Christie woke up the next morning still feeling a little drowsy from the day before. She was told that she wouldn't have to serve today, thanks to the newly amended rota - so she was considering staying tucked up in the warm, soft bed.
But clearly, fate had other plans.
There was a suddenly there was a rapid knock at the door of her quarters. "Come in," she mumbled reluctantly, straight into her pillow. The great oak door cracked open and Jennie slipped in, still in her beige cotton nightdress, her chocolate locks a wild mess.
"Annerledes!" she sang brightly, scurrying across the carpet and up the few steps that her bed sat on. Christie raised her head, groaned at the sight of the bubbly head serving girl, and fell back into her crumpled pillow again.
"Good morning, Jen," she grumbled into the fabric.
"Guess what?!" Jennie grinned excitedly as she slammed herself down on the end of Christie's bed completely uninvited.
"Tell me!" Christie gasped back, her voice dripping in blatant sarcasm. Jennie clearly had no regard or respect for personal space and, whilst it was bearable for now, she knew it would take all of a few days for it to rile her up.
"Prince Loki has requested that you serve him every morning at breakfast! The prince himself! Isn't that just wonderful?" Jennie gushed, clasping her hands together in wonder. That made Christie wake up; she sat up properly and stared at her with squinted eyes.
"Prince Loki…? Prince Loki asked for me especially?" she blinked, running her hands through her bed hair which was currently sticking up all over the place.
"That's right! I know, it's forward, extremely forward in fact but my oh my, this is just brilliant," Jennie grinned, prodding her leg with each syllable of the sentence. "This means you have a higher place now, the rota doesn't exist! Second day and you're already promoted!"
"So this is my life now, huh?" Christie mumbled more to herself than herself. It still felt like a weird dream. Just a few days ago, Coulson was eating fake pears off her table in London with a bizarre sounding mission - now here she was, in this beautiful palace with this sweet but borderline unbearable girl all up in her personal space.
"Yes, this is your life, and what a life it is! So hurry up and get yourself dressed - oh dear gods you do look a mess, come on!" Jennie reached across Christie's legs and flung open the curtains, allowing a sharp stream of sunlight to flood the room as she yanked Christie's arm in an attempt to pull her out of bed. But Christie firmly stayed rooted to the spot, absolutely shattered.
"Jen, I know we just met - but pull me like that again and I will kill you," Christie warned her lowly, half joking and half serious.
Well, Jennie wasn't to know that, was she?
"Oh Annerledes, come ON! We need to go, we only have an hour to prepare!" Jennie insisted, still tugging her white satin nightdress strap persistently. Christie gave in and decided to get up, speedily making her way over to the stone shower in the private bathroom that was connected to her quarters. This was the job, after all.
"So, while I've got this morning job, do I still help you in the kitchens in between?" Christie shouted over the noise of hot running water hitting the cold granite beneath her bare feet, as her nightdress fell from her shoulders.
"No, you just serve breakfast and at times, dinner, depending on whether Loki wants dinner or not, as sometimes he goes without. In-between aforementioned meals you may do whatever you desire in Asgard, but you must be back before dark and preferably tell the guards where you're going if you happen to leave the palace," Jennie explained speedily. "Unless of course, you want to help me clean the kitchens!" Christie rolled her eyes and lathered her body with the honey scented cake of soap as Jennie paced up and down her room impatiently, unable to sit still for a second.
"No thanks, you're alright," Christie playfully declined the offer. There was a short pause, filled only with the comforting sound of the running shower.
"You're not from around here are you?" Jennie suddenly asked, breaking the peaceful silence. Christie chewed the inside of her cheek for a few seconds before answering - this is where her specialties had to come into play. This was a make or break answer, and she couldn't close up as obviously as she wanted to.
"What gave it away, the fact that I turned up in Asgard out of nowhere?" she decided to give a sarcastic gasp. Jennie was the one to roll her eyes this time, putting a brief pause in her overly excitable behaviour.
"No- well yes, but no because that happened to me, too. It's just that…well, you're different," Jennie shrugged. "The Queen was right with her naming strategy this time. The rest of us were rechristened with simple names but yours suits you wonderfully. You came from Ear- Midgard, did you not? Did you have a family? How did you get here? I know there are other accidental and unspoken ways onto Asgard but I thought Heimdall was guarding all the entrances-" All the questions were now tumbling out of Jennie's mouth like never-ending verbal diarrhoea and it was overcrowding Christie's brain.
"Hey hey! I thought you said we only had an hour? Look, I'll answer all your queries some other day, but right now we need to get down there for breakfast remember?" she reminded Jennie smoothly, stopping the shower water and grabbing the soft towel waiting for her behind the bathroom door.
"Oh NO! We're late! Come on Annerledes stop chatting!" Jennie gasped, clapping at her briskly to hurry her up.
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