[hr][color=963437][sup][h1] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/Lx9Tfu1.png[/img][/center] [b][center][/center][/b] [/h1][/sup][/color][indent][sub][COLOR=963437][I]Eastside Café[/I][/COLOR][/sub][/indent][indent][sup][right][COLOR=963437][b][i]Hel & Loki[/i][/b][/color][/right][/sup][/indent][hr][color=gray]The things that could get Hel nervous in the whole world could be counted on one hand. Most of the time she barely had a grasp on what time it was in the world. Now she was bitterly aware that it was 10:59 a.m. on the 3rd of October. She was also well aware of where she was. The Eastside Café. Under normal circumstances she would have considered it a cozy and sweet place. An excellent place to get lost in a book with a coffee in front of her. Today though she was fidgeting with her phone. The tea before her was steaming but left untouched. Her eyes darted around. Scanning the ever moving crowd. Hoping to spot her father before he saw her. She needed that upper hand. Though she wished she didn’t have to feel so standoffish. There were many things she wished for. To see and hug Fenrir and Jörmungandr… and her father. A small smile formed on the mask that was her face usually. After so many years of her rejecting him, he never gave up. He kept showing his love. It was a dangerous, reckless, fate-tempting love but it felt good to have it. If only she could return it. Of course she couldn’t. The second she gave in to his love, the second she’d return it there would be no turning back. It was simply too dangerous. Loki, on the other hand, was having a grand old time. With a skip and a hop, whistling a jaunty tune that may or may not be from [i]Hairspray[/i], he entered into the Café. The trickster god loved his children and would do anything for them, but he was under no illusion that they all had their problems with him. They blamed him for not helping them, and truthfully Loki was powerless under the entrails of his child, but it was his burden to shoulder. If they needed him to be the bad guy, well Loki will be the baddest guy there is - yet he would make sure, at the end of the day, they knew they were loved. [color=963437]“Hel! Er, Astrid!”[/color] Loki quickly amended, waving enthusiastically towards his daughter. [color=963437]“How is my beautiful daughter?”[/color] They got strange looks in the cafe, all of them looking dubiously between the duo and their obvious age discrepancy. Loki paid them no mind; mortals always found a way to explain away the impossible. Surely, they’ll just think he’s a stepfather or a lover of a plastic surgeon. For a faction of a second Hel broke into a full smile when she saw her father, before she pushed all of that down. This was no place for smiles or waves. Not to her. This was serious and dangerous. She didn’t mind his little slip-up though. [color=7b36b0]“I’m good. And you?”[/color] She returned the question as she motioned him to sit in the chair before her. The one furthest away from her at the table. In her mind she pushed away the fact that she had found Jörmungandr and that she had sent him a letter. But at the same time she had a duty to protect her snake-brother as well. What if he and Loki weren’t seeing eye to eye? What if he felt the same and wanted to stay away from everyone? What if he hated Loki as much as he would have to hate her? It wasn’t her place to tell her father about her brother. Even if she so dearly wished to. Her own thoughts had consumed already too much of her attention to notice the weird looks of the mortals. Though if she had she wouldn’t have paid it any mind. What did it matter what a mortal thought. In how many decades would they be dead? Five? Six maybe? Eight, if they were particularly robust. What did the opinion of those who lived so short matter? [color=963437]“I’m having a jolly good time!”[/color] Loki exclaimed before moving in conspiratorially, [color=963437]“Say, you should check your mailbox this afternoon. I heard good old Augustus has a present for us.”[/color] Loki leaned back and flipped open the cafe’s menu, his previous deviousness slipping off his facade like it was nothing. That was the thing about Loki, the way he could switch his masks from one thing to the next, like cutting through softened butter. Some people found it disconcerting when they witnessed it, but the trickster didn’t particularly care. There was no point in hiding his ways in front of his daughter, she knows him and knows he’s almost always up to no good. Hel took a quick sip of her cold cup of tea. Trying to hide the swallow of fear when her father talked about some present from Augustus. Once she had wondered if Loki truly was just a mischievous trickster, or a malevolent creature bent only towards destruction and pain. Ever since Baldur’s untimely demise she had her answer. It was that same answer that drove her to ask him to meet her here. Slowly she put the cup of tea down, trying to move her body slightly in the chair so there was more distance between them. She bit on her lips as she looked down towards the cup, not daring to look at her father as she posed the question: [color=7b36b0]“Did you kill…him?”[/color] He wouldn’t have been the first god he killed. She knew he was capable of that. Had it been some sick joke? Another ploy just to get the Greeks upset? Was he working towards something now? She didn’t know, but she did know that during Ragnarök Loki was at least responsible for many deaths amongst the gods. Was Hephaestus the first one to fall now? The long winter hadn’t begun yet, but prophecies could be vague like that. [color=963437]"Kill who?"[/color] Loki asked nonchalantly, still perusing the menu. He already had coffee, maybe it was time for tea. [color=963437]"Ooh, do they have boba tea?"[/color] It wasn't a trick, his ignorance. Loki was so used to being accused of killing someone that he could hardly keep up. Not to mention Hephaestus' untimely death has been replaced with Jupiter's ball as the most important event in his brain. It was only when he had flagged down someone to take his order (as politely as he could, Loki was chaotic not cruel...ish) that he remembered exactly who Hel could be referring to. [color=963437]"Oh, Hephaestus!"[/color] He practically shouted and several heads turned towards the table; he carried on oblivious, [color=963437]"Of course I didn't kill him. If I were in possession of a god-killing weapon, good ole' Heph isn't the first person I'd visit."[/color] People were definitely giving the two odd looks now. [color=7b36b0]“Could you-”[/color] Hel said under her breath, feeling herself get mad. She stopped herself, taking a deep breath. She couldn’t get mad around Loki. it was dangerous for her specifically to get emotional around him. With a new found calm whisper she said: [color=7b36b0]“Could you not speak so loud? I don’t want to be thrown into some mental institution again.”[/color] It wasn’t like Loki wasn’t above testing a weapon out before he used it on Odin on Thor. Her father might appear like a jubilant, somewhat unthreatening fool at times but to her that was all just a facade. Loki was clever. Dangerously clever. Luckily for her though, Loki also wasn’t in a habit of lying to her. If he said that he didn’t like Hephaestus, then he truly didn’t. Strangely though, it didn’t make her feel better. [color=7b36b0]“Do you… know what could kill a god so suddenly?”[/color] If anyone would at least know about the god-killing weapon, it had to be Loki. Loki who had been searching for a way to finish off Odin and the other Aesir for seventeen long centuries already. Loki who would usher in Ragnarök. He had to know. [color=963437]"Hmm…"[/color] Loki tapped his fingers against his chin in fake thought, and his tone turned serious, [color=963437]"The perfect way to murder a god? Ally with them. Make them trust you, need you even, and then [i]rip[/i] it all away. The perfect way to murder a god isn't to murder them, darling, it's to make them want to die."[/color] Then, like a switch, Loki's face lit up again and a woman moved into view to take his order, oblivious to the smidge of plotting he divulged to his daughter. He ordered a boba tea and watched her walk away with barely concealed excitement — he really liked boba. With his order taken, he turned back to Hel and threaded his fingers under his chin, a smile on his lips and scheming on the brain. [color=963437]"Now, do I think old Heph decided to off himself?"[/color] He shrugged, [color=963437]"No, not at all. Whatever happened to him is beyond my mental scope of thought."[/color] The way he described the murder of a god. It chilled even Hel. To think loss and pain could be so intense it would render living impossible for a god. She could not imagine it. Not in her own darkest days. Yet here was her father, seemingly intimately aware of it. Did he kill someone already this way? Her mind harkened back the vague memories of gods deciding to finish it. There weren’t many. Which ones were driven so far that they would jump off the ledge? Which one did her father murder? With his finger on her chin, she suddenly felt like a child again. Looking up at the Aesir in Asgard. A place she had once called home. With her father peacefully beside her. The memory made her close her eyes for a split second even. Back then she was blind to the doom that was getting close with every second. For a split second she yearned for that again. To be amongst people and laugh and drink and just be happy. Her eyes slowly opened again. No. No no no. Back then she was laughing with blackguards. That life of closeness and warmth was forever lost. Was it? Her thoughts trailed to Jörmungandr and Fenrir. She wondered how it would feel. All of them, together. Set in the same scene as her memory. Laughing and drinking and being happy. For a second she felt that happiness. Then icy fingers wrapped themselves around her heart. For a brief moment the breath she let out came out as cold vapor. [color=7b36b0]“I really wish things were different sometimes.”[/color] She finally admitted, not daring to look at her father as she did though. [color=7b36b0]“The death…it scares me.”[/color] It felt odd. A goddess of the dead, fearing death itself. Would she go to Helheim alone? As a mortal? “I know Odin and Thor are looking for whatever weapon killed Hephaestus so they can use it on both my brothers.” Loki smiled as the server placed his boba tea in front of him and took a long drag from the straw, noisily slurping the tea to the chagrin of their table-neighbors. [color=963437]"Psht, Odin is doing no such thing. The only head he's thinking with is his di — it doesn't matter. Listen, darling, [i]men. ain't. shit.[/i]"[/color] And he tapped his finger against her nose with each word, grinning while he did it. [color=963437]"Especially the Nordic ones."[/color] Though, after his impromptu word of advice, Loki realizes he trivalised his daughter's fear. Loki is a good father, he takes note of these things and tries to communicate honestly with his children, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't help them with their fears. Even if he, personally, doesn't fear it. Because that's what good fathers do. [color=963437]"Hel,"[/color] Loki set down his boba tea to signify that he meant business, [color=963437]"I won't let Ragnarok happen. I swear it on my life, I'll do everything and more to stop it. But, we're safe as long as we have the Colossus. Take this time to spend with your brothers; don't fear death, fear not living. It's time to be with your family — we all miss you."[/color] And she missed them. Deeply and dearly. Every day she wished they could all be together. But even now, being here with her father was dangerous. Every bit of proximity could lead to the end of her brothers. She would not be their murderer. [color=7b36b0]“You don’t know if the Colossus is stopping it.”[/color] Her words turned icy as her barely thawed heart froze over again. She could miss them, yearn for them and wish for her family all she wanted. But she couldn’t act on it. Every day, she would have to shield herself from her own wants. Because it wasn’t about what she wanted. It would never be about what she wanted. Slowly she reached over to hug Loki, and in their embrace she whispered: [color=7b36b0]“I love you, dad. I know I don’t show it well or often but I do. With all my heart, I love you and Jorm and Fen.”[/color] With those words whispered, she released him from her always cold hugs and stood up, leaving the tea only half-drunk. [color=7b36b0]“Goodbye.”[/color] She said, before bolting out of the tea shop. Begging her weary heart to be still. Loki sighed, sitting back in his chair and taking another draw from his boba tea. He doesn’t know what he should do with that girl, she is as stubborn as he is. Loki sighs again, standing up and throwing some bills on the table for his drink. He knows he should wait for the receipt, but he has neither the care nor the time. Loki has some plotting he must do (and a dick appointment in the making).[/color] [hr] [right][sup][i]a collab with [@Legion02][/i][/sup][/right]