The Absent Prayer (Comics Canon: The Past)

[he_that_stands_it_now]

It's been a bad day.

Honestly, it's been a bad week.

Between the mess on the beach the other day and the hulking monstrosity of Nazi engineering making it's way towards him with massive flailing flaming limbs, Bucky Barnes has started to wonder if his bad temper, his foul mouth, and his flippant treatment of authority hasn't gone all the way up the line to the Big Guy Himself and gotten him attention he really didn't want.

Nonetheless, if He got him into this mess than maybe He can get him out, so he spends a couple of precious seconds in between when he lands and when he jumps again to get off a silent prayer.

Dear Whoever Is Listening, I promise I'll never talk at the movies again if you just get my backside out of the frying pan here!

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[he_that_stands_it_now]

Can we negotiate the terms properly at a later date?

[godofbadideas]

Demanding little mortal. All right, I'm feeling indulgent, go for it. Survive, and call upon me when you have.

[he_that_stands_it_now]

What name do I call, boss?

Huh, Namor actually kind of thanked him. That was new.

[godofbadideas]

Loki.

[he_that_stands_it_now]

Sounds good to me. I gotta deal with some stuff but we'll talk later, all right? Much appreciated on the save, o god of all night diners.

[godofbadideas]

Don't forget to eat.

And Loki settled down to wait, and eat his breakfast-for-dinner, and consider his new maybe-devotee.

[he_that_stands_it_now]

It's a little while later, most of the night really, before the voice comes to him again.

O Loki, God of Breakfast Whenever The Hell You Want It and Dipping Fries In Your Chocolate Milkshake Because Otherwise You're a Loon, you up for some of that negotiation?

[godofbadideas]

Grinning, because guess what he was doing when the invocation came, Loki used said invocation, and teleported; across space, and a little time, but such things weren't terribly meaningful on that kind of small scale.

"I was wondering when you'd call."

[he_that_stands_it_now]

And Bucky Barnes literally fell over his bunk onto the other side before scrambling to his knees.

"Holy #$@&, you're real."

[godofbadideas]

"You suspected otherwise?" Loki replied, keeping his own startlement well under control, because really? The desperate kid calling on his aid was James Buchanan Barnes?

[he_that_stands_it_now]

"Heat of the moment," he offered logically, "coupla knocks on the head. Fear can do a lot of things, includin' make you faster."

Not that it'd ever made him that much faster.

He stood up and walked around the bunk to peer at the new arrival.

"Snazzy gettup."

[godofbadideas]

"I am a god," he pointed out. "And a prince of Asgard. Snazzy getup goes with the territory."

[he_that_stands_it_now]

"Well, la de dah," he said with a little wiggle of his fingers, "I ain't never met a god before. Not really familiar with the niceties."

[godofbadideas]

"Well, most of you lot these days are monotheists with a fixation on a deity who never bothers to show his face, so I can hardly fault you or that."

[he_that_stands_it_now]

"Never had much truck with any god," he admitted as he offered his meager bunk for a seat. Thankfully, Cap was off getting debriefed and Toro was off with Jim, so he had the tent to himself for the time being.

[godofbadideas]

Loki settled on the bunk like it was a solid gold throne.

"Not many people have the nerve to offer to negotiate, you know," he said approvingly.

[he_that_stands_it_now]

"You're giving things away for free, I figure there's room to talk," he admitted as he sat on one of the supply crates he shared his lodgings with.

"Can't hurt to ask either. I mean, if you're askin' for a long term deal."

[godofbadideas]

"Ah, my young Mr. Barnes-" yes Bucky he knows your name "-nothing ever comes free. Whether the price is paid now, or later, by your or another... Nothing comes free. But," he continued. "I think I like you enough to want you for a devotee."

[he_that_stands_it_now]

The guy's a god. There were carnival charlatans that could tell you his name, and it's not like he wasn't well known at this point. The Bucky more than the Barnes, but all the same...

"And what would that entail, exactly? Not that I'm sayin' no or anything."

[godofbadideas]

"A bit of mischief and mayhem, not that I think you'll have any trouble with that," Loki replied. "The occasional offering would be nice; blood is traditional, but kind of icky, and not really necessary unless you want to jump into the priesthood."

[he_that_stands_it_now]

"Does it have to be my blood? Or would a few knocked out teeth work for you?"

Because that's an offering he can give in spades.

[godofbadideas]

Loki laughed, and flashed a grin at him.

"Oh no, it doesn't need to be yours at all."

And he'd be an even bigger liar than he already was, if he said that the idea didn't appeal. It would appeal to any god, much less one like him.

There was trying to be a better person, and then there was saying 'no' to blood sacrifice.

[he_that_stands_it_now]

"So... what you're lookin' for is trouble, disobeyin' orders, and me knockin' the #%$# out of people on the regular?"

He gives a wild grin.

"I don't see how I'm losin' in this deal. But the question is; what're you offering?"

[godofbadideas]

"Well, that depends on your level of devotion," Loki replied. "Knowledge? Power? Invulnerability? Quicker wits than you already possess? I can give you any of these things, and any number of other things, for that matter."

[he_that_stands_it_now]

He leaned back on his seat.

"What would you recommend?"