the streets of persuasion {open}

[tuck]

Tuck had a mind for numbers, particularly dates. He never forgot a birthday. Never forgot a church holy day. Never forgot a leap year, even though that had taken some getting used to. And he definitely didn't forget the anniversaries of things that had happened to him. When those things were unpleasant (like being thrown out of the monastery, which was what he happened to be "celebrating" tonight), that particular skill was more of a blessing than a curse.

He was drunk. He was well beyond buzzed, he was drunk, he had consumed far more than his own usual comfort flask, and he was in a place he should not have even thought about being in. He was standing in a dark corner, holding a drink he shouldn't have been drinking, and some girl he shouldn't have been seen with was standing beside him, one arm draped around his shoulders.

"You wanna get out of here?" she said, leaning in close, alcohol-tainted breath hot against his face. He turned to face her, looked her over, felt an overwhelming wave of pity wash over him, and shook his head.

"I can't." he said.

"Why not? We can call a cab. It's okay, I'm too drunk to stand, too." She giggled as if that were the most hilarious thing in the world, and Tuck shrugged her arm off of his shoulders.

"I've taken an oath of celibacy," he said, seriously, willing his eyes to focus. The girl stared at him for a moment before her flirty gawk turned to a look of disgust.

"Jerk," she said, and stalked off unsteadily, muttering things about how guys who weren't interested should just say so. Tuck looked down at the drink, and swallowed the rest of it, sans the ice, before pushing his way through the crowd back towards the bar.

[Deleted]

It was a bar, there was alcohol, dancing, drunken people trying to sleep with each other, did anybody really expect Loki to be anywhere else?
Inebriation led to poor decision making skills and chaos, two of Loki's favourite things.

He himself wasn't drunk, of course, while he enjoyed a good mead as much as the next man, getting drunk himself wasn't part of the plan - not that he had a plan just yet, he was just lounging at the bar looking thoroughly disreputable and keeping an eye out for an opportunity.

And then he heard it.

"I've taken an oath of celibacy,"

Jackpot.

When Tuck stumbled towards the bar, Loki used just a little of his godly influence to make sure that the drunken former monk (-in-training) found the path of least resistance lead to the patch of bar just beside where Loki was sitting.

"Can I buy you a drink?" he offered with a smirk, as soon as he was within earshot.

[tuck]

There were a lot of questionable things about the situation Tuck had gotten himself into. There was the question of why he was in this bar to begin with, the question of whether he really needed another drink (no), and the question of...who was this man offering to buy him one?

But honestly, on this day, in this place, under the influence of various things he had sworn off a thousand times, he didn't feel the need to pursue any of those answers at all.

On the contrary, there was only one answer he was interested in giving, and that was given in the form of a silent nod of assent. He didn't specify what he was drinking, just left that up to the discretion (or lack thereof) of the buyer. Whomever he was. Honestly, Tuck wasn't even quite sure how he'd gotten over to this part of the bar in the first place.

"Please." he amended, feeling that maybe a nod wasn't quite polite enough. What was he doing, anyway? Accepting offers of drinks from other men, honestly.

[Deleted]

On the one hand, Tuck's immediate aqcuiescence could mean that he was used to this sort of situation and was completely unphased by it, which didn't make things fun for Loki at all.
On the other hand, it could also mean that he was too far gone to really have any inhibitions left, and that could make things very fun. Since the possibility was still there, Loki happily waved the bartender over and ordered them both a beer.

Sliding the drink across the bar to Tuck, he flashed him a winning smile.
"So... did I just overhear you tell that girl you'd taken an oath of celibacy? She didn't look that bad to me..."

He was pretty certain that Tuck had been telling the truth, but it didn't hurt to clarify before he started having fun.

[tuck]

Obviously Loki's second perception of the situation was much more accurate. Tuck did not come to places like this often, and he shouldn't have been there at all anyway. He was just, as Loki had observed, too drunk and despondent to notice (although the latter was quickly fading away in favour of the former).

"Yes," he said, definitively. "You did." He looked down at the beer, then tilted the glass and took a healthy swig. "She wasn't. But I was telling the truth. I'm honest. I have to be honest and all, you know, I'm going to be a friar and it's just one of those things you have to be to if you're going to ask for people's money in exchange for salvation. Honest, that is. And sober, too. Hm." He looked down at the glass in his hand and chuckled.

"What do you think?" he asked Loki, peering at the man intently. "Do you think I'll pass the test? I don't."

[Deleted]

Oh this just got better and better. Honest, celibate, training for the priesthood, and drunk. If Loki had been the type to think about these things, that'd probably be his favourite combination - or at least it'd be pretty high up there. It was definitely a bonus to be in a place with people of so many different religions, it was so much fun to mess with people when he was a god, but not one of theirs.

"Right now maybe not," he agreed with a smirk "But hey, you just have to be sober when you take the test, right? They don't have to know about the rest of the time if you don't tell them, and being economical with the truth is not dishonesty."
Loki was very, very good at bending rules.

[tuck]

"To be honest," Tuck said, a little despondently (but mostly drunkenly), "I'm not sure they're going to let me take any tests anyway." Taking tests was generally a privilege reserved for those who hadn't gotten themselves thrown out of the monastery for doing blasphemous things with the sacramental wine.

"Economical with the truth," he repeated, stumbling a little over the word 'economical.' "I like the sound of that. I'll have to remember to use that." Of course, it wasn't the people who'd be testing him that he was really worried about impressing - if one was overly interested in impressing people, one was probably not well-suited for the priesthood anyway, at least not in his heart of hearts. It was a much higher power he was worried about offending, but even that seemed to fade into the dim blur of alcohol that was cushioning his brain. "Who are you?" he asked, simple curiosity written across his features.

[Deleted]

Oh he was so dejected... this was too perfect.
It wasn't that Loki was there to tempt anybody, well, not in a bad way. He didn't get a kick out of making people do the wrong thing or ruining their own lives as such, he just liked chaos. He liked people doing things out of character, letting loose, having some fun. That didn't always have to end badly.
Straightlaced people were just... more fun, because it was always just that little bit trickier to get them to go wild.

"Me?" he grinned "I'm Loki, but that probably doesn't mean anything to you."
It didn't matter if it did or not, he imagined it would be quite entertaining if Tuck had heard of him, but he could still have his fun if he hadn't.