[earlier days, pt. 4]

[forewarned_is]

It's been ridiculously, maddeningly hot for the past two weeks, and even Loki's tricks can only do so much to cool down the shabby little apartment where they've been sleeping.

It doesn't help that he intermittently forgets to leave them on when he's not there. As he's not now.

For the seventh time this hour, Kali considers doing something to silence the patient, earnest, utterly incompetent attempts at sitar-playing from the other side of the cardboard-thin wall. She could turn the instrument to dust in the player's hands. Or she could leave the instrument, which after all is blameless, and turn the player's hands themselves to dust, or the entire player; that's a slightly more attractive picture, and she contemplates it as she glowers out the window.

Or she could take another shower and wait for Loki to get back from wherever he's gone.

Comments

[forewarned_is]

"And what you've got," she counters, "is mostly ego."

She ignores the dirt. Let it stay there. Who the hell cares.

[changeinasnap]

"You want me to point out who actually made this place?"

The flicker of true annoyance is back. He shoves himself to standing, folds his arms over the fringed leather vest he picked up from who the hell knows where, and tips his head down to direct a borderline glare over the top of his glasses.

[forewarned_is]

"Sure."

That dangerous smile is back, and she takes a pace toward him.

"Go right ahead."

[changeinasnap]

He lifts both hands, wiggles his fingers sarcastically, then curves one closed into a loud snap!

The sputtering cooling tricks cut out entirely.

So does anything even remotely resembling good taste in the window curtains, as they turn into long strings of clattering beads as gaudy as the ones he's wearing.

[forewarned_is]

"There." She settles her hands on her hips. "Feel better?"

[changeinasnap]

...Crazy goddess says what?

"You're the one asking me that?"

Where has she been for the last twenty minutes?

[forewarned_is]

"Now that you've had a chance to flaunt what you've got?"

She's been in a foul mood for the last twenty minutes, and she's still there.

[changeinasnap]

"I've been feeling just peachy, what's with you still looking like you wanna rip the whole world a new one?"

[forewarned_is]

"Might do the world some good if I did."

She turns and stalks away from him, making for the apartment's refrigerator.

[changeinasnap]

And of everything, really, it shouldn't be that that gets his hackles all the way up. But you know what? Sue him. He likes this rock, and he's kind of got a thing against people who want to send it up in flames.

"Is that all you think about?" he yells after her, following close on her heels. "You know, why are you even sticking around here, go out to Vietnam, I hear that's a lot more your style right now!"

[forewarned_is]

"Oh, absolutely. Blood, fire and death. Just like the old days."

Acidly, as she tugs open the fridge door with far more force than it needs.

"And you can stay here and watch all those witless children out there lie to themselves about how they're going to change everything."

[changeinasnap]

"At least they're trying to be decent."

Very low, and surprisingly furious.

"Hell of a lot more than I can say for some people."

[forewarned_is]

"Decent?" There's some genuine surprise in with the mockery. "Since when does that mean anything to you?"

[changeinasnap]

"Uh, since ever?" he snaps.

Forget the last twenty minutes, where has she been in the past twenty centuries?

[forewarned_is]

She scoffs, and turns back to the refrigerator. There should be a pitcher of iced tea in there somewhere.

"You're a thief, and a liar, and you've always admired humans who do the same so long as they're clever about it. Where does 'decent' come in?"

[changeinasnap]

"It's not about thieving and lying, it's about who has the power and who doesn't! It's about who you target! It's always been about that!"

There's a difference between a high powered business exec stealing some cash and a flat broke kid doing the same.

[forewarned_is]

Another snort. "So of course you're on the side of anyone wanting to bring down the people with power. What'll you do when they're the ones in power themselves?"

[changeinasnap]

"Depends on how they use it."

The glare hasn't let up, and man is he tempted to reach around and slam the fridge closed. Or maybe boil the iced tea. That'd be fun.

[forewarned_is]

"It's not about decent," she says scornfully, turning toward him with the pitcher in her hand. "It's about the chance to take down the ones who fancy themselves lords of creation. It's about taking the wheel of fortune and giving it a good hard spin, and pointing and laughing at whoever falls off --"

[changeinasnap]

With an earth-shattering crack, the pitcher explodes in her hand, shooting boiling hot tea over everything in a five foot radius.

His hands are clenched tight at his sides, and there's a fire dancing in his eyes that would be far better suited to Kali than to him.

[forewarned_is]

She tosses down the handle of the shattered pitcher, laughing, steam rising unnoticed from her jeans and red cotton shirt.

"Try again," she invites him, spreading her hands out to either side. "Let's dance."

[changeinasnap]

For an instant, the fire keeps burning.

And then he grins.




Outside, another barefooted congregation has gathered around an off-key singer, swaying in something vaguely resembling time with the music. One woman untucks a flower from her hair and offers it to the man next to her.

It's all very peaceful and idyllic until an apartment behind them bursts into flame.

[forewarned_is]

It's not as though the fire would hurt either of them -- but even burning, the apartment's not big enough for the kind of fight they need to have right now.

Kali's still laughing as they land ankle-deep in snow, thin air whistling around them, several hundred miles away.

[changeinasnap]

By the time they hit, he's long shed the beads and glasses in favor of something much more utilitarian: jeans, boots, and a brown jacket. He doesn't pause at all before swinging one arm around, like a batter aiming for a baseball.

WOOMCH, goes the tidal wave of snow that erupts, racing for Kali and baring icicles like teeth.

[forewarned_is]

Both her hands splay forward, and a column of fire roars to life ahead of her, punching into the snow and ice like a spear, leaving a ragged archway carved through it.

The remnants of the ice crash to the earth behind her, and she starts toward him, flames writhing around her hands.