A nod came from her to his first statements. “Oh, indeed. I had wanted to learn more than what I did, though there were..others who saw no need for my learning, and saw it fit to torment me instead..” she trailed off, her expression darkening a bit. In her dimension, nearly everyone was a far, far darker and more..physical..version of themselves. This was why she still had such difficulty with anyone but her son touching her in the beginning. Since then, she’d gotten a bit better - only as far as Loki and Frigga went, though.
Her thoughts were torn from all the bad memories that she had, when she heard Loki begin to speak again. It was true, Klio did not laugh often. The fact that she just had, and it was so rare, was why she’d not even yet realized that she’d done it.
“Yes, I do suppose a dinner is a better surprise than what it could have been instead,” Klio agreed, taking another small drink of her wine. As for her son - he had, oddly, been born the same sort of way. While the story was inherently and completely different, she’d changed how he looked herself, in an effort to make it easier to hide him from everyone else. She had absolutely no desire to return to the place she had once called ‘home.’ That dimension, its timeline; however one saw it, Klio saw it as nothing more than hell. Occasionally, so he would not forget what he truly looked like, she would change her son back. He enjoyed it, she knew, though he was quite clumsy, with so many legs.
What she had been able to learn on her own before coming to this dimension, was few and far in between - she had learned very miscellaneous types of things, some useful..others simply odd. It had kept her beloved son - her last living child - alive. to her, that was all that mattered. Shapeshifting is something that she’d experimented with..with a few successes, and most failures. The story of how her Sleipnir was born a horse..well, it had something to do with her shapeshifting attempts before she’d gotten pregnant. That was an interesting story, but a very upsetting one to her. If she told it, it would be a long time from now.
For now, Klio was content to stay where they were. ‘Happy’ was a relative term; Klio was still learning how to be happy about things other than only her child, and it was rather slow learning. What she could say that she was happy about, however, was the lack of violence aimed at either of them. For once, she did not have to worry about others being brutal for the sake of being brutal. That, was nice.
After a moment of silence, she spoke up again.
“He likes you, you know. Sleipnir, I mean. I can tell,” she added, falling quiet again afterward, not sure what kind of response he may make to that. It was a simple statement, really, and mostly because she wasn’t sure what else to say - not because she was trying to ask anything of her double.
Klio’s experiences in her original realm had affected her self-esteem and confidence. But the Allmother was confident that her skills would improve over time. She had the same potential as Loki, and it made sense since they were technically the same person in different bodies. The only thing that they really needed to fix was the mental scars, and it would likely take a lot of time. It wasn’t easy to just forget years of abuse and torment, and anyone who expected quick results was being unreasonable.
“He’s your son. He could have thought of other scenarios to put you in, and yet he thought of having you sit through an entire meal with me. I’m not sure whether I should laugh or congratulate him for his ingenuity. I’ve been told that being with me for too long is quite taxing.” Though he was smiling, there was a hint of gloominess beneath. He was doing his best to shut off his emotions from the rest of the world, to not let the true state of his psyche show. In a way, he was like her, but he was being a little more closed off. Hardly anyone considered him anyway, so why should he even bother? “But I think you’re strong enough to manage.”
Their food arrived then, and it all smelled delicious. The waiter poured some wine into their glasses and told them that the rest of the courses would follow once they were done with their current food. Alone once more, he raised his wine glass to her for a toast, clicking the side of his glass with hers. “To progress. And to your son, Sleipnir.” Her admission that the boy liked him was rather touching. He seemed to relate more to children because they had a better sense of humor than most adults, and they truly enjoyed seeing him perform a few tricks. He supposed that he was fonder of her son than he was towards other children, but it was something he wouldn’t readily admit.
“And could you? How?” He sipped the wine and set the glass down before he started eating. Loki could see why this restaurant came highly recommended: every bite was delicious and he could distinguish small side flavors that helped enhance the food’s taste. “He’s never given me any sign that he does, but I suppose that’s just his way.” He didn’t once think that she told him because she was trying to ask him to do something or to give her something. Not even he would stoop that low, and he had a feeling that she was the same in that regard.
