Do You Remember? || Closed

  • allison hendrix.

    allison hendrix. (100)

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    For a split second, Alex was worried that she’d somehow overstepped or said the wrong thing by mentioning her generation. Then again, it wasn’t as though it was offensive. It was the truth. He had to be reminded of that constantly. If it was her, she’d be more upset that people were walking around on eggshells around her. But then he was grinning, and her worries abated a little. “I’d show you now, but I’m pretty sure Stark wouldn’t let you live it down if you were watching them at his party,” she said, laughing a little.

    She shrugged her shoulders and hummed a little. “You say that now,” she replied, chuckling. It wasn’t that her sense of humor was actually bad, per say, it was just that there had been times where she could have probably kept her mouth shut during a mission. But what were the odds that they’d ever go on a mission together? He seemed interested in spending more time with her — she thought — but outside of that seemed to be a stretch. S.H.I.E.L.D. would probably put him with the best of the best for missions. That’d make the most sense.

    “I don’t know about that. My knowledge of Queens goes to my aunt’s house and a pizza place. I know a hell of a lot more about Brooklyn than I do about Queens.” She paused for a moment and let out a laugh, short and soft. “There’s actually this laundromat that has a secret pinball arcade and bar. Although, it’s not that much of a secret. But it is cool.” She’d heard someone describe it as a modern-day speakeasy, but that felt a little too pretentious to her. “No expectations is good,” she said, sidestepping his comment about the 40s. She still wasn’t sure how to broach that subject.

    Alex let out a snort of laughter at the sight of his phone. “Christ, yeah it is. You haven’t texted anyone yet?” It was taking everything she had in her not to laugh. Her mom had gotten her grandmother the same phone for Christmas, and it had been an absolute disaster. She loved the phone, but still hadn’t really figured out how to text. Sometimes Alex would just get a bunch of almost words without any spaces in between them and she’d have to decipher their meaning. “It’d actually be pretty good for that. You could do some serious damage with this thing.”

    The crowd started to abate a little as drinks were served. Alex stepped a few feet forward. It wasn’t as close to the bar as she’d like, but it was better than before. She turned around to say something else to Steve when she heard the people in front of her start talking about Steve. She couldn’t really make out much other than Captain America and go first, but she could see where this was going.

    “Uh, Mr. Rogers?” One of the men that had been insistently whispering turned around to face Steve. “You go ahead. We can wait,” he said, motioning towards the bar.
    Loki raised a brow at her words, otherwise not responding. It was for her to decide? He wasn’t sure what was causing the curling heat in his stomach, her words or the way she’d been grinning. Either way, it didn’t really spell good news for him. He wasn’t doubting that he could overpower or outsmart her should thee need arise, but she could be a distraction. He had exceptional willpower in a lot of areas, but some women proved to be too… distracting. And Eris appeared to be unlike any woman he’d met before.

    Many of the women on Midgard had been too reserved for him. Yes, they had been quite intelligent, but intelligence was useless when it wasn’t being applied properly. So many had had so much potential, only for it to be wasted away while Odin ruled with a tiring hand. Lady Sif had piqued his interest at first. He had heard the stories of the valkyries, the legends of their heroics, and Sif had initially reminded him of them. But then he realized that she was too righteous for him, too dedicated to Midgard. It was no surprise that she preferred Thor’s company to his.

    “What kind of benefits?” He asked, adopting an innocent expression across his face. Playing dumb had always been a weak spot for him. He knew that he was far too proud to properly maintain the facade, or even portray it to begin with. But It was an attempt, at least. “Easier to watch me, then? Better to try to understand the fallen god, hmmm?” It spoke a lot to his ego that he was able to be this confident after being beaten and taken into captivity.

    He watched as she stepped away, taking in the rest of the apartment. It was bigger than he’d expected for a captive. She’d mentioned earlier that Thor had requested the books, and for a brief moment, he wondered if this was Thor’s doing. A stab of ache hit his chest and he shoved it away. Thor had made it known where his loyalties lie. He wouldn’t advocate for Loki. Not for this.

    His gaze flitted over to her, drawn from his thoughts as she spoke. “I’m sure I’ll think up something,” he said, giving a shrug of his shoulders. Really, he couldn’t be bothered to come up with them. He had no personal items there. He was most likely being constantly monitored. What rules did he need to set? He reached over for his champagne flute and lifted it to his mouth, taking a sip. Without thinking, he grimaced, setting it down forcefully. “This is what Midgardians call a drink?”
    June 14th, 2019 at 03:45am
  • salander.

    salander. (150)

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    “Of course,” Steve replied, smiling a bit more broadly at the sound of her laughing, “I can’t have him thinking the party is that boring…or that I’m actually trying to catch up with the times.” Tony didn’t seem like the kind of person to easily forget things or let him live something like that down…and he wouldn’t necessarily be kind about it either. Steve couldn’t just outright tell him that he was really only interested in these “Vines” because of Alex in the first place.

    It was then that he realized it had been a long time since he’d felt like this towards a woman. Even then, it was rare for him to feel like this so quickly. Last time Steve felt like this was with…Peggy. His stomach jolted a bit at this realization, icy blue eyes glancing away from her for a moment. Again, he steered his thoughts away from lingering too long on what had happened and focused instead on how Alex sounded when she chuckled. “What? A sense of humor never hurt anybody,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Might’ve gotten a few people in trouble.”

    Steve thought there was something extremely charming about how Alex spoke. She wasn’t overly confident, she didn’t boast that she was the best person to take him around Queens. Too many people would be overly eager to please him, just because of who he was. It was refreshing, to say the least. “Maybe that’ll be part of the adventure: learning about Queens together,” he offered, gaze softening a bit as he offered her a bright smile. “Maybe we’ll visit this not-so-secret pinball arcade. That’s a game even I know how to play.” He was sure that pinball had probably evolved a lot more since the last time he’d played a game, but hopefully the mechanics of it all was still the same. It’d been one of the few things he’d actually been good at. “Are you from Brooklyn or just visit it often?” He questioned, curious to know a bit more about who exactly the woman before him was.

    The soldier couldn’t help but to laugh at Alex’s reaction to his phone and he glanced down to it sheepishly for a moment. “Not a soul,” he said with a chuckle, tapping the phone against the palm of his hand. “Banner tried showing me but there’s too many times I have to hit a button to get to a certain letter…I’d rather just call someone instead. Save myself the embarrassment of accidentally saying something I don’t mean to or just typing nonsense.” He paused for a moment before holding the phone out to her. “You could put your telephone number in it. If you’d like. I mean, we’ll have to get a hold of each other somehow if you’re going to give me that tour of Queens.”

    Steve would’ve heard the guys whispering in line ahead of him even if he didn’t have an enhanced sense of hearing, so it was of no surprise to him when one of them turned and told him to go ahead of them. “Thank you, but you guys were here first,” he declined with a shake of his head. Sparing a glance over at Alex and wearing a kind smile, he added, “Unless the lady here wants to go ahead.” Steve didn’t want to be the one to benefit for who he was, but it wasn’t exactly fair to let a woman wait this long for a drink, either.
    Eris took the lack of a reaction she received from Loki—apart from the raised brow—was a sign she was getting to him in some way. For someone who had been so eloquent with words before, she would have surmised he would have had something quick and witty to respond to her with. She could’ve easily been wrong, and perhaps he wanted to have her believe she was affecting him. Instead of grinning again, like she desperately wanted to, she bit at her bottom lip and tilted her head to the side curiously. “Cat got your tongue?” She questioned, before realizing that he may not pick up on the “Midgardian” colloquialism. Good. His confusion would only provide her further entertainment.

    She almost gave him an incredulous sort of look at his question and the expression he wore. For a being who typically wore a look of impish delight to feign innocent was a bit unnerving. Eris took a sip of her champagne to keep from outwardly reacting and let him continue. “I’d be able to do my job regardless of us living together,” she replied bluntly, “but there’s no doubt it won’t help me get to know you faster.” The woman stopped and thought of what she was going to say next. Drawing in a deep breath of air, she crossed her arms over her chest and perched on a side table as she watched him. “What’s done is done. There’s no use in trying to reason out why you did it when we can’t take it back or change it.”

    It was her turn to raise a brow and stare blankly over at him before taking another sip of the bubbling liquid in her glass. “Speaking of gods, I’ve read a great deal about you,” she said, crossing her legs at the knee. “Loki’s supposed to have red hair, giant’s blood, and is Thor’s uncle." If he wanted to get smart with her, she was going to have to prove she could reverse it back on him. ‘Fallen god’? What a load of bullshit. “So, either you clearly didn’t spend enough time with Midgardians for them to conjure up an accurate representation of you or we must’ve got it all wrong.” The woman then tossed back the rest of her drink—if she was going to jump off the proverbial deep end, she may as well finish her drink first. “There's actually a very interesting story about you and a horse.” She was purposefully being vague, the slightest bit of a malicious little grin curling the corners of her lips.

    She should have expected Loki to either not tell her his rules or not have any of them to begin with. It was smart, as they’d be the first things she’d ruin for him should he misbehave. A soft hum left her in response to him regarding the champagne before rolling her eyes dramatically and clicking her tongue against the back of her teeth. Eris stood gracefully from the table and walked over to him. Keeping her eyes on him, she lifted the glass and downed it, much like the other one, making a show of tilting her head back and exposing her neck. “Beggars can’t be choosers, your highness,” she responded once she’d swallowed the drink.

    “Surely you didn’t keep those daggers up your ass. Magic yourself a drink, if what I poured you doesn’t suit your tastes.” Eris made sure to keep a fair amount of snark in her tone, eyeing him for a moment or two longer before grabbing the bottle of champagne from the counter and pouring herself another glass.
    June 16th, 2019 at 03:22am
  • allison hendrix.

    allison hendrix. (100)

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    “I’m sure you could have him think that. It’d guarantee that his next one would be wild,” Alex said, giving him a wide grin. “Are you trying to catch up with the times?” She asked, curious about the answer. It’d have to be overwhelming with the amount of information that was out there. Hell, the idea of the internet alone was vast enough that it could make anybody’s head spin.

    She shrugged her shoulders a little as she thought back to some past experiences. “Turns out some people on missions really don’t appreciate someone cracking jokes over the comms.” Or rather, one commanding officer had threatened her with one year of riding the desk if she wouldn’t shut the fuck up. But then again, it wasn’t her fault that Agent Ward had a stick shoved so far up his ass it was making his neck stiff.

    Something twisted in her chest at his words. Together. Oof. A swarm of butterflies erupted in her chest when he smiled at her. This was bad. Odds are, this would play out realistically. The party would end, and they’d go their separate ways. He was Captain fucking America, he was busy beyond belief. And while she didn’t lack confidence, she knew that he didn’t have time to make time for her. But she ignored those thoughts and offered him a grin. “That sounds fun,” she said, her grin softening a smidge. “Although, just be warned — I’ll wipe the floor with you at pinball. And no, I’m from upstate New York. But I had family here, so I’d spend my summers in the city. Mostly bouncing between my aunt’s in Queens and my grandparents’ in Brooklyn.”

    She raised an eyebrow at him, failing at biting back the wide grin that was dying to make itself known. She took his phone from him and chuckled. “I’d say text me, but it sounds like you’d hate that,” she said as she navigated to the contacts list and put in her name and number. “Banner should’ve gotten you something a little newer. Texting is easier on the newer phones.”

    Alex tried her hardest not to be annoyed. Although, it was hard to tell whether she was annoyed because it was clear they were a little star struck, or if it was because they’d interrupted the conversation. “Oh no, it’s fine,” she said, mustering up a smile.

    One of the agents turned to her as she spoke and raised his brow. “Geseni, right? You were on the Dubai mission a couple of weeks ago?” She nodded. “Are you on the crew to head back out in a couple of days?”

    Her stomach sank as she realized that she’d totally forgotten. She glanced over to Steve, feeling as though the tour of Queens was going right out the window. “Uh, yeah,” she said, turning back to the agent. “They’re using me as backup, I think.”
    Loki blinked at her words. Cat got your tongue? What? He wondered if it was a thing that Midgardians say. He ran through the context of their conversation, trying to understand what she was getting at. Was it something to do with the fact that he hadn’t responded? Ignoring the sentence entirely was his best bet. “I’m just trying to understand what it was that got you assigned to this. Fuck up a bit, did you? This some sort of punishment?”

    He tilted his head at her words, ensuring that his movements were controlled and calculated. “I doubt very much that you’ll get to know me,” he said, an edge suddenly tinging his voice. “I could tell you exactly why I did what I did. I could tell you exactly why I did everything. None of your people have bothered asking.”

    He took a deep breath in, and let it out slowly.“Midgardians tend to get a lot wrong, so that’d be a safe place to start,” he said, raising a brow at her. Something about her dismissive attitude towards him was starting to rub him the wrong way. “The description of my visage was accurate though. You’re much too close-minded if you think that this is my only form.” He raised a brow at her next words, taking a moment as though he had to think about what she was saying. “You’ll have to be a bit more specific. I’ve encountered quite a few horses in my time.”

    Loki leaned against the counter and took another sip of his champagne. It was dreadful. “I’m just disappointed that a woman of your caliber would drink such swill.” He almost made a comment alluding to how he’d been taught as a child to eat and drink what was put in front of you, lest someone think him impolite, but the thought left as soon as it had come. “Couldn’t they have given you something better in exchange for having you stand watch over me?” He asked, raising his brow at her.

    “I suppose I could, but what fun is that?” Summoning an Asgardian drink was child’s play, but the last thing he needed was to become even the slightest bit intoxicated. Not to mention, he didn’t want to give her people anything to go off of. While they weren’t smart enough to glean any substantial information from him, any amount given to them was too much.
    June 17th, 2019 at 08:13pm
  • salander.

    salander. (150)

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    Steve let out a quiet laugh and shook his head at Alex’s suggestion of the next party being a wild one. “I don’t know if I can handle anything crazier than this,” he said, jokingly motioning to the rather tame party going on around the two of them. He thought for a long time about what she’d asked him. Was he trying to catch up? He didn’t seem like he really was, but he knew it would have to eventually happen. “Well…not actively,” he said, sounding a bit sheepish for admitting it.

    “You can’t win ‘em all,” Steve replied with his own shrug of his shoulders, bright blue gaze warming just a bit. “I’m sure you do it when the time feels appropriate and I, for one, appreciate when people don’t let themselves get too serious.” There were some who could probably say that Steve, as Captain America, could be too serious all the time. Steve could agree with them. It was something he needed to work on a bit, he knew.

    The longer it took for her to respond, the more those doubts from before crept into his mind. He didn’t think this self-conscious part of him, this part of him that always thought women would look over him for someone other than him. And at first, he thought the grin she was shooting him was one she was sending to him to let him down gently. Steve’s own smile strengthened by a large amount when she spoke, though his brows shot skyward at what she said. “I think that may be a challenge I’m going to have to accept,” he told her, his smile going a bit crooked. “Which one of the boroughs do you prefer? Queens or Brooklyn?” She paused for a moment before adding, with a short chuckle, “Or neither?”

    Steve watched her closely as she took his phone, grinning despite himself as she spoke. “I’d learn if that’s how you preferred to…communicate,” he said, eyes slipping between hers. “I can’t guarantee I’ll be very fast about it, or that you’ll understand what I’m trying to say, but I’d try.” Another laugh left him as she spoke and he suddenly looked very sheepish. “I think I’d end up in trouble with one of the newer ones. More buttons to inadvertently press, from what it looked like.

    Alex was clearly peeved by something, but it was hard for Steve to decipher what exactly was bothering her. He’d offered to allow her to cut in line, so maybe it wasn’t that. His brow pinched together slightly in confusion, but he managed to keep the rest of his expression neutral. He was about to ask if she was sure, but then the agent was talking to her. So, she was known amongst her coworkers and the Dubai mission she’d just been on was something notable. His taking mental notes came to a halt when they mentioned her leaving within the next few days.

    His eyes shot over to her almost at the same time she shot him a look. He offered her a bit of an understanding smile and a short nod of his head. Once she looked away, he managed to keep the smile, though he felt like doing anything but. She’d be going off on this mission and their tour of Queens, it’s pizza, and not-so-secret pinball arcades would be forgotten, he just knew.
    The woman noted that, should it come t it, jargon would easily go over Loki’s head. Whether it would be to speak in a more private manner—Tony and her could hold an entire conversation full of quotes, catch-phrases, and sayings—or just to annoy him, she was sure it would come to good use. As he spoke, Eris merely stared over at him and took in what he was saying. So, he was trying to get under her skin a little. A soft hum left her before she drew in a deep breath of air and she replied, “Maybe this is your punishment.” She stopped for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. “Maybe I was assigned this because I’m the only one competent enough in the building to handle you.”

    Instead of replying to him commenting that she wouldn’t get to know him, she merely allowed herself to grin over at him, barely even blinking. Eris didn’t need conversation to get to know someone—she could read nonverbal cues like a book. “Then tell me,” she egged him on quietly, the grin still lingering on her lips. “Was it mommy issues?” She questioned before she could stop herself. She wanted to poke at him a bit, to see if she could get him angry. “Daddy issues? Brother issues?” Perhaps pointing out what she’d noticed this early was dangerous, but there was something about flirting with chaos like this excited her.

    Eris was getting somewhere with Loki, she’d decided, but she just couldn’t put her finger on which direction she was getting. “Oh, I’m not denying that. I’ve met far more idiotic humans than ones with an iota of intelligence,” she replied flippantly. She considered what he said for a moment. “I’m sure that’s a fun trick to play with lovers: make them think they’re going to bed with one person and wake up with a completely different person,” she mused, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. A short laugh left her at what he said next before she could stop herself and she looked far too pleased with herself. “Well…there’s a story that you let a horse fuck you, once upon a time.” Oh, this was too good. “And I though Greek mythology was fucked up.” She wasn’t about to tell him the story was about him changing into a female horse, that’d ruin her fun.

    “Swill, huh?” She questioned softly, tapping her fingertips against the glass a few times. “I’m flattered that you think I deserve better,” she told him with a raised brow. “I think so too, if I’m honest.” A wistful sort of sigh left her as she finishing pouring another glass, leaning back against the counter as she watched Loki closely. Taking a poignant sip of her drink, she let the silence of the apartment sink in for a moment or two. Eris deserved a hell of a lot more than just a bottle of mid-price champagne. Maybe she’d pester Tony for that vintage motorcycle she’d wanted…

    Of course, Loki didn’t want to join her in getting wasted and/or tipsy. It was smart of him and perhaps very stupid of her, but she couldn’t care less. Even if Tony had made it seem like he’d done this to keep her safe, how safe could she possibly be with Loki? “I’ve always been thoroughly entertained by magic tricks, so it’d at least rid me of my boredom for a moment,” she offered. “And it’d mean you’d be able to take a sip of your drink without making that god-awful face.” Maybe getting drunk around Loki would be the ultimate test, she did have a tendency to be quite the handful when she’d had one too many.
    June 19th, 2019 at 01:56am
  • allison hendrix.

    allison hendrix. (100)

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    Alex huffed out a laugh at his words. “From what I understand, this is pretty tame.” She’d heard stories of the other ones, although they’d been much wilder before Pepper Potts had stepped in. Granted, it was still impossibly difficult to reign Stark in, but at least the cops hadn’t been called. Yet. “You haven’t missed much. Politics are going to shit, movies are getting better. Star Wars is great, though. You might be into that.”

    She raised a brow at his words. While she didn’t want to argue with him, she’d heard some stories from some agents that had been up on the carrier when the Avengers had first been assembled. Someone had told her that Cap seemed a bit too stiff. But she didn’t know him well enough to argue with him there. “I can promise you that I’ve spoken up when it wasn’t appropriate. I appreciate the confidence in me, though,” she said, grinning.

    Her grin widened at his words. Did he have a competitive streak? She’d be into it if he was. Then again, she would be into him regardless. That smile alone was enough to suck her in. “I’m not sure, really. Queens always felt more like home to me, but Brooklyn was always more fun for me to explore when I was younger.” She paused for a moment, trying to wrack her brain for the answer. “You grew up in Brooklyn, right?” She asked, glancing up to him.

    Ducking her head, butterflies erupted in her chest. He’d try to text if she wanted him to. Christ. She was living in an alternate dimension, she swore it. She brought her gaze back up to his and smiled. “I’m fine with either, Steve. Texting is faster, but phone calls are fine.” She laughed along with him and rolled her eyes. “I think you’re smart enough to figure it out. You’d pick it up fast.”

    The agent gave a bob of his head after she’d answered his question. “Yeah, I heard that’ll be a bitch to handle. But I’m sure you guys’ll handle it.” With that he turned back to his group and left Alex to her own thoughts. This kind of sucked, really. There would be a ton of pre-op stuff that would need to get done, and she’d probably wake up to an email tomorrow demanding that she be on-call for the next couple of days. So their plans were out the window. Unless…

    “This is really last minute,” she said, turning to Steve, her heart pounding in her chest. He could say no, he could easily say no. “But do you want to go head to Queens and grab some pizza? The food there will be better than anything Stark is serving up here.”
    “You being assigned to handle me is the farthest thing from a punishment on my end.” It really was. Punishment for him wasn’t making it impossible for him to do anything — it was boredom. If it was practically impossible for him to escape, he’d work it out eventually. But couple that with inescapable boredom, where he was just alone with his thoughts, and it was almost torture. “I don’t doubt that you’re the only one competent enough for me. Everyone else was dreadfully unprepared.”

    He blinked. It was a struggle to keep himself impassive, to not show how much her idle comments had landed. But he failed. His lips fell into a straight line while his shoulders tensed. His movements were much too mechanical as he brought the champagne to his lips, only to remember at the last second that it tasted awful. “All of the above,” he replied, taking on a tone that was too casual. “Mostly, it was people poking their noses into business that wasn’t theirs.” His tone was sharper than he’d meant to, but he really didn’t care. She was pushing him and despite his casual veneer, he was exhausted. His body ached. He’d fucking lost to a giant green buffoon and it was starting to culminate into something beyond annoyance.

    But he kept it in. Loki was nothing if not a master of control. He swallowed his annoyance and focused on her words. “There’s plenty of fun tricks to play if you’re smart enough.” For a moment, he allowed himself to think about what it would be like, doing something like that to her. There were things that went beyond tricks, just using his magic to make things more enjoyable for himself and his partners. He quirked a brow as she spoke, letting himself smirk a little. “As I said before, I’ve encountered quite a few horses in my time.” He’d never had a horse fuck him — wasn’t really interested in that — but he wasn’t about to let that stop him. If she wanted to fuck with him, he could give it right back.

    “A lady of such beauty deserves much better than that,” he said. His tone was far from complimentary, more of a mocking sort of thing. There was no doubt she was beautiful. Her looks were appealing enough that she most likely didn’t need the validation. But the annoyance was still there, prickling at the back of his mind. If he was better rested he’d be half-tempted to handle her then and there. But he wouldn’t, not then. Biding his time would be safer, more beneficial to the vague plan of his.

    It’d probably be better for him if he did play to her wishes, even if just a little. At the very least, it would give him something to do beyond dwelling on his own inner turmoil. He set his glass of champagne down and conjured up a goblet of Asgardian ale. It was the first thing that came to mind. He lifted it to his mouth and looked her in the eyes before taking a long drink. “Did that appease you?” He asked after he lowered it and set the goblet on the table.
    June 20th, 2019 at 06:29pm
  • salander.

    salander. (150)

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    “Really?” Steve asked. “This is what would be considered tame?” He glanced around the room, taking it in for a moment. He supposed it could always be crazier, but the music was quite louder than what he was used to and he could tell that quite a few people had met their threshold for drinks. Though, with Stark, he knew it could always be flashier, bigger, better, and more expensive. He turned back to Alex as she spoke again, brow furrowing slightly the more she listed off things that were different. “Star Wars? What’s…that?” He opted for the safer question. He could have asked if they really fought battles in space, but he knew it’d really make him sound out of his element.

    He wondered for a moment if word had gotten out about how he could be. On missions, he would admit, he did have a tendency to put his chin down and barrel forward without showing much emotion at all, let alone humor. Judging by her raised brow, it was definitely a possibility. “Well…as much of a distraction that could be on a mission, it’s something I think maybe I could learn from,” he told her honestly with a nod of his head.

    His heart stuttered a bit in his chest at the sight of the grin stretching even more across her lips and he felt victorious in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time. Again, he was reminded how most any body would act overly invested in what he was saying and he sourly wondered if this was the case with Alex. Steve had a decent sense of sincerity in people and Alex seemed the most sincere person he’d interacted with in a while. He nodded slowly as she spoke of the difference between Brooklyn and Queens for her. “I did,” he told her with a grin. “I don’t know if I could ever call Brooklyn fun to explore…but things were different when I lived there.”

    For the first time he’d tried flirting with a woman since he’d woken up, he didn’t seem to be doing a terrible job. Then again, he didn’t feel like he was trying too hard either. “I’ll…uh…I’ll try texting. But calls may not be all that bad,” he told her with a shrug of his shoulder. A laugh left him at what she said next. “I think you may be overestimating my learning skills, but I’ll try not to let you down.”

    Steve didn’t like the way the agent in front of them was speaking about Alex’s next mission. It wasn’t the fact that he was in the dark about the details of it, but it almost seemed a little too casual. His brow was furrowed a bit as he watched the agent interact with the small group in line in front of them. Sighing heavily, he turned back to Alex to see if he could watch her for any sort of reaction. Steve’s expression relaxed when she spoke and a broad grin curled his lips.

    For a brief moment, he spared a glance over to Thor, who was still telling his story, and Tony, who was mingling amongst the different groups of people. Steve was certain that he wasn’t going to be missed too much, not that it would have swayed his decision either way. He turned back to Alex and offered her a broad smile as he drew in a deep breath of air. "I...I think I'd prefer that, honestly." A soft laugh left him, excited by the thought of ditching a Tony Stark party to spend a quiet night with a beautiful woman. “Lead the way, tour guide” he said.
    Eris tried to not look so pleased with his response, but the slightest of grins curled the corner of her lips. “Remember you’ve said that come this time tomorrow,” she told him before taking a sip of her champagne. She wasn’t sure what she would get up to after drinking as much as she intended to, but she was sure she’d make him eat those words. What he said next had her a bit curious. What made her—a virtually unarmed, almost tipsy woman—different than anyone else. “How so?” She questioned softly, keeping her gaze on him.

    The woman had almost let a vindictive, victorious smile curl her lips at the physical reaction she’d managed to pull from Loki. Either she’d made him angry enough or he wasn’t in top form. She managed to keep her expression from giving away just how much this excited her, but her eyes were sharp and glinting with a sick and twisted sort of joy. “You made it my business, Loki, the moment you decided to try to take over the planet,” she replied, quietly and calmly. Her eyes flickered between his. “I don’t blame you, though, for your reasons. Family can be the biggest blessing, but it can also be the biggest thorn in your side.”

    Her tongue slipped over her lips as a smirk drew across her face and she glanced away for a moment. Were the circumstances different and were Loki not a megalomaniac, she might actually like him. They did seem to be quite similar, though it pained Eris to realize it. “Or if you have a bed partner willing enough to be a little more adventurous than vanilla,” she murmured with a shrug of her shoulders. She was just about to take another sip of her drink when he spoke again. A laugh left her before she could stop it and it was quickly followed by her dissolving into loud, ringing laughter, head tilted back, lips pulled into smile that almost looked out of place on her features. “I’ve encountered quite a few horses in my time too, just perhaps not in the way you think of a horse,” she shot back at him, a bit of lewd satisfaction lingering on her features.

    It slid from her face all too soon at his next comment and her gaze was sharper than ever. “Watch your tone,” she snapped, her own tone cold and hard. Perhaps this was what he wanted, to get a rise from her, but she was feeling warm and partially numb from the alcohol she’d put into her system and the lack of food to help slow the process of it making her tipsy. “Like I’ve said before, I’m not the kind of woman you want to test,” she added before turning away and taking a sip of her drink.

    Eris couldn’t help but draw her attention back to Loki as he lowered the glass and set it down. Her brows lifted slightly at the goblet that appeared in his hand in its stead, the corner of her mouth twitching a bit as she watched him take a drink of it. Perhaps she was wearing on him more than she thought, or perhaps he wished to unwind in a similar fashion to the way she was. In response to his question, she stepped over to him and the goblet. The woman lifted it and studied it, turning it and looking underneath it before her cat-like gaze turned to the drink within. “For now,” she shot back at him, before taking a quick sip of the drink. It only lingered on her tongue for a moment before she swallowed it, but she knew, by the strength of the taste in her mouth, she was in deep shit.

    Her eyes widened almost comically and she set the goblet back where he’d placed it, blinking a few times. There was no trying to pretend she was sober after that tiny sip managed to get into her system. “That…was probably a mistake,” she told him bluntly, lips pursed together slightly as she looked back up at him.
    June 21st, 2019 at 03:24am
  • allison hendrix.

    allison hendrix. (100)

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    Alex hummed before nodding. “If the cops haven’t arrived yet, then it’s considered tame.” Parties must have been different back in his day. She could recall things she’d learned in school about the era, but she’d only paid as much attention to it as she’d had to. It had only gotten interesting when they started learning about the Star-Spangled man himself. Her eyes lit up at his question. “A movie trilogy. Well, saga. But the original three are the best.”

    Pausing, she looked up at him and furrowed her forehead a little. “You’d consider yourself pretty serious during missions, then?” She asked him, already knowing the answer. Or at least, she thought she knew the answer. A lot of agents were a gossip-y bunch and those that had been on the helicarrier had already been talking about what it had been like, how serious he was. But she really didn’t want to assume anything.

    She shrugged. She wouldn’t argue with him about Brooklyn being fun to explore. Clearly, they’d experienced two totally different Brooklyns when they’d been growing up. She wouldn’t pretend that it had been the same. “That’s true. Maybe it’ll be more fun now.” There would have to be a lot of changes within the neighborhood. He might not even really recognize it, not really.

    “Calls are nice too,” she said, smiling. She hoped that he would text. It might just be because of when she’d grown up, but there was something to be said of texting someone that she was interested in. There was something there, the anticipation of the response, that was nice. Plus, it’d give her time to form decent responses to him instead of feeling as though she were constantly putting her foot in her mouth.

    Catching the split second that she did of his expression made her pause. He didn’t look thrilled, not really. And the sigh confused her a little. Was he bummed that she had to head out on a mission in a few days? There was a chance of that, but honestly, she wasn’t going to read that far into it. Instead, she’d focus on the fact that he’d agreed to go with her. She couldn’t fight back the grin on her lips if she’d tried. “This way, then,” she said, starting towards the elevators. She caught Clint’s eye, to which he just raised a brow at her. She pressed her lips together to fight back the grin. Instead, she glanced over to Steve. “So, laundromat in Brooklyn, or pizza in Queens?”
    Loki quirked a brow at her. “I promise you, nothing you or your incredibly incompetent guards come up with could begin to come up with an actual punishment.” He took a sip of his ale and shrugged his shoulders. While he didn’t require the same amount of nutrition or rest that Midgardians did, he was still exhausted. Playing cat-and-mouse with her was starting to lose its appeal. But he kept up with the game and mimed sealing his lips to her instead of answering her question.

    “There are other, much more pertinent reasons for why I did what I did than family.” It was a bit beneath him, really, to want to enslave an entire planet just to deal with whatever issues he was having with the people that had raised him. Sure, Thor made him want to destroy entire planets at times, but that was normal sibling things. “Does that mean that you’re not close with your family?” He inquired.

    He tilted his head, his tongue sliding over his lips without realizing it. He’d just watched her do it, and mirrored her. “Vanilla?” He asked, raising a brow. It did hurt his ego just a little to have to ask about a phrase that he didn’t understand, but he allowed it since he was quite sure that it had to with something of a sexual nature. She laughed and smiled and it made his eyes go a little wide. “When is a horse not a horse?”

    Something shot through him at her tone. It was electric, zapping him and making him suddenly pay that much more attention to her. “What tone?” He asked, taking care to keep it the same mocking one as before. There was something there, a button he’d accidentally pressed. He refused to think about how he found her much more attractive like this than she’d been when she’d been laughing. There was just something about her that made him want to anger her constantly.

    He opened his mouth to warn her, but Loki held back. If he was to be kept prisoner there, he might as well gain something enjoyment out of it. “Asgardian ale is much more potent than what your people are used to,” he said. In reality, he really didn’t know just how potent it was compared to theirs. In all his years, he couldn’t recall a time where a Midgardian had drank of their ale.
    June 24th, 2019 at 09:17pm
  • salander.

    salander. (150)

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    Steve’s brows lifted slightly, blinking a few times. “They’ve been that crazy before?” He questioned, expression growing a bit more serious. He didn’t doubt Tony could be challenging of authority if he thought he wasn’t going to get his way, but having the cops called to one of his parties seemed a little…extravagant. “Well…Tony is…” He paused for a moment, eyes narrowing as he tried to pin down the exact word he could use to describe the man. “Tony. Tony is just Tony.” He let out a dry laugh, offering Alex a smile. It only grew as he noticed the way she seemed to come alive at his question on what Star Wars was.

    “Movies, huh?” Steve smiled broadly over at her. “It wouldn’t be too much to ask to borrow a copy of the movies at some point, would it?” The expression smoothed out as he gave some thought to her question. He wasn’t oblivious to the fact that he erred more on the serious side than anything else. He’d come from a background and a time when there wasn’t much time to be carefree and happy. “I guess you could say that,” he finally settled on. “I suppose now that I’m not in a time of war on a global scale, I could afford to loosen up…within reason.”

    He’d always known that time changed things. Buildings grew more worn with time. Places grew more desolate and more populated. The skyline and scenery changed in a similar way, but he would have never thought he’d see such a change in his lifetime. Steve had his moments where he struggled to see what had happened to him, with the serum and the plane crashing, being anything to view in a positive light. But his opinion was gradually changing. Maybe there was a reason he had only just been found. “Time can certainly change a lot. It’d probably be worth it to take a day to just…see what’s the same, if anything.”

    Steve was being truthful when he said he’d try to text, especially if it meant so much to her. There was something inexplicable about her that was drawing him in. Maybe it could have been the way she didn’t cower beside someone like Clint. She had a backbone. It reminded him a lot of Peggy, though she was quite different. Well, if she was going away on a mission soon, texting would probably be their best bet for communicating…if she was allowed her phone, that is.

    There was something about the way her pretty features spread into that bright grin that caused Steve’s insides to jump, like the few moments of weightlessness after jumping from the back of a plane. His heart pounded a bit harder in his chest as he simply just smiled back at her. There was something that excited him about ditching the party for spending an evening with this woman. Without hesitation, he followed beside her, purposefully ignoring the glances he was getting as he cut through the partygoers. As they reached the elevators, he stepped forward and hit the call button as he considered the options she was giving him. “Why not both?” He offered, shooting her a grin over his shoulder.
    Eris nearly laughed out loud at what Loki said about punishment. instead, she merely offered him a closed-lipped grin. “Well…you’re right about the guards, at least.” If only he knew what she could do. But then again, once that was out in the open, how much would it change the dynamic? She enjoyed his continual underestimating of her—it would make it that much more satisfying for her when she proved him wrong. A short hum of a noise left her at his lack of an answer. She should have figured of much.

    She enjoyed the tone he was using whilst talking about his reasons for trying to take over the planet and how she had tried to pin in all on family. “Oh, of course,” she taunted flatly, eye flashing for a moment. Maybe goading him like this would end in a fight, or it would end up with him merely cross at her. It was something she enjoyed, poking at people in such a way. She merely stared at him for a few moments as she thought of how to reply to his answer. “We share a common name. We haven't spoken in years, but they know I’m alive…I think.”

    Drawing in a deep breath of air, she only just kept the broad, knowing grin from her lips at his question. Eris contemplated how to respond, whether she’d lead him astray or tell him what the term ‘vanilla’. “Vanilla is a flavor, but in this instance, it means someone who is boring in bed. Someone who sticks to more…traditional means—you know, the man on top, the woman on the bottom.” She gave a small shrug, figuring the alcohol was loosening her tongue a little. “It’s boring to me, at least.” The woman eyed Loki for a few moments, contemplating on mimicking his previous movement of sealing her lips, but ultimately deciding against it. “You seem intelligent enough that if you think really hard, you might just figure it out,” she retorted with a slight, wry twist of her lips.

    Eris, despite how warm and…uninhibited the alcohol was slowly making her, fell back into an emotionless facade, though she was simmering just beneath it. If he wanted to get a rise out of her, perhaps it was time for her to give it to him. “This is your last warning, Loki. Don’t use that tone with me,” she said, her voice low and sharp. Her sharp eyes were leveled on him, body still spare the easy rise and fall of her chest, as if she were preparing to strike out at him.

    The woman dragged her tongue across her lips, tasting the remnant of the strong beverage on them and blinking a couple more times. Her eyes flicked up to Loki’s for a moment, brows lifted slightly. “It would appear so,” she murmured, wondering what sort of disaster this spelled for them or their new living quarters. “I would apologize to you for stealing a sip of your drink or for whatever may happen after it works its way into my system,” she said, reaching out and grasping the bottle of champagne and pulling it toward her, “but I don’t think you deserve it.”
    June 29th, 2019 at 08:29pm
  • allison hendrix.

    allison hendrix. (100)

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    Alex looked over to him and grinned. It wasn’t that she necessarily forgot that he wasn’t from her era, but it was easy to forget that his reactions to things would differ from hers. “You’ve got no idea,” she said, waggling her eyebrows at him a little. She wondered how parties were back in his time. Then again, from what she’d heard in history class, the parties he’d attended were probably few and far between. “That’s one way to describe him.” She smirked a little. Most would use words such as “asshole” or “playboy” when talking about Stark. But saying that he was just Tony hit the nail on the head.

    She grinned. “You can borrow them any time you like.” She neglected to mention that he could rent them online within seconds. If him wanting to watch the movies meant that he’d be getting a hold of her, she’d lean into that. She was adult enough to admit — barely — that she was interested in him. “Within reason is alright,” she said, her grin softening up into a warm smile. War might not be on a global scale, but the politics of the current era weren’t that great either. She shelved that conversation topic, though. It’d just bring down their conversation.

    It was difficult to imagine what it would be like to just wake up in a totally different time zone. How would she cope with the news? Would she be able to have done what he did, just surge right back into combat and S.H.I.E.L.D. without a single thought? She knew that a lot of people just assumed that Steve did it because he was Captain America, and that’s what Cap did. But he was still a person, and something twisted in her gut at the thought of him seeing just how much had changed. “The city’s been into keeping historical sites preserved, so there might be a little more that you might recognize.”

    Butterflies settled into her gut as the realization that they were ditching the party hit her. She’d suggested it before she’d really thought about it. And it wasn’t as though she’d really expected him to agree. He was a fucking Avenger, for crying out loud. The party was practically for him. She looked over to him, eyes wide as he spoke. “Do you know how far Queens is from Brooklyn?” She asked him. “I’m not saying that I’m not down, but it’d definitely be an all night kind of thing.”

    An all night kind of thing was much more than she’d anticipated. She felt her phone buzz in her pocket and grabbed it. While she hated dressing up for these kinds of things, she’d at least managed to find a dress for it that had pockets. It was a God-send. She pressed the unlock button on her phone and read the message preview — it was from Clint. He’s a gentleman, Rookie. Don’t corrupt him. She snorted and glanced over to Steve. “Clint told me to tell you to have fun,” she said, ignoring the way her cheeks were going a little red. The elevator dinged and the doors opened. She stepped inside and leaned against the wall, eyeing him thoughtfully. “So where to first?”
    He shook his head slowly. “I fear I’m right about more than the guards.” Loki tried to parse out just what was going on in her head. She seemed confident, but a part of him was wondering if it was because she just had that much confidence or if there was something he was missing. If he provoked her enough, he could force her to show him her hand. Regardless of who they were, Midgardians only had so much self control before they snapped. And Loki was notoriously good at getting people to snap.

    So she wasn’t close with her family then. Interesting. He hadn’t expected her to be close with them — she didn’t seem like the type. Someone that dedicated to their field was usually dedicated more to their organization than their familial ties. “Daddy issues, then?” He questioned, giving her a slow grin. Recalling the first time he’d heard the phrase, he chuckled. He may not know all of their phrases or even like the ones that he did know, but that one seemed to be scarily accurate for many on Midgard.

    Ah. Sex. That made sense. “So you prefer something of variety, then?” He took a drink of ale, his eyes darkening a little. Men on top and women on the bottom constantly just seemed beyond boring, really. It was a miracle that her kind procreated at all. Were he not a prisoner, he would have taken that as an opportunity to be forward with her. Eris appeared to be very much the type to know precisely what she wanted in bed and it could prove to be quite the experience. But he held back. It would be unwise at this time. Instead, he thought about her words, mulling them over. He looked down to his mug, but then a thought occurred to him and his gaze flickered back up to her. “You’re describing your partners as horses?”.

    Loki’s eyes lit up at her warning. Oh, there it was. There was the way to get her to snap. He weighed his options briefly as he regarded her. On one hand, he could see at least a part of what she was capable of, of just how much she would let herself loose. On the other hand, backing down would be his less obvious move. Then again, if he did it in such a way, it’d probably anger her more. There was a smart choice to be made, but this was Loki. “How am I supposed to know what tone is forbidden unless you tell me?” He asked, allowing his voice to sound innocent at first but slowly slide into the prior mocking tone.

    “Does anyone ever really deserve an apology?” He asked, quirking a brow at her. He hadn’t met many Midgardians, not really, but she seemed like the last one to apologize for anything, let alone something as trivial as stealing a sip from another’s drink. “I doubt you apologize for a lot of things,” he mused. He took a long sip of his drink, all the while keeping his eyes on her.
    July 8th, 2019 at 03:21pm
  • salander.

    salander. (150)

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    Steve’s brows shot skyward at the movement her own brows made in regards to the parties. If there was one thing he found that hadn’t changed much in the time he’d spent “on ice”, it was facial expressions. Now, all he had to do was suss out what this particular expression entails. “Do I even want to know?” He inquired, a hesitant sort of expression on his features before shaking his head a bit and letting out a soft chuckle. Chances were, he probably didn’t. He didn’t need another reason to see Tony in a different light. There was something about the smirk on the woman’s lips that sent a rush through him. He hoped she didn’t think he was trying to insult Tony by saying that, but it pleased him to be able to pull such a reaction from her.

    A broad smile curled the soldier’s lips at her offer. What came out of his mouth may have been pushing his luck, but she hadn’t seemed put off by his lack of knowledge about anything yet. “Can I count on you to answer any questions I may have about them?” He asked, watching her earnestly. Steve knew he was a pretty sharp guy, but there were a lot of things about the modern era that made him feel out of his league. Movies seemed more like reality, even the ones with unreal subjects and settings. “Hopefully, getting acclimated to…life now, will help put me a bit more…at ease,” he said, letting out a quiet huff of air at the unintended military pun he managed to slip into his conversation.

    He definitely needed to make an effort to see more of modern life. The last few weeks had revolved around getting acclimated to the world around him, a few “freelance” S.H.I.E.L.D missions, and a few shifts watching the resident alien war criminal from a distance to make sure he wasn’t up to something. Steve desperately needed to get his mind off of his “work”—though he didn’t even really consider it to be that—and give himself some leisure time. “It’s a little unreal to think that places that were just normal to me what seemed a few years ago are considered historical places now,” he admitted with a wry grin.

    The grin turned a bit more sly at the look she shot him at the suggestion of managing to hit both spots in the same night. There was a playful twinkle in his cutting blue eyes as he watched her. “Yeah, I do,” he replied simply, dimples pitting his cheeks as his grin turned into a bright smile. He absently checked his watch for a moment before glancing up at her. “Well…I don’t have a bedtime anytime soon, so I wouldn’t mind it if we ran a bit late.” He gave it a bit more thought and added, “Besides, we can grab a cab instead of taking the subways, so that should hopefully save us some time.”

    His hands found his pockets as they stood in front of the elevator doors. Steve recognized the buzzing as a phone going off and he glanced over to Alex as she pulled her phone from her pocket. He directed his gaze to the door, wanting to be sure she didn’t think he was looking over her shoulder. “Oh, did he?” Steve questioned, turning to look over at her and finding a slight flush to her cheeks. There was more here, he was certain of it, but he wasn’t about to press her for information. “I’m sure I will,” he said, flashing her another smile as he followed her into the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor. He eyed her for a moment as the doors shut without anyone managing to enter the elevator with them.

    Settling more toward the center of the elevator, he clasped a hand around one of his wrists and glanced over at her. “My mother raised me correctly, Alex,” he started in a matter-of-fact tone and one of those poster-worthy grins on his lips. “We’re going to get some real food.”
    It was getting increasingly difficult for Eris to keep her expression as even as she could. She wanted badly to grin over at him as he continued to doubt what she could do. Honestly, she didn’t blame him. She looked normal to him. Moved normal. Breathed normal. Instead of replying, she merely gave a small shrug of her slender shoulders and took a sip of champagne straight from the bottle. She just barely swallowed the fizzing beverage before he questioned about her life. “No,” she said simply, “I’ve never had any issues with him. Or rest of my family. They’re the ones who have issues with me.” It was a bit different, sure, and it did make her unbelievably angry at times, but she didn’t hold what they thought of her against them.

    There was something about the way his eyes darkened a bit after she explained the term ‘vanilla’ that had her pulse running a bit faster. Allowing herself a smug little grin that didn’t show her teeth, she leveled him with a nearly unblinking gaze. “And then some,” she replied, looking away from him to take another sip of champagne. There was a warm, light feeling settling her veins, loosening her up a bit. Part of her was enjoying this exchange and she found Loki to be a little more entertaining than most of those she ran across on a daily basis. Her gaze lifted to find his as he spoke and a knowing smile curled her lips. “Parts of them,” she retorted bluntly.

    Her sober side would have told her to ease off, to cool down and not feed into what Loki wanted. But she was not completely sober and that Asgardian liquid she’d had a sip of was snaking its way through her system. Eris was warring with showing her true nature to him or reserving that for a better time—a time that deserved it. But then he was talking again in that same tone and her thin patience cracked like a sheet of ice on a lake. The gold flecks in her eyes flashed for a moment and she turned her eyes to one of the champagne flutes. It shattered with a loud ‘pop’ and the shards fell like rose petals on the countertop. With a blink, the glass dissolved into grains of white sand. Her feline gaze turned back to Loki and she said, her voice calm and even and her features expressionless, “Unless you want to see what that looks like when done to flesh and bone, you’ll learn.”

    Eris brought the bottle to her lips once more, not taking her eyes away from him as she took a sip of it. Without another word, she strode out of the kitchen and into the living room. The woman, for as tipsy she was beginning to feel, still moved with a remarkable amount of grace as she stopped in front of the bookshelf. She thumbed through a few of her records before selecting one and placing it down on the record player. A sigh left her as quiet music filled the room; the soft strum of a guitar followed by the smoky voice of one Stevie Nicks singing about a ‘gold dust woman’. The woman plopped herself down on one of the leather couches of the room, crossing her legs at the ankle and leaning her head back onto the couch. Perhaps this tiny glimpse into what she was capable of would keep Loki at bay, though she greatly doubted it.
    July 9th, 2019 at 02:47am