Body bruised and sore all over, even days after the sparring session with Thor and yet he had been humoring her the entire time mostly letting her knock herself to the ground. She was truly awful with a sword, hardly even able to hold the blade up let alone swing it and block incoming attacks. He had laughed at her profusely, of course, finally letting her go only after he'd gotten bored with teasing the puny midgardian. Really, it shouldn't have surprised her that the gods could be cruel.
Kari spent the next few weeks keeping out of Thor's way, hoping not to get dragged to the training yard again and instead focused on getting to grips with being an asgardian waitress. She was hardly groped anymore, even when Prue was not around, due to her increasing skill at twirling just out of reach and discreetly kicking drunks in just the right way. They really were a wild bunch at dinner time, food would be plastered literally everywhere – up the curtains, on the ceiling, you name it – after they were done and on numerous times she had found herself almost caught in between a pair of playfully wrestling giants. Asgardians knew how to have a strangely good time.
Her clothing had started to somewhat change, becoming a hybrid of both realms as she began to adopt some of the layered tops the other women wore – the floor length skirts were still a no-no. Overall, things were going well enough, she still didn't feel like a real member of asgardian society but perhaps closer to someone on a work visa taking a gap year before returning home. It was an experience, if a little on the boring side when work was over – having no cinema or bar-crawls to go on.
During one of the evening meals, she found herself embarrassingly called down to the head of the table – where Odin, his family and more notable warriors dined. She hadn't been to serve at so high a level before; apparently it was some sort of prestigious position for maidens of some kind of higher birth – and she was definitely getting a death glare or two from the servers in question.
Thor and Odin were enraptured in an animated tale of some horrendously gory sounding battle as she reached them, paying her absolutely no mind, which was fine by her. She was still clutching a jug of ale in her hands, wondering what she was supposed to do or who had called her over when finally Frigga indicated she should come closer. Kari obliged, curving her neck downwards to meet the queen's conspirative whispering.
"I have not seen you in some time." Frigga gave her a reassuring smile. "You look well, dear."
"Uh, yes, thank you." Kari nodded, not sure if this was a social visit or work related one now. "Is there something I can get for you?"
"Yes, I need to ask you to do something for me."
"Anything."
"My youngest son, Loki, has been skipping his meals. Locking himself away in the library again." There was a hint of annoyance mixed with the worry in her tone. "Could you please take him something to eat and tell him he makes his mother sick with worry?"
"I…" She tried not to snort at the last part of the request, instead taking a bite of her lower lip to steady her voice. "Of course. Right away."
"Thank you, Kari." Frigga flashed her another smile then turned back to give her husband and eldest son a perfectly feigned look of deep interest in a story she had heard many times before.
Kari straightened up, walking back across the room towards her usual end of the long dinner table. Prue shot her a worried look, mid-pour of a swaying warriors drink, then placed her jug down and immediately bee-lined for her.
"What happened?" She queried, looking her up and down for signs of something not quite right.
"Frigga wants me to take Loki something to eat."
"The queen asked you too… never mind, some people get all the luck." Prue shook her frown away. "Go easy on the meat, prince Loki does not like to be weighed down."
"Right, thanks." Kari nodded her gratitude for the advice.
The two women parted, the redhead heading back for her jug and Kari heading towards the kitchen. Much like with Thor's tray, she moved along a line of pre-prepared foods about to leave for the warriors seconds but this time took her time to carefully select less stogie foods. All the food groups were taken care of at least and it certainly looked a lot nicer than what she had eaten for her own dinner – though that was not hard when the warriors tended to get more premium provisions than the staff.
Tray of delicacies in hand, Kari wound her way out of the busy kitchen and began the trek towards the library. When she entered, Loki was indeed there milling his way through a book and taking notes on its contents. He didn't even look up as she came closer, pausing besides him and finally placed the tray to his left.
"Your mother says you are making her sick with worry." Kari added a bit of chastising to her tone but couldn't fight the grin spreading across her lips, as he looked up at her with a somewhat befuddled expression.
"Is that not the job of mothers?" He commented darkly, looking over to the tray of snack-sized edibles.
"She wants you to eat something and stop skipping meals."
"Should you not be whispering? This is a library after all."
"Don't be rude."
"Rude? Rude is interrupting someone obviously very busy with their studies to tell them the mundane worries of a mother who has long since seen a babe attached to her breast."
She scowled, what a rude brat this one was, not even grateful in the least that – for some unknown reason – he was actually cared about. There was a rebellious need brewing in the pit of her stomach, their eyes still locked on one another as she turned her gaze down towards the tray of food then looked back at him. He didn't catch on at first, only continuing to glare at her until a movement caught his attention and his eyes widened minutely at the hand heading towards his dinner. Eyes flickering from fingertips and back to her eyes on repeated loop until she paused barely a centre meter from a sausage roll looking item. He watched her, daringly, she wouldn't do it, wouldn't dare pinch a son of Odin's dinner. He was shaking from the anticipation, her grin widening until her cheeks could bare no more and then she striked – a vultures opportunity.
Loki's mouth formed a hard line as he watched her giggling away from him waving the morsel above her shoulder and moved to take a bite. There was a sudden scream as Kari threw the item to the floor and started spitting out what was in her mouth. Loki laughed from his chair, watching with absolute amusement as the would-be-thief kicked out at the pile of transformed cockroaches skidding across the ground after her. A simple spell to frighten a simple creature.