#they all love their extradimensional puff so much

[marvelousbirthdays]

Happy Birthday, greenhands5!

May 19 - Tasertricks for @greenhands5

Loki is a firm believer in rewarding merit; his awesome girlfriend definitely deserves a few awards. And also something fluffy.

By @catrinasl

"It's about time, honestly."

"I agree. This lab wouldn't run without her."

Loki stopped outside the door to the lab at the sound of two of Doctor Foster's underlings approaching. He slouched back against the wall, pulling shadow nearer to obscure himself. Even though the Midgardians ("people," Darcy often corrected) on this particular floor of Stark Tower were more used to his presence than others, he was sure that he still unnerved them, despite the reassurances of the beautiful and kind human who said she loved him.

Besides, office gossip was occasionally profitable.

"I heard that a couple months ago, when Doctor Banner's assistant got it, that she tried to turn it down and give it to Darcy instead, and that's what got Ms. Potts' attention that Darcy hadn't ever been employee of the month before." The doctoral student exited the lab with one of the techs, and leaned forward to push the elevator call button.

"I hope they're giving her an extra bonus," the tech replied. "Did I tell you she saved our project the other day?"

They continued their conversation as the elevator doors opened to receive them, and Loki had the answer to the riddle he had been puzzling over.

He produced his Midgardian communication device ("It's a cell phone, dude.") from his non-extradimensional storage space ("Seriously, Salazar, just call them pockets.") and pulled up the texts he had received less than an hour before.

I'm awesome it said. take me out to lunch

The Prince of Asgard had not been able to connect these two statements, sent though they had been within two seconds of one another. Darcy, in his experience, was always awesome, and not merely in the flippant way that she and many other humans used the word. She kept him in constant awe with her tendency to do things for others without hope of a return, her quick wit, and the way she looked at him like he was worthy of her love.

So the Powers That Be had recognized her merit and decided to bestow rewards and praise upon her, as was her due.

Loki was satisfied with these events. He was only surprised that Darcy had not been lauded before, and from the conversation he had overheard, her peers felt the same.

As he was pondering these ideas, the object of them bounced out into the hallway and spotted him immediately.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, grabbing his hand. "Did you hear that I'm Stark Industries' Employee of the Month?"

Loki gave her a small smile in return, hiding how impressed he was that she had seen right past his shadowy veil. "I have," he said. "I assume this is why you have demanded that I buy you a reasonably-priced but unfortunate-tasting sub-sea sandwich?"

"Submarine," Darcy corrected automatically. "Ooh, yeah. I hadn't thought about what I wanted to eat; I was thinking something fancy, but you're right. That's totally what I want."

Loki nodded and leaned away from the wall, giving her a small bow. "As you are the Celebrated One, I shall indulge your whims this once."

Darcy scoffed, grinning. "You say that all the time."

"Do you not indulge my whims?" he argued.

She considered this, grinning slyly. "I guess I do," she said.

"I am told that this is what makes a good relationship," he informed her, as he laced their fingers together.

"What dating expert did you hear that from?" she shot back, giving him a disbelieving sideways glance.

"My mother, actually," he said.

"Okay, I'll allow that," she told him, as she knocked into the elevator call button with her hip. "Your mom's pretty much the best."

"If you mean regal, brilliant, and the wisest of all women, then you would be correct."

"Totally," Darcy agreed, pulling him into the elevator behind her. "Somebody should give your mom a Goddess of the Month award."

"She is Queen of Asgard," Loki pointed out. "But I will mention it to my father the next time I speak to him."

Loki enjoyed his lunch with Darcy (despite the unfortunate-tasting sandwiches), but the idea of rewarding merit lingered in the back of his mind long after he had escorted her back to the lab.

 Several weeks later, Darcy got a text from Loki that said, I am in awe of you. Have dinner with me. She grinned and showed it to Jane, who rolled her eyes. After work, she headed to Loki's apartment and found it darkened, every flat surface covered with glowing candles.

"What is this?" she asked, not sure if she should feel flattered or alarmed.

"This is a celebration for you, Darcy Lewis," he replied.

"Oh, a belated Employee of the Month thing?" she asked. "I told you, sandwiches that one time was good enough."

"No," Loki assured her. "This evening's celebration is to recognize your efforts on behalf of mankind."

Before Darcy could ask, Loki presented her with a gift wrapped in green and gold.

"This isn't another fancy plaque, is it?" she said apprehensively as she untied the bow.

"I considered it," Loki told her. His hands encircled her waist as he stepped behind her to watch her unwrap her present, pulling her closer to him, her back against his chest. “But I thought you might enjoy this more.”

“It’s gold,” Darcy observed when the box was opened and the wrappings lay on the floor. “Are you retiring me?”

“I—no,” the slightly confused Loki began, but Darcy interrupted with an explanation before he could ask which earth reference he had missed this time.

“It’s a thing,” she assured him as she lifted her gift out of the box. “People get gold watches when they retire, like the company is saying, ‘thanks for your years of devoted service, goodbye forever.’”

“Well, it is given in thanks for your devoted service, but is more of a hello than a goodbye,” he said, reaching up to touch the small disk in her hand.

Darcy squinted as words appeared there, first in Asgardian runes, then shifting into plain, somewhat-readable English (as it was in Loki’s scratchy handwriting):

Awesome Award

Given in Commemoration of the Efforts of Darcy Lewis to Improve the Nine Realms

Flipping it over, her pleased smile was replaced a confused raised eyebrow, and she read aloud, “Mister… Booflesnoot?”

“‘Trusted Knight of the Golden Realm,’” Loki added. “I am told that humans generally require their pets to have some sort of identification. This should do.”

“Pet?” Darcy repeated, turning to look him in the eye. “I can’t have a pet in the Tower. They have a policy.”

“Yet Agent Barton persists on bringing his animal to every non-crucial meeting. And there is the kitten that Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes have secretly adopted.”

“They don’t count,” Darcy said. “Lucky doesn’t live here, he just visits. And Pepper doesn’t know about Pandora. Besides, she’s really Natasha’s kitten at this point anyway.”

“Then we should have no problem,” Loki said, closing his eyes and concentrating for a moment. Then he turned Darcy’s attention to the window, where the dust specks filtering through the light were looking a lot more substantial (and multicolored?) than usual. “If anyone asks, you can say that he is visiting from Asgard and belongs to my mother, which is not a complete untruth, as she has expressed a desire to enjoy his company anytime it is not convenient for him to be with you.”

The multicolored sparks of light became… more, and Darcy’s eyes widened as she realized what was happening.

“Is that—?” she began, but did not get much further because the fully materialized puff of white and golden fur gallop-hopped happily over to her and bounced at her feet.

“You got me a space corgi,” Darcy breathed, reaching down to gather her gift into her arms.

“You have certainly desired one for long enough. As has my mother ever since you and she spent most of your time gushing over the pictures you showed her on our first visit to Asgard.”

Darcy’s face was blissful as Mister Booflesnoot showed her love. “Oh my god, Loki, this is amazing!” She stood and squeezed both god and space corgi in a warm hug. “Thank you!”

Loki knew that he was the thankful one.

#tasertricks #fuckyeahdarcylewis

[amandajoyce118]

Friday Five: A Whole Other Dimension

In honor of the Cloak and Dagger season two premiere this week, I thought it would be fun to return to my comic book themed lists. This week, we’re going to look at Marvel comic book characters whose powers aren’t actually from the dimension they’re standing in. Instead, an alternate dimension provides them with the means to achieve their superhero status. Since comic books love alternate worlds and new timelines, I find the idea that someone can just pull what they need from another dimension fascinating. Here are some of the most interesting ones.

Five: Cloak

I mean, when I said this was inspired by Cloak and Dagger, there was a reason for that. Cloak doesn’t just teleport and leave behind a puff of black smoke, though that might be what it looks like in the television series. Instead, at least in the comics, his abilities come from another dimension known as the Dark Dimension. That’s the dimension where Darkforce originates. (Darkforce has been used to some degree on TV in Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter.) When he teleports, his body actually blinks into and out of that dimension, hence the black “cloak” around him. The entity in that dimension actually craves energy and light, which is part of the reason Cloak is so drawn to Dagger in the comics. It’ll be interesting to see how far the show goes into that relationship.

Four: Cyclops

Did you think the X-Men team leader just shot lasers out of his eyes? Not quite. His eyes aren’t regular eyes. They’re actually portals to another dimension - yeah, you read that right - and the concussive blasts (not fire either!) of his eyes originate there. His body is somehow able to hold up against the destructive power of that dimension because when he closes his eyes, he doesn’t do any damage to himself. It’s an odd power to think about, and one that doesn’t get a whole lot of attention usually, but it’s a strangely specific kind of power set.

Three: Miss America

America Chavez actually comes from another dimension compared to where she ended up, so maybe this one is cheating a little bit. America, who likes to go by Mac, spent most of her time in the comics in the Young Avengers, but she’s also been an Ultimate, and she’s always the one in charge of travel plans. America is able to literally punch a hole in space-time and create doorways (shaped like stars, because, why not?) to other dimensions. It’s a neat trick, and she knows it.

Two: Honey Lemon

Okay, I’ll admit that I don’t know a ton about Big Hero 6 (though I do love the animated movie), but I really appreciate that Marvel created a team of science nerds based in Japanand has their own manga. Honey Lemon is one of those team members. She doesn’t actually have powers from another dimension, so this is a bit of a cheat. What she has is a purse that has an extradimensional pocket in it. It’s where she stores all of her supplies, which is genius. She could put anything she wanted in her bag and there would always be enough space because her supplies sit in a pocket outside of this dimension.

One: Spectrum

AKA Captain Marvel. AKA Photon. AKA Pulsar. AKA Monica Rambeau.You might know her as Lieutenant Trouble if you’ve seen the Captain Marvel movie, but Monica is so much more than Captain Marvel’s biggest fan. In the comics, she actually held the Captain Marvel title 30 years before Carol Danvers did, and she’s gone through a lot of different codenames since. She’s pretty badass, and her power comes from her trying to destroy a science experiment that belonged to someone else. They were experimenting with, what else, getting power from other dimensions, so she punched her way through the machine to destroy it. She got caught in the blast, transforming her body into pure light energy. Now, Monica can transform into any light on the spectrum because of that other dimension. She can also turn herself into electricity, etc. It allows her to increase her strength, fly, become invisible, phase through objects, almost anything you can think of.

Honorable Mention goes to Magick here. I wanted to include her because she’s the first comic book character I think of when I think of other dimensions. As a kid, and younger sister of X-Men Colossus, she ended up in Limbo, a magical dimension, where she trained to become a sorceress. She’s one of the strongest magic users in Marvel comics and she can still open portals into Limbo. In fact, she once transported the entire X-Mansion with all of its inhabitants there and then shielded it from demons. She’s a star.

That’s it for this week! (And if anyone is looking for Cloak and Dagger Easter eggs, I’ll hopefully have the season two premiere list up soon. Even scheduling this post in advance, I know I won’t be getting them out Thursday night and I’ve got a long day of work on Friday.)

#cloak #cyclops #honey lemon #miss america #spectrum #magick #marvel comics #friday five