Loki stood in front of the old Swedish clock, feeling the hum of the thing inside it. It was a strange thrumming. He'd felt it on the day he and Lyn were sitting at Starbucks. He had been drawn to the area more than any other since he'd come to stay with the mortal, but wasn't sure why. There was a lot of energy in the community this mortal woman lived in. The wealth and hubris of many powerful individuals drew him like a lion to a watering hole, and this place had it in spades. At first, it was hard to sort through all of the input, but eventually he knew the place he called 'The Square' had a special pull. It wasn't until that day though, that the ebb and flow of the place lined up just right, and the object in the clock called to him. Things only happen exactly when they're supposed to.
The mortal woman distracted him, he admitted that. Her own feelings towards him were strong enough to drown out all the other magical dissonance of the place and make it hard for him to zero in any one specific thing. An old, strange part of him sometimes rose up and made him feel angry at the woman, blaming her for keeping him weak. Blaming her for diverting his attention to mundane, useless things and pulling him into her worthless existence. That part of him was the part that decided to invite an alien army into this world just to hurt his brother. That part of him also felt like killing the mortal in her sleep and slipping away into the ether again.
That was a part of him he honestly wanted to put to rest. It demanded everything of him, demanded more than he truly wanted to give.
Thus, he stood in front of this inane old clock, basking in its call, thrilling in its discovery. It promised insight and answers. He needed information, but he didn't have time to discover it all for himself. All the old tomes he could conjure from Asgard's library would not help. Stashing magically imbued objects around the house didn't completely help either. It kept his temperament in check, and helped his focus, but didn't make all the bad feelings dissipate. He needed this shortcut. He didn't want the mortal woman to be hurt. She(loved him she did she loved him and that was magic too she was magic too) was silly and sentimental, yet also good, loyal companionship.
He reached out and touched the clock, and it sang to him. He sang back to it with his own essence. "Shhh…soon. You'll show me won't you?" he whispered. He smiled as he left the room, stealing a look back over his shoulder. He'd planned to extract the object soon. Maybe tomorrow, while Sophia was at a local charity function, and Calvin had gone to lunch. He knew he had to hurry. Jane was set to move to the area in the next week, and with Jane would come Thor. While Thor was not attuned to the same frequencies Loki was, he was not without his own brand of perception. Thor would complicate matters if he knew Loki wanted to possess an object such as this, and why. Thor would also jump to conclusions before knowing all the facts. That would only lend to Loki's anger, and keep him from his true intentions.
Can't have that.
"Oh my GOD I hate moving! I swear, I'm going to throw everything out next time and…SHIT!"
Jane Foster has just stubbed her toe on the corner of her coffee table. She resisted the childish urge to hit it for hurting her. "I hate moving!" she grumbled again.
"You OK? You didn't break your toe did you?" Lyn appeared in the doorway between the kitchen and living room.
"No! It just hurt a lot! It would help if I got this living room furniture arranged so it's not all over the place." She sighed, "I'm going to do that right NOW…or as soon as my eyes stop tearing!"
"Fuck it, let's take a wine break." Lyn suggested. Jane acquiesced readily, and soon they were both sipping a glass of Pinot Noir on Jane's out-of-place couch amongst boxes and bags and piles of things in transit to their ending destinations.
"I see you prioritized in unpacking the kitchen boxes." Jane said, tilting her glass towards her friend.
"Damn straight, Homie. What's moving in without alcohol?" She clinked her glass to Jane's. "Here's to your toe…and good times ahead!"
They sipped their wine in silence for a minute before Jane asked, "Hey! You haven't had a smoke all day. Did you quit?"
Lynn rolled her eyes and then nodded. "Yeah. Loki got all weird about it back on Thanksgiving and bugged me to quit. Insisted, actually. I'm not sure what gets into him sometimes."
Jane frowned. "He 'insisted'? Did he give you a reason?"
"He said he was concerned with my health and he wanted me to get in 'better shape'. Generic shit like that. I suspect there's another reason to it, but I can't get anything more out of him. He tries to distract me with aggravation, like 'Oh I see you listen to me, mortal!' type shit, but I know what he's up to. Trying to annoy me into doing what he wants. Typical Loki."
Jane put her glass down on the table in front of her, "What do you think that other reason might be? Better shape…that's an odd thing for him to latch on to."
"I don't know. He's right though. I do need to get in better shape. The longer I'm around the more time I have to annoy the crap out of him I guess." Lyn gave a half-hearted laugh. "If he sticks around."
"I never thought I'd say this, but I agree with Loki. Whatever reason you use to quit smoking is a good one!"
The women finished their wine. Jane moved around her furniture, limping a little on her offended toe. Lyn unpacked more things in the kitchen. They worked in silence for awhile until Jane's phone rang. Jane answered, carried on an almost breathless conversation with the person on the other end and then hung up, blinking in surprise.
"Well! That was unexpected!" She looked up at Lyn, "I've been asked to speak at a symposium on worm holes last minute. Geez, I hate that. It's next weekend! Damn, the four of us had plans for that concert too, but this is a pretty big deal…"
"You're ditching us for worm holes? Sounds tasty. Ew!"
Jane swatted at Lyn playfully. "Not THOSE kind of worm holes! Space worm holes. Like…"
"Like going to Asgard? Yeah, you can keep that worm hole."
"Oh come on! You wouldn't want to go back and see more of it? It's a beautiful place!" Jane said.
"Maybe for you! I wasn't invited to the champagne welcome party. Besides, I saw the most beautiful thing Asgard had to offer. Ain't shit I care about up there now."
Jane smirked at Lyn's affectionate reference to Loki, and was about to comment when Lyn's phone rang. Jane could tell who it was immediately.
"Hey you. I'm just helping Jane unpack." There was a pause, and Jane heard a male voice talking, but not what it was saying. "Aw shit, Loki, come on! You can't be serious!"
"The most beautiful thing in Asgard…" Jane murmured as she took an armload of clothes into the bedroom to give Lyn a little more privacy.
Lyn came home to find Loki sitting on the couch with his laptop open, looking at Google flights and sipping on coffee.
"You've REALLY got to go to this seminar next weekend? What about the concert?"
"Sell my ticket. Go with Thor and Jane." Loki didn't look up, and continued scowling at flights. "Ugh…I want first class on this."
"Jane got a call about a worm hole meeting right before you called! She's going to be out of town now too!"
Loki looked up and laughed "Worm hole meeting? I never figured her to be quite so…earthy." He quipped.
"It's a space-thing." Lyn decided not to continue because that might mean bringing up Asgard, which never seemed to be the best topic of conversation.
"I know. I was jesting." Loki said lightly, still perusing flights on Google.
"So, you're going to…fly?"
Loki glanced at Lyn. "Well. You wanted me to assimilate, so…when in Rome…". He sighed at her stricken expression, "Exactly how did you think I'd get there? Teleport? What is concerning you?"
"You've never like…been away. Since you came here. What if someone recognizes you? What if…" Lyn trailed off. There were too many 'what ifs' to even put voice to.
"What if I get 'caught'? Or, what if I don't come back?"
"I kinda like you, asshole. I don't want anything to happen to you."
"How sweet!" Loki grinned widely. "I like you as well, asshole!"
"All right, all right, I get it." Lyn waved a hand at him, not wanting to start an argument. "So how did all this come up?"
"Believe me, I'm not exactly looking forward to it, but the gallery would do well to have someone with this certification, and Sophia…well, she'd like me to go."
Loki didn't reveal the real reason he wasn't happy about this seminar. It interfered with his plans to remove the object he was after from the clock in Sophia's office. He'd tried to get in to it several times now, and his plans were always thwarted by some happenstance. Sophia decided not to go to the charity function because she didn't feel well, Calvin was behind on some documentation and wanted to work through lunch. Sophia needed him to attend meetings with buyers. Something was always coming up. This weekend trip was definitely not something he wanted to do. He couldn't tell Sophia no though. That would be like looking at…
"I guess we need to get rid of our tickets. Man, this sucks! Why you people so in demand? Freakin' overachievers." Lyn slouched next to Loki on the couch, frowning at him and interrupting his reverie
"Go with Thor to the concert. You can invite him over, feed him, play the game with him. I understand he's after an armor set in the newest raid. He's a fabulous tank, but he's nothing without a caster behind him, of course."
"I gotta spend time with your brother now too?"
"Why should I be alone in my misery? Besides you're the one that orchestrated him spending more time here. You should ah…step up to the plate, as you say here on Midgard."
Lyn sat silently, while Loki skimmed through flights, and then went on to his hotel booking on the seminar's site. Suddenly, this seemed like more than she was prepared to deal with, and she spontaneously hugged him.
"Oh dear!" He exclaimed, surprised by the move. "Now, don't get like this with me. I've been to places far beyond your comprehension and navigated situations more complex than your tawdry airport security. I will return intact."
"OK."
She held on to him still, and he gave a world-weary sigh.
"I'm sure Thor will be good company."
"OK."
"Allow me to finish what I was doing, dear, and we'll go for Italian."
"OK."
She still wouldn't release him.
"Lyn…" he said gently.
"Yeah, yeah. I know you're a big boy and all." She finally let go and sat back.
"I have things well in hand." Loki smiled reassuringly at his friend.
"Your brother is going to miss the concert too." Jane said, hoping the news wouldn't bother Thor too much.
"Why?" Thor asked around a mouthful of food.
"He has a seminar to go to for his job. So, looks like it's you and Lynn, unless you're not wanting to go just you and her."
Thor swallowed his mouthful, and smiled at Jane. "It would be my pleasure! I have never spent time with any of Loki's friends before."
"Did Loki have friends?" Jane said, and shook her head at Thor's guilty smile.
"I take that as a no. Are you concerned about Loki leaving? He's going to Los Angeles. That's a fair bit away. Do you think he'll…I don't know, get into anything? Lyn says she's already worried about him. If anything happened to him she'd be devastated."
"Loki can take care of himself. I believe he's actually trying to change." Thor heaped more food on his plate.
"Honestly, why do you trust him? I mean, he's pulled a few over on you already, and he always has some ulterior motivation. I worry about Lyn more than anything though. She's…she loves him." Jane stared at Thor.
"I know." Thor finally said.
"So you don't think there's a reason to worry?"
"No." Thor said, and happily went back to his plate.
"Can you tell me what makes you so sure?" Jane prodded impatiently.
"Because they call each other names."
"WHAT?" Jane exclaimed. "That's not a reason!"
Thor just responded with laughter.