Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to Stan Lee and the Asatrus that created Norse mythology. Sorry, I'm not epic enough to own Loki :P

Chapter One: Welcome to My Life

~Alyss~

I sighed as I walked through the halls of the college, trying to keep my emotions in check. If I wasn't careful, well, life would go from just a regular bomb to an atomic one, mushroom cloud and all. Once I finally got to the parking lot I could breathe. Well, thought I could.

"Oi! Alyss!" A familiar voice called. I turned around to see Oliver sprinting for me. An eyebrow rose up as my best friend skidded to a stop in front of me and doubled-over panting. I opened my mouth to comment but he raised a finger to stop me. "Give." pant "Me." pant. "A sec."

I nodded. Lemme give you some insight on my friend here: Ollie might be tall, thin and look like a track star with long skinny chicken legs but he's the laziest tall, skinny guy I've met. Only guy I could beat on a race, which is saying something 'cause before I met Oliver, I was the undefeated champion of the title "Worst Runner in the Class". Now I'm only second worst, which makes me feel a little better.

After poor Oliver finally got his breath, he stood and pressed his wire rim glasses closer to his face. "So," I said while I started walking out into the parking lot. "Why were we trying to kill ourselves to get a hold of me?"

Ollie rolled his eyes at me. "Poe told me about the publisher thing. That just sucks!"

I frowned. "Sucks" didn't even cover it. Five years it took me to finally finish my book and it gets rejected for the thirteenth time. Not only that, but my professor who's been my support since I got here tells me it's a lost cause? I'm not just burned, I'm chopped up, stuck on a skewer and roasting. I sighed before answering. "Well, it's not like anyone really wants to read a story about a girl with a freaky gift. It's been done,"

Oliver rolled his eyes. "When you say it like that, yeah, but how many of those 'freaky gifts' happen to be able to see ghosts?"

"A lot,"

"And the fact she has a stuffed cat that's possessed by one?"

"Okay, that's a little unique,"

"A little?" Ollie's voice raised an octave. "Alyss, you're a prodigy, for Christ's sake! You make my scribbles go to shame! Poe even said so!"

I smiled a bit as I walked up to my truck, a beautiful black four-door with a thinner, lankier version of the Cheshire cat from the new Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland painted on the side. The complete the look, the tailgate had the trademark glowing green eyes and wide toothy smiled painted in it. Added bonus, the license plate read "SMLE BIG". I ran my hand over the face of the smiling cat like I was petting him before I opened the driver side door. "For the millionth time, Ollie, I'm not a prodigy. I just love to write,"

"And that's what makes you so good," He said as he hopped into the passenger's side. "It's the love and passion a writer brings into his, or should I say her, story that makes it beautiful. You've got a gift, Alyss. You just need to realize it,"

I smiled and shook my head as I pulled out of the parking lot and headed home. We kept silent, me because I wasn't in the mood to argue anymore while I drove and Ollie because he knew better. My smiled sank into a frown as the reality of it all sank in. Sure, many people told me my work was great but publishers liked to pigeon-hole stories so they could sell 'em. According to my professor, my stuff couldn't get pigeon-holed which was why I keep getting rejected. He told me to work on something that stuck with a specific genre. Unfortunately, that wasn't something I could do. Writing is all about having fun with your work and enjoying it. I wouldn't have much fun if I wrote something you could stick a label on. But maybe that's my fate then.

Ollie must've noticed my mood shifting because he suddenly said "Why don't we go to the desert tonight? We have a couple days of free time. We'll even take Fenris, how's that?"

I stare thoughtfully at the road as the light changed. A day or two away from town with my two best buds? Why not? My grin answered for me because Ollie suddenly smirked and said "Great! So, we'll get home, pack and then head out tonight,"

I laughed at Ollie's eagerness. "Let's not forget to pick some food up over at the grocery store. I'm sure we'll want s'mores right?"

I got an even bigger grin for that. It reminded me so much of a little kid that I couldn't help cackling at it. We continued to drive through the town of Puente Antiguo until we got to the outer edge, where a little house stood by its teen tiny lonesome. Just the way I liked it. I drove the truck into the carport next to the house. There was a loud barking noise as my wolfdog, Fenris bolted out of the house through the back door that had a broken lock (I'd been meaning to fix it but who has the time?). He was white with dark patches and those beautiful dark amber eyes. Fen never had a collar because everyone knew who's dog it was, even if they didn't know me personally. I did get him chipped though, just in case. My wolf waited by my door as I opened it and was so eager to pounce on me.

"How's my baby boy?" I grinned as I petted and scratched his head. "Wanna go for a trip?" That earned a happy yip and he immediately slipped back into the house, no doubt to nab the leash and collar that always hung in reach. I grinned as I closed and locked my car, Oliver following suit. We packed up around the house, Oliver getting his things that were always her. The boy practically lived with me. It was so bad that I'm still squashing rumours about us dating.

After about an hour or so, we got all our camping gear and visited the local market to get all the food we need for the camp out, like marshmallow (we got like five bags because I am a roasted marshmallow fiend!), chocolate (Hershey's of course) and graham crackers and in no time, we were driving off "into the sunset" (inside joke, I'm sure you can figure it out. I'll give you a hint, we're both writers). Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party" blasted out my stereo, with me and Oliver singing it at the top of our lungs and Fenris howling along. I grinned at my two favorite boys in the world, having the time of my life as we drove to our favorite camp spot. Time could have stopped there and I would have been perfectly content. However, fate seemed to have a different plan for me.

Author's Note: Hello all! I hope you guys enjoy this. I know it's probably too short for some people's taste but I've been working on this little chapter for quite some time and only now found a perfect place to end it. I'll try and post a new chapter ASAP, maybe tonight, maybe tomorow morning, we'll see. Yes, this is meant to be a Loki/OC fic but hopefully an enjoyable one. I must confess that I don't know too much about the Marvel universe to stay terrible close to that storyline. I just saw the Thor movie and loved it to death! Especially Loki ^^ So, anywho, hope you enjoy this and I'll be updating soon! :D

TTFN, Ta Ta For Now!