[GP] SNOW DAY

[st_ratagem]

Thor and Loki got an early start, because there was a lot to do. Almost two weeks to the day since their first small-but-successful experiment with snow, Loki was confident that he'd improved enough for a bigger experiment. Still snow, because Thor wanted it and it did seem like a decent way to try something big-ish without causing Loki unnecessary grief with the other residents. (It was an arrival day, so there would perhaps be some grief with any new arrivals, but that was entirely acceptable.)

It was before dawn when they went out into the grounds. Thor called up clouds and loaded them with water so they hung low and heavy, covering the sky so that the sun, when it rose, wouldn't ruin the event. Loki took his frost giant shape and staff (now very familiar to his hand) and concentrated on dropping the temperature. Just around the Inn and grounds, but that was enough to be serious effort.

When the snow first started, the flakes were big and wet, and melted as soon as they hit the ground, which was still on the warm side. As they melted, they cooled the ground. After an hour or so, the flakes were smaller and more powdery - real snow, not glorified slush - and they were starting to stick to the ground.

By mid-morning, the Inn and grounds were covered with a thick layer of snow, and it continued to fall.

***

Meanwhile, indoors and inspired by the snow, Hurley and Xavin decided to try and make cookies. Cooking together was fun, since neither of them exactly knew what they were doing apart from 'follow the recipe', but since the point was 'try to make cookies' they ended up with a lot of cookies. Sugar cookies, gingerbread, all kinds.

There was no way they'd be able to eat all of them.

Instead, they loaded them onto trays and hauled them to the cafe, then brought out various frostings and candies for decorating. This had been completely intentional. Completely.

Comments

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_artingpoint]

"It will probably be more appreciated during the heat of the summer." Jane had to agree on that. "You could always throw water toward him and tell him to turn it to snow. See if it's quicker through reflexes instead of thinking about it."

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_ormbreaker]

"Loki has stabbed me for doing less," Thor says, smiling at the suggestion. "But it'll be worth it."

What other purpose did brothers serve if not to annoy the other?

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_artingpoint]

"Really? How come he didn't stab you now?" She asked curiously and then raised an eyebrow, "or did he?"

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_ormbreaker]

"Because I haven't thrown water at him," he says, grinning. "He hasn't stabbed me at all lately and this is the most time we've spent together in a decade."

That in itself sounds like an abnormality.

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_artingpoint]

There was a brief flash of herself as a young girl with a small boy with blonde hair. For just an instant, Jane felt a sibling bond. But like with all of her memories, she didn't know if it was real or fake.

"He must have mellowed since arriving at the Inn." Jane teased.

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_ormbreaker]

"I think we all have," Thor says. "A lot less going on here than they were back home."

Thor frowns, thinking. "Have I told you about my sister?"

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_artingpoint]

Jane shook her head, "no, but to be fair, I asked most of the questions about you and Sif hoping for memories. Is your sister older or younger?"

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_ormbreaker]

"Older," he answers. "To be fair, Sif wouldn't have known about her, either. Loki and I didn't know she existed until my father told us right before his death. He used his powers to imprison her in Hel, but once he died she was able to escape her banishment. Shortly before I arrived here, Heimdall, Loki, Valkyrie, one of my Midgardian friends named Banner, and I all had to fight together to stop her."

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_artingpoint]

"Why did you and your friends have to fight your sister?" Jane wondered why she'd been banished in the first place. That seemed like something very harsh to do to your own child.

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_ormbreaker]

"She was evil. My father was apparently an imperialist in his younger years, and my sister, his executioner. After he decided to be a more peaceful ruler, Hela objected. Violently."

Apparently. This was one of those things Thor didn't find out directly from his father, but from Hela herself and the murals painted over in the palace.

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_artingpoint]

Again there was a flash of a memory of a woman, a mother figure, telling her that she wasn't doing her brother any favors by letting him win. They had to fight as if with their enemies to be stronger.

Jane shook her head to clear it of the image and focused once more on Thor. "Was your sister always the executioner for your father?" Jane could understand why she might protest. If that was all she knew and suddenly her father was different, it would lead to questioning her place with her father and her life.

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_ormbreaker]

"I don't know," Thor says, because there's so little he knows about what happened before his birth. Even now, he's not sure what his father told him of Asgard's history was fact and what was fiction. "All I know is that when he decided to stop, she didn't want to. It wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that's all she knew."

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_artingpoint]

It was probably not a good idea for Jane to admit she sort of felt sorry for Thor's sister.

"It must have been difficult for you to learn all of this later rather than earlier in your life."

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_ormbreaker]

"It would have been nice to have heard it from my father's lips than to hear it from the sister I didn't know about until moments before he died, yes." It comes out harder than Thor intended it, so he when his opens his mouth again, his tone's a little softer.

"He lied about our history, our sister... what else did he lie about?"

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_artingpoint]

Jane was quiet for a moment, then she said softly, "I think maybe he didn't want to see disappointment in your eyes when he told you. He might have begun to believe the lies he told you as truth. We're pretty good at deceiving ourselves. Especially when you want to forget a past."

Or hope that the past you remember is wrong.

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_ormbreaker]

"Usually your past mistakes don't try to kill your sons immediately upon your death."

Thor tries to temper the bitterness he feels, but it comes out in the sound of his voice.

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_artingpoint]

"Probably not." Jane had to agree, then she looked at him curiously. "What about any of your past mistakes? Would they come after people you cared about?"

She didn't have experience in that, except that if the FBI files about her on the laptop were correct, there were quite a few people in Jane's past that wouldn't hesitate to hurt people that she was close to.

"I'm not justifying your father's actions, or your sister's, only that there are different sides to stories."

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_ormbreaker]

For a few long moments, Thor says nothing.

"No," he says. "My mistakes tend to have immediate consequences." Or near-immediate. It's possible, too, that maybe he could have tempered some of his brother's animosity with changed behavior, but Loki himself seemed to believe there was nothing Thor could have done.

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_artingpoint]

"I'm sorry." Jane reached over to put a hand on his shoulder. "I didn't mean to bring up harsh memories for you. One of the memories I have as Jane - if it's mine, is of the woman that raised me telling me that letting people close is a liability."

She smiled slightly, "I blew that theory out of the water since I've been here. I don't consider you or any of the others a liability, though I do think that you guys are my weakness." Jane's smile widened, "everyone has to have one, I don't mind my friends being mine."

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_ormbreaker]

"There are certainly worse ones." Friends were one of his weaknesses, too.

And on the subject of Jane's mother... "You know, your mother wanted you to marry me, as did my father. He wasn't exactly happy I had a Midgardian girlfriend."

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_artingpoint]

Jane arched a brow at that. "Was it because I was familiar or that my mother was ambitious and wanted to marry me into royalty?" There was amusement as she asked the question.

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_ormbreaker]

"Probably a little of both," he says. "It probably didn't help that my father aggressively encouraged it."

Aggressively encouraged was one way of putting it. Another was that he applied vigorous pressure until the other party inevitably bent to his will.

There were some exceptions of course, like Frigga and Thor and Loki, but most people tended to want to please their king. Pressure generally wasn't necessary unless it involved one of those three, so Odin applied pressure from multiple sides. Sif's mother, who already wanted her daughter to marry into a good house, and then Thor himself, who wanted nothing more but to marry Jane.

Neither side, though, got what they wanted in the end.

"We got along well enough. I suspect that played some part in the match as well."

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_artingpoint]

That made Jane laugh, "well that's a marriage I'd like to have. I got on well enough with my husband." She teased him. "It sounds like it was good luck that you went to Midgard and met your girlfriend."

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor hums at that. "We broke up, though," he says. He doesn't regret it, but... "I don't think the two of us are going to be getting back together."

Re: Thor and Jane

[st_artingpoint]

"I'm sorry." Jane said sincerely. But at least he had Tony here so that was a good thing. "Life get in the way?"

She knew what she had with Dean was temporary. They were from different worlds and apparently she had a future husband in Kurt. Life seemed to get in the way in a lot of ways.