fossilised | Jotunheimr

Loki had not spent a particularly restful night either. Bylestir had come to see him after he had left Odinson, come to warn him that Thor's heart may not be true and attempt to comfort him. Though Loki loved his youngest sibb tenderly, he had been tempted to rip his throat out for potentially ruining his plans.

He had assured Bylestir that his heart was in no danger and he had accepted merely to save face for Thor, and that he would pass a rumour around in a few months that he had been the one to break off the courtship so that his standing in court would not be too greatly affected. But now he had to worry over what Thor would say.

Loki did not show the lack of sleep on his face, he looked as put together as ever when he approached Thor and bade him follow to the ridge where Mjolnir rested. "You must be eager to return to your home."

“Uh…Aye,” Thor said with his hands on his hips, nodding as if he had been asked too many questions all at once. “Yes, yes I suppose I am. It will be good to sleep in my own…uh…bed. And to try to put my lessons to good use. On Asgard.” He scratched at his beard as if he wanted to be doing anything other than having this ridiculous conversation, but here they were. He couldn’t escape it.

Loki would be accompanying him back to the craggy mountain, back through the place where he’d first realized how ill equipped he was to go on this journey, but Thor did not dread riding back up that way so much as the company he would be attending.

How did he manage this without offending anyone? And why did it suddenly matter to him that he didn’t hurt Loki? Thor assumed it was attached to being a good prince.

“Sooo… Heard you did well in the flyting competition?”

Loki rolled his eyes at this blatant awkwardness, Thor was not a master at conversation and it was unlikely that he ever would be. He would need to learn, however, that he had to have some skill at hiding his feelings if he were ever to be an effective King in the future.

"I did, yes, thank you."

He raised an eyebrow, wondering if he should be cruel and allow Thor to try and find the words himself, or if he should be kind and put him out of his misery. In the end, he decided to be cruel and simply smiled, gesturing for Thor to follow him towards the ridge.

Breakfast was awkward. Thor’s farewells to the royal family were awkward. Their departure from the tower was awkward. Riding with Loki was awkward-- Thor was mostly quiet or boasting, making a terrible arse of himself the entire morning and afternoon until they paused just north of where he’d first been attacked for a meal.

Thor did not care to bring anything up, but he was brimming with concern over a lost friendship and a missed opporunity and so he simply had to clear the air.

“Your brother tells me that my gift yesterday was a traditional courtship gift.” At least when he decided to jump into it, it was feet first. “I am afraid that I have managed to derail our Realms by gifting you my birth mother’s tear.”

Loki almost felt sorry for Thor and the way that he suffered so; it was good that he suffered, at least, it meant that he was concerned for Loki and at least held some care for him even if he did not think of them as a good match yet. That would come in time, and Bylestir's foolish words could be mitigated now.

"You think too much of your own abilities," Loki chided, though with a small smile. "I was aware that the gift was no regard gift. You have made your feelings clear, you intend only to marry when you have taken the throne, and to get your barns on many women, you and I would not make a good match. When I take a consort, he will be mine and no other's. I did not wish for you to lose face before the court, your position is precarious, and so I accepted your gift."

One he did not intend to give back even if it might be more appropriate.

"I shall allow a rumour to circulate that the courtship has failed in a few weeks, I will lose only a small amount of standing and I am more than capable of recouping that sort of loss. I have shamed myself more with childish jests, do not be afraid for that."

Relief came over Thor’s face all too quickly and a smile replaced the careful frown he had been wearing. “Good.. Your brother seemed to think that I might have cause an undo slight to you and that was not my intention at all. The gift was and is meant to remind you of me, and when we meet again, I hope our friendship will remain…?”

Bylestir had absolutely derailed part of what Loki had been hoping to do, and Thor was not aware enough of himself to know that Loki was mocking his ways. He still did believe that he would have many children, and since the talk in the pool, he wasn’t sure he wanted to have a queen at all. He could keep all of his children close, or with their mothers. Romantic liasons were a weakness anyway. One that Thor did not intend to let rule him.

He ate heartily, moving onto other topics that did not include relationships of any sort. He told Loki of what he intended to do when he was home, of the hunting he would do and the relief he planned to send to the people of this Realm. It was all very relaxed, thankfully.

No beasts came to tempt themselves on Thor’s flesh and by the evening, they arrived at the hammer, half buried in the snow and ice. Thor’s eyes lit up and he strode forward, intent to pull Mjolnir free.

Bylestir may have set his plans back, but Loki trusted that they would not be ruined. This next part of the plan would be the most dangerous, for he had to place his trust in Thor's nature and the way that Loki believed it would go. He thought that absence would provide a greater affection, that Thor would find none on Asgard could fill that same place, and would think on their liaison together as one he wished to repeat.

It may take months, or even years, but he had hope that Thor would return to him with amorous intent. He need only be patient, and he intended to make good on exploring other realms in the meantime.

"I trust we will see each other again, Thor Odinson, but I have a request. You cannot return the Casket, I know you do not have that authority, but you must have the Ways unblocked for us. We need to trade, and we must have a presence in the other realms to undo the damage that these stories have spread. Will you see to it?"

Lucky for Thor, Mjolnir would heed his grip, thanks to the words of Odin who had said that when Loki deemed him worthy of trying once more, then the hammer would yield to his grip once more.

“We will see to the opening of trade together,” Thor promised, for while he did long for his home, he would not abandon his friendship here. He might revel in the warmth for a time but then he would be right back to work. Thor did well with a purpose. It gave him a greater quality of life instead of just being a marauding prince traveling around Asgard doing whatever he liked.

The moment Thor touched the hammer, lightning arced from his body to ground itself in the snow around him. A long, purple streak reached from sky to the top of the hammer and Thor’s full battle regalia materialized across his body. The smug smirk he’d carried when he first came was replaced with a smile as he stepped away from the crater left by the regaining of his power.

He held his hand out to Loki, to take his forearm in his hand. “We will see one another shortly.” When enough time had lapsed so that their ‘courtship’ might be ended. “Thank you for all you have done, my friend.”

The storm was bright and brilliant, if only for the moment or two it lasted, and Loki felt it shudder through him as though he were riding the tails of that lightning. Oh, how he wanted so much to unleash Thor's true power and harness it for himself, how he deeply desired to use that magic himself.

He nearly reached out to taste, to see if he could feel the electricity on his lips, but he restrained himself and instead gripped Thor's forearm in return with a sudden and brilliant smile.

Very little time passed after that before the Bifrost opened and Thor would find himself home once more, Frigga in the Observatory with Heimdall to see her son returning, a fond smile on her lips as she drew him into an embrace. "Thor, you look well, I knew that you would find the worth inside you again. Come, you must tell me all."

Thor didn’t have the gift of the silver tongue as Loki did and so when he did tell all, he really told all. It included his mishap with the gift and the conversation in the hot spring, though he spared some details from his mother. They worked together after that to give Jotunheim limited access to the Bifrost, a trail basis as it were, and Vanaheim was ordered to drop their shields from the Way between themselves and the land of the Frost Giants. Trade did not begin immediately, but talks were in place for it to, Asgard staying out of the negotiations though they did oversee them and would mediate if needed.

Luckily, they were not needed.

Many months passed. Thor sent Loki and his family many gifts without realising the way it looked. He defeated many a feirce creature in his travels and would often send the whole thing, processed save for the intact head, to Jotunheim. It did not help speculation and Thor had even forgotten that there was speculation to begin with.

A year passed and then another before Thor and Loki would see one another again, and this time, Thor would arrive on Jotunheim properly and with better planning. He waited impatiently in outward chamber of the throne room while his presence was made knowb, plucking at his cape.

Frigga listened to her son's stories of Jotunheim that first time, and many times thereafter over the following years. She knew what would come, she had seen their threads of fate entangled when she had first laid eyes on the blue-skinned fyri, and she hoped that it would be a good match. She said nothing of it, of course, only smiled a secret smile whenever Thor told stories of his good 'friend' Loki to his other companions.

Loki had used those two years well. He and his people had begun trade in the Free Market, making sure to send only their most gentle spoken and kindly traders to help erase the stories of monstrous Giants. It was working, slowly, but it worked. Loki himself had travelled not just to Vanaheim, but also to Alfheim to treat with the dwarves.

He wished to visit Midgard also, but that would have to wait.

He had garbed himself in the dress that Thor had made for him, red and gold as the deal had been made, and wore the Tear at the end of intricate braids. He stood at Laufey-King's right hand as Thor was shown in and the ruler of Jotunheim bid Thor welcome with a nod of his head.

"Odinson-Heir, be welcome in Jotunheim. Tell me, for what purpose do you visit?"

Thor was taken aback. He gazed at Loki for several long and speechless moments before his eyes shifted and his smile, which had wavered towards a ping of both nostalgia and desire, reset itself. “Once again, I stand in your court to ask a favour,” Thor’s voice boomed. “We have detected many things occurring upon the Realm of Midgard and while I have been sent there to see for myself the changes, I wish to include representatives from the other Realms to journey with me. And I know of few others who desire to learn as much as you, Loki Laufeybarn. If you are willing and If you, Laufey-king, would allow it, I wish for you to accompany me to Midgard to see what has become of the mortals over the last thousand years.”

The Warriors and Sif would also travel with him. It was another of Odin’s tests, to see what his son and his son’s future advisors might do.

Midgard was the least likely Realm to feel lasting effects after all. Their peoples were many and their lives short. Thor would likely be forgotten again as he had been forgotten from when he last played on Midgard as a boy.

Loki felt the weight of Thor's gaze on him and he was well pleased with it. It did not yet hold love, but it held more affection than it used to and Thor could easily be led further down this path. He had not yet made murmurings that the courtship had failed, he truly hoped not to have to, though all had been instructed to keep it private for matters of political peace.

Laufey was truthfully shocked. To have a representative of Jotunheim on Midgard was a proof that they had truly been absolved their previous 'crimes', and he inclined his head after only a moment.

"I do not think I could stop my eldest barn from following on such a mission, so I will not try. Go with my blessing, Loki-Fyri, and may you find more allies in the mortals of Midgard."

Thor was pleased with the outcome and Heimdall was waiting to be called upon to bring them back to Asgard, though Thor thought that Loki might want some time to pack his things and prepare his magics. Thor walked along with him, the short hilt of his hammer twirling in his palm as he strode down halls he had not all that long ago begun to know quite well.

“Odin All-Father has been clear of the mission. We must observe first and not make it known that we are other than mortals ourselves. He says that there have been strange things occuring upon Midgard for some time, magics unlike any other known seeping into their world. The All-Mother believes you to be the best there could be to detect and identify what is occuring. If we are viewed favourably, we will reveal ourselves. Midgard has been left alone for too long.”

Heimdall had gazed down upon the world and had retrieved images of the many fashions and peoples present on Midgard for them to choose from to model their appearance after and Thor had a book of those images to hand towards Loki.

“This will be our only point of contention, I am sure, for you dislike the idea of looking other than as you are. There are simply no blue Midgardians.”

Loki would have to see about that. He wanted to make allies among the mortals and prove to them that their histories of Jotnar invading and slaughtering their kind were wrong, were prejudiced and slanted in favour of the Aesir. Much like Thor, he had no real concept that they could have passed into myth in so short a time as a millennia; why, it took that long for a boy to become full grown!

"I suppose it is fair that I must look as they do at first, I would not wish them to become afraid on seeing me."

More than any other race, Loki expected the short-lived and weak mortals to fear the Jotnar, though he disliked that they bore such a strong resemblance to the Aesir, it would feel as though he were wearing their hated skin. He flicked through the book and its very odd fashions, noting that all wore clothes that covered their whole bodies, rather than the simple kilts that Jotnar seemed to prefer.

"I will look as I must, but I will have your word that you nor any of your companions shall mock me for that appearance. Tell me, what do you believe to be our point of infiltration on Midgard? How are we to observe? Or do we know little beyond magic, which I am to identify when we arrive?"

“No one has been to Midgard since the conclusion of the war,” Thor said after assuring Loki that none would make fun of him, though he had to promise not to make fun of them either in their odd costumes and lack of armour…because yes, Thor’s compatriots were feeling as Loki did, losing the key identifiers of rank to blend in with the mortal population. “Once Midgard was healed of the battle wounds it sustained, it was closed off. I have not been since I was a child half my height, though I recall enjoying much of it while I was there.”

Odin had brought him to Midgard not long after he’d been brought from the cave when his mother had been killed in battle. Thor had delighted in Midgard but the Ways were soon closed to it as they had been to Jotunheim.

“This is an exploratory journey only,” Thor said, though he did lean in towards Loki conspiratorially. “But it will be great fun. We will make sure of it. Pack all you will need for many weeks. But hurry. I am anxieous to be underway.”

They paused outside of the door to Loki’s chambers. “You look beautiful,” Thor said after a momoment, flushed a bit, and then excused himself to say his hellos to Bylestir.

Loki's mouth fell open a little at the unexpected compliment, and he finished his preparations with a wide smile. It seemed his plans truly were going well, that flush had been that of a young man on the way to infatuation, and he would be sure to tell Farbauti of it at a later time.

Bylestir had grown even more in just the two years that Thor had been gone, and now stood nearly at the height of his dam, imposing and muscled. He still grinned like a boy, though, when he saw Thor and eagerly greeted him. He made sure to tell him all the little gossips, and sprinkled in how much Loki had missed him while pretending not to, for he had been brought into confidence by Farbauti after he worried himself nearly sick over the regard gift mess.

It was not long until Loki sought out Thor once more, his belongings stored in a space he could reach into at will to keep him from having to carry a pack. He looked different, and Bylestir made a noise halfway between a scream and a sob when he beheld the pale skin on his eldsibb. For now he was pale, with green eyes and no Kyn lines, only his long hair remaining the same black. He wore a tailored suit and tie from the book he had been given.

"...be silent, sibb, you have seen me change into far more complicated forms and I must look like a Midgardian to travel to their realm."

Thor did not immediately recognize Loki until he spoke, and that made the Aesir do a doubletake and then look utterly bemused. “The costuming is so strange,” Thor said, his only comment on Loki’s appearance, though it was not about the appearance at all. “None wear capes. You will laugh to see what my mother has chosen for me to wear. When we return, Bylestir, I shall have you view me in my costume as well. You will rightly laugh.”

He patted the large Jotun on the shoulder and then turned to Loki, his eyes more appraising after the way Bylestir had crafted tales of Loki pining for him. He did not yet ask about why he still wore the Tear, and at the moment, he did not think he would. It would be more romantic for him to think on the reasoning himself.

Heimdall brought them to Asgard quickly after that.

Sif wore trousers that fit her legs as if they were painted upon her with a black shirt that showed off of her arms and, when she moved, slivers of her midrift. She had on a short jacket as well, which made her look a little bulky up top. The look was completed with white short shoes that had cotton laces. Fandral fared better in a green high collared heavy knit shirt with visible weaving and black trousers. Hogun wore looser blue trousers that had been torn at the knees and a shirt with buttons down the center. Volstagg, in a red shirt with lettering on it, was the least impressed…he had been tasted to shave his great beard and wore a strange hat with a partial brim.

And Thor returned once changed into heavy blue trousers that looked worn in places, a tight white shirt that showed off his physique and an open plaid shirt. He had pulled his hair back into a bun.

The others laughed and he laughed too. “Come, fellow Midgardians! Let us travel to a place called London!”

Heimdall obliged, sending them to a lovely green space where tall buildings peeked over gates in the distance. People mostly ignored them, strings coming from their ears as they strolled or ran about.

Loki was wary for the first minute or two around Thor's companions, but none of them laughed at him any more than they laughed at each other, and only for their garb rather than the hue of Loki's skin. So, after a couple of minutes, he deigned to join in and poke gentle fun at the way Thor's shirt seemed far too tight and yet offered no protection from any weaponry.

The tear stuck out a little as an ornament at the end of his long braid, his hair not quite matching the smart suit he had chosen, but he did not know enough to realise that. He fit in as far as he could see... though all of his time now was spent with his mouth open, looking around at the monoliths they were surrounded by.

"...this cannot be Midgard."

Where were the huts? The farmers?

"Smell the foulness of the air, it stinks like the worst of Alfheim's forge."

“Oh it’s not that bad,” Thor dismissed, though a glance at what he remembered being a bright blue sky looked as if it’s brilliance had been clouded over. It was not beautiful, not pristine, and yet it was so very unlike anything he’d seen before. With Mjolnir disguised as something that seemed to be a retractable shading device with a curved handle in hand, Thor made a complete turn and headed towards the nearest stationary Midgardians.

There were two of them, laying in repose under a very small tree, one in peach and black and the other in purple as garish as anything a dwarf might wear. He had never seen exercising clothes before and so the skin tight material on the women and the trainers looked almost lewd where as fully naked body would never.

He wasn’t quite sure how to address them and so he did so with a bit of care learned from his time with Loki and the command of any prince.

“I wish to be directed to your nearest house of libation.”

The women glanced up at him, one shading her eyes that trailed over his body. “Are you asking us for a pint?” she grinned and Thor, who assumed that was code for a drinking place where information might be gathered, grinned right back.

“Aye, if you could perchance show the way?”

Loki had previously thought that the tongue of the Aesir was a strange one, nothing like the rolling and cracking noises of the Jotnar language, but he revised that opinion now. The Aesir tongue was significantly more elegant and less strange than this mortal vernacular, with its harsh accent and odd way of forming the words. He watched Thor's performance with the two women, who pointed them to a building down the road that proclaimed itself "The Two Ravens", which smelled of weak ale and sweat.

This was not the Midgard he had read about in books.

Still, he had a mission here and he intended to follow it. He closed his eyes and allowed the sense of seidr to fill him, to guide him to-- Ah. There. A few thousand miles away across the ocean. He had no idea that he had just pinged the Tesseract, and that SHIELD were now in utter disarray as they panicked over why their mysterious blue cube had just lit up briefly and then went dormant again.

"...the magic is many miles from here," he murmured to his companions in an undertone. "I can track it swiftly alone, while you perform reconnaissance here, and then return to you with more news."

Splitting up seemed like a good idea and so as Loki made plans to seek out the source of the magic he felt (could that explain this world’s sudden oddity?) and Sif made it clear to the girls that their company was not a desired thing, Thor decided to send Sif, Hogun and Volstagg into the drinking establishment while he and Fandral strolled down the streets of the city.

Everything would be fine there until Thor looked in the direction painted on the sidewalk and headed out right in front of a double decker bus.

Loki would not be concerned with that bit of amusement, however, when he was much more interested in the flow of seidr coming from one particular place along a not as busy as most London street.

There was a man there waiting for him, frowning behind the door that turned to open on his direction. “And what exactly are you?”

Obviously, without Loki's interference before now, they would be the first from another world to visit Midgard in a long time. The Chitauri had not invaded, it had been a much more mundane threat, HYDRA and their experiments, that had forced the Avengers to form in this reality. Not that Loki knew that, all he knew was that this mortal had magic. Oh, not magic such as he possessed, it was diluted and thin, but it was still more than he believed any mortal should have.

So he stopped in the street and canted his head, eyebrows raised, as he assessed the man that was watching him in return. A different accent again to the girls who had been in the park.

"Just a visitor," he said, deciding on discretion. "London is a beautiful city."

“You’re not but it is,” the man said, holding the door he was standing in front of to Loki. It was a calculated risk on both parts, this, but each wanted to get to the bottom of the other and so it was s risk worth taking. “Come in. I’ll make you some tea.”

Of course, the decor inside the building was only in part in keeping with the exterior. Old woods, stained glass... but that staircase? That was like nothing Loki would have ever seen before. Midgardians used wood in so many interesting ways, didn’t they?

The man would head right up those stairs too, not quite trusting but also not looking behind him either. People with talent could feel one another.

Loki was not afraid of this mortal, he knew that he was the superior in both magic and physical strength, but he was definitely intrigued. He had never heard of mortals with magic before, and this connection to seidr felt... odd. As though it were channelled between bits of his clothing rather than running through his veins. On his finger there was a ring, round his neck there was an amulet of considerable power, and his cloak-- definitely odd.

He followed and sat in one of the chairs that he was offered, sniffing the beverage offered to him with interest. He had never had tea before.

"You are awfully hospitable to a stranger visiting from a foreign land. I can assume there is reason to this beyond mere kindness."

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omg finally home

Re: omg finally home

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