Fishy drama (Loki and Val)

[st_ratagem]

Goldfish, it turned out, were hypnotic. They swirled around, sometimes in a school and sometimes random, mostly empty fish minds mostly a dull, whispery hum. Despite that, it was easy to see little fish stories unfolding and little cliques forming and breaking up. There were reasons Loki had filched a roomy armchair from elsewhere in the Inn and set it up near the tank: he, Valkyrie, or both together spent enough time fish-watching that comfort was called for.

At present there seemed to be a small cadre of goldfish endlessly circling the same decorative rock, chasing off all the other fish when they approached. It could have been just a gang with territory, but Loki and Valkyrie had decided it was a fishy cult, worshipping the rock as a god. Valkyrie had suggested a small statue of him more than once, to see if the fish cult would abandon their rock. He’d laughed, but he had created their world and provided their food, so... it wasn’t that ridiculous.

Regardless, the fish continued to circle their rock. Holy wars were something to work up to.

Comments

[st_ratagem]

“She says, while on the attack.” Loki caught her face with one hand and stroked a thumb across her cheek. Valkyrie was easy to play with, and somehow it was always with, at least so far. Even play with Thor was sometimes one of them playing at the other, and those were the times that ended up messy and ugly as they stepped on or tripped over each other’s boundaries. “Clearly you’re a model of sweet, gentle understanding.”

[st_allionofdoom]

“I am an agent of peace.” Valkyrie repeated, tilting her head an inch into his fingers. “Forceful and unyielding peace.”

[st_ratagem]

Loki laughed, slid his hand further up, into her hair, then twisted it briefly, a light-ish tug. “I request an example. Have you forced any peace lately, or is it all headbutts like your Clipped Fin?”

[st_allionofdoom]

“That is keeping the peace. She was nipping and gnawing before, well past the point of necessity. A little well-administered force strictly where needed when you’ve got the mettle to back it up, nothing more.” Valkyrie, all too happy to spin a yarn about her prized fish with Loki whispering in her ear about it.

“She’s simply a sleeping giant, now. I’ve yet to see an upstart challenge her.”

[st_ratagem]

“And when the fish corpses start piling up, we’ll know she decided against peace.” He essayed another light-ish tug to her hair, then un-twisted his hand and just combed fingers through it. “Or that someone insulted her.”

[st_allionofdoom]

"What about you? Any golden children?" Valkyrie sunk against him, kicking her legs up over the arm of the seat to nestle.

[st_ratagem]

“The tiny speckled one, you can’t see him right now.” It was an immediate response. Loki pointed at one of the other large decorative rocks in the tank, not the cult-focus rock but a gray one with a tiny cave system of holes. “He stays there, comes out when there’s something he wants, and everyone else avoids him. They won’t go near his rock. I imagine that he’s set more than a few nasty traps to ensure his territory stays his.”

[st_allionofdoom]

"Does he bear a name?" Valkyrie tilted her head in towards the center of Loki's body to get a look into the fish's hidey-hole, her keen eyes catching a leery glint of black within it.

[st_ratagem]

“Not that I’m aware of.” He wasn’t inclined to name things as a habit, developed as opposition to Thor’s need to name everything. Loki shifted slightly, not coincidentally settling Valkyrie more solidly against him. “I just enjoy his tactics.”

[st_allionofdoom]

Slowly, but surely, Valkyrie slid down until Loki's lap was being utilized as a pillow while her petite legs were seated perpendicular with the seat's arm. "Too clever to join a side."

[st_ratagem]

“He’s his own side,” Loki agreed, continuing to stroke Valkyrie ‘s hair, occasionally trailing fingertips down her side as well. “Perhaps he’ll play the others against each other.”

[st_allionofdoom]

"Mmm." She hummed, observing the man above as the fish continued their business. "I'll miss them."

[st_ratagem]

“Oh, I’m sure they’ll stick around a while. It’s a waste to kill minions while they’re still useful.” Unless she would miss them because she was the one leaving? Loki stilled briefly, contemplating that painful thought.

[st_allionofdoom]

Her lips drew a thin but brief line. "However long they live, I do hope I'm around long enough to see it, foolish as that may sound."

[st_ratagem]

“I expect you will be.” He traced the line of her throat and her collarbone, relieved that she’d meant the fish. “You’re much hardier than they are.”

[st_allionofdoom]

"Right." She affirmed, though it was distant. She turned her head to silently watch the fish swim about.

[st_ratagem]

...it wasn’t the fish. Damn.

Sometimes when Valkyrie’s attention and mind drew back, it was memories. At those times, it was comparatively easy to pull her to the present. This, whatever it was, didn’t feel like that. She was present, but....

It might have been possible to subtly probe directly, but Loki opted for words instead. No sense making something potentially bad even worse. “Of course, if we weren’t talking about fish, this conversation might go differently.”

[st_allionofdoom]

“The future.” Those two words alone communicated enough, but while Loki was inquiring, it didn’t make sense to leave anything vague.

“Speaking with His Majesty, it’s a toss up whether I’m alive or dead.” Her lips drew another thin line. “Downer. I know.”

[st_ratagem]

“The uncertainty alone must be... odd.” He hadn’t thought about her in the future at all, quite possibly because he didn’t want to contemplate the Valkyrie as anything but alive. “For what it’s worth, I think you live. Purely because I don’t care to think of you any other way.”

[st_allionofdoom]

“Who can say?” Certainly not her, and apparently not Thor. Her tone was rather objective, bearing little pity for herself at all. Her full lips quirked in a bit of humor at Loki’s last remark, reaching up to brush her fingers along his sharp cheek.

“I’ve got days to set the future in stone once I return.” Whenever that was.

[st_ratagem]

“There you go.” It wasn’t terribly likely that she’d be able to do much either way, but it was comforting to think maybe. Much more so than the more realistic understanding that he’d first be too much her enemy and then too dead to try and put a thumb on the scale to help her somehow. “And who knows how long between then and now.”

[st_allionofdoom]

Quietly, she lowered her legs to the floor and rose to sit side-by-side with Loki. Clipped Fin circled the hermit’s private rock once before returning to her patrol, and Valkyrie gazed at Loki, lips poised to speak.

[st_ratagem]

They hadn’t discussed the future except in light, brief terms, a reference or quip dropped here and there but not dwelled on. This felt like it would be neither light nor brief, so Loki shifted to face her in the chair, as clear as he could be that his attention was on Valkyrie, not the fish.

[st_allionofdoom]

“You follow your own path.” She began, a host of conflicting emotions playing out all at once on her face. “You’re nothing like Thor. I know that.”

[st_ratagem]

“All true.” Both things, Loki thought, were obvious to anyone who’d actually met both brothers, but a start like that was the tactic of someone who wanted to make sure there was no misunderstanding. Or who wished she wasn’t about to say whatever she was going to, perhaps.

Whatever the reason, he reached out to stroke her cheek again. Whether it would be comforting or not, who knew?