milliways_bar | (no subject)

(no subject)

Today when the bar finds Loki, he is slightly more prepared. In that he recognises what he is about to step into, and stops at the threshold. This is a perfect opportunity to fuss with his phone and try to get it to work when he is in the bar.

So an unusually tall young man stands in the threshold, wearing a ridiculous green coat* and golden horns, with one foot on either side of the door. But he doesn't stand idly. He taps at the screen as the phone itself glows green. Or maybe it's his fingers that are glowing.

"Oh, come on, you son of a--" he mutters, trying desperately to get his phone to connect and stay that way once it crosses the threshold. "Ymir's tits. Work, damn you."

It doesn't work, and it is extremely vexing. How is he supposed to scroll through Tumblr if he can't get online?

"ᛟ ᛖᛏᛏᚨᚾᚾ ᛊᛃᚨᛚᚠᚢᚱ!"

He might have to give up pretty soon. This clearly isn't working, and he's just blocking the door for no reason at this point.

*Coat is in significantly better shape than the image suggests. For some reason, his full costume doesn't get drawn very often.

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"It doesn't work, trust me!" Zenigata calls from his seat at the bar. He's back with his laptop and note pad again, but at least this time it's 'daylight' hours in the bar. "C'mon in, Loki, you're going to have to unplug while you're here."

Sometimes he really likes that, himself. Cellphones are just electronic leashes, if you ask him.

"Seriously?"

He's made it work before. This is so unfair.

"Then unplug yours," he says, giving up and walking into the bar.

"Mine's working offline," Zenigata says, though he shuts the laptop and scoots it to the side. "My poor assistant would appreciate it if I actually helped with the paperwork back home."

After all, his inability to do reports is just one of the many reasons he got Yata assigned to him.

Edited 2021-02-25 17:18 (UTC)

"You have to do paperwork?" Loki asks. Of all the awful, tedious, unpleasant things he's been made to do, at least paperwork does not rank amongst them.

He takes a seat next to Zenigata, settling his coat behind him so he doesn't sit on it. In addition to horns and armour, he's wearing a knife on his hip. And not exactly a small one.

"Don't say that too loudly, or someone might overhear."

"Not everything is chasing a lunatic thief through three countries at a time, or climbing into ancient ruins he's decided to plunder," Zenigata says with a laugh. "I have to do the budgetary requests! Time off, things like that. Keep up on if one of my officers is on loan to another department, who's promoting out, that kind of thing."

Zenigata loves his job, but some of it is Very Tedious. He'd rather be running from African warlords in the Savannah than doing the budget.

That sounds... awful. Truly awful. Loki hates it already.

"I said not too loud," Loki says. He checks his phone just in case and finds it blissfully un-possessed.

"If the people I work for hear that, they might get ideas."

"Oh, I'm sure they're already wondering, 'Do you think we can get Loki to expense out things rather then asking for money up front?'" Zenigata says, grin spreading across his face. "Perhaps even asking you to dress professionally out in public, too."

Zenigata's suits are noticeable in their bad fit. He's a Big Man, as he can look Loki in the eyes without going on his tip-toes (it's novel for him too!) but his clothing isn't custom. Just off the rack big n' tall stuff. But it's also very good for disguising just how big (and how strapped) he is. This is probably on purpose.

They're also well worn -- most of his clothes are. The only thing recent are his shoes (keeping good shoes ready to go is a must in his work.)

Fashion aside, everything Loki is wearing was made to fit him, from his coat to his leather breeches. Instead of stuffing his phone into his pocket, he makes it disappear completely, banishing it to a pocket dimension that mercifully still works here.

Can't get pan-dimensional phone calls from angry mums if the phone and Loki are in separate dimensions. Though if she could find a way to possess his phone, she could probably find a way to materialise in a bottle of whiskey, knowing Loki's luck.

"You aren't helping," Loki says. "You don't know the people I work for. They hear you saying things like that, and they're going to start making demands."

He may be a lapdog, but he needs what little freedom he's been afforded.

"I doubt your employer cares about the ideas of a middle-aged mortal detective," Zenigata says, grin still on his face. "What do i know about interdimensional politics or the strange work loads you may have? Or if you even use money, for that matter. The wizards of Abe no Seimei's world have only one real currency, and it's favors."

Who knows what the Asgardians trade in? He can't even fathom.

"Of course we have money. Gold and the dollar," Loki says. "You can't exist on Midgard without it."

Especially in America.

"And my employer is very interested in anything that will make me miserable and easy to shove into a box."

The fact that his employer is also his mother, and the lengths to which their relationship is completely messed up has not escaped him.

A loaded history with his own son working under him in laww enforcement, Zenigata's smile slips. But he grunts once, and asks bar for a whiskey before he says, "Push the walls of that box every chance you get, then."

For the love of whatever God rules it, don't just accept the mold they want.

"Believe me, I intend to," Loki says.

He will not be forced back into that role. He will let himself burn before going there.

The whiskey seems like a good idea, and Loki gets one for himself.

"It's complicated, but I'm trying to attone for some things. Until that happens, I'm stuck in the service of the throne. At the very least, I can make sure it's comfortable."

Atone is an interesting choice; it's a weighty word -- n ot just 'trying to make up for something' or 'trying to do the right thing.' Atonement is for sins, grave and deep. Zenigata cocks one brow, but doesn't ask -- he doesn't have the right, because he's been doing his own atoning over the years. He'll probably never stop, not exactly.

"Good. Atonement is important, but -- not losing yourself to guilt and despair is, too. Especially if you're dealing with an over-bearing parent," Zenigata says. Takes one to know one, after all.

Definitely gonna need that whiskey. Smooth and gold, yes sir, whiskey will wash the cloying taste he's got in his mouth away.

Loki grumbles quietly to himself and drinks as well. Smooth and gold, sure, but it hits like water, and he frowns at it.

Nope. This won't do at all. He slams it back to get it out of his way, and then orders something from an Asgardian distillery. It's a new art for them, but they're getting very good at it very quickly.

And they also make things that will get a god wasted.

"I'm pretty sure parents have to care in the first place to be over-bearing," he says ruefully.

It's not that he thinks Freyja doesn't care. It's just that... he doesn't think she does.

"A parent can completely be invested in a child's future, and utterly uninvested in their wants and needs as a person," Zenigata says, as he finishes his whiskey on the second drink. This is going to be weighty and he can small the heady weight of whatever it is that Loki's drinking.

"What is that, anyway?" he asks.

Loki does not want to have another dark conversation. Seeing a way out, he tilts his glass a bit.

"Something like brandy. It started its life as mead," Loki says. "From where I'm from."

He offers the glass over for Zenigata to try.

"Mead? I've never had the pleasure of such a thing, but I'll see how it translates!" Zenigata says, glad to also change the subject.

He takes the offered drink and while eh doesn't sip it gingerly, he does take a mouthful and calls that good before he passes it back. Got to do a proper taste of it -- roll it in the mouth, let it pass the tongue before it goes down.

"That..." he exhales and grins again, "That is a hell of a drink."

"Hel of a lot better than that fairy piss you're drinking," Loki says.

He didn't say it before because he was being polite. But if Zenigata's going to admit that Loki's is better, well. Why be coy?

"Asgard has two exports. Muscle and alcohol. It's just about all we're good at."

"They're not bad exports," Zengiata said, before he says, "And I will ignore your slight upon my country's whiskey. For mere mortals, I think we do just fine. But that? That's..."

Brandy isn't his usual drink. Too sweet. But that was a hell of a thing, with flavors of fruit and spice, the honeyed edge of the mead bubbling with something he couldn't quite place.

"How badly is it going to kick my ass, do you think, if I indulge in my own glass?" Asks the man, who takes two or three handles of any given liquor to get him shitfaced.

Loki doesn't necessarily drink for flavour. He drinks to get drunk.

Tasting good is a bonus.

"You're human?" he says, with just the barest hint of inflection at the end. He takes a moment to study the man. "You might already be hungover, and just not notice it yet. Might as well go all in."

He grins a wicked little grin and takes a drink from his glass.

"Bar, whatever he's having, give me a glass," Zenigata said, and gets his own glass of glimmering golden not-mead.

"Fairy piss, indeed," he smirks, and takes his own drink and sips it. He'll be careful, like he's playing with a loaded gun. (He sort of is. Drunk Zenigata is either loud, or maudlin, or both -- and he makes terrible choices but still somehow remains sharp as a tack for policework.)

"So do you know -- like, are there other Gods out there? Greeks? Hindu? Do you meet with Buddha for lunchdates and discuss the burdens of mortal desire?" he asks, as he taps his finger against the glass. "Like most Japanese, I practice both Shinto and Buddhism."

Drunk Loki is dangerous. Even if he's not trying to cause trouble, it tends to happen. Terrible choices are what got him where he is.

(If only he could have heard Thor's euology. Lived poorly, indeed.)

"Absolutely," Loki says. "We've had the most dealings with the Greeks and Romans. Somehow my brother has us permanently at war with Ra and his followers."

And how in the hel is that something that Thor did, and not Loki?

"There was a pact, signed by the patheons ages ago. Non-interference. My arse. Everyone signed it and immediately pretended otherwise."

He takes a drink of his own, trying to savour it. But he's not very good at that, and winds up defaulting to old habits. It's not as if he doesn't have more at home.

"Interesting," Zenigata murmurs, thoughtfully, fingers gently tapping at the edge of his glass. "My honored ancestor has been installed as a kami in Kanda Myojin. I wonder how that works. It must be very different."

He's really okay with not knowing much about his honored ancestor paling about in the god's realms.

Loki shakes his head. He simply doens't know, and finds little shame in admitting it.

"I've not met anyone from your pantheon," he says. "Up until very recently, all our followers were in Northern Europe, so that's where we went. I don't think our followers and your ancestors crossed paths often enough for your gods to find strife with us."

"We as a people have been insular," Zenigata admits. It doesn't surprise him that his gods might be too. Buddha is a whole other issue in and of themselves. "So that's not shocking."

Zenigata sips his drink, and says, "Are there any current wars or strife? Beyond the Ra thing, apparently. We've had our disasters in Egypt -- Lupin didn't learn after he got cursed and kept going back to rob graves."