the cells I am at the moment will soon die

[aldabeyoun]

Who: (Nj/L)oki
What: Lesson One: Wax On. Wax off.
Where: Njoki's flat in Mafaton.
When: The first Shundi in Velldaren
Warnings: Nothing yet, but assume there's a risk of gore and bad language.

It wasn't the most auspicious of introductions, but Njoki is sure that it's only fair to properly judge someone once she's met and assessed them in person. Surety aside, Ki feels that it's a wise idea to judge and write people off from whatever contact she feels is necessary, but she's been making a valiant effort to overcome that.

Usually she fails.

Today, she's made some small steps toward improvement and has invited a potential student over to her flat. With most of the business transpiring in the Undercity, Mafaton is unnervingly quiet during the day but far easier to navigate. Njoki's flat and workspace is a small apartment above a used clothing store that specializes in period pieces. It's clearly marked by a hanging sign decorated with her name and a couple of symbols that hint at her practice - a playing card, a dove's heart, and a lit candle.

Comments

[snaketrap]

A variety of greens wrapped the man who showed at her door. He was completely out of his element, firstly. Secondly, did not work well with others - but, swallowing his pride he would in pursuit of things. With Thor here now.

He attempted to polite himself up, it went not very well, but that aside here he was.

[aldabeyoun]

Assuming he knocked, soon enough Loki would be able to hear someone come down the stairs and swing open the door.

"Hey, c'mon in. Shoes off, eh?" Narrow staircase leads up into a large well-lit room with heavy curtains and walls lined with jars of herbs, bones, oils, and other ritual items. Adding to the homey appearance, a worn rug covers the wooden floor, with a few tarps and more medical looking items off to the side.

[snaketrap]

He did, and waited patiently. With a nod, he watched her move back up the stairs. A simple wave took care of the boots rather than going through that tedious process. He followed up, eyes taking in the details of the room before settling on her.

He's not the most talkative when its talking for talking sake, one might notice. Yet he seems polite enough, for now. Quiet and listening and consuming what information he can through observation.

[aldabeyoun]

Njoki caught that he didn't bother to take off his shoes and it concerns her. If he's so proficient and casual with his use of magic, what does he want from her?

"Have a seat." On the floor, she means. "You want tea or should we just get into it?"

[snaketrap]

[ Because yours is not a skill he has. He can be humble as pie when there's a benefit to it, and thus he sits. ]

A kindness, but no thank you.

[aldabeyoun]

With a shrug, Njoki settles down on the floor. She's wearing her usual work clothing - a short sleeved button-down shirt, jeans, and neither socks nor shoes.

"Right, I caught that you've some magic, so, tell me about who you are and what you can do?"

[snaketrap]

His attire was just as simple. Leather head to toe, but simple. Plain. Dark greens with splashes of something brighter.

She? Is very solid. Very proud, very who she is. She comes off this way. Incredibly certain and confident. "I'm an Aesir. Perhaps it a kindness to not bore you on that topic. I work mainly with illusions. I've started practice with transmogrification, though. It is a work in progress."

[aldabeyoun]

"Two good skills; both skills I have no talent for." Njoki is brash and assertive, but not to the point of arrogance. With all the gods, ancient vampires, and everything else, she's well aware that in Baedal her skills make her unique not powerful.

"And you want to see what I do just for the sake of seeing it? And learning it?"

[snaketrap]

"At home I were known to be a scholar," amongst other things, but the following does have a spec of truth. Perhaps more than a spec. Times when things were not so complicated, when he was not so vividly aware of his differences and that they would never change. And that Asgard would never change.

"Perhaps as a test to the limit of that which I can learn. I am often seeking that."

[aldabeyoun]

"What do you use your magic for? Tell me about how you'd learned what you already know." It's not that Njoki's being intentionally difficult, but she needs to get a good sense of what Loki is like before she's willing to show him anything.

[snaketrap]

"That depends on what part of my life you'd like to know about. For the longest time I learned it because it was a natural talent, something that felt natural. Simply childish dreams of wanting to be the best. Harmless mischief of your average young man." He slips a smile and a small single laugh as if it's completely natural and normal - well, it is, really. Kids will be kids.

"There were plenty of uses for mages at home. To aid when needed with whatever was needed, of course. But then war came and I saw it's more important value."

[aldabeyoun]

Kids will be little shits.

"Which was?" Njoki's not sure if she wants to be teaching a battlemage fleshcrafting. It's pretty clear the many, many ways that could go terribly wrong.

[snaketrap]

Indeed they will -- and he still will, but. Well, that's for later.

"Protecting my Kingdom. That which I love." Said so smoothly without a hint of hesitation.

[aldabeyoun]

"Cut the horseshit. There's a time and place to mince words, but this isn't it. This is where you try to convince me that you're reasonable, rational, and not a slack-jawed halfwit." Njoki isn't upset; she's just being frank.

"I'll ask again: what did you do in war?"

[snaketrap]

"I did exactly that." He's not budging. "Weren't there too long before I ended here, but I did lure their King in to his death."

[aldabeyoun]

Njoki chuffs and then leans back to wait for either an answer to her question or whatever Loki decides to do. If he can't or won't answer what she feels is a basic inquiry, then there's no point in moving forward.

[snaketrap]

"You're so suspicious for no reason," he slides back up to his feet. He does not just give secrets away, even if they're lies.

"I came to learn from you. You'd noticed I don't need to. I don't know who you know that'd be such a fool to use magic in a way that might get on the Militia's radar. Perhaps you haven't noticed that I'd already done that."

[aldabeyoun]

"Sit your ass back down, shorty," she says with a gesture towards the floor. "I'm not the one who won't answer a simple question."

"All I want to know, is what sort of magic, what sort of skills, did you use in your war? How do you put your magic into practical use?"

[snaketrap]

"And I answered." He does not sit, but his voice is a little more short. "I did what was necessary for my Kingdom. I lured the enemy with magic, illusions, and I turned him to dust with my spear. Is that enough honesty for you?"

[aldabeyoun]

"It'll do." Njoki doesn't seem bothered by having to look (way) up to maintain eye contact when she speaks.

"You do know that most of what I practice is healing, right?" That was what she'd been trying to find out from him - did he use his magic offensively, defensively, or as a healer.

[snaketrap]

"Anyone who uses magic aught to know there is use for every type of magic." He is not one to put restraints on himself, so to speak. At least when it comes to magic. His - ah - his self-destruction is an entirely different matter. He'd be oblivious to it, but it's a well tuned skill.

"I do not seek to be one thing or another," which is his way of saying, he is still interested.

[aldabeyoun]

"Yeah, I got that. But if you're going to to all 'guns don't kill people, people kill people', I'm gonna argue that having a loaded weapon sure helps escalate the fight." Either he's being wilfully obtuse or he's got such a low opinion of her intelligence that Loki won't even address her concerns.

"Humour me a moment, okay? Do you at least get why I'm wary?"

[snaketrap]

Not at all what he was trying to say. Did she think he was an idealist or some such? Really.

"Why don't we make this a little less painful then, and you tell me what you think I think and will do. I get why you're concerned, I get why you would not wish to just take up any person. I do not understand why, after all this consistent misunderstandings if you would, you're still letting me stand here." A moment.

"It's really a simple thing. I wish to learn. I do not take sides, I do not have a scheme to be a hero or a villain. I'll do what I'll do, when I want to do it, whatever it is. If you cannot trust that, then I can leave. It's no difficult decision."

[aldabeyoun]

Njoki sighs, shaking her head before continuing, "Do you really think that saying you don't want to take sides exempts you from the outcomes of your actions? 'Oh, gee, I didn't mean to do that' doesn't do anything beyond making you sound like a twit."

"Kiddo, no one wants to hear what I'm going to say to you, but I'm really hoping you listen: you need to grow up." Still quietly confident, Njoki remains sitting on the floor. "If you want, I'll take you on and kick your ass around some until you get that, but until you figure out that intent isn't everything, that you need to accept responsibility for what you do with your own damn skills, I won't so much as teach you to blow your nose."

[snaketrap]

Loki just stares at her with a mild sense of exasperation. This is hopeless. He's already understood that, so to spare them further grief he's leaving. This time, actually leaving.