EVEN IN THE OLD DAYS, she hadn’t known the liesmith well, much preferring the company of the two vanir he’d mentioned to almost all others in their pantheon. she’d never been particularly close with them, what with the distance and humanity’s yet forthcoming invention of expedited travel, but she remembered their time together very fondly. the corners of her mouth tick upward at the mention of her old friends. “ I’M SURE THEY DID. ” she rises, smooths down the front of her skirt and approaches him. he had NOT been invited, but he had not been so foolish as to come without a gift. she took the candle from him gingerly and placed it on the tiny altar beside her bed, among others still unlit. she had never thought to seek out the trickster herself, hadn’t thought they’d get along. she preferred that people tell her the whole truth or nothing at all, and the liesmith was- well, it was ALL THERE IN THE NAME.
the goddess takes a seat again, this time on the edge of her bed, and crosses her legs, “ I HAVE SEEN BETTER DAYS AND I HAVE SEEN WORSE. “ the yoke of the new gods was beginning to chafe. it was no secret that she’d made a deal to survive and many of the old gods resented her for it. whether or not he did remained to be seen. she would not pretend to believe in their cause. they were violent and vicious. they used a sword where only a needle was needed, but despite her disapproval of their METHODS, she still found it much preferable to starvation. she tilted her head, regarding the man before her in open curiosity and light confusion, her loft was not easy to find, she’d made sure of that when she’d bought it. even on the building’s roster she was listed under an alias that only she and a select few others knew, so if he’d found her, he’d been LOOKING. “ WHY HAVE YOU COME HERE? “
He might have been considered the court jester in his old home, but he was the right hand of the God King and he had been taught respect in tenfold -- for those who were deserving, or outside of his current plans for chaos. This Goddess Queen was a special case too, but not one he could share with her or anyone yet. So when she walks to him and takes the candle from him with hands emanating warmth on their own, he bows his head in respect and stays on his spot with his clawed hands folded over each other in front of his body. His frame creates a silhouette in the darkness that has its own life, vibrates as though it was the ground in the distance of a hot desert.
Her question makes the Liesmith’s lips curl in a smile, eyes opening ever so slowly to look upon her and her modern throne. For a short moment, he looks around, investigating this altar of hers and imagines how her old kingdom must’ve looked, how different and lavish compared to this which was rather sparse, all things considered.
All Gods had to become minimalists these days, it seemed.
“Well, my Queen, I’m curious,” which for Loki, of course, meant a lot of things - much more than he could or would ever disclose. He takes a couple of steps closer, looking over to the candle burning. The scent of NEW was in the air, the crackling in the air full of electricity and... technology. Hm. Delicious.
“So many old ones’re dyin’, y’know. Some of us are lucky -- ain’t gonna lie, this whole Marvel deal? They can get their stories all wrong I don’t give two fucks, the LIFE it sparked in me again... although I ain’t a fan of those horns...” long fingers gesture into hooks, held against the side of his head to mimic that dumb helmet his comic-counterpart had been given.
“But my old kin, so many are lost like you were-- and I was just... curious. Thinkin’ maybe I could bring home some, y’know. Intel. Ideas. Interesting parties...”