, and placed her phone on the cushion beside her. It was time to meet the sorcerer who seemed to be the end-all of illusions, but could also be trouble, by all accounts. Or, by Stephen Strange’s account, and Gamora had come to trust the sorcerer-slash-doctor a great deal.
This was why she had chosen to set up their meeting on ‘her turf’, as it were. She had messaged this Loki with the details, from hotel name to room number, and told him to announce himself via text message before knocking. If he thought her measures ridiculous, that was his business. She needed to feel safe more than anything else.
He had thought about it on his way over, since he could have sent multiple clones of himself capable of interacting right into her room from another realm entirely, if he wanted to. With enough care when traversing the paths, he might have been able to get into her room from another realm entirely. He had no reason or intent to do so, but word of his deeds had certainly preceded him. No doubt the work of that second-rate sorcerer.
Oh, the trials and tribulations that he had to go through, while striving for redemption and greatness. He supposed it was important to some to have a false sense of security, even if he felt it deep down into his cursed bones that no one in this realm was even remotely near being safe. It was a nice comforting illusion that it was. Who was he to correct it?
Now standing before Gamora's door, Loki reached into his coat pocket to take out his phone. He tapped a fingertip over the letters on the screen and hit send.
> Hello. I have arrived and shall now knock upon your door.
He slid the phone into his pocket again and knocked only one time, standing back and waiting with his hands kept in plain view.
Gamora noticed the text message and walked promptly to the door, waiting for the knock, and then another beat, before opening the door. In front of her was a fairly normal man, certainly dressed less expectedly than Dr. Strange had been. She locked eyes with him and stood aside, allowing him to enter.
“Loki, come on in. Thank you for coming.” She didn’t sit down, much too nervous to do so. At her side was her retractable blade, like always. “And thank you for helping.”
A black suit with a long black overcoat was definitely as monochromatic and mundane as things could get. Loki might look fairly normal, but his eyes were bright and as he entered, a shrewd gaze skimmed over the woman and the room. He surmised that a woman this cautious would no doubt be armed. Any other time he would have thought that smart, but now that he was exploring whatever good side he might still have left to him, it was a bit tedious. As it was, he wasn't going to do anything untoward, seeing as he had other things to do that he couldn't do, if anyone managed to maim him.
"It is the least I can do, as I have my own transgressions that require recompense," was his reply, his voice smooth and soothing. He smiled at Gamora, and there was an undercurrent of remorse to his overall expression. "Pity your skin must be covered up. Green is one of my favorite colors."
Not expecting him to mention whatever he had done in the past so easily, Gamora blinked back her surprise, making no mention of the warnings she’d been given about him by Stephen Strange. She did not care nor did she want to be in any way involved. She simply nodded her understanding, remembering that she, too, had tried to make up for all she had done while shackled to Thanos and Ronan. She was still trying.
His compliment to her skin color wasn’t one she’d heard much if ever, and so Gamora smiled, surprised. “Ah, thank you. I agree with you but it seems the skin color diversity on this planet isn’t as extensive as where I’m used to being. So… how will it be done?”
He had plenty of thoughts about Thanos, but he wasn't the type to share his thoughts very often. Not even to one of Thanos' daughters....if they could even be considered that. There was nothing familial there and he imagined that the mad titan was a far worse father than Odin had been the last few years. Those were dark thoughts to continually muddle through, later on while he pretended to be reading.
"I shall cast an illusion over you, so that you might pass along the small minded mortals, and only those who you know would see you. Ah. I nearly forgot." He reached into a pocket and pulled out a small silver vial, on a silver chain. It was held out to Gamora, dangling by a barely hooked fingertip. "If I am incapacitated or die, this will offer you time to escape with a temporary guise."
He had to leave a double behind in the house, pretending to be asleep, while he traversed a hard found secret path into Vanaheim for the ingredients. It had afforded him time there to look around for...other things. The mere thought of which made his smile more of a playful smirk, worthy of a god of mischief.
“But those under the same conditions we are will still see the real me, right?” She asked, grabbing the silver chain with a frown. Gamora nodded as the sorcerer explained what to do with the vial, and slipped it around her neck, tucking it into her shirt.
“Thank you. If you ever need anything I can provide, just ask.” She smiled faintly before a wave of hesitation came over her. “Will I feel...different? Will I feel anything? I don’t fear pain, I only want to know.”
"Yes, they will." There was a little wrinkle of his nose and a quirk at the corner of his mouth, before he shook his head at her. "No, you shouldn't feel a thing other than a light tingle or tickle. It will be painless and will not be felt at all, after it is cast. It will hold fast."
He raised his eyebrows, wanting to make sure she had no other misgivings before he cast the spell.
"Have you any other questions?"
Exhaling, Gamora shook the tension from her body and stood with her arms at either side of her torso. Everything seemed in order, even if she still couldn’t believe she was about to have magic cast on her. Somehow that still seemed weird, even despite the orb and infinity stone situation. She supposed if she thought about it like energy transfer and molecule transmutation, it might make more sense. Especially in the face of a time anomaly that had pulled a bunch of people onto the same space.
“No more questions. Go ahead.” She told Loki, staring straight ahead past his head. Gamora was sure that whatever was about to happen was nothing compared to what had happened to her before. She had almost been disintegrated by Ronan’s orb, after all. That had hurt horrors.
If only he knew she had been in contact with an infinity stone. But he couldn't read a mind without physical contact and the appropriate spell, and he couldn't see the future.
"You look like a woman condemned," Loki said with a light laugh, holding out one hand toward her.
A sheen of what seemed to be green energy moved over her, from head to toe. It would have felt as the lightest of breezes over her skin, and then would be light as air and indetectable.
"That was not so terrible, was it?" he asked, while lowering his hand down to his side.
Gamora, looking at Loki with her head at an angle, gave a little laugh. “I’ve been one. I was much angrier then.”
Her insides contracted when he extended his hand, and Gamora held her breath once the energy left his hand and moved in her direction. She felt it like a breeze, and Gamora couldn’t help but look at her own skin, and then back at Loki. She had forgotten to ask how she would look in image capturing devices or the mirror, but it was too late now. She assumed the mirror would be fine, but the pictures she had doubts about.
“No! No it was fine. Thank you.” Gamora replied quickly. “I forgot to ask how it will behave with image capture, but it doesn’t matter. As long as I can move around with ease. Thank you again.”
He had been much angrier before too. Now it was old wounds and angry stabs that would periodically rip open and bleed until it healed over again.
"You're welcome. Any images of you will retain your features, with the exception being that your skin and hair will resemble a more Midgardian hue. You will be able to move with great ease. I shall show myself out."
He gave her a little grin and moved to leave.
“Alright, thanks for clarifying. And thank you for this.” Gamora replied, smiling back at Loki when he grinned. At least Peter would still see her like she was, as was anyone in on this. Even though he said he’d see himself out, she walked Loki to the door, like someone with manners. “Remember, anything you need that I can help you with…”
Once he was out the door Gamora waved, a little more relieved now that she could move about the city.
“Goodbye, Loki.” she said, and closed the door with a relieved sigh.