Tea and Cake

He took Joshua out, as he'd said. Mostly just because he'd said, though he loved spending time with his children more than anything else, but lucky for him that Josh tuckered out quickly and took quite happily to his bed.

Which left Loki and, for the moment, Yamino.

"Father?"

He looks up from his intense study of the tea cup in his hand and shakes his head.

"Father, are you all right?"

A shake of the head.

"Nothing, Yamino. Don't worry yourself over it."

Yamino looks at Loki carefully for a moment, teeth indenting into his lower lip as he tries to think of something, think of anything, to either get his father to talk to him or make whatever the situation was better. He can't think of anything, however, and thus simply sighed and poured Loki more tea to fill the cup.

"When I said don't worry, Yamino, I meant it. It's nothing to get upset over."

"Loki-sama?"

And finally, he looks to Yamino, ever-shifting eyes swirling between red and gold and purple. The peaceful green, the soft blue... are absent. And there is far too much red for his liking. When faced with that gaze, Yamino quails and shakes his head, busying with the tea pot and the rest as opposed to asking any more questions.

"I think I'll go for a walk."

"A walk, Father?"

"Yes, a walk," he says slowly, standing, forgetting the tea. "A nice, long walk."

A glance to Yamino.

"You won't hold up dinner for me, will you?"

The answer is in the question, as far as Yamino is concerned.

He shakes his head.

"No, Father."

A nod in return.

"Thank you, Yamino. You're a good son."

A soft pat to Yamino's shoulder and he's gone, feathers and heat and cloves and cinnamon... and the soft tang of burning.

Loki sits in his study, thinking...

They appear in one of the rooms of the small mansion that is Loki's home in Tokyo. Eris is sitting on the bed and he's still holding her.

"Darling..."

Out of the door is a lushly-carpeted hallway done up in deep reds and expensive woods in ornate panels on either side of the hall and a couple of small tables holding flowers. Loki smiles.

"Please, enter my home."

He appears in a desert, a desert in the middle of no where where he won't cause any trouble, where he won't cause any damage, where he won't hurt anyone.

Where he can rage.

Eyes open red and fire billows out from him, burning on sand, burning on air, burning on anything and everything.

He stares at the sky.

I dreaded Ragnarok before...but now...

The fires turn blue in their heat.

I HATE you.

There is dinner set.

Mayura is near the end, with Thor next to her. Yamino's seat is next to Thor, but he's working on serving dinner so he's not sitting yet. On the opposite side, Reiya sits carefully staring at the utensils. There is one seat empty and it is between Loki and Reiya.

This scene begs for an addition.

"Loki-sama! Loki-Sama!"

Loki sighed tiredly and looked at her between the fingers of the hand that was currently holding up his head. It was far too full of frustration at the moment to hold itself up.

"Mayura-chan, I can tell you honestly that the bathroom in the resturant on Main Street is not haunted. Once again, you're assuming that weird noises and strangely moving objects mean that there is a ghost."

The little pink-haired girl squeeled.

"Loki-kun, you always say my mysteries aren't mysteries! I'm starting to think you don't like mysterious mysteries!"

Loki gave a tired sigh.

"Mayura, I've had a little problem recently and since then, I'm a little tired. Can we talk about this tomorrow?"

She quirks her head.

"Loki-kun, you're not sick are you?"

Loki shakes his head.

"No, Mayura...I'll see you tomorrow."

Mayura nods her head, somewhat confused before patting Loki on the head and flouncing off. Loki smiles gently and somewhat amused as she skips out the door and snorts as the front door slams closed. Then a knowing smirk lights his face.

"My dear, will you be coming out any time soon or were you just watching my pain for your own amusement?"