This is a short update to let you know that I haven't abandoned this. I got caught up in some new stories, and I can't believe it's been four weeks since I updated this one. I feel really bad...
So this doesn't have the party, but it might be a bit brighter than the last few chapters? I dunno. If not, next chapter will certainly be fluffier.
"WHAT- no, you didn't just- ugh, run that by me again, Point Break." Tony groans, wishing his beer bottle was still in his hand instead of shattered on the floor, with beer seeping out of it. Thor can't have just said what Tony thinks he did.
"Heimdall said that Loki birthed Sleipnir, and the gatekeeper can see all." Thor repeats, sounding like he doesn't really know what Heimdall was talking about.
Logan snorts in disbelief, giving Thor a look that says 'Really? I would've left that one in your ass, where you obviously pulled it from.' Ordinarily, that's what Tony would be thinking too, except this isn't the first time he's heard this. Out loud, Logan just scoffs "That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."
Groaning and running a hand through his hair, Tony stands up and goes to grab another beer from the fridge and ignoring the puddle of beer on the floor. Thankfully, Logan doesn't seem annoyed that Tony's taking another beer from what is presumably Logan's stash. He should send Logan some of the actual good stuff sometime, even if the guy doesn't take Tony up on his invitation to the tower. Tony hopes Logan will come to the tower sometime, though, because he kind of likes the mutant. Maybe he should offer to spruce up Logan's motorcycle or something. Logan had told him a bit about his bike on their walk here.
"Yeah, I mean, that's kinda impossible." Tony says, putting on a flippant air. "First of all, people don't give birth to horses, and second, men don't give birth at all... especially not to horses. So, that's two strikes against that theory. I mean, even in your extremely screwed up viking land, that doesn't sound like something that would happen." Tony rambles. "Like, I don't even know how that would work. Would he have to be a horse or- and where would the baby-?"
Tony stops on his own. He remembers Loki telling him on the plane ride to Malibu after watching Lilo & Stitch, that he sometimes had a dream where he was a mare and Sleipnir came out of him. It had stuck with Tony because it was kind of funny, but now...
No. This is just too weird to think about, and it's impossible anyways, right? Really, Loki had even said it was a dream and that he made it up. So had Heimdall simply heard about Loki's dream? Maybe the gatekeeper was mentioning it to mock Loki, more subtly than Thor probably ever did?
Yet a lingering voice in the back of Tony's mind says that Loki thought he made Sleipnir and the others up, too, when he obviously hadn't.
But just the idea of Loki giving birth makes Tony's mind protest in so many ways.
Man, Tony thought his life was crazy in the past, but that was nothing compared to what his life has turned into these past couple months.
Thor frowns. "I am quite confused by Heimdall's tale as well."
"So you don't have people randomly turning into animals up there?" Tony arches a brow.
"Nay. We do not." Thor answers and then glances at Logan. "Do any of you... mutants have this ability? I have seen you grow claws. Can you turn into the Wolverine that is your namesake?"
Logan just gives a vaguely dissenting grunt as Charles glides into the kitchen, his wheelchair making almost no sound and moving quite easily. As an engineer, Tony keeps noticing the wheelchair's design and scouring it for flaws, even though he's seen it before.
"I'd greatly appreciate it if whoever spilled this beer would clean it up." Charles says mildly from the doorway. Even though it's a statement, he makes it sound like a request to which the only answer is yes. Charles is also looking directly at Tony as if he somehow knows it was him. Even though Thor is the one who comes from a place where throwing finished drinks on the floor is common.
Tony realizes he doesn't actually have his bots to do it for him now. And because of them, or the various hired cleaning staff he'd had since childhood, Tony really never cleans up anything himself. He's wondering if he could bribe Logan, Thor or Charles into doing it and realizes that they'd probably never budge.
Sighing, Tony grabs a wad of paper towels and presses it down over the brown beer puddle with his (surprisingly inexpensive) shoe. There's no way he's kneeling down and scrubbing with his hands, though. Broken glass crunches more under his shoe.
Then he realizes that Charles maneuvers his wheelchair past the spill anyways. Tony pouts slightly, although he supposes there's a point about people potentially slipping or stepping on broken glass.
"Thor says that Loki birthed Sleipnir." Logan tells Charles, as if it's a joke. Tony hasn't decided yet if it's true or not. In some ways, he kind of hopes it really is some kind of joke, although that'd be a pretty twisted one.
"I'm not entirely sure how that would work," Charles replies slowly, thoughtfully, "But it would explain how they had a telepathic connection in the first place."
Tony nods slightly. After all, it seems a little weird in retrospect that Loki would form a random telepathic link with a horse he didn't even know existed down in the dungeons. Why would he have linked to Sleipnir when they were apparently totally separated, unless there was some kind of natural connection between them?
But still. Loki giving birth? Tony longs for his drink that he's cleaning up. This whole concept is just hurting his brain.
"Uh, did you see anything in Loki's head to confirm this?" Tony asks. "Or was Heimdall just repeating Loki's dream to mock him or something?" Maybe that's what this all is, and Heimdall isn't totally free of assholery.
"Heimdall is always serious." Thor answers. "I have never known him to jest, and he particularly would not do so to me, as I am his prince."
"Well, that'd mean that the others could maybe be his family, too." Tony says. Loki even calls them his 'Monster Family.'
Except, he still can't wrap his head around the idea of Loki giving birth. And how the hell could Loki be related to a wolf and a snake? At least Hel is kind of the same species, Tony thinks, although she's part zombie or something.
"...So did Heimdall know Sleipnir was rotting away in a dungeon the whole time?" Tony asks, because that's actually the easier topic, instead of the weird idea of Loki giving birth.
"He can see all in the Nine Realms, but not all at once." Thor tells them.
"Then he's hardly all-seeing." Tony mutters, although he's really glad. Then again, Tony has Jarvis, who sees all in the tower as well as every one of Tony's houses, mansions, manors and properties in general, so he's not exactly one to talk about creepy Big Brother kinds of scenarios. Not that Jarvis is creepy (at least, not to Tony. A lot of other people definitely seem weirded out by him).
"I do not believe Heimdall looked in the dungeons particularly often, and I'm not entirely sure what made him turn his eye towards them to discover Sleipnir's whereabouts." Thor says, and hastens to add "I am glad he did, so I was able to get Sleipnir out of there, but there seems to be little point in him looking there."
"So do you think he already knows where Fenrir is?" Tony asks, trying not to get his hopes up. Granted, even if Heimdall does know, they're still going to have to get Fenrir from, if Fenrir's telling the truth, some sort of cave where he's chained up.
Tony hates the idea of Fenrir being trapped in a cave like that. It's too much like his own experience. He wasn't physically chained with metal chains (which is the mental image he's getting) and he's not sure if what he went through is worse or not. At least he could move, although he went through major surgery without antiseptic, torture, all that fun, painful stuff he still has nightmares about.
He really hopes Fenrir's not suffering any of that shit.
The conversation is abruptly put on hold when Loki himself gallops into the kitchen, clutching Simba and the empty bottle Sleipnir had drank from earlier. Had Charles known he was coming, with his mind powers? If so, he hadn't said anything.
Tony's kind of surprised Sleipnir isn't with Loki at the moment, since he'd been carrying his horse around much like he does with Simba and, over the past several days, Bullseye and Maximus (Loki's not carrying the two toy horses now). However, Jormungand is draped across Loki's shoulders, as always, and he's real.
Before anyone can stop him, Loki runs towards Tony... right into the sea of beer and bottle shards on the floor. Of course he's not wearing the sandals he'd been wearing outside. He'd probably ditched them as soon as he walked into the mansion from the barn. Normally it's not a problem to be barefoot indoors, except for times like these.
Loki's face crumble as he hisses in pain, sounding almost like a cat, as blood seeps into the puddle of alcohol. The fact that his now-cut feet are in alcohol probably makes the cuts burn something horrible, maybe worse than rubbing alcohol.
This is somewhat like when Loki had blown up Tony's alcohol collection behind the bar after the turkey baster incident, except Loki had only barely pricked his fingers on the shards that time and probably hadn't hurt nearly as much. Well, that and Tony's the one who broke the bottle this time, not Loki.
Shit, at the rate Loki heals, they're going to have to get the glass out fast before his foot heals around it. They should start immediately, instead of waiting for Bruce or Hank, although Tony hopes Charles or someone will get them anyways. Tony abandons the paper towels he'd been using to sop up the beer to go to the god.
Loki, however, balks when he sees Thor sitting at the table (had he actually not noticed him before?) and scurries away from Tony over to the other side of the kitchen, thankfully away from the rest of the broken glass, but he might have just shoved the pieces in further.
As he tries to squeeze his tall frame between the countertop and the bottoms of the cabinets hanging from the ceiling, Loki tenses, staring at the thunderer and hugging Simba tighter. He seems like he's desperately trying not to cry in front of Thor, and at least right now, he's succeeding.
Fenrir's illusion pops into existence- Tony's actually surprised Fenrir hadn't been with Loki since he arrived in the kitchen, since the wolf had been with Loki in spirit, if not physically, in the barn. Or maybe he was still talking in Loki's head but just didn't show up as a visible illusion? Tony's actually not sure whether it's Fenrir or Loki projecting the illusions, but making an illusion obviously takes more energy for whichever one of them does it than just talking without an visual form.
Tony hurries over to Loki, gently grabbing his bare feet. Loki's hula anklet rubs against the back of Tony's hand, leaving a leafy feeling that Tony forces himself to ignore as he inspects the injured area. There are indeed shards of Tony's beer bottle in Loki's beer-soaked feet. Great.
Some of the cuts look like they're already beginning to heal, and they really need to get the glass out. Tony's not sure if Loki's feet would heal around the glass shards or if they'd force the glass out of them before healing, but he's not going to wait and find out, in case it's the former. Actually, part of Tony is sort of wondering why Loki can't just make the glass disappear with his powers, when he apparently can cure actual infections like he did on Sleipnir earlier. Surely getting rid of glass would be easier?
There's no time to call for Bruce to do this, and Tony says that he needs some tweezers, stat. Logan is already rooting through a junk drawer until he appears with a pair. Tony briefly turns away from Loki to grab the proffered tweezers from the man.
When Tony turns back to Loki's feet, he's pretty sure one of the shards is gone. Maybe Loki really can make them vanish? Tony has an eidetic memory and he knows there was a shard where there now isn't (well, and there's a cut there to prove it). But the missing shard hadn't dug into Loki's foot very far, so it probably could have just fallen out.
Loki squeezes his eyes shut, his hiss of pain rising to a low keening whine as Tony tries to gently pull out the shards with tweezers, and Tony finds himself whispering Loki's lullaby to try to calm him down a bit. As Tony pulls out that shard, Loki bites his lip, tensing, and kicking his legs slightly, which only makes Tony lose his grip on the shard with the tweezers.
"Snoopy, I know it hurts, but you've gotta stay still." Tony tries to hide his frustration. "This is why you wear shoes. Or check to see if there's glass on the floor." Okay, maybe Tony's not reacting well, but it's been a really weird day.
Bruce comes into the room even though nobody went and got him (maybe Charles sent out some telepathic message or something?). Hank isn't with Bruce, probably staying with Sleipnir. Tony doesn't think Sleipnir can feel Loki's pain because if he did, it would probably work in the reverse, too, and Loki would've constantly felt hungry.
Bruce takes the tweezers from Tony and gets to work. He's better at this than Tony is, although Tony has steady hands.
Loki just wriggles more, jerking his foot away with a sudden shout.
Tony barely even sees it happen, but he hears a sound, and apparently a shard actually shoots out of Loki's foot like a bullet. Tony tries to see where it went, and when he turns around, the brown bottle shard embedded in Logan's cheek, evidently having been shot into his face.
Loki stares wide-eyed at Logan in apprehension, but Logan just stands there, doing nothing more than exhaling slightly, not looking particularly pained or angry. The shard abruptly exits his cheek and falls to the floor with another clink, and Logan's cut heals before their eyes within seconds.
"Relax, kid, I'm not gonna hit you or anything." Logan says, holding up his hands in a universal gesture of peace. "I've been shot before at point-blank range with a gun, this is nothing."
"You too?" Loki asks, and Tony isn't sure if he's talking about Logan not hitting him or Logan also having healing powers. He can't be talking about the gun part, though, Asgard doesn't have guns like they do. Asgardians have swords and weird hammers. Tony's pretty sure Loki has experience being hurt by weapons, which shouldn't be the case since he's not a warrior.
"Do I need to pull these shards, or are they going to shoot out like that one did?" Bruce asks, even as he moves so he's standing beside Loki's foot instead of in front of it to avoid further glass projectiles.
Bruce seems slightly hesitant, probably thinking that a shard could fly out and embed itself in his hand when he's trying to pick it out. Would that make Hulk come out with loud roars and smashing fists?
Regardless, Bruce's medical services won't be needed if Loki keeps healing that way.
Logan sighs, strides forward, and starts pulling out some of the larger shards with his bare hands, even as a few more fly out of Loki's feet like tiny glass bullets. One of them goes into Logan's hand, but he barely pauses as it's forced out and his body heals just like before.
Tony's itching to know how his mutation lets him do that, and Bruce is probably even more curious about mutants, but they're not lab rats or anything.
"Where's Sleipnir?" Logan asks, probably trying to distract Loki.
"In the Great Hall, with Hank." Loki pouts slightly.
"I imagine Sleipnir was overjoyed to be in your company again." Up until now, Thor has stayed in the background for the entire ordeal, and Tony almost forgot the huge Asgardian is still here. Thor smiles a little awkwardly at Loki. Huh, who knew Thor could be awkward? Usually he blurts sometimes uncomfortable truths without any sense of shame. Also, Thor's remark kind of goes without saying.
"I wish he was here," Loki mumbles "but Hank said my Sleipnir can't come in heres, 'cos he's got weird germy somethings, I dunno. Said I might've taken them away, maybe." Bruce looks like he's about to start telling Loki about germs and bacteria, and how generally those don't mix well with food. But Loki had apparently cured Sleipnir's infected sheath with his magic, so maybe Sleipnir isn't as bacteria-covered as before.
Soon, Loki's feet are free of glass and the cuts are almost healed. They rinse off the dried blood on Loki's feet, and on his face from when he'd scratched himself earlier. He looks a lot better without the streaks of red, and of course the cuts are healed. They probably healed minutes after Loki inflicted them on himself.
"Did you beat Kurt or Hank up?" Loki asks Thor completely seriously, although he abruptly switches topics before Thor can answer. "I was gonna get my Sleipnir more." Presumably more of Sleipnir's milk or formula or whatever it was.
Loki looks around for the bottle he'd used to feed Sleipnir earlier, which he'd dropped sometime during the whole stepping-on-glass incident. At least that bottle didn't break like the beer one. He then looks between Thor and the spilt beer, which Tony hasn't quite finished cleaning.
"Tony, you gotta clean Thor's mess?" Oh, right, hadn't the servants and slaves apparently decided to put Loki to work?
"This is mine, actually." Tony mutters. Loki blinks and hops off the counter. Thankfully, he avoids the glass when going to pick up Sleipnir's bottle.
"Hank said it's in the fridge. I know what a fridge is!" Loki then stops dead in his tracks, like a deer in the headlights, when he sees that Thor is basically sitting in front of it.
Jormungand hisses something in Loki's ear, and Fenrir stalks up in front of Loki, but the wolf is still only an illusion and can't really protect Loki. Well, he's real somewhere but not here.
Thor blatantly stares at Fenrir and Jormungand.
"So you are truly real as well." Thor says to Jormungand, although there's just a bit of a question in his tone. Admittedly, the Loki's-friends-and-Monster-Family-are really-real ball was dropped just as suddenly on Thor himself as on Tony and Loki- the news that Jormungand took the necklace's place had been rather shocking. Except Thor has to deal with guilt for acting like they weren't real, whereas Tony and Loki don't (although Loki clearly blamed himself earlier).
Loki looks at Thor in alarm, wrapping a hand protectively around Jormungand. Tony's pretty sure the snake can fend for himself, but Jormungand doesn't protest, squeezing Loki slightly in a hug.
Thor continues, seeming oblivious. "Friend Tony says you were always on Midgard, so that means I do not have to find you."
Really, it's pretty impressive that a snake can look as scornful as Jormungand does right now. "You are not sssome knight in ssshining armor, Thor." Well, the fact Jormungand referred to knights when there aren't knights on Asgard sort of indicates he's been on Earth for a while.
"...'m glad you got my Sleipnir outta the Dark." Loki says softly, and Tony realizes that Loki technically hadn't actually thanked Thor with that statement. Honestly, that's the sort of remark Tony sometimes makes, sounding like he's thanking someone without actually ever saying the words. "The Dark...box? they saids a dungeon. Bad place, but you got my Sleipnir out..."
"Truly, if I had known where he was, I would have gotten him out much earlier." Thor's voice isn't quite as loud as usual. "He did not deserve to be where he was."
"As we've all said." Tony remarks. Loki thankfully seems to know that Sleipnir shouldn't have been down in that horrible place.
Thor glances at Fenrir's illusionary body and tells the wolf "I have promised Friend Stark that I will aid him in his quest to find you, and am planning on asking Heimdall to discover your location. Fenrir-" He glances quickly at Tony to confirm he got the wolf's name right. "-if you could tell us where you are, I may be able to get you as soon as tonight."
Wow, Thor just cut Tony out of it the second time. Rude.
Also, he already told Thor that they didn't have much information. Just that Fenrir's apparently chained in a freaking cave, but that he's at least putting on the facade that it's not that bad. Hopefully that's actually true, but Sleipnir never acted much like he was starving in a dungeon aside from wanting stuff to eat.
"You hate them. You say my Monster Family's not reals." Loki tells Thor slowly, as if trying to remind Thor how the universe works because it's so scrambled up right now. "You-"
"I was wrong." Thor admits, actually being quiet for once instead of booming out his words. He doesn't appear to like admitting to his faults and wrongdoings (then again, Tony hates admitting to being wrong, too). Presumably as prince, Thor's rarely questioned by his subjects, yet he's actually owning up to this. "They are real. I should have listened when you tried to tell me."
Loki stares at the ground blankly, rocking slightly. "But... I didn't-" He frowns. "... just learned today."
"You told me there was a quest, and almost persuaded me to-" Thor starts, and then looks as if he's not sure he should finish the sentence. "Instead, I scorned you and hurt you because I believed them fake when you talked to them."
When Thor told that story to Tony earlier, it had seemed like Loki had actually known his friends were real at one point. Yet, as Loki just said, he seemed to honestly not know his friends were real before today. What's up with that? Really, that seems like the kind of thing Loki would remember. Maybe he would've relished in the idea of almost bending Thor to his will, or he'd be disappointed that hadn't worked (as he very well should be, since that would've saved everyone a lot of pain). But just... forgetting it? Forgetting his friends were real?
"It does not make up for my past treatment, but I swear I will find Fenrir and bring him to you." Thor pauses. "I swear on Mjolnir." He doesn't actually have the hammer with him in the kitchen, which is probably a good thing. Tony's positive that Thor swearing an oath on his beloved hammer makes it a Big Deal.
Loki pinches himself, looking extremely lost, but at least he's not slapping himself to see if it's a dream or not. Clearly he never thought he'd hear that.
"You're gonna get my Fenrir for me? An' not hurt him even though you think he's a monster?" Loki asks before Tony can announce he's on the Fenrir rescue mission too. The god glances at his huge wolf friend, running his hand over Fenrir's back even though he's intangible.
"Aye. Just like I did with Sleipnir." Thor pauses and adds, after everyone but Loki sends him a look "I do not think Sleipnir is a monster. Or Fenrir, even though he bit off Tyr's hand." They're not just empty words, he really seems to mean what he's saying, as he had earlier in the conversation.
Loki twists his fingers together and looks away, rocking side to side. "Do I... does this mean I owe you a debt?" His tone makes it clear he'd rather have his teeth pulled out than owe Thor anything. Tony's heard that Asgardian society places a heavy emphasis on oaths and debts. "For findin' my Sleipnir? And Fenrir, maybe?"
Tony's once again about to open his mouth and blurt that there's no way Loki owes Thor crap (seriously, how, in any way, would Loki owe Thor for this? If anyone, it'd be Sleipnir and Fenrir who owe Thor, but they really don't, either) when Thor beats him to it. Tony must be off his game right now, normally he's really good at making sure others never get a word in, but now he's that person.
"Nay, Loki. It is I who owes you, greatly. I have wronged you greatly, more than I could possibly apologize or be forgiven for." Thor says solemnly, and Loki looks at Thor as if he not only sprouted a second head, but as if that extra head was a pink unicorn head singing a ballad about how Loki is now the new Allfather of Asgard. Too bad, Loki would be a way better ruler than the current Allfather, Odick.
"... 's Iwho owes you greatly." Loki echos Thor's words blankly, and Tony actually manages to get a word in and start to clarify what Thor meant. For some inexplicable reason, Loki's apparently still thinking he owes Thor.
"I who owes you greatly?" Loki repeats.
"Nay, Loki, it is I who owe you. I owe you a great number of debts that I will never be able to pay. But if there is something..."
"You owes... me?" Loki asks slowly, clearly not daring to believe that Thor said that, and expecting someone to tell him he got it wrong.
Tony realizes this is probably what Loki really meant the first two times when he was echoing Thor's words, only now he's switched to the right pronouns.
"Aye. I have hurt you more than I can possibly be forgiven for." Thor reiterates, and surprisingly his tone isn't obnoxious or condescending, for someone who clearly hated Loki for most of his extremely long life. "I have not laid a hand on you since my banishment to Midgard, but I should have realized I needed to do more then. You should have gone to Midgard right after my exile, rather than merely two months ago."
But Thor didn't know about Tony back then. Of course Tony wishes Loki had gotten out of Asgard sooner, but if he'd been sent to Earth after Thor's banishment around two and a half years ago, where would he have ended up? Probably not with Tony.
And then, of course, Thor adds "Nay, you should have gone to Midgard centuries ago." Well, Tony definitely wouldn't've been around then, but this is definitely progress on Thor's part. Sadly, though, there's no changing the past.
Tony wonders if Loki's going to bring up Idunn's Apples, which Thor actually mentioned before, but Loki looks like he has no idea what to do with this information, so he changes the topic.
"Sleipnir saids you haven't hit him none." This is a lot like the conversation Tony had just had with Thor. "Says he kicks you too, and you still don't hit."
"I will never hit Sleipnir." Thor tells him seriously, while obviously thinking guiltily about how he hit Loki.
"Good. 'cos if you hits my Sleipnir, I hav'ta FREEZE you!" Loki blurts, flinging his hands out. A blast of ice actually hits Thor in the mouth, but it was clearly an accident on Loki's part.
Loki tenses, but doesn't actually back down or cower away like Tony expects, although he's clutching Simba and Jormungand very tightly. Jormungand doesn't seem bothered by the tight grip.
Thor blinks and rubs his mouth in surprise Tony goes to stand in front of Loki since Fenrir sadly can't provide actual protection right now. He's still somewhat shocked that Loki hasn't fled after hitting Thor with ice, but he's so incredibly proud right of Loki right now for not fleeing. He slings an arm around Loki's taller body, and as usual he sort of has to stand on his toes to do it.
"I don't care if you give me 'nother beating after. You don't get to hurt my family, never! Not my Monster Family an' not my Midgard one with my Tony an' Bruce and everyone!" By the end of this Loki's practically shouting at Thor.
Tony is so incredibly proud of Loki right now for standing up to Thor. Admittedly, Thor wasn't doing anything, but still. It certainly beats Loki cowering or fleeing.
"Good going, kid." Logan says, smirking. "And nobody lays a finger on Sleipnir without going through me first."
Loki stares at Logan. "But I hugged him, an' didn't have to go through you. Cans I go through you?" He frowns and reaches out towards Logan as if he's not actually sure if Logan's tangible or not, and Tony busts out laughing.
"I seriously do not believe Thor intends on harming Sleipnir." Charles speaks up in Thor's defense.
"The Professor is correct." Thor nods briefly at Charles.
"...Why?" Loki asks incredulously. "Why're you...?" He can't seem to decide on a question. Tony can almost see a ton of questions rushing thorough Loki. Charles probably can literally see them.
"Because it is right. I am an Avenger. I am supposed to help people, not hurt them."
"That includes you." Tony tells Loki.
Loki blinks at Tony but then tells Thor. "Swear you'll never hit me 'gain neither." Thor and Loki both look taken aback by Loki saying that.
If Tony hadn't just heard Thor's story about Loki almost talking him into promising to stop hitting him once, he would have thought the thunderer was shocked at the audacity of Loki asking such a thing. Even though it's a perfectly reasonable demand.
Sadly it hadn't worked then, but maybe it'll work now.
"I swear on Mjolnir I will never treat you as I once did." Thor's voice is still serious. "I should have sworn to do so earlier. You almost made me, somehow, but then... you got... hurt and stopped. You-"
Tony sends the thunder god a look telling him to shut up, because he's not sure if Thor bringing up Loki's brain damage is really the best way to go. To Thor's credit, at least he didn't say that Loki got stupider this time. Also, he should have never done it in the first place, although he's right about how he shouldn't have continued after Loki suffered apparently lasting head trauma.
Bruce looks rather suspicious, and Tony knows he's going to have to fill his Science Bro in, later. Well, he was never going to not tell Bruce, but would it warrant a visit from Hulk?
"I know not where Fenrir is at the moment." Thor intones, and glances at the wolf hopefully. Fenrir doesn't provide anything. Maybe he doesn't know where the cave he's apparently chained in actually is. "But I will go to Heimdall now and ask. He is the one who informed me about Sleipnir's..."
"A cave." Loki whispers in a choked voice. Fenrir tries to shoot him a reassuring look.
"Fenrir, are you hurt?" Thor asks, seeming to actually care about the wolf's wellbeing. "If anyone is hurting you, wherever you are-"
Fenrir snarls slightly, his expression saying "I bit off a hand before, you really don't have to worry about me sticking up for myself." But Tony gets the feeling there's something Fenrir isn't revealing. "If anyone tries to hurt me now, I'll up my game and gelda them. Unless they're female."
Tony snorts. It kinda only works for guys. Really, though, what is it with Fenrir and threatening to claw guys' balls off? It's both horrifying and kind of awesome, although thinking it's awesome might be because Tony's almost positive he's in no danger of having his own clawed off. Also, Fenrir's kind of hilarious for his earlier thought-projection-remark of using his claws because he doesn't want to put his mouth anywhere near people's balls.
But Fenrir said he was chained up. He can't exactly attack anyone like that. Is it just bravado? As if sensing what he's thinking (can he do that?) Fenrir sends Tony a look telling him he's fine.
Maybe he is relatively fine. Or maybe he just doesn't want Loki to worry about him. Tony really hopes it's the former.
"My Hel's in Helheim." Loki suddenly blurts out, eyes getting a bit more unfocused as he cocks his head to the side. "But she can't comes here, it's busy there."
Hel suddenly appears, and the only person who appears shocked by her appearance is Thor. Well, Tony, Bruce and obviously Loki have seen her, but Charles and Logan haven't. Actually, maybe Charles did in Loki's head?
"Sadly, I can't exactly come live on Midgard." Hel tells them. "I'm pretty busy."
"Ruling dead people." Tony grins. "What's that like? I mean, that's a pretty epic position to have. Seems like it'd corrupt a lot of people, but you seem decent. Is everyone there half-zombie?" Then, he's suddenly struck with an idea. "Hey, can you see everything, like Heimdall? I mean, if you choose who dies, then you can just tell us where Fenrir is and-"
"I don't see much aside from my realm." Hel answers. "I don't choose who dies, just what happens to them after. And not everybody comes to my realm when they die in the first place."
"Oh." Tony nods, deflating a tad. That's slightly less awesome.
"However, I can confirm that my brother is not at the brink of death." Hel replies.
"Your... wait, Fenrir?" Bruce asks. "Fenrir's your brother?"
"Well, we are a Monster Family." The non-zombified half of Hel's face grins at Loki, who claps his hands.
'Not on the brink of death'isn't the same as 'anywhere near fine' but at least that probably means that Fenrir isn't as bad off as Sleipnir was, which is a really freaking low bar.
According to Thor, Sleipnir wouldn't have died from starvation, but Loki's horse had certainly looked like death. Even more so than Hel, who literally is death.
It only now sinks into Tony that he's actually talking to a ruler of the dead. Before, he'd sort of just assumed it was one of Loki's games, but no, Hel literally controls part of the afterlife. Loki really is the ultimate Cassandra, isn't he?
"You mean-" Thor starts to say to Hel.
Wait, are they going to go into the whole Loki might have somehow given birth to Sleipnir even though that should be impossible thing now? Tony doesn't even understand that, or know if it's true. How the hell (no pun intended) would they explain that to Loki.
Also, Fenrir and Hel being siblings is sort of new information, Tony thinks.
Tony shakes his head at Thor. Thankfully, Thor doesn't blurt it out, but he doesn't remain silent either.
"I assumed that you simply heard the rumors and imagined she was your friend." Thor tells Loki guiltily. "But I did not know about the others. Now, I must be off to Heimdall."
The thunder god gets up and heads towards the door, but stops, turning to Tony but glancing pointedly at Loki. "I believe it would be best if I declined your invitation to the party, Friend Stark."
Loki looks extremely confused as Thor strides out of the room. "He was gonna come? He'd hate Elsa."
"Not necessarily. He didn't hate Violet and Frozone, remember?" Tony replies as Loki heads towards the fridge, pulling out a pitcher of the not-quite-white liquid that had been in Sleipnir's bottle earlier. Clearly it's not just ordinary milk. "You know, I'm really proud of you, Snoopy."
Loki shoots Tony a grin as he runs out the door with the bottle, shouting to Sleipnir- who almost certainly can't physically hear him but probably can hear him telepathically- that it's time for another feeding.
I'm hoping to get the rest of the Xavier's School stuff up in the next few days... I have a lot of it written, and some of it should be really fun and fluffy. I can't guarantee it'll be all fluff though, but there should be a lot :)