Theme song: "Heart Attack" by Demi Lovato
Chapter 48: Inquiries
Loki sat on the couch, watching television and waiting for the storm to blow out. Or at least, that is what she meant to be doing. The TV was having a hard time holding her attention, and sometimes, especially during commercials, she caught herself staring at Natasha, who sat across the room reading her book. Loki would shake it off, only to discover five minutes later that she was watching, not the screen, but the assassin.
The sixth time she did this, she thought about it. She knew now that He had more control over her than she guessed. His trinket collection was proof enough, and there were many times that she would feel an unexpected wash of emotion, as if from someone else. Was it Him, making her look?
"See something you like?" Natasha said, deadpan, without even looking up.
Loki blushed, but turned off the TV and got up. She took a chair from the table and turned it so she could sit on it backwards facing her, her arms crossed on top of the back and her chin resting atop them.
Natasha merely continued to read, licking her finger and turning the page.
"He likes watching you," Loki said suddenly.
Natasha glanced up briefly. "I noticed." They were silent a while longer. "I take it you do too?" she asked, a little humor in her voice.
Loki shifted in her chair a little and sighed. "Can I ask you something?"
She finished a paragraph and then shut the book, giving Loki her full attention. "Shoot."
Loki bit her lip, thinking. "You told me once that you had a very specific skill set..."
Natasha smiled. They had spoken of her skills before, she wondered why the reference to the first of those conversations. She really hoped Loki wasn't going to ask her to teach her how to seduce Thor again. "Yes?"
"Well," Loki squirmed, "Exactly how specific is it?"
Natasha frowned. "I don't understand."
Loki looked at the ceiling, at her fingernails, out the window, anywhere but directly at Natasha. "Does it, you know, only apply to men?" she mumbled.
Natasha blinked. He had said this would happen, but she hadn't quite believed him. Unbidden, a smile came to her face. "No," she admitted, but left it at that. She could tell that Loki wanted to ask more, but it was important that Natasha let her take the lead in this. The last thing she wanted was to take advantage of her friend. "Let me ask you a question, too," she suggested.
Loki nodded, relieved.
"He mentioned once that there were ways of using magic to make things more... interesting. Do you know what he meant?"
She blushed, but also smiled. "There are a number of tricks. Setting the mood is easy: candles, scents, the right kind of bed," she paused a little, "mirrors."
Natasha raised an eyebrow. Loki definitely had some kind of mirror kink, she thought, and resolved to do something about it. "What else?" she asked.
Loki leaned back. "Oh, knowing him he'd pull some prank like sending a projection to join you in the shower. Or dreams, I'm pretty good at sending dreams when I feel like it."
Natasha shivered, imagining how differently his seduction might have proceeded if he had those tools at his disposal.
"And illusions can always be useful," Loki added.
She raised her eyebrows, interested. Loki grinned, and then looked over Natasha's shoulder. She turned to see what she was looking at, and nearly fell out of the hammock at the sight of a second Loki, but this one male. He chuckled a little, and settled on the edge of the hammock next to her.
"It's me, of course," Femme Loki explained.
"I can make him talk, but it's a little difficult," he said.
Natasha tore her gaze away from him and looked to her. "That's ok, it's just a little bit creepy."
She shrugged, and so did he, the gesture identical. The illusion picked up her hand up off her lap, and ran his thumb over her knuckles before bringing them to his lips. His touch was not quite substantial, like a memory or a dream.
"I'm not really sure how much I could do with it," she mused, sounding as if she would be interested to see. She looked from Natasha to the illusion, feeling an odd surge of jealousy. She dismissed the illusion, surprising Natasha again.
She hid it well, though, turning to face the real Loki again. "To answer your question, yes, I was trained to seduce women as well as men. I haven't had as much opportunity to use those skills, but enough to know they are... effective." She smiled.
To her surprise, Loki smiled back. "Well," she said. "That's something worth thinking about." With this she stood and went back to the couch, turning on the television as if the entire conversation had never occurred.
Natasha sat blinking for a moment. She had grown accustomed to that sort of dismissive move from Loki's male aspect, but this was the first time she had seen Femme Loki pull it. She wondered what it meant.
Loki said nothing more on the subject, and once the storm ended, she left to 'go wandering.' Natasha decided to seek out Thor and give him a piece of her mind. She found him with the others, up at the clubhouse, playing foosball with Clint while Jane, Darcy and Pepper chatted animatedly about wedding things. Tony, Steve, Bruce and Maria were absorbed in a soccer match on the 60-inch 3D plasma screen.
When he noticed Natasha come in the room, Thor nodded to her slightly. "Thank you for looking after Loki," he told her. "Is she alright?"
She crossed her arms, and took a wide stance. Clint, recognizing her expression and form, excused himself on the pretext of finding snack food. "She was pretty upset when I got there, but now she's gone off on her own. What did you say to her?"
Thor crossed his arms as well, not intimidated in the least. "I thanked her, for what she did. Told her I knew how hard it was."
Natasha rolled her eyes. "Really? You couldn't have waited for her to get over it? You had to say that to her then."
Thor frowned. "Loki has been my closest companion for many centuries, Lady Natasha. I know how she deals with disappointment. First, she throws a fit, then she goes off to think. No one will find her until she wants to be found. If I had not spoken my mind then, when I still had her ear, she would use this time to convince herself that I was not aware of the sacrifice she made, that I had no knowledge of her feelings and how this hurt her. She's very given to self doubt and jealousy. By the time she returns, she will have made up her mind about the truth of things, and no one will convince her otherwise."
She frowned. "And now, because you told her?"
"She will think on what I said to her. She will realize it is true. And she may find some healing in it. I cannot say what she will choose as her next course of action, but I don't think it will be to act against myself or Jane," he guessed.
She sighed. She could see the logic behind it, but she still thought it was rather selfish of him to have done. She managed to get drawn into the girls' conversation, and Clint returned demanding a rematch. He managed to beat Thor this time, but mainly because he kept staring off towards his intended.
Clint glanced over, too. It was a little weird to see Natasha and Darcy at the same time. He still had feelings for Tasha. He probably always would. But they were angsty, sullen feelings. When he looked at Darcy, when she smiled at him, he felt happy, and goofy. Why couldn't he just decide to love Darcy and not Natasha? Why did it have to be so damn complicated?
"She is fiercely loyal, your Lady Natasha," Thor commented at last.
Clint was surprised out of his thoughts by his voice. "She's not really my Natasha, not any more. I'm not sure she ever was. But yes, she can be very loyal, when she finds the person in question worthy of her loyalty."
"Is she a good judge of character, then?"
He laughed. "The best."
Thor gave him a thoughtful, telling look, and Clint ground his teeth. He didn't even need to mention Loki, he knew what that look meant. How did he do that?
Loki returned in time for supper, like a solitary cat. She was quiet, but polite, and even made small talk with Jane, which the latter found relieving and unnerving at the same time. Although she sat next to Natasha, she said almost nothing to her, and seemed skittish. Wary, Natasha did not press her, and kept her distance.
Afterwards, Thor managed to find a moment to speak with Loki alone.
"You look very resolved," he noted. "Should I be worried?"
She laughed, and then sighed. "No." She turned to face him, and put on a brave smile. "I have decided to apply my affections elsewhere," she explained.
"Oh?" Thor asked, surprised by the deceptive simplicity of her plan.
Loki took a sip from her drink and sighed darkly. "Unfortunately, I seem to have chosen an even less appropriate target this time." She gazed out across the room where a few of their friends stood talking, Natasha included.
Thor followed her line of sight, and chuckled. "Loki, this is Midgard, and you are human. Don't let the Aesir ways stand in the way of your happiness. Jane has taught me much about how humans love and treat their women as equals. It has been humbling and eye-opening."
Loki looked up into Thor's face, studying it. She found nothing there but brotherly affection and acceptance. "Thank you," she whispered.
He bowed graciously and left her to her thoughts.
A/N: I love the irony that Clint and Femme Loki have the same feels.
A word of explanation for Loki's comment that Natasha would be a worse match than Thor: as with much ancient mythology, it was not unheard of for the Norse gods to consort with their siblings (although unlike the Greeks, it was frowned upon). Homosexuality was, however, pretty much never mentioned, (even in the Lokasenna where Loki insults everyone on every possible topic) so we can assume that it probably ranks higher than incest on the list of no-nos, and is well into the territory of 'just not done'. Expect much angst from Femme Loki on this subject.
Up next on Wednesday, we have some fun nostalgia in Chapter 49: Tricks & Stories.
