Who: Loki, Thor What: the (reluctant) hunt for Miowmiow When: early Friday morning Warnings: a general blanket warning because it's Loki & Thor
Busy.
Loki was actually glad to be busy. Busy meant productive, and productive meant fun. He'd finished up what little was left of his current job, received payment, and immediately hopped across town to meet with Dolos. They'd had quite a nice chat. They appeared to be on the same page, and both very creative, and together came up with a Very Good Idea that Loki began working on even before they parted ways. Now, with the pot thoroughly stirred in regards to Mjolnir (something not really planned, but a happy accident), he made his way back through New York in the absolute dead of night, following the invisible tie that connected him to Thor.
Thanks to modern media, he was currently hyper aware of Thor's presence. The closer he got, the stronger it felt. It was infinitely annoying, and something that made his stomach churn, his mind screaming at him to turn the other way, to find that damn hammer on his own and bring it home to Sigyn, all pride and power. He refrained, of course, and continued toward the feeling. In part because he'd given his word to Dolos and to go back on that would be foolish. Mostly because he knew that in the end, even though this would be more work and more energy spent, it would be so much better.
Yes. Loki liked busy very much.
The face on Loki's watch read three-thirty by the time he found himself standing in front of Thor (having approached him head-on because sneaking around in alleys and popping out - while hilarious - would raise suspicion). Miss me? he almost asked, a cheeky smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He swallowed his gut reaction down and tried again.
"So." He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket and schooled his face into a neutral expression. "Ready?"
This had not been the turnout Thor was expecting. All eyes on him. Loki and his brood trolling after him. It gave them pleasure to hit him with words. He was tough, resilient to their taunts, but he shoved back just as hard like that of a spoiled child.
More importantly Loki had struck gold. He had played his tune well enough that Thor had asked him for his help. Thor had let Loki in on his adventure to find Mjolnir---something he'd been adamant about not doing. Thor knew deep down Loki had plans of deception. He may be a dense god, but he wasn't that dense. He would not be tricked into friendship again. But that was the damnedest thing because something in their complicated relationship had shifted in this short amount of time. It had everything to do with the new surge in power and nothing to do with Thor's own feelings. He wasn't about to recite Shakespeare, or done that hideous red cape, but everything was changing for him.
Mjolnir had hid itself from him long enough as years waned without much power at all. Comic books were re-writing his story, which meant this was going to be one hell of an adventure. Seeing Loki appear without fail did remind him of the times they trailed off together. Thor followed with whatever plans Loki had laid out. Now, he wasn't as eager to follow, but Loki was an asset.
Thor still wore his workmen's clothes minus the hard hat. Just jeans and a gray t-shirt. Not quite the same get-up the world expected of him. He looked at Loki with uneasiness. "No green and horns?" he jabbed with a hearty laugh. If he was going to get through this, Thor was going to poke at Loki like a child, because that's how Thor handled things. Act first, think later.
Loki felt his lips press into a thin line. Cute. "Ha ha," he replied, tone flat. "Funny, coming from you, blondie." New general idea of his appearance or not, Loki was still a shape shifter at his core. He might have grown an inch or two, but he'd managed to keep the same form he'd had for the last few decades.
"Can we get started, or is there any more grandstanding you'd like to do?" Play cool, play neutral. Keep the cards close to the vest and continue to control the situation. "Or a shower, perhaps? You're fairly ripe." Turn up the nose for added effect.
Thor ran a hand through his hair protectively, hoping in some off chance it would darken again. He wasn't much a fan of this look. It was too frivolous, and Thor was not frivolous. It was a look befitting of women, not a beefcake like himself.
He pulled his shirt to his nose, taking in a whiff. "Smells like me." It wasn't that intense, but smelled like a hard day's work. "I'm not meant to smell like lavender."
"No one said you had to smell like you frolicked through a field of wildflowers." He could help the flippant remark, the annoyed almost-roll of his dark eyes. "Just not old gym shoes."
He wanted to get this over with. He knew Ran was already out and looking because he knew Ran wasn't stupid and she'd take the chance to get ahead. "Have you got a bead on this thing, or are we going to have to start from scratch?"
Thor's face turned to stone, a low (what could have been described as a growl but came off a little more pissed) noise rumbling in his throat. That was a threat, a big one if Loki kept pushing buttons.
Most would assume that the hammer was somewhere where there was a lot of traffic. It would be the obvious hide out somewhere big. Somewhere powerful. However, since Mjolnir was hiding itself from him, Thor expected it to be somewhere more remote.
"Perhaps outside the city lines." While the hype built up smack in the middle of the city, he hoped his assumption was right. He had little more than that right now.
Loki let out a short huff, his breath forming a small cloud in the dim light of the nearby street lamp. It wasn't particularly cold, but the Norse were always slightly icy, Loki particularly so. He didn't really want to deal with Thor's attitude, had to endure it to see this through, but it certainly didn't mean he had to take it lying down. To not quip was to not be Loki, and to not act like himself would be a huge tip-off.
"Well, you have the lead." He extended his arm, palm up, and bowed slightly, gesturing for Thor to begin moving. He would keep up. He still knew too little of the story to make any deductions on his own, be he supposed the information would come with time.
Thor pressed forward, looking over his shoulder with disdain. Why had he succumbed to this? "What's the use for you then?" he huffed, his feet hitting the pavement heavily.
If Loki continued he was certain if he wished to strike him down with lightening, with this burst of power, he very well could. He'd have to watch his back.
"What's in it for you?" Everything. Loki wanted the world right? Or, was that these mortals desire?
He caught up quickly, hands still in his pockets, shoulders straight. "I suppose to make sure you don't get yourself into any trouble." Which was a very real issue, it seemed, if Thor'd gone on with his original plan. "I certainly can't have an idea of where to look if you don't provide me the full story."
He turned his head, flicking dark hair out of his line of vision as he glanced at Thor from the corner of his eye. "I'd rather be proactive in this case," he admitted. "Believe it or not, I'm particular about my gifts. Mjolnir doesn't need to trade any more hands. Or do you assume that I want it for myself, that I might hold dominion over Midgard and the mortals here?" He'd call out the elephant in the room, mainly to get it out of the way and because it was a ridiculous notion.
"Trouble," Thor huffed in amusement. "Please." He'd laid pretty low for long enough. If he roused the mortal world a bit, they would thank him. The full story? The full story was that Mjolnir had been out of his possession for a long time now. "Our kind fell to Christianity and I've lead a pretty mundane existence for some time now. What else is there for you to know?" They had power now. That was the important thing.
Thor stopped in his walk to turn and face Loki. "It isn't such a ridiculous notion." Considering how much of Thor had started to change, was it possible Loki could too. Already, outside of his blonder hair, it took some real grit to bite back anything the world painted of him. He was the tough guy, child-like at times, a competitive guy. It was the reason Mjolnir belonged in no one else's hands but his own.
"You really think you were pulled into Midgard without it?" Loki almost had to laugh. The hammer, it seemed, was just as tied to the image of Thor as Thor was to it. But it was also well-known throughout history on its own, so that might explain a break. He had to wonder. "I wasn't asking for your life story, just how you lost it in the first place. Which you seem to either not know, or you don't want to tell me."
He offered a casual shrug. "Either way, the search will go quicker with two rather than one. And I have connections you really aren't in the line of work to know about. If anyone's heard anything, I'll find out about it." He pulled the cell phone from his pocket and waved it in front of him. He had his own people, and Dolos had his, as well. They'd get a tip sooner or later.
Loki had to laugh at Thor's last statement. "Of course it is. It's absolutely ridiculous. I've no interest in mortals or the silly things they do. The way they ruin their realm. Let them have it. I want no part of it."
Mjolnir was a single entity with Thor, but seperated they were two different beings. Mjolnir was keeping itself well hidden because it was going to make Thor work for it. Finding that hammer wouldn't be easy, but the reward would be great.
"I haven't seen Mjolnir in years," Thor said disgruntled. Loki would use any information against him. He was sure of it.
"Years as in single digits? Or decades? If you say centuries I just might take personal offense."
To them, a year or two was practically nothing. Like days compared to the amount of time they spanned. Anything over a hundred and Loki was going to wonder why he'd given Thor the damn thing in the first place.
"This will go a lot quicker if you just tell me," he added. "The sooner you find it, the sooner you can be rid of me, which seems to be your main priority."
Thor threw up a hand, thinking to himself how long it had been. "A few decades probably." He'd lost track of time. Days breezed by.
"Ha!" he crowed, "I doubt I'll ever be rid of you, now."
They had a ways to go to get outside the city limits. "Mjolnir may not be what you expect. It may have cloaked itself in a guise." He would know when he saw it. He'd feel it. Just as Mjolnir was a separate entity right now, the mortals in the comic book world had morphed it too ever so slightly. There was the off chance that it shaped itself as a walking stick or some other straight inanimate object like how Marvel created. Being out of Thor's grasp for so long it had hid itself from other's as well.
It was also possible that no one else could pick it up but Thor. It was hard to remember if that too was Marvel or from Thor's history.
Loki waved a dismissive hand. "It doesn't matter what it looks like. It always feels the same." Dwarf magic and all that. Everything they made had the same thread of familiarity in it. The spear and the ring, the boat, the hammer. They were all forged on the same bet.
"Besides," he added, putting on a crooked smile, "things not appearing as they seem is somewhat a specialty of mine."
The used to rattle back and forth in the old days before Ragnarok. Before Loki became a turncoat. Thor grunted with a roll of his eyes. Getting around this city was a little on the troublesome side. As little as it was, the streets confused him.
He pulled out a map looking for the location he had a feeling about. Out of Manhattan, closer toward Staten Island. Maybe. It's where he felt pulled to.
"They still make those?" One of his eyebrows arched as he asked the question. "We should probably take a taxi, if you think it's very far."
Squeezing Thor into a taxi was going to be interesting. His legs could never scrunch up as tight in the back. He was just too big. Any ride with Loki was going to seem too long, but he had to get there soon.
"I'm thinking Staten Island."
Loki groaned, pushing up a sleeve to check his watch. "We'll have to take the ferry, then." He hated the ferry. He hated most forms of public transportation, but the ferry especially so. It was slow and never seemed to smell quite right.
"There's one leaving at the top of the hour. We should be able to make it."
Thor's shoulders straightened back up. Where Loki was displeased, he felt relief. A ferry was much better than some vehicle that to Thor was a smart car. He didn't do good in small, cramped places.
Arrogantly he waved his hand towards the ferry with a thin-lipped grin on his face. It was one over Loki at least. There was some pleasure in seeing Loki's discomfort for once.
Once they got to the ferry entrance, Thor could breathe in the air. It wasn't pleasant and smelled like sewage.
At least it was very late (or early, depending) and almost no one was taking the ferry with them. Loki was able to distance himself from Thor, even if it was just a few more feet.
He could feel the line blurring between them, though. Felt a confusion, a fog, settle over him after their convoluted story had emerged in mass media. He'd never considered him a friend (because friends were trusted, and Loki trusted few), definitely not a brother. Perhaps a companion of sorts. At the very least, he'd thought at one point that he'd understood him. He was mostly angry at himself for being wrong. He'd held a slow-burning animosity for Thor for a very long time, and it bubbled up when he was near. It threatened to escape and lash out blindly, made him see red.
But Loki was nothing if not patient, and knew good things always took time.
That fog gave off a really creepy vibe, because Thor felt it too. It was like a tingling sensation on the back of his neck. Mortals had started to weave their own stories about he and Loki. Thor had not thought of Loki as anything close since before Ragnarok. It was childish to ever think such a weasel a friend, but Thor had been very gullible. Whatever danger Loki put him through he went in blindly. Could the same be said for now? It was hard to tell now that things were getting so fuzzy.
By the time the ferry docked the moon was out in her full glory, lapping the water with her bright light. Thor stepped off the boat first, that tingling sensation burning, but this time for something else. He clenched his fist, feeling the veins in his hand sting.