(no subject)

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

Date: May 24, 2000
Setting: Third Floor Corridor
Status: Public (complete)
Summary: Loki is poking around in the third floor laundry cupboard.



Loki knew most of the manor by now. He’d explored the basement in hopes of finding somewhere out of the way to make himself a nice nest where he could sleep unseen, but it had turned out to house a swimming pool, a sauna and even a billiard table. Those were likely to draw in people. He usually liked billiard, but not when he was looking for a quiet spot.

So today his search had led him into the attic where he’d found little more than cardboard boxes and dust. A small storeroom in the back looked like a perfect place to make his nest. Any modern human would probably consider it way too uncomfortable, but to a Viking warrior who was used to the harsh life onboard a crowded sailing ship it would have seemed like pure luxury. Loki was neither. He considered it a potentially cosy hideout that needed some work.

First order of business: Clean out the thick layer of dust and grime. It might be a bonus, if one could actually look through the little window afterwards.

That however required cleaning utensils, since the last thing Loki wanted to do was remind the manor’s cleaning staff of the existence of the attic. So where could he organise cleaning tools without asking anyone?

He climbed back down the stairs to the third floor. Newt, or whoever else cleaned the rooms up here, wouldn’t like to drag his cleaning supplies up and down the stairs all the time, so they should have some stored on every floor. The laundry cupboard was his first guess.

Ah yes, sheets, spare pillows, blankets, towels ... a vacuum cleaner ...

Steps behind him! Loki shot around hoping that whoever it was wasn’t part of the manor staff.

Comments

[dangeroushabits.livejournal.com]

"Ain't that the truth," John sighed. "I'm gonna get a beer. What's your poison?"

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

Mmmh beer. Loki hadn't had a nice cold beer in ... forever.

He remembered the mead-incident just in time.

"Apple juice." he decided feeling very virtuous. "At least half a litre of it. I'm parched."

[dangeroushabits.livejournal.com]

"Right," John said, unsurprised. Doesn't smoke, doesn't drink... If he'd suspected before, this definitely clinched it. There had to be something desperately wrong with a personification of mischief who eschewed the most basic of vices.

He wandered up to the bar to get their drinks, smirking at the odd look Belial gave him when he ordered the apple juice. "Not mine, trust me."

Returning to their table, he plunked the drinks down and took his seat again. "Bottoms up...so what brought you to the Manor, anyway?" He knew most of the inhabitants had been called by Adam in some fashion, but most also had their own reasons for answering the summons or for staying around.

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

"Cheers." Loki gulped down half of the apple juice in one go. That was a lot better, yes.

"Isn't that obvious?" he asked a little surprised at the question. "Odin's here. We might go on separate adventures from time to time, but never for long. I came to find him."

"At least that's what I think I did." he added after a moment and another sip of juice. "Adam claims differently."

[dangeroushabits.livejournal.com]

"Mm. Could be both. --Cheers," John observed, cracking open his beer and taking an appreciative swig. "I can't quite see Adam forcing anybody to do anything they normally wouldn't. But again, I could be wrong.

"Have you spent much time around London?" he added. "If the Manor gets to you, there's plenty of places not too far off to get away to." And I can even remember where most of them are, he thought ruefully.

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

"I don't like the idea." Loki admitted. "And I like the idea of someone summoning Odin halfway around the world without him even noticing even less. Isn't that forcing him? Forcing a god."

Loki took another swig of apple juice wishing for something stronger again. It's hard to drown your sorrows in fruit juice.

"I hardly know the city." he told John. "All I've really seen of it are the ho ... hotel room I stayed in, the subway and a few bus stops. I've never been out of America before. Well, not in this incarnation, that is. I could probably use a guided tour. Would get lost on my own."

The last was a lie. He was pretty good at orienting himself in new places, be they small villages, or huge cities. If you lived on the road as much as he and Odin did it was a basic survival skill.

[dangeroushabits.livejournal.com]

"I'll show you around sometime. America's got some bloody brilliant cities," John said, being quite fond of some of them himself, "but there's just no place like London. I need to get back into the swing of things there anyway, I've got kind of sidetracked here." He hadn't been as active in the London underworld in recent years as he once had, but since the possession he'd completely lost track of what was going on, and that made him uneasy.

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

Loki nodded. "London's old. There are no really old cities in America. Big ones, loud ones, yes, but not old."

Or maybe it was just that he was so much older than the cities. He thought he'd like London once he got to know it.

[dangeroushabits.livejournal.com]

"'s true. They call New York old, but it's not really. No sense of history, Americans. Not that that's always a bad thing." Sometimes the past informed you, and sometimes all it did was weigh you down. That, John reckoned, was probably just as true for immortals as humans, if not more so. "Lemme know when you want the grand tour, then. I'll come 'round tomorrow afternoon and we can finish up that other thing if...that's good."

He had nearly said if you're feeling up to it. Sloppy. Loki seemed like a pretty decent bloke, irrespective of whether he was really the one swiping shit around the Manor, but he also seemed a bit paranoid and John didn't want to put him off.

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

"That'd be great." Loki smiled at John. "I'd probably have a hard time dragging things up on my own."

He liked John, which was quite a surprise. Oh, Loki often found humans he liked, but usually that was because they were particularly gullible and fun to play with. John however was different. He actually liked him in a way he usually just liked other gods, as an equal. He wondered whether one could make friends with a human and what the repercussions might be.