rey (firststeps) wrote in noexits, @ 2022-02-13 17:54:00 |
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Entry tags: | marvel (comics): loki laufeyson, ₴ inactive: rey dameron, → week 030 (hoth) |
hoth | day one
Rey burrowed deeper into the garment she'd been handed by Ikol, hands slipped into the coat pocket, with her eyes squinting out against freezing chilled air. Her experience with the cold had been largely limited to the hours on Starkiller base, which had been built entirely through and around the former planet of Ilum, and even that experience had been limited to a few hours. Though she'd only remembered being at Derleth for a week, she'd been there long enough to know that this wasn't going to be limited to a few hours. There would be days ahead of time on this planet and as they walked? The thought of staying indoors did pass her mind.
But she had a sinking feeling that wasn't the way this place worked. The impression she was given from the others was that it was imperative they gathered information at each new location.
Even if it was a frozen tundra.
Meanwhile, BB-8 seemed to have cheered up now in the presence of Ikol. The disappointment the droid had felt that morning, when realizing Rey still didn't share memories of some place called Texas, wasn't lost on Rey; so seeing him remotely perked up in his temperament made her glad to have joined Ikol's company. "Is this the first Derleth has had to manage winter since you've arrived?" Rey asked towards Ikol.
Tactically, it seemed easier to just pretend like this was an ordinary variety of Derleth nonsense. If he carried himself as if it was a personal choice to be blue, then perhaps that was convincing enough to everyone that it might have been. Maybe Ikol himself would begin to buy into the fib, as well. ‘Fib.’ Lie. Whatever.
Truth was a harder thing to contend with anyway. Thori had decided to stay with Janet, after all. And? And Ikol was blue. Frost Giant blue. The tattooed horn motif along his temples and brow just made him seem even more out of sorts with his preferred and typical state. In fact, the hoodie he had thrown on was functionally useless save for having a hood that was pulled down close to his eyes -- obscuring at least the traditional Jotun markings for now. He wasn’t cold.
“It is,” Ikol replied with a gesture towards the snowy expanse ahead. “Typically sunny vistas and beaches are the seasonal choices. No one enjoys freezing steadily from out to in.” He looked alongside to Rey, brows raised. “Not too cold for you?”
Her shoulders hunched further as she gave a single, brief nod. "That would explain the apparent lack of equipment," she noted. If there were proper outfits for this climate, she hadn't been able to locate them easily in her, albeit, brief exploration. Functionally, she felt that was a flaw on the part of the University. It didn't seem to Rey that there were many non humanoids who could easily maneuver through this climate.
Perhaps that was the point.
She brought her gaze towards him with the question. While she'd never encountered a changeling, it wasn't unheard of in her world and so his drastic shift in appearance hadn't startled her. It didn't occur to her that he had any qualms with it. It seemed practical from her observations; especially if he could maneuver through the snow with so little as a cloth garment. "I'm cold on most planets," she noted before offering an appreciative smile, "but it's mostly just here that's an issue."
She lifted her hand up to gesture at the exposed area of her eyes. She'd pulled the hood and tightened it up as best she could to shield her face. Hands quickly slipped back into her pockets. "It would have been nice if my goggles were with my possessions." This was said with a shrug of her shoulders.
“Fair enough,” Ikol returned. Maybe Rey didn’t recall it, but she had told him about her life before the start of an involuntary reality-hopping tour. He knew where she had spent most of her life. The deserts of Jakku were not their usual stopovers, which meant she was always dealing with some nature of cooler and more humid climate than she’d been accustomed to.
“Actually, if you dig around in the left pocket, there should be a pair of sunglasses in there. I never go without. If not because sun, then because fashion statement.” He shrugged. “They won’t seal out any cold, but they might help a little.”
Although, what would have truly helped was a hel-hound whose fire-spewing talents would warm someone who’d gone cold with ease. He wished his mind would stop looping back to Thori.
“Are you sensing anything out here? BB, what about you?”
Her gaze glanced downward to where her hand was nestled in the pockets. Any possessions of Ikol's that she'd brushed her fingers against had been purposefully ignored out of a respect for his privacy but now she turned her hand to search for the glasses. Extracting them, she turned them over for a moment, inspecting them, before she lifted them to put on. It did immediately begin to help. A smile crossed over her features.
"There's certainly life forms on the planet," she noted, as her gaze shifted back out ahead of them, "But most are faint and far from us." She didn't know if this was going to remain true. She didn't trust it to.
BB-8, on the other hand, did a long beep to indicate he could see something not to far ahead on the horizon. "You think it's a structure, Beebee?" She asked in response, looking down to the ball that was powering forcefully through the snow. A confirmative beep escaped from him and she nodded.
“Not a bad look,” Ikol remarked once Rey had popped the glasses on. Really, anyone leveled up with a good pair of shades, but there was always some small pleasure in knowing your own sweet aviators looked good on other people. Same with the coat. What a dazzling coat. He didn’t usually get to see it from other angles.
Focus, Loki.
“I thought for a moment that this could be Jotunheim, but…” He kicked a small tuft of snow. “Wrong type of snow. It doesn’t feel like Jotunheim, either -- but that’s a less reliable inkling I have.” His eyes turned to the small droid that was taking the terrain with a sort of frenzied zeal. “Is that a good idea? We haven’t exactly established that we’re in friendly territory, if there are any signs of life around here…”
Rey's smile grew at the compliment. Part of her wanted to ask questions about the fashion of his world but it wasn't too important. Or, at the very least, it could be brought up once they'd returned to the safety of the shelter and could manage to find Caf to keep them warm.
"Where's Joteunheim?" She found herself asking even if she didn't have a frame of reference. Every place that was referenced, it seemed, was unfamiliar to her. Outside of what Aphra had mentioned, of course. Now she was the only one from her universe, it seemed.
Beebee didn't seem to share Ikol's concern and was continuing to roll ahead. Rey, however, turned her gaze back to Ikol. "There's no other way to find out which sort of territory we are in. Do you have means to protect yourself, if it is not?" A brow raised with this question. Her blaster and saber were holstered against the impractical pants she appeared to be unable to shed, having woken with them yet again that morning.
“One branch of the World Tree.” Ikol raised his hands and pantomimed his best tree with branches -- forearms for trunk, fingers for branches. “If Midgard -- Earth -- is here…” He wiggled his index finger of his right hand. “Then Jotunheim is here.” The opposite thumb wiggled. “The gateway between those places are largely Rainbow Bridges and portals. It’s damned difficult to capture on a map.”
But Rey’s next question gave him pause. His best tree rendition fell away as he dropped his arms back to their sides.
’Do you have means to protect yourself?’
He turned one hand up and gave it a downward glance. There was a small green spark between his fingers as he dug into the reserve of magic that, fortunately, had been more of a Loki thing than a Frost Giant one. Whether he was moved to use it was another story, but comfort was taken. It was there.
“I do. You can razzle them, and I’ll dazzle them.” Theoretically. He didn’t share that.
She slowed her steps so she could watch his arms with fascination. There was once a time where she'd studied star charts for hours into the night; whenever she'd find a new datapad of information to smuggle back into her enclosure. Her expression conveyed that curiosity as she watched and it seemed clear that if they were to take the time to engage in hours of this topic, she'd remain engaged.
Still, they had a focus for the day.
In regards to her question, she gave a nod. She didn't need to know the specifics of how he'd guard himself, just that he could. If it had turned out he was unable to? She'd keep him safe. "Then I think we press on. Friendly or not. Are you comfortable with that?"
“We press on,” Ikol echoed, and for that matter he hadn’t even stopped or slowed his pace. This was potentially stupid, but what was Derleth if not a conglomeration of people who made stupid decisions. It was good company.
Their trek commenced, following behind BB-8 as he tumbled onward. It felt as if a little light conversation would be useful now, if only because the quiet stretches left time for internal dialogues. Ikol shuffled around his mental deck for something to reach for. Something that would work with a Rey who didn’t recall their first meeting.
“So, if I bring up Little Debbies right now, that means nothing to you?”
Pressing on would have been precisely what Rey would have done in the event she was alone. Slipping into undiscovered or abandoned terrain was how she operated most of her days. When others had suggested holding back, waiting for calmer conditions, it was Rey who chose to press on despite any evident dangers. She was the one who leaped onto a skimmer and piloted it towards sunken wreckage, despite having no experience with nautical challenges.
She didn't frighten away from dangers.
She cast him a glance at the question and her expression would have been enough of an answer; but she went back to looking ahead. "Are they a species?"
A low snort of laughter escaped Ikol as he reflected on the answer. “They’re a species of snack. Small geometric cakes. Pocket-sized. Good in a pinch.” He sent her a look from under the hood of his clothing. His green eyes were the same, even if his skin’s hue had skewed heavily towards something light blue. Green eyes. Unlike Laufey at all -- his father had hated him for his size and weakness, but the eyes surely never helped.
“The you from before was a massive fan. We raided a candy shop on one stop on the Derleth journey and filled a duffle bag to near bursting with similar things. I suppose if she had the taste for it, then you might, as well.” He didn’t need to, but he thrust his hands into his hoodie pouch. He wasn’t used to walking without something to fidget, or somewhere to stow his hands.
"Oh." Rey's expression shifted from curiosity to intrigue. The prior week had given her a steady diet of a cake that she'd only ever had once before here, when she'd traveled with Leia to recruit more allies for the Resistance. The notion of a pocket sized cake seemed incredibly wonderful given how much she'd come to realize she enjoyed the treat. A small smile grew and she glanced over to him.
"You'll have to lead the way to our cake stash, then," she noted. She half wondered if the packaged food stocks in her bag were the very same. She'd not tried to indulge in them yet but had taken note of them when she'd gone through her belongings.
“Oh, I will,” Ikol promised, and as the fixation on bad news lessened and shifted to the back of his mind, he turned to give her his brand of slightly off-kilter grin. Fresh air, some friendly company. The best medicine.
He looked ahead to where the droid was rolling onwards. The structure -- or whatever seemed like something akin to one -- was closer with each step. It almost looked like two massive doors as they approached.
“What’s your take on this? If those are doors… knock and ask if anyone is home?”
"Mmm," she vocalized as she turned the question over in her mind. She prefered when structures were abandoned. It prevented the necessity of asking for permission. But, if there were individuals present, then it meant that they could get more information about where they'd landed. In the long run? That was preferable.
"Knocking will draw attention but best to attempt friendly conversation over fire being pointed in our direction for coming in unannounced," she finally declared, looking towards him. "Do you think differently?"
They were so close now and Rey squinted ahead. Unlike the structures of Derleth, these felt oddly familiar and she found herself staring as this thought dawned on her.
“Well…” He paused once they reached BB-8, and considered their options. “You are wearing a coat that can turn you invisible. I think that’s viable.”
To demonstrate, he gave her shoulder a small tap. Enough to kickstart the shadow thread. Rey vanished from view. A second tap and she was back.
“Your footprints will be apparent if anyone looks for them, but if stealth is the choice, then… you have a chance to scope things out unseen.”
Her gaze turned to Ikol slowly with a sense of disbelief from his words. While her understanding of the world had steadily been growing ever since she'd left Jakku, the ability to turn entirely invisible was enough to garner a pause from her. But she had no reason not to take his words for what they were. With the way Derleth seemed to operate? It would make sense.
Her eyes flashed down quickly when he tapped her shoulder and she watched in amazement as it functioned precisely as he'd noted it would. The sense of skepticism left her features and a large grin took its place, which she promptly displayed to him when he tapped her shoulder again and she could look upon him.
"Stealth it is," she noted, grinning still, before she looked to the bay doors. They weren't closed and though the emergency lights were off, she could see structures deeper inside. She reached out, fingers brushing against the chilled metal, and she reached out in an attempt to sense any living presence. Though she caught wind of some creatures, there were no sentient minds that she could pick up on. "But I think it's abandoned," she told him, looking back over her shoulder.
Ikol breathed out, which amounted to a chilled tendril in the sub-freezing air. Abandoned meant a few things. It meant freedom to explore without much fear of threat. It also meant that coordination with any possible encampments was right out -- and that left them to navigate the frozen wastes on their own this week.
Hard to say if that was better or worse in the end. Most things in Derleth seemed to straddle such a fence.
“Then we ought to take a look inside. I can…” He hesitated for just a second. “Cast an illusion if I need to conceal myself.” He nodded at the gaping maw that was the entry to the base. Snow drifts had piled up inside, but there was still a path through. He stepped beside Rey and waited for her signal to go ahead.
She took note of the hesitation but was unsure where the root of it came from. Was it that he didn't know how others would respond to his appearance this week? Or was it over the idea of needing to cast an illusion at all? It was tucked away as something to ponder on, and perhaps ask, when an opportunity presented itself and she gave a nod of her head in agreement. "Then onward we go," she agreed as she moved inside, making certain that her two companions did not fall behind.
As they advanced deeper inside, with the light that had reflected off of the snow outside becoming dimmer and dimmer, she shifted to pull the flashlight from the belt around her hip. Shining the path forward, Rey's steps came to a stop once the unidentifiable shapes from the distance began to come into closer view.
"That's an X-Wing," Rey breathed out before casting a glance towards Ikol, with her face lighting up in the joy of the familiar, before she took off running with a full assumption that he wouldn't be too far behind.