2988/Ice Palace: Quid Pro Quo

Ice Palace: Quid Pro Quo
Date of Scene:	19 August 2020
Location:	Queens
Synopsis:	Loki gives Nessa some information. Some of it might not be lies.
Cast of Characters:	Nessa Donovan, Loki

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Nessa Donovan has posed:
At a certain time of night, Rachel's Diner gets a lull. The rush tends to be breakfast and lunch, but dinner's a slowdown. Enough so that the staff is reduced and Nessa ends up tending to the customers who hang out at the counter. Not hard when it's slow, it doesn't require two cooks in the kitchen so refilling coffee mugs for those finishing up blueberry pie is actually a nice break. Putting the carafe into the coffee maker, she sets it to brew a fresh pot as she takes a quick look around to make sure everything's okay. Sometimes you have to be the one to step up and make sure everything's running smoothly.

While she doesn't own the place, Nessa's certainly put blood, sweat, and tears into Rachel's Diner.

Loki has posed:
There's lull, and then there's a /lull/.

This lull involves all of the patrons slowly growing sleepy and lounging deeply into their chairs. Benjamin is slumped over next to his soup. Everything is very quiet. Magic is present, but it's subtle, a soft touch that does't touch Nessa at all.

That is when Loki arrives, brushing the door open with a leather gloved hand, and flipping his hair back a little with a toss of head. He looks around the diner with a prince's arrogant analysis, as if he had yet to give a verdict on if it upset him or not.

Loki is dressed in midgardian style, all black sleeves and collared coat, with no attempt to mask who he is.

Not that there's many awake enough to witness it anyway.

Nessa Donovan has posed:
Oh. Oh that's not good.

Nessa's not sure what bit of what just happened is worse. Is it the fact that everyone's asleep? Is it the fact that Loki just strode in the door? Is it that the coffee might not be hot yet? Regardless to the answer, she tries her hardest not to look entirely shocked. It's a half-success. "Well, uh, somehow I don't think you're here for a cup of coffee, but consider me offering one anyway."

She doesn't immediately move for the coffee, though, partially because she's waiting and partially because she's not entirely sure what to do.

Loki has posed:
"Is it that terrible, that you'd fear presenting it to royalty?" Loki questions without directly looking at her yet. He then finally finishes his look around the establishment, and saunters to pick a location in what is clearly the best booth. He manages to not look even all the skeptical of it while seating himself, arm draped against the back of the seat.

Loki stares at his waitress, then, with a directness and dancing amusement in the back of his emerald eyes. It's all arrogance, but he isn't being rude or aggressive with it at the moment. No, kingly patience, accepting of her squallor, is more the tone.

"If you're worried I'll judge it ... I will."

Nessa Donovan has posed:
"No, it's pretty good for diner fare. Wouldn't say it's the best in the city, but I don't know your taste in coffee. Had I known to expect you, I would have pulled out a french press," Nessa crosses her arms over her chest for a moment, but it's brief before she lowers them, moving to fetch a mug. Checking to see that the coffee's done, she pulls the carafe out and walks towards the booth with mug and coffee in hand.

"I don't really know your taste in coffee anyway. Or your taste in anything, so I'm afraid I can't offer you better."

Loki has posed:
"I wouldn't say I frequent many diners to have a particular /preference/," Loki cuckles, letting her fetch the coffee with an appearance of patience, as he draws his gloves off by pulling lightly on each fingertip, and then setting them down to one side. All of the body language suggests he intends to stay at least for a little while, and be served.

"I prefer to remain unexpected. See people in their natural habitats, as it were," Loki comments, with a loose motion to the whole of the diner.

The cooks, in fact, are not asleep, and one peers out mouthing 'WTF??' at Nessa.

Nessa Donovan has posed:
There's a careful line between how Nessa acts normally and how she feels she needs to act around someone much more powerful and pretty deadly. There's some hesitation and care there, but it's hard to take out the sass. "Well, congratulations, this is certainly my natural habitat. When I'm not studying, I'm here." Nessa is very aware how much he sounds like the Crocodile Hunter commenting on beasts he's found in the while. She'll err on the side of caution.

The coffee is poured with the precision of someone who's poured plenty and she slides the mug carefully towards Loki so she doesn't spill it. She catches the gaze of the cook, offering a tiny wiggle of fingers then a bit of a thumbs up. She'll handle it. She certainly doesn't want any of them messing with it.

Loki has posed:
It is probably incorrect to assume Loki didn't catch any of that, but he seems to be inspecting the coffee visually, looking down into it. Weighing.

"Nah," Loki decides of her offering, and extends a hand over the coffee mug to... change it into what appears to be an elegant wineglass. Complete with a rich, dark wine. He reclines, picking it up, and sampling the fare of his own making.

"What else do you have to offer to interest me?" Loki asks, teasingly, in a way that suggests he's not really asking for another new beverage or food. "I'll quid-pro-quo if you want, until I get bored."

Nessa Donovan has posed:
The carafe of coffee is set aside on a nearby empty table, safely out of the way before Nessa moves to slide into the seat across from him. "To be honest? I wouldn't know what to offer. You have most things you want, I'd assume." She gestures towards his wine glass before continuing. "I'm not impressive, I don't have much to offer so far as I know. You have me at a significant disadvantage."

She folds her gloved hands on the table. "But I'm fairly certain you know more about this situation with Vega than anyone else does, and that's what I need to know to take care of this. So what do you offer someone who has everything?"

Loki has posed:
"Well," Loki observes, "Your humility is appropriate, so far, so you aren't doing /badly/," the arrogant Asgardian says, in a way that suggests that HE thinks it's a compliment to say that. Which, at least for now, is probably the best it could be, that she got a compliment from Loki.

"I can take owed favors. When I have a little something for a human mage girl to do, you'll step up," Loki says, with a vague smile. It isn't mean, but there is amusement there.

"Then your question is, 'how to take care of this'?" Loki retorts. "By yourself, you don't. Unless you have some special skill in making a phylactery, it's use, and the wattage to force a soul into one." Loki ticks off each item on a finger as he goes. His smile is aware; he knows he's giving her a /lot/ of information already.

Nessa Donovan has posed:
"I suppose we deal in favors, then," Nessa states, though there's no smile there. That's a dangerous price. Without knowing his motivations or anything personal that might give her leverage to offer something less dangerous, she had no real bargaining chips to bring to the table. Chips she had tried to obtain. She looks down at her hands, then sharply back up as she hears him talk. She's got clues now.

She leans forward a bit. They're both aware of how much he's giving away. Dangerous once again. "I assume that's to deal with Vega himself, but what about whatever he's summoned? Or are they one and the same by now, given he's body-less?" That's something she hasn't been able to figure out from all the information she'd gathered.

Loki has posed:
"What makes you think he lacks something to use as a body?" Loki asks tolerantly, though he's not as nice in his question-asking as Vega was. Vega was sweeter, pleasant - though perhaps that had to do with being an awful necromancer. Loki's wearing his arrogance out where she can see it, it seems.

"Generally easier to stop the source of it; should fix the problem, yes. He's influencing all of this: you'll find his magic on each construct, if you determine his particular signature. Which you /should/, then you can tell others that Loki isn't to blame, despite them eager to jump to that idea."

Nessa Donovan has posed:
"So he's already using it as a body," Nessa concludes. Correct or not, it's something to go off of. He's given enough contextual clues to at least draw that conclusion. Nice or not, the exposed arrogance seems to be a solid trait--something that's not a trick on the trickster. "I'm certainly competent in distinguishing magical signatures." There's a pause. "Though that sounds like, if I were to tell others that you aren't the one to blame for all of this... that I'd be doing you a favor. After all, it's not like they'll believe you so much if you say it."

Loki has posed:
Loki laughs, brightly. It drops some of the snide quality away for the moment - perhaps Loki COULD be more if he tried - but that snark comes back soon enough. "No, they'll think you mind controlled. Spare me that favor for the moment," Loki teases, but it's pleasant, as he drinks his wine again, stretching his legs out a little more under his booth table, though not near her.

"As for body - no, that palace was always built to house an entity, I think. Now it's ... whatever he's done to himself, that horror: that's in there," Loki snorts. "Not a route to power /I/ would have selected."

Nessa Donovan has posed:
"Do you need one?" Nessa asks, though it's a rhetorical question. There's some certainty there that he's already obtained a route to power. "No, you're right, they'll certainly think that if Thor's there." She's certainly not about to go failing a favor and making things worse, after all. "So phylactery, cut off the power source... and seal it? The ice palace was made to house it, can it be used to perhaps seal it away?" There's a moment where she muses. "To contain demons in panes of ice."

Loki has posed:
Loki narrows his eyes as Thor is brought up; it changes the mood in a clear way to have Thor mentioned. Loki settles back, looking at her. The smile remains, but the danger level just took an enormous spike, if one can 'feel' the air. Loki doesn't want to talk about Thor, probably.

"No, the phylactery is a 'body' to move this nonsense into, so the palace will shut down," Loki says, starkly. "/I/ can do that. Trivial. I'm not interested in spending my resources on a phylactery, though."

Nessa Donovan has posed:
"He's an asshole anyway," Nessa mutters, though that's aimed towards herself, tinged with annoyance. She straightens up though. "Right, shove it all into a bottle. Sounds easy." There is, though, the definite thought that it could work. She had enough allies to get it done, really. /Someone/ had the knowledge on how to put that all together. "I wouldn't expect you to do it, honestly. If you wanted to, you would have done it by now." That seemed like a trend with him. He had a reason not to have done it. Perhaps collecting favors.

Loki has posed:
Loki lifts one shoulder. "Humans hardly make up their minds. They want me gone and staying out of their business. I do /that/, and then I'm in trouble for not fixing their problems. I /save/ the life of that mage, and what happens?"

Loki laughs softly and gestures away as if fanning off a bad smell. "Besides, if I did everything for you, how would you learn? Make something like the ice palace of a phylactery, I'd say. But you may not want to say /I/ told you so. Some people have trust issues. I find it most humorous to be entirely honest, lately, though. The best prank of all, in a way. The extended 'I told you sos' at the end." Loki clucks his tongue, and then starts to slide out of the booth, as if deciding it were about time to end the dialogue.

Nessa Donovan has posed:
"Fairly certain they wouldn't believe me if I told them who I asked," Nessa waits for him to get up before she even moves to do so. "Damned if I do, damned if I don't. Sounds like life." Perhaps not telling the whole truth would honestly be the best method. There's a hesitation for a moment before she clears her throat. "Thanks. I appreciate the help." It's not a help she ever expected.

Loki has posed:
"Mmhmm," Loki smirks a little at her, as he stands. "I would call this one favor for the vital information that you didn't have... and a second if you /use/ it and do find it useful. Which is entirely fair, I think. Particularly in that I /might/ be willing to tear down the ice palace after. But I make no promises," Loki laughs. "If it's a mess? Truly I have things I'd rather be doing." He smirks a little, restoring the cup back to a boring old coffee mug, and then... fades out.

All around, patrons wake up.

"Waitress; my coffee is cold!" complains Benjamin.