driftfleet | The HS Maldua

Organic batteries, Leto, surely. Driven by the burning of calories rather than the discharge of capacitors or chemical reaction. [Pfff.]

Ah, so you object that humans have made it.

Batteries can be replaced. A prolonged life is rarely the best kind, no matter what form it takes.

Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a man is one of our sayings. We had a war against the machines long ago.

[ but Leto remembers it clearly. For him, the war was not long ago. Nothing was long ago. ]

[Just raising an eyebrow at that, considering what Leto's said about himself.]

Sounds more commandment than saying. [Ah, interesting. But wait, didn't Rogue or Billy show him that movie? He thinks about it for a moment.] I have seen a human story in that regard. It involved a humanoid robot called a Terminator and a malevolent computer called Skynet. Is that of which you speak?

[Humans are so odd.]

[ He means it. Leto's not keen on living for centuries on end, mutating into a giant sandworm. Who would? No power in the world was worth that kind of fate.

He chuckles softly at the query. ]

No. Though they have similar roots, I suppose. We still use machines of course, so long as they do not copy conscious thought and think for us.

[Loki's planning on living forever, himself, probably by crooked means, but there are certain places even he wouldn't want to go.]

Such things are not common nor wanted in Asgard. [Even if the meatheads could use something doing the thinking for them, so at least thought would happen. But ha.]

You do realize that there is at least on such machine in the fleet. On the Windrose. [His lip curls.] Though it is far more disturbing than merely that.

I am aware. I'm hardly going to broadcast my feelings to the Fleet.

[ Or make it that well known. Besides, he can control his prejudices. He simply doesn't need to with Loki or when he's by himself. Leto would have never hurt Tumbler with his views. ]

I wouldn't expect you top do anything so ill advise and useless.

[Come on, Leto.]

I merely wish to know I'm not alone in my paranoia that it will some day start peeling minds like onions, strictly for our own good, of course.

[He knows what the mind stone can do. He has no real regret about using it himself on the humans, but he remembers very clearly what it did to him. Remembers with the same sort of horror and absolute lust that a recovered junky might feel about a drug of choice. He's certainly not going to trust anyone else having that kind of power.]

[ Gently. ]

You delved too deep in the dark. But you are no longer in the dark. How you step into it is up to you.

[Cheerily:] Oh Leto, are you truly such a fool as that?

[He's not used to anyone taking such a tone with him except Rogue or Billy, or Frigga years ago, and doesn't trust it. It's a tacit request for vulnerability. And as fascinating as Leto is, it would be all too easy to be drawn in.]

If you put me out in the sun, I'd melt and leave the world bereft of a fetching smile.

Well, I never said to go into the Light. That seems a tad drastic. You are Loki. You should know of the grey, should you not?

[ There's a hint of mocking there. He knows of all the times Loki has messed up and gone too far, after all. ]

It's an excellent colour and I do well in it. [He does a little turn as if to make his point; he's mostly in charcoal and black, after all.]

Though if you think my concerns mere fashion, I shan't bother you with them again.

I think you crave recognition and acknowledgement of your concerns. I am willing to do that, but to a certain extent. Surely there are others you know better who can soothe the wounds?

[ Leto's never been good at pep talks or listening to grievances. He can pity, forgive and offer a helping hand, but he certainly can't do more. He cannot be so sympathetic.

Leto is a God. A Worm. A transcended being of sorts. The bruises of a lifetime mean little when he's seen them all. Felt them all. ]

Wounds. [The word is spoken like it tastes bad.] And you mock me with such frivolity.

Vision calls himself an Avenger, which means all humans fall over themselves to fawn at his feet, because there's nothing they adore more than a toaster with delusions of grandeur faffing about in a cape. And the villain Loki surely does tell lies, that he thinks such a beneficent creature as that, wielding power that can shred minds like a whirlwind of ash and spears, is dangerous.

But do tell me, Leto, how desperately I crave that you kiss my skinned knee.

[ Ah. So that is what this is about. The sand sifts vision after vision. Again, in a gentler tone, but not condescending. He keeps it firm. ]

Not lies. But we all have our inherent dangers. I can kill a man with a word. While I cannot tap into the mind, I can certainly reach out to it.

I am dangerous. I am lethal. And so are you and many others. Power is our business. Has he used it against you? Or is it memories long ago?

[He's not falling for that tone again; he's seen where that path will lead. Insulting, really.]

[Dryly:] And I can write with my left hand whilst peeling an apple with my right.

I have been in that thing's head. I shan't willingly venture anywhere near it again unless I've a sharp enough knife to cure all ills.

[He flicks his fingers.] Never you mind. I see that this is a waste of breath and time, for all there's a surplus of both.

[ He shrugs. The Vision is not his problem. It is a problem of their universe, their issues. And he won't say what Loki wants him to say. ]

Are you worried for me? Don't be. My mental defenses are . . . strong.

[ To put it mildly. They have to be, in order to avoid possession. ]

Don't flatter yourself. Were I even capable of such a thing, I warrant it, too, would be a waste of my time.

[He might be pouting slightly. What a stupid conversation this has been, in his opinion. Too much given away for absolutely nothing. He should have stuck to tormenting the little robots and called it good.]

You'll never win our wager like that.

[ Now he's bemused. Loki has always been . . . sullen when things didn't go his way, but not to this extent. Granted, his Loki was slightly more mature. Loki would take the damage and work towards bending the rules, not hoard it away like a secret.

And if he expected Leto to give something away, well . . . he's not asking the right questions. ]

All the better for you then, yes?

[It's his least healthy of all habits, hoarding pain because he believes it's all he has.

But that hadn't been the point of this exercise, now utterly lost.]

Worry at you like a dog might worry at a bone, but no, not for. Never for. A fool's errand, and I am not that manner of fool this year. [He's sort of learned to worry for people again, but he's not very good at it.

Loki sighs and runs his fingers through his hair, more abstracted than distracted.]

[ He smiles, faintly touched. ]

It is a strange sensation, is it not? I've never felt it strongly myself. But I find myself lesser for it at times. Less connected. Alas, such things cannot be fixed.

[Amused:] I said such a thing to my lady, once. She called it horse shit. I really ought to introduce the two of you.

But this is more of your fatalism and destiny dancing and singing, yes?

To some extent. I've also a little too old for that sort of fretting. I was alive when the Trojan Wall was built. I was alive when the Sun hit the peak of the pyramids. I was alive when we stepped into space.

All those memories are lives distort what most would call the simple emotion. Emotion is not longer simple for me.

[He laughs.]You have grown so engorged with the big picture that you have lost track of the simple systems with which is it built.

That is the beauty of all things, Leto. The contradiction of it. In my mere thousand years, I have lost the heart to love at all and yet love with such ferocity that I shall raze the world to its foundation and bleed out under a cold, alien sun for it. Because for all the complexities and boundless, ancient layers of the universe, it still comes down to the spin of a single electron, between one instant and the next.

[He reaches out to move the back of one finger across Leto's cheek, not close enough to touch skin, but to brush over the fine hairs that all humans--or mostly humans--have.]

I think in truth, you are a better liar than I, for I only believe myself at best seven times out of nine.

[ The Worm growls, an invisible sound that races through Leto's body. He purges it quickly, stilling all reactions.

Was he a liar? Leto cannot remember a time when he has ever lied. No one would fault it for him if he did. But he cannot. ]

It is true I lack ferocity.

[ But his love is strong. It is not an ember or a flame, but the wind that passes through. Not to be seen or noticed. ]

Ferocity requires want. [And is there a creature in all the realms who wants more keenly than Loki? His very nature demands it.] And desperation.

[He lets is hand fall back down to his side.]

The ugly made beautiful, yes?

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