There was something uncanny about the way Loki used Malfoy's mouth to speak words that, under any other circumstance, would never have passed his lips. It was yet another reminder that the boy she had known was gone, and that his body was little more than a marionette, dancing to the tug of its puppetmaster's strings.
"I can see that," said Oleandra coolly, eyeing the small phial pinched between Loki's fingers.
A small bottle indeed— though the roiling darkness within did little to inspire confidence.
"Aren't you going to ask me what's inside?" Loki prompted.
"Why bother?" Oleandra replied drily. "I've a feeling you'll tell me whether I want to hear it or not."
Loki stared at her, dumbfounded… and then threw his head back in laughter.
Oleandra and Mai each took half a step back without realising it, as Loki doubled over, tears of mirth streaming down his face. He even slapped his thighs in exaggerated delight, as though he'd just heard the funniest joke in the world. But eventually, his laughter died down, and he straightened up.
"Ah, laughter truly works miracles on the soul," said Loki, wiping a tear from his eye. "And just for that, I'll share a little secret with you little Faeries before we get to tonight's main event. We Aesir are all quite mad— aeons of consciousness and memories do tend to wear on the soul. Each of us has been ground down by time, stripped to the core elements of who we once were. I'll leave it to your imagination what that means for you, in our upcoming duel of minds."
It was almost maddening— each of Loki's words was so steeped in the conceptuality of untruth that Oleandra couldn't begin to tell when he was genuinely lying. She turned to Mai for answers, since her Authority of Difference was more suited for this sort of exercise.
"I don't think he's lying this time," she mouthed. "But I wouldn't count on it."
"What if I refuse to participate in this duel of minds?" asked Oleandra, turning to Loki. "What will you do then?"
Malfoy's mouth grinned eerily.
"Then I shall be sorely disappointed," Loki sighed. "And I shall be forced to dash this phial to the ground, shattering it into smithereens."
There it was again— he was bringing up the phial. Oleandra had no idea what was inside it, or what it might mean for her if its contents escaped. But one thing was clear: Loki wanted her curious about it. And that alone made her all the more reluctant to ask… unless, of course, that was his real intention? This was getting confusing.
At any rate, Loki was not trustworthy in the slightest, and there was no guarantee he'd follow his own rules. To Oleandra, it seemed the only way to win was not to play— otherwise, she'd just keep being led by the nose.
"The duel I propose is this," Loki said theatrically. "We shall take turns asking each other questions, for a total of two each— but by the rules of the game, one answer must be a lie."
"You know very well that Fae Folk cannot lie," said Oleandra coldly. "This game is unfair."
Loki grinned.
"I shall permit you to write your lie on a sheet of parchment," he said magnanimously.
He waved his hand, Conjuring a blank scroll of parchment and a quill out of thin air— but no matter which writing implements he manifested into reality, Oleandra had no intention of playing his little games. Writing her answer would just make it obvious that that one was the lie!
"I ref—" Oleandra began.
"I accept," Mai interjected, winking at Oleandra. "You don't mind if I play first, do you?"
Loki had said he would throw the vial to the ground if she refused to play— leaving them no time to weave any magic to stop this from happening, no matter how quick and agile their tongues and wands were. But if Mai played in Oleandra's stead, or at least bought some time until it was her turn…
"I didn't come here for you tonight," Loki drawled, "…but I don't mind playing with another of you little Faeries, since there's so precious few of you left. Very well, you may go first— ask away."
Mai thought about her question briefly, before asking, "What are your intentions regarding Oleandra Greengrass?"
"To watch her suffer and struggle for my enjoyment," replied Loki impassively. "My turn— what are your intentions regarding Oleandra Greengrass?"
Mai snatched the parchment and quill from Loki's hands and quickly scribbled her answer before handing it back. Loki read it carefully, then flipped the parchment over and showed the reply to Oleandra: Mai would help restore Avalon in exchange for Oleandra's aid in achieving the Order of the Round Table's goals across the British Isles.
Mai had written down this answer, so that was her lie, then? Then again, it could be the truth— if she wrote down her next answer as well, it would eliminate the unfair disadvantage that had been imposed on her, since Mai couldn't tell lies aloud either.
"My turn," quipped Mai. "What's one plus one?"
Loki grimaced.
"Seriously? You would waste a valuable opportunity to ask one of the mighty Aesir a meaningless question to guarantee the previous answer?" he whined. "Booooring, that was my idea!"
No matter how Loki answered, Mai and Oleandra would easily be able to tell whether he'd lied answering Mai's previous question— since, going by the rules, there could only be one truthful answer.
"The answer is two," Loki grumbled. "Fine, then, if you want to play it that way… what's one plus one?"
Grinning broadly, Mai took back the parchment and quill and wrote her answer, which she showed to both Loki and Oleandra: ten. In Oleandra's expert opinion— having graduated from primary school, unlike many of her now ex-fellow Hogwarts students— this meant Mai's previous statement was true.
"It's your turn, Miss Greengrass," said Loki. "If you're quite done tracing that Transfiguration Galdr into the dust with your big toe, you may now ask your first question."
Loki mimed dropping the phial, then winked at her knowingly.
"Very well, then," said Oleandra. "Let's begin."