If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks...

[coldsong]

It's customary to have a Wake after the subject thereof dies. Even Loki knows that. But this is a special occasion. Ego-death is coming to his alternate, and the idea of letting him go off to perish alone, uncertain he will even be mourned, is too dark a proposition even for a flawed and callous person to contemplate.

That, and this Loki has been in a melancholy mood since speaking to the spirit of Frigga. He anticipates a dark choice of his own, sooner or later, and where the fates will send him after that, he can't know. Maybe oblivion, although even at that rate there may be worse places.

What's important right now is that no one dies unremembered. And honestly, any excuse for mischief a party. The first text rolls out to Harley, an innocent enough invitation to join them for milkshakes. Cricket is next, because it occurs to him that Cricket has plenty of liquor, which is good for a reckless celebration.

Things snowball from there.

As long as they don't destroy too much property, they'll call the night a success.

Comments

[alittlehinky]

Well, okay. By Cricket's standards, that an entirely appropriate response to being told your girlfriend is great. He smiles his approval and nods.

Blushing brightly, he grins at the compliment. "Adia let me come see the beach for a little. It's real pretty there. I'd come help any time, sir, only I understand no one knows about the Nexus so I'd be hard to explain."

"It used to be religion, where I came from. I guess maybe some people still believe in it, but not so much where I lived. They were old stories to us. Special stories, but not religion." He looks thoughtful.

"There are other stories like 'em. Word of mouth, kinda. I ain't seen them in books, anyway, just heard from my Granny. But...yeah. I liked the books, too."

He looks at the floor, utterly sheepish and awkward. "Cupid and Psyche. That was my favorite. Not real sure why, except after the story, the book talked about how Psyche was the Greek word for souls and butterflies, too, and the idea of that...I don't know. It's a pretty idea. I liked it."

[fiveofnone]

"I know." He wasn't thrilled about it, either. He's as concerned, if not more so, in keeping the Nexus a secret and not raising any questions from his neighbors. But knowing Cricket a little better now, he's comfortable with having him as a visitor. He's not the type to cause trouble, and he's refreshingly human.

Heh. Never thought he'd be happy that someone was human. "Maybe I can sneak you into Seth's shed when he's not around to see what he's doing wrong." The smirk on his face implies that he's not serious, but you never know. Cricket's moonshine is good enough to consider the idea.

"I never believed in them," he tells the other man. "Even less so when I found out I was a Cylon. But I don't believe in the Cylon god, either." He shrugs and takes a sip of moonshine. "A lot harder to be agnostic in the Nexus though."

It's impossible not to find Cricket's response endearing, even for someone like Caspar. "We call him Eros," he says quietly. "They had a kid named Bliss. Appropriate, if you think about it." He smiles faintly, dwelling on the symbolism. "It's one of the few love stories in the Sacred Scrolls that has a happy ending. Even with Aphrodite playing hardball. It's a good choice."

[alittlehinky]

If there's anyone who can duck in and out of a place without drawing too much attention to himself, it's Cricket. He's not a spy or anything, but he exudes ordinary-ness, and harmlessness, and frequently just flies under peoples' radars. He has no idea how useful a gift that is.

He laughs at the suggestion, and if he thought it was serious he would probably agree any time. Either way, he'll take it as a compliment. "Or send him to me and I'll school 'im," he offers.

His brows crease thoughtfully. "You found out you're a Cylon?" Adia mentioned that it's hard to tell a Cylon from a human, but somehow Cricket never expected it to be so hard to tell that they didn't always know themselves.

Lord. That sounds like it could be an awful shock. "Uh...you don't have to talk about it. Just surprised me to hear."

Cupid and Psyche are likely a safer topic. "I think the idea of the soul and love belonging together is nice. Can't blame Aphrodite but so much for being harsh, though. Trying to protect her son."

[fiveofnone]

The counter offer makes Caspar snort lightly in amusement. "He'd be too busy losing his shit over being in the Nexus, but if there's no marked improvement in the next batch, I'll keep it in mind." It would be funny to witness Seth's reaction to the Nexus, but it's honestly not worth the fallout. Even if it leads to better brandy.

"Yes," he replies flatly, unsure what to do with Cricket's surprise or sympathy. Adia hadn't already told him this? Maybe now that the Cylon is back in her life, she doesn't feel the need to share as much. Which ironically makes him feel more awkward for Cricket not to know. "I was a sleeper agent. My brother -- one of the other models -- planted false memories into my brain and then got me onboard a research vessel. The same one that Adia was on, that's how I met her. We had about three months together before the war broke out. Lucky me, the first Cylon to be identified was one of my own model. I went from colleague to public enemy in about five seconds flat."

Cricket's right -- it was an awful shock. Despite the evenness of his delivery, Cricket might notice the way Caspar's hands shake a little as he helps himself to a healthy swig of moonshine afterwards.

"That's what she wants you to think," he says acerbically in regards to Aphrodite. "There was also the fact that a mortal woman was getting a little too much attention for her beauty and charm. That's why she sent her son down there in the first place, to have her fall in love with a monster. Poor bastard nicked himself with his own arrow and it was game over."

He pauses a moment to reflect on his own words and his expression softens considerably. "If I had to give thanks to a Lord of Kobol, though, it'd be her. I wouldn't be here if Adia hadn't seen something inside me that was worth keeping around. I'd go through the same trials as Psyche, if that's what it took."

His gaze fixes on the other man keenly. "How about you? You have a sweetheart?"

[alittlehinky]

Cricket looks thoughtful as Caspar gives him some background. His lips press together and his brow creases, and it could easily be mistaken as a look of confusion; some people make that mistake with him. That Appalachian accent isn't identified with the highly intelligent in his world, and neither are his natural slow, quiet mannerisms. He's simple, in a way. Innocent. But he's not stupid, and he's more perceptive about a lot of things than he seems.

And he's analyzing every word Caspar is saying, not to mention reading his body language.

He's not going to say anything now. But a couple days from now he'll probably go to Loki and tell him he should make friends with Caspar, because they might find something in common. What, he won't say. That's not his place.

He'd reach out to offer comfort, but that didn't go so well before, so he only holds his silence for a moment, nodding slowly. "Ain't nothing pretty about war, either, is there?" He says quietly, rhetorically. And not from personal experience, exactly, but...he has some idea what he's talking about.

"I don't know," he says of Aphrodite. "Ain't it pretty much always the goddesses in the stories getting jealous of mortal people and lashing out? When the gods misbehave it's cause they're grabbing someone they shouldn't be grabbing, and that always ends up with the person they grabbed becoming a tree or a star or a bird or something. I reckon there's a reason them goddesses are always so angry, and it's probably not even really the mortals they're angry at."

He might expound upon this theory further, except then Caspar looks at him and asks that question and he's just not sure how to respond, turning several different shades of pink and peering into his own half-empty mason jar.

"Well...I reckon that depends how you define it. I couldn't really tell you, sir, if anyone feels that way for me. There was...someone, back home. But I ain't gonna see them again, and I wasn't what he was lookin' for anyway." Not that Cricket never had a girlfriend back home, either, but that was never serious and never lasted long.

"Here, though?" He shrugs, but if he has a tell, it's in the way his gaze flickers to the younger of the two Lokis.

[fiveofnone]

That's going to be a tall order on Cricket's part. Caspar has a natural wariness towards gods and magic, and he doesn't make friends easily. But it's true that he has at least one thing in common with the adopted Asgardian. He has something in common with Loki and Cricket both, actually, but if Cricket isn't going to ask him how he managed to get from a locked down spaceship to a Cylon resurrection hub, he's not about to tell.

Cricket's response is the best of all possible outcomes. Caspar isn't looking for pity. "War's hell," he says grimly, then rolls his eyes at his own tone. "But it could have been a lot worse for me. Don't concern yourself about it, okay? I'm fine."

So long as he's not thinking about it, anyway.

That's a rather insightful argument that Cricket offers. Caspar nods a little, impressed. "That's the real problem, though, what you just said. It's not the mortals they're angry at, but they drag us into it, anyway. Look what happened to Hunter, caught in the middle of all those goddesses." He frowns, tapping at his jar of moonshine. "Even when they're benevolent, they don't see us as equals."

He could go on about that -- at Loki's party, no less -- but Cricket's response to his question is far more interesting. He doesn't miss that brief glance towards the younger Loki. The fact that it's another man doesn't matter at all to the Cylon -- barely anyone on Atlantis cares about that, especially not any of the robots -- but the fact that he has a crush on a god is another matter entirely.

And after Caspar went on that little rant about gods, too. Whoops. "A little advice?" he says. "Don't be an idiot like me and wait three months to tell someone how you feel. And get them flowers. Everyone likes flowers."

[alittlehinky]

"You don't know that for sure," Cricket says. "They ain't all the same. I mean, I reckon you're right about the Pleiades. Miss Caleno, anyway. I liked her a lot, and I trust her to be fair, but she didn't see us as equal, for sure. But they all have different things they're interested in. Maybe there are some out there that respect humans, too."

He hasn't really thought about that much in the context of the younger Loki. Cricket is a bit of a follower, and he's susceptible to a charismatic personality, which Loki (either Loki, really) is. He's seen a gentleness in the younger version's teasing charm, too. It's more than enough, with or without equal respect, but Cricket probably doesn't ask for that as often as he should.

He glances up at Caspar with a look of open surprise. He didn't realize he was that transparent, and it's doing nothing to clear up the blush on his cheeks. "Um." He says, nodding because he's not sure what to say to that.

"Flowers. M'kay. What, uh, what kind?"

[fiveofnone]

No, he doesn't, but he's cynical enough to think that must be how it is for all gods. It's difficult enough for a human to see a Cylon as equal, or vice versa. How much harder would it be for a god?

He's not quite so callous as to crush Cricket's optimism. It reminds him too much of Adia. "It's a big multiverse," he concedes. "So maybe there are. But let them prove that to you first."

He smiles a little at the surprise on Cricket's face, "Whatever flowers they like most," he replies, taking pity on the young man and not discussing the crush itself. "If you don't know that, roses, tulips, or orchids are always a safe bet. Just stay away from the color yellow. It symbolizes friendship and will send the wrong message."