strangetrip | [GP] SNOW DAY

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[GP] SNOW DAY

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.

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Valkyrie leaned in, lightly blowing on his lips to make some remnant sugar dance away on the cold breeze before stepping back. "I heard of a tradition called the snow ball fight as I made my way around. You think it's to the death or some such thing?"

"No, it's just people throwing snow at each other. Allegedly, it's fun." Such a fight with Valkyrie might be interesting... of course, they wouldn't be able to get as close-range as they often did, since he'd have to stay overtly Jotun and thus freezing to the touch in order to continue to maintain the chilly weather.

"Oh." Valkyrie sounded somewhat disappointed before she moved onto her next thought. "I saw two other Midgardian deities mounted in the lobby. One reminds me of Odin."

"I admit I've paid very little attention to Midgardian worship practices in the last thousand or so years." Loki had never been an object of adulation the way Thor (and others) were, so it had often been to his benefit to ignore the whole thing, when he wasn't spinning tall tales to see what the mortals would accept. "Which one would that be?"

"Santa Claus. Harbinger of coal to the wicked." Valkyrie recalled Thor's explanation. It still made no sense to her but there was stranger lore.

Edited 2018-12-17 05:05 (UTC)

“Is that... intended to be a punishment?” Absolute nonsense. Coal was useful! And why would a Midgardian story, of all things, explicitly reward the wicked? “Actual Odin was far more effective in that respect.” As Loki of all beings knew.

"He also delivers gifts to worthy children and boasts an army of elves." Valkyrie squinted as she recalled. "And rides a chariot pulled by wingless deer across Midgard in one night."

“Ah, I think Thor did mention him. He told a ridiculous tale of one of those reindeer. Grotesquely mutilated and cast out, but then it was foggy and a drunk deer’s nose seemed a better option than a lantern so he was invited back on the condition he make himself useful. Something like that.” Close enough. Thor had intended the story to be heartwarming or something like, but Loki was much better at cold as it turned out.

"Right, the one with the bulbous red nose." Valkyrie snapped her fingers in recognition. "He rose through the ranks and became leader. I think."

"See, I might be interested in that story. It seems so entirely far-fetched. One night pretending to be a lantern, and then the rest turn on him and drive him out again, that's more reasonable. Or some bloody campaign against the others, from which he emerged victorious." Reindeer had horns, clearly bloody campaigns weren't beyond the pale.

“But Santa Claus rides every year. They’d need to keep him around, I’d figure.” Valkyrie took another slow bite of her cake. “The story stopped after the first night, but I presume he’s alive and well.”

"It's not foggy every year, though." This was a thoroughly ridiculous conversation, but it was an entertaining ridiculous. "And surely someone eventually had two brain cells to rub together and remembered lanterns exist."

"I take it as a symbol of their might." Valkyrie gestured with her cake, "That they can afford to ride through hostile territory with a shining red beacon. Not only that, but to the sounds of sleigh bells." A power move if she'd ever heard one. "Rudolph clearly distinguished himself enough to lead the charge."

Valkyrie shoved another piece past Loki's lips.

Once again, Loki chewed and swallowed, because talking with your mouth full was rude. Also, the pastry was far from terrible. Being fed was strange, yes, but it was difficult to eat when you were stuck at 'cold enough to freeze everything you touch' for the better part of a day. "Red lanterns, then. Or multiple colors strung along the traces for added annoyance to the enemy. Though, I do think you're assuming hostile territory where none such seems likely to exist."

Edited 2018-12-18 16:28 (UTC)

"Then what's the elven army for?" Valkyrie nibbled on the end of her thumb.

"Apparently they make toys. Not much of an army." Loki reconsidered then, tilting his head slightly. "Possibly they're purely defensive, building up fortifications and so on. One might consider Santa Claus's yearly run as a form of diplomacy, yearly gifts to maintain good relations." That sounded like Odin: maintaining an army but keeping it at home, carefully scheduling and advertising 'goodwill' to ensure that people remembered he had an army he kept at home.

"That would explain it." Valkyrie scraped her forefinger against her bottom teeth once. "He can't afford to advertise his station to the rest of the world without an impenetrable stronghold. Apparently he only holds audience via letters. His base in the arctic is a mystery beyond that."

Whether she was doing it on purpose or not - and it could really go either way, with her - Valkyrie really needed to stop drawing his attention to her mouth. It was distracting!

Loki reached out to trail frozen fingertips lightly along Valkyrie's upper arm and shoulder. She'd have to move the arm down or away to avoid the increased chill, it was sound reasoning. "It seems like a nonsense way to maintain an empire to me. Surely he spends all his time writing letters if that's his only means of communication."

“A true man of the people.” Valkyrie didn’t so much as flinch from the added cold along her arm, drawing her finger across her bottom lip.

“A ruler who does no ruling. It’s more fun that way, I grant, but not a good way to get anything accomplished.” Loki moved and opened his hand such that his thumb rested against her pulse. Not threatening, at all, even if it would literally chill her blood if he kept it up. Just a return move in the current game, and the pleasure of feeling someone else’s heartbeat.

"Enough for a man who only ventures out of his kingdom one night a year." Valkyrie angled her body closer, taking another leisurely bite of the cake. "What? Fancy more?"

"Fair point." Loki slipped his free hand to her waist, partly just to touch her, partly to ensure she didn't get too close, and partly (it had to be said) to see if making her back off from cold was just a matter of volume. "If you're offering, I'm not inclined to refuse."

Valkyrie carried on as if the frigid touch of a Frost Giant weren’t closing in on her, though gooseflesh raised along the skin nearest Loki. She tore off another piece, hovering it around his mouth to invite his appetite.

The pastry was in fact being offered, so he had to accept. Had they not also been engaged in a battle of wills regarding the cold, he might have put some thought into how to take the tidbit without touching her with his mouth. They were, however, engaged in that battle, so he leaned forward to take the piece of pastry exactly as he would have if he had his usual temperature and skin tone: neatly enough, but with a light nip to her fingers and a quick lick to clean up some powdered sugar.

Valkyrie drew in a sharp breath though her nose at the literal bite of cold and lapping chill, followed by a flush of blood to her extremities. “Seems you’ve a taste for it.”

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