lt_safe_house | A discovery

norseloki.livejournal.com posting in

Date: April 3, 2003, afternoon
Status: Public - complete
Setting: The Manor
Summary: Loki discovers some left-overs from the past. Anyone come play?

Loki returned to his room with a contented smile on his face. He had spend some hours rummaging through things from the manor's past, hoping to find something that would prove interesting and maybe even useful.

What he had found was certainly interesting, while its usability, as well as its usefulness, were still in some doubt. What he did not doubt in the least, however, was that he would find out about both soon enough.

He dragged his low table to the corner from where he could keep an eye on the door. Not knowing quite where his so-called friends and family were would keep him somewhat on edge for a long time, he feared. Or at least until he had enough allies of his own to sleep comfortably again. Not that he slept at all at the moment.

Carefully, he put down the four paintball markers he had been carrying on the table and unslung the bag from his shoulder. Then he laid out the paint cartridges he had collected in it, sorted by color. So now he had some firearms, though admittedly not the type he'd been thinking of when he mentioned them to his other self.

He reached into the box with red paint pellets. Yes, that was definitely his color. He took one out, holding it carefully between him fingers in order not to crush it. The ammunition had gone unused for years, it seemed, and the paint inside seemed to have dried up. Maybe applying a little heat would help.

The first attempt went somewhat awry. The heat flowing from his fingers caused the paintball to swell until it no longer fit into the weapon. It brust when he tried, splashing his hand with red paint.

He wiped it on the inside of the light jacket he wore open without as much as a t-shirt beneath, and tried again. A little less heat this time, and more slowly. He stopped when the outside of the ball started to show the first sign of reaction. This one was much better. Of course he would have to try it out to see if it was truly functional again.

Loading the marker, he went to his open window, sighted on one of the trees on the manor grounds, and pulled the trigger. With a satisfied grin at the result, he went back to his table to put the remaining ammunition into a functional state again, before he collected everything and went downstairs.

In the lobby, he put down three of the markers in conspicuous places, together with the paintfall boxes with yellow, blue and green ammunition. Then he retreated to the doorway to watch if anyone would come in and pick one up. The loaded red marker firmly in his hands and ready for action, he leaned against the wall and waited.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

cattygabriel

Gabriel shut his room door and went down to the lobby, planning to go to the bar; a drink and a chat with Belial sounded good. He paused, frowning; there was what appeared to be some sort of gun lying there. It didn't look like a normal gun, though. There was a box next to it, which he picked up.

That's odd. Why would someone leave a gun and a box of blue paintballs lying around?

He looked closely at the gun. Oh. I hadn't realised they made guns just for paintballs. I suppose it's some sort of toy. Looking around, he noticed the two other guns, with ammunition. A smile began to spread across his face. Evidently someone wanted others to find the guns and paintballs.

Hmm. Who do I know who is staying here and enjoys this sort of mischief?

"Loki?"

From:

norseloki.livejournal.com

"The one and only," Loki drawled, stepping away from the wall, gun still held comfortably rather than at the ready. "Or well.. Maybe not the only one after all."

He stood poised, feet lightly apart for a secure stance, and started fiddling with his gun as if he was only waiting for the person in front of him to decide on playing or leaving the blue marker for someone else who would be more susceptible to a bit of fun.

He usually didn't mind cheating, but while he was reasonably sure that shooting paint at consenting players did not fall under the "harm none of the other inhabitants" rule, he wasn't quite sure if shooting at a being not ready to defend himself did. It was too early to find out the hard way.

From:

cattygabriel

"I beg your pardon?!"

Gabriel blinked. Had this man just introduced himself as Loki?

He remembered what Daniel had said - ...if belief defines gods then different beliefs in the same god I assume define different versions of that god - and his interaction with the American Loki, and reached out with his senses. This god felt... different. Northern, perhaps Scandinavian, even the original Loki himself.

"I assume you're another incarnation of Loki?" he asked evenly. "Might I know which country you're from?"

Gabriel noted this Loki's posture, and his own fingers curled around the paint gun he'd found. He'd never fired a gun before and didn't plan to do so now, but Loki didn't need to know that.

From:

norseloki.livejournal.com

"Iceland, we figured," Loki said. "I spent the last few millenia a prisoner, so any incarnation of myself you may have met must have been someone else. Althought I must say - I do hope there aren't more of us around."

Loki toyed with the gun. He tought that maybe the other one didn't look as if he knew how to handle it, but since his trial shot in his room had been the first time he had handled a gun, he had no way of being quite sure.

"Do you have a name, Stranger?" He asked the man with the blue marker. "Or do I just continue to call you 'you'?"

From:

cattygabriel

If he'd spent the last few millennia a prisoner; then this wasn't the Loki involved in Morpheus's death. Although, admittedly, he could be lying, but Gabriel preferred to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"So you've met your American counterpart, then?" He smiled politely, holding out a hand. "I'm Gabriel."

From:

norseloki.livejournal.com

"He met me outside when I wasn't sure it was a good idea to come in here," Loki admitted. "It was quite interesting, looking myself in the eye without a mirror in between. Though admittedly, I don't think we'd even be able to pass as twins."

He shifted his marker to his left hand. He made his handshake quick and firm, betraying neither weakness nor appearing as if he wanted to intimidate the other, or so he hoped. "What pantheon are you from, then?"

From:

cattygabriel

"That is true," Gabriel nodded. This was so strange, meeting another Loki. He didn't know if it would be easier or weirder if they'd looked alike.

"Panth - oh, yes. Abrahamic, I suppose. Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Generally I'm simply considered Judaeo-Christian, though." His first instinct had been to point out that strictly speaking, it couldn't be considered a pantheon with only one supreme God, but he'd already been through this with Loki - well, the other Loki, or was he simply this Loki in another form? - and had decided that going along with the gods' way of referring to themselves was easier.

Links