"Do you ever consider the difference in your life, if there had been a family present?" Loki asked. He was standing in the doorway of her bedroom, observing as she fussed with her purple-streaked hair in the mirror. She was playing with various methods of wear, and while Loki held no claim on her, he quietly preferred her hair down and swept back, as though wind had tousled the strands loose. Unmoored and free, and untethered by a mortal's responsibilities. As she had looked on the morning –
He interrupted his own thoughts by focusing once more on the present. Lynn held several wire pins in her mouth, and placed them on either side of her head. The style she was working toward seemed overly complicated. When she had placed enough of the pins for speech, she glanced at him.
"You know I do," she said with some confusion. "We've talked about it before."
"Ah, yes – a dream within a dream. I had forgotten." Loki glanced to the dresser, where a small bowl housed a green, billowy fish she dubbed Winehouse. She had taken to collecting the small creatures, and while he did not share her special fondness for them, he enjoyed her amusement when he bothered to feed the things.
"You did not," she said with a dismissive sniff. "You never forget anything."
"I have honed my memory into a finely tuned weapon," he said. "It is important for the Silvertongue to remember every yarn spun, and the details used."
"Lying gave you a better memory?" Lynn laughed. "Maybe we shouldn't tell kids not to do it."
"The punishment received when you are caught is incentive enough to not repeat the experience," he said.
"What was the worst punishment you ever got?" she asked. She had settled on a half-risen style, with the top layer of her hair bundled in the back in a careless knot and the remainder cascading against her shoulders. She did not have long flowing locks, as were favored by the women of Asgard. She often changed the accents as well, flipping between different colors as her whims directed her.
The dress intrigued him due to its simplicity. He was accustomed to intricate folds, complex weaving and dazzling jewels. He suspected that this garb was chosen with assistance from Natasha Romanov: a vibrant yet dark blue gown which fit Lynn's figure well. There were no belts, buckles or other items attached to the fabric, letting dress and woman stand alone as the primary focus. Natasha was an expert in enticing male distraction, and it seemed that her silent confidence was rubbing off on Lynn Creed. Though he hadn't known her before her abduction years ago, he knew that the woman sitting before him was an entirely different entity than the woman of time past.
Of course, Lynn Creed had undergone changes beneath the skin as well. While she was in essence still human, she lacked the defining trait of her species: mortality. With longevity in hand, she became emboldened and daring, and he had lost the last vestige of the basis for his emotional resistance.
He dared not speak of such things aloud. She was too at ease with him now to chance it. There was neither drink nor grief between them now, and she allowed him to watch her prepare for the evening with barely a second thought. A trusted ally; a friend. He watched the curve of her hip.
"The barb of a belt," he lied. "Even an Asgardian prince will succumb to such a fate."
"Some royalty had whipping boys," she said absently. "A kid who took the beating for the prince, because a royal butt couldn't be hit."
Loki said nothing.
"You can come, if you want," Lynn said, almost too casual. Loki felt tension between them, and did not know which response would alleviate her feelings. He answered honestly and hoped it would be enough.
"I believe it is time for me to learn more of your mortal customs," he said carefully. "I would appreciate inclusion, if that is what you prefer."
"Couldn't a 'yes' be enough?" she grumbled, but it was playful rather than annoyed, and he felt relieved for it.
"I suppose," Loki said. "Although I am not known for short descriptions with little information."
Lynn was smiling to herself, humming a quiet tune as she settled on a final hair style for the evening. He wanted to believe that she was content because of, rather than in spite of, his presence, but he knew this was a childish, selfish sort of desire.
"You have not told me how I should dress," he said.
"I trust you," she said, and smiled.
Tony liked her to come to these galas. He claimed that her talents and intelligence were his advertisements for his educational programs. She suspected her gender and skin color played a role as well, but Tony would never admit as much.
She didn't lie to herself, though. She felt a surge of pride when she stepped into the charity ball, her spine straight with confidence, and the assorted gathering turned to regard the newcomer. Some dismissed her immediately with slightly tweaked eyebrows; others eyed the man at her side, assuming that he was the reason for their presence.
Some knew better immediately. She heard her name and turned, waving to Jane Foster from across the room.
"Lynn!" Jane hurried across the room to greet her, a half-step off of bounding. Loki sighed at her side and she laughed.
"Be nice," she muttered.
"Must she always be so enthused?"
"Lynn!" Jane reached them, looped her arm through Lynn's free arm and tugged. Lynn raised her eyebrows at Loki, detaching herself from him at Jane's urging. The two women moved toward a group of like-minded researchers while Tony slid into view.
Loki braced himself, but the inventor only huffed a tired breath.
"Hate this shit," he said. "Did she drag you out here as penance?"
"I have nothing to atone for," Loki said. "I have behaved myself, as requested."
"The night's young," Tony said. "And I didn't mean penance for you."
"What is the purpose of this?" Loki looked around the room, the decorations coating the tables, the food he guessed was considered expensive by mortal standards.
"Dog and pony," Tony said, sipping a significant amount of his liquor. "Donations for educational programs I sponsor."
"Could you not fund these programs yourself?" Loki had thought that Stark's wealth was seemingly infinite.
"I could," Tony said. "But then these assholes wouldn't have a chance to feel like decent human beings for once."
Loki shook his head. "If I were to say such things, you would not tolerate it."
"I didn't kill off one eighth of the world population." Tony finished his current beverage and waved for another. A servant quickly approached, changing out the empty bottle for a fresh brew. Tony took a second bottle. Loki watched the inventor consume half of one in a single long swig, then looked down at the second, offered to him with a steady hand.
Loki took the drink without comment, thinking his feelings obscured. Tony glanced at him and winked.
"Back to the fray," Tony said, pulling away from the trickster. Loki thought of pulling himself further apart, haunting the room from the sides and watching Lynn's progress throughout the crowd. His compulsions pushed him further in, urging him to start conversations and educate himself on these, the elite of the human world. He was surprised to see students such as Lynn mingling openly with their financial betters, and slid close to one such conversation to suss out the reason. He quickly found himself thrust into a deeply engaging conversation regarding the observation of gravitational waves, and a recent break-through in the field. Based on the level of enthusiasm and occasional spittle from the student speaker, a significant break-through.
Loki had experienced the mind of a physicist through Selvig, a connection which made translating this conversation vastly less of a challenge. Many of the properties he considered seiðr these mortals referred to as physics, and while the terminology was different, the ideas were fundamentally similar. Where human understanding struggled was in concepts such as this - they theorized that gravity moved in waves, carrying with it implications for time throughout the universe. Simply put, a collapsed star billions of lightyears away caused gravitational waves throughout the solar system, which took millions of years to reach locations such as Earth. If these waves, diminished in power but still present, could be detected, then universal origins could be directly studied. A mathematic window into the past.
Loki had been present at these very events, at his brother's side and serving as a guiding voice while Thor wove his abundant optimism into the very fabric of space and time. Now Loki stood transfixed, listening to that same optimism echoed across millennia through the lips of a young man with a ponytail and a full beard, bursting with the possibilities this break-through could represent.
He stood just outside the conversation now, one step removed from participation. He felt the desire to join well within him, to connect with these mortals on a deeper level than merely observation. Hesitantly, gently, Loki corrected one of the student's assumptions, causing the three involved to turn and regard him directly.
The student pondered a moment, then responded, undeterred by Loki's assertion. Loki responded in kind, joined by one of the older conversationalists. In moments, the four of them were healthily debating opposing viewpoints, and Loki, for several minutes, felt engagement with these ideas and ideals seep through his thoughts.
The student, Carter, pulled in two of his compatriots, Jackson and Reed, who were thrilled to join in the lively discussion. Minutes extended into an hour, and then longer as Jane Foster herself joined in the conversation. Lynn had taken her leave of the physicist earlier, and was standing in a similarly enthusiastic group. Loki did not know what they were discussing, as he was fully involved in his own conversation.
Stark joined them, suspicion clouding his features as he watched Loki closely. The students present paused and stuttered through introductions with the famous inventor, but were quickly rerouted when Tony asked what they were previously discussing. A deeper conversation commenced, with Tony speaking from an engineer's point of view while the young men spoke from a place of physics. Loki laughed outright at some of their shared assumptions, only to find that these assumptions were considered fundamental laws of the universe. He fought the urge to use seiðr several times in order to prove his point, instead finding ways to discuss his experiences as theoretical realities rather than fact. Jane Foster laughed and declared, "He's going quantum boys," but then engaged in his ideas as though they were within the realm of possibility - a fact she well knew, having experienced his seiðr herself years past.
Tony engaged as well, and with their collaborative efforts, Loki found himself able to discuss his magics directly without speaking of them by name.
It was a fascinating exercise.
When the conversation reached a natural lull, Carter peered at the older members of their group and lamented, "These ideas are too good not to study. Dr. Foster, do you work on this?"
"No," Jane said. "It's harder than you think. I don't have access to the supplies needed." She glanced Loki's way at this declaration, but Tony outright smirked at the trickster. In a less enlightened crowd, these expressions would have lost any significance. Carter's friend Jackson did not miss a beat.
"You have methods to study these theories?" he asked. His eyes were bright with hope as he peered at the trickster, and Loki felt a small tug of regret for having to lie to the young man.
"No," he said, and Tony snorted. "Not directly. Only ideas and principles -"
"Which can be represented mathematically," Carter said. He was warming to the idea. "If you ever want a collaborator -"
"That's enough excitement for tonight," Tony said. He raised a hand, signalling to a nearby waiter. His words were only slightly slurred, but Loki had watched him drink at least seven of these liquor-laced drinks during this very conversation. "We're about to be run out. I only rented this space until one."
Several watches or phones were checked. Loki watched Tony closely as the inventor shooed away the group, but not before two of the potential donors presented him with their cards and the three students provided their emails on a hastily torn napkin. Tony took all of this information with the same casual smile he always wore, and did not pass any of it along to Loki once their group was dispersed.
Jane raised her eyebrows, then gave Loki a friendly hug before taking her leave, leaving the two men alone. She was a clever, perceptive sort of woman. For the life of him, Loki could not understand her attraction to Thor.
"You did not want me working with those young men," Loki said. Tony huffed and shrugged.
"It's not that I don't trust you," Tony said. "It's that I really, super don't trust you."
Loki's eyes scanned the remaining crowd. "It has been years, Stark. If I wanted to try -"
"She's out on the balcony with someone," Tony said. "You know you're no good for her."
Loki wasn't positive that those two thoughts were completely related, and raised his eyebrows.
"I think that is her choice, not ours."
"I'm her funding source, remember?" Tony sipped his drink and smiled, smug rather than casual. Loki bristled. There were times this mortal reminded him of Thor's various shortcomings. That smug superiority, the off-hand decisions which affected the lives of others regardless of their wishes.
"It is for Amma Lynn to decide for herself," Loki said. He fought the urge to menace or grind his teeth, and realized too late that this was Tony's purpose.
"It's never far away, with you," Stark said. "Always waiting for someone to piss you off just enough. You can't turn that off. You're a fuse waiting for a detonator." He lowered his voice below human hearing. "You can't think that Lynn doesn't know that."
Lynn, who favored stability and calm in her life. Who often reminded him to this day of his trickster nature, and pointed out how his thoughts veered from human processes. Oh yes, she knew. Loki hated the reminder.
"She is aware," he said.
"She deserves better," Tony said. He was pressing, and despite his efforts, Loki was ever susceptible to a good mental shove.
"She deserves a suitable companion," Loki said. His voice snapped with tension and irritation. He saw Tony's smile, and pressed on through his frustration. "She deserves to be understood and respected, to be valued."
"She deserves to be protected," Tony said. He punched his enunciation on the final word, allowing the unspoken from you to hover between them. "She deserves the life she wants, with no one else's baggage."
"Who are we speaking of?" Loki asked, genuinely curious about the underscoring sadness tinging Tony's voice. The inventor shrugged and sipped his drink once more. They might have been friends once, Loki thought. They might have understood each other.
"Me," Tony said. "It's always been me. Where's Lynn?" This last question was directed at Jane, who entered their conversation after giving them space and time.
"You do not know?" Loki asked. His shoulders tensed; his fingers twitched. Tony shrugged again while Jane rolled her eyes.
"She's in the ladies room, if that's alright with you two," she said. Both men shifted their weight.
"I suppose that's acceptable," Loki said into the awkward silence. Jane laughed and Tony made a pained face.
"She took the bus, didn't she?" Tony asked. "Damn kid. I got her a really nice car."
"She summoned a vehicle," Loki said.
"If you tell me it was Uber, I'm cutting her off."
"It was Uber," said Lynn. She approached from behind Tony, grinning ear to ear. "A total, complete stranger with very little employment regulations."
"You're cut off," Tony said.
"No I'm not," she said. She offered an arm to Loki, who laced his carefully through, mindful of their disparate heights. "You can't lose your double minority checkmarks."
Tony laughed. "You're not just a checkmark. Being an orphan means I get sympathy funding, too."
Loki blinked while Lynn and Jane both laughed.
"We're all orphans here," Jane said, and Loki suddenly realized that he had never learned Jane Foster's background.
"I'm not funding the club," Tony said. "Too depressing."
"Too much work?" Lynn asked.
"Same difference." Tony grinned at her. She grinned back. Loki fought the urge to pull her away. They were safe, among friends. There was nothing to fear. And yet, Loki felt a pinprick of uncertainty. A moment's doubt and hesitation in contact with Lynn, as though…
Lynn pulled away from him and creased her brow. She looked over her three friends, blinked once, and shook her head slightly.
"I'm tired," she said to Tony. "I'm going home, and taking your minority representation with me."
"Fine, fine," Tony said. "I think I've gotten what I needed tonight."
Lynn smiled. Her dark eyes drifted to Loki, and she paused. A slight tilt of her head toward the exit.
Something was wrong. Something was strange. Loki could sense it, could feel the change moving through her. Small, nearly imperceptible, something to be traced if only she would allow him to check -
"Loki," she said. "What's wrong?" Tony and Jane were watching as well, Jane with confusion and Tony with intense regard. He understood that the trickster was concerned for a reason. Loki reached out to touch Lynn, to brush his fingers against her skin. She remained still and let him, a slight smirk on her face.
As his fingers skimmed her flesh, golden eyes peered from her body, and a deep, taunting voice whispered through his mind.
Hello Asgardian, the whispers hissed. Do you like my gift?