Princely Knowledge and Camaraderie

[littlerubyred]

Ruby wasn't sure whether or not it was hotel policy to give out the room numbers of their guests, but she was friendly enough with the clerk on the desk at her time of asking, and finding out where she could find Loki the most quickly and easily hadn't been too terribly hard. She wasn't sure whether or not she would be welcomed by Loki when she knocked on his door, as while he'd been unfailingly kind and gentlemanly to her when they'd interacted elsewhere in the hotel, that was a good deal different than being taken by surprise in his room. Still, she was hopeful.

She'd thought long and hard about who to approach with the two problems that were currently dominating her attention, and while she was friendly with many people in the Nexus, the idea of approaching them with things that were both private and frightening was a little unnerving. She'd almost spilled her guts to Fiona the night before after finishing up a shift, but had bit her tongue at the last moment for some unknown reason. She'd ultimately decided to go to Loki as she had to figure that being as otherworldly as he was, he might have a more substantial wealth of knowledge concerning the disturbing dreams she'd been having. And, being someone who presumably had a penis, he might have a little more insight on what the hell was going on with Graham as well.

She knocked on his door twice, both loud enough to be heard within, and waited. When the door swung open, she smiled brightly. "Hey handsome," she said. "Can I bother you for a minute?"

Comments

[thelostprince]

The more people Loki was getting to know in the hotel, the more important his room became to him. It was natural for him to seek solitude, and the amount of familiarity he was garnering was making him want to retreat. He wasn't about to go back through his door - that was almost too separate for him, now that he had family in the hotel - but his room offered solace. More often than not it resembled his old chambers on Asgard though, naturally, were not as big. The style was still there, at a halfway point between Spartan and opulent, and changed subtly, often, he found, in response to his needs. Stocked bookshelves had appeared once he had started to become too restless of the doors; mental wandering was as satisfying as physical, in his experience.

Still, when the knocks came at his door, Loki couldn't say he'd been doing anyhting of substance besides letting his mind wander while he laid on the bed he only slept in sometimes, sleep being an activity he didn't need quite so often as others he knew (and, undoubtedly, this had been a bane for Frigga when he was a child). He sat up, taking a moment to listen for anything else, like a greeting, but when nothing came he swung his legs over the side of the bed and went to answer it, wondering who on existence would choose to seek his company out.

He certainly hadn't expected Ruby, but she was a more welcome guest than someone he would have expected, like Thor. "Ah, Ruby," he said. "Of course." He wasn't sure if she was going to come in or not, but he left the door open enough for that eventuality. It was just as likely she had come to fetch him.

[littlerubyred]

Ruby felt a distinct wave of relief when the door swung open to reveal Loki on the other side, not looking the least put out by her infringing on his private time. She kept her smile at his words, grateful for his indulgence, and gave him a nod.

"I just wanted to talk to you about some things," she said, and then so that he would understand the full nature of her visit, added, "private things. So I guess that'll take more than a minute, if you can spare the time. Would you rather I come in, or we go for a walk?"

[thelostprince]

While Loki treated his room as a retreat, it was by no means a sanctuary. "If it's private, you may as well say it in here," he said, stepping away from the door to let her in. He motioned over to the far side of the room, by the window, where chairs were set up. "Would you like a drink?"

He was a private person, but that didn't really mean he had difficulties with socializing, or when some aspects of his life might begin to infringe on the other. He knew Ruby elsewhere, and so there was no reason he couldn't know her anywhere else. On Asgard, he'd never actually had any true privacy, which was why he sought it so strenuously.

[littlerubyred]

"Thank you," Ruby said once she'd been invited inside, stepping past him and into the room which seemed very fitting to Loki and his tastes. Her own room was similar in that it was exactly to her tastes, though far more extravagant than anything Ruby could've afforded when she lived back in Storybrooke, She had to wonder again, idly, at the powers involved in the Nexus, but she did not linger on those thoughts long. She'd figured out quickly that things here operated on a far higher realm of understanding than her own, and she'd given up on chasing her tail in that respect.

"Nothing for me, thank you," she said as she took a seat. "This room looks very much like you, Loki. I like it." She smiled at him, leaning back in the chair to cross her legs and get comfortable. For all that she'd been vaguely flustered by Loki at their first meeting, she was nothing but comfortable in his presence now. "Is this the Asgardian version of a sex lair? Do fair Asgardian maidens walk into a room like this and find their panties have been turned into stardust?"

She was teasing him out of good humor, and because now that she was here there was the faintest desire to dance around both subjects she wished to bring up to him. She trusted Loki to not think less of her for her frighteningly realistic, bloody and gory dreams, just as she trusted him to not think less of her for being stumped by the male psyche. It didn't mean she found either subject any less distasteful, though.

[thelostprince]

"If the room looks like me and you think this is a sex lair, whatever can I assume you're trying to say about me?" Loki teased back in good humour. She had said no to his offer of a drink so he didn't bother to pour himself one, and instead settled into the chair across from her.

"This is the usual style at Asgard," he said. "You can assume a proper lair would have more going for it, unless fair maidens are incredibly attracted to books. And I can tell you right now, they usually aren't."

[littlerubyred]

"That I've full confidence in your ability to turn a fair maiden's panties into stardust?" She said in a faux helpful tone of voice, her smile bright and easy in their friendly teasing, watching as he moved to settle himself across from her. "Goodness, Loki. I thought we got that settled right out of the gate."

She leaned forward then, bracing her forearms on the table as she looked him over. "I think you're giving fair maidens a bit of unfair judgement," she said, continuing to joke with him. "I'm madly attracted to your books. So attracted that they drew me here like a beacon. How do you think I found your room?" She gestured toward his shirt, which was part of an outfit that was decidedly more casual than anything she'd seen Loki in thus far. "Or I guess it could maybe be your getup today. Perhaps I've got a spidey sense for the chicness of Asgardian casual wear."

She knew then that she was perhaps talking too much about all the things she didn't need to be talking about, and her smile lessened, but remained. "In all seriousness though, is there anything in your books about dreams? The terribly violent and gory sort that seem extremely real, I mean."

[thelostprince]

Loki produced a little handwave, which was the only input he was going to offer when it came to women and their undergarments, because being present during ribald jesting was one thing, but he rarely partook in it, especially while sober.

"I'm guessing you found your way to my room intelligently," he said. "That is, you asked someone at the front desk, since I certainly haven't been giving the room number out."

As to his clothes, he figured she was just working her way through topics before she came to her reason for being here, and he was right. He raised his eyebrows, slightly. "How vivid are we talking about?" he asked. The subject matter of her dreams played second fiddle to the fact she had referred to them as real.

[littlerubyred]

"Very vivid," she said after a second, figuring it was best to forget all she'd been teasing him for in favor of what she'd actually come to speak with him about. "I. have dreams that I'm a wolf. Not here, in this place, but somewhere else. I'm a wolf, but not exactly like a wolf, do you know what I mean? I'm bigger than most wolves, and more intelligent. I'm killing people in my dream," she said, moving to chew on her bottom lip. "Brutally killing them. And it's so vivid I can taste the blood still when I wake up. It's all exact, every detail, and I keep having it night after night. Have you ever heard of anything like that?"

[thelostprince]

Loki rubbed his chin with the back of his hand in thought. "Yes," he said, after a moment. "I have. You could be experiencing a sort of projection, which you're doing unconsciously while you're sleeping. Though it would be extraordinary if you're able to project yourself beyond the bounds of this place, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say that's not it."

There was something else going on with Ruby, though. The two other explanations that came to mind were not comforting ones, so he was hesitant to actually voice them. "How do you know you're a wolf in them?" he asked. "Did you see a reflection of yourself, or do you just know?"

[littlerubyred]

Ruby's eyes widened at his mention of projection, though his quick dismissal of that possibility went a ways toward soothing her. She was worried by the dreams for the fact that they were so utterly unlike her or anything she partook of in her daily life, so how would she possibly know the details of a grisly murder down to the smallest detail as to experience them so vividly, even if only in a dream? It defied logic, and left her feeling very frightened.

"I just know," she said after a second of contemplating. "And when I am, uhm, attacking people, I can see my muzzle and paws."

[thelostprince]

Two things occurred to Loki. One, was that someone was feeding Ruby dreams. The mind became more powerful and still more vulnerable during sleep, and it was a good way to send communication. The second, and more likely possibility, he felt, would be that Ruby was simply tapping into another part of her subconscious. As in, her memory bank.

However, if she was coming to him because she was worried, he was sure she might have considered that second possibility already; so she might already know the answer. "Alright," he said. "Is it upsetting you because of what you're doing in the dreams, or are you enjoying it to some degree?"

[littlerubyred]

"I don't enjoy it," she said quickly, honestly. "Not me. Not when I wake up. I feel terrible, and even though it's just a dream I feel sick and guilty and awful, like I'm a monster." She looked at Loki then, watching his face, as it occurred to her that he might've already have made some sort of conclusion. "But in the dream, I don't feel good, exactly, but it feels right. Like how it feels to scratch an itch or take a drink when you're thirsty. That's how it feels."

[thelostprince]

It was clear to Loki, but only because he came from a world that understood it and accepted its existence. It was true, Ruby could just be having bad dreams, and maybe someone was sending them to her; but if that was the case he had a feeling she would be feeling more victimized in her sleep. No; Ruby was remembering things.

"Do you have wolves where you come from?" he asked. "Do you like them? Do you like being outside?" He was asking partially for his benefit, but also for hers; he couldn't spring any answers on her until she had gathered enough information on her own, thinking it through.

[littlerubyred]

"I don't mind being outside," Ruby said slowly, her head cocked and her eyes distant as she thought about the strangeness of Loki's questions. It felt like there was some sort of hidden wealth of knowledge within her, some well of all that was just out of reach just waiting to be tapped, but the route to said well was lost to her. It was a queasy feeling that overcame her then, one that left her worrying at her bottom lip as her fingers knotted in her lap in a rare display of discomfort.

She contemplated briefly the possibility that she had actually lived what she was dreaming at one point, than dismissed it outright. She couldn't. She wouldn't. Ruby couldn't stand to see even a stranger sad or upset, how could she ever, ever do the things she'd seen in her dreams?

"I've heard there are wolves in Storybrooke," she said. "But I've never encountered any personally. My Granny always warned me way off."

[thelostprince]

"And you've never had these dreams before?" What he knew of Ruby was more or less the same as what she showed of herself in The Smoking Room: a waitress slash bartender, friendly, exceedingly normal, and a bit sheltered. However, when he thought of it, that did seem a bit... boring. Far too boring. Was it a shiny cover overtop something much deeper?

If there were wolves around, it could be that Ruby was having a connection with one of them; leaving her body and inhabiting one, even, while she slept. Still, she was describing a monstrous wolf, one that would surely have been noticed by her town where she lived, and it was unlikely her consciousness travelled that far beyond the Nexus. Again, while he would have preferred that answer for her sake, he had to remove it from the table once more.

He held out his hand. "May I hold your hand for a moment, Ruby?" he asked. If she was touched by magic, he ought to be able to feel it.

[littlerubyred]

Ruby shook her head. "No," she said with certainty. "Only since coming here."

She looked across the table at Loki, and although his expression gave nothing away, she thought she could hear the gears in his head turning. The sort of knowledge he had to have to have locked away in his brain was far too vast for Ruby to even make an attempt at guessing what he might be thinking, so she did not. Instead she waited, and when his response was to ask for her hand she was startled, but still moved to give it to him.

She slid her hand into his easily, trustingly, not knowing what he wanted to do but never thinking for a second that it might be something to hurt her. She thought about lightening the mood with an (honest) compliment as to how he had rather lovely hands, but she instead remained quiet, watching his face and waiting.

[thelostprince]

Once he had taken her hand he fell silent, concentrating, not bothering to feel awkward by the physical contact. He was more concerned about how her skin felt, in the metaphysical sense, the way it thrummed under his touch with energy.

He could sense something, a thin membrane of magic, and yet Loki was surprised; because while he was expecting to notice something off about her, there was not one but two things that caught his notice. Underneath that faint shimmer of energy there was something else writhing under her skin, and it took Loki a moment to realize what it was. She didn't feel human. She was a different entity entirely. And not only that, there was something else affecting her, something that didn't belong to her.

"How long have you lived in Storybrooke?" he asked, after a moment.

[littlerubyred]

Ruby wasn't sure what Loki meant to do with her hand, so she watched his expression, though there was nothing there to be seen. She'd wondered fleetingly if he was going to read her palm like that lady she'd seen with the shop set up in Vegas, but that didn't appear to be what Loki was doing at all, and anyway, whatever Loki was, it was far too grandiose for that. She thought then of how fond she was of Loki and how little she ever paused to consider how entirely different he was than her. He was a prince from a whole other world with powers and knowledge she couldn't even begin to fathom, and it was only here, when he touched her skin and seemed to see all the way through her, that she really considered their differences.

His question seemed rather random and made her feel all the more nervous for it. "All my life," she said. "I never left there until I came here."

[thelostprince]

He became aware that she may be slowly growing upset; perhaps some answers were in order. He released her hand, finally, almost apologetically.

"I don't think that's true," he said. "I think you had a life before Storybrooke, and you're starting to remember it. The next time you dream, pay attention. See if anything feels familiar at all to you, even if you've never seen it before." He didn't bother digging deeper into that explanation, which went hand-in-hand with the unspoken suggestion that Ruby was, in fact, a monstrous wolf. She could put that together herself.

[littlerubyred]

Ruby's breath caught slightly at his words, her brow furrowing as she thought over the possibility that there'd been a life before Storybrooke. Her parents were dead, and her earliest memories of childhood were of when she was a few years old, and only included Granny. She supposed it was vaguely possible that she was remembering something from infancy, but that had to be somewhere on the border of outlandish to consider. But then, weren't many things in this place?

"Alright," she said, and then sighed, rubbing at the bridge of her nose. "Goodness. Maybe I should've started with the easier problem first."

[thelostprince]

Loki raised his eyebrows at her mention of another problem. "Is that so," he remarked, though he smiled, faintly. He didn't want to tell Ruby straight out, and he figured she would come to her own conclusions in any case; he just had to get her to taste the bait her dreams were giving her. And if she had a second problem, that was better - a good way to shift the conversation along before she demanded anything more strenuous.

"What else is troubling you, then?" he asked. "And don't worry. It's always best to start with the most difficult. It makes solving everything else a breeze, so I hope that's the case with you."

[littlerubyred]

"I hope so too," she said, somewhat encouraged by his smile, and finding herself smiling back at him despite all the questions that rolled through her still. It wasn't within Ruby to linger over things that were dark or haunting, as those dreams certainly were. If there was a chance to speak of something more pleasant, she would surely take it.

"Men trouble," she said. "Forgive me for treating you like an advice column, but since you're my favorite friend presumably with a penis in attendance, I figured you'd be the best to ask." She smiled at him, moving her hands to the table to get them free from her lap and concentrating on smoothing her fingers along the smooth finery of it, versus fidgeting as they had been. Speaking so plainly with Loki about something so private was going to perhaps be a little embarrassing to start, but it helped that she'd gotten the worst off of her chest first.

"I was wondering if you might have any insight as to why someone who appears to be attracted to me in every other second of the day freezes up and shuts down when I make advances. Not the second advances are made, mind you, so I know that it's not that I make him uncomfortable or that he doesn't, you know, want to. He lets it go on for a bit, then sends me on my way. I don't have a whole lot of experience with men, but from what I know that sort of behavior isn't really normal."

[thelostprince]

For a moment, Loki looked at her with an expression that was a mixture between surprise and vague confusion. Not because of her problem, really - men and women (and for that matter, anyone who felt attraction for one another) were destined for instance after instance of miscommunication.

No, the real surprise for him was the fact she wanted to discuss this with him at all. "You're asking for my relationship advice?" he asked, starting to grin about halfway through the question at the complete strangeness of it all. In his experience, most people wouldn't breach this subject with him if there was someone better available, and 'better' could even mean inanimate objects.

However, it was pretty clear that that was exactly what she wanted, so he tried to continue on without any more issue. "I'm not sure," he said. "I guess the two things that spring to mind are that he doesn't feel like he's ready for you yet, and keeps forgetting every time you flash all those teeth at him. Or maybe he thinks he doesn't deserve you and sends you away out of self penance - and, again, forgetting every time. Men are very forgetful." The second answer came easiest to him because, naturally, he was guilty of that himself, a long time ago. Proud and arrogant, yes, but his self-worth had still been remarkably low in the trials of love.

[littlerubyred]

"Yes, and don't you laugh," Ruby said, though she was grinning brightly as Loki's smile grew wider at his question as to whether or not she was really asking him for relationship advice. He apparently thought such a thing was ludicrous, but Ruby couldn't fathom why. Loki was handsome, charming, intelligent, and apparently a prince where he'd come from. It seemed only logical that he would have experience on the matter, whether or not it was recent.

Her smile remained as he continued to speak, though it softened into something that was more fond than amused. She supposed his explanations made sense, at least to a certain extent, though she wasn't sure how much of either really applied. Still, it was nice to have someone else confirm that there was a reason to Graham's behavior outside of there being something wrong with her. She was positive that Graham was attracted to her, though after her dreams had started up she had to wonder if there was something about her that was going wrong at her core, and he could somehow sense it. Ridiculous, probably, but worrisome none the less.

"I suppose you're right," she said with a nod. "He won't discuss it with me, other than to suggest I go back home. I don't want to do that, though. He's here, and you're here, and all my new friends are here."

[thelostprince]

"No, no, I'm sorry," he said. "Forgive me. I'm not laughing at you, Ruby." He didn't want to accidentally offend her, not when she deemed him worthy of her problems. Not that Loki would have cared, normally; but being treated this way by people was new to him, and he found he sort of enjoyed it. He was used to attempting to solve problems for people, but usually not these problems - also, to be honest, most of the time the person he was trying to help was Thor.

First Fiona, and now Ruby. Sif would get a kick out of it and tease him, no doubt. He was distracted from that musing by another detail, however. "He's from your world?" he asked. "And he wants you to go back? Has he said why?"

Maybe the answers Ruby sought about her dreams could be found in her paramour. What an upsetting thought that could be.

[littlerubyred]

"I know," Ruby said with a laugh, leaning over to pat his hand gently. "If I thought you were going to laugh at me I wouldn't have come here to talk sex problems with you. I was just teasing." Not that she thought Loki needed reassurance on the matter, but she didn't want him to think she was taking offense where there was none. Besides, she supposed it was all cliche enough to earn a chuckle.

"He is from my world," Ruby said, seeing no reason why she should hold back the details of that now. "He says that there are things I don't understand, and that I just need to go home and wait for the answers to come to me, but how could he possibly know that? In the point of time that I come from, he's dead. He's been dead for weeks. "

[thelostprince]

"How did he die?" As usual, Loki's questions were not phrased for gentleness. He supposed if the man had died and was now walking around upright here in the Nexus - as Loki himself was - then surely Ruby wasn't feeling personal about the loss anymore.

The nature of the death could be something. Maybe Ruby wasn't in the mindset to see a conspiracy, but Loki was.

[littlerubyred]

"Heart attack," she said after a moment of thought. "Or rather, I think that's what they determined the actual cause of death was. Something to do with the heart, anyway. He was with a girl at the time, and she said he just collapsed. No indication anything was wrong health-wise beforehand." She twisted her fingers together again, looking down at the knot they made in her lap as she continued to speak. "That's something else that's strange. He and I have known each other for a while, but when we were home he acted like he barely noticed me. Now that we're here, he claims that he's had all these feelings for forever and it's just that none of it feels right, you know? Not the stuff between he and I, but what he's telling me. It just doesn't make sense with how I remember things being between us."

[thelostprince]

"Maybe he's manipulating you," Loki suggested. "Or maybe he found out something right before he died. Or maybe both or none at all. Try not to get too attached, Ruby. Men are as ruinous as women, in my experience."

He knew he was not being particularly kind in that approach; but he liked Ruby well enough, and watching people he liked wander into disaster, while it was something he expected, wasn't what he relished. Still, he was also aware that if Ruby had known the man for a long time, he did think she was clever enough to at least notice if the man had some talent at dissembling.

"Just give it some time," he settled with. "Try not to get too distracted by his winning smile or whatever it is you like about him."

[littlerubyred]

It was harsh advice, but of the sort she would've given a friend who had come to her with a similar problem, so she could not find it within herself to be wounded by it. Ruby was admittedly naive, especially to the ways relationships worked between men and women, but she could read people well enough after working with them her whole life, and she didn't think Graham had an ulterior motive. Still, she could be wrong, and Loki's advice to not get too attached was good advice, which she was smart enough to take.

"Thank you," she said after a moment. "I realize that showing up in your hotel room in the middle of the day to rattle off my problems like you're some sort of therapist perhaps wasn't warranted, but I thank you for tolerating me all the same." She stood, then walked around the table to stand in front of him, gesturing with her hand. "Stand up, please."

[thelostprince]

Well, she didn't seem angry with him, so Loki was going to count that as a good sign. Most of the time people bristled, at the very least, at his words, which he honestly didn't see reason for - after all, if they wanted his advice and wisdom, why should they also expect it to be tailored in a way they wanted to hear? Was he not already doing them a courtesy in putting his mind to their problems in the first place?

"It's no trouble at all," he said, and mostly meant it. There was not much else he could have been doing with his time, after all, besides the deep and wandering thoughts he tended to indulge in when left to his own devices. He wouldn't ever readily choose to be burdened with someone else's problems, but he understood that was something he had to do for friendships, which were what he was ultimately cultivating, he supposed. At her request that he stand, though, he gave her a startled look, though he rose to his feet as suggested. She didn't seem to be one for formal leave taking. Unless she wished to embrace him? That would be odd, if only because the last person who really hugged him was his mother, and he wasn't used to it.

[littlerubyred]

Ruby couldn't help but grin at Loki's startled look, mostly because it was so entirely rare for him. He had always been gentlemanly and kind to her, but his approach had always been one more of cool, dry detachment than anything else. She was fond of him, and thought that the sentiment was at least somewhat returned in kind. Otherwise, she might've held off from what she was about to do

When he made his way to his feet, Ruby moved in to wrap her arms around his middle, pulling herself in for a tight, sincere hug. He was warm and solid, the material of his shirt surprisingly soft against her cheek where she tucked it against his chest. She could feel his surprise at her actions, which also made her smile. She didn't know whether people just didn't often offer to hug Loki or if he was the sort who just didn't welcome them, but she found she liked hugging him as she was just then, and hoped that if she tried again in the future he would not be too terribly upset.

"You're very smart," she told him as she hugged him. "So smart, and wonderful to boot. Thank you." She leaned away from the hug just enough to lean up to press a kiss to his cheek, then stepped back from him with a smile. "I've tainted your beauty," she said as she began to rub gently at the lip print she'd left on his cheek with her thumb. "Don't want anyone thinking I came in here and made ill use of my friend."

[thelostprince]

When she confirmed his suspicions and moved to hug him, he accepted it. He would not push her away, after all; he did not dislike her, and though he was a solitary person and unused to physical contact, it didn't exactly make him uncomfortable. It just put him on uneven ground, which, in some senses, he was more than comfortable with these days.

"You're too kind, Ruby," he said, and though he didn't think she would hear it as such, it was a double-edged phrase, for in his experience kindness could turn on its giver as quickly as an act of callousness. Still, if she was careful it could serve her well.

"I rather think a lip print would improve my countenance," he said, but allowed her to clean the lipstick off.

[littlerubyred]

"And you give wonderful hugs," Ruby said as she worked at wiping away the lip print she'd left behind. Much like her, his skin was so pale that almost every color stood out stark against it. It was often a problem she had when she smeared her own lipstick doing something or other, and while every tube of red lipstick she owned claimed it wouldn't kiss off, she hadn't found a single one that wouldn't yet.

At his words about the lip print improving his countenance, she laughed and dropped her hand to his shoulder for a gentle squeeze. "Remember that conversation we once had about girls getting jealous over me telling you how handsome you are? Imagine those same girls seeing me walk out of your room with red lipstick smeared all around. " She gave a dramatic shudder. "I would, however, be willing to risk their wrath if you'd like to go with me for lunch. I know you don't like to eat much, but I could buy you a few drinks while I eat. All friendly like, of course."

[thelostprince]

"Despite anything I say that may sound self-effacing, I assure you, you needn't keep complimenting me so zealously," he said. He put his hand on top of hers where it lay against his shoulder, but only for a moment. He felt that for the time being they'd indulged in enough contact.

"I'd be happy to go for lunch," he said. He might have considered changing back into something a bit more armoured, but he would only have done so had he made the long decision to leave his room of his own volition. Spur of the moment invitations didn't garner quite that much consideration.

[littlerubyred]

"I'm not complimenting you," she said, then amended, "well, at least not that last time. That was just a fact, young Loki-son. Tall guys with nice arms usually give super fabulous hugs, so I guess that's just your lot in life." She grinned at him and dropped her hands to slide them into the back pockets of her bright red shorts, feeling much better about things now that she'd at least spoken of them to someone else. She wasn't sure how much had been cleared up, exactly, but it was at least a bit more proper footing to continue on.

"Fabulous!" She said when he agreed to go with her for lunch. "Now that I've talked your ear off about my boring shit, you can tell me what's been up with you lately. If you'd like to, of course." Loki was private and tended to only speak of specific things if she asked specific questions, but he did have the sort of voice and thought processes that made listening to him fascinating.

[thelostprince]

"Well, if you say I'm good at it, I will trust your judgment," Loki replied. She was so boisterous, even after coming to him with her troubles. Was she just not someone to soak in her own emotions, or was this something indicative of her species? (And, after she had spoken to him of being a wolf, he had to wonder now what, exactly, her species was).

Still, it suggested a strength he liked. Loki did not like to be around fragile things, for a variety of reasons, simply because he could not figure out which reason was the real one. Did he not trust himself around them, or did they remind him of himself? Both? Neither? "We can talk about whatever you like," he said, with an idle smile, holding his arm out so that he may escort her, in that friendly, courtly way he had never been able to pull off with anyone back home. And he liked that about her, too.