#edgebled

               it is impressive -- the trail of bodies and fire in tony’s wake is rather substantive for a human. it in no way rivals loki’s, of course. the blood that stains the poor little genius’s hands pour from the gods in waterfalls and streams. perhaps they will hurt each other.

               but his smile is soft as he does not allow himself to be dismissed, even as tony turns from him. cool fingers slide into his hair, gently curling around the curve of his skull with a subtle pull to draw his gaze back. loki knows the defense well -- to push away the ones you love in order to protect them. in order to protect oneself. a lonely fortress is a safe fortress.

               “ i am very durable. you do not doubt my strength, my dear. no, you do not fear my pain - you fear your own. you fear that i may be too close to you - that you may hold me too close. you fear a heartbreak you cannot take. ”

eyes linger on nebula's and tony tries, he really does try to keep the smirk from his face as he does so. it might be a bit of a failed attempt though, one that ends in him cracking entirely-- bright, wide grin stretching lips upward.

"c'mon, are you really telling me that's not at least a little bit funny?" he says, brow raised as he looks to the... monstrosity that is the knife wielding, self aware roomba in between them.

"might just be by best creation yet."

there was not one single hint of amusement on her features - one might wonder if she was even capable of cracking a smile. it didn't help that this... thing that tony seemed to be so proud of, well... for starters she didn't even know what it was supposed to be. or what it had previously been.

a look was thrown his way that said 'does it look like i'm laughing?' without saying the words.

having headphones on was the first mistake -- and the second mistake was thinking that she would be able to come in here and get away with going through someone elses' stuff. Metal fingertips pull at wire after wire and eyes look at them with childlike awe. She liked taking things apart as much as she liked putting them together. They went hand in hand.

@edgebled in response to 7 trillion nerves

The television is playing the news, rambling on about everything bad in the world, nothing she hadn’t heard a dozen times before. It’s background noise as she works taking inventory on the equipment to determine what is okay, what needs fixed, and what needs to be trashed. She can hear his footsteps coming down and coming closer to the room before they come to a complete stop and yet she still doesn’t turn. Not until she’s finished meticulously counting before writing down the notes into the book she holds. 

she watches as @edgebled​ shuffles before she looks away, as if it could provide an ounce of privacy in the span of vulnerability she created.  still,  she knows department x has turned her into something she perhaps was never meant to be.   then again   —   she never had been destined to become much more than an orphan mapmaker,  than a woman on her own in this world. 

               tenderness. compassion. understanding. it has been some time since the god of mischief has received any one of such things, much less the entire lot. some time, so very long, since a hand stretched out to him in love rather than to strike a blow. the gentleness of it almost burns to the touch, like a stream of warm, clear water flowing upon frozen skin, so frozen that the nerves have all but died and decayed away. it would have been easier if they had. but then he would not feel this.

               unmoving emerald eyes slowly close as loving fingers find their way through his hair, bold enough to presume he can simply be touched as such, to presume that the contact well be welcomed. it is. a relief, even. his head bows into tony’s hand, shoulders sagging with the strain of... well. being loki. loki, who is never enough. who has never been enough. in the eyes of the universe, he is a scourge. a plague.

               but in the eyes of loki’s universe —— a simple little human, as broken and fractured as they come, yet who has managed to wind his way through the gnarled thorns that guard the god’s heart —— he can be more. he is more.