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Verity Willis heard everything. And she wished that some of it had been lies.
Despite their friendship, Loki hadn't really gone into the details of whatever had led him to live on Earth among the puny humans and perform meagre tasks for the All-Mother. She knew that he was getting crimes stricken from the record; he'd told her that much. But that didn't tell her why he wanted crimes stricken from anywhere, really.
Verity could remember, when she was about ten, seeing a much older Loki on TV after he'd summoned some kind of demon beast onto New York to piss off his brother. The Loki she had dinner with occasionally clearly cared rather a lot for his brother, and had showed no real inclination to set demons on the guy. So that probably had something to do with something.
Though he had made some kind of joke to that effect, but he'd been talking about deviled eggs in the same sentence, so...
The thing was, Verity couldn't read fiction without coming over with a cold sweat. A young Verity who didn't understand her powers had had a panic attack at story time on the mat at school. Maths and science was what Verity could handle, especially pure maths, which was better than Game of Thrones or Harry Potter for her any day.
So shoot her; she hadn't disconnected from Loki when she'd said she had. There were a number of reasons for this: she was curious, foremostly, and she was worried about him, and she didn't trust Lorelei or Sigurd. Verity was Loki's friend, after all, and she wanted to look after him.
His friend. What an odd thought. But she was.
Firstly, Lorelei and Sigurd left, leaving Loki to his own business.
Lorelei actually likes his brand of sleaze? Verity thought to herself in distaste.
Then Loki did a little bit of exploring. She couldn't quite tell what he was looking at, but he was exploring the prison thoughtfully, muttering to himself.
He finally settled on a wall, and in the kind of way she'd come to expect from Loki ('when is a door not a door...?') he opened a hole in the wall.
She detected Loki's fear and surprise instinctively before she quite registered what was going on. And then she recognised another Loki, the kind of Loki that would set demons on beloved siblings, wiggling a jar.
Which seemed to be a little impossible. What the pair of them said after that didn't quite make sense to her, talk of child-selves (which was probably a metaphor) and hoping for various whatnots, but she picked up a few things:
1. This Loki was a fully fledged God of Lies and Evil,
2. he had the power to fuck around with time, and did so with great pleasure, and
3. he was insane. A bit.
Those things begged the question of whether or not her Loki was the real Loki or some kind of twinkish impostor, but it became clear pretty quickly that this other Loki was just her Loki, but older.
And that was a thought that scared her. She quite liked her Loki. She didn't really like that other Loki so much.
Though she had to admire his honesty. There was no undercurrent of skating around issues, like there was with her Loki. No, he was spitting out truths like they were going out of style. And Loki spearing him with his sword of truth didn't do much.
What an honest fellow. That was kind of out of place for a God of Lies.
But if he was her Loki from the future, what had happened? Where had he gone wrong, what had he done?
Verity, being a human and therefore somewhat self-centred, couldn't help but wonder if she was going to be involved somehow.
Whatever was happening - Verity's viewer had become obstructed by sparks and magic - her Loki was not coming out the winner. He wasn't even speaking much; the older Loki was switching to monologue mode, and he had quite the flair for it.
He was crazed, and Verity was actually scared for her friend, because there was no trace of lie or even apprehension. This was a person who would destroy for destruction's sake.
The camera cleared for a second to portray the floor at an odd angle. It took Verity a moment to orientate herself, but she realised Loki was crawling. Actually crawling away from the other Loki.
And then Loki's mothers arrived. Loki had mentioned them in passing a few times: queens of Asgard, referred to as the All-Mother, full of the typical plans and ideas of a ruler.
They didn't make things better. Again, Verity couldn't quite understand what they were talking about, but it sure sounded like Loki had been set up for something. And then Loki quit being the Agent of Asgard.
No, she didn't entirely understand what had happened, but it had clearly been traumatic for her friend.
And then Loki realised his phone was still on and tucked into his front, so Verity's view on his world went black.
-O.O-
Again, Verity didn't know all the details about what Loki did in his capacity as the Agent of Asgard, but she did know that it had meant a lot to him, and that he was relying on it for his reputation. Having to leave must have hurt him.
Verity didn't have many friends and never had, and her relationship with her family had been strained and awkward. Also, her exposure to sitcoms and bad movies were minimal, due to the insincerity of the acting. But she did know that when someone was upset, bringing them food and talking it out with them was usually a good move.
Unfortunately, she couldn't cook. But she knew he liked Korean barbecue; he'd mentioned it in passing. So she dropped by the place that was a little out of the way but made the best she'd ever tasted, then made her way to Loki's apartment.
He moved regularly, but he told her where he moved, so she knew she had the right place.
Loki used several spells to lock his door in the place of a key. As she'd become worthy in his eyes, he'd made it so they automatically opened the door for her.
The apartment was cold and dark, no lights turned on except the one down the hall in the bathroom. As she entered, Verity began to wonder if she'd made a mistake in coming. This was above her pay grade.
After a moment's dithering, she decided to just go for it and said "Loki? You here?"
He popped his head out of the bathroom door and managed a smile. "I did promise you dinner, didn't I? As much as I appreciate your assistance in not getting me incinerated, decapitated or equally -ated today, I will have to postpone."
Despite his perky words, he looked tired and stressed.
"No need," Verity said, dumping her bag on the floor and opening it to reveal the take-out boxes. "I've got you covered. You've had a big day, magic man."
The smile he produced this time seemed more genuine. Verity was determined to keep it that way, so she put the boxes on the table, then turned the lights on.
He was still wearing all his adventuring clothes. He called it swashbuckling. She called it cosplay-gone-weird. But as he visibly relaxed, he peeled off his coat and boots and sat down, then started to inspect the boxes.
"Korean barbecue is one of the finest things humans have invented," Loki said happily. "Thank you very much, young Verity."
"You know, half the time it's easy to forget you're not human," Verity said as she selected one box in particular, retrieved utensils and got to work on dinner. "But you won't stop wearing that tiara-"
"Circlet," Loki corrected.
"Circlet, whatever. And then you drag me on some crazy adventure today."
"And your point is?"
"Thank you," Verity said. "I never get that kind of adventure. Not even in books like most people. I don't even like going outside. You're good for me."
Loki tilted his head at her, much like an interested cat or small dog. "In living memory, I can't honestly say someone has said that to me and meant it."
"Not even Lorelei?" Verity teased. She had a feeling about their past history.
"Especially not Lorelei," Loki chuckled. Then he grew a little sombre and interested himself in the pork belly.
"You should tell me a story," Verity said. She was quite determined to cheer Loki up, and few things did more than giving him a stage on which to perform. "Make it an honest one."
"That's the only kind I know, of course," Loki said, stretching his legs and lying back a bit. "One thing first."
"Mmph?" The pajori this time.
"Were you, perchance, still listening in on what I was up to after the room of very deadly traps, little Verity?" Loki asked, but he didn't look mad, to her surprise, just teasing.
Verity strategically kept eating.
"Lies of omission are still lies, Verity," Loki sing-songed. "Never mind, then. Did I tell you about Thor and his goats?"
She shook her head.
"Never get this story from Thor. His ability to exaggerate is unparalleled," Loki said conspiratorially, all traces of bad mood long gone.
Verity's mission was complete. And she was getting one of Loki's bizarre stories out of it.