(no subject)

[just_cant_lose]

 
Jim had been very pleased to find a door to the bar yesterday, because he had some actual academic reading to do and for once, would have been quite happy to just sit quietly and get on with it. At least, that's what he tells himself; the evidence of yesterday is more that if faced with potential distraction, he'll fling himself at it as hard and as fast as possible.

Anyway, the whole thing put him off reading, so he's back to building stuff. Bar presented him with a note from his older self, telling him that if even thought about setting foot in the upstairs suite again, he'd regret it. To soften the blow of losing room privileges, he was given a box of computer parts and told to make himself a new one. 

So that's what he's doing, looking vaguely interested but still a bit grumpy. His face hurts and his lip keeps splitting open again. It's a drag. 

(But so worth it. Now he gets to plot his response, which is always the fun part of any situation.)



[OOC: Open alllll over this lovely long weekend. :D Violence in the link.]

Comments

[foolyoutwice]

He's escaped Thor's brotherly watch. (Which Thor presumably doesn't think requires escaping from, but it so does.) So. Time to dress to fit in, and time to explore.

Loki pauses in his wandering to look at the boy's work. It's so...quaint.

[just_cant_lose]

Jim's hands pause as he's stared at, and then glances up. His eyebrow quirks in silent question, and then he sits back.

'Hello.'

[foolyoutwice]

"What sort of...computer?...is that supposed to be?"

If he sounds patronizing, and he does, at least it's not because Jim is a kid.

[just_cant_lose]

'Haven't decided yet.'

If he sounds cocky, and he does, it's not because he's already decided Loki is an asshole. Though he might of.

'No computers where you come from?'

[foolyoutwice]

He wouldn't be wrong about Loki being an asshole! Loki isn't even trying to pretend to be anything else.

"Not with that kind of...bits and pieces." He reaches into the box of parts and picks one or two up at random.

[just_cant_lose]

Jim's eyebrow raises again, but he doesn't say anything yet.

'Then what kind do you use?'

Potentially interesting!

[foolyoutwice]

"Better ones." He grins: in fact he knows he's an asshole. "But I don't know how to work with this kind. You're from Earth?"

[just_cant_lose]

'Yes.'

He is not going to pass up the chance to learn about better computers. He doesn't have to like someone to use their knowledge. So he smiles a little bit - it doesn't reach his eyes - and adds, 'do you want a drink? Order one off my tab, if you like. Get me a pint while you're there.'

The age restriction is so tedious.

[foolyoutwice]

Loki's answering smile doesn't particularly warm his eyes either. "What if I buy you a drink and you let me watch you work?"

[just_cant_lose]

Really now? Jim looks amused, but shrugs.

'Okay. As long as that's all you want to watch me do.'

Beat.

'You'd have to buy me dinner for anything else.'

He's kidding! Dinner and drinks has nothing to do with anything.

[foolyoutwice]

"I'm not sure you're that interesting." But the computer bits, they look like they might be roughly the same vintage as what he'd seen in that encampment where he'd found Thor, to tell him Odin was dead. And that could, potentially, be interesting.

He steps over to the bar and comes back with a goblet of wine for him and a pint of beer for Jim. Earth beer, even. "So why are you building from scratch?"

[just_cant_lose]

'You're wrong.'

But fine, let him discover that on his own.

'I'm building from scratch because that way, it won't be shit. And I can add in all the extras I want.'

A box of computer parts from his older self is not just a box of computer parts. Any computer belonging to Jim Moriarty is booby-trapped to hell and back. He pulls a vial of liquid out to show the guy - even though it's not labelled - gives it a shake and drops it back in.

'What's your name?'

[foolyoutwice]

Loki nods approval--at the building from scratch, at the extras. The liquid, eh, he has no idea what it is, but it's probably an extra he'd appreciate!

He has a sip of his wine and picks up another computery bit to look over. "I am Loki of Asgard." He pauses long enough to make it plain that he's considering whether he wants to know Jim's. "--And you?"

[have_no_mercy]

"Oh, dear."

It's said softly as Tess sits alongside him.

"Seems like there's a lot of this going around lately."

[just_cant_lose]

'What's that?'

Jim looks very small and sorry for himself. On purpose, naturally.

[have_no_mercy]

"People being beaten up."

She looks his face over, eyebrow raised.

"Do you ever fight back?"

[just_cant_lose]

Really? It can't have been William on a rampage. He'll ask in a minute, but there's some genuine curiosity to be relieved first.

'Why would I?'

[have_no_mercy]

She shrugs.

"I don't know. Maybe out of a sense of pride, or just to say you did."

[just_cant_lose]

He snorts quietly.

'There's no pride in brawling, and I don't have to prove to anyone what I'm made of.'

Knowing he fought back wouldn't make him feel good. He feels good knowing he can take anything the idiots throw at him. They could break him bone by bone, and he'd still spit in their eye.

'Who else has been getting beaten up?'

[have_no_mercy]

That's about what she figured he'd say.

She runs a finger gently down his face to his lip.

"Another kid I met here. Older than you. Don't think he fought back, either, but he wished he had."

[just_cant_lose]

That touch makes him smile, just a bit. He may even kiss her fingertip, but his eyes don't match the gently amused expression. Not that he's mad at her, he's just thinking about William.

'I don't wish I had.'

[have_no_mercy]

"I know."

She taps her finger against his nose, then pulls away.

"How did it start?"

[just_cant_lose]

Now he looks amused.

'My trying-to-be-straight fufure fuckbuddy was in a rage about his dad, and also thinks I should be a bit more decorous.'

Which, no, never going to happen.

[have_no_mercy]

She laughs, a little.

"Does he now."

[just_cant_lose]

'Mm. Apparently I need to be a bit more ashamed of what I am.'

Neeeeeeever gonna happen.