♉ of course you'll be distracted when I spike the punch

[liesmith]

After sending Darcy along home with her exsanguinating friend, he returns to his own apartment (bought and paid for with false papers and rerouted funds and cloaked to the gills from any and all prying eyes, S.H.I.E.L.D.-employed or otherwise) to watch over the bustle of activity surrounding the Lewis residence. He doesn't peer into the apartment proper - Darcy's made that line very evident after a prior misunderstanding - but he does see the good captain carted off to medical facilities unknown. There's a momentary debate about whether or not to send a shadow clone after Rogers, to further plant the seeds of curiosity and doubt, but... Loki decides against it. If he's done his work properly then it will only be a matter of time until the captain comes looking for him.

This entire endeavor was meant to be so much simpler before Darcy had swept in in a poor imitation of her heroically inclined colleagues. Oh, well. Still, one must follow through on things.

So it is that Loki Silvertongue sits in the outdoor dining area of a local restaurant with a steaming cup of black tea. Clearing his throat, he raises his eyebrows at his guest and waits for acknowledgment.

Comments

[usavatar]

Steve is jogging. Sure, there's the incredibly elaborate facilities within the SHIELD and Mansion complexes but sometimes running in circles or in place isn't enough. Dodging people on the street, rerouting around closed pathways, finding new cross-streets - it makes it fun as much as a challenge. Though the challenge is really to get going fast enough and long enough to leave himself breathless.

SHIELD tried to follow him before - set their best runners with him, tried to drive a chase car with full sirens through the city behind him - and in the end satisfied themselves with tracking his cellular phone and having Thor and Tony on call in case anything happened.

He almost misses Loki as he's running past - and then registers the presence of the Asgardian and almost slams full-tilt into a woman calling for a cab. She reacts better than he expects. There's a lot of giggling, which makes him think he's probably done something extra-stupid and doesn't realize it, before he can apologize and excuse himself and backtrack to the cafe.

"I'm not by myself this time. If I stay in one place for more than the duration of two street lights, your brother and Iron Man will be here in under three minutes."

[liesmith]

"If I'd wanted you by yourself, do you think I have no other recourse besides ordering luncheon in broad daylight with so many useless distractions about?" Loki keeps his eyes down on the delicate cup in his hand as he sips politely. He doesn't bother correcting the captain on his incorrect use of terms re: himself and Thor, as that's not the point of this little meeting anyway.

"You people and your predilection for gadgets," he sighs condescendingly as he sets the cup down upon its saucer with a gentle clink. "Will your keepers mind you settling down for a bite or two, or should you give them notice?"

Compared to the last time he wished to have a conversation with you, Steve, and considering he's just given you leave to ring up your agents should say a great deal about how different his intentions are now.

[usavatar]

Steve considers this, and then sits, pulling out the tiny phone to call his primary handler. "Hello - No, I'm all right, I just wanted to let you know I'm detouring for a bit. I saw a restaurant I think I want to try. I will. Yes ma'am. Thanks."

He hangs up carefully and tucks the phone into the pocket of his fatigues. Loki gets favored with one of those long, calm looks and Steve says, "She takes after her mother, I guess."

[liesmith]

Loki nods while the captain makes his arrangements and takes his seat. See how smoothly things go when one cooperates? There's a bit of the sardonic to that nod, given how easily he seems to settle under the yoke S.H.I.E.L.D. has decided to place on him, but that's for another time.

"I wouldn't particularly know," he says with a shrug, so nonchalant so as to avoid being seen to admit anything. "I don't particularly recall her mother, and I'm still in the process of becoming acquainted with her."

[usavatar]

"I'm sorry," he says, and it's clear that he means it sincerely. "Agent Lewis is a remarkable person. I'm glad you have her."

There's a pause, and he goes on, very quietly. "And if you hurt her, I don't care who you are or how powerful you might be, I won't stop until you're dead and your case file is archived. I'm sure you understand."

Steve picks up the menu and frowns at it. It's all extremely fancy and (to his mind) extremely expensive, and it's probably about the size of his thumb. He's never been to the Little Giant before. Probably won't make it to his list of regular stops.

[liesmith]

"It is as it is," he replies mildly. The situation can't be changed, and it's being dealt with as best it can so there's hardly a need for apologies and less of one for Steve to tell him what a find Darcy is. He's well aware of that already, thank you.

Arching an eyebrow, he smiles bemusedly, as if he's watching a toothless puppy attempt to growl at him. Well-meaning and somewhat cute, if entirely futile. "An interesting ultimatum." The smile fades into something less amused and more annoyed. "And unnecessary. She is my daughter, and I will act accordingly. I can't do much about her choice of company nor employ at present, but beyond that... She is under my more than considerable protection."

[usavatar]

He relaxes and smiles, and it's as sincere as the apology. "I'm glad. We do out best, but with a couple exceptions, there's a reason we take the team out to fight people like you."

The waitress appears and Steve flounders for a moment before offering her the menu and a bemused look. "Just. Coffee, please. Black."

[liesmith]

"I'll be sure to sleep better at night knowing I have your tacit approval," he replies blithely, not missing a beat.

The waitress turns to him, pad in hand and pen waiting to take down anything else. Loki gives the captain an inquiring look before returning his gaze to the menu. "The chicken liver mousse, the truffled asparagus and duck egg, a red quinoa salad, an order of ramp crostini, a bavette, and the duck confit BLT for my... guest."

He snaps the menu shut and hands it off to the waitress with the barest glance while she scribbles away. Settling himself in his seat, he arches an eyebrow in Steve's direction at his lack of initiative. Loki might not have Volstagg's voluminous appetite, but his metabolism does have its needs, much as he knows the Avenger's does as well.

[usavatar]

"Thank you, miss," Steve adds, as she starts to turn away. She looks almost startled at the acknowledgement, which makes him feel bad. He'll have to leave a good tip.

He sighs. "And thank you, I guess. I don't even know what you just said."

[liesmith]

"If you'd given the menu a more than cursory glance, you would know precisely what I ordered. Suffice for the moment to know that it's food."

Leaning back in his chair, Loki steeples his fingers. "So. The question becomes what exactly you plan to do with this newfound information. I'm sure by now you've realized that it's a very select few who are in the loop, as it were."

[usavatar]

Steve just gives Loki a blank look. Aside from reporting the necessary details to the necessary parties, he hadn't planned to do much of anything. It was Darcy's information to share, for one, and if Fury or Coulson didn't see fit to act on it, it wasn't Steve's place to question why. If Darcy's safe, well...

"I wait. If I get orders to act, then I act."

[liesmith]

Loki watches him carefully. Part and parcel of being able to lie this well is to recognize the lies in others, and he's had centuries to perfect the art. And what he sees... Is a total lack of guile in the captain, in and of itself a veritable rarity.

"Hm. Discretion truly is the better part of valor." Which is the closest he'll ever come to stating he appreciates that particular discretion, so take it for what it's worth, Steve. "Well, then. With that out of the way we can get down to brass tacks, as it were. My offer still stands."

[usavatar]

"Sometimes. But it's not about valor, it's about Darcy." A pause before he corrects himself. "Agent Lewis."

The compliment goes over his head, as most of them tend to.

He waits as the waitress returns with his coffee, smiling up at her again and offering another thank you before he turns his attention back to Loki. "And my answer is no, thank you."

Steve looks down at the cup instead of at Loki's face. "I'm staying here."

[tasering.livejournal.com]

One of the better things about this entire thing with Loki is that he's more than willing to spring for lunch or dinner wherever and mostly whenever. Darcy has tried more new foods in the time they've been connecting, for lack of a better word, than she has in the past three years of her life. Mostly because there are only so many times you can have a variation of macaroni and cheese before you've had them all. New restaurants, new food, and today is no different.

Currently she's looking around the outside patio of Little Giant, looking for one alien hipster wannabe in a crowd of people that remind her vaguely of her mother. Her mother and hipsters, so the fact that Loki picked this place is not really all that surprising. Darcy is just about to give up and go back in and look for him there when she hears a sound she's come to connect with him automatically.

When she whirls around and finds him sitting right behind her it's nearly enough to make her give up. Instead she flings herself down into the seat across from him. "You're early," Darcy says as she busies herself with the menu.

[liesmith]

"You're late," he parries with a small, wry smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. He gives her a minor look for such uncouth behavior - is it truly such an ordeal to seat oneself properly, and posture - but doesn't say anything, giving her a moment to survey her options.

Selecting a slice of bread from the basket between them, he cants his head ever so slightly. "I take it the captain received the proper attentions after our last encounter?" It's ridiculous how calmly he can talk about an 'encounter' that nearly impaled Darcy and left Steve bleeding out on the pavement, but such is merely one of Loki's many talents.

[tasering.livejournal.com]

"I arrived precisely when I meant to." So what if she's resorting to quoting Lord of the Rings - they haven't watched that yet and she doubts he's delved into classic literature during the time he's been here.

The mention of Steve causes her to give him a look over her menu as she, too, snatches a slice of bread. "Yeah, Colonel Fury says he'll be fully recovered in no time." Physically at least, but that confrontation can wait until she's got her food. "Thanks for the uh. Transportation."

[liesmith]

He arches an eyebrow, more than aware that such phrases don't come naturally to Darcy's vocabulary. Eventually he'll figure out where it's from and roll his eyes accordingly. But for the moment he'll content himself with buttering his bread.

"As if you could have dragged him anywhere otherwise. And may I for the record state how poorly planned your impromptu rescue mission was?" He's completely serious at this moment, staring a hole into Darcy in an attempt to make the point stick. "You assumed a great number of things, first and foremost that I was to blame. In case you hadn't noticed, your little friends have more enemies than just me, and I would wager none of them have a personal stake in your well-being." He takes a small bite and chews, giving Darcy time for that to sink in. "Never mind S.H.I.E.L.D. level threats, there's the mundane ones as well. Did you even have your taser on hand?"

[tasering.livejournal.com]

Is Loki, god of mischief and bane of SHIELD and assorted related groups giving her a lecture on personal safety? She can't quite believe it, dropping her menu to stare at him for a good few seconds. Seriously. And she thought her life had taken a sudden turn into the surreal months ago when Jane hit some random dude with a truck.

But it's the fact that he's being serious that makes he pause before answering because seeing Loki completely serious? Normally the sign of impending various bad things before he breaks out the smirk. The recovery is swift, however.

"One - you normally always answer your phone when I call unless you're out doing something dastardly." Yeah she totally just went there. But now that he mentioned it, she'd left her taser in her bag like she always did. Except that she didn't grab her bag before running out of her apartment. Blame it on the sleep deprivation and getting woken up by a phonecall from a national symbol. "Okay fine, you've got a point. But I can't just hear something like that and do nothing."

[liesmith]

"I do try to answer when the phone rings, considering the very few people who actually have that number." Darcy isn't the only one, but she's one of the scant handful. "However, that isn't a guarantee that I'll always pick up. It's not outside the realm of possibility that I can be busy in pursuits other than causing your employers grief."

Loki exhales sharply. "Where did I say you should do nothing? I'm simply stating that the time you spent racing to swoop in at the last possible moment could have been better spent calling in for reinforcements. I'm sure the captain's handlers keep a close enough leash on him that the response time would have been more than acceptable."

[tasering.livejournal.com]

"Bullshit. Unless you've got like, Supervillains Anonymous on speed dial." But she doesn't press the issue, just busies herself with another slice of bread. Gotta admit, the idea of all the villains in the world getting together to bemoan their lives is hilarious as far as Darcy is concerned.

But she levels him a look all the same. "Tell me you wouldn't enjoy killing Cap in front of Thor and Stark. Because if they thought you were attacking Captain America they're totally not just going to send Coulson." They'd send everyone they could get their hands on because it's Loki. But mentioning Coulson brings up something else they're going to have to talk about. "He knows. Coulson. And um. Steve. He knows, too."

[liesmith]

"It's not as if there is a formal society for that sort of thing." Loki rolls his eyes at the very idea - some of those idiots that have wormed their way out of the woodwork aren't even worth the condescending glance, much less any actual expenditure of his time.

"You mistake me for someone who cares about performing for an audience." Wrong brother, Darcy, but he doesn't say that. "And that my aim was to kill him at all. It wasn't." A beat. "Not this time, at least." Shrugging a shoulder at the entire affair, he brings his tea to his lips nonchalantly. "I'm hardly surprised. That Coulson is one of the few competents you've surrounded yourself with." He stops mid-sip at that last bit of information. "...Does he now." The gears start whirring even faster than usual as he considers this new variable. Damn. This could become messy.

[tasering.livejournal.com]

"You never know. You'd need a name like... Cabal. That sounds nice and ominous." The waiter comes and Darcy places her order for a duck BLT or whatever as rolls her eyes at whatever Loki orders. Because it's ridiculous and over the top and so very him.

"No, it was to offer to send him back in time, thereby weakening the Avengers and allowing yourself a window opportunity in which to succeed in taking over the world." The thing about Darcy is that while she can be incredibly clueless the majority of the time is that her moments of insight are, well, insightful. Or accurate. "I didn't even know you could do that." Another slice of bread, god does she love restaurants that do this. "He apparently has recorded all my outgoing calls. And yeah, he does. To be fair he totally thought we were having, you know. Sex."

[liesmith]

"I'll keep it in mind," he says with a twitching half smirk as he requests the ramp crostini. Not that he expects to be using such a name any time soon. It has about the same aesthetic as Doom Patrol, and Loki honestly has slightly more taste than that.

"I'm capable of a great many things," he deflects with a knowing smile that turns slightly condescending at the idea that Coulson thinks he has any sort of bead on the situation. "He may record as he likes, but I make it a point to ensure that any and all contact I make is untraceable unless I wish otherwise." Taking another sip of tea, it's only by virtue of centuries of poise and practice that when he chokes on it, he only barely makes a sound. "...I'm sorry, what."

[tasering.livejournal.com]

The defection is as good of a conformation as she expects to hear from him. "Time travel? Seems a bit far fetched, even for you. I mean I'm totally willing to give you the rainbow bridge wormhole ride but maybe not so much on the whole time thing."

Darcy doesn't even bother trying to hid the smirk at the obvious aborted spit-take. "Cap. He asked about us and then asked if I was being, you know. Safe." Loki wasn't the one he had to worry about that with, but she wasn't about to tell Captain America about her sex life, even if it'd make him splutter. "Don't worry, I corrected him."

[liesmith]

An expansive shrug. "You should keep your mind open. The universe is full of possibilities."

There are times when Darcy is all to obviously Loki's daughter, and whenever that particular smirk makes an appearance is one of them. He often wonders if anyone else would take notice of it - maybe the captain will now that he's aware of it. There's a quick, pained expression on his face as he unwillingly imagines the conversation. Bloody Hel. "I suppose I should be grateful for that small kindness."