milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Loki isn't bored with Milliways--yet.

Milliways has been entertaining. Much more entertaining than, say, the wormholeyswirlyvoidyspacy place he'd been before seeing?hearing?feeling? the door that opened here. That was boring. Milliways has provided its fun.

Robbing a bank was fun. Seeing ugly dreary sad little Midgard, and finding that it was every bit as ugly dreary and sad as he'd suspected, that was quote-unquote fun. Meeting Thor's little friends--and his boss--was fun. Exploring the library was fun.

Exploring the part of the library that held versions of books Asgard and its neighboring realms had lost thousands of years ago, and hundreds of thousands of years ago, that was fun. (Walking across a miles-long knife-edge of paper to reach it, and then fighting a beast made up of words, also fun. Were they put there on purpose to guard ancient lore? Or had the ancient lore drawn its own protection? Had the powers that be in Milliways just thought Loki needed a brief challenge?) Doing a little light reading on wormholes and the neglected paths of the universe--again, FUN.

Loki isn't bored yet, but he can tell he will be soon.

The only way forward is of course to step back into said wormholeyswirlyvoidyspace, armed with a little knowledge. Only way. But faced with the return, Loki finds himself...reluctant. So he's lingering in the bar, people-watching, door-watching, reading, fiddling with a little portable dimensional pocket thing he'd built for storing a few books. Right now it's storing--and unstoring--an emptied goblet of wine. Now you see it, now you don't. Now you see it...

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"Mmmm, wellll..." Disrupting his brother's coronation, taking the regency, trying to destroy Jotunheim? "I've read some interesting books. They've got textbooks on everything in the library here."

He's weighing whether to keep pushing the I'm-dead line while he's here. It's convenient if Thor thinks him dead, but it's not necessary, and X seems to be making difficulties there.

"Which interuniversal applications are you looking at?"

Diana is a fan of books, too. Learning in all its forms, really, though she rarely has time to indulge her more scientific or artistic sides.

"I'm assuming the inter-universal part, of course, but I can't imagine your library at home suffesr too much, given the -- you are a prince, correct?"

"Well, I was. Probably still am! And the library at home is excellent, of course, but as you say it tends to focus on one universe."

He waves a hands at the books on his table. The most exciting ones aren't here, obviously, since you don't take that sort of thing to a bar. "But here there's a little bit of everything. History, physiology, maps..."

"I imagine that's something to do with your current . . . separation, then."

Her mouth quirks up faintly at one corner, then flattens out again.

"I'd say rather that here there is a lot of everything, but you're right, it's better not to try to absorb all of it at once. Are you looking into others' understanding of human physiology, or are you seeing whether your Asgardians are represented somewhere here?"

"Oh, looking into human physiology. It's been a long time since I had anything to do with Midgard mortals; I thought I should refresh my memory. Speaking of Midgard...Themyscira?" A playfully questioning look. "I'm afraid I don't know it at all."

Just a polite nudge that it's her turn to answer questions.

"The island of the Amazons. My people. We were isolated from the rest of the world for a long, long time. The reintegration has been . . . difficult, at times."

Her smile is rueful.

"Our pantheon of gods includes Zeus, Athena, and Hera, if that helps any."

"Mm." His eyes narrow briefly. "The names are somewhat familiar." (Says the mun, not knowing whether MCU stuff will ever dabble in Olympians, la la la, but we'll assume Loki's heard a little Greek mythology at least.)

"I'm from a pantheon that includes me." But he smiles almost sweetly as he says it, almost self-deprecating.

Diana laughs, clear and bright.

"To be strictly truthful, so am I, though I was asked to leave on account of not being able to keep from interfering when people got in trouble."

Woe.

He's not exactly surprised to hear she's been the object of worship. (It's not exactly difficult to get humans to worship you. They want to worship.) But his smile, meant to be disarming, turns a little more rueful and sympathetic. "Ah. Yesss, I find that the ruling powers often resent what they see as interference. Meddling."

"That's . . . not quite how I would put it, from my own experience. Now that I'm no longer on Mt. Olympus, seeing everything and able to reach my hand everywhere in an instant, they have no objections to my giving aid."

She smiles, very slightly.

"And as godhood rescued me from death, I'm -- not sorry about that, either. I'm sorry your experiences with those in power has been so . . . different."

"That sounds like a double standard, if I'm following you: you can help, but not with the full resources that could be available to you?" Dear, dear. Loki looks Concerned, because he Cares about fairness and helping. "What sort of aid did they object to so much?"

Diana just shakes her head, one corner of her mouth quirking upward.

"It would be, I suppose, but since those resources only got in the way of my work, I can't say I object much. I can see how it would feel very different to you, however. Do people often object to your assistance, or the manner in which you give it?"

"Well..."

Eh. No point in pretending to be too spotless. She knows Thor, and possibly some stories of Loki have come her way. He's very quickly getting used to the idea of a multitude of Lokis, all sorts of Lokis, getting up to all sorts of different fun. "...I admit that some people don't always entirely trust me. They may have read a little much into the 'God of Mischief' thing..."

"I hope it's not the people that matter most to you that do that."

Diana's smile fades very slowly.

"That kind of thing . . . leaves a mark. 'God of Mischief' or no."

Edited 2017-06-09 18:30 (UTC)

His eyes narrow very slightly. Mmm, no, not inclined to be drawn into a heart-to-heart at the moment. "If I were being dramatic," he says with a laugh, "I'd make some reply like 'What people that matter most to me? There's no one'--and so forth. But we can skip that, and you can assume that there may be some lingering issues. Unspecified ones."

Her smile is back, lingering at the corner of her mouth, though her gaze is softer than it was a moment ago.

"We'll table it," she allows.

"But when we're better acquainted I hope you'll learn that you can always talk to me."

Just ask Cheetah. Or Circe. Or Giganta.

(Don't ask Doctor Psycho, he is the creepy exception that proves the rule.)

Loki lets his own smile soften a little. "I'll keep that in mind," he allows in return, and nods. "So...what's this about idle hands?"

Of course he does.

"There's a few that I've heard. Idle hands do the devil's work, idle hands are the devil's workshop -- it's all variations on a theme. Which is to say, people who aren't kept busy get themselves into a lot of trouble."

Her smile remains slightly crooked, but it is less small than it was a moment ago.

Edited 2017-06-09 18:47 (UTC)

"--Ah."

Yes.

He waves his fingertips and grins. "My mother used to say something along those lines, now that you mention it. She may have had a point."

"My mother never did, but then all my sisters were literally guarding the gates to the Underworld, so I suppose as a saying it lacked the air of mysterious menace most others get from it."

Strange but true.

"Oh, well, my mother never brought devils into it. But there were definitely observations about idleness. Usually followed by the assignment of new lessons. --Is it very busy work, guarding the gates of the Underworld?"

"I was too young, save for very near the end, and my mother and sisters were often . . . overprotective. I would say more stressful than busy, as they -- we -- spent most of the time watching for incursions from within. Though when the inhabitants did try to get out -- or someone tried to free them -- then things were busy, indeed."

She smiles a little, gaze gone distant.

"It's odd to think, sitting here now, that those were perhaps the least complicated days of some of our lives."

Diana shakes her head to clear it, then.

"Were you fond of your lessons, or given that idleness was not appreciated by your mother, did you often seek to escape them?"

"All's not peace and love after death? Souls looking to break free? It does sound stressful." (Loki would almost certainly have things to say about Asgardian afterlife stuff but Who Knows What Canon Will Bring Us In Months To Come.) "--And as to lessons...yes and yes. They were excellent lessons. I just sometimes had other plans for passing my time."

"Less the souls than the creatures and immortals that died with them, or walk among them."

Diana exhales, reaching up to tuck her hair back away from the front of her tiara.

"The dead that linger behind can, for example, make a tasty snack for some."

Anyway.

"I know the feeling, what with having other things I wanted to do with my time instead of lessons. Much as I loved them, occasionally a day or two called for freedom. I fear I don't do that much anymore. Perhaps I ought to."

A bunch of hungry and disgruntled dead-ish creatures-and-immortals sounds like a useful force to have near at hand if you can harness it. Sounds like quite an army. Loki's just sayin'.

Well, no, he's not sayin', because that's the sort of thing you don't say to people you just met who consider themselves important guardians in their world, etc. He's letting that drop in favor of working on the childhood nostalgia.

"You absolutely ought to. Where did you go back then, when you wanted your day or two of freedom?"