neutral_omens | (no subject)

There was a sound and he looked up from the book he'd been trying to read. Someone stood in the door. A woman. A faint feeling told him he was supposed to know her name, but the memory wouldn't come. For some reason that didn't surprise him either.

He waited to see what she would do.

War saw - or perhaps sensed - a faint flicker of confusion from Loki as she pushed open the door, and was deliberately gentler in her tone (though nothing could completely take the razor edge off her deep voice) when she said, "How are you feeling, Loki? I know it's been a while, but I'm back again now."

As she had grown accustomed to doing, she paused to pour a glass of water and set it on the table at the top of the bed next to the god before she pulled up a chair.

"What're you reading? One of the ones I...acquired for you?" she said companionably as she tucked one leg underneath her, discreetly adjusting her hip knife so it lay flat against her leg under her trousers.

Loki. Was that his name? He couldn't remember, but again it didn't surprise him all that much. Somehow he expected not to remember things.

"Reading?" He frowned at the book. "I ... can't remember. Why can't I remember? One is supposed to remember what one's reading, isn't one?"

He looked up at the woman pleadingly hoping for an explanation.

War bit the inside of her lip. Sure, Loki was really ill, had been for a while, but he'd never seemed to forget things - certainly not what he was reading. He could be playing a trick on her, but somehow she doubted he'd be capable of it.

Gently, she took the book out of his hands and laid it down on the bed. "Most people who choose to read can remember what they're reading, yes, Loki - but not always, especially if they're ill. Don't you worry about it and strain yourself. It'll come back to you when you're feeling a bit better. Besides, if you're reading about me, it's maybe not the best recuperation material," she said, grinning at him in the hope of seeing a spark in response.

"Ill?" Loki repeated. "Am I?"

"Wait. I'm supposed to know you, right? Who are you?" Somehow it had become important to know, tough if he'd forgotten what he'd read, he feared that he'd forget her as well. Had he ever been able to remember things? Would he ever?

War blinked, and rubbed her nose. People who were ill getting confused and forgetful, she knew of; people losing seemingly all their memory was, to her knowledge, somewhat less common. Tact wasn't exactly her middle name, but this might be a time when it was best to try to find some.

"You have been quite ill, yes. That's why you're in the hospital wing here, see."

She paused, trying to work out how best to deal with his next question, then said, "We've known each other quite a long time, actually. We used to - well, we used to work together. Most people call me Scarlett or Ruby, but my real name's War."

This last was delivered in an undertone, loud enough for the god to hear if he wanted to, but not so loud that he couldn't ignore it if he chose to, either.

Waiting for a response, she resolved that once she'd finished talking to Loki, she'd go find someone who knew what was going on - the nurse, if she could find her, or maybe John. He always seemed fairly clued up on what was happening in the Manor.

"So that's what this place is." It made sense somehow. Something else didn't feel right, though. "I worked? What did we work?"

Her name didn't ring any bells either, but ... "Ruby War? I like that. A war over rubies, yes," he mumbled mostly to himself. Too bad he'd forget it all again soon.

It had been a long time since she'd dealt with anything this hard, War - who dealt with, coordinated and revelled what most people would consider nightmarish scenes of diaster - thought wryly.

"Yes, it's a hospital. Do you revemeber if youve seen any one else in here, come to see you?" She doubted he'd know, even if they had.

"As for work - well, it was a long time ago, but we sailed, and went to, uh, get things people asked us to get, and we fought..." she tailed off. She didn't have any problem being forthright, but maybe it wasn't the best idea right now.

"Actually," she said quickly, "when it was you and me together we more often didn't work, we used to play tricks on people. It was good fun."

War looked away briefly, keeping the god in the corner of her eye.

"I ... I remember a ... book," Loki said slowly and looked around. Ah yes, there it was. In his hand. "So I like to trick people? Yes, I think I do. And I like books."

He was pretty sure there were more things he liked, but right now he couldn't remember what they were. Maybe he'd remember later when he'd forgotten the book and Ruby War.

"I think I like you, too," he stated. "I don't want to forget you again."

"You do like books, Loki" War said encouragingly. "You asked me to go and get you some, because you'd read all the ones here - do you remember anything about that?"

She wasn't exactly trained for these situations, but getting him thinking about the things he ought to remember couldn't hurt, surely?

"If I keep coming to see you, we could see how long you manage to remember me for? It might make you feel better if you can remember me even a little bit. I could just stand outside the door for a few seconds now, to test it, if you'd like?"

She paused, then added, "I won't go out the room if you don't want me to, though. I don't want you to stop liking me, after all..."

And that, she thought wryly, was about as close as she ever got to admitting to anyone that she liked them.

He shook his head slowly. "No, I don't remember having read any books."

Loki tried to figure out how far back his memory went. It didn't seem like much. If Ruby War left this room now and he forgot ...

"No! Don't go! I don't want to forget!"

He couldn't remember her coming in, so maybe he could only remember things while there was somebody with him? It didn't seem quite right, but then he didn't know anything about memory problems, or if he ever did, he'd forgotten all of it.

"Please don't go," he begged.

War was slightly taken aback by the god's outburst, but she didn't show it.

"It's Ok, Loki," she said gently, "I won't go anywhere if you don't want me to." Reaching out and taking his hand, she continued, "I'll stay right here with you. We can keep talking, if you want - or I can just sit here while you try to rest?"

She decided grimly that it was perhaps best not to point out that he had been reading when she came into the room - clearly, he'd already forgotten.

Loki clung to her hand in a way he'd normally never have dared, but now that he couldn't remember Odin and all his Norse pride his insecurity was all too obvious. He'd be terribly embarrassed, if he ever regained his memory.

"Can you tell me - Do you know - more about who I was, why I'm here?" he asked. "I ... I just wish I could remember who I am."

Loki's response was far beyond her normal range of emotional intimacy, and not at all what she would have expected from him - but then, War thought, he's really not himself at all - except he still is. Worth taking a chance...

She held herself very still as she looked Loki straight in the eye. "Loki - you're here the same reason I am, because somehow, something drew you here. That something was a very powerful young man called Adam."

War paused. Possibly some details about their host might be a little too much for Loki to deal with just now.

"All of us here - you and me too - we're here because there's something about us that makes us special, and that makes us important. You're important - about as important as they come, actually. You're a god, Loki. You're a god, and you're a trickster. You play tricks and jokes on people, and nearly always seem to come out on top. You love animals, some particular ones especially..."

Her words and tone were blunt and forthright, but War trailed off. How much of this could Loki cope with?

"Adam," Loki echoed. He could not remember anyone called Adam, though he was somehow quite sure that it was a very common name. Oh well, if he'd been interested enough to bring him here, hopefully this Adam would also be interested enough to stop by at some point and reintroduce himself.

"A god ..." This time he was pretty sure that there was a memory there, just out of reach. Something about a very tall man who ... had lost one eye ... and Loki knew exactly how it had happened ...

Or maybe not. As quickly as it had come to him the memory was gone again, but Ruby War had more interesting revelations for him anyway.

"Oh yes, I do love tricks and animals. Especially furry ones." There was a red horse, he was almost sure, and a big black dogie. "Horses and dogs?" He suggested.

War tightened her lips. So, whatever wiped out his memory, it seemed to have blocked some topics too. She could work with that... Grimly, she resolved to go find out what was going on, once she'd got Loki into a state where he'd let her leave him.

"Horses and dogs especially, that's right. Big dogs mostly - ones you can run with. I've never seen you with the little yappy types - can't seem them as being your style. And you love horses - there's one as used to be in the stables, I've not been out there for a while, but you used to go feed him and talk with him."

She wondered if her talk of running with the animals prompt him into remembering any more.

"You've got family, you know," she said. "Can you remember anything about them?"

"Red horse?" Loki asked trying hard to remember. "Eight legs ... No, that can't be right. Maybe two red horses?"

He had a family? Where were they then? The one-eyed man flashed through his thoughts again, but he couldn't hold the picture. Instead a woman with a cat in her lap appeared. She gave Loki a grumpy glare before she too disappeared. There were a few flashes of different faces, more animals a pregnant woman with wings and then the horse was back.

"No," Loki said sadly. "All I seem to remember is a red horse with eight legs and that can't be right. Maybe I dreamed it."

"Well," said War carefully, "it's been quite a while since you saw a lot of them. You were born a giant, you know, but you never really got on with your parents... that was before I knew you though. I first met you when you were taken to Aesnir as a prisoner in a war - I don't turn up for all of them, but once the gods get invclved I tend to. I knew Odin, too, so it was always good to catch up. You made a new family there, though - a brother, and a wife, at first... do you remember who they were? Don't worry if not. I can keep going and tell you more, maybe the more you hear the more you'll remember?"

On the other hand, she thought grimly, maybe not. This didn't feel right to her, not to be normal amnesia.

Born a giant? Loki looked down at where his feet were poking out under the blanket.

"I guess I must have shrunk a bit then." He wasn't entirely sure he believed that part of the story. "And Aesir? Odin?"

For a moment he saw a flash of some large room, a table, food, people around that table, but when he tried to look more closely at their faces it was gone.

"Well, as I understand it, your parents were giants, but I don't think you shrunk, really... just didn't grow as much as they might have expected. Odin is your blood brother, though - he's how I know you, actually. Used to turn up to go off on the wars with him and then you were there."

War paused. Risky, but it might trigger something. "He was here for a bit too, y'know. D'you remember that - someone you were close to, here?"

Loki concentrated hard, but no memories of this place came. Well, except for the flashes of things he was sure he knew but was unable to place.

"A raven?" he asked surprised at the next picture that lasted long enough to actually identify the contents. "No, two. Do I know someone who'd have two ravens sit on his shoulders and wears a large hat?"

War grinned, and slapped her hand down on her knee.

"You most certainly do. Those are Odin's ravens - they're called Huginn and Muninn, if I'm remembering right myself. Something like that, anyway. They aren't always on his shoulders, mind - but that's where you'd have seen them. Can you picture his face, then?" she asked, curiously.

"Thought and Memory?" Loki repeated slightly surprised to discover that he spoke more than one language. "No, I can't properly picture anything. I get a picture flashing into my mind, but it disappears quickly and I can't bring it back."

War grinned. "That's the ones. Don't worry about not remembering the rest yet - it'll come. After all, you couldn't remember anything when I came in, and now look at you."

"As for the Æsir - well, you all kept switching round, and I was never too good at keeping track, but Odin was one of the Æsir, so when you became his blood brother, you joined them. You married one of them, too. Any pictures of pretty women popping into your mind?", she finished, half winking.

"There was a woman with a cat earlier," Loki tried to recall the picture, but that was pretty much all he still knew. "She was sitting by a fire, I think."

It was all rather vague and he didn't even remember whether she'd been pretty. Why wouldn't the pictures stick around?

"A woman with a cat? Hm... only person I particularly remember with a cat when I paid you visits was Odin's wife - Frigga, I think her name was."

War smirked. "She was never too keen on me, though, going off fighting with Odin and the rest of you... goddess of marriage, housekeeping and the like, so I didn't exactly fit in with her image of the way of things."

This caused Loki to have his first acoustic flash of memory: Old Norse insults over the oddly familiar sound of pots and bowls hitting the wall. He wasn't quite sure why he suspected that War had secretly enjoyed her meetings with this Frigga.

He was supposed to be looking for memories of his wife, though, not Odin's.

"A woman with ... wings?" This picture was confusing and somehow didn't fir in with the acustic memory.

"Wings? Ah - that'd be Frigga again, I think. She had this cloak, see - a feathered cloak that let her fly. She could shape shift too - well, you all could. You used to shapeshift to run with Sleipnir - d'you remember that, not being human shaped?"

"A cloak?" Loki said surprised. "It didn't look all that much like a cloak to me, but I guess if she can shapeshift*."

"I'd like to be able to shapeshift. I could be a wolf." He grinned. "Like a werewolf."

* Luckily his inability to hold on to anything he learned at the moment for more than about half an hour would save both Uriel and Frigga the indignity of finding out about the mixup.

War grinned. "I can see you as a wolf." She paused, trying to remember. "Uh, actually I think one of your sons turned into a wolf. Not a werewolf as such though, he got turned and stuck... Don't suppose you remember anything about your children?" she asked, hopefully. Things did seem to be coming back a bit, after all.

Loki concentrated very hard on wolves, but all he got was the eight legged horse again. Then a man and woman. Twins?

"Blond twins?" he asked Ruby. "But they ... don't like me?"

War thought for a moment. "The only blonds I knew with particular reason not to be so fond of you were Frey and Freya - brother and sister. Not family exactly, but in the clan. You were never really in their good books though - not after you took off with Thor and pretended he was her to be married off, just so you could get his hammer back."

She paused, and chuckled. "Thinking about it, that one time you turned up to a feast already off your face and had a slanging match with her probably didn't go down too well either. That one may have been partly my fault though," she finished, winking.

"Thor? Who's Thor?" Loki looked around the room to make sure there wasn't anybody else present in the room that he'd forgotten about. "And why did I want her to marry that Freya-girl's chosen husband?"

That he'd arrived drunk at a feast somehow didn't surprise him so he didn't pay much attention to that tale. Just your usual run of the mill drunken argument.

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(puppy-eye-Loki)

(Awww! melts poor Loki...)

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Correct me if I'm gettting this wrong...!

Odin's wife Frigga, if you want to recognise her

Re: Odin's wife Frigga, if you want to recognise her

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headdesk trust me to start getting creative with the research... kicks self

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(puppy-eye-Loki)

(Awww! *melts* poor Loki...)

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Correct me if I'm gettting this wrong...!

Odin's wife Frigga, if you want to recognise her

Re: Odin's wife Frigga, if you want to recognise her

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*headdesk* trust me to start getting creative with the research... *kicks self*

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(Awww! melts poor Loki...)

headdesk trust me to start getting creative with the research... kicks self