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Loki draws in a deep breath as he walks beside Kai and Kevin. "This is…ridiculous. I have had enough of /this/. The dog is…/useless/. Unintelligent. And he keeps defacating in the apartment. Just..let him off the leash and lets be done with this miserable creature." Loki flaps his hand in the air and gestures in Kevin's general direction. The God of Mischief has been going through some changes, lately. Short day-trips to places unknown, nothing serious, just taking care of minor problems that he has left across the nine realms, and all are spontaneous, never planned. Its an idea that just pops in his head, so he grabs random people 'for the fun of it' and goes. He's also been /definitely/ growing exponentially in power, having unlocked a considerable floodwater of memories and abilities. Its a time of change, for sure.
*
"It was two times!" Kai says. "Because I didn't take him out, because it was cold." Kai hasn't minded Loki's comings and goings in general, though once in awhile it's irksome, like when he locked himself out of the apartment and had to climb up the balcony because SOMEONE wasn't answering the phone. "We're not getting rid of my dog. He's been a good companion." The dog in question has jabbed his nose into the knot of a tree. He sneezes, then shakes his head. There are probably stupider creatures out there, but they probably qualify as plants.
*
"It is a mortal dog, not a heroic, long-lived beast of Asgard. Your attachment to it is irrational and tragic. Another two brief years and it will be blind, deaf, and half paralyzed! I should kill him now, while he is at his best." Loki tilts his head. "Which is still pathetic…by the way." Loki holds nothing back, pushing, perhaps taunting, in a way, to see what happens.
*
Kai eyes Kevin. If this is the dog's best, the poor animal never had a chance. Even so, Kai says, "Don't you worry your pretty head about me and my dog," he says. He shoots Loki an annoyed look. He tries so hard to be a good husband, to never complain and accept his beloved in all ways. His dog, though. That's one way to get to him. "Come here, Kevin," he says, and at least the dog listens. He turns and trots over to Kai, looking up at him with his tongue lolling. Even in a dog sweater, he's shivering int he cold. Kai picks him up and tucks him under one arm. "You wouldn't understand," he says loftily. "Elves have a great capacity for love."
*
Loki cocks his pale head. "Are you suggesting that I do not have a great capacity for love? Others have spoken so, /before/. My love is cautious." He swallows and eyes the dog dispassionately, though he can recall finding joy with him, at times, there's just a reckless air about him, as if he's realized how mortal the critter is, and is defending against it with his most obvious tool- destruction. He pops his chin up.
*
"Yes, too cautious," Kai says. He hugs the little animal, responding to the same ache of mortality in the exact opposite way: clinging to it for all its worth. The clueless dog just lolls his tongue and wags his tail, happy to be getting attention. Kai flits a glance at Loki, perhaps sensing that instinct, and he turns just slightly so he's interposed between Loki and the dog. "I don't care if he's no great beast of Asgard," he says. Then out of the blue, he spouts, "Elmo's boyfriend is dying and you don't see any of us going over to euthanize him."
*
"I DO NOT CARE ABOUT ELMO OR HIS MYSTERIOUS BOYFRIEND!!" Loki snaps and yells. "Elmo FUCKING THIS, Elmo FUCKING THAT. Just go…be Elmo's new boyfriend if you like, since all you do is talk about him all the time. Elmo has zero interest in me, just you. He's not my friend." He juts out his chin and furrows his brow. "All I am is your accessory to all these people."
*
Kai shoots Loki such an annoyed look. "Elmo likes you! He'd be your friend if you were nice to him!" He sets Kevin down, tying his leash to a bench, so that he can round on Loki and get in his face. "You better care at least a little because he's my friend." He pokes Loki in the chest. "You know you're not an accessory. I've been good to you, Loki Odinson!" If people are looking? he doesn't care.
*
"To the people, Kai. To the people you are friends with…all I am is some dangerous side-note to them being around you. I have been plenty nice to Elmo, but do you know how much he chooses to talk to me, on his own? NONE. Your friends…are not my friends. They may be cordial, but they are not independantly MY friends. And Elmo's love life…may have briefly seemed something that could be entertaining, until I realized that the only part of it I would hear, would be through you, because he likes YOU, and not me. Say his name, one more time, and I swear…I will portal Kevin to Svartlheim." Loki lifts a finger to denote the number 1.
*
"He likes you," Kai says. "You just keep missing each other! And he's shy! Loki, you're daunting! You're tall. You loom! Next time you're home I'll call him. I just call him when you're not there so I have someone to talk to. You're imagning this antipathy." Oh yeah, he's annoyed when he starts talking Smart Elvish. He pokes Loki in the chest again. "Leave my dog out of this. I swear if you hurt my dog I will never forgive you. I won't leave you, either. You'll just have to get good at dodging when you come home."
*
"I am daunting…so it becomes suddenly all my responsbility to do everything. That IS how it is, is it not? There is so much responsibility for everying laid at my feet…and historically speaking, I am not great with that. I swear, sometimes I think shy people flock to me, hoping that I will do terrible things to them." Kai pokes him in the chest and he lids his eyes. "Oh…do you want to provoke me, Hjuki?"
*
"Maybe I do," Kai says. "No one's laying anything at your feet. You just have to be patient. For someone who has all the time in the universe, you want everything handed to you now now now. Yeah, there's some responsibility. I make friends becuase I'm friendly. It's right there in the name."
*
The God of Mischief looks over the elf very carefully, judging how much abuse the other man could really take before there's no turning back. He makes a swipe of his hand and the entirety of Central Park alters. Instead, its a wasteland, full of dry weeds, and the buildings are crumbled. Kevin looks like bones, but its illusion because the bones are wagging its tail. "You can fight me, but I'll still be here, while the rest of this place looks like THIS!" And that's when he makes another swipe and a spear, courtesy of Amora a long time ago, springs to his hands.
*
Kai's eyes widen, and he — of all things — laughs. It's a short, curt thing, half surprise, half disbelief. His fingertips touch lightly upon his pendant, and it unhooks, unfurling into the knives he fights with so well. "You would draw a weapon? I may never be able to beat you, but there will be a snowstorm in Surtur's realm before I give in to fear of you." He points one of his knives at Loki and says, "Know that you are sleeping on the couch tonight."
*
Loki grins with a half smile, curving on one side only, and a spark in his eyes. Asgardians. They play hard. "At least…it is MY couch! Vagabond." he does a full turn of a dramatic spin before he even comes close to a connection with Kai, but it is a magnificent whirl.
*
It throws Kai off, because one cannot deny that Loki is indeed magnificent. Kai melts a little, his knees grow just a bit weak. But then Loki his coming at him, and he brings up his knives, crossing them to catch the spear's point to turn it aside as he turns out of the way. "Amora gave us that penthouse because of me," he says. "I let you own it."
*
Loki bears down with his strength and it feels good, delightful, to finally be able to flex /at all/. Those gifts he keeps giving other people. Dragons. Beasts. Adventures. He could probably use a little of it himself. Keep him from getting like this in the end. "Then you can have it…and I will stay in Bucky's room!" Which sounds weird, but…probably an allusion to Bucky always being absent also. He yanks back the spear and then there's a flash of grin again as he watches Kai turn out of the way. He swings the spear in low, all slashing type attacks, rather than piercing ones.
*
"Oh sure, kick Bucky out. He's got nothing to do with this," Kai says, ever and always the defender of the underdog. Not that Bucky would notice, and Kai wilts a little at that. Loki's words are finding their mark. He's a nimble creature, maybe not as strong as Loki, but quick. He aviods the low slash with a jump that pulls his legs up, then he lands in a crouch, regarding Loki with fierceness he rarely shows. "You just want to be in Bucky's bed, don't deny it." He lunges, slashing instead of stabbing as well.
*
"Me in his bed?" Loki chuckles at that one, "The only thing keeping you out of the beds of a dozen of your 'friends' is that you think I'd be mad." a pause between swings at Kai. "Or maybe because you think I'd have more fun taking revenge." Sparks fly as he blocks a few of the dagger swipes with other parts of the spear and then he pushes hard, and comes in close, all tension and muscle.
*
Kai's eyes widen, and he slashes again. "I have been ever true! You've ruined me for anyone else!" Yeah, Loki, you bastard, making him fall in love so deeply. "They want me because I'm a prize," he hisses. "Yours, if you're not too blind to see it." Emotions are his strongest suit, and also his Achilles' Heel. He leaves his flank open, and it would be all too easy to strike a blow.
*
Loki does…/sort of/, strike the blow. He brings the butt of the spear around to tap into Kai's side and then steps in with his spear to close the distance. "I have never been blind. I know you have been true, but it is an exception to your /nature/. /My/ elf. Come what all."
*
Kai erfs as he's tapped, and he shoots Loki an annoyed look. He bears it, though. It's just a tap. "Have ever considered," he grunts as he lunges in again, "that my nature is to love true, and everything before it was just trying not to get hurt?" He goes in for a cut, not of Loki's flesh but a strap on his armor, glorious as it is.
*
Loki gets a slice on his outfit, though it doesn't dismember the strap entirely. It hangs by a thread. He stares, trying to keep the fighting at a stalemate. "I shall see you later, then, for that time on the couch." The illusion of the terrible apocalyptic New York fades away, Kevin returns to normal, and Loki suddenly leaps backwards.
*
Kai starts to pursue, then stops. Wait, what? He looks around, then back at Loki. "That's it?" he says. "I make a confession that's… that's hard for me to make, and you just leave?" His eyes are so big, and now glimmering. "If I didn't love you, I swear I would strangle you in your sleep."
*
Loki arches his brows. "THat was a hard confession for you to make? I thought you were trying to win. And you did. I have no counter to…I love you." He swings his hand wide with the spear, slicing the air with the casual gesture.
*
"To say to someone who thinks I'm secretly lusting after every man I see?" Kai says. He advances on Loki, though the knives are at his side in repose. He stops outside the range of the slicing, though. "Do you know how much shame I feel when you accuse me of wanting others? To know how badly I've stained my name? And knowing you'll never believe I'm anything other than a common whore? I'm not trying to win, you fool. I won the day you tied this string round my wrist."
*
Loki lowers his chin and arches his dark brows at Kai. "I am the god of lies. I know them when I see them, Kai. If you tell me that you never think about sex with another…it is a pretty lie. And…not a shameful one. Everyone does. I am quite certain you have even imagined ME with others. Come now. Desire and action are two different things. Sometimes…weakness provokes my instincts…and I wish to wreck the blushing innocence of someone I meet, but that is not betrayal. That…is just a naughty thought." He stabs his spear into the ground and leans on it.
*
"Passing thoughts," Kai says. "The sort anyone would have." He regards Loki and the spear mutinously, but then he sighs and reassembles the knives into a pendant which he hangs upon its chain. "You're lucky to have me," he points out as he ventures closer. "Even when I want to stab you, I wouldn't have anyone else. I've got no illusions. I know who you are. The heart wants what it wants is all."
*
Loki reaches out to try to grab hold of Kai's arm and tug him in closer. "I do not really hate the dog." The trickster admits. "I just feel like a fool when I walk him."
*
Kai offers no resistance. Even though it's the middle of Central Park, and anyone could see, he tucks a lock of hair behind Loki's ear and tells him, "He's a bit ridiculous." Kevin, having sensed nothing out of the ordinary, barks at a squirrel that shows zero concern. It just looks at him like 'you've got to be kidding me.' Kai murmurs, "I'm not going to say let's never fight again." He toys with the strap he's nearly severed. "I'll just get right to the part where I try to cut off your clothes."
*
"There is an eternity ahead of us…well…500 years at least. Its difficult to say never on anything." Loki grins faintly. "Ok but…Bucky's room?" He arches his brows, twice.
*
Kai smiles slowly. "Bucky's room," he says. He shoulder nudges Loki's shoulder. "We should spar more often," he says out of the blue. "You're a better fighter than me, but I'm quick. A sporting man would even the odds." He then adds, "A lot could happen in five hundred years. I bet you're stuck with me forever."
*
Loki makes a wincey face. "I was only /planning/ on 500 years. I don't know if this is going to work out for me if you do not eventually die." And also seems to be cleaaarly joking.
*
Kai snorts and says, "Should have thought of that before you tied the string, boyo." He claps Loki on the arm, as though commiserating. "What if I don't find immortality until I'm old and grey, yet still insist on being seen with you in public? Hobbling along on my cane." He mimics doing just that. "Let's get home, sonny boy," he says in a creaky voice. "We're going to eat soft foods for dinner and do it twice."
*
"I care not…I prefer it when you are old and gray anyway. Nice older fellow to make me look more distinguished." Probably true that Loki sees attractiveness in a different manner. And off he will gladly go to…make up.
