Damn

Well, that mead hall wasn't one of our enemies' tricks, though it could have come at a better time. My father has really inappropriate timing, despite his claims otherwise. God, that... did not go well.

So, Loki shows up to have a "Father+Daughter Sit-Down Dinner" with me... right when we need to be doing something rather important. I typically don't go into exactly what was said, but... well, life is going to be much harder now... though I'm through giving a shit about my safety.

Aren says, "Fine, if only to get this over with so I can rejoin my companions." She sits down at the table.

"Are you sure that's what you want?"  His tone is mild, and his expression gives no deeper insight as to what he might mean.  Though he does pick up a pitcher, silently offering to poor her a horn full of mead.

It didn't take long for him to start feeding me this bullshit. Trying to make me doubt myself, my companions, and what I was doing. All under the guise of "Fatherly Advice". All the while ignoring my comments about New York about to be devoured by the orb.

"It never ends, you know."

Aren says, "It...?"

"How have the others treated you?  Alanna, Morgan, Tetsuko..."

Aren says, "Tetsuko's warmed up to me, but... Alanna and Moira...."

"Alanna and Moira what?"

"They've been pretty mean spirited... Alanna especially."

"Yes, rather judgemental.  And you saw how Alanna acted towards me, as well."

Aren says, "Well, you ARE her wife's ex."

"And I'm Loki, the Lie-Smith.  That terrible, untrustworthy fellow  who'll doom us all."  He doesn't bother to hide the hints of bitterness creeping into his tone.  "Don't you think ~that~ had something to do with it?"

I get it, ever since the myth of Ragnarok was penned, Loki's been cast as the bad-guy in everything from Marvel Comics to bad fan-fiction. This boils down to his bruised ego talking. Confronting him about his expectations of me only yielded vague answers about how he wanted me to "be able to see the truth." Like he wanted me to turn on my companions or something. Well, I let him know exactly how I felt.

Aren is silent as she composes her response, then she fixes him with a hard look, "You know, this is why nobody trusts you. You sit there and anguish over your fate and the fate of your kind, but what do you do? You show up before I have to confront a powerful agent of the titans to tell me that my existance is doomed to being on the recieiving end of abuse just because you decided to knock up some random mortal." she stands up, pushing her chair over in the process, "Send me back, NOW. No matter what you say, I have an obligation to help those I'm traveling with to save one of the largest cities on the planet. I care about the mortal stock I came from, I grew up in the dregs of society and I'm not going to let your centuries of bitterness keep me from doing what's right."

I touched a nerve.

The fire roars in the hearth as Loki surges to his feet.  His face a mask of anger as the heat in the room becomes suddenly suffocating.  "Have you forgotten who you are dealing with?!  What I know, the patterns I've seen, what I'm capable of?!"

Aren glares at him, "Go ahead, threaten me with your godly powers because I insulted you. You don't give a shit about the world, only your own pride. Otherwise, you'd be here to truely help me, rather than make me doubt the people around me."

He seems to grow larger in your view, even as the surroundings...flicker, almost, maybe.  It happens to quickly to be sure.  "Don't care, you think I don't care?!  If I didn't care you'd still be a street rat running around Europe, set to be trapped with the rest of the world!"

"Then get out of my way and let me do what I have to!"

"You think you can just insult me, ~me~ and demand to waltz away!"   His voice continuing to grow in volume...even as the surroundings flicker again.

Aren snarls, "You're goddamn right I do! You know why? Because I don't give a shit what happens to me! I'm not scared of YOU or ANYTHING!"

Then I found myself snapping out of a trance, back in the Empire State Building's lobby, just seconds before Vincent snapped out of his and then shortly Tetsuko did, too. I guess several divine entities decided that moment was a good time to speak to us.

There's going to be no repairing what I said to my father, but he doesn't get to come into the picture after 20 some years of me living alone, growing up alone, and acting like I owe him anything. He probably doesn't even care about whoever the woman was he got pregnant, she was probably a fling to satisfy his urges.

No, I've always been on my own, and that's only now beginning to change, and I'm not going to let anyone take that from me. I like having Tetsuko around and as much at Moira and Alanna drove me up a wall, I genuinly find myself missing them. Even Vincent, who I've only just met, is a welcome addition to my life. I won't abandon anyone when they need me for something as petty as my pride.