Hearing I ask from the holy races
From Heimdall's sons both high and low;
Thou will, Allfather that well I relate
Old tales I remember of men long ago.

I remember yet the giants of yore,
Who gave me bread in the days gone by;
Nine worlds I knew, the Nine in the Tree
With mighty roots beneath the mold.

- "Voluspo", The Poetic Edda

JANUARY

"Welcome to Midgard"

A cat, puffy and gray leapt up onto the back of the sofa and hissed spitefully at Edda's new roommate.

"Mjö!" she cried, hands indignantly on her hips, "You'll have to excuse Mjölnir, he's had bad manners since he was a kitten," she apologized.

"Mjölnir?" the roommate asked, tilting his head quizzically.

"Yep, Mee-yo-lin-neer," she pronounced slowly, "But we just call him Mjö- Mee-yo, most of the time. It's the name of Thor's hammer. Like I said earlier, I'm a bit of a nerd for this stuff, it's even where my nickname comes from."

She scooped up the fluffy mess of cat into her arms and held him aloft to see, "Now this is Larry," she explained, "He's our new friend. You be nice, because utilities don't pay themselves."

Just as he was about to wriggle free, Edda released him to shoot like a bullet out of the room.

"Anyways, let me give you the tour."

The apartment was small, for sure, Loki was positive his bedchambers in Asgard were larger than the whole of the tiny flat. He'd been warned to pack light as Midgardians seemed to have an affinity for tight spaces, but he'd never expected this. Small bedroom, the size of Frigga's closet. Tiny bathroom, barely large enough for its facilities. Frighteningly miniature, seemingly seldom-used kitchen described jokingly as big enough for "one-butt". What she called an "open" living room was disturbingly minuscule, the walls lined with bookshelves stuffed with thick, leather books.

One year, he reminded himself, One blasted, Midgardian year. Mother and Father had urged him to take advantage of this opportunity, for knowledge and to further understanding of the Nine Realms. After all, he'd spent summers in Alfenheim in his childhood, so why not a little change, experience different cultures? They weren't as primitive as he'd think. Thor and his insipid friends dared him. Oh, he wouldn't last a month, they laughed. But he would prevail. He would show Midgard and their foolish people that they were no match for him.

And it would begin with this woman.

"I'm not sure what your schedule looks like, but I myself won't be home much, I take a lot of classes and I'm sometimes at the libraries or whatever. So don't wait up for me is all," she smiled.

Loki gave a quick half-smile, "My own schedule is yet to be set in stone," he replied and she shrugged. "You sure have a lot of books," he then noted.

"Oh yeah, hah," she laughed, "I'm studying ancient Scandinavian literature, like where Mijö's name comes from, Odin, Thor, Loki, that kind of stuff. There are so many books for the courses, though."

Now this was interesting. He'd heard that the Midgardians did tell tales of the Aesir, and that they were somewhat popular, but to meet one who studied them and for what seemed to be at length?

This woman will have no idea what hit her.

That was the third time that night he could have sworn he'd heard something.

Slipping easily into invisibility, he mutely made his way into the living room, where he spied Edda, sitting in the darkened room, surrounded by no less than four thick, dusty-looking books, lit only by the glow of her laptop screen.

"Dammit, Loki…" he thought he heard her mutter.

He froze. How could she- a mere mortal- possibly have known?

"Prometheus stole the fire, does he count as a trickster god?" she continued to babble, flipping through the endless pages of the massive books.

"Can't sleep my dear?" Loki asked, shedding the glamour.

Edda jumped, "Allfather, you scared me!" she cried, "Wow, sorry, I didn't wake you up, did I?"

He shook his head, "Not at all, but I'm just curious what you're ah-" he waved a hand in the direction of her collected books, "What you're up to."

"Oh, I'm just working on a paper, theorizing on the Norse trickster god Loki. Lots of boring stuff."

"And, ahh, what are your theories?" he asked, perching himself of the arm of the couch.

Edda sighed, "Well, you see, lots of scholars believe that Loki was associated with fire, as lots of the other jötunn were also elemental in nature. However, I'm theorizing here that Loki was a straightforward trickster god who became associated with fire so the Christians could turn him into a figure like Lucifer, making fun and mischief a villainous thing. Hopefully, I can grab some support for this theory through the Age of Enlightenment and the rediscovery of Greek art and mythology, because the Greeks lacked a trickster god themselves. I think. Prometheus might count here, which could potentially ruin everything."

"And these are the stories your name comes from, you said?"

"Nickname, but yep, the Eddas," she explained, holding aloft one of the thickest, most worn of the books by her side, "There are two, the Poetic and the Prose."

"Is it… interesting?" he asked hesitantly, taking the offered tome.

"I love it, it's all so- so amazing, but it's not for everyone, I guess. It's kind of in a format lots of people aren't used to. But there are all kinds of stories, funny ones, scary ones, ones with lots of action, the huge end-of-the-world stories. You've got guys like Odin, the Allfather, king of the Aesir- the gods- his son Thor, God of Thunder…"

"And Loki?"

"God of Mischief, Pranks, Lying. He's a funny guy, a Jotun that causes about 90% of the trouble for the Aesir and on the off-chance he isn't, he'll fix it anyways."

"Sorry- a what?"

"Jotun, one of the Frost Giants. In certain books, he's sworn brother of Odin, in others, he's the adopted son. Complex guy, Loki is. Hence why I'm up at 3 working on this paper on him here."

"Oh."

A jotun? Did she really just say that in this odd, Midgardian legend, he was a Jotun? Where do these people come up with these things? Absently, he flipped through the book, "The Lay of Hymir", "The Ballad of the High One", what was a "Lokasenna"?

"Do you have a favorite among these?"

"Uhh, yeah, actually. It's kind of everyone's favorite, "Thrymskvitha", where Thor loses his hammer and has to get into drag to get it back."

He looked surprisingly good in that dress, Loki mused, remembering it. "I've never heard this one. Will you tell it to me?"

Edda sighed and took a sidelong look at her laptop, "I could use a break. Sure."

She gently moved the books from the seat beside her and moved to make room, carefully accepting the heavy tome he passed her. Licking a fingertip, she flipped through the myriad of thin pages until finally she reached the spot.

"Wild was Thor when he awoke,
And when his mighty hammer he missed;
He shook his beard, his hair was bristling,
As the son of Earth about him sought.

Hear now the speech that first he spoke
'Harken, Loki, and heed my words...'"

A/N: Well hello there! This is the first of many (not quite 12, sorry!) chapters, so if you enjoyed it and would like to hear more of these antics, don't forget to Favorite! And if you really, really liked it, reviews really make my life and they make chapters happen faster! True story! Or if you didn't like it, have a bone to pick or just want to say hi, feel free to leave a review for that too!

Also, just a heads-up, this story will be based more in the mythology than the Marvel (hence why it's a crossover).

References and Other Things Explained:

(I saw this in a story called "Variation on a Theme" (Yu-Gi-Oh) and it was infinitely helpful. Feel free to skip this if it gets boring)

"One year, he reminded himself, One blasted, Midgardian year.Mother and Father had urged him to take advantage of this opportunity, for knowledge and to further understanding of the Nine Realms. After all, he'd spent summers in Alfenheim in his childhood..."

Talk about the Study Abroad program from Hel! Also, I imagine the Elves put together an awesome summer camp program.

"Can't sleep my dear?" Loki asked, shedding the glamour."

Feel free to imagine this in the sleaziest voice Tom Hiddleston can conjure. My dear indeed.

"Well, you see, lots of scholars believe that Loki was associated with fire..."

Yes, lots and lots of people are confused over whether Loki was actually a fire elemental or whether he got confused with a similar-sounding guy named Logi (or whether they're the same person), but a lot of this I made up on the spot. Although, Greek mythology is definitely lacking a 'Trickster' type, so I suppose it could be valid.

"Uhh, yeah, actually. It's kind of everyone's favorite, "Thrymskvitha", where Thor loses his hammer and has to get into drag to get it back."
For those of you not in the know, yes, this actually happened. Really. Go read it now, I'll wait.

Disclaimer: I own no stake, not one iota of Marvel, including the comics, movies or anything in between. The Mighty Thor belongs to Marvel and Disney.

Quotations are from the Poetic Edda, domain.