[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]

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.

[changeinasnap]

He backs up one pace, two, eyes on her hands --

-- only to trip over something hidden in the snow and go sprawling in a cloud of fresh powder.

[forewarned_is]

She leaps, landing in a crouch, straddling him, and reaches to grab a fistful of the front of his shirt.

[changeinasnap]

His eyes widen, the Adam's apple in his throat visibly bobbing. He takes a breath --

And a huge snowball slams into the back of Kali's head from behind, as the decoy beneath her dissolves into tiny motes of dust.

"HAH!"

[forewarned_is]

She's knocked forward by the impact, and springs up again with a cry of delighted rage. "Oh you little bastard --"

The snow shakes underfoot as she starts toward him again.

[changeinasnap]

"Yes, dear?" he answers sweetly, and spreads his arms wide before slamming both palms together like a thunderclap.

The rumbling underfoot gets much, much worse all of a sudden.

[forewarned_is]

Another leap, this one to a crag above his head.

She balances there, swaying with the shaking rock, hands flexing.

[changeinasnap]

You wouldn't have thought an avalanche could go uphill, would you?

Well, you learn something new every day.

It's his turn to jump to the side, somersaulting into the snow, as the next rush of white overtakes him and heads for Kali.

[forewarned_is]

A bright flare from her hands, as her eyes widen -- and then she vanishes under the snow, the fire blotted out in an instant.




Silence.

[changeinasnap]

Lots of silence, actually.






Unwillingly, he starts to frown, just a little, and advances a cautious step further into the snow.

[forewarned_is]

There's a dark patch on the snow not too far from him.

It's a hank of black hair, damp and frost-flecked, half covered in white.

[changeinasnap]

...Okay. It takes a guy fond of pranks to know a prank, but this is a little weird. Weird enough that it's making the tiny frown creases deepen a little as he crouches down.

Very, very gently, he nudges the hair.

(And resolutely does not ask, Kali? You all right?)

[forewarned_is]

The snow explodes upward in his face, and this time her hand fastens firmly on the front of his shirt.

(He really should have gone with his first instincts.)

Kali's laughing again as she rolls them over, shoving him down.

[changeinasnap]

"Aw, f -- "

That dissolves into a yelp as he falls into the snow, scrabbling with no avail to get himself out from under Kali and back to his feet.

The snow crackles into solid ice under his hands.

[forewarned_is]

She hisses, pulling one hand out of the ice before it can quite trap her, sending splinters flying in all directions. That hand forms into a fist, and her forearm slams across his throat, pressing hard.

Her eyes are barely inches from his, and there's a tiny mad spark dancing in each.

[changeinasnap]

In his eyes, on the other hand, there isn't much else besides, Um, Kali? It's kinda hard to breathe like this.

He wraps his hands around her shoulders and tries to aim a kick at her shins. The ice surges up, doings its best to force its way between her forearm and his neck.

[forewarned_is]

The kick lands; she barely feels it.

The ice, on the other hand, is getting uncomfortably close. Her hands flare with heat, working to melt it.