Owner	Pose
Askante	The last ferry has already returned to New York City and the island park is lit up with lights for the night-time. It's snowing slightly. But in this world of theirs, there's individuals that just do not care whether they have to catch a ferry or not and don't necessarily get found by security. On the very top of the statue of liberty, duster flapping in the winds and catching the snowflakes that drift sideways from the hudson river, Askante perches. Its tail is looped lightly around one of the spikes of Liberty's crown and its upper elbows are upon its knees. Its other hands however, are playing cat's cradle with the upper ones, watching the harbour, the lights, the people still jetting around on water taxis and the city itself. It's wearing a hat too, a sombrero that provides a bit of shelter from being hit by icy frozen water. "Still don't know where to even begin. Come on, this should not be so hard. But there are so -many- of them? Like rabbits. Oooh, humpy-dumpy proliferations and dropping babies in the bathwater. Why are there not more plagues, I wonder?"
Loki	One of the many great things about Loki is that he is often neither seen nor heard until he wishes to be. Sometimes he wishes that right when he walks into a room, sometimes he wants to be more stealthy. Sometimes he doesn't want any of those things and so he always adjusts to whatever his mind desires. This time, he's near the creature that perches upon the torch of the Statue, and floats over until he's just outside it's periphreal, a wide grin upon his lips. "Mostly because humans have become more versatile in being able to fight against plagues. You're about a century or two off from when diseases could wipe out the entirety of mortals." He speaks, his voice suave and...soothing in a way. Long locks of raven hair flow from gentle breezes, and he has a shield of sorts above him which catches that which is frozen water and sloughs it away from him. He hates getting wet.
Askante	Blink and you'd miss this: The hiss and skitter of the insectile reptilian critter zipping around the edge of the torch and out of sight -- like a cockroach almost, except that it now hangs underneath, its sombrero at least tied beneath its chin, but its duster obeying gravity. That cat's cradle is a tangle around one of its long-fingered hands; hands that each have an extra knuckle. "Can't see, won't see, why do they always show up?" -- this is muttered to itself a few times, one hand letting go of the steel and copper of the statue, to cover its own eyes, one ear, then its mouth, cyclically. Eyes, ear, mouth, eyes, ear, mouth. But then it cracks an eyeball open, still sees feet and ebony haired god up above those feet, sighs and skitters around and up to cling to the side and glare at Loki. It points that hand that never clung. "I'm /not/ being a gopher, or ANY kind of prarie dog. Not a ground hog either. Just... so you know. Not unless you ask nicely... I've put my feet down on that score."
Loki	Loki watches the skittering and hiding, but makes no motion to follow or leave. He simply stays in place while the creature settles itself. He also pretends like he didn't hear that first question because it seems that the questions asked are rhetorical in nature. As it peeks and looks him up and down, he keeps that sly grin on his lips and tilts his head just so. "I never accused you of being such, nor do I think you are. Precisely what am I asking? I'm simply..." He sweeps a hand out, towards the skyline of NYC, and his grin grows more wide, teeth show. "Enjoying the view." His hand, when it comes back, is pressed against his chest and he bows. "I am Loki of Asgard. And you? Who...or what...might you be?"
Askante	"Older than you," grumbles the daemon, but then after the grumble, there's a sigh. "Charming one. I've heard of you. Didn't encounter much, was busy with the swartalf and undoing their darkness at the time. You get into things a lot. With a lot. All over the place. Like Raven and Bougougogadah, of many voices." It grunts, this time at itself and rattles its spines. "I revert. When I'm rattled I revert, so I think I shall rattle myself until I learn how to talk like a person properly again. Remember how to talk like a person... augh. I've been dead for too long." It wrinkles its nose and relaxes, skittering up to the torch again to sit as it had before, resuming its cat's cardle but with half an eyeball on Loki. "I am Askante. Of the Earth. I think. All of the Midgard though, from the sky to the underneath."
Loki	"It seems my reputation precedes me." Loki speaks, that grin never fading. He even seems to buff up with a bit more pride in his stance when Askante rattles off a thing or two from Loki's history. "The Charming One? I like that. Though I am sorry I rattled you. It was not my intention, certainly." Then he watches and listens as Askante comes back, slowly but surely, to resume it's place on the torch. He's also quite aware that he's being watched and he surely doesn't mind that either. "Ah. Heh. So are you a demon then? What do you mean by you've been dead for too long?"
Askante	"That happens when they write stories about you," Askante replies, grinning with a lot of very white, very sharp teeth. It clears its throat though, fixes the cat's cradle into the final most complicated shape and pulls so that all the string unravels. It stares through those strings, at the city across the water, watching as the shape is held for buuuuuut a moment, before it unwinds. There's a sigh as it puts away the string. "Shambles. Shambles. Shambles," it shakes its head, takes something out of its pocket wrapped in waxed paper and peers at the contents. "Oh, Yessssssssss. Hotdog. You want half?" warily spoken, it shakes its head. "You're saying it wrong. It's all in the pronunciation. One is a bastard, the other isn't, but can be. I'm probably the last one. I haven't met another in a very long time. Not here, nor anywhere." It appears to have conveniently forgotten to explain its being dead comment.
Loki	"I suppose it is..." Loki agrees, watching Askante for a moment as it finishes the cat's cradle it's been playing. He's impressed by it, honestly, as he does not know many who could actually perform the entire thing to the end. There's just a simple interest that Loki is investing as he stands there watching the creature and all that it is doing. "Hotdog? No, but thank you. I do not eat such...foods." He says this and then lifts a single shoulder in a shrug. "Ah. So perhaps daemon? Though I thought those were only creatures that are summoned by dark wizards and black magic." Which makes him ponder for a long moment, and perhaps there are different definitions for different folks. Sometimes the goose is not often also the gander. "You said you were dead. How did you die? Why did you come back? What purpose do you serve here?"
Askante	"My my, you're curious. And I eat whatever is food. Hotdogs are tasty. So are crickets. THey eat rats and cats and dogs and bats in China. Never was very keen on jelly fish though, they wiggle too much. Ever eaten Kangaroo?" It asks this, a single ordinary stone with a hole through the middle, naturally occurring, is held up and it looks with black as black eyes through the hole at the deity, smiling behind the circle of negative space. "You cannot kill me. Well, you can kill me, but until there comes a day when there's nothing left, I will come back. But in this case, I was in the underneath. Helheim? Nifelheim. All mists and shadows but to be there, you have to be a bit dead. Not all the way dead, but some of you ends up being some of it. The barriers are thin in some places and there's a pesky unreaped soul I was keeping an eye on. Psychopomp and all that. I think the greeks occasionally called me Charon or other names."
Loki	"Oh I eat foods just not... processed ones such as...that. Stuff. You never truly know what it is actually made of." Loki suggests this much and watches as the creature looks at him through a holed stone. "I do not want to kill you. I would not dare to try. You are different from others I have met before, and likely will be wholly different from anyone I meet again. Curious. Yes. I am very much so. Intrigued also." Though that could be a lie, or a half truth, one can never really tell when it comes to the Trickster. As Askante offers a bit more about where it's been and why, Loki listens and then nods his head in a slight bit of understanding. "Ah. Much like the valkyries of Asgard...interesting indeed..." Then he thinks a bit more and shrugs his shoulders. "And you're here now simply because you can be?"
Askante	"Those who have nothing, will accept anything is better than naught," it says simply, brandishing the hotdog like the torch of liberty herself, holding it up to the sky in challenge of the truth. "I'm trying to make up my mind," Askante replies, looking through the hole in the stone at new york now. WHat it sees it sighs at and lowers the small pebble. "Answers are being elusive, as they usually are." With a shrug, it unwraps its hotdog and takes a couple of solid bites, chewing with gusto. From the looks of it, it's got /everything/ on it, all wrapped up like a burrito with bacon bits that have nothing to do with bacon, pickles, peppers, relish, mustard, ketchup and onion scratchings. It looks at Loki at the profession of non-violent intent and lack of daring, peers under its eyebrows, but decides not to call him on it, merely chuckles a little at the potential confabulation. "I don't think I'm quite like a valkyrie, though they share a few of the same traits -- theirs are born of Odin-touch, mine not so much. I don't know why exactly I can cross. I think because mirrors reflect what is there? No. But it's all symbology. I am pervasive, therefore I can be anywhere. Nothing can keep me out, therefore no barrier can stop me. I reflect." It waves a hand in a circle, scratches at its cheek with a scritching sound of nail on scales. "Like a god. But not. I'm older. I think I'm what was around, before gods got a name for themselves and took up the big seats and the domains."
Loki	Loki's nose curls as the scent of whatever it is the creature is eating, as if the very scent of it is offensive to him. "You know I do like a riddle every now and again but you are becoming something more like a conundrum. Do you always answer in half phrases and then speak babble?" He asks, getting perhaps a bit impatient with the conversation at hand. Loki has little patience as a whole, and when something tries upon it he can get a bit...well... "Ah, yes. The Odin-touch. They still are the ones who help Asgardian warriors cross into Valhalla." Though even those words are filled with a hint of poison on the tongue, and Loki makes no notion to hide that fact either. The words that come after seem to hit Loki in a different way, his head tilts and his lips curl upwards into a grin once more. "The being from before, well now, that is very interesting. And your riddle does not have an answer. Which makes things even more interesting. And I, just a simple god, am humbled by your presence."
Askante	"PErhaps I just like to test my boundaries. I've encountered quite a lot of gods in my lifetime and most of them tend to think I'm either an oddity, a potential slave, or a threat. Gaia knows why they think I'm a threat, but I'm not exactly privy to the motivations, only the instincts," It looks at Loki with its shoulders hunching up a little, vulturesque at the compliment that it isn't quite sure -is- one. "Humbled?" it chuckles slightly at that. "Not you. Never you. But I suppose I'm a living fossil of sorts. I imagine anthropologists would be quite excited to encounter a neanderthal, too. You are what we evolved into, I think. Or it's a parallel evolution, I'm not altogether sure. Again, I'm not privy to the hows, creation myths are a dime a dozen and though the roots tend to be the same, some of them are quite absurd." It sighs a little then and gestures back at the city, holding the stone up so that Loki might peer through the hole. New york looks quite different through the eye of the stone. TO a Master of Magic, such stones, blowing stones or faerie stones, show what's /also/ there, not just reality itself. Storms on the horizon, skies like those of Ghostbusters (the original) and owing to the Strange Academy, quite a lot of crickly cracly magical potential. But also a lot of cold hard steel, cold hard glass and cold hard souls. It seems rather crystalized.
Loki	"Well. I must confess, I do find you a bit of an oddity. Not a slave though, and... perhaps a threat...but more in the knowing that you could take me and I surely can not take you." Comes the smooth talk of Loki, Prince of Asgard. When it sort of laughs off the idea that Loki could be humbled by it, those blue eyes of his seem to sparkle in the darkness of midnight and he shakes his head with a soft chuckle. "Are any of us privy to such things? Surely I could speak for my people, but not of midgard's own. Might not be something any of us will ever know." When he's offered a chance to peek through that pebble glass, Loki actually takes it. The stone itself radiates magic that Loki can sense, but that doesn't surprise him. He sees, and he scoffs. "That's interesting... I shall perhaps have to give the Academy a visit..." Offering this and then he steps back. "I don't think I've seen a faerie stone in quite some time. Have you always had that?"
Askante	"Found it in Tir Na'Nogg, before the snakes were driven into the sea. Eire was interesting then. Also, that's when I realized I really don't like most faeries, but I also realised that humans figured out how to make doors, long before science. There's quite a number of underneath gates there," it shrugs, looks at the stone as it settles it into its palm and pockets it. "I pick up things. This jacket," it pulls at one of the lapels "...belonged to a huckster who lost his coat of many pockets in a game of poker and was shot three times for his troubles. Not by me. I'm fond of this one," it pulls out an earthenware bowl, a beggars bowl, maybe even a lepers bowl "...from an untouchable guru in mombai, who followed a prince of the Raj across the mountains to Nepal and beyond, to the orient. I think they call them Bodhisatva, now. Sometimes, humans make magic without ever knowing, just by the story of the item. You noticed that?"
Loki	"Fairies can have their time and place. I do not know much about this Tir Na'Nogg you speak of, but it sounds delightfully interesting." Loki offers this, watching the creature still, a sort of curiosity in his gaze. He cannot figure Askante out, and perhaps that is the complexity of the moment. There is no...point, no singularity...upon which the creature determines to make it's mark. Perhaps that is accounted for on it's ability to go anywhere and beyond any barrier, and the claim that is has existed even before anything else did. "A lonely moment indeed..." He thinks aloud but to himself. As the trinkets are shown off, Loki looks them over with his eyes but dares not to reach or even take as they are not his to do so. Something tells him that to do such would be a bad thing indeed. "I have noticed many things while dealing with humans... they are... interesting, worthless, and strong... it is confusing. And magic exists among all things, so it's not surprising but indeed noticeable."
Askante	Askante's long fingers curl over the bowl, a ticker-tack of sound coming as its nails land on earthenware. It smiles at the small object. "It always provides, unless you're greedy," tickertackertack. And back it goes into its coat of many pockets. "I like the little things that they leave behind and never know what they have. Sometimes, I take them as payment. Tir Na'Nogg is full of shining ones, but at least they're usually too wrapped up in thier own vanity to realize their mistakes until they've already made them." It murmurs a few wards against fae folk, for no particular reason at all and turns itself around on the spot, three times widdershins. Then is stands up and up some more, to its attentuated height, four arms spreading wide to the winds with a sigh and a tilt of the head backwards. "Definite improvement on my communications, at least. That's good. I was rusty. Anyway..." it looks curiously at Loki now, mimicking the god's posture in mirror. "I think I'm standing on top of the box you're attempting to figure out I should fit in. It all makes sense, sometimes, but not consistently. We're more than what we're shaped into, right? I like odd food and collecting things. And tiny little baubles that were cleverly crafted with passion. Fish hooks and copper necklaces, carvings and coins, pretty letters on old paper and charms made by men long dead. They're fascinating and whilst they still exist, so too does a bit of what used to be, once. I think that reminds me of what might be in the future, or somesuch nonsense. But... to be entirely lucid with you, there's way too many humans for me to be able to focus on exactly where I should begin, doing what I do best. I /did/ spend three hours staring at an infomercial playing in a gadget store window though. They have information on all kinds of things. Self help. The best tupperware. THe damnation we're all doomed to face. Maybe I'll get into local station television." It thinks on that, shakes its head. "No, best be radio. In person and it gets all confusing. But I think you want to know what I'm the daemon -of- don't you?"
Loki	Loki gives a grin, wide as it is alluring (at least to most people) and charming to boot. All straight and white teeth shining even in lack light as he listens to all that Askante has to say. "Humanity is always doomed, and is always facing one doomsday or another. Finding ways to fix it, and often times, they save themselves at the last minute. It's... fascinating and infuriating. Especially when there was a moment when you almost held them in your grasp..." He speaks, stops himself, clears his throat and straightens a bit. "I suppose I am quite intrigued - yes - and wondering precisely that. Of what realm do you come from. Exist thru. Is it a realm? A point in time? Or a simple...existance." Another thing considered. "What would you do with a radio show?"
Askante	"Dunno. Take calls? Talk to people. Talking to them when you're me has some interesting effects," It replies, folding two arms over its chest and tucking two in the small of its back, kind of pinning that ancient duster so that the wind does funky things to the tails of it, all dramatic like. Its tail though, maintains its grip on the statue of the lady, to make sure it doesn't end up accidentally offing itself by falling from a great height. "I'm from this one though. You're from one of the worlds that the engine of the Bifrost bound, no? Yes. Yes that's right. I read that once. No... no, I didn't I ..." it thinks "...learned that, through the story of the tree. Your people bound everything together -- the realms far flung and the shadows of the Middle earth, Mid-gard. I am from Midgard. I'm older than most of you are though..." it frowns, thinks about that, then shrugs. "You are who you are." This is very quietly said. THere's a sniff then. "I'm the eyes in the dark. Fear primordial. The Daemon of the primal fears; teeth, exposure, drowning, sharp things..."
Loki	Loki raises a brow and then lowers his head, almost as if bowing. "You are right. I...am actually born of the Bifrost Giants, but I was...adopted...by Odin Odinson...so I more consider myself an Asgardian. But we did...combine all things through what is known as the Rainbow Bridge." He offers and then seems to grow distant for a moment, a fleeting thing, before shaking his head and taking up more a position of pride - perhaps a bit much of it on his shoulders to compensate. Then he's contemplating Askante itself with a tilt of his head. "A Daemon of Primordial Fear. So... can you just look at a person and know what their darkest fears are? Or do you have to converse with them first? Make a sort of...connection..." A pause. "Does it work on anyone, or...just humans?"
Askante	Askante's black eyes settle on Loki, unafraid to look the Trickster god in the eye, when it comes to this. "Everything fears, except Fear itself." It says this honestly and though no mystical compulsion or magical sense need be given, it has a ring of truth to it. "You were Jotnar. You still are, but you're more than that. It must be nice to be you." It laughs, then just gazes at the God it faces. One hand is raised, twirled slightly -- it does not manifest itself in its entirety, but at the edges of Loki's awareness are the things -he- fears. The little voice in the very back of his subconscious that challenges the vast reserves of humour at the Universe' expense and near-unshakeable confidence in himself. It rises under the black gaze, then the hand is lowered and folded again and the absolute reverse occurs. Suddenly the anxieties are a million miles away, less, diminished.
Loki	Loki blinks, huffs a bit, then blinks again. He tries to hold his resolve, but it surely falters at the beginnings of what he can see in the corners of his eyes. Those fears that are just there, that he covers up with his ways, his words, ideals, and all things. A shiver courses through him and just when he's at the peak of wanting to shake them all away...they disperse...and he sighs out. "That is...wholly intriguing." And if he's honest with himself, something that could be useful if he could gain it's trust just a bit. "I wonder if you could become, like, some sort of radio therapist or something... do you simply manifest these fears or...feed from them in some way?"
Askante	Askante crouches down again. Were Loki a psychologist, which frankly there's enough experience under his belt to recognize certain behaviours that work on human beings... and other things that are reflections of the human condition... it is putting him at ease, by crouching, becoming lower, 'lesser'. But it did it deliberately, so does that really count? Elbows go to its knees where it crouches. "I was considering that. But no, it does not feed me. Food feeds me. And I like to eat things that are different. You condemned my hotdogs, but they're different from all I've had before, so for me they're interesting. I've dined on the finest things, too. I think I even had the Asgardian mead once, a long time ago." It cuts itself off before the ramble begins and slaps itself on the side of the head. "Focus. I know fear. I can feel it, I can see it. I can draw it, I can bleed it. And I can do other things also." It sighs. "That's why when the gods were more common, they used me. You've only just started coming back, you lot... No door can stop me, no barrier can prevent me from entering. No chain can hold me. Fear is everywhere -- and they used to send me everywhere, doing thier bidding. I will not be a slave again."
Loki	Loki holds his hands up as if in surrender after Askante has said it's piece. "Hold on now, a minute if you will. No one ever said anything about using you in any way..." Though now Loki wonders if it can read thoughts, and that has him giving a bit of a frown. "I should not have thought such a thing. I admit to it. A fleeting thing. Natural occurence when you're me, you see? I have to be a step ahead of each and every game a person plays, especially since I am always in the midst of my own game." He offers. "I apologize if I offended you with having the idea." Then he circles back. "You've drank Asgardian Ale? That is impressive, even for a daemon, I believe..." Then he considers. "And you're right. I snubbed your hot dog.. perhaps I shouldn't have since it gave you such offense. Can I make it up to you somehow? Perhaps...have the pleasure of sharing a hot dog with you?" Though, he thinks, perhaps not one produced from a pocket.
Askante	Askante considers where it crouches, then after some considerable ponderance, it reaches a long, sharp claw to its own forearm and picks at scales until one tiny one picks off and with lightning reflexes, it catches it between finger claws. This is held out toward Loki, with a nod. "I understand your dislike of hotdogs. Find a thing that you want to try, I will try anything once. Maybe twice if it appeals. Use this piece of me to call me. I will not give you my true name. That was my folly, once upon a time... the power of names came after the birth of the Christian faith. I would really like to smack whoever came up with that one." It relinquishes the tiny scale and smiles. It's a nice smile, albeit a bit tired. You are who you are, and I am who I am. The dance will be eternal. "Know that whatever you do with my scale, it will be consumed with the doing of it. So if you mean me harm, you can do it only once. You live and you learn, right?"
Loki	Loki watches for a moment as Askante picks at it's arm until it produces and offers said scale. He reaches to take it, listening to what is explained about the scale itself and the offer of using it. Then, more so, that it can be used to do anything to Asktante once. Including harm. "Well. I do not wish to harm you. This will be for the purpose of finding some food to try together." He smiles. "It seems as though you tire a bit... and perhaps it is time for me to bid the statue farewell and go about some other doings. Perhaps even sleep." He inclines his head. "We will meet again."