A penny gets you in, but it won't get you out

[scarred_grin]

...so long story short, Loki had nothing to do with that chalk graffiti in the hallway upstairs, doesn't even own a pair of roller skates, and in any case will not be going near the tequila again anytime soon. Mistakes were made. Jeez, that was like ten hours ago. Can't we all just move on?

In any case, here she is stretched out on the couch in a look that radiates 'off-duty goth barista, probably also an art student': twentyish, crayon-red streaks in otherwise black-dyed hair, lip-rings through her old scars, big headphones, a t-shirt that never fails to amuse her, tiny shorts, and platform boots that if she were standing would make her six and a half feet tall, but right now just help her take up the whole couch. Oh, and fishnet, since after all she'd invented it TRUE STORY

So yeah, there she is, half-drawing half-writing in a notebook, now and then singing along to the music on her headphones, totally botherable if you're feeling brave.



[tinytags: loki (that norse one)][open forever, though slows will happen at some point]

Comments

[scarred_grin]

"There's some people who still do that," she says. "Some prophet or other will say 'The world's gonna end on this day, I'm the only one who knows the truth.' So they sell everything, and the world doesn't end, and they just... don't mention their earlier delusion anymore."

Nobody wants to admit that they were that wrong.

"But the new thing they do is, they pick some scenario--some sort of worldwide disaster, natural or medical or economic--and they dream up ways that they'll be able to survive it. They'll store years' worth of food in their houses, they'll stockpile guns and alcohol."

[ostro_goth]

"It seems like a very strange pastime of those that can afford it," Teja says, smiling now -- or maybe merely sneering. "They invent a thing, and then they pretend it would be real. Like children playing at keeping house."

[scarred_grin]

"I used to live with a guy," she says. "He was convinced that there's gonna be a nuclear war or something, so he had a whole basement full of food and vodka. But he'd never let me touch any of it, because what if there was a war and he was one bottle short? He went on these weekend survival trips where they go off into the woods with nothing and, I don't know, run around naked and roll around in piles of leaves. Because the future of humanity depends on it I guess."

[ostro_goth]

"One hopes that his body reflected those days in the woods, in a good way, when his addled mind was turned off?" Teja says, feeling so at ease with her now he hazards a remark that is (for Teja!) very off-beat indeed. "Or what else would you stay by him, if he would not even give you food and drink if you so desired?"

[scarred_grin]

"Oh, he was like an animal," she grins. "Sometimes crazy-sex is the best thing in the world--I've never been one for normal, you know? And if ever a man was born to roll around naked in leaves, it was him. But a girl's got to draw the line somewhere, and for me that line's just a little to the left of 'getting ditched in the woods and expected to find my own way home, as a survival exercise. Naked.'"

[ostro_goth]

Teja gives a brief laugh at that. He cannot tell what it is about this woman that will take him off his guard quite this far.

"I would assume that one must choose such a thing, and if it happens unchosen, then all which followed was quite his own fault," he says.

[scarred_grin]

"If he'd told me," she says, "if he'd said 'Hey, I'm gonna take you out into the woods and leave you there with no clothes or anything, in the middle of the night, 'cause I got a Garden of Eden fixation and I think it sounds fun' I wouldn't have minded at all. But no, it was 'Hey baby, I got something special planned for our anniversary tonight. You're gonna love it.' And I'm a girl who likes surprises."

[ostro_goth]

She does sound nicely adventurous, like a woman who would drop her notebook at a moment's notice to go on a journey of many moths to the outer reaches of the world to bring back strange treasure and battle monsters never seen before.

"One would assume he overdid it," Teja smiles.

[scarred_grin]

"I don't need a guy to bring me flowers or anything," she says. "I know everybody shows love in their own way, and some people aren't romantic at all, and that's fine. And I'll do anything once... but being dumped in the woods, and not allowed to touch the vodka..."

She shakes her head. "It's his loss."

[ostro_goth]

"As one would not doubt in the slightest," Teja says, still with a little smile. "I hope you found a worthy replacement for him?"

[scarred_grin]

"Not lately," she admits. "To be honest, my love life here's been in quite a slump. I think I intimidate some people. It might be the piercings, who knows."

Her tone takes a more playful turn.

"Why... you looking?"

[ostro_goth]

"I have seen those with holes upon their bodies, and rings through them, in more and greatly varied place, here," Teja says. "I have had one myself for a while. It does not worry me."

[scarred_grin]

"I got more," she says, "but I'm not showing them off in here. A friend of mine used to practice on me, and I had no idea there were so many places people could put holes. People are amazingly inventive."

[ostro_goth]

"They are," Teja says, smiling at the memory of all the odd places where Xaldin had piercings. "But there is a pleasure in invention and oddity, and I have made rings to go through such holes, also."

[scarred_grin]

"Have you, now."

Her grin widens. This just may be her lucky day.

"Tell me you're willing to do some custom work. I'll make it more than worth your while."

[ostro_goth]

"Absolutely," Teja says. "And I shall not be squeamish or shy, unless you proceed to roll around naked in leaves without warning."

Pause.

"What would you have made?"

[scarred_grin]

"Oh, I don't know," she says with a chuckle. "The leaves outside are calling me, and it's awfully warm in here, and who am I to deny nature? But I won't be naked. I'll keep my shoes on, at least."

Barefoot on twigs and gravel, no thanks. There's a reason people invented shoes.

"I want you to wire my mouth shut."

[ostro_goth]

Uhoh?

"Like Loki's mouth was sewn shut, in the myths," he says. "You already have holes and rings in it; you would just wish for wire to be passed through?"

He knows better than to ask for a reason.

He looks at her shoes.

[scarred_grin]

"You can do it any way you want," she says. "Like a series of fish-hooks, maybe, connecting on the outside but separate on the inside. Or as one continuous piece of metal. Any metal you want, and in any style you want. Grotesque, beautiful, industrial, simple, anything. It doesn't even have to be painless... it just has to be removable."

Her shoes are knee-high boots with eight-inch platforms, lots of buckles and a flame design. It would be impressive if she could walk around off the paths outside without falling or twisting an ankle.

[ostro_goth]

"One piece, that would make your mouth seem wired shut," Teja says, nodding.

Now it makes more sense.

"That you can put in or out. I would have to measure your lips and the holes very precisely, for that."

Indeed, those shoes are impressive; and he hopes she can walk in them outside, should they need to go to the forge now.

[scarred_grin]

"You can measure anything you want," she says. "If you can leave enough room somewhere for me to fit a straw in, I'd like that too, but it's not a requirement. Being able to drink is always a plus."

[ostro_goth]

"Indeed," Teja says, "I can take that into account."

Pause.

"Would you follow me to my smithy, where I have measuring tools and my notebooks?"

[scarred_grin]

"Of course," she says, sliding her pen into the spiral-binding of her notebook before hoisting herself to her feet. With her ridiculous shoes and the already tall, lanky build of this body, standing up makes her seem a bit vertically stretched, but what is shapeshifting for if not playing with proportion?

"You're not going to brand me, are you?"

[ostro_goth]

"Only if you ask me to," Teja says, before he can stop himself.

He seems to have some problems stopping himself around her, as it is.

He stands, over six food tall, so no truly dwarfed by her height, and leads the way towards the back door.

[scarred_grin]

"Mmmm... whatever you feel inspired to do," she says, clopping along beside him with a walk not unlike a drunken marionette. "I defer to your instincts."

There's just something about fire. She can't help it.