Author's note: This chapter might seem like a filler, but it's actually important for things-to-come.
"So how did your speech go yesterday?" Loki asks the man sipping on his ubiquitous cup of steaming coffee on the other side of the breakfast table while absentmindedly flipping through the paper spread out in front of him.
Tony shrugs at the question and waves a hand as he looks up from his reading material. "Meh. Done better, done worse. But at least I was sober this time." He grins crookedly, as if the comment has prompted a memory of a particularly amusing event.
"Anything exciting that got inaugurated?" Perhaps trying to learn a little more about Midgardian culture would be a good idea since he's most likely going to be staying here long-term. Finding out what things are considered important among the humans and what feat would merit a celebration like that couldn't hurt, after all.
"Not really," Tony says, a blasé taint in his voice. "They finished digging some tunnel or the other that will be taken into use next week. Will make traffic flow a little smoother, I suppose, and make all those commuters spend a few minutes less of their precious time in their cars every day."
Well, that doesn't sound very exciting, he has to admit. "Something like that is considered worthy of a ceremony here in Midgard?" he asks, not sure he understands the reason. In Asgard, official ceremonies like that would not be held for such plain and mundane things like infrastructure, but for successful battle campaigns and the like.
Tony raises an amused eyebrow in his direction. "Okay, it might not be like over in Magic Kingdom where people have to slay fire-spitting dragons in order to merit hoopla like that, but it's still pretty dangerous work, I guess, digging around in and blasting away all that rock. I sure as heck wouldn't wanna do it. "
"Well, I assume you have slaves to perform that kind of work, do you not," he says, realization dawning a second later that this is the first time he has ever brought up the subject of slavery here in Midgard with Tony. And even though it's not an enjoyable topic of discussion, perhaps it would be to his benefit to find out a bit more about it, given that he might very well be here for the duration. To learn what kind of work slaves are used for here, what is generally expected of them, and how much of a difference there is between Asgard and Midgard in these regards. It would seem that there is quite a lot to be sure.
Tony gives him a very odd look as the cup in his hand comes to a halt halfway to his mouth before he sets it down without drinking. "You know, I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that, because I'm sure that since your being express-delivered to my doorstep, there's just no way that I could have failed to mention that slavery is not allowed here anymore."
And of course, he does remember an unhappy and displeased Tony telling Loki's guards, on the very day he arrived here, that slavery is indeed an outlawed practice in Midgard. But he had still assumed that despite it being technically outlawed, there would still be people – either rich and powerful enough to be above the law, or shady and disreputable enough to slink beneath it – that would be keeping slaves anyway.
Because at the end of the day, laws never prevented people from doing things. He can personally testify to that, with all the Asgardian rules and regulations and decrees he has broken over the centuries, sometimes getting caught, sometimes getting away scot-free. It's the way of the world – whenever there is a prohibition, there will always be someone around to break it. Sure there are bans in Asgard on certain magical artefacts, and some seidr-practitioners (himself included) would still create and use them; laws against theft, and still the set of golden dinner plates in the royal household has to be supplemented every year to make up for the parts that have gone "missing"; as well as strong social taboos against sleeping with another man's wife, and yet single combats are being fought over such matters on a semi-regular basis.
Besides, a general ban on keeping slaves would make perfect sense if such commodities were in short supply, ensuring that the few slaves available could all be directed to the government and other official bodies for their use, or to the higher classes in Midgardian society. That would have made sense; allowing powerful people to keep them, though it would not be spoken of or admitted to openly, despite everyone knowing of its existence.
"You have mentioned it," he agrees, unwilling to let the subject go just yet. "But I fail to understand why this should be so. Because who among your people will then do all the dirty and hard and dangerous labour that no one else wants to take on?"
Tony makes a grimace. "Uh, we have machines, robots, technology for that. And if not, people are paid to do it. You know, if you wave enough money around, you'll find takers for even the shittiest jobs imaginable. You don't have to enslave people for that."
And it's strange, because the last time he had visited Midgard before his more recent stint, almost a millennia ago now, there had certainly been slaves. He had travelled the realm of the mortals then, from one end to the other, exploring the lands in the hopes he would come across some useful knowledge worth taking back with him. But Midgard had seemed so… dull and hopelessly behind back then, and he had quickly lost interest and left. There were other realms that had considerably more to offer.
"Then what about captured enemies?" he asks, brow furrowed. "You still wage plenty of wars here in Midgard, after all, perhaps even more so than we do in Asgard."
Tony looks surprised by the question. "Uh, yeah, see, we don't actually enslave them," he says, fiddling around with the cup in his hand. "We just, you know, keep them locked up in guarded camps to stop them from fighting and killing us anymore. Besides, we have this fancy agreement called the Geneva Convention nowadays that prohibits stuff like that. Well, in theory at least. You might want to have a look at it some day, might be an interesting read for you."
Perhaps he will, some day. But right now, he wants to hear this from Tony.
"Why did you stop keeping slaves? Were they no longer considered useful, with all the machines you've built to serve you?" Before the question has left his mouth, he knows that can't be the answer. After all, machines can't serve as bed slaves, nor could a machine ever be as versatile in its uses as a living person.
Tony is silent for a while before answering, as if he's grasping for words that aren't quite coming to him, which is probably a rather unusual experience for the man. Finally, he leans back in his chair, raking a hand through his hair. "Well, as I think I may have mentioned before, we have something called human rights. A pretty recent concept, I give you that, considering the long history of mankind, but it means that you can't do shit to people like enslave them or randomly kill or hurt them, because there are standards as to how people can be treated. Like you can't torture them or subject them to cruelty and stuff like that. Or take away their rights to make choices for themselves as opposed to having them forced upon their heads by other people." He throws Loki a surreptitious glance. "Might be hard to understand if you haven't grown up with values like that, because I'm not sure it's even possible to explain them in words. You have to sort of just… get them."
"I… see," he says, pondering Tony's words for a few moments, twisting them around in his head so that he can look at them from every possible angle. Trying to get them to realign with everything he's learned of Midgard so far. Everything he's learned from Tony so far. And perhaps there is an explanation in there that does make sense, after all.
"So you made these laws, then, in order to ensure that even those who are weak and powerless or otherwise unable to claim any rights for themselves can still have them?" he finally asks, after the silence has stretched on for a while.
Tony turns the gaze that's gone straying back to him, a hint of surprise in his face. "I guess you could say that, yeah."
Again, they sit in silence for a while.
And perhaps, after all his time here, after all that has happened, he can actually understand what Tony is getting at. Though it's so counterintuitive, because it's not how things are done in Asgard, not at all what he's used to. Not terribly long ago, he would have said that this Midgardian concept felt wrong, that it only showcased weakness – isn't that what anyone in Asgard would have said? – but now it just feels like… something he should be able to grow accustomed to.
"So according to your Midgardian system, even I as a slave would be entitled to these… rights?" It's a foreign concept, hard to wrap his head around, that a society would grant rights to slaves beyond those which their masters choose to give them and that can of course be taken away at any time.
Tony offers him an exasperated look. "Yes. But you're not actually a slave. Not here, anyway. To be honest, I don't know what your status is, really, but regardless of what Asgard might think, you're not a slave on this planet, at least. Stop thinking of yourself like that. If nothing else, our laws forbid slavery, and even if they didn't, I still wouldn't think of you as one."
He considers that for a little while. And he likes the idea, that despite what Asgard thinks, at least here in Midgard he would not be considered a slave, and not only by Tony.
And one thing is clear – Tony certainly hasn't been treating him like one.
And perhaps that is what truly matters.
Tony can't help but feel a little stupid as they're cleaning the breakfast table off, him wiping the breadcrumbs to the floor with a quick swipe of his hand. Dummy will take care of them later anyway.
After all his time here, it had still not gotten through Loki's skull that slavery is indeed not practiced here in the States, not even on the side?
Or perhaps more importantly, if he's going to be a little self-critical here, it also hadn't sunken into his head that Loki hadn't quite realized that little detail, still being stuck on how things are done back in Medieval Disneyland. And really, why should he, given the relatively limited experience the god has had with current Earth and its practices so far?
But perhaps there was indeed something that had clicked during their little conversation today. At least that was the impression he had gotten, having almost been able to see the cogs turn inside of Loki's head. As stuck as the god had once been in his old concepts he'd brought with him from Asgard, he's now obviously able to look at things from another point of view and has acquainted himself with another way of thinking.
And it's interesting, despite Loki not having grown up with any concepts of human or alien rights, he had still seemed to grasp the idea quickly enough. Enough to understand by now that Tony doesn't consider him his slave and would never treat him like one.
And perhaps that is what truly matters.
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