Beneath
Chapter One Hundred Seven – Teams
Thor woke early, dressed, then ate a quick breakfast in his chambers as he heard a report on overnight events. Then it was down the stairs to another king's chambers, temporary as those may be. He had not returned since that first morning, three days ago, preferring to let Nadrith come to terms with his imprisonment…and to give himself time to consider what he would say. He still didn't have a real plan, but the Assembly the night before had given him an idea.
He nodded at the Einherjar standing guard, knocked, then strode in – a bit of courtesy for a king, but a reminder of who was in charge. He waited outside the closed door to the bedchambers for a minute or two before Nadrith opened it and stepped out. Thor suspected he'd been asleep, and not fully clothed this time. He took it as a good sign, that Nadrith had indeed accepted that he was not going anywhere, that he was not leading anyone.
"I have some more questions for you," Thor said, indicating that Nadrith should continue onward.
"I'm sure you do," Nadrith said as he passed Thor and went back to the office where they'd sat before.
Back in the same seats they'd occupied earlier, Thor began. "Did you know about the explosion Gullveig planted in the palace? Did you agree to that?"
"I don't see what difference that makes at this point." After a moment of silence, he continued. "I didn't know. It would not have been my choice. But Gullveig makes his own choices, as I make mine, and if this is your attempt to drive a wedge between us, or to turn me against him, it won't work."
"What about your warriors that we pardoned, what have you done with them?"
"Done with them? Nothing. Ended their service with the army, of course. There were not so many of them."
"Do you begrudge them their choice?"
"No. What good do they do Alfheim as prisoners on Asgard? Though they could have attempted escape. That's what you would have done, isn't it? No matter, though. Better they return to Alfheim, where they can do something useful in some other capacity for our war effort."
"Most of those we pardoned were Vanir."
"Not surprising. The Vanir can't bear to be away from their land, and they've sent many warriors here."
"Did you know that Gullveig has forced his returned warriors to return here to fight again?" Thor asked, then waited to see Nadrith's response. There wasn't one. Just a blink. A blink was nothing, everyone blinked…and still, Thor was convinced he hadn't known that. And he couldn't imagine that Nadrith approved. "Men who gave an honest oath he threatened with imprisonment and being branded a traitor if they didn't return. Some of them immediately surrendered to us, because they refused to break their oaths. Gullveig wishes to win at any cost. This is who you follow as the leader of your alliance? Is that what you want, too, Nadrith? To win at any cost? At the cost of your honor? Of your citizens' honor?"
Nadrith leaned back, and he looked, if anything, bored. "Your speeches about honor grow tiresome, Thor. Gullveig speaks for Alfheim in this war, and the other realms. But he does not lead us. He makes his own decisions. Let's discuss your honor. Will you have Asgard fight to the last child or old woman? I know the oaths your people swear. But that is idealism. Naiveté. Boys flush with pride to the point of foolishness. Where is the honor in letting it go that far?"
Thor forced himself not to linger on Nadrith's words; he couldn't let Nadrith redirect this conversation toward his own doubts and fears for Asgard's future. And he'd been prepared for Nadrith's response; it was the same thing they'd heard through the Asgardians secretly on Alfheim. "He doesn't lead you? Who coordinates the actions of your armies? We can tell that it's coordinated. Your archers covering Vanir swordsmen or Fire Giant staff-wielders, Dark Elf cavalry coming in to flank while Light Elves attack directly. Who decides where Light Elves die on Asgardian swords?"
To this question Thor also already knew the answer, and this time Nadrith's reaction was obvious. He glared at Thor for a moment, but there wasn't even the slightest loss of temper. "Someone has to give the orders," he said a moment later, jaw tight.
"But it isn't you, is it? Do you think Gullveig is looking out for your interests? Do you? He isn't even looking out for his own men's interests!"
"I am looking out for Alfheim's interests," Nadrith said, sitting up a little straighter. "I don't require anyone else to do it for me. I am young but I am not a child, I am a king, and that is my responsibility, and I accept it on behalf of my people gladly." He leaned back again and looked away.
Thor tried to think through what Nadrith had said, and the things he'd wanted to say to Nadrith, but before he could regroup Nadrith was speaking again.
"If you were a responsible king, you would do what's right for your people. I know it's painful. But there's a price to be paid for what Asgard did. Yes, for what Loki did. I liked him once, you know, before he snapped. Admired him, even, for being an independent creative thinker in a land that doesn't particularly value those traits. What do you think, was he a mad despot at heart all along, simply hiding his true nature, or was it ten centuries of growing up alongside you that did it? I can tell you've matured. Learn from your mistakes. Learn from his. Prove yourself a better king."
Thor deliberately unclenched the fists he hadn't been aware of clenching until Nadrith stopped speaking. "You are as transparent as glass, you know. You accuse me, and Asgard, of being irresponsible brutes, and you seek to goad me into proving you right. Why? So you can go home and tell your people of Asgard's disgraceful behavior?"
"My shoulder still hurts, Thor," Nadrith said with a wry smile.
"Then I will send for a healer to alleviate the pain."
"I already refused pain relief. I don't want to risk anything dulling my mind. My point was that you've already proven yourself a brute."
"That was nothing. I promised you much worse," Thor said in a low, tight voice.
"And you haven't delivered. Nor will you. I know you. On the battlefield, yes, you would do it. Your temper, and the lust for battle in your blood, they're well-known. But here, where I sit peacefully in your palace as your prisoner? The most you will ever do is threaten and seek to provoke me, as I do the same to you. It is the game we play, now that we're on opposing sides. Perhaps we should just stop, both of us. Perhaps you should just go."
"Perhaps I should. My time is better spent felling your warriors than trying to reason with you. But I have one more question first. What are the other realms doing with Yggdrasil?"
"Yggdrasil?" Nadrith repeated in startled confusion that Thor was certain was not feigned. "The portals Svartalfheim's magic-users create for us? Even were I willing to speak of it, I doubt I could tell you anything your own people don't already know. Though if you would like to give me back that little medallion you took from me, I'd be happy to demonstrate their use."
"You aren't going home any time soon. Get comfortable. And avail yourself of the laundry. You're starting to smell." Thor stood and left, not waiting to see Nadrith's reaction or give him a chance to get in his own dig. He'd managed to get in the question about Yggdrasil just the way he'd wanted to, catching Nadrith off guard, but it seemed that if the allied realms were secretly doing something to the World Tree, then Nadrith knew nothing about it. Still, it hadn't occurred to him, or perhaps anyone else, that the unprecedented number of those Dark Elf-created portals opening on Asgard could be causing the "groaning." Bragi would be waiting to meet him downstairs, and he would ask him to pass along this possibility to Vafri and Heimdall and everyone else.
As for the rest, Thor counted it a failure. It didn't seem to matter how hard he pushed Nadrith, how many reasons he gave him to shake his commitment to the alliance, Nadrith never truly lost his temper and never showed the slightest desire to disavow Gullveig. He'd had still more things he'd wanted to say, but he hadn't been getting anywhere and Nadrith was on the cusp of instead making Thor lose his temper. So he'd decided Nadrith was right. It was time to leave. Time to let his temper loose in a more beneficial setting.
/
/
"We missed you last night, Lucas. Our scores sank like lead because we didn't have you to try to beat," Gary said at breakfast Saturday morning.
"I'm sure Austin gave you plenty of competition," he said. He was surprised they would miss his presence, since he did soundly beat them at nearly every darts competition now, deliberately missing a few just to not raise any suspicions – and to give them cause for hope. Gary seemed sincere, though, and he thought perhaps it was a minor similarity to Asgard, a desire to pit yourself against the best to see how good you really were.
"Austin started throwing blind because he was so bored," Wright said, mouth full of scrambled eggs.
Loki turned toward Austin, two people down from him at the long table, eyebrows raised, about to express his admiration, when Wright started laughing. A jest. Of course. Apparently this place has made me soft and gullible. He turned back to Wright and forced a smile to his lips that he knew didn't look very friendly. He couldn't be bothered to care. He'd needed to sleep last night and been unable – he'd found sleep difficult ever since the incident when his sound blanket had failed – so he'd spent much of the night in the Weight Room, where Gary or perhaps someone else had indeed fixed the treadmill he'd broken a little over a week ago.
"Just don't skip out on practice tonight," Austin said as a few people laughed. "We started tossing around some ideas and we've got a couple of songs we'd like you to play on."
The entire band was here, except for Selby, who was approaching from the food service line, and there was no good excuse Loki could give to get out of it. He couldn't even say he had work he had to get done with Jane, because she was sitting three people down from him and they'd already agreed to a break Saturday night, when she would go to her volleyball competition, per her usual schedule. "I'll be there," he said with a nod.
Jane listened to the exchange and continued eating her oatmeal with enthusiasm, keeping her mouth busy to avoid a grin that Loki probably wouldn't appreciate if he caught sight of it.
"What's on the play list?" Nora, the station's doctor, asked.
"Nothing's final yet, but we're doing a movie theme."
Selby slipped into the last empty seat at the table, across from Jane, which somewhat surprised Loki. More often than not, Selby simply avoided Jane whenever possible. "Good morning," he said, to a loose chorus of responses. "Did you guys read the Saturday Science today yet?"
Loki had only a vague idea of what that was, some sort of electronic letter. He'd never seen it, because he'd never opened his Station e-mail account.
"Yeah. Weird, huh?" Wright said.
"What's in it?" Jane asked, as others around her looked up with curiosity. The Saturday Science was a short newsletter that winter site manager Olivia put together each week, highlighting something scientifically interesting observed at the Pole, or, if no one submitted anything that week, something of scientific interest about the Pole.
"We had an earthquake."
"We didn't have an earthquake," Selby corrected as Jane's eyebrows went up. Living in California most of her life, a random minor tremor here and there wasn't unheard of, and she knew it when she felt one, but she definitely hadn't felt anything here. "Okay, we had an earthquake, but it was really minor, barely over the detection threshold."
"I've never heard of an earthquake in Antarctica," Nora said.
"According to the article, they do happen but not often, and more in the western part of the continent. There's not really any tectonic activity to speak of here at the Pole, so it's pretty rare," Selby explained.
Wright nodded. "A couple dozen for the whole continent since 1950."
"So there's nothing to worry about, then?" Jeff, the band's drummer, asked.
"Nah," Wright said. "It'll be another five or ten years before the next one that nobody feels."
Jeff started talking about an earthquake he'd experienced in Alaska, and a few minutes later Jane excused herself. She had an appointment with Tony to keep.
Loki, meanwhile, listened to Jeff's story with interest. Earthquakes happened on the other realms, but not on Asgard, and he'd never experienced one. He thought he might like to, for the novelty of it, for the chaos that ensued, but he generally liked to be the one in control while chaos reigned around him. No one, he imagined, had much control of anything as the ground shook and objects broke and infrastructure crumbled.
/
/
"-know what you're missing, I'm telling you. Hey, my brown-eyed girl, how are you doing? I was hoping you'd call soon."
"Tony, we agreed, you're not supposed to start worrying unless I don't call by Sunday afternoon. Your Saturday. I've got another day," Jane said, nervous that Tony was apparently nervous, not that he sounded like it. But when she'd opened her VOIP program, she saw Tony had already tried to call her.
"I know, don't go freaking out on me. Getting a little stir-crazy down there stuck with our little friend? Don't answer that, okay? I have some guests and I thought you might want to say hi."
"Who's there?" Jane asked immediately, eyes going wide. "Thor?" She wouldn't be able to stammer out two words to Thor while keeping Loki's presence here a secret from him – she didn't think so, anyway.
"No, not him. A couple of guys who work for him. They're meeting with Pepper right now about the next food shipment to Asgard, and I'm hanging out trying to provide some hospitality, but these guys are pretty stodgy. Old guy and a young guy. You'd think they'd be at least a little exciting, being from another planet and all, I mean, how is that not exciting? But they're all business, except for this habit of kissing Pepper's hand. I can't quite get them to cut that out."
Jane nodded in relief and barely processed half of what Tony said. "Not Jolgeir then?"
"Jolgeir, no. Geirmund and Krusa. They've been here before. Supply Minister and Trade Minister, something like that. Anyway, you want to pass a message or something? They said they see Thor every day. Asgardian Cabinet meeting, sounds like. Yeah, babe!" Tony suddenly called, his voice a little muffled.
Jane waited, trying to decide what to do. Tony had mentioned the name Geirmund before, and another person whose name he couldn't recall at the time but which Loki had provided when she told him about it. It would be nice to be able to tell Thor something again, but if he hadn't asked them to contact her, maybe she really shouldn't bother him.
"Okay, Doc, they're ready to go, it's now or never. Or, you know, the next time they materialize out of thin air on my balcony."
"Yes," she said quickly, because no matter what reason told her, she couldn't pass up this chance.
"Hey, guys, a friend of Thor's just happened to drop me a line, can you talk for a minute?"
Jane heard voices in the background but couldn't make them out at first.
"I'll talk to him. It won't take long," someone said, louder. "Hello," the voice then continued. "This is Geirmund Faldarson. You are a friend of Thor Odinson?"
"Yes. Hi, Geirmund. My name is Jane Foster. I, uh, I met Thor when he was, uh, sent to Earth. Midgard. I know you're busy and I'm sure you have to hurry back to Asgard, but I just wanted to…well, can you tell Thor I'm thinking of him?"
"Of course. I would be glad to. He is well, by the way. An inspiration to all of Asgard."
"An inspiration, huh?" Jane asked, a grin she knew must look pretty dopey spreading over her face as she pictured him walking confidently out of that dust storm in his Asgardian clothes. "That's good to hear. Really good to hear." She sobered quickly then as she thought about what Thor was dealing with now – far more than a single robot monster. "How's Asgard?" she asked, finding it a little strange that she was now able to picture Asgard when she asked about it.
"Asgard stands," he said, after a moment of hesitation that Jane couldn't help noticing. "We're doing everything we can."
"Geirmund, we need to return," another voice said in the background, Krusa, Jane assumed.
"Yes, of course. Jane Foster, I will gladly relay your kind thoughts to His Majesty, and I trust that he will in turn send his regards."
"His Majesty?" Jane heard Tony's voice echo in the background. "That's going to require another drink," Tony said, his voice fading off at the end.
"Yes, he is king now. The All-Father is well but lies in the Odinsleep, and Asgard cannot be without a king during war. We ask that you – all of you – keep this in confidence, though. We don't wish our enemies to know that the All-Father is incapacitated, if it can be avoided."
"Okay, I understand. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me. I won't keep you."
"You're very welcome, my lady. Ah…Tony?"
There were more muffled voices, then Tony was back on the line. "So, King Thor, huh?
"Yeah," Jane said, unsure what else to say to that. It sounded like Thor was more than just "acting king" now. And she wasn't entirely sure why, but she found the news a little unsettling.
"The Martians are anxious to leave and I need to go see them off and make sure none of this chivalry stuff goes too far. You okay, then?"
"Yeah. Yeah, Tony. Everything's fine."
"That never ceases to strain credulity every time you say it, but okay. I trust you, Jane. Next week, same time same place?"
Jane agreed and they said goodbye, then she slouched back in her chair. Tony trusted her. And she wasn't telling him about Thanos. Loki swore he wasn't a threat in the near future. And I told Loki I wouldn't tell Tony. Why did I let him talk me into that? She thought it must have seemed reasonable at the time. It didn't seem so reasonable now. Tony trusted her. Loki trusted her. How do I get myself into these things?
A few minutes later she had an idea, and opened up her e-mail. "Hey, Tony," she wrote, "Didn't want to call you back, I know you're busy, but I was just thinking – with everything going on out there, is anyone preparing? You know, in case there's ever a repeat of what happened in New York? An army showing up and attacking Earth?" She thought about adding more to it, but everything else she thought of felt like either lying to Tony or lying to Loki. This, hopefully, would be enough, for now at least. Her conscience felt a little clearer, anyway.
That done, Jane worked her way through her e-mail, and before she got through it all a response had come in from Tony. "Way ahead of you there. Nick & Co. are working on a planetary defense system that'll make Reagan's Star Wars look like Space Invaders. The original one. Which maybe you're too young to remember. Anyway, yeah, we're on it. When you escape from the island we'll have a powwow about how your research fits in. Better to take the fight to the bad guys and bust up THEIR cities."
Jane nodded to herself. That sounded pretty good. She wasn't even surprised. SHIELD and certainly Tony were not dumb. They didn't need to hear a name that would mean nothing to them to know that if an alien attack happened once, it could happen again. "Glad to hear it. And yeah, I remember Space Invaders. My dad had an Atari," she dashed off. Tony could handle the jab.
She grabbed her notebook and hurried down to Loki's room where she knew he would be waiting. When they got back from Alfheim Jane was going to have to double down on her work, because at the moment her "research" was primarily about how to make a safe visit to Alfheim.
/
/
Loki had read about the rules on the internet before breakfast. He'd seen half-naked women on a beach – such a public display would be scandalous on Asgard but it wouldn't be unpleasant to watch – and more modestly dressed students in matching outfits with numbers on their shirts. He didn't think Jane had any special outfit, and he didn't expect that she would be half-naked, either…but there was no way to be certain until he observed.
He had only half an hour before he was supposed to meet the band, but he'd never gone into battle with someone whose abilities he knew nothing of. And while he didn't anticipate battle on this visit – with Jane to think of as well, he couldn't imagine that being anything other than disastrous – he still wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to see what Jane was capable of. She was smart, her hands were indeed steady, and she was in reasonable physical condition – she hadn't grown winded on their long walks in Asgard and he knew she went to the Weight Room several mornings each week – but that was really all he knew. How agile was she? How quick were her reflexes? And, based on what he'd read online, how high could she jump? In that, he thought with a laugh as he entered the Gymnasium, she was at a decided disadvantage, starting off so low to the ground to begin with.
Everyone was fully clothed it turned out, at least by the Midgardian standards he'd observed – two of the eleven people present wore short pants and almost everyone was in a short-sleeved shirt – and there was no special matching attire. Jane, he was somewhat disappointed to see, was in gray sweatpants and the brightly-colored shirt she'd bought in Australia. She was talking to the Clean Sector scientist Elliot, the kitchen worker Mari, and a man named Derek that he barely knew when she caught sight of him.
"Lo-" Jane's eyes went wide, and she gave a little cough to hopefully cover up the near-slip. "Lucas, hi." The others called out greetings or waved as Jane excused herself and approached Loki, standing off against the wall.
Disastrous, Loki thought. This is going to be disastrous. "Hello, Jane," he said in a normal voice, then dropped to a whisper. "All I can say is that I'm grateful you won't have to remember to call me something else on this trip, at least once we leave Asgard."
"Sorry about that. You just caught me by surprise. You've never shown up here before. Hey, do you want to play? We could rotate you in." She thought it more likely that he'd decided he couldn't stand not having her memorize more routes and building layouts and customs for a few more hours. And he wasn't exactly dressed for it, with those brown silk pants and dress shirt.
"Thank you for the offer, but no," he said, making no effort to hide his distaste for the idea.
Jane nodded and gave him a wry smile. "I guess team sports aren't your thing, huh?"
"I have engaged in team sports. Team competitions." He looked pointedly out toward the center of the gym, its bright green floor with blue rectangles at both ends whose purpose he couldn't discern. "Never with a net preventing all physical contact with the opposing team."
"Volleyball's not a contact sport. Well…sometimes you run into your teammates, by accident."
"It sounds thrilling."
Jane rolled her eyes. "We aren't professionals, Lucas, we're just having fun. And you've been disdainful of a lot of things here until you tried them and found out they weren't so bad."
"Much as you have tempted me, Dr. Foster, I'm only here to observe for a few minutes. I'm expected in the Music Room."
"Oh, we're back to 'Dr. Foster,' now, are we?" Jane asked with a laugh. "Well, pay attention. If you can learn the rules – and it shouldn't be that hard, they're not that complicated – you can be the ref for us later. We don't really have enough people so we rotate in and out as ref."
"You would have me sit in judgement above you?" Loki asked, a narrow grin spreading over his lips.
"In volleyball, sure."
"Then I'll have you know I've already learned the rules. The internet is a marvelous thing."
"So come on over here with us and hang out with Mari. She's up first as ref tonight. You're all about testing me, why don't you test yourself for a little while? See if you would make the same calls."
"If I wouldn't, it wouldn't be because I failed. It would be because I was right, and she was wrong."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I forgot. You're always right."
Loki gave a practiced one-shouldered shrug. "If you say so."
Jane couldn't help laughing again. She knew he probably meant all of his "I'm better than you" shtick, but she was used to his sense of humor by now and she also knew he was playing it up for her benefit.
"Jane, you coming?" Elliot called.
"Gotta go. Come on, don't just stand here against the wall. It'll look strange." Maybe it would and maybe it wouldn't, but Loki getting involved in things at the Pole had made a positive impact on him, she was certain, so if she could encourage him to keep it up she would.
Loki leaned back against the wall, some sort of blue padded material, right next to the big USAP logo with the shape of Antarctica. Jane gave up and walked away, and he followed with nothing more than his eyes. The group had already largely separated into their two teams, and Jane took her place. She stood out as the shortest of the group. And no wonder, really. After reading about volleyball's rules, he'd looked up the average height of the players. Jane was an entire foot below the average, even among women players. It was surprising that they even let her play. He wondered how it worked here – would they pity her and coddle her and make the game easier for her somehow, or would they expect from her no less than what they did from each of the others?
The game began, and three things soon became evident. First, that only three of the ten players had any particular talent for this game. Second, that Jane was not one of them. Third, that her team had already worked out a simple means of accommodating her height: when she was positioned at the net, another player handled blocks for her. Otherwise, she played the same as everyone else. Which was to say, not particularly well. She made up for lack of skill with enthusiasm. She wasn't afraid to hit the ball hard, he noticed, even if it didn't always go where she probably intended it, or at least should have intended it. She called for the ball when it came to her area of the court and her teammates let her hit it with the backs of her arms or pass it to a teammate to try to set up what was called a "spike." When points were scored, no matter who was responsible, there were shouts and claps and palm-slapping, and Jane was as much a part of it as anyone else.
Some fifteen minutes into the game, Loki sidled up to Mari, who was standing just outside the white-lined field of play, next to the net. She was several inches taller than Jane, blond, heavier than her, stocky, really – built a little better for this game, perhaps. She had also worked in an office in New York that the Chitauri had destroyed, Jane had told him. It made him uncomfortable, and he'd mostly avoided her, which was usually easily done since she was typically working in the kitchen while he was eating.
"Do you mind?" he asked, keeping his eyes on the players as they rotated their positions.
"Nah. Do you play?"
"Not really. I just had a few minutes and thought I'd watch."
"Keep watching and maybe you'll change your mind. We could use you, with your height. Though I guess you'd have to play on the other team. I'm on Jane's team."
Unfortunate for you, he thought. Then he frowned. He was on Jane's team. Or rather, Jane was on his, and she was right, in this trip to Alfheim at least, he was not looking for a team. The game resumed, Mari focused on the ball, and Loki turned his head in the direction of the other team while keeping an eye on Jane. She lacked skill but she put real effort into her play; she laughed in between bouts of play but treated the game seriously when the ball was in motion. She was responsible, conscientious…and she did not need to be able to spike a ball on Alfheim.
/
/
"Let's do 'Cradle of Love.'"
"That's not from a movie," Jeff said from his stool behind the drums.
"Yeah it is," Wright said, making some noise with his guitar that Loki had heard before but could not quite call music. "Andrew Dice Clay was in it."
"Andrew who?" Jeff asked, looking skeptical.
"Come on, you remember, the comedian. Caused a lot of controversy over…something."
"No. And neither will anyone else."
"Guys, come on, help me out here," Wright said, glancing around the room.
"The name sounds familiar," Austin said, while Selby shrugged and Carlo shook his head.
Loki just stared back. They'd been at this for several minutes, throwing out the song ideas they'd come up with and arguing over whether to play them or not. Loki had been of precisely zero help, and that would not change. He had not heard of any of the songs they mentioned, or their singers, or the movies they may – or may not – have come from, or the actors or comedians who may – or may not – have appeared in the movies. He wasn't sure why he was here.
And while he could plead ignorance of many cultural things due to an erratic childhood, moving around a great deal, a private education that kept him away from his peers, and a dozen other excuses he could come up with, for him to have not heard of a single one of these things began to defy belief. Saying he'd grown up outside the United States gained him nothing; Carlo was from Italy but seemed to know nearly all of the same songs and movies that the Americans did. He still remembered Jane's incredulity, the night of the sunset, when he had simply not heard of "Spice Girls." So he wasn't sure why he was staying, either.
Jeff and Wright were still arguing. Wright could do a "wicked guitar riff" for it, but no one would know what movie it came from. Jeff's argument was a fair one, considering even Wright couldn't remember the name of the movie it was from.
"Perhaps you can project images from the relevant movie while you play the song. Or for each of the songs."
The argument stopped, and Austin's eyebrows went up. "That's an awesome idea, Lucas. Yeah, we could do that. Who's good with graphics around here? We could use images and computer animations."
Loki gave a small nod. He was glad to have added something helpful, gladder to have put at least a temporary end to the pointless bickering.
"I am," Wright said, "but let's get someone else involved. Maybe Tristan? He's good with digital editing."
"Lucas, why don't you ask him about it? It was your idea," Austin suggested.
Loki agreed, though he was surprised. It was strange, really, the extent to which they were treating him as part of this group when he so clearly wasn't. Now he had responsibilities for the band that he was not really a part of, for their Mid-Winter performance he might not even be here for. How did I ever become so entangled in all this? he wondered. He thought back over it for a moment, and missed the next song, which was unfortunate since he was supposed to be keeping a list.
"What about 'St. Elmo's Fire?'" Carlo said. "It's a classic, and it has a pretty good beat."
"Good one, yeah," Wright said.
"'9 to 5,'" Selby said.
"Dolly Parton? Boo, no," Wright said. "It's about work."
"It's about work being a pain. It would be fun."
"We could change it to '8 to 6,'" Jeff said with a laugh.
"We keep running into this, though. A woman's supposed to sing that. Does Jane sing?" Austin asked.
All eyes turned to Loki. "Ah, according to her, no. But I haven't heard her." She'd made an offhand comment about it one time, but for all he knew she was just being modest.
"Do any of the women here sing?" Carlo asked. No one had an answer.
"It's a moot point," Wright said. "We're not doing that one. And it can't all be 80's stuff."
"80's movies had good music," Austin said.
"Whatever. Think 90's for a minute."
"'Everything I Do.' Robin Hood. Could be a good slow dance song," Austin suggested.
"Okay, yeah. And a good piano line for Selby. The recorder would totally work in that song, too."
Selby swiveled on his stool and played a short melody, and Loki had to admit it sounded a bit nicer than many of the other things they played, though as with everything else here, he was growing more accustomed to the styles of music he heard and sometimes found himself tapping his foot or nodding his head.
"'Don't Want To Miss a Thing,'" Selby threw out, switching to another tune. "Another good slow one."
"No way," Wright said immediately. "That's like some stalker song or something."
Selby turned back around with a look on his face as though Wright might have lost his mind. "It was a hit love song."
"I heard it was actually about a dad and his kid," Jeff said.
"What planet are you on?" Wright asked, wearing an expression little different from the one Selby had just been making.
Midgard, Loki supplied in silence, and wondered if he'd have to come up with a way to end this argument as well. He certainly had no interest in participating in a song about a father and son.
"I'm serious, guys," Wright said, interrupting something Carlo was about to say, "I can't do that one. My sister always called it creepy and it stuck. What about 'Bittersweet Symphony?'"
Loki sighed, quietly enough so that no one noticed. Apparently one could not dance to 'Bittersweet Symphony,' although the recorder might sound nice on it.
"Bohemian Rhapsody,' Austin said, catching Loki's attention again. "Honorary 90's. Hard to dance to, but everybody would have fun."
"If they've seen Wayne's World," Wright said.
"Tristan could make us some animated gifs of Mike Myers and the gang headbanging to it," Jeff said.
"Okay, yeah. Write that down, Lucas."
Loki bristled at that – he'd already offered to take notes for them, he didn't need to be told what to write, not by a mortal. Not by Wright. But Wright was taking charge of everything, and no one else seemed to mind, not even Selby, whose ideas Wright seemed to strike down the most, even though the two were partners and supposedly good friends – they had no choice in working together, but no one was forcing them to spend their free time together. Sheep, he thought. Still, he nodded and wrote it down. He was playing the role of a sheep, too. "Bohemian Rhapsody. Wayne's World. Mike Myers. Head banging. Animated gifts." He had no idea what any of it meant, but a low-level curiosity unexpectedly pulled at the corners of his mind. These elements of Midgardian culture that were so different from his had held little interest for him before, and he wasn't sure why they did now.
Perhaps, he thought then, because he might never find out what these things were that he was writing down. And head banging and animated gifts sounded vaguely interesting. It was not objectionable, really, being made to feel a part of this group, sheep or no; at times he enjoyed it. If he learned their songs, however many they wanted him to play the recorder for, assuming he could even learn them all – they seemed to somewhat overestimate his ability in that regard – it could all be for naught. Loki frowned. Does it matter? Will you shed tears over not playing this simple instrument for a tiny Midgardian festival? Will they shed tears not to have it, when they were quite happy without it the night of the sunset?
Loki pulled out of his own thoughts to find the others arguing again. He cleared his throat. "You have plenty of songs on the list right now, but you haven't tried playing any of them. Perhaps you could save the rest of the arguing for another time and actually do something with those instruments you're holding." He kept his face entirely neutral, then broke into a rather large smile, eyes glinting. I'm jesting, but I'm entirely serious, the expression communicated.
Austin looked aside and chuckled; Jeff played some kind of rolling beat on his drums.
Wright started to laugh, too. "Getting bored, Lucas? You're right, though. Enough yapping. Let's play. What's first on the list?"
Loki looked down at his paper, and read off the name.
/
[This chapter takes place on Saturday, May 29.]
Reviews are love and will keep me buoyed (a word I apparently have no idea how to spell without spell-checker) during this crazy hectic time! I treasure your reviews, long or short. (Ha, though I'm half-expecting hate-mail because I know you're anxious for Loki and Jane to make their trip... Just know that I am, too.) Thanks so much for your support. This is almost certainly the last chapter I'll be able to get you before I move. I haven't even started Ch. 109, just no time. The pace should pick back up to normal by the end of the month. I may be very slow responding to PMs and reviews during the next couple of weeks, just FYI.
Previews from Ch. 108: Sunday evenings are for poker at the Pole, and talk takes a serious turn; Jane sees Alfheim...sort of?...and learns lessons she may not particularly want to.
Excerpt:
"You said I could talk here," Jane said, a little annoyed.
"If you need to, yes. Oddities won't attract so much attention here."
"Great," she said sarcastically. I'm an oddity now.
