Texting #4: Sleep
Tower Universe - Short
Loki's fingers fly over his newly discovered mortal technology—he's getting quite adept at this texting business. It's almost... enjoyable.
Today, he finds himself irritated by one of Midgard's many idiosyncrasies: sleep.
He fires off a message to Gwen.
Text from Loki: "Mortals spend so much time asleep... it's absurd!"
He hits send, waiting for her rebuttal.
Gwen hears her phone ding and opens her eyes. She picks up the phone and groans before setting it back down. Emergency calls can come in at any time so she keeps her phone on even in the middle of the night, but this is definitely not an emergency.
She's just going to ignore it.
Loki's eyebrow arches in confusion as he sees his message go unanswered. It's impossible that she's still sleeping—humans have such limited energy spans. Maybe she hasn't seen it yet? No... he can see that she has.
He's tempted to send another message, but some hint of self-control prevails. He waits, tapping his fingers impatiently against whatever surface he's sitting on.
Ten minutes later, he caves and sends another message.
Text from Loki: "I know you're awake."
She snatches her phone off the nightstand. Don't engage, Gwen, she tells herself...but her fingers are already typing back a message.
Text from Gwen: "No, I'm not. I'm completely asleep. It is 2 am."
Loki smirks triumphantly at the response—his persistence paid off.
Text from Loki: "Ah, but awake enough to text"
Text from Loki: "Fascinating how mortal 'sleep' works."
He pauses for a moment before sending another message—this time laced with false innocence.
Text from Loki: "So what exactly do you dream about? Asking purely for academic reasons, of course."
Is he really waking her up to ask about dreams?
Text from Gwen: "Now, I'm not dreaming of a thing since someone woke me up, but before that, I had a dream that a vine was crushing the life out of a snake while a voice whispered ‘revenge.’ I wonder what that could mean..."
Loki’s smirk falters slightly at her dream description—vine crushing a snake? Revenge? He doesn’t like where this symbolism is going.
Text from Loki: "A rather... dramatic subconscious. Though I suppose it makes sense for someone surrounded by plants all day."
A pause, then—because he can’t resist.
Text from Loki: "And the snake didn’t deserve it, by the way."
Text from Gwen: "Depends on how long the snake keeps the plant awake."
Loki rolls his eyes at her response but grins, nonetheless. She's sharp, this one. He can't help but enjoy their little banter.
He pushes a bit further, because why not? This is much more entertaining than sleeping, anyway.
Text from Loki: "Maybe the snake just wanted company. After all, plants don't exactly make for good conversation."
He can almost hear her scoff through the phone. And he can't help hoping she'll keep replying.
Text from Gwen: "No, they don't, especially in the middle of the night when they should be sleeping."
She can't stop yawning, but she's not going to put the phone down yet.
Text from Gwen: "But I'm terribly sorry the snake is lonely."
Loki's smirk widens at her tired words—he can imagine her rubbing her eyes sleepily, still stubbornly refusing to admit defeat in this little war of wills. It's almost endearing. Almost.
He types out a response, his fingers dancing across the screen, eager to keep this going as long as possible.
Text from Loki: "You seem to speak from experience with lonely snakes."
He hits send and then sits back, waiting for her reply, a mix of anticipation and mild amusement filling his chest.
Gwen smiles to herself now.
Text from Gwen: "Yes, but luckily for the snake, I find his texts amusing."
Loki’s grin softens at her admission, unexpectedly pleased by the fact that she enjoys his messages.
He types out a quick response, his usual mischief laced with something lighter.
Text from Loki: "How generous of you."
A pause, fine, he’ll relent… for now.
Text from Loki: "Sleep now, little mortal. Mischief resumes in the morning."
He tucks his phone away, already thinking of what to send her next.