fossilised | Jotunheimr

“Do you forget so easily that I was also exiled to a world to learn temperance by one who may well have shown none himself? If I was not to journey to retrieve Mjolnir, what then would be the end of my quest?” He was relying too much on what he’d always been told of quests in stories and ballads. The warrior was always sent to retrieve an item of worth to prove their own worth. As he could not fly and the distance seemed great indeed, Thor did believe that once he held the hammer in his grasp, he would be restored and this would all end. “Guide me well, Loki, and journey back with me to Asgard. To retrieve my birthright is only the halfway point of this epic.”

What a fool. Thor was being less arrogant now than he had been before, but he was still attributing his punishment as a quest for glory and not a journey towards personal growth.

And he even assumed Loki would wish to journey to a land of his oppressors! Thor did not think his words through no matter the greatness of his intentions.

He dressed quickly and joined Loki to start their journey, boasting of the beasts he had hunted.

Evidently he’d already forgotten he had been robbed of his strength.

Loki led Thor to what he might recognise as stables, but there were no horses within. Instead, they housed creatures with thick blubbery hides, near five times the size of even Asgardian stallions, with five small beady eyes and two horns at their head. A saddle sat high above their heads, which Loki easily vaulted up and into.

"It may be best that we ride together, you will be unfamiliar with Sniva. Though if you wish to attempt to ride one alone, I will welcome the entertainment."

Thor, it turned out, was not as boring as he had first feared he might be. True, he was not the wittiest, but he had an earnestness to him which was oddly charming.

"Perhaps if one throws you off, it will knock sense into your head. Take me to Asgard, you fool, do you wish to begin war anew?"

“You would be guest of the prince,” Thor said, grunting as he climbed the beast that shifted beneath him as he tried to move. It was not his most elegant of moves but he had very little choice. His honour had been nearly marred by Loki’s seeming taunts and he could not now ride with the Jotnar prince if his pride was to remain intact.

At least Loki would get his laugh, first as Thor fell into foul smelling, weedy hay, and then as the sniva bucked him off into the wall. At least when all was said and done, Thor’s traumatized beast (Aesir did smell horrible evidently) was left behind and Thor was left frowning at Loki’s shoulder as he wrapped one leather clad arm around his narrow waist.

“Cease your chuckling,” he muttered as he felt another ripple run through the Jotnar.

He was insufferable!

Loki could not and would not stop laughing, he would hold precious for a long time the image of Aesir legs sticking out of hay, and he took great delight in showing off how well he handled his own beast and how it seemed to both adore him and obey him without question.

"What cause would I have for mirth?"

He made sure to sound as offended and innocent as possible, all while still laughing.

"I am certain that all Asgard's princes are as gainly and graceful as you have proven yourself today, truly an honour to your House."

It was difficult for Thor to stay sore for long, however, even if Loki teased and laughed at him for the next half an hour or so. Maybe it was because the other was so jovial, maybe because his laugh was so delightfully sincere, that Thor ended up laughing with him. “When first I discovered that I could fly with the proper swing of Mjolnir’s thong, I was even worse off than back at the stable. Many buildings in Asgard needed new roofs that summer and many new trees needed to be planted!”

He delighted, however awful this place was, in that singular, happy laugh. Loki riled him up and just as easily put him back at ease.

Even if the laughter was all at his own expense, Thor continued to tell stories of giant snakes he tried to hug and barrels of beer he drank to the bottom of. And he would have continued if he hadn’t noticed that they were being stalked. His smile was almost palpable.

“Stop the progress of this beast,” Thor said, his grip on Loki loosening. “I believe our meal is ready to be defeated.”

It was odd to hear Thor tell such tales that all ended in his humiliation, he had seemed so arrogant before that it hadn't seemed likely that he would know how to laugh at himself. But he told the tales with a generosity and humour that elevated him somewhat in Loki's eyes, and made him wish to see the true might of Mjolnir unleashed for, even if it were in the hands of an Aesir, it would be a spectacle to see.

Had Thor learned nothing from their mount? All the beasts on Jotunheim were much larger and more vicious than the ones he was used to, and he truly thought to hunt one alone for their food? Ah well, he would make sure the princeling didn't end up killed, but he would certainly enjoy the sport of watching him.

"Then I shall wait and watch, prepared to compose a ballad of this hunt to be sung at the next feast day, so do make sure you impress me; or, if you are to die, make it suitably dramatic, for a dull song will win no favours."

“Have you learned nothing? I have been telling you stories all this day of my nigh indestructibility!” Evidently Thor thought that stories of his antics were actually tales to illustrate how much of a licking he could take. No wonder he did not find shame in his initial defeats before explaining how well the outcome went.

He slide from the sniva with ease, dodging the kick he assumed to be incoming, and walked backwards away from it with his arms open.

“Prepare a fire! We will dine upon—“ Thor was pushed face first into the snow as a snarling beast of living stone and fatty hide pounced upon him from the shadow of a mountain ridge he had not been looking towards.

He was face first into the snow for a long while. Too long. His strength had left him, and though his father had granted him the ability to withstand the cold, that did not extend to the creatures that lived in the cold.

Truly?

That was the might of Odin Spearshaker's heir, the great Thor Thunderer? He had been laid flat by one swing of the grimr's claws? Ridiculous. Though he had not expected the prince to succeed, he had at least thought to see a battle first, but it seemed that Thor was not about to stir from the snow.

The creature was chased off in short order - a few seidr tricks from Loki, and his sniva's charge, and it fled - and he gathered the Odinson up and onto the beast. It looked as though he were not in danger to die, though his bruises and perhaps a few broken ribs were evident.

He would awaken back in the furs of his guest room, with a Jotnar stood over him that he would not know. Taller even than Laufey-King, but slender like a willow tree, he was dabbing salve over Thor's completely naked body.

Having not thought to wake in bed, Thor wondered for a moment if the last few hours had been but a dream. He turned his head to the left without opening his eyes and closed them once more before they shot open again to the creature leaning over him. His eyes narrowed.

“I need not a companion for my furs,” he said, almost wary, before the Jotun pressed a cloth against his chest and pain radiated from the point of contact.

He had not been dreaming. This was almost more than he could bear, unfortunately. And his body rejected the touch of anyone. He pushed at the hands, which did indeed move aside for a moment before returning.

Thor’s jaw quivered. Odin has cursed him. “Where is Loki?”

"You are far too small for me to want to share your furs, Odinson. Be thankful that I desire peace more than I desire your death, and do not test my patience by making my aid more difficult to issue."

Farbauti, for it was the King's consort and Loki's sire, spoke with all the anger and contempt that most of a certain age felt for the Aesir and, worse, one of Odin's get. She understood why Laufey had agreed to allow Frigga and the All-Father to exile their son here, she understood that it could lead to a mending their realm greatly needed, but such crimes were not so easily forgotten.

"Were I to have my way, you would never lay eyes upon any of my sons again, but it is not my way that prevails here. Loki has gone to fetch you some food from the kitchens, he will return shortly."

Thor vaguely remembered this giant from the throne room, vaguely remembered the way she had looked when he called the name of her son to be his guide, and felt an odd mixture of shame and pride to have her be his attendant. He imagined his own mother would behave this way as well to an enemy, even one who was innocent of his father’s crimes.

Thor was silent for a few moments before he lifted his eyes to her again. She was not attractive by any stretch of the word but Thor found her fascinating, like an icicle but delicate and deadly.

“I have come to question what I have always been told about your people and my father’s hand in your subjugation. I know little of what I may do but... your son will help me find the truth.” She pressed hard to his skin again and Thor let out a yelp he did not know he was capable of making. It caused him to fall silent, eyes turned towards the door of his room to wait for the more bitter tongued yet far more gentle Loki to return.

Farbauti would have sneered still more if he knew that Thor thought of him as a woman. All Jotnar were male, they simply possessed the ability to both sire and bear children, yet all were brothers and none were daughters. He also had little faith in the Odinson's words, Odin himself had often told honeyed lies, and he did not believe that the get of so cruel a conqueror would be so peaceable or ignorant.

Luckily she was saved from having to reply other than to soothe his wounds, for Loki chose that moment to reenter the room, looking miniature next to his sire, carrying a tray with salted meat, fish, bread, and cheeses. He cast an affectionate look at Farbauti, which was returned wholeheartedly, before he turned his attention to Thor.

"Do not be afeared, Odinson, I have made sure that all on this tray is already well dead, so even a hunter of your-- prowess-- need not fear from it."

There went the right jaw again, but given what he was dealing with now, including the wound to his pride, Thor was not able to do much more. “You... aye. Thank you,” he said tightly. His manners were not much improved but the large frost giant was not exactly being kind to him despite her actions and he did not wish to anger her when her strength was sapped.

Farbauti finished his work, fingers long but skilled at tying off the bandages around a murderer’s son. He brought his own son, when the tray was placed down, to the doorway and crouched with some effort to wrap those long fingers around his shoulders.

Their words were in the tongue of ice and All-Speak did not translate it well. “My darling. Take care. He has been rendered weak but a wound to his pride could wound our people. This is sensitive. I know Laufey has spoken with you on this but let me beseach you again to take pity on our people and not anger the get of the Spearbreaker.”

Loki loved his family deeply, his sire as well as his dam, but he was a creature of chaos and he had always gone his own way regardless of politics or consequences. He smiled, the very picture of innocence, and answered in a demure manner that would surely have Farbauti all the more worried. "I would not dream of angering him, my sire, you can trust me."

He slipped free of Farbauti's hold after that and moved to sit on the edge of Thor's bed, looking oddly as though he fitted there for the way they were of a muchness in size, rather than two among a world of giants.

"It was a truly glorious battle, Odinson, you lasted a whole second. Tell me, is that how you usually fare in the hunt?"

“He has rendered me useless,” Thor said with the sound of a heart breaking. He did not look at Loki, nor at the meal, though he hungered for it greatly. “He did not intend for me to return to Asgard. He wanted me to die here. My bones have broken. My blood had spilled. Neither had occurred to me in my entire life. He rendered me mortal, Loki, not to learn of the people he has wronged, but to have me die with them.”

He’d done the same to his sister, hadn’t he?

“I have two brothers,” Thor said with a worrying sureness of what was happening now. “One has just turned the age I had been when my sister was exiled to Hel.”

He looked almost like he might cry, though there was no shame in tears of frustration.

“I am to be murdered here. We must find Mjolnir and we must find my sister and we must... we must... I wish not to go against my father, Loki.”

This was a turning point.

Loki could so easily fall in line with this way of thinking, assist the heir in finding Hela and revenging himself on his father, destroying Asgard in the process. He teetered on the edge for a few moments; perhaps in another time and if he had not been raised with such devotion on Jotunheim, he might have taken that path. But instead he chose to shake his head with a light sigh.

"You have such hysterical dramatics that you make small children look level headed enough to rule kingdoms. If the All-Father wanted you dead, he need only to kill you, why leave you with enough of your magic to survive our cold and send the All-Mother to barter for your safety from the Jotnar? Perhaps he has left you weak to teach you that not all might needs to be in your arm."

It was a lesson that Loki had learned as a babe; he would never be as physically adept as his Kyn, but he was powerful in a way that they could never be.

If not for Loki’s words, Thor would have indeed done all and more. Strange to have the eldest son of the people wronged talk him out of it but he would eventually be grateful. Now, he was just hurt and angry and feeling mostly like the child Loki had accused him several times of being. Thor’s sigh rattled throat his chest, though the healing salves made him feel better the longer they sat upon his skin.

Reaching for the tray, he sat it upon his lap and tried Jotun cuisine. It was bland, but not terrible, and he was hungry enough to down the entire thing.

“If I am not meant to be made worthy by reaching the hammer, what then would you have me do? I do not care for reading. Your people despise me. There are few lessons to be learned here.”

Thor should not be grateful for too long, Loki still intended to turn Odin into a cat's paw against his father, but all out war within Asgard would benefit nobody. No, he needed to turn Thor into a staunch defender of the Jotnar, and willing cohort to take back the Casket, by force if necessary.

That meant some kindness had to be shown, some wisdom, some solidarity.

"Why do you ask what I would have you do? Do I define your worth now? I do not know what the All-Father hoped to achieve by sending you here, of all realms, but I know that you are not what I would consider a worthy heir. Why do you not cease to fight to return to a place you are not yet ready to reside, and instead take this opportunity to learn of one of the other realms of Yggdrasil?"

Thor did not roll his eyes but he looked as if he could at any moment. He wasn’t entirely thrilled with this line of learning. He took his duties hand on hand and while Loki had pointed out that there were other ways, he did not relish them.

A frown came to his lips as he finished his tray of food. His appetite at least was still healthy.

“I ask because my own inclination has not worked. You are a Guide, are you not? Guide me.” It might have been the stupidest thing that Thor could have ever said. Or the smartest. Jotunheim May well thrive with Loki whispering in the ear of the All-Father and surely the one that did that would indeed be worthy of becoming king himself.

Thor pushes the tray away and gingerly touched his wrappings.

“I would like to see more of this Realm. Upon my own feet, this time. Surely there is more than a single tower.”

Loki already had his own plans for becoming King, and contingency plans for if either of his brothers should be chosen. At the moment he felt that it was between Bylestir and himself; the Jotnar were tired of war and death, they wanted a gentler King and Bylestir embodied that, but Loki was obvious the most intelligent of the brothers by far and his ability to wield Seidr set him ahead.

While Helblindi had his supporters, they were few and concentrated in small pockets, the ones still angry who wanted to rise up again in violence no matter the cost. Revenge was a dangerous ploy to use for Kingship, but Helblindi knew little different.

Should he get the ear of Thor, though? Perhaps even make him love him as a consort, he could be King of Jotunheim and All-Mother of Asgard, he would be immensely powerful, and that was a tempting thing indeed. After a moment or two, he smiled, long and slow and seductive.

"To journey Jotunheim will take many weeks, are you sure that this is how you want to spend you time? You will be alone with me for much of it."

Unaware of Loki’s thoughts, Thor presses his lips together as he watched the Jotun at his side. “I feel as though to answer may be a trick,” he says, though the corners of his mouth give away the mirth he truly feels and he can not help but chuckle. That, in turn, causes his wounds to ache and he wraps one arm around himself for the reminder that he is not yet the Thunderer once more and has much to learn to become worthy of the title again...or, if not, much to learn about what his place might be here on Jotunheim. “A jest. You have proven yourself to be my protector. I can think of no other to make the journey with. Perhaps we should bring with us provisions so that we aren’t forced to rely upon my hunting skills.”

Once again, it’s just a little bit of self depreciation, mostly to make Loki laugh again. He can’t place why he finds it to be so pleasant, but oh... oh it truly is.

They are on their way not long after, Bylestir walking slowly with Thor as Loki leads the way down the corridor to the Tower gates. “I caution you to take care,” the giant says.

That makes Thor laugh. “Do not worry! I am much healed.” There’s misunderstanding there. Bylestir wants nothing more than to shield Thor from danger and his brother, as much as he loves him, is danger.

Loki found only amusement in hearing the words of his brother float forward, he was not so obtuse as the Aesir and he understood that Bylestir warned his new friend against becoming entangled in Loki's webs. It was flattering that his brother saw in him the threat that he truly posed, and he was pleased far more than offended, even as he turned to give Bylestir a wink.

"You worry too much, little sibb, I will care for the Odinson as though he were my very own."

Bylestir made a rumbling noise that was half fond amusement and half concern. "That is what frightens me, eldsibb, I have seen how you care for the things you own. I wish only to see my brother returned safe, and the All-Father's son treated with respect. Too long have we been broken, bonds of peace could be forged here."

"You speak the obvious, Bylestir. Go and bother Helblindi, the Odinson and I have many miles to travel, we go to Utgard."

"...of course you do." Bylestir sounded resigned, before he nodded respectfully to Thor. "Until you return, then."

Thor pounded the boy on the back, though what he could reach was more like the back of a thigh. It was the gesture that counted though, a friendly sort of thing, which likely would worry Bylestir too. Thor Odinson was genial and outwardly unaware and that made him an easy manipulation. He could not know exactly what Loki planned, just that Loki planned something.

His eldsibb always did.

They were off to little fanfare, though Farbauti-Consort and Laufey-King both watched from above, both unsure if they would be bringing down the wrath of Odin with Loki’s tricks or if they might find prosperity. Loki was always a difficult one to nail down if not impossible and his motivations were chaos.

Out of sight of the castle, Thor made a small observation to Loki, half chuckling. “How is it you get so much warning? Do you intend to eat me after all?”

It had been a very long time since Loki had walked any amount of distance like a commoner. Usually he rode a sniva or, if he were truly going on his own, he might dance the paths of the Void or shapeshift to make his passage easier. This would be an odd time, and he might show himself up for being unfit for long range walks.

"Perhaps."

He laughed, a genuine sound that was carried off by the wind as his intricate plaits danced behind him.

"I cannot deny that I have wanted to get my lips around you since the moment you arrived, Bylestir likely fears for your innocence."

Thor had tangled several times in his furs, he was not a stranger to that sort of thing, but for crimson eyed Loki to have interest in him, an oppressor, had to have been a joke and Thor responded accordingly.

“None would ever speak with you again and your very lips may be sewn shut for having touched any part of me. That may well go for eating too.”

He enjoyed his laughed, long legs taking him many strides without difficulty. Thor still had his stamina and much of his resilience thankfully, but he knew not the distances that they might have to travel to find a hamlet or a village for him to ingratiate himself with its people.

“My innocence is one thing no one need worry of.”

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oh my god I just ate more food than exists in the world /flops over fatly

I was wondering where all the food in my fridge went.

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