InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Damit thats where I eat dinner"

Loki Odinson (maybesnake) wrote in valarlogs,
@ 2018-10-15 09:36:00

Entry tags:

!open, loki odinson, marcus keane

Who: Loki and Marcus
What: Loki requires some assistance
When: Recently
Where: In a park gazebo
Rating: PG (Will Update, as needed)
Status: In Progress

His brother would have mocked his choice of where to make his perch, for leave to Loki to visit a park on a marvelously sunny day in California and set up in the most reclusive, shaded quadrant of the area. Far from the open fields where children played -- very far -- Loki had constructed his nest in a dilapidated gazebo. And a nest it truly appeared to be: sturdy leather bags for traveling, papers to the left and right of him, schoolwork to grade, tablets upon both knees, and himself in the center, cross-legged on the floor, because the ancient seating could not support so much weight, of which his lanky frame might not have comprised the majority.

Whether he looked more like a busy tenant or the prince of nothing was for passersby to decide. Either way, he gave off the impression that he owned the site and would not enjoy company. Loki had tuned out the surrounding noises with music playing through earbuds that connected to one of the two tablets and he had receded into the deep interior of his vast playground of a mind. Still, he would have noticed another person in a fraction of a second -- and likely snapped at them -- had anyone attempted to test the idea that the park was public and one man had no right to claim quite so much of it.

So when the papers began to fly away on a gust of wind, Loki was on his feet in seconds. Yet somehow, he was already too late. "Shit!" he hissed, watching his hard work make a clumsy escape -- and just as clumsily, because he had first to secure the papers that remained in the gazebo, Loki ran down the stairs and through the grass, looking for all the world like a man suffering an enormous indignity, ignoring the fact that he was the only one responsible for the mess as he cursed whatever god had frowned on him.

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rubeofgod
2018-10-16 11:08 am UTC (link)

Having an office near said park meant that Marcus often took his lunch there. Today it was a turkey and provolone sandwich from the deli across the street. For his part, Marcus was much more interested in his sandwich and making his arrangements for his trip to Georgetown and St Louis to worry very much about others around him.

That was, until papers began to fly in his direction, interrupting his sandwich time. His phone was still pulled up to the Travelocity app as he was thumbing through to find the best flight from Georgetown to St. Louis. He'd been thinking on how he didn't really want to go alone, but the only person he wanted to go with him would be busy when that paper landed on his sandwich.

Marcus pulled the paper from his sandwich and eyed it with a furrowed brow, then saw more, followed by a man who was frantically trying to catch them. Quickly, Marcus put his phone in his pocket and began t try to catch whatever he could, stepping on a few sheets to stop them from blowing any further. His sandwich had to be sacrificed in order to catch some more sheets as the stranger swore and fumbled.

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maybesnake
2018-10-16 01:19 pm UTC (link)

Loki cast a quick glance over his shoulder, not surprised to see someone offering assistance, and to be honest, grateful for it. But there was another emotion that pricked at him, as well. He did not like being caught in situations that suggested he had been foolish in one way or another. Yes, he should have been more careful to weigh down his papers. Oh well, at least it wasn't his brother appearing out of nowhere. This man was a stranger.

In the end, there weren't as many papers to catch as it seemed when the wind started. Perhaps ten in all. In his frenzy, Loki had imagined it to be all his work flying away. Soon, he had one half, this good Samaritan the other. He walked over to collect his work and thank him, stuffing down what remained of his embarrassment. The man was about middle-aged, a bit shorter than he but not by much, and seemed the definition of good on his feet.

"A good thing you were nearby," said Loki, rather cheerfully. By now, he was glad the incident was over. He held out a hand. "I can take that. Thank you."

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rubeofgod
2018-10-17 08:51 am UTC (link)

As the stranger approached, it took everything Marcus had not to start internally psychoanalyzing him, just by habit. There was something just a bit askew about him. Not sociopathic, but something....

No. Stop it.

Marcus gave the man a little smile and straightened the papers as much as he could. He wasn't curious about what was on them, that was the stranger's business.

"Sorry about the shoe marks," he said as he handed the pile over.

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maybesnake
2018-10-17 12:20 pm UTC (link)

It wouldn't have been the first time someone had wondered the same. Even Loki, from time to time. That the man was giving him a good look did not go unnoticed. Loki chalked it up to the fact that he still felt a fool for putting himself in this position. Had to be written across his face.

He took the papers from the man, shrugging at the shoe print. His own collection looked much the same. "Not my homework. Well, mine to grade, but... They really ought to do everything electronically by now, shouldn't they? I don't know why they don't."

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rubeofgod
2018-10-17 12:31 pm UTC (link)

"Computers will never match the human eye for detail," was Marcus' answer. It probably depended much more on the subject, but Marcus suspected that since every student had different ways of learning, humans would always be the ones to grade papers, unless the test were done on those little strips you fill out the bubbles on. Even then, there was plenty of room for error.

As the stranger took the last paper, Marcus became curious. "Are you a teacher?" he asked. The man seemed almost nervous to be in contact with another human. That he might be a teacher was surprising.

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maybesnake
2018-10-17 01:02 pm UTC (link)

The fact that a man such as Loki -- if he could be called a man, for in many ways he still resembled a boy -- had ended up in a position such as teaching in the state of California was undoubtedly the subject for much psychoanalysis. He looked at the man and smiled a bit. "Apparently. Though it feels more like I'm paid to talk for an hour and lull the class to sleep. I teach at CIT. Intro to Philosophy. But you have to start somewhere, I suppose."

He was not being as forthright with the information as he might have seemed. To Loki, these were the most important details of his life. A job was a job.

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rubeofgod
2018-10-18 09:21 am UTC (link)

That made more sense. The stranger teaching grade school just didn't fit, at all. "It's a good place to start," Marcus offered. He wondered what the man's end goal was, if the position he had was only a start, but seeing as how they'd just met, he wasn't about to pry.

Marcus offered over a hand, hoping that if the man shook it, his papers would remain in place. "Marcus Keane," he introduced himself. "Not quite philosophy, but psychology."

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maybesnake
2018-10-18 12:47 pm UTC (link)

Oh. So they were going so far as to introduce themselves to one another. Loki wiped his palm on the side of his shirt and extended it to the man. Marcus Keane. Loki tended to have cold hands, whether he was nervous or not. Poor circulation, he'd been told.

"Not quite? Our fields have always informed one another," he said, quirking the slightest of genuine smiles. And just as quickly it wavered. Back home, giving his name was always met with little comments: Oh, you're Odin's little boy! or Ah, yes. Thor's brother. He hated hearing that. But on the West Coast, at least his father was unknown.

"Loki Odinson."

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rubeofgod
2018-10-19 07:28 am UTC (link)

Names were just names to Marcus. The only one that signified much to him anymore was God and he wouldn't be surprised to find Him or any other Gods around. As it was, the name clued him in to very little beyond coincidence for now.

"Pleasure to meet you, Dr. Odinson," he said respectfully. "Out of curiosity, what sort of papers are you holding on to if not your own class's?"

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maybesnake
2018-10-23 01:13 am UTC (link)

"No, it is my class," Loki corrected. "I can see how I might have confused you. I was flustered." In reality, he did not see, but he let the matter drop. The truth remained that he had been dizzy after chasing the papers. Marcus probably was, too. And the man had already earned points by referring to him properly. Loki had put an incredible amount of work into his PhD. More than he had put into anything before or since.

Still, Thor was eternally thought of as the "real" doctor of the family.

"This is Philosophy 101. I teach four Philosophy 101s. It's tragic."

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rubeofgod
2018-10-30 09:48 am UTC (link)

"Why tragic?" Marcus asked.

Was that too personal? Marcus didn't think so nor did he very much care. His days were spent asking highly personal questions and Dr. Odinson had just unwillingly prompted it, so there they were, two highly educated people standing in the middle of a park after chasing papers. If you asked Marcus, there were worse ways to meet a person.

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maybesnake
2018-11-06 01:32 pm UTC (link)

Loki's shoulder moved up and down. With a sigh, he rolled his eyes for good measure. "Because it's a tech school and no one cares." Lately, he had wondered how much he himself cared anymore. He was somehow becoming both overworked and frightfully bored. And history had proven it wasn't good for him to suffer ennui for too long a time.

"They fall asleep. Or they text the whole time. Think I can't see them smiling at their crotches beneath the desks."

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