st_ratagem | [Child adventures!] Ancient times

[Child adventures!] Ancient times

They weren’t actually supposed to be outside of the palace grounds. Father and Mother both agreed, nine was too young, and Thor had only just started arms training. But Thor had wanted to ‘test his courage’ and apparently that didn’t just mean ‘leave the palace’, it had meant ‘leave the palace, take a skiff, go to island ruin with a door in it, far enough away that you could barely see the spires’.

It was exciting, yes! Still Loki was in trouble much more often than Thor, and he was deeply complicit in the escape thanks to a lot of illusions, was still nervous. Mostly about being blamed if something went wrong. “Did one of the guards tell you about this place?”

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"I'm fine," Thor insists sharply, though when he takes a step forward, it's with a stagger. "We should keep going."

Loki grabbed for his brother’s hand. He was not about naked emotional manipulation when scared. And Thor was not fine, he was only on his feet by willpower. Mother hadn’t begun to teach Loki healing yet, but you didn’t have to be an expert to see. “Please, brother? What if the next thing really does kill you and I’m stuck here alone with it?”

"I'm not going to die," Thor insists. "I am Odinson."

Loki tugged on Thor’s hand. “So am I! But you know I haven’t started training yet.” Knives and magic didn’t count, for whatever reason. “We should... we should....” Think! There had to be something!

Nothing. “You’re bleeding a lot. I never stabbed you this bad.”

"So what?" Thor's frown is growing deeper by the moment; he can't stand the idea that his brother thinks he can't handle blood. "I'm going into battle in a few years and I'll probably bleed a lot more then."

Thor takes a breath so that he doesn't wince. It really does hurt. And logically, even he knows that they should go back, but his typical stubbornness prevents him from agreeing to it.

"Are you going to worry --" Another breath. "Are you going to worry about me then, too?"

“Yes!” Loki snapped, fear and worry about half-converted to annoyance verging on anger. “Because I’m not going to be there to tell you to see the the healers when you’re being stupid!” He wouldn’t be, either. For whatever reason, Father had declared that a few hours’ difference in age was enough that Loki had to stay a child a lot longer.

Mother was pleased about it, and Loki didn’t exactly mind more time with her learning things that didn’t involve being beaten to the ground, but it still rankled. What made Thor so special? Apart from the part where he was Thor.

"If you're that worried, then fine. Let's go back."

It's immediately clear that Thor isn't happy about it. He knows that Loki's right.

And he also knows that he doesn't want Loki to get hurt, either. That might happen if they keep pressing forward.

Finally. Loki squeezed his brother's hand, then tugged it a little as he started to backtrack through the passages. "We can come back! Now that we know for sure there's stuff down here. Nobody sets traps for no reason." Well, Loki sometimes did, where 'no reason' equaled 'whim and curiosity'. "And I marked the floors, it'll be easy to get right back here."

Thor's trailing behind, even though he doesn't intend to; for some reason, his legs aren't working quite right as much as he tries to force them to. The few times his legs manage to follow his instructions perfectly, he feels a sharp pain race up his leg.

Still, Thor tries to keep up with the facade of I'm fine.

"You don't think they're going to fade, do you?"

Thor not charging ahead was about as unusual as it would have been for Loki to be the one charging ahead. Anger/annoyance slid back into worry and fear, and not just for Thor. They were already going to get into trouble, or at least Loki was, and the fact that Thor was hurt....

Would it be better or worse to yell for Heimdall now? Better or worse to try and get back to the palace and figure out some story to explain all Thor’s wounds? Could a giant porcupine or something do that? (What if the darts had been poisoned? Were giant porcupines poisonous? Would anyone really know if they weren’t?)

For now, Loki tried to insinuate himself under Thor’s arm in such a way that he could help his brother better while also soothing Thor’s ego by looking chicken or something. “How? There’s no wind down here, nobody else comes here. They’ll stick.”

Normally Thor would protest at his brother's help, but he can't be bothered right now; he's secretly thankful for it.

"Okay," Thor says, finally. "We are coming back, though." Just in case Loki was having second thoughts about it now, which he probably was. "If you don't come with me, I'm just going to go alone."

“I know, you’ve said that already.” Or Loki had, he wasn’t completely sure. Either way, Thor would probably definitely die if he came back to the run by himself. He’d run into another trap and not stagger out again. At least he’d have help out if the brothers were together. “I’m making a list of things to bring along.”

"What else do you think we need?" There's a hint of typical Thor you-don't-think-we're-good-enough attitude injected into that question.

“Rope. Paint for marking. Bandages. Some kind of healing salve. Needle and thread. Maybe a torch or two.” Maybe paper for drawing a map, or making rubbings if there were writings...? No, that wouldn’t interest Thor. Loki stuck with the practical ‘this will help us not have to turn around next time’ list.

Which leads them left to figure out how there would be a next time when they finally left.

"What are we going to tell mother and father?" he asks. "If either of them see me hurt like this, we'll have to tell them a story."

A beat, and then a moment of realization:

"You don't think Heimdall will tell them, do you?"

“Probably.” Heimdall was like that: no fun whatsoever. He’d probably wait to see if they told the truth on their own, and then tattle if they didn’t. Or when they didn’t. Because honor or or duty or some other nonsense.

“I thought I’d try to sell giant poisonous porcupine. That disappeared after shredding you.” He had thought that! For like a second. Even if it would be a really fun lie to tell. “Or a giant mean squirrel dropped out of a tree and called you a lot of names, so you fought it until it ran away. You know. Rough drafts.”

"Do you really think they'll believe it?" Thor's voice is laced with skepticism. "If I'm not poisoned --" and he hopes he isn't "-- then we'll be caught in the lie. And what if they ask to see one of the quills?"

Thor would fight a squirrel, though. Especially if it were calling him or his brother names.

“You’ve got a very strong constitution, your body sucked in all the quills and digested them to heal the poison. You’re just so tough we don’t have any quills to show.” No, of course they wouldn’t believe it, but it would be fun to try. “You think ‘giant mean squirrel’ is better?”

"I don't know," Thor says. "What if they attempt to hunt down the squirrel after that and don't find one? Then what?"

“It... lives in Yggdrasil and spends all its time running around all the Realms, up and down the tree, being mean. Of course no one’s going to catch it, it’s too good at running away because everyone wants to kick it. Or cry, I guess, because it’s a very mean squirrel.” Yes, Loki could do this all day. Stories were easy.

Soon enough, they reach the entrance.

"You're telling the story, then," Thor says. "You're a much better liar than I am."

Something they're probably both cognizant of.

Loki grinned at his brother. “Of course! I don’t think anyone’ll believe it, but it’ll be a good story. You really think mean squirrel is better?”

"Better than the porcupine," Thor says, smiling back.

“All right then. You were very brave. It bit you a lot and clawed you with needle claws, it you got between it and me, that’s why I don’t have any wounds.” Possibly the mean squirrel would be a useful story long term, if he could convince anyone this time....

"I would really protect you, you know," Thor says. He likes the story, particularly because it makes him sound heroic instead of dumb and foolhardy.

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