(no subject)

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

Time: May 11th, 2001
Status: Private (Adam, Loki)
Setting: The hospital wing
Summary: Adam goes to see Loki

Adam was unaccountably nervous about going to visit Loki. He'd put it off and put it off, but he couldn't put it off any longer. He was just going to have to see the only person he'd ever met who didn't really like him. The young antichrist had mostly been avoiding the god so as not to upset him farther, but with Loki's amnesia, it should be okay. Unless he was the one thing that Loki did remember... With a sigh, Adam drew up his courage and stuck his head around the door.

"Hallo?"

Comments

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

Loki looked up from yet another attempt to read a whole chapter of a book without forgetting what it was about*. There was a young man peeking into the room. He didn't look at all familiar, but then Loki somehow knew that he had a tendency not to remember people. Something about his brain being damaged as somebody must have told him even though he couldn't remember who or when.

He wasn't entirely sure what language he'd been addressed in, but he'd just been reading in English and the word sounded close enough.

"Hi!" He smiled invitingly at the stranger.


* It was a frustrating activity, but his memory damage made it a lot more bearable as Loki had no idea just how often he'd already tried and failed at the task.

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

Adam slid awkwardly into the room, not sure where to look or how to stand. Knowing everything was one thing. Handling uncomfortable social situations, however, was something everyone had to learn. He smiled back. It wasn't his best light-up-the-world grin, but it wasn't bad.

"You prob'ly dun't remember. I'm Adam. I'm sorta in charge of the hospital an' I wanted to see how you were feelin'..."

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

"Hi Adam!" Loki tried to put the young man at ease with a welcoming smile. Why was he so nervous? "You look very young to be in charge of a whole hospital. Are you unusually gifted or just older than you look?"

There was something he'd forgotten about people's ages and looks, he was sure of it. Unfortunately his damaged memory refused to offer any further hints.

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

He scratched the back of his head in relief and offered a better smile. This Loki didn't seem irrationally afraid of him, which was a nice change. Adam worried that things would go back the way they were once the god got his memory back, but he wasn't cruel enough to wish that he wouldn't. Especially since his wishes tended to come true.

"Well, I'm not a doctor or anythin'. I leave the healin' up to Gabriel an' Anathema. I'm more like security, I guess, makin' sure everythin's okay when people are here. I see you've got a book there. Is there anythin' else I could get you?"

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

He couldn't connect the name Gabriel with anything, but Anathema brought a memory of a pretty woman standing by his bed. Loki concluded that that had to be his doctor. A pretty female doctor and he couldn't even remember the things they'd gotten up to together. Damn!

"So why are you in charge of a hospital, if you aren't a doctor?" He supposed that that had to mean Adam was some sort of manager, but his idea of a manager was of arrogant grey-haired men in equally grey suits. Adam did not fit the picture.

Adam's offer was wonderful, but at the same time useless. What did you ask for, if you couldn't remember what you had and didn't have?

"My memory," he joked. "Only you can't. Maybe ..."

Loki glanced around the room. He had a book, yes. And there were more books on a shelf along with a ship and little houses made of paper.

A small dark head peeked out behind the shelf, the nose twitched, long whiskers quivered.

"That rat in a cage," Loki suggested pointing at his little roommate. "If that's possible?"

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

Adam shrugged. "Well, there wasn't anyone else around to do it, I guess. You're in a private hotel out in the country and there's not too many willin' to help." It was a complete lie, of course, but the truth was complicated and hadn't been well received the first time. Why upset him if he wasn't going to remember this conversation later?

He looked at the rat and wondered how long it would survive in a cage if its owner couldn't remember the last time he'd fed it. "You know where I could get a cage?" asked Adam, mulling the idea over.

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

This was a hotel? Loki had been so sure it was a hospital, but of course he couldn't remember ever being told so.

"Ungrateful job, eh?" Loki nodded. He should know something about those, he thought, but couldn't remember what or why.

A good question. Where did one get things one needed, but couldn't grow or make oneself?

"From a peddler, perhaps?" Loki suggested. "Or maybe at the nearest harbour market?"

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

With a grin, Adam said, "We're a little far from the ocean an' we dun't get many peddlers, but lemme see what I c'n find..."

The boy poked around the hospital for a bit until he found a large, clear plastic box. Using a ballpoint pen from the desk, he pounded some holes in the top and sprinkled paper from the paper shredder across the bottom. With two petri dishes for food and water and a bedpan to hide in, Adam thought it'd make a good enough rat home for a while. He placed the box at the foot of Loki's bed and approached the rat.

"Now you just stay real still, rat. I'm gonna pick you up an' put you in this box so you c'n keep Loki comp'ny, okay?" Surprisingly, or not, the rat did just that and Adam gently placed him in his new temporary home and carefully replaced the lid.

"I'll get him some vegetables an' things from the kitchen in a bit," the young man explained. "But be careful when you open the lid or he could run off."

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

Loki beamed at Adam. He couldn't believe how tame the rat was already. Hopefully he wouldn't need the cage for very long.

"Oh, that's wonderful. Thank you! I've always wanted a pet. ... That is I think I always have. I can't remember it for sure."

But not remembering wasn't all that bad, if you had your very on rat. Loki was sure of that.

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

"I'm pretty sure you have," Adam agreed. "I'd be surprised if you ever didn't have one before." He paused a moment and added, "Apart from not rememberin' stuff, how do you feel?"

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

Loki shrugged. He couldn't remember ever having had a pet, but that didn't really mean anything. He was determined to be the best possible pet owner to this adorable little rat in any case.

The rat didn't seem scared at all. He set right to exploring his new home and Loki was so absorbed in watching him that Adam's next question almost didn't sink in.

It was a difficult question, too. How did he feel?

"Well, right now I'm a bit tired," he admitted. "But I can't remember when I last slept, so I've probably been awake too long." What had he been doing before Adam had come in? To his own surprise he had a vague memory of holding a book, so perhaps he'd been reading?

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

He nodded. "Yeah, I hear you bin through a lot lately. 's no surprise that you're tired, really." Adam looked down at the rat. "Mebbe I should go so you c'n get some rest and get to know your new friend there. I'll wanna hear his name when I come back, okay?"

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

"Have I?" Loki asked. "I don't remember a thing." Were things of that sort supposed to still be exhausting even if you didn't remember them?

"I'll try to remember some rat names, then," Loki promised putting the tip of one finger against the plastic for the rat to 'sniff'. It was a pity that he wouldn't be able to detect any smell through the cage wall. "I wonder whether he's had a name before."

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

Having never forgotten anything in his short life, Adam couldn't really understand Loki's situation - not without using more power than he was comfortable with - but he could still empathize. "Well, I'm bettin' that if you get enough rest an' you aren't so tired, your mem'ries'll prob'ly come back. So you go to sleep an' I'll see you again later, okay?" The young man smiled, waved, and was gone as quickly as he'd come, leaving god and rat behind.

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

"Okay," Loki agreed unusually compliant, but then he wasn't aware that this was unusual at the moment. "I just hope I'll remember that I'm supposed to think about rat names when I wake up."

He also hoped that he'd remember Adam. It seemed like a terrible thing to forget the person that had given you a rat.