Bragi shrugged in an over-exaggerated fashion. “I try to keep the masses guessing,” he joked. She said special as though it were an offhanded statement, and Bragi could not tell how she meant it based on her tone. Either she thought he was something special, or she thought he was something “special.” He smirked anyway. Being thought of as special either way helped him stand out from the other suitors that might come her way. The nice thing about a goddess who never wanted to settle down was that Bragi didn't have to worry about losing her to some other god, but Bragi couldn't have her in the first place if he didn't somehow trick her into thinking he wasn't someone she could have anywhere else. Bragi already knew that about her. He could see it in the way that she moved. Her expressions. The way she treated strangers relatively kindly even when she wanted to glare them to death.
“I'll keep looking. If I'm that lucky I'll let you be the first to know,” Bragi said. The promise was accompanied by a tiny mischievous glint in his eye. Barely noticeable. The kind that came with sharing a secret. It was something Bragi didn't typically get to experience, but there was an exception for everything. He did not say anything about her devious attempt to get him to talk about her last romantic idea. He was lucky the transitional rift had popped up when it had and distracted them from that subject. Bragi was willing to go to extreme lengths to avoid it. Even kissing.
He laughed. “I don't think you'd appreciate my current writings taking up your hall as reading material. It's mostly stuffy official dust collecting records these days. Mostly.” Bragi smiled and did his very best to cover up how incredibly impressed he was that she read. She read and enjoyed reading and liked having writings in her hall. It was really not a wise thing to bring to his attention. His mind was already compiling a list of things that he wanted to bring her to read, or to read to her if it turned out she liked listening. Bragi liked reading to people.
“I don't like listening to bickering much either” Bragi admitted. “Not real bickering. Sometimes I think it's a gift that they'd be better off returning.” He tried to mediate when he could. Sometimes this helped. Other times it just made it worse, but Bragi was willing to do anything if it might help certain people stop. It didn't make them happy, and that was really what Bragi wanted for them. He wondered about her brothers though. They had a nice orchard and a big family, and a lovely sister who clearly loved baking things. What did they have to bicker about?
“I'd love to try it” Bragi said. He loved food and apples, and he especially loved new things he'd never had before. But more than that, he was very excited to try something that was her favorite thing. He wanted to take things here or there from her world and put them in his. Then he could take things from his world and sneak them in hers. Then eventually maybe they wouldn't be able to tell the worlds apart anymore. It was a strange idea. But at the time it sounded like a good romantic one. “That is terrible manners” Bragi agreed. “I should really talk to the Alfather about that. In the meantime I'll do my best to make it up to you. I can't bake and do not know how to make your favorite apple dish but I could write you a song. Or a poem if you'd prefer a poem.”