"It is a truth universally acknowledged, universally perhaps meaning the servants in the court of the All-Father and many of the residents in the surrounding areas, that when a prince of Asgard is met with idle time; some form of mild panic will soon follow."
This was really bothering him. There small note - found on the last page of the Asgardian folder his mother had given him to read - written in bright green ink. Tony had spent the last two days pouring over that thing and well, that note was not there the first time, hell it wasn't there an hour ago. Everything in the folder was in hand written black ink for starters, the usual Asgard way, then the little note appeared swirling onto the page as if some invisible person was sitting there writing it and Tony was perfectly honest with himself, something about it felt off. It was as if there was something, not threatening really but, just a little snarky about it.
This is clearly insane. After all it was just writing on a page. It didn't have feelings.
But then again maybe the folder did have feelings? It was from Asgard after all, where magic was part of everyday life, horses had eight legs and who was he to say they couldn't have possibly sentient folders. Dear god he hoped it wasn't sentient he got changed in front of that thing. He really should have talked to the Inter-realm Relations professor at MIT before break; could have gotten some pointers or at least an answer on the folder issue. His parents had been asked to be ambassadors recently, hence the folder full of Asgard information, to represent Midgard and all her fine people in the halls of Odin All-father himself. Tony's mother had been waiting for this moment and had accepted straight away frankly far too excited to be heading into negotiations. Of course the invitation was to not just his parents but to Tony as well.
"Think of it was a reward for working so hard darling. All that time locked away studying, you need to have some fun, plus I'm sure the princes will be happy to show you around." His mother seemed to think this would make him feel better. Most teens got a car for good grades or getting into a top school at fifteen; he got inter-realm travel with political negotiations and was going to be forced to hang out with alien princes. Fun times ahead.
In the folder there were a couple of photos of the royal family, all stiff backs and serious faces dressed like they were just about to go to a other worldly costume party. Asgard seemed to be a bit old fashioned when it came to some things.
"Tony our escort is here. You better be packed we can't keep the court waiting" his father stood in the door way, neat suit and a large coat on waiting for his son. Howard watched as Tony gathered his bags, eyeing the folder under his arm "Some last minute reading? Shouldn't you know most of it anyway?" his father asked as they walked down the stairs together "Yeah since should we trust what the media has to say about anything, Loki gave birth to a horse while Thor likes to wear women's clothing." Tony rolled his eyes, when it came to Asgard anything was possible therefore any story was possible, stupid press, the Stark's had faced their fair share too maybe even more so after being named the new ambassadors.
"But the princes- everyone says Thor is a warrior and the god of thunder, Loki is a wizard and the god of mischief?" Howard let out a small chuckle "I was told to never let Loki hear you say that, apparently he prefers the term sorcerer, he says it sounds more regal." Tony let out a chuckle himself; maybe Loki wouldn't be too bad.
The guard sent to escort them was wearing full Asgardian armour and no matter how many times Tony saw it, in his textbooks or those old documentaries his mother liked, he could still only think one thing. Giant walking beetle. Ok golden giant walking beetle, he was fancy.
"Hey, I have a question for you." Tony dumped his bags in the centre of the circle that had been burnt into the ground and held the folder up. The guard placed a hand on Tony's shoulder "Ask away young Stark and I shall do my best to answer you"
"Yeah, great man, um is the parchment stuff sentient in Asgard?"
The man was quiet for a moment towering over Tony, and then he threw his head back and laughed just managing to gasp out for the gatekeeper to open up the bifrost. That wasn't going to stop Tony "Laugh it up beetle man but this-"he flipped through the pages until he found the green ink "- this appeared about an hour ago, so what is it? Is the paper communicating with me?" the guard stopped laughing, was it Tony's imagination or did he look a just a bit annoyed?
"It would be unwise to touch it"
He certainly sounded annoyed.
"Why?"
A roaring noise was getting louder as clouds started to gather and the tempreture started to get drop a little.
"It's nothing more than a silly trick of a bored child. Do not touch it"
"Why?"
The two glared at each other, Tony raised a finger towards the page. The roaring overhead so loud it was almost painful. That's when everything seemed to happen at once, the light of the bifrost swirled towards the party taking everyone and their luggage to Asgard, the beetle guard shouting at Tony to stop and Tony pressing a finger to the note on parchment.
The group landed in a giant golden dome, Tony's mother looking slightly nauseas holding a delicate hand in front of her mouth, Howard patting her back gently. Tony turned to the guard smug smile in place for the others angry frown.
"See smartass nothing happened" Tony kept smiling as he tapped the ink under his finger.
Tap…tap…BOOM!
Thick smoke filled the air as what seemed to be a wave of green ink, apparently coming from the parchment, washed over Tony and those closest to him leaving the guard, his parents and himself coughing, drenched and now bright green. The guard growled and loomed over then teen, "Advice for your stay upon Asgard, when someone informs you not to touch something, do not touch it" he stormed away, past the gate keeper and a few more guards who seemed to be spared the impromptu bath, and left the Stark family behind.
Tony looked at the note again as it shimmered - the words swirling into a new message,
"Welcome to Asgard"
x
A shiver went down Loki's spine as he felt his magic release, he burst out laughing. He couldn't help it, a full belly laugh that had him doubling over, that shiver could only mean one thing.
The rest of the hunting party turned to him as the boar ran off, angry faces of his brother and his friends made him laugh harder, Volstagg rounded on him "You do know that we are hunting for the feast, we need to take something back for the Midgardian ambassadors. To welcome them here." Loki smiled wiping tears from his cheeks.
"Oh I am sure they have already had quite a welcome."