To this day, he would never figure out how a random experiment landed him on Asgard of all places. Though he certainly wasn't complaining once he got the hang of the language and found something to keep him occupied.
He was an archer. One of the lowest ranked foot soldiers of Asgard's army. Sure, they had battle mages, but after seeing what they could do without a stick as a crutch (something he was still working on) he had been too self conscious to dare apply as a rookie mage.
So he had applied as a normal, non-magical soldier. And through the process of elimination the only weapon he wasn't totally pants at was the bow. He couldn't perform trick shots, he was only able to hit it eight times out of ten (an improvement over six out of ten), but at least the man in charge of training them to be competent enough not to get themselves killed hadn't bitched about the fact that the first thing he did was get rid of that ridiculous cape.
He had had to live with robes for a decade. No way in hell was he wearing a cape.
And it had only taken him five months after becoming an archer to find the place where they serviced or maintained the few ships Asgard actually had. Ever since the Bifrost was created, space ships had fallen out of favor among the nobles who held the purse strings.
They still existed, but almost no one used the things anymore and they were only maintained for emergency purposes.
Naturally he was intrigued by the things, and soon found his spare time occupied by learning as much as he could about Asgardian technology. The engineers and artisans certainly didn't mind his questions...far from it!
It was a good thing he didn't mind sleeping in his magical tent, or that no one seemed to care if he practiced his archery as a way to catch dinner. The paltry amount of coin he got as a low-ranked archer wouldn't pay for any home or even a shack within a reasonable time period. And even if his gold was considered good coin (once it was verified AS real gold) the last thing he needed was to draw suspicion as to where someone of his rank got that much coin.
Unlike some of his friends, he was not a complete idiot. Someone showing up with as much gold and silver as he would need to set himself up, yet pretending to live off a soldier's salary in a low-birth area was almost certain to attract far too much attention from the local nobles or authorities.
Besides, he liked the peace and quiet of the woods.
Still, it wasn't a bad life. Every once in a while they'd get called into action to deal with bandits and raiders...which always came with some nice bonus pay for fighting, but for the most part it was actually rather boring.
He was living in Asgard, for crying out loud. The home of some of the Old Gods!
Sure, they were a few centuries ahead of the mundane world, but they didn't bother to try anything new! It was almost like he was in a more technologically advanced version of the magical society!
He didn't really approve of how stagnant Asgard was, compared to Earth.
But his careful cloak of anonymity was almost shattered by a single event.
He was among the few watching on the sidelines as Prince Thor and Prince Loki (boy, wouldn't the twins and the Marauders be tickled pink if they knew he was living in the same time zone as THE Loki) sparred in the rink.
He didn't care for sparring, but he didn't hate it either. The simple fact was that he almost always lost anyway because of his build, but it was a requirement. Every so often he'd lose his temper and cheat with magic to win, but he hated doing it for several reasons.
Chief among them was the fact that every time he did, some of the battle mages would come snooping round the soldiers trying to find the one using magic to recruit the one who used it.
They could be an exclusive snobs only group, but truth was that in Asgard battle mages were a bunch of jerks who were often subtly harassed by the normal soldiers when the higher ups weren't looking, and they resented everyone for it. Even if Prince Loki was their idol and mentor, the fact was that most Asgardians considered magic to be a woman's art.
It didn't help that the majority of the battle mages generally were women.
So no, while he practiced his magic in secret he had no desire to be a battle mage. Better to be known as a barely acceptable archer who was a loner than as a mage that had to use a stick to fight.
Watching Loki almost get his head caved in by Thor's oversized hammer, he had enough of seeing people look down on those that were speedy rather than bulky.
Which was why he used something the muggleborns liked to jokingly call the "wedgie spell". It was really an adaptation of the summoning spell, with a bit of a twist. And it was really easy to pull off without a wand or saying anything once you got the trick to it.
Eying Thor's cape, a wicked idea came to him. One worthy of Loki, if he dared to let the prince know it was him.
He waited until the spar grew more heated and Thor's attention was firmly on his brother before he acted.
One moment Thor was about to launch his hammer at Loki, the next his cape suddenly pulled out from between his legs, causing him to trip over the red cloth and cause his head to hit fairly hard on his own hammer. Thankfully it didn't land on his head, though it still made a loud thud.
He managed to school his expression well enough that no one suspected him at all...though Loki's eyes did briefly settle on his own because there was no way for him to hide his mirth at having caught Thor with such a cheap prank.
Once he was safely in his 'house', he started howling with laughter.
The worst damage to Thor was a minor concussion. He'd be back to normal by morning.
For the first time in several years, Loki had won a fight against his brother. However he wasn't fool enough to believe it was of his own doing.
Someone had deliberately pulled the cape on Thor's back forward just enough to trip his brother...the concussion had been a bonus.
Loki was on a mission. Someone had helped him beat Thor in a spar...and they had used magic to do it. It was incredibly subtle...and if he wasn't the strongest mage in Asgard, he might not have noticed it at all. But he had sensed a powerful, if brief, presence of another mage very close by right before Thor knocked himself out.
Since he didn't recognize the signature, he had been able to rule out the battle mage division. None of them had been at the field that day, which made it easier to exclude them from his search.
He also ruled out Frigga. She wouldn't bother interfering in a harmless sparring session.
Which meant he had to find out who was at the field that day.
He didn't bother to learn the names of the rank and file, and now it was coming back to bite him in the ass.
It wasn't until another incident occurred that he had his first solid clue.
Thor was complaining about someone zipping past his window on what looked like a modified speeder when he had a hangover. He didn't catch the culprit, but whoever it was knew how to fly and fly well... he had tried chasing the man with Mjolnir, but the speeder had only accelerated and caused him to crash into a tree when he made a very sharp turn without any warning.
It only made Loki's desire to find the mystery mage even stronger, if only to congratulate him for making Thor look like an idiot twice.
"I must say, I never thought of making them smaller. And you say they can handle hairpin turns?"
"If you've got the experience with the force of gravity pulling on you, and know what you're doing. I had to keep a tight rein on the controls to avoid crashing, not that it helped the Prince. I wasn't expecting him to give chase with that war hammer of his," he replied.
"Yes, well Prince Thor doesn't exactly have the best track record of thinking straight while drunk," coughed the engineer. "But the fact you were able to handle even a rough attempt and out last him is impressive."
"Well you know me, I don't mind being a test dummy so long as I can fly. Honestly, I have no idea why more people don't experiment with the technology on Asgard. It's like after a certain point people just assume it's already been done so there's no need for improvement, or think it's not worth trying because it hasn't been done before."
The men who took care of the rather small fleet of personal ships all nodded in commiseration. They saw the odd archer as a breath of fresh air, because they had to think about how to answer his questions in a way that would satisfy them. And if he didn't understand, he tried asking in a way that made it easier to realize what he actually was trying to find out.
As such they greeted Jamesson with open arms and eager smiles. Every time he visited he always gave them ideas for new projects. Ideas that had dwindled and died as they realized the nobles had little to no interest in seeing what they could really do if given the chance.
Jamesson had the gold, but couldn't really use it since it drew too much attention. It was an inheritance from his father's family, but he wanted to make his own name and so resorted to becoming a simple soldier in Asgard's vast army. It was a tactic they could understand, if not approve of. With his help, they were able to modify existing technology and discreetly make all the things they once dreamed of, but didn't have the capital or the knowledge to pull off.
And best of all, Jamesson didn't mind acting as the one who tested their inventions (especially if it meant flying) or giving them suggestions to make things work.
They could understand not wanting to flaunt the fact he had magic. Most of the Asgardians had a rather annoying habit of underestimating them because they had a brain and knew how to use it beyond learning how to smash things.
Thor was considered the epitome of an Asgardian. Which meant that those that actually used their brains were ignored on the way side. It was annoying.
Jamesson was about to say something, when his inner radar started going off.
You didn't survive a war against other magicals with more experience without developing a healthy set of paranoia and an inner radar for mages around you. Especially if you were the one both sides wanted...either to kill or recruit.
"Heading home?" asked Thorin.
"Yeah. I'm going to need all the rest I can get to deal with my captain, and I stayed out late as it is."
"Be sure to visit again soon! We'll be trying to fix the speed to safety ratio, as you call it."
Jamesson nodded, before cheerfully vanishing mere minutes before Loki walked in.
Thorin exchanged a look with his fellow engineers. It didn't take a genius to figure out Jamesson had sensed Loki coming and had made a run for it.
If there was one thing Jameson hated, it was being remembered by the higher ups. Especially when it was for something he felt he didn't deserve.
Unusual, but they liked him too much to comment on it.
Loki didn't explicitly say why he was there, but after he left the men started talking.
"Wonder what Jamesson did to catch Prince Loki's attention like that."
"You don't think it had anything to do with that fight that had Prince Thor hitting himself with Mjolnir do you?"
"I wouldn't put it past him. You know Jamesson isn't exactly impressed with the Prince."
That had them snort with agreement.
Jamesson was of the opinion Thor needed to be knocked down several pegs and given a 'reality check' before he would be even remotely ready to be king. As Odin's heir, he had far too much handed to him and given opportunities he didn't take full advantage of. About the only saving grace that kept Jamesson from being completely against him was that he could tell Thor genuinely cared for Loki, even if Loki's bitterness at how he was treated whenever Thor wasn't looking made it hard for the prince to realize that fact.
Jamesson had a bad feeling seeing the mages out of their libraries with Loki.
They could call it an assessment all they liked, he could tell from the most senior members that this was unusual and that they suspected a mage had been hiding his gifts instead of flaunting them like they did.
The test was simple. They had to use their wits or the simple spells provided in order to accomplish basic tasks like destroying a target.
And while he could do most of it with his magic, even with his limited skill at wandless magic, he had little to no desire in showing off to a bunch of snobs.
Loki watched and did nothing as the mages mocked the soldiers whenever they proved they couldn't use magic. It was petty and humiliating, and to an outside observer it was blatantly clear that the mages were getting their own back at the soldiers for the crap they pulled on a monthly basis.
One soldier in particular had his attention. A green-eyed archer who showed some ability with magic, but was unusually blank when the mages mocked his inability to throw a proper fireball.
Loki's full attention was on Jamesson, according to his recently gained knowledge of the lower ranked men.
He saw something the mages were too arrogant to pick up on.
Jamesson had been far too calm and casual when using magic, and from the way he held himself, it was clear he was holding something back during the test. He also clenched his right hand, as if to grasp something other than a bow. It appeared to be an instinctive reaction.
And there was something about his eyes. They way he looked at the mages after the snide comments they made.
It was a look of pride, but not arrogance...and with more than a healthy dose of mischief.
Loki knew, despite the showing, that Jamesson was the one he was trying to find.
A good mage might have trouble with a spell they'd never used before (and by all accounts Jamesson had never used spells before in battle or training), but it took someone with real skill to be able to weaken a new spell and not give off a magical signature...his had been far too brief for it to be a coincidence.
And only a mage on the same level as Loki himself would have sensed him coming with enough time to disappear discreetly without drawing attention. None of the battle mages, for all their experience and skills, had the ability to detect the presence of another mage unless they were actively using magic. It took finesse and experience to detect a mage who wasn't using magic in any form within a certain area.
And the more Loki thought about it, the more he remembered a pair of vivid green eyes briefly meeting his own when Thor had his little...accident.