|
  |
Loki is in Kai's apartment, well…their shared apartment, up until Malekith started kidnapping people for no good reason, that is. He is busily working on his plan to retrieve the elf from Niflheim…apparently not going to commit suicide with the man.
*
Amora appeared in the doorway to the apartment, between flashes of golden light and the blink of an eye. The door itself creaking as she pushed it gently open and peered about inside. "Thus it was that sought you thusly here nights ago, to find you gone. Only to find your elf here anon. He seeks you and you him, yet a trap laid there within. Ah," She smiled and it was a weak glimmer that faded all too soon.
"How fare you, Loki? For I have news of your Kai. And he needs aid beyond what I can give. Even restored to power as I am." She leaned against the wall, crossing her arms as she eyed the Trickster.
"There is.. a great deal we should speak of.."
*
"Is there? I can think of nothing to speak of. I have a task to be done which you cannot help me with…" Loki flicks his eyes up to her from where he stands by the television. It is not on, but he is using it as a desk, upon which are some papers, old books from his shop. Loki is fully Asgardian, at the moment, wearing attire that mixes green leather with black, with trimmings in gold. "Unless with your new favored status in Asgard, you could fetch my helm."
*
"You desire your helmet? You'd allow me into your quarters in Asgard to fetch it?" She arched a brow, moving with that same slinking step she usually had. Yet she smelled heavily of the sweet meads of the Realm Eternal. She'd been drinking. Amora approached, making to to perch on the edge of the couch, legs crossed as she leaned forward and propped her chin up. "Kai was killed by the Warrior called Bucky, when the dark elves turned him into a wolf. Your elf has been sent out into the world to seek you as a trap. If he refuses they shall take him back. If he finds you?" She arched a brow and shrugged a roll of her bare shoulders.
"Your brother," Her lips thinned, "Has no memory beyond his fall from the Bifrost. As I'm sure you've heard. Which means he'll see you as an enemy." Another paused followed as she leaned her weight back. "However, I have asked him to aid Kai. And he agreed. If you desire it, he shall aid you."
*
"I could use Thor…but it might be a risk as well. However, I will at least talk to him, if you know where he is. I doubt much is in my quarters in Asgard worth looking at, Amora. I have been muchly out of favor. What is there…I will count it lucky, if my helm remains." Loki watches Amora cautiously, since he's so recently been betrayed by the dark elf's promises. "I have spoken with Bucky. I know what he did. I will have my revenge upon Malekith…and I am certain you will not insert yourself between us. How is it that you were restored to power…by the way?"
*
Amora summoned a goblet to her hand a puff of magic swirling around her hand as she sipped at the contents. "You need muscle to back your fine words Loki, you desired your brother returned to you. He is returned. He is as he should be. The weave of the Norns is thusly returned. Asgard has her prince. You can build as you desire, a fresh start." She sipped at her mead, and a brittle laughter followed.
"There are caches I know you held Loki on Asgard that none save you can access. Speak if you wish me to retrieve what it is you desire. Or not. I care little." She shrugged again, a roll of her shapely, bare shoulders.
"I like your elf. I would not seem him be broken. He has been my only comfort. You should keep this one.."
*
"I'M TRYING!!" Loki suddenly yells at her, his green eyes, fierce, practically spitting out the words. His rage quells a moment after, smoothing out his face, though he still breathes in a pronounced way. "Kai was an Avenger. I will have the Avengers. I have a plan. I DO wish for you to return my helm to me, if you can walk freely in Asgard. And I do wish to meet with Thor, if you know where he is. But you are shy at answering actual questions today, Enchantress." He plants a hand into the center of his book, turning to face her more fully.
*
Amora sipped calmly at her mead, unruffled in Loki's shout, and she merely looked up at him with sedate, green eyes. "Then I shall. Your brother is on Midgard. He has not remained still. I can trace him whenever you desire, where he rests his head these days I know not." Her lips thinned together.
"I shall seek your helmet, and whatever else you wish. I care not. Criminal you are, but you are thought dead. Asgard thought your brother dead. I returned him. Hence, your father restored my power and position. Tis all." She murmured, and continued to sip at her drink.
"I have answered all your questions, Trickster."
*
Loki frowns faintly. "You know not? Did he not recall anything of his affection?" This seems to surprise him. He hadn't heard of her loss, yet. "Ah, you said he forgot everything…yes…that is…inconvenient." He frowns deeper.
*
Sadness, sharp and cutting appeared on Amora's features. A storm cloud crossing over the polite demure mask she'd worn previously at Loki's words. She swallowed a large gulp of the mead, lowering the cup to her lap with a hardness that promised violence toward said goblet.
"He has no memory of the months he spent on Midgard. He has no.. memory of .. any of it." She murmured tightly, "He claims that the man who lov- that lived is dead. That he is not the same." Her hand tightened around the base of the goblet in hand, her knuckles going white.
"He spurned me again. Shouted and shook at me to grieve. Then chided me for my tears. He denied me my feelings, claiming they exist not." She broke off, and finished the contents of her cup.
*
"I know how he feels. I experienced a similar thing when I became…renewed…again. Scarlett, your apprentice, came to me and claimed to love me, endlessly, that she knew me so well, and stared at me with longing, remembering a person that I was not. It IS strange to inhabit the body of someone that provokes such…emotion…but it is also unfair. She claimed to know me, but she had never /met/ ME before. She claimed to love me, but she had known me for only moments. I am a different Loki than the one she loved, and he is right…he is a different Thor than the Donald you loved. You may still love him though, that I acknowledge that you have done for centuries before he finally returned your affections." He nods faintly. "I will tell you honestly that…I was happy that you were happy, and I am sorry for how it has turned out."
*
Amora sagged, her eyes blurring as she blinked hard at the words. "He," She swallowed a heavy lump in her throat. The goblet falling from her hands and rolling away, empty. "Said I have.. no, never, loved him. That I merely love the idea and not the man. As if I am a confused woman unable to tell the difference. As if my heart has not ached each time he has taken another woman to the promise of wedding her. As if I have not stood by in his shadow for centuries and desired a kind word or an affectionate glance." Her voice shook.
"As if I did not believe in him all these centuries and sought nothing but his love." She bit the inside of her cheek. Hard. Green eyes lifting toward Loki were damp with moisture unshed. "As if I have never known him."
*
"Yes, well…" Loki smiles faintly, wryly, and turns back to his book, "I have long known him to be a witless oaf, incapable of a coherent thought, but I do also love him, so…I can understand your point."
*
A sigh followed and Amora waved her hand over the cup, and it vanished into smoke. "'Tis why we are and always have been close as friends. Trust might never be our strength, Trickster.. But we have always been the ones in shadow. Better than to be alone.. Thank you, Loki." She bowed her head and her lips thinned.
"Hence why I seek to aid you this time. For I have naught to do.. What good is the lifting of my exile if I am forced to be alone? My reward." She said the word as if it was a curse.
"I wish I were the one that died. Why cannot I have a such a start? What good is a goddess of desire, who holds not what she desires?"
*
Loki perks at this. "Wish you to die? Actually…" He turns around to look at Amora's sad face again. "That might work. You know what Hela likes the least of all? Sentiment. I could take you to Niflheim to trade for Kai's soul. And then…you could regale her with your full grief…the grief of centuries of longing, quenched and then stolen away within months. With your power…even as a soul…you would have sway down there, and soon…the army she hopes to clash against Valhalla…is fawning upon you instead. She will be glad to be rid of you…in any way that she can. And that's when…you ask her to slip you inside of Sif's body instead of your own. And everyone is happy." He makes a sweeping gesture.
*
Amora stared at the Trickster, her features stained red with the effort to keep in her tears turned pale and wan at the plan. "I cannot.. I have not that power… All the dead are her's to command within her realm. She would not leave me to do as I desired in her…" She trailed off, her stomach twisting as she glanced down at her lap. Her brows furrowing sharply.
"He would know that I was not Sif. He would find it out. The All-father would know. I'd be cast out and have naught at all. I .." She blinked hard, reaching up to press her hands against her cheeks.
"I would be ugly."
*
"Fiiiiine. Then, when Kai is rescued, you can help me have revenge on Malekith. That should keep you truly busy. I need to know where he and his bride are…and how to disable her elf magic, so that I can /kill her/." Loki wets his lips and says it all with such certainty that one would not want to be Malekith's bride right now.
*
Amora was still busy trying to puzzle out exactly all the ways the plan before suggested could fail, could entrap her within the horrible realm of the dead. So when Loki relented easily and moved onwards, it took her a moment to follow his words. Then she understood, and she dragged a hand through her hair. "Elven magic is easy enough to disable. You just need a goodly amount of iron darling. There is a reason why Alfheim does not hold an ounce of iron in the whole of the realm." She murmured.
"It is not as if those on Midgard lack it. Find a means to lure her where you can spring such a trap and it shall be the end of that."
*
Loki nods faintly. "I still need to know where they are. You wished a task…you wished a purpose…that is the best that I can give you. I am afraid I cannot arrange you a /date/." He smiles faintly. "All I can do right now is…try to save my own love…and hope this plan is good enough."
*
Amora rose from her perch on the couch, reaching up a hand to trace along his arm and stand upon her toes to press a kiss against his cheek, unless otherwise stopped, that is. "I shall seek them. I would rather thus than to lose myself within the drops of mead to quell the misery in my heart." She leaned away, "If you seek Hela, try thus: She has been denied a soul that she will claim is rightfully her's. You might bargain a trade. Tis possible." She stepped back with a wicked smile upon her lips.
"I shall enjoy seeing if I can't break up that oh so happy marriage." And she vanished in a cloud of green.