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(no subject)

Date: 05 May, evening
Location: Outside
Status: Public (Loki, Murdoc)
Summary: Playing with fire on the grounds

Loki got comfortable on the front steps, ready to entertain himself through another sleepless night. He still forewent sleep, not wishing or willing to face the dreams that waited for him.

He teased a small flame out of the stone and started moving it across the step in circles and patterns.

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Time to catch some fresh air, Murdoc decided. He liked the evenings. Dusk had used to be the start of his days once, more often than not.

Stepping outside, he saw found one of the other guests sitting on the stair, playing with fire where there shouldn't have been any.

"Hey," he said. "Neat trick."

"Yeah," Loki said. "Isn't it?" He never took his eyes off of the fire.

"Out for a solitary evening walk?"

"Out for some fresh air," Murdoc said. "I happen to like this time of the day, solitary or not."

"You're with the blonde girl," Loki observed. "Kirby."

There were certainly few enough females here to make keeping track of them easy. He had more than half considered approaching Kirby with a certain proposition.

Murdoc nodded. "You might also say she's with me," he pointed out. "She's not much of a one for monogamy, though, and I'm aware of that."

"Is that supposed to be an invitation?" Loki asked, looking the other man up and down. It wasn't as if he was particularly discriminating about the gender of his partners - or, for that matter, his own.

Murdoc shrugged. "She'll issue her own if she wants to," he said. "Why? Are you looking for an excuse?"

"I rarely need an excuse to offer my company to a woman," Loki pointed out. "Or they to accept."

"Well then," Murdoc pointed out, "You and Kirby should be well-matched. As I said - I knew what she's like. I'm under no illusion I'm her only bedfellow."

"Good to know," Loki said. He let another little flame spring up and moved it back and forth between the two of them.

"Neat trick," Murdoc observed again. "Do you teach that?"

In spite of his previous experience, he wasn't scared of fire, or even remotely uncomfortable in its direct proximity. Quite the opposite. He had regarded it as a friend in his work.

"Can't," Loki said. "Not to a regular human. Now if you'd be half jötunn, maybe."

"Don't know that I'm anything but regular human," Murdoc said. "Don't know what's a jötunn, though, so I can't be sure."

He grinned at the man, showing that his comment was meant only half-seriously. What else was he supposed to be?

"Think of it as a nature spirit, if you will," Loki suggested. "Some call us gods, but... that's kind of out of fashion, what with everyone going on about some bearded grandpa these days."

"I don't much hold with the bearded grandpa either," Murdoc admitted. "Now, I don't think I've ever got any kind of god or spirit in me, except for the kind that makes you drunk, and that only rarely."

"Oh, really?" Loki said. "What kind of guy doesn't like a drink now and then?"

"One who doesn't like to lose control," Murdoc suggested. "I take it you're cut of a different cloth?"

"You take it perfectly right, my friend," Loki said. "I won't say no to a good drink any day."

"Where are you from, nature spirit?" Murdoc asked, not quite seriously, to change the subject a little.

"The North," Loki said simply. He conjured up another flame on his step.

"How far North?"

A smile stole onto Murdoc's face. He liked games, and this was promising to become one.

"Far North", Loki said. "Iceland, if you like. What about you?"

"Around here," Murdoc said, his British accent growing stronger. "I actually grew up not too far from this place."

"What, in Tadfield?" Loki asked. "Then why are you staying at a hotel? Or what's your definition of "not too far"?"

"I have no living family," Murdoc admitted. "I just needed a place to start my retirement, and this seemed as good a place as any and better than most."

"The last of your line, are you?" Loki said. "Most of my family is currently a little... indisposed."

"As in, not on speaking terms with you?" Murdoc asked with a grin.

"Some imprisoned, some exiled, and my wife might get in a lot of trouble if she were to contact me," Loki said. "I guess I could visit my daughter, but the place where she lives isn't exactly..." he hesitated, "hospitable."

"Sounds like quite the illustrious familiy," Murdoc pointed out. "I used to have a sister. She died in a skiing accident a few years back. Now it's just me."

"Sometimes I wish it was just me," Loki said. "It would make things that much easier."

"It can be very lonely," Murdoc said. "Sometimes it'd be nice to have someone who's just... family, you know?"

"It's been a long, long time since I felt that way," Loki admitted. "A very long time. If you don't have family, no one can kill them or use them against you."

Murdoc nodded.

"I know how that is. I still wish I had her back."

"What happened to her? I mean, you said a skiing accident, but - how? Avalanche?"

Murdoc nodded. "I guess so. I only had second-hand information. I learned about the whole thing long after the fact."

Loki nodded understandingly. "Same with me when they imprisoned my son. I wasn't in the area any by the time I learned of it, it was too late to do anything."

"My money started coming back," Murdoc said. "See, I'd been supporting her secretly for years. So when it stopped going through I started to investigate about the why."

"Why secretly?" Loki asked.

He wasn't even sure if he was really interested in hearing the story, but there was the chance that it'd be entertaining.

"Didn't want my employer to know she was there, didn't want her to know what it was I earned my money with," Murdoc said. "Can we change the subject?"

"Sure," Loki said. He spun up another tiny cyclon of fire and set it to spinning around them, up and down the stairs. "What do you think of," he gestured, "this place? Did you met the proprietress?"

"Oh yes," Murdoc said. "I did. She seems quite the nice lady. So is the girl she has manning the reception desk. She sure knows how to pick good staff."

"I haven't tried connecting with that one yet," Loki said. "Come to think of it, maybe I should do that sometime soon. She's a pretty one..."

"Only if you don't mind sharing," Murdoc told him with a wide grin on his face.

"Me? Mind?" Loki laughed. "I always share. Really. I'm generous. But she might be otherwise inclined..."

"Kirby? Otherwise inclined?" Murdoc laughed out loud. "One thing's certain: Kirby is not going to be 'otherwise inclined' if you offer her some carnal pleasure. Quite the opposite."

He chuckled again. The idea of Kirby Mitchell practicing anything along the lines of monogamy was really nothing short of a joke.

"Is that so?" Loki asked with a grin.

"Well, then... I think I'll be looking for her!"

"You do that," Murdoc said as he got up. "I'll see you around, I trust?"

Moved to http://www.ltsafehouse.com/sites/thread.php?type=1&name=Thread%20241

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