selfhelp | [Voice/Action] Forward-dated to the afternoon of the 9th

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[Voice/Action] Forward-dated to the afternoon of the 9th

[He should have seen this coming- it's like it's some kind of retaliation for what he'd done on Teddy's birthday. He still manages to be surprised when Teddy shoos him out of the apartment some time after breakfast on the 9th, barely given time to grab his coat and stuff his laptop into a bag before he's been officially banished from his own home.

...Well then. Looks like he's in the wind today. First things first: while he isn't usually the type to announce this kind of thing, thanks to having the afternoon to himself (whereas usually his birthday is filled with doting parents and obnoxious little brothers vying for attention) he's feeling indulgent enough to go for it, and he remembers something in particular...]

Okay- first of all, question for everybody. Now that I know about that whole... Valentine's Day thing that's supposed to happen every year, does anyone know how to avoid it? Or should I just lock myself in my room for a few days and hope for the best?

And second, to the X-Men? If the team training is still on for today, it's probably safe to go ahead and assume I won't make it. I'm allowed to have plans on my birthday. But happy birthday to Logan whenever he gets back- 180 is a pretty big landmark, right?

[Hopefully he won't get killed for that one, but he just couldn't help himself. Even if the accuracy of that number is questionable.

The rest of the afternoon will be spent in the following ways: goofing off in the Battle Dome with some self-indulgent hologram scenarios blatantly ripped out of Star Trek, wasting time in Seventh Heaven with excessive amounts of coffee and his laptop like a proper teenage hipster, and then, when his battery's running dry, returning to building #5 to bully Teddy into feeding the laptop's power cord under the door, at which point he'll be curled up on the floor outside his apartment playing Minecraft or something while he waits for his boyfriend to finish... whatever he's doing in there.]

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Memories...?

[He's flipping more absently now, mostly looking at the pictures since it would be rude to sit here and read it all with company, whether he wants to or not. (And he does. But it can wait.)]

You mean- with magic? You can do that?

[Loki nods.]

Yes, I figured out a way to do that a few months back. So that is... I suppose quite literally how those things looked through my eyes.

Oh, wow... that's so cool. Do you think that's something you can teach me, too?

[He looks almost as excited at the prospect as he'd been at the book itself.]

I don't see why not. You're quite bright...

[Well. When Loki says that kind of thing, you listen.]

That's really cool. I'd make so many photos if I could do that, no lie. Have you put this stuff in the gallery? Images like it, I mean.

[Loki hesitates, looking a little startled, then admits:] I gave two such pictures to Lady Potts since I thought she might find them interesting. She did say something about putting one of them up, which I found rather odd. I didn't really see how such a thing qualifies as art.

Pretty sure you'd be the only one who thinks that.

[He flips through a bit further, absolutely fascinated by what he sees.]

It's a little unorthodox, but some of the best art in the world started out like that. People like what's unique.

That is very similar to what Lady Potts said.

[He leans over a little to take a look at the pictures Billy passes.]

I've now received the impression that it's slightly different from how humans see things. And here I thought your photographs were just a bit dull.

Really, you think photos are boring? Maybe you haven't been looking at the right ones.

[Then again, he's a bit biased- photography is the one artsy thing he likes more than drawing. He misses his camera like burning, especially with all the beautiful scenery around this place. ~~and the celebrities~~]

I don't mean boring. I mean that the colors aren't very bright.

Somebody needs to play with the brightness settings.

[Ugh, Kaplan, don't start with the photo geekery.]

It's true that most photos can't capture how good reality looks. But people also have trouble remembering things perfectly- memories fade over time. Photos help us remember faces, or places we've been, or important moments in our lives. They're not perfect, but they can be really special to us.

I haven't any idea what that means. [He shrugs.] I had wondered, since the colors in photographs aren't so different from those in your paintings. In general, things tend to look much brighter than that to me.

...Huh. Well, I guess that makes sense...? I mean, for gods to have better eyesight than humans.

[Well. "Gods". Since they're kind of just aliens to him. But saying that would just be bratty and nitpicking.]

Better... likely, I suppose, since we seem to have you outmatched physically in a myriad of ways. [He sounds more like a scientist considering an interesting fact than someone being smarmy about it.] It'd be interesting to see the precise differences. But definitely... different.

I don't know how we'd figure that one out. A colour spectrum test or something?

I think that would be a start, yes.

Hm. It may be worth speaking with Spock about this. He might find it interesting, and he's... rather better at experimental design than I am. [Loki is more of theory followed immediately by application kind of guy; he finds gathering data a bit boring.]

[omg S P O C K]

O... oh. Yeah, we could- I wouldn't mind if he got involved. You know. If he's interested.

[Oh yeah, very subtle.]

Oh, you know him? Good. He's rather fun. You ought to play chess with him.

But I daresay he would be interested. [Dryly:] He does so like to try to stick his nose into my affairs. Maybe that would get it out of his system.

From what I know of Spock, he'd probably wipe the floor with me at any game. But I'm sure I could learn a few things from it. As for you...

[What is it with Loki attracting nosy people?]

I think you just offer a lot of intrigue. People want to know how you tick, since you're all smart and mysterious.

That's really the idea. Easy victories teach nothing.

[He laughs.]

Well, I suppose a puzzle does beg to be solved. Though this one is quite resistant.

That's true. I'm sure I'd learn a lot.

[Unconventional lessons are kind of his thing anyway, these days. And he does love chess.]

Don't think of yourself as a puzzle, though- people are way more complicated than that. And it's not like you can solve someone.

I think it's just his way of getting to know you. Vulcans aren't so big on expressing their emotions, so putting it scientifically makes sense.

But so many have tried. It's rather amusing in a way. [Though not so much solve as fix.]

I have noticed that he's a bit... flat. Though not unreadable, just more of a challenge. Why is that? [Since Billy seems acquainted with the species, somehow...]

It's kind of built into their biology- they put aside their own emotions and focus on reason and logic instead. Most of the time they won't show what they're feeling, even if whatever it is is really strong. They've even got a technique to get rid of all their emotions completely, but that can take years.

[And his inner-geek is gleeful at the idea of Trekking-out on someone. God it's been so long.]

Edited (monologue is important hurr) 2013-03-05 01:35 (UTC)

How odd.

...though useful, I should think. [There is a lot of trouble he could have saved himself if he hadn't lost his temper a few times. Still too painful to think about that.]

I take it you have studied them? And I thought humans hadn't met anyone from other realms. [Though Billy is from a different Midgard than the one he knows...]

What? No, that's- [pfft.] That's how it is in your universe, sure. But our Loki attacked Earth like, thirty years ago. I grew up knowing about alien invasions, it kind of happens a lot. We learn about them in school now.

[Although Vulcans are fictional, eh-heh... but nobody needs to know that.]

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