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Here? No. This place won't allow it. And I couldn't now even if that weren't the case.

you are the sorcerer supreme, MAKE THIS PLACE ALLOW IT

You're a god and you're a ghost. Don't you're the Sorcerer Supreme me.

i'm not omniscient or omnipresent, i'm a shade of what i should be
i don't know if the boy did this or not but he will become more dangerous the longer he spends stuffed with magic he was never meant to carry
if you cannot help me then you should stay away from him

I'll do what I can for both of you, but don't expect it to be much.

are you in Excelsior right now?

Yeah.

[ Against his own better judgement. ]

where are you? i will come to you

[ The heave of a sigh that goes unrecorded, but rather than arguing he drops a location pin and sends a photograph: there's a small park opposite with skyscrapers beyond it and an abandoned foodcart somewhere by the entrance, which puts Stephen approximately on the sidewalk outside a corporate building.

He is, in fact, sitting on the steps in the shade of the building's entrance, taking a breather after escaping a local to avoid a confrontation that wasn't going to go well for either on of them. ]

[ It takes Loki around twenty minutes to catch a bus to Stephen's location because apparently being a ghost isn't a guarantee of floating conveniently through the air. As he trots up to him on the bench, incorporeal and annoyed, he texts him. ]

i'm standing in front of you
had to catch a bus, sorry

[ His phone pings, he checks it, and he raises his gaze to fix the open air with a faintly put upon look. It's not at him so much as it is with him, they're both stuck in this one way or the other, though there's a little side of frustration that the air is in fact so empty. He'd hoped he might get an impression of him, or at least the hint of magic in the air...

But whether by the theft of Loki's magic and corporeality or the impotence of Stephen's own, there's nothing.

Worse still, he doesn't even have it in him to make a joke about Loki being quiet. ]

It's fine. It's not like there's any rush.

[ It isn't even sarcasm: for once, this is a fight he doubts their involvement is going to help win.

He looks tired. He's decked out in everything he could carry: the cloak at his back, a dagger at his waist with what would appear to be a sword sheathed and leaning against his leg, a bag on the step beside him keeping who knows what else tucked away. ]

How's traffic?

[ That's sarcasm, but it's lacking any light. ]

[ Stephen looks how Loki feels. Just because he can, he reaches out and ruffles his fingers through that neat hair to see if he can fluff it up a bit. ]

dead, badumPSHHH

hello
you looked much happier to see me the last time we hung out
i am very offended right now

[ He isn't. ]

[ Turns out Loki can successfully distress Stephen's hair a little, but the second he catches on to it shifting he's instinctively tilting his head out of the way.

Those solid efforts are rewarded with a mild smirk at his phone screen though, congratulations. ]

Technically I'm not seeing you now. If that takes the edge off.

[ Someone turns off the street to make their way up the steps halfway through him saying this, throwing him a slightly startled look that he meets with enough open hostility to send them scurrying past. ]

Five bucks says that's my second Rue Moore appearance waiting to happen. [ And, almost as an afterthought - ] I don't think this was Loki, for what it's worth.

[ Success! Hair ruffled, he watches with pleasure as the passerby shoots Stephen a disturbed glance over their shoulder. Loki takes a seat at his side. ]

sitting on your left now

i think he's a victim of this enchantment too
at least you and i are always in it together 3;)

has all your magical talent been seeped away?
a lack of anything that makes me ME has rendered me a fairytale of pure myth, if i had to guess
sucks to be incorporeal

Mm. Rough day at the office.

[ Dry. It's a yes and a sorry for your lot rolled into one. ]

I brought backup. [ He nudges the sword propped against his knee with his foot in indication. ] But there's nothing much for it than to walk around the city and hope to stumble across a lead.

you're going to wield a sword?

[ That is ridiculous and weirdly hot, he can't picture it. ]

if you can get back to my apartment i have a collection of scrolls and potions you can stock up on
also the Norn Stones
you can borrow those

Probably not.

[ But he's brought it along anyway, an unrealistic expectation built of metal and leather. Might deter anyone or anything from trying something where they might have otherwise, at the very least. ]

Thanks, but I don't have a porting device. So we either fix this, hope somebody fixes it for us, or we live here now. I guess we'll see.

How long have you been stuck like this?

[ Well, shit. ]

a week or so
some of my texts aren't getting through to people, i assume because i've been forgotten and i am no longer "real"

my brother thor has arrived and is being spectacularly useless, by the way
he loves the boy-child more than me so he will likely prefer to heal him than bother with getting me back

if you forget me too, that's alright
i appreciate your coming this once
you are the only one so far who has

and i give my word i will not watch you in the shower 3:)

[ There's a huff of a sigh as Stephen reads through these messages, but can he blame Loki for being morose in spots given the circumstances? Unfortunately, he's never been the best source of comfort. Still, if nothing else - ]

Do you want me to call someone? Peter, Billy, whoever. I can talk with them on speaker for a while.

[ The choice of who, if anyone, will determine how much Stephen actually tells them. No use in making things worse. But it might still be of comfort for Loki to hear another friendly voice. ]

[ That's kind of Stephen to offer. Loki shakes his head, then remembers he has to type. ]

that's alright, thank you
you're good company enough 3:)

[ Isn't that nice. He lapses into quiet for a bit, allowing the good company to stretch and the situation to be secondary for a moment or two.

But, inevitably, ]

I should head on soon. If you follow me, I don't want to hear about it once this is over.

[ Do not speak to me about my attempts to exist usefully without magic, xoxo ]

[ The company is its own kind of reassurance, it helps like a skein of water in a desert; it may not last, but it isn't without merit. Loki looks Stephen over and sees a mirror of himself, snapped to bits and held together with duct tape and scaffolding.

It strikes him that his phone, being enchanted, still has a working camera, and when he lays his incorporeal touch over one of Stephen's he take a snapshot to send his way, the view on the photo of a faint blue translucent hand where a breezy chill might have been felt a moment before. ]

go, be great without me

[ The photo comes through followed quickly by the text and once he grasps what he's looking at Stephen's hand instinctively flinches - nothing personal, intimacy happens to be an effective jumpscare no matter who's providing. The flinch halts before it can become a full scale retreat as he gets a hold of himself.

A— pat, then another, of the place his hand was resting. In lieu of a corporeal shoulder, maybe. It's about the best he can think to offer before he prizes himself to his feet with obvious reluctance and goes about the unsteady task of slinging the sword back over his shoulder, his pack onto his back, the cloak haphazardly into the air to settle itself over the whole ensemble. Only once he's ready does he send a glance toward the empty space where he can only hope Loki's still sitting. ]

... Hang in there.

[ Weak as pep talks go, but it's something. And with it, he's off to do what he can. ]

[ He won't forget that flinch, storing it away for later. As Stephen finally rises, Loki shoots him one last text as he's walking away to try and lighten the tension. ]

hate to see you go, love to watch you leave 3;)

[ Maybe Loki can haunt a coffee shop today. ]

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