lt_safe_house | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Date: March 28, 2003
Status: Public (Loki, Gabriel, Aziraphale - Complete)
Setting: Manor garden
Summary: ... Actually just randomly posting something hoping somebody wants to play with Loki.

Okay, his trout shape did not like the manor pond. If he'd taken a moment to think about it, he'd have known before he'd tried it. Trouts belonged in flowing water. He should have tried to become a goldfish instead, but the trout was his most familiar fish shape and it had been a spontaneous decision.

He hastily returned to human shape, crawled out of the water and lay gasping and wet next to the pond.

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Loki blinked up at Gabriel with slight surprise.

"Fall? Oh no, I was just experimenting with something that didn't turn out quite right. Good morning by the way. Are both cats still well?"

"Good morning to you too. And yes, both cats are well and happy." Gabriel tilted his head. "Experimenting with what?"

He extended a hand to help Loki up.

Loki considered both the question and the hand, then with a mental shrug decided to take both. The information wasn't particularly useful after all and their deal with Adam should stop Gabriel from doing him serious harm. As for a minor injury or indignity, well, one had to take risks, if one wanted to gain anything - though Loki wasn't entirely sure what there might be to gain from playing nice with Judeo-Christian gods, yet.

"I was trying to find out whether my trout shape would enjoy the pond. Turns out it's too small and shallow. The toad was much happier with it."

Gabriel had half-expected Loki to spurn his offer of help, so he was mildly but pleasantly surprised when the Norse god allowed him to pull him up.

"That's interesting. What other animals can you shapeshift into?"

Loki stared at Gabriel in surprise. He didn't know?

"Why all of them," he replied after waiting maybe just a heartbeat too long to cover his reaction. "Provided that I know enough about them to get the shape right, of course. More familiar shapes come more easily."

"Oh." Gabriel had tried to research the Norse pantheon, but there were conflicting accounts of Loki, and he wasn't sure how much this Loki differed from the original. He wondered why Loki had paused before answering; did he expect Gabriel to have researched him? "Does that include animals like unicorns, gryphons or dragons?"

That was a more interesting question. Should he answer this honestly? No, better to leave it open.

"I've never met a unicorn or gryphon," he said with a shrug. "I'd love to, though. They are fascinating creatures. Do you know any?"

"I've seen a couple, a long time ago," Gabriel smiled. "They are indeed fascinating. You're avoiding the question about dragons, though."

If Loki could indeed turn into a dragon, would he humour the archangel by giving a demonstration? Gabriel hoped so, but he was aware that Loki didn't fully trust him yet, and inwardly shrugged. It was his own fault.

Well, Gabriel could look that up easily enough, so Loki shrugged.

"Haven't you ever heard the tale of Siegfried and Fafnir? Any Jotun can do that. It just tends to be very inconvenient what with the size, being cold-blooded and the humans' tendency to send you knights in armour before you've even settled in."

"Siegfried...? Oh. You mean Sigurd?" Gabriel had indeed read the legend, but he hadn't connected it to Loki. He spread his hands. "Well, there are no knights in armour here, so..." He paused, excitement vying with wariness. Was it polite to simply ask a Jotun to shapeshift for you? Or would Loki simply take it the wrong way?

"Could I see your dragon shape?" he finished, rather fast.

"Sigfried, Sigurd, Sivard, whatever," Loki said with another shrug. "It's all the same guy and he wasn't all that impressive, if you ask me. Just had a bit of luck and lots of magic."

Loki eyed the manor grounds thoughtfully for a moment, considered the weather. He'd already made one badly considered shift today and while he did have the strength for more than one by now the dragon had always been exhausting. Then again it wasn't that cold and he could burn down a tree or something to warm himself.

He took a few steps away from the pond, closed his eyes and concentrated on getting large and scaly with strong clawed paws. Her weight shifted and she slid forward to stand on all four feet.

Her left front paw sank into something wet and cold prompting her to open her eyes with a startled "Phruh?". Had she stepped into a puddle?

Oh no, it was the pond. She should have stepped further to the right.

Loki turned her head and lowered it towards Gabriel with a soft snort.

Gabriel's breath caught as Loki shifted, form flowing into that of a large, majestic dragon straight out of the Edda; if Sigurd had turned up with his sword, if a ship full of Viking warriors had appeared, nothing would have seemed out of place. Gabriel felt as though he was in a Norse legend.

Light glinted off the dragon's scales, and Gabriel moved back as one clawed foot stepped into the pond, splashing some water out.

The dragon turned his - her, something told him it was a her - head towards him, and he found himself transfixed by the huge, ancient, intelligent gaze. Slowly, tentatively, he raised a hand to her snout, hovering just above a smooth scale, silently asking permission.

She sniffed the foreign god carefully. There might be trouble, if she pushed him over, though it might also be a lot of fun. She wondered how durable Judeo-Christian gods were.

Then she lifted her paw out of the pond, gave it a good shake and finally gently butted her nose against the offered hand. Human hands were a bit small, but Loki always loved a good petting.

Gabriel stifled a laugh as she sniffed him; it was ticklish. He stroked the shiny scales, rubbing along the bridge of her snout, amazed at how small his own hand looked against her head.

Oh yes, that felt good! Loki lowered her head a little more, closed her eyes and hissed with pleasure.

Gabriel laughed, stroking a little higher. Who knew that a contented dragon would act like a contented cat?

He hoped nobody looked outside and got a shock, though.

Very carefully Loki lowered herself onto her belly to give the little god better access. Maybe Gabriel wasn't all bad after all. Surely nobody who liked cats, had wings and could pet like this could be entirely mean.

Gabriel smiled; dragon-Loki really was behaving like a cat. He shifted to lightly scratch the smooth, warm scaly cheek, the way he would for a cat (albeit with slightly more force than with a cat) before resuming rubbing her snout.

"I'd ask about breathing fire, but I doubt Ms Hodges would be very happy if we destroyed the grounds," he murmured.

Humans had always been fascinated by dragons, and looking at Loki, it was easy to see why.

Loki didn't feel like breathing fire at the moment anyway. She was much too comfortable and sleepy. She tilted her head a bit inviting Gabriel to scratch under her chin and rumbled her appreciation.

There was something she ought to ask Gabriel, but to do so she'd have to shift back to her human shape. She couldn't form English words with her split tongue.

Gabriel scratched under her chin, laughing softly at the appreciative rumble. "You know, you're like a very large and scaly cat, behaviour-wise."

He tilted his head, remembering other dragon legends he had read. "Can you speak, as a dragon? In any language?"

Loki opened her eyes again and regarded Gabriel through the one closer to him. He was a bit too close to focus on clearly.

Concentrating very hard she formed the words 'Like this.' in her native tongue. It came out sounding something like: "Phrssch Rcks."

Was that close enough? She looked at Gabriel expectantly.

Aziraphale had organised his bottles of wine, only to discover that one of the newer bottles had come with a light blue ribbon that reminded him of the eyes of that young kitten which had adopted Gabriel. Earl Grey. Thinking of how fetching the adorable thing would look with a bow, Aziraphale had taken it to the library, only to find that he hadn't been there.

Aziraphale had traced Gabriel out to the gardens. And found he was... talking to, to something large...

Aziraphale walked until he could clearly see that what Gabriel was speaking to was in fact a dragon, and he vaguely wondered if Crowley had laced his coffee with something illegal again. For lack of anything better to do, he stopped on the lawn, bow in his hands, and stared.

Gabriel blinked. "Um, was that dragon language?"

He wondered if eye contact was polite or not, and settled for looking at her snout, when he sensed another presence nearing and turned.

"Aziraphael! Hello." Oh dear. The Principality looked rather stunned.

"Hello Gabriel," Aziraphale said, hoping Gabriel could hear him but not really being able to be much louder out of fear of getting eaten. It would be a terrible start to the day. Besides, the obvious question, what is a dragon doing here?, seemed too obvious to voice aloud.

Forget stunned, he looked outright terrified. Gabriel laughed, continuing to pet Loki.

"You've already met Loki, haven't you?"

"Oh," said Aziraphale, not sure what else to say.

Figuring that any sort of animosity Loki might feel for him could be deflected by Gabriel if need be, and making a mental note to tread a little more cautiously should he ever run into the pseudo-Norse god alone, Aziraphale started taking small steps forward. No need to get attacked if it could be avoided, after all.

"How... peculiar. He can turn into a dragon? Er, rhetorical question. I see that."

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