I have no excuses. I'm just a lazy bum who's lost her inspiration but hopes to gain it back, someday. D;

But OH MY GODS, I do have the next chapter out. Legasp! And it's not super-short. So please be at least a little appeased. ;A;

Nakitakunaruno, Dakishimetainoni

Chapter 3

"So where am I going to sleep?" An inquisitive Skadi asked, turning her scarlet eyes onto her companion.

"Right there."

"Heimdall, you of all people should know that no lady can sleep on a couch."

"Well, that's all we have."

"You don't have ANY beds?"

"I mean, that's all we have aside from the beds Freyr and I use."

"You don't feel gallant enough to offer to trade your bed for my couch?"

"No."

A disconcerted Skadi frowned at the apathetic Heimdall.

"That's no good, Heimdall. How are you ever going to get a wife at this rate?"

"And that's none of your business!" a blush-stricken Heimdall fumed, beginning to storm off. "You can make your own damn bed, the blankets are in the closet!" He slammed the door to his room rather roughly and Skadi winced. The girl turned to Kogata with a perplexed look on her face.

"Did I say something?"

The cat was not paying attention, instead investigating what seemed to be the scent of a strange animal that had previously perched on the very couch she was inhabiting. Her small whiskers twitched minutely, and she was obviously quite engrossed in her exploration. Skadi decided that it was best to leave her to it, as she'd had unpleasant dealings before with intensely preoccupied cats. They tended to kind of overreact when touched.

And so the child embarked on her second grand journey of the day: to find mentioned closet and prepare her bed (however unfitting it may have been for a goddess like her to sleep on a couch). In other words, as far as she could see, Heimdall had given her all manner of permission to snoop around the apartment while 'looking for the closet'. And a wonderful excuse it was.

"I should start this very second," Skadi remarked to herself with an impish smirk, ambling in the general direction of the kitchen.

It was actually quite clean, which she surmised was Freyr's doing. He was fairly domestic and could be something of a pushover at times, so it wasn't shocking. There were a few dishes in the sink, but other than that, everything was nice and organized and generally well-to-do, most appliances and accessories keeping in the same general color scheme of the same soft eggshell that was on the walls. Bo-ring. At least the tile was a nice deep red.

"Oh my. What's this?" she murmured to herself, reaching into the back of the back of the refrigerator. Half of her body was submerged in the frigid device, but she'd seen something intriguing indeed, and she wasn't leaving that kitchen appliance until she'd retrieved it.

"Heimdall's property. Do not eat," she muttered, reading what was written in bold Sharpie on the outside of the box. She nudged the refrigerator shut with her foot, moving to the counter to further inspect what seemed to be a harmless box of chocolate-covered cherries. Interesting.

One of three things could happen, she deduced: she could open the box and eat the cherries and suffer no repercussions other than a pissed-off Heimdall; she could open the box and suffer some terrible hex that was originally intended for Loki; or she could open the box, eat the cherries, and then suffer some terrible hex that was originally intended for Loki. After debating for a few minutes, she decided to take her chances and at least open the box.

Carefully prying open the lid, she was as cautious as if she were opening Pandora's box for just a peek. She pulled the top of the box off and suddenly--

…nothing at all happened.

Skadi pouted, the way she normally did when she was thinking. So she had two options left. And either way she had to eat one or more of the cherries. It was destiny. How could she come this far and not eat one? Unthinkable.

Her hand cautiously hovered over the box. Those chocolate-covered treats looked just so perfect. All twelve of them were there, completely intact, in their glorious assortment of white, milk, and dark chocolate. Now the only decision was… which to eat. Skadi's dark red eyes worshipped the candies and gave thanks for their perfection before doing exactly what she knew would irritate Heimdall the most: plucking a majestic white chocolate one right out of the center.

"What are you doing?"

Skadi jumped at least a full foot in the air and played a small game of juggle-the-candy before spinning around to face her verbal assailant, being sure to stand directly in front of the cherries in such a way to block them completely from view.

"I was definitely-- I definitely was not eating anything with your name marked on it," the goddess of snow told an angry watchman, hiding the chocolate candy in her hands behind her back. She noticed that she was particularly bad at soothing tempers, but hoped that he would leave soon so she could get the rapidly melting chocolate out of her hands.

"You're a terrible liar," a veritably fuming Heimdall replied. "I can see the box behind you when you fidget like that."

Skadi had not been aware that she was fidgeting , but with a quick glance found that she actually was. Curses, foiled again. She really was a terrible liar. She'd run out of excuses, so banked on her original plan.

"…I was looking for the closet."

"There's no closet in a box of chocolate-covered cherries." Heimdall paused, then smirked widely. "No, never mind. Go ahead and eat one." He leaned against the counter on the other side of the kitchen, surveying Skadi intently. She hated it when he did that.

The platinum blonde girl looked quite conflicted. "Nuh-uh, you put a hex on these, didn't you?" she asked childishly, making reluctant eye contact with Heimdall. Just as she suspected, he said nothing as his eyes bored into hers. She frowned. "Or that's what you want me to think, so I won't eat any. Well, I've…" she began confidently, but trailed off. "Unless you anticipated that I would think that. It would be just like you." She pouted again, looking down in thought. Her skin could feel his eye boring into her, and it only made her more nervous, which she knew was his strategy. It was working.

"You should make a decision sometime today."

Skadi scowled at the tactical genius in front of her, unable to figure out where the winning move was in his game. On one hand she could take her chances and eat the candy in her palm. She had a fifty-fifty chance of coming out unscathed, after all. And that was just about the best odds she could hope for in a situation like this. On the other hand though, she could just play it safe and not eat any, but that would be surrendering to the enemy, and that was impermissible!

She stuffed the candy in her mouth without a second thought.

It was actually delicious, just as good if not better than she expected it to be. However, she hardly had time to enjoy it fully before the magic stuffed in it rendered her unconscious.

Heimdall shook his head. Stubborn to the very end. Now he had to deal with an unconscious goddess… She was more trouble than she was worth. He suspected she would wake up in about an hour or two; the magic he'd put in those candies was just enough to deter people from eating them (and by people he meant Freyr, who if he had half a brain would have checked thoroughly for such tricks, but obviously Skadi was not so gifted). Removing the curse was simple for any time he felt like having a chocolate-covered cherry... He just hadn't wanted one yet.

But now one was missing, and he blamed himself for not remembering just how very obstinate Skadi was. What a nuisance.

It would have been far too much work to pull her all the way into the living room, so he simply propped her up against the cabinets. Freyr would be back soon, he could deal with her.

Upon leaving he spared a glance back at her, and it occurred to him how cold the tiled floor probably was. And… her legs were bare, after all. That dress of hers only went mid-thigh.

"…Hmph!" he stormed off into his room again.