bakerstreet | level the playing field

"I'll always be your mentor, Billy, one way or another," Loki says. She leans forward to give him a peck on the nose. "Whether you listen to me, ignore me, or listen to me, that's on you; I can't make those decisions. But I'm also your friend, after a fashion, which means sometimes I give you what you want. Or what you think you want, at least."

Okay, so- Billy can't help a bit of a smile. He should know better, but Loki's insistence that she's a friend and still a mentor... well, it's better than he'd have expected after that New Years party. "Okay, okay... What am I supposed to be learning then?" Or listening to?

"Hmm... Maybe, 'be careful what you wish for'?" She taps her chin thoughtfully.

"Lesson learned there, I think." He tilts his head a little. "Are you sticking with the one-horned look by the way?"

"I kind of like it. It sets me apart from before, I think, don't you?" She reaches up, and runs her finger along the remaining horn, before offerring him her arm.

"Come, buy me some noodles, and tell me about your day without magic."

"It's different, yeah. But then again, a lot about you seems different..." He smiles a bit, reaching out to take her arm in his to lead the way.

"Buy you noodles... That hasn't changed." But he'll do it. This is definitely a sit down and chat about type thing anyway.

"And it was... pretty lame, actually."

"I bet it was," Loki laughs. "But still, tell me."

"It reminded me of when I was younger... before I knew I had any powers at all." He gives a shrug of his shoulder and a wry look. "It felt like I was powerless all over again. I'm so used to- feeling my power. I felt like I lost some important part today... like almost a limb or something."

"Mm... It is like that, isn't it?" It's clearly a rhetorical question... right?

He arches a brow at her, curious. "Have you ever had it happen to you?"

"Of course. Not this iteration, but before... Yes," she says, shrugging a little. "After a fashion. I didn't miss it at the time, because I didn't know any better."

"But now you'd miss it, right? At least feeling it, even if you don't use it." He pauses, thoughtfully. "There's this-- feeling when there are others around who can use magic. I miss that too."

"That feeling of... kinship?" she suggests. "That sense that we are just alike, in some deep, fundamental way?"

"Exactly." He tips his head back a bit. "By the way, it's really not fair you grew so much. You were tall enough before."

"I wasn't fully grown then. Now I am. I would always have gotten this tall, it just would have taken longer."

"Maybe it's not too late... maybe I can still wish myself a little taller when I get my magic back..."

"Are you sure that's wise?" Loki arches an eyebrow, before tugging him off toward the noodle place across the street.

"I was just joking... but it's a nice thought anyway." He lets out a snort when she tugs at him, letting himself be led to the noodle place. "How long before I get my magic back anyway? Or do you still want to hear how my day went?"

"Time is an illusion, Billy. Now tell me about your day."

Once inside, she orders for both of them - Billy is a growing boy, and hungry whether he realises it or not, and nobody here speaks more than three words of English - and then leads him over to a booth.

"Why is time an illusion when I want my magic..." He shakes his head and-- okay. She's ordering, apparently, and he's paying.

Settling across from her, he thinks that over. "It hasn't been a good one. I woke up feeling wrong. Like I was a helpless fifteen year old all over again... only now? It's less school bullies and more actual villains that want to beat me up."

Obviously, because his magic was never actually gone, he only thinks it is; as soon as he realises the truth, well. Loki hopes she doesn't have to spell it out for him, she has high hopes for him.

"And not only you, hm?"

"No. The rest of the team, innocent people... I couldn't do anything. I couldn't make a difference."

"So do you think it's worth all of the trouble it brings?"

The noodles arrive, and Loki starts slurping them up.

He sighs, leaning an elbow on the table as he starts to eat as well.

"I never thought I'd actually say it, but yeah. Even with the possibility of altering reality or undoing it entirely."

"That, I think, is why knowing yourself is so important," he observes, hair shorter, but still messy as he looks up from the noodles.

THE NO POWERS MEME

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