Lakes and skiffs

[cutting_edgex23]

X is outside, seated cross-legged on a rock by the lake.

She is very still, breathing in, then out, then in again, and watching everything.

It is not meditation. But it is still nice.

Comments

[cutting_edgex23]

Sometimes the best way to keep people busy, and to see who they are, is to give them something to be busy with.

X does not explain, but then maybe she can tell that Loki likes to figure some things out himself.

And then they are in the Microverse, drifting through space and landing on Homeworld, a series of planetoids orbiting twin suns.

It is the easiest place from which to access Earth. Obviously.

[foolyoutwice]

Loki has fallen very quiet. Thor would perhaps recognize his expression: the attentive look he wears when he's hanging back and watching other people make decisions. He does ask a question, though: "What is this place called?"

[cutting_edgex23]

X looks back at him, eyes glowing with lambent yellow sunfire.

"This is the Microverse. The planetoids are Homeworld."

She tugs on Loki's wrist, hauling him through space toward the largest planetoid.

A sphere of air travels with them, because that is how she has chosen to do this.

[foolyoutwice]

Microverse. Homeworld. "And this is a universe related to my own?"

(The sphere of air, while not entirely necessary, is much appreciated. He doesn't really enjoy surviving in vacuum.)

[cutting_edgex23]

"It can be. Sometimes."

They settle down near a forest, where X pauses for Loki to look around. If he likes.

And eventually --

"I do not know when it will be. For you."

Again she makes them tiny, using the resultant energy to slip through another gap between atoms here and back to Earth.

And Mt. Rainier.

[foolyoutwice]

He's more interested in space than in the forest, not that there's anything wrong with the forest. And he's even more interested in the shrinking process and the energy generated. It's not a form of energy Asgard has thought much about. Which is plainly a mistake on their part.

(When it will be; an interesting way of putting it. He'll ask later, but now they're traveling again.)

[cutting_edgex23]

There is a rock near to X's left hand, (said hand which is, for the moment, much less blue than it was when they arrived here on Midgard).

On it Loki, if he looks, might see a symbol of something very much like his horned helm melted into the stone.

[foolyoutwice]

Loki narrows his eyes. X may (or may not) be able to tell that he's made himself invisible, not to her but to any observers. "And this is the Earth of my universe."

It's not lost to him that Mt. Rainier is beautiful. More beautiful than, say, Dublin. Or that desert where he'd found Thor.

[cutting_edgex23]

X looks at him for a few moments, head tilted.

Then --

"You cannot tell?"

[foolyoutwice]

He shrugs. "Tell me how you know?"

(There's less and less use now in continuing his pretense of being dead: who knows where Heimdall's eye will fall, but you can never assume it won't fall on this rock with its very obvious new markings. Loki would try to remove it, but...eh. It is a nice mountain to make his mark on.)

[cutting_edgex23]

"I know because it does not smell right."

Beat.

"We know because they always know where they are."

[foolyoutwice]

Hm.

Loki turns away from her, taking in more of the view. This really is a grand setting. If humans didn't keep making a mess of it, Midgard could have some real beauty. "--And where can we go from here?" Go on, how about a tour of Earth.

[cutting_edgex23]

X looks at him for a long, silent moment.

"Back to Milliways."

Beat.

"Later you can visit my world. And meet my cats."

[foolyoutwice]

"...Your cats." Not that he's going to turn it down.

He's begun moving restlessly around, and for the moment ignores the idea of return to Milliways. "But now that we're here, don't you want to look around? Visit...SHIELD. Who are those people anyway? Or stop by the Asgard throne room for a tearful family reunion, wouldn't that be delightful?"

[cutting_edgex23]

"I think you would like Steve McQueen. He is good at escaping."

X is watching Loki pace, her own body held still and unmoving.

"I think it would make you more upset. To go back to Asgard. Now."

[foolyoutwice]

"I don't know what you mean. I love coming back to stern lectures on my comportment."

Loki looks sideways at her. "Why Mt. Rainier?"

[cutting_edgex23]

X just looks at him. She does not roll her eyes.

"No one likes those."

Obviously.

"I have not been here. Before. And I wanted to see it. I like quiet places."

[foolyoutwice]

"They'll probably send me to my room without my supper, too."

He turns around again, a full circle, taking in the sight. "I like it. I approve. I'll have to come back some day. --All right, very well, if I can't talk you into taking me anywhere else, I suppose it's back to Milliways."

[cutting_edgex23]

X does not smile.

"Next time there is mayhem. Somewhere I am."

Beat.

"You can help."

She flashes blue again, bright as ever, and reaches out to take Loki's hand. Back to the Microverse and from there to Milliways they go.

[foolyoutwice]

"--I love helping with mayhem. Thank you." That's very thoughtful of her. And maybe he'll just have to disappear in the chaos, whatever chaos it might be.

But for now, Milliways.

[cutting_edgex23]

"Yes," X says, even as they become very tiny and flash across universes.

"I know."