1963-11-19 - Divided Loyalties
Summary: Liv speaks with the Lady Sif and grows increasingly worried that she is the only one interested in averting a conflict between Asgard and Midgard.
Related: If there are no related logs, put 'None', — please don't leave blank!
Theme Song: None
sif liv 


Liv had no idea where Sif was keeping herself these days, but that was alright. The raven had found her all the same. Somehow, they always seemed to find their way.

The message had been a simple one, respectfully requesting a conversation about the announcement Loki had made a few nights before. And it had come with a promise: if Sif would be kind enough to come, then Liv would pay for lunch.

The blonde is waiting just outside the entrance to Wing Sing, her hands buried deep in the pockets of a heavy coat as New York begins to well and truly embrace the time of year. It's cold, and Liv has been on Midgard long enough to have somewhat acclimatized. Annoying.

*

It was rather odd the way Sif had received the message. Walking down the street, high heeled and melding in with the Midgard custom of dressing well and acting hoity-toity. She could pull it off! Resting bitch face abound (though one could assume that the original idea came from pictures of her in later decades), she manuvered through the throngs of people until the dark wings of the bird flapped and landed upon her shoulder.

There may or may not have been a scream of shocked women, and a man reaching to grasp Sif out of the way, but it was met with a step back and a pluck of the bird from her shoulder, which was turned upside down, message lightly removed from his ankle and set to fly.

With a glance over her wide rimmed dark sunglasses, she narrows blue eyes upon them all.

"Mutants. Aliens. And other things of the like and you dare gawk at me! FUCK OFF." Some were alarmed, another called her a name, in which Sif regarded with 'The Finger', which was learned from a young boy who accosted an elderly man for a newspaper meant for his father.

The message read and tossed away into the trash bin, her path averted as she turns toward the opposite. And no too sooner later (five minutes before the proposed time), Lady Sif enters into Wing Sing, sunglasses pinched with black gloved fingers and removed as she looks about the place with the lift of a brow.

She was expecting birds. But there were none.

*

Not living ones, anyway.

Brightening, Liv rises and moves to meet Sif just inside the door, and her expression is unmistakably grateful. "Thank you so much for coming. I was honestly a little afraid I might have overstepped," she admits, making a bit of a face.

She waves towards an empty booth, offering a quick smile. "Still am, actually. How should I address you while we're here?"

*

There was a little jerk back at Liv's prompt greeting. She wasn't -used- to such a way, someone actually being there and on time. It was a welcome relief. "It is no problem, not for one of our own." If she could, she would reach out to grasp the lady warrior by her shoulder, then offer up a nod in reply to the gesture of the booth. Her oversized clutch was set down first, Sif there after, sliding into the booth with a little bump here and there, glasses set upon the table as she smiles keenly.

"Just Sif. Whilst the whole of us were not revealed to the public, I see it as a little too late to hide and cower." She slides the menu in front of her, opening it with a slight hunch to her shoulders. Free food is not to be turned down, especially if the host is as gracious as Liv. "Though we shall skip the niceities and get to the crux of the matter, shall we?"

*

That physical greeting actually seems to come as a relief to Liv, and there is absolutely no hesitation at all when she returns the gesture in kind. "Still. It's very kind of you." She shrugs out of her coat, revealing the tailored men's suit she's wearing beneath it, and slides into the booth across from her.

"I've never been terribly good at niceties anyway," Liv admits, making a bit of a face as she scoops up her own menu to have a look. It buys her that half second longer to think. "Loki's announcement has… nnnnnot had the effect that he was going for," she says slowly, watching the other woman over the top of her menu. "And I worry that he doesn't appreciate what that means on a practical level."

*

"Kindness begets kindness. You've saved my life, and to reject free food would be an insult." Simple as that.

Though as they get down to the crux of the matter, Sif allows her menu to fall by the wayside. Should a waiter approach, she'd pick nearly two items on the left side, all noodles, and three from the right. All meat dishes. Despite her slender frame, she could pack it in just like Volstagg.

"I do not think Prince Loki was going for a certain effect. Just the means to get the message across that the mortals of Midgard were not alone in their plight." She answers evenly. "But, before you speak more upon the subject, I have heard from the Lord Protector's mouth of what transpired between him and a woman. And I do believe he appreciates the situation as Loki would. But we both know, through appearances, speech, stories and the like that our Loki, trickster is he, appreciates a good show."

*

The order Liv places is similar — noodles and meat in large quantities, please and thank you, and do keep the tea coming. That done, the menu is set aside, and she clasps her hands as she settles in to focus more properly upon Sif herself.

"The Prince told me that he was hoping to see humanity set their differences aside and unite," Liv replies slowly, her lips twisting to one side as she recounts this. "But he also admitted that there would surely be losses in the short term. The problem is that what we consider to be the 'short term' can constitute lifetimes for the people here, and the climate surrounding powered people is already so fragile…"

As Liv's words trail off, she leans back in her seat and drags a hand down across her face. What transpired between Loki and a woman. Yes. She's heard. "He strangled the Director of SHIELD half to death, Sif. She's with child. He's doing far more harm than good," she murmurs, her voice pained.

*

It is told, that Asgardians have an innate ability to smell when something good comes along. Children could work in fields far away from their homes, but at the first crack of meat revealed, salted and dressed with sundries of deliciousness, they were already set at the table with forks and knives in hand without a call.

Liv and Sif hailed from the same lands of those stories, and yet as Liv speaks, Sif remains attentive. Never once moving her eyes away from Liv, though one does squint as she notes the nuances the other warrior woman takes on during the conversation. It was an inner monologue that Sif speaks to, not the dominance of the conversation, but the mimicking of words to keep both at ease and tempers cooled.

Whatever thoughts she had about Loki practically choking out a pregnant woman, it was not shown upon her stature or face. Instead, there was a certain disconnect.

"Do you think he wrong, when the lady herself put hands upon him?" She pauses in her words. "If not for Frigga, wars would be wrought if someone plucked a stray hair from the Odinson's Three heads." Her jaw tenses ever so slightly, her gaze shifting behind Liv. "Tell me. How long have you been in Midgard? My memory escapes me." The question, it has a point.

*

"Was his life so endangered by the hands of a mortal woman that it warranted that violent a response?" Liv asks gently, that same pained edge coloring her words. "How are humans supposed to trust that Asgard is on their side when we treat their mothers that way?"

Liv just lets out a quiet breath, and suddenly, she looks… tired. Very, very tired. "A few centuries," she murmurs, dropping her eyes to the table. "It was seventeen… something."

*

Sif's fingers come apart in a slight shrug. Inwardly? There was a storm brewing. Anger. Women were fierce warriors especially when withchild, but yet they were treated as precious commodities that needed protecting because they housed the innocent future to be molded and shaped. To say that she was pissed? Well..

"You know as well as I that these mortals have untapped potential that even the likes of Asgard has seen." Her own words were quiet. Genuine. "Who knows what the truth of what has transpired that day he met she. And yet, while we beg to question the actions of both offenders and victims, we must ask ourselves a question. Who's side are we -truly- on?" One eye squints, it was then that her shoulders build up with tension as she leans forward. A tension that braces, one that threatens to lash out and release the full brunt of her inward ire upon Liv just because she was there. That slight yellow coloring of her eyes as the soft blue begins to bleed a touch black.

Yet cools immediately! FOOD!

"Seventeen something!" Sif remarks happily, each plate reached for as the waiter attempts to settle them, Sif lending a helping hand at distributing the dishes! She seemed happier now, as if something took the wind out of her sails which was a Good Thing (tm), and chopsticks in hand, she begins to pick.

"I.. is this bread?" She asks loudly. "Who would dare wet bread?" But as an aside. "Seventeen something. You have seen wars born to man out of disagreements. You have possibly seen the rise and fall of Chinggis' empire due to greed, hate, a lack of unity and togetherness. You have possibly seen the fall of religion in birth of a new and the bodies that littered the landscape." She states evenly.

"The emergence of the beings that we may or may not know personally, is no different. History, that we all have seen with thine own eyes repeats with every turn of the moons that surround the world trees. Yet now? You take offense." There was a pause, a slop of the noodles risen. "Why." Another pause. "Why must these people ruin bread." Though, the 'why' went both ways.

*

When Sif leans forward, Liv raises her eyes, and there is a brief flash of surprise across her features at what she sees.

Thank the Gods for food.

Liv only dares to exhale after the waitress has left and Sif has begun to dig into her lunch, one hand coming up to run back over her hair self-consciously. "I… yes. I have. I even fought in several of them, when the cause was just," she admits, keeping a somewhat wary eye on the other woman as she reaches for her tea.

"I do not know if I would say that I take offense," Liv murmurs slowly, her teacup held carefully in both hands, dwarfed by them. "But I would say that I am… concerned?" She squints, head canting to one side. Was that the word she wanted? Hm. "No. I'm fucking terrified," she clarifies, reaching up to pinch the bridge of her nose.

"Midgard is in a position that I do not think it has ever been before," Liv says tiredly, casting a glance towards the window. "They're learning that some of them have access to powers that the majority do not. They're learning that they are not alone in the universe. They're learning about us. And it's all happening in a very short span of time, even by their own reckoning. They're frightened, and if noone is willing to assuage their fears, to assure them that we truly are on their side..? They might lash out."

*

Noodles repeatedly fall from the chopsticks as she tries to grasp them, the sticks soon tossed aside in a moment of frustration as she uses her fingers to gather up the hot noodles with a lift and a twirl around her fingers. A piece of meat was carefuly balanced, Sif's lips quirked as she adds on a piece of egg, and with a hesitant lean forward, she finally drops that scoop within her mouth, her eyes bulging for just a moment as she finally pries her fingers away to chew. And it takes a moment.

Twas an odd choice she picked! But she was satisfied none the less.

Yet once she was finished, she asks.. "Are you sure that the cause was just?" Her brows raise. "War, is all a matter of perception. While you believe that their angles were right. The others do as well. War is paved with good intentions, after all, and each believing that they were just, right, and above all in the long run." She wriggles a wet finger. Goddess of War!

Though, hearing Liv admit she was afraid allows her to drop the pretenses just a touch; no longer was she diplomat, but friend. A friend who was hungry, yet a friend who put that hunger aside to listen and to look at her side of the coin. "Yes. They are." She admits. "And how fair is it of us to come out of the shadows to admit that we have been here all along, even if my brother has seen this coming eons before this story has been told?" She asks. Though, another scoop and winding of noodles were taken.

"Tell me the true reason as to why you summoned me. This conversation has leads. And while I shall seek to instruct and tutor you upon the acts of war and the history that we've faced, regal stories of the Undying.. a fable no doubt.. I'd much rather reach the end before I empty your pockets of coin and lint."

*

Eating with one's fingers might horrify the other patrons or the staff of Wing Sing, but Liv herself is unperturbed. Food is meant to be eaten, and if the chopsticks aren't going to be cooperative, one must do what one must.

"They felt just at the time. But I do take your meaning," Liv murmurs, already holding up a placating hand. "Noone enters into a war because they think their side is in the wrong. And in a way… that is what I'm afraid of happening here." It does provide a nice, neat segue.

Setting her tea aside, Liv draws in a deep, steadying breath. "I was hoping that I might introduce you to Director Carter. That she could explain Midgard's view of things more accurately than I could as an outsider. She has been asking me questions that I simply cannot answer," she admits, slowly shaking her head. "I do not know the Princes well enough. But you might."

She thinks for a moment longer before she adds, somewhat warily, "I know that his intentions for the realm and its people are, ultimately, good ones. But my perspective is not a human one, and the human perspective right now sees only a dangerous, arrogant outsider. A threat. We have to do something to reassure them before they do something stupid."

*

"There was a time when I nearly went to war with Fandral because he mentioned that I looked better blonde." Sif idly asides. "Can you imagine?" She does grin, the little joke aside, more noodles and meat piled within a cranes grasp, lifted high, head tilted back and..

*PLOP*

'Ew.' Someone says.

"CRAWL INTO SOMEONES ASSHOLE." Sif replies, mouth full, anger quickly subsiding.

With that said, Sif's eyebrows do shoot upright, her settling within her seat as she finally takes a napkin to clean her fingers and dab a little at her lips. "You mean to say that you wish I to speak to the woman who accosted Prince Loki, to deliver secrets upon their wiles and wares to her so that she could gain better insight, perhaps leverage upon the Odinsons two?" Her jaw tenses faintly, reassurances aside.

"I shall not betray their trust. However, I will offer myself aside in order to help spread Lord Protector's message to the mortals. Though while his showing was grand and beautiful.." There was a wistful sigh. A true student of Frigga, was he, and it nearly made her wish to meet the mother again soon. "..this does seem to require a womans touch." Another cranes grab, this time stuffed and slopped with meat. "I shall meet with this Director Carter. Though I am already in a picture movie that has taken a delay due to my absense."

She lifts the food, then lowers it to explain. "I am in the practice of creating an heir for Thor. If I am to be Princess of Asgard, he shall need sons. Though I fear that I have taken a sword to the gut one too many times for this to be possible." A lift, and a lower of food again. "Or maybe He one too many to the balls." And then, food shoved in!

*

Not so much as a batted eyelash. 'Ew' warranted a response and that was the one the mortal got. Liv is not about to intervene.

Not when she's back to looking so damned tired.

"I am not asking you to betray anyone, to tell her secrets that are not yours to tell," Liv sighs, dropping her chin into one hand. "All I seek to do is stop my two homes from seizing upon the first opportunity they see to try and destroy one another, and over something so… small. Over a misunderstanding."

She remains hunched forward with her chin propped up in one hand even when Sif agrees to meet with Director Carter, but it does at least bring a smile to Liv's face. "Thank you. I wish you could meet her under other circumstances. Hopefully she will not be so brusque and defensive that you are unable to find common ground."

The explanation for the delay, though. That does make Liv raise her head. She blinks once, then develops a rather odd smile. "I had no idea. I mean, I gathered from our battle in the Park that he was crazy about you, but — that's a whole 'nother thing. Congratulations."

*

"I know, Liv." Sif murmurs softly. She shakes out her fingers again, wiping them away upon the napkin. She was done eating for now.

"You must make preparations, however. If you are a true daughter of Asgard or if your new home and alliances of Midgard shall take precedence over the rule of the All-Father, Thor, and the Lord Protector." She quietly murmurs, fingers now laced within the other. "I will not ask where they lay, as you have artfully dodged my question." Sif looks amused, but that part of the conversation was dropped.

"Though, I almost wish to send Thor in my stead. I am but a Lady of the court as of now, and even still.. I am curious to meet this woman who chooses to risk the unborn against a wily sort such as Loki. Perhaps, mayhaps she need remembering of the tales that are told on this plane. Of the anasazsi and it's trickery.."

She nearly grows vacant, but once congradulations were spared, her brows furrow. "Crazy? He is a man obsessed!" Sif almost look aghast, with a lean in to whisper. "Though, it is amusing. One would think he a wife with the duties that he so whole-heartedly takes to. Why.. there was a time I dressed him in nothing but an apron, and he dusted and clea—.."

A waiter moves by, Sif's eyes lifting, her hand reaching out towards the ceiling to flag him down. Once he approaches, she gestures towards the table.

"Box everything. And my thanks to the man who has ruined this bread to make it wet. It is delicious. The meat is tender. Tell him that Sybil Ofasgard shall purchase him."

*

Sif may be willing to drop that thread, but Liv can't help but let out an exasperated breath as she picks it up. "Honestly. If Midgard and Asgard are actually going to ask me to choose between them, and over this…" She rolls her eyes, leaning back in her seat and tightly folding her arms across her chest. "Right now, my loyalties lie with peace and quiet. I don't know what's so terrible about that."

She indulges in a moment of quiet, unhappy grumbling. But then Liv's eyes refocus and she purses her lips in thought. "Perhaps the both of you..?" she suggests, tilting her head slightly to the side. "If he was willing. When I spoke to the Lord Protector, Thor was also there, and he seemed just as dismissive of my concerns as his brother did," she murmurs, unable to keep herself from looking just as troubled as she feels. "Is my perspective truly that different, after so little time away?"

Not even gossip about Thor is enough to wipe that frown off of Liv's face. Not entirely. Her expression does warm at the mental image, but it never quite reaches her eyes.

*

"It's not a moment of asking. It's a moment of chosing which side to die on." Sif says simply. "Be it at the hands of your bretheren, or mortals. It is told that all are welcome in Valhalla."

With that said, she rises from her place, the large clutch taken as the bags were delivered to her hands. While she will not comment on the thoughts of how the brothers two handled it, she does say one thing.

"They love each other." As if it meant all in the world. "There is a bond there that could not be broken no matter what the other does." And as if her words did not soothe already, she adds in her own caveat. "Worry not, sister. I shall see to it that all concerns are eased, and that the brothers are in the know, and that this Director Carter is satisfied."

With that said, she leaves. It's going to be one hell of a week.

(And yes. She took Liv's food too.)

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