#starter-ish

The cool air was the only comfort that was brought to him on the hot day. He laid in the meadow in an attempt to cool himself off, but it wasn’t working as well as he had hoped. The sun continued to beat down on his freckled face. Deciding this wasn’t as good as an idea as he had thought, he moved to get up but was stopped by a hand on his head. Suddenly a flower was slipped into his hair and he scowled at the bright pink color. Standing up he turned to face Salem. “It’s too hot for flowers to be growing.”

The heat was almost unbearable for Salem to handle. He couldn’t find anywhere that was cool enough to relax; not even in the shade. He had shed the heavier shirt for the thin, cotton one underneath for some relief. It helped but it still wasn’t quite enough. 

While some despised the heat, some thrived. The bright, pink flower caught Salem’s eye as he was hiking to a meadow he found to be most peaceful. He didn’t expect to see anyone else in the meadow, especially Bellamy so he had tucked the flower in his dark hair.

It was amazing Loki had healed as fast as he did. When the healers had given him the okay, Loki had taken the opportunity to leave the healing rooms and to travel the palace. As he was still on the mend, the healers wanted to keep a close eye on him for a couple more weeks so Loki was confined to the palace, not that he minded. This gave him the freedom to do whatever he wanted. Most of the time, he was found reading in the large library, or wandering the gardens, or sometimes flirting with the nobles. Anything to give him a few extra coins.

Loki had also taken up a hobby of conversing with the Allmother. She was a sweet and tepid being and soon became a dear friend to Loki. She seemed to understand him when everyone else couldn't. Loki appreciated it. Though he didn't allow himself to form attachments with his clients, a mother-like figure was very welcome. He and Frigga often talked into the wee hours of the morning, Loki wanting to learn all he could. She was a great story teller. He'd say she was one of the closest friends he had.

That day, Frigga instructed Loki to run an errend for her. Loki was still a courtesan and had lesser rank than the nobles, so he had to deliver the message. Though Loki didn't like being told what to do when he was off duty, Frigga was the exception. Sighing, Loki found himself wandering toward the royal apartments, toward a certain king's room. Loki was to inform King Thor that dinner was ready and that Thor was to join his family for the feast. Frigga had even invited Loki along.

Once arriving at the king's large door, Loki cleared his throat and knocked twice. When he heard no response, Loki rolled his eyes and opened the door anyway, not even sure if the king was there. What he saw was something very interesting.

Thor was in a most compromising position and Loki's eyebrows shot up to the ceiling when he spotted him. After the initial shock had worn off, Loki smirked and leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. "Well, well, what have we here?" Thor with a hand around his cock was a most welcome sight indeed. If Loki had thought himself worthy of the king, he would have offered to help. It wasn't in Loki's nature to walk away, so he just watched. "Mmm, perhaps dinner may have to be delayed." His eyes sparkled with both amusement and a spark of lust that filled him at the sight.

She'd initially ignored the computer's bleeping sound, too busy with looking over the territory with her own eyes. No doubt, the equipment would conduct its own scans and gather information that she could look over later, but right now, she wanted a look of her own.

The computer bleeped again, more urgently, a flash of red along her contact screens.

<Caution: Temporal anomaly detected

Non-local entity

Details: Scanning...>

What the hell was it with this damned Wasteland attracting temporal anomalies, Lir groaned. You could go to a dozen worlds and not encounter a single traveler from another world; and yet here, she kept getting the odd warning far too often for her liking.

She glanced ahead, noticing the solitary figure a second before the computer's warnings blazed up again. She blinked the messages away. She didn't need the computer to tell her who that was. She picked up her pace, catching up to him before very long.