Welcome to Asgard

[complicatedliar]

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.

Comments

[complicatedliar]

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."

[alaspooryork]

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?"

[complicatedliar]

"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.

[alaspooryork]

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.

[complicatedliar]

"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.

[alaspooryork]

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."