{-Loki-Thórr-}

The summer heat barely bothered her as she waltzed through the forest trail, pleased at being completely uninterrupted. Even if the plan only called for a brief in and out, she could still play a little, right? It wasn't like Thórr had a say in it anyway—Loki was the boss of this mission, and whether her normally-superior liked it or not wasn't near as important as how adorably frustrated she got when she was reminded of it.

It wasn't hard to tell she'd gotten to where she needed to be when she stood right in front of a large manor. Set up in the forest and built around the trees, it was likely meant to awe the guests that came here…if they weren't already mesmerized by the young master of the grounds, a foolish boy (and "coincidentally" the person she was looking for) named Ortaire. Barely over the age of eighteen, yet he was well known for his large parties including people of all social classes.

Beyond this, he was an incredible pain to deal with. Or, at least, Loki was assuming that he was; she'd never actually met him before, and Thórr's general "he's not bad" meant nothing coming from the god who actually liked mortals. For whatever dumb reason.

She easily pushed open the gates—probably just for show anyway—and strode to the front door. The small fountains and topiaries were distinctive at best, though were still pretty ignorable. Of all the places she'd been, this world's nobility did have a way of showing off how rich they were. It was pathetic, really, though it did make for interesting fights when they began figuring out who was ultimately better than the others. She gave a half-hearted knock on the door and waited.

"G-get out of my way! I told you I'd handle my own guests!" There was a loud thunk, and a long pause before the same voice shouted, "Like anyone would be coming for you! In case you haven't noticed, you're not as popular with the ladies as you think you are! Nor are you pleasant to listen to."

A couple minutes later, a boy opened the door. Black hair, blue eyes, a mainly grayish-green tailcoat with a trail of peacock feathers at the belt…this was definitely the person she was looking for. He looked like even more of an annoyance in person.

Loki had to make a conscious effort not to show her disgust as he bowed. "Sorry about that. I don't have a lot of visitors this time of day," he said.

"Don't flatter yourself too much, I'm only here on business," Loki returned coldly.

He looked up at her, clearly confused. "I believe you have the wrong person, then; if this is business related, then you'll be looking for my parents, both of which are away in other affairs around the kingdom. Would you like me to get a servant to book a meeting with them, instead?"

"There's no mistake. You're the one I need." She effortlessly strolled past him, patting his head on her way and glancing back with a tempting smile. "Let's go to a place a bit more…private, shall we? Can you shrug off those little servants of yours, if not just for a couple of moments? I won't be too long."

The fact that was exactly what was needed in order to gain his full attention was both irritating and incredibly convenient. On one hand, it proved how pathetic mortals were and how easily any one of them would fall prey to charm. On the other, however, she found it quite fun to play with their emotions and made it that much easier for her.

"We can go to the study," the boy decided absently, taking the lead. "I don't believe I've seen you before. If I might be so bold as to ask for your name and where you've heard of me? I suppose if you know where I live you already know I'm Ortaire."

"Oh, yes, my…coworker has talked a fair bit about you. But she does that to everyone." Loki shrugged. "You needn't worry about names, dear. It's better if you keep this little thing hush-hush anyway—I can't promise how long my offer will stand if you tell everyone you see about it."

"You have my word that I won't tell a soul," Ortaire said with a nod. "It wouldn't be the first time I've handled secret affairs."

He rushed to one of the doors, opening it and gesturing her in. "Ladies first. No one would bother us so long as we stay in the study." Once she was inside, he nodded and shut the door behind him. They walked to a small table and sat down.

Loki gave up trying to be subtle anymore. The sooner she didn't have to deal with mortals the better. "I hear you're fascinated with the concept of love, correct? What it does to a person, and just simply what it is? See, I have all the answers to all the questions you could ever ask. But I'm not giving away that kind of information for free. So I've got a deal for you…"

-…-…-

Why was she listening to Loki, again? She didn't care about anything, as long as she was able to bring havoc in one way or another. Never before had Thórr found herself doubting Alfaðör's direct orders so much, and she chose to blame it on her lousy excuse of a partner.

It wasn't the sound of crying or the thin trail of blood that guided her to the child, but instead the aura he gave off. The feeling…would've been a lot like Loki's, if it wasn't much lighter. Thórr assumed it was something close to hers, glowing bright enough to just barely hide the shadows. She was unsettled by the fact he even had it, let alone that Loki had deemed him one of her twisted creations.

"G-get me out of the darkness…I don't want to be alone here…" the boy cried as Thórr approached him.

She sighed, barely needing to glance at the cut on his side to know it was of Loki's doing. "There's no need to cry now, little one. I'm here. It's just the two of us."

He sniffed, looking up at her and giving a small nod. It looked like he'd been here for at least a couple of hours. At this point, Loki was just abusing the powers she'd been given in order to create creatures that were just mortal enough to fulfill her sadistic desires without permanently killing them. "Really..?"

There was very few things that could throw her off. Yet, somehow, this child was one of them. Everything about him was impossible to understand and startling to know Loki had created such a thing; both were things Thórr hated, not knowing nearly as much as she had the right to. She kept the thoughts to herself and nodded. "She'll be with mortals for a while longer. Look, how about you come with me? Let's get you and this floor cleaned up."

"O-okay…" He got up hesitantly, following her out. "Sorry I left the room…I got scared… I know you don't like it when I leave…"

"It's the cleaning and dealing with Loki part I don't like," Thórr corrected bluntly. "Quite honestly I don't understand why she insists on keeping you there to begin with." Well, that was a lie—she had a guess. Loki had to be aware that he didn't like it and kept him in there just to torture him.

He bounded beside her a moment later. "If she's not going to be coming back, does that mean you can take me to the forest? I bet all of those animals would be happy to see me again." He was smiling now, despite having been crying nearly moments ago.

Thórr shook her head. "Not today. Loki would be back soon…I can only imagine what she'd do if she finds out you're out, let alone in the mortal realm." She hated the pitiful moan he let out. Apparently the almighty god of war didn't quite have the heart to discourage a child.

Neither of them spoke after that. Though there was a lot she needed to get done if she wanted to keep Loki from figuring out her little "pet" got out of his cage.

((A/N: A perfect way I sum up Loki and Thórr's relationship is this conversation:

"I'm older than you!"

"ONLY BY A COUPLE MILLENNIA*!" *literally the gods' version of "a couple of minutes."

Also I will never not copy and paste their boss's name... like I don't even have all those characters on my keyboard.

That ends off the story! Thanks for reading!))