PART 2: TRIP TO TOWN
"No!" Loki exclaimed as he stared at Thor in disbelief. "This is nothing like humans and their world!"
As Thor gave him a confused look, he rubbed his eyes and explained, continuing on walking around the Asgardians that did not pay much attention to them. Good thing he insisted they wear casual outfits to fit in. Even if Loki found no fashion sense and hated the clothing.
"Humans are not peaceful like us; they do not have anything to do with peace in any way."
"What are you talking about, Loki?" Shock had washed over Thor's face, but that did not stop him from leading the way, walking wherever he wished without thinking or asking him anything. "Humans are wonderful-Do you not remember father taking us to Earth? How could you speak of them so poorly? They are civilized, well-mannered, and they treated us extremely nicely when we last went there for a visit."
Chattering and items clanking had drowned out whatever else Thor might have said after that-not that this was a problem; Loki couldn't stand the way Thor spoke about things he did not know of. Not entirely, at least.
Thor always looked at things with eyes that only saw the good in people, and not the true way things are.
It was not all rainbows and flowers, Loki knew, for he had seen the way humans had acted beneath the smiles; lies spoken with no hesitation, the fighting for no good reason, and especially the going-behind-your-back schemes humans were doing.
At least they were nowhere near his level, Loki thought with a smile.
Nearly tripping over one of the smaller boxes scattered across, he was appreciative of Thor as his brother put a hand on his shoulder, helping him keep his balance.
Not even ten seconds later Thor was running to one of the stands, some sort of dragon swords played out as a display, a woman with a bottle in her hand, sitting with a book over her face as her chair was visibly going back and forth, her fall very much possible.
Loki, however, did not wish to see those huge swords, nor did he stay to see whether the woman fell or not. He was in town to see if there was anything of interest, or, during the time Thor was not around, he could use some of the tricks he's been practicing for fun.
"Do you surrender now?" A cruel laughter, and some giggling of a group made him come to a halt, curiosity leading him to the group after locating them.
Quickly walking behind one of the buildings, he took a peek from his hiding spot, now too curious to leave and go to the competition with his brother-it was a competition for young warriors, and Thor talked about it so much when they left the palace, obviously wishing to join.
Focusing on the situation in front of him, he eyed what was happening.
What Loki saw made him feel...angry.
A girl, looking no older than Thor, stood between five others. The girl had bangs, covering her eyes, but from the light he could make out teary, sad eyes staring hard on the ground. Two of them guys, three of them girls, giggling between them, whispering to each other's ears about-he assumed-the girl holding cards with trembling hands.
The angle she held the cards allowed Loki to see the cards from where was, and what he saw made everything clear for him.
The girl had awful cards. It was the worst cards any player could possibly have! And, even better, it would mean your doom has come. You lose.
If you have the cards she did, Loki thought with a frown, it doesn't matter which card you play.
You still lose at the end.
But…
Concentrating on the cards in her hands, Loki thought of the best cards possible in the game, and using his magic he was proud of, he changed them so she had the best cards, and the others had good cards no longer.
Smiling at his work well done, he walked past the group, not missing the surprise (and very happy) on the girl's face, as well as the look of utter disbelief that washed over the others.
If they had cheated, so could the girl, even if she needed help Loki could give without anybody knowing about it.
He felt really satisfied with his work, grinning as he thought about how the girl would win and make those cheaters lose.
"And so, the frost giants were defeated by the Allfather and his Asgardian army." Loki saw a mother telling two kids, one boy appearing around the age of four, the other a girl around ten, both listening to their mother (he assumed it was their mother) excitedly, the girl's eyes wide, the young boy nearly half-asleep.
Loki was certain the boy wasn't fully asleep when he spoke. "Yay! The monsters are beaten!"
The girl, on the other hand, seeming to already know the story, had an amused expression at the reaction given by the young boy. "They certainly were beaten."
Keeping on walking, he also remembered their father, Odin, talking about the event before informing him and Thor about there only being one as king.
Best not to dwell on that now, he thought as he continued walking, a building next to him.
Unlike this morning, now that he was much more aware of his surroundings, he first heard Thor yelling and shouting rather than seeing him and getting startled.
"Thor!" He spoke a bit louder than he would like since the entire area was filled with people chattering, but even so, his brother did not even look his way, and most likely than not, he did not hear him.
Right now, a few stands away, Thor was cheerfully talking and yelling things at kids his age, then all of them laughing, the sunlight shining brightly on them.
A building was right next to Loki, so the sunlight did not reach him, and his smile slowly got replaced by a frown as he realised just how different they were even if they were brothers.
While Thor stood among his friends, laughing with joy, Loki stood in the shadows, alone, watching just how well they got along, and he suddenly felt this awful clenching in his stomach, a feeling he could guess that was much worse than somebody telling him that he is banned from the library.
Just as he was about to go back to the palace, he saw Thor waving at him, shouting words that were not heard with a smile so big it was as if Asgard could live with no need for the sunlight so long as Thor was around.
He tried, Loki really tried bringing his frown upside down (he heard a Midgardian say this phrase once during one of their visits), but it just did not work.
Thor ran up to him, and spoke with so much happiness that Loki felt like he would drown in it.
"Loki, look who I found!" With that, Thor had put an arm around his shoulders, leading him to whoever it was he found.
Oh, he thought as he saw who exactly it was. Of course, the warriors three. And Lady Sif did not appear to be anywhere near-right, she had training to do in order to prove her being the better young warrior than the four that stood in front of him.
He saw Thor turn to the three, and Loki knew exactly what words would be said. After all, his brother was far too predictable. "My friends! My brother has come to join us."
"It is good to see you Loki." His name was remembered. What a shocker. (That was another phrase he heard from Midgardians, though he was uncertain if this was how it was used)
That was Hogun, his hair tied up in a short ponytail, and Loki wondered whether it would become longer, or if he would cut it shorter like Fandral standing next to him.
As conversations began, one sarcastic thought crossed his mind.
How lovely it was, for he would be stuck with these people for the entire day.