Rope the South wind; Canvas the Stars

[coldsong]

There is an ocean in the Nexus--at least one, maybe many--that comes and goes. It has been seen frozen over in the winter, laced with sand and amusements in the summer. Sometimes it's within sight of the Plaza, but more often one has to seek it out in the Wilds, tracking it by the cry of the gulls.

Today, it's close enough to smell the salt-spray.

No one is called, no one is compelled to wander closer, but should the adventurous depart the main Plaza and follow a pebbled path through long grass and winding trees, they will come to a place where the ground rises into a gentle dune, then drops into an expanse of sand and rock sketching out a sort of cove. Indigo water laps the shore there, low waves splashing froth onto the shore. And in the water there is something that could be called a ship, if a ship could be made of ice and bone; if a ship could be strange and hard to look at, if it could stretch up so tall toward the sky it seemed eldritch and unbalanced.

The prow is sharp as a blade, and when the wind sings in the ropes, the noise is high and sweet, like siren song.

Loki is on the shore, and his children are with him. Agnarr and Una are playing in the sand together, the elder stacking rocks and building castles for the younger to knock down. Sigrid and Eindrid, though, are on the Ship itself. A casual observer can see the form of Loki up there with them, guiding them gently as they explore, but he is also below, seated on a heap of driftwood to observe his other two children. Bilocating.

He glances up and nods at whoever wanders close, polite, if protective of the kids.

"Do you believe in birthright?" he asks. "Something beyond the gift of existence itself, to which a person is entitled just by entering the world?"


((ooc: Just to warn, my tags will be VERY slow!))

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[coldsong]

Loki is wary at the first signs of something flying overhead, but as soon as he recognizes who it is, he relaxes, a smirk of amusement flickering onto his features. His and Stark's friendship may be tentative and in extremely early stages, but the man is not going to attack the ship or his children; of that, Loki is certain.

"You're going to make the sand fly all over like that," he tells Tony as he hovers, but he's smiling. "This is the ship Naglfar, I'll have you know. And I have piloted her, but she belongs to my children, Eindrid and Sigrid."

A gesture up at the ship, and Tony can probably see the little girl and toddler on the deck, the latter in the arms of a duplicate of Loki. The other two children on the beach are approaching curiously, though, intrigued. Agnarr recognizes the man from the cookies he gave out at the Dawning, and after a brief exchange of sign language with Una, the girl comes to stand by Loki and cups her hands to her mouth to yell up at him, "HEY! DO YOU HAVE ANY MORE COOKIES??"

Congrats, Stark. Iron Man is now Cookie Man to these kids.

[stark_ravingmad]

Of course Tony was making the sand fly up because his manvouring thrusters were activated so he could perform the standing pose whilst talking. The god was complaining in front of his kids. Of course he was. Rolling his eyes slightly, he moved away from the sand and came to land on the ship close to where he thought the real Loki was. Or, was it not? Jesus. Why did the guy have to do all this mirage crap? Holo-Lokis? This brought back memories of Stuttgart and the copies.

"Naglfar? Nice name. Did you name her?"

Tony put his hand up to one of the "Lokis" and realised it went straight through. Of course it did. He was going to give up trying to guess the real one for now because he knew the trickster would probably find it amusing for Tony to guess the real one.

"Cookies? Oh, right. Uh--not at the moment, kids. Sorry. But---I could make more if I knew you liked them so much."

He waved to Una and walked down to where he guessed the real Loki was. The guy was like a puff of air. Tricky to catch and always disappearing. At least, he was back on Earth.

[coldsong]

Loki's abilities in self-duplication have very much improved since then. Both copies of himself are solid and touchable, and even with the sensors in the suit, it's very difficult to tell which is the 'real' one. In a sense, each is a kind of Schrodinger's Trickster. If one were to get hit--or to have Tony's hand put through him--the other one would be the definitive 'real' Loki. It's a good self-defense system.

Of course, it breaks down if you hit both at once, but, you know, no trick is foolproof.

"The builder named her," he answers, raising an eyebrow at the prodding. "Please don't get too handsy in front of my children; if you want to feel me up we can at least have a drink first."

Inside, he's laughing, highly amused by this game.

"You make them yourself?" Una is excited by this idea. "We bake brownies a lot, and muffins sometimes. You should come over to our house and bake with us!"

Loki is...not sure that's a great idea, but from the expression on his face, he's at least considering it.