"So this is the young man who has kept you from our holiday." Astrid exclaimed as she set foot through the door and ran to pet the young black cat lounging on Freya's desk. Though younger, Astrid had always been mistaken to be the older of the pair, for she was taller and acted more mature for her age. Growing up it had always been assumed that they were twins, until Astrid decided to cut her hair short and dye it in a range of colours. Today it was a deep purple, but who knew what it would be by Christmas?
"I've already apologised for that too many times." Freya sighed as she brought in her sister's bags. "What on earth did you bring with you? Your bag weighs a ton!"
"You did offer to carry them." Astrid pointed out, grinning as she had known exactly what she was doing at the station.
"I'm beginning to regret it now." Freya shook her head as she dropped them by the sofa, before taking off her winter coat. Now in the depths of October, winter was well and truly beginning to set in, and she longed for the warmth of the summer. "Hello Thor." She smiled as the older ginger cat rubbed his head against her ankles. "I suppose you want some attention too." She knelt down and scratched behind his ears.
"I have to admit he is completely adorable." Astrid said as she took off her coat, revealing a black jumper with a white ghost on the front. Freya merely rolled her eyes, knowing that this was part of Astrid's countdown to Halloween.
"He is also very mischievous, much like his namesake." Freya told her. "He tore my posters to shreds, loves sneaking out into other people's flats, and stealing food when I'm not looking. On more than one occasion I've been unable to work because he's refused to move off my books or my laptop."
"Could you not just move him?" Astrid asked, somewhat surprised that Freya had let a cat get the better of her.
"The one and only time I tried, I got this." Freya rolled up the sleeve of her jumper dress and revealed a freshly healed scar down her lower left arm. "Needless to say, I haven't tried since."
"Ouch…" Astrid winced sympathetically. "Do you know where he came from?"
"No idea. I tripped over him in a rush to get out of a thunderstorm, and though I put posters up everywhere online and around here and campus, no one came forward. I have a feeling he may have been abandoned." Freya explained. It had been three months since that day, and she was still curious as to where the black cat had come from.
"Who would do such a thing?"
"I don't know." Freya sighed as she proceeded to make them both mugs of hot chocolate. "It took him a while to get used to me, and he enjoys tormenting poor Thor."
"I suppose I ought to ask how uni is going?" Freya glared at her sister and then sighed.
"I have four essays due Friday next week, and a dissertation plan and introduction to complete by Christmas break."
"And how many have you done?"
"You sound exactly like dad." Freya pointed out and Astrid shook her head.
"The question still stands."
"Three. The last one is Vikings so shouldn't take too long." Freya shrugged. "Anyway, no talk of work. We have a girly weekend together and I have every intention of having fun."
"Then where shall we start?"
"I have wine in the fridge, and I figured we'd order pizza."
"Sounds good." Astrid smiled as she stepped away from the desk. "And to watch?"
"Your choice."
The weekend flew by in a flurry of films, shopping and giggling, and all too soon Freya was saying goodbye to Astrid at the train station. All thoughts of work had gone while her sister had been visiting, but as Freya waved from the platform, all she could think of was what work she had to catch up on, and how much needed to be done over the next few weeks before the Christmas holidays. Sighing, she walked back towards her flat and decided that she may as well try and finish writing her essay.
One week after her sister's visit, Freya submitted her last essay of the term and headed towards the Archaeology Department's stores. With just one month clear of essays, she was determined to get as far ahead on her dissertation as possible and so had begged Professor Caygill for access to the finds from the Summer's dig. Though he had been a little reluctant at first, she had argued her case, and so she had been given the same rules from when she was cataloguing. So long as everything stayed in the office and was not damaged, then she could have as much time with them as she wished. So Freya walked into the room that had doubled up as an office in August, and gathered the relevant boxes before sitting at the desk and making a start.
As the afternoon wore on though Freya began to feel unwell. At first it was only a minor headache, but by half past three it felt as if someone was hammering her skull, and she knew she ought to head home before it got worse. Sighing, she gathered her things together and put them in her bag before returning the boxes to the correct shelves and leaving the office.
The walk home seemed to take twice as long, but Freya was glad to reach her flat. The cats greeted her as she walked in, with Thor rubbing against her legs while Loki sat on the sofa and mewed.
"Yes, I missed you too." She told them as she turned up the heating and flicked the kettle on. Taking some painkillers, she hoped that they would kick in soon, and then put her bag on the desk. "Now which one of you wants to help me with work?" Loki had already moved to the desk, and Freya smiled slightly. Once she had a cup of tea made, she moved across and sat in her chair before reaching for her notebook from her bag. She paled then as she realised what she had done. In her rush to get home it seemed that she had mistakenly packed some of the artefacts, including the incredibly valuable whetstone. She cursed then, for she knew that they would need returning and yet she was in no fit state to do so.
"I'm sure one night can't hurt…" She murmured to no one in particular. "I'll return them first thing in the morning. That sounds fair, right?" Her only response was Loki licking his paw, before Thor mewed. "Well I'm glad you agree with me." She smiled slightly before placing the bag of artefacts on the desk. "I suppose I may as well make the most of it." She shrugged, before pulling the whetstone out of the bag. Loki stepped towards it then, nudging his head against the stone and Freya's heart skipped in fear. She carefully put the item down before grabbing the cat and putting him on the floor. He hissed at her and jumped straight back up on the desk, while she had the whetstone back in her hands. He was obviously unhappy at being moved, for he swished his tail back and forth, and she could see his claws out.
"Okay, be like that. But this is priceless! If it is damaged then I dread to think of the punishment…" The black cat padded towards her, retracting his claws as he did so. "You can stay on the desk so long as you don't touch this."
"Meow." The cat dropped its head slightly, and Freya smiled.
"Then we're agreed." She turned the stone over in her hands, feeling somewhat better now that her head was clearing, and wondered why no one had done any more work on it. After all, it was incredibly unique. Loki padded closer, until his forehead was a millimetre from the stone, and Freya sighed as he lifted his paw to the runes.
"This is dedicated to your namesake. See, he was always getting into mischief and was constantly blamed for anything that went wrong in Asgard, even if it wasn't his fault." She explained as the cat dropped into her lap and sat on her. "Truth be told, he is one of my favourite parts of the myths… Well, apart from his treatment towards the end…" she shook her head. "Anyway, these runes roughly translate to something like 'hear me Loki, I beckon you to me'." She had barely said the words when there was a very bright flash of green light and the weight in her lap increased. Freya hissed as her vision cleared and then felt her heart drop as there was no sign of the black cat. Instead a young man with raven hair and green eyes jumped off her lap, patted himself down, and then turned to face her with a charming smile.
"Hello Freya."
