UPGRADES

02.10.2016: HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

_{@hraunwyf / ★ / SC}

_{★— STORMY CLOUDS WERE AHEAD, the rain had begun to pelt down from above. It seemed to happen all of a sudden – one moment it was quite a mild day, the next it was raining with clouds that seemed as though they had been dipped in an ink pot tainting them to a grim, overcast black.}

_{It was as though the HEAVENS had opened, and Steve caught himself running down the street on the way to his apartment in Brooklyn, taking some time away from the mansion seemed like the best call. It was his little space, his own home.}

_{After taking a moment to fumble with his keys, holding his brown leather jacket above his head in order to protect himself, he’d finally followed the steady clinking of metal and pulled them out, unlocking his door and slamming it shut once inside, breathing out a sigh of relief as he had finally found shelter.}

_{He’d been through worse, truth be told, but he was still human, and this human-super-soldier disliked the rain when he wasn’t dressed for it.}

_{As he turned the corner, shaking out his jacket and hanging up he was suddenly greeted by a figure, eyes widening with the sheer shock – noticing it was Loki. Naturally, his shoulders tensed up—}

     ❛  _{What are you doing here–? How did you FIND this place?}  ❜

_{There goes his sanctuary.}

hraunwyf:

“Jesus.”

Her head falls back—Loki slumps in the seat a little bit, an unusual thing for her but she’s starting to feel a little put out by all this. She doesn’t know how to explain it to Steve, any of it, why she thinks the way she does or the weight of it all, things that would be easy for anyone else to explain. Anyone else would be believed, but Loki has the constant feeling that everything she says is taken with not a grain, but a whole shaker of salt.

It’s a feeling she hates, and she doesn’t know how to not feel it in front of Captain America. But she has to say something no matter what. In a way, it seems like she has more of an obligation to honesty now.

“I just don’t get it,” Loki starts, and the little bit of helplessness bleeds through. “I don’t understand why, if I’m needed for something, all of a sudden now I’m trusted to help. A few years ago you all would’ve captured me or something. I wouldn’t have been asked out to a pizza joint. It feels like a set-up, and he would set me up. You don’t understand what it’s like.”

Even she hardly understood anymore. Since Ragnarok it had all been different. Loki had deposed him; she had taken the very kingdom from his hands, she had traded away the lives of their countrymen to Victor von Doom. She’d had her reasons, and she’d died again for them, but it didn’t change the way Thor viewed it, and Loki hadn’t spoken to him or even seen him in the longest, most terrible time. She knew where he was, she knew he knew where she was. Loki was just afraid to try and see him herself, and maybe Thor just hated her too much anymore.

Unbidden, she laughs. “We’re not family, you know. Thor and I were never brothers, and maybe finding that out took the obligation off of his shoulders. He’s got other brothers, real parents, a whole nation behind him. He doesn’t need me. He belongs somewhere.”

Loki’s smiling now, though her mouth’s too twisted for it, and she sits up again, sets her shoulders with false pride. “And here I am, Loki, the son of none, the bringer of Ragnarok, the god of chaos. He has to shut me up somehow. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be done with me? I should’ve stayed dead. He would have preferred that.”

^{★— SHE HAD THIS WAY about her, the sigh or the roll of the eyes – it was SOMETHING that people did when they thought that Steve wouldn’t understand such things, that the concepts were so farfetched for a man who was painted as perfect. The HUMANITY of Steve Rogers was often lost beneath the oh-so-pristine visage of Captain America. But this wasn’t about him, particularly since her last string of words were quite rightly a cause for concern.} 

^{Sharply shaped brows arched inward, bracing himself to speak after of course, absorbing what she had to say. If one thing was for certain, as LOUD as his voice may have been at times, Steve was a good listener.} 

          ❛  _{People change. Sure, there is a feeling of uncertainty, and trust isn’t ABSOLUTE – it’s earned. And you may have done something to earn that, to be honest with you I trust Thor – with my life. I trust his opinion, and though I may be reluctant in all honesty, I will trust what he says. I’ll trust YOU, knowing for well you may have done something to deserve it.}   ❜   _{He breathed, scrubbing his hand through the short tufts of blonde, attempting to put his thoughts into words.}  ❛  _{What kind of set up do you think this is? A set up to HURT you? Because I can ensure you, I’m not here for that. I have as much of an idea why I’m here than you do… Why would you think for a second he’d set this up with malicious intent?} ❜  

_{Then came the bitter admissions, of which took Steve somewhat off guard. His eyes widened, focusing on her with an expression that seemed shocked if anything.} ❛  _{You don’t have to be BLOOD to be family… You both cared for one another… You both went through things, as convoluted – and I may not have any idea of what they may have been or led to, but what I’m saying is that family holds that strength and bond. Unspoken, untouchable, no matter what happens. You may have detached yourself from such an idea, but what makes you certain that he has?} ❜   _{He was starting to feel like this was a counselling session, but became particularly saddened to hear what she spoke of, and it was visible in the way he leaned closer, broad shoulders dropped almost to vocalise that his guard was down, and that he WASN’T there to hurt her.}  

           ❛  _{No one wants you to stay dead, Loki. Not me, not Thor, not anyone. Life is valuable, ALL life is meaningful. Everyone should be cared for, loved, and be given a chance to explore, so long as no one is hurt, you’re no exception to that rule.} ❜  

                          _{Mischief is a small thing, a toy I’ve well used and discarded.} 

                                                        _{This isn’t mischief.} 

                                                    _{This is MAYHEM.} 

                                                                _{Just watch.}  

_@hraunwyf

hraunwyf:

Her lips press into a thin line. Even if they threw all the scum in jail, people broke out of prisons all the time, and that would create an entirely new brand of problems. But the subject was dropped, and she let it go, knowing there’d be no use in arguing her point any further. People had always taken extreme measures with her, so she was accustomed to them, but it wasn’t the same for everyone else.

“I wouldn’t meet with Stephen Strange if you paid me a million dollars.” Her tone’s derisive, but she’s sure it’s deserved. From what she knew of him, Strange was far too self-important for someone who made their reputation off of magic that didn’t belong to them. “But since he’s on your side, he’s the one you should go to for magic, isn’t he? What can I do for you that he can’t?”

It’s frustrating. Of all the times Loki could have been relied on, Thor picks an occasion where she has absolutely no idea how. There’s a dreadful suspicion in her, and she picks up her glass of soda and takes a long drink, delaying her next sentence. But it does come, resigned as it is, Loki not meeting Steve’s eyes. “Maybe we are on a date.” It’d be petty, and absurd, but she’s sure anything would be done if it’d push her out of the picture. “He loves you as a brother more than he ever loved me, so I’m sure my future’s expendable to him as long as you end up in the family.”

_{★— THE ABSOLUTION in her tone almost, quite ALMOST brought a smirk to the Captain’s own. Not many knew that Steve wasn’t the most KEEN on magic, given what had happened in the past. And he may have still, even after 2 years, have held a grudge against Strange for what he had done to him; tampered with the items that were most precious to the nomadic soldier – his memories. In truth, they were all he had, which was what made them so VALUABLE. Just to know that someone was capable of getting into his mind, yet alone his friend – well, the betrayal STUNG. Though he had been civil with the Sorcerer Supreme ever since, he couldn’t forget what had happened. Which was why, in the rarity that someone would speak against him, it was somewhat refreshing.} 

  ❛   _{He and I don’t see eye-to-eye.}  ❜ _{He quite frankly admitted,}  ❛   _{We’ll work together if the cause calls for it, but in most instances, perhaps I’m looking for someone with more of a speciality. A quiet confidence.}❜  _{And modesty, but he wasn’t exactly sure right now that Loki possessed that – he hadn’t heard much bragging from her end but he didn’t want to jinx it.} 

_{A hand carded through his hair, moments before he decided to lean back against the leather of the booth, calloused fingertips casually reaching for the rim of the glass and PLUCKING it up before drawing it to his own lips.} 

 ❛  _{What makes you think that, though? There ain’t anyone more important than family – so why try and put a value on his care for you? Families share a bond that even challenges brothers in arms, dare I admit.}  ❜  

_{The thought HAD crossed his mind that this was a date, but he wondered WHY it would be, and why Thor wouldn’t tell him about it beforehand. At least make himself look more presentable, given the circumstances.}

hraunwyf:

“What makes us any better than HYDRA if we condone getting rid of HYDRA?”

She rephrases the question and pushes it back to him, her tone incredulous. Loki understood where he was coming from, but she didn’t understand how he could be so blind when he’d lived through the horrors Johann Schmidt and his kind had brought about. “Do you really think that killing a monster is the same as killing its victim? Jesus.”

But she gets it. She does, because he’s probably right, and there are people who have been manipulated and coerced into working for them. But how would they tell the difference between the people who’d been pushed, and the people pretending to be pushed? Loki can see into minds, can distinguish truth from lie much better than is thought of her, but then it becomes a matter of who would believe her. 

She leans back in the booth, irritation all over her face. “Who cares. It probably isn’t even why he had us meet.”

_{★— PARRIED QUERIES were being sent his way, but Steve remained ABSOLUTE in the way he wanted to handle things. Some could call him stubborn, others would say that he had seen ENOUGH for a lifetime, and that he had gathered enough intelligence to fuel his conviction. He had seen ENOUGH.} 

    ❛  _{We REFORM them, give them a chance, help them– the ones that don’t want to change their ways can spend some time behind bars thinkin’ about what they’ve done. But we can only HOPE they see what they’ve done, and all those they have hurt, and potentially endangered. There’s a difference between what I do, and what they do. A very stark difference.}   ❜

_{He wanted to keep going, but strangely enough it was as though Loki understood where his heart was coming from, and WHY he wanted to stop HYDRA. The damage they had done – it needed to be repaired, and prevented. There were so many young heroes now, and to think that any of them would be under threat by the same organisation that he had been chasing after all these years, was rather disheartening. Steve felt his eyes lower, focusing on the edge of his dish for a moment before her voice snapped him out of the momentary daze.} 

   ❛  _{Unless it’s to take someone else down, and with the use of magic – I can’t think of anything. You think he meant to make you meet with Strange instead of me?}  ❜

hraunwyf:

“You can if you kill it. Kill every last one of them.”

So she’s being a little extremist about it, but she’s not sure what she can say to Steve Rogers that would actually get him to understand why she’s like that. Steve Rogers, tall, blond, white, male, blue-eyed, perfect. Like Thor. Would he know what she meant if she tried to explain how it felt to hear a prayer calling for her own death, the death of all like her? Would he get it if she talked about growing up in Asgard, how sick her magic made her in the eyes of her father, would he understand the bastardizing of innangarðr?

Why should she have to explain anything to him at all? The desperate hunger for violence on this topic doesn’t stem from a place of hurt for hurt’s sake; there’s a wanting vengeance written clear on her face. Loki’s a villain, yes, a fucking disaster, but it’s different. It’s different, deeper. “For God’s sake, what other option is there? They’re monsters, from fucking Johann down to the guy who mops the floors on night shift.”

_{★— A LITTLE TOO EXTREME for his taste – she was starting to sound like PUNISHER, though he shouldn’t have expected anything less. Steve had voiced his hatred for killing numerous times, and believed in rehabilitation and a second chance, even as HYDRA kept returning he believed there was SOME end to it– it just involved a LOT of chasing.} 

_{It was hard to explain with the amount of chaos that they had caused — an he found himself NEEDING to explain himself, even to Loki. Right now, they were breaking bread, dining together ( even if she wasn’t eating right there and then ) but struggled to find the words to convey what he felt.} 

     ❛  _{Some of them may be roped into it, we can’t go damning everyone who wears that symbol. We don’t know what makes them TICK, what makes them do such things and I for one – WANT to find out, so we can PREVENT it from happening in the future. If we kill them, it won’t solve anything. People will get angry, friends and allies will creep out from the woodwork. Genocide is NEVER an option. Ironic, huh? Considerin’ they were all of that sort of jazz. What makes us any better if we condone it? Hurtin, and punching ‘em is fine, but killing them? They won’t learn…}  ❜

hraunwyf:

“Oh, she could side with evil if she wanted to. No one in their right mind sides with the Nazis, though.”

So it’s a pent-up frustration of hers, but there’s a bit of a personal element to it, after all. The fucking morons used her brother’s name for their nonsense, years and years ago, they were fool enough to think they could be Einherjar, they thought they would go to Valhalla. Loki knows she’s not going when she dies, but she still feels an obligation to check the unworthy at the door.

Elbows on the table, she leans forward, leans in like there’s some great secret to share, but it’s Captain America. There’s one thing they share, and one thing only. “So they failed one plan, must mean they’re regrouping for a new one. How many people work for HYDRA? Hundreds? Thousands? Hundreds of thousands, millions? They’ve got that whole ‘cut off the head’ shtick, I wonder if they’ve thought about what would happen if someone cuts off every single head there is.”

_{★— YEARNING TO DEFEND HER – Kobik seemed to be an innocent child, unaware of what she was doing, yet Steve had to remind himself that this was a personification of something that was centuries old. Naievity wasn’t much of an excuse to be hedging his bets on. Nonetheless, at that point in time he had other matters to focus on. She leaned in, and Steve found himself dipping his sharp posture just a little to retain that intense communication that he had often refrained from with those he had stood against once upon a time. Perhaps it was UNDERLYING GUILT.}

_{However, when she spoke he quite firmly shook his head.} 

       ❛  ^{There are millions, every other person seems to be part of their organisation, and in this day and age with extremism being the new FAD in politics – there’s more of ‘em. They show up at rallies and protests, some are violent, others aren’t. The more aggressive I’ve tried to be, the less it works. –And about all of the heads, trust me, I’ve tried but y’can’t kill THIS weed at the roots.}❜^{He sighed, brushing a hand through his short tufts of blonde, frustrated.}