Another Loki arrives

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

Date: April 1, 2003, early evening
Status: Public
Setting: Just outside Tadfield Manor
Summary: Loki (II) arrives (complete)


The world had changed while he had been out of the game. The time he had spent in chains had felt like an eternity to Loki, and when he re-emerged into the world, he was no longer sure if that was really just his perception of it.

Asgard seemed a bad place for him to turn up right then, alone and without anyone to go to battle with him. He considered different options and finally settled on Midgard. That was the place where he would start to gather both intelligence and support. To renew old acquaintances and to make new ones. To take revenge on the ones that had wronged him and his children…

A bitter taste rose to his mouth when he thought of it. Midgard it would be, and then on, on to gather an army that would outdo prophecy. As far as he was concerned, prophecy could hardly be written in stone. If he went about it smartly, maybe he could turn the tide in his favour. Maybe Ragnarök wouldn't even mean his death them. He had deserved some good luck after these last decades or millennia or whatever it had been. He had not counted, and no one had ever been very specific about dates where the doom of the gods was concerned.

So Midgard it would be for the beginning, a place with inhabitants that were easily influenced and convinced of a cause…

For a little while, he seriously wondered whether someone had gone ahead and started Ragnarök without him. Nothing was as he remembered it. The last time he had visited Midgard before his imprisonment, people had ridden horses, brandished swords and warhammers and yelled "Thor" and "Odin" when they rode into battle. Warriors had been revered, not locked away apart from the others. He could not help but grin at the thought of how it must gall both Thor and his sons to see that.

Thinking of them, where were they anyway? Travelling the world, he realized that there was certainly no shortage of priests and prophets, but most of them were affiliated with some deity or other that he had never even heard about. It probably didn't matter – it just put him before a completely different problem. People were always better supporters when they believed in the cause they supported. These people seemed to have forgotten that there was such a thing as Ragnarök, let alone that it might happen within their lifetime.

Then, after some weeks of aimless wandering, in the middle of one of those incredibly big towns his path crossed that of something – or someone – he had no longer expected to find: A warrior in full battle-gear was walking down the street, ambling towards some goal without any obvious haste. No one seemed to take special notice of him, either. Intrigued, Loki followed the stranger. Where there was one, there might be more. Not wanting to draw too much attention, he took the first opportune moment to change into a shape that was less easily visible.

When he found the clothes of the warrior to be clean and utterly free of any mortal fleas, suspicion started to dawn on him. He stayed with his warrior until they entered some place where he could see larger numbers of people in proper cloths instead of the silly things he had seen almost exclusively during his recent travels. Then he left the man and found a quiet corner to change.

An hour later, he had relieved some unsuspecting person of her money-purse, acquired a mead-horn someplace and savoured the first mead since he had regained his freedom. Mead, at least, had not changed as much as people had. His suspicion was quickly confirmed. While these people made him feel a little more at home, they were only pretending. Any remaining plans of going ahead quickly with ending the world evaporated. He needed to find his place in this changed world first, it seemed, and establish himself again as a power.  

He went back to letting himself drift, going wherever chance brought him, learning what he could, never staying in one place for long.

Right now, his path hat brought him to what they now called England, and, more precisely, to a small town that looked to him as if it could have been just about anywhere in this world. He was feeling more "right" today than he had for a long time, and he was not quite sure whether it was the time or the place that caused it. Since it was getting late, he contemplated his options. He could find a place to spend the night or move on to the next town, which would be nothing different from this one, and then the next... Nights outside were still pretty cool at this time of the year, and he had had some rather unpleasant experiences while wearing different shapes these last few weeks. Well, if this town had a hotel or hostel or something, maybe he could spend not only the night but even a few days like any other person, listening, talking and maybe finding a kindred spirit. He almost laughed at the thought, but decided to act on it anyway.

The hotel, as he found out, was somewhat over-sized for the town. Good for him. If they had that many visitors, there would be lots of people with nothing better to do than to talk and be talked to. He stood at the gates for a minute or two, watching the building and the grounds silently. Then he shouldered the holdall that kept whatever all that he had considered worth keeping with him instead of acquiring anew each time he needed it, quickly checked how much the wallet held that he was currently carrying, opened the gates and walked towards the entrance of the building.

Comments

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

"We could always change that, I guess," Loki mused. "Though I would not be a good guest at a ball. All the dances I know are totally outdated these days. I'd assume they've even forgotten how to play the music for them.

"Very nice!" He added when the lights went on. "Though real candles would be nicer still."

[safehouse-guest.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't be so sure. We have some very... interesting guests. Most of them are older than they look. I don't know if they know Icelandic music and dance, of course, but I'm sure they'd enjoy it. Do you play any musical instruments? Maybe you can show us some Icelandic music. I learnt to play the recorder in school but I've mostly forgotten it now."

She laughed at that. "They'd be a fire hazard, and really, one fire was enough. Besides, lighting them would be dreadfully difficult. Thank goodness for electricity."

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

"The flute, a bit, " Loki answered into her explanation, then inidcated the piano with a motion of his head. "Who plays that?"

As she went on, Loki's eyes lit up. "I like fire," he said, walking over to her. He placed a hand on her arm to turn her so she would face him. "I am fire, in a way. Do you think I am a hazard?"

[safehouse-guest.livejournal.com]

"Nobody, really; we had an official pianist once, but this place was so rarely used that it was really more trouble than it was worth to keep him," Mary responded.

She bit back a gasp. "Oh. Well, there's different ways of defining hazards, you know, and not all of them are bad, and I, er, it's really rather warm in here," she babbled nervously, obviously flustered. A simple question should not be that sexy.

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

"I like heat," he noticed. "It goes with the job, in a way."

Smiling at her, he lightly brushed a lock of hair away from her face with the back of his hand.

[safehouse-guest.livejournal.com]

Her face felt heated, and she moistened suddenly dry lips.

"And what job is that?" She bit her lip; years of almost continual chatter and now she was having trouble forming a coherent sentence.

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

"Well," he said, releasing her. "I deal with fire in our pantheon, obviously."

He walked a few steps to stand at a window and stared out into the night. "Isn't it remarkable how everyone has always been all over Thor and his like? And what did they do, when there revered God of Storms walked their world and showed them his strength? They huddled by my fire, seeking warmth and shelter from the storm. If I'd ever expected them to thank me, I'd've been severely disappointed."

[safehouse-guest.livejournal.com]

She followed him, touching his shoulder lightly, trying to be comforting. "Well, that seems rather silly, really; you'd think a god of fire would be more popular than a god of storms. Especially since I always thought Iceland was, well, icy and cold."

When in doubt, fall back on the universal medicine - or at least the national medicine. "Would you like a cup of tea?"

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

"There is ice and there is snow, but I've never found it cold," Loki explained. He leaned lightly into her touch before moving away so he could turn and face her again.

"That cup of tea sounds wonderful."

[safehouse-guest.livejournal.com]

"Really? That must be nice." She smiled at him.

"Well, there's none available here, but the kitchens aren't far and neither is the restaurant. Come on."

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

"Lead the way, my lady," Loki said with a very slight bow. "I shall follow."

[safehouse-guest.livejournal.com]

Mary giggled, her stomach doing backflips. "Right this way, sir." She walked back across the ballroom to the side door. Nobody talked like that these days, but it was undoubtedly attractive.

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

Loki followed, keeping back just far enough not to walk on into the wrong direction if she made a turn.

He had no idea if he liked tea, actually. He'd never tried it. About time, probably.

[safehouse-guest.livejournal.com]

She turned a corner. "Would you like to go to the restaurant, or see the kitchens?"

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

"Whatever you prefer," Loki said, then added: "Though maybe the kitchens would be slightly more private?"

[safehouse-guest.livejournal.com]

"Oh. Um. Actually the restaurant would probably be more private, you know, because there's staff in the kitchens while there probably won't be anyone in the restaurant yet, just a waiter or two..."

She was babbling on autopilot now, flushed.

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

"As you say," Loki replied. "Leet us go, then."

He would have offered her his arm, but it seemed somewhat silly, considering that she knew the way and he didn't. So he limited himself to smiling pleasantly and following.

[safehouse-guest.livejournal.com]

"This way," she led him back through the lobby and to the restaurant. She pushed open the door, trying to ignore the giddiness that had nothing to do with hunger and everything to do with the god behind her.

As she had said, there was nobody inside yet but a waiter.

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

"Where do you usually sit?" Loki asked her. He felt his pocked for change, wondering if he would have to start his stay here with making a bad first impression on the restaurant staff due to not being able to pay.

"Would you say that this restaurant is more... on the expensive side?" he asked in a low voice.

[safehouse-guest.livejournal.com]

"Over there," Mary pointed to a little table that could just fit two, tucked away in a corner next to a window.

She turned. "No, not really. Why? We do have a good chef."

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

Loki had always thought that a good chef would certainly make the restaurant more expensive, but if she said so... In the worst case, he'd just have to excuse himself to go to the men's room, and quicky run to his room to grab some more money.

Remembering something he had seen that seemed to be considered gentlemanly - not that he was a gentleman, stricktly speaking -, he pulled out a chair for Mary, waited until she was sitting and then slid onto the one across from her.

The candle on the table caught his eye, and he lighted it with a thought.

[safehouse-guest.livejournal.com]

She herself had been surprised that the chef didn't demand more money, but he seemed content.

She blushed again as Loki pulled out the chair for her - now that was a new experience - and gasped as the candle burst into flame.

"... Did you do that?"

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

"Do what?" Loki asked, slightly confused.

Then he thought he understood. "The candle? Yes. Yes, that was me. I mentioned I had a way with fire, didn't I?"

[safehouse-guest.livejournal.com]

"Yes, you did," she said softly, staring at the flame for a moment before looking back at him. "That's... impressive. I mean, I have seen some things before, angels running around with wings and all, and little miracles, but you startled me."

She wasn't completely unused to things of this sort, of course - running a hotel for supernatural beings required a certain degree of unflappableness - but somehow she hadn't expected this.

The waiter appeared with their menus.

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

Loki nodded at the water as he took his menu, then returned his eyes to Mary. "What kind of little miracles?" he asked. "it's hardly a miracle is someone starts a fire. All you need for it is steel and a piece of stone, isn't it? Or matches. Or a lighter. Pick your favorite."

He really wondered about the miracles. Something else was strange about her reaction, too.

"Doesn't the other one - the second Loki - or the first, to you, I guess, light fires once in a while?