2012-08-05 Love No More

Loki smiles weakly as he's helped up the stairs and into the apartment. "It's....an odd feeling."

he tries to explain, before settling himself on the couch, and laying his injured arm on his lap.

His sports coat covers the injury for now, but it's obvious it still pains him. "I wasn't

completely lying however. I do feel....lighter, somehow. Like a great weight is off my chest." "It can be both things at once," Bethany says. There's the bottle, and the now-clean glasses. "I'm

going to get you a drink and then you need to get out of that armor. and rest." She uncorks the

bottle and pours two glasses of mead, then brings them over. "And let me look at that arm so I can

do a good job of patching you up--since I can't heal you the way you did me." She sits down on the

coffee table facing Loki and offers him a glass.

Loki slides forward and starts to try to remove the jacket, before wincing softly. "I...could use

a little help." he says, not quite used to asking that question. "Careful, it will get heavy once

you get it off."

"I thought for a minute there you were going to yell at me." he says casually, trying not to

reveal that the thought actually bothers him. "I wanted to when you ran off," Bethany says. She helps him out of the 'jacket', being careful of

his arm and the weight of it. "And then I really wanted to when I didn't know what had happened to

you after you fought with Hel. But I get angry when I'm scared. It's how I keep going. I was

scared you'd just... throw yourself away. I didn't know what you were doing."

Much like the last time he took his armor off, the moment it clears his body it reverts into

actual metal armor. Loki sits shirtless, and turns his arm over for Bethany to tend to. MY how the

situations have reversed. "I...wasn't thinking much, I admit." he says, studying his arm. "But I

was scared as well. Now that Sif is gone I feel like I can have...room." he states, not really

able to find the right words. "Room for more than a boyhood fantasy that never came true. I am

sorry, Beth...for making you afraid. How can I ease your worry?" Loki asks, reaching up to tug

lightly on a lock of Beth's hair. "Some day," Beth says, carefully unwrapping his arm so she can get an idea of what she needs for

it, "when I believe that you truly value yourself--and don't tell me I don't know what I'm saying,

because I do know some things, Loki--then I will worry less." She puts her hand on one of his

cheeks and leans in to kiss the other before she goes to get her first aid supplies. "Until then,

and no, your arrogant moments do not count, I will always fear for you."

The arm is going to need to be cleaned, and stitches. Especially since it looks like its healing

at a fairly normal rate, which for the moment means, not at all. He smirks softly. "I only have

arrogant moments?" he playfully jests, before shaking his head a little. "Well then...perhaps one

day I can be worthy of your trust, rather than your fear." he comments more seriously. "But do you

truly fear for me? Why? Because of this scratch?" "No, because you could have gotten so much worse." Bethany has liquid sutures in her kit and she

grabs towels and water from the kitchen. "I can trust you do to the right thing for me and yet

fear you'll do the wrong thing for yourself all at once. Understand?" She sits down on the coffee

table again and gestures for him to hold out his arm. "Maybe it's just selfishness speaking. It

wouldn't matter except that it would tear my heart out if you were lost to me somehow. I can't

even tell you why. I just want you to be well, and me to be well, and all manner of things to be

well, as the saying goes."

Loki extends his arm but looks a little baffled. "You are speaking in riddles." he admits, after a

moment. "You fear for me because I could have been more seriously hurt, trust me because I will

make the right choice for you, and fear that I will make the wrong choice for myself. I am an

immortal god, beloved. It is not myself that I fear might be lost. My actions today sealed the

binding and ended the threat. Why? Why do you feel all these things for me at once. I think I

would explode from so many different emotions pulling me in so many different directions.

The asgardian reaches forward to lay his palm against Bethany's cheek. "Then perhaps you understand why I would yell at you. You don't seem very immortal right now."

Bethany's cheeks flush and she gets a very stubborn look on her face. "I didn't say it was

rational, any of it. I'm not rational. Aside from the part where I was scared for you while we

were in there, I had a pretty good time, A+ would go again--not rational. That's being human. And

I do feel like I'm going to explode sometimes." She leans into his hand and closes her eyes.

"I do not understand." Loki explains softly. "But I do like the feeling. It's a warmth in my chest

that I've never felt before." He caresses her face softly for a moment, his thumb brushing over

the place that was once bruised, before lowering his hand. A couple of different thoughts race

across his mind as he looks into Bethany's eyes, but he finally shakes his head and does not give

them voice. "I would bring you peace if I could. I do not wish you to explode."