[IC] The World isn't so Bad (Chello and Soul)

[Chello]

The battle between brothers ended in heartache for everyone, the biifrost, the bridge between realms has been destroyed cutting Asgard off from the world. All because of Loki's emotional breakdown, finding out that he was adopted, that he was a Frost Giant, abandoned by his parents because of his small size and weakness. But that wasn't just his reasons for breaking down, his jealousy with older brother Thor played a part in it too. Always being second to him, never seen as an equal in the eyes of Odin. So how does Loki handle all this? He takes over the throne after Odin has fallen into Odin Sleep, sends the Destroyer to take out his brother who was cast out after nearly starting another war with the Joten. Then to top it all off Loki tries to destroy Jotunhiem prompting Thor to destroy the bridge to save the Ice Realm, Thor tried to save Loki from falling from the wreckage but Loki gave up, letting go of the staff and falling into the abyss below. Everyone suspects that Loki is dead, but in fact he has found his way onto Earth.

Using his illusions he changes his clothing so that he can blend in with the mortals, he never got why Thor cared for this realm so much everyone seemed so weak to him and were nowhere near his intellect. Right now that didn't matter as much to him, what mattered was trying to repair the damage in his own heart, to make a new life for himself. Loki found a bench in a park, he sat down in deep thought. He was exhausted from fighting with Thor and had a few minor injuries, he just brushed them aside and continued to think about his next move. Standing up he walks down the stone path keeping his head down.

[SouloftheAbyss]

The hot, mid-day sun peered through trees of Central Park. Among the crowd of young families, co-workes and other afternoon dwellers lied a hooded figure. Head down, the girl paid little attention to the mass surrounding her. In turn, anyone she passed by did the same.

"I need assistance at Parker Drive", a voice buzzed in her earpiece.

The girl chuckled in response.
Downloading a police scanner to her phone had been a brilliant idea. Now, at the tap of her finger, she could keep track of all the crime occurring in her area. The best was, with the attachment of her headphones, she could do it in public and no one would suspect a thing. Brilliant.
Answering the calls where a different matter. She still wasn't sure if she was cut out for this hero thing. Defending the city or letting the criminals run free all depended on her mood for the time being.

"Bank robbery on Marlin Avenue. Repeat. Bank robbery on Marlin Avenue."

Just around the conner, she thought to herself. Lucky for them, she was in the mood to kick some butt.
Briskly turning left to begin her venture to the crime scene, she collided into someone walking alongside her. She was in too much of a hurry to take a quick glance at who it was. Her eyes, however, caught a glimpse of green from where she encountered the stranger as she rushed down an adjacent cobblestone path. At the moment, she paid no mind to what she saw. She had another place to be.

[Chello]

The girl was lucky that Loki wasn't in the mood to fight with anyone, also the fact that he was trying to change his ways brushing himself off he turned to face the girl who so rudely bumped into him. "Really you just bump into somebody and not as so much as say excuse me or I'm sorry, didn't your mother ever teach you any manners, or perhaps you were raised in the stables?" Loki scoffed shaking his head, some people just don't have any manners. Although he's not really one to talk about morals and what not as he nearly killed his brother and a lot of other people but the girl didn't know that.

Loki just turned and continued in the direction he was walking not really sure what he was going to do, or where to go. Even if he wanted to head back to Asgard he really couldn't what with the bridge destroyed, he just sighed deeply and continued walking trying to ignore the physical and mentally pain he was feeling.

[SouloftheAbyss]

A male, clearly English, voice broke through the audio from her police scanner. Lifting her head, the girl noticed quick glances to her and the path behind her from passersby. These glances were accompanied by subtle whispers when she removed her earbuds.
Turing around, she met eye to eye with a tall, dark man dressed in vibrant green. This was no doubt the person she had bumped into.
The girl tucked her phone into the pocket of her jacket. The police could handle themselves for a few minutes.

"What's your problem?" the girl blurted out as she approached the man.

She paused for a moment to analyze the stranger. It was something about his argument and choice of attire that struck an off note with her. He clearly didn't belong in the big city. Where was he from? Why was he here? Her mind burned with curiosity.

[Chello]

"I have no problem I was just telling you that normally when you knock into someone you at least apologize, but I suppose you aren't aware of the basic rules of proper manners or social conveniences." Loki responded, "however seeing is how I'm really not in the mood to start anything with anyone especially someone like you. You're not really worth my time, so good day to you." Loki added bowing with sarcasm as he turned to continue to walk away.

Loki just grumbled lowly under his breath, this day kept getting better and better. The young god just brushed off the stranger or at least tried to he knew that sometimes he could come off as a bit brash and maybe a little condescending one of the many reasons why he didn't have friends, and why people didn't like him very much. He didn't care he would rather be alone, or at least that's what he kept telling himself where in reality he hated being alone, being an outcast.

[SouloftheAbyss]

The man's lengthy banter did not amuse the girl. She stared up at him with a blank face. Slight irritation hid behind her mahogany eyes.

"And who are you suppose to be?" she sarcastically remarked.

Who was he to judge her? Why did he care so much about proper etiquette to criticize her in public? The comment about her mother had come to bother her the most. Just the though of her made her blood boil.
A silence between the two manifested as the girl waited for a response. She probably would have received one if the sudden wail of police sirens hadn't diverted their attention.
The robbery. The girl swore under her breath. How could she have forgotten about the robbery?
The mass around them began to corrugate to a street a few feet away as a large,black van flew by. Their outbursts where a mixture of excitement and panic.
The girl adjusted her hood over her short, caramel brown hair and darted away the man. If she could get out of the crowd's plain sight, she could easy stop the fugitives. All she needed was some space, and fast.

[Chello]

Loki didn't seem to care that he offended her he just turned around to watch her run off in the other direction, sighing to himself he continued walking and ended up in the city core. Using his illusions again he made a green suit appear on his person, he wasn't exactly sure what his long term plan was or even what to do at this very moment what he did know is that he needed to find somewhere to rest and perhaps get something to eat as he was exhausted and starting to get hungry. But with no money or however these mortals pay for their things he was a bit out of luck, walking to a bus shelter he sat down on the bench thinking. "What am I doing here?" He thought aloud, "and why did Thor think so fondly of this place?"

A man walked into the shelter with his German Shepherd and sat down on the bench, the dog stared up at Loki seemingly sensing his god like abilities or at least that there was something off about him. Loki looked at the dog, "nice dog you have there." He complimented the man who looked up at Loki.

"Thank you, she's a good dog loves people." The man smiled, the two engaged in small talk before the older gentleman boarded his bus. Leaving Loki alone in the shelter.

[SouloftheAbyss]

(( Since I have provided a CS for you, I will now proceed to use her name.))

Alex retreated behind a small patch of ferns a few feet away from the road. Crouching down, she peered above the leaves so that she could have a clear view of the rapidly approaching van. She out stretched her hand and summoned a gust of wind which wound rapidly around her fingers. She counted down seconds until the van's arrival.
Three... Two... Alex sliced her hand towards the van. She smirked as she watched the band of robbers come to a brisk stop. Alex fled from her hiding spot as the police cars encircled the culprits. On the street, one of the police officers gazed down, baffled at some rather large gashes on the van's tires.
Alex walked along the sidewalk, a grin still spread across her face. The sun was already beginning its decent, despite it being only three-o'clock. Perhaps it had something to do with the chilly,October air. Alex sighed. Either way, she would have to find her way to her apartment soon. She needed to get some good sleep if she was going to make the morning shift at the Two Cups Dinner.
Alex came upon a bus stop, which she would have walk straight by if she didn't notice a familiar figure seated inside.
Not him again, Alex thought. For some reason, she felt a bit happy to see the man again. Perhaps this would finally be her chance to find out more about him. But what good would that do me? Alex choose to ignore that question as she entered the booth.

"You know, you never gave me an answer back there." Light sarcasm rang in her voice.

[Chello]

Loki looked up at her, "oh it's you. The girl that ran into me, look I'm sorry for the way I treated you. It wasn't my place to judge you, I've just have had a bad few days and took it out on the wrong person." Loki spoke sincerely, "as for my name it doesn't really matter. I'm nobody really," he sighed. "But if you really must know it's Loki." He added not even trying to hide who he was, but why should he? Nobody knows who he is standing up he looked at her the cold air making him shiver a little. Despite being a Frost Giant the cold still continued to bother him. "really I am sorry, now I must go. Not really sure where to, but I guess I'll find out when I get there." He smiled lightly. "But before I go what's your name, now that I told you mine. So I can properly apologize, and perhaps if we run into each other again I can make up for my behaviour."

[SouloftheAbyss]

"The name's Alex," she replied with a grin, "And I forgive you. We all have had our bad days. I should know."

She removed her hood despite the cold.

"Loki," she spoke his name aloud slowly, "Is that foreign? I could swear I've heard that name before." She paused for a moment in thought. Loki, Loki. The name rang a bell, but she couldn't recall where she had heard it before.

"Anyway, did you just arrive here in the big city? I thought it was second nature for a tourist to plan ahead and make hotel reservations. You must be one of those 'low budget traveler' types, though I do question your attire." She glanced at this business suit.
I swore I saw him wearing a coat before, she thought.

"If you don't have anyplace to sleep, you are welcome to crash at my apartment. It's only a few blocks away. Just promise me you won't wake me up in the middle of the night. I have work in the morning."
Alex was rarely ever this courteous to others, let alone strangers. For a moment, she felt a bit proud of herself for reaching out to the poor guy. This moment of pride was soon replaced by a grumbling stomach. Perhaps she could cook up some Hot Pockets when she got back.

[Chello]

Loki looked at her for a moment, nobody had ever been this kind to him or even offered him any sort of kind gesture. Back in Asgard people hated him even before the whole incident with Thor and trying to take over Asgard, "well I wasn't really planning on coming here. Things just happened," he responded. "Kind of a spur of the moment as you would say, as for you gesture to let me stay with you although very kind I wouldn't want to impose on anything especially after the way I treated you when we first encountered." Loki then looked up at the sky, the clouds seemed to roll in as if it were about to rain. "However seeing how it's about to rain, I graciously accept your offer and I promise I won't wake you up in the middle of the night."

Loki walked closer to her, "I also promise to make it up to you and will not over stay my welcome. I just need to figure out a few things before I carry on with the rest of my days." He sighed, Loki had to admit he was hungry as well he really hadn't eaten in a long while. He was so fixated on being king and stopping Thor that he forgot the basic needs of life.

[SouloftheAbyss]

"Alright," Alex replied with a grin, "Let's hurry."

The dimly lit lobby was small, only consisting of a torn couch, a coffee table and a magazine rack. The air was polluted smoke. In the corner lied a receptionist desk. Alex nodded to the man positioned there. A lit cigarette bud rested between his fingers. He paid little attention to her.
Through a metal door, Alex led Loki up two flights of stairs and down a short hallway to the front door of her apartment. Room 218. Her keys jangled as she unlocked the door.
The doorway led to a small room consisting of a lounge area and a kitchen nested by the entrance. Wrappers and empty boxes where scattered across the floor. The sliding glass door, which led to a balcony, was blocked off my stacks of books and CDs.

"Make yourself at home. I'll be right back." Alex disappeared behind a door on the left, which led to her cramped bedroom. When she returned, her jacket and vest had been shed to reveal a worn Grateful Dead t-shirt.

"Are you hungry?" Alex asked as she opening the refrigerator, "You have a choice between left-over orange chicken and a pepperoni Hot Pocket." She uncovered the Hot Pocket box in the freezer and proceed to cook one package in the microwave for herself.

[Chello]

Loki followed her quietly through the apartment and when they got to her unit he looked around, hey it wasn't home but at least she was offering him a place to stay it was better than freezing outside in the cold. Sure enough he was right it was pouring, walking to a chair he sat down he noticed the stack of books laying by the door finally someone who likes to read just as much as he does. Or at least that's what he thought she could just have them for show, looking up at her he answered her question. "I'm alright but thank you for the offer," he smiled sitting back in the chair. Loki was debating on telling her who he was and why he was here, though she was still a stranger and to be honest he didn't think she would believe him.

He was still a little thrown off by her kindness, the only persons that actually cared about him were his brother and mother. "May I ask you something? Why were you so kind to offer me a place to stay, and your food especially after the way I treated you when we first met?" He spoke, "I mean I guess I'm just not use to strangers being nice to me, back home only two people care about me the rest could do with out me."

[SouloftheAbyss]

"Hmm?" Alex mumbled, turning to face him from the kitchen.

She had already taken the first bite of her dinner. She swallowed before she gave him a response.

"I'm not sure," Alex leaned against the counter as she spoke, "You were quite sincere in your apology, and the incident was my fault to begin with. Sorry about that. Plus, I could always use the good karma."

She crossed the room the stand next to Loki, seated in a leather chair.

"Honestly, I think I decided to help you because you seemed like a nice guy. Odd, but nice. Nice guys are pretty rare in New York."

Alex paused to take another bite of her Hot Pocket, which she held in her left hand.

"Your home sounds like a wonderful place," she sarcastically remarked, "At least you have two people who care about you. You could have no one. Count your blessings, I suppose."

Her face grew dark as she said those last two sentences. In silence, she attempted to summon another smile, yet this one seemed more artificial than the last.

"Are you sure you don't want anything to eat?" Alex returned to the kitchen, eager to change the topic.

[Chello]

"Yeah well I'm not really sure if those two people will still care about me after what I did, I sort of caused a lot of trouble before leaving." Loki responded, he took a deep breath he seemed like he could trust her enough to tell her the truth about him. "You see, I'm not exactly from here or anywhere in this world. I'm actually," he cut off mid sentence before standing up and dropping his illusion revealing his Asgardian armour. "I come from a place far away from here, I am actually from Asgard the internal realm, land of magic." He told her, Loki wasn't sure how she was going to react he prepared for her to think he was crazy.

"And to answer your question before I revealed who I was and probably turned into a crazy person I'm okay, I'm not really hungry." Loki told her, he had to admit he was a little relieved that he told her and even if she thought he was mad he didn't really care.

[SouloftheAbyss]

Alex watched silently as Loki revealed himself before her. She expressed neither wonder or fear as his suit transformed into shimmering gold and green armor. So that's how he did it, she thought. When Loki had finished speaking, Alex pondered for a second. She rested a hand on her chin.

"Loki. Asgard. Yes, now I remember!" Alex blurted out. She raced to her room and recovered her world mythology atlas. When she returned, her hands where already flippping through pages littered with colorful markers. She finally placed her finger down on a single page and looked up at Loki.

"Loki. The Norse God of Mischief," she announced, "Do you mean to tell me you are a god?" Her voiced seemed distant, quiet and free of any mockery. She stood still, waiting for his response. Her dinner was left to cool untouched on the kitchen counter.

[Chello]

Loki nodded, "that's right only.." He paused for a moment before sitting down. "I'm not good, not at all. You see I caused a lot of trouble for everyone I know back home, found out somethings about who I really was, things that my father had been keeping from me. I didn't take the news to lightly, ended up taking over the throne, nearly killed my brother, almost destroyed an entire planet. Now I am here, and really don't know what I am going to do. I can't go back home, nobody will want anything to do with me now. Maybe I don't want too, I don't belong there anyways." Loki added as a few tears rolled down his cheeks.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't bore you with the details of my complicated life. Plus I think your food is getting cold," he told her smiling lightly but that went away fast.

[SouloftheAbyss]

Alex sighed as she fell into her couch nearby. Color came back to her face and she reverted back into her relaxed self.

"Well, it sounds like you have been through a lot of s*** lately, Prince of Asgard," she replied in a mocking tone. She readjusted her position and laid her book down on the cluttered coffee table.

"I knew there was something... odd about you when I first met you. I just couldn't put my finger on what you were. Gladly, now I know." I grin spread across her face.

"Oh, and don't worry. You're not boring me. Actually, I enjoy hearing about other people's backstories."

Suddenly, Alex began to giggle. She leaned back into the pillows of the couch and clutched her arms for support.

A god, she thought, Of all the people I could have let into my house, I chose a god! I wonder what Grace would think if she found out about this.

[Chello]

"Yeah I get that a lot, even people back in Asgard thought I was weird only they were less than friendly about it. Didn't really have a lot of friends growing up, actually I didn't have any. Everyone preferred to hang around my perfect older brother, he got everything. Our father favoured him so much and left me out of everything," Loki responded sitting back on the couch. "Okay I'm going to stop talking about my issues now, so what about you what's your story if you don't mind me asking? I can sense you have some kind of power that I can't quite put my finger on," he asked.

"That's if you want to talk about it, you don't really have too. I just like to know more about you, you know incase you're a mad person and murders me in my sleep, though if you were you'd most likely not tell me." Loki laughed.

[SouloftheAbyss]

Alex whipped the tears from under her eyes as she settled down from her outburst. She gave him a quick apology before she continued.

"I don't like talking about my backstory," she explained, "Perhaps if you get on my good side I'll tell you, but for now you will just have to wait." She smirked and rose from the couch.

"If you aren't hungry, you might as well get to bed. You will be sleeping here on the couch. I'll get you a blanket and pillow from my bed." She turned to leave, but stopped halfway to her door.

"Oh, and you probably want to change out of that before you settle down." She gestured a hand to his amor. With that, she disappeared into the adjacent bedroom.