Final steps

[st_ratagem]

Loki had spent the last hour or two before sunset preparing, and the first hour afterward. He’d taken ruthless advantage of the fact that the Inn staff was desperate to give people towels and had carefully interwoven the. On the floor such that there was no chance of getting at the actual carpet below without effort. He’d selected a dagger from his collection - a very old one that he hadn’t actively used since childhood, one of a pair given to him by his mother - and sharpened it to an almost perfect edge. He’d opened up the balcony door to let the early-winter night chill in. He’d even out together a little aid kit (disinfectant, pads, bandages, needle and thread) for afterward.

In many ways, the hardest part was settling on the towels with the in-etched staff resting in front of him and forcing Odin’s enchantment away, knowing that he wouldn’t be allowing himself to go back to normal possibly for hours. And that, as soon as Thor arrived with a bowl and his hands, it would all have a witness.

Comments

[st_ratagem]

“Ridiculous story so far.” And obvious, but Thor wouldn’t be satisfied until he told it in full.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor continues, choosing not to address Loki's quip.

"Christmas came one night and it was too foggy for anyone to be able to see anything. There was no way that Santa would be able to fly his sleigh and deliver toys around the world. It wasn't until then that Santa and the other reindeer realized Rudolph's worth. It had always been there -- they had all just failed to see it."

[st_ratagem]

“A very sweet story of a world populated by gormless idiots incapable of lighting lanterns. What of it?”

[st_ormbreaker]

"You're Rudolph here," he says, directing a finger at his brother. "All the other reindeer thought Rudolph was defective because he was different, but those aren't one in the same."

[st_ratagem]

“I shall bear your idiot story in mind should I ever go to Jotunheim to bring it to heel.” It was an possibility, with Asgard going to be gone, his not-arrived-yet welcome on a trash world worn out, and Midgard not an option.

[st_ormbreaker]

"I like the story!" Thor protests.

[st_ratagem]

“It is a very you story,” Loki granted. “Saccharine, simplistic, reliant on the nonexistence of normal objects like lanterns in order to get to the moral point you want to make, ending very tidily before rational consequences follow so it can stay ‘happy’.”

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor huffs in response. "Why can't you just enjoy the story, Loki?"

[st_ratagem]

“I’m sorry, have you met me?”

[st_ormbreaker]

"You know what I mean, though. You. Rudolph."

[st_ratagem]

“And if I was concerned by the rejection of my fellow Jotunn it might be closer to equivalent on the stupid versus heartwarming scale. But I am not and it’s a ridiculous story.” Loki made an effort to keep his tone even rather than letting it sharpen: it wasn’t Thor’s fault he had no concept of feeling uncomfortable in one’s own skin. “I’m concerned with myself, nothing more. When I say I’m not anything it’s because that’s how it is, and I’d like to be as much at peace with it as I can.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"You're not concerned by the rejection of your fellow Asgardian?"

[st_ratagem]

“Happened a long time ago, got used to it a long time ago.” Loki opted to leave aside the ‘also, not actually Asgardian’ argument. His mind was Asgardian, more or less, and that had always been the more important part to him.

[st_ormbreaker]

"Getting used to it doesn't make it any less unpleasant," Thor says. He nods his head towards Loki's staff. "Can I pick it up? It won't do anything to me, will it?"

[st_ratagem]

Loki turned the staff in his hands, then shrugged and tossed it at Thor. “It shouldn’t. I doubt it will feel pleasant to you,” it was almost Loki in inanimate stick form, and he was not a pleasant person, “but I put no locks on it.”

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor catches it and by reflex braces his arm, as if expecting it to do something despite his brother's assurances. As much-improved as their relationship has been lately, Loki was still the God of Mischief and magical items were still magical items.

But, when Thor's fingers clamp down around the staff, he finds that there's nothing more than the normal expected magical enchantments. It's cold and unhappy and feels like Loki even though it's just made of wood and blood and magic.

Thor turns it around in his hand, feeling out the weight of it. It feels solid and strong.

"So how much practice do you need to get in before we can make snow?"

[st_ratagem]

“I don’t know.” That he could do it was no longer a question, but the degree of strength or stamina that would need to be involved was unguessable. A fairly small area of freezing cold had been a strain, but if the ice really was like muscles, the more he did it,the more he’d be able to do. “Maybe a week or two for a decently-sized area, if I push?” He intended to push either way. “If all you want is a small proof of concept, we could try for snow just on us right now.”

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor's light up at the suggestion. "Really?"

[st_ratagem]

“It’s a muscle. The more I do, the more I can do. I should take any opportunity.” Yes, really. “But I’ll need the staff back.”

[st_ormbreaker]

It's not until Loki points it out that Thor realizes he still has the staff in hand.

"Oh, sure," he says, and he passes it back over to Loki.

As he does so, he begins to pull a cloud above them, then tugs a piece of it off like a piece of cotton candy. It drifts towards them and settles directly above them. Thor beams up at it.

[st_ratagem]

Snow wasn’t simply freezing rain, the cloud itself had to freeze such that tiny crystals clumped together, and the area around had to be cold enough that they didn’t melt when they fell. Adding moisture and rain to the cloud would have to be Thor’s job in addition to corralling the thing in the first place.

But the freezing, that Loki could do. Once again he yanked at the resistance to the freezing power through the staff (was it actually easier, or just in his head?) and pointed the staff at the cloud. Again the runes flared as soon as the resistance broke, and the water in the cloud turned to tiny ice crystals while Loki radiated freezing cold.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor can feel something change within the cloud and he takes that as his signal; moisture begins to fall from the cloud overhead.

[st_ratagem]

It fell as snow. Big heavy flakes, speaking to the fact that Loki hadn’t quite gotten it cold enough for powder. The roof, too, is still warm enough that the flakes melt almost soon as they land.

But it was snow, recognizable and definite.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor reaches out to grab one and just as his hand folds around it, he can feel it shift back to liquid against the warmth of his palm.

He spins, eyes bright and his smile broad.

"Loki!" He holds out his hand to show his brother the melted puddle of snowflake.

"You did it!"

[st_ratagem]

Loki caught a snowflake as well, but in his hand, of course, it didn’t melt. He also didn’t smile. “You were here, too, Thor.”