8851/What do we do with you, now....

What do we do with you, now....
Date of Scene:	18 August 2019
Location:	Sanctum Santorum - Base Floor
Synopsis:	Loki discusses what is owed to him, and how much it will cost.
Cast of Characters:	Loki, Winter Soldier

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Loki has posed:
The Soldier has done well at the start of groveling. Loki's accepted it, strolling in a slow circle around the Barnes who has taken a knee, one hand skimming over the air near him as Loki traverses in that serene orbit. Loki also flutters his magic over his own form again: he brings down his 'god impressive ambiance' down, into one of his more subdued expressions - one that doesn't have magic active. It consists of a comfortable, tailored suit, and his hair ponytailed. Comfortable, willing to talk and barter, perhaps. As if most of how Loki chooses to appear isn't part of a lie or scheme.

"Now then," Loki begins, grandly, his voice bouncing in the Sanctum's lower room.

"I noticed you were very eager to continue our relationship. Even for that girl. What is she to you?" Loki asks, as if making idle conversation.

Winter Soldier has posed:
He doesn't seem particularly uncomfortable in that posture, like a knight before his liege lord. The question gets some consideration...then he shrugs, faintly. "I...honestly don't know. I don't know her well enough to call her a friend, though I like her okay. I don't even know her real name. But she gave me a useful piece of information and I was hoping to get more. This..." A wave of the gloved metal hand takes in the Sanctum, "Was the only way I had of getting in touch with her. She mentioned she knew the Doctor, so I thought I'd come by."

He watches Loki with at least the outward semblance of calm, though he's still pale.

Loki has posed:
"So, what, then, you want to do further /jobs/ for me, to protect that girl you barely know?" Loki doesn't seem disappointed, more that it caused a clear curiosity. "Fall on the grenade, in your view, for her?" There's a testing quality to the tone, but also amusement.

"Or is it more that you like my favors? I haven't set to you anything you'd dislike, in any case. Hunting some bad people. Maybe makes you feel good to have a goal, something to do with real purpose," Loki wonders.

"Or maybe you like being around somebody that can stop you from becoming that other thing I saw in your head?"

The trickster strides around back in front of Bucky, and moves one hand in an easy little motion of two fingers that indicates that Bucky's 'allowed' to get up.

Winter Soldier has posed:
He gets up with ease, the human hand still resting lightly on the dog's nape. "I mostly wanted to get her out of close range before she did something or you did something that would be....more permanent," Buck admits.

Still wary, he adds, "That's true, you haven't asked me to do anything that ....that I wasn't willing to do." The mention of the other thing that lived in his head, that construct, makes his lips thin out. It takes him a beat to be able to reply. "That's a priority." Bland language for something that makes the pale eyes blaze with a mingling of rage and helpless fear. "I thought you took all that out."

Loki has posed:
"Things aren't so permanent around here any more," Loki says, with purr in his tone, like a happy lion. Or for Loki? -- a panther, up in a tree. He laughs, in a comfortable way: a king in his own right, confident in his power.

"With this place, and it's relics, in addition to what I already had? I can turn time on it's ear. Reverse aspects of reality. I don't think you quite have a scope of that. And it's a pity that others also don't, yet," Loki continues. It's less of a brag, more of a wistful tone: like someone that has done a huge effort, but nobody is yet aware. There's less joy in having no witnesses.

"I could kill someone over and over, for hours, in here," Loki says suddenly, with a sharp laugh and shake of his head. "Normally I'd just plant the memories, but I wouldn't even have to," he chuckles.

Loki's gaze then comes back to Bucky. "I brought you back, yes. I didn't destroy that side of your mind, though. It's part of you; I wasn't remaking you as a /person/. Which isn't to say that I can't." Loki steps sideways, as if to consider Bucky from another slightly differnet angle.

"Are you asking me to go deeper?"

Winter Soldier has posed:
Buck's gone from pale to a kind of gray color, the bloodlessness of utter shock. He holds himself very, very still, as if Winter's presence were something he might jar loose. Like being in a dark room with a viper - where is it, will it strike?

He swallows, hard. "No, I didn't," he admits. "I don't know very much about magic or sorcery." There's a kind of bleakness in his face. All this time, spring and summer, he wasn't free. He just thought he was. But the price of the genuine article might be another kind of slavery in turn. It doesn't take someone as perceptive as the Trickster to know that he's mulling it over. Only his fingers move, smoothing the ruff of fur at the Shepherd's neck. She's leaned against Buck, hard, as if to comfort him. "I guess I thought it would be easier than it was. I mean, it was done by....by men who weren't magicians at all. They were scientists."

Loki has posed:
"I didn't say it wasn't easy for me," Loki answers, evenly. "I can also restore your arm if I wanted," Loki says, with an indifference. "I'm not the god of free things, though. Well...."

Loki reconsiders, "Sometimes I am. Chaos thing. You understand," he laughs, amused by his own joke. His grin is dark but not distinctly villainous: Loki's enjoying himself, and his humor isn't always barbed.

"It /would/ make you different than who you've become. And I've uses for you as you are," Loki continues. "You did already do one task, although you let the leader escape from there. /Now/ you'll probably need to recruit mercenaries or Avengers or whatever the hell you can do finish the job. I shouldn't have to micromanage you on it. The other facility you went to, they'd stolen an Asgardian to test on. Among others. And it's gotten worse, since. I may be busy, but that does need to be punished. Do we /need/ the other guy in your head for it, or are you capable?"

Winter Soldier has posed:
His brows draw together. "I know you did something, 'cause the old stuff doesn't work. But....honestly, if the architecture's still in there, you could just make me. He takes orders, that's all he does. I mean, I can do it without him. .....what's keeping the orders from working?" Yeah, he's hung up on that point. Just as one might expect. Learning that the grenade you carry next to your heart hasn't been defused like you thought is a hell of a shock. The dog sits down on his boot toes - now she's looking at Loki. Is she trying to keep them apart?

Loki has posed:
The dog doesn't seem to register with Loki. He doesn't mind her at all, though: Loki likes animals. They are useful in a variety of ways, and if Bucky wants to lean on one, that's not even of much interest to Loki.

"Oh, it's just on ice. Sleeping. Comatose, if you prefer; I don't think others would find him easy to wake. I do good work," Loki replies, with a distracted gesture. He's losing interest.

"Have you eaten?" Loki asks, starting to stride off to the kitchen and dining area to one side of the lower floor. "I'm fine, but you look terrible," Loki remarks, as if it was annoying to have to look at said terrible.

"If you enjoy working for me, you'll do better work, seek out things to bring to me, and so forth. Someone on /orders/ isn't creative. I like creative solutions," Loki shares. It perhaps is one of the more honest comments he's made, with the joy in the statements. "And I know, from earlier, that you have put a lot of THOUGHT into 'escaping' me, but I think you'll find that leaning into it is better for you. I don't want you as an automoton. So. Think it over."

"And have Wong make you some pizza or something, before you get on that mission." Loki shapeshifts, cleanly, back into Dr. Strange's visage. It's smoothly unnatural looking. "Doctor's orders."