The Stranger’s Fate /closed RP/
Court was boring. This was by far the worst part of being a ruler; sitting on the throne doing absolutely nothing but talking to dignitaries, the court members, and the least pleasant of all: the peasants. Everyone wanted something, needed something, and it was enough to make him go mad. Nonetheless, Loki grit his teeth and excused himself at the earliest opportunity. He had better things to do, after all.
Better things like practicing his magic, or trying to transcribe the new runes he had acquired from the Vanaheim realm. There were endless possibilities with magic– and to feel the power behind his fingertips was intoxicating. Loki remembered the pile of books he had left in his sanctuary by the sea. He was itching to left alone for a while, lost in his thoughts and the pages of his books. A small thought nagged at him as he made his way through the gilded halls.
A new project, the golden God of Thunder himself, reduced to a slave. Humiliation. Defeat. Control. All I ever wanted was this… And yet…
He shook off the feeling, irritated with himself. He deserved this. He deserved this luxury, and the worship, and everything that came with it. Why he was even questioning that was beyond reason. Loki sighed as made his way to his small sanctuary. He just needed some time alone… to clear his mind.
@iam-the-god-of-thunder
A deep, but almost silent sigh was been heard in that little pavillon, in which Thor still sat on the chair and the blonde rubbed gently over his forehead, as if that could help him think of any other thought, he might not have thought of yet. He also stroked through that blonde, to bury his head in his hand, but still - no thoughts, which would help.
The answer to that one important question still was hidden from his knowledge.
Thor knew he had to fulfil their contract. Even when it was not made with any oath, rituals or even written down, it was a contract between two grown men. Sorcerer and warrior. The magician wouldn’t kill him, nor his folk and the prince would do each and every little task, the other would say or do. That was their truce. The words, which led them into the situation they had.
Slave and master. Loki had made it clear, that he could call him by his name and to be honest, Thor was glad about it. If… his desires would only be to keep him warm at night and satisfy every of the raven hairs longings - even just inside their chamber - then he would do that. To give his people the possibility to live a free and peaceful life. Even for the sake of his own. That was what a prince stood for, wasn’t it?
As something shimmered near his place, Thor looked up and could see a floating sphere of light. It closed the distance between them and Thor couldn’t help himself, he frowned.
But once it stopped before him, the clear and melodic voice of his sorcerer sounded from within that sphere and the frown disapperead immediately. Loki had used a spell, to give him direction, where to go.
As soon as the light-sphere floated away, the prince straight away followed it and it did not take long, since he arrived at the place, where the pretty black haired man stood. Seeing him there, sitting graceful infront of a few opened books, Thor couldn’t help but think about, how beautiful his new master seemed. Although his stature was dainty, he had a strong aura. His facial features were almost delicate, but his eyes smart and full of knowledge. His fingers were slender and filigree and yet - his grip last night had been strong and determined. He knew exactly, what he wanted to do, wanted to achieve, wanted to feel.
And although he didn’t look like he could take over a whole realm, he certainly had done exactly that in less time than everyone else, who had tried that before.
No wonder, Thor was confused about his own thoughts. Alone the fact, that he had given him everything, the other had wanted last night, showed distinctively, that Thor would not be a threat to him at all. Not with so much to lose.
On the contrary - Loki was such a fascinating being, that the blonde prince feared, what he soon would feel, would the sorcerer be this attentive towards him, being in bed or in their collective life.
The beautiful green eyes found his own blue ones and Thor couldn’t resist, a small smile appeared. “Loki”, he greeted the other one in a small voice, his name almost whispering gently.
As Loki waited for Thor to arrive to him, he absentmindedly turned the pages of his book while not really reading the material. He was distracted; he felt a small swell of anticipation at the thought of seeing his newfound prize coming to his beck and call. He leaned back in his seat a little bit, pretending to be invested in his spellbook.
And then, just like that, Thor was in the doorway. He moved much more quietly than Loki expected, and his tall stature absolutely shadowed the doorway. It was slightly amusing to say the least. Their eyes made contact for a brief moment, blue against green.
“Thor.” Loki gave him a small, mischievous smile. “Good to see that you saw my projection. I take it that you took to exploring my palace? What do you think of it?”
Putting aside his book, Loki stood to his feet, meeting the other man’s gaze. A small part of him couldn’t help but wish that Thor’s smile was genuine- surely he was playing the part of a good slave so Loki would go easier on him. Or perhaps he was remembering their pleasurable throes from the night before….?
That thought sent a small shiver down his spine.
He gestured to the small space around him, piled with books and scrolls on the seats and small end tables. “I wished for some… assistance with my sanctuary. I have many parchments and books that no longer intrigue me, and it’s terribly messy in here.” Loki waved his hand around the cluttered space, and then a thought suddenly came to him, and he spoke even before he had a chance to stop it. “Have… you ever had an interest in magic?”
His name was spoken gently, but the smile he showed made the thunderer suspicious. Why did he have the feeling, that something was about to happen, which he wouldn’t like at all?
At first Thor casually nodded, but then proceeded to answer the other one with words. “The corridors and chambers I found on my way are not really any different from ours, but I found the gardens with the pavillon at the lake.” Thinking back about that place, the blonde could not hide the little smile. “That was indeed a beautiful place, a bit hidden, but more beautiful than I could’ve had imagined.
The raven haired one stood up and Thor hold his gaze, while the other one bridged their distance. He began to speak and as he showed around, Thor followed those gestures and looked around himself. Large wooden stacks and shelves, with books and also scrolls all over, in it, upon it and also squeezed in every little niche around the furniture.
To be honest, Thor was not quite sure, what exactly the other one wanted to achieve with his doings, but who was he to tell, what thoughts a sorcerer could have. Slowly the blonde closed in and nodded a little bit. “I was..”, he said, sounding sincere, as he carefully touched the back of a large, red book. Then his gaze went back to the raven haired one.
“I’m not exactly sure, why you desired to take claim on this realm - we.. or better say - my people are usually not known for having magical genes, nor the ability to cast spells..”
Thor sighed quietly and finally stopped, standing right before the other one. His gaze fell down, as he hold the back of his wrists up, so that Loki could scrutinize them. Thor wore golden bracelets, thinn and shining. Everyone else would have taken it for some kind of jewellery, but revealing their underside made now clear, that they were not simple bracelets, but a kind of shackles.
Engraved in the gold were runes, old nordic ones, so old that barely anyone knew their true meaning - but Thor did. It was a seal. A seal for some kind of magic, for powers, so that whoever would wear them, was not able to use whatever he had within himself.
“Father feared magic more than anything else..”, he whispered slowly and in a voice, which sounded almost uncaring. As if he had accepted it long ago - the fact, that his father had done this to seal whatever Thor could do.
As if he wasn’t already intrigued by Thor’s mere presence, the shining gold bracelets that decorated his wrists certainly got his attention. There were runes inscribed into them; ancient and unfamiliar to him. He hadn’t paid any attention to them before, after all, he had assumed it was just Asgardian decoration. But no, this was a seal. A seal that prevented the user from wielding magic. Loki remembered a very similar device being used on him in times past, rendering his powerful magic useless.
Frustrating indeed- but fascinating.
“How long have you had these?” Loki questioned. Without too much thought, he swiftly grabbed Thor’s wrist to study the bracelets further. “I have never seen inscriptions like this before.”
He had every intention of making Thor do the tedious chore of organizing his messy sanctuary, but this was far more interesting. Loki wondered what kind of magic he would be capable of if the seals were removed from his wrists. What kind of power did he possess that needed to be forced back, locked away?
His eyes flickered up to Thor, meeting his gaze. He needed to know.
The other one scrutinized the bracelets closely and if Thor was not mistaken, he sounded… curious. Had he awoken Lokis interest with those old rings around his wrists?
In his melodic voice a question sounded and Thor lifted up his gaze from those bracelets back to Lokis face. Even though the bit smaller one did not return that gaze.
“Since my teenage years..”, he answered quietly and lowered his gaze again, watching, how the slender, gracile fingers wandered over the metallic rings, how he stroked the runes, as if he would be able to understand them better by feeling their relief.
Because the sorcerer told him, that he never had seen inscriptions like this. Finally Loki looked also up and their gazes met.
“They are sealing the gift, the gods of Valhalla had chosen me with”, he whispered quietly, as if the fact alone, that the prince had magical abilities was a well hidden secret. Which it truly was. No one knew, their prince could do something others couldn’t. Not even his mother. Just him.. and his father, who already passed away.
Looking still into the other ones eyes, Thor needed a few breaths, until he could himself tear away from those fascinating green eyes. He sighed quietly and pulled down the sleeves from his tunic again, so that the now spoken secret was out of sight again. Concealed, hidden, forgotten.
So that Thor would appear as everyone else here in this realm - just human without any special abilities. It was better this way. He didn’t know why, but his father always told him, to hide it. To not make obvious the truth within him. And as a young child, looking up to his father - Thor never questioned it.
So the Golden Warrior himself had magic- bound by concealment rules and hidden away from the realms. If Thor had never been captured, no one would still know about them to this day. Loki reluctantly let go of the other man’s wrists and watched as they were once again covered by the plain tunic he now wore. He swore that he could see them glimmer underneath the sleeves, now beckoning him to get a closer look at them.
But Thor didn’t seem to enjoy the topic about the restraints put onto him by his dear Father. If anything, he looked almost ashamed. His clear blue eyes held an emotion that Loki did not quite recognize– and he was going to drown in them in he kept looking.
He would be lying if he said that Thor’s eyes didn’t intrigue him too.
Stop, stop, stop! Change direction, and stop looking at him like an absolute fool.
So he cleared his throat, raising an eyebrow to try seem bored of their conversation. “I can’t imagine that any kind of magic you possess would be very strong. After all, you need time to practice it, control it. Perhaps you may even be able to cast a projection.” Loki crossed his arms, unable to help himself. “Maybe if I can remove them… we can see…”
Lokis gaze were still upon his sleeves, even now, where Thor had pulled the fabric over it, to hide those bracelets. But after a few calm breaths, Thor could hear Loki clearing his throat and as he looked back to him, the raven haired looked absolutely bored.
Oh okay. Thor had not gotten the feeling of that, when he touched his bracelets, but seeing him now, standing there, with that facial expression of utter boredom, he swallowed slightly. Well, of course this wasn’t as interesting as it seems. He had those seals for many years, decades, to be more specific. It has been such a long time and so much happened within that era, that Thor was not even sure anymore if he ever could do anything. Anything at all, related to magic. He was the prince of their realm and a warrior. That was enough. More than enough. He didn’t need anything else. Right?
The melodic voice sounded in the room and Thor not even looked up, he also nodded slightly. “Yes”, he agreed immediately. “It doesn’t matter, if I have anything related to magic or not. I willingly reduced my mere presence to be in your care and at your service, so that you spare my life and that of my people. We do not need to know, if there is even anything inside of me, which needed to be seal. I don’t want to know either. Its not important anymore.”
Thor was so used to wear those bracelets, he couldn’t even imagine, not having them on his arms.
To distract his attention from them, Thor gestured to the books, which Loki had signed to, as he started to speak earlier. “So.. you said earlier, you have a task for me?”
“I did.” Loki gestured around the messy room they had been standing in, suddenly aware of the reason he had called Thor into in the first place. The real reason, the reason to keep him busy, seemed pale in comparison to the new revelation that Thor had accidently let slip. Loki now had no interest in watching the man clean for him like a normal serf. Perhaps upon different circumstances, Loki would love to see him upon his knees.
Later. Yes… Later.
“I had wanted you to clean my library, and organize my scrolls. A rather arduous and tedious task, don’t you agree?” Loki stepped around Thor, their shoulders brushing together for a brief moment as he passed by. “Usually I would find simple pleasure in watching you do my menial work for me, but I’ve changed my mind. I’m more intrigued by your… natural abilities.”
Seeing the look on Thor’s face regarding the magic seal the All-Father had given to him, all Loki could read was bitter acceptance across him. Perhaps Loki could understand a little- being forced into a person that you did not want to be, and to continue on pretending when something simply was not true was infuriating at best.
And at the worst: a self-indulgent lie.
“You say it’s not important; but you are wrong.” With quick, nimble fingers, Loki looked though a small pile of books and scrolls until he had found what he was looking for. It was an old dusty tome, it’s leather cover not cracked open in ages. It was written in old Asgardian; an easy enough tomb to get through if he had a bottle of wine and a warm fireplace for the evening. “The All-Father would not seal just any kind of magic. Did you not ever wonder what you could do, if given the chance? What kind of power do you possess at your fingertips? You do your people a disservice, by not knowing.”
Did he go too far? He waited with baited breath; both excited and worried at his words. After all, he could simply just force Thor to take off his bracelets. But what would be the fun in that?
And the truth of the matter was: Loki couldn’t help but feel like part of him understood.
Loki told him, that he indeed had a task for him and he also specified, what exactly he should do. And.. it really sounded like a task for a servant. Truly. That was actually nothing Thor would look forward to. How bored must Loki have been to decide to give him something like this, when he instead… well.. could use Thor for anything. Not that Thor thought about specific things they did their night before.
Their shoulders brushed together, when the other surrounded him and as he finished speaking, Thour couldn’t help himself, he frowned slightly. What was this? If Loki wanted to confuse him, he surely did a great work, because Thor had no idea what was going on in the sorcerers mind. First he claimed himself a mere servant and Loki agreed - showing him that pretty distinctively at their first night full of pleasure. Then he left him alone almost the whole day, just to order him to hither for the purpose of cleaning, to tell him after that he wouldn’t have to do it? Confused was not even the most fitting word for what Thor felt.
The blonde watched, as Loki pulled a old looking book out of one of the many shelves and listened silently to what he was telling him. But hearing those questions about his gift, about the power he could possibly bear, reminded him of old days in his youth. Thor sighed quietly and his gaze fell a further time upon his wrists. Upon the sleeves where the hidden bracelets were.
“I asked myself a lot about this. Ages ago, when it started”, he replied quietly, being visibly deep in thoughts or even memories.
“One morning in my teen-years I woke up, suddenly feeling way more stronger then usually. I felt all this strength flowing through my body, the tingling in my fingertips as if I was able to do something.”
With this he slowly rubbed his fingertips together, as if he could remember exactly how that felt. But finally he let go and let his arms fell aside again, not ready to think further on what he possibly lost within all those years.
“But no, Loki. You say I am wrong in telling you, that it doesn’t matter, but it really doesn’t. I once heard that whatever magic someone has, with not training it, it will wither away slowly, until you have nothing more left. I am not able to open the bracelets, no one is. Trust me, I tried when I was young. But since this was ages ago, even if you would manage to do it - there will be nothing left. No powers, no gift, no sorcery. Nothing.”
At how seriously and sincerely he said those words, would open everyones eyes, because it showed distinctively that Thor did not longer believe to do anything, to be able to have powers anymore.
He sighed quietly anew and bridged the distance to the raven haired one. Although he was a bit taller and had more muscles, he had no thought of resisting. After all he willingly gave up his free life.
Standing infront of him, the blonde shortly hesitated, but then lifted one hand and stroke through a part of the pretty raven hair.
“Could we now please stop to talk about something with no meaning? Do you not have anything else for me to do?”
Loki had wanted to protest against Thor’s wishes, but he stifled any sort of complaint the moment Thor had closed the little distance between them and had gently moved his fingers through his hair. His face flushed uncontrollably. Brief memories of their past night flashed through his head for a second before he returned his focus to the subject at hand: Thor did not care if he had magic.
Or more, as it seemed, he had given up on the thought of having any sort of magical abilities. What he had said was true; even if a person was gifted with magical gifts and did not use the ability or even allow it to flourish, then it would slowly fade over time. It wasn’t to say that they could never use magic again- but it would be difficult to maintain control. But Loki had a feeling that Thor wasn’t a normal Asgardian. If the AllFather himself shackled him, then there had to be a reason even bigger than the Golden Warrior himself believed.
At the moment, however, it didn’t seem as though Thor would waver on his opinion.
“I will drop the subject for now.” Loki found his voice again, once again noticing how close they were standing next to each other. He cleared his throat. “Now I summoned you here to reorganize my study for me. I have much reading to do, and honestly, the thought of going through all of this sounds incredibly boring. It sounds like a perfect job for you. At least until I think of something else.”
With a hum, he plopped back onto his seat. He picked up the book he had been reading before Thor had come in, once again opening the tome to the page he had marked. “I will be sitting here reading, if you are confused as to where things go. Tell me, before I was able to rule your kingdom, did you ever use this space? Or does the boy king of Asgard not participate in studious activities?”
To his surprise - something happened, which Thor had not thought it would - Loki’s cheeks reddened slightly. Just because of his touch?
Could that really be?
As soon as he thought that, the other one seemed to be composed again, since he now looked like he did before, calm, pale, serious. Had Thor fallen in an illusion, to see his face flushing? Or did that really happen, but Loki was just too good in controlling himself? No matter what it was, it did not change the fact, that the other one acted so different in so many ways, that Thor couldn’t predict, what would happen next.
Same as in how he suddenly told him, he would drop the subject. Thor was glad, he did, but.. what were his thoughts, that he decided on a different matter this quickly?
Loki began to speak in a more serious way now, a more formal way, if he would guess it correctly and as he finally told him, what Thor should do now, his frown returned. Really? Him, doing something like this?
Thor suppressed a groan, but he could not suppress a deep, but toneless sigh. Fine. Then he would do that lowly task. Thats his fault for taking the role of a slave and wanting to live. Great.
Loki plopped down in a very comfortable looking seat full of cushions and opened a book. Obviously he enjoyed this far too well, since he even started quiestioning him, if he ever used the library before.
“Of course I have”, the blonde mumbled slightly irritated and made a small, quiet grumbling noise with it, but he showed no defiance and started to pick up a few books from the ground, placing them on a near shelve.
“Father was very district about everything in here. ‘A prince of Asgard has to know our history.’ he always told me. So yes, to answer your question, as a child, I spent almost every single minute in this room, til I could answer all of his questions. Only then I was allowed to start my training with weapons.”
Thor picked up another book, it was large and green, with embroidered silver stitches all over it in the form of a snake and laid it down on the table.
“Since this isn’t your library, do you even have knowledge, of what’s inside those books and where everything is supposed to be?”
Yeah, he doubted that. Truly.
To Loki’s slight amusement, Thor’s brow had furrowed and he had made a gruff little noise: obviously unhappy at the task at hand. But nonetheless he started his task, picking up the dusty tomes just to put them back onto the shelves. Now Loki could have done this himself, after all, he could’ve just moved them with a wave of his hand. But after their short discussion about magic and Thor’s possible power Loki didn’t deem it wise to bring up the subject further– and if Thor wished to be treated the way a slave was truly treated then Loki would oblige.
Still, though… The All-Father’s magic shackles didn’t leave his mind for a moment.
The book he had in his hands seemed so boring now, it’s words blandly scratched across the surface. He had no interest in reading this subject anymore, not when there was a more tantalizing individual in front of him.
Thor answered his question, calm as always, but there was a hint of slight annoyance to his tone. It amused him further. He listened as Thor told him a little more about when he was a child. Apparently this study had been Thor’s little cage for many years, forced to read all the tomes about Asgard and it’s history. A book thumped onto the small table in front of Loki: a large, green book with silver and a large snake decorating it’s front title page.
Loki let out a soft chuckle. “Of course I don’t. I haven’t had nearly enough time to look through all of this books. I’ve been spending what little free hours I have in here, looking through all the various texts the All-Father had acquired through the years.” His fingers tapped curiously at the book on the table, the green embroidery soft under his skin. “You’re telling me you’ve read every single book in here? Even this one, right here? I don’t know if I believe that. And a liar knows a lie when he hears one.”
Thor listened silently when Loki spoke about all the books and the time, he had spent in the library, but when asked a question and he should answer, the blonde slightly shook his head.
"No”, he answered in a more neutral way than before. “I haven’t read all of ‘em.” He bend down to fetch another one off of the ground and laid it gently upon a pile of brown leathery ones. “This was not a lie, since I never said I read everything. Just the ones I needed to, to answer my fathers questions about our history, about family traditions, our generations of the royal family and the history of Asgard. So, no. Not all of them. As you can see for yourself there are more rooms connected with the main hall of the library, so they are more or less sorted in their own ways.”
Thor turned around to face a direction towards Lokis left side and gestured to a small aisle. “This one for example leads to a room with books about healing, medicines, herbs and whatever our healers needed to keep us healthy.”
Another book found its way into the shelve, before Thor turned to Loki again and bridged the distance with a few slow steps. “What will happen now to my people, Loki? Will you…” Thor hesitated distinctively and took a slow, but deep breath. It was visible, that his question meant a lot to him. “Will you keep them safe?”
Thor was right. Loki looked down the narrow passageway to the other small rooms it led to, books adorning every shelf and available surface in them. It amused him how fast Thor reacted to his little quip, but right after that followed a far more serious question: one that Loki hadn't quite addressed.
Will you keep them safe? Thor's voice was genuinely concerned.
For a split moment, he detested the Asgardians again. Why was he so worried for his people? What good did that do for Thor, and his family? Was he really so gracious and humble that he would put himself into harms way for no one but the peasants and hovels of his city?
What was the point in kindness, and in humility? It made him sick to his stomach, the heroism.
For a few moments Loki didn't answer. He just stared at Thor, their eyes locked together while awkward silence filled the air around them. There were a million thoughts running through Loki's head about what he could do with the massive realm- ranging from simple petty desires to absolute devastating conquest.
Then he chuckled, breaking the silence.
"Are you always this honorable?" He snickered. "Truly, truly impressive. Well then, Thor, you'll be happy to know that I have no quarrel with the lower people. After all, every kingdom needs it's servants." He broke the eye contact between them, looking down the hall adorned by books. "But soon they will not only be serving their King, but the entirety of Jotunheim and their forces. After all, what better repayment for the massacre of the Frost Giants? Odin will finally pay for his sins."
