[Loki and Val] beach time!

[st_ratagem]

The increasing frequency of sunshine and warmth meant Loki spent slightly more time at the beach than he had before. It was true that he could make (or repair) nets anywhere, and the only one other than himself who was inclined to use them was the girl Moana, but it seemed... appropriate, at times, to work on nets near where they would be used.

Besides, he'd always found the ocean peaceful. Somehow solitude never seemed to turn into loneliness by the sea... or perhaps it did, but the loneliness didn't cut.

Regardless, it was far from unheard of for Loki to disappear from the immediate Inn grounds to go sit on the sandy beach with his projects. Despite the sunny near-summer weather and the increasing heat on the beach, he dressed more or less as he normally did; a long-sleeved buttoned shirt and slacks. His sole concession to the sunny beach was bare feet rather than shoes.

Comments

[st_ratagem]

Bo was to be blessed or cursed or both for that case, and Loki declined to consider which, at the moment. Whichever it was, Valkyrie stretched out on the sand was well worth looking at, and that was enough.

He did, however, accept the silent offer of water, drinking some from the bottle and then returning it to its place between them. "As I recall, the last time I went swimming, nudity was standard for it. It's somewhat strange that Midgard has gotten more prudish with time rather than less."

[st_allionofdoom]

“Has it?” Valkyrie reached idly into her bag once she’d stretched and produced a small box of strawberries she’d been gifted.

“Few here seem to think little of massaging each other nude.” She paused as the fruit nearer her lips. “Then again, I can’t claim they’re a representative population.”

[st_ratagem]

“I admit I’m judging solely based on the existence of clothing specifically for swimming rather than any population at all.” It was a good thing that making a net was mostly a matter of muscle memory - measure, flip, twist, pull tight - because most of Loki’s actual attention was on the woman beside him rather than the project in his hands.

[st_allionofdoom]

Sharing a look, Valkyrie turned her attention to his hands, as she so often did when the man became absorbed in a project.

“For fish?”

[st_ratagem]

“Yes. It’s an old skill.” Measure, flip, twist, pull tight. “During visits to Midgard when we were young, while my brother was off... impressing humans with the various glories of Thor, I went fishing. And taught a few humans.” There had been a few fishing villages, in ancient days, that had been happier to see Loki than Thor. For a little while, until the rest of his reputation caught up. “I’ve picked it back up here, as it’s useful again.”

[st_allionofdoom]

The lieutenant hummed thoughtfully as she tilted her head to rest her cheek on a raised knee. It wasn’t what she would have expected, yet she felt little surprise.

“The days I flew across the human realm I watched the land become cold. Wet.” She squinted as she thought, the memories still all so far away. “They began favoring metal.”

[st_ratagem]

It was easy to forget, sometimes, that the Valkyrie was centuries or more older than him. As long-lived as their species were, it didn’t really matter, but the reminder was a surprise more often than it should have been.

Loki detangled one hand from his twine and stroked her cheek. Touch tended to anchor her to the present, if she was inclined to deep reminiscence. “They used spears, mostly, and linen thread with hooks, before I showed them nets.

[st_allionofdoom]

“Loki. God of mischief. Guide of fishermen.” She blinked as the firmness of his touch registered, a smirk following it. She took up the net and idly inspected it, fingernails following the woven grooves of the fiber. It would smell salty by the time it was done.

[st_ratagem]

“God of mischief, skilled at knots, occasionally lacking anything better to do.” Loki watched her evaluate the net. “If you’d like to learn, I’m willing to teach.”

[st_allionofdoom]

“The way you do it?” The smirk on her lips turned to a brief grin. “Sure. I’ll make myself privy to a few more secrets of yours.”

[st_ratagem]

He chuckled and put the net over there in exchange for two sturdy coils of twine and a pair of daggers. Valkyrie surely didn’t have her own with her, where would she keep it? “We’ll want to start slightly more simply, but on the whole, yes. It’s not much of a secret, but it’ll put you further ahead anyway.”

[st_allionofdoom]

“It’s a trick from you.” However small, all these little pieces were something she’d carry with her—something to remember. Lara was living proof that the memories survived and it had brought Valkyrie too much relief.

She’d forgotten enough.

[st_ratagem]

“At least you’ll have an efficient way to go fishing.” And even if that was never useful, she’d remember learning. Remember him. That wasn’t nothing.

He passed one of the coils and one of the daggers to her, keeping the other of each for himself. “First, cut off a length of twine however wide you want your net to be.” For his own, he measured about twelve feet and used the dagger to cut it.

[st_allionofdoom]

Electing to build a net to match, she measured the length by sight and cleanly severed the twine to match. The sun and reflected heat was already warming the metal of the dagger, and she spared a glance to Loki’s body. Dark clothes that hugged him all the way down. She had no idea how he did it.

[st_ratagem]

He’d arrived in late summer, and summer was coming on again - no doubt he’d eventually venture outside the Inn only at night, when it was cool, but for now... well, leather in Asgard’s summers had been miserable, and he’d managed to survive those without a lovely Valkyrie sharing her water. This sun was uncomfortable, but not unusually so.

Also, teaching would be distracting. “Next, make a knot at either end. You can also tie them to something or pin the ends down, but that takes space you may not always have.” A few quick motions twisted the ends of the cut twine into knots like little balls.

[st_allionofdoom]

“Have you ever fastened His Majesty to something successfully?” The sense she got was that Loki was practiced since his youth. He was long lived and his fingers were already quick as it was, but the sense of familiarity of the craft suggested something more.

[st_ratagem]

"Oh, once or twice. Nets are a little less bloody than my traps for Thor have tended to be." He was more prone to stabbing, pit traps, and the like. "Once, when we were... oh, fifteen or so, I think, I convinced him that there was a treasure hidden in a room in an unused part of the palace. The whole wing had been abandoned just because whatever it was was so very dangerous - that guaranteed he'd insist on going. It wasn't, of course, before I got there. I made a number of very fine nets, almost like cobweb, and decorated them with little hooks and a sort of distillation of formic acid. So as he crashed around through the 'webs' he got cut and stung while finding nothing. And for a bonus, I believe at least one of his friends suffered alongside him." Had it been Fandral or Hogun? Likely not Volstagg; he'd been slightly older and calmer.

[st_allionofdoom]

"The knowledge of missing your childhood antics fills me with regret and relief." And she'd imagined it more than once, her chest swelling and falling with a soft laugh. Then again, any child of Odin's would have been light years ahead of the one she met first.

"The more things change, the more they stay the same, all that."

[st_ratagem]

"I believe that one to have been one of my kinder tricks, actually," Loki mused. "There was, after all, only minor possibility of injury and no chance of it being lethal while still being very fun for me." Thor, he recalled, had not agreed. Probably still wouldn't.

For his own part, Loki could only feel relieved that he and Valkyrie had meet as adults. How awkward would his current feelings be if she'd been anything like a nanny to his child-self? He dismissed that musing with a slight headshake, then took up the twine and dagger again. "Next is the most tedious part. Measure out lengths of twine, double the length you want your net." He demonstrated, measuring a rough twenty feet and then cutting it. "Keep doing that until you've no twine left."

[st_allionofdoom]

Valkyrie made short work of the measuring and cutting, laying out precisely measured pieces until there was no raw materials left.

“You’re like Eir.” She murmured, so softly as if she hadn’t meant it to be heard.

[st_ratagem]

"Who?" Not one of the goddesses he'd met or heard of, so... a fellow Valkyrie? If so, the comparison was a compliment, especially from this Valkyrie. Her sisters were all the dearer to her for being memories.

[st_allionofdoom]

“A sister. Her sense of humor wasn’t unlike yours.” If easily less violent. “Her penchant for magic made her tricks all the more confounding.”

[st_ratagem]

"Ah." It was good to be right. "Well, I'll continue to try and avoid being boring."

[st_allionofdoom]

"She was a healer as well. Made the switch to the Valkyrior all the more surprising to those in her circle." Valkyrie continued to reminisce, fastening the twine as she followed Loki's lead.

In the days of stillness at the inn, more and more memories seemed to resurface naturally. The more Valkyrie had tried to force them, the more they slipped away. Certain words, certain faces, even passing scents would trigger flashes and all the emotions they brought forth.

[st_ratagem]

There was a difference between reminiscing and getting stuck in the past, and Loki judged this to be the former, at least at the moment. Not that he minded jolting Valkyrie back to the present, since the most effective way to do that was generally a kiss or a touch, just that she didn't need the jolt at the moment.

The cut lengths of twine were folded in half and attached to the original line by way of a lark's head knot, letting the even ends dangle and sliding the knots so they were about two inches apart. The lark's head was simple, and he was very aware that Valkyrie knew knots already. "I'm sure she was better at healing than I am."