fossilised | Jotunheimr

A year being a long time... this was perhaps the first moment that Loki became truly struck by how ephemeral and impermanent the mortals were. They lived only a century, at the most, of course they would see each one of those hundred years as a long and precious piece of time. To the Aesir and Jotnar, a year was nothing, barely worth mentioning as a time to be away and exploring other realms.

He regarded the mortal sorcerer with an expression akin to pity for a moment, before his face smoothed out and he rose to his feet gracefully, straightening the odd jacket that he wore.

"I am afraid that I cannot promise such a thing. But you have my word, I do not intend harm to this realm or her people. I advise you to allow my companions and I the space we require, this should not escalate into a fight for the sake of either of our people."

Should Loki be seen causing problems on Midgard, Asgard might decide that Jotunheim was still too dangerous to be allowed after all.

"Is this an accord we can reach?"

Others? Great.

“I’ve got this feeling that it doesn’t matter what I say.” He would just keep an eye on this one and on the others. He touched the medallion on his chest for a moment before he stood, almost too quickly. “But we can’t stay here. I think one of your friends has gotten himself admitted to the hospital.”

Thor actually felt just fine. He had his strength back, he was no longer apt to bleeding, but the people on the bus that hit him were absolutely not all right. Hitting him had been like hitting a wall and he had completely destroyed the bus. He’d also been a bit dazed, and as Fandral watched, Thor was loaded into a loud, metal, flashing vehicle and whisked off.

He was almost too shocked for words and, considering that Thor would likely make a mess of things, set off to follow at a run.

He could only keep up for so long, however.

And that meant that Thor would be alone at the A and E.

Hospital was a word that Loki did not know, and so he assumed it was some kind of holding cell for those who might have committed crime or offence. Somehow he didn't doubt that the friend that this mortal spoke of was Thor, not any of the others. He was very fond of Thor, but the man was an idiot sometimes, and especially when face to face with a culture he was unfamilair with.

"Of course he has."

Loki sighed and passed a hand over his face, odd not feeling his Kyn-lines under his fingertips, and stood to stride towards the door.

"He has the brain of a drunken ox and I apologise for his behaviour, it seems I was incorrect in thinking he might be capable of caring for himself. Tell me how to find this 'hospital' and what should be offered as reparation for his deeds."

Really? The guy’s last name was Strange. He’d gone from surgeon to acolyte of magic in the span of a few short years. He’d battled a reality devouring demon. Why, then, was it so weird to meet a shapeshifting alien with magic? He didn’t know, but it just was.

“Hospital-- It’s a place they take people who are sick or hurt,” he explained, already moving his hand to open up a portal. The bright flash of gold from his finger tutting might catch Loki’s eye, but if it didn’t, he would clear his throat. He had gotten very good at popping out into janitorial closets in hospitals and that was what Loki would see through the circle. “We should probably see to this together?”

Mops, cleaning supplies, and the smell of both filled their nostrils as they stepped through the ring. The air here was cooler than it had been before, the hospital kept colder on purpose so as to not foster germs.

“Let me do the talking,” he said to Loki and pulled off his protesting cloak to roll it up under his arm.

This gave a little more insight to Loki as to where the power came from. Though the mortal possessed some small innate connection to seidr, someone or something had imbued these items with a greater amount of seidr, making them be the focal point of whatever needed to be done. An elegant solution for a race that was not naturally gifted in these areas.

He stepped out into the small room and its odd smell, and observed as his new human companion started tucking the obviously sentient cloak under his arm. He had seen many enchanted items of clothing, obviously, and so he reached out to run a finger down one seam, his voice the low hiss of the Jotnar language, like freshly fallen snow.

"Be still, there is no danger here."

Stephen would probably be surprised to find that his cloak went limp and easily allowed itself be folded then.

Strange glanced down at the cape and then at Loki before he nodded. “Thanks,” he said, genuinely. “You’ll have to show me how you did that.” For now, everything will remain more or less as is while they try to track down a newly brought in man.

“What’s your friend’s name?” He hadn’t asked Loki yet and being American, he hadn’t given his either. It hadn’t been important at the time, but now it was how they were going to find out where the other interdimensional being Loki had been with was.

He was absolutely not prepared to hear the name.

“Thor. Really? You’ve been reading too many books. Did you take a mythological name too?”

Mythological?

The look that Loki gave Strange was absolutely baffled. He could understand tales of Odin and his son being told, but how were they anything other than history or fact? Even if mortals lived so long, surely true histories were passed down through the generations?

"I am Loki," he said simply, leaving off his Kyn name and title even though it felt wrong. "You must forgive me if I do not know your myths. I can assure you that the Thor who is my companion is a real man, overly much on occasion."

“Loki. God of mischief. Right. Clever names,” Strange said with an air of someone who wasn’t buying any of this crap. He just shrugged and left it at that, leading the way through the circuitous hallways towards the nurse’s station. “Excuse me, yes hello,” he said with importance, “we are looking for someone just brought in. Thor?”

The woman glanced at him, and then through the papers that had been dropped off not long before. “Yes… Thor Odinson?”

Strange wanted to groan. He did so inwardly. “That’s right.”

“Looks like he has been taken to the psychiatric ward so we can bring him down from whatever drugs he’s taken,” the nurse said, which was probably more information than she was supposed to give out but Strange had a commanding presence and maybe a little magical know-how to get his way.

He glanced at Loki and nodded. “I know the way. Come with me.”

He might have understood histories speaking of Thor Odinson, but not Loki Laufeybarn. He had been born as the war was almost over, how did his name come to be in the books here? He had no idea that one of the Aesir who used to be a farmer, turned warrior when forced by Hela, and had been sickened by the treatment of the Jotnar, had stayed behind on Midgard in hiding. He had written the Poetic Edda using the names of Odin's young son, and Laufey's son, the news of which had reached him just before he went into hiding.

He made them two of the most memorable characters, at war but also with a loving relationship often, in the hope that one day this might come true again. The rest had been pure fancy, a way to pass the time.

Loki looked sidelong at Strange as they walked through the hospital corridors, waving a hand at the Warriors Three and Lady Sif as they stood in the waiting room, looking confused.

"Come with us, we are going now to Thor's side."

"Loki!" That was Volstagg, relief clear on his face as he strode up. "Thor refused to fight his way out, he said this could be solved without strength of arm. I am worried, that is not like him."

Loki, however, smiled. Those were his lessons coming into play and he was well pleased. "Do not be afraid, we will liberate him. Hogun, Volstagg, Fandral, Sif; this is Doctor Strange, a new companion of mine."

Strange wasn’t as well read on the Edda and so these names meant little to him. Having Loki somehow divine his name, and his title, did bother him a little. He wasn’t quite sure why. There was no reason for it. He’d done much stranger things thus far.

Of course, the whole group of them could not go and break Thor out and so Stephen held up a hand. “Wait. No. You all will wait here. I have some pull and I will get your friend out of this situation. Trust me on this one.” He didn’t wait around for the rest to figure out what they wanted to do, he just disguised himself in a coat and headed through the swinging doors.

True to his word, in less than ten minutes, ‘Thor’ appeared, in a strange blue and white gown without a back, Stephen following quickly with his clothes.

“I do not care at all for Midgard’s hospitality!”

"Perhaps not, but their choice in clothing is to be commended."

Loki grinned, half teasing, as he shot a rather pointed look at Thor's naked buttocks. The quip pleased Fandral, for it was his sort of humour, and he laughed appreciatively, which gained him a warmer look from Loki. Perhaps he would find that he could tolerate other Aesir after all.

"Did your father not tell you to keep secret who we were, and now you have found yourself judged insane by mortal standards. What did you do, Odinson?"

"He entered mighty battle with a Midgardian skiff," Volstagg supplied, already laughing. "Though he came out the worse, the skiff became reduced to nothing, so I might call it a draw."

“I have seen no skiff like it. Tall and red, angry. Why do so many people feel need to move together? And why is it so overcrowded? If feels like a war camp here, with much less singing and festivities.” Thor had no shame, crossing his arms and ignoring the human that kept trying to get him to take the clothing. Instead, all of those gathered in the waiting area just seemed hellbent on getting them all dragged right back into the psych ward. Strange rolled his eyes and, quickly, cast a spell to keep them all from being seen. It was better to do this between planes than to have to deal with lookerson.

They all noticed the sudden oddity of the bent reality and Fandral was quick to lose his humour. Sif, as well, though she took up a weapon to the human’s throat for his arrogance and spellcraft. “Undo what you’ve done—”

Strange did not. He simply jumped away. He might not want to pick a fight here but he also didn’t want to be fought with.

Oh, Norns, this was just what they needed.

Why were all Aesir so quick to battle, as if any weapon would do anything other than make things worse? If they killed the sorcerer who brought them here, then they would be trapped. Or, they would be if it had just been them, Loki had no such issues.

He simply waved a hand and a tear in the fabric of reality appeared, a way through the hidden branches of Yggdrasil back from this warped world and into the odd room full of chemicals and cleaning supplies that Strange had first taken him into.

"Do not be so hasty, you are hardly trapped. Go back through if this otherness offends you so, I do not believe harm was meant, only to take us from prying Midgardian eyes."

At least one person here was sane. Strange had started to wonder just who he was dealing with. It felt a little like a science fiction story, aliens and inter dimensional beings raising up the moniker of god to impress people. Perhaps they just selected names at random. He didn’t know and it wasn’t relevant.

“Tell me something. If you are what your friends says you are, here to travel and observe, let me be the first to tell you that you’re doing it all wrong. I’m here to protect my planet. You’re causing it a lot of distress. People were hurt because you don’t understand the rules here and I don’t have time to teach them to you. But if you’re going to be hit by buses and injure two dozen people, there’s going to be a problem.”

And not just with him. Iron Man would want in on this. And maybe Captain America too if rumors were true that they’d found him.

Thor looked concerned and turned towards his friends. “It is not anyone’s attention to cause harm. I believe we will need a guide.”

“Maybe. But it won’t be me,” Strange said.

"Perhaps you would at least guide Thor and his companions to a local hostelry and see them with food and into rooms for the night."

Loki tilted his head towards Thor, trying not to seem too impatient. He was also out of place here; more so even than the Aesir, for he had travelled beyond his own realm far less than they and would be much less welcome if revealed as what he was, and yet he managed to observe and not make a fool of himself.

"If you await me within the rooms of a hostelry where you cannot create more trouble, I will find us a suitable guide and return to you with them."

If anyone was smart enough to do that, it would be him.

“No.” Strange groaned. “I can’t have you people running around like it’s all right to let a bus smash into you. And I can’t have you telling the whole world who you are. You’ll just make trouble. Most people aren’t ready for you.”

And he was pretty sure that was the truth from what he had seen. Most people were just happy to go about their lives as if nothing else mattered and any upset in that balance?

It wasn’t a good thing. Not at all.

Thor frowned. “This Realm is under my protection, granted to you by Odin All-Father himself. It has been for many millennia.”

“Has it? Because no one here will have ever heard of you.”

Loki was becoming very tired of Strange. This mortal sorcerer had driven him from his goal, made demands of them, transported Aesir who had no magic themselves to get back from another pocket realm, and had overall been an irritant. The chaos in him refused to play nice any longer.

"You have not the right to detain us or to command our actions. I have told you that we mean no harm to Midgard, and I have spoken truly. If you do not believe those words, then I no longer care to try and convince you. Thor-- companions, do as I say and return to a hostelry. I will find a suitable guide."

Loki gestured for them to step through the portal he had made and, when they had, he simply disappeared. He had magic beyond what Strange had, and he was done allowing him to dictate the day. Now-- to find a guide. The leader of this realm would be best, it would be disrespectful to ignore that when they were two princes visiting.

It took a short while for him to work out who ruled, but eventually he found that mortals, much like dwarves, worshipped money and ever increasing technology. And so, apparently their ruler was a man called Tony Stark, stupid name, and that was who he would go to.

It would be the very early hours of the morning when JARVIS paused the music blaring out as his master perfected yet another suit of armour and interrupted in his ever-polite voice. "Reception has sent an alert that you have a visitor, sir. Apparently he is expected, should I have them send him away?"

Tony didn’t miss a beat, shaking his hips as he dropped his wrench into his workstation and grabbed a power screwdriver of his own design. He couldn’t help but be thankful for JARVIS, though he would never say that, and turned twice in his dance despite the music being turned off. “Where’s Pep?”

“She’s at a conference you refused to go to in Germany, sir,” JARVIS said politely.

“Oh. Well have Happy keep my guest for the next two hours and then turn off all of the lights in the lobby.” It was probably Coulson. Again. Tony wasn’t sure why he kept coming around. Such a hassle. Either he wanted him or he didn’t want him.

Frankly, in this case Tony thought it was all right not to be wanted.

"Very good, sir."

So Loki was told to wait in a side room and then soon accompanied by a rather overweight and flustered man who bumbled on about how Tony Stark was busy but if he would just give Happy his business card, or tell him why he was there, he'd be glad to pass it on just as soon as he had time.

He told the fat man nothing. Oh, he was polite, utterly vague, and entirely unhelpful. He had come to see the ruler of this realm, and he would not be sent away. When the lights went off, he blinked in confusion, but he was not alarmed. The amount of light that came from outside still made it seem as bright as day, not the true night of Jotunheim where no light could be seen for hundreds of miles, save a fire that a traveller might have of their own.

"Will I be expected to continue to wait?"

"Uh--" Happy just sounded even more flustered. "It might be best if you went home and I'll have Tony's PA call you and make an appointment when he's free."

Loki simply sighed and crossed his legs.

"No. I have come to see Tony Stark and I will wait."

Three hours later, and JARVIS once more interrupted his master. "Sir, your visitor is still here and refusing to leave. Happy is showing signs of exhaustion and unhappiness."

Usually people got pissed off and left. This was really pretty remarkable and Tony finally set his things down, washed his hands, and headed to the elevator. He wasn’t inviting Coulson up but he’d go down and ask him what was so important that he couldn’t put Happy in a sleeper hold and just come up the elevator anyway.

Seether was playing in the elevator as it took him gently, but quickly down eighty floors to the lobby. “J. Lights?”

The AI obliged and and Happy looked relieved. “Mr. Stark—“

“Go home. I’ll need you back here at ten tomorrow. We have a flight,” Tony said, ignoring the look Happy gave him before he turned to see... not. Coulson. “Uh. Okay. Hi. Leave now.”

What a strangely small man to be the ruler of this realm, but then Loki was used to a world of giants where he was the runt, and yet even he stood head and shoulders above this diminutive mortal. The rude dismissal was, he supposed, to be expected. Strange had known that he was not of this world, and so Loki should assume that the ruler also had sorcerers at his disposal who could tell who and what Loki was.

Perhaps this 'J' who had conjured the lights? It was unfortunate, but hardly unexpected, that a Jotnar prince would be treated with such disdain. Although it got his hackles up, he forced himself to remain polite and rose to bow, shallow but polite, as befitted one heir to a ruler.

"I understand that my presence may not be welcome," he said, suddenly realising that he didn't know what this man's title was. Should he address him as Stark-King in the manner of the Jotnar, or did he have a title such as All-Father? "I have come bearing reparation gifts, and I ask you please for an audience."

Tony lifted his chin to look at Loki, not only because he was so tall, but because he liked looking down his nose at people. It was one of the habits he did try to, but never managed to, break. “Uh... Huh. Okay, how about you sit down here and I’ll just call some people— J, I think we have another BCF incident—?”

“I’ll handle it, sir,” JARVIS said, leaving Tony to stand there with his hands in his pockets. He really needed to get working on those subdermal neural implants. He could probably use a suit call button too. The male BCF’s (basket case fans) were usually more prone to violence. The females were usually more willing to leave with a hug in lieu of their planned desire for love at first sight. Tony had a girlfriend. Pepper was in no danger. Not even by the biggest of racks.

“Why don’t you just sit down. I don’t need any gifts. Thanks but— Well if I want something I just buy it, you know? And I’m not interested in any art. Not even art of myself. So. Thanks but— You can always just go. I won’t say a word.” But he would have him tagged and followed for awhile. Fans could be dangerous. Very dangerous.

Especially British ones.

“I have no art of you; if that is a common reparation gift then I will have some procured. However, I ask that you give me an audience before this. I do not come alone, a delegation from the All-Father accompanied me and we are in need of a guide. We shall not impose on your realm long, only as long as our business requires, and we intend you no harm.”

Loki glanced around for the source of the voice and was irritated that he couldn’t even sense it. This seidr user must be powerful indeed to cloak even his presence as well as his physical form. Loki would need to be ready lest this did turn into a fight for he might be outclassed. He would do his best not to let it escalate to there.

“If it is prying eyes you fear, do not, I can take you to them by unseen ways.”

Tony’s jaw clenched. This was a threat, no one could mistake that. He pressed his lips together and made a step to the side. “I really think you should go.” He also really hoped JARVIS would deliver on the police sooner rather than later. Tony tried to stay above board on these things so he didn’t seem so much like a vigilante the papers sometimes reported him as being. The news was not always his friend, just like the government was not always his friend. “I don’t grant audiences.” He mocked the accent, which probably was a bad idea but he couldn’t help himself. “I don’t do meetings. And I don’t like it when people threaten me in my own house.”

He was on edge. Nervous. Afraid. And also pretty damned annoyed. All of these things Loki might get a sense of, coming off of this mortal’s skin. Or maybe he’d sense it in his chest.

“No one has to be stupid here. No one has to fill out paperwork with the authorities. Just walk yourself out.”

Loki did not understand the fear coming off the mortal ruler, nor his words. Loki had not been threatening him; if anything, he had been trying to offer him comfort and consideration. He understood that being seen going to a delegation might be a sensitive issue, and so he offered secrecy, and he had made sure to say that none of them meant any harm.

Irritation coloured his words now, was this ruler of simple mind that he couldn't understand the most basic of conversations?

"I have not threatened you. I understand that you may not be comfortable with a Jotnar delegation, but you are shaming your realm by treating me so. Our differences have other truths than you might have been taught, and you are showing not even a basic courtesy to me."

"Sir, you will be having more visitors in three minutes." That was JARVIS' way of letting Tony know how soon the police would be arriving.

Loki span around, face furrowed in a frown. "And you! Coward! I hear you, do not think to hide yourself like a knife in the dark. We have no quarrel and yet all I have been shown here is disrespect!"

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

Short phone tag sorry

Re: Short phone tag sorry

no subject