cuttingremark | Salon buddies for @favoriteanalyst

Salon buddies for @favoriteanalyst

It started about a few months ago. Loki needed to relax after making the mistake of spending his winter holidays with his 'family' (which ended in another spectacular fight with Odin that resulted in one broken window and a lost snow globe Loki has thrown through said broken window), but his normal esthetician was booked solid for the next year and couldn't fit him in outside of his own pre-scheduled appointments no matter how much money he offered to throw at her. Wanda was the best in the city, probably the whole country, so it made sense, but there's still the issue of Loki needing something to relieve his tension so he didn't strangle his paralegals. The thought crossed his mind of setting up a tindr profile for a quick fuck, but he isn't in law school anymore and that was just a disaster waiting to happen.

Wanda saves him from making a bad decision by texting him the information for another technician she helped train. She claims he's new, but very talented, which he figures will do in a pinch. The link she sent him takes him to a rather outdated looking webpage for the "TVA Salon and Spa", an older establishment that apparently started in the 50's as a barber shop, but recent made the jump to full salon under new management. Despite the clunky UI, he's able to schedule an appointment for a basic manicure the very next day with the young man Wanda had told him about.

Casey is a nice young man. Not anywhere as skilled as Wanda, but his nails come out looking acceptable with their basic black polish and the hand massage he gets to begin with is utterly divine. He doesn't go into detail about his family problems, but the other gets the gist that the holidays were strained and is more than willing to play the oh-so-important role of listening ear even if his platitudes do ring a little hollow.

When the appointment is over, Casey hands him a card for a free deep conditioning treatment or 30 minute shoulder massage.

"These are really just for family and friends," he explains, "but you really seem like you need something to help you relax." He thinks about declining, but decides it isn't polite and takes the card anyway before handing the young man a $400 tip.

The stern looking woman at the front desk gives him a serious look as Casey nearly passes out in the background. "I'm going to be checking those to make sure they're real."

"But of course, I would expect nothing less." His usual winning smile does nothing to lighten her glare as she rings him out. She asks if he wants to use the card to schedule something today. Why not? It's a charming establishment and he has some free time coming up.

The masseuse the card is good for, Bee, is apparently booked solid for the next month, but the stylist, Mobius, just had a cancellation in the following week that fit perfectly in his schedule.

That appointment was the beginning of the end for Loki.

So in he walks six months later, having ditched his normal high-end stylist for a middle-aged man who looks like he works in a cubicle rather than a up-and-coming salon. It isn't his normally scheduled appointment, but his cases have been crazy and Thor just left for his "journey of self-discovery" aka backpacking across Europe, so all of Odin's attention is now on his youngest.

Joy.

If Loki were the sentimental type, he'd think it a shame that the lobby area of a salon is more comfortable for him than his childhood home.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I think I got exactly what I deserved with you." Loki reaches over and gently places a hand on top of Mobius'.

"This steak is delicious, by the way. Excellent choice in restaurant."

"...Still think you deserve better." His smile is gentle. "But thank you." He turns his hand to take Loki's.

"I wasn't sure what to pick up. Not feeling Italian, Chinese seemed a little too casual? Maybe next time, though. Or, pizza. Or, you can be in charge of food next time, go back and forth with this."

"Technically I was in charge of the food for an entire week." Loki teases. "But there is this amazing Chinese establishment that delivers here. Perhaps next time."

Mobius sticks out his tongue. "Fine, no, I'll bring food, unless you want to cook. Or maybe I'll cook."

"I would love to cook for you or to have you cook. That big kitchen has to get used sometime." He orders out a lot, but he does enjoy cooking for himself at the time.

"So long as we all know who's doing what when we meet up. Food-wise, anyway. Don't have to plan each and every day out, obviously." Although maybe things like 'go over a big list of sexy kinks' should probably have been brought up, specifically, beforehand.

Yeah, Loki is going to be very specific from now on about what their meetings will entail if it's anything like this in the future.

The last bite of steak is just as good as the first. Loki sits back in his seat with a satisfied sign.

"Would you like to move to the living room for desert? I have a pint of gelato from that Italian place on the corner." Among other things, depending on how Mobius reacts to a more in-depth look at the list.

"Absolutely. You get us set up, I'll clean up here."

The least he can do. Box up anything leftover, toss the rest, dishes, no big deal. What a nice condo. Wonder how thick the walls are... (Well. Loki would know.)

"I hope it isn't too disappointing if I don't really have an answer for a lot of them. Depending on how wild and crazy the list gets."

"Don't worry about disappointing me or not," Loki says as he carries over two bowls of gelato to the couch. "Just be honest. If you don't know what something is you can ask. If it sounds interesting we'll see about trying it. If not, we put it to the side."

"I still can't believe there's a whole checklist." He definitely is going to have some gelato first, while he takes the list and gives it a once-over. Some of the entries make him raise an eyebrow, or both eyebrows, and some of them are a lot more familiar.

"I think I'm getting old. Is old people on your list, because you've got one."

"Ah ah! No getting at my list until yours is done." Loki holds up his folded list between two fingers before putting it under the waistband of his pants.

"There's a more detailed one, if you can believe that."

"Ohhhh, I can believe it. This by far doesn't have everything even I can think of, but it's a...it's definitely a start." There are pens. No. Wait. There is a pen, one of those ones that has different colors depending how you click. Which is cute, actually. That's really cute.

He mulls over it and starts filling things out (color coordinated!) with occasional dips into his gelato. Until he slides the page between them on the table. "Like I said, a start."

Loki glances at the list as he pulls out his own list to place beside it on the coffee table.

"It seems we agree on quite a few things." Loki says with a smile.

"Seems like." He purses his lips and compares the two. "Some things here I don't actually know what they are, but also seems like some of them don't matter so much if they're not going to be on the table. I don't even know what the hell encasement means in this context. And then I suppose some of these I don't know the difference between, or don't know how to define them. Pain's fine, but where's the line between light and heavy? Isn't that just going to be more of a personal definition?"

"Encasement is also called 'mummification', it's being wrapped in something and being unable to move. Or sealed into a vacuumed bed." See, he can answer questions!

"Yes, the line is up to personal preference, but that's one of the reasons specific discussions before a scene is important. I'm okay with pretty much anything that won't leave a permanent mark or somehow makes me unable to do my job effectively the next day." Depending on his mood, that is, but it's a good general rule when starting out.

"This," he taps the note on his own sheet. "It's okay if you need to go grab something from another room, just let me know where you're going and be back quickly. I trust you not to...leave me in a compromising position, but it makes me nervous regardless."

"In my day, we called that a catsuit," he says with a little snort of amusement. Rather than 'that's a thing?' because of course everything on here is A Thing, that's kind of the point. He muses and adds a few more points on his.

"I can...try to call you names."

"'Slut' and 'whore' are favorites of mine, but you don't have to use anything you aren't comfortable with." Obviously, that's the whole point of this.

He taps the three unmarked circles next to 'lingerie, stockings, and heels.'

"Have you never tried wearing them before, or you did and were uncertain if you liked it or not?"

"It's a maybe. We can try it. I probably won't be a fan of it."

There are several things he's left unmarked, so, maybe that's a good time to get into that? "Never crossed my mind to do it before."

He scribbles in a little more and thinks that's about as good as that's going to get as is.

"You ever host an orgy?"

"Would you like to try at some point? I'm sure at least my stockings and perhaps one or two heels would fit you," Loki says while marking a few more on his own list to match the ones Mobius filled out.

"Host? No, that is entirely too much work. But I have attended more than a few. There's a club in town I use to go to on occasion."

"If you wanna see me dolled up, I could try it. You don't necessarily seem enthused about crossdressing or-" with a tap to the blank spot of the sheet "-feminization." But. Gender is a concept that Loki has Opinions on, so it could just be that he objects to those terms.

"Seems like the more the merrier for you. But that you like to be the center of attention."

"They are terms that don't fit well with me. 'Crossdressing' implies a binary I personally don't ascribe to, and 'feminization' carries a note of degradation I'm not a fan of."

Loki shrugs, a lazy smile on his face as scoots closer to snuggle up next to Mobius now that he seems to be done with writing. "I do on occasion. It's fun, but exhausting."

Mobius gives a little hum of understanding. "I think I'll just lump it in with anything else I've left blank. In that I don't...know. Not opposed to giving it a try but no idea what I actually think of it for me. Like domination--I could probably do that for you. Just seems a bit more formal or involved, I guess, than what I usually get up to. Or DP, I mean, I've never had it done to me, and that would definitely need some talking out and a lot of patience, but am I opposed to the idea of it? Not in principle, no."

Or, say, orgies. Sounds great, never been, no idea if that would be overwhelming or awesome.

"And we don't have to do everything on the list immediately. Or ever. It's just a temperature check for now."

Loki smiles. "I'm glad that you like your partners in lingerie, or the surprise I have for you would have been very awkward."

"Who doesn't linger--oh. You wanna dress up for me? Or dress...down, I guess is more the right phrase."

"Maybe." Loki teases.

"Care for a quick tour of the flat before we get to second dessert?"

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject