I've kinda hit a block on the fic I'm currently working on, I'm so close to the end too. So I decided to start something new in the hopes of getting back in the grove, will likely be a little slow going with chapter posts though.
Anyway on with the first chapter.
Curiosity killed the cat.
He had heard Heimdall say that once, at the time he had just assumed it was the large earth coloured wolf's strange way of saying he hated the small agile creatures, but perhaps there was truth in the saying. Maybe curiosity, did kill cats, or in this case the wolf.
Everyone was always telling him he was too curious for his own good. It was curiosity that had him venturing so close to the human territory, and curiosity that had him on his thind legs, leaned up against a tree, as he sniffed at the strange contraption the humans had set up among the branches using rope, becoming ensnared in it as he lost his footing and slipped. He'd only managed to tangle himself further as he thrashed around in an attempt to free himself, he had even tried changing form, hoping his human hands might make it easier to loosen and remove the ropes, but the sudden change in size had caused their hold to tighten further, causing further stress and in his panic he had changed back before he had even attempted to use his hands.
And so he found himself trapped, rope digging into his flesh, blood dripping from a gash in his front right leg which was bound tightly, and completely exhausted. Lungs burning as he desperately struggled for breath as the taut ropes constricted his neck, his back paws only barely reaching the ground.
Loki's ear twitched as he heard footsteps crunching through the thin layer of snow that had coated the ground overnight, lifting his nose as he sniffed to catch the owner's sent, he was near the outskirts of the woodlands his pack claimed, not far from the human village so he had to be careful. He caught the man's scent just as he heard a familiar voice mumbling incoherently under his breath as he almost tripped on a root.
"Whoa there, calm down little guy, I'll get you out of there."
Loki slowly stepped out from his place in the shadows, he was surprisingly good at disappearing into his surroundings considering his onyx coat - that was what the man had called it - tented to stand out in the white winter snow.
"Oh, hi there, I haven't seen you in a while." The friendly blonde haired man smiled as he spotted him, patting down the pockets of his thick brown leather jacket. "I'm sorry little fella I don't have anything for you today."
He tilted his head at the man and flicked his ear in understanding, though admittedly he was a little disappointed, but then he hadn't been near the place for a little over a week now, so the man probably wasn't expecting to see him today. Loki moved in a little closer following the man through the woods at a distance, staying at least nine feet away as he followed beside. He did come closer to the blonde occasionally when the man brings a sausage with him, though the guy always stepped back from the offered treat to give Loki room.
"I'm just out collecting sticks for the wood stove, keep running out of the little stuff." The man spoke as he bent over to pick up a thin branch from the ground.
Loki had no idea what a wood stove was or why it required bits of tree, but he liked that the man talked to him whenever he was watching him. He had become intrigued by the man, he seemed kind enough and had even saved his life, that was what had had him coming back hoping to catch a glimpse of him again the first time.
He had growled at the man when he had first come upon Loki, exhausted and tangled in ropes, the strangled sound coming out rather pathetic considering he had no air, but the man hadn't been scared off. Instead, he talked to him in a soothing voice promising to cut him free. He could have lashed out, attacked the man once he was loose, but the guy risked getting mauled and had cut loose the ropes around his throat before cutting away the others. He hadn't attacked the man once he was free, of course, the guy had just helped him after all and admittedly the growling was more out of fear than a threat towards the man.
The humans were so interesting, the way they lived, the things they did it was all so different to what he knew. He was part like them, part human, he and his entire pack had a human side to them, but had no understanding of it. Sure, he could move walk and speak in his human form, those skills came naturally with birth, but being raised in the ways of the wild he had no idea how humans should interact with each other, how they lived within their towns and villages.
Watching as the blonde added another stick to the pile in his arm, Loki moved to sniff around the twigs and undergrowth himself.
"I always see you by yourself, I hope you have friends out there somewhere." The man said nodding further into the woods, Loki stopped what he was doing to look at the blonde, he didn't know the man's name but he was rather fond the guy so he always made sure to let the man know he had his full attention when speaking to him. "It's getting rather cold out after dark lately, so I hope you have friends to snuggle up with at night." The blonde continued as he put his pile of sticks down, removing a roll of hide from his pack and spreading it on the ground.
Loki watched on curiously as the man lay the leather flat before moving his pile of sticks onto it, moving to pick up others and adding them to the pile on the hide. Finding a thick twig himself Loki grabbed an end, lifting it from the ground, one end slightly dragging in the snow as he made his way to the piece of hide the man had left, as the human moved further away to gather more wood. He dropped it by the pile, giving the hide a sniff, only the faintest scent of elk remaining, how the humans had managed to remove all of the animal's fur from its skin was a mystery and one of the reasons they were warned away from humans.
'The humans kill young wolves and tear the skin from their bodies.' That was one of the warnings his father had given when he was small.
"That'll make it easier to carry them home when I'm done." The blonde chuckled as he walked back over with another armful of sticks, Loki retreated back a few feet, as the man deposited the branches in his arm onto the pile on the ground. "Thank you for the help though." He grinned, eyes following the drag line through the snow.
Loki couldn't help the slight wagging of his tail as he slowly circled back over to the northern side where the trees became more dense and sat in the snow, he understood thank you, even his kind used that word. He looked on in fascination as the man folded the hide over the bundle of sticks and tied it in place with string at each end, before hauling it up off the ground and slinging the long loop of string over his shoulder.
"I'll have to head back now, buddy. I still have a lot to do today and nightfall isn't long off." The blonde informed as he headed back towards the town, Loki stood to follow even if for just a little - he dare not get close enough for other town folk to spot him - when a very familiar scent caught his nose, causing his attention to slip back towards the woods depths.
"Looks like you might have be on your way too, huh." The man hummed. Loki looked back to the human, bowing his head slightly in farewell before disappearing back into the woods.
"You've been warned about going near the humans land, brother." The powerful golden hued wolf with piercing blue eyes stated in disapproval, before sighing, "And yet every time you disappear on a hunt, I find you out here without fail, and do not try and deny going near there because the scent of human clings to your coat."
"What would you know of the smell of humans, Thor, you've never even been close to one." Loki scoffed back, slinking under his big brother's nose - and his big brother was just that, in both age and build, as much like the humans, wolves also came in varying shape and size. Loki was built sleek and agile whilst Thor had a larger more powerful build - and brushing his tail along Thor's nose as he passed.
Thor snorted with a sneeze, "You know I hate it when you do that."
"And you know that is exactly why I continue to do it." Loki grinned, giving his brother's nose another flick with his tail before taking off.
"Oh, you are dead!" The gold wolf growled playfully as he took chase after his brother, the two weaving through the trees, Loki sliding through the snow on his side as Thor tackled him, kicking his brother off of him only to be tripped up by Thor as he tried to run again. The two of them continued like this for several minutes, tails wagging as they chased and tumbled through the snow, playfully nipping each other, eventually Thor had Loki pinned on his back beneath him, both of them chuckling as they caught their breath.
Thor was having a blast it had been a while since he and Loki had had a chance to play like this, usually his friends were around and Loki tended to close up when they were around. And as if on cue Fandral's voice sounded from their left.
"Thor, we have found a small group of young elk. The hunt is back on." He sounded cheerfully.
"Get off me." His little brother huffed, rolling out from under him, getting to his feet and shaking the snow from his dark fur. Thor hated the way his brother tried to act grown up around them, Loki was old enough to join in hunts, with supervision, of course, but he was still just a pup and should be spending his time running about playing and having fun. Unfortunately, being the youngest in their pack, his brother didn't really have anyone his age to play with.
"Hogun and the others are keeping an eye on them." Sif stated, the white female with dark brown-grey markings on her face, shoulders and tail looked Loki over before turning back to Thor, "We better not keep them waiting."
"You coming?" Thor asked his brother with a hopeful tilt of his head turning slightly towards his friends. He doubted Loki would accept the offer, his brother had been hesitant ever since he'd taken a rather nasty kick to the head while hunting elk a few months back, and judging by the way Loki's ears drooped in uncertainty as he considered the offer, he'd likely guessed right.
"Perhaps next time, when there is only one." Loki replied, turning towards their pack's usual hangout spot, "I think I'll head back."
Thor nodded before heading off with his friends, leaving Loki to head back to the remaining members who weren't out hunting. Loki was well aware that he should put more effort into joining the others on hunts, he had to help contribute just as the others did, it's just the thought of being hurt like that again made him nervous.
Upon entering the small clearing the pack spent most of their time lingering about, he gave a quick scan of the area, looking over those that remained behind. His father had joined the hunt today by the looks of it, Balder lingered by a small group and the pale wolf he was looking for lay under the large bent tree in the middle of the clearing, her fur soft cool swirls of creams and greys.
"Mother." He greeted as he rubs his muzzle into her cheek, leaning into her as he lay down beside her, before rolling to his back as he smiled up at her.
"Your father will kill you if he finds out you've been near the village again." Frigga looked down at him with a shake of her head.
"What makes you think I've been near the village?" Loki asked innocently, rolling back to his stomach.
"The fact that you are trying to rub my scent all over yourself is a bit of a give away." She smiled, giving her son a nudge with her nose.
Busted.
"I do wish you would not spend so much time close by the town, I worry for your safety. Odin may exaggerate a little, but the humans are dangerous, they hunted our ancestors for being what they were and there are still many today that hunt our kind. My child, I don't know what I would do if I lost you." Frigga spoke with concern.
Her youngest has always been curious about everything around him and she understood why he might be so curious about the humans, Loki along with everyone else in their pack had not only the blood of wolves but also the blood of humans flowing through their veins. A side that no-one knew much about anymore and none were willing to try and understand out of fear of being hunted once again, none until Loki.
She understood his desire, but it was far too dangerous she had heard, even seen what the humans could do, back when she and Odin were still young, before they had formed the wonderful pack they had today, Odin's own brother had gotten too close to the humans. He had been killing livestock that belonged to the men, the humans became mad and the pack was scattered, many lost their lives to the human weapons, Odin himself lost an eye. The two of them fled to one of the rendezvous sites where they waited two full days, but Heimdall - who was only Loki's age at the time - and Tyr were the only two who returned.
The four of them never spoke of this to their new pack though, Odin never spoke of the incident again and the rest of them kept silent out of respect, but there were times she wished Odin would tell the youngsters of that day, perhaps it would help dissuade them from venturing too close to the towns. At least she could feel assured by the fact she knew Loki held no interest in the humans livestock, and wasn't as dominant as his brother was so it was safe to assume he wouldn't try to lead a hunt of his own.
"I always make sure to stay hidden among the trees, I don't venture near the clearing before town." Loki pointed out, looking at his mother with big apologetic green eyes, giving her a quick lick on the cheek, "I do not mean to worry you so."
"I know." His mother smiled, sitting up to fuss over a bit of dirt that clung to his ear. "You seemed in high spirits when you got back, did something happen?"
"Thor and I played for a bit, it's been a while since we've had the chance to play." Loki grinned back, too bad his brother's friends had to go and interrupt them. Just after Loki had finished talking Heimdall's howl drifted through the woods, signalling the hunt had been successful.
"Well, we had better go get something to eat before all the best bits are taken." His mother urged giving him a nudge before heading in the direction the howl had originated from.