♉ 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

[liesmith]

"Done, then. How does ten o'clock sound?" He matches her grin with a milder smile, though the creases at his eyes crinkle deeper at her enthusiasm. Most of the more usual father of the year type activities simply aren't what he does, wouldn't be even if he'd been born to this realm. Instead, he'll make his indelible mark in his own, unique way. He rather thinks Darcy enjoys it more this way, really.

The grin twitches slightly wider. "As you've quickly learned, there's quite a number of 'impossible' things that have been labeled so by simpler minds." Loki chews over the moment before deciding to... Be somewhat helpful for once. "If the archer does indeed care for you, he would know you better than to believe such things. At the very least, he should give you chance enough to explain." Then to cover the moment, he decides to butter another piece of bread oh so deliberately.

[tasering.livejournal.com]

"Great. Perfect, even." Darcy very much doubts she's ever going to get over the thrill of actually. Traveling in time. It's like everyone's secret guilty pleasure that she actually gets to indulge in. "I swear I'm not gonna step on any butterflies or anything like that."

The sudden moment of actual helpfulness takes blindsides her and she just blinks at him. It's gone as soon as it came of course, as he's moved on. But it still happened, and she guesses that's something. "Thanks." Then Darcy moves on to help forget about it. "I mean he keeps wanting to like, find out more about my family but I'm pretty good at deflecting them." Which means she's only told him that she actually has a father instead of easily telling him that he's dead.

[liesmith]

"I doubt insects are all that important to the general schema, but your caution is nonetheless appreciated." His lips twitch in that way that says he's truly amused by something without mocking it.

Loki shrugs noncommittally, dismissing the sentimentality of it. Because in this family, one doesn't talk about such things. Or. Feelings. Whatever. It's how they roll. "I'd not expect anything less," he quips instead, a fleeting grin to poke fun at her legacy. He does wish she were a touch more adept at lying, but there's time enough to learn.

[tasering.livejournal.com]

"You've never read 'A Sound of Thunder' have you. Dude goes back in time, steps on a butterfly, screws the entire world up so they have to shoot him." Darcy Lewis loves her science fiction. Why else would she sign up for an astrophysics internship?

She can actually get behind that, if only because she's the sort of person who does rather than say. Loki does get a return smile at the family line of truth aversion. "At least there's the comfort that if he goes for my file he'll find he doesn't have high enough clearance for it." Technically she doesn't have high enough clearance for it but Coulson does.

[liesmith]

"I'm well aware of the principle. I'm simply stating that the name is slightly melodramatic. I'd not begrudge you a heavy step or two." Desperate for those six credits, maybe?

He sips a toast of tea to, "Ah, the cozy security of rampant bureaucracy. What would one do without it."

[tasering.livejournal.com]

"The name makes the story, alright? But cool, good to know there's not any huge ramifications." Okay that was just a part of why she applied to every internship she could get her hands on.

"Well I'd have been out of a major and my senior thesis for a start." However annoying it might be, she has to give it props for keeping secrets. And for making everything just a little bit more complicated. "You have no idea how much paperwork I've had to do for this entire thing. Worse, 'cause Couslon wants them in triplicate."

[liesmith]

"Titles usually have that effect." Nice and cryptic and just slightly loaded: a very Loki (tm) statement.

"Oh no," he declares in deadpan so complete, pots everywhere start mourning. "However will you survive." Rolling his eyes, he does have a certain distaste for the way these mortals have the board set. How anything of any import was accomplished at all with all the red tape to wade through was thoroughly beyond him - far better with a monarchy, one sure hand to guide the way. ...Ah well. Eventually.

[tasering.livejournal.com]

Darcy half rolls her eyes at him. "Loki Silvertongue, the lie-smith and wannabe ruler of Migard, Asgard, and all of the the other 'gards'." She pauses for a moment as the waitress delivers the food - duck BLT who on earth would have thought someone would think that'd be a good idea. "Okay, fine, it sounds pretty cool."

Credit where credit was due, of course. "Dunno, probably have to start learning how to play some instrument and start busking for spare change." Darcy doesn't even have to think about how badly that'd all turn out. Maybe she could get Thor on drums and Jane on keyboard. Just in case.

[liesmith]

Loki tuts. "Please, Darcy - I'm more than content with just the singular 'gard'." This is honestly as close as he and Darcy get to discussing his villainous life. Gotta love the not-talking they have going on.

"It's comforting to know you've a thoroughly thought out contingency plan. You'll never go hungry again." Yeah, no.

[tasering.livejournal.com]

"Comforting. Real comforting." Not. And she'd be lying if she said she hadn't thought about what his success might mean for her, though she normally stops when she gets to her friends all being dead or locked up somewhere as they're all the Avengers. Darcy really, really needs to get out and make some normal friends. Maybe like that Cho kid she knew back at college.

"Got a better option?" Spoken around her sandwich like a boss.

[liesmith]

"I do try." He says it with a careless shrug and a not so careless smile. Neither death nor incarceration would be an option if her friends would simply let him do his work - they bring it upon themselves every time they interfere.

Giving Darcy a withering look over his forkful of crostini - manners, child, you could do well to mind them - Loki replies, "I could always do with an extra hand. Good help is so very hard to find."

[tasering.livejournal.com]

Darcy wasn't raised as royalty in a palace a good fourth the size of a planet, he's going to have to excuse her manners. So she just rolls her eyes at the look she's getting from him before--

"Are you offering me a job as your henchman? Henchwoman?" She can't decide if that'd look horrible or awesome on her resumes. Not that she's considering it because Loki might be her father but he's still hellbent on taking over the world. And she likes living in a democracy as compared to a monarchy.

[liesmith]

It's not just royalty, it's simple, common-- Never mind, young lady. They'll speak of this another time.

"Nothing so trivial as that. It would be more along the lines of..." Loki pauses, chewing thoughtfully while trying to think of something appropriately professional sounding. "Executive administrator of logistics."

[tasering.livejournal.com]

"How very political of you. But no." And again, he might be her father but still evil villain wannabe overlord. Her resume might not be that impressive without it but she kind of likes her friends. It's a minor hangup.

Sort of.

"Maybe if they fire me, or if my friends don't work there anymore. And I'd only think about it." Darcy couldn't deny that it sounded cool at any rate.

[liesmith]

"Just informing you of your options, Darcy," is the neutral reply, before he places his silverware ever so precisely on his empty plate. It's a wonder that he manages to eat so much, so quickly, and still not have a crumb out of place. He's just that good.

Leaning back in his seat, he steeples his fingers, surveying his daughter over them. "Nepotism aside, I do hope you know that should you ever actively wish to change fields - not necessarily shift into mine, mind - but into a different area of any sort, you've only need say the word. I'll do whatever necessary to aid the transition."

Because while they've never really talked about how his goals and her (very up to rescheduling) nine to give contradict each other, Loki does realize that at the very least it could put the two of them at odds. At the worst, it could put one of them in a serious amount of danger.

[tasering.livejournal.com]

She'd be lying if she said she hadn't thought about it. A quick nudge here and there to get her into the right spot at the right time and an extra flourish in the interview. But Darcy likes to think she deserves her promotions and her jobs, even things like internships.

Not that she was against a nudge in the right direction, but overtly stacking the odds for instant acceptance into anywhere and anyplace she chose? She couldn't really get behind that - Jane had set too good of an example.

"If I need it, I'll let you know." Darcy meets his gaze for a moment or so before returning to her sandwich because seriously, Loki eats far too quick for his own good. "But I'm pretty happy where I am, least for the moment."

It's true - though the for the moment was the key part. When her entire job/life/whatever SHIELD was hinged on her not doing exactly what she was doing, well... for the moment was the best phrasing she could come up with.