jewelsofasgard | Welcome to Asgard

Who: Loki and anyone who is around (feel free to mingle)
Where: Asgard's Keep and surrounding lands
When: Say about a week's worth of time, July 19-26, pick a day
What: New people are beginning to arrive in Asgard in the wake of Loki's decision to ask Ebon Askavi. He's still not sure how he feels about this.
Warnings: Violence potential, please use trigger warnings and tag porn as applicable

Loki has only been back in Asgard for a few days, but he still can't shake the restlessness of having been gone. The keep doesn't feel safe to him, of course--it probably never will again--but Ebon Askavi had been frightening in its own right. The stress of the trip, of keeping himself in order and calm, has begun to take its toll.

And if he's done his job, new people will be arriving. He's anticipating that with a special sort of hope and horror mixed. The land must be healed. And he'll do whatever it takes to see that happen, even if it means kneeling to a Queen again. If he's lucky, maybe he won't survive the experience this time... so long as Asgard does. He'd knelt before the Lady of Ebon Askavi and... but it won't be her that's coming. If it was her, he'd almost be able to believe things would be all right.

But he'll just have to trust.

The keep is made as ready as it can be for visitors, cleaned and ready to be welcoming--as welcoming as anywhere can be in these troubled, untrusting times. Loki occupies himself in the gardens, though he studiously avoids the northern garden, and may disappear for some time in the western one. He also goes for long rides, watching for incursions from other territories, and waiting. Someone is just as likely to meet him on the road as they are in the keep.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Rebinding shouldn't be a problem once there are materials at hand. It's one reason Delta's actually glad Summer-sky is his Birthright: working at a small scale with books requires a fine touch that the darker Jewels have difficulty emulating.

He nods and gestures over to a short pile he's begun on one of the tables. "So far the ones I have found seem to be pages that have come loose from neglect, rather than anything torn out deliberately."

Loki would almost be jealous of that delicacy of touch if he hadn't been called on so often to utilize his craft on a larger and bloodier scale.

"Yes, I imagine the bitches would simply have burned anything they found offensive," he drawls. "Neglect is precisely the problem, considering the circumstances of hiding these books." Still, he regrets ever tear as an injury against the books his mother loved so well. He has little enough left of her now.

Delta can only be grateful he wasn't instrumental in anything large and bloody, at least not directly. Indirectly, well, that's another matter entirely.

He manages not to scowl at the very idea of burning books, though his eyelid does twitch with the repressed anger it engenders. "If that is the case, I cannot be surprised they are no longer in residence. The symptoms of neglect, at least, are easier to work with." Yes, and after that's all done, will he have made a place for himself here regardless? Maybe. But it's still too early to tell. For now, he'll take what is before him and do his best.

Loki smiles wolfishly. "We disposed of them rather neatly," he says, voice almost a sing-song. Well, let this male know he's thrown in his lot with a Queen killer now. Better to hear it from Loki than the rumor mill.

Delta raises his eyebrows but doesn't recoil. As much as the instincts are still there, so is the hard-earned knowledge that things are rarely the way they should be - especially when it comes to Queens. Had his actions been wrong, well, wouldn't Prince Loki have been affected by the Purge?

That's not to say everyone left is pure of heart, not by a long shot, but it's something to think about.

"If they treated the rest of the Territory as they would the library, I can only imagine it was good riddance."

He laughs softly, a sound without humor. "The library, they found mostly boring with ask the good books already hidden away. It suffered the least of all, perhaps."

But this isn't about displaying scars; pain isn't a contest anyone can win, and he does not wish to think of his own part in it, either. He digs his right thumb into the palm of his left hand for a moment, the movement almost casual.

"Pick out a room you like in the east wrong," he says, an abrupt change of subject as he mentally pulls himself back on track. "You won't like the west wing. I'm having it shut off."

If this room suffered least, well. Delta had walked through some of the country himself, and can't find it in himself to disagree; still, that there is at least one Prince willing to set the country to rights is reason for hope. There's to be hard work ahead of him - but meaningful work, even if he does spend much of his time here with the books. There are times when the trappings of civilization are all the more important when everything else is on the brink of disaster.

"I will." He doesn't need anything big, just a place to sleep and store his own possessions, few enough as they are. "And will I be seeing you at meals, or do you dine alone?"

That's something that never even occurred to him that someone would ask. Why would Delta want to take meals with him? Has it been so long that life has had some semblance of normalcy that the idea of not eating alone in his office seems strange?

Well, yes.

A hint of that uncertainty and near shock shows on his face. "I tend to simply eat in my office whilst working," he says. When he bothers to eat at all. He often doesn't feel like it, either, too sick with worry and stress. "I believe the household does tend to eat together for breakfast, however. You ought to meet Max, I think. He tends to oversee the meals."

Darkness, he hadn't expected that kind of reaction! Though he's familiar enough with being immersed in work to the point where he forgets to eat, as it happens. He makes a mental note to meet this Max and remind him to send dinners up regularly. It's not Delta's responsibility, no, but there is a reason he'd been singled out early on for a Steward's job.

"Breakfast, then. And would you prefer written or verbal reports on my progress?"

"Yes, breakfast."

A meal he tends to forget or skip. But maybe... well, he might just show up for once. See who dies of shock at his presence.

There's a slight hesitation as he considers which he might really prefer. Written would be more efficient. And would also mean less interruption to his own work. He could avoid ever seeing this other male again, technically, by that method. And in truth, part of him is tempted by the thought. He's too battered, too bruised by everything to truly welcome the presence of others. He'd resigned himself to just continuing on with a life he no longer relishes because it is necessary, and the time he will be able to rest might be soon if only he arranges everything correctly.

But it has been so pleasant to talk about books. Unexpectedly so. Delta is quiet, and really the opposite of everything that tends to set him so on an edge already overly honed.

"Verbal," he finally says, surprised by his own choice.

Breakfast helps so much with focus - and, truly, it is enough of a relief to be in a place that can at least provide enough food for mealtimes that Delta would show up regardless, just to bring a semblance of normality to his own life. Not having to leave before dawn and scrounge for food is still strange to him, and yet the idea sends an almost pathetic wave of relief through him, reflected in his smile.

And that his employer wouldn't mind verbal reports is pleasing as well. "Excellent. I find verbal reports allow more room for flexibility with regards to duties." And it will give them an excuse to talk together, even if for only a few minutes. It's been good so far. He looks forward to more discourse.

"Oh?" Loki says, almost weakly. He feels as if he's somehow lost control of the conversation, or perhaps track of it. Delta seems so pleased, and he's not even certain why. People certainly don't like or seek the company of Prince Loki, that's for certain. "Flexibility is a laudable trait, 'tis true."

...that might have come out sounding far dirtier than intended.

Delta, for his part, barely notices the secondary meaning of the phrase. When he's focused on one meaning he tends to miss others, a trait that had more than once caused him trouble and made him aware he needed a counterpart in order to ferret out the truth; books are, he's found, far more straightforward than people. The written word is easier to interpret than tone.

So he smiles in what he hopes is an encouraging fashion, because after all he has found he likes Prince Loki's company. "I will try to make the timing of my reports consistent, but I find it fair to warn you I have been known to become absorbed in my work."

Welcome to Asgard

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