Who: Madison and Loki What: Just randomly running into each other. When: Around the end of the fear plot. Where: Streets of Madison Rating: PG-13 at best Status: Closed; Completed Gdoc
Now that the bastard with his fear gas was gone, Madison felt far more confident in roaming Madison Valley's streets again. Madison knew that she could handle herself, but Scarecrow was a sneaky asshole and she knew he'd managed to get the jump on a lot of powered people in town. Because of this, Madison had forced herself to stay close to home. However, with his presence in Madison Valley a thing of the past, the blond was more than happy to stretch her legs for some much needed caffeine fix.
She'd just turned the corner when she found herself running right into Loki. Madison was so startled that she almost lashed out at him with her power. Instead, she ended up with her face pressed into the cloth of his shirt and cheeks burning. Why did every fucking time they run into each other it had to be awkward and embarrassing?
Quickly, Madison pushed away from him and straightened her top. She tossed blond hair over her shoulders and gave him an annoyed look. "You're lucky I recognized you or else you might be a smoldering pile of ash right now," she scolded.
Surprisingly, Loki hadn’t had any ruins with the Scarecrow. He heard about it on the network, but didn’t have any personal experience with the man. Creature. Whatever it was. He had enough pride and confidence that he could have withstood anything the Scarecrow’s effects threw at him.
Still he didn’t get out much during the time that people were suffering the fear. When things settled, he headed back out again. He was walking hurriedly between shops and running his errands when he bumped into David’s ward. Literally.
He took a step back and straightened his own clothing. Then he snorted. “A smoldering pile of ash? Oh, my child, you never cease to amuse me.”
“Teenager and pyrokinesis is one of my specialties,” Madison retorted. She dug through her purse for a pack of cigarettes. Sliding one out, she pursed it between her lips and clicked open her lighter, igniting the end. Nicotine flooded her system and the blond immediately relaxed. Mostly.
Exhaling a puff of smoke, the witch spoke up again. “So, what are you doing out and about? Besides getting in my way.” Madison was snarky, but she actually didn’t mind Loki….as long as he kept treating David right of course.
“I see.” Loki was reminded of when he learned to do the magic he could do from his mother as a child. He spent a lot of time wandering the world lighting fires and setting off fireworks. Of course, the girl was David’s ward, and he was sexually involved with David, so it made things a little awkward… but he was a little fond of the girl.
“I didn’t know that I needed a reason to wander the streets,” Loki responded, raising an eyebrow. “What are you doing out and about?”
“You could if I ever feel charitable enough to give you a demonstration.” Madison wasn’t nearly as immature with her powers as she’d been before she died. If someone hurt her or her friends, all bets were off, but Madison didn’t usually wield her magic against anyone offensively otherwise.
The witch shrugged. “It was just a question. Consider it my attempt at small talk.” Would running into Loki ever not be awkward? Madison wasn’t sure. It might be more of a mystery than this place.
“Enjoying not having to worry about the crazy ass with his fear has,” she replied bluntly, exhaling a cloud of smoke into the air.
Loki smirked softly. “I suppose I don’t necessarily need the demonstration. I was a teenager once, you know.” Though it probably seemed like a billion years ago to anyone from this planet.
“Hmm.” Loki responded with a nod. It was certainly an awkward attempt at small talk. Still, he couldn’t help but be amused.
“The fear gas, hmm? Did you struggle with it?”
At the reply, Madison couldn’t help, but tease him in return. “Like a billion years ago.” Which was probably less of a tease and far more accurate than Madison realized before the words left her mouth.
Madison was lucky. She’d manage to avoid the fear gas. However, there were plenty of others on the network that had not ended up so fortunate. “I was lucky,” she replied. “I didn’t get hit with it, but from what I saw on the network, there were plenty of unfortunate people who did.” Madison took another drag from her cigarette.
“What about you? Did you struggle with it?”
Loki pretended to be affronted by the accusation. “I’ll have you know that it was considerably less than a billion years ago,” he said, lifting a finger to point at her. Playfully. “Only about nine hundred thousand.” A little smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.
“I followed the news on the Network. It was how I knew to stay away.” Loki had avoided anywhere where he might come face to face with his worst fears. He wasn’t sure what those fears might be, though he thought he had an idea.
“I’m not sure it would have affected me anyway,” Loki mused. “I am, after all, a god.”
Madison’s lips quirk into a smile and she playfully batted away the finger. “Okay so maybe only like a million years ago,” she replied. The blond couldn’t imagine being alive for that long. The god before her had seen so much. Madison knew he had more than a few stories to tell. Perhaps she would pick his brain about all that history one day.
The witch nodded. “Smart. Too bad not a lot of other people did that.” Madison had just confined herself to the house she shared with David. While she’d never openly admit them to anyone, Madison had her share of demons and she didn’t much relish the idea of coming face to face with any of them even if they were hallucinations.
“Probably for the best you didn’t find out. You’re a powerful son of a bitch and the rest of us might have been in big trouble if you were suddenly hallucinating about your greatest fears,” Madison said, exhaling a cloud of smoke.
Loki’s smirk spread a little at that. Sure, things were awkward between Madison and Loki from time to time, but the god was still quite fond of the young woman. She had an incredible sense of humor. “That’s better.” Truth was, he was only in the thousand range, but she didn’t need to know that.
“Other people aren’t like me,” Loki mused. “Or you.” They were both smart enough to stay away from it all.
“Ah… good point.” Loki enjoyed very much when people recognized how powerful he truly was. “I will keep my fingers crossed that it never transpires that way.” Not that Loki would ever admit to having fears, let alone greatest ones. “Hallucinating fears doesn’t sound like much fun, anyway.”
“I figured I would be generous since you look good for your age.” Yes, Madison and Loki had their share of awkward run-ins, but honestly, Madison rather liked him. He’d saved her back when she first arrived and he did possess a good sense of humor. Loki also didn’t treat her like a child which Madison could always appreciate.
Now that was a statement Madison could stand behind. A smirk slowly spread across her lips. “We certainly are one of a kind,” Madison agreed. “A couple of unique souls.” Or at least intelligent ones.
“That makes two of us. I already died like three times, I don’t particularly relish the idea of doing it again.” Madison took one last drag of her cigarette and then dropped it to the sidewalk. She stubbed it out with the toe of her shoe. “And no, it sounds like what it is supposed to be: a nightmare.”
Another good answer. Loki inclined his head just a little at that. He did, indeed, look good for his age. It was pleasant for her to acknowledge it. As awkward as things were sometimes between him and Madison--mostly because of the David connection, but also because Loki was awkward with Midgardians.
“We certainly are.” He would have toasted to that if they had drinks. But then again, she wasn’t old enough for drinks by Midgardian standards, was she? Loki didn’t like trying to figure out the standards here on Midgard. He didn’t care that much, actually.
“No,I imagine that living through one’s own death would be a bit… off-putting.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I’ve only witnessed my own.” He folded his arms across his chest.
Of course he held his head a little bit higher at the compliment. Madison would have done the same. However, it was true. If Loki hadn’t been banging Madison’s guardian the blond would have probably flirted with him shamelessly.
The witch would have toasted if they had drinks too. Not that her age ever stopped her from drinking. If Loki was paying, Madison would have happily suggested it.
“Off-putting is stating it lightly,” Madison replied. She didn’t like to dwell on any of her deaths. Instead, she hone in on the fact that Loki had witnessed his own, but she would definitely need a caffeine fix for that.
“Well, now you’ve gone and made me curious. Why don’t you come grab a coffee with me and you can enlighten me as to how you were unlucky enough to witness your own death?” The witch offered.
Loki could definitely have a coffee with Madison and tell her about his experience at the TVA. The Tesseract. The whole story. It wasn’t the sort of thing that came easily to him--sharing his history with others--but he was growing more and more comfortable with the witch, and felt it would be a good show of trust. (It was good to have allies in a place like this, and he knew she would be a powerful one.)
“That sounds like a lovely way to spend the afternoon,” he said with a slight incline of his head. Then he turned and almost offered her his arm. Would that be strange? On Asgard it would have been accepted easily. But on Midgard things were different.
“The story begins with a blue box,” he began as they headed down the street together.