WHAT. A tour of Vallo leads to giant chickens & soft friends being soft WHERE. Wiz Chocobo Post WHEN. Shortly after Angrboda's arrival WARNINGS. Ragnarok spoilers I guess? Otherwise tame STATUS. complete
“Okay so, working our way down the list. You’ve gotten to experience cronuts, tacos, ice cream, and pizza.” Atreus hopped off of Fenrir at their designated spot, which seemed like it was just a quiet road going through the forest, no buildings or signs of life outside the quiet chirping of animals all around them (though most had scattered when the giant wolf lept into their space). He was taking Angrboda to a place he knew she’d appreciate, so she could meet some new feathered friends.
Fenrir wasn’t allowed, on account of his size and prey drive, so stopping off when they still had some walking to do was the plan. “And then you got to experience glitter, and pet a whole lot of ducklings and wolves, Now I’m taking you to a favorite place of mine. But what else is on your list? Oh. The Canteen!” He’d been thinking of things pretty much on the hour every single time he dragged her somewhere, rushing her through a lot of the stuff Atreus had been so excited to experience when he’d first arrived, and there was still a lot to go without overwhelming.
Or at least trying not to overwhelm. He still wasn’t sure how he was doing on that end. “We’ll go there later sometime, maybe make it a group dinner?”
Angrboda was very easy to lead around from experience to experience. She trusted Loki with her life and then some, so there was no hesitation beyond that which was caused by pure excitement. There was so much to see and do in this place. As much as a part of her already missed home – the comforting peace of Ironwood and her animals and her paints – the rest of her was ecstatic to be seeing more of the universe. Well, another universe, but still! The nine realms probably had nothing like cronuts and wasn’t that a shame.
“A group dinner sounds lovely,” she smiled, after pressing her face into Fenrir’s fur and patting him goodbye. “You don’t have to spend every minute showing me everything there is to see though, you know. I can wander around without a chaperone. I mean, I don’t want to, but I can!” She wandered off the side of the road to smell a flower she’d never seen before and then another, a few feet away. “I do appreciate you playing tour guide though. You’re very good at it.”
Atreus gave Fenrir a comforting pat when he whined about them going too far away. “It’ll be okay bud, we’ll be back in a few minutes, I promise. But you have to stay here, you know the rules.” Even as a regular sized direwolf, he was banned from the Chocobo Post, all of the wolves were. With a huff, Fenrir gave in and laid down right there in the road.
“Dramatic,” Atreus teased before pointing towards the footpath that went through the trees. He lead the way for Angrboda, looking over at her as he walked. “I like being a tour guide. I was clueless and lost when I first got here, and I know you’ve always wanted to go new places. But if I’m annoying, let me know? You can explore as much as you want without me.”
"If you're annoying, you'll be the first to know." Angrboda paused and made a face of recognition. "Well, I'll be the first to know." She turned toward him with mock seriousness like she was making a vow for something far more intense and not at all a joke. "If you're annoying, you'll be the second to know," she corrected.
It was a little too much fun to tease him. He was the first person she'd spoken to in so long that he held a special place in her heart even after meeting a number of people since and fighting alongside them. Loki would always be the one who broke her out of a stalemate, the endless waiting and preparing. She grinned at him unrepentantly now and skipped off down the path.
"Exploring alone isn't as fun. And I like seeing what's made you happy here. People, places, food. Eventually I'll have to find my own things, but I don't mind borrowing yours for a bit." They were coming up on a fence line but she still couldn't see what they were approaching. "I wish Jalla were here though. Or would that be against the 'rules' too?"
Atreus hopped over a branch and made a mock-offending noise at being second. “I guess I can handle being second in place.” He wasn’t actually bothered, and even more pleased that she felt comfortable enough to tease here. Atreus knew things were a little different, and that calm after a huge battle could be rough for figuring things out. Angrboda had a lot of that to do after everything was said and done.
“I don’t mind if you borrow those things either, really. I borrowed Shiro’s as it is, once his people started showing up.” Well, he’d done a little more than borrow Lance, and the blush that crept up his neck gave him away on that one, but they hadn’t been secretive to Angrboda about their relationship, so there was that.
He could distract her, though. When they reached the hedge area outside Wiz’s, Atreus broke into a big grin. “I bet Jalla will show up soon. But in the meantime, you can ride these chaotic chickens around.” Atreus pulled her into the clearing just as the Chocobo’s started squawking happily.
"Ha, I don't think anyone calls that borrowing." Angrboda laughed and then paused. "At least I don't think so. But I don't know a whole lot about that kind of thing." There were whole worlds full of things she didn't know. Books only taught her so much. Even visions only came through with the general outline of things to come. She was so busy contemplating her lack of knowledge she didn't really notice what he was doing until he pulled her along.
"Oh! Oh Gods, aw!" She immediately rushed up to a black 'chaotic chicken' standing at the rail and held her hands up in an I'm harmless gesture. "Hi! Oh wow, look at you. You're beautiful!" The chocobo did a little dance of pride and lowered its head to Angrboda. "May I? That's so kind of you to offer." She couldn't understand animals in the literal sense - not like Loki - but she had spent so much time with them that it was almost as good. She could see their souls too. Which helped her to know this gorgeous bird had a healthy one. She stroked its head feathers, humming a quiet little Giant song to promote calm.
“I didn’t until I got here either.” Vallo had been eye-opening for a lot of reasons, dating had been one he hadn’t expected, but when you grew up in relative solitude it was only natural to be curious about that sort of stuff. Right? Right. “Trust me, you’ll catch up. Probably end up better at borrowing or whatever way faster than me.” It wouldn’t have been difficult, given his fumbles on the path.
But he was glad showing her the chocobos had elicited the exact reaction he’d hoped for. “That’s Barramundi. Then the white one right behind him is Tuna, who is easily won over by treats.” Atreus grabbed some greens from a nearby bin and held a big leaf out to Angrboda, but was stopped in his tracks by her song.
It wasn’t her as much as it was the song, though she was clearly captivating enough to keep the attention of said chaotic-chicken and probably anyone else who happened to hear it. But it was something else that made him pause. “What is that? My mother used to sing it.”
Romance had never exactly been on Angrboda's mind with the way her life had gone and she wasn't entirely sure how she felt about it. Loki had been the first person to evoke any kind of feelings in that regard and she'd barely been wrapping her head around that idea before arriving here to find him in love and living with someone else. Maybe she wouldn't catch up. Maybe that would be okay too. She wasn't in any particular rush on that account. She was distracted though, and it took a second before his question registered and she stopped singing.
"Oh! It's a lullaby? For calming upset babies. I don't know the name. I think my mother told me but I was too young to remember." Her grandmother probably knew. If she hadn't tossed aside the memory in favor of angrier ones. Angrboda sighed and pushed those thoughts away. Petting Barramundi's incredibly soft feathers helped. "I can teach you the words sometime if you don't know them all? There's a little Giant magic woven into it."
“Oh.” Obviously that made sense. A Giant lullaby for babies. He remembered leaning against his mother’s arm as she hummed it and did something - stitching, carving, reading. She’d taught him all of those things, while maintaining the calm and collected exterior he’d always known from her. Now that he had heard the stories of her clash with Thor in Vanaheim, he knew that wasn’t always the case, in her life before him.
As if sensing his internal conflict, Tuna came forward to bump his arm to get his own attention, which prompted a soft laugh from Atreus. He complied. “I spent a long time growing up not knowing she was a Giant, sometimes I still piece together all these things from the life she had before us. I wonder what would have been different if I’d grown up knowing everything.” He scoffed at himself. “Probably still would’ve done something rash and dumb.”
Angrboda's expression sombered. Her situation was different, but similar. The loss of her own parents was tangled up in prophecy too, but they'd never kept any glaring secrets from her. Not that she knew anyway. She reached over and squeezed Loki's arm comfortingly.
"That doesn't mean you have to like it. That she kept things from you." She dropped her hand away and chewed on her bottom lip. "Even if her motives were good and they might have given you what you needed to decide your own fate, that doesn't mean you're not allowed to have mixed emotions about everything. I know I don't have to tell you this, I'm just saying." Shrugging shyly, Angrboda returned to petting the chocobo with a sad smile. "I miss my parents. But I'm still mad at them too."
“I know,” He gave her a comforting smile in return, glad for the reassurance. It was sometimes nice to have permission to have feelings other than guilt or sadness when it came to his mother. He loved her, he missed her everyday, and would for a very very long time, but sometimes that anger crept in and then the guilt followed. “I’m kind of relieved to hear I’m not the only one, though. I mean, I have been like that since I met you, for various reasons. But when it comes to parents.”
He bumped her shoulder gently. “I’m really glad you’re here. The other Loki that I mentioned-- he was raised by Odin, which was weird. And it was never really the same, not like having you around. And Alligator Loki isn’t really a great conversationalist.” Even as adept at taking off hands as he was. “There’s just something about having your people with you that I never understood until recently.”
"It's nice for me too," Angrboda said. "I mean, having someone who understands that you can love and miss your parents and still be mad about their choices. But also being here is nice too." She knew all too well what it was like to be surrounded by your people and then to have that all go away. And it had been shockingly easy to put Loki on the list of her her people.
"The Odin stuff is more than weird still, Thor and everything…" Shaking her head, she made a childish face. Squished and unhappy. Very mature obviously. "But if I'm going to be here for a while, I want it to be home. I don't want the anger and pain of the past to stranglehold the future. You found love here, after all." Her face brightened, mischievous and pleased. "And more friends to call family. I think maybe you'll always find your people wherever you happen to be, Loki."
Atreus nodded, it was understanding and she was his same brand of peaceful resolution if it was possible. ““There’s no rush on the Thor stuff, take a little time, he’s not going to pressure you.” He knew that, as Thor had kept distance from him as long as Atreus needed, but Torunn was important enough to him that Atreus made every attempt with this Thor.
He’d never expected to find his people like this. For the longest time it just ended at their little house in Midgard and there was no thought of anything beyond that. Finding love and finding those people in this realm and the rest- it lit a fire in his stomach and churned happily. “I’ve got some of the best people, both in this realm and every other one I’ve been to. I’m pretty lucky in that way.”
He adopted his own mischievous smirk and ruffled Tuna’s white feathers. “You know, you can rent these guys to ride them around and even race with them?”
"I'm really happy for you," Angrboda smiled, genuinely soft at the knowledge that Loki was living a wonderful life here and that she was going to get to see it now too. That didn't stop her from squinting at his smirk and returning a taunting one of her own.
"I'll be even more happy when I beat you fair and square on a giant chicken!" Giving the chocobo a final pet, she dashed off towards the attendant nearby who looked like he would be the person to talk to about renting a mount. She shouted back at Atreus over her shoulder with a grin. "Try to keep up!"
“Hey!” Atreus laughed as she ran past him, and it took him a second to respond and take off right behind her. “Nice try but I’m kicking your ass this time!”