"Did you hear what happened on the on the upper levels? With the King and his brother?"
"I have heard many tales about those two. Perhaps you could be more specific."
"The king was threatening to string Loki up by his ears. Something about batteries."
"Did he steal them?"
"I'm not sure. I think he angered the Sakaarans about something."
"Well, as long as I'm not caught in the crossfire."
"Do you remember the time Loki lined a ceremonial fire pit with Elvish fireworks? One nearly took out Odin's other eye!"
"I wasn't there for that."
"You would have loved it! I was in the general audience, so I couldn't see much. But suddenly all the nobles were screeching bloody murder! They ran by the rest of us, got their fancy shoes all muddy while the sky danced with fire."
"Was the Prince strung up by the ears then, too?"
"Well, I was hardly privy to the fallout, but I'm sure the King was less than pleased."
Loki was tired. Tired, but unable to sleep. The Sakaaran engineers had informed Thor that Loki had yet to deliver the promised fuel cells. Thor, in turn had turned his full attention on Loki who had needed to do some very fancy verbal dancing to get him to leave his room. He needed more time.
He didn't have time.
Shortly after dinner, Loki slipped down to the cargo bay. The Jötunn child wasn't there to greet him and Loki spared a moment to silently curse the brat before working a spell of invisibility. Such magic required a great deal of concentration. Bending the light about himself was not exceptionally difficult, but hiding the warp of it as he moved was. If one wasn't careful, their passing would have the shimmering appearance of a mirage.
He dulled the sound of his footfalls as he entered the Giant's quarters and reached out with his seiðr.
Walking unseen was difficult for another reason. Bending the light about himself meant none could reach his own eyes. Instead, he relied on the flow of seiðr in the room to guide him, the sluggish quiet of steel beneath his feet, the bright hum of electricity in the walls, the burning knotworks of living things both big and small and the free flow of air about it all.
Hulk slouched to his right, a confused tangle of two half-formed beings, like someone had woven two tapestries together with the manic skill of a toddler. The beast slept and, for that, Loki was thankful.
To his left was the deep pool of the older Jötunn. Her threads formed a thick blanket over something heavy beneath. It spoke of discipline, though the weaving was less ordered than that of an Às soldier.
The younger sat near her mother, plucking at the currents of the room. Her threads shifted and billowed as she sent her seiðr out from herself. As Loki approach he let her magic brush against his. Her seiðr retreated with a snap, falling back into her own body as she woke from her trance.
Loki leant beside the girl's ear and whispered, "it's time."
He sensed the movement of her head as she nodded.
"Oma, I'm going to practice in the outer bay. Is that all right?"
The older giant hummed in what must have been agreement. The girl stood and Loki followed her out. She stopped when they were out of sight of the others.
"Prince Loki?" She whispered in entirely the wrong direction. "Are you here?"
Loki let the spell drop and smirked as the giant startled.
"I didn't know you could do that." She spoke a little louder now that he was visible. Many people felt the need to whisper when he was unseen. It never failed to amuse him.
"Yes," he said. "And much more. Have you been practicing?"
The giant nodded, bringing her hands up and pulling currents into her cupped palms. He liked the speed with which she did it, though the amount of energy she drew was small.
"Can you hold more than that?"
A flicker of disappointment crossed her face (aw, she'd hoped for praise) but she set her jaw and did as he asked, drawing more and more magic from the air until her brow grew slick with sweat and the air in her hands grew hot.
"Enough."
She breathed a sigh, but kept herself in check as she let the energy go in a measured flow.
Good. He could work with this.
The ritual mat was set and Loki and the girl were seated in position. She'd changed back to her Às form, the loose fitting blue dress collecting grime from the engine room's oily floor. She was nervous but determined, staring Loki down in what she must have thought was a stoic manner. He'd describe it as more of a pout, but he appreciated the sentiment.
"Ready?" he asked, holding the Tesseract above the rune-scribed mat.
She nodded, stretching her hands out beneath his own.
"Remember, I only need a little at a time. Hold as much back as you can unless I tell you otherwise."
When she nodded again, he released The Cube, letting it fall the few inches to her palms, where it bobbed like an apple on the surface of a pond. The girl gave a little gasp as its energies sought her out, trying to force its way through her magic and flesh, but she screwed up her face and pushed back. She was not entirely successful containing it, arcs of light peeling from the Tesseract and seeping into the room at large, but not so much as to cause any significant damage.
Loki let a small smile of relief cross his face.
"Good. Good." He brought his hands below hers, hovering above the spent fuel cell. "You may begin."
The snap of power was abrupt, like a whiplash against his palms, but he was expecting that. He began to move, pulling and pushing and twisting the currents into the right resonance then feeding it into the cell.
The particular fuel cell Loki was using worked by fusing hydrogen into helium and harnessing the excess energy created in the process. Once all of the available hydrogen had been converted the cell became useless, unable to produce temperatures sufficient to fuse helium. Loki could, conceivably, use the Tesseract to reach the required temperature, however he highly doubted the cell's casing could withstand such heat.
Instead, he would use the Tesseract's power to split the helium atoms back into hydrogen, then restart the initial fusion process.
Loki grit his teeth, plunging his consciousness into the cell, letting his seiðr filter into the smallest places, into those gaps between atoms and then yet further into the empty spaces within the atoms themselves. So small, seemingly insignificant, yet the bonds of these particles contained enough power to level a city.
With the steady stream of the Tesseract's energy giving him the strength he needed, Loki rent the very elements apart.
He came back to himself, panting and sweating. His hands were shaking. He could hear his heart within his ears and feel the heat of his blood beneath his skin. He was heat, and light, and fire.
A whimper broke through his daze and he looked up to see the girl across from him, her hair slick with sweat and her face flushed with effort. She was seconds from dropping the Tesseract.
Loki snatched The Cube from her hands and banished it. The girl gasped, slumping and letting her arms fall limp by her sides. She looked like she might be ill.
The cell, through... The cell glowed with an azure light, bright enough to leave spotted afterimages behind his lids.
It worked.
It worked!
Loki whooped, surging to his feet, then nearly falling back down as he became lightheaded. He giggled against the floating feeling as his balance slowly settled.
"It worked! It worked, by Bor's blood, it worked!"
The girl rasped something that might have been 'it did?,' though her voice was wispy and strained.
"It did!" He laughed some more, scooping up the cell to analyze it more closely.
Since some of the initial mass had been lost in the fusion process, and yet more now through fission, the cells would not last as long as before. This one was, perhaps, at seventy two percent power. But he could repeat the process more than once and he had plenty of cells on which to do it. They would make it to Midgard after all.
Perhaps he could find a way to add mass to the cells, perhaps even improve on the initial design. Could he synthesize hydrogen from the Tesseract's energies? Or maybe draw it from somewhere through The Cube, teleport the element directly into the cell's reserves? He'd have to think on it.
The girl was giggling now, too, swaying slightly and eyes lidded. It was clear she wouldn't be able to charge another cell this night (If he were being honest, Loki wasn't in any shape to continue, either), but he was too relieved to care.
It worked. The process was proven. The pressure to get things right was lifted. He needn't do it all tonight, they could continue this later.
"Come," he said, "That is enough for tonight." The ritual mat was sparking with the Tesseract's excess energy. With a flick of his wrist he sent it back to his dimensional pocket. He could rinse out the residual energy another day.
The girl looked relieved but nearly toppled over as she stood. Loki reached out on instinct, steadying her by the elbow.
"M'fine…" She said, though this was followed by staring blankly into space.
"Perhaps a quick rest before we get you back, hm?"
She grunted with a nod and Loki lead her to the wall, helping her to slide back to the floor. It wasn't surprising, her exhaustion. Frankly, she probably should have died, with as little training as she possessed. Loki sent the recharged fusion cell into dimensional storage as well, he would present it to Thor later, and joined the girl on the floor.
The girl, what was her name again?
"Jora?" She didn't respond. "Jorthis."
She blinked at him, mouth slightly ajar with fatigue.
"Jorthis?"
"Are you asking me my name?"
Loki chuckled. "I take it I got it wrong."
"Juri."
"Mm, right. Here," he plucked a nutrient bar from his dimensional pocket and gave her half, taking the rest for himself. "Eat. It'll help."
They sat in silence for a time, making their ways slowly through the candy bars. If Thor knew Loki kept this little store of rations he'd be quite cross, which is why Loki hadn't included them in the initial supply count. As far as the kitchens knew, they'd never existed.
The girl, Juri, chewed listlessly by his side. "How many more do we need to do?"
"Quite a lot."
She nodded, biting her remaining bar in half. "So, you'll have need of me for quite a while."
Her words had a caustic edge to them and he might have taken offense were he in a poorer mood. Instead he chuckled.
"Yes. I will."
She very pointedly kept her eyes locked on the floor as she bit what was left of the candybar in half again. Well, someone grew testy when tired.
"You did well," Loki said. That got him a quick, questioning look. "Always room for improvement, of course." Back to staring at the floor. "But not bad. Especially considering your training. Or lack thereof."
"I've trained."
"Yes, yes, in ice magic-"
"Yes, in ice magic! And other magics. My Omama was shapefluid and she could predict the weather and the hunt."
Loki scoffed.
"She could!"
"I've no doubt. Paltry farm magic."
"Zhe once repopulated a barren forest with just four hreindyr. Two thousand and twenty eight beasts in just one season with her 'paltry farm magic.'"
Loki tilted his head in acknowledgement. Increasing an animal's birth rate so drastically would require some small skill.
"She's dead then? Your 'Omama?'" The girl spoke of her grandmother in the past tense.
"Yes." Juri's churlish mood evaperated. "Zhe was old even when I was young. A gar-beast was raiding one of the nearby camps. Zhe went to their aid in zher worg-form. Alone." She pursed her lips, rolling the melting chunk of nutribar between her fingers.
What was with this 'zhe' nonsense? Did the child have a speech impediment?
Juri shook her head, changing subjects. "You, uhm, you learned magic on Asgard."
"Was that a question?"
She shrugged.
He answered anyway. "Yes. At first. I then studied in Alfheim at the University of Vithblainn under Master Dainn himself." The girl showed no recognition at the name. Loki sighed and explained, "he is an exceptional seiðrmaster."
"Is that where you learned to conjure illusions?"
A fair guess, if incorrect. The elves were renowned for their illusions and lightcraft.
"No, though I expanded my skills there. My…" Loki hesitated over his wording. He'd denied Frigg in life, in his last words to her. He would not dishonor her in death. "My mother taught me, The Queen. She was exceptional. A match for Odin himself."
"How do they work?"
"Hm?" He raised a brow.
"The doppelgangers. How do they work? I've tried conjuring a few things. Little ones. But I have to concentrate just to make them walk and I've no idea how to make them say anything. But yours walk and talk and think and you don't even have to be there to make them! How?"
"Ah, just a bit of preparation."
Juri waited for him to expand on that, her fatigue fading some in interest.
"You truly want me to go into the details of simulacrum synthesis?" Despite himself, Loki felt that little spark of excitement he got when discussing the craft, something he hadn't felt in… decades. Very few in Asgard appreciated the more complicated applications of seiðr and as his duties as prince had grown he'd had less and less time to visit Alfheim for scholarly pursuits.
He supposed the last time he'd even approached such a topic was with Valkyrie when she'd caught him practicing Ice Magic, and that had been more a volley of insults than a discussion.
Juri pursed her lips and challenged him with, "well, if you're not too tired..."
"Hah. Very well." Loki thought a moment, then conjured a miniature version of Thor. The little doppelganger stood in the center of Loki's palm, unmoving. "Creating the simile is the first step, of course, something you've already done. But at this point it is nothing more than a puppet, dancing to your thoughts."
He bid the puppet to dance a halting jig, something ungainly and ridiculous. It was meant to make the girl laugh, but she watched the doll move with a studied intensity as if she could figure out the how by mere observation. Loki was a bit disappointed, but didn't let on as he continued.
"At this stage you are giving the simulacrum instructions for each footstep, each wave of the arm, for each bouncing curl of hair. It's exhausting. And as soon as you lose focus it will fall lifeless once more." He let the puppet go still again.
"So, you build a library of routines from which to draw. A walk, for example." Little Thor began to walk in place, his feet sliding soundlessly across Loki's palm. "Or a run." Thor began to run, arms pumping and nostrils flaring with breath. "I spent a good deal of time perfecting these. Thor is a brute of a man and he carries his arrogance like a mantel. I couldn't use the walk of your average peasant or noble for his movements, they needed to be tailored to his personality and build. Otherwise..."
The little Thor began to skip with the dainty grace of a child. This got a quick huff of amusement from the girl.
"How do you build a library? You aren't actually writing anything down, are you?"
"No, no. Once you've got something you like you… hm, imprint it into the universe. You build a storage of thoughts in the consciousness of reality from which you are then able to draw. It is, likewise, how you would cut down the time to cast a complicated spell of summoning or healing. Once you've gone through the motions of a spell in its entirety, you may set reality itself the task of doing the grunt work in future. You must have done something similar yourself, surely. Do you find your shifting easier the second time you take on a new form? Or do you struggle with every session?"
"No, it gets easier. But that's because I know what it feels like the second time."
"Yes, but it's more than that. Reality knows what it feels like the second time, and so it does not fight you when you shift. And if you let it, it can even help you along."
The girl studied her tan hands with wonder, then broke her gaze to ask another question. "But what about talking? I can't get mine to talk. And how do you make them know what to say and when to say it? Or even when they should walk as opposed to run?"
"Noise is simple. It's a different spell, though, acting on air instead of light. So making a talking simulacrum requires at least two seiðr-workings. There are other workings you need as well if you wish for your simulacrum to process sound and sight. With those in place, you now need to build a latticework of responses and routines for it to follow."
Loki closed his fist, the little Thor popping in a flash of green. He then twisted his hand with a flick, conjuring a simulacrum he hadn't used in many years. It was a bit fuzzy about the edges, but with a little concentration the form came into focus. It stood with its weight on one foot and its hands folded behind its back, a slight smirk upon its face.
"Who is that?" The girl asked.
"That's me, when I was bit younger than you. It's one of the first simulacrums I made. I used it to trick my brother into thinking I was in my room or watching at the practice grounds when in fact I had wandered off to do one thing or another. Go ahead, ask it something."
"Uhm," the girl sat up straighter as she addressed the illusion. "Hello."
"Hello," it replied, shifting its weight to the other leg.
"I'm Juri. What's your name?"
"I'm Loki. Who else would I be?"
The girl laughed, glancing back at the real Loki.
"Try asking it something harder," Loki suggested. "Something unexpected or silly."
"Hmm. What is it like to fly?"
The simulacrum frowned. "I really don't have time for this."
Juri looked to Loki again, but he gestured her to try another.
"How many years are in a day?"
"Haven't you somewhere to be?"
"Why are mushrooms so mean?"
"I really don't have time for this."
The girl hummed, then asked again, "what is your name?"
"I'm Loki. Who else would I be?" The simulacrum shifted its weight, a slight smirk upon its face.
"So it deflects your question if it doesn't have a response tailored to what you asked," she guessed.
"Yes," Loki agreed. "Thor eventually figured that out and took to asking me ridiculous things to test whether I was me or an illusion. I took to answering his nonsense as if I were my doppelganger and so he took to throwing things at my head. I got rather good at dodging after that." He smiled at the memory. "As time went on, I built more complex response systems. I can also pilot them from a distance, if I so choose."
"That's… so much work."
"Indeed!" Loki banished his child-self. "Proper seiðrwork requires a great deal of preparation. You can't run into a situation and simply flail about in the hopes that things will resolve themselves." Thor's preferred method of problem solving. "You must build your tools for later use. And if you haven't the right tool for the job, things get… interesting."
"Interesting how?"
"Well…" Loki thought back to one of his adventures in Nidafellr. "There was a time I had to chase off a group of Dwarves. I sent the simulacrum of great bear after them with the instruction to chase them anywhere they may run. It turned out they had a boat, however. Now, I had prepared instructions on how the simulacrum should interact with water in the case of a puddle or a stream. It should wade through it. But I'd never bothered to create a swimming routine."
"So, what happened?"
Loki chuckled. "It waded into the water! Disappeared under the surface entirely. The Dwarves were confused but thought themselves safe. That is, until the bear climbed up one of their oars and into their boat! They jumped into the pond screaming but quickly realized something was off when the bear slipped under the water again and started roaring at them from the lake bed."
The girl laughed. "What? Just standing in the mud staring up at them?"
"Swatting at their pumping feet!"
She laughed again but it turned into a yawn midway through.
Loki hummed. "It is getting rather late, isn't it? Do you think you can stand?"
She nodded, rising to her feet with the help of the wall. They made their way back to the girl's quarters at a leisurely pace, Loki answering her questions on the specifics of simulacrum synthesis. They paused for some time just outside the bay's doors, Juri still too full of questions even as her words slurred with exhaustion, Loki enjoying the talk despite his better judgment. But eventually he called a halt to the conversation. She'd need to rest if she planned to be of any use tomorrow.
"But what about vocal resonance in different mediums? How do you account for thin air or if the simulacrum is underwater?"
"Tomorrow. For now, bed."
"All right. Fine." She bent to grab the hem of her dress, ready to disrobe and change back, but paused. "Will you really answer tomorrow? You're not just trying to shut me up?"
"If I wanted you to stop talking I'd have no qualms commanding you to do so."
Her face twisted in irritation at his tone, but she didn't act on it. Instead, she thought through his words, her expression turning to cautious hope. "So you will answer tomorrow?"
"That's what I said, isn't it?" He smirked as she wavered between indignation and relief. "Now go to sleep."
"All right," she sighed. Loki turned to leave as she began to undress, just catching her light, "good night, Prince Loki."
