9255/Asgard's Requiem: Duty bound

Asgard's Requiem: Duty bound
Date of Scene:	19 September 2019
Location:	Sanctum Santorum - Base Floor
Synopsis:	Loki calls in a favor from Steve Rogers.
Cast of Characters:	Loki, Captain America
Tinyplot:	Asgard's Requiem

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Loki has posed:
The Sanctum stands quiet and reserved on the street in Manhattan, overlooked by most passerby. A lot of that has to do with the magic of the place: it's best if most people simply don't pay it any mind.

The door has been sealed by elaborate magic, which sorts friends from foes, when entry is sought. It may be unclear at first what will, in fact, happen when Captain Rogers seeks entry. He was invited, after all, so odds are good he won't be flung off onto the sidewalk...

Captain America has posed:
The rumble of his Harley motorcycle precedes the Captain's arrival. Sans helmet (because someone's thick-skulled about his own propensity to bounce, what's TBI, pfffft), he kills the engine and parks the bike smack in front of the Sanctum's sidewalk. Over his shoulder, an artist's backpack, big enough to contain an easel. His combat boots mark his confident stride up to the door. His knuckles pause just before the beginning of his announcing overture as he pulls out his cellphone to check -- yes, it's the correct time.

Gritting his teeth, Steve then knocks on the darkwood doors: shave-and-a-haircut...two-bits. Beneath his motorcycle jacket, his chest rises as he folds his arms and waits, his expression patiently annoyed.

Loki has posed:
The door opens rather abruptly, but not in a manner that would invite Steve inside. No - there's a man right there. A stranger, to Steve: a slender man in his late twenties, perhaps, with short brown hair, clear hazel eyes, handsome features. He's dressed well, a dark blue buttonup shirt under a darker blue blazer: clean and tidy.

"Right on time. Walk with me, Rogers," says the man with gesture of hand and head. The gesture alone reeks of Loki, even if the voice itself and appearance don't. The clearly imperial way his eyes move and expression contains clear 'better than thou' vibe: it's intentionally very clear. Loki lets the door close behind him, expectant to be followed out to the street.

Captain America has posed:
A back-step keeps Steve from bumping into the man. This...isn't Loki, who the hell is this? His eyebrows jump and he outright stares at the stranger for a second before the mannerisms begin to fall into place. There's a sharp sigh through his nose.

"You didn't mention anything about a covert operation," he mutters, already moving to step back down to the sidewalk. "Anything else up your sleeves I should know about?" The way he asks this is leading in itself, as if he's currently aware of things not immediately apparent from existing outside of the Sanctum.

Mainly, that Barnes has spoken to him in detail about certain relics inside, such as the Tesseract.

Loki has posed:
"What, would you rather go inside?" Loki asks, with mixed surprise, glancing towards Steve with one eyebrow up. The person's visage he's adopting isn't an unfriendly one, just from a look alone. "I suppose we can do that, I thought you'd be comfortable having a short walk; I don't consider a walk overly /covert/. Shall we get you a cap, if you're wanting a secret mission?" Loki asks mildly, giving Steve an amused side-eye.

Captain America has posed:
"I imagine you'd be comfortable talking to me in public, since the last thing I need is any sort of incident with my face in full view for any camera to pick up," the Captain counters. "Have a little faith in me, Loki. You think I'm gonna break something inside your house?" Steve tilts his head and squints, his smile only vaguely amused.

"You got something in there I shouldn't see?" He cranes his head as if he might see beyond the frosted glass inset to the darkwood front doors and then looks back at the brown-haired man expectantly.

Loki has posed:
Loki stops entirely, and reverses course abruptly back towards the Sanctum. "Hardly. I have no issue with bringing you into the building where I control all of reality with minimal effort. Come, then," Loki says, directly calling the bluff, if there was one. There's a beckon of hand like one would do to a servant, perhaps.

How is it Loki manipulated this into Steve wanting to come into the place where Loki is most powerful? Yet there it is.

"Do you want something to eat, too? Perhaps a beverage?" Loki mocks lightly.

Captain America has posed:
"Thanks, but I ate before I got here. Figured I'd be dealing with something like a topsy-turvy fun-house of doom and despair," replies Steve as he steps rather fearlessly behind Loki in disguise. "Gotta keep my blood sugar even in an event like that."

When he crosses the boundaries onto the property of the old brownstone, he isn't able to sense anything overtly out of place magically-speaking. Incantations and legerdemain are entirely beyond him. However, is this place uncanny central? Yes, it is, and all of the shadows seem weirder than last time he was in the mansion. "Something's different. You redecorate?"

Loki has posed:
"Yes, extreme installation of funhouse mirrors," Loki replies evenly, in a way that might suggest that he's not lying. Or he is. It's Loki, it's not worth the struggle to try to guess. Shrodinger's Lie. It is both true and not true until you hit Loki really hard with a fist.

"Pit traps in the floor. Careful where you step." 'Leading' the way, Loki walks back in, as the door shuts on the old brownstone. The lower floor is quiet and slightly dark - it was never crowded, but now it's a little bit like a tomb, somewhat lifeless. "You'll trip over an invisible Thor if you're not careful."

Captain America has posed:
Scanning the immediate area around himself in the foyer, Steve then nails the Trickster God with a glare right between his shoulders. The weak ambient light falling through the windows glints through his eyes as he looks around, quickly calculating entrances and exits -- well, proposed entrances and exits. He's slowly coming to the conclusion that he has truly walked into the lion's den, but it's all in good fun! His pulse is dancing.

"Funnily enough, I saw your brother not a few days back. How's he really doing?" Steve asks, his voice flatter than a tin can on a highway. His words do echo back faintly to him, as they might indeed in a sepulcher or space much larger than visually estimated at first.

Loki has posed:
"You didn't ask him when you saw him?" Loki asks, but slants his gaze sharply at Steve. He'll go along with it, but it's very unusual for Steve to lie, in Loki's previous experience. A quick gesture of fingers, subtle and hidden behind the turn of his body, sends identification spell towards Steve. If this is an imposter, Loki's going to want to know, right away.

"I don't blame you, one can only be told how magnificently he is doing so many times," shrugs the trickster, entirely willing to go along with some strange story, even if it's not possibly true, from what Loki knows. "He isn't here. If you want to shout for him pointlessly for a while, you can, although I don't have a /lot/ of time."

Captain America has posed:
"He had a lot to say, actually. Lots of things about daring-dos 'nd squeezing rocks 'nd well..." Steve shrugs, smiling again even as the expression doesn't meet his eyes. "You know how he is. Cheery as the day is long. I figured he wasn't here." His hand rises to rub at the outside of one arm unthinking as a cascade of goosebumps rushes from nape to toes, leaving the fine hairs on his body standing.

Steve is, in fact, simply Steve -- for as complicated as the man can be.

"'nd besides, you're apparently in a hurry for all you're beating around the bush about why 'm here," he adds as he looks around the Sanctum's foyer once more, as if he doesn't trust what his eyes are telling him. Who could blame him: Loki's still in his diguise as is.

Loki has posed:
"Didn't I mention I can simply control reality, including time, within the Sanctum?" Loki asks, thoughtful, with a mercurial smile. "It might /feel/ like screaming and yelling for years, but it wouldn't actually be," shares the god with a low menace in his tease.

"But I digress. This is for you," Loki says, producing a flat green stone, approximately just larger than a quarter. "It will /react/ in an obvious way. When it does, you will press upon it, and be brought directly to the Sanctum."

"You will then protect the Sanctum against any that wish to do ill upon it or myself, should I be here. There have been stirrings of dark forces that I need to stop. I may be busy, and it is important that the Sanctum of the Supreme, which protects this world from so much darkness, not fall into evil hands. I'm sure you'd agree."

Captain America has posed:
Butter wouldn't melt in Steve's mouth at the reminder of just how much control the Trickster God has in their current surroundings. Instead, he simply folds his arms and appears to be waiting for further information -- which he gets, along with what appears to be a flattened ovaloid of an emerald. His eyes fall to the stone and lift to Loki's face; he doesn't take the stone just yet.

"Somebody's got you nervous?" A flicker of gratification is there and gone in his regard. "Evil enough to want that Tesseract you have floating around in here somewhere, maybe? Should've just left it where it was."

Loki has posed:
"While your view of me as omnipotent isn't far from the truth, I felt you /useful/ in this area. But if you'd rather I transfer the favor to Bucky, as he has been begging me to do, we can do that instead," Loki says, directly, starting to draw the stone back. The menace returned, too: Bucky's favor will not be pleasant, just because Loki's probably going to be fickle about the whole situation.

"Your fishing isn't subtle. I do have the Tesseract. The same Tesseract I didn't leave behind for just /anyone/ to pick up when Asgard was destroyed? Far better it float where I've kept an eye on it. It can summon more armies. Do I need armies?"

Captain America has posed:
"Do you have a sudden need to shake hands with the Hulk again?"

Steve parries with this even as he holds out his palm, open, for the stone to be placed upon. "'nd leave Barnes out of this. This's between you 'nd me, this last favor. Once this's done, so're we, Loki. I got the gist of it: hold a defensive position against evil attempting to do bad things to the Sanctum or to you." His eyes are cold and clear as they rest upon the Trickster God's face.

Loki has posed:
Loki blinks once and then laughs. "Do I /ever/. Yes, let's continue to exchange threats. I enjoy it," winks the mage. "Though right now, much as you may hate it, you'd be harming your own defenses here, as I am working for your world, not against it."

He flips the stone over into Steve's grasp. "Good; I thought the clear assignment would appeal to you as a soldier," Loki shrugs. "I haven't /made/ you do anything you hated, have I?" He sighs some, with a shake of his head.

"With the amount you loathe working with me, I almost feel I should have. Really earned it. As it is, you're just defending the world; we're not shredding your mission statement. /And/ I continue to help your friend, that you so badly want left out of things."

Loki grins a little, and then distractedly gestures in dismissal. "You may leave. The door does not currently lead to a tundra of ice daggers."

Captain America has posed:
When the stone lands on his palm, his fingers snap shut as if he might prevent some illusionary nonsense with this action alone.

"Gracious of you," the Captain grits out, his cheekbones gone high with preventing his teeth from fully clenching shut. Thank god the stone is magical and sturdy; he might swear that a few of the tendons in his closed fist creak as he loosens his grip about it. What he's lauding Loki for isn't expounded upon, though it's most likely the perfectly normal exit out onto the sidewalk of Bleecker Street. With that, Steve then turns on his heel to begin walking with purpose towards the front doors of the Sanctum, adding tersely, "I'll keep half an eye on the rock."

Loki has posed:
Loki melts into his own form, around the same time that Steve is gritting his teeth so tensely. As if there was ever any question -- there wasn't, but maintaining the disguise interfered with Loki's godly appearance, which is only more obvious in the Sanctum. The very power of the place has a feel of mingling and flowing into the god as he shapeshifts.

Loki's well anchored here. And powerful.

The objective of having Steve come and defend? There's probably a game to it. It might not be about actually defending. It could be something else entirely. "I expected no less," Loki answers, in his own voice, watching Steve go with a little smile.