Fenrisulfr - Research
Jun. 8th, 2008 10:39 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsDoug, Amanda, and Marie-Ange arrive at a library in Oslo to do some research on the cultists. They come to an alarming conclusion.
There was something comforting about libraries and archives, even in the midst of frantic research. Or maybe it was the frantic research that was comforting - Amanda couldn't deny it was definitely a familiar sensation, going through old books and maps looking for an elusive clue. Tracing her finger along the spines of the shelved books in front of her, she found the one she wanted and added it to the pile in her arms, returning to the table where Doug and Marie-Ange were. "Looks like we've got plenty to go on with," she said, setting down the pile. "That mate of Rom's did well, getting us into the restricted collection."
"There is a coven of librarians, yes? I think there is. It is an secret group of librarians and archivists. They meet over tea and little cakes in the ruins of the library of Alexandria and ... " Marie-Ange paused, then shook her head. "And I have no idea what they do then." She put a slip of paper in one of the books she was looking through and moved it out of the way. "I saw a video once of librarians doing synchronized library cart routines. Set to music."
"I'd ask where you find those things, but I'm pretty sure I sent you that link," Doug mused distractedly, already engrossed in flipping through the pages of the book Amanda had set in front of him. "I think I'd prefer a secret cabal of librarians to whoever is doing this. Librarians seem more...modest in their aims."
"Yeah, I doubt a librarian cult would be into this slice and dice thing, even with late fees," Amanda remarked, reaching for the next book on the stack. She made a face as the binding creaked ominously, and she carefully turned the pages - the book was older than she'd anticipated and damaging the archives would be bad form. "Whether or not it's a myth or not, that blood eagle thing's pretty fucking graphic."
Marie-Ange scrunched up her face in disgust. "Even if the ancient Norse did not do it, which I think they did, it is happening now, and Shiro said the people who attacked him had knives, and runes. Magicians. So they must have gotten it from somewhere. People who can scry and do some magic do just make up rituals out of nowhere, do they?"
"I don't -think- so, but then, I'm not Magic Woobie Girl," Doug allowed. "So really, what I'm trying to say here is, I have absolutely no earthly clue." He nodded firmly and smiled wryly, continuing to page through his book. "Amanda? You got any ideas?"
Amanda smiled faintly at the "Magic Woobie Girl" comment. "I should add that to my business cards," she replied, before turning her mind back to the task at hand. "Magic likes structure," she said, reminded of some of Strange's old lessons. "So no, you can't just make shit up, not with being fucking powerful enough to just shove things through. Which would have pinged on the radar, even with the issues the network's having after Farouk's mess. We're looking at some kind of specific aim here, something they're trying to achieve with what they're doing to these poor bastards. Which usually means appeasing some god or demon, or trying to open some kind of portal. Both of those like sacrifices."
"Oh, no..." Marie-Ange groaned. "Magic users, who revere Norse gods, who are looking for people who have been to Asgard... " She held her head in her hands, face gone a shade paler then normal. "There was just a Norse goddess here. What if Shiro was wrong? What if they are tied to the Enchantress? She has to be angry. What if they are trying to bring her back here, her, or that axe-wielding psycho she brought with her." She reached across the table for one of the books and heedless of it's age and fragility, began flipping through the pages as fast as the thin paper would let her. "No... no.. that does not look right..." she muttered under her breath.
If Marie-Ange had paled, Amanda's face had gone white. "That or they could be trying to find a way to keep her here, consolidate her power..." Her skin crawled, remembering long, elegant fingers cupping her face possessively. "There'd have to be a place sacred to her, somewhere that'd let them tune into her signature." The witch reached for another book herself, an atlas of sites sacred to the Norse gods. "There might not be entries under 'Amora', either - she might have had other names over time. We'll have to cross-check against the standard mythology."
Doug felt a heaviness of anxiety in the pit of his stomach at the expressions on Marie-Ange's and Amanda's faces. It had been bad enough when they'd found out the Enchantress had come to Earth as part of Baron Zemo's Masters of Evil. To find out that cultists might be trying to resummon her...
It was a good fifteen minutes of frantic paging through volumes before Doug finally started paying attention to the niggling voice in the back of his head saying that something was wrong with their train of logic.
"Wait," he said, closing the book and staring up at the ceiling to marshal his thoughts. "We're coming at this the wrong way. We've jumped about twelve steps of logic because of what we're afraid it might be." He stood and placed his hands on the table. "Let's back up."
He reached out and laid hands on one of the books he'd had in front of him earlier, and flipped it to a gruesome picture. "Blood eagle. Emphasis on 'blood'. As in, the use of blood to fuel magical rites. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but that doesn't sound at all like the Enchantress' style." Off Amanda's short shake of her head, he continued. "The Enchantress is all about using others' power to fuel her own, not killing people. She's a manipulator, not so much a killer." He frowned. "But if it's not her, then who is it?" His frown deepened as he concentrated deeply, searching for the piece of information that he needed. Then he snapped his fingers. "Shiro. He said the cultists who tried to snatch him said something." He repeated the guttural phrase Shiro had heard, and his eyes widened. "It meant 'I have failed you', he was right about that, but it wasn't in High Asgardian. It was the Giant dialect of Asgardian." And then it was his turn to pale as the pieces all fell into place.
"Shiro was right. It's not the Enchantress. It's Loki."
While our Three Musketeers continue to get their research on, they are being watched. And then the cultists manage to get the drop on them, mostly due to Doug and Marie-Ange being...distracted.
The library assistant glanced at the couple carting books over to the copier and then over at their blonde friend still at the table they'd commandeered. Both glances were just a bit too long to be casual - she was watching them.
She returned to the front desk, and spoke with the librarian there, who pointed at the trio and nodded, so she shrugged and went on her way. All the way to a back alcove where she pulled a cell phone from her back pocket. She dialed, tapping her foot and idly fingering the charm on her necklace - a small horned figure with a leafy branch in its hands.
"They have been here all day." She said abruptly, when the voice on the other end answered. "I could have run the ritual four times, to be sure. Four times!" The voice on the other end answered harshly and the librarian made a face at the phone. "Yes, yes, we are fewer then we were. Arrested, I know. They are here. It is as if they have been given to us. Stop wasting time. I can only do so much to stall."
She snapped the phone shut without waiting for an answer, and composed herself for a moment, smoothing her skirt and tucking the necklace back into her blouse before heading back to the desk.
Doug peered around the large stack of books that he was carrying to make sure that he was still headed for the copier. He set them down on the table with a loud thud. "Loki, Loki, Norse mythology, cult behavior..." he inventoried them, setting each into a pile based on subject material. As he placed each book, he carefully squared off the pile, his slightly compulsive neatnik nature coming to the fore. As he set another book down, he noticed Marie-Ange giving him an odd look. "What?" he asked her.
"You are cute when you are being a little obsessive." Maire-Ange re-rolled the map she had been photocopying and put it back into the cardboard tube. "You make a frowny face and stick out your tongue and it was very cute just now." She shook her head, giggling a little.
Doug harrumphed in mock indignation. He could only hold the expression for a second, though, before he started chuckling. He had to admit that from an outside perspective, his face probably did look a little silly when he was concentrating. That didn't mean he was just going to let Angie tease him, though. "And you chew on your hair when you're concentrating," he shot back. "It's adorable."
Research would be so much easier if she didn't keep zoning out. Amanda sighed as she blinked down at the pad of paper next to her, covered in stick figures that basically told the whole Asgard story. Or if she could at least draw. She crumbled the page into a ball and stuffed it in the pocket of her jacket for disposal later, before pulling another book towards her. Loki was apparently the underdog of the Norse gods - for an evil bastard, he certainly had a lot of followers.
At the copier, Marie-Ange took one of the books off the stack, and ruffled Doug's hair when he hopped up onto the table. "I should stop that, it is bad for my hair. And it encourages Mark to make comments about if I have an oral fixation, which is just unnecessary."She frowned a little, and then let out a giggle. "Really, if anything is to go by, he has one. He and my cousin, in the bathroom at Silver." She accompanied it with a roll of her eyes, but surprisingly, a laugh.
"Oral fixation? If you have one, you've certainly kept it a secret from me," Doug said with a twinkle in his eye. This teasing, flirty Marie-Ange might take some getting used to, but it was fun to banter back and forth with her.
"Mark thinks I have one because I chew on my hair and pens and on coffee stirrers." Marie-Ange said, a little defensively. "I do not think I have one. I think -you- have one sometimes..." She raised an eyebrow and made a vague "you know what I mean." gesture. "I was not the one asking Wanda for advice on blowjobs, now was I?" Not blushing was impossible - it was enough that she actually said it out loud, right there in front of Doug.
Doug's eyebrows shot up when Marie-Ange said 'blowjobs'. That was a word that Doug couldn't recall ever hearing come out of her mouth, much less in a public place like a library. Admittedly, there wasn't anyone in eyesight,but it was still rather brazen, considering. "Perhaps I should check for pods," he joked, pulling a strand of her hair up and feigning as though he were examining behind her ear. And then, because he was right there, he decided to take the opportunity to nuzzle a bit at her neck. After all, if she could be flirty, so could he.
Doug's breath tickled her neck, and she leaned into it, despiteprotesting, "I do not have any pods!". The edge of the table dug into Marie-Ange's hand, pressed between it and her leg as she leaned in more, and she moved it, resting it atop Doug's thigh. "You can keep checking all you like, but there are no pods. I am not an alien."
The hand on his thigh made Doug wriggle slightly. "So you say, but I think this bears closer scrutiny," he replied, his voice slightly husky. "What has gotten into you all of a sudden?"
The hand found it's way to the waist of Doug's jeans, and undid the top button. "Are you complaining? I do not hear you complaining..." Really, if she thought about it, Marie-Ange just felt very bold today. And it was not as if they knew anyone at the library, and they had almost all their photocopies made. If someone saw them, she would not have to face that person ever again.
Even if Doug had been inclined to complain, which he wasn't, it would have been difficult to do given the way his brain completely shut down at the feeling of Marie-Ange's nimble fingers unbuttoning his jeans. They had gone straight past 'unexpected' and were approaching 'Penthouse Forums' quickly. ~Dear Penthouse- I never imagined that my straight-laced girlfriend would be seducing me in a public library...~
It looked like there were maybe six likely spots for someone to set up shop in the cult business. Amanda rummaged through the various books and documents spread across the table, looking for the map she knew was there somewhere. Or maybe it was the one Doug was copying... "Hey, guys? Are you nearly done? I think we're about ready to get down to business with this," she called out, not looking up.
"Not quite yet," Doug called back, amazed that his voice hadn't cracked like a boy's. His fingers gripped the edge of the table tightly as he leaned backward, unconsciously shifting his hips forward towards Marie-Ange's hands.
--
The library assistant gave Amanda a glare as she passed practically radiating "This is a library, you will be quiet!" in her silence. She turned and disappeared into the stacks. If one could describe 'stomping off in a huff' without actual stomping, it would have been exactly what she was doing.
In the back of the library, out of sight of the tables and copier, she pulled out the phone again, speaking into it with hurried whispers "If you do not hurry, I will not be able to distract them any longer. If they are like the last one..unless you enjoy being set aflame -again-?" She left the question hanging, and then ended the call, dropping the phone into her pocket like a rock.
--
After all, it wasn't as if the library was crowded, Marie-Ange thought. The continueing mental justifications kept playing in her head as she undid the last button on Doug's jeans and then looked up at him, smiling innocently. "It is a shame I did not wear a skirt today... I am not sure I want to remove my own pants.." She giggled once, kissed Doug quickly on the mouth and then bent slowly, obviously intent on anticipation.
The typical 'be quiet in the library' popped into Doug's head, and he barely managed to stifle a groan as Marie-Ange pulled his pants and boxers down to around his knees. The Formica of the table was cool on his bare rear end, in contrast to the heat that trailed across his skin as Marie-Ange kissed and nibbled at his thighs. He couldn't manage to string together a coherent sentence, and he was past the point of caring if anyone saw them. He ran a hand through Angie's hair, trying to direct her movements impatiently.
---
Amanda pulled a face at the librarian's back as she passed and continued flipping through the book in front of her, her head propped up by one hand. A yawn escaped her as she skimmed over yet another description of Loki. "He's so not that tall," she muttered to herself as an etching caught her eye. "And definitely more weasel-looking." Then a noise caught her attention. Someone was trying to be quiet, which made sense in a library, but Pete and Remy had taught all of them to be suspicious of everything. She rose from her chair, glancing around as she slowly backed towards the photocopying room.
"You know, Doug, I think I'll just get that map off you now. Looks like we're about to get a bit crowded in here..." she called softly over her shoulder and praying the other two could hear her over the machine.
"We're a little, um, busy," Doug called back in a tone of voice that clearly was attempting to leave unsaid 'so leave us alone already'. If Amanda walked in on them right then, he was going to be extremely cranky.
Before Amanda could get much past the table, a trio of men, all stereotypically tall, blond and bearded came out of the stacks. One stopped in front of Amanda's path and pointed at the other two. "This is simple." He said, in a thick accent. "You come quietly, or they beat you until you do. No need to bruise that pretty blonde face."
"Yeah, well, I've never really been that quiet. Annoying as hell, actually, especially when I sing." Amanda glanced from the speaker to his two friends, trying to gauge just how hurt she was going to get taking these poster boys for the Nordic race on. She could feel Oslo's energy, calm and deep, like a river, but she wasn't sure if she would be able to use it - she hadn't had the focus for magic since London. "Doug, you really want to finish whatever the fuck it is you're doing in there."
That snarky bit at the back of Doug's brain noted that if Amanda would shut up, he might actually be able to finish 'whatever the fuck it is you're doing in there'. Not to mention the irony of Amanda's choice in words, given what Marie-Ange was doing with her mouth. Of course, about that moment was when another pair of cultists stepped into the copier room, looming impressively without saying a word.
Doug winced and tapped Marie-Ange on her shoulder to get her attention. They'd been caught with their pants down, in Doug's case literally. His face reddened.
He wasn't sure he was ever going to live this down.
There was something comforting about libraries and archives, even in the midst of frantic research. Or maybe it was the frantic research that was comforting - Amanda couldn't deny it was definitely a familiar sensation, going through old books and maps looking for an elusive clue. Tracing her finger along the spines of the shelved books in front of her, she found the one she wanted and added it to the pile in her arms, returning to the table where Doug and Marie-Ange were. "Looks like we've got plenty to go on with," she said, setting down the pile. "That mate of Rom's did well, getting us into the restricted collection."
"There is a coven of librarians, yes? I think there is. It is an secret group of librarians and archivists. They meet over tea and little cakes in the ruins of the library of Alexandria and ... " Marie-Ange paused, then shook her head. "And I have no idea what they do then." She put a slip of paper in one of the books she was looking through and moved it out of the way. "I saw a video once of librarians doing synchronized library cart routines. Set to music."
"I'd ask where you find those things, but I'm pretty sure I sent you that link," Doug mused distractedly, already engrossed in flipping through the pages of the book Amanda had set in front of him. "I think I'd prefer a secret cabal of librarians to whoever is doing this. Librarians seem more...modest in their aims."
"Yeah, I doubt a librarian cult would be into this slice and dice thing, even with late fees," Amanda remarked, reaching for the next book on the stack. She made a face as the binding creaked ominously, and she carefully turned the pages - the book was older than she'd anticipated and damaging the archives would be bad form. "Whether or not it's a myth or not, that blood eagle thing's pretty fucking graphic."
Marie-Ange scrunched up her face in disgust. "Even if the ancient Norse did not do it, which I think they did, it is happening now, and Shiro said the people who attacked him had knives, and runes. Magicians. So they must have gotten it from somewhere. People who can scry and do some magic do just make up rituals out of nowhere, do they?"
"I don't -think- so, but then, I'm not Magic Woobie Girl," Doug allowed. "So really, what I'm trying to say here is, I have absolutely no earthly clue." He nodded firmly and smiled wryly, continuing to page through his book. "Amanda? You got any ideas?"
Amanda smiled faintly at the "Magic Woobie Girl" comment. "I should add that to my business cards," she replied, before turning her mind back to the task at hand. "Magic likes structure," she said, reminded of some of Strange's old lessons. "So no, you can't just make shit up, not with being fucking powerful enough to just shove things through. Which would have pinged on the radar, even with the issues the network's having after Farouk's mess. We're looking at some kind of specific aim here, something they're trying to achieve with what they're doing to these poor bastards. Which usually means appeasing some god or demon, or trying to open some kind of portal. Both of those like sacrifices."
"Oh, no..." Marie-Ange groaned. "Magic users, who revere Norse gods, who are looking for people who have been to Asgard... " She held her head in her hands, face gone a shade paler then normal. "There was just a Norse goddess here. What if Shiro was wrong? What if they are tied to the Enchantress? She has to be angry. What if they are trying to bring her back here, her, or that axe-wielding psycho she brought with her." She reached across the table for one of the books and heedless of it's age and fragility, began flipping through the pages as fast as the thin paper would let her. "No... no.. that does not look right..." she muttered under her breath.
If Marie-Ange had paled, Amanda's face had gone white. "That or they could be trying to find a way to keep her here, consolidate her power..." Her skin crawled, remembering long, elegant fingers cupping her face possessively. "There'd have to be a place sacred to her, somewhere that'd let them tune into her signature." The witch reached for another book herself, an atlas of sites sacred to the Norse gods. "There might not be entries under 'Amora', either - she might have had other names over time. We'll have to cross-check against the standard mythology."
Doug felt a heaviness of anxiety in the pit of his stomach at the expressions on Marie-Ange's and Amanda's faces. It had been bad enough when they'd found out the Enchantress had come to Earth as part of Baron Zemo's Masters of Evil. To find out that cultists might be trying to resummon her...
It was a good fifteen minutes of frantic paging through volumes before Doug finally started paying attention to the niggling voice in the back of his head saying that something was wrong with their train of logic.
"Wait," he said, closing the book and staring up at the ceiling to marshal his thoughts. "We're coming at this the wrong way. We've jumped about twelve steps of logic because of what we're afraid it might be." He stood and placed his hands on the table. "Let's back up."
He reached out and laid hands on one of the books he'd had in front of him earlier, and flipped it to a gruesome picture. "Blood eagle. Emphasis on 'blood'. As in, the use of blood to fuel magical rites. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but that doesn't sound at all like the Enchantress' style." Off Amanda's short shake of her head, he continued. "The Enchantress is all about using others' power to fuel her own, not killing people. She's a manipulator, not so much a killer." He frowned. "But if it's not her, then who is it?" His frown deepened as he concentrated deeply, searching for the piece of information that he needed. Then he snapped his fingers. "Shiro. He said the cultists who tried to snatch him said something." He repeated the guttural phrase Shiro had heard, and his eyes widened. "It meant 'I have failed you', he was right about that, but it wasn't in High Asgardian. It was the Giant dialect of Asgardian." And then it was his turn to pale as the pieces all fell into place.
"Shiro was right. It's not the Enchantress. It's Loki."
While our Three Musketeers continue to get their research on, they are being watched. And then the cultists manage to get the drop on them, mostly due to Doug and Marie-Ange being...distracted.
The library assistant glanced at the couple carting books over to the copier and then over at their blonde friend still at the table they'd commandeered. Both glances were just a bit too long to be casual - she was watching them.
She returned to the front desk, and spoke with the librarian there, who pointed at the trio and nodded, so she shrugged and went on her way. All the way to a back alcove where she pulled a cell phone from her back pocket. She dialed, tapping her foot and idly fingering the charm on her necklace - a small horned figure with a leafy branch in its hands.
"They have been here all day." She said abruptly, when the voice on the other end answered. "I could have run the ritual four times, to be sure. Four times!" The voice on the other end answered harshly and the librarian made a face at the phone. "Yes, yes, we are fewer then we were. Arrested, I know. They are here. It is as if they have been given to us. Stop wasting time. I can only do so much to stall."
She snapped the phone shut without waiting for an answer, and composed herself for a moment, smoothing her skirt and tucking the necklace back into her blouse before heading back to the desk.
Doug peered around the large stack of books that he was carrying to make sure that he was still headed for the copier. He set them down on the table with a loud thud. "Loki, Loki, Norse mythology, cult behavior..." he inventoried them, setting each into a pile based on subject material. As he placed each book, he carefully squared off the pile, his slightly compulsive neatnik nature coming to the fore. As he set another book down, he noticed Marie-Ange giving him an odd look. "What?" he asked her.
"You are cute when you are being a little obsessive." Maire-Ange re-rolled the map she had been photocopying and put it back into the cardboard tube. "You make a frowny face and stick out your tongue and it was very cute just now." She shook her head, giggling a little.
Doug harrumphed in mock indignation. He could only hold the expression for a second, though, before he started chuckling. He had to admit that from an outside perspective, his face probably did look a little silly when he was concentrating. That didn't mean he was just going to let Angie tease him, though. "And you chew on your hair when you're concentrating," he shot back. "It's adorable."
Research would be so much easier if she didn't keep zoning out. Amanda sighed as she blinked down at the pad of paper next to her, covered in stick figures that basically told the whole Asgard story. Or if she could at least draw. She crumbled the page into a ball and stuffed it in the pocket of her jacket for disposal later, before pulling another book towards her. Loki was apparently the underdog of the Norse gods - for an evil bastard, he certainly had a lot of followers.
At the copier, Marie-Ange took one of the books off the stack, and ruffled Doug's hair when he hopped up onto the table. "I should stop that, it is bad for my hair. And it encourages Mark to make comments about if I have an oral fixation, which is just unnecessary."She frowned a little, and then let out a giggle. "Really, if anything is to go by, he has one. He and my cousin, in the bathroom at Silver." She accompanied it with a roll of her eyes, but surprisingly, a laugh.
"Oral fixation? If you have one, you've certainly kept it a secret from me," Doug said with a twinkle in his eye. This teasing, flirty Marie-Ange might take some getting used to, but it was fun to banter back and forth with her.
"Mark thinks I have one because I chew on my hair and pens and on coffee stirrers." Marie-Ange said, a little defensively. "I do not think I have one. I think -you- have one sometimes..." She raised an eyebrow and made a vague "you know what I mean." gesture. "I was not the one asking Wanda for advice on blowjobs, now was I?" Not blushing was impossible - it was enough that she actually said it out loud, right there in front of Doug.
Doug's eyebrows shot up when Marie-Ange said 'blowjobs'. That was a word that Doug couldn't recall ever hearing come out of her mouth, much less in a public place like a library. Admittedly, there wasn't anyone in eyesight,but it was still rather brazen, considering. "Perhaps I should check for pods," he joked, pulling a strand of her hair up and feigning as though he were examining behind her ear. And then, because he was right there, he decided to take the opportunity to nuzzle a bit at her neck. After all, if she could be flirty, so could he.
Doug's breath tickled her neck, and she leaned into it, despiteprotesting, "I do not have any pods!". The edge of the table dug into Marie-Ange's hand, pressed between it and her leg as she leaned in more, and she moved it, resting it atop Doug's thigh. "You can keep checking all you like, but there are no pods. I am not an alien."
The hand on his thigh made Doug wriggle slightly. "So you say, but I think this bears closer scrutiny," he replied, his voice slightly husky. "What has gotten into you all of a sudden?"
The hand found it's way to the waist of Doug's jeans, and undid the top button. "Are you complaining? I do not hear you complaining..." Really, if she thought about it, Marie-Ange just felt very bold today. And it was not as if they knew anyone at the library, and they had almost all their photocopies made. If someone saw them, she would not have to face that person ever again.
Even if Doug had been inclined to complain, which he wasn't, it would have been difficult to do given the way his brain completely shut down at the feeling of Marie-Ange's nimble fingers unbuttoning his jeans. They had gone straight past 'unexpected' and were approaching 'Penthouse Forums' quickly. ~Dear Penthouse- I never imagined that my straight-laced girlfriend would be seducing me in a public library...~
It looked like there were maybe six likely spots for someone to set up shop in the cult business. Amanda rummaged through the various books and documents spread across the table, looking for the map she knew was there somewhere. Or maybe it was the one Doug was copying... "Hey, guys? Are you nearly done? I think we're about ready to get down to business with this," she called out, not looking up.
"Not quite yet," Doug called back, amazed that his voice hadn't cracked like a boy's. His fingers gripped the edge of the table tightly as he leaned backward, unconsciously shifting his hips forward towards Marie-Ange's hands.
--
The library assistant gave Amanda a glare as she passed practically radiating "This is a library, you will be quiet!" in her silence. She turned and disappeared into the stacks. If one could describe 'stomping off in a huff' without actual stomping, it would have been exactly what she was doing.
In the back of the library, out of sight of the tables and copier, she pulled out the phone again, speaking into it with hurried whispers "If you do not hurry, I will not be able to distract them any longer. If they are like the last one..unless you enjoy being set aflame -again-?" She left the question hanging, and then ended the call, dropping the phone into her pocket like a rock.
--
After all, it wasn't as if the library was crowded, Marie-Ange thought. The continueing mental justifications kept playing in her head as she undid the last button on Doug's jeans and then looked up at him, smiling innocently. "It is a shame I did not wear a skirt today... I am not sure I want to remove my own pants.." She giggled once, kissed Doug quickly on the mouth and then bent slowly, obviously intent on anticipation.
The typical 'be quiet in the library' popped into Doug's head, and he barely managed to stifle a groan as Marie-Ange pulled his pants and boxers down to around his knees. The Formica of the table was cool on his bare rear end, in contrast to the heat that trailed across his skin as Marie-Ange kissed and nibbled at his thighs. He couldn't manage to string together a coherent sentence, and he was past the point of caring if anyone saw them. He ran a hand through Angie's hair, trying to direct her movements impatiently.
---
Amanda pulled a face at the librarian's back as she passed and continued flipping through the book in front of her, her head propped up by one hand. A yawn escaped her as she skimmed over yet another description of Loki. "He's so not that tall," she muttered to herself as an etching caught her eye. "And definitely more weasel-looking." Then a noise caught her attention. Someone was trying to be quiet, which made sense in a library, but Pete and Remy had taught all of them to be suspicious of everything. She rose from her chair, glancing around as she slowly backed towards the photocopying room.
"You know, Doug, I think I'll just get that map off you now. Looks like we're about to get a bit crowded in here..." she called softly over her shoulder and praying the other two could hear her over the machine.
"We're a little, um, busy," Doug called back in a tone of voice that clearly was attempting to leave unsaid 'so leave us alone already'. If Amanda walked in on them right then, he was going to be extremely cranky.
Before Amanda could get much past the table, a trio of men, all stereotypically tall, blond and bearded came out of the stacks. One stopped in front of Amanda's path and pointed at the other two. "This is simple." He said, in a thick accent. "You come quietly, or they beat you until you do. No need to bruise that pretty blonde face."
"Yeah, well, I've never really been that quiet. Annoying as hell, actually, especially when I sing." Amanda glanced from the speaker to his two friends, trying to gauge just how hurt she was going to get taking these poster boys for the Nordic race on. She could feel Oslo's energy, calm and deep, like a river, but she wasn't sure if she would be able to use it - she hadn't had the focus for magic since London. "Doug, you really want to finish whatever the fuck it is you're doing in there."
That snarky bit at the back of Doug's brain noted that if Amanda would shut up, he might actually be able to finish 'whatever the fuck it is you're doing in there'. Not to mention the irony of Amanda's choice in words, given what Marie-Ange was doing with her mouth. Of course, about that moment was when another pair of cultists stepped into the copier room, looming impressively without saying a word.
Doug winced and tapped Marie-Ange on her shoulder to get her attention. They'd been caught with their pants down, in Doug's case literally. His face reddened.
He wasn't sure he was ever going to live this down.
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