(no subject)

[demon-mictain.livejournal.com]

Time: September 14, 2000
Place: The Library
Status: Private (Mictain, Loki, Uriel) -- Complete
Summary: Making sure of a thing or two.


Mictain didn’t like it. He didn’t like it one bit. The god was known for tricking and lying and cheating, so he suspected he had a fairly good reason to suspect his motivations.

Normally it wouldn’t have bothered him, no matter what Loki was planning to do – he might have even found it amusing, especially if the target was one of the Heavenly Host. However, the one he was currently messing with was Uriel. And, because at the moment anything involving Uriel involved her baby as well, he wouldn’t let the god do anything like the things he was so known for.

Mictain didn’t know why he cared, really. Well, other than that the child was indeed a perfect excuse to laugh at the whole Host of Heaven and tell them to fuck off. If an archangel had a child with a Horseman, what was left of their standards? And he had Fallen for loving another angel. Well, let’s see how they would react once the brat was born. They could ignore him all they wanted, but they hardly could ignore a half-angel bastard being born to Uriel, could they?

Perhaps, he thought, he just had too little to do. He no more had to protect Raphael, and even Neville had wandered off soon after they’d come to the Manor. He suspected the imp was still around somewhere, but apparently he no more needed Mictain’s protection now that he was under Adam’s influence. Maybe he was just too used to protecting someone, and the as-of-yet unborn child was the best candidate around.

Nevertheless, the one Uriel spent most time with was Loki. And Mictain was determined to find out just what the god was after.

With this in mind, he stalked followed the god around for a moment. And then, when he was sure the god was in the library with nobody else around, he decided it was time for a confrontation.

Comments

[demon-mictain.livejournal.com]

Fuck. The god wasn't letting go. What was he supposed to do, break the idiot's jaw? It didn't seem like Loki even really heard what he was yelling at him.

"You bloody fucking idiot!" he yelled anyway. "Let go, do you hear? Or have you really lost your fucking mind?"

[bipolar-uriel.livejournal.com]

Uriel didn't like what she heard when she approached the library. Not at all. Mictain was yelling, and that hardly promised anything good.

She should have stayed out of there, she really should. And she would have, had it not been for the fact that Loki was quite probably in the library. And she couldn't let him alone with Mictain.

Throwing open the library door, she was met with a quite unusual sight. Loki was delivering weak kicks at Mictain's legs with the demon cursing and yelling. As Mictain heard her approach, he turned towards her, red eyes blazing.

"It's about the bloody time you show up!" the demon yelled. "This fucking idiot attacked me when I'd done nothing to him! Now make him let go of me before I really have to hurt him!"

She was actually inclined to believe the demon. If Mictain had done anything to Loki, she'd have seen it. Mictain rarely was one not to leave any marks, preferring to use his claws and fangs rather than fists when he didn't have weapons. But why would Loki attack him?

"Loki!" she exclaimed, rushing to her brother's side. "Let go right now, you know fighting's not allowed!"

Loki didn't seem to hear her, though. He just bit into Mictain's finger like a panicked animal.

...Animal? Uriel remembered Loki purring like a cat on occasion. Were those two incidents connected?

Well, it was the only thing she could think of. Hugging the weakly struggling god as close as she could with her stomach, she cooed, "Now, Loki, do calm down. Everything's all right, see? Nobody is hurting you. Calm down and let go of Mictain, okay? Come on, brother dear..."

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

Loki tensed at being held again. He should turn into something fast and fierce to slip away and defend himself, but he no longer could.

This touch wasn't rough, though. In fact there was actually a hand rubbing his back. Loki cautiously opened one eye to find that it was only Uriel holding him, but the dangerous not-god was still there.

[bipolar-uriel.livejournal.com]

Now Loki seemed to actually notice her presence. Good. That was one step further.

"Now, Loki, please stop biting Mictain," she said gently. "He can't really get away from here with your teeth sunk into his finger, can he? I'm sure you want to get rid of him just as much as I do, so let's at least give him a chance, okay?"

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

Biting? Mictain? Teeth? Oh right, he was still clinging to the not-god's fingers. But if he let go, the not-god would be free to attack him again. Or maybe even hurt Uriel.

Still, he could not sit here with a not-god's finger between his teeth forever.

He let go and pushed himself between Uriel and Mictain. "Don't you dare touch her!"

[demon-mictain.livejournal.com]

Mictain was really happy to have his finger all to himself again. Taking a step back, he raised his hands in a defensive gesture. "Touch her? Why the Hell would I want to touch her? Attacking her without a reason would just get Adam mad at me and I've no bloody desire to touch her in any other way. You can fucking have her all to yourself -- as long as the brat doesn't come to any harm."

He then nodded at Uriel. "Try to keep that fucking rat of yours in check, okay?" he said. "And you might want to have him checked for rabies. Or maybe get him a muzzle." With this, he made his leave -- more to avoid the frustration of standing around with teeth in his finger for a second time than because he was afraid any true harm would come to him.

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

"Well, it worked," Loki felt the need to explain his unusual methods of dealing with Mictain to Uriel. "I ... um ... Well, I can't turn into a wolf at the moment, but my bite still won the day."

That Mictain fellow probably thought him completely mad now and he didn't even want to think about what Uriel's opinion was.

[bipolar-uriel.livejournal.com]

"Sure it did," Uriel said, who was convinced that if Mictain truly had wanted to cause trouble, one bite from Loki -- no matter how vicious -- wouldn't have stopped him. "Now, are you hurt anywhere? And just what led you to fighting with the one person in the Manor most capable of killing you with his bare hands?"

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

"I'm fine," Loki snapped. "We wouldn't believe that I'll kill him if he touches my family. If he hadn't had that huge sword, I'd ... You don't believe me, do you?" He pouted. "You think that I'm lying."

[bipolar-uriel.livejournal.com]

Uriel laughed a bit, shaking her head. "Look, Loki, it would be so much easier to believe if he had actually had that sword of his," she said, smiling. "But as far as I saw, it was nowhere in sight. However," she then said, smiling even more, "I think it's very sweet of you to try to protect me like that. Very Viking-like, too. I bet Odin would have done exactly the same." Although most probably with better results.

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

Loki sighed. He'd hoped to make her laugh at him, yes, but it still hurt. She was humouring him like a child.

"No, Odin wouldn't have done the same," he admitted. "Odin would have been cool and sovereign and have had his spear on hand. He definitely wouldn't have freaked out and gone all animal on that Mictain guy."

Odin would have won and assured that Mictain never came close to Uriel again. That's what Odin would have done. He was a pathetic replacement. Just the abandoned, sick little brother.

[bipolar-uriel.livejournal.com]

"Well, Odin isn't here," Uriel said. "You are here and that's what matters." She hugged him. "And if anybody's worth going 'all animal' on, it's Mictain. He rarely listens to common sense so maybe a bit of animal instincts are just what is needed. Besides," she then added, "Odin confronting Mictain would have probably ended up with a big, bloody fight that would have resulted with them both being thrown out of the Manor."

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

"So we'd have gone somewhere else," Loki said a little wistfully. "All of us together. Maybe Odin would even have taken us home to his hall and the baby could have been born there and grown up like a real Viking."

Yes, so it was just a daydream, but it was nice.

"I'd have taught the kid to ride on Sleipnir and it would have played with the wolves and grown strong and courageous."

[bipolar-uriel.livejournal.com]

"For the baby to be raised to be a Viking, you would have to accept the fact that I'm a Viking by adoption, too," Uriel pointed out. "And if Odin truly is going to come back for me and the baby, you will just have to survive until then to teach it to ride Sleipnir and grow strong and courageous. I'm going to teach it in the use of knives and perhaps a sword, but I fear that if you want it to master the use of a spear you will have to teach it yourself."

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

Loki looked her up and down. He'd rarely seen a woman who looked less like a Viking. Besides he'd be dead long before the baby was born.

"Yeah, you're right. It wouldn't have worked," he agreed. "It was nice to imagine, though."

[bipolar-uriel.livejournal.com]

"So let's keep imagining." Uriel smiled. "And maybe, one day, the reality will be even better than what we have imagined." She wouldn't let Loki die. She couldn't.

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

"Imagining's all good and fine, but it won't bring Odin back and it won't heal me and it most of all won't turn you into a proper Viking," he snapped. "Somewhere it's all gone wrong. This world's gone wrong and Shadow's all wrong and Thor ... Well, Thor's just gone and that's wrong, too."

He didn't really understand what he meant himself. Maybe if he thought about it he would, though.

[bipolar-uriel.livejournal.com]

"Yes, this world is wrong," Uriel said. "I'm an archangel. I am not supposed to be carrying a bastard child for a retired horseman who doesn't even love me. I'm not supposed to call Viking gods brothers. And I'm definitely not supposed to be happy because I suspect my child is not an angel. But I am. This world is all wrong -- but maybe it will be right for my child."

Maybe she was getting the hang of this whole "hope" thing. She had never been too good with it, but reassuring somebody depressed who wasn't herself was good practice.

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

"It's not right for us, though," Loki countered. "I used to hang out with Thor when Odin wasn't around, or sometimes one of the others. Even Frey, if it had to be. But now there's only Balder and he isn't really Balder and Shadow ... Shadow travels alone. He's not like the rest of us."

He stopped to think for a moment.

"Do you think John likes to travel?" What a ridiculous thought. John was human. He didn't need a god for a partner.

[bipolar-uriel.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't know. He has spent quite a lot of time here, though, so I guess at least for now he is not about to travel anywhere. Besides," Uriel then added, "before you are travelling anywhere, you have to recover."

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

She was right of course. His next trip would lead him into his daughter's realm. Maybe he'd find Thor there. Not Odin, though and not Balder either.

He put his hands on Uriel's belly hoping to feel the baby kick. How he wished he could hold the little one itself!

[bipolar-uriel.livejournal.com]

Uriel smiled faintly as Loki settled his hands on her stomach. He might occasionally pretend he didn't care, but it was quite clear that he was indeed interested in the baby. She just hoped he would live to see it after it had been born, too.

Perhaps the baby realized it was being observed from the outside, because it decided to kick towards Loki's hands. If he didn't feel that, it was a wonder.

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

Loki smiled and gently patted the place where he'd felt the movement.

"Hello, little should-have-been-a-Viking," he told the baby earnestly. "Now you try and grow up strong and tough for your uncle Loki, you hear."

Of course the baby couldn't hear him and it'd probably be a tiny thing like its mother. Most likely Uriel would train it to be honest and quiet as well, but hopefully it would at least learn how to fight.

[bipolar-uriel.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure he will," Uriel said quietly. "And with some luck it'll even learn to lie like its uncle Loki." Of course, as an angel, she shouldn't have approved of lying. However, it would have been quite hypocritical not to want her child to learn to lie when she was purposefully trying to learn the skill herself. It would be useful to be able to lie, she suspected, and if it wasn't an angel, what would be the point of burdening it with pure angelic morals? Of course she wouldn't teach it to fight and rape and kill, as seemed to be acceptable according to the Viking moral code, but surely a little lie every now and then couldn't hurt anyone.

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

Loki smiled, but shook his head.

"Few people can, you know. It's a special talent. Even Odin's sons never got anywhere close." Though Odin was good at it.

He shouldn't think of Odin so much. It was better to concentrate on the baby.

"They were all excellent warriors, though and you do have a chance to be that, too," he told Uriel's belly.