"V"
11 - Drawing each other
"Now, why, brother? Why?" Loki inquired in a resigned tone while sitting enthroned inside a beaten, roofless Porsche, not glancing at the half naked thunder god's occupation.
"Look, just starting to get the hang of this. They said you're doing it right if it blows minds."
"Stop," the sorcerer pleaded, his hand lifting to massage the brim of his nose. "Stop. Please, stop. My mind is already getting blown. Woe me, having such a clueless oaf for a brother. First-born, to top it all."
Leaning his head on the backrest, he marvelled at the composition being created on the feverishly dancing brick wall.
"Thor, this is against the laws of your beloved Midgardians. Ruination of property."
"You heard our friends, that's a law of oppression. We'll destroy it next. This, brother, is art," the god of thunder waved towards his creation with the green spray in his hand.
The painting was a maze of colourful geometric shapes, almost resembling the god of mischief when you narrowed your eyes enough to see a blur with two crooked horns darting towards the sky. Coincidentally, that's exactly how the sorcerer's vision was at the moment.
"It's also a violation of personal rights," he warned. "Put some clothes on it."
"There they are," Thor waved over some triangles.
"That's not my navel?" Loki was utterly shocked.
"No, it's not," Thor lied and dropped the tools of Midgardian creation, then stumbled over a dazed gangster with a swollen black eye, plopping down onto his rear from loss of balance. He patted the shoulder of the grinning man. "Hey, buddy, where did you put that heavenly pipe of peace?"
The response was a stream of long held smoke leaving through the teeth with a giggle. A slightly disoriented hand rose up, the chunk of a cigarette tangled loosely among fingers. Thor guided it out of the way and spoke louder into the wasted man's ear to make him understand.
"The pipe. I want that."
"You're good, man. You's he god of heights," the gangster complimented him, as the Asgardian brothers had already consumed twice the amount of the goods than the members of both freshly allied gangs, and they were the only two still in a vertical position at this sacred ritual of making peace. But they deserved it for their heroic intervention. Namely they had arrived to Earth sent by the foreseers, with the warning that if they didn't prevent this particularly fierce New York gang war, the ways of Fate would lead to the extinction of mankind. Thor was more than eager to help preventing the disaster; Loki was dragged along against his will, but presently, he had no regrets about it.
"The pipe disappeared in that pile of humans last," he mumbled staring at the darkening sky.
"Bring it forth," Thor requested gazing into his lap.
Without turning, the sorcerer stretched out an arm over the car's door.
"Pipe!" he bellowed.
Nothing happened for seconds.
"Pipe," he repeated with weakening rigour.
"It only works for the worthy, you pimp," grunted the thunder god. "Pipe!"
They waited another ten seconds.
"Pipe, I am worthy!" Thor announced.
"Don't listen to him, he couldn't even keep a girlfriend."
"Well, this one couldn't even get one."
"He's mating with other species!"
"He's a trickster!"
"He's unworthy!"
"Am not," Thor snapped. "Here's the proof. Hammer!"
The silence stretched.
"Ha," Loki mumbled.
"I left it in Asgard because we came to establish peace," Thor said. "It travels a long way."
"Sure it does. Unless breaking the Midgardian law has diminished your nobility."
"Hammer!" yelled the startled thunder god.
He stared upwards expectantly in his sitting, not sensing his body lean backwards more and more, until it hit the ground.
"What a waste to the world," he wailed.
Loki sighed up at the sky.
"This is a fine day indeed."
His teasing found no response, unless the faint snoring counted as one. He didn't mind, the colourful dancing of the stars entertained him in his solitude. They presented his life in the form of epic paintings, even things he hadn't remembered so far, like turning into a woman and working in a brothel that served all species of the Universe, or giving birth to Father's eight legged horse and Hela's pet wolf.
The enlightening play was disturbed by Mjölnir dashing through the sky, scorching the air in its wake. Loki winced at the thundering crash nearby, and he peeked over curiously.
"Blast," he hissed when he saw that the hammer had missed the slumbering Thor's head by an inch. If that doofus had been just a tad bit more worthy, the fine day might have become an excellent one for the sorcerer. But all was not lost yet.
"Blowing minds, huh?" he mumbled while clambering out of the car. "I'll show you blowing minds."
He sat beside his brother, and conjuring a brush into his hand, he began working. He formed each dark letter with careful precision on the blonde's forehead, until it yelled HAMMER! Then, for the sake of illiterate members of the sleeping gang, he painted the object mentioned on Thor's left cheek, with the handle pointing towards the brim of his nose.
He took in the sight with a tongue between his lips in satisfaction.
"This, brother, is art," he noted before falling into sleep like a log.
"V"
12 - Having a lazy day
Two kings were there. King and King of Asgard, ruling as equals in a land of ultimate peace and stability, a land of a double pillar, a land of strength, a land of unbreakable justice. They walked the same roads, resolved differences with ultimatums in a hurry, because the enemy wouldn't wait for them to unite: it was gathering its army on the horizon under the sinking sun, millions of hearts ice cold, able to freeze you by a single touch, or by simply making you step into their footpaths. Those were their traps. Their spies walked into the land of Valkyries one by one camouflaged, and they left a cold trail that froze the hearts of those who strayed on the same routes. Many noble warriors were lost this way, but only for a short while: because their fiery hearts could only be frozen outside, and the unquenched flames melted the cold shell as soon as they heard the call of their kings and left the evil paths.
Laufey was growing morose from the repeated failure. In his rage, he sent a declaration of war, promising an attack before sunset. The Asgardians barely had time to prepare, the people were desperately looking to their kings for a wise decision.
The war that was to bring the ultimate glory never got to start, because the fiercest servant was sent from the palace to gather the mighty rulers before dark.
"Never mind, brother" young Loki soothed the raging blond child while they were led by the arm so they couldn't sneak away. "We can continue next time."
"We'll never have an entire free day again! When Father is home, it's always work, work, work! That's not what a king's life is supposed to be about!"
Loki wasn't sure whether his brother was right or not, so he didn't respond. In fact, he felt he knew nothing of what they both wished for: being a king. He only suspected that it wasn't like in their games. Even though the world they imagined around them sounded so right.
"Next time, we're running away so you'll never find us!" Thor threatened the unyielding servant, and a song loomed up in Loki's mind that he sometimes heard on the streets. Quietly, lips barely moving, he sang along.
"Run away-ay with me
Lost souls in revelry
Running wild and running free
Two kids, you and me..."
"V"
13 - In a fairytale
"How in Heaven's name?" Thor inquired.
"He looked resourceful, he probably used his magic," answered the scruffy man behind his drink.
"Dragons can see through magic," noted the fleshy woman while serving their next round of ale.
"However he got it to work, he saved us all from the fearsome Arras, so we're eternally grateful."
The god of thunder took a long sip in deep thought. Then he asked again with knitted eyebrows.
"How?"
The man shared a glance with his mates around the tiny pub, then he scratched his bristles.
"No one is quite sure. But dragons can be pretty dumb at times, that one is certain. And Arras was old, its eyesight not the best. It often relied on its sense of smell. Only the extent of its stupidity has been undefined so far. If it really believed that the sorcerer was a maiden, let alone keeping it up till now, then its mind is really an endless hole of emptiness."
The people guffawed at that.
"Point is," said the man after the laughter died down, "that he's done good. Ever since Arras took him, it hasn't returned to claim another one of our virgin daughters. So all is fine now. The sorcerer's sacrifice is remembered in our tales."
"How long has he been missing without anyone looking for him?" asked the god.
"Five years," said the server. "I know, because the beast was about to take my daughter away. That man appeared at the last second, claiming himself to be our saviour. He teleported us away, first of all, and then he inquired about the financial and military state of our land. He probably wondered how much help he could get if the need arose. But it didn't, though their duel seemed to go awry at first; like you heard before, he ended up convincing Arras that he was actually a fiery maiden who could endure a lot from its capricious moods. So the dragon, instead of killing him, picked him up and left. Hasn't returned since. I say it found out it was fooled, ate up the man and hid away in shame."
Thor knew better than to believe mere rumours, or not to trust his brother's abilities, though Loki's absence for such a long time were still deemed strange in New Asgard, a place they had established after the Infinity War had been ended and all recovered to the state before it. That's exactly why, after eight years, he had set out finally to see where in the world his brother had been spending his days.
The morning after this talk at the pub, he headed for the mountains, travelling from peak to peak with the Stormbreaker, until he discovered the robust castle hidden in the narrowest clearing. Once he was there, he broke through the enormous gate with surprising ease: the iron structure hadn't been used for centuries, and it was so old and rusty that it collapsed at his lightest hit.
Nothing else was any younger inside the front yard, including the dried fountains, moss-covered statues, crumbling frescoes and armoured skeletons. As he looked more carefully, he realised that the hundreds of unburied dead were not part of an army; each and every armour was a different kind from a different era. The bones had been gathering here for centuries. Thor faintly wondered if he would find Loki's body decaying somewhere, too, or his bones licked clean, as the gossip said.
"Brother!"
His head jerked up at the sound, his look darting around, until he spotted the movement at the highest window of the central tower. He beamed up at the long not seen face, but before he'd have made a witty comment, he was interrupted.
"Kill it!"
It was a command that did not take no for an answer. Not like Thor had any different plans, that's exactly why he came all the way: to kill… what exactly?
Ah, the thing just landing on a neighbouring tower, its claws ripping up roof tiles as it held on.
"MINE," hissed the thing in its raspy voice, a scorching tongue clumsily forming the human word.
"Wow, it does think you're a maiden," Thor marvelled.
"Kill it! Now!" came the answer with a slight pitch of hysteria.
"Alright, fine," muttered the god of thunder, spinning his weapon and throwing it at the beast's neck.
The dragon may have been large, but it was far from tardy: it pushed its weight up in an instant, letting the axe swish past under it.
"MINE," it roared, and the walls shook. "MY MATE!"
"Oh my," Thor gaped. "And I'm breaking up an intimate relationship, too."
"Not until today's sunset! Kill it! Murder it! Slice it up at once!"
"Telling me once was enough," noted the thunder god calmly. He didn't flinch even when the Stormbreaker returned from its long journey, cutting its way through the dragon's neck and landing in its owner's hand, splattering gold-crimson blood around.
The enormous reptile body fell in two pieces without a shriek, crushing walls under itself.
Thor decided not to rush up the stairs to meet the rescued one, not this time. This one could take care of himself comparatively well. He leaned to a broken statue and waited for gratitude to come to him.
"Five years," came the familiar voice from the tower, along with the sound of descending steps. "Five years' dancing on a thin line of pretence for survival!"
Thor was surprised when his brother emerged.
"Why aren't you wearing a dress?"
Loki didn't hear him from his own vehemence of stomping down the rest of the stairs to face his brother up close.
"They didn't say it was immune to magic!" he yelled.
"Didn't they tell you that it could see through it?"
"That's utterly different from being immune! Immune, Thor! It's a completely different word!"
So much for gratitude. Loki was so furious that some stray hairs around his head stood up. But his face was what made Thor laugh heartily.
"Good job at harbouring this passionate rage for five whole years."
"Good job at not missing me through eight damn years! After all I've done to prove my worth! All for this! For nothing!"
"Brother, I was afraid you'd hate me dogging your footsteps like I hold you for a damsel to rescue."
"I am not a damsel," the sorcerer hissed threateningly.
"I know, calm down. It's over."
The sorcerer seemed to hold onto his grudge still as he passed his brother to lead them out into the open air and seek the path home.
"You played one pretty well, though," Thor muttered.
"I'm slitting your throat tonight."
"Did Arras really believe you were a virgin lady, even in this attire?"
"Thor, it was immune to magic!"
"So you did such a great job that you never even had to wear a dress during the five years?"
Loki then spun round, and Thor's back hit a tree at the next movement. He could feel the blade press to his groin through the leather.
"Drop the topic, or something else is going to drop now," the sorcerer snarled at him, and his message finally went through. Thor followed him in silence from then on, a little pale from the previous threat, until another idea reached him, causing him to examine the figure before him more carefully.
Was Loki possibly using magic now to hide his outfit?
But he knew better to bite his tongue before asking about it again.
"V"
14 – Geeking out over something
"Where did you get that eye?" Loki inquired while they walked towards the spaceship among all the survivors of the war.
"From Rabbit there," the god of thunder pointed at the furry creature bickering with the gamer tree. "He got it from another chap."
"Another? What kind?"
"I don't know," Thor shrugged. "He lost a bet to Rabbit."
"He bet his eyeball?"
"No, he paid 100 units. Rabbit snuck into his chambers that night and stole the eye."
"You're putting in foreign things of unknown origin?"
"It's not unknown, I've just told you where it came from."
"Can you list the diseases that guy had?"
"No, that topic isn't usually raised during theft."
"Really? Let me fill you in then. He's moving around in the criminal society, right? Keratitis, OHS, gonorrhoea, herpes, shingles-"
"Brother, we're gods. What kind of disease could bring us down that didn't kill that guy?"
They walked in silence for a minute.
"But, you know, I could regrow your eye in a much more usable form, too. Common devices like this can't get as close to real organs as my sorcery."
"Can't they? This thing is pretty awesome, actually, feels just like the real one."
"It might give you the impression of being like the real one, yes. Because you don't really notice the difference as long as you obtain the required information. But that machine captures at least a third less pictures in a minute than your other eye, and it doesn't even work the same way, so it does push your view into an unbeneficial direction to an extent, which could influence your reflexes, amongst all. What I could conjure, however-"
"Thank you. I think I'll just keep this one still, as souvenir from the battles we've been through. And a memento of my newly acquired friendship."
Another couple of steps were taken quietly.
"I could make you see through walls," Loki suggested. "Or see things clearly in great distances, like Heimdall. My eye would be much more resistant against the electricity you produce when you get overexcited. See, this artificial thing is made solely of worldly materials, which deteriorate from any physical impact. It ages with time, too, while I can create tissue imbued with my magic that's fit for the lengthy lifetime you're-"
"Brother," Thor glanced at him, his smile stealing into both of his eyes. "Are you possibly jealous that someone else helped me out instead of you?"
"What in Heavens? No. I am only suggesting that you should heed those midgets less, their level of development is completely different from ours. What you need is-"
"Then are you worried that my affection has transferred to them while you were gone?"
"The affection you're capable of is not quite what I'd be saddened to lose, if any. I'm just trying to save my only family from self-humiliation."
The god of thunder was beaming while he put his arm around his unwilling brother's shoulders, jerking him closer while they walked on.
"A great journey you've made in the past years. Now stick to this road. I'm keeping the eye, though."
"You'll see, you'll cry," Loki grunted in the suffocating hold.
"V"
15 – Teaching each other how to do something
Loki smirked up at him from the book at his approach.
"Funny how you're always long-haired in my memories, despite having seen this many times," he noted.
"You should cut yours, too. Less daily bothers, less of that grease that makes you so weasel-like... What's that?" Thor marvelled at his brother's longest finger held up towards him.
"In Midgard, it symbolises the nonsensical request for you to stick your man-rod up your own rear. It's a common way to react when feeling insulted."
Thor smiled.
"Nice to see you're becoming more open."
T.B.C.
